262 The American Geologist. . October, i892- 
in Washburn College, Topeka, Kas., left vacant by Prof . Cragin. 
The work of the chair will be developed principally along the line 
of geolog}', and will embrace an examination of the stratigraphy 
and paleontology of the Upper Carboniferous about Topeka, ex- 
tending finally over a considerable part of eastern Kansas. 
The Peerless Coal Company, of Dallas, Texas, has pur- 
chased the Calvert Bluff lignite, or l)rown coal, deposits, near Cal- 
vert, Texas, and will begin the briquetting of brown coal immedi- 
ately. This is one of the direct and practical results from the 
investigation, by state geologist Dumble, of European methods 
of the utilization of brown coal, and from his attempts to initiate 
such utilization of brown coals in America. The term -'lignite,'' 
as generally used in this country, is erroneously applied, most of 
the varieties of coal so called being either brown coals, pitch coals, 
or glance coals; the term lignite being properly applicable to the 
charcoal-like varieties which retain more or less perfectly the 
woody structure. 
The Age of the Eozoon. "It is well to note here that if the 
Eozoon is really animal in origin, the 'Laurentian' rocks of 
Canada, in which it occurs, must be Huronian, or the later of 
Archjean terranes. "■ J. D. Dana, Amer. Jom-. Sci., Jane. 1892. 
p. JtB2. 
Another old outlet of Lake Huron. "In The Nation for 
September 22, Prof. G. F. Wright describes an old channel 
which connects lake Nipissing with Trout lake. The former is 
tributary to lake Huron, about 70 feet lower, by way of French 
river, and the latter flows by way of the Mattawan river into the 
Ottawa river. A subsidence amounting to only a trifle more than 
a hundred feet, would turn the current from lake Huron through 
lake Nipissing into the Mattawan and thence into the Ottawa, 
thus robbing Niagara of most of its glory. The subsidence 
which came with the close of the Glacial epoch was more than 
ample to produce this change, and the great lakes seem to have 
had discharge there for thousands of years before they acquired 
that by way of Niagara. This discovery confirms, in the opinion 
of Prof. Wright, the surmise of Mr. G. K. Gilbert, who reason- 
ing from a known differential northerly subsidence had suggested 
some time ago that the great lakes may formerly have had a dis- 
charge by Avay of the Ottawa river. The duration of this dis- 
charge must be added to the usually accepted length of post- 
glacial time, so far as it is based on a computation of the reces- 
sion of Niagara falls, since the Niagara recession must have be- 
gun after this channel was closed. 
