7°4 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



believes that the net return would be great- 

 er. Many of our raw materials come from 

 countries where industry is irregular and in- 

 effective, and Prof. Patten argues that we 

 should make ourselves independent of such 

 sources of supply. He says that skill and 

 capital employed in an orderly community 

 will generally outweigh climatic and other 

 natural advantages in an uncivilized coun- 

 try. As an instance he mentions the pro- 

 duction of sugar in Germany from beets in 

 competition with the cane-sugar of Cuba. 

 Wool, he says, will be high in price while it 

 remains the exclusive product of regions dis- 

 tant from the markets, and can only become 

 cheaper when farmers in highly civilized 

 communities take to raising sheep in con- 

 nection with their agriculture. Prof. Patten 

 maintains that trade between merchants of 

 different countries which is profitable to the 

 individuals is not necessarily profitable to 

 the countries. Supposing a pound of coffee 

 in Brazil would buy three pounds of sugar, 

 while if taken to Cuba it would buy four 

 pounds. In this case a trade profitable to 

 dealers would spring up, and Prof. Patten 

 asks whether such a commerce is so bene- 

 ficial that the loss of it would work perma- 

 nent injury to both nations. This, he says, 

 is a matter of dispute. There are many 

 other things in the book that friends of 

 free trade will regard as matters of dispute, 

 which are not so designated by the author. 

 The volume is adapted to provoke discus- 

 sion, and perhaps the more so because its 

 small size prevents the insertion of facts and 

 figures in support of the author's positions. 



Eighth Annual Report of the United States 

 Geological Survey, 1886-'87. By J. W. 

 Powell, Director. Washington. Parts I 

 and II. Pp. 1095. 



In this report the director gives a full 

 description of the business organization of 

 the Survey, comprising the division of dis- 

 bursements and accounts, the division of 

 illustrations, the division of library and doc- 

 uments, and the editorial and miscellaneous 

 division. During the year covered by the re- 

 port, an aggregate area of 55,684 square miles 

 had been surveyed during the field season 

 and mapped during the office season. Topo- 

 graphic work was pushed forward vigorously 

 in Massachusetts, at the joint expense of the 

 State and Federal Governments, and the sur- 



veys of that State and of New Jersey are 

 now practically completed. The survey of 

 the District of Columbia and contiguous parts 

 of Virginia and Maryland was finished, work 

 was prosecuted in the southern Appalachian 

 region with a large force, and extensive 

 tracts were surveyed in the Western States 

 and Territories. During the year geologic 

 investigations were carried on by Prof. Pum- 

 pelly on the Archaean rocks of New England, 

 by Prof. Irving among the iron-bearing and 

 copper-bearing rocks of Lake Superior, by 

 Prof. Shaler on the tide-marshes of the Atlan- 

 tic coast, and by Mr. Gilbert on the structure 

 of the Appalachian Mountains. Mr. Wood- 

 ward made a careful resurvev of Niagara 

 Falls, and investigations in glacial geology 

 were carried on under Prof. Chamberlin. 

 The combined investigations of the general 

 geologic structure, and of the coal, oil, gas, 

 etc., of Montana were somewhat crippled by 

 the long illness and finally by the conse- 

 quent resignation of the veteran geologist, 

 Dr. Ferdinand V. Hayden, but during the lat- 

 ter part of the year the work was carried on 

 by Dr. Peale. Other fields in which work was 

 prosecuted are the Yellowstone National Park 

 by Mr. Hague, the structural and mining ge- 

 ology of Colorado by Mr. Emmons, the vol- 

 canic deposits of California and Oregon by 

 Captain Dutton, the iron-ore and marl beds 

 of northern Mississippi and Louisiana by 

 Mr. Johnson, and the Quaternary deposits 

 of the coastal plain between North Carolina 

 and New York under Mr. McGee. The area 

 affected by the Charleston earthquake was 

 also examined, and Mr. Becker completed 

 his report on the quicksilver mines of the 

 United States. Work in paleontology was 

 carried on by Prof. Marsh, Mr. Walcott, Dr. 

 Dall, Prof. Ward, and Mr. Scudder. One of 

 the most important events of the year in 

 systematic geology was the discovery by Dr. 

 White and Mr. Hill of a great series of Cre- 

 taceous strata in Texas underlying the rocks 

 hitherto regarded as the base of the Ameri- 

 can Cretaceous, and corresponding in many 

 respects with the Lower Cretaceous deposits 

 of Europe. Chemical work was carried on 

 by Prof. Clarke, Mr. Chatard, and Messrs. 

 Gooch and Whitfield. Mr. Day continued 

 the collection of mining statistics. Several 

 miscellaneous researches were also in prog- 

 ress. The report of the director is supple- 



