3i8 The American Geologist. November, 1901. 
commensurate with the expectations of the society, will not 
only give an auspicious opening- for the twentieth century, bur 
will serve to promote the society and the interests for the ad- 
vancement of which it was established. The career of this 
society has been an honor to Americfa.. The next century 
promises to rank well with the last. N. ii. \v. 
REVIEW OF RECENT GEOLOGICAL 
LITERATURE. 
Geology of the Eastern Choctazv Coal Field; by J. A. Taff and G. L 
Adams. (U. S. Geolog. Surv., 20th Ann. Rept., Pt. II, pp. 257-311, 
1901). 
To those interested in the American Carboniferous every new con- 
tribution to our knowledge of the Ouichita district is of the greatest 
interest. One reason is the enormous thickness of the Carboniferous 
section that is said to prevail in this district. The eastern Choctaw 
coal field is in the eastern part of Indian Territory, and extends south- 
ward from the Arkansas river. It therefore lies in a region from which 
may be expected much critical evidence bearing upon the most import- 
ant part of Carboniferous history on this continent. 
No district in this country is more instructive as regards topog- 
raphy than that in which the Choctaw field is situated. A well defined 
lowland plain is one of the most notable features of the relief. Out of 
it rise the isolated mountains. "These low-level broadened valleys 
lying between the mountains grade insensibly northward into the greater 
valley of the Arkansas. The streams of the lowland are corroding their 
channels very little, and in general are sluggish and are bordered by 
wide flood-plains which are very little below the general surface of the 
lowland plain." A highland plain is also in evidence. "A great number 
of ridges, hills, and nearly level highlands rise from the lowland plain 
to elevations of nearly- 8co feet above sea-level. These crests, there- 
fore, lie practically in a horizontal plane which is considered to have 
been the general level of the country in recent geological times. The 
valleys of the streams lie below it, and above it rise the residuals of the 
mountains, among which the Arkansas river drainage flows. A few ox 
these mountains have elevations approximating the high levels at- 
tained by the principal ridges of the Ouichita mountains and the Ozark 
jjlateau." 
