INVESTIGATION VERSUS PROPAGANDISM 337 



(4) The help derivable from the spacial or positional relations 

 of the deposits is most conveniently summed up in the term 

 regional relations, and is best illustrated concretely. Between 

 the Vero location on the very edge of the continent — far to the 

 south — and the glacial formations in middle latitudes, there is a 

 wide stretch of territory covered by Pleistocene and Recent forma- 

 tions, each of which has its place and significance in the recent 

 history of the whole region. Whether we are able to distinguish 

 all these or not, they are there and have their story to tell. These 

 must ultimately be assigned their true place in the natural series 

 that intimately connects the Vero deposits with the glacial for- 

 mations in the northern states. These fall into four geographic 

 provinces suited for work on the problem in hand. In the workr 

 ing of these provinces, of course, the extinctional, the introductory, 

 and the physico-dynamical methods of inquiry should each play 

 its own appropriate part. The following regional work is definitely 

 indicated : 



{a) Intensive and correlative work on the marine coastal tracts 

 of the Atlantic and the Gulf. By this connection would be made 

 between the glacial and glacio-natant deposits of the North and 

 the contemporaneous marine deposits of the warm South. In 

 this work the distinctive marine criteria, physical and biotic alike, 

 should be adhered to rigorously and all formations not amply 

 accredited by marine credentials should be left in the waiting 

 list, or placed elsewhere. 



{h) Inland from this narrow coastal tract, a broad U-shaped 

 tract wraps about the Appalachians with its outer southeastern 

 flank against the sea deposits of the Atlantic and Gulf on the one 

 side and its inner northwestern flank on the glacial deposits of 

 the Ohio Valley on the other, while at the top of the U these tracts 

 abut against the glaciated areas on either side of the mountains. 

 The strategic advantages of working this province as a unit are 

 obvious. The aggradation-degradation deposits on the two 

 flanks of the Appalachians offer special advantages in correlation 

 and in interpretation. 



(c) The fluvial deposits of the Mississippi Valley, embracing 

 those whose sources lay in the glacial-drainage area of the upper 



