EDITORIAL #27 
of any representative body of air in those regions must be on 
such a hypothesis and on similar hypotheses. If Andrée’s 
balloon follows a spiral course (cyclonic gyrations aside) whose 
center lies in the quarter toward which the ice concentrates, 
the hypothesis will receive encouragement. If not, it becomes 
a hopeful candidate for the limbo of unsupported inferences. 
The reverse may be said respecting the common assumption 
of astrictly axial whirl, but as that rests on general probabilities 
it does not so well illustrate the critical value of an actual test of 
the movement of the air. 
On quite other grounds it might equally well be affirmed that 
the navigation of the Arctic air by balloons will, if found practi- 
cable, have its own peculiar function which neither ship nor 
sledge can supply. ee: 
* 
THE state of Missouri has recently had deep disgrace thrust 
upon it by the removal of the efficient director of the Geological 
Survey and by the appointment of men to its care and conduct 
who possess, according to information that we deem trust- 
worthy, not only no competency to perform their duties, but 
not even a plausible semblance of competency. These appoint- 
ments have apparently no other motive than the conferring of 
personal or political favors. No causes of complaint, we are 
informed, were even alleged against the previous conduct of the 
Survey or against the officials in charge of it. The scientific 
public has had ample demonstration of the vigor and energy 
with which the Survey has been prosecuted, the promptness 
with which its results have been published, and the adaptation 
of the work to the development of the economic as well as sci- 
entific resources of the state. It appears, therefore, that the 
moneys appropriated by the state of Missouri for the laudable 
purpose of investigating and advertising its resources and of 
informing its people concerning their own sources of material 
and intellectual wealth are being virtually diverted from the 
purposes specifically indicated by the statute of the state, and 
are being used for the personal and political interests of the 
