April 29, 1880] 



NATURE 



613 



great experience, objection may be taken. There surely 

 was no necessity for the introduction of such state- 

 ments as that the value of a mineral in one State 

 might be dependent on a single chemical fact or deposit 

 in a remote State ; that a New Jersey iron-founder may 

 have to mix ore from Virginia with ore from Michigan, 

 and procure his fuel from Pennsylvania and his fire- 

 brick from Connecticut ; and that gold-seekers in Georgia 

 would lack a personal knowledge of California. Does 

 Mr. King suppose that the mining industry of his country 

 will stand still until it is instructed by the Geological 

 Survey ? The mining owners and speculators are quite 

 alive to everything likely to be for their interest, and may 

 be safely trusted to look after themselves. " The iron- 

 corps of Wisconsin," he says, " could never safely judge 

 of a Pennsylvania ore, which was required to be mixed 

 with the Wisconsin product, unless the two were investi- 

 gated together and their direct relations studied." But 

 the Wisconsin corps could perfectly decide as to the 

 amount of metal in the ore and the extent and workability 

 of the deposit. The geological relations are unques- 

 tionably most interesting and important, but ignorance of 

 them is happily not fatal to a very thriving industry. 



The Director, it seems to us, does himself and his 

 associates injustice in taking far too low a stand on which 

 to urge the importance of a truly national Survey. In 

 dealing with a popular assembly it is of course necessary 

 to show that a service for which large grants are de- 

 manded has a real practical utility. But it is possible to 

 carry this principle too far, and thereby to defeat its 

 object. An acute Congressman might rise and object to 

 such large appropriations being granted for what appeared 

 to be mainly a work of statistics. " Mr. King's letter," 

 he might argue, " puts great stress on the collection of 

 accurate statistics of our mineral wealth. But we don't 

 need a corps of trained geologists with good salaries 

 to scour the country, finding out how many tons of 

 coal are raised here and how many ounces of gold 

 have been crushed there. I can undertake to do all this 

 at a fiftieth part of the cost. AH I ask is a couple 

 of clerks and a free postage allowance. I would send 

 a printed form to every mine-owner and district agent 

 in the country, with columns in which to enter all the 

 industrial particulars needed. And I would guarantee to 

 lay before Congress as full and accurate a statement of 

 our mineral output as Mr. King could do with his corps 

 of geologists. Of course if Mr. King is going to make a 

 scientific survey that is another matter. Let him set his 

 corps to work on it, getting the most highly trained men 

 he can find for the purpose. But it would be a waste of 

 brain-power as well as of public money to employ 

 scientific men to do mere clerks' work. Let us have 

 under the Department of the Interior an office for 

 mineral statistics, and leave the Geological Survey free to 

 do proper geological investigation." 



There is another part of Mr. King's letter which to an 

 impartial spectator of the discussion cannot but appear 

 ominous of possible evil. He states that it will be among 

 the duties of his Survey " to actually and directly aid in 

 the development of the mineral industry, and promote the 

 wise and guarded influx of foreign capital." Our irre- 

 pressible Congressman would no doubt exhaust his 

 eloquence on this topic. "What!" he might exclaim, 

 "are the geologists of the Survey not only to collect 

 statistics, but to be a kind of superior share-brokers and 

 mining speculators ? I wonder how much time they are 

 likely to find for really geological work. I hope that they 

 are men far above the love of filthy lucre, anxious only for 

 their country's good, incapable of taking a fee, utterly 

 unbribable. Certainly their virtue will be put to the 

 proof. A mining company stamped with the approval 

 of the Geological Survey will no doubt be more easily 

 floated into the market. On the other hand, a com- 

 pany whose claim is condemned as worthless by the 



official authorities need not expect" its shares to rise in 

 value. Such approval or condemnation will no doubt be 

 naturally regarded by mining men as a purchasable com- 

 modity. Even should every member of the Survey keep 

 himself wholly apart from transactions of this kind, it is 

 a misfortune that he should ever be exposed to temp- 

 tation and to the suspicion which the public know- 

 ledge of that temptation so often and so unjustly 

 arouses." No one who knows anything of Mr. King and 

 his associates will for a moment entertain such suspicions, 

 but may resent the mere mention of them. Nevertheless 

 the Survey would do wisely to avoid having anything to 

 do with capital either foreign or domestic. It cannot 

 too jealously guard its scientific reputation. So long as 

 its labours are strictly geological it will be regarded with 

 respect as an impartial tribunal. The moment it begins 

 to meddle with the monetary aspects of mining it will 

 occupy a lower place in public estimation. What is more, 

 it will make enemies. Disappointed speculators will find 

 ample opportunity of revenge ; and Mr. King may have 

 a yearly struggle to get his appropriation. 



With the most cordial interest in the welfare of the 

 newly-organised Survey and every desire to see it enter 

 upon a long, brilliant, and useful career, we would 

 earnestly urge upon the authorities the desirability, nay, 

 even the necessity, of concentrating as large a part of 

 the force as possible upon the unsurveyed and only par- 

 tially explored western regions. While this great work is 

 in progress Mr. King will doubtless find ample oppor- 

 tunity of keeping before Congress and the public the 

 industrial aspects of the Survey, and of showing that, even 

 in a pecuniary point of view, the annual expenditure of 

 money is well bestowed. He may be able to make use of 

 the active geological talent of the Eastern States to aid him 

 in collating geological sections and in working out special 

 problems of general interest and importance. In the 

 midst of these labours we do most sincerely trust he will 

 see his way towards collecting material for a first general 

 geological map of the United States. Nothing worthy of 

 the name yet exists, and though many years must elapse 

 before a detailed and accurate map can be issued, a very 

 great boon would meanwhile be conferred, not only on 

 geologists, but on the general public, by the preparation 

 of a map (such as that published by the Lands Office) 

 giving in condensed form the general results of geological 

 investigation all over the Republic. Arch. Geikie 



STONE ARRO IV HEADS 



MANY surmises have been offered as to how our pre- 

 historic ancestors could have manufactured stone 

 arrow heads before the uses of bronze or iron were known. 

 Sir John Lubbock, Mr. John Evans, and other writers 

 have suggested that the observations of travellers as to 

 the mode pursued by savage nations in similar work 

 might possibly lead to some correct conclusions. Acting 

 on this hint Mr. B. B. Redding had published an account 

 of the manufacture as practised by the Cloud River 

 Indians. Prior to the close of the Modoc war the Win- 

 toons or Cloud River Indians were without firearms. Up 

 to that time the few settlers who resided about the base 

 of Mount Shasta made it a rule to permit no Wintoon to 

 carry a gun. As there are no agricultural lands and no 

 mines on the Cloud River the Wintoons were left in 

 almost undisputed possession of their prolific hunting- 

 grounds and to the inexhaustible supplies of salmon and 

 trout with which that river abounds. They had but little 

 contact with the Americans until a station was established 

 on their river by the United States Government for the 

 taking of salmon eggs for distribution. Even to this day 

 very few of them have guns, and their principal reliance 

 in the chase is upon their primitive but powerful bow and 

 arrows with stone heads. The stone arrow head maker 

 is still a man of great importance in the tribe, and one of 



