SCIENCE 



[Vol. XVI. No. 395 



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Vol. XVI. NEW YORK, August 39, 1890. No. .395. 



The TiME-RELiTioNS of JHental 

 Phenomena. Joseph Jastrow 113 



Professor A. Graham Bell's 

 Studies on the Deaf 



W. a. Jenkins 117 



Notes and News 119 



The Relations of the State 

 AND National Surveys to 



CONTENTS: 



Each Other and to the Ge- 

 ologists OF THE Country 



J. C. Sranner 120 



On Certain Phenomena of Grow- 

 ing Old. C. H. Minot 123 



Among the Publishers 124 



THE RELATIONS OF THE STATE AND NATIONAL GEO- 

 LOGICAL SURVEYS TO EACH OTHER AND TO THE 

 GEOLOGISTS OF THE COUNTRY.' 



Investigations undertaken in the course of instruction are of- 

 ten carried on in college laboratories, but it is rarely that individ- 

 uals or institutions, other than the State and Nalional surveys, 

 have undertaken extensive and expensive geological operations. 

 We must except, of course, in this statement those of an economic 

 nature. 



The reason of this is that individuals seldom, and commercial 

 organizations never, devote their means to purely scientific inves- 

 tigations; and inasmuch as these investigations require large sums 

 of money, and as they are conducted largely with a view to in- 

 creasing human knowledge, the expense of them must be borne 

 by the public treasury. 



With our oiBcial organizations, most of the working geologists 

 of the country, excepting those called consulting geologists, are 

 connected either as salaried assistants, permanent or temporary, 

 or as volunteers. But these organizations carry on their work 

 independent of each other, indeed, without any regard to one 

 another's existence, while individual investigators (»o each his 

 own way, pretty much as if he had the whole world of geology 

 to himself. 



* Abstract of an address before the Section of Geology and Geography of 

 the American Association for the Advancement of Science, at Indianapolis, 

 Ind., on Aug. 20, 1890, by John 0. Branner, vice-president of the section. 



Practically the United States Geological Survey has carte 

 blanche to carry on geologic investigations over the whole terri- 

 tory of the United States, and in every branch of scientific work 

 directly related to geology, such as geography, topography, pale- 

 ontology, physics, chemistry, and statistics. 



Now, over this same area, though limited to the States carrying 

 them OD, we have our several State geological surveys; while pri- 

 vate individuals, educational institutions, scientific societies, and 

 commercial corporations are at liberty to carry on such investiga- 

 tions as they see fit, and all regardless of each other. 



In the earlier work carried on by the Federal Government, 

 however, the various Territories were the specified areas to which 

 the National surveys were confined, and now that the whole area 

 of the United States is open to this work a broad-minded and co- 

 operative direction seeks to aid and strengthen the State organi- 

 zations instead of antagonizing or annihilating them. 



But I wish to emphasize the fact that the classification of the 

 geologists of the country, the work within the domain of the Na- 

 tional surrey, the work within the domain of the State surveys, 

 and that which can be or will be accomplished by private insti- 

 tutions, corporations, or individuals, demand that there should be 

 some definite and better organized co-operation or co-ordination 

 in all this work and among all these men. 



The statement has been made that the United States Survey 

 does co-operate with nearly every State survey in the country, but 

 the fact is that the National survey does not know what the State 

 surveys are doing except in a very general way. and that the 

 State surveys know but little or nothing of what tha National 

 survey is doing, except, perhaps, as it may happen to be picked up 

 in private conversations and in private correspondence between 

 personal friends. 



Please bear in mind that this is not intended as reflecting upon 

 the Director of the United States Survey; co-operation can only 

 exist by the common consent of all the parties concerned, and it 

 is quite as much the fault of the State surveys that there is no 

 such co-operation as it is that of the United States Survey. 



What I have to say, however, refers to the internal arrange- 

 ments and the working of geologists as affected by our own bear- 

 ing toward the ofiScial surveys, toward each other, and toward 

 the science, rather than toward official relations and toward legis- 

 lation. For these are not matters to be fixed by laws: laws would 

 interfere with that freedom of movement that gives health, vigor, 

 and activity to our scientific bodies and to our scientific men; 

 they can only be determined by common consent and by usage. 



The United States Geological Survey stands at the official head 

 of all our surveys and of aU our geological work. National work 

 encourages and stimulates State work, and State work re acts in 

 favor of national work, and both stimulate private enterprise and 

 investigation. The return from all this no man can measure, for 

 it is both material and intellectual, and in both these senses it is 

 felt in every nook and corner of the land. 



The National survey is thus doing a work that no other institu- 

 tion can do, and it is able to maintain an organization of geolo- 

 gists that no other institution could maintain. For nowhere, in 

 no country, is there, and at no time has there been, a corps of 

 working geologists superior to that of our present National sur- 

 vey — a body of geologists of which every scientific man, and, in- 

 deed, every citizen of this country, may well be proud. 



Having no connection with that organization, either present or 

 prospective, I feel at liberty to express this a frank, disinterested 

 and independent judgment. 



With its splendid equipment of men and means, what can the 

 National survey best do, and best leave to State surveys and to 

 private enterprise? The question is not asked as implying that 

 the officers of that body are not perfectly competent to decide 

 these matters, but because we feel that a more effectual co-opera- 

 tion can be brought about to the great advantage of every one 

 concerned. So long as more than one organization must occupy 

 the same field, some understanding can certainly be arrived at 

 that will prevent the duplication of work and the waste of energy 

 and of funds. The appliances, libraries, laboratories, equipments, 

 and the large number of special assistants required by a National 

 survey, are quite beyond the means of our modest State surveys. 



