582 



SCmNGE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 119. 



atlas equivalent sheets, the paper dimeusions 

 of which are 20 by 16J inches. The map units, 

 the director explains, are appropriately called 

 sheets, but no name has been uniformly applied 

 to the land units, in the way, for example, in 

 which section is used in the nomenclature of the 

 General Land Office. The custom has arisen 

 of applying the name sheet to the land unit also. 

 The geologist and topographer ordinarily speak 

 of surveying a ' sheet. ' This usage is objection- 

 able for obvious reasons. Hereafter, therefore, 

 according to the new practice, the word sheet 

 will be restricted to the designation of the map 

 unit. Whenever the land unit, strictly speak- 

 ing, i. e., a quadrangular portion of the earth's 

 surface delimited by the meridians and parallels 

 of an atlas sheet, is referred to, the word quad- 

 rangle will be used (e. g., 'In the southeastern 

 corner of the quadrangle'); and in those cases 

 where a word is desirable which does not con- 

 note definite demarcation, or which more 

 strongly connotes land, the word district will be 

 used (e. g., 'The investigation of the district'). 

 The use of these two words {quadrangle and 

 district) in any other connection is to be avoided, 

 recourse being had to the various synonyms, 

 such as area, tract, region, territory, etc. The 

 definite usages proposed will doubtless be a de- 

 cided gain for clearness and uniformity. 



Mr. Wolcott, of Colorado, has presented 

 in the United States Senate a memorial from 

 the Legislature of Colorado praying for a gen- 

 erous provision to enable the United States 

 Geological Survey to continue and extend the 

 examination of the metalliferous districts of the 

 States and Territories and to carry forward the 

 needed surveys. Provision is also urged for the 

 prompt publication of the Survey's work, much 

 of the work depending for its value upon early 

 publication. There is a strong feeling, especially 

 throughout the mining regions of the country, 

 that the government should do more for the 

 survey of the mining districts and the devlop- 

 ment of the mineral resources, as is evidenced 

 by the various propositions that were presented 

 at the last regular session of Congress. Though 

 much of the work of the Survey has been ren- 

 dered less useful by delays in publication, the 

 past two or three years have witnessed a marked 

 improvement in this regard. A number of re- 



cent publications have been published with 

 gratifying promptness, notably among them 

 being the Seventeenth Annual Report of the 

 Director, just issued. 



We have received several further replies 

 from scientific instrument makers in regard to 

 the imposition of a tax on scientific instruments 

 imported for educational institutions. Mr. J. G. 

 Gray, President of Queen & Co. , Philadelphia, 

 writes that " it is possible from a narrow point 

 of view that the proposed abrogation of the 

 duty-free clause in the tariff law might benefit 

 makers of apparatus in the United States." 

 "But from the broader standpoint of the wel- 

 fare of educational institutions in general and 

 the advancement of science, it would be a 

 retrograde step and a serious misfortune if it 

 should become impossible to import free of 

 duty, for the use of such institutions, the class 

 of instruments and apparatus which they are 

 now accustomed to import. Whilst we are 

 manufacturers, we cannot but recognize that 

 the narrow and possibly supposed interest of a 

 few makers of scientific apparatus should not 

 weigh against the wider and unquestioned in- 

 terests of those engaged in education and origi- 

 nal research and whose labors return many 

 times over to the commercial community any 

 advantage which may be granted them." 



Charles Sceibnee's Sons have in press a 

 work on Philosophy of Knowledge, by Professor 

 G. T. Ladd, Yale University, which will be of 

 interest both to men of science and to students 

 of philosophy. The subjects treated may be 

 seen from the titles of the chapters, which are 

 as follows : I. , The Problem ; II. , History of 

 Opinion ; III. , History of Opinion (continued) ; 

 IV., The Psychological View; V., Thinking 

 and Knowing ; VI., Knowledge as Feeling and 

 Will ; VII., Knowledge of Things and Knowl- 

 edge of Self; VIII., Degree, Limits and Kinds 

 of Knowledge ; IX., Identity and Difference; 

 X., Sufficient Reason ; XL, Experience and the 

 Transcendent; XII., The 'Implicates' of 

 Knowledge; XIII. , Scepticism, Agnosticism 

 and Criticism; XIV., Alleged 'Antinomies;' 

 XV., Truth and Error; XVI., Ethical and 

 iEsthetical 'Momenta ;' XVIL, The Teleology of 

 Knowledge; XVIIL, Knowledge and Reality ; 



