New-York daily tribune., 1856-08-29

Gcury IL in IN. beautiful groves Of rbodcdcndron
This cl occ green house plant grows there in va.
tbicket Is OF 20 feet high anoet mpt Tabe. Your
path may be through fow.rs bat it is a struggle tor
life. 1t extei de even TO tbs tope Of the uou tan-
even under tie Besau, Fin, irterni glod with tue
beautiful Kalmias and Azal' az. The great art
in fett pg through is to go rouDd; to keep on
the cres,s to follow the bear trail, the only help,
and great belp. Yet il oAen compelled them TO
90 ike the bears, OF all fours. Tbs is the
eliminating point of the. Appalachian system in al
respects The average Of the group s higher by 800
feet than the average Of the White IIJs and the
bases Ieafly double the hight Of those. Toe
Dotcbes between the gioups round Washington have
elevation Of OILY 600 feet above the sea, but n
the Blsck Mount the not ches nearly 5000
h het above the sea- Even the great chains Of the ren
border give lights of 1000 feet; the Blue
Ridge OF 1000 G000 and the very ridges fur
ri-h peaks ~ high the White His. aud chains of
5000 feet 10 elevation. Indeed the main Appalachian
cian here, Oh the Tennessee boundary, maintains
hight of 900 feet for more than 20 miles. Tue fol-
lowing few Of the nights of the Black Mountain
gIoups Black Dome the highest point 76oi Harry
T. 626; Cat.tsil Peak, 6l5; Deer Mount .2l3 Long
Kidge, 6244; Bowlers Pyramid, G,3i0. After little
conversation the Section Adjourned.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
ZOOLOGY, BOIASY AND ETHSOLoGi.
Prof. AGAssIz commenced his lecture Oo his new
Classification Of Turtles by giving outline OF the re-
ceived classification and ponlug out is faults, from
the total lsck Of any principle OF class,hc atioo.
Every thing whs len 10 the MblTary 11lcy OH Ctos
her AZ all those who have any acquaintance with
the classlcaton OF Cuvicr aware Of its great un-
certainty, and others would have to learn great
many names 70 appreciate his expose, Is hardly
worth wbi to follow It. He showed that what was
called genus by some called oroer by others,
AID that confusion very plentiful " resulted from these
differences. They themselves resulted from total
lack of rule with regard 10 critsria. Pro-. Agassiz
then applied his principles of class cation, which
given fully in fHr fRIBrsK's report of last years
meeting, TO reptiles. We had, he said, among them
first continuous body With 90 articulation which rem
defed the back bone movable; one step fur her We
had the head prorudDg from the body, and rudirnen
t,Iy feet were brought out; and lastly We had the
head entirely distinct from the Ieok, neck movable
il apecuisr manrer and extIemtle, capable OF rails
ing the body above the ground. Here We had snakes,
lizards and turtles, orders grounded on the grand diff
fereDces of structure We had long had these orders
bu'trow We knew why we had them. He excludedbs-
tracbans frogs as belonging TO another class The de-
veopment Of the fin, in the marine turtles chaoged
in fresh water turtles to fingers slightly developed,
but still below the laDdturtles, in which the fn .ers
distinct but 20 short that they Of avail
ar fingers. They like little stumps at the
treniiy of the wrist, and could lot be distinct
local apJ endages. These were to be considered as
sub. b.orden-Marine, Fresh Water, Terrestrial. In his
last years lecture Classification, be had ventured
to suggest that families were to be distinguished by
their form, and nothing else. He illustrated by sec.
tons Of the turtles from head to tail, showing the rela
tive position Of the shells In the snapping-turtle the
SHE lis were widely open In front gradually narrowing
nearly shut in front and almost quite 80 at the tai
while in the terrapin the back swept the bo iy in
regular and equal arch, with the same aperture in
front behind. This established three families; he
might sht that il was the same with others. Mem
beis of the same family were animals OF the same
form, and consequently OF similar habits. This at
opened quite a new view to our research. AL
the caniCR hunted their prey and all the feld@ lay in
wait for il and jumped upon it. Families had their
family character. The dogs Of every country had
their characteristics; the cats of every country pre-
served their feinty. Generic characters were to be
found everywhere only in the structure of particular
parts. The orDtholigsts were night in ca sifyng
birds eenercay by the bills, claws and feathers of
the wings and we, applied tleir practice to our
of the sheath surrounding the jaw was generic
acter-tbe armature of the sheath whether 81 Dpe or
compEcated-Or with one or two furrOws-thst consti
tutes generic character. He had tbus endeavored to
apply to particular type OF animals those principles
which he gave at Providence, and whl h0 hoped
would remove classification from the arbitrary pleas
of the investigator, and found 1t upon principle.
In answer TO a question, Prof. Agas,z st sted that
the shield of the turtle formed bot only of the
sfed ribs, but also of the osscd skin and flesh; 1t
was the result of the ossicaion of the mos. hetero
gene Ous Tissues; and these sometimes remained imne
oiately beneath tie external surface OF the ossied
ribs; layer Of unOssfitd lbers which are the mus
ces, could be traced by the microscope The shield of
the futile ossicaton Of the whole wall of the
animal Consider that the whole wal OF one b)dy-
the skeleton the flesh the nerves and the skinwith
woulo have The shield of the turtle.
DIR. STEINER mentioned a case of adip0cea fJund
the City OF Washington twenty-five years after
., ath, in which the liver only could be recognized;
that wa perfect lie hoped to be able TO bring the
specimen to Montreal.
The Section then 5journed.
SEVENTH DAY-MORSINC SESSION.
ALBANY. Wednesday, Aug. %, lsj6.
The General Session opened at lO4 a. M, Prof HAIL
in the chair.
The Standing Committee reported the following reso
lutioDs in reply TO the communication OF Mayor Wood
Rcored That the advancement Of science which forms the
object of this Association requires also the
Of uIveries where al branches Of human kno Wedge may
be pursued under eminent professors to their last develop
ment &C.,
Ksolred That the establishment of at least such insu.
ton in part Of country at the present tune an object
Of the highest Interest to tins Association ana would IN the
judsent form an epoch in the progress Of science In THIS
county. 90
Rssortd That every udcou effort made for the accomplish
of this work will receive hearty commendation
and firm support.
such foIt is referred 10 in the last resolution
These resolutions were unanimously aoopted.
DR.. HARE then and began to speak. For some
utes he listened to respectfully, but at leng
became necessary for the Chairman TO call him to
order. lie himself owed that he be allowed 20 speak,
but the patience of the assembly being exhausted
permission granted, and he was cut of by mo-
ton to adjourn, which was unanimously adopted
SECTION OF GEOLOGY.
The first paper was by Mr. W. L. BLAME. in which
he gave s,aihlng criticism Of map recently pub
ished Gotha and another In the Annates de M'aes,
pu porting TO give the geology OF the great region be-
tween the Miseisspp and the Pacific. Nj. Blske emu
merated several Of the most prominent errors, among
them the representation of the rocks Of San francisco
as eIaniric and metamoipbic they being tertiary, aud
making FremObt's Peak into volcano, when IN his
official report it was clearly and fully stated to be
cranitic lie had also made the Ration Mountains vol
canic without good evidence. Proofs were brought
forward to show that the formation called Juranic by
Mr. Mafcou was not so, bot was crotaciou'. There
was no evidence by fossils TO show tha, the trasic
f. frmatons were found under the cretscous they might
be, but DO fossils had been obtained and the age
could not yet be sffirmed. Mr. MaIcou had however
mace four great divisions of the strata pondng
those ahrnad but this entirely arbitrary. and