November i i, 1887.] 



SCIENCE. 



235 



ascertained laws." '• All religions, all philosophies, all parties, have 

 sought to establish an eternal camp at some mile-stone of progress, 

 but all have failed. It is difficult to grasp the full force of this idea 

 — the individual. . . . Men of lower races are much of one pattern. 

 Civilization is an individualizing process ; so in turn men of intense 

 character have done most of the propelling that has constituted 

 civilization." " The first need of a plant is precisely the first need 

 of an animal ; and that of man is the same. This common need 

 of all life is to find out facts, — facts about what is not itself, — and 

 then to adapt itself to what it finds out." " Nowhere in nature has 

 there been as much parasitic life as among human beings. It takes 

 a large degree of wit to live idly, and off your neighbor's industry. 

 But some vegetables learned to do this before man did it; and 

 many animals have done the same. The result has been degenera- 

 tion, loss of structure, loss of faculty, and, as a rule, final helplessness 

 and degeneration of the whole being." " But it is not simply at 

 the height of national existence that this impulse for self-preserva- 

 tion responds to the mimicry of lower life. You will observe its 

 operation in our social customs and common propensities ; for it is 

 a fact that not any thing is more dreaded or shunned by average 

 human beings than originality, — that is, unlikeness .to others. It 

 has always been dangerous. It is even yet likely to secure for its 

 possessor a great deal of annoyance." "Strange views break out 

 all over the globe by apparent spontaneity. . . . Darwin, and Wal- 

 lace, and Haeckel, without intercommunication, propounded simul- 

 taneously the hypothesis of evolution. It is as when three moun- 

 tain-tops of equal height catch the morning sunbeam at the same 

 moment." 



Sixth Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey 

 (1884-85). J. W. Powell, director. Washington, Govern- 

 ment. 4°. 



Although on account of the tardy appearance of this volume, 

 for which the management of the survey does not appear to be re- 

 sponsible, the administrative portions have lost some of their fresh- 

 ness and interest, the work as a whole fully sustains the splendid 

 reputation of its predecessors. These annual reports are admirably 

 designed, when promptly issued, to place the Geological Survey en 

 rapport with the general public : for they consist of, first, the re- 

 port of the director, which is devoted to the organization, new fea- 

 tures, and general operations of the survey ; second, the short ad- 

 ministrative reports of the chiefs of divisions, showing in greater 

 detail the progress made in every department of the survey during 

 the year ; and third, and most important of all, the scientific papers 

 or monographs completed during the year. The monographs are 

 also published separately, and appear in the annual report in extefiso 

 or in abstract form, as convenience or their general interest may 

 demand. The bulletins of the survey are shorter but more technical 

 papers, which are not represented in the annual report ; the object 

 being to include in this volume only the results of most general 

 interest, with the view of making it a soinewhat popular account 

 of the doings of the survey, that it may be widely read by the in- 

 telligent people of the country. 



The report is accompanied by the following monographs : ' Mount 

 Taylor and the Zuni Plateau,' by Capt. C. E. Button ; ' Driftless 

 Area of the Upper Mississippi Valley,' by T. C. Chamberlin and R. 

 D. Salisbury; ' The Quantitative Determination of Silver by Means 

 of the Microscope,' by J. S. Curtis ; ' Seacoast Swamps of the East- 

 ern United States,' by Prof. N. S. Shaler ; ' Synopsis of the Flora of 

 the Laramie Group,' by Prof L. F. Ward. 



The last-named paper has already been noticed in the pages of 

 Science, and several of the others are of such great importance and 

 general interest as to demand fuller comment than it is possible to 

 accord them in this preliminary notice. 



The force of the survey is now, and must be for several years to 

 come, largely devoted to the construction of a topographic map of 

 the United States ; and the director's report begins with the plan 

 and progress of this work, and illustrations of the lettering and con- 

 ventional signs to be used on the map. The scale of the map is 

 approximately one mile, two, or four miles to the inch, according to 

 the character and prospective needs of the country; the map is con- 

 structed in contours, with vertical intervals of lo, 20, 50, 100, and 

 200 feet, varying with the scale of the map and the magnitude of 



relief features ; and, finally, the map is to be engraved in sheets, of 

 which the unit is to be the square degree, i.e., one degree of latitude 

 and one of longitude. An area of 57,508 square miles was surveyed 

 in the year 1884-85, at an average cost of about three dollars per 

 square mile. 



