ee es ee pene to tee rte pot AAA * sc pmatadtaomapeetl
Syn tn Mm
yh 4
>|
ST Ua
PROCEEDINGS
OF THE
American Philosophical Society
HEED Al) REE Ader Ee
FOR
PROMOTING USEFUL KNOWLEDGE
VOEUME XLVM
IS,
NULLO DISCRIMINE MDCCXLIII
PHILADELPHIA THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 1909
PRESS OF THE NEW ERA PRINTING COMPANY
LANCASTER, PA.
: PRO CLEDINGS . AMERICAN . PHILOSOPHICAL SOGTETY HELD AT PHILADELPHIA
FOR PROMOTING USEFUL KNOWLEDGE.
7 ty
Vor XLVI: JANUARY-—APRIL, 1909. No. 191.
— ae ES eS
a
, CONTENTS.
Geicienial Stones Used by ilies Australian Abareings By R. HH.
PUD Ween na trea Hae ai te ut cura a IGN's ped ah ae a Peg The Exploration of the Upper Air by Means of Kites and Balloons , rey Cea dee: BOAT RY og lileao dase dy chau berate see C ie pean ean “ Why America Should Re-explore Wilkes Land! By Epwin Swirt '' ; pM EI cree NEE Gt La tao Be haw Ay ou aut ies ootisie Ghee scotante Ie iaaT eae 34 The Nation and the Waterways. By Lewis M. faa See 51 On.,a New Variety of Chrysocolla from Chile. By Harry F.); SPELT ES CEES ce 9s Gen st nner au Meee Mees gall Re NSWMML Af te abn 65 The Purification of Water Supplies by the Use of Hypochlorites. ” _By Wituiam Pirr Masov...... rad shaves ayeiatele/ Seataigeila © orate os ea eae a 67 The Detonation of Gun Cotton. ‘By CHARLES E. MUNROE......... 69 The Comparative Leaf Structure of the Strand Plants of New Jersey. Soya POLO thre A RGOMBERGE Ri o6 0 Ae ne) Uathaa do hacdas s hemp eur eemmee 42 The Destruction of the Fresh-water Fauna in Western Pennsy Ivania. By A. E. ORTMANN........ SZ esas fiat Seer tp MR IRR GCA GAA ns OS go On Certain Generalizations of the Problem of Three Bodies. By TD GAME OO, SNOMED wc cole ble er lad sated Saree ae Laer ree III The Past History of the Earth as Inferred from the Mode of Forma- Honor the Solar. Systems by \ Pf. WF SER eee. lewd os ee 119 Commemorative Addresses and Obituary Notices of Members Deceased. Personal Reminiscences of Charles Darwin and of the Recep- tion of the ‘‘ Origin of Species.’’ By James BRYCE...,.... 2. eam _\; Lhe Influence of Darwin on the Natural Sciences.. -By GEO_GE LEW REQ TE TE STEIN Bo: Ibe NN aM Rg MOL EU RORIPineUe DDAS eM “xU The Influence of Darwin on the Mental and Moral Sciences. Poe BORE SPAR T PULLERTON s,. . 02.) os. 2s isa ecesloostamteee enue d) Meee _ The World’s Debt to Darwin. By Epwin G. ConkLin ......cxxvidt Richard Alexander Fullerton Sas, us Dates Dey ee loite LOE TD elon OS aA GN Lo Nd Ui D8 abil arian ia ON ui AM mei Lett Minutes of Meetings from January 1 to May 21, 1909...............5- i f PHILADELPHIA
THE’ AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY ‘704 SouTH FIFTH STREET 1909
American Philosophical Society General Meeting—April 21-23; 1910
The General Meeting of i910 will bé Held on April 21st to 23rd; beginning at 2 p. mi: ot Thursday, April 21st.
Members desiring to preseht papers, eithet for themSelves or others; are requested to send to the Secretaries; at as early a date as practicable, and not later than March 19; 19to, the titles of these papers; so that they may be announced on the programme which will be issued immediately thereafter, and which will give in detail the arrangements for the meeting:
Papers in any department of scierice come within the scope of the Society, which, as its name indicates, embraces the whole field of useftil knowledge:
The Publication Committee; under the iules of thé Society, will arrange for the immediate publication of the papers presented: Se
I. MINIS HAYS
ARTHUR W. GOODSPEED JAMES W. HOLLAND AMOS P: BROWN
Secretaries:
Meinbers who have not as yet sent their photographs to the Society will
tonfer a favor by so doing; cabinet size preferred:
it is tequested that all correspondence be addressed To tHE SECRETARIES OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY to4 SovTH FirrH STREET
PHILADELPHIA; U: S. a:
PROCEEDINGS
OF THE
PVBERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL) SOCIETY
HELD AT PHILADELPHIA
FOR PROMOTING USEFUL KNOWLEDGE
VoL. XLVIII JANUARY-APRIL, 1909 No. 191;
BEREMONIAL STONES USED BY THE) AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES.
By R. H. MATHEWS.
(Read January I, 1909.)
The following is a short description of some remarkable stones used by the aborigines in certain areas scattered over the north- western portion of New South Wales, which may be approximated roughly as lying north of 34 degrees south latitude and west of 148 degrees east longitude. The objects referred to have been observed by squatters and other residents of the bush in different places for many years past, but like most other matters connected with the aborigines, very little attention has been paid to them. They are occasionally found lying on the surface of the ground, or only partially exposed, on the flanks of sand-ridges, which may have been either old camps of the natives or places of their ceremonial gatherings. They have also been discovered below the surface, having probably been overlaid by drifting sand or soil, or were per- haps purposely hidden when not in use.
The scattered remnants of the tribes in the region indicated are all more or less civilized at the present time and have ceased to use these stones in their ceremonies, owing to the occupation of the district by Europeans for upwards of half a century. For this reason it is especially important that all available information should
‘
2 MATHEWS—CEREMONIAL STONES [January 1,
be recorded and published as widely as possible, in order to bring these relics under the notice of every person who may have oppor- tunities of obtaining further particulars regarding this interesting subject.
The stones in question vary in length from about six inches up to as much as two feet, but the more common lengths range from eight to fifteen inches. They are widest at the base, gradually de- creasing in dimension towards the other end and terminating in a blunt point. They consist of different material, including sandstone, quartzite, clayslate, kaolin and such other kinds of stone as might be available.
For the present I shall describe only four of the specimens in my possession. One is a fine-grained piece of clayslate, which when found by the maker was probably very close to the requisite form and needed only a little trimming or grinding to bring it to its present shape. It is just a trifle under one foot in length by a maximum width at the base of two and four-fifth inches, by a thickness of one and a quarter inches. The weight is two pounds six ounces. It was found in the bush by Mr. E. J. Suttor, owner of Tankarooka Station, on the Darling River, near Tilpa, New South Wales.
I have prepared two diagrams exhibiting the two wide faces and the edge of the implement, together with a view of the extremity of the base and have numbered the figures from 1 to 12. One face of the stone is practically flat throughout its length, being rounded off towards the edges on either side. The opposite face is slightly convex.
Fig. 1 delineates the flat face of the stone, which contains a large number of marks cut or scratched into the surface with some sharp instrument, such as a mussel shell, a sharp flake of hard stone, or a marsupial’s tooth. Some of them are merely well-defined scratches, whilst others are cut into the stone about one-sixteenth of an inch. The marking extends from the base to the apex.
Fig. 2 shows one of the edges of the implement, the marks upon which are not reproduced, because they are continuations of those given on the two faces. I have, however, shown the position of three
1909.] USED BY AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES. 3
principal incisions, which will be again referred to in dealing with Fig. 4.
Fig. 3 is the convex face of the stone, which contains about eighty marks similar in character to those of Fig. 1.
Fig. 4 has been introduced to exhibit the position of an irregular spiral incision which extends quite around the implement in a little over three folds. The firm black line on the diagram represents the cuts facing the observer; the dotted lines indicate their position on
Scale of Inches a Cr die 2.3 ae RG) 2), B Ce
RH M, del.
Fics. 1-5. Views of a Ceremonial Stone used by the Australian Aborigines.
the other side, if the stone were transparent. The position of the spiral on one of the edges of the stone is shown in Fig. 2. The com- mencement and end of the spiral appears on Fig. 1. It begins at three and seven-eighths of an inch from the apex and terminates at five and one-eighth inches.
4 MATHEWS—CEREMONIAL STONES [January 1,
A spiral of this kind has not been observed by me before and consequently adds to the value of the present specimen. In a few other cases, however, I have seen a single, continuous incised line girdling the upper half or pointed end of the stone. In most of the specimens in my possession, as well as in those which have come under my notice elsewhere, a girdling incision of any sort is absent. It is on this account that I have drawn attention to the peculiar marking of the stone now described.
Fig. 5 is a view of the basal end of the stone. A characteristic of all the stones of this class which I have seen consists in their having a saucer- or dish-shaped depression chipped or ground into the larger end. In our example there are three such depressions ground into the end of it. (See Fig. 5.) The two smaller ones are very shallow, although easily discernible, but the larger has a depth of nearly one-tenth of an inch in the center. The present is the only instance in which I have observed three of these depressions—one only being the general rule.
Another point to which attention may be invited is the very much elongated oval form of a section through the shaft. This is prominently seen in Fig. 5, where the diameter is more than twice as great in one direction as in the other. Most of the stones of this kind are nearly circular in section, whilst an elongated oval section is rarely met with. Again, very few of these stones are so profusely inscribed as the present example.
Fig. 6 is a long, thin, cylindrical spindle of a very hard clayslate, eighteen and a quarter inches long. At four inches from the base the greatest diameter is two inches, and at ten inches from the base (Fig. 7) the smallest diameter is one and eleven-twentieth inches. Fig. 7 represents the implement turned a quarter round.
A large amount of chipping and grinding has been done by the native artificer to bring this specimen into its present shape, especially at the pointed end and near the base. About the middle of the shaft the original surface of the stone is seen in a few patches some inches in length.
Commencing a little over an inch and a half from the base there are numerous incised marks, both horizontal and slightly oblique, all the way to the apex. About half an inch from the extreme point,
1909.] USED BY AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES. 5
one of these incisions reaches all around the stone. At the middle of the shaft another line encircles it, but the two ends of the line, instead of meeting, overlap each other some two inches, and are from one-quarter to one-half inch apart. This encircling line is very faintly marked. There are about one hundred and forty well-
©
na Wleletel\
HIT
Fics. 6-12. Three Ceremonial Stones used by the Australian Aborigines.
defined incisions on the entire surface of this stone, one hundred and twenty of which are accurately reproduced in Figs. 6 and 7.
6 MATHEWS—CEREMONIAL STONES [January 1,
In addition to this number there are many other marks which, although distinguishable, are mere scratches and have evidently never been anything more. They are of the same character as the well- defined cuts, but much shorter.
Fig. 8 gives a view of the base of the stone, in which there is a saucer-like depression, the average diameter of which is nearly an inch and a quarter. This concavity has been made by picking the surface with some sharp instrument, such as a pointed flake of hard stone, the punctures being still plainly discernible. After the picking out was done the surface was rubbed or ground fairly smooth. The depth of the hollow formed in this way is a little more than one- twentieth of an inch. The specimen was found on Buckanhee Run, Darling River, and its weight is three pounds twelve ounces.
Fig. 9 is a soft sandstone, sixteen and one-half inches long, with a practically circular shaft, the greatest diameter of which is two and sixteen-twentieth inches, from which it evenly diminishes to a well-defined point. At four and one-quarter inches from the point there are two slightly curved parallel lines cut well into the stone. On the opposite side of the specimen are two similar incisions, which are not of course visible in my drawing. These comprise all the marks on this stone.
From the thickest part of the shaft to the base the diameter slightly decreases, until it averages a little over an inch and three quarters (Fig. 10). The diameter of the depression in the base averages nearly two inches and its depth is one-eighth of an inch. The stone was found on Kallara Station, Darling River, and weighs three pounds fourteen ounces.
Fig. 11 is another specimen of decomposed sandstone, sixteen and five-eighth inches in length. At the thickest part the diameter measures two and eighteen-twentieth inches, and a section through any part of the shaft would give an almost circular outline. On the face selected for illustration there are twenty-one incised lines, comprising triplets, pairs and single marks.
Fig. 12 represents the base, whose diameter varies from one and three-quarter inches to two and a quarter inches. The usual saucer- shaped concavity has a mean diameter of nearly an inch and a half
1909. ] ' USED BY AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES. 7
and its depth is one-twentieth of an inch. This specimen was dis- covered on a sand ridge on Maira Plain Station, about fifty miles southeast of Wilcannia, and weighs four pounds and a half.
A few remarks will now be made respecting the uses of these stones, information on this point being now difficult to obtain for the reasons stated in the beginning of this brochure. “ Harry Perry,” an old aboriginal of the Darling River, who died at Bourke about a year and a half ago, informed me that although he had never seen the stones in actual use himself, his father and other old men of the tribe had told him that they were employed in ceremonial observances connected with assembling of the tribe at the time the nardoo seed was ripe. The people would be invited to meet at a place adjacent to some low-lying ground which had been moistened by showers during the early spring months, or over which water had flowed in flood time, and which was consequently expected to produce large quantities of the nardoo plant. When the natives from the hin- terland, in whose country there was little or no nardoo, came to the gathering at the appointed time they brought with them articles as presents or for barter with the people who had allowed them the privilege of feasting on the nardoo seed. My native informant be- lieved that the stones in question were used in incantations for pro- ducing an abundant supply of nardoo and other seed bearing plants, as well as for an increase in game and fish. He also said that the messengers who were sent to gather the different portions of the tribe for these festivals, generally carried one of the incised stones to show the purpose of his mission.
As soon as other duties will permit I shall take pleasure in sub- mitting to this Society a further article for publication, describing the various forms and materials of the interesting aboriginal relics briefly touched upon in the foregoing pages.
PARRAMATTA, New SoutH WaAtEs, October 31, 1908.
ibe XSPLORATION OF THE UPPER ARV BY aMEANS OP KTTES AND BALLOONS:
By WILLIAM R. BLAIR. (Read March 5, 1909.)
HISTORICAL.
The kite, so far as we know, was first made and flown by the Chinese general, Han Sin, in the year 206 B. C. It was for a time used in war, being employed by the inhabitants of a besieged town to communicate with the outside, but later seemed to degenerate into a mere toy. Games in which kite strings are crossed and cut by the friction of one on the other are popular in China at the present time and great skill is shown in handling the small kites used for this purpose.
Professor William Wilson at Glasgow University and Benjamin Franklin at Philadelphia in the years 1749 and 1752 respectively were the first to use the kite in the study of upper air conditions. Wilson obtained temperatures at “great elevations” by means of self-registering thermometers, while Franklin used his kite as a collector of electricity.
Especial interest in upper air temperatures grew out of the con- sideration of the formula for refraction of light by the atmosphere, and kites carrying thermometers were again used in the years 1822 to 1827; this time by the Reverend George Fisher and Captain Sir William Edward Parry. At the same time upper and lower surface stations and captive balloons were first used for the purpose of obtaining temperatures aloft, the former by Sir Thomas Brisbane and the latter by the Earl of Minto. Readings were obtained at elevations of 400 feet with the kites and 1,340 feet with the captive balloons.
An editorial in the Edinburgh Journal for January, 1827, con- tains the following paragraph:
1909.] BY MEANS OF KITES AND BALLOONS. 9
To those meteorologists who have sufficient leisure and the means of performing such experiments, we would recommend the use of kites and balloons for ascertaining the temperature and state of the upper atmosphere. The Earl of Minto has obtained several very interesting results by the use of balloons.
Ten years later, Espey, in our own country, used kites to prove his theory concerning cloud altitudes. He held that the base of a forming summer cloud should be as many times 100 yards high as the temperature of the air at the earth’s surface is above. the dew point in degrees Fahrenheit, 7. e., that these clouds form in aScend- ing currents and that the air cools one degree Fahrenheit for every 100 yards it ascends. He was able to put his kite in the base of a cloud 1,200 yards above the earth’s surface and not only proved his theory within the error of observation, but found that the motion of the kite in the base of the cloud showed ascending air currents. He also obtained some striking electric effects, wire being used instead of string to fly the kite.
The report of the Franklin Kite Club, about 1838, on the dis- covery of ascending air currents gave further proof of Espey’s theory and stated that this theory had the recommendation of the American Philosophical Society.
A contemporary of Espey, James Swain, flew kites for the pur- pose of determining daily the height of that layer of “ electrified air whose positive electricity was concentrated enough to expand the leaves of an electrometer.” Swain used No. 30 steel wire, which he wound on a reel four feet in circumference and having a glass axle like the one used by the Franklin Club of Philadelphia. Steel wire is now universally used in kite flying.
In 1847 Admiral Back flew kites from the deck of his ship, The Terror, and obtained free air temperatures over the ocean.
Up to this time the kites used have been small and rather unstable in their flight. Little more was done with them until Archibald, an Englishman, began to look into the mechanics of kite flight in 1883. In the meantime mountain stations and captive balloons were further developed in an effort to get temperature readings at greater altitudes than had thus far been possible. An observatory was established at Mt. Washington in 1870 and one at Pike’s Peak in
10 BLAIR—EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER AIR [March 5,
1873. The results obtained by these observatories showed, as was pointed out by Professor Abbe and others, that the readings were not sufficiently isolated from terrestrial influences, and attention was again turned to kites.
Archibald showed the value of vertical planes for steering pur- poses, constructed kites of greater lifting power and in 1887 used them to carry up a camera. Captain Baden Powell in England, interested in the possible use of kites in war, made them large enough to lifta man. Eddy, at Bayonne, N. J., in 1890, constructed a diamond kite in which the ends of the cross stick were bent back, thus introducing a vertical component in the planes which added to their stability in flight. In 1893, Hargrave, an Australian, invented the box or cellular kite. This kite, although of more complicated construction than forms heretofore used, very soon displaced them for every purpose and seems to contain the fundamental principle upon which all stable aeroplanes are constructed.
Eddy’s work was taken up by Mr. Rotch and his assistants at Blue Hill near Boston, and Hargrave’s by the U.S. Weather Bureau under the immediate direction of Messrs. Marvin and Potter. Marvin's study of the mechanics and equilibrium of kites led him to make some modifications in the original box pattern. The Marvin-Hargrave kite, at present quite widely used, is not only more efficient, but is stronger and, for meteorological uses, more con- venient in details of construction than the Hargrave. About this time Marvin designed a meteorograph and convenient hand reels for the wire which were used in a series of upper air observations made at seventeen different stations during the summer of 1898. In this series daily flights were attempted but only 44 per cent. of these attempts were successful, the failures being due to lack of wind or other adverse conditions. Of the 1,217 ascensions made, about 180 were a mile in height, while two were slightly over 8,000 feet. The observations made have been reduced and are published in Bulletin F of the U. S. Weather Bureau.
Nearly all first rate weather services now have one or more upper air observatories. Our own upper air work has been concentrated at Mt. Weather, Va., under the immediate direction of the writer, where, since the first of July, 1907, daily except Sunday, ascensions
1909.] BY MEANS OF KITES AND BALLOONS. 11
have been made with either kites or captive balloons, the latter being used only when the wind is insufficient to support the kites, or about one day in twenty. The apparatus in use at Mt. Weather is still undergoing improvement. The mean height at which daily (except Sunday) temperature and other observations are obtained is ap- proximately 3,000 meters, or about 2 miles, above sea level. The highest altitude so far attained by means of kites is 7,044 meters, about 42 miles. This flight was made at Mt. Weather on October 3, 1907. Flights closely approximating this in height were made at the same observatory on April 14 and September 30, 1908, while the fourth highest record, 6,430 meters, was made by the German Observatory at Lindenburg in November, 1905.
In the same year that Hargrave invented his kite, Charles Renard suggested the use by meteorolgists of small free balloons made of paper or other suitable material and having sufficient lifting power to carry up self-recording instruments. A balloon of this sort par- tially inflated with hydrogen at the earth’s surface rises until the gas expands sufficiently to burst it, and the instrument is let down safely from this point by means of a small parachute.
Teisserenc de Bort, at his observatory at Trappes, Paris, and from the decks of ocean steamers, has obtained upper air records of great importance to meteorology with these paper balloons as well as with kites. More recently Assmann introduced india-rubber balloons about six feet in diameter. These are now the more gener- ally used.
Preparatory to an ascension, this balloon is filled until the rubber begins to stretch, 7. e., from 3.5 to 4 cubic meters, depending on the weight it is to carry. The instrument is suspended from a small parachute thrown over the balloon, space being provided for the expansion of the latter to two or three times its diameter or to about twenty times the volume it had at the earth’s surface. Sometimes two balloons are used, one of which bursts—the other lets the instru- ment down slowly. Records of temperature and humidity have been obtained at altitudes of 25,000 meters, over 15 miles above sea level with sounding balloons.
At present about twenty-five observatories—two in this conti- nent, one in India, the others in Europe—are codperating with the
12 BLAIR—EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER AIR [March 5,
International Commission for Scientific Aéronautics, using either kites or sounding balloons, or both. Captive and manned free bal- loons are occasionally used. Of these observatories, the universities of Manchester and Kasan each maintain one.
APPARATUS AND METHODS.
The site chosen for an upper air observatory is to some extent determined by the kind of work to be done. A kite field should be clear of trees and other obstructions that might either entangle the wire or hinder the movements of the men who manipulate the kites. It should be situated on an eminence just high enough to prevent its being sheltered by any other in the immediate vicinity, but not high enough to introduce the complications of mountain and valley effects, unless indeed such local effects and not the general condi- tions obtaining in storms as they pass, be the object of the study. It is well if the country for thirty miles around in the vicinity of the field be free from large bodies of water and inhabited, for kites break away at times and these conditions facilitate their return. Close proximity to a city, on the other hand, is likely to bring kite flyers into unpleasant relationships with the local telephone and other electric companies who transmit power on overhead wires.
For captive balloons the conditions should be the same as for kites. Sounding balloons may be started from any place at which the true surface conditions can be recorded for comparison with the upper air data, except that the land area immediately to the east should be free from large lakes and fairly well settled. The balloons set free in this country by Professor Rotch have invar- iably traveled in an easterly direction and landed within a radius of 300 miles from their starting point. Each balloon carries with it instructions to its finder for packing and shipping and informs him that he will be rewarded for his trouble. This plan has brought back about 95 per cent. of all sounding balloons liberated in St. Louis, the only place in our country so far chosen for this work.
