August 26, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



273 



true science, the spirit of modern science, 

 is at war with war. The right spirit of 

 science is that of patient inquiry; of long- 

 ing for the truth, cost what it may in 

 brain power, energy, money or self-denial; 

 it is the spirit of cooperation as wide as 

 the needs of man; of constructive effort 

 through slow accretions by many laborers 

 in many lands through many years. ' ' The 

 touch of science makes the whole world 

 kin." Chas. Baskerville. 



University of North Carolina. 



DEFLECTION OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



The theoretical effects of the earth's ro- 

 tation in deflecting the courses of streams 

 have been discussed by several investiga- 

 tors, among whom are Baines, von Baer, 

 Bertrand, Buff and Gilbert. The deflecting 

 force being persistent and the time during 

 which it acts practically unlimited, the 

 sufficiency of the cause has been repeatedly 

 maintained. So far, however, the discus- 

 sion has been ahnost purely theoretical, few 

 actual measurements of relative bank-cut- 

 ting having been made. This note attempts 

 to present certain qualitative and quanti- 

 tative data that may have some bearing on 

 the subject. The work was done at Har- 

 vard University under direction of Pro- 

 fessor W. M. Davis. 



The Mississippi River Commission pub- 

 lished in 1900 a set of maps which record 

 surveys of two different dates— that of 

 1883 and that of 1896. The former sur- 

 vey is printed in black, the latter in red. 

 Thus the changes which have occurred in 

 an interval of thirteen years are clearly 

 a:nd accurately recorded and make measure- 

 ments possible of the relative amounts of 

 right and left cutting. 



The part of the river course so surveyed 

 and mapped lies between Rosedale (below 

 Helena, Ark.) and Bayou Goula Bend (be- 

 low Natchez, La.). It may be divided into 

 two distinct sections. The first lies between 



Rosedale and Vicksburg and is in that part 

 of the river's course which here swings 

 diagonally across the flood-plain from the 

 bluffs of the Arkansas upland on the west 

 to the bluffs of the eastern upland in Mis- 

 sissippi. The second is between Vicksburg 

 and Bayou Goula Bend, along the eastern 

 side of the flood-plain, where it is rather 

 sharply limited by the bluffs against which 

 the river impinges at ten different places. 

 The two sections are roughly of the same 

 length, when measured along the general 

 coiirse of the stream. 



A = Meander 

 B = Bend 

 C= Reach 

 ab-a'b' = 



diminishing, 

 radius OF bend 



Cci-C'd' = 

 increasing, 

 radius Of 

 meander 



/xy = 



where bank is 

 n^osb Often 

 redu-ced bo a 

 bar. 



= earl;:/ course 

 = later course 



Fig. 1. 



The lowermost part of the latter section 

 — the part lying between Port Hudson and 

 Bayou Goula Bend— has been in recent 



