J. B. Woodworth — Post-Glacial Eolian Action. 63 



tion without expending its energy, except as regards the act of 

 changing the inclination or aspect which it presents to the 

 wind, while the wind blew. 



The final application of these principles to the art of aero- 

 dromics, seems then to be, that while it is not likely that the 

 perfected aerodrome will ever be able to dispense altogether 

 with the ability to rely at intervals on some internal source of 

 power, it will not be indispensable that this aerodrome of the 

 future, shall in order to go any distance — even to circumnavi- 

 gate the globe without alighting — need to carry a weight of 

 fuel, which would enable it to perform this journey under con- 

 ditions analogous to those of a steamship, but that the fuel 

 and weight need only be such as to enable it to take care of 

 itself in exceptional moments of calm. 



Smithsonian Institution, 

 Washington, D. 0., August, 1893. 



Aet. YI. — Post-Glacial Eolian Action in Southern New 

 England ; by J. B. Woodwoeth. 



[Published by permission of the Director of the U. S. Geol. Survey.] 



The following paper is an account of some detached obser- 

 vations made by the writer while engaged in the survey of the 

 pleistocene deposits of southern New England. The matters 

 touched upon here are too detailed and of too little economic 

 importance to find a place in the short descriptive text accom- 

 panying the forthcoming atlas sheets, and are hence published 

 in this form. The field work during which the observations 

 were made extended over the years 1889-1892, and was done 

 under the supervision of Mr. N. S. Shaler, geologist in charge 

 of the Atlantic Coast Division, to whom I am primarily in- 

 debted for the privilege of making this independent state- 

 ment of my observations. 



The action of the winds in JSTew England in their geological 

 bearing has been described in several communications. The 

 most significant of these papers is that published in this 

 Journal, in 1886, by Geo. H. Stone.* In this paper, Prof. 



*III, vol. xxxi. pp. 133-138. The following is a list of papers by American 

 authors in which carved and polished rock surfaces are described, and generally 

 though not always ascribed to eolian action. 



1855. W. P. Blake: Report of a Reconnaissance in Colorado. House Doc. 

 129, p. 27, and Pacific Ry. Reports, v, pp. 91, 117, 229-232, and this Journal, II, 

 xx, pp. 178-181. 1861. C. H. Hitchcock: Report on Geology of Maine, pp. 

 266-268; 1870. Gen. Benj. Tilghman: U. S. Patent, No. 108,408; 1875. G. K. 

 Gilbert: U. S. Geog. Surv. 100th Meridian, III, pp. 82-84; 1886 N. S. Shaler: 

 Geology of the Island of Nantucket, U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 53; 1886. 



