April 23, 1886.] 



SCIENCE. 



373 



noticed the same formation at this station upon the 

 anemoscope and anemometer. I would like to in- 

 quire whether the Mount Washing-ton formation is 

 really snow driven against the pole by the gale, or, 

 as at this station, an accumulation of fog in a frozen 

 state. This formation I have never observed during 

 snow-storms, even when accompanied by winds of 

 sixty miles and upwards, but it is of frequent occur- 

 rence when a heavy cloud envelops the peak. 



T. W. Sherwood, 



Sig. corps, U.S.A. 



Pikes Peak, Col., April 15. 



Quaternary volcanic deposits in Nebraska. 



It was the good fortune of the writer to discover 

 the following significant section during the last holi- 

 day vacation. It is in one of the abrupt bluffs over- 

 looking a sharp bend of the West Blue River, in the 

 southern part of Seward county, Neb. It exhibits 

 the formations from nearly the general level down to 

 the level of the stream. It is as follows : 2 ± feet 

 soil ; passing into 6 ± feet red gritty loam ; 9 ± feet 

 stratified loamy clay, with thin streaks of small white 

 quartz pebbles ; passing into 3 ± feet mostly gravel, 

 with a few bowlders of red quartzite from Dakota ; 

 passing into 15 + feet stratified loamy clay with 

 streaks of pebbles ; 6 to 10 inches of light gray earth, 

 volcanic ashes, thinly and evenly laminated ; 1£ feet 

 clay, darker above ; below passing into 5 feet fine 

 gray sand, with thin clay lamiuae 6 to 12 inches 

 apart ; 1 ± foot coarse sand with pebbles and bowl- 

 ders of red quartzite, — greenstone, — granite, etc., 

 with an uneven surface below ; 6 feet hard greenish 

 joint clay ; 8 feet slope ; water of the West Blue 

 River. 



A few rods distant a less complete but similar sec- 

 tion shows the siliceous layer five feet thick, and it 

 appears along the sides of a ravine at different places 

 for several rods, showing considerable persistency. 

 Specimens of it have been submitted to Mr. J. S. 

 Diller of the U. S. geological survey, with another 

 sample from Knox county. He replies, "Specimens 

 No. 1 (Knox county) and No. 2 (Seward county) are 

 volcanic dust. They are composed chiefly of minute 

 angular fragments of pumiceous glass, such as is 

 thrown high into the air during violent eruptions, 

 and wafted ty currents of air for hundreds of miles 

 away from its source. The fragments of glass are, 

 for the most part, clear and transparent, with few 

 traces of crystalline matter. Besides the volcanic 

 glass, there are numerous grains of quartz sand, 

 which are well rounded. ... As nearly as I 

 can estimate, from the small quantity examined, 

 more than ninety per cent of the whole is volcanic 

 dust. It appears that the material is of complex 

 origin. While there is no doubt that the volcanic 

 dust was borne by winds nearly or quite to its desti- 

 nation, the rounded grains appear to be of aqueous 

 origin, and suggest that the dust may have fallen in 

 a body of water, where the two commingled." 



Several important conclusions seem well - nigh 

 demonstrated by this section. 



1. The occurrence of important volcanic action 

 somewhere in this region during the quaternary. 

 The red quartzite could not have arrived in this 

 locality before the glacial epoch. If the section 

 eventually proves to be of a local formation, which 

 does not seem likely, it would only make the deposi- 

 tion of the dust more recent. 



2. The character of the siliceous deposit strongly 

 supports the conclusion that it was dropped in a deep 

 or quiet lake. This accords well with the deposits 

 above and below ; for the bowldery layers are, for 

 evident reasons, referred to floating ice, and the 

 character of stratification favors lacustrine rather 

 than fluviatile conditions : hence we are led to believe 

 that this lake was contemporaneous with the ice- 

 sheet which occupied the regions of Dakota and Iowa. 

 We catch a glimpse of the joint action of frost and 

 fire on our western plains. 



3. From the location of the section, and its rela- 

 tion to the White River tertiary sands, which, if 

 rightly identified, are widely exposed east of this 

 point, it appears not unlikely that this lake was but 

 the diminished stage of King's Lake Cheyenne. 

 Numerous finds of these siliceous beds have been 

 reported from the republican valley, and one as far 

 east as Oak Creek, Lancaster county. They prob- 

 ably belong to this same geological horizon. 



J. E. Todd. 



Tabor, Io., March 20. 



World time. 



The last number of Nature contains a lecture by 

 Mr. Christie, the astronomer royal of England, on 

 universal or world time. With Mr. Christie's princi- 

 pal conclusion I fully agree, but have not much faith 

 in some of his arguments, or in some of the results 

 he predicts. 



Mr. Christie bases one of his arguments on the 

 ignorance of farmers, and infers, that, because the 

 farmer cannot tell a difference of half an hour in 

 his time, we may therefore make this difference four, 

 five, or ten hours. But would the farmer be any 

 better off if he should tell his wife that he wants 

 breakfast at sixteen, seventeen, or twenty-two 

 o'clock ? Of course not. And it is not wise, I think, 

 to base any permanent action on the ignorance of 

 any class of men. Conditions may change ; and 

 such arguments, though they may answer for a 

 political or military campaign, are easily overdone, 

 and must be looked upon as only temporary. 



The most vicious assumption that underlies Mr. 

 Christie's argument, and which he has in common 

 with some other astronomers, is this : he assumes that 

 man was made for railroads and telegraphs, and not 

 that these things are for man. My natural assump- 

 tion would be that the chief astronomer of a great 

 country would have a wider view of things. But we 

 all know the liberality and influence of our great 

 corporations, and how they deal out free wires and 

 free service ; and we have all felt this on the recep- 

 tion of a free telegraphic despatch when we come to 

 the last letters, D. H. 



Now, I say with Mr. Christie, let the railroads 

 adopt a world time, and it does not matter what 

 meridian they take, though Greenwich is probably 

 the best, and let all their trains be run on this time. 

 Then, directly opposite to Mr. Christie's proposition, 

 let all the cities, villages, and farmers return to their 

 local and natural time. If the-railroads will do this, 

 the most ignorant farmer will soon understand 

 matters. I speak with confidence, because forty 

 years ago I was a farmer myself, and very ignorant. 

 There has been too much confusion given to this 

 matter, and our astronomers have been too eager to 

 sell time. They have better work to do. 



Asafh Hall. 



