January 3, 1890.] 



SCIENCE 



II 



of Glacial Sand Plains." " Glacial Features of Parts of the Yukon 

 and Mackenzie Basins " was the title of the paper submitted by 

 Professor R. G. McConnell of Ottawa, Canada. Professor J. B. 

 Tyrrell of Ottawa, Canada, read a paper on the " Post-Tertiary 

 Deposits of Manitoba and the Adjoining Territories of Canada." 

 Professor G. Frederick White of Oberlin College, Ohio, followed 

 with a paper on " Terminal Moraine in Ontario ; " Professor W. J. 

 McGee of Washington, one on the " Southern Extension of the 

 Appomattox Formation;" and Professor Charles D. Walcott of 

 Washington defined the value of the term " Hudson River Group " 

 in geologic nomenclature. 



At the concluding sessions on Dec. 28 the number of speakers 

 was so large that a general curtailment was necessary, and papers 

 were withdrawn by the following members: Joseph P. Iddings and 

 George H. Eldridge, Washington, D.C.; C. R. Van Hise, Madi- 

 son, Wis. ; Frank L. Nason, New Brunswick, N.J. ; W. O. Crosby ; 

 Professor J. E. Wolff of Harvard University ; Professor J. F. 

 Kemp, Cornell University ; F. J. H. Merrill, New York ; H. M. 

 Crump, Persifor Frazer, E. D. Cope, Philadelphia ; and Peter Mc- 

 Kellar, Ontario. 



The paper which provoked the most discussion was read by Pro- 

 fessor Alexander Winchell of Michigan University, Ann Arbor, the 

 title of which was " Some Results of Archsean Studies." Those 

 who took part in the discussion were Professor C. H. Hitchcock of 

 Dartmouth, Professor Emerson of Amherst, Professor A. G. Law- 

 son of Ottawa, Canada, and Professor C. R. Van Hise of Madison, 

 Wis. 



The first paper of the day was read by Professor H. S. Williams 

 of Cornell, who set forth a new method of illustrating the relation 

 of the history of different regions by graphic representation of the 

 oscillation of sediments, and urged the study of fauna to bring out 

 the relation of local fauna to their ancestors. 



Professor G. H. Williams of Johns Hopkins University exhibited 

 and described some specimens highly metamorphosed, but* still 

 containing fossils, collected in Norway. C. D. White of Washing- 

 ton claims to have found fossils showing rock on Martha's Vine- 

 yard to be middle cretaceous in place of middle tertiary, as sup- 

 posed. J. S. Diller of Washington projected upon the screen pho- 

 tographs of dikes in California. In some cases the dikes were five 

 feet wide a^nd twenty feet high. Professor A. S. Richmond then 

 projected some Alaskan views, and a diagram of the buildings that 

 would be erected on the museum ground for the world's fair of 

 1892. 



Professor C. H. Hitchcock of Dartmouth read an interesting pa- 

 per on " Granitoid Oval Areas in the Laurentian," and Professor 

 B. K. Emerson of Amherst spoke on " Porphyritic Granite." 

 Professor A. C. Lawson of Ottawa read a paper on the " Archsan 

 of Central Canada." Then followed papers .by Professor Warren 

 Upham, President James Hall, and F. J. H. Merrill. 



The next meeting of the society will be in Indianapolis, Ind., 

 August, 1890. 



BOOK-REVIEWS. 



Scientific Papers of Asa Gray. Selected by Charles Sprague 

 Sargent. 3 vols. Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin, 

 & Co. 8°. $3 per vol. 

