May 16, 1884.] 
logical position occupy the lowest place geographically. 
The general plane of the country is determined by the 
upper surface of the conglomerate series, which con- 
tinues to rise from the west, until, in the mountains 
already mentioned, it attains an elevation ranging 
between thirty-two hundred and thirty-five hundred 
feet. The Raleigh plateau-region owes its existence 
to the presence of the conglomerate series. 
The comparatively incoherent strata of the carbon- 
iferous above the conglomerate sandstones were quick- 
ly eroded away. When the upper surface of the hard 
conglomerates was reached, the degradation of the 
surface in a measure ceased, and the mechanical 
action of the streams was concentrated in deepening 
and widening theirchannels. This has produced the 
eafion-like features so characteristic of the New-River 
district. 
The lateral wear in most cases was necessarily 
slight. The marshes of Coal River form, however, a 
singular exception to the general topographical fea- 
tures; as in this case the erosion, acting laterally, has 
resulted in a deep and rather broad valley. Thecon- 
glomerate series, with its slope to the north-west, 
passes beneath the lower coal-measures near the 
embouchure of Gauley River, which, in turn, sink 
beneath the water-level a short distance west of 
Charlestown. The lower barrens, which overlie 
them still farther west, pass beneath the upper coal- 
measures. 
The cafion-like features of the valleys are gradually 
lost as we go westward from the Kanawha Falls; and 
the hills become lower and lower, until, when the 
Ohio is reached, they do not rise more than two hun- 
dred feet above the river. . 
With the exception of the gradual difference in ele- 
vation due to the general rise in the country from the 
Ohio eastward, the surrounding knobs appear on one 
and the same level, and offer the most indisputable 
evidence of the plateau nature of the entire country; 
the mountains being simply the uneroded remnants 
of higher strata, resting on the basal plane of the 
conglomerate series. 
It is this character of the country, in which there 
are few salient points well located for suitable sta- 
RECENT PROCEEDINGS 
Boston society of natural history, 
May 7.— Mr. F. W. Putnam spoke of an interest- 
ing find by Dr. C. C. Abbott, who has made such im- 
portant discoveries in the Trenton gravels of the 
Delaware-river valley, and who was the first to prove 
that man existed on the eastern coast of America at 
the time a large part of the country was covered 
with ice, or during the glacial period. The recent 
discovery was that of a portion of the right side of a 
human under jaw, which was found sixteen feet be- 
low the surface, in the gravel at the railroad cut near 
the Trenton (New Jersey) depot. In this same de- 
posit, and a few feet above the jaw, Dr. Abbott had 
SCIENCE. 
605 
tions for instrumental work, that retards topographi- 
cal work, and renders impracticable the application 
of methods that are elsewhere best adapted to effect 
the most economic and accurate results. 
The primary triangulation extending over this 
section connects at the north and south with the 
triangulation work of the U.S. coast and geodetic 
survey, while the lines of the secondary work estab- 
lish geographical positions throughout the entire area 
included between the Kanawha and Chattarawha 
Rivers. With these numerous geodetically deter- 
mined positions, it was found possible, by judicious 
adjustment, to utilize a large amount of existing ma- 
terial, sufficiently accurate in point of drainage detail, 
but heretofore valueless as a means of absolute loca- 
tion. 
The completed map, as prepared for publication, 
will be upon a scale of 1: 250,000, or approximately 
four miles to one inch, in approximate contour lines 
having a vertical interval of two hundred feet. When 
draughted, and made continuous with the government 
surveys extending throughout the whole southern 
Appalachian region, it will serve as a basis for subse- 
quent geologic investigation in the field. 
The field of work included in these surveys has long 
since been recognized as a most important one; and 
nowhere more than in the coal-measures of West Vir- 
ginia is there a greater need for most concise and 
accurate geological and geographical knowledge, for 
nowhere can be found circumstances so favorable for 
the advantageous employment of capital. 
Geological survey of Canada. 
New-Brunswick division. — Work in this province 
will be resumed in May, under the direction of Prof. 
L. W. Bailey, and will be carried on in portions of 
Carleton and Victoria counties with a view to the 
preparation of an additional sheet of the general 
geological map of the province, of which about eight 
sheets have been already issued. A series of obser- 
vations on the superficial geology will be simulta- 
neously but independently undertaken by Mr. R. 
Chalmers. 
OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 
previously found a human tooth, and many stone im- 
plements of arudetype. The fragment of human jaw 
was exhibited, and is shown to be worn and ground in 
the same way as the pebbles above and about it. Mr. 
Putnam was on the spot a few days after the jaw had 
been discovered (on April 18) by Dr. Abbott, and 
identified the gravel and sand matrix in which the 
jaw is enclosed, with the material in place. Near 
and in the gravel above this jaw was found, a few 
years since, the tusk of a mastodon. 
Anthropological society, Washington. 
May 6. — Mr. O. Dorsey gave a classification of the 
Siouan tribes, including the Sioux proper, Assine- 
