22 DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 



One can scarcely tell which is which. He is reminded of the Siam- 

 ese twins, Chang and Eng, with only this difference, that the papers of 

 the Academy were born several years in advance of this pamphlet. 

 Indebted, as it is, to the Proceedings of the Academy for the facts pre- 

 sented, the conclusions reached, and adopting, to a great extent, its 

 very language, would not the commonest courtesy suggest an acknowl- 

 edgment of such indebtedness? Why no recognition of those papers? 

 Simply because to ignore the work done by the Academy would give 

 a certain notoriety to the pamphlet that would attract attention as 

 the only work done in our local geology since the publication of the 

 last geological surveys, to which the author of this pamphlet is plainly 

 indebted for much of what value it possesses, but which he chooses to 

 utterly ignore, instead of acknowledging his indebtedness thereto, as 

 simple justice demands. 



It is folly thus to attempt to ignore the work done by the Academy. 

 In this, as well as all other departments of scientific research, it has 

 sought the truth for the truth's sake. It has done good work in various 

 branches of scientific inquiry. It has made stable additions to the sum 

 total of exact science. It has gathered rich treasures of material and 

 intellectual wealth, and it proposes to care for and defend them. It 

 cannot afford to let this pamphlet go out as by a member of the Acad- 

 emy, without a protest against its scientific inaccuracy and its mislead 

 ing inferences. 



