28 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



SEVENTEENTH MEETING. 



Seventeenth Meeting, 9th March, 1889, the President in 

 the chair. 



Exchanges since last meeting, 39. 



Mr. C. W. Nash was elected a member. 



Mr. A. F. Chamberlain read a paper by Mr. William 

 Kennedy, on the " Formation of Valleys," which chiefly re- 

 lated to " The central basin of Tennessee, a study of erosion." 



In the structure and formation of valleys, it was contended, there 

 were laws as fixed as those to be found in any other division of 

 geology, and as clear and readily understood when rightly inter- 

 pi'eted. Valleys had been formed, and were now in course of con- 

 struction, in various ways. They could be classified into four dif- 

 ferent kinds. A very insignificant agency might be the cause of the 

 formation of an immense gorge, with its narrow channel, precipitous 

 sides, and its rushing turbulent torrent as the beginning of a broad 

 fertile valley, extending over many miles. Thus were formed the 

 Grand Canon and other similar gorges found in Colorado. They 

 were not due to any great convulsions of the earth, such as earth- 

 quakes or volcanic eruptions, but were solely the effects of quiet, 

 persistent, never-ceasing erosion. The paper then gave a very 

 elaborate description of the great central basin of Tennessee, its 

 geological structure and geological history. Then followed an account 

 of the Appalachian coal field. The paper concluded with a de- 

 scription of the process of erosion and the agents by which it was 

 effected. 



Mr. Harvey thought that so far as the geolog}' of the 

 Middle States of the American Union was concerned, the 

 paper just read was highly valuable, and it would be desirable 

 to have it printed in the Proceedings. Passing over the 

 geology of the Tennessee Basin, he wished to make some re- 

 marks on the erosion of valleys, especially on the erosion of 



