652 
tempts to make for the Experiment Station 
Record. The ninth volume of the Record 
contains 1,100 pages of text, of which 770 
pages are taken for abstracts of publica- 
tions originally occupying 56,569 pages. 
In addition to this, the volume contains 
2,471 titles of articles, with brief abstracts 
in some cases. The index of names for 
this volume fills 15 pages printed in nonpa- 
reil type in three columns; the index of 
subjects fill 80 pages printed in the same 
type in two columns. 
Now that ten volumes of the Record 
have been completed, the question of mak- 
ing a general index to cover them has been 
raised. If such an index can be provided 
for at intervals of ten years it is believed 
that this and the annual indexes with a set 
of the Record will constitute an instrument 
for ready reference to the literature of agri- 
cultural science much more convenient and 
effective for the uses of the specialist than 
any card index can be. 
A. C. TRUE. 
WASHINGTON, D. C., October 23, 1899. 
SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 
West Virginia Geological Survey. Volume I. 
By I. C. WHITE, State Geologist, Morgan- 
town, W. Va. 1899. 8vo. 392 pp. Map. 
Dr. White was commissioned as State Geolo- 
gist in 1897 and began work in the autumn of 
that year. This first volume gives only a por- 
tion of the material accumulated prior to the 
close of 1898, as the appropriation for printing 
was very small. Political complications during 
the session of 1899 hindered legislation and the 
survey work will remain suspended until after 
the next session of the Legislature. 
At the time this survey was undertaken, the 
all-absorbing matter of economic interest was 
that of oil and gas, with which Part IV. of the 
report, occupying 270 pages, deals. The his- 
torical sketch of discovery, methods and utiliza- 
tion of oil and gas in the State is followed by a 
discussion of the geology of those products, 
treating of method of occurrence ; quantity to 
the acre ; aids in location ; anticlinal theory ; 
SCIENCE. 
[N. S. VoL. X. No. 253. 
relation of oil and gas to structure ; and other 
topics full of interest, viewed from the stand- 
point either of pure science or economics. The 
anticlinal or structural theory of the occurrence 
of oil and gas, presented by Dr. White many 
years ago, is elaborated here in the light of 
developments made in the Ohio and West Vir- 
ginia fields. Though leading to slight modifi- 
cation of statements made when the theory was 
rather suggested than asserted, these severe 
experimental tests have rendered necessary no 
material changes, but on the contrary have 
shown that the theory was but the expression 
of a law. One cannot give a synopsis of the 
discussion for that is itself a model of condensa- 
tion. It possesses much interest not only for 
the student of economic geology, but also for 
those geologists who find little that is attrac- 
tive in matters relating to economic interests. 
The general section through which wells 
have been drilled is described. It extends 
from the Permo-Carboniferous to the Cornifer- 
ous limestone, a total of 7,200 feet, a thickness 
contrasting notably with that in south central 
Pennsylvania, where the upper Devonian alone 
(the Chemung and the Catskill of Vanuxem) is 
as great. The records of 104 wells drilled in 
different parts of the State are discussed in de- 
tail, compared with each other and with local- 
ities where the rocks are exposed. These wells 
are from 1,000 to more than 4,000 feet deep. 
The labor involved in working up the bald 
records into intelligible sections, of identifying 
the several coal beds and the subordinate sands, 
can hardly be conceived by those who have not 
done such work ; the more so, since necessarily 
the published records form but a small part of 
those studied in order make the comparisons 
conclusive. The writer in the course of astudy, 
still in progress, tabulated all these records 
given by Dr. White to compare them with re- 
sults obtained by other observers in West Vir- 
ginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Out of all the 
many points at which the several sets of ob- 
servations came together, only two were found 
where it seemed impossible to accept Dr. 
White’s conclusions—and in one of these Dr. 
White proved to be right. 
This volume is a contribution so important 
that one cannot fail to regret the neglect of the 
