EDITORIAL 



With our rapidly growing science the volume of geologic liter- 

 ature has increased, so enormously in recent years that it is no longer 

 possible for any single geologist to keep up with the advances 

 made in all the different branches of the subject. Instead, the 

 active worker is now forced to pass hastily over many important 

 papers which do not bear immediately on his own chosen field and 

 to concentrate his energies chiefly upon those more immediately 

 affecting his own specialties. A growing need has been felt and 

 expressed for brief abstracts which, by pointing out the essentials 

 of published papers, will enable each reader to determine quickly 

 the value to him of any article. In response to this need, the 

 Journal of Geology will inaugurate the policy, commencing with 

 the first number of 1924, of printing an abstract in small type 

 at the beginning of each article. Contributors are therefore kindly 

 requested to include in each manuscript such an abstract, 

 which should not exceed 250 words in length. This abstract will 

 replace the table of contents, so often used in the past, but it need 

 not necessarily exclude the use of a supplementary summary of 

 conclusions at the end of an article if that seems also advisable. 

 It is hoped that this new policy will make the Journal more useful 



to its readers. 



R. T. C. 



679 