The ideal upper air observatory is one at which all three of these methods may be used, kites and captive balloons being less expensive and more efficient for levels up to 3,000 or 4,000 meters, 2 or 3 miles, and sounding balloons for higher levels.
1909.] BY MEANS OF KITES AND BALLOONS. 13
The self-recording instruments used in kite and sounding balloon work are numerous in variety. Many observatories have instru- ments made from special designs. All are built on essentially the same plan. A clockwork rotates a cylinder which is covered with either a sheet of paper ruled to scale or a sheet of smoked paper or aluminium. Upon this sheet the pens or points, as the case may be, connected with their respective elements, trace the conditions. Paper scales are the more convenient and are used when the tem- peratures to be recorded are not so low as to freeze the ink. The instruments are made as light as possible, aluminium being the metal used in the construction wherever it can be adapted. From 750 to 1,500 grams is the usual weight of an instrument, those for use in kites being more substantially built than those for use in balloons. The anemometer usually consists of a small aluminium pin wheel mechanically geared to the pen—some are electrically connected. The hair hygrometer is the only form yet available for self-recording purposes that is light enough. The temperature is measured with either a bimetallic element or a partially coiled tube containing toluene. The barometer is of the aneroid type. The order of accu- racy of these instruments is not high. Difficulty is experienced in keeping the anemometer properly oriented while the kite is flying. The hair hygrometer, if kept in good condition, probably records within less than 5 per cent. of the correct value. Records of pres- sure are, in nearly all cases, correct to within 2 mm., in many to within I mm. The temperature may be relied upon to one degree Centigrade in the records obtained from most kite flights, to less in many. When used in sounding balloons at very great altitudes the absolute error in any element is of course greater than those men- tioned. In this case no anemometer is used, the wind velocity being determined from observations on the drifting balloon with one or more theodolites.
The differences in the various instruments consist chiefly in the way of exposing the elements so as to best obtain true records of the conditions in the vicinity of the instrument. It is essential that the temperature element especially be properly ventilated and insu- lated. The method of ventilation is of course different in sounding balloon and kite instruments. The former, being carried by the
[March 5,
OF THE UPPER AIR
BLAIR—EX PLORATION
14
‘ydeiso1oajaw prVYyIy
‘I ‘OL
SRREPCERRSUaL
1909.] BY MEANS OF KITES AND BALLOONS. 15
wind, is in a calm except for its own upward motion through the air. It is therefore exposed in a vertical tube at the top of which is a funnel to insure the passage of a sufficient air current through the tube and about the element. The latter are held by the kites in the horizontal current in which the kite flies. The velocity of this cur- rent is always sufficient to keep the temperature element well venti- lated so that care need be taken only to see that the element is in this current and screened from either the direct or reflected rays of the sun.
The meteorographs in use need comparison with standard instru- ments, at first to determine their scale values, frequently thereafter to guard against error due to slightly defective elements. Before and after an ascent the instrument is placed in a standard shelter with standardized instruments and allowed to record. Frequent readings of the latter are taken not only at these times but during the entire ascension. A base line for computation of altitudes is thus furnished, also a record of surface conditions for comparison with those of the upper air. To facilitate this computation and comparison, as well as to avoid errors due to the sluggishness of the elements, stops in the ascent and descent are made at frequent inter- vals. These stops need be for but a few minutes. Their times are recorded at the lower station and they are easily distinguishable on the traces. Of course it is impossible to make such stops with sounding balloons, and consequently instruments sent up by means of them should be, to some extent, at least, tested for sluggishness in addition to the tests made for scale values.
The cellular kite invented by Hargrave or some of its numerous modifications is the one most generally used for meteorological pur- poses. The Marvin-Hargrave kite, in which three planes are put in the front cell and the entire framework strengthened by fine steel wire braces, is the one in use at Mt. Weather. With slight modifi- cations in the size and shape of the planes and in the proportion and distribution of lifting and steering surfaces, this kite has been made to serve in all winds from 3.5 to 22.5 meters per second. The dimen- sions of a medium-sized kite, one well adapted to carrying an instru- ment in winds of from 5 to 10 meters per second, are as follows:
PROC, AMER. PHIL. SOC., XLVIII. I9I1 B, PRINTED JUNE 30, I909.
‘ydeisO10djoW UIAIRI, “2 “DI
[March 5,
ues atahg ay
it) 3 = i
aoe
= < m4 ea Ay py =) fx) a by O Z ) e < a O 4 Ay BG | pA < 4 eal
1s
BY MEANS OF KITES AND BALLOONS.
1909.]
*LO61 ‘€ 19q019Q JO WYSIY wWoIZ prody “f ‘OWT
Ea Gra {yy vi A a8 iin ia SA ee See
iS
P| nine i i
Hl Tf les ont nl HH
= ee Be = Bama = aS rss] a Bae GV. ye PRS
\ |
Tet le nh. Sill
HTT UT TTT EE manna TT TTT UI REE REE it 1
i | il \ Y } i
ll | \ it Mt Ae LN
wi qi) | HS aa a i | |
. | D | es = S i a
a CE Gata See SE Gee SS SEM ee Ge We ee ee 1) Sa a | a en GC en
it S
iN it I f
i
| a
| yal Hl
l
[
it
MH
‘Al HL
Uillddeer: it ill iit HH". ) ‘aD it
ith ill Ti ii
idl ill
the tots
a= = a i
i il rua
Wid ahabhialin
ns ih ll,
Net ll B74
I|
| ll TTT
lik HI lll
\3 § §
pane tv bit nt Pi is ‘ eS . a. aed by fa |
LY
eae? 2S 7
18 BLAIR—EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER AIR [March s,
1 ICES Ved aici Neen Ao aea ie Uns AC Fev Ea. aca Ui cm 204 cm, NAVA hn op ama OR ARORA ese iA tn me Cet ee A 197 cm. IS) rp Ula epcet vcd lets aes aN URC etm aaa 81 cm. Wiadthe ofsiplames es: soci Asien emu ee ee cen 64 cm. Planes TSPacey Larval tetsecseacin He ene ENCES rae eT 76 cm. AAG Fea GIRL Atom ec Re ra Gator To ay eu ey eu a ett 3.2 to 3.8 kg.
’ There are five lifting planes, so called, and four steering. The area of the lifting planes is 6.3 square meters, while that of the steering planes is one third as much. Kites varying from these di- mensions and necessarily therefore from these proportions are built for winds higher and lower than those to which the above-described kite is adapted. <A type of kite which has flown in winds up to 22.5 meters per second has lifting planes aggregating 5.4 square meters in area. Its steering planes have half this area. It is a longer, narrower kite than the one whose dimensions are given above. A kite that has carried an instrument in winds as low as 3.5 meters per second has for the total area of its lifting planes 11.2 square meters.
The term lifting is not properly applied to any plane in the rear cell of a Hargrave kite, the function of that cell being more particu- larly steering. When a kite of the pattern described is sent up in a fog or low cloud in which the temperature is below freezing, ice crystals are found to attach themselves to the under side only of the three parallel planes in the front cell, but on both sides of all other planes in either cell, showing that practically all of the lifting is done by the front cell. A study of the formation of these crystals and the amount of ice deposited on different parts of a plane is very helpful in determining the most economic width and location of planes in a kite or other aéroplane.
At Mt. Weather we attach the meteorograph to the middle back rib of the first kite just behind the front cell. This insures it proper ventilation during the flight and adequate protection against injury in case the kite breaks away. Other, secondary, kites are attached to the line at intervals depending on the wind velocity and in numbers depending on the length of line put out. Their purpose is to support the wire. Twelve kites with a combined lifting plane area of 77.4 square meters is the greatest number we have ever used
BY
MEANS
OF KITES’ AND’ BALLOONS.
tee : Ae
ES
Ibs)
Kite and instrument.
IGh Al
20 BLAIR—EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER AIR
in making a flight. They carried a line 12,100 meters long.
[March 5,
In our
highest flight above referred to 11,735 meters of line was put out on
nine kites.
Fic. 5. Method of bridling kite.
The line is of piano wire made up about as follows:
Meters. Inch in Diameter. 500 .026 500 .028 2,000 .032 3,000 .036 5,000 .040 5,000 .044
In all about ten miles of wire.
The reel is a very important part of the kite-flying apparatus.
Its design should be such that the operator can easily control the rate
at which wire goes out or comes in from 0 up to 4.5 meters per
second. This enables him to keep his kites flying even if they are becalmed during flight, to throw them up through the calm strata of air which are often encountered, especially in the summer months, and, with the aid of a skilled field man, to start and land kites with little or no breakage. Our reel at Mt. Weather is equipped with a variable speed motor so geared to the drum that the wire may be brought in at any rate up to 2.7 meters per second.
WA iit ui “hi
a
*Q06r “SI OF T Jsnsny s0F Javyo [euUsoYjOosT
‘M000T eS.
UEhS6} La
QMO
0008 9,8 4
Oo C)
a
USSPIL ‘mNSE ives = 985 | | vol = 0at- ie, G8s2=99 | sser = 99 | 489 =OH- wy Eciet desu— ove | azee=- Ov | des =O8I- : ae A9 =9% | ane =o8 | avo -=o8t- i ana 108 =90¢ | 40 =90 | aor - = d08- H i) ayyg=O8l | Avse =02-; dgL - = 928- agop=OH | A8K=OK-1 ASU- =d¥e- 3.0 WHOLE | ; WQNSF agig=OW | dsle=09- | AsH- =992- 1 t 49ts— 9 | sg =98- | AVEeI- = 9 8- 200¢= 90 ! gon =oo01- |! AOeB- = D009 eS UporsT fi oN 90909 | en ¥orOsT ‘m9g¢ |-— + |= +
AVANIIC
9,01
ion te a
VW POLL mo0cP
o ° —
9,8-
2,9 -
EE ——————
1909. ] BY MEANS OF KITES AND BALLOONS. 21
Too careful attention cannot be given to the condition of the reel preparatory to making a flight, and in general all apparatus must be well looked to. Failure in any one of the many details to be attended to at this time and during the flight is almost certain to result in some catastrophe. The field work has, for this reason, all the interest of our best college games and the man who is not equipped physically and mentally to enjoy such games will hardly enjoy or make a success of flying kites and balloons. The fact that for the past eighteen months no day (Sundays excepted) has passed in which one or more records of upper air conditions above Mt. Weather were not obtained speaks well for the spirit and efficiency of the men engaged in this work at that observatory.
The power plant at present in use is equipped with a 35 H.P. double cylinder gasoline engine, a 25 KW. dynamo, and an electro- lyzer by means of which water is separated into oxygen and hydro- gen, the latter for use in the captive balloons, and a gas compressor which may be used to compress hydrogen for shipment or to make liquid air with which to get sufficiently low temperatures to test sounding balloon instruments. A new combination steam power and heating plant is in process of building.
The computation of altitudes from the pressure trace of the meteorograph record by Laplace’s formula and the evaluation of the other elements at these altitudes is another matter altogether and yet not devoid of interest. From five or six up to twenty or twenty- five levels are computed in each trace, 7. e., enough to show all pecu- liarities or changes in the temperature gradient or air currents, alti- tudes of clouds passed through, depth of cloud and fog layers and the highest points reached. From these data the temperature grad- ient, 7. e., the change of temperature with altitude, usually expressed in degrees centigrade per 100 meters, is plotted for each day and the upper air isotherms continuously charted. The whole, with more or less comment, is published quarterly in the Bulletin of the Mt. Weather Observatory. <A study which has for its purpose the sum- marizing of the first year’s data is still in progress. Valley stations are maintained on either side of the mountain. At these, data are collected for comparison with the surface readings obtained on Mt. Weather, 1,000 feet above them.
SSS
22 BLAIR—EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER AIR [March 5,
Five men besides the writer are engaged in the work of obtaining and reducing the records and in studying the resulting data. Duties are so arranged that these men take turns at outdoor as well as indoor work. In this way the work itself furnishes most of the physical recreation needed. None of the routine duties becomes especially irksome and the special lines of work are kept in better relation to each other and to the work as a whole than would be possible under another arrangement.
CONCERNING DATA AND RESULTS.
The history of upper air work is, as we have seen, a brief one. The Hargrave kite and the sounding balloon are but fifteen years old, and with them began the study of the upper air as it is now carried on. This sort of investigation is comparatively new. The facts already—shall we say “aired”—have been made the subject of considerable comment. They themselves have so far had but little to say. They are cold and, among themselves, somewhat un- sociable facts as yet, but we have become well enough acquainted with them to be certain that they with others yet to be “aired” or “unearthed” constitute a law-abiding community. ‘“ Unearthed” is used advisedly, for the energy liberated by the uranium deposits near the earth’s surface may prove to be a considerable factor in the origin and development of disturbances occurring in the lower strata of the atmosphere. As a source of the energy displayed in the storms that continually pass over us, this factor has been considered by meteorologists as negligible compared with the energy received from the sun. The heating of the air from this latter source is due to the absorption by it of: (1) The direct rays of the sun, (2) the sun’s rays which have been reflected from the earth’s surface, and (3) the long heat waves radiated by the earth on account of its being heated by its absorption of the direct rays of the sun. Heat waves sent out by the earth due to other causes, such as radio-active minerals, would be operative in this third subdivision.
Water vapor absorbs the long heat waves readily and upon its vertical distribution in the atmosphere depends to a great extent the altitude at which their energy becomes effective in heating the air
1909. ] BY MEANS OF KITES AND BALLOONS. 23
and setting it in motion. Observations upon this distribution show that at 2,500 meters the moisture content of the air is one third what it is at sea level, at 5,000 meters one tenth. Most clouds of the cumulus and stratus types form below the latter level. It is to be expected, therefore, and we are not disappointed in finding, ‘that this lower stratum of air is in continuous and complicated motion, vertical currents as well as horizontal obtaining. Above this stratum the air movement seems to be less complex.
When an air mass i$ heated to a temperature higher than that of the air about it, as we now see may be the case near the earth’s sur- face, an unstable condition obtains and convection currents set in. A body of air rising to higher levels is cooled by its own expansion as it passes into the rarer atmosphere. This is called adiabatic cooling. If the body of air in question were dry, the rate of adia- batic cooling would be about one degree Centigrade per 100 meters, or one degree Fahrenheit per 180 feet. If it contain moisture, it will not cool so rapidly for the moisture in condensing gives off its latent heat into the air. This effect is a function of the relative humidity and tends to accelerate the upward motion and postpone the return of stable conditions. Sufficient condensation soon takes place, so that heat from this source ceases to offset the adiabatic cooling, and the convection current finds its upper limit. Other moist air coming in from below supports the system thus set up, and the whole moves with the upper westerly wind. This sort of circulation on a larger or smaller scale, more or less modified by other circulations of the same sort, is in progress continuously. An almost unmodified type of it may often be observed during the sum- mer months in the formation of a single cumulus cloud. The cloud formation shows the outlines of the ascending air column. The horizontal air movement is slight at such times and the column nearly vertical.
We should expect to find then that the change of temperature with altitude is less in the lower moist stratum of the atmosphere than in that immediately above it and always, when mean conditions for a sufficiently long time, say a year, are considered, less than the adiabatic rate of cooling for dry air, some moisture being present at all altitudes. The sounding balloon observations in middle Europe,
24 BLAIR—EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER AIR [March s,
MEAN TEMPERATURES AT DIFFERENT ELEVATIONS ABOVE MOUNT WEATHER, JANUARY AND JULY, 1908.
Fic. 7. Mean gradients for January and July, 1908.
1909.] BY (MEANS (OF, KIEES AND BALLOONS. 25
as compiled by Hann, give the mean gradient up to 3,000 meters as .45 degree Centigrade per 100 meters, while at twice this altitude the temperature change is .70 degree Centigrade per 100 meters.
Within the moist stratum itself, observations on the relative humidity show that the yearly minimum at the earth’s surface occurs in the summer months. The result is that condensation begins at higher levels in summer than in winter. The temperature gradient responds to these conditions, being greater nearer the earth’s surface and less near the upper region of the moist stratum in summer than in winter. Values closely approximating the adiabatic rate are often found for the first 500 meters above sea level in the summer months. Comparison of the mean temperature gradients as observed in Europe and in this country, at Mt. Weather and Blue Hill, points to the fact that condensation takes place at lower levels in western Europe than here. This is reasonable when the comparatively dry surface conditons which obtain on our continent are taken into consideration.
It follows from the above that the moist or storm stratum is: (1) Deeper in summer than in winter, (2) deeper over a conti- nent than over the ocean or smaller land areas. Convection cur- rents are more sluggish where the relative humidity at the surface is low and therefore the barometric changes are less pronounced: (1) In summer than in winter, (2) in continental than in insular climatic conditions. Upon these considerations alone we should expect the deeper storms to be the less intense, but this is not in general true and another factor, viz., the velocity of the upper westerly winds, must be taken into consideration. By storm inten- sity is meant the suddenness of the changes brought about by the passage of the storm—probably best measured by the barometric changes.
These upper currents apparently control the rate of motion of the storms. Their velocities are found to vary with altitude, increasing up to heights of 10,000 or 12,000 meters. They also vary with the seasons. At an altitude of 3,000 to 5,000 meters their mean velocity for January is found to be fully one and a half times the mean for July. It follows that, for a given season, the deeper storms move faster, 7. e., continental and insular climatic conditions
BLAIR—EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER AIR
Fic. 8. Temperature gradient showing permanent inversion.
[March 5,
1909.] BY MEANS OF KITES AND BALLOONS. 27
are respectively characterized by more and less rapidly moving storms. The effect of rapid motion upon a storm should be in general to intensify it, for, the more rapidly it moves, the greater the quantity of moist surface air that will be drawn up into it, and consequently the greater the amount of latent heat liberated because of the moisture condensation.
The conclusion is that, for a given location and season, the depth of a storm should indicate something of its rate of movement and consequently of its intensity. This is in accord with the experience at Mt. Weather.
It is said that American storms are more intense than those of Europe. If this be true, it is directly because of their more rapid motion and indirectly because of their greater depth.
Summer storms are less intense than those of winter. They are not only deeper but move less rapidly.
Cyclonic storm paths are, in general, found to pass through the regions of greater surface humidity. They seldom cross the arid or dry mountain regions, but travel along the great river basins, over the Great Lakes or along the gulf and ocean coasts.
So far the mean temperature change with altitude has been con- sidered in two strata of the atmosphere: the lower, moist or storm stratum extending from sea level up to 4,000 or 5,000 meters, and the stratum above extending thence to 10,000 or 12,000 meters above sea level. In the first the mean temperature gradient is about .5 degree Centigrade per 100 meters, in the second about .7 degree Centigrade per 100 meters. The mean temperature at the top of the first stratum is about —10 degrees Centigrade, at the top of the second about —65 degrees Centigrade.
Above these strata still a third distinct stratum has been explored to an altitude of 25,000 meters above sea level. The striking pecu- liarity of this stratum is that in it the temperature increases from its base upward as far as it has been sounded. Its temperature gradient is small but negative. It was at first called the isothermal ° layer because the temperature seemed to change but little with altitude. Later observations, however, show a decided negative gradient or inversion of temperature and in consequence it is often called the upper or permanent inversion, the adjective being neces-
28 BLAIR—EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER AIR [March 5,
sary to distinguish it from temporary inversions frequently found in the lowest of the three strata described. The existence of the permanent inversion is a well established and interesting fact. Of the many balloons sent into it, only a few have been followed all the way up with the theodolite, consequently the wind velocities have been but little observed. The winds are found to be variable and of low velocity, 3.5 meters per second has been observed. This is in pronounced contrast to the prevailing west winds of extremely high velocity which characterize the layer just below it. Leading meteorologists still differ as to the explanation of this warm stratum. Their opinions may be found in the October 1, 1908, number of Nature in the form of a report of the discussion organized on this subject by the committee of Section A of the British Association.
Isothermal charts, such as the one for the first two weeks in August, 1908 (Fig. 6), illustrate the change in the upper air tem- peratures with the time. The daily rise and fall of temperature is seen to extend to about 1,500 meters above the surface. Super- posed upon this and somewhat complicated by it is an aperiodic change which follows the passage of high and low barometer over the station. This sort of change extends up to the permanent inver- sion. Still a third change in temperatures aloft with time has an annual period. The time of greatest cold occurs near the earth’s surface in January, at an altitude of 5,000 to 7,000 meters it comes in March and April, 7,000 to 9,000 meters in July, and 9,000 to 11,000 meters in September.
Means of temperature records from 581 balloon ascensions made by Teisserenc de Bort show that the greatest annual fluctuation in temperature occurs at an altitude of 6,000 meters above sea level, i. e., about the base of the second stratum above mentioned. From this level up the annual fluctuation decreases gradually. Almost as great a change occurs at the base of the lower stratum, 7. e., near the earth’s surface. In this layer the fluctuation reaches a minimum at an altitude of 3,000 meters. These facts compel us to set aside the idea not long ago prevalent that, at an altitude 7,000 to 9,000 meters above sea level, the temperature should be constant through- out the year.
Special interest attaches to the particular study of the peculiari-
BY MEANS OF KITES AND BALLOONS. 29
1909. ]
‘2061 ‘61 0} SI Jaquiajdag JO UOISIOAUT dInj}eJoduI9}] sy, “6 ‘DIT
HEE
cet ANU
96 926
000T
00ST 00ST
009 0098
TET TEN
30 BLAIR—EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER AIR [March 5,
ties in the temperature gradient as recorded from day to day in the lower stratum, since these, together with the wind directions and velocities, must be relied upon for a knowledge of the air circula-
Fic. 10. Horizontal projection of path of a sounding balloon, Uccle, Belgium, July 25, 1907.
tion in particular storms as they pass. Among the most interesting of these peculiarities are the inversions. Fig. 9 shows a charac- teristic series beginning on September 15, 1908, and ending Septem- ber 19, 1908. The advent of this inversion is preceded by a small temperature change with altitude at 2,900 meters on September 14.
1909.] BY MEANS OF KITES AND BALLOONS. ai
———"|
FEBRUARY 26)
PROC. AMER, PHIL. SOC. XLVIII. I9I C, PRINTED JULY 2, 1909.
Weather map of February 26, 1908.
Ie, ate.