 The general public will, we are sure, be much surprised to learn 

 that Professor Gray was so voluminous a writer as these volumes 

 show him to be. Indeed, Mr. Sargent, in his introduction, states 

 that his contributions to science were so numerous and varied as to 

 astonish those of his associates who were most familiar with his 

 intellectual activity, his various attainments, and that surprising 

 industry which neither assured position, the weariness of advancing 

 years, nor the hopelessness of the task he had imposed upon him- 

 self, ever diminished. His first scientific paper was published in 

 1834, and his last was written in 1S87, but a few weeks before his 

 death. During this half-century it may truly be said that his pen 

 was never idle. In the selection of Professor Gray's writings for 

 republication, Mr. Sargent omits those contributions which are de- 

 voted to descriptive botany, and many of which form the best text- 

 books in the English language ; nor does he attempt to reproduce 

 the philosophical essays which grew out of the discussion of the 



Darwinian theory. Reviews, biographical notices, and a few es- 

 says upon subjects of general interest to botanists, all of which 

 have long been out of print, form the greater part of the volumes 

 before us. It was doubtless a most difficut task to select from so 

 much material that which was most desirable to publish. More 

 than eleven hundred bibliographical notices and reviews, all of them 

 from the hand of such a critic as Asa Gray, must indeed have been 

 an eiiiharras de ric/iesses. I\Ir. Sargent's plan has been to present in 

 his selection, as far as possible, a history of the growth of botanical 

 science during a period which has been marked by the gradual 

 change of ideas among naturalists upon the origin and fixity of the 

 species which has broadened the field of all biological investiga- 

 tion, by the establishment and systematic arrangement of vast her- 

 baria gathered from all parts of the world, by the introduction of 

 improved and more philosophical methods of investigation in the 

 laboratory, and by the growth of popular appreciation for the value 

 of scientific training. The task which Mr. Sargent set out for him- 

 self was a most arduous one ; but so well has he performed it, that 

 the whole scientific world has been made his debtor. The future 

 reputation of Asa Gray will be enhanced by the presentation of his 

 writings ; and the editor of them will always have the satisfaction 

 of knowing that he has in no inconsiderable degree assisted in pre- 

 serving the lustre of the name of Asa Gray. 



AMONG THE PUBLISHERS. 



On Saturday, Feb. i, 1890, the Illustrated American Publish- 

 ing Comparty (New York) will issue the first number of a weekly 

 news magazine, which, it is claimed, will " rival the most artistic pe- 

 riodicals of England, France, and Germany, and surpass those 

 produced in this country." The illustrations will be the picturesque 

 chronicling of contemporaneous history. A colored supplement 

 will be the most conspicuous feature of every number. It will be 

 a facsimile, in color, of the masterpiece of some celebrated painter, 

 in the preparation of which the discoveries in the art of reproduc- 

 tion will be employed. The Ilhisira/ed American is designed for 

 the home. It will be unsectarian, and free from political discussions 

 and heavy debates. The serial novel and short stories will be 

 illustrated, and other matter will be selected to afford amusement, 

 entertainment, and valuable information. 



— Si. Nicholas for January is a second Christmas number. 

 Walter Camp's foot-ball paper deals with the great games at the 

 Polo Grounds, and is re-enforced by a study of " The Drop -Kick," 

 contributed by Yale's famous expert, W. T. Bull, whose kicks won 

 Y'ale a championship. A story of New-Mexican life, by Charles 

 F. Lummis, gives the legend of the now inaccessible " Enchanted 

 Mesa," upon which, tradition says, there is a deserted village just 

 as it was left hundreds of years ago. A photograph of the mesa 

 from nature is one of the illustrations. 



— Messrs. Macmillan & Co. will shortly publish the first part of 

 Professor Elmer's work on " Organic Evolution as the Result of 

 the Inheritance of Acquired Characters according to the Laws of 

 Organic Growth," translated by J. T. Cunningham, M.A., 

 F.R.S.E,, late fellow of University College, Oxford, England. 



— After Mr. Gladstone, Pope Leo XIII. is the most vigorous 

 man of his age of the day, says Edward W. Bok, in the January 

 Ladies' Home Journal. The routine of his work would kill an 

 ordinary man. There is no detail too small for him to pass over ; 

 and from daybreak until after midnight he devotes his time to the 

 church and literature. Those who surround him know when he is 

 particularly tired or worn out, for then he takes down a volume of 

 Dante, and reads with the avidity of a school-girl enjoying her first 

 novel. Of all the authors, Dante is the Pope's favorite, and it has 

 been remarked that in physique he is not unlike the accepted idea 

 of that great Italian. He reads Dante for pleasure ; but, for keep- 

 ing himself well informed on all that is happening out of the church 

 as well as in it, he reads not only American books, but newspapers 

 and magazines ; and it may surprise American readers to know 

 that he is well informed on all the topics of the day. political, re- 

 ligious, and social. He has taken a deep interest in the cause of 

 labor in the United States, and reads every thing bearing on that 



