1892.] Editorials. 931 
—WB8lI_« civilized man has gained much in the higher departments of 
mind, his powers of observation are frequently inferior to those of lower 
races. Particular white men who have lived long on the frontiers of 
civilization may be as acute in their perception as savages, but as a rule 
the general statement above madeistrue. Remarkable illustrations of 
incapacity in this direction in the inhabitants of cities occasionally 
present themselves. A family in Philadelphia recently buried a 
corpse in good preservation as that of son and brother, but on their 
return home they were confronted by the son and brother alive and 
well. The body was particularly identified by the mother by various 
peculiarities which she pointed out. In view of this and similar 
instances of malidentification, which are not uncommon, it is evidently 
necessary for courts of justice to examine with great care alleged 
identifications, especially those made by children. It is to be fe 
that in some instances serious mistakes have been made. Such errors 
will grow less frequent as the faculty of critical observation is culti- 
_ vated in our schools by practice in laboratories of natural science. 
—THuE reduction in the appropriation to the United States Geologi- 
cal Survey need not seriously curtail its usefulness. Its organization 
has been hitherto unnecessarily expensive, and very different from 
that of the surveys which preceded it. There was, for instance, an 
office of “ chief geologist,” a position heretofore held by the director 
of the survey. Its recent abolition is a step in the right direction. 
The geologists in charge of departments under the old surveys went 
into the field and performed the work. Under the present survey 
younger men were sent into the field and reported to the chiefs of the 
departments. So far as the utility of this double system of officers is 
concerned, one or the other of them might well be abolished. In his 
report to the Secretary of the Interior under resolution of the Senate 
of July 16, 1890, Major Powell, director, stated that the survey 
employed sixteen geologists, eight paleontologists, seven physicists, and 
eighty topographers, with their assistants. There were also twenty 
assistant geologists and twelve assistant paleontologists. The topo- 
graphy appears to be in excess, and no doubt the survey will do good 
work with a smaller force of “ assistant topographers” than hitherto. 
The reduction of salaries paid to professors already occupied in 
institutions of learning, will also benefit the survey. 
