412 Scientific Intelligence. 



raents. A table of wave-lengths of carbon bands and cyauogen 

 bands is appended to their article. — Ann. der Physik und Ohemie, 

 No. 9, 1889, pp. 80-90. j. t. 



II. Geology. 



1. Movement of the Tipper ice of Glaciers over the Loxoer. — Mr. 

 Forel describes cases of the over-riding of the lower beds of ice 

 by the upper in the glaciers of the Alps. (1) A cavern excavated 

 in the spring for several years past, in the vertical wall in the 

 left side of the Glacier des Bossons, at Chamouni, at the level 

 of the lateral moraine (for the gratification of tourists) becomes 

 raised, as the ice moves on, to a higher level during the summer, 

 and in the following spring, it is some 25 to 30 meters above its 

 former level, at the middle of the ice-wall ; and during the 

 following year the remains of the ice-cave reach the upper surface 

 of the ice. (2) At the lower extremity of the Glaciers de Fee 

 Inferieur, the Alallin, and the Rhone, in 1884 and of Zigiorenove 

 in 1886, the slipping or over-riding of the upper beds has been 

 observed to take place along planes of cleavage, which planes are 

 those of the lamellar structure or of the blue bands. (3) A small 

 frontal moraine, was formed in 1884 at the glacier of Hochbalm, 

 by the slipping of a bed of white ice over an old bed of debris- 

 covered ice. (4) Horizontal earthy bands of interior moraine are 

 formed at the terminal extremity of certain glaciers as that of the 

 Rhone in 1870, 1871, the Trient in 1882, and the Fee Superieur 

 in 1884. This movement takes place, says Mr. Forel, not by the 

 deformation of the plastic mass, but by the slipping of one bed 

 on another along planes of cleavage, which planes are those of 

 the lamellar structure of the glacier. He observes that the facts 

 serve to explain (a) the difference of velocity between the upper 

 and lower beds ; (b) the diminished rate of flow at the lower ex- 

 tremity of a glacier; (c) the re-appearance at the surface of bodies 

 buried in the interior of the glacier; (d) the preservation of the 

 thickness of the ice at the lower extremity, notwithstanding the 

 annual loss from melting. 



2. The Ice Age in North America, and its bearings on the 

 Antiquity of Man, by G. Frederick Wright, D.D. 622 pp. 

 Svo, with many new maps and illustrations. New York, 1889. 

 (D. Appleton & Co.) — Prof. Wright has for many years, as the 

 readers of this Journal know, been an investigator of the Drift 

 phenomena of North America. In 1886 he added to his knowl- 

 edge of facts from the glaciated regions others from the study of 

 existing glaciers in Alaska. Hence his right to speak with a de- 

 gree of authority on the events of the Ice-age and formulate 

 conclusions meriting consideration. He has made a work of great 

 interest; and through the liberality of his publishers, one of 

 special excellence in its illustrations and typography. 



After general remarks on the structure of glaciers, the volume 

 gives an account of the glaciers of the Pacific Coast from Cali- 



