So The American Geologist. Augnst, i899 
S. Geol. Survey), discusses somewhat elaborately the glacial 
history of the Cape Cod peninsula and of the contiguous New 
England islands; and his conclusions differ widely, in several 
ways, from those which seem to me, and partially, at least, to 
some other glacialists, demonstrable or highly probable. The 
present paper is contributed to this discussion, with all due 
respect but as the performance of a duty, that these alterna- 
tive views may be compared with the explanations offered by 
Prof. Shaler, who confesses that much dif^culty besets his in- 
terpretation of the glacial record in that region. 
As a summary is here attempted, rather than detailed de- 
scriptions of the drift formations and special application of 
principles to explain each in its varying development, the stu- 
dent should refer to the literature of this subject, for which pur- 
pose a list of authors and papers is appended. Citations of 
opinions of these authors will therefore not require foot-note 
references to their place and date of publication. For conveni- 
ence of statement, the questions considered are presented in 
five parts or divisions, each of which is treated as concisely as 
appears practicable, omitting of necessity much amplification 
which might make my meaning and the evidences in support 
of my arguments more clear. Limits of space also forbid my 
expression, excepting at this place, of my high appreciation of 
Prof. Shaler's great ability in reasoning, his courage in stating 
his results, and their attractive form, in this and in all his 
abundant literary work, winning always a wide range of read- 
ers. 
Epeirogenic Movements causing Glaciation. 
Immediately south of the west end of Long Island, the sub- 
marine continuation of the Hudson river valley across the out- 
er part of the continental slope, to the distance of a hundred 
miles southeast of Sandy Hook, proves a great epeirogenic up- 
lift of this region. The gently declining submerged plain, 
continuous with the Cretaceous and Tertiary coastal plain of 
New Jersey and the more southern Atlantic states, is trenched 
by a well defined valley which has a moderate depth for seven- 
ty-five or eighty miles and beyond sinks to a maximum sound- 
ing of 2,844 feet near its opening into the abyssal ocean. The 
margin of the continental plain has soundings of 600 feet, be- 
neath which the ancient Hudson valley, along its outermost 
