62 



SCIENCE. 



and would probably have been passed over by cne- mak- 

 ing a careless examination. The Medical Presse of 

 Vienna reports 80 cases at one town and 40 at another 

 city, and the mere recent fatal cases on board the British 

 School ship Cornwallis would appear to suggest the im- 

 portance of an official examination of all pork to be used 

 tor food. 



PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



At the one hundred and ninety-second meeting of the 

 Philosophical Scciety, cf Washington, a very interesting 

 communication was read by Prof. J. W. Chickering, en- 

 titled, " Notes on Roan Mountain, Notth Carolina." 



The Appalachian chain with its undulating line of 1300 

 miles from the promontory of Gaspe" on the Gulf ot St. 

 Lawrence to Georgia and Alabama, beginning as a series 

 of folds of moderate height, increases in complexity and 

 altitude from north to south, attaining its greatest eleva- 

 tion in the Black Range cf North Carolina. Following 

 it from Gaspe to the Hudson we find the single chain of 

 the Green Mountains reaching its extreme height in Mt. 

 Mansfield, 4430 feet ; the outlying cluster of the White 

 Mountains with Mt. Washington, 6288 feet, and others 

 exceeding 5000 feet ; Mt. Katahdin, in Maine, about 5200 

 feet ; the Adirondacks, with Mt. Marcy, 5379 and the 

 Catskills considerably lower. From the Hudson to New 

 River, Va., a distance of 450 miks, it gradually gains 

 both in width and altitude. It consists of many parallel 

 ranges with fertile valleys between, of which the great 

 Valley of Virginia is the largest and best known, and all 

 in reality a part of that Piedmont region. In Pennsylvania 

 the summits vary from 800 to 2500 feet. Towards the 

 south the chains become mere 1 umerous and indented, 

 and in Virginia the Peaks of Otter reach 4000 feet. The 

 extreme eastern range is called the Blue Ridge, the ex- 

 treme western the Cumberland Mountains, or more 

 properly plateaus, while the high range or ranges between 

 is in general called the Alleghenies. 



From the New River southward, the system becomes 

 more complex. Tne main chain hitherto called the Blue 

 Ridge is deflected to the west, and for 250-300 miles in a 

 circuitous chain under the names of Iron, Stone, Bild, 

 Great Smoky and Unaska Mountains joins the boundary 

 between North Carolina and Tennessee, rising frequently 

 to a height exceeding 6000 feet. The more eas'erly 

 range retaining the name of Blue Ridge, having its south- 

 ern terminus in Caesar's Head in South Carolina, turns 

 abruptly to the northwest and reaches even loftier al i- 

 tudes, Mitchells Peak being accredited with 6717 feet. 

 In North Carolina these two ranges are more than 50 

 miles apart, are partially connected by transverse ranges, 

 and for more than 100 miles constitute a great central 

 plateau like that of Colorado on a small scale. 



The eastern chain or Blue Ridge is still the watershed, 

 and on the Atlantic slope gives rise to the Roanoke, Ca- 

 tawba, Broad, Saluda and Savannah rivers. On the other 

 side, this area of mountains and plateaus is separated by 

 transverse chains into many deep basins. At the bottom 

 of each runs one of those mountain streams, the New 

 Watanga, Nolechucky, French, Broad and others. These 

 are compelled to cut their way to join the Tennessee 

 through gaps, gorges and defiles in the heart of this great 

 chain, giving us some of the most picturesque scenery to 

 be found on the continent. 



In the midst of this region with all three ranges in sight 

 stands Roan Mountain (a Laurentian mass), the State 

 line crossing it at an altitude of 6391 feet. I desire to 

 call altention to some of the peculiarities of the region as 

 contrasted with the northern Appalachians. 



Standing upo i the summit of Roan we look into seven 

 different States, and command a horizon of 30 to 80 miles. 

