238 The American Naturalist. [March, 
EDITORIALS. 
EDITORS, E. D. COPE, AND J. S. KINGSLEY. 
—In the States of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Alabama, 
and some others, the governments have been alive to the importance 
of retaining in the office of State Geologist a tried and competent 
expert. In this way they have secured the best results with the least 
expenditure, and have escaped the inevitable loss which results from 
changes in the personnel of an expert office. This loss is serious in 
consequence of the continuous nature of the work of a geological sur- 
vey. Collections are in process of being formed, and reports of being 
written, and at no time can a change be made without a loss of work 
already done, and a loss due to the lack of continuity of work already 
in hand. Some States have pursued a different course, notably Indiana 
and Michigan, where competent men were replaced by incompetent 
men, and the surveys have been of little value since those changes were 
made. Good geologists competent for both scientific and administra- 
tive work are rare, and their excellence is in no way related to their 
political affiliations. 
It is proposed, we regret to learn, to remove from his place the pres- 
ent very competent State Geologist of Illinois, Professor Lindahl. 
Not only has this officer had an excellent training for the place, but 
he has already done a vast amount of unpretentious work of the great- 
est value to the State of Illinois. He not only secured to the State 
great collections of its minerals and fossils which would have otherwise 
passed into private hands, but he has reduced them to order, so that 
they are available to the student and business men of the common- 
wealth. He is now engaged in making sections across the State with 
the view of preparing a full and final geological map. The accom- 
plishment of this enterprise can be safely entrusted to the hands of 
Dr. Lindahl, and he should be supported by larger appropriations 
than those he has been receiving. He has done much with the limited 
funds at his disposal. _ 
—M. Gréard has proposed to the French Academy that it authorize 
a number of changes in orthography. Among these are two which 
especially commend themselves to writers on scientific subjects, since 
they relate to words mostly derived from Greek roots. He proposes to 
abolish the vowel Y, and the diphthong PH, using I in place of the 
