Wright.] 210 [April 2, 
Tre Kames AND MoRAINES oF NEw ENGLAND. 
By GrorGE FREDERICK WRIGHT. 
In December, 1876, I read a paper before this Society on ‘‘ Some 
Remarkable Gravel Ridges in the Merrimack Valley,” an abstract of - 
which was published with maps, in Vol. x1x. p. 47-63 of its Pro- 
ceedings. A year previous, a paper of similar import was read be- 
fore the Essex Institute, an abstract of which may be found in Vol. 
vil, 165-168, of their Bulletin. 
The phenomena described in those papers, prove to be even more 
extensive than we then anticipated. The two persons to whom sci- 
ence will be most indebted for observations in the field concerning 
the topic under consideration, are Mr. Warren Upham,.of the New 
Hampshire Geological Survey, and Prof. George H. Stone, of Kent’s 
Hill, Maine. I propose, this evening, to give their observations with 
my own, that the whole subject, so far as now known, — both in its 
phenomenal and theoretical aspects, — may be before us. 
For detailed descriptions of the gravel ridges described, you are 
referred to my previous paper, and to the third volume of the New 
Hampshire Geological Report, prepared by Mr. Upham. 
The completed results of Professor Stone’s observations in Maine 
will not appear in authentic form till another year has been spent in 
the field. For facts regarding the’series of ridges in Maine, I am 
indebted to articles by him in the Maine Farmer, the Lewiston Even- 
ing Journal, and to private correspondence. 
1. In Sweden the chief phenomena under consideration are called 
“ Eskers,”’ in Scotland “‘ Kames,” which is the word adopted by Mr. 
Upham, and may well come into general use. 
A kame, as we now know it, is a single ridge of gravel, (or series 
of tortuous and reticulated. gravel ridges, occupying a belt some- 
times a quarter of a mile wide, and from twenty to a hundred feet in 
height,) extending to indefinite distances in linear direction. The 
base of the cross section of a single ridge is usually not more than 
four times the height, —the slant being about as steep as the nature 
of the material will permit in the open air. 
2. They are composed of rounded or irregular stones, gravel, sand 
and clay. The stones are frequently three or four feet in diameter. 
The extent to which they are rounded varies greatly in different 
localities. 
