210 The American Geologist. April, i899 
the White mountains on the east, north, and west. Northern 
New England is not to-day well enough mapped or studied to 
give either decided support or disproof to the theory of pene- 
plains. Its ruggedness is generally so great that it is quite 
possible that the peneplain explanation does not apply to the 
greater part of the area. Little wonder that an observer 
whose attention is given to this mountainous "district, under 
the impression that its mountain tops represent the remnants 
of a peneplain, should come to discredit such an explanation. 
A 2. Tlie iiplands of souther/ 1 Nezv E?iglafid and of fiorth- 
ern New Jersey are not of luiiforni altitude. It is urged that 
a careful examination of the topographic maps of these re- 
gions disproves the accordance claimed for their upland alti- 
tudes. In answer, I should say that the lack of uniformit}' 
among the uplands — a fact perfectly familiar to those who ac- 
cept the peneplain idea — is partly the result of ti|tfing, as will 
be further considered below (see A 4) ; and that for the rest 
the unevenness of the uplands of to-day is a natural result of 
imperfect peneplanation followed by submature dissection. 
The examination of the peneplain remnants by means of topo- 
graphic maps is not a new method of investigation, as it was 
employed for New Jersey in 1888-89, ^"^1 for southern New 
England a few years later; but, like observation out doors, it 
seems to lead different investigators to dififerent results. Con- 
siderable as the inequalities of altitude are, frequent study of 
the maps and repeated views of the uplands from various hill 
tops impress me much more with the relative accordance of 
their altitudes than with their diversity. I cannot admit that 
the appearance of accordance from hill top to hill top is an 
optical deception. There is an important matter of fact be- 
hind the appearance. 
The comparative evenness of the uplands in Connecticut 
was recognized and well described by Percival over half ?/ 
century ago. The state being divided into eastern and west- 
ern areas of primary rocks by the trough of Triassic strata, 
he said: — "the eastern and western primar\- may both be re- 
garded as extensive plateaus, usually terminating abruptly to- 
ward the larger secondary basin, but sinking more graduall}- 
toward the south, on the sound. These plateaus present, when 
viewed from an elevated ])oint on their surface, the appear- 
