The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-05-10
SCIENCE.
Co.,t,, 1h.nse, Near New YORK city.

| IHtely puDllsneu various interesting ud'h
relating TO changes of sea level near New
York Some tens Of thousands Of years ago
the greater portion of the state was covered
by an immense glacier This leo sheet had
gathered up in it's course great Quantities of
was pushed. in front Of the ice mas and a.
the front Of the glacier came to rest IN the
ahsa of the sy Gs etSr' w 'nn h
glacier melted. owing to the advent OF, n
warmer climate, the mass of material de-
rounded hills Of Long Island the, so-callcd
backbone Of the lsIand AFTER the d'7a A.,
Scny Of the s city zee sak 30 FAR hnt the 1
covered points that are now, n hundred feet
above the ocean level. During, this period
along the Hudson River we're deposited
The Haverstraw and Croton Landing beds,
beoW waer he ct a
in the geolop ical history, was Gradual rising
Of the land until 1t stood considerably higher
| than at present, and this rise was followed by
gradual sinking which is still IN progress.
Along the coasts Of Long Island and New
that have been covered by the sea within
very recent times. The encroachment Of the
ocean upon the land is still going on These
tanned In City Geological Folio No So. which
may pc had at cost Of 50 cent; by eddie ,
logical Survey at WASHINGTON
| RACF-srlcIpr.
| Racial sterlity is certainly possible. II seems
| to conflict with the principle Of natiral selcc
| ton. rs fertility might be 81 pposed to have
| high sclectivc value. Natural selection.
! however, can only select ii cannot originate
variations, If the size Of the head is more
| variable than the size of the pclvs and is
| equally important for survival the in Increasing
| difficulties of collaborating are not mex
| plicable on the theory of natural selection.
| If sterty increases, we must ASSUME that
! the condit ions Of the environment have
altered too rapidly for variation and natural
! selection to keep pace with them. Indeed
! the existing conditions may be due in part
| to our Interference with natural selection.
| he decreasing death rate on which We pride
ourselves may IN part bH rrsponSiPie for the
cannot bn born o1h nnt1nv orr, or who ' "n b
sterile race. so 1tati-tics rcped'ins lear
! to believe that they increase as III" number
| Of children Increases. There is so far no
on the contrary We Know that the Italians
! and French Canadians have large families.
| thong there is ms much reasc for then to
fer from rncial exhaustion, rs the inhahi-
tants of France. and the Chimes" seem tn
stand in no danger Of eNtcrmination. But
do f send to ," Become " nar, 70" and selsct"n
for our own civilization NAV have the same
result, Physicists tell us that the earth may
be untnhubited by man in twenty cent rlss
The Popular Science Mon'hD for May, from
which these sentences are taken, contains
several articles on the question of racc-sui-
eide and race senesCence.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENGLISH ALPHABET.
From aper by Prot March the following
paragraphs relating to the development Of
our English alphabet are taken. LanElar re
is growth We will to utter sounds and tho
muscles move by laws of their own The
sounds weaken by the law of least effort,
strengthen under the accent. are assimilated
by neighboring sounds. all the while the
writing of the word remaining unchan gcd.
So that any letter may come to stand for any
sound. ard any sound may he represented
by many different letters. This is the normal
condition Of a growing language and man
should Use his reason to shape such q Ian guage
to serve convenient use.
The Roman alphabet des gned lar gelv
cursve forms were established in the fifteenth
century. II brought two forms of int?
until the seventeenth century. also had
two eursiye forms An, and Il diher.n'iat"d
also dev Sa six contnuan nra con "s
nani diasrnphs, Win diacritic H. VIZ dh.
a., m, N. dsh-j. ish-t: and also new type
But the vowels present the most tanglcd
field Between A and + has been established
IN not nor: between 4 and L that in fun,
burn. Three new types are needed toeXprcss
these sounds.
THE NEW ToI;K FOREST AND GAME COMMISSION,
The eighth annual report of the Forest.
Fish and Game Commission of New York
State shows that at the beginning of the
year the Adirondack reserve contained ,355,-
ISL acres and the tatsk reserve So $50
acres-2s. sos acres having been added last
year. There are in the Adirondack Park
region about 700 900 acres Of private reserves
and over 100000 acres owned by individuals
or companies OF these lands. about 1000 600
acres forest, about 700.oO0 tmbered.
nod Sl.n 4 lAl
$4,000 wild meadows, 100000 improved and
$4,000 water. During the past year re-
iorestaton was qndertak"n on 100 acres at
n cost of about half cent per seeding Ow-
ing to the organization of fire wardens the
loss from forest fires il greatly decreasing.
II amounted last year to about $4,000. while
was sl6s 900 and in the whole of the United
Sates about 9nd s2 9o visited the eStm@ted
few ELK and moose placed in the, reserves
and other beds in Long Island Sound it APP
pears that they are removed from any posi-
BILE contamination by sewage or otherwise.
NEW METHOD or LOCATING ORE-BoDIEs.
new method Of electrically locating ore
deposits has lately been tried in Wales. which
wireless telegraphy by, earth conduction.
The induction coil which is. used trans
connected with two metal stakes pushed into
the sol" hndadns Gasc4sd Ire thus nre
attached to- similar stakes, Normally the
TELEPHONE dstur bance Is greatest in a line
at right angles to- and bisectinr. the line
that Joins the transmitting electrodes The
presence Of ore, however. disturhs the clr-
rent distribution, and the amount Of shifting
Of tho point of maximum disturbance is an
index OF the position OF the ore-body sought
for.
The nature of the telephone sounds are
IL Is said. dependent on the depth of the de-
post and on the mineral richness. In any
event the new method promises 10 be of
wide usefulness.
THE WORLDS OUTPUT OF MINERALS.
Prof G.. lie y. Fosters statistics respecting
the worlds output Of minerals for 1901 have
lust been issued. 1t appears that the total
amount Of coal produced in the world in 1901
was $50. 900, 600 tons. of which the United
States yielded rather more and the whole
British Empire rather less than II third Ger
manys output was almost one-ffth. The
United States the British Empire and Ger
many, taken together, produced six-sevenths
Of the worlds supply. or the total output
of minerals the British Empire yielded about
one-third Of the coal. omen NTH of the copper.
one-haif of the gold, one-eghth Of the iron.
ne-hfth of the lead. one-seventieth of the
petroleum, one-qunrter OF the salt, one.ninth
Of the silver, flve-ei ghthss of the tin and one
fiftieth of the ZINC. More than. 100000
persons are engaged IN mines and uuarries
the world over. One-ffth of them are en-
ployed in the United Kingdom and one-third
In the British Empire.
ARCH foIoGY AND MlNERALoGY.
~,