Mr, Chitten- 
den. 
508 DISCUSSION: FORESTS, RESERVOIRS, AND STREAM FLOW 
In 1864 appeared Marsh’s book “Man and Nature,” which was re- 
vised in 1884 under the title, “The Earth as Modified by Human Ac- 
tion.” This work set forth the ultra-forest theory so closely on the 
.lines that we are now familiar with, that the writer has appended to 
this discussion a brief extract, on account of its historic value. 
In 1873 appeared a treatise by Sir Gustav Wex, presented to the 
Austrian Society of Engineers and Architects, “On the Decrease of 
Water in Springs, Creeks, and Rivers Contemporaneously with an In- 
crease in Height of Floods in Cultivated Countries.” This work set 
forth in elaborate form the conventional forest theory. But its 
propositions were disputed to such an extent by “engineers and hy- 
draulic experts” that Wex issued another and more elaborate treatise 
in 1879. Its reception, however, was no more favorable than that of 
his first work. 
In our own country, in 1885, Colonel Thomas P. Roberts presented 
an elaborate paper before the American Forestry Congress, based upon 
river records, showing that the commonly accepted theories had no 
foundation in fact. This paper is historically important, not only 
as an isolated example of courage in opposing an almost universal 
popular opinion, but because it was the first to call attention to the 
compensating effect of summer showers in the open country in off- 
setting any possible deficiency in the flow of springs as compared with 
that of the forest during periods of drought. <A brief extract from 
this paper is given in the Appendix. i 
In 1896 appeared the article by Mr. R. L. Fulton in Science which 
the writer has referred to in his paper. It is probably the first publi- 
cation that sets forth, substantially in accordance with the facts, the 
action of mountain forests upon the run-off from snow-melting. Ow- 
ing to its intrinsic and historic value, the main portion of this article 
is given in the Appendix. 
M. Lauda’s report upon the great Danube floods of 1897 and 1899 
is referred to in the writer’s paper. A lengthy abstract from the re- 
port was translated by the writer.* A perusal of this abstract will 
show how little value that eminent authority places upon forests as 
regulators of stream flow. 
At the 10th International Congress of Navigation, held at Milan 
in 1905, this very subject was one of the questions considered. Five 
countries—Russia, Germany, France, Austria, and Italy—were repre- 
sented in the discussion, and the consensus of opinion was that, im- 
portant as forests might be from other points of view, they had no 
appreciable effect upon the regimen of great rivers. It was held, how- 
ever, that forests are an important means of preventing erosion on 
mountain slopes. 
To all these authorities should be added the important negative 
* Engineering News, October 2ath, 1908. 
