560 



SCIENCE, 



[Vol. IV., No. 98. 



by those interested in securing early indications of 

 falling temperature; and in several parts of the coun- 

 try the telegrams are sent to all the stations on cer- 

 tain railroads that co-operate with the signal-service, 

 and thus promptly distribute weather-forecasts to the 

 towns along their routes. It is probable that the 

 coming year will see a considerable extension of this 

 kind of weather-service. 



— The report on the terminal moraine in Pennsyl- 

 vania, by Prof. H. Carvill Lewis, published by the 

 geological survey of that state, gives the detailed 

 observations on which was based the resume that 

 has already appeared in Science (ii. 163). The vol- 

 ume opens with a characteristic preface by Professor 

 Lesley; and the description of the moraine along its 

 irregular course follows in 

 nearly three hundred 

 pages, with numerous 

 sketch maps and allotypes. 

 The latter illustrate types 

 of landscape having a strik- 

 ingly glacial form, espe- 

 cially well shown in the 

 morainic deposits of Cher- 

 ry valley, Monroe county 

 (pl.x.,xi. ); and include a 

 remarkably fine view of a 

 scratched bowlder (pi. v.). 

 Students of glaciology are 

 already familiar with ob- 

 servations showing the 

 small regard paid by the 

 ice-sheet to hills and ridges 

 in its path. The effects of 

 a similar indifference to lo- 

 cal topography are seen in 

 the direct course of the 

 moraine across valleys; for 

 the opinion that separate 

 glaciers ran down each 

 river-valley like a series of 

 tongues projecting beyond 

 the margin of the united 

 glacial sheet is not sus- 

 tained by Professor Lewis's 

 investigations. The same 



report contains a note by Professor Lesley describ- 

 ing a remarkable monument — if a hole can be so 

 called — of glacial action. This is a pot-hole found 

 last winter by the men at work in the Pidge (coal) 

 mines of Messrs. Jones, Simpson, & Co., Archibald, 

 Luzerne county, Penn. It is twenty feet in diameter 

 and forty feet deep, and when found was full of round 

 stones, gravel, and fine sand; on removing this, the 

 walls of the natural air-shaft were disclosed, showing 

 the sandstone cut through clean and smooth, down 

 and into the underlying ccal-bed. The adjoining 

 coal was found in perfect condition. Flanges of rock 

 rise spirally from the lower part of the cavity toward 

 the surface. The cut here given is taken from a 

 photognph by Mr. Henry Frey of Scranton, Penn., 

 who has also published larger views, looking out of 

 as well as into the hole. A second pot-hole is also 



POT-HOLE FOUND IN A PENNSYLVANIA COAL-MINE 



reported, two miles from the above locality, near 

 Messrs. Winton & Dolph's mines. 



In the October number of the American journal 

 of science, Mr. Lewis discusses the validity of obser- 

 vations on supposed glacial action at eleven points in 

 Pennsylvania south of the terminal moraine, all of 

 which he has visited. He concludes that they are all 

 non-glacial, some being simple water-worn gravels, 

 others being ice-rafted bowlders, while the scratches 

 reported in two localities are pronounced slickensides 

 and plant-fossils. The glacial action reported in 

 Virginia needs similar re-examination. 



— Capt. H. W. Chetwynd, R.N., chief inspector of 

 lifeboats in Great Britain, having been directed to 

 test the use of oil in calming troubled waters, reports 

 that his experiments show 

 that there is little differ- 

 ence in the effect produced 

 by the various oils of 

 every-day use; very small 

 quantities of either colza, 

 linseed, fish, seal, or paraf- 

 fine oil being found suffi- 

 cient to cover a considera- 

 ble space with the smooth 

 glassy surface characteris- 

 tic of oil on water. The 

 effect of this oily film was 

 most marked on moderate 

 breakers, as it entirely 

 stopped their breaking, 

 and left only a gentle swell ; 

 but, on surf such as might 

 endanger the safety of a 

 lifeboat, the oil had but 

 little and often no calming- 

 effect. On several occa- 

 sions, when a larger break- 

 er than usual rose in a 

 moderate surf which the 

 oil had ' killed,' the oil was 

 powerless to check it; and 

 the sea broke through it, 

 covering the boat, gear,, 

 etc., with oil. It failed, 

 ' also, to have an effect on 

 breakers caused by a heavy ground-swell. To be 

 any protection, oil must be applied to the sea from 

 the boat or vessel in the direct line from which the 

 seas are advancing, and at a* sufficient distance to 

 give it time to spread and act upon the waves be- 

 fore they reach the vessel. This could be done in a. 

 lifeboat only in two positions: 1. When anchored, 

 and lying head to sea and tide; 2. When running 

 dead before the sea for the shore. In any other po- 

 sition, even supposing the oil to be calming the water, 

 it would probably be impossible to keep the boat 

 within its influence, and proceed towards a wreck or 

 other desired point, at the same time. Under these 

 circumstances, Capt. Chetwynd is of the opinion 

 that no practical advantages can arise from the use 

 of oil by the lifeboats of his institution, and he can- 

 not recommend its being issued to them. He states, 



