MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 1.5 



REPORT OF THE STURGIS-HOOPER PROFESSOR 



OF GEOLOGY. 



By William M. Davis. 



The addition of Assistant Professor Johnson to the depart- 

 mental staff has made it possible to transfer the course on the 

 Physiography of the United States (Geology 6) to his charge, 

 leaving in my hands for the past year the advanced course in 

 Physiography (Geology 20 a) which has been conducted on the 

 same plan as heretofore, except that a larger amount of time than 

 usual has been given to individual conferences. The topics 

 treated were : the Italian Riviera and the cliffs of Normandy, by 

 Mr. E. J. Saunders, who had visited those typical coasts during 

 a summer journey abroad ; the Wind-river range of Wyoming, 

 by Prof. E. G. Woodruff, who had studied these mountains the 

 previous summer in connection with work for the United States 

 Geological Survey ; the physiography of the New York Central 

 and the Pennsylvania railroad routes from New York to Chicago, 

 by Mr. A. S. Cobb, who made a trip along the two lines, with nu- 

 merous stops on the way, in connection with his study of their 

 economic relations ; the features of central England treated as a 

 belted coastal plain, and of central Sweden treated as a district of 

 faulted blocks, once base-levelled and now redissected, by Mr. W. 

 N. Johnstone ; the state and national boundaries of the United 

 States, by Mr. A. T. French ; the relation of irrigation to physi- 

 ography, by Mr. J. H. Giles; and the physiographic factors that 

 are significant as plant controls, by Mr. H. E. Merwin. Several 

 of the theses in which the results of these studies were presented 

 at the close of the year were well advanced ; yet, as has usually 

 been the case, it appears practically impossible for a student who 

 gives no more than a quarter of his time to topics such as those 

 stated above, to complete an essay ready for publication within 

 the academic year. I believe that it would be more profitable 

 if half or more than half of the student's time were given to 



