348 OHLO STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 
survey. — Its efficient chief has invariably furthered all the work 
which I have been able to undertake and patiently awaited results, 
which on account of numerous other duties are long delayed, and 
the relations with all the other members of the staff have always 
been pleasant. Nor has the writer any plan which he wishes to 
launch and so is availing himself of this opportunity for that 
purpose. He is simply attempting to state in a fair and impar- 
tial manner, as it appears to him, what stage has been reached in 
the description of the stratigraphic geology of this state. 
There is, however, a very general misapprehension concerning 
the accuracy and degree of refinement reached in the stratigraphic 
geology of Ohio. The frequent question, “Well, have vou finished 
your \ “work for the survey ?” is very tiresome, or the remark. “W hy, 
IT thought the geology of Ohio was finished.” If I have any stand- 
ing asa geologist, let me say once for all that $25,000, nay $50, 000, 
wisely and economically administered will not then ‘furnish Ohio 
with a similar wealth of accurate stratigraphic knowledge as that 
upon which the last geological map of New York or Pennsyly ania 
is based. 
Ladies and Gentlemen: The time has not yet arrived when 
we can consider that our knowledge of the geology of Ohio is about 
complete. It is still a far cry before she overtakes some of her 
sister states. Moreover, those same states at present are by no 
means idle. Look at New York! After almost seventy years of 
state investigation still appropriating $30,000 annually for geo- 
logical work, with a permanent force of fourteen men and ten 
additional te mporary assistants. Her magnificent set of geological 
reports is a source of pride to all her intelligent citizens and has 
made the name of New York familiar wherever geology is known. 
Nor is New York alone. The appropriation for geological work 
during the current year in Maryland is $10,000, in West Virginia 
$12,000, in Kentucky $10,000, in Indiana $7,000, in Michigan 
$8,000, in Illinois $15,000, in Towa $5,000 and in Missouri $20,000, 
Probably in no state is the entire amount devoted to stratigraphic 
geology; but in each case a large proportion of the appropriation 
is alloted to that part of the subject. 
I have attempted to show very briefly in these few minutes how 
the science of stratigraphic geology originated and developed. 
Likewise the attempt has been made to indicate in a general way 
what has been accomplished in Ohio in this science and most of all 
to emphasize the fact that it is not finished. If this last point has 
been made clear, in my judgment, this paper will not have been 
written in vain. 