32 BLAIR—EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER AIR [March s,
During these five days an area of high pressure which was central over Vermont on the fifteenth moved southwestward over the observatory. The highest pressure in this area was 775.2 mm. on the morning, of the fifteenth; this decreased to 765.0 mm. on the morning of the nineteenth. Under the influence of this area of high pressure, the surface wind was northeast on the fourteenth, southeast on the fifteenth and northwest during the remainder of the period. On the fourteenth and fifteenth the change in wind direction with altitude was counter-clockwise, while during the remainder of the period it was clockwise. The upper current in which the inversion occurred varied from north-northeast on the fifteenth to north-northwest on the nineteenth. These warmer northerly winds aloft are apparently due to an area of low pressure which was central about 300 kilometers east of the southern ex- tremity of Florida at 8 a.m. on the fourteenth and moved north- northeast along the coast, reaching the Gulf of St. Lawrence at 8 a.m. on the nineteenth. This area of low pressure seems to have overhung the weak area of high pressure.
Fig. 10 shows the horizontal projection of the path of a sound- ing balloon. It illustrates not only the variability of the winds both as to direction and velocity with altitude, but the method of determining these elements when sounding balloons are used. | What- ever the wind direction at the surface, the kites do not often go more than 3,000 meters high without coming into a wind with a strong westerly component. These changes in the wind, together with the temperature gradient, enable us to get the depth of a great many of the storms as they pass us.
Fig. 11 shows the map for February 26, 1908. The wind direc- tions shown by the flight of this day were as follows:
SUPlace! nwt ae sele Cee CLE Ce eee ete es NW. T OOO THELELS) 2% syatens ns sda yee AGIs aa ote Mice vies ces WNW. A OOO MA TCLELS Svc, cess 2 ose Pee EL GREE Ee Der ree ocags Sees W. SOOO MIETEHS 05.0.5. =: +, 012 ciate ata Meee ea Tear chain toes WSW. A000 MNECEES: is5:3 0:35 bos Se Oe OL Eine ce co eaters SW.
The peculiar arrangement of the two low pressure areas in the northeast is the interesting feature. The wind directions observed on this day during the kite flight show that the small or secondary low pressure area was only 2,000 meters deep. At this altitude the
1909.] BY MEANS OF KITES AND BALLOONS. 33
kites swung into a W. to SW. wind appropriate to the circulation about the center of the primary low pressure area. The kite en- tered the circulation of the primary low at a lower level in the ascent than in the descent. This is shown both by the variation of the wind with altitude and by a slight inversion of temperature which occurred at an altitude of 1,768 meters in the ascent and at 2,600 meters in the descent. The secondary low is the center of a deepening storm, and its motion of translation becomes more rapid as its altitude increases. We find on the map for the next day that it has become the chief storm center.
Aside from this sort of study of the data obtained in the upper air work at Mt. Weather, the peculiar features of each day’s record of conditions aloft are telegraphed to the Forecast Division in Washington at 8 p.m. They frequently prove of value in the making of the forecast. We have, however, but the one station at which the upper air is explored and, unless the disturbance with which the forecast for the day has chiefly to do is operating in our vicinity, we are unable to furnish much helpful information about it.
It happens sometimes that on a day when a flight of a certain height would be of especial interest, the winds are insufficient to carry the kites to the desired levels. The use of sounding balloons at Mt. Weather is inadvisable because of its proximity to the ocean. However, enough is being done to make the present work very much worth while, and to show us that the value of three or four stations at which both kites and balloons could be used would be inestimable in obtaining general as well as particular information of the storms as they pass. The latter, in the light of the former, should add to the accuracy of the forecast and perhaps extend the period for which a reasonable forecast may be made.
In this paper results based on upper air records of temperature, humidity, wind direction and velocity only have been touched upon. Kites and balloons furnish us the means of getting at electrical potentials and other electrical phenomena in the upper air, also may be the means of measuring the amount of insolation at different levels, all of which, as seen in the morning twilight time, promise to contribute much to the brightness of the day that is dawning in this field of applied physics.
WHY AMERICA SHOULD RE-EXPLORE WILKES LAND.
CPLrATE (I) By EDWIN SWIFT BALCH. (Read April 22, 1909.)
1
In the year 1899 Sir Clements R. Markham, then president of the Royal Geographical Society, read a paper “The Antarctic Expeditions’! before the International Geographical Congress at Berlin. In this paper he mentioned the names and work of many Antarctic explorers, but he omitted the names of Wilkes and Palmer, and, in fact, he did not refer to any American. More- over, he proposed to divide the Antarctic regions into four quad- rants, all of which were to receive English names, and over the land which for fifty years has borne the name of “ Wilkes Land,” he intended to affix the term “ Victoria (Quadrant.”
This remarkable attitude towards Americans, of a man holding such a prominent scientific position in England, arrested the atten- tion of the writer, who began to study carefully Antarctic litera- ture to find out on what Sir C. R. Markham based his opinions. It did not take long to become aware that although there were plenty of papers and some books of explorations about the South Pole, yet there was nothing in the shape of a connected history which was in the least accurate. Many things were omitted, and what was not forgotten was often wrong. A then recently pub- lished book “ The Antarctic Regions,” by Dr. Karl Fricker, teem- ing with errors and prejudice, was a shining example of this worth- less method of writing geographical history.
That American explorers were thrown aside, was also evidently partly the fault of American writers. Wilkes was neglected, Palmer almost forgotten, and Pendleton entirely so, by their
The Geographical Journal, 1899, Vol. XIV., pp. 473-481.
34
1909.] RE-EXPLORE WILKES LAND. 35
countrymen. Under these circumstances, why should others think of them? And yet America’s record in the Antarctic is a brilliant one, indeeed the most brilliant of any nation!
It has taken the writer years of hard work, studying records and maps, and ransacking libraries and archives in America and Europe, to gradually work out the evolution of the discovery of the Antarctic regions. Beginning with a letter to The Nation? in answer to Sir C. R. Markham, following this with a long paper “ Antarctica, a History of Antarctic Discovery,’* then again with a longer book “ Antarctica,’* and another paper “ Antarctica Addenda,’® it has proved necessary to supplement this with still another one, “Stonington Antarctic Explorers,’® and even yet the history is incomplete.
It soon became apparent, while working up the various records, that the nomenclature of the Antarctic regions was in a state of hopeless confusion. In many cases the names originally given by the discoverers had been superseded by names given by later trav- elers. Such was the case with the ‘‘ Powell Islands” justly so called and so first charted after their discoverer, the English sealer George Powell, which was superseded by the meaningless name “ The South Orkneys.” The name “ Palmer Land” wandered all over the map, according to the fancy of the map maker. The name “ Graham Land,” belonging to a small stretch of coast, was often applied to the whole massif of known lands in the western Antarctic. This arose from a curious cause. Graham Land lies some four degrees south of the Shetlands, and on Mercator charts, owing to the enor- mous relative increase in size for every degreee of latitude south, Graham Land swelled to inordinate dimensions, and the name was printed in giant letters, which pushed it into an unwarranted prominence.
The most curious thing of all was that there was no generic name by which to distinguish the lands which could be reached from South America, from those which could be reached from Australia.
? May I0, 1900.
$ Journal of the Franklin Institute, 1901, Vol. CLI. and Vol. CLI.
* Philadelphia, Allen, Lane and Scott, 1902.
5 Journal of the Franklin Institute, February, 1904. °* Not yet published.
36 BALCH—WHY AMERICA SHOULD [April 22,
“The lands lying south of South America” and “The lands lying south of Australia” were impossible titles to use in writing. It was necessary to invent something shorter, and in 1902, the writer proposed the names “West Antarctica”’ and “East Antarctica” to distinguish Antarctic lands in the western hemisphere from those in the eastern hemisphere, and first placed those names on a chart. Dr. Otto Nordenskjold, while wintering at Snow Hill, felt the necessity of such a nomenclature and invented independently the names “ West Antarktis ” and “ East Antarktis,’ which on his return he decided, after reading the writer’s ‘“ Antarctica,” to change to “West Antarctica ” and. “Hast /Antarctica:’?
The name “ West Antarctica” has already been placed on sev- eral maps, but apparently only attached to the South Shetlands, Palmer Land and Graham Land mass. Of course, ‘West Ant- arctica’ should include all the lands in the western Antarctic, such as Coats Land and King Edward Land, just as “ East Antarctica”’ should include all the lands in the eastern Antarctic, namely, Wilkes Land, Victoria Land, and Enderby Land.
Little by little, as the writer unearthed neglected printed records and manuscripts, a grand story of forgotten American enterprise and pluck was revealed. As far back as the year 1800, Captain Swain, of Nantucket, discovered in Antarctic waters a small island, which was reported afterwards as sighted by two other Americans, Captain Macy and Captain Gardner. In 1819-1820, Captain Shef- field and Mate N. B. Palmer reached the newly discovered South Shetlands on a sealing voyage. In 1820-1821, Captain Nathaniel B. Palmer discovered the coast of the northern mainland of West Antarctica, which was rightfully called Palmer Land. In 1821- 1822, Captain N. B. Palmer sailed along this coast, and afterwards, in company with the English sealer Powell, discovered the Powell Islands. In 1822-1823, Benjamin Morrell sailed over part of the Antarctic Ocean, and sighted some of the coasts of West Ant- arctica, south and east of the Shetlands. Before 1828, Benjamin Pendleton sailed south and west from the Shetlands, and discovered the coast, afterwards called Graham Land, and the entrance of a great strait, doubtless Gerlache Strait. In 1830, Nathaniel B. Pal-
7“ Antarctica or Two Years amongst the Ice of the South Pole,” p. 69.
1909. ] RE-EXPLORE WILKES LAND. 37
mer and Alexander S. Palmer explored a large section of the Ant- arctic Ocean, west of the Shetlands.
In 1839 and 1840, the United States Exploring Expedition, under the command of Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, U. S. N., made two voyages to the Antarctic. The first was in West Antarctica, to the Shetlands and along the coast of Palmer Land. The second was in East Antarctica. Starting from Australia,in January and February, 1840, Wilkes discovered the coast of East Antarctica and sailed along it for about 1500 miles. To this coast he gave the name of “ The Antarctic Continent,” but geographers have gradually and rightfully renamed it ‘ Wilkes Land.” While Wilkes did not see the whole coast of Antarctica, yet he saw enough to make it certain that there was a continental land mass at the South Pole. Geographers have hardly even yet, and Americans in general have certainly not, real- ized what a great discovery Wilkes made. There have been only three continents discovered since ancient times, America, Australia and Antarctica, and Americans ought to be proud that the discovery of the third was made by Americans.
Shortly after Wilkes came the sealer Smiley, of whom there are unfortunately almost no records. There is one, however, hitherto unnoticed, which is interesting. On a globe, manufactured by Gil- man Joslin in Boston and copyrighted by Charles Copley in Wash- ington in 1852, which is now in the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, is charted ‘South Shetland” and south of this in about 69° S. lat. “I. of Alexander,” and in about-72° ‘S. lat. “Smilies I.” Smiley is known to have gone far south, but whether he actually went beyond Alexander Land, or was only the second to resight the Russian discovery, can, however, not be inferred from this. In our generation many voyages have been made by Amer- ican sealers, Captains Osbon, Eldred, Glass, Buddington, Lynch, Fuller and others, principally to various parts of West Antarctica in a search for fur seal skins.
To-day, however, America is no longer doing her share in the exploration of the continent discovered by Americans. Other nations are doing all the work and reaping all the glory. The “Frozen White Continent’? remains the one great unexplored area on the surface of the earth, and towards the end of the nineteenth
38 BALCH—WHY AMERICA SHOULD [Aprii 22,
century, it began to exercise the irresistible fascination of the unknown on the thoughts of geographers and explorers. And nobly have Europeans answered the call. A Belgian expedition, under de Gerlache, explored the strait which bears his name, and traced by soundings a long piece of the continental shelf of West Antarctica. A mixed expedition, under Dr. Borchgrevink, wintered in Victoria Land. A German expedition, under Dr. von Drygalski, discovered a new portion of the coast of East Antarctica, Kaiser Wilhelm II. Land, and confirmed the existence of Wilkes’ Termina- tion Land. ‘A Swedish expedition, under Dr. Nordenskjold, ex- plored and charted the eastern coast of the northern mainland of West Antarctica, the unnamed stretch of which, between King Oscar II. Land and Joinville Island, should certainly bear the name of “Nordensjold Land.” A Scotch expedition, under Dr. Bruce, sailed and sounded in the Weddell Sea, and discovered an unknown part of the coast of Antarctica, “Coats Land.” An English expedi- tion, under Captain Scott, explored and charted Victoria Land and discovered King Edward VII. Land. A French expedition, under Dr. Charcot, reéxplored Gerlach Strait and the outlying archipelago, and sighted, south of Graham Land, a new piece of coast, which Charcot called “ Loubet Land,” but which might well be renamed “Charcot Land.” An English expedition, under Lieutenant Shack- elton, last January reached, it is reported by cable, 88° 23’ S. lat., 162° E. long., and also the South Magnetic Pole, 72° 25’ S. lat., 154° E. long. And, at the present moment, a French expedition, under Dr. Charcot, is wintering somewhere in West Antarctica.
Is it not time for America to once more put her shoulder to the wheel and help science dispel ignorance? And if she does, what ought she to do? She ought to reéxplore Wilkes Land, and get a more accurate chart of its shores. Why? First, because Wilkes Land is an American discovery; second, because little is known about it; and third, because so much doubt has been cast on Wilkes and Americans by some foreign geographers.
I say but little is known of Wilkes Land. For some reason explorers have fought shy of its icy shores. The French admiral Dumont d’Urville landed in one bay of its coast; the English sealer Balleny caught a glimpse of it at one spot; and the German Dr. von
ENDERBY | L A
ELL =
KEMPLy ~~
Noes
KAISER AYMi Gauss 710 WILHELM II. 6|5 LAND
arnanons) u)
Ey
120
30
140
PLATE |
70
110
80
60/90
100
a iaelndiniieeiiiene _
a ee “ - = ——— = i oe an se eas 7 ee ee sitet Ag i a ROS re te
“4 7
PROCEEDINGS Am. PHitos. Soc. VoL. XLVIII. No. 191
PLaTe | 40 ae o VE steer x BELLINGSHAUSEN / *SISCOE é - 50/ 70 * BELLINGSHAUSEN Ui 04 *BISCOE y, [rere *BISCOE ROSS: / a Js GEieenant is y / y~ ~ oa x ian Sie y = : . A FAC Pe vonenise : monnsu N ‘s a aT / x 5S x ‘ ~ Rossy \ \ sae f / . ENDERBY LL \ “BF a MORRELL, WEDDELL SEA \ g AN \ 3 CRDENSKIOLD i \ EODELL, + MORRILL \ KEMPDY ye i 70 KEMP oe \ ae i a) 80 +NARES GERLACHE * ' GERLACHE + j Cau 90/60 els alo 0 a aaa 60/90 PETER ITI © LAND ; arennanons} GERLACHE « WALKER\+ ve COOK + 100 SWAIN |. 2 - \ 2 ss ) 2, a \ a ; ES. \ aN \ © ry) lo Tee \ gi Lo / ee? eer \ y peuncsnausen? y fey paneer [168 Jay nue Fae a \ he (a) v4 oe 0) ~ \ 7, ; Y « .Colbeck era rac 3 \ g sf A 2 y SABRINAL/ a ROSs Ss ook z J ae i S 5 Nacow oy pee BELLINGSHAUSEN * | 115 Zz ar Melbor’ \ t+ SP a0 120 la me Porpoise’ Bay COOK= a i=] ye KX ge meen CHART coox* WAKER Be sabine \ oY Cote Clarie COOK « y ROSS nana Stam a pede ED ner B. | : ‘ ay MASE OF ° \ \’2/ois5pp0intment 3) 130 Rosh tlo oe HUDSON, us 130 ANTARCTICA y <7) tee AWN BY Dee” / Re. DR \ / ie boas \ ‘ h 140, / 40 . \ / fdwin SwiftBalch ee SS / FEBRUARY, 1909.
‘ ' \ \ i “e)
a .. h ‘ aa ; we
- . \ " i ‘ee i 7 ys é. “ : v ia wane
a a
eas
ey
PC. on ging Ve eens a)
‘
1909.] RE-EXPLORE WILKES LAND. 39
Drygalski reached the extreme western end: otherwise nothing has been done there since the immortal cruise of gallan Charles Wilkes.
The doubts and slurs cast on Wilkes’s discovery are another paramount cause why Americans should reexplore Wilkes Land. It should be looked on as a national duty to do so. It is unfortu- nately necessary in this connection to speak anew of the abuse and the disbelief heaped on Wilkes. The whole trouble was started by Sir James Clarke Ross. Angered at being forestalled in the discovery of Antarctica, Ross wrote most unfairly about Wilkes. Although Ross had Wilkes’s book before him, and could read there the “Instructions ”’® directing Wilkes to go to the Antarctic, yet Ross wrote as if Wilkes had no business to do so when an English expedition was expected to go there the following year. Ross did not go to Wilkes Land nor anywhere near it, yet he deliberately left all of Wilkes’s discoveries off his chart.®
Accepting the angered fancies of Ross as facts, many writers wrote disparagingly of Wilkes.1° The most vehement of his op- ponents was Sir Clement R. Markham, who, after many times speaking of Wilkes as if Wilkes were utterly unreliable, finally reached the stage when he thought he could simply omit all refer- ence to American Antarctic explorers. Owing to his important position, however, of president of the Royal Geographical Society, Markham’s opinions naturally carried great weight in England and affected the judgment of younger men, chief among whom was Cap- tain Robert F. Scott.
Captain Scott commanded the British Antarctic expedition to Victoria Land in 1901-1904. On his return northward, when in about the latitude of Hudson Land, he altered his course, and sailed due west for about nineteen degrees of longitude. When within about fifteen or twenty miles of Wilkes’s “Cape Hudson,” Scott turned northward and returned to Australia. He therefore did not go to any part of Wilkes Land. Nevertheless he asserts with the greatest emphasis in his book" that once for all he has definitely
8“ Narrative United States Exploring Expedition,” Vol. 1, p. xxvil.
®°“ Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctjc Regions.” See “ Antarctica,” by Edwin Swift Balch.
” See “ Antarctica,’ by Edwin Swift Balch, pp. 169, 176-178, 211. 1“ The Voyage of the Discovery.”
\
40 BALCH—WHY AMERICA SHOULD [April 22,
disposed of Wilkes Land and that it must be expurgated from the charts. But as Captain Scott did not go to Wilkes Land, his ukase about it, which is really nothing but a reflex of Sir Clements R. Markham’s anti-American prejudices, will be politely pigeonholed by the douma of world geographers. Captain Scott is also quite unconscious of the fact that Hudson Land may easily be fifty or one hundred miles further south than Wilkes supposed, and that even if this is so, it would not in the least invalidate Wilkes’s discovery.
Captain Scott’s chart shows his track towards Wilkes Land and his turn away from it. Scott admits that he was on the continental shelf, because he took soundings four times in shallow waters. But there is a curious fact connected with these four soundings. In Scott’s book they are given as 250 fathoms, 254 fathoms, 245 fath- oms, and 260 fathoms; but on Scott’s chart they are given as 256, 354 y. m., 248 m., 204 m. Not only does Scott disagree with him- self about these soundings, but he disagrees with Lieutenant Armi- tage, his second in command, who in his book!” puts down these soundings as 256 fathoms, 354 fathoms, 284 fathoms, and 264 fath- oms, and says: “Although we did not see land, our soundings indicated that it was not very far off.” Moreover Scott and Armi- tage also disagree about the weather. Scott says: ‘“‘ The sky has been dull, but the horizon quite clear; we could have seen land at a great distance;” but Armitage says: “The weather was not the kind in which one could see any great distance.” It is to be hoped that Captain Scott’s other observations are less contradictory than those he made near Wilkes Land, whose proximity apparently affected his observing powers.
Probably, however, the most curious fact in regard to Sir J. C. Ross’s and Captain Scott’s decision to expurgate Wilkes Land out of the world, is that the expeditions which they respectively com- manded proved absolutely the existence of Wilkes Land. For they discovered and explored Victoria Land. And Victoria Land, a long range of high mountains, fronting to the east on Ross Sea and the Great Ice Barrier, is backed on the west by an ice cap some 9,000 feet in thickness. Now this ice cap, the main plateau of East Ant-
%“Two Years in the Antarctic.”
1909. ] RE-EXPLORE WILKES LAND. 41
arctica, cannot vanish into thin air or disappear in a hole in the ground: it must have a northern and western edge somewhere. And common sense points out that the northern and western edge of this great ice plateau is Wilkes Land.
Ni
While it is perhaps impossible to determine positively who first suggested an American Antarctic expedition, it is probable that it was Dr. Frederick A. Cook. As far back as 1894, he published a paper “A Proposed Antarctic Expedition.”1* Dr. Cook wished to explore the northern mainland and islands of West Antarctica, and thought $50,000 would cover the expenses. His proposition un- fortunately met with no response, or the discoveries of Palmer and Pendleton would doubtless have been verified and enlarged by Americans.
In the year 1899 Mr. Albert White Vorse published a strong plea’* in favor of an American Antarctic expedition, winding up in
What, then, is the profit in dragging out of the dust of libraries its forgotten scandals? There can be but one excuse for it: the hope that national pride may be moved to send forth a second Antarctic expedition that shall retrieve the mistakes of the first one. . . . Is it well for the United States to be behind in scientific research, or to permit other nations either to disprove or verify the report of its first attempt at foreign ex- ploration?
Mr. Vorse’s words, however, were barren of result.
In 1903, an Englishman, Dr. Hugh Robert Mill—whose recent excellent book “‘ The Siege of the South Pole” is so different from old-fashioned works about Antarctic history—in a note to Science in reply to one of the writer’s, also suggested sending an American expedition to the Antarctic. Dr. Mill said:’°
Yours is a land of millionaires: the Antarctic is still scarcely touched by explorers, and all nations would rejoice to see a well-equipped American expedition sent out to help to solve the present problems which, after all, are those most nearly concerning us.
3“ Around the World,” Philadelphia, February, 1804, p. 55. % Scribner's Magazine, 1899, Vol. 36, p. 704.
the following words: 5 Science, Vol. XVIII., August 7, 1903.
