November 20, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



761 



lications which are issued at a date later than 

 that which they carry on their title pages. This 

 objection is not well taken, as stated by Dr. 

 Allen, for, although some of the reports issued 

 by our government may bear dates much prior 

 to the dates of issue, it does not follow that the 

 date of printing bears any such relation to the 

 date of issue. They are, in fact, often printed 

 as near the date of issue as are other books, 

 the delay being prior to or during the printing. 

 Here again the date of printing can be easily 

 ascertained from the printing office. But in 

 case of the detention of a book by the govern- 

 ment subsequent to the printing, the question 

 of the coincidence of the date of printing and 

 of ' offer to the public ' will depend on whether 

 copies of the book can be had on demand or 

 not. If the book can be had, it is ' offered to 

 the public' If it cannot be had, it is not 

 offered to the public. 



Third. The test of publication is according 

 to Dr. Allen that it be ' offered to the public. ' 

 I agree with this, but hold that the only deter- 

 minable test of date of offering to the public is 

 the date of printing. The presumption is, that 

 as soon as a book is printed and bound, it is of- 

 fered to the public. That is the object of print- 

 ing books. If the public does not buy or take 

 what is offered, the duty of the publisher is ful- 

 filled, the book is published just as much as 

 though the edition were sold out in a day. 

 How many copies must be sold or accepted in 

 order to constitute a distributive publication? 

 A single copy would constitute distribution, 

 yet the scientific public might not be a whit the 

 wiser for it. 



Fourth. There is no doubt that the rule that 

 the date of printing be regarded as the date of 

 publication involves the difficulty which Dr. 

 Allen cites as regards certain government books 

 withheld from circulation though printed. How- 

 ever, these are really subject to the inquiry 

 whether they may not be had on demand pri- 

 ately. The difficulties involved in the determina- 

 tion of the date of distribution or sale are in many 

 instances insuperable, and in many cases un- 

 profitable, since the only result of the inquiry 

 would be the discovery of the date of issue of 

 so few copies, often of one only, as not to con- 

 stitute publication in the sense of distribution 



at all. Further, the assumption by Dr. Allen 

 that in adopting this rule the Zoological Section 

 of the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science were violating existing rules and 

 customs is far from correct. It really formulated 

 the ' 'rule generally adopted by scientific bodies, ' ' 

 as stated by Dr. Allen, " to the effect that the 

 ostensible date, as that given on the title page 

 of a book or pamphlet, or at the bottom of the 

 signatures, shall be taken as the correct date, 

 unless known to be erroneous." These dates 

 are simply the dates of printing of the separate 

 part or whole of a book on which they are 

 placed, and are not the date of distribution, 

 which cannot, of course, be printed with the 

 book. E. I). Cope. 



GLACIERS IN THE MONTANA ROCKIES. 



In my paper published in Science of Decem- 

 ber 13, 1895, and giving an account of some ex- 

 plorations in the Rocky Mountains between the 

 Great Northern Railway and the International 

 Boundary, I mentioned the existence of several 

 other glaciers than the one particularly de- 

 scribed.* My attention has been since called 

 to a paper presented by Mr. G. C. Culver, now 

 of the State Normal School at Stevens Point, 

 Wisconsin, to the Wisconsin Academy of 

 Sciences, in which he describes his explorations 

 in that region. Mr. Culver accompanied an 

 exploring party commanded by Lieut. Ahem, 

 U. S. A., and made many interesting observa- 

 tions. He did not personally visit any of the 

 glaciers, but was in camp near one of the largest 

 for two or more days. This is now located upon 

 the military map of the state under the name of 

 Culver glacier. In his paper on the subject Mr. 

 Culver describes the glacier, but does not name 

 it. The Culver glacier lies to the northwest of 

 that described in my paper of December last 

 and about fifteen or more miles distant. Mr. 

 Culver locates upon his map several small gla- 

 ciers in the general vicinity of that explored by 

 myself. His route was such that at no point 

 upon it could the glacier described by me be 

 even seen. I am sure of this both from per- 

 sonal familiarity with the ground and from the 

 testimony of friends who have penetrated the 



*This glacier has since been referred to by Dr. 

 Sperry and others as the Chancy glacier. 



