January 13, 1888.] 



SCIENCE. 



19 



place to place. At one point triassic beds, sloping away at varying 

 angles from the flanks of the mountain, rest directly upon the 

 Archffian beds ; at another point, the lower beds of the cretaceous ; 

 at still another, and this more rarely, the carboniferous limestones 

 are exposed, resting against the Archsean ; while above them, al- 

 ways conformable, are found the triassic, Jurassic, and cretaceous 

 formations, as one follows the section in an ascending geological 

 sense. These facts make it evident that these beds have not been 

 folded into a long anticlinal fold, the crest of which was subsequent- 

 ly planed off by erosion, but that the e.xposed Archsean parts repre- 

 sent an ancient continent or island along whose shores the younger 

 beds were deposited. The lithological character of the series con- 

 firms this view, as they bear internal evidence of being a shore de- 

 posit. The Colorado Range is the most extensive of these ancient 

 land-masses. Originally the western boundary of the Park area 

 consisted of two or more masses, forming a general line of eleva- 

 tion parallel to the Colorado Range. Through the south-eastern 

 portion of this area, and parallel with its longer axis, runs the valley 

 of the Upper Arkansas River, which, however, during paleozoic 

 and mesozoic times, did not exist. 



The Mosquito Range was not formed until the great dynamic 

 movement in the Rocky Mountain region at the close of the creta- 

 ceous. Enormous masses of eruptive rocks are found in this 

 region crossing the sedimentary strata to greater or less elevations, 

 and then spreading out in immense sheets along the planes of 

 division between the different strata. From the fact that these 

 interbedded sheets of eruptive rocks are found practically conform- 

 able with their bounding strata, and, like them, folded into sharp 

 folds and cut off by faults, Emmons concludes that the eruptive 

 activity preceded the uplift of the Mosquito Range. The latter 

 was effected by a pushing-together from the east and from the 

 west, a secondary movement acting in a north-and-south direction. 

 The Archffian masses, between which the conformable series was 

 deposited, the resistance of which caused the crumphng of the beds, 

 must have participated in the folding. 



A special chapter is devoted to the discussion of the geological 

 phenomena and theoretical questions. The most important of these 

 are the discussion on the folds and faults, and a comparison of the 

 monoclinal folds and the great faults of the Great Basin with those 

 of the Rocky Mountains. Emmons believes that the former are folds 

 similar to these of the eastern mountainous region. He considers 

 them true plications, and believes, that, could the structure beneath 

 the valley be seen, the missing faulted-down members of the fold 

 would be found. His principal objection against the reading of the 

 geological structure of the Great Basin accepted by many scientists, 

 that it is a region of faulted blocks uplifted in different directions, 

 and practically without plication, is, that this theory would involve 

 the actual annihilation of considerable wedge-shaped segments of 

 stratified beds by the simple action of faulting. His theories of the 

 origin of mountain-ranges are in accordance with Suess's theories. 

 He denies the existence of an uplifting force, but considers the 

 faults as caused by contraction and consequent sinking, while the 

 folding is caused by tangential pushing and crumpling of superficial 

 strata of the earth's crust. Another object which he discusses fully 

 is the origin of dolomites and serpentine, the origin of the intrusive 

 masses, and the improbability of sedimentarj' rocks being absorbed 

 by eruptive masses. 



The second part of the volume deals with the mining industry, 

 with the origin of the metal deposits, and the methods of smelting. 

 The atlas contains, besides numerous sections, a reprint of the Hay- 

 den map of Central Colorado, and a topographical map of the Mos- 

 quito Range drawn so that the light falls from the north-west and 

 at an angle of 45° upon the mountains, by which method the topo- 

 graphical features appear very clear and distinct. 



An Inquiry inio Socialism. By THOMAS KiRKUP. New York, 

 Longmans. 12". 



The author of this book declares himself a socialist, but he 

 means by socialism something quite different from what usually 

 passes by that name. He does not favor communism, nor State 

 socialism, nor an equal division of property ; and he condemns all 

 anarchical and revolutionary methods. He would extend the 

 powers of government to a certain extent, especially in the munici- 



palities. But he means by socialism chiefly what other folks call 

 co-operation, — the ownership of the means of production by vol- 

 untary associations of laborers. He remarks, as many others have 

 done before him, that the main defect in our present industrial or- 

 ganization is the divorce of the laborers from land and capital. 