42 BALCH—WHY AMERICA SHOULD [April 22, The writer immediately answered :1°
The final suggestion of Dr. Mill deserves unqualified approval. Would it not be possible to send an American expedition, either private or govern- mental, to reéxplore the coast of Wilkes Land? A steamship like the “ Bear,” commanded by naval officers, should be able, in the course of one southern summer, to bring back fresh data about the land discovered by Americans in East Antarctica.
Here the matter slumbered again.
When Captain Scott, however, published'’ his unwarranted, inaccurate statements about Admiral Wilkes, the writer wrote two articles, “ Antarctic Nomenclature ’’8 and “ Wilkes Land.”!® The latter article wound up in these words:
And now to take up another phase of this question. The whole of East Antarctica may be one great land mass. Or it may be that Wilkes Land is one mass, possibly a continuation of Australia; and Victoria Land one mass, possibly a continuation of New Zealand. No one can say positively, until an expedition is sent out to explore systematically the northern coast of East Antarctica. Mr. Henryk Arctowski, a member of de Gerlache’s Antarctic expedition, is trying hard to keep up interest in Antarctic ex- ploration and to have international cooperation in the future, as he has explained in a recent monograph. Is it impossible to wake up governmental interest in the United States in this matter, or, if it is, would not some American multi-millionaire furnish the funds to send an expedition to settle for all time the facts about the greatest geographical discovery of the nineteenth century, the coast of “The Antarctic Continent” discovered by Charles Wilkes?
In an editorial commenting on these articles, the New York Tribune?’ said:
It is extremely unfortunate that Captain Scott did not extend his survey to the precise spot at which Wilkes made his historic observations. Few disinterested geographers will attach any value to his report so far as the reality of Wilkes Land is involved. To assume on the strength of such evidence that any mistake has been made heretofore is premature, to say the least. Not until a new expedition has gone to the region in question and has made a more thorough search than did Captain Scott would it be wise or honest to drop the name Wilkes Land from Antarctic charts. For
* Science, Vol. XVIII., September 4, 1903.
™“ The Voyage of the Discovery.” See supra, Mr. Newberry’s letter. * Bulletin American Geographical Society, December, 1905.
* Bulletin American Geographical Society, January, 1906.
* February 5, 1900:
1909. ] RE-EXPLORE WILKES LAND. 43
the honor of this country and of one of her ablest naval officers it is to be hoped that the point at issue may be thoroughly investigated before many years. A special expedition for the purpose might well be organized in America.
As a result also of these articles, the American Geographical Society took up the matter and sent the following letter to the Secretary of the Navy:
February 15, 1906. Sir:
The council of this society respectfully invite your attention to the fol- lowing passage from “ The Voyage of the Discovery,” by Robert F. Scott, R. N., London, 1905, Vol. II., page 302:
“The sky has been dull, but the horizon quite clear; we could have seen land at a great distance, yet none has been in sight, and thus once and for all we have definitely disposed of Wilkes Land.”
This authoritative utterance by a recent explorer in the Antarctic is but the culmination of a series of representations, continued through sixty years, reflecting on the importance of the work accomplished by the U. S. Exploring Expedition of 1838-1842, under the command of Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, Wes: N.
Wilkes Land is the name given by map makers to the land discovered by Wilkes on the nineteenth of January, 1840, in E. long. 154° 30’, S. lat. 66° 20’, followed for 1,500 miles, and called by him The Antarctic Continent.
No subsequent explorer has followed his track.
It is hoped that it may be the purpose of the government to dispatch a vessel in order to verify the results of the exploration made by Wilkes, and this society will appreciate information on this point.
Respectfully, CHANDLER Rossins,
The Hon. Domestic Corresponding Secretary.
The Secretary of the Navy, Washington, D. C.
Mr. Truman H. Newberry, Acting Secretary of the Navy, re- plied in the following letter:
Navy DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, March 8, 1906.
Sirs
Replying to your letter of the 15th ultimo, inviting, on behalf of the Council of the American Geographical Society, attention to a certain passage from “ The Voyage of the Discovery,” by Robert F. Scott, London, 1905, Vol. II., page 392, therein quoted, to the effect that the vessel in question on her homeward voyage from Victoria Land, in March, 1903, crossed the track that had been followed in January, 1840, by the vessels of
44 BALCH—WHY AMERICA SHOULD [April 22,
the U. S. Exploring Squadron without seeing any of the lands that had been indicated by Wilkes as lying southward of the “Icy Barrier,’ between the meridians of longitude 154° and 158° east of Greenwich, and stating it is hoped that the Government will dispatch a vessel in order to verify the results of the Wilkes Expedition: I have to inform you that the Hydrog- rapher of the Navy Department, to whom you letter was referred, has sub- mitted the following comments thereon:
“On the nineteenth of January, 1840, in longitude 154° 30’ east, latitude 66° 20’ south, Lieutenant Charles Wilkes sighted, or believed that he sighted land to the south. On the same day, in longitude 153° 40’ east, latitude 66° 31’ south, Lieutenant Hudson also thought that he saw land to the south. Other officers of the expedition, among them Lieutenant Alden, Gunner Williamson, and Passed Midshipman Colvocoresses, made statements to the same effect. The American vessels sailed westerly, and on the 22nd and 23rd of January reported land again. They then continued their cruise in a westerly direction along this coast for a distance of about 1,500 miles, to longitude 97° 37’ east. Returning to Sydney, Australia, on the 11th of March, 1840, without touching at any intermediate port, Lieu- tenant Wilkes announced his discovery in a report to the Secretary of the Navy on the day of his arrival at Sydney, in the following words: ‘It affords me much gratification to report that we have discovered a large body of land within the Antarctic Circle, which I have named the Antarctic Continent, and refer you to the report of our cruise and accompanying charts, inclosed herewith, for full information relative thereto.’
“At page 18 of Volume One of ‘ The Voyage of the Discovery,’ published in 1905, Captain Scott makes the following statement:
“* Wilkes with his five ships sailed from Sydney at the end of December, 1839. His ships took various tracks, but he himself in the ‘ Vincennes’ reached latitude 66° S., longitude 158° E., on January 16, and at this point point he claimed to have first seen land to the south. Hence he cruised to the westward, approximately on the latitude of the Antarctic Circle, with a comparatively open sea to the north and masses of pack-ice to the south; and beyond the latter he again and again claimed the discovery of high mountainous land. He passed close to Adélie Land and Cote Clarie only 2 few days after their discovery by D’Urville, and continuing his cruise, alleged the discovery of further extensive lands to the westward.
“*QOn his return to civilisation Wilkes claimed a vast discovery. The courses of his ships had practically traversed an are of the Antarctic Circle of no less than 70°, and, although he did not assert that he had seen land continuously south of this arc, he reported its existence at such frequent intervals as to leave little doubt that it was continuous.
“« At a later date a great controversy arose as to the accuracy of Wilkes’s observations, and resulted in much discredit being thrown on work which in many respects was important. Whilst there can be no possible object in attempting to revive such a controversy, it is evident that the true geographical condition should be known, and therefore I make bold to give my opinion of the matter. In the course of this narrative I shall show that
1909. ] RE-EXPLORE WILKES LAND. 45
the mountainous lands reported by Wilkes to the eastward of Adélie Land do not exist, and it must be recognized that those to the west may be equally unsubstantial, but it is not clear that Wilkes wilfully perverted the truth; only those who have been to these regions can realize how con- stantly a false appearance of land is produced, and no position could be more favorable to such an illusion than that in which this expedition was placed when it skirted the edge of a thick pack containing innumerable icebergs. It must be supposed also, for reasons which I have given, that Wilkes, in common with other explorers, expected to find land about the Antarctic Circle, and when after his return he learned of D’Urville’s dis- coveries, the position of Adélie Land would naturally have tended to dispel any doubt which he may have had as to what he or his people had seen.
“* Wilkes’s ships were ill adapted for battling with the ice, and, apart from their discoveries, the fact that they continued so long in high latitudes reflects great credit on their navigation. Had he been more circumspect in his reports of land, all would have agreed that his voyage was a fine performance.’
“Captain Scott’s statements about the non-existence of lands which Lieutenant Wilkes reported to be situated in the vicinity of the Antarctic Circle, between the meridians of longitude 97° and 158° east of Greenwich, rest upon the fact that, in her voyage homeward from Victoria Land, on March 4, 1903, the “ Discovery,” in longitude 154° E., crossed the track that had been followed in January, 1840, by the vessels of the U. S. Explor- ing Squadron without seeing any of the lands that had been indicated by Wilkes as lying southward of the Icy Barrier between the meridians of longitude 154° and 158° east of Greenwich. It is with reference to this incident of the approach to the crossing of the tracks of the two expeditions that the language quoted as follows in the letter of the American Geograph- ical Society has been used.
“*'The sky has been dull, but the horizon quite clear; we could have seen land at a great distance, yet none has been in sight, and thus once and for all we have definitely disposed of Wilkes Land.’
“Even if it be admitted that there is no land at the crossing where Cap- tain Scott did not see any, this fact should not operate to induce a conclusion that, within the extent of the remaining 50° of longitude through which the United States Expedition skirted the Antarctic Circle, land does not exist.”
There is no vessel of the Navy available at the present time for dis- patching on a voyage of discovery to the Antarctic regions to verify the results of the exploring expedition (1838-1843) under the command of the late Captain Charles Wilkes, U. S. N.
Very respectfully, TRUMAN H. NEWBERRY, Acting Secretary. Mr. Chandler Robbins, Domestic Corresponding Secretary, The American Geographical Society, 15 West 81st Street, New York, N. Y.
46 BALCH—WHY AMERICA SHOULD [April 22,
In forwarding copies of these letters to the writer, the late George C. Hurlbut, librarian of the American Geographical Society, wrote as follows:
March 12, 1906. My dear Mr. Balch:
We received on the roth an answer to the letter written to the Secre- tary of the Navy about a ship for the Antarctic, and I enclose a copy for you. It is final for the time, but no one knows what may come to pass.
Sincerely yours, GrorcE C. Hurwput.
Miss Wilkes, the daughter of our great explorer, also sent the writer the following letter:
814 CoNNECTICUT AVENUE, WASHINGTON, D. C. My dear Sir:
Your ideas as to an Antarctic expedition to substantiate my father’s dis- covery of a continent appeals more and more to my sister and me. We hope that you will see fit to endeavor to persuade some government official or some man in power politically or financially to work upon and push your plan to successful completion calling it the “ Balch Expedition.” If we can do anything in our little way to bring your idea into notice, we shall gladly speak or write.
But alas! we are women, not ever of much use in such grand projects as you, with your knowledge and courage in speaking for the truth, are so fitted to undertake. It was really a happiness to talk with you, who have done so much to uphold my father’s name. My sister and I both regretted very much that she too had not the gratification of meeting you and your wife. We will hope to see you both in Washington when you come, with your admirable manner and convincing words to lay your most kind intention before the officials here. With most grateful thanks to you and regards to your wife, f
Very cordially, ExizaA WILKES.
April 12, 1906.
Not long after this, the writer succeeded in enlisting a powerful helper in the cause of Antarctic exploration. This was Com- mander Robert E. Peary, who up to this time, curiously enough, had apparently taken no interest whatever in the Antarctic. Indeed, in his letter of September 2, 1903, explaining his plans for a new Arctic expedition to the Secretary of the Navy, Commander’ Peary showed that he was unaware that there was a south polar problem, when he wrote :*1
* Bulletin American Geographical Society, Vol. XXXV., 1903, p. 375.
1909.] RE-EXPLORE WILKES LAND. 47
The North Pole is the last great geographical prize the earth has to offer. Its attainment will be accepted as the sign of man’s final physical con- quest of the globe; and it will always stand as one of the great milestones in the world’s history.
The attainment of the North Pole is, in my opinion, our manifest privilege and duty. Its attainment by another country would be in the light of a reproach and criticism.
To which the Acting Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Charles H. Darling, replied very sensibly,?? showing that he recognized that
the South Pole was just exactly as important geographically as the North Pole:
The attainment of the Pole should be your main object. Nothing short will suffice. The discovery of the Poles is all that remains to complete the map of the world. That map should be completed in our generation and by our countrymen.
Commander Peary also made no reference to south polar prob- lems in his book “‘ Nearest the Pole,” published in 1907.
In December, 1906, however, the writer sent a copy of “ Ant- arctica” to Commander Peary, also calling his attention to the article “ Wilkes Land.” Commander Peary replied as follows:
WasHInNcToNn, D. C. December 14, 1906. Dear Mr. Balch:
I have the copy of “Antarctica” and thank you very much for the valuable present. I shall read it through at the earliest possible opportunity.
The accompanying pamphlets are also extremely interesting. Accept my best thanks for all.
The references which you give I shall certainly look up and add to my library.
I greatly appreciate your kindly words and look forward to the pleasure of seeing you again on the 2ist.
Very sincerely, R. E. Peary, 2014, 12th Street, N. W.
Commander Peary, after the necessity for American exploration in the Antarctic was brought thus to his notice, evidently studied up the matter and in 1908 he put himself on record as willing to
2 Bulletin American Geographical Society, Vol. XXXV., 1903, p. 376. PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC., XLVIII. I9I D,"PRINTED JULY 2, 1909.
48 BALCH—WHY AMERICA SHOULD [April 22,
undertake the task of organizing an American Antarctic expedition by sending to the Commission Polaire Internationale a “ communi- cation”? which was presented by Mr. Herbert L. Bridgman, presi- dent of the Peary Arctic Club. In this “ communication” Mr. Peary says:
I beg to state that on my return from my coming Arctic Expedition, I shall endeavor in every possible way, consistent with my other duties, to promote and organize a National American Antarctic Expedition, to secure for this country its share of the honors and valuable scientific information still awaiting the explorer in that region.
The fact that Commander Peary has at length become interested in the Antarctic regions and is indorsing the writer’s cherished views in such a practical way, renews hope that before long an American expedition will be on its way to Wilkes Land.
Ti:
There is an almost unlimited field for scientific research and observation in south polar regions, and many branches of natural science will be advanced by properly equipped expeditions. Geog- raphy, oceanography, glacialogy, geology, paleontology, zoology, bacteriology, meteorology, magnetism, all need many more years of study in the south by trained observers. There are some scien- tific problems of the first magnitude awaiting solution. One of them, for instance, is the Great Ice Barrier. It appears to be afloat as far back as observed and to be moving. Where does it extend to? What formed it? What causes its motion? No one can say! To solve this wonderful glacial problem would be worth all the money spent to do so.
In zoology, in ichthyology, in bacteriology, in botany—in fact in regard to life in all its forms—there is any amount of work still to be done in the Antarctic. For an American expedition, however, collecting would be more important than observing on these lines, because, although so many American vessels have visited south polar regions, neither the American Museum of Na- tural History, nor the United States National Museum, nor indeed any of the great museums in America has anything like a repre-
1909. ] RE-EXPLORE WILKES LAND. 49
sentative collection from Antarctica, and therefore one of the most fruitful results of an American expedition would be to bring home specimens of all kinds.
But geography is the most pressing science. The interior of Antarctica is almost unknown. The coast line is not half laid down, even if the continental shelf has been traced by soundings in several places where land has not been sighted as yet. And the paramount geographic duty for Americans should be a more accu- rate charting of the coast line of Wilkes Land, which could be largely done even in one southern summer by two steam whalers.
Starting about the middle of December from Australia, an American expedition should aim for Piner Bay in about 140° east longitude, and thence it should sail eastward to about 170° east longitude. It should, while avoiding getting caught in the ice, hug the coast as much as possible. Such a cruise would settle for all time the question of the existence of the great land mass of East Antarctica. It would also prevent any possible wrangling in the future about Case Land, and Alden Land, and Hudson Land, which will all probably turn out to be fifty or seventy-five miles further south than Wilkes charted them.
Is there now any way of bringing about such an expedition? The United States government, practically speaking through Mr. Newberry, Acting Secretary of the Navy, declined to take the matter up. What can be done either to induce the government to rescind its negative decision, or towards finding some private indi- viduals to finance the undertaking?
It would seem as though the first thing to do would be to arouse more general interest among scientific men. The American Geo- graphical Society has already shown approbation. Would not some of the learned societies in the United States, such as the American Philosophical Society, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Amer- ican Museum of Natural History endorse the project in some shape or other?
If some of the geographic and scientific societies would put the seal of their approval on an American Antarctic expedition, the next step forward would seem to be the formation of an Antarctic
50 BALCH—WHY AMERICA SHOULD [April 22,
Committee, each member of which should represent some scientific or geographic society in the United States. If a committee were formed, of such men as Cyrus C. Adams, Herbert L. Bridgman, Henry G. Bryant, Hermon C. Bumpus, William Morris Davis, Charles E. Fay, Adolphus W. Greely, Gilbert H. Grosvenor, George W. Melville, Robert E. Peary, Winfield Scott Schley, Harvey M. Watts, each one chosen from some learned body like the American Philosophical Society, the Smithsonian Institution, the American Museum of Natural History, the Franklin Institute, the American Geographical Society, the National Geographic Society, the Peary Arctic Club, the Appalachian Mountain Club, the American Alpine Club, the Association of American Geographers, etc., and such a committee would issue and distribute some memoirs on the impor- tance of Antarctic research, public interest might be aroused and the matter take a concrete form.
When one considers all the facts in the case—that the last un- known continent was discovered by Americans; that the commander of our most successful expedition was immediately arraigned and attacked by the angry commander of the next British expedition; that a recent ex-president of the Royal Geographical Society and also the commander of the British National Antarctic expedition are eager to wipe out all American discoveries from the map; that many branches of science would be advanced; that big gaps in American museums would be filled; and above all, that the dis- coveries by the United States Navy in the Antarctic would be veri- fied and increased—it would seem as though some Americans would take the matter up, and, while helping science, link their names with that of our great Antarctic explorer.
THE NATION AND THE WATERWAYS.
By LEWIS Mi HAUPT, (Ges AMY Sc.D: (Read April 22, 1909.)
This mysterious planet which we inhabit has been the object of profound reasearch by many self-constituted investigators since the creation of man, yet he has not wholly unravelled her secrets nor fathomed her innumerable resources.
She may be likened to an immense gyroscope, whose pole is the sun and whose radius-vector is the tether which checks her eccen- tricities as she floats through space. Her form, size and density have been carefully determined and it is found that of the four great circles which constitute her envelope, only about 53,500,000 square miles are above the level of the sea, and that of this portion but about 28,000,000 are arable land.
Such is the present extent of our heritage, as a storehouse for the maintenance of life, and it is recorded that when, in the process of time, this physical orb had been suitably developed for habitation, then the Lord God, by His creative Word, said:
“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness and let them have dominion over all the earth.. . . So God created man and blessed them and said unto them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over . . . every living thing that moveth upon the earth.’ ”
In the fulfillment of this divine commission man has multiplied in numbers, notwithstanding many vicissitudes, until to-day it is estimated that there are not less than 1,500,000,000 souls to be sup- plied with the necessities of life, yet the earth is not full, nor are her resources exhausted. This enormous host of humanity is scat- tered, more or less densely, over the habitable portion of the globe, subject to different environments, beliefs, aspirations, habits, gov- ernments, faculties and purposes, yet all imbued with the common,
51
52 HAUPT—NATION AND THE WATERWAYS. _ [April 22,
imperious instinct of life, from the lowest barbarianism to the high- est civilization.
To level up these hordes of humanity, free circulation, tending to promote community of interests, is necessary, and yet some of the most favored nations are enacting legislative barriers to prevent migration and restrict commercial intercourse, not only between nations but even between states.
From these two factors of available area and present population it appears that, if uniformily distributed, there would be a density of 53.6 individuals to the square mile, or 11 acres per capita. But it will give a better idea of the capacity of the earth to state that the entire population of the globe could be included in the State of Texas, at the rate of nine to the acre, whereas the safe sanitary limit is taken at one hundred per acre. Belgium, one of the most densely settled and prosperous countries, has a density of 1.12 acres per capita, or 0.9 of a person per acre.
The annual increment of the world is stated to be: births, 36,792,000; deaths, 35,639,835—difference or increase, 1,162,165. Were this rate to remain constant, on this basis, it would require over a thousand years to even double the present population, so that there would appear to be ample room for the normal increase even within present limits of territory. But these figures must be discredited inasmuch as they give only three fourths of one per cent. increment per decade, while the annual excess for Europe, as determined by Professor Marshall, was 1.06 per cent., or fourteen- fold greater.
Suffice it to say, however, that while there appears to be ample room in the world for thousands of years to come, yet the increase in the United States is believed to be far more rapid than in any other country on earth. Here the rate is more than double that of Europe, and this fact also is an earnest of her influence as a world power in the maintenance of peace, regardless of great armaments. Large portions of the industrial world are dependent upon her granaries for their materials and subsistence, thus intensifying the necessity of reducing the cost of transportation and increasing her facilities, by providing capacious channels as well as an adequate merchant marine, for the distribution of her products.
1909.] HAUPT—NATION AND THE WATERWAYS. 53
This question of cheap transportation becomes, therefore, one of international importance, deserving of the careful consideration of all classes of people and, although much has been said and done to meet the demands of commerce, our retired President has char- acterized the results as being “largely negative,’ which he attributes to the absence of a comprehensive plan which led to the policy of “repression and procrastination,’ and he adds:
“Tn spite of large appropriations for their improvement our rivers are less serviceable for inter-state commerce to-day than they were half a century ago, and in spite of the vast increase in our population and commerce they are on the whole less used.”
This pregnant paragraph represents a condition resulting from a change of policy which has rendered these lamentable results pos- sible, and which is so diametrically opposed to the fundamental principles of this democracy that a brief statement of these innova- tions seems essential to point out the proper remedy.
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES.
In his excellent analysis of the dangers threatening the utilities of the railroads, from legislative restriction, Mr. Stuyvesant Fish* calls attention to the words of Washington, when retiring from public life, as follows:
“Tt is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking, in a free country, should inspire caution in those intrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department, to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the depart- ments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and a proneness to abuse it which predominates the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position . . . If, in the opinion of our people the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be, in any particular, wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed.”
Now, more than a century later, our distinguished Secretary of
1“ The Nation and the Railroads,” address before the American Academy of Political and Social Science. No. 553, 1908.
54 HAUPT—NATION AND THE WATERWAYS. _ [April 22,
State and ex-U. S. Senator, P. C. Knox, in an address delivered February 12, 1908, said:
“When the Government assumed charge and control of the navigable streams of the interior it entered into a practical contract with the States and communities bordering these streams that their waterways should be improved to their highest capacity. The States were thereby prevented from improving the streams themselves. Corporate enterprise was forbidden to undertake the canalization of important stretches and fix the cost of their works and franchises on the traffic. The Federal Government has made its formal and deliberate declaration that it will do this work. That necessarily involves that it will make the improvements adequate to modern needs and possibilities. To do any less would be a mockery and breach of good faith.”
