62 The American. Geologist. January, I89r> 
later I'ln-irogi'iuc movi'incnts of tliis rcyioii may well liavc been similarly 
related, in common fausalion. witii orouenic loldiiii;- and I'aultiiiji' ot'our 
('()rdillera^ mountain belt. \v. r. 
The ArertKje Kliu-dfion of tin' United States. \\\ IIknky Gannett. 
(Tiiirteentli An. Kei)., V. S. (ieol. Survev, Part 11, pp. 2S:!-28!), with 
plate c'vii.) From Die eomi)ilations of aititndi^s which are published in 
Bulletins o, 72 and 70 of this survey, and from all other available hyp- 
sometric datii, a contoured map of the United States on a scale of 
'23l»Vooor "'■ iibout 40 miles to an inch, has l)een published, from which 
the map forming plate {'Vir, folded in the pocket of the volume, has 
been produced by reduction. This map is on the scale of about 10.") 
miles loan inch, and is colored to display the areas between the suc- 
cessive contour lines of the seashore and 100 feet, 500 feet, 1,000, 2,000, 
5,000, 8,000 and 11,000 feet above the sea. In his paper Mr. (Jannett 
states the mean altitude of each state and its respective areas between 
these and other intercalated contour lines. The mean altitude of the 
whole United States is found to be appro.ximately 2,.")00 feet. Delaware, 
with a mean hight of about (50 feet, and Florida, about 100 feet, are the 
lowest states, v.'hile Wyoming, at (5,700 feet, and Colorado, at 0,800 feet, 
are the highest. Since the i)ublication of this paper, a careful determi- 
nation of the mean altitude of Minnesota, from the contoured maps 
prepared by the geological survey of that state, has given it as ai)proxi- 
mately 1,224 feet, quite well agreeing with jNlr. tiannett's estimate, 
which is 1,200 feet. w. v. 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
RkM.\KKS on TIIK HeKNEK ObKKLANU SE(TU)NS of PuOF. H. (iOI.MKZ 
IN THE GeOLOOK AL HANDBOOK OF SWITZERLAND, 18!)4.* 
Mr. Golliez has published in the "Uvret (iuide" two .sections of the 
Bernese Oberland which vary so materially from all i)revious resiilts that 
I feel myself compelled to a reply, all the more because this book is cer- 
tain of a wide distribution and 1 see that the new theory has created 
surprise among Swiss geologists. 
1. Section Meiringen-lnnertkirchen by Mr. Golliez p. 207. 
Mr. (Jollie/. assumes il is true a great Hal fold, but i)Uts instead of 
Malm, Trias I in contradiction to all jireNious obser\i'rs. 
The trough nucleus of Lias and Dogger rises according to him theoret- 
ically towards the middle of the Pfatfenkopf wedge, Dogger and Lias are 
assumed as doubled in the Unlerwasser section: at the entrance to the 
gorg(M)f the Aar at Meiringen they bend back upwards. 
There must be weighty reasons which induce Mr. Gollie/. to place 
himself in contradiction to all the geologists who have hitherto studied 
this region. 
♦Translated by Dr. Persifor Frazer from a circular distributed at Zurich at tlie late 
meeting of the International Congress of Geologists. 
