MeetuKj of the American Associaf/oti. — Upham. 217 
of Natural History; Prof. J. J. Stevenson, of New York City, 
in a strain reminiscent of the great personal sacrifices made 
by Prof. Hall to insure the continuance of his investigations, 
and of the important personal influence exerted by him in the 
training of geological workers; and Prof. E. O. Hovey, recall- 
ing his own early experiences with the now venerable man. 
These proceedings, which were exceedingly gratifying to all 
present, were closed by ver}'^ happy words from the vice pres- 
ident. 
Prof. Emekson's Address. 
The address of the vice president in Section E, entitled 
''Geological Myths," traced the origin and history of several 
myths which arose from geological events and conditions, in- 
cluding the Chim;era, which had reference primarily to a 
burning gas spring; Niobe, whose legend was suggested by 
the drip of waters from the limestone roof above an ancient 
colossal bust carved in the living rock on the side of a valley 
near the present city of Smyrna; Lot's wife, referring to 
columnar cliffs, sj)ared in the subaerial erosion of the 
wall of salt and gypsum-bearing marls of Kashum Usdum, 
adjoining the southwestern shore of the south part of the 
Dead sea; and the traditions of a universal flood, the origin 
of which was thought b}' the speaker, following Suess, to be 
explainable by the coincidence of a great storm and an earth- 
quake wave at the mouth of the Euphrates. Tliis address is 
published in full in Science for September 11, 1896 (new 
series, vol. iv, pp. .328-344). 
Lectures by Profs. Spencer and Cope. 
Two public lectures, complimentary to the citizens of Buf- 
falo, were given on Wednesday and Thursday evenings, each 
being accompanied with lantern illustrations. The flrst was 
by Prof. J. W. Spencer, entitled " Niagara as a Time Piece.'' 
His explanations of the high shore lines around the great 
Laurentian lakes as of marine formation, and his computations 
of the duration cf Niagara falls, belonging to the Postglacial 
period, as 32,000 years, presented in this lecture, had appeared 
in the American Geoeogist for November, 1894 (vol. xiv, pp. 
289-301), and in AppJeton's Popular Science Monthly for May 
pf the present year. 
