March 7, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



395 



however staall. If each fellow of the Society 

 made himself responsible for £2, we should be 

 in a position to send off the relief ship fully 

 furnished with all requirements. It is not 

 necessary that each fellow should contribute 

 £2 out of his own pocket; if he gives what he 

 himself can afford, he would probably have no 

 difficulty in obtaining the balance in small 

 contributions from his friends. 



Out of the 4,000 or more fellows of the 

 Society, only 150 have contributed to the funds 

 for the relief ship. I cannot help thinking 

 that when those fellows who have not con- 

 tributed realize this they will come to the 

 help of the council, without hesitation, in the 

 manner I have suggested, or in some way 

 equally effective. The council has made itself 

 responsible for the relief ship. The vessel, 

 the Morning, has been purchased, and is now 

 in the Thames undergoing the necessary alter- 

 ations. When these are completed, the balance 

 of the sum subscribed will be quite insuffi- 

 cient to furnish her with the necessary stores 

 and to provide an adequate equipment of offi- 

 cers and crew. 



In the hope of enabling the fellows to realize 

 the situation and the Society's responsibility, 

 I give the following extract from the last des- 

 patch from Captain Scott, written just before 

 the Discovery left INew Zealand to make her 

 way through the ice to her destination: 



It is witli great satisfaction that I learn that 

 it is intended to send a relief ship. I had con- 

 templated writing most urgently to you on this 

 subject, knowing how absolutely our retreat would 

 otherwise be cut off should any accident result 

 in the loss of the Discovery. The conditions which 

 surround the Antarctic lands with a belt of 

 tempestuous ocean have always impressed me with 

 the difference to those existing in high northern 

 lands, and I have felt that, since our retreat by 

 boats to any civilized spot is a practical impos- 

 sibility, our movements, and the risks we could 

 rightfully take, must be greatly limited, if the 

 loss of the ship of necessity implied the loss of all 

 on board. 



I see that every effort will be made to despatch 

 the vessel which you have already purchased for 

 the purpose. It will, therefore, be a great relief 

 and satisfaction to me to leave Lyttelton, con- 

 fident that such efforts will be successful and that 

 a line of retreat is practically secured to us. 



I feel sure that after this statement the 

 fellows of the Society may be relied on to sup- 

 port the council in an undertaking absolutely 

 essential to the complete success of the 

 National Antarctic Expedition. 



THE U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 

 In the U. S. Geological Survey the Geologic 

 Branch is reorganized by the appointment of 

 Mr. C. Willard Hayes to the position of geol- 

 ogist in charge of Geology to take effect 

 March 1, 1902. Mr. Hayes has been connected 

 with the survey since 1887 and has served with 

 ability in various relations as assistant geol- 

 ogist, geologist, and since 1900 as geologist in 

 charge of investigations of non-metalliferous 

 economic deposits. He is now placed in 

 administrative control of the geologic branch 

 in order that the director may be relieved of 

 executive details and the organization may be 

 strengthened by the undivided attention of its 

 head to carrying out the director's general 

 policy. By this appointment Mr. Willis, who 

 since 1897 as assistant in geology to the direc- 

 tor has performed the administrative work of 

 geology, is freed from that duty and will be 

 at liberty to give more attention to the divi- 

 sion of areal and stratigraphic geology, of 

 which he has charge. In announcing these 

 changes at a meeting of geologists in the office 

 of the survey on February 20, the director 

 called attention to the plan of organization of 

 the geologic branch set forth in the Twenty- 

 first Annual Report, pages 20 and 21, and 

 more fully elaborated in the forthcoming 

 Twenty-second Annual Eeport. The funda- 

 mental idea of the organization is that scien- 

 tific direction and supervision may be and in 

 most cases should be separated from adminis- 

 trative control. Specialists are placed in 

 charge each one of investigations in a par- 

 ticular subject, Messrs. Becker, Chamberlin, 

 Day, Enunons, Hayes, Stanton, Van Hise and 

 Willis having been thus appointed, but their 

 authority is in general limited to considera- 

 tion and approval of the scientific aspects of 

 the work. Administrative authority remained 

 immediately with the director, and is now in 

 a degree transferred to the geologist in charge 

 of geology, Mr. Hayes. 



