June 3, 1892.] 



SCIENCE. 



313 



subsidence of the region, and a re-elevation of the land, ris- 

 ing most rapidly towards the north-east, whereby rock bar- 

 riers, in fact, were formed across the old valleys. 



The drainage by the ancient Laurentian Eiver from Lake 

 Michigan is shown by the remains of channels 600 feet deep, 

 in the otherwise shallower north-eastern end of the lake. It 

 crossed the Huron Basin at the foot of a high but now sub- 

 merged escarpment. It passed into Georgian Bay by a sub- 

 merged channel between the islands, also now partly buried 

 by drift. The waterway through the shallow Georgian Bay 

 is still left open to a depth of nearly 600 feet below the sur- 

 face of the water along the edge of tlie Indian Peninsula. 

 Thence to a point about twenty miles east of Toronto, where 

 the deep river channel is seen near the shore in the shallower 

 portions of Lake Ontario ; this ancient valley is deeply 

 buried by drift accumulations. The chain of borings reveal 

 it to a depth of hundreds of feet beneath the rocky floor 

 of the country through which it passes. Through Lake 

 Ontario it is seen at the foot of a submerged escarpment, 

 extending eastward to the point where the recent warp- 

 ings, recorded in the shore lines, bring up the old channel 

 to near the surface. This warping, recorded in the beaches 

 north of the Adirondacks, is sufficient to account for the 

 rocky barrier between Lake Ontario and the sea, the rise 

 being five or six feet per mile towards the north-east. The 

 warping east of Georgian Bay is 4 feet per mile; at the out- 

 let of Lake Huron, 3 feet; at the eastern end of Lake Erie, 2 

 feet; and at the head of the lake it diminishes to zero. Across 

 the Peninsula of Michigan an ancient tributary (Huronian 

 Eiver) flowed through a valley now buried by 500 feet of 

 drift, or 350 feet beneath the lake, and through Saginaw Bay to 

 join the Laurentian Eiver. Through Lake Erie, and buried 

 beneath the mud upon its floor, the ancient Erigan Eiver 

 drained the valley, and passed through the buried channel at 

 the head of Lake Ontario. Such was the ancient drainage of the 

 youthful lake basins, which date back only as far as the later 

 Pleistocene period, since changed, owing to drift accumulations 

 obstructing the valleys and to warpings of the earth's crust. 



No phenomena of the Pleistocene period rests upon more 

 substantial evidence, which very slowly appeared. The 

 liistory of every great natural problem presents the same 

 story. The literature of the older writers was not useless, 

 but awakened an interest and gave suggestion, as the data 

 bad not been collected. Such, however, is the record of pro- 

 gress that much of every observer's work is only a means, 

 which must be modified before reaching the end. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The Italian Geographical Society has been authorized by the 

 Municipality of Genoa to convoke a geographical congress to be 

 held in that city, in commemoration of the fourth centenary of 

 the discovery of America. No historical event is more deserving 

 of celebration by geographers throughout the world. It was this 

 idea that inspired the International Geographical Congress, held 

 at Bern in 1891, when it decreed that to the commemoration 

 in Genoa and in Spain, aU geographical societies should be in- 

 vited to send delegates. The congress will take place about the 

 middle of nest September. The precise date of its inauguration 

 will he made known as early as possible. 



— The Jury of Awards of the International Exposition at 

 Paris, 1889, has awarded the Grand Prize to the United States 

 Department of Agricultui-e for " Organization Methods and 

 Material for Agricultural Instruction.'' In the award, Professors 

 Atwater and Taylor are particularly distinguished, Professor 

 Atwater, for his exhibit of maps and photographs on agricultural 

 colleges, and Dr. Taylor, microscopist, for his collection of photo- 

 graphs and drawings of the microscopic analysis of food adultera- 



tions, especially butter. Each of these gentlemen is awarded a 

 silver medal. 



