February 7, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



207 



geologic liistory of this province; the work 

 under the direction of Mr. Cross in the 

 San Juan region of southwestern Colorado, 

 which, in connection with the thorough 

 geologic studies made during the prepara- 

 tion of folios, is affording new scientific re- 

 sults of a higher order concerning especially 

 the volcanism and physiography of the re- 

 gion; and the studies begun last year by 

 Messrs. Campbell and Alden in the Glacier 

 National Park, which promise important 

 results concerning the origin of the struc- 

 ture and physiography of this part of the 

 Eocky Mountains and of the glacial topog- 

 raphj^, which, as it is still ' ' in the making, ' ' 

 offers exceptional opportunities for scien- 

 tific study as well as observation by the 

 traveler interested in the natural wonders 

 of his own country. Important regional 

 studies of high scientific rank which should 

 also be mentioned are those prosecuted by 

 Mr. Keith and his associates, on the diffi- 

 cult stratigraphy and intricate geologic 

 structure of the older Paleozoic regions of 

 western New England and the Appalachian 

 region, the results of which are partly pub- 

 lished in folio texts, and those carried on 

 by Professor Emerson in southern New 

 England. A report by Professor Emerson 

 on the geology of Massachusetts and Rhode 

 Island has been submitted during the year. 

 The paleontologic work of the Survey 

 continues to be of the highest rank. Many 

 of its publications, written by the most dis- 

 tinguished representatives of the various 

 branches of paleontology in the country 

 and embodying experience and observations 

 gathered during years of patient research, 

 have contributed much to the scientific 

 reputation of the organization. The de- 

 scriptive paleontologic papers are often 

 treated as "pure science," yet instructive, 

 striking or tedious, as may be these delinea- 

 tions of the groups of animal or plant life 

 which lived on the globe in some particular 



epoch, there is not one of these papers de- 

 scribing the fauna or flora of a formation 

 that does not prove sooner or later to pos- 

 sess practical value and to be essential to 

 geology in its constantly increasing refine- 

 ment of study and results. Without pale- 

 ontology the geologic classification of for- 

 mations, their correlation, and the deter- 

 mination of their mutual relations would 

 be impossible. In fact, real and 

 symmetrical progress in geology is im- 

 possible without corresponding interre- 

 lated development and refinement of its 

 handmaid paleontology. The economic 

 geology of any region of complicated struc- 

 ture is blind and inconsequent unless the 

 time relations of the strata concerned are 

 known. The monograph now being issued 

 from the press on the Cambrian Brachio- 

 poda, prepared by ex-Director Walcott and 

 representing many years of painstaking 

 study and distinguished attainment, em- 

 braces our best and most complete presen- 

 tation of the criteria for the discrimination 

 of the Cambrian formations in America 

 and will for many years be a manual for 

 the use of workers in Cambrian geology and 

 paleontology. This monograph bring-s de- 

 served credit to American science and to 

 the Geological Survey, under whose aus- 

 pices most of the work was accomplished. 

 Other paleontologic publications specially 

 deserving mention by reason of their scien- 

 tific merit are J. P. Smith's philosophic 

 treatment of^ the Middle Triassic faunas, 

 and the monograph on the Mesozoic and 

 Cenozoic Echinodermata of the United 

 States by W.B.Clark and M. W. Twitchell, 

 the manuscripts for both of which are now 

 in hand. Work like that of Kindle on the 

 Onondaga fauna, lately printed, and that 

 by Berry on the Upper Cretaceous and 

 Eocene floras of South Carolina and 

 Georgia and by Stephenson on the Cre- 

 taceous deposits of the eastern Gulf region, 



