VOLUME XXVII NUMBER 5 



THE 



JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY 



( JULY-AUGUST igig 



INVESTIGATION VERSUS PROPAGANDISM 



T. C. CHAMBERLIN 



University of Chicago 



The case of the ancient pottery-makers of Vero, Florida, seems 

 really quite worthy of becoming a cause celehre. It has already 

 passed through two stages and is now well on in a third. The 

 purpose of this paper is to urge that this third stage be closed at 

 once by common consent and that the inquiry be pushed on into 

 a fourth stage. The first stage embraced the discovery, the pre- 

 liminary examinations, and the presentation of the case to the 

 scientific pubhc; the second covered some concerted field investi- 

 gations by interested specialists and the publication of their results 

 in symposia; in the third stage there has developed a tendency to 

 lapse into isolated discussions with a trend toward controversy, as 

 well as a trend toward- premature propagandism. What should 

 constitute the fourth stage may best be considered after such a 

 brief review of what has been presented as shall make clear the 

 status of the case at the close of the stages already past. 



STAGE I. THE ANNOUNCEMENT AND PRELIMINARY PRESENTATION 



The discovery, as is so often the case, was made incidentally 

 in the progress of industrial work. The preliminary inquiries were 

 of the usual type and the initial announcement was made to the 



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