832 THE JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY. 



fair appropriations and salaries the work should be pushed 

 energetically and brought to a definite end, rather than that 

 appropriations should dwindle to a point forbidding creditable 

 work. Believing that the people are entitled to what they pay 

 for, it has been the aim of the present survey to meet the reason- 

 able expectations of the people of the state in giving them 

 practical and economic results, and at the same time to do all 

 the purely scientific work that the means at the survey's disposal 

 would admit of, or that the study of economic problems 

 demanded. 



The reports are mainly in the form of monographs of the 

 subjects treated : thus all the facts gathered relating to the 

 manganese are brought together in the manganese report ; those 

 relating to the novaculites are given in the report on novaculites, 

 and every thing known of the igneous rocks of the state is given 

 in the report on igneous rocks, etc. Besides the evident advant- 

 age of having the subjects thus grouped in monographs, this 

 method has kept down the number of volumes, has prevented 

 the publication of undigested field notes, and has greatly reduced 

 the cost of printing. The disadvantages of such a sytem are 

 that the bulk of the work upon a given subject must be done by 

 one person, and, in the case of formations that extend over wide 

 areas and require much detailed study, it is impossible to bring 

 out the results promptly. The clay report, for example, has 

 been in hand since 1887, an< ^ * s n °t y e ^ published. The delay in 

 publication is also liable to work injustice to assistants by their 

 results being anticipated. This can be prevented to a certain 

 extent by publishing results of special interest in scientific 

 periodicals. 



In the case of the Arkansas survey this method of publication 

 has not been carried out without legal difficulties. The law 

 establishing the survey says : " Section 4. It shall be the duty 

 of said geologist, on or before the first Monday in December of 

 each year .... to make a printed report to the Governor of the 

 results and progress of the survey, accompanied by such maps, 

 profiles, and drawings as may be necessary to exemplify the same, 



