EDITORIALS. 103 



though, as has been shown, it is very unwise to decrease the 

 requisite appropriation for a geological survey, yet if, under such 

 circumstances, it is necessary to do so, the office of state geolo- 

 gist and its incumbent, if he is efficient, should nevertheless be 

 retained, for he possesses facts on unfinished work and a general 

 experience of the region which will mean many thousands of 

 dollars to the state when the survey is reorganized. 



It is to be sincerely hoped that the Board of Directors of the 

 Missouri Survey will follow the wisest course. If the finances of 

 the state require the reduction that has been made in the appro- 

 priation for the geological survey, let this be only temporary, 

 and let the office of state geologist and its present representa- 

 tive be retained. Mr. Winslow has held this position since the 

 present survey was inaugurated ; he has managed the affairs of 

 the survey in a most energetic and capable manner, and the vol- 

 umes on coal, iron, mineral waters, and other subjects attest to 

 the activity of himself and his staff. Much of this work he has 

 accomplished in the face of the many difficulties that no one but 

 those who have had personal connections with state geological 

 surveys can appreciate ; and yet his publications speak for them- 

 selves in their completeness and the thoroughly scientific meth- 

 ods with which he has treated the problems before him. He has 

 already performed a great service to the people of Missouri and 

 the public in general ; and it is to be hoped that the Board of 

 Directors will not permit the state to lose the man who is more 

 necessary than any other to the successful completion of the 

 geological survey. We recur to the hope expressed at the out- 

 set that the report of discontinuance is erroneous. 



R. A. F. P., Jr. 



*** 



The Boston meeting of the Geological Society of America 

 was remarkable for the large number of papers submitted, fifty- 

 nine, and for the unusual geological activity which these indicated. 

 In an uncommon degree the papers represented recent active 

 investigations. To only a slight extent were they rehearsals of 



