Annual Meeting.] 368 [May 4, 



Problems in Physical Geography. Geographic classification was 

 treated of in two lessons and the laws of the evolution of the prin- 

 cipal topographical types occupied the remainder of the course. 

 Professor Davis gave the class the benefit of the results of his in- 

 vestigations, which are original contributions of importance to the 

 progress of physical geography. The effectiveness of the graphic 

 modes of illustration, by means of diagrams and models, demands 

 special notice, especially the lesson upon the glacial period and 

 the effects of the great glacier upon the area of the great lakes. 

 This was shown by means of a relief model whose surface was 

 composed of an ingenious arrangement of overlying and differently 

 painted surfaces. By removing these in succession, the lecturer 

 traced the whole history of changes following upon the recession 

 of the continental glacier, and its effects upon the surface waters, 

 especially upon the outlines of the Great Lakes and the changes in 

 their outlets. The impression made upon the audience by this 

 mode of presentation satisfied us that a great improvement in the 

 modes of instruction in physical geography could be introduced 

 by following out this method. The average attendance was one 

 hundred and forty-three. 



The second course consisted of ten lessons on American Archae- 

 ology by Prof. F. W. Putnam of Harvard University. The topics 

 selected covered the whole range of the remains of prehistoric man 

 and his life on this continent, so far as these subjects could be pre- 

 sented in ten lessons. The original methods of research elaborated 

 by Professor Putnam, which have made his name the first in his 

 chosen department of archaeological work, rendered this course 

 remarkably interesting and instructive. Specimens were studied 

 and given away in sufficient numbers to illustrate the modes of 

 making stone implements and some of the different kinds of pot- 

 tery. The costliness and rarity of most of the objects, however, 

 naturally prevented any further extension of our usual mode of prac- 

 tical instruction. 



Professor Putnam also invited the teachers to make a visit to 

 the Museum, of which he is director at Cambridge, after the close 

 of the course, and there gave them an opportunity to inspect the 

 larger objects, which it had not been possible to bring into the city. 

 His audience became so much interested in the famous serpent 

 mound in Ohio, now threatened with destruction, that a voluntary 



