10 



REPORT ON THE GEOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT. 



By Josiah D. Whitney, Sturgis Hooper Professor of Geology. 



In this department two courses of lectures were given. The 

 first of these was on the Physical Geography and Geology of 

 North America, and the Past and probable Future Development 

 of its Material Resources. This course (twice a week, lasting 

 through the College year) was attended by about thirty -five 

 persons, mostly Seniors, with a few special students and candi- 

 dates for a higher degree. The second course (once a week, 

 through the year) was on Mineral Veins and Metalliferous De- 

 posits, their mode of occurrence, and theories of their origin. 

 This course was attended by about half a dozen persons, mostly 

 Seniors, with one or two officers of instruction in the College. 

 For the current year (1889-90) an arrangement has been made 

 with Mr. Wolff, Instructor in Petrography, by which his course, 

 of four lectures a week, with laboratory work, will occupy the 

 first half of the year, while during the second half the Sturgis- 

 Hooper Professor will take the subject of Economical Geology, 

 with a similar amount of lectures and library work. This is 

 done in order that there may be more concentration of the 

 student upon the subject selected, and also that those who 

 wish to take Economical Geology may have the opportunity to 

 become prepared for a course of this kind, in which a knowledge 

 of mineralogy and some acquaintance with rocks is extremely 

 desirable. 



The volume entitled " The United States, Facts and Figures 

 illustrating the Physical Geography of the Country and its Mate- 

 rial Resources," mentioned in the last Report, has been published 

 during the year, and occupies 472 pages. In this volume the 

 statistics as prepared for the article in the Encyclopaedia Britan- 

 nica, of which the volume in question is mainl}' a reprint, have, 

 as far as possible, been brought down to the year 1888. An 



