1883.] Geology and Paleontology. 645 
ice; and the studies made by him and others upon the tempera- 
ture and moisture of the air on the inland ice corroborate this 
conclusion. His expedition started in May. A Danish expedi- 
tion will also be sent to the east coast of Greenland. T 
death of Dr. Kayser, who had been sent by the German African 
Society to their station on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, is 
announced in a communication from Zanzibar, dated Nov. 8, 1882. 
——The Lena meteorological station is situated in 73° 22’ 30” 
N. lat., and 126° 34’ 55” E. long. The health of the expedition 
is satisfactory. 
GEOLOGY AND PALAMONTOLOGY. 
Tue Decay or Rocks GEoLociIcALLy ConsipERED.! — The 
and in the Blue Ridge. In connection with the latter he de- 
scribed the decay not only of the crystalline strata but of their 
enclosed masses of pyritous ores and the attendant phenomena. 
The decay of the primal and auroral strata of the Appalachian 
valley, and the formation therein of clays and of iron and man- 
§anese-oxyds was also discussed. The Pre-cambrian antiquity 
of the process of decay in the Eozoic rocks in the Mississippi 
Position seen in the Pliocene auriferous gravels in California was 
described and explained. 
Northern regions during the drift period was then considered, and 
a thesis advanced by the writer in 1873, that the decomposition 
erosion, which removed previously softened materials, 
unt, LL.D., F.R.S., read before the National 
, April 17, 1883. 