 But as the individual ownership of land and capital is becoming 

 impossible, the only way out of the difficulty is by the joint owner- 

 ship of both by associations of laborers. Yet he does not propose, 

 Uke most of those who call themselves socialists, to take the prop- 

 erty away from those who now possess it without giving them 

 compensation : he proposes to pay for it. Moreover, he does not 

 favor doing it by the action of the State, but by the gradual exten- 

 sion of voluntary co-operation. In short, he lays down as the car- 

 dinal principle of socialism, that, " whereas industry is at present 

 carried on by private capitalists served by wage-labor, it must in 

 the future be conducted by associated or co-operating workmen 

 jointly owning the means of production " (p. 94). 



Now, it is clear that such a system as this is very different from 

 what is commonly called socialism, and we believe that most of 

 those that style themselves socialists would repudiate it. Certainly 

 they show at present no inclination toward voluntary co-operation ; 

 for if they really favored it, as Mr. Kirkup does, they would set 

 about organizing co-operative societies. We admit, however, that 

 Mr. Kirkup's socialism is a great improvement on that which is 

 commonly so called ; but then it does not differ essentially from 

 what economists have always advocated under the name of ' co- 

 operation.' Most economists of the orthodox school would disa- 

 gree with Mr. Kirkup in regard to extending the functions of gov- 

 ernment ; but otherwise they would have little to say against the 

 system he advocates as an ideal for the future. He paints the evils 

 of the present system, with its millionnaires and its beggars, in a 

 vivid light, and with too little attention to its better features ; yet he 

 admits that skilled laborers, at least, are better ofl now than for- 

 merly. With regard to the prospects of the system he advocates, 

 he does not speak in the most sanguine terms ; and he clearly rec- 

 ognizes the difficulties in the way of its estabhshment. Indeed, he 

 expressly says, that, " without a great moral advance, socialism may 

 be regarded as impracticable " (p. 1 59), — an opinion in which most 

 advocates of co-operation will be likely to agree. Mr. Kirkup's 

 style is fairly good, and he has made an interesting book ; but we 

 very much doubt if it will meet with much approval among the mass 

 of those who call themselves socialists ; while at the same time his 

 use of the term ' socialism ' to designate the system he advocates is 

 liable to raise a prejudice against it in the minds of others. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



M. MOISSAN describes, in the Annales de Chijnie et Physique, 

 his long-continued experiments for isolating fluorine. While all 

 former attempts to reach this result failed, M. Moissan, after many 

 failures and disappointments, succeeded in his endeavors by electro- 

 lyzing anhydrous hydrofluoric acid in which the double fluoride of 

 potassium aod hydrogen was dissolved. Nature, in describing 

 Moissan's experiments, gives a risume of the remarkable qualities 

 of fluorine as observed by Moissan. Sulphur, brought near the 

 orifice, at once melted and inflamed ; selenium behaved in like 

 manner ; as did also tellurium, with incandescence, forming fumes, 

 and becoming coated with a solid fluoride. Phosphorus at once 

 took fire, forming tri-, penta-, and oxyfluorides. Powdered arsenic 

 and antimony combined with incandescence, the former yieldmg 

 drops of AsFa- A fragment of iodine placed in the gas combined, 

 with production of a pale blue flame ; in an atmosphere of iodine 

 vapor, fluorine itself burned with a similar flame. Vapor of bro- 

 mine lost its color, and the combination was sometimes accom- 

 panied by detonation. Cold crj'stalline silicon at once became in- 

 candescent, and burned with great brilliancy, sometimes with scin- 

 tillations. On closing the little tubes containing it with the thumb, 

 and opening under water, the silicon tetrafluoride formed was ab- 

 sorbed and decomposed, with precipitation of silica. Any unde- 

 composed silicon was found to have been fused. Debray's ad- 

 amantine boron also burned in the gas, becoming incandescent, 

 and giving off fumes. Fluorine has a most extreme affinity for hy- 

 drogen : they combine in the dark, with explosion. In one of the 