Thus, it is manifest that the federal government has assumed charge and control of the waterways of the states, but without formal agreement, and has paralyzed the former corporate or local initiative as commercial enterprises, and in consequence of the ina- bility of the national treasury to meet even a small fraction of the demands upon it for this class of public works, has added to the general congestion of the transportation and increased the cost.?
The great relative loss in water-borne commerce during the past half century may be ascribed in large part to the rapid increase in the mileage and capacity of railroads which have erroneously regarded waterways as competitors and waged a war of extermina- tion upon them; as well as to the policy on the part of some of the states and localities to tacitly prefer appropriations from the national treasury rather than from their own revenues and thus apparently sanction the forfeiture of sovereignty over these works, to an extrinsic authority, having no constitutional rights to exercise them.
Even if it were constitutional for the general government to assume and control the improvements of all the rivers and harbors of the several states, it has been demonstrated time and again that it is impracticable to secure the necessary appropriations from the general treasury, necessary to meet the demands of a rapidly ex- panding commerce, which furnishes a tonnage increasing five-fold faster than the facilities for transporting it. With all sections
7 At the closing session of the 60th Congress the appropriation was only
nine-tenths of one per cent., while 60.5 per cent. was for militarism and its sequences.
1909.] HAUPT—NATION AND THE WATERWAYS. 55
clamoring for expenditures in their districts for isolated improve- ments it becomes impracticable to enter upon any continuous and systematic plan of relief. The frequent failure of the appropria- tion bill for waterways is in itself conclusive evidence of the serious obstacles to the development of these works due to general legislation, and the paralysis resulting from the assumption of control over all such works by a central authority is too often in evidence. With the many devices available for the defeat of meritorious legislation, the issue is always in doubt and is frequently determined by the policy of the “ steering-committee ”’ or the demands from other departments or bureaus of the executive departments, which have their headquarters at the capital, and are in position to direct legislation by making or withholding recommendations for certain influential sections. Thus, the multitude of bills, the shortness of the closing sessions, the reference to committees not having the right of way on the floor, the ability to filibuster or talk a measure to death through courtesy, the reference to a committee with instructions to pigeon-hole, the failure of a member to receive recognition, the necessity of dis- tributing the patronage over the country to secure a sufficient num- ber of votes to pass the bill, the strenuous opposition of vested interests fearing competition, and the local, sectional jealousies existing between adjacent centers, all tend to retard or defeat the normal development of our avenues of transportation and to pro- mote those of our foreign competitors in the markets of the world.
That these statements are not mere glittering generalities will appear by a brief reference to the history of the colonies when the rivalries of trade and the cutting of rates were so severe that to avoid impending ruin, it was determined to form a confederation to protect the colonies from the devastation of the foreign powers which were destroying their trade. Thus it was that the Constitu- tion of the United States was adopted on the seventeenth day of September, 1787, whereby the states empowered the Congress to “regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several states, and with the indian tribes.”
Many are the expositions which have been published as to the scope and meaning of these powers, but the opinion of the framers of this Magna Charta, are unanimous as to the fact that the states
56 HAUPT—NATION AND THE WATERWAYS. _ [April 22,
did not relegate their jurisdiction over their waterways, water- powers or franchises to the national government and this right was retained and exercised by the states to their great benefit, as well as to that of the nation, up to and after the Civil War when the policy gradually changed and the “control was assumed,’ as Senator Knox puts it, by the government. Under this policy of encroachment and national control, it has become necessary for all sections of the country to organize great political and local associa- tions and to combine these into national congresses which assemble annually at the capital, to urge by every legitimate means that $500,000,000 bonds be issued, to enable the waterways of the coun- try to be prepared for traffic, yet the results thus far are almost negligible, and it is stated by members of Congress that the people would not justify such measures. This opinion appears to be well supported by the fact that during the past half century more than $600,000,000 have been appropriated for these purposes from the public treasury and yet the President has declared that the results are largely negative, but the method of procedure would seem to be radically wrong in basing the appeal for money on the experience of the past with no prospect of better returns for the future, which can only be effected by a reformation of the system which has ren- dered such returns possible. Thus it happens that the largest and most enterprising commercial and trade organizations of the coun- try are memorializing Congress for such a reorganization as shall place these works under a cabinet officer, to be created with definite and systematic plans for the continuous execution of such works as may properly come within the jurisdiction of the United States and to encourage the state, corporate and local initiative as was the practice in ante-bellem days when the waterways and canals were so rapidly and successfully developed at a minimum cost by private capital, as have been the railways and highways of the federal domain from its foundation. In short it is vital that there should be a return to the early policy underlying the foundation of this republic and which was the spirit embodied in its Constitution. It was the genius of our government, that
“What individual enterprise could effect alone, was to be left to indi- vidual enterprise; what a state and individuals could achieve together was
1909.] HAUPT—NATION AND THE WATERWAYS. 57
left to the joint action of states and individuals; but what neither of these, separately or conjoined were able to accomplish, that and that only, was the province of the federal government.”
In the application of this principle as construed under the Con- stitution is it asserted that the recent practice of appropriating pub- lic moneys for projects which are essentially and indisputably de- signed to benefit local and personal interests is radically wrong. This attitude was firmly maintained by many of our Presidents from Washington to the present time. i
Thomas Jefferson, long president of this distinguished society, who was the first Secretary of State, under the Constitution, and also vice-president from March 4, 1797, to 1801 and President of the United States for the two following terms during the formative days of the Republic, in his sixth annual message to Congress, dated December 2, 1806, refers to the prospective plethora of income from imposts and suggests the desirability of expending a portion of these funds upon public improvements but states em- phatically that it will require an amendment to the Constitution as it is not authorized under the powers vested in Congress. He recommended the abolition of the imposts on the necessary articles of trade and their continuance on foreign luxuries, appealing to the patriotism of those who were able to pay for their use that the revenues might be applied
“To the great purposes of the public education, roads, rivers, canals and such other objects of public improvements as it may be thought proper to add to the constitutional enumeration of the federal powers. By these operations new channels of communication will be opened between the states, the lines of separation will disappear, their interests will be identified, and their union be cemented by indissoluble ties. . . . The subject is now proposed for the consideration of Congress, because, if approved by the time the state legislatures shall have deliberated on this extension of the federal trusts, and the laws shall be passed and other arrangements made for their execution, the necessary funds will be on hand without employment. I suppose an amendment to the Constitution, by consent of the states, necessary, because the objects now recommended are not among those enumerated in the Constitution, and to which it permits the public moneys to be applied.”
So that as the Constitution has never been thus amended it would appear that many of the appropriations which have been made from the public treasury are without warrant in law.
58 HAUPT—NATION AND THE WATERWAYS. [April 22,
A few years later when the necessity of greater facilities became still more manifest, his successor, President James Madison, also urged that Congress should pass enabling legislation by amendment to the Constitution and felt required under his oath of office to veto a bill passed by Congress appropriating public money for works of this class, in the following words:
“March 3, 1817: Having considered the bill this day presented to me entitled ‘An act to set apart and pledge certain funds for internal im- provements, and for constructing roads, and canals and improving the navigable water courses, in order to facilitate, promote and give security to internal commerce among the several states, and to render more easy and less expensive the means and provisions for the common defense, I am constrained by the insuperable difficulty I feel in reconciling the bill with the Constitution of the United States to return it with that objection to the House of Representatives, in which it originated. ...
“The power to ‘regulate commerce among the several States’ cannot include a power to construct roads and canals and to improve the navigation of water courses in order to facilitate, promote and secure such a commerce, without a latitude of construction departing from the ordinary import of the terms strengthened by the known inconveniences which doubtless led to the grant of this remedial power to Congress.
“Tf a general power to construct roads and canals and to improve the navigation of watercourses, with the train of powers incident thereto, be not possessed by Congress, the assent of the states to the mode provided in the bill cannot confer that power.
“T am not unaware of the great importance of roads and canals and the improved navigation of water courses, and that a power in the national legislature to provide for them might be exercised with signal advantage to the general prosperity. But seeing that such a power is not expressly given by the Constitution, and believing that it cannot be deduced from any part of it without an inadmissible latitude of construction and a reliance on insufficient precedents; believing also that the permanent success of the Constitution depends on a definite partition of powers between the general and the state governments, and that no adequate landmarks would be left by the constructive extension of the powers of Congress as proposed in the bill, I have no option but to withhold my signature from it, and to cherish the hope that its beneficial objects may be attained by a resort for the neces- sary powers to the same wisdom and virtue in the nation which established the Constitution in its actual form and providently marked out in the instru- ment itself a safe and practicable mode of improving it as experience might suggest.”
As these Presidents were contemporaneous with the framing of the Constitution their official interpretation of its powers and scope
1909. ]~ HAUPT—NATION AND THE WATERWAYS. 59
should carry great weight, indicating as they do the fear of trench- ing on the rights of the states and checking their development by trespassing upon their own resources.
Presidents Jackson, Tyler, Polk and Pierce also emphasized these views by their emphatic vetoes and even after the war, when Con- gress had adopted a policy of making such appropriations, Presi- dents Grant, Arthur and Cleveland vetoed bills, while others failed of passage because they did not contain enough patronage for local projects to secure the necessary votes. This pernicious principle, which was feared by the founders of the republic, was clearly shown in the application of the State of New York for federal aid in the construction of the Erie Canal, a work of undoubted national im- port. When its legislature sent a committee to Washington on December 21, 1811, President Monroe stated that he was embar- rassed by scruples derived from his interpretation of the Consti- tution. The next day, the Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gal- latin, of Pennsylvania, stated that he was under the opinion that pecuniary aid could not be given, but that sufficient grants of land might now be made without inconvenience to the fiscal affairs of the union. The opinion prevailed in Congress that it would be wise to amend the Constitution for such purposes, but the delegation felt ita
“Duty to declare, on all proper occasions, a decided opinion that the States would not consent to vest in the national government a power to cut up their territory, for the purpose of digging canals.”
It was also reported:
“Your committee found another idea operating with baleful effect, though seldom and cautiously expressed. The population and resources of the State of New York furnish no pleasant reflection to men, whose minds are imbued with state jealousies; and although the proposed canal must not only be of the highest importance to the western states as well as to the States of Pennsylvania and Maryland, and greatly promote the prosperity of the whole union, it was obvious that an opinion as to its superior benefit to this state was sedulously inculcated. . . . It became evident that the object of this state would not be separately attended to and your committee were desired to prepare a general system .. . as being necessary to secure the consent of a majority of the House of Representatives. . . . Others again, who have too much understanding to doubt the resources of the state and
60 HAUPT—NATION AND THE WATERWAYS. [April 22,
too much prudence to expose themselves to ridicule, by expressing such doubt, triumphantly declare, that her legislature has not the spirit and intel- ligence to draw out and apply her resources to that great object. These men console themselves with a hope that the envied State of New York will continue a suppliant for the generosity of the Union, instead of making a manly and dignified appeal to her own power. It remains to be proved, whether they judge justly who judge so meanly of our councils.”
The sequel is well known and reveals the wisdom of abandoning all efforts to secure national aid, and to depend upon local resources and initiative for early developments, as was done.
In vetoing the bill on August 1, 1882, President Arthur said:
“My principal objection to the bill is that it contains appropriations for purposes not for the common defense or general welfare, and which do not promote commerce among the states. . . . I regard such appropriations of public money as beyond the powers given by the Constitution to Congress and the President. I feel the more bound to withold my signature because of the peculiar evils which manifestly result from this infraction of the Constitution.
“ Appropriations of this nature to be devoted to purely local objects tend to increase in number and amount, etc. Thus as the bill becomes more objectionable it secures more support. This result is invariable and neces- sarily follows a neglect to observe the Constitutional limitations imposed upon the law making power.”
Yet the passage of the bill in the face of this plain declaration of the evils to result therefrom indicates how great is the tempta- tion to cater to one’s constituency, at the public expense.
Commenting on the morale of similar appropriations in his day, President Jackson said in part, May 27, 1830:
“Tn the best view of these appropriations, the abuses to which they lead far exceed the good they are capable of promoting. The subject has been one of much, and, I may add painful reflection to me. It has bearings that are well calculated to exert a powerful influence upon our hitherto prosperous system of government, and which on some accounts, may even excite despondency in the breast of an American citizen.”
Then denying the power of Congress to appropriate public money for local or private benefit, he added:
“This is the more necessary to preserve other parts of the Constitution from being undermined by the exercise of doubtful powers or of too great extension of those which are not so, and protect the whole subject against deleterious influences of combinations to carry by concert measures which, considered by themselves, might meet but little countenance.”
1909.] HAUPT—NATION AND THE WATERWAYS. 61
This fear, which amounts to a prophecy, is fulfilled in the vast assemblages, conventions and caucuses which are found to be neces- sary to secure the predetermined policies of the dominant party, but the effect as applied to waterways is far more injurious because of the assumption of jurisdiction over all possible waterways in the United States or its possessions, so that even where the government is unable to make improvements it is now practically impossible for localities or private parties to inaugurate works on their own ac- count and at their own risk. It is still further proposed to extend the powers of the government into the waters of the several states and make them a source of revenue to the general government by the imposition of royalties on the water-powers which are now or have been free, thus further taxing the industrial products of the Nation, at the expense of the consumers.
Another phase of these improvements, so called, is touched upon in the veto of President Cleveland which is worthy of careful consideration. After many years of experience in efforts to pro- vide capacious channels at public expense, he stated on May 209, 1896, that:
“Many of the objects for which it appropriates public money are not related to the public welfare, and many of them are palpably for the benefit of limited localities or in aid of individual interests. On the face of the bill it appears that not a few of these alleged improvements have been so improvidently planned and prosecuted that after an unwise expenditure of millions of dollars new experiments for, their accomplishment have been entered upon. . . . These cannot fail to stimulate a vicious paternalism and encourage a sentiment among our people, already too prevalent, that their attachment to our government may properly rest upon the hope and expectation of direct and especial favors. I believe that no greater danger confronts us as a nation than the unhappy decadence among our peopie of genuine and trustworthy love and affection for our government as the embodiment of the highest and best aspirations of humanity and not as the giver of gifts, and because its mission is the enforcement of exact justice and equality, and not the allowance of unfair favoritism.”
These patriotic opinions from the highest authorities, whose offi- cial positions qualify them to speak ex-cathedra, should suffice to convince the most skeptical of the necessity of some modification of the system which will give assurance of better returns for the money expended and for a restoration of the policy of local and
62 HAUPT—NATION AND THE WATERWAYS. _ [April 22,
state aid in the development of local improvements. The great increase proposed in the amount of the appropriations gives no guaranty that the defects of the system will be remedied but rather increased. In commenting on the passage of the largest bill ever passed, namely that of 1907, for $87,113,432, it was stated that one item alone of over a million dollars was for a purely local scheme and although thoroughly exposed and denounced in the public press while the bill was pending, there was not a voice against it when the bill was passed. This was not the only one in the measure, yet to have cut them out would have caused the defeat of the entire bill.
“Tf the rivers and harbors bills cannot be passed without such. abuses, the system should be changed, and that quickly, for conditions could hardly be more demoralizing.”
These conclusions are reiterated at almost every meeting of the National Board of Trade and of many commercial bodies all over the country, yet they are “more honored in the breach than in the observance.”
At its recent session, the National Civic Federation resolved that such legislation should be passed as would preserve individual ini- tiative, competition, and the free exercise of a free contract in all business and industrial relations. The National Board of Trade resolved:
“That the public works of the government, excepting that of the military and naval establishments, be placed under the direction and control of a department to be created, which shall be called the Department of Public Works.”
A natural sequence to the above exposé of the operation of the existing system, may be found in the inability to secure adequate appropriations from the public purse, at the last session, for works of internal improvements in the face of so great a deficiency threatening the Treasury, yet the sums allotted for the destructive agencies of war, navy and pensions were largely increased. The river and harbor appropriations aggregate less than one tenth of the former bill for this purpose and the money is limited to the “Repair, maintenance and preservation of these public works
1909.] HAUPT—NATION AND THE WATERWAYS. 63
heretofore appropriated for by Congress, and for continuing in operation such dredging and other plants or equipment of any kind owned by the United States government.” Thus no extension of works is permitted and furthermore it is proposed to increase the dredging plants owned by the government doing work by the eight hour day and in open waters, without regulating works to maintain the channels so improved.
A brief analysis of the unprecedentedly large appropriation of 1907, indicates that more than one half is applied to transfer points on or near the seaboard and at terminals, so that the overland, domestic traffic is not materially relieved, while a large sum is also applicable to tentative works and to efforts to compete with the deteriorating forces of nature by mechanical devices, involving large annual expenditures for operation and maintenance.
A general review of the conditions which prevail as to the deca- dence of the waterways of the country, indicates that the assump- tion of authority by the government has operated to restrain state and corporate initiative, has reduced the available mileage of the canals to about one half that of 1860, has added largely to the expenses for maintenance and has rendered it difficult, if not im- possible, to secure legislation for much needed local improvements because of the claims of governmental jurisdiction and control, thus destroying competition by water and preventing development.
REMEDIAL LEGISLATION.
Since it has been shown, im extenso, by citations from the high- est authorities that the states have not surrendered their sovereign control over the local waterways included within their boundaries, and that it is practically impossible to secure national appropria- tions for such local improvements, save for political purposes, it would appear to be most practicable and necessary to confine the operations of the government to those interior waterways which are strictly interstate, and the improvement of which would promote the general welfare; such as the rivers which form borders between two or more states in whole or in large part, as in the case of the Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Delaware, Potomac, Savannah, Colum-
PROc. AMER, PHIL. SOC. XLVIII. I9I1 E, PRINTED JULY 6, 1909,
64 HAUPT—NATION AND THE WATERWAYS. [April 22,
bia as far as Wallawalla, the Rio Grande, St. Lawrence and others, as well as to the principal harbors of the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific with the Great Lakes and the internal canals connecting these trunk lines.
All other waterways lying within or traversing the areas of the several states, in whole or part, with local harbors, inlets, canals or other improvements should be emancipated from the assumed control of the government and be relegated to the states to develop under their reserved rights by the granting of charters to locali- ties or private corporations as formerly, but any state or corpora- tion desiring government aid may apply to Congress and receive such assistance as that body may deem justifiable, for the public good, said appropriations to be returned to the national treasury in due course as determined by the terms of the loan.
Thus by mutual cooperation and consent the tributary avenues of trade may be synchronously developed, as the trunk lines and terminals are enlarged, to meet the rapidly expanding demands of the country. Otherwise at the present rate it may require from fifty to one hundred years to meet the present requirements, with no prospect of overtaking those of the future for which the nation must wait and pay the extra charges for overland carriage. The engineering and administrative features of this pressing problem must be deferred for lack of time and because they are subordinate to the vital element of securing enabling legislation, involving as it does a reorganization of the system of control.
In the words of our immortal President Lincoln:
“Let the nation take hold of the larger works, and the states the smaller ones; and thus, working in a meeting direction, discretely, but steadily and firmly. What is made unequal in one place may be equalized in another, extravagance avoided, and the whole country put on that career of prosperity which shall correspond with its extent of territory, its natural resources, and the intelligence and enterprise of its people.”
If this policy of codperations were rightly carried out it would conform to the fundamental conception of the framers of the Con- stitution to establish a government “of the people, by the people and for the people.”
ON A NEW VARIED YOR CHRYSOCOLLA PROM CHILE.
By HARRY F. KELLER.
(Read April 23, 1909.)
Like other cryptocrystalline or amorphous minerals the hydrated silicates of copper collectively designated as chrysocolla vary con- siderably in their chemical composition. They also show very marked differences in color, some of the varieties being deep green, while others exhibit various shades of bluish-green and blue. In many instances the color of the mineral is doubtless modified by the presence of admixtures, such as the oxides of iron, manganese or copper, but we can hardly account for the existence of both the decidedly green and the pure blue modifications without assuming that they are different in composition. Thus in the case of the hydrated carbonates of copper, malachite and azurite, the difference in color is known to be due to a difference in the proportions of chemically combined water.
Now the analyses of certain green varieties of chrysocolla closely approach the composition CuSiO,-+2H,O, but those of other occurrences, and particularly of the blue varieties, have yielded not only different proportions of silica, oxide of copper and water, but also notable quantities of other constituents, like alumina and phos- phoric acid. Among several Chilean chrysocollas of which speci- mens were presented to me by my brother, Mr. Hermann A. Keller, there is one which appears to me of peculiar interest as its analysis may throw some light on the constitution of the blue varieties of the mineral. It was found at Huiquintipa in the Province of Tarapaca, and is in the form of turquois-blue, enamel-like crusts, disseminated through a honeycombed silicious matrix. It is brittle with a hardness of 3.5. The powder is of a pale greenish color. When heated in the closed tube, the mineral gives off considerable moisture and blackens, and it is readily decomposed by the mineral acids, without gelatinizing.
65
66 KELLER—CHRYSOCOLLA FROM CHILE.
The analyses yielded:
Calculated for
I. it CuH,(SiO,),+2H,0 Per Cent. Per Cent. er Cent,
Speciticnckavityesceaean te sete 2.532 Si Ose Re aeene sane 46.14 45.80 47.31 (CUO Preis sos ecient hier 28.85 28.69 31.39 NIE G) cree Rhone Ris acettore fees eeiemoee 58 47 EEO iis Ne ile Meese OS 1.38 1.33 (CRONIES ees erecta A Bee itera 1.64 1.67 IMG O) iste veete onset ons pauses iat 83 1.01 LEC AAS ote ae tae Gacy cte 20.15 20.32 21.30
99.54 99.38 100.00
It was found, as a mean of several closely agreeing determina- tions, that two thirds of the water (13.41 per cent.) escapes below 125° C., while the remainder (6.83 per cent.) can be expelled only by protracted ignition at a red heat. There can be no doubt, then, that the latter portion is present in the substance as part of an acid salt, as in dioptase for example. Assuming that the other two thirds of the water is simply “ water of crystallization ” and, further, that the small amounts of iron, calcium, magnesium, etc., are ad- mixtures, the formula calculated from the above analytical data is CuH,(SiO,), + H,O. This differs from the composition generally assigned to chrysocolla in that it shows the Chilean mineral to be an acid metasilicate of copper. I venture to express the belief that a careful reéxamination of other blue chrysocollas may lead to similar
results.
