Januaet 11, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



73 



most readers; though in the end there is a 

 satisfaction in knowing that Havilah, for 

 example, api)ears to owe its opportunity in a 

 mountainous district to the flat floor of an 

 aggraded valley, whose stream was there 

 turned from a previous course down the gen- 

 eral slope of the Sierra Nevada into a north- 

 ward path along the base of a fault-block 

 scarp, and hence is now to be regarded as con- 

 sequent upon the faulting. Again, it is often 

 the case that a reader must follow through 

 the inductive presentation of a more or less 

 intricate problem— if he does not turn at once 

 to the end of the article in the hope of see- 

 ing there a summary which tells him concisely 

 what the writer is driving at — and thus finds 

 himself in the necessity of carrying many 

 items in mind before he knows the conclusion 

 on which they bear. Indeed an inductive 

 presentation, appropriate enough for begin- 

 ners who have little acquaintance with gen- 

 eralities, may give too much importance to the 

 author's personal experience when employed in 

 articles that are designed for mature readers, 

 already informed as to generalities. 



As an alternative by which both of these 

 difficulties may be in large measure avoided, 

 it is worth while to consider a method which 

 bas some likeness to one that we all know in 

 geometry, where the theorem is stated at the 

 beginning, in order that all the items of the 

 demonstration may be at once appreciated in 

 their bearing on the end thus placed in view. 

 When applied to physiographic descriptions, 

 this method would require the presentation of 

 the explanatory conclusion at the outset. The 

 conclusion would there be stated, independ- 

 ently of local names, in terms of a systematic 

 general nomenclature, from which the reader 

 could easily build up a mental picture of the 

 larger features of the district concerned; for 

 the systematic nomenclature, already familiar 

 from previous study, would easily bring 

 known forms to mind. Details could then be 

 added at their appropriate positions in the 

 larger masses; and as the description thus 

 proceeded, more and more warrant would be 

 found for the conclusion that had been stated 

 in the first place. Villages and roads, hardly 

 known outside of their immediate districts. 



would be located as occasion offered with re- 

 spect to the larger masses and their details, 

 instead of vice versa. Even if an outline map 

 is added to indicate route and local names, a 

 separate figure, giving in a general way the 

 graphic equivalent of the general conclusions, 

 is of much service; for the route followed by 

 the observer is a relatively subjective detail, 

 and the local names too often only distract 

 from the main description. It is chiefly 

 through the general features that the distant 

 reader can reach the smaller items. 



This method might work injury where the 

 conclusion remains in doubt; for the presenta- 

 tion of a doubtful conclusion at the beginning 

 of an article would probably give it too high 

 rank. The method might be inconvenient in 

 cases where most readers of an article were on 

 the ground, and therefore already familiar 

 with local names. But in such a case as the 

 one treated in the article reviewed above, the 

 conclusion is surely safe enough to deserve 

 presentation in systematic terminology in an 

 opening statement; and the local readers are 

 probably only a small minority of the many 

 far-away students who will profit from Law- 

 son's excellent work. W. M. D. 



REPORT OF THE GEOLOGICAL EXPEDITION 



OF HON. CHARLES H. MORRILL. 



SEASON OF 1906 



The Morrill geological expedition of the 

 University of Nebraska for the season of 

 1906 continued the work of the previous sea- 

 son by developing the bone quarry on Uni- 

 versity Hill, at Agate, Sioux County, Ne- 

 braska. This quarry is situated on the east- 

 ern extremity of Mr. James Cook's ranch, 

 which is an extensive one, and probably the 

 best known in the state. In addition to the 

 uplands it contains some ten square miles 

 along the valley of the Niobrara. The high 

 bluffs adjacent to and beyond this model ranch 

 are fossiliferous, while at Carnegie Hill and 

 University Hill there are literal bone beds. 

 The discovery of these beds was made some 

 twenty years ago by Mr. James Cook. They 

 were first visited by the Morrill geological ex- 

 pedition of 1892, when a considerable number 

 of bones were collected, several of which have 



