November 6, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



693 



was not distributed and rendered accessible to 

 tbe public till a long time after it was printed. 

 Indeed, it has often happened that books have 

 been printed, even under other than Govern- 

 ment auspices, and held in storage for years be- 

 fore any copies were distributed. In the usual 

 course of trade books are often printed and 

 held in stock, for trade reasons, for issue on a 

 certain date, which is recognized as the date of 

 publication. On a certain fixed day, generally 

 previously announced, the book is placed on 

 the market, and the advance orders for it from 

 booksellers and others are filled on that day, 

 which, in the records of the trade, is the date of 

 its publication. For this purpose books are 

 often dated several months ahead of the time 

 when they are printed, in order that the date 

 on the title page may agree with the date of 

 their issue. 



These simple facts show clearly how little 

 claim the date oi printing has to be taken as the 

 date of publication^ as advocated in the resolu- 

 tions here under notice. If the same effort 

 were made to find out the real date of distribu- 

 tion that is contemplated in these resolutions as 

 necessary to establish the date of printing, the 

 result would probably be worth the labor ex- 

 pended, for we should then be placed in posses- 

 sion of the real date of publication. How and 

 by whom this needed work is to be done might 

 form a subject worthy of consideration by even 

 the Zoological Section of the American Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science. 



J. A. Allen. 

 American Museum op 



Natural History, New York. 



SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 

 Geological Survey of New Jersey. Annual Report 

 of the State Geologist (John C. Smock) for the 

 Year 1894 • Trenton, 1895. Pp. 303, . Plates 

 I-XI, fig, 1. One map in pocket. 

 In the first paper of the volume before us, 

 entitled ' Part I. , Surface Geology, ' Prof. Salis- 

 bury continues the record of his observations 

 on the surface deposits of the northern part of 

 the State, that is, of that portion which lies 

 within or near the terminal moraine. For 

 about one hundred pages the reader will find a 

 valuable record of phenomena, which furnish 



a basis for subsequent deductions and which 

 are of local importance, both to residents of 

 the district and to visiting geologists. These 

 pages deal with the drift deposits north of the 

 moraine, taking them up under three different 

 areas, viz. , (a) drift deposits west of Green Pond 

 Mountain, (6) drift on the Bearfort, Kanouse, 

 Green Pond and Copperas Mountains, (c) drift 

 east of the Green Pond Mountain range. Under 

 each the unstratified drift, till or ground 

 moraine is first described, and then the strati- 

 fied. The former is chiefly on the mountains, 

 the latter in the valleys. The glacial striae 

 next receive attention and from about 380 re- 

 corded observations it is shown that, as a rule, 

 on the Palisade ridge the ice moved east of 

 south, while west of it the direction is west of 

 south. There are some cases of intersecting 

 striae and some minor local variations, but the 

 above is the rule. The topics of changes in 

 drainage and lakes are next discussed. The 

 former are insignificant and of the latter the 

 important cases are mostly due to obstructions 

 of drift across streams. The post-glacial changes 

 within the glacial area occupy Section IV. The 

 post-glacial erosion is shown to be small, and 

 the remaining topics — the alluvial deposits, peat 

 and marl, and the changes of level — present 

 little of great moment, except that under the 

 latter the changes of level in the shore lines of 

 Lake Passaic indicate post-glacial deformation 

 in this region. 



The remainder of Prof. Salisbury's paper is 

 occupied with the surface formations south of 

 the terminal moraine. The one earlier called 

 the Beacon Hill is first discussed and is corre- 

 lated with considerable certainty with Dr. W. 

 B. Clark's Miocene beds farther south. The 

 overlying Pensauken formation is considered as 

 an equivalent of the Lafayette, and the still 

 later Jamesburg is made the representative of 

 the Columbia. Surface formations of even later 

 date are briefly cited. A few pages are devoted 

 to road materials and then in the concluding 

 section the author describes the large map that 

 accompanies the report. This exhibits the sur- 

 face formations over the northeastern portion 

 of the State in as great detail as has ever been 

 attempted for an American area. Thirty dif- 

 ferent signs appear on the map, a number that 