CENTRAL HicH SCHOOL, Philadelphia.
LEE PURIBICATION OF WATER SUPRLIES, BY IBE USE OR MY POCHEORITES.
By WILLIAM PITT MASON, M.D. (Read April 23, 1909.)
There is no question but those of us who have taken ground as opposed to the “disinfection” of water by “bleach,” hypochlorite of sodium, or other similar substances, must change our position. The experimental work in France and England; the improvement of the water of Bubbly-Brook at the Chicago Stock Yards, and, above all, the remarkable results secured by the Jersey City Water Supply Co., when operating upon the entire municipal supply of Jersey City, suffice to silence opposition to what may be termed the most recent purification method of to-day.
It is true that some years ago the “ Woolf” process was pro- posed, whereby an electrolyzed salt solution was employed for addi- tion to either sewage or water; and still further back the “ Web- ster” plan was advocated; but none of the hypochlorites was exploited in the systematic and exhaustive manner that has been recently accomplished, nor has the smallness of the “ dose” that will accomplish efficient treatment ever been suspected. Let the follow- ing facts speak for themselves:
Lake water was treated with increasing “ doses’ powder”
»
of “ bleaching- equivalent to the amount of available chlorine indicated. It was then allowed to stand three hours in the dark, shaken and sowed for “ total count”’ of bacteria.
Dose of Bleach.
Grains per Gallon. Parts per Million. Bacteria per c.c. fo) (e) 102,900 3/100 Si 410 1/20 85 320 1/10 1.70 175 1/8 2.12 100 1/4 4.25 95 1/2 8.50 45
67
68 MASON—PURIFICATION OF WATER SUPPLIES. [April 22,
Numerous similar sowings were made and even lower counts of residual germs were found.
Upon examining waters charged with pure cultures of Bacillus coli communis, and others contaminated with fresh fecal material of human origin, no gas-forming bacteria of any kind were found alive in any instance after the use of even the smallest dose of “ bleach ” shown above.
Other experimenters have reached similar conclusions with still smaller doses of ‘‘available chlorine.” The most satisfactory test of the process, however, is the practical one of treating the entire municipal supply daily furnished to Jersey City. The dose there used during the month of December, 1908, averaged approximately .03 grain available chlorine per gallon and has since been materially reduced. While using the above amount the daily counts of bac-
teria for the month were: Raw WATER.
IED rho chia 0 IR AOR e RIERA ie eis Sty Aree eeere a Nar 1,600
Ua ra TALENT Ry etalatasetetalevene eususteeporstare tote olereretekeletetater 240
PNVET AE J, 5/5 Gc 5 lev tye ra tebrimuaren ere fate total oratet siersieovere 550 TREATED WATER.
Vax IVIUITTT = tc.2ioseta eis sstelousletersie le ee ates oosrekane eis reievehets 30
IND TEUTINUAAN re uiGe crcpmie eelele erat ele eaciee tere lester fe)
INC ETRE ela ues AUER, rave] ors luevapeualin veils Siacereuonoreatelslone 2)
No part of this minute dose of hypochlorite reaches the con- sumer and protection against pathogenic organisms appears to be assured.
It is not expected that the process will take the place of filtration because it does not aid in improving the physical appearance of a water, but as an adjunct to a filter plant there can be no question of its usefulness in times of emergency, and it can surely be depended upon to render a reasonably polluted water safe for domestic pur- poses, and do it at a moderate price.
It goes without saying that the hypochlorite of sodium, obtained by electrolyzing a solution of common salt, can be substituted for the bleaching powder whenever local conditions allow of its cheap manufacture. The effect upon bacterial life is the same.
RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE, ARwaxie, IN| NGS April, 1909.
THE. DETONATION, OF “GUN COTTON:
By CHARLES E. MUNROE. (Read April 23, 1909.)
In the use of gun cotton in mines or torpedoes, advantage is taken of the discovery of Mr. E. O. Brown that gun cotton, which is completely saturated with water, may be detonated by the deto- nation of “dry” gun cotton in direct contact with it, for it thus becomes possible to secure a large margin of safety for the naval vessels carrying gun cotton torpedoes by keeping the major portion of this cargo completly saturated with water so that it is immune from the danger common to the powerful nitric esters of accidental explosion through so-called “spontaneous combustion” while it is still available for use at any moment as a detonating charge. It is, in fact, as my experimental demonstrations have shown, an even more efficient rupturing or shattering explosive than the same volume of dry gun cotton is, the explanation of this increased efficiency being found in the increased density, and therefore rigidity, im- parted to the porous mass through its interstices becoming filled with water.
The blocks, or discs, as thus used, contained, on the average, 35 per cent. of water. In practice, this wet charge, in the service torpedo, was fired or detonated by four 2-inch discs of “dry” gun cotton, or its equivalent in $-inch discs or blocks, which was known as the priming charge. As used the term “dry” meant air-dry and necessarily referred to a variable condition dependent upon the atmospheric conditions which obtained at any time and the exposure of the primer to these conditions.
It is desirable to know how reliable this system is and what assurance may be placed in it. This may to a degree be determined by ascertaining how much moisture the priming disks may contain and yet detonate the wet gun cotton with certainty. It was not feasible to carry this out on the large scale with charges of the mag-
69
70 MUNROE—DETONATION OF GUN COTTON. [March 5,
nitude used in torpedoes, nor did it seem necessary to the solution of the problem that this should be done. As I have previously shown, such tests may be made upon single unconfined blocks or disks of wet gun cotton, resting upon rigid iron supports, the evi- dence of complete detonation being found in the impressions left upon the iron support with which the explosive is in contact, and this method was resorted to in this instance.
antes at ang Sere Gaaaty chee eaahnune I 336 374 10.16 Detonated 2 293 330+ 11.21 “ 3 342 387 11.63 pe 4 337 382 11.78 . 5 346 | 393+ 11.96 s 6 330 376 12.23 | Failed 7) 294 Bay] 12.77 Detonated 8 292 335 12.84 Failed 9 317 365 13.15 cg Io 294 339 13.27 i II 301 348 13.51 oC 12 294 341 13.78 ce 13 305 355 14.09 | Detonated 14 292 340 14.12 | Failed 15 286 336 14.88 ue 16 289 340+ 15.00 a 17 286 337 | 15.13 Detonated 18 289 343 15.74 | Failed I9 287 341 15.84 gs 20 295 351 15.95 Ry 21 279 333+ 16.22 | cs 22 322 386+ 16.58 ae 23 293 353 17.00 ¢ 24 313 378 17.20 oe 25 301 364 yA | ef 26 320 390 17.95 ee
In carrying out the tests steam-dried blocks of gun cotton, which were to be used as priming charges, were carefully weighed. They were then immersed in water for awhile and again weighed, the increase in weight showing the amount of water that had been absorbed by each priming block. Immediately after weighing, and before evaporation from the primer could take place, these primers were placed, one after the other, upon blocks of saturated “ wet”’ gun cotton and fired by the service detonator, containing 35 grains of mercuric fulminate, in the usual manner. The results of the trials are set forth in the following table, in which they are arranged
1909.] MUNROE—DETONATION OF GUN COTTON. bE
in the ascending order of the percentage of water present in the priming blocks, although of necessity the experiments were made on the primers as taken from the water and containing varying quanti- ties of this substance.
The results show that detonation was effected in every case in which the primer contained less than 12 per cent. of moisture, but that this also occurred in experiments number 7, 13 and 17, in which the primers contained 12.77, 14.09 and 15.13 per cent. of water respectively. These irregularities may be explained by the irregularity of absorption of water by these blocks, owing to a lack of regularity of porosity in them, for we can readily understand that if the centers of these blocks, about the detonator holes, were more highly compressed and therefore denser than a portion of the remainder of each block, while the total water absorbed by the block would be represented by the percentages given, yet the center might remain dry enough to respond to the effect of the detonation of the mercuric fulminate in the detonator, and thus determine the detona- tion of the whole primer and also of the wet gun cotton block with which the latter was in contact. This criticism may also apply in a reverse manner to the primers containing less than 12 per cent. of water, but the likelihood of such an excess of water about the detonator hole as to prevent the detonation of the primer becomes the more remote the less the total percentage of water present. It is true that these vagaries may have sometimes been due to varia- tions in the detonators used, but this factor was eliminated in these experiments, so far as seemed possible, by previous severe tests of the detonators. Admitting all of these possibilities, it would still seem reasonable to conclude from these experiments that primers containing less than 12 per cent. of water, when fired by means of a detonator containing 35 grains of mercuric fulminate may be relied upon, so far as the moisture content is concerned, to detonate wet gun cotton with which they are in contact.
THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY.
THE COMPARATIVE LEAR STRUCTURE (OR. ris STRAND PEANTS (OR GNEW (ERSEY:
(Puates II-V.)
By JOHN W. HARSHBERGER, Pu.D. (Read April 23, 1909.)
In the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society for last year (XLVII: 97-110. 1908), I presented the results of my study of the leaf structure of the sand dune plants of Bermuda. So many points of interest developed in the course of that investi- gation, that I undertook a study of the leaf structure of the char- acteristic species growing along the sea shores of New Jersey. This investigation was also in part a continuation of those previously conducted on the geographic distribution of the New Jersey strand flora begun in 1892 and continued down to the present year.
PHYTOGEOGRAPHY OF THE STRAND.
The strand flora of New Jersey comprises several well-marked phytogeographic formations, namely, the sea beach formation, the dune formation, the thicket formation and the salt marsh forma- tion. The sea beach formation comprises those plants which grow on the middle and upper beaches, the lower beach being wave swept. The typic plants of this formation are Cakile edentula, Ammodenia (Arenaria) peploides, Salsola kali, Euphorbia polygonifolia, Cen- chrus tribuloides, Ammophila arenaria, Xanthium echinatum, Atri- plex arenaria, Sesuvium maritimum, Strophostyles helvola and Solidago sempervirens. The dunes of New Jersey consist of wind- blown silicious sand and occur at greater or less height along the entire coast from Sandy Hook to Cape May, while back of them occur salt marshes which fringe the open bays, or river channels. The character plants of the New Jersey dunes are the marram
72
1909.] STRAND PLANTS OF NEW JERSEY. 13
grass, Ammophila arenaria (Plate II, Fig. 1), which anchors the sand, the beach pea, Lathyrus maritimus, Hudsoma tomentosa (Plate II, Fig. 2), Solidago sempervirens, Euphorbia polygon- folia, the wax berry, Myrica carolinensis, poison ivy, Rhus radicans, beach plum, Prunus maritima, and Virginia creeper, Ampelopsis (Parthenocissus) quinquefolia.
The thicket formation (Plate III, Fig. 3), as it exists on the New Jersey strand consists in some places entirely of shrubs, in other places, it is composed of trees which form a characteristic forest growth. The vanguard of this thicket consists of cedars, Juniperus virginiana, which never rise above the level of the dunes among which they grow. Young trees in the dune hollows are spire-shaped, but upon the tops reaching the general level of the dune summits, they become flat-topped and incline in a direction opposite to the prevailing wind. The following species enter into the thicket formation throughout coastal New Jersey: Juniperus virginiana, Q. nana (=—(Q. ilicifolia), Q. lyrata, Q. obtusiloba (=Q. minor), Q. phellos, Pinus rigida, Sassafras officinale, Dio- spyros virginiana, Nyssa sylvatica, Acer rubrum, Magnolia glauca (= WM. virginiana), and as secondary species in the form of shrubs Rhus copallina, Prunus maritima, Vaccinium atrococcum, V. corym- bosum, Myrica carolinensis and such lianes as Vitis Labrusca, V. estivalis, Ampelopsis quinquefola, Rhus radicans together with a host of herbaceous species mentioned in former papers.
Geographically there are two regions of salt marshes along the New Jersey coast, viz., that of the northern coast, north of the head of Barnegat Bay and that of the south and middle coast along Barnegat Bay and southward to Cape May. The salt marshes on the north coast are confined to the shores of the rivers which man- age to cut their way through the sand barriers in order to reach the ocean. They are, therefore, comparatively circumscribed in area and are, as a rule, narrow strips bordering the tidal channels of the seaward-flowing streams. The salt marshes, however, south of Bay Head widen out into extensive expanses of flat, featureless character cut by numerous tidal channels (Plate III, Fig. 4). Those north of Barnegat Inlet nowhere exceed a mile in width, while south
74 HARSHBERGER—LEAF STRUCTURE OF [April 23,
of Barnegat Inlet the salt marshes widen out until in places they may be from two to four miles wide cut by thoroughfares into character- istic marsh islands. The tidal channels are generally bordered throughout the two regions by the tall salt grass, Spartina stricta maritima, back of which occur Spartina patens, Juncus Gerardi and Distichlis spicata. On the flat marsh only flooded to a depth of an inch or two at high tide occur Limonium carolinanum, Plantago maritima, Aster subulatus, Sueda linearis, Distichlis spicata, Cheno- podium rubrum, Pluchea camphorata, Salicornia herbacea, S. mu- cronata, Tissa marina and Gerardia maritima, while Baccharis halimifolia and Hibiscus moscheutos occur in salt marsh soil which is never flooded with each rising tide. Eleocharis pygmeus forms floating mats in the sloughs surrounded by salt marsh at Sea Side Park: (Plate IE Pig. 4).
Ecotocic FACTORS.
The ecologic factors must be considered under two heads, be- cause the strand plants are found growing under two distinct en- vironmental conditions. The typic strand plants display various xerophytic adaptations to their growth in the silicious sand of the sea beaches and sand dunes. The factors which are instrumental in producing the xerophytic structures which the leaves of strand plants show may be considered to be the following: (1) The per- meability of the sand to water, so that after a rain the surface layers dry out. (2) The action of strong winds that blow across the sandy beaches increasing the rate of transpiration materially and carrying sand, which is directed against the plant, as a sand- blast. (3) The relatively dry soil and the increased transpiration by wind action necessitates the adoption of structures which will enable the plant to conserve its water supply. (4) The reflection of light from the sand and the foam-crested breakers beyond is influential, but this influence is not so marked as in Bermuda where the sand is a white coral sand and presumably the sunlight is reflected to a greater extent. (5) The illumination from above has also been effective, but perhaps not so much so as in Bermuda. (6) The action of the salt spray blown inland by the wind is
1909. ] STRAND PLANTS OF NEW JERSEY. 75
effective in modifying the structure of the beach and dune plants, but is hardly active upon the species of the thicket formation. (7) Formerly it was supposed that the plants of the sea beaches had to contend against the salt content of the soil, but Kearney has shown that the amount of salt in the sand of sea beaches is a negligible quantity, as many agricultural soils of the interior con- tain relatively more salt than the seashore sand.
While the beach plants have, therefore, according to the re- searches of Kearney, been removed from the list of true halophytes, nevertheless the typic salt marsh species show marked halophytic adaptations and belong to the second category of strand plants. The most potent factor which is here influential is the presence of free salt water about the bases and roots of the salt marsh plants. It was pointed out by Schimper that any considerable amount of salt in the cell sap is detrimental to the plant and that here we have the probable cause of the characteristic halophytic modifications which aim, therefore, at decreasing the amount of water transpired. To this Warming replied, that even if transpiration were diminished, slowly, but surely, an amount of salt would accumulate in the plant which would prove its destruction. On the other hand, Warming proposed that the protective contrivances against strong transpira- tion are necessary in halophytes, because absorption of water from a salt solution is slow and difficult and what water the plant had absorbed must be conserved in order to provide against desiccation, while the plant is absorbing enough water to replace that lost in ordinary transpiration. Sodium chloride in solution is known to have strong plasmolytic properties, removing water from living cells when subjected to its action. Ganong has found that the root hairs of Salicornia herbacea, a typic halophyte, can endure a 100 per cent. sea water without plasmolysis; those of Su@da maritima 80 per cent.; those of Plantago maritima 70 per cent.; while those of Atriplex patulum withstood 50 per cent. sea water. Graves found that the root hairs of Ruppia maritima could stand a 105 per cent. sea water with occasionally very slight plasmolysis, while with 110 per cent. sea water, it was rather slow, but finally distinct. So that the group of halophytes with which we are here dealing
76 HARSHBERGER—LEAF STRUCTURE OF [April 23,
possesses great power of resisting the action of sodium chloride in solutions as strong, as sea water. This is reflected in their structure.
STRUCTURAL ADAPTATIONS.
These will be treated as applicable to the strand plants, as one category, and to the salt marsh plants as the other.
Strand Plants—The leaf adaptations to light are found in the increased number of palisade layers, their presence on the upper and under sides of the leaves and their arrangement, so that the central part of the leaf becomes palisade throughout. When both leaf surfaces are equally illuminated, the leaf may be termed iso- photic, when unequally illuminated, diphotic. Diphotic leaves which show a division into palisade and spongy parenchyma have been called by Clements diphotophylls. Isophotic leaves are of three types, viz., the staurophyll, or palisade leaf; the diplophyll, or double leaf; the spongophyll, where the rounded parenchyma cells make up the bulk of the leaf in cross-section. Succulent leaves are those developed for water storage and to some extent the presence of latex provides against desiccation. The depression of the stomata, the development of a thick cuticle, the presence of a hypodermis of thick-walled cells, the presence of hairs and the formation of air-still chambers by a folding of the leaf tissue are all structures which assist in the regulation of transpiration. The following is a classification of the different leaf structures with reference to the strand plants which illustrate such adaptive arrangements.
Thick Cuticle: Ammophila arenaria, Quercus obtusiloba, Ilex opaca.
Thick Epidermis: Baccharis halimifolia, Ampelopsis quinque- folia, Euphorbia polygonfolia, Cakile edentula.
Hypodermis Present: Ammophila arenaria.
Two or More Rows of Palisade Cells: Lathyrus maritimus, Strophostyles helvola, Ampelopsis quinquefolia, Quercus obtusiloba, Vitis Labrusca, Ilex opaca, Baccharis halimifolia.
Stomata Depressed (slightly): Euphorbia polygonifolia, Lathy- rus maritimus, Ilex opaca, Hudsoma tomentosa; (deeply) Am- mophila arenaria, Lathyrus maritimus (Sea Side Park), Atriplex hastata, Vitis Labrusca.
1909. ] STRAND PLANTS OF NEW JERSEY. ce
Succulent Leaf: Cakile edentula, Solidago sempervirens, Atriplex hastata.
Leathery Leaf: Lathyrus maritimus, Ampelopsis quinquefolia, Quercus obtusiloba, Xanthium echinatum, Ilex opaca.
Wiry Leaf: Ammophila arenaria, Cenchrus tribuloides,
Hairy Leaf: Ammophila arenaria, Xanthium echinatum, Quercus falcata, Hudsoma tomentosa, Vitis Labrusca, V. estivalis, Cenchrus tribuloides.
Leaf Surface Papillate: Euphorbia polygonifolia.
Leaf Becoming Erect in Sun Position: Strophostyles helvola, Lathyrus maritimus, Euphorbia polygomfolia (leaf blade folding along the midrib).
Overlapping Leaves: Hudsonia tomentosa.
Latex Tissue: Euphorbia polygontfolia.
Raphides: Vitis estivalis, V. Labrusca.
Spherocrystals: Atriplex hastata, Ilex opaca.
Idioblasts: Cenchrus tribuloides.
Diphotophyll: Euphorbia polygonifolia, Strophostyles helvola, Lathyrus maritimus, Ampelopsis quinquefolia, Quercus obtusiloba, QO. falcata, Vitis Labrusca, V. estivalis, Ilex opaca, Baccharis halimi- folia.
Diplophyll: Cakile edentula, Atriplex hastata (Belmar), Xan- thium echinatum.
Staurophyll: Atriplex hastata (Normandie), Solidago sem- pervirens.
Spongophyll: Hudsonia tomentosa, Cenchrus tribuloides.
Salt Marsh Plants—The majority of the salt marsh species studied showed two marked characteristics, namely, succulency and wiriness. The following is a categoric presentation of the structure of their leaves. The smooth character of the leaves will be noted with the exception of Gerardia maritima, Hibiscus moscheutos, Pluchea camphorata which grow back in the interior of the salt marshes away from the tidal water.
Thick Cuticle: Spartina stricta maritima (lower surface).
Thick Epidermis: Distichlis spicata (lower surface), Aster
78 HARSHBERGER—LEAF STRUCTURE OF [April 23,
subulatus, Sueda linearis, Gerardia maritima, Limonium caro- linianum.
Hypodermis Present: Spartina stricta maritima, Distichlis spicata.
Two or More Rows of Palisade Cells: Aster subulatus, Limon- ium carolinianum, Gerardia maritima, Hibiscus moscheutos.
Stomata Depressed: Spartina stricta maritima, Tissa marina, Plantago maritima, Aster subulatus, Chenopodium rubrum.
Hairy Leaf: Gerardia maritima, Hibiscus moscheutos, Pluchea camphorata.
Succulent Leaf: Tissa marina, Plantago maritima, Aster subu- latus, Sueda linearis, Chenopodium rubrum, Limonium carolin- ianum.
Wiry Leaf: Spartina stricta maritima, Distichlis spicata, Ger- ardia maritima.
Leathery Leaf: Hibiscus moscheutos, Pluchea camphorata.
Diphotophyll: Aster subulatus (drawing is upside down), Limonium carolinianum, Gerardia maritima, Hibiscus moscheutos.
Diplophyll: Tissa marina, Sueda linearis.
Staurophyll: Chenopodium rubrum.
Spongophyll: Plantago maritima, Pluchea camphorata.
DETAILED SRTUCTURE OF THE LEAVES.
The sections of the leaves which were studied were made free- hand with a razor, stained with Bismarck Brown and mounted for permanency in Canada Balsam. The drawings of these sections were made by the use of the micro-projection electric lantern, so that in every case (32 leaves) the sections were enlarged to the same extent and therefore the drawings were made on the same, scale. The details of leaf structure and those of the stomata were made from a microscopic study after the main features of the leaf structure had been located by the micro-projection lantern. In this way the relative size of each leaf section is maintained in the thirty-two detailed drawings presented in the accompanying two plates (Plates [V and V). The drawings of stomata were not made toyseale,
vedo STRAND PLANTS OF NEW JERSEY. 79
Strand Plants—The typic sand-inhabiting plants will be de- scribed first.