The organization of the survey is more fully explained here than 

 in any of the previous reports. Besides the large topographic corps 

 under Mr. Henry Gannett, it includes the following divisions, each 

 chief or head of division being provided with a strong corps of as- 

 sistants : I. Glacial geology, in charge of Prof. T. C. Chamberlin; 

 2. Volcanic geology, in charge of Capt. Clarence E. Dutton ; 3. 

 Archaean geology of the Appalachian region, including all the 

 metamorphic or crystalline strata, of whatever age, extending from 

 northern New England to Georgia, in charge of Prof. Raphael 

 Pumpelly ; 4. Archaean geology of the Lake Superior region, in 

 charge of Prof. Roland D. Irving (it is not proposed at present to 

 undertake the study of the crystalline schists of the Rocky Moun- 

 tain region); 5. Areal, structural, and historical geology of the Ap- 

 palachian region, in charge of Mr. G. K. Gilbert ; 6. A thorough 

 topographic and geologic survey of the Yellowstone National Park 

 is in the charge of Mr. Arnold Hague. When the survey is com- 

 pleted, Mr. Hague's field will be extended so as to include a large 

 part of the Rocky Mountain region. The general geologic work 

 relating to the great areas of fossiliferous formations is very im- 

 perfectly and incompletely organized, and this must continue to be 

 the case until the topographic survey approaches completion. 



The paleontological work of the survey is carried on in five lab- 

 oratories, as follows : vertebrate fossils, in charge of Prof. O. C. 

 Marsh ; invertebrate fossils of quaternary age, in charge of Mr. 

 William H. Dall; invertebrate fossils of cenozoicand mesozoic age, 

 in charge of Dr. C. A. White ; invertebrate fossils of paleozoic age, 

 in charge of Mr. C. D. Walcott ; and vegetable fossils, in charge of 

 Mr. Lester F. Ward. 



The chemical laboratory, with a large corps of chemists, is in 

 charge of Prof. F. W. Clarke. There is a physical laboratory in the 

 sur\'ey, with a small corps of men engaged in physical researches 

 of prime importance in geology. A large corps of lithologists is 

 engaged in the microscopic study of rocks. Besides the division of 

 mining statistics, economic geology is represented by two parties, 

 in charge of Mr. George F. Becker and Mr. S. F. Emmons, engaged 

 in studying various mining districts in the West. 



The survey also comprises a division, in charge of Mr. W. H. 

 Holmes, organized for the purpose of preparing illustrations for 

 paleontologic and geologic reports. Illustrations will not hereafter 

 be used for embellishment, and, so far as possible, will be prepared 

 by relief methods, and held permanently for the use of the public at 

 large in scientific periodicals, text-books, etc. The large geologic 

 library and the bibliographic work of the survey are in charge of 

 Mr. C. C. Darwin. 



The remaining topics discussed by the director are the publica- 

 tions, appointments, and finances of the sur\fey, and the relations of 

 the Government and State surveys. 



Elementary Text-Book of Physics. By Profs. W. A. Anthony 

 and C. F. Brackett. 3d ed. New York, Wiley. 8°. 



This is the first appearance, in a complete form, of a long-ex- 

 pected text-book from two well-known American physicists. It is 

 designed to furnish what is necessary and sufficient for that part of 

 a well-adjusted college course which is devoted to the study of 

 physics, and it is the only college text-book of that science which 

 has appeared in this country for several years, aside from revisions 

 and new editions of old works. 



Many institutions have hitherto made use of English books, or of 

 translations from the French which have come to us through 

 English hands. This volume is offered as a substitute for such 

 works, and it is little enough to say that it will be found in general 

 to be a very acceptable one. In some respects the book is almost 

 unique. When compared with those largely in use at the present 

 time, it illustrates in a \e.xy striking manner the great progress in 

 college instruction in physics during the past decade. 



In its plan there is a distinct recognition of the competent in- 

 structor with a well-stocked cabinet at his command. Pictorial 

 representations of apparatus are entirely wanting, and the illustra- 



