206 
Clinch River in Virginia. He next examined the coal- 
beds on Big Yellow Creek in Bell county, Ky., and 
the Dyestone iron-ore beds a few miles farther down 
Poor valley. The following month the work on Clinch 
River was continued in Hancock. county, Tenn., 
especially with the object of ascertaining and more 
accurately defining the extent and direction of the 
faulting so well displayed in that section. ‘The upper 
coal-measures were also examined, and a running 
field-chart of the county made. In the latter part 
of the month, Professor Sayles discovered some very 
interesting cave-deposits in a quarry in Hawkins 
county, Tenn. The formations of this county were 
carefully studied during September and October, and 
large collections of fossils obtained. The latter part 
of October found Professor Sayles at Knoxville, in 
accordance with his orders, to examine the vicinity 
of Knoxville and Centreville for Potsdam fossils to 
supplement Mr. Walcott’s paleontologic work. He 
was engaged in this region through November and 
December. 
Topographic work in eastern Tennessee. — With a 
view to facilitate future geologic work, the division 
for the topographic survey of the southern Appala- 
chian region was organized upon a considerably en- 
larged scale for the season of 1883. As already noted 
in Science, five topographic and two triangulation 
parties were put in this field. 
Topographic party No. 3, in charge of Mr. Frank 
M. Pearson, was assigned to the valley of East Ten- 
nessee. The territory covered by his party includes 
about five thousand square miles, lying between par- 
allels 36° and 36° 35’, and between meridians 82° 15’ 
and 84° 30’. This area is the northern half of the 
valley of East Tennessee; extending from the sum- 
mit of the Cumberland Mountains and Cumberland 
plateau, on the north and west, to the summit of the 
Smoky Mountains, or state line between North Caro- 
lina and Tennessee, on the south and east. The top- 
ographical character of this region is such that the 
methods of work employed in the west had to be some- 
what modified. It was necessary to carry on a con- 
siderable part of the work by means of compass 
meander-lines; and the rapidity of this class of work, 
and of the triangulation, was seriously interfered 
with on account of the dense timber which prevails 
everywhere, and by the atmospheric conditions, which 
are rarely favorable for clear views of any great ex- 
tent. The prominent topographical features are pe- 
culiar. Almost the entire main valley is occupied by 
parallel ridges, that have their origin in south-west- 
ern Virginia, and run in a south-westerly direction 
through Tennessee, and into Alabama and Georgia. 
In this, of course, the drainage system is simple, the 
larger streams, with few exceptions, being confined 
by the ridges which enclose their head waters. 
The Bays Mountain, consisting of a great number 
of these parallel ridges, or mountains, as they are 
wrongly called, constitutes the divide between the 
Holston River on the west, and the Nolachucky and 
French Broad Rivers on the east. In the vicinity 
of this mountain, and on either side, the drainage 
is almost entirely underground, the water flowing 
SCIENCE. 
through and in the limestone strata that underlie 
this region. This renders the tracing of the streams 
a difficult matter. The minor drainage collects in 
numerous sink-holes, which occur on the broad di- 
vides from which the streams flow in underground 
channels, and come to the surface again in unex- 
pected places, and frequently at considerable dis- 
tance from the point of disappearance. A striking 
example of this kind of drainage is seen in Mossy 
Creek, which is also interesting from the luxuriant 
growth of confervoids and moss with which its bed 
is covered. This stream rises on the north slope of 
Bays Mountain, and, after a course of three miles, 
disappears, and is not seen as a surface-stream for 
a distance of seven miles, when it re-appears, and 
flows for three miles to its junction with the Holston 
River. Five miles from the source of the stream 
there is a so-called sink-hole, which is six hundred 
feet in length and of unknown depth. A ninety-foot 
pole does not touch the bottom. This is really a 
surface appearance of the stream. A saw-mill was ‘ 
located on the creek a short distance above the first 
point of disappearance; and the people of the coun- } 
try have frequently noticed that slabs and saw-dust 5 
from the mill would rise to the surface in this sink- i 
hole, then disappear, and come to the surface again 
in Mossy Creek, three miles above its mouth, where 
it rises for the last time. 
Mr. Pearson says that the topographical unity of the 
ridges and valleys is not recognized by the inhabit- 
ants of the country, and hence some confusion has 
arisen. ‘To the same ridge or valley, often only fifteen 
or twenty miles in length, as many as five different 
names are frequently applied; the universal custom 
being to re-name a ridge or valley whenever it is 
cut in two or crossed by a stream. This confusion 
of names also arises partly from the fact that no 
thorough or connected survey of the region has ever 
been made, although it is one of the earliest settled 
portions of the United States. 
The natural water-power facilities of the Appala- 
chian region have recently been the subject of much 
notice, and in this respect the valley of East Ten- ; 
nessee is unexcelled. There are in it many streams 
of considerable length, affording abundant water- h 
power, that are not indicated on even the best ex- 
isting maps of the region. Other additions and ’ 
corrections of considerable importance have been 
determined by the work of Mr. Pearson. 
5 
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS. 4 
Museum of comparative zodlogy. 3 
Arrangement of exhibilion-rooms. — The exhibition- 
rooms are comparatively small, each one devoted toa 
special subject, but so combined, that, when taken 
together, they illustrate the animal kingdom as a — 
whole, in its general relations and in its geographical. 
and paleontological range and distribution. They 
are intended not only to meet the wants of the pub- © 
lic at large, and of beginners. as well as of more — 
advanced university students, but also to promote — 
research by giving assistance to specialists and origi- — 
nal investigators. Meanwhile the work of the es 