Ammophila arenaria (Plate II, Fig. 1; Plate IV, Figs. 1, 1a, 2, 2a).—The beach, or marram grass, is a perennial species with firm, running rootstocks, which on account of their length, and the readiness with which the rigid, leafy culms arise from them serve to bind the drifting sand. The one-flowered spikelets are crowded in a long spike which reaches its full development in August and September. The leaves are involute and in a Wildwood-grown specimen (Plate IV, Fig. 1) examined microscopically the lower epidermis consisted of small cells with thick outer wall reinforced by 2-3 rows of hypodermal sclerenchyma isolated in patches below the vascular bundles. The upper epidermis, covering the grooves and the ridges, is irregular owing to the development of short, sharp-pointed hairs like canine teeth, which help to form an air-still chamber. The stomata are much depressed and level with the lower wall of the epidermal cells (Plate IV, Figs. 1a and 2a). Beneath the epidermis, hypodermal sclerenchyma is found in several well-marked rows. The chlorenchyma occupies a position on either side of the veins which run lengthwise. In the leaf section of a plant gathered at South Atlantic City (Plate IV, Fig. 2), the lower epidermis is reinforced by a continuous band of hypodermal scleren- chyma. The hypodermal sclerenchyma in the upper part of the ridges is more abundant than in the Wildwood-grown plants. A section of a leaf from a plant that grew on the low dunes of Belmar had comparatively little hypodermal sclerenchyma and in every way it was a thinner leaf than those from the Wildwood and South Atlantic City specimens.
Euphorbia polygonifolia (Plate IV, Figs. 3 and 3a).—The sea- side spurge is a prostrate, spreading herb, with oblong-linear leaves slightly cordate, or obtuse at the base and folding together along the midrib. The most conspicuous feature in the section is the large latex canals which fairly fill the center of the leaves and are marked by large surrounding, secreting cells. The upper epidermal cells are papillate, and the lower epidermal cells are without these papilla, but the outer wall is thickened. The stomata are slightly
PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC., XLVIII. I9I F, PRINTED JULY 6, 1909.
80 HARSHBERGER—LEAF STRUCTURE OF [April 23,
depressed (Plate IV, Fig. 3a). The loose parenchyma is prominent, as also the single row of palisade cells.
Strophostyles helvola (Plate IV, Figs. 4 and 4a).—This annual, trailing, leguminous herb has ovate to oblong-ovate leaflets with a more or less prominent rounded lobe toward the base. The flowers produced from June to September are greenish-white to purplish. In the hot sun, the leaflets assume hot-sun positions. The cells of the upper epidermis are thin-walled with the outer wall slightly thickened. Two well-marked rows of palisade cells are present, while the stomata are at the surface (Fig. 4a). The loose paren- chyma is clearly seen and the lower epidermis consists of thin- walled cells.
Lathyrus maritimus (Plate IV, Figs. 5, 5a, 7, 7a2).—The beach pea is a perennial, stout, trailing plant, as it occurs on the dunes of New Jersey. The coarsely toothed stipules are nearly as large as the leaflets, which are 6-10 in number, ovate-oblong. The leaf- lets assume hot-sun positions, especially those near the surface of the sand. The flowers are large and purplish, appearing from June to September. The epidermal cells on both the upper and lower surfaces of the leaflets are thin-walled with a slightly thicker outer wall, rounded, almost chain-like in arrangement. The loose paren- chyma is compact and there are two rows of palisade cells.
Cakile edentula (Plate II, Fig. 1; Plate IV, Figs. 6 and 6a).— The sea rocket is a fleshy annual growing on the upper sea beaches and in clumps on the sand dunes (Plate II, Fig. 1). Its fleshy leaves are obovate, sinuate and toothed. The epidermal cells are large with outer walls slightly thickened, while the parenchyma cells are large and directed vertically with the exception of a few central cells, so that the leaf structure is that of a typic diplophyll. The stomata are at the surface (Fig. 6a). The xerophytic structure is, therefore, seen in the fleshy character of the leaf and in the arrange- ment of the internal parenchyma cells. ;
Solidago sempervirens (Plate IV, Figs. 8 and 8a).—The seaside golden-rod is a smooth, stout plant 0.3-0.5 m. high. The somewhat fleshy leaves are entire, lanceolate, slightly clasping; the lower ones are oblong-lanceolate, obscurely triple-nerved and all of the leaves
1909. ] STRAND PLANTS OF NEW JERSEY. 81
are vertical or nearly so. The contracted panicle of heads appears from August to November. The thin-walled, upper epidermal cells are approximately square in outline in the transverse view, only the outer wall being somewhat thickened. Chlorenchyma cells almost homogeneous, are directed vertically, hence the leaf is a staurophyll.
Atriplex hastata (=A. patula var. hastata) (Plate IV, Figs. 9, 9a, 10 and 10a).—The orache is an erect, or spreading, stout plant and at least the lower leaves are broadly triangular, hastate, often coarsely and irregularly toothed. The upper and lower epi- dermal cells are large, thin-walled. The chlorenchyma of similar elongated cells extends from the upper to the lower surface, so that the leaf is a typic staurophyll. Large sphzrocrystals are present in the parenchyma cells of the leaf and the guard cells of the sto- mata are considerably sunken beneath the surface (Figs. 9a and toa). The leaves of the specimen from Belmar were somewhat thinner than those from Normandie and the chlorenchyma cells were more rounded.
Hudsonia tomentosa (Plate II, Fig. 2; Plate IV, Figs. 11, 11a). —The dunes are in many places covered with this heath-like plant (Plate II, Fig. 2), which is an important sand binder, as it grows in dense clumps. The small awl-shaped leaves are oval or narrowly oblong and are close-pressed and imbricated, covered with a downy tomentum. The epidermal cells of the leaves are thin-walled and covered with slender, sharp-pointed hairs with a smooth cuticle. The hairs are so numerous on both sides of the leaf, that they act effectively in controlling transpiration. The guard cells of the stomata are only slightly depressed (Fig. 11a).
Cenchrus tribuloides (Plate IV, Figs. 12, 12a and 12b).—The sand bur grass branches extensively and sometimes has the trailing habit. The blades are more or less involute, owing to the presence of bulliform cells. The upper epidermal cells are marked by crys- talline idioblasts (Fig. 12a) in an elongated form like the cystoliths in the leaf of the rubber plant, Ficus elastica. The epidermal cells on the under side of the leaf where the sclerenchyma occurs are terminated by short cusp-like spines. The guard cells (Figs. 12)
82 HARSHBERGER—LEAF STRUCTURE OF [April 23,
and 12c) are not sunken below the general surface. The upper epidermal cells are large, irregular in size and rounded. The lower epidermal cells are irregular and consist of bulliform with spiny hair cells opposite the leaf veins. The leaf exhibits a typic spongo- phyll structure.
Xanthium echinatum (Plate IV, Figs. 13 and 13a).—The cockle bur has broadly ovate, cordate leaves and the whole plant is rugose, especially the leaf surfaces. The upper and lower epidermal cells are thin-walled and provided with stout, projecting, multicellular hairs. The palisade cells extend through the leaf except a narrow row of cells near the center. Although this leaf has been classified as a diplophyll, yet it might with equal propriety be called a staurophyll.
Quercus obtusiloba (Plate IV, Fig. 14). —The post oak is a com- mon tree in the pure dune sand of the New Jersey coast. The leaves are obovate in outline, 1-2 dm. long, the usually fine lobes spreading, the middle pair of sinuses are deep, wide and obliquely rounded at the bottom of the lobes. The leaves are leathery, thick and shining with scattered hairs above, densely gray, or yellowish hairy beneath. The epidermal cells are small with thick cuticle and the lower surface shows the presence of multicellular hairs. The palisade rows number from two to three and the loose paren- chyma is compact. The leaf is a typic diphotophyll.
Quercus falcata (Plate IV, Figs. 15 and 15a).—The Spanish oak has leaves which are prolonged into a-more or less scythe- shaped lobe with the under leaf surfaces grayish-downy or fulvous. The upper epidermal cells are large and thin-walled, as are also the lower epidermal cells. From the lower surface, a lot of com- pound hairs project, the tines of which are straight, sharp-pointed cells. The stomata are not depressed and a single row of palisade cells is present, so that the leaf is a typic diphotophyll.
Vitis Labrusca (Plate IV, Figs. 16 and 16a).—The northern fox grape has large leaves which are entire, or deeply lobed, slightly dentate. They are rusty-wooly beneath. The vines begin their growth on the forest trees, and as the sand drifts in around them, the grape vine branches grow out in a prostrate manner over the
1909.] STRAND PLANTS OF NEW JERSEY. 83
surface of the dune sand. The upper epidermal cells are thin- walled. The palisade layer consists of one row of cells and below it we find cells here and there containing a mucilaginous substance in which are imbedded raphides, or needle-shaped crystals. The loose parenchyma is prominent and the lower epidermal cells are thin-walled and from them grow out long unicellular, sharp-pointed, straight hairs which become matted together. This hairy covering is of use in the regulation of transpiration. The guard cells are somewhat depressed (Fig. 16a) and the leaf exhibits a typic di- photophyll structure.
Vitis estivalis (Plate IV, Fig. 17)—The summer grape has large unlobed or more or less deeply and obtusely 3—5-lobed leaves, pro- vided with a very wooly and mostly rust-red, or tawny-flocculent tomentum. This tomentum does not appear in the section, because the wooly hairs are mostly attached to the veins beneath and merely cover the epidermal surface between, so that a section which does not include the veins does not show the hairy covering of the under side of the leaf. The upper and lower epidermal cells are thin- walled and in the single palisade layer are found cells containing a mucilage in which are imbedded raphides, or needle-shaped crys- tals of calcium oxalate.
Ilex opaca (Plate III, Fig. 3; Plate IV, Figs. 18 and 18a).—In the reproduced photograph (Plate III, Fig. 3), the holly is found associated with Sassafras officinale, Rhus radicans and Solidago sempervirens. The leathery oval, spiny-margined holly leaves have an upper epidermis of small cells covered with an extremely thick cuticle. Three rows of palisade chlorenchyma are present and a loose parenchyma, as an area of considerable width with large inter- cellular lacunz. The lower epidermis consists of thick-walled cells and the guard cells, if sunken, are only depressed to the extent of the thick cuticle. Sphzrocrystals are present in some of the cells of the third palisade row of cells. A tree with spineless-margined leaves was formerly found on the dunes at South Atlantic City. The leaf is a typic, xerophytic diphotophyll.
Baccharis halimifolia (Plate IV, Figs. 19 and 19a2).—The leaves of the groundsel bush are thickish, vertical and obovate to wedge-
84 HARSHBERGER—LEAF STRUCTURE OF [April 23,
shaped, coarsely toothed, or the upper leaves entire. The upper epidermal cells have a considerably thickened outer wall with a warty cuticle. Stomata occur on both leaf surfaces with their guard cells not depressed below the surface. Palisade chlorenchyma of two rows of cells extends to the centrally placed bundles of the leaf and it is rather openly arranged. The loose parenchyma with large spaces shows its cells generally directed in a vertical manner, suggesting a staurophyll, but the bifacial structure is clearly recog- nizable, so that we may classify the leaf as a diphotophyll. The lower epidermis of thin-walled cells shows a roughened outer cell wall surface.
Ampelopsis quinquefolia (Plate IV, Figs. 20 and 20a).—The Virginia creeper with a compound leaf with five leaflets is an ele- ment of the dune flora of New Jersey. It begins to ascend forest trees, and if these trees are surrounded by drifting sand, the vine spreads out over the sand surface. In other places, it grows on the surface of the dunes and helps to bind the wind-blown sand. The sand-grown plants have leathery leaves in which the upper epidermal cells are compact with the outer wall thickened and its surface rugose. Two rows of palisade cells may be found and the loose parenchyma occupies the other half of the leaf below the midrib and the veins. The stomata are not sunken, and the leaf is a typic diphotophyll.
Salt Marsh Plants—The plants of this group are all of them true halophytes, and at the conclusion of the description which fol- lows of the histology of their leaves, a comparison will be drawn between their leaf structure and that of the leaves of the sand strand plants previously described.
Spartina stricta maritima (= S. glabra) (Plate V, Figs. 21 and 21a).—The salt marsh grass is a tall species 0.6-2.4 m. high, leafy to the top and growing along the shore in pure salt water. The leaves are 5-7 dm. long, I-1.5 cm. wide, usually flat, but sometimes involute. The lower epidermal cells are strongly cuticularized, and where the bundles occur they are reinforced with hypodermal scler- enchyma. The upper leaf surface is raised into ridges, which are covered with small cuticularized epidermal cells without hairs, while
1909.1. STRAND PLANTS OF NEW JERSEY. 85
the stomata found near the bottom of the grooves have their guard cells depressed below the surface (Fig. 21a). Bulliform cells are absent. The chlorenchyma is radially arranged on each side of the bundles, while the parenchyma sheath surrounding the bundles also contains some chlorophyll.
Distichlis spicata (Plate V, Fig. 22).—The spike grass, or alkali grass, occurs in the salt marshes along our eastern coast from Nova Scotia to Texas, along the Pacific coast and in alkaline soil through the interior to the Rocky Mountains and southward in alkali sinks into Mexico. The culms are 1.5-6 dm. high and the leaf blades are often conspicuously distichous, rigidly ascending. The lower epi- dermis consists of thick-walled cells, the outer wall being especially thick. The upper epidermis consists of projecting hair cells with thick walls resembling in shape a canine tooth and found covering the ridges down into the grooves between, so that an air-still chamber is formed. The bundles are surrounded with thick-walled cells, which are in turn engirdled by a parenchyma sheath, while the rest of the leaf section is occupied by chlorenchyma.
Tissa marina (== Buda marina, Spergularia salina, Spergularia marina) (Plate V, Figs. 23 and 23a).—The sand spurrey is a much- branched, procumbent, or suberect, annual herb more or less dis- tinctly fleshy. The leaves are linear and terete surrounded with large, thin-walled, epidermal cells with several rows of palisade parenchyma directly beneath and completely surrounding the large thin-walled parenchyma cells of the interior. The stomata are de- pressed below the surface (Fig. 23a). <A typic, succulent diplophyll.
Plantago maritima (=P. decipiens) (Plate V, Figs. 24 and 24a).—The seaside plantain has linear to nearly filiform leaves I-10 mm. broad, indistinctly ribbed and fleshy. The epidermal cells are large thin-walled with the outer wall slightly thickened with minute projecting points. Palisade cells are entirely absent and large parenchyma cells with chlorophyll fill the interior, extending to the bundles placed near the center. The stomata are not depressed, or only slightly so (Fig. 24a).
Aster subulatus (Plate V, Figs. 25 and 25a).—The leaves of the salt marsh aster are linear-lanceolate and pointed. The upper
86 HARSHBERGER—LEAF STRUCTURE OF [April 23,
leaf surface (turned upside down in Fig. 25) consists of thick- walled epidermal cells beneath which are two rows of illy defined, palisade cells, while beneath the palisade are compactly-placed, rounded chlorenchyma cells extending to the loose parenchyma cells with large intercellular spaces. The lower convex, epidermal surface is composed of thick-walled cells, the outer wall being espe- cially thick. The guard cells are depressed the thickness of the outer cell wall (Fig. 25a).
Limonium carolinianum (Plate V, Figs. 26 and 26a).—The sea lavender has thick, stalked, radical leaves from which the much- branched scape arises, bearing small, lavender-colored flowers. The epidermal cells are large, thin-walled, but the outer wall is slightly thicker than the other walls. Two rows of palisade cells are found and a spongy parenchyma of rounded cells. The stomata are at the surface (Fig. 26a).
Sueda linearis (Plate V, Fig. 27).—The sea blite is an erect, or ascending, fleshy, saline plant 2-9 dm. high. Its leaves are nar- rowly linear and acute. The epidermal cells are thin-walled, but project as rounded knobs the tops of which are thickened, The chlorenchyma, as palisade tissue, is found equally developed on the upper and the lower surfaces, while the interior cells are large and rounded parenchyma elements. A typic diplophyll.
Gerardia maritima (Plate V, Figs. 28 and 28a).—This marsh plant is a slender, erect, branching annual, somewhat fleshy with linear, obtuse leaves. The upper leaf epidermis has two kinds of hairs, straight, projecting ones and low, dome-shaped hairs, the terminal cells containing a brown substance. The palisade chloren- chyma forms two well-defined rows with compact spongy paren- chyma beneath. The lower epidermis consists of thin-walled cells with superficial guard cells (Fig. 28a).
Chenopodium rubrum (Plate V, Figs. 29 and 29a).—The coast blite has a much-branched, angled stem with thickish, triangular, © lanceolate leaves tapering below into a wedge-shaped base and above into an acute point, sparingly and coarsely toothed. The epidermal cells are thin-walled, with the outer wall curved outward. The vascular bundles are centrally placed, while the elongated, rounded
1909.] SAND PLANTS “OF NEW JERSEY, 87
chlorenchyma cells are aligned as palisade. Spherocrystals are abundant and the guard cells are depressed considerably (Fig. 29a).
Hibiscus moscheutos (Plate V, Figs. 30 and 30a).—The swamp rose-mallow is a tall perennial with showy rose pink, pink or white flowers and alternate ovate, pointed leaves, sometimes 3-lobed with a downy, whitened, under surface. The upper epidermal cells are comparatively thin-walled, while the lower epidermis of thin-walled cells is characterized by clusters of long, straight, pointed hairs densely matted together. There are two rows of palisade cells beneath which is found spongy parenchyma, while the guard cells of the stomata are slightly raised above the general epidermal surface (Fig. 30a). The leaf is a diphotophyll.
Pluchea camphorata (Plate V, Figs. 31 and 31a).—The salt marsh fleabane is an annual with oblong-ovate, or lanceolate, slightly petioled leaves. The stem and leaves are somewhat glandular, emitting a strong, or camphoric, odor. The epidermal cells are thin- walled and multicellular hairs abound on both surfaces. The sto- mata are not depressed (Fig. 31a). The chlorenchyma in the form of rounded cells is not differentiated into palisade and spongy paren- chyma. A spongophyll.
Eleocharis pygmea (= E. nana) (Plate V, Figs. 32 and 32a).— This small sedge formed small floating masses on the surface of the salt water sloughs at Sea Side Park (Plate III, Fig. 4). The bristle- like culms are tufted at the base and in section show large air canals, or lacunz, surrounded by small thin-walled parenchyma cells. The bundles are reduced in size and the epidermis is composed of small thin-walled cells. A typic hydrophyte adapted to an halophytic existence.
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS.
We have listed twenty plants among those which grow on the sand strand and eleven which may be considered to be typic salt marsh species. Out of the twenty strand plants four are suc- culent, or twenty per cent., while out of eleven salt marsh species six are succulent, or over fifty per cent., so that the salt marsh species are preponderantly succulent. Only three of the salt marsh plants studied have epidermal hairs, while nine of the strand plants
88 HARSHBERGER—LEAF STRUCTURE OF [April 23,
are hairy. Eleven of the strand species are diphotophylls, and of these six have two rows of palisade chlorenchyma. Only four of the salt marsh species are diphotophylls, and each of them has two palisade rows. Reference to the classification of sand strand and salt marsh species given above will enable the student to pick out other differences existing between the sand strand and the salt marsh species, as regards their leaf structure. ‘e
BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTES.
Little has been done in America to study the influence of envir- onment upon the internal structure of plants, but a start has been made and it is only a matter of time when a large amount of im- portant data will have been collected for comparison and generaliza- tion. As bearing upon the study of the sea strand vegetation may be mentioned the following papers. Kearney has discussed in his paper, ‘“ The Plant Covering of Ocracoke Island: A Study in the Ecology of the North Carolina Strand Vegetation” (Contributions U. S. National Herbarium, V: 280-312), the histologic structure of plants found upon Ocracoke Island as sand strand and salt marsh species. In this paper the following plants concern us: Spartina stricta, Tissa marina, Solidago sempervirens, Aster subulatus and Baccharis halimifolia. In a second paper, “ Report on a Botanical Survey of the Dismal Swamp Region” (Contributions U. S. Na- tional Herbarium, V: 484-509), under anatomic notes, Kearney discusses the leaf structure of some selected plants. None of these plants actually concern this paper, except Pluchea fetida and Bac- charis halimifolia. Edith Schwartz Clements, in a thesis submitted to the faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Nebraska for the degree of doctor of philosophy (June, 1904), gives a useful historic résumé of the study of leaf structure from an ecologic standpoint and also considers in a detailed manner the structure of about three hundred species collected in the Colorado foothills and mountains of the Pikes Peak region of the Rocky Mountains with reference to the surrounding physical factors, which were deter- mined by careful instrumental readings. Lastly, Harshberger, in a paper noticed above, discusses the leaf structure of some seventeen
PROCEEDINGS Am. PHILOS. Soc. VoL. XLVIII. No. 191 PLATE II
PROCEEDINGS Am. PHiLos. Soc. VoL. XLVIII. No. 191 PLATE III
PROCEEDINGS Am. PHILOS. Soc. VoL. XLVIII No. 191 PLATE IV
AES AB ARABA CB 6a 4 SN eel ae ga E
apagaca | ) nn
Ui ee Aes \ \ | COO ee TOE ae TTS) SST ae \ | {J Ad aly ites HERD See) trie N
———— : 3 r =) 2S AK a AIT
uh O va i
eso! Sorter 5
SSSSEeesTS> TO CLOUT § ie
Sop
liam UT
Noo) 5 eo!
7 TT C3 [am
+ tsdasroununsey) "
* ee rT)
." het oeal
AR mi | ice
Po
PROCEEDINGS Am. PHILos. Soc. VOL. XLVIII. No. 191 PLATE V
=
ay aN Lt)
1909. ] STRAND” PEANTS OF NEW JERSEY. 89
species of Bermudan plants with relation to the environmental fac- tors of the sand dunes upon which the plants grew. In this paper a short bibliography of the principal papers is given.
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.
In Plate II, Fig. 1, is shown the frontal sea dune at Sea Side Park covered with the marram grass Ammophila arenaria and a large clump of Cakile edentula, while in Fig. 2 is represented the crest of the frontal dune covered with marram grass, back of which occur the waxberry Myrica carolinensis and the clumps of Hud- sonia tomentosa.
