68 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. XXI. No. 522 



past twenty years, in America or elsewhere, except the subdi- 

 vision was based on the fossil contents. 



There is not space in a scientiflc journal to review the ponderous 

 volumes of the Survey, but I do not discover any attempt to make 

 a geological survey of the United States or of the Territories; but 

 instead thereof, the volumes contain theoretical discussions about 

 the glacial period, that have no economical value, and which 

 period, I think, is fiction, and they contain a vast amount of ex- 

 tremely localized and temporary matter of no general utility. 

 This is well illustrated in the Seventh Report now before me. 

 One of the principle articles is entitled " The Geology of the 

 Head of Chesapeake Bay." It covers more than one hundred 

 pages, has sixteen plates and six additional illustrations. The 

 author says : 



" The investigation here recorded was made under the joint 

 auspices of the U. S. Geological Survey and the TJ. S. Fish Com- 

 mission, for the purpose of determining the probable success of 

 an artesian boring at Fishing Battery station, off Spesutie Island, 

 five miles south of Havre de Grace, Md., and near the head of 

 Chesapeake Bay. The field-study occupied a portion of July, 1886." 



The article is so free from geology and so extremely local- 

 ized that I have been unable to discover the object in publishing 

 it in the U. S. Geological Survey. The author, however, says, 

 on page 564, under the head of " The Geologic Exposures": 



" So variable are the different formations of the region in the 

 several exposures that the differences exceed the resemblances, 

 and, since the local diversities are due to local causes the charac- 

 teristics of the formations cannot be elucidated by generalized 

 description with sufficient minuteness for the purposes of the 

 local student." 



Another one of the principal articles, hugely illustrated, in the 

 Seventh Report is entitled •' Report on the Geology of Martha's 

 Vineyard." I have lookod through it, in vain, to find an item of 

 geological information. It would certainly take the cake in any 

 walk where pretension and nothingness were to be the winners. 



In conclusion, I am opposed to the continuation of the U. S. 

 Geologi'cal Survey, under the present management, because, I 

 think, it is not prosecuted in the interest of science but quite the 

 contrary, and because the publications now hang, like a mill- 

 stone, around the neck of progress, in the dissemination of geo- 

 logical information among the people. S. A. Miller. 



ClDcinnati, Ohio, Jan. 23. 



Monument to Hirn. 



In a letter, just received from Mon. G. Kern, President of the 

 Commission established for the purpose of securing the erection 

 of a monument to his late distinguished friend and colleague, 

 Mon. G. A. Hirn, the great engineer-physicist and investigator, 

 on account of which subscriptions have been received in consid- 

 erable amounts, both in Europe and America, he writes as fol- 

 lows: — 



"The monument proposed for Hirn, and of which the plans 

 were made by Mon. Bartholdi, will consist of a bronze figure, 

 seated, with pedestal, and will cost about 30,000 M. To complete 

 the subscription, there still remains a balance of 10,000 M., and I 

 have knocked at the doors of many friends and acquaintances of 

 Hirn, finding welcome, in Paris and in Bordeaux; I anticipate 

 full success." 



It has been the hope of the gentlemen engaged in this enterprise 

 that a fair proportion of the subscription might come from citi- 

 zens of the United States of North America, among whom Mon. 

 Hirn counted some personal friends, and many warm admirers. 

 He was always peculiarly appreciative of such good will and such^ 

 praise of his work as came to him from this side of the Atlantic. 

 Those who desire the privilege of contributing may send their 

 drafts on Paris to the " Comite-Hirn," I Obstmarkt, Marche aux 

 Fruits, I, Colmar, Alsace. 



Very respectfully yours, 



R. H. Thurston. 



Ithioa,N. Y., Jan. 25, 1893. 



CALENDAR OF SOCIETIES. 



Society of Natural History, Boston. 



Yeh. 1. — H. L. Harris, A New Instance 

 of the Capture of Streams; W. T. Sedg- 

 wick, The Natural History of Disease. 



Publications Received at Editor's Office. 



Anderson, W. Mineral Springs and Health Resorts 



ol California. San Francisco, The Bancroft Co. 



384 p. 8°. 

 BEECHEB, H. W. Bible Studies. Edited by J. R. 



Howard New York. Fords, Howard & Hurl 



bert. 438 p. ia°. $1-50. 

 Dana, Edward Salisbury. Catalogue of American 



Localities of Minerals. New York, Wiley. 51 p. 



8°. SI. 

 De Motte, J. B The Secret of Character Building. 



Chicago, S. C. Griggs & Co. 130 p. 18°. $1. 

 Dretspring, a. French Reader on the Cumulative 



Method. New Y"ork, Amer. Book Co. 171 p. 13°. 



75 cents. ^ 



HOLMAN, Silas W. Discussion of the Precision of 



Measurements. New York, Wiley. 176 p. 8°. 



$2. 

 Horet, Henrt T. Theory of Structures and Strength 



of Materials. New York, Wiley. 817 p. 6°. 



$7.50. 

 Hutchinson, H. N. EEtinot Monsters. New York, 



Appleton. 254 p, 8°. 

 Parshall, N. C. Proofs of Evolution. 6th lOOO. 



Chicago, Chas. H. Kerr & Co. 70. p. 12°. 

 FEET, S. D. The Mound Builders : Their Works and 



Relics. Chicago, The American Antiqubrian. 



376 p. 8°. 

 Shaleh, N. S. The Interpretation of Nature. Bos- 

 ton, Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 305 p. 12°. $1.25. 

 Sttx. Hermetic Philosophy. Vol. III. Can Virtue 



and Science be taught? Philadelphia, Llppin- 



cott. 221 p. 12°. $1.25. 

 Stkes, John F. J. Public Health Problems. New 



York, Scribner. 370 p. 12°. S1.25. 

 The Song Bodget, The Song Century, The Song 



Patriot. Syracuse, C. W. Bardeen. 13°. 50 



Wetl, Theo. The Coal-Tar Colors. A Sanitary and 

 Medico-Legal Investigation. Preface by Pro- 

 fessor Sell. Tr. by H. Leflmann. Philadelphia, 

 Blakiston. 154 p. 8°. $1.50. 



Whitby, Beatrick. In the Suntlme of Her Youth. 

 New York, Appleton. 365 p. 12°. 50 cents. Pa^ 

 per. 



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