JANUARY 25, 1884.] 
elements of physics and chemistry, and, in addition, 
having studied the structure and properties of the 
healthy body, he can, on entering the technical school, 
from the very first turn his attention to professional 
details. Knowing already the anatomy of a cat or 
dog, he knows a great part of human anatomy, and 
need do little but acquaint himself with the surgical 
and medical anatomy of certain regions. Knowing 
normal histology, he can at once turn his attention to 
the microscopy of diseased tissues. Well instructed 
in physiology, he can devote himself to its practical 
applications in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. 
The demand for an improvement in medical educa- 
tion, which has been so loudly heard in England and 
this country for some years, is (the more I think of it, 
the more I feel assured) to be met, not, as has been the 
ease in England, by putting more general science into 
the medical-school curriculum, but by confining that 
more strictly to purely professional training, and by 
providing, as we have attempted to do here, non- 
technical college-courses for undergraduates, which, 
while giving them a liberal education, shall also have 
a distinct relation to their future work. Personally 
I regard it as the most important of my duties, to 
prepare students to enter medical schools in this 
city or elsewhere. 
To advance our knowledge of the laws of life and 
health; to inquire into the phenomena and causes of 
disease; to train experimenters in pathology, thera- 
peutics, and sanitary science; to fit men to undertake 
the study of the art of medicine, — these are the 
main objects of our laboratory. Ido not know that 
they can be better summed up than in the words of 
Descartes, which I would like to see engraved over its 
portal: ‘‘If there is any means of getting a medical 
theory based on infallible demonstrations, that is what 
I am now inquiring.”’ 
THE CLOSING REPORT OF HAYDEN’S 
SURVEY. 
Twelfth annual report of the U.S. geological and 
geographical survey of the territories: a report of 
progress of the exploration in Wyoming and Idaho 
for the year 1878. Washington, Government print- 
ing-office, 1883. 2vols. 8°. With portfolio of 
maps and panoramas. 
In two stout octavo volumes, with an accom- 
panying portfolio of maps, Dr. Hayden pre- 
sents the twelfth and last annual report of the 
Geological survey of the territories. While the 
late reorganization and consolidation of the sur- 
veys which have been occupied in the scien- 
tific exploration of the west is indubitably a 
very marked step in advance, it is not without 
a measure of regret that we realize that Dr. 
Hayden’s familiar and always welcome annual 
report now reaches us for the last time. It is 
perhaps only those having some experience of 
similar work who can fully appreciate the ener- 
gy and maintained scientific enthusiasm neces- 
SCIENCