38 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIX. No 467 



ber of years in building. It will be opened on Sept. 13, 1892, and 

 will close on Dec. 31 of the same year, thus preceding the Chicago 

 exhibition, which it is designed, in a measure, to supplement. All 

 objects, if securely and properly packed, will be forwarded gratis 

 to Madrid, and returned to the exhibitor free of expense, the ex- 

 hibition not only bearing the cost of transportion, but also, when 

 desired, attending to the arrangement and display of the objects 

 without any charge. Those who desire special cases of their own 

 may provide them, and special buildings may also be ei-ected in 

 the park if the design is approved by the general committee. All 

 objects for the exhibition will be admitted duty free into Spain if 

 they are withdrawn at the close of the exhibition, but two months 

 will be allowed after the end of the exhibition before articles need 

 be returned. 



An international jury, proportionate to the number of the ex- 

 hibitors from different countries and the importance of their ex- 

 hibits, will examine the articles displayed and award the prizes. 

 These will consist of a first prize of horior, a gold medal, a silver 

 medal, a bronze medal, and honorable mention, each medal being 

 accompanied with a diploma. 



The exhibition covers, of course, the entire American continent, 

 but to insure its complete success the active co-operation and as- 

 sistance of citizens of the United States is especially desired. 

 There is every reason why Americans should both be interested in 

 this exhibition and take part in it. The conditions are liberal, the 

 prizes ample, and the time is especially convenient to intending ex- 

 hibitors at the Chicago exhibition, as objects may be exhibited 

 both at Madrid and at Chicago. Nor is the novelty of the exhibi- 

 tion its least merit. Early American history has always been a 

 favorite topic of study among European scholars, but it is safe to 

 say that if this exhibition is carried out as it is planned, it will 

 offer Europeans the first opportunity they have had to study 

 primitive American life in its completeness. American collections 

 are very rich in the materials most desired at Madrid, and it is 

 most sincerely to be hoped that the gracious invitation of the 

 Spanish people to participate in their Columbian celebration will 

 meet with a generous and hearty support from American scholars 

 and collectors. Bare Ferree. 



New York. 



At What Time were the Galapagos Islands Discovered ? 



I SHOULD be greatly obliged to anyone who could give me some 

 information in regard to the discovery of the Galapagos Islands. 

 The first notice I have been able to find is in the Atlas of Abraham 

 Ortelius, published in 1570, where the Islands are spelled " Galo- 

 pegos " and "Galepegos" (Ortelius, Abraham, "Typus Orbis 

 Terrarum," 1570; second edition, 1580; "Theatrum oder Schau- 

 buch des Erdkreys, Autdorff, Americae sive novi orbis novae de- 

 scriptio," 1570). On the splendid map of Diego Ribero, prepared 

 between 1537 and 1529, the Galapagos Islands are not represented 

 (Ribero, Diego, J. G. Kohl, " Die beiden aeltesten General Karten 

 von America ausgeftihrt in den Jahren, 1527 and 1529, auf Befehl 

 Kaiser Carl's, v.," Weimar, 1860). It seems therefore probable 

 that these islands were discovered in the beginning of the sixteenth 

 century, before 1570. The word galapago itself seems to be of 

 South American origin ; it means land-tortoise G. Baue. 



Clark University, Worcester, Mass., Jan. 10. 



BOOK-REVIEWS. 



School and College; devoted to secondary and higher education. 

 Edited by Ray Greene Huling. Vol. I., No. 1, January, 1892. 

 Boston, Ginn & Co. 



Magazines and newspapers devoted to educational subjects 

 multiply apace, so that if our teachers are not properly informed on 

 matters relating to their work, it will not be for want of the means 

 of intercommunication. This latest comer in the field is a maga- 

 zine of sixty- four pages, to be issued every month except July and 

 August, at twenty cents a number, or $1.50 a year. The articles in 

 this opening number show very plainly the influence of the educa- 

 tional ideas just now prevalent; indeed, they may be said to show 

 little else. The writers appear to agree that the study of Greek is 

 destined to be abandoned ; though the editor speaks of this as an 



event that is inevitable rather than as one to be desired. The 

 most interesting paper in the magazine is that by President An- 

 drews of Brown University on " Some of the Next Steps Forward 

 in Education," its most important point being the suggestion that 

 teachers ought to enter into closer moral and social relations with 

 their pupils. Mr. B. C. Burt has an article advocating the begin- 

 ning of philosophical study at an earlier age than is now customary ; 

 but unless the subject can be made more easily intelligible than it 

 is in his article, we fear that his wishes will not be realized. Mr. 

 John Tetlow gives an account of " The Greek Method of Performing 

 Arithmetical Operations," which will be of interest to mathemati- 

 cal students; and Mr. James H. Blodgett has a brief paper on 

 " Secondary Education in Census Years." The rest of the maga- 

 zine is occupied with educational news, both domestic and foreign, 

 a few book reviews of no great value, and several brief " Letters 

 to the Editor." The new magazine has some good points, and its 

 field, though narrow, may be made interesting by proper cultiva- 

 tion ; but it seems to us that an improvement in the quality of our 

 educational literature is more important than an increase in its 

 quantity. 



Geological Survey of Alabama. Eugene Alu:n Smith, Ph.D., 

 State Geologist. Report on the Coal Measures of the Plateau 

 Region of Alabama, by Henry McCalley, Assistant State 

 Geologist, including a report on the Coal Measures of Blount 

 County, by A. M. Gibson, with a Map of the Coal-Fields and 

 two Colored Geological Sections across the Plateau Region 

 and Intermediate Valleys. Montgomery, Ala., 1891. 



In the Report of Progress of the Alabama Geological Survey, 

 for the years 1877-8, the division of the Warrior Coal- Field into 

 " Plateau Region" and " Warrior Basin " was first made by Dr. 

 Smith, the State geologist. Characteristic of the Plateau Region 

 is the circumstance that the limestone beds which underlie the 

 capping of Coal Measures are above the general drainage level of 

 the country. This arrangement of the two classes of strata deter- 

 mines in great measure the character of the scenery, for the re- 

 moval by erosion of the more perishable limestone causes the un- 

 dermining of the harder strata above, which from time to time 

 break off with nearly vertical faces, forming cliffs which overlook 

 all the valleys. The three principal valleys that traverse this 

 region, in a north-east and south-west direction, are anticlinal val- 

 leys, more or less complicated by faulting and overlapping; they 

 are Wills's, Murphree's, and Brown's Valleys, the latter being an 

 extension into this State of the great Sequatchee Valley of Ten- 

 nessee. Between these anticlinals the Coal Measures occupy 

 shallow synclinal troughs, which also show secondary undulations, 

 with axes nearly at a right angle to the axes of the synclinals and 

 anticlinals, i.e., approximately north-west and south-east. In the 

 anticlinal valleys strata down to the Cambrian are exposed, but in 

 the smaller valleys, cut by streams in the synclinal troughs, only 

 the subcarboniferous measures are reached by the erosion. 



Towards the south-west the Coal Measures and their underlying 

 strata slope gradually and more rapidly than the topography, and 

 the Plateau Region thus grades insensibly into the Basin, where 

 none of the beds underlying the coal are above drainage. In the 

 Plateau Region, and particularly in its north-eastern portion, only 

 the lowest of the rocks of the Coal Measures are left capping the 

 mountains, viz.. the two conglomerates with their intervening and 

 underlying beds; but further towards the south-west, other higher 

 members of the Coal Measures come in and the plateau like char- 

 acter is in equal measure lost. 



The Report for 1877-8, above referred to, and a subsequent Re- 

 port for 1879-80, contained notes chiefly on the Coal Measures of 

 the Warrior Basin. In 1886 a large volume from the pen of Mr. 

 McCalley, "On the Warrior Field," was published by the survey. 

 This report also was concerned chiefly with the Measures of the 

 Warrior Basin, though containing some notes on part of the 

 Plateau Regioti. The present volume deals with the Measures of 

 the Plateau Region alone, and presents about all the information 

 at this time available. The two colored sections exhibit well the 

 geological and topograhic features of this region, and show the 

 gradual sinking of the strata towards the south-west and the pas- 

 sage into the Basin proper. 



