12 



is little more than a reduction of a map published by Chamberlin years be- 

 fore, (K) and the Reverend Professor Wright never followed "across the 

 continent" (I) any of the lines indicated upon it and never made any 

 observations in the entire region which are accepted with confidence by 

 leading American geologists. Moreover, the enumeration and descriptions 

 of "signs of glaciation" is reprehensibly incomplete and archaic. Probably 

 the most trustworthy and certainly the most widely-spread evidence of 

 glacial action is found in topography. The American drift is known to 

 be of glacial origin not only from its similarity to the moraines of living 

 glaciers, but from a distinct surface configuration, entirely different from 

 that produced by water or any other geologic agency except ice; and ex- 

 tensive drift-free areas are characterized by a topography which could not 

 have been produced by running water, or by any other agency except 

 moving ice. It is the function of geology to interpret these topographic 



(Note K) This statement becomes very amusing upon an examination of 

 the maps, for the very map which Professor Wright is said to have copied 

 was itself copied from Wright. Not dishonorably so, for Professor Cham- 

 berlin expressly accredited to Professor Wright on the very face of his maps, 

 the line from the Mississippi to Pennsylvania, and to Lewis & Wright the 

 Pennsly vania line. (See Third Annual Report of Geol. Survey (map , page 

 314, map page 322, and map page 346); also Sixth Annual Report, map 

 page 205, and Seventh Annual Report map, page 155.) Professor Chamber- 

 lin did not follow accurately the Wright line, but he partly corrects his 

 line in the Seventh Annual Report, still giving Wright's name to the 

 Ohio boundary and Lewis & Wright to the Pennsylvania. Copies of parts 

 of the Chamberlin maps are herewith. The names are not very conspicuous 

 in the original, but may easily be seen there and in this reproduction, 

 by a glass. The name of Wright occurs just east of Cincinnati and 

 Lewis & Wright in Eastern Pennsylvania. Professor Chamberlin, on 

 pages 339, 341, 346 and 347 of the Report also refers to the work of 

 Wright and of Lewis & Wright in tracing the boundary. Professor 

 Wright not only credits "Professor Chamberlin" for his work — with not 

 one uncomplimentary word — pages 101, 102 and 103, but praises his 

 "sagacity," p. 102. The extent of the drift is partly shown on the Cham- 

 berlin maps by a drab wash, which does not appear in a photographic repro- 

 duction. In the Literary Northwest McGee mentions the above map on 

 p. 314, 3d An. Rep., as the one claimed to be copied by Wright. He 

 calls it ' 'Chamberlin's classic map of terminal moraines, published early in 

 the last decade." Well it may be classic, when it contains the lines per- 

 sonally surveyed by Professors Wright & Lewis. Every one of the five 

 maps above mentioned contains credit to one or both. Why does not McGee 

 use his glasses? It is not safe for him to browse around without them. 