The photograph reproduced in Plate III, Fig. 3, represents the thicket formation at South Sea Side Park composed of Jlex opaca, Sassafras officinale, Rhus radicans and Solidago sempervirens. In Fig. 4, Plate III, is represented a slough with floating rafts of Eleo- charis pygmea. The twenty enlarged figures with details of stomata, shown in Plate IV, represent the structure of the leaves of the sand strand plants of New Jersey, while the twelve figures and stomata enlargements represent the leaf structure of typic salt marsh species
(Gelate 3V)).
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FRESH-WATER FAUNA IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA.
(PiaTeE VI.) By DR. A. E. ORTMANN. (Read April 23, 1909.)
It is generally known that the advance of civilization in a coun- try is connected with a retreat and the disappearance of the indige- nous fauna. This has been observed most distinctly in those parts of the world which have been settled by the white man in more recent times, and in many cases we have positive records with ref- erence to the killing and crowding out of the original inhabitants of the country, belonging to the animal kingdom; yet these records chiefly concern the more highly developed forms of life (mammals or vertebrates in general), which preéminently attract attention.
But there are many other forms of animal life, chiefly among the invertebrates, which suffer the same fate. Such cases generally are not noticed, but students particularly interested in such groups often have reason to deplore the disappearance of interesting creatures, which used to be abundant.
The present writer, in connection with his duties as curator of invertebrate zodlogy at the Carnegie Museum, has made it one of his chief objects to study and to preserve records of the fresh-water fauna of the northeastern section of the United States, and first of all, of the country lying in the immediate vicinity of Pittsburgh. This region belongs to the drainage of the upper Ohio and of Lake Erie, and it is well known that originally a very rich fauna was present here, a fauna which forms part of the great fauna of the interior basin, eminently rich in all forms of fresh-water life. It is also a well-known fact that on account of the progress of civiliza- tion in western Pennsylvania, on account of its industrial and com- mercial development, and all the various features of “improve-
90
1909.] FRESH-WATER FAUNA IN PENNSYLVANIA. 91
ments” connected with it, the fresh-water fauna has deteriorated, has become poor, and in many cases extinct. Yet it is not realized how far this process has advanced, and to what extent the fresh water of this region has become unfit for the indigenous life. The present paper has the object to record the present state of things in this respect, and to point out which rivers and creeks are in such a state that they do not offer any more the required conditions for animal life, and which are yet in a good or fair condition. It may be remarked that all facts collected here have been ascertained by the writer in person, in the course of his studies during the last five years. All streams recorded on the map accompanying this paper (Plate VI) have been visited by the writer, and collections of their invertebrate fauna and observations on their vertebrate fauna have been made, wherever such was still present: but in many cases his efforts were in vain, and life had entirely disappeared in many streams. The blue color on our map tells a pitiful story, pitiful not only from the standpoint of the scientific man, but also with refer- ence to the question of utility. For we must not forget that the original fauna of the fresh water forms part of the sources” of the country. In many cases the direct economic value,
ce
natural re-
chiefly of the fresh-water invertebrates, is not very apparent; but considering the fact that all forms of life in an ecological com- munity are mutually dependent upon each other, we realize that the more important forms (mussels, fishes and aquatic mammals) can- not be preserved, unless the creatures which furnish the necessary conditions for their subsistence are also preserved. Thus the de- struction of our fresh-water fauna forms a chapter of the book on the destruction of our natural resources, a record which is not at all to the credit of the nation.
I. THe FrReESH-WATER FAUNA.
The part of the fresh-water fauna which has chiefly been studied by the writer is, as has been stated, the invertebrates. However, during his investigations, he kept his eyes open for vertebrate life, and among the latter it is chiefly the fishes to which he paid atten- tion. He did not make systematic collections of the fishes, and thus
92 ORTMANN—THE DESTRUCTION OF [April 23,
he cannot give positive information as to the presence or absence of particular species of them. But the question of their existence in general in the different streams is easily settled, in fact this is the most conspicuous criterion by which people generally judge the con- dition of a stream—whether there is “ good fishing” or not.
However, the presence of fishes in a stream does not always indicate that the latter is in good shape. The condition of the streams, as we shall see below, often changes during the season; it is bad in dry weather, but improves when there has been copious precipitation. The fishes are most apt to take advantage of such temporary improvement on account of their great power of locomo- tion (vagility) ; in fact, many fishes migrate more or less regularly up or down stream, and thus may be present at certain seasons in parts of our water-courses, which are barren in other seasons.
Other vertebrates are of minor importance. Among the mam- mals we should mention the muskrat (Fiber zibethicus). This animal is fairly abundant everywhere, but, as might be expected, tends to disappear, where its food disappears. The latter consists only in part of invertebrates (mussels for instance), while in another part it is vegetable (roots of aquatic plants, and also various parts of land plants). Thus it is understood that the pollution of a stream does not render the existence of muskrats impossible. And further, the bad condition of the water does not harm the animal directly, since it is an air-breathing form. The fact that the musk- rat is decidedly less frequent in polluted streams is probably due to the fact that the pollution is greatest in the vicinity of larger settle- ments, where there is greater danger for them by being hunted by man.
Of the reptiles, water-snakes (Natrix sipedon and leberis) and turtles should be considered. As regards the former, it is a general rule that they disappear from polluted streams, and very likely not on account of the direct influence of the water upon their body, but on account of the destruction of their food—fish and crawfish. The turtles live in part upon animal, in part upon vegetable food; they are found, at present, in numbers only in streams which are in good condition, and have disappeared, more or less, in those with
1909. ] FRESH-WATER FAUNA IN PENNSYLVANIA. 93
polluted waters; this, however, at least in certain species, is appar- ently due also to direct extermination by man. The soft shell turtle (Aspidonectes spinifer) is a good example; it used to be present almost everywhere, but it has been exterminated practically in the Ohio, the lower Allegheny, the Monongahela and Youghio- gheny. It is still present, for instance, in the clear waters of the upper Youghiogheny, the upper Allegheny, in Lake Erie, ete.
Among the amphibians, frogs and toads do not prefer the streams ; they rather are pond and lake forms, and, besides, inhabit the water only at certain seasons. They do not seem to be very susceptible to the quality of the water, since they are air-breathing animals, and, consequently, are still abundant, although certain spe- cies show a tendency to become rare. Thus the bullfrog is met with in numbers only in the northwest of the state, where clear streams, ponds and lakes prevail. Yet in this case, extermination by man has surely played a part.
Of the Urodela, the smaller salamanders and newts do not in- habit in large numbers the rivers and creeks, but prefer rather the mountain streams, the ponds and lakes, where generally the condi- tions are yet good. ‘Thus there does not seem to be an appreciable reduction of their number. The two large salamanders, the hell- bender (Cryptobranchus allegheniensis) and mud puppy (Necturus maculosus) surely are influenced by the pollution, yet not directly, but by the destruction of their food. They seem to be the last mem- bers of the fresh-water fauna which disappear, and are occasionally found where there is no other permanent life. (Hellbenders were frequent in the Conemaugh River at New Florence, Westmoreland Co. Nothing but a few fish and crawfish were at this locality, which apparently came from a clear tributary.)
The most important forms of invertebrates, which I have studied more closely, are the crustaceans and the mollusks. Occasionally I have collected fresh-water sponges, worms, bryozoans, but of all these we may say that they disappear very soon after the stream has become polluted. They are found only in such waters which contain an abundance of other life.
The crustaceans of the genus Cambarus (crawfishes) are rather susceptible, and we may say that generally the pollution of a stream
94 ORTMANN—THE DESTRUCTION OF [April 23,
destroys them. They seem to be slightly more resistant than the Unionide (see below), but their presence in a polluted stream is in many cases clearly due to a restocking of the stream, by immigra- tion from a clear tributary. The crawfishes are rather vagile, and possess the power to migrate, although less so than the fishes. There surely is the possibility for them to take advantage of a temporary improvement of the condition of a stream.
The most important group, with reference to the matter in ques- tion, are the bivalve mollusks of the family Unionide, the fresh- water mussels or river-clams. They are the most reliable indicators of the pollution of a stream. Being rather sedentary, living on the bottom of the rivers, breathing water, they are easily influenced by the deterioration of the water. Of all the more important groups of our fresh-water fauna, they die first, and after they have been exterminated, it is exceedingly difficult to restock the stream on account of the complex life history of the young mussels. It is known that the young Unionidz are transported and dispersed by fishes, but in a polluted stream the fishes have also disappeared, and even in a case of a temporary recovery of a stream, in times of a high stage of the water, if there should be a restocking with young mussel-fry, the latter will surely be killed during the next low stage, when the pollution again is concentrated. In this respect the Union- ide surely are worse off than the fishes and crawfishes.
Of other mollusks, the gasteropods belonging to the family Pleu- roceride (Pleurocera, Goniobasis, Anculosa) should be mentioned. They are generally absent in polluted rivers, but have been found surviving, together with crawfishes, in parts where Unionide were entirely, and the fishes for the greater part gone (Allegheny River in southern Venango County). Other mollusks, which are air breathing (genera Lymnea, Planorbis, Physa) are more resistant, and this is especially true of Physa, which represents in certain instances the only remaining life in certain rivers. But there also seems to be a limit to its power of endurance, and in very badly pol- luted streams also Physa is absent.
Thus we can establish, in a rough way, a certain succession for the disappearance of our fauna.
The first sign of pollution of a dangerous character in a stream
1909. ] FRESH-WATER FAUNA IN PENNSYLVANIA. 95
is given by the disappearance of the Unionidz, and, generally, this fauna is irreparably lost. Close upon this follows the disappear- ance of the fishes, yet in times of recovery of the rivers (at high- water stages), fishes reappear, coming from tributaries, etc., which have acted as preserves, and this may go on indefinitely as long as the river is recovering again at times, since the fishes possess a high power of locomotion (as we shall see below, the construction of dams in a river puts an end also to this). Crawfishes stand it a ‘little longer than fishes, but they also disappear finally, and the tem- porary restocking of a stream takes place only in a limited degree.* With the crawfishes, or soon after them, the Gasteropods of the family Pleurocerid@ are driven out. When the process has reached this stage, the higher forms of life, which subsist on these various forms are compelled to abandon the stream: tailed Batrachians, Snakes, and part of the Turtles. Finally, only Lymnea, Planorbis and Physa, and the muskrat survive. Of these, Physa disappears last, while the muskrat may stay indefinitely, being not entirely dependent upon animal or aquatic food.
II. Tue CAUSES OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FAUNA.
A. Direct Extermination by Man.
A number of fresh-water animals are directly killed by man, and thus disappear in streams, the character of which has not been changed unfavorably for life. This is true in the first line for the fishes. Fishes, forming part of human food, are sought for every- where, and in consequence of the increase of the population neces- sarily must be decimated in number. Yet a complete destruction of the fish life hardly has ever been brought about by man alone, chiefly so, if the fishing is carried on under the restrictions put upon it by law. The fact is that there are many places where “ fishing is good,” and where fishermen freely avail themselves of this chance, but where fishes are still abundant (upper Allegheny River, for
‘It happens sometimes that restocking of the lost territory is done by a different species. Thus in the Mahoning Creek at Punxsutawney, Jefferson Co., and in Slipperyrock Creek at Branchton, Butler Co., the original species,
which was destroyed, was Cambarus obscurus, and subsequently, C. bartoni entered the creek.
PROC. AMER, PHIL. SOC, XLVIII. I9I G, PRINTED JULY 6, 1909.
96 ORTMANN—THE DESTRUCTION OF [April 23,
instance). This is not so in certain remote streams, but not on account of the legitimate pursuit of the sport, but in consequence of the illegal destruction of the fishes. The worst is the dynamiting of the streams which, of course, can be carried out safely only in such places where the fish warden is likely not watching. I can name at least one stream, in which this has had serious conse- quences: Raccoon Creek in Beaver County, and here it is done, as I have been informed, by parties that come over the state line from West Virginia and Ohio, and that have no right whatever to fish in our waters. The fish warden cannot be on the spot all the time, and the farmers of the region are powerless to stop the abuse, and thus Raccoon Creek, which is physically in good condition, and which used to teem with fish life, has been spoiled. For the dyna- miting kills all fishes, old and young indiscriminately, and must be regarded as the most contemptuous way of wanton destruction.
I do not doubt that it is resorted to in other parts (I heard of one case in Deer Creek, Allegheny County, not far from Pittsburgh), yet, of course, since it is executed by the guilty parties only under rigorous precautions, in order that they may not be caught by the authorities, such cases generally escape detection.
There is only one other group of fresh-water animals which is of direct value to man (if we disregard the muskrat, which is hunted for its pelt, and some turtles, which are eaten). These are the fresh-water mussels (Unionide). For food they are not much sought, but the occasional occurrence of pearls in them makes them valuable. In Pennsylvania pearl fishing is not much practiced, yet I know that certain individuals hunt for pearls in mussels along the Allegheny River in Armstrong County, and once I came across a party of three, hunting pearls in the Ohio in Beaver County. These people were from somewhere down the Ohio in the state of Ohio or West Virginia, and it was indeed a sight to look upon the wholesale destruction carried on by them.
In general we may say that by the direct action of man our fresh-water fauna, chiefly that of the fishes, has suffered a good deal, but the complete extermination has not been brought about by it in any stream. Fishing might go on in the usual way, under the established legal restrictions, and our fish fauna will survive indefi-
1909. ] FRESH-WATER FAUNA IN PENNSYLVANIA. 97
nitely. If we further consider the fact that the state is trying to restock our streams artificially, this might entirely counterbalance the losses caused by the fisherman, and thus we may say that fishing alone would never destroy our fish fauna.
B. Pollution of Streams.
The worst damage to our fauna is done by the pollution of the streams, that is to say, by the discharge into them of substances which are directly injurious to life. This is connected directly with our commercial and industrial progress, and the damage done by it is irreparable, unless there is some radical change in the way of the disposal of the industrial refuse, which at present is generally allowed to run directly into the nearest stream.
The most widely distributed pollution of a stream is by sewage from the larger towns and cities. This in itself is rather innocent. I am not discussing the deterioration of the waters from a sanitary standpoint ; but with regard to animal life in our rivers, sewage does not seem to be harmful; on the contrary, certain forms (fishes, craw- fishes, mussels) seem to thrive on it. Only in a few cases I have seen sewage so concentrated (certain small runs in the city of Pitts- burgh), that animal life is killed.
Much more dangerous sources of pollution are given by our coal mines. Under this head I unite all sources of pollution, which are connected with the mining of coal, with the coking process, and with the steel industry. This kind of pollution is very widely distributed in the western part of the state. It is a process which charges the water of our streams with certain acids, which, when they reach a certain degree of concentration, directly kill the life.* A stream polluted by “mine water” is easily recognized (when clear) by the peculiar bluish-green color of the water, and by a peculiar rusty-red deposit upon its bottom.
Another source of pollution is furnished by the oil wells and the oil industries. The simple working of an oil well already yields injurious matter: during the drilling of the well invariably salt water is pumped up, and the oil itself is capable of destroying life, if present in excess, and forming, at low stages, a deposit upon the
*See Stabler H., Water Supply and Irrigation Paper no. 186, 1906, p. 5.
98 ORTMANN—THE DESTRUCTION OF [April 23,
bottom of a creek. But the worst are the oil refineries, which dis- charge into the water chemicals which are utterly destructive to life.
These are the two most important sources of the pollution of our streams: coal and oil. In addition, there are others, which are more or less local, yet may become quite important in certain sections. These are various industrial establishments, such as glass factories, china factories, different kinds of chemical factories, wood-pulp mills,? saw mills, tanneries, etc. There are certain sections of the state, for instance the region of the headwaters of the Allegheny and of Clarion River, where establishments of this kind are the chief source of contamination.
It is not my intention here to treat of the chemical side of the process, because it is rather complex, and needs careful investiga- tion by experts. This investigation is rendered more difficult, since in most of our streams it is not one cause, which contributes to the pollution, but several, often all of them, which contribute their share in a particular stream.
Finally, a last cause of destruction of life should be mentioned, which, however, is not connected with a deterioration of the quality of the water. This is the damming up of certain rivers. This has been done most extensively in the Monongahela River, and in a part of the Ohio below Pittsburgh. The dams and locks have been built for the advantage of the shipping interests, producing a more uniform level of the water, permitting navigation all the year round. By this process the rivers, which originally possessed a lively cur- rent, with riffles, islands, etc., have been transformed into a series of pools of quiet, stagnant water, and this change has driven out certain forms of life. It is most destructive to mussels, most of which require a lively current. Dams also prevent free migration, for instance of fishes, and thus they must be an obstacle to the nat- ural restocking of the rivers in periods of high water.
® See Phelps, E. B., Water Supply and Irrigation Paper no. 226. 1909.
1909. ] FRESH-WATER FAUNA IN PENNSYLVANIA. 99
III. SKETCH OF THE PRESENT CONDITION OF OuR RIVERS. (See map, plate VI.)
1. The Ohio River Below Pittsburgh.
At Pittsburgh, the two main rivers, Allegheny and Monongahela, unite to form the Ohio. As we shall see below, both the Allegheny and Monongahela are as badly polluted as they possibly could be, and, consequently, it is not astonishing that the Ohio immediately below Pittsburgh is also in a deplorable condition. In addition, it is
“ec
dammed up, this “improvement” extending down to dam No. 6 at Vanport (below Beaver) in Beaver County. Generally, there is not much life in this part of the Ohio. Fishes are found occasion- ally, during high water, due to some migration, probably from farther down the river, but even this has been rendered difficult or even impossible in consequence of the perfection of the dams (dam No. 6 was finished and put in operation toward the end of 1907). There are crawfishes in this part of the river, but they are disap- pearing fast. Unionidze have disappeared long ago. There was a colony of them in the left branch of the Ohio at Neville Island, Allegheny County, up to 1904; during that year, however, they died out, and in 1905 the last living one was found there.
Farther down, below dam No. 6, conditions improve. This is a very interesting and important fact. Although the Ohio collects most of the polluted water of the western section of the state, and although it is in a very bad condition below Pittsburgh, it loses its bad qualities, at least in part, about thirty miles farther down. Since there are only two important tributaries along this part of its course, Chartiers Creek and Beaver River, both of them also badly polluted, this improvement of the water cannot be due to dilution alone, but it is evident that some of the injurious substances in the water must be removed from it, and very probably by precipitation upon the bottom of the river. We shall observe indications of this process elsewhere, and shall discuss its significance below. Here it is sufficient to point out, that at present (1908) the condition of the Ohio below dam No. 6 is good or fair, life being not only possible, but abundant in it, all the way down to the state line at Smith’s
100 ORTMANN—THE DESTRUCTION OF [April 23,
Ferry. This is shown first of all by the abundance of Unionide in this part of the Ohio; in fact, here are found the most favorable localities for them known to me in western Pennsylvania. It seems that in 1907 these conditions extended a certain distance farther up; at any rate, in that year I found evidence of the presence of Union- idz in the Ohio at Beaver (the stage of the water was not low enough for proper investigation). But since the completion of dam No. 6 this is all over now, and if there should be life in the pool above dam No. 6 it will have disappeared by this time, at least most of it.
Moreover, there are indications that the fauna in the Ohio below Vanport is already suffering. There are at least two tremendous banks, consisting chiefly of dead shells (with many living ones among them) in the river, one at Industry, the other at Shipping- port. Since dead shells are dissolved rather rapidly, these masses indicate a recent dying of mussels on a large scale. And further, it is very remarkable that among the living shells collected by myself there are hardly any young individuals. It seems to me that, while the old and tough ones (some of them probably_ten years old and older) are able to stand the poor condition of the water, the latter is too much for young and delicate ones, so that there is no new generation growing up. This, of course, would be the first step toward the final destruction of the mussels in this part of the river, and the destruction of the other forms of life then will also be accomplished in due time.
2. The Smaller Tributaries of the Ohio.
There is a group of streams in Greene and Washington Counties, running westward through the panhandle of West Virginia into the Ohio. These are (from south to north): Pennsylvania Fork of Fish Creek, Wheeling Creek, Buffalo Creek, Cross Creek, Harmons Creek. They are all clear creeks, only Harmons Creek and Cross Creek are slightly polluted by mine water, but not much damage has been done yet. They are all rich in aquatic life. I have not visited Wheeling Creek in Pennsylvania, but I know it in West Virginia, above Elm Grove, near Wheeling, where it is in good condition.
Raccoon Creek, which empties from the south into the Ohio
1909. ] FRESH-WATER FAUNA IN PENNSYLVANIA. 101
below Vanport, is in very good condition for most of its length, only way up at its sources, in Washington County, it is slightly polluted by mine water. This creek used to be rich in all forms of life, and is yet so here and there, but, as has been said, its fish fauna has greatly suffered in consequence of illegal fishing.
At the point where the Ohio leaves the state a very beautiful tributary flows into it from the north—Little Beaver Creek. This was, and partly is, a model stream with regard to all forms of fresh- water life. Yet in 1908 there were, in its upper parts, near New Galilee, in Beaver County, signs of pollution, in this case in conse- quence of new oil wells being drilled in the vicinity. Salt water and oil was discharged into the creek, and the fauna (chiefly the mussels) indicated distinctly the deteriorating effect by their dis- eased condition and by the frequency of shells which had died recently. This may be only a temporary effect, and if there is no additional pollution, conditions may remain favorable.
Immediately below Pittsburgh, Chartiers Creek, coming from the south, empties into the Ohio. It is hopelessly polluted by the coal mines and oil refineries in Allegheny and Washington Counties. There is no life whatever in this creek: the last traces are known to have existed in it as late as 1900, when a few Unionide were col- lected in it for the Carnegie Museum. The condition of Chartiers Creek is now beyond repair.
3. The Beaver River Drainage.
Beaver River flows into the Ohio from the north at Beaver, Beaver County. It is utterly polluted in its whole length, up to the point where it is formed by the confluence of Mahoning and Shenango rivers. The source of the pollution is situated on the Shenango River, along its last two miles, in and below Newcas- tle, Lawrence County. The steel mills and various other establish- ments furnish a tremendous amount of injurious refuse draining into the river, and rendering it entirely unfit for life. This state of affairs has been brought about during the last ten years, for in 1898 the fauna of the river was very rich at Wampum, Lawrence County, as is shown by collections preserved in the Carnegie Museum.
102 ORTMANN—THE DESTRUCTION OF [April 23,
Connoquennessing Creek, flowing into the Beaver from the east, is another badly polluted stream. In this case there are various causes of pollution, but the chief one