JANUARY 4, 1884.] 
surface-1ock of the country. On the summit of the 
mountain, which is about a mile in length, a brownish 
sandstone oecurs, which may possibly be Jurassic or 
even cretaceous; but all the rocks are probably refer- 
able to the Jura-trias, with the exception of some 
dark igneous rocks which occur as dikes on the slopes 
of the mountain. Within about a thousand feet of 
the summit is a spring of good water, where there is 
a good camping-place. The slopes are timbered; 
scrubby firs and balsams occurring on the top, with 
scrub-oaks below, and tall pines still lower down. 
Among the latter are many beautiful parks. The 
plateau-level surrounding the mountain is well 
covered with fine tall grass, over which are scattered 
patches of pifion pines and small areas of bare red 
sandstone. 
In the walls of a short cafion on the east side of the 
mountain, passed through by Mr. Wilson in hisascent, 
ruins of cliff or cave dwellings were seen in a cave or 
hollow in the rocks about five hundred feet above the 
bottom, and a hundred feet below the top. 
Ascent of Mount Shasta.— Mr. Clarence King, in his 
‘ Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada,’ says, “‘ There 
is no reason why any one of sound wind and limbs 
should not, after a little mountaineering practice, be 
able tomake the Shastaclimb. There is nowhere the 
shadow of danger, and never areal piece of mountain 
climbing, — climbing, I mean, with hands and feet, — 
no scaling of walls, or labor involving other a 
than simple muscular endurance.”’ 
Mr. Gilbert Thompson, who, during the Batt sum- 
mer and fall, spent about two months in topographic 
work on the slopes and summit of Mount Shasta, in- 
dorses this statement of Mr. King, and would add 
that there is no reason why a train of pack-mules may 
not be taken to the top of the peak. Mr. Thompson 
and one of his packers (Thomas Watson), on Sept. 
10, 1883, tied their riding-mules to the iron signal- 
post which marks the extreme summit of the cone, 
and are the first who have ever taken riding-animals 
to the top of Mount Shasta. On Oct. 12, 1883, the 
pack-train was taken to an altitude of 13,000 feet, 
and would have been taken to the top had not the 
early snows prevented. Another season, however, 
_Mr. Thompson expects to camp with hisentire train 
upon the summit of Mount Shasta, From one of his 
camps, at an elevation of 7,400 feet, it required seven 
hours to go to the top with the riding-animals, while 
one member of the party, starting from the same 
camp on foot (taking, of course, amore direct route), 
reached the summit after a climb of six hours. It 
took two hours to get back to this camp, and three- 
quarters of an hour sufficed for the return to the camp 
which was located at the elevation of 13,000 feet. Mr. 
King and his party in September, 1870, made the as- 
cent from thenorth-west. The first day they left their 
riding-animals at an elevation of about 10,000 feet, 
and climbed as far as the crater on the north-western 
spur, which point they reached about half-past one 
o’ clock in the afternoon. They spent the night here, 
and on the following day, after a climb of four hours 
and a half, reached the summit. Mr. Thompson’s 
ascent, mentioned above, was along a spur that ex- 
SCIENCE. 
27 
tends toward the south-east. Up this spur he says 
there is a natural trail, only 500 or 600 feet of which 
will require any work to make it perfectly safe for 
mules or horses with packs. The route described by 
Mr. King, and the one vid a south-western spur, are 
the routes usually followed by those who make the 
ascent from Strawberry valley, on the west side of 
the mountain. One member of Mr. Thompson’s party 
climbed the mountain also from the east, which makes, 
altogether, four different routes by which it has been 
ascended. Mr. Thompson says there are two other 
possible ways by which the mountain can be climbed. 
These are on the north-east side. He reports, also, 
that there are seven glaciers located on the north and 
east slopes of Mount Shasta. Those on the north 
and north-east are connected at their heads. A 
north-west and south-east line would divide the 
glacier-bearing side of the mountain from the non- 
glacier-bearing half. However, some of the fields of 
snow and ice on the west side have considerable re- 
semblance to glaciers, and may eventually be so de- 
termined. 
Mr. Thompson suggests that Mount Shasta would 
be the best point in this part of the west for a perma- 
nent high meteorological station like those located on 
the summits of Mount Washington and Pike’s Peak. 
Among the several reasons for this opinion, he men- . 
tions its accessibility, and the presence of hot-springs, 
which might be utilized in heating such a station, but 
more especially the fact that it is an isolated peak, 
rising high above the surrounding low country, and 
free, therefore, from the disturbing meteorological 
conditions induced by the presence of contiguous 
mountain ranges. Mount Shasta, Mr. Thompson 
says, does not belong to the Sierra Nevada nor to the 
Cascade Range, but stands alone. 
During the season a line of levels was begun at 
Berryville, where connection was made with the rail- 
road level, and carried some distance up the moun- 
tain. Next year this line will probably be carried to 
the summit of the peak. 
NOTES AND NEWS. 
THE Society of naturalists of the eastern United 
States, whose organization and aims were described 
in Science last spring, held a very successful and in- 
teresting meeting at Columbia college, New York, 
on Thursday and Friday of last week. The attend- 
ance was very large, and included many distinguished 
men. The membership has grown very rapidly, and 
now includes a large majority of the leading profes- 
sional naturalists of the eastern states. The papers 
presented were of a high character, and many of 
them provoked a discussion such as is rarely heard 
in any scientific body; for seldom are so many men, 
devoted to one branch of pure science, gathered to- 
gether. The communications, almost without excep- 
tion, referred to problems of practical interest, and 
dealt especially with methods and the organization 
of scientific work, and also with methods of teaching. 
Upon methods were read several papers, — Pro- 