 On the north and west the eye catches the Cumberland 

 Range on the horizon, and in the interval the great Cum- 

 berland plateau, and and many other ranges, but all as 

 level as if designed for railroad embankments — sometimes 



not a peak to be seen in 40 miles of crest. On the south 

 is a wilderness of mountains. Guyot gives fifty to sixty 

 with altitudes exceeding 6000 feet, and yet the highest is 

 only 6717, and perhaps forty cf them between 6000 and 

 6500, and hundieds of others 5000 +. The valleys rarely 

 go below 3000 feet. The railroad after leaving Lynch- 

 burgh in a tew miles reaches 1000 feet, and from that 

 point for nearly 300 miles rarely goes below 1 500 feet, and 

 at cne point reaches 2550. The true Piedmont region, 

 extending through to Virginia, North and South Carolina, 

 Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee, at an elevation of 

 1500 to 2500 feet, offers as attractive a region for health 

 and comfort as can be found on the globe. 



Uniformity of tempirature. During nine weeks the 

 mercury indicated once 75", seven times 70°+, once 45 , 

 three times 50 — , the general daily variation being be- 

 tween 55 and 65 . The spring a few rods from the 

 hotel, has a temperature of 45 '. Equally remarkable 

 was the unifo:mity of atmospheric pressure, the highest 

 barometer being 24 19, and the lowest 23.87. No wind 

 had a velocity greater than 20 miles an hour, and sel- 

 dom reached ten miles. The last time I was at M*. 

 Washington, in August, the mercury was 36' and the 

 wind 40 miles. 



tertility of summit. Instead of the upper 1000 feet 

 being, as in most of the higher northern peaks, a pile of 

 barien rocks with lichens their only vegetation, the sum- 

 mit ot Roan and many other peaks is a smooth grassy 

 slope of the most vivid green, dotted with clumps of 

 Ainu ; viridis, Rhododendron Latawbiensc, the soil one 

 or two feet deep and black. How this amount of humus 

 was accumulated, and what cause destroyed the forests 

 which its existence seems to indicate as formerly exis ing 

 are questions not easily answered. The valleys are very 

 feitile and adapted to almost any crop. 



At an elevation of 3000 to 4000 feet occurs a belt of 

 the most magnificent forest trees I have ever seen. 

 Hundreds of chestnuts, sugar maples, lindens, tulip trees, 

 yellow beeches, and buck-eyes were seen from four to 

 seven feet in diameter, and rising 70 to 80 feet without a 

 limb. One chestnut measured 24 feet in circumference, 

 and one black cherry 19 feet. Thorn bushes were as 

 large as apple trees, and with dwarf buck-eyes and yel- 

 low beeches looked like old orchards of vast extent in 

 the higher levels. 



Flora. Ascending the mountain, the vegetation takes 

 on a northern aspect. Hemlocks abound till near the 

 summit, where they are replaced by Abies Fraseri, the 

 characteristic spruce of these summits. Anemone nemor- 

 osa, Oxalis acetosella, Rubrus'ordoratus, Asteracuminatus, 



■ Habenaria orbiculata, Ribes lacustris and prostratum.Ver- 

 atrum viride, Lycopodium lucidulum and similar species, 

 temind one of the woods of Maine and New Hampshire. 



1 The peculiar flora of the upper 1000 feet greatly resembles 

 in habit those of the White Mountains, but very few are 

 of the same species. Paronychia argyrocoma, Alnus viridis, 



\ and a species of Lycopodium are almost the only plants 



I occurring to me as common to the two localities. Ane- 

 mone Grcenlandensis is replaced by A. glabra ; Solidago 

 thyrsoidea by S. glomerata. The species peculiar to. 

 these mountains in general are hardly sub-alpine, and 

 thus continuous with similar species further north but 

 rather apparent instances of local variation, many species 

 being confined to very narrow localities. The same is 

 true of the molluscs. On Mt. Washington, a few rods 

 will sometimes give the same plant in bud, flower and 

 fruit, as a north or south exposure, a precipice, or a snow- 

 drift, may retard or accelerate growth. But on these 

 southern mountains no such difference obtains any more 

 than in the valleys below. 



On this communication Professor J. W. Powell re- 

 marked that the uniformity of altitude of the peaks is a 

 a feature resulting from the fact that the mass out of 

 which they have been carved by erosion possesses a 

 plateau structure. The elevation of that region was dis- 



