850 | Scientific Serials. | December, 1878. 
ical map of the Territories of the United States, west of the g4th 
meridian, by F. V. Hayden; Some remarks on an investigation of 
the laws of heredity, undertaken by the Board of Health of Mas- 
sachusetts, by A. Hyatt; On the physical structure and hypsomet- 
ry of the western: sens with some remarks on the whole 
group, by A. Guy 
New York pd oF ScıENceEs—October 14. Prof. A. A. 
Julien read a paper on “Chemical erosion on mountain summits,” in 
which he presenteda large number of facts, drawn from personal ob- 
servation among the mountains of North Carolina, and the Catskills 
and the Shawaugunks of New York, indicating the existence of a 
powerful agency of chemical erosion in connection with vegetable 
acids. He recalled the recently published articles of Prof. H. C. 
-Bolton, read before the Academy, on the action of organic acids 
upon minerals, and their use as tests and reagents in mineralogy, 
and then presented his own observations, as tending to show that 
like processes are going on in nature on a great scale, particularly 
through the action of lunnic, intro-lunnic and ulmic acids upon 
silica. He described in detail the remarkable erosion of the 
Shawaugunk Grit, along the precipitous edge of the mountains of 
that name, in situations and ways which indicate that it can be 
only due to decomposing vegetation. The paper was discussed 
at length, and generally regarded as possessing great significance. 
November 4. Prof. W. P. Trowbridge made a communication 
regarding disputed questions in animal “locomotion. 
AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL Soctery.—November 12. Rear 
Admiral Daniel Ammen, U. S. N., read a paper upon the pro- 
posed inter-ocean ship canal across the American Isthmus, between 
Greytown and Brits, via Lake Nicaragua; its feasibility as a com- 
mercial LE and its advantages as compared with other pro- 
posed ro 
Beste Stier or NATURAL History.—October 16. Prof. N. 
S. Shaler remarked on certain peculiarities in the structure of the 
= swamp cypress (Taxodium distichum). 
November 6. Mr. M. P. Kennard described the recently dis- 
covered glacial relics at Lucerne, Switzerland. 
APPALACHIAN Mountatn. CLuB.—November 13. Prof. E. T. 
. Quimby read a paper on Sun telegraphing, and Prof. E. C. Picker- 
-~ ing remarked on a proposed aen of mountain signalling. 
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS! 
Tue GerocrapuicaL Macazins.— November. The Afghan 
~ passes (with a map of the Kaibar, Karkatcha and Kurram passes), 
by Trelawny Saunder>. The Kuldja Question. Explorations in 
Greenland, by R. Brown. M. Ujfalvy’s Travels in Central Asia. 
THE GEOLOGICAL MaGazine—November. The parm history 
e Cephalopoda, recent and fossil, by Miss A. C 
articles mnnarenttet under a eg are usually selected. 