— Australians have had bitter experience of the mischief which 

 rabbits are capable of doing, and now they seem likely to have 

 trouble of a similar kind from the introduction of foxes. An 

 Australian journal, quoted in the May number of the Zoologist, 

 says that foxes have already spread over a wide area, and are 

 most destructive both to lambs and poultry. They attain 

 greater size and strength in Australia than in England, and 

 the mild climate is highly favorable to the increase of their 

 numbers. " It must be very disheartening," says the writer, " to 

 all who have stock of any kind to lose, to find themselves con- 

 fronted by some new enemy introduced by thoughtless or selfish 

 persons. If some energetic steps are not soon taken, nothing can 

 prevent the spread of foxes over the whole continent." 



— The Civil Service Commission will hold examinations on the 

 38th of June, continuing through the 39th, to fill two vacancies 

 in the position of computer in the Coast and Geodetic Survey at 

 $1,000 a year, and one in the position of draftsman at $900. Ar- 

 rangements may be made to hold the examinations in some of the 

 large cities outside of Washington if there should be applicants. 

 The subjects of the computer's examination will be orthography, 

 penmanship, letter-writing, algebra, trigonometry, geometry, 

 geodesy, practical astronomy, and differential and integral calcu- 

 lus. The subjects of the drafting examination will be letter- 

 writing, geography, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, descriptive 

 geometry, plane and spherical trigonometry, shades and shadows, 

 and drawing. Application blanks may be had of the Civil Ser- 

 vice Commission. Residents of the District of Columbia are in- 

 eligible. Applicants will be required to furnish the necessary 

 implements for drawing. 



— The new professor in physiological psychology at Yale is 

 announced to be E. C. Scripture of Clark University. He has 

 been chosen by the faculty, but his choice will not be confirmed 

 until the meeting of the corporation. Mr. Scripture is one of 

 the most brilliant disciples of the noted German philosopher. 

 Professor Wundt. He is at present a valued assistant of President 

 HaU of Clark University. Professor Scripture will enter upon his 

 duties at Yale at the opening of the next college year. His 

 selection involves the opening of an entirely new department at 

 Yale, that of scientific physiological investigation in mental 

 philosophy and psychology. This line of work is entirely new in 

 American universities, the department at Yale being the third or 

 fourth to be put into practical operation in this country. A new 

 psychological laboratory will be built for the use of Professor 

 Scripture and his assistants. It will contain all the latest appliances 

 for scientific work. Work upon it will be commenced at once, and 

 it will be ready for occupancy by the first of October. 



— At the eighth annual meeting of the Kansas University 

 Science Club held in Snow Hall, on Friday, May 37, 1893, the 

 following papers representing original research were presented: 

 Notes on Magnetic Dechnation, F. O. Marvin ; Constants for the 

 Fauth Alt-azimuth, No. 396, A. O. Ridgeway; Examination of 

 Stramonium Seed, L. E. Sayre; On the influence of Parapeptones 

 on Digestion, L. E. Sayre and H. Day; The Coffee Bean, L. E. 

 Sayre and F. C. Combs; On Parachlormetanitrotoluene, E. C. 

 Franklin; Analysis of a Mineral Water from Nemaha County, 

 Kansas, E. H. S. Bailey and J. F. Noble; Analysis of the Alca- 

 loid of Solanum rostratura, C. E. JlcClung; On the AflSnities bf 

 the PhryganidiB and the Lepidoptera, V. L. Kellogg; On the 

 Taxonomic Value of the Scales in Lepidoptera, V. L. Kellogg; 

 A Graphic Method for Angle Blocks in the Howe Truss, A. S. 

 Riffle, Portland, Oregon; Viaduct on theT. A. A. and N. M. R. R. 

 at Ami Arbor, Mich., H. E. Riggs, Chief Engineer; A New 

 Method for Extinguishing Fires in Dwelhngs, L. I.Blake: On 

 MacCullagh's and Salmon's Methods of Generating Quadratic 

 Surfaces, H. B. Newson ; Maximum Moment in an Arch-rib, E. C. 

 ilurphy; Kansas Pterodactyls, Part I, S. W. Williston and E. C. 

 Case; Kansas Mosasaurs, Part II, S. W. WiUiston; The Analysis of 

 some Kansas Building Stones, E. C. Case; The Diseases of 

 Grasses, W. C. Stevens; A Method of Trisecting an Angle, A. L. 

 Candy ; Brazilian Diptera, Part II, S. W. WiUiston. 



