1S92.] 
499 
[Crosby. 
where, the eskers of Auburnclale and Xewtonville seem to accord 
better with the former than with the latter hypothesis. 
The argument here employed is in brief as follows : — 
1. The eskers and sand plateaus of Auburndale and Newton- 
ville were formed by running water just inside and outside of the 
ice margin in the closing stage of the last glacial epoch. 
2. The ice-sheet was a stagnant, decayingmass at the time of 
their formation, as is shown by the ragged outline of its margin. 
3. Eskers and sand plateaus are genetically connected ; the 
term, feeding esker, is fully warranted by the relation of the two 
in position, structure, and composition. 
4. The sand plateaus were made rapidly ; this is proved by the 
absence of disordered beds at their heads, where space would have 
been opened by the backward melting of the ice had the forward 
growth of the plateau been slow. The eskers were also made 
rapidly, as is shown by their “ open-work gravels.” 
5. The diversion of the feeding streams to other outlets left 
the plateaus and the eskers without further energetic action as the 
ice melted away from them. 
6. The present form and structure of the eskers are more ac- 
cordant with the supposition of a subglacial origin than of a 
superglacial origin ; but it is not intended to imply that other 
eskers of more irregular form and different structure could not 
have been deposited in superglacial channels. 
Harvard College . March , 1892. 
GEOLOGY OF HINGHAM, MASS. 
BY W. O. CROSBY. 
f Abstract . ] 
INTRODUCTION. 
The town of Hingham is divided into two distinct and very un- 
equal geological areas. The sedimentary rocks and interbedded 
1 This paper was read before the Society on May 20, 1891, and will be published in 
full in volume IY of the Occasional Papers ; but in view of the unexpected delay in is- 
suing that volume, it is deemed expedient to insert this abstract in the Proceedings at 
this time. The abstract, unlike the complete monograph, is limited to the hard rocks, 
and especially to that part of the geology of Hingham illustrated by the accompany- 
ing maps (Pis. XI Y, XY, and XYI). 
