532 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIV. No. 617. 



that in the elucidation of the Permian cli- 

 matological problems which have now become 

 the climacteric ones, no appeal could be taken 

 to a supposed final refrigeration, or to any 

 declining stage or senile condition of the 

 earth, and that hence all hypotheses which 

 involve such features had been set aside by 

 the advance of discovery. There appeared, 

 therefore, no good reason for calling up spe- 

 cifically Manson's theory merely to say that it 

 had been put out of court by the progress of 

 geological inquiry, especially as the recital of 

 the results of inquiry, and their necessary 

 implications, had already told the tale for 

 themselves. 



T. C. Chamberlin. 

 University of Chicago, 

 October 8, 1906. 



CORRESPONDENCE RELATING TO THE SURVEY OF 

 THE COAL FIELDS OF ARKANSAS. 



To THE Editor of Science: I enclose here- 

 with copies of the correspondence between the 

 Director of the U. S. Geological Survey and 

 myself regarding a matter of far-reaching im- 

 portance to the geologists and other scientific 

 men of this country. 



A word is necessary by way of introduction : 

 I was state geologist of the state of Arkansas 

 from 1887 to 1893. One of the first things 

 undertaken by the survey under my direction 

 was a report upon the coal fields of that state. 

 The work was under the immediate direction 

 of Arthur Winslow, a graduate of the Massa- 

 chusetts Institute of Technology, for some 

 years assistant of the Pennsylvania survey in 

 the anthracite regions and later for several 

 years state geologist of Missouri. Mr. Wins- 

 low was assisted by several competent men, 

 among whom were Professor Gilbert D. Plar- 

 ris, now state geologist of Louisiana; Dr. C. 

 E. Siebenthal, now assistant on the U. S. 

 Geological Survey; H. E. Williams, until 

 lately chief topographer of the S. Paulo Geo- 

 logical Survey in Brazil; J. H. Means, con- 

 sulting geologist, London, England; and Dr. 

 J. E. Newsom, now professor of economic 

 geology in Stanford University. In 1888 a 

 preliminary report on the coal was published, 

 but the final report was completed later. 



Owing partly to interruptions and delays that 

 are here irrelevant and partly to lack of funds 

 for the purpose, the final report on coal was 

 not published up to the time I left Arkansas. 

 Efforts were made from time to time to have 

 the legislature provide for its publication, but 

 it was never printed, in spite of the fact that 

 it was economically the most important piece 

 of work the state survey had done. Finally, 

 in 1902, I suggested that the U. S. Geological 

 Survey publish the report, and this was agreed 

 to on condition that the maps of the coal 

 region be reduced to a scale of two miles to 

 the inch and that the contour interval be 

 changed from twenty feet to fifty feet. To 

 this I would not consent because the matter 

 was one of too much importance to the people 

 of Arkansas. Thereupon negotiations came 

 to an end. Later I called the attention of 

 U. S. Senator James P. Clarke, of Arkansas, 

 to the importance of having this coal report 

 brought up to date and published on a scale 

 of a mile to the inch. Shortly afterwards I 

 received the following letter from the director 

 of the U. S. Geological Survey. The rest of 

 the correspondence is self explanatory. 



J. C. Branner. 



U. S. Geological Subvey. 

 Washington, D. C, Jan. 31, 1906. 

 De. John C. Beannee, 



Stanford University, Cal. 



Dear Sir: There have recently been made sev- 

 eral urgent requests by parties interested in the 

 Arkansas coal field for a geological resurvey of 

 that region. The persons making the request 

 claim that since your survey of the field old 

 workings have been extended, many new mines 

 have been opened, and the region has been 

 thoroughly prospected with the diamond drill. 

 This development work has given more definite 

 limits to the workable coals in areas heretofore 

 mapped as coal-bearing, and has shown that work- 

 able beds occur in areas not hitherto recognized 

 as containing coal. It is further urged that the 

 coal of this region is becoming of such commercial 

 importance that the United States Geological 

 Survey should enter the field, assemble the data 

 at hand, and make a very thorough and detailed 

 survey of the region. 



In view of the above conditions it seems de- 

 sirable to take up this work in the near future. 



