1 74 The American Geologist. Sc^ptember, i898 
interest only appear with their recognition as marginal phe- 
nomena of the ice sheet. On account of their irregular topo- 
graphy and areal distribution they are not so likely to attract 
attention as drumlins or even as some eskers, and not until the 
glacier theory was so established as to be made the basis of 
observation and investigation were moraines discriminated 
and mapped. Their systematic study is within the last twen- 
ty-five years. 
The earliest mention of moraines, by that name, in Ameri- 
can geology is believed to occur in the postscript to Edward 
Hitchcock's Geology of Massachusetts. (See above, page i6o. ) 
Appreciating their significance as glacial phenomena he gives 
a large space to moraines and notes their occurrence at vari- 
ous localities. The closing paragraph is as follows: 
"It is possible that the whole of cape Cod is nothing but a vast 
terminal moraine, produced by a glacier advancing through Massa- 
chusetts bay and scooping out the materials that now form the cape? 
In this case the moraines at Plymouth and Truro would form part of 
the lateral moraines, and probably most of Nantucket and Martha's 
Vineyard might be regarded as moraines of the same glacier, when it 
extended further south." 
The hills of the Long island moraine were described by 
Mather in 1843, in his report on the first New York district, 
but without recognizing their true character. 
In his chapter on surface geology, in the report on the 
geological survey of Canada for 1863, Robert Bell described 
ridges of drift as resembling moraines, along the Ottawa river, 
which was a correct diagnosis. His map of superficial depos- 
its, accompanying that report, is believed to be the first map 
of Pleistocene deposits published in x\merica with recognition 
of glacial agency. 
In 1864 J. D. Whitney published a notice of terminal mo- 
raines of alpine glaciers in the Sierra Nevada, about Mt. Lyell 
and Mt. Dana. In 1866 Whittlesey indicated on his map, in 
the Smithsonian Contributions, "morainic knolls" south of 
lake Erie, also west of lake Michigan, the latter being the 
noted "kettle range," studied later by Chamberlin, but appar- 
ently he did not understand their significance as terminal 
drift. 
In his report of the Iowa geological survey, 1870, Dr. C. 
A. White refers certain ridges, somewhat hesitatingly, to ter- 
