76 Scientific Intelligence. 



2. Underground Temperatures at Great Depths. — W. Hallock, 

 in a paper published in " The School of Mines Quarterly " (vol. 

 xviii), gives some interesting observations on subterranean tem- 

 peratures at Wheeling, W. Va., and Pittsburgh, Pa. The original 

 temperatures obtained at different depths of the Wheeling well 

 were given in a paper by Dr. Hallock in this Journal (vol. xviii, 

 234). These observations were finished in 1891 ; an oak plug was 

 then driven into the top of the casing and the hole thus protected. 

 In 1893 the hole was opened and it was found full of water to 

 within 40 feet of the top, the water having probably entered at 

 the lower end of the inner casing, 1570 feet below the surface. 

 Careful observations of the temperature were made in 1893, 

 showing results differing not more than o, 2 F. from those obtained 

 in 1891, thus indicating that no appreciable circulation even of 

 water goes on in a hole of five inches diameter. 



Another well now being bored at Pittsburgh, by the Forest 

 Oil Company, had attained, in February, 1897, a depth of 5,386 

 feet, and it is expected that the work will be continued until a 

 considerably greater depth has been reached. This well is dry 

 and has an inlet of gas at a depth of 2,285 feet„ Observations at 

 a depth of 2,350 feet gave a temperature of 78°, or about the 

 same as that of the Wheeling well. At a depth of 5,000 feet a 

 temperature of 120*9° was obtained, which indicates a tempera- 

 ture of 127° at the bottom. A fuller record of temperatures is 

 to be furnished at a later date. 



3. The Depth of -Peat in the Dismal Sic amp ; by G. R. Wie- 

 land. (Communicated.) — During a recent visit to the Dismal 

 Swamp region and Lake Drummond I found that a section now 

 to be obtained at the excavation just completed for a lock on the 

 " Feeder Canal " about one-half mile east of Lake Drummond 

 and at the very center of the swamp, gives open testimony to the 

 thickness of the peat accumulation and the origin of the lake. 



These are about ten feet of peat containing many large roots, 

 or even tree trunks; this followed by a layer of very clear peat 

 some eight feet in thickness resting on a clear quicksand contain- 

 ing marine shells. Oyster and clam shells are quite numerous, 

 and very likely they could also be obtained by dredging from the 

 sandy bottom of the lake, which has a depth of about twenty feet. 

 The clear peat followed by rooty peat indicates a peat invasion 

 of the swamp area followed by an advance of forest growth. 

 That the accumulation of vegetable matter is only eighteen feet 

 in thickness is in lull accord with the quick succession of geologi- 

 cal changes the region has undergone, as pointed out by Shaler. — 

 Ann. Rep. U. S. Geol. Sur., Pt. L, 1888-9. . 



4. Currituck Sound, Virginia and North Carolina — A Region 

 of Environmental Change; by G. R. Weiland. (Communicated.) 

 — One of the most important geological changes which has taken 

 place along the Atlantic coast in recent time was the closing up 

 of the Currituck Inlet, North Carolina, by drifting sands in 1828. 

 Previous to that year this inlet formed such a passage from the 



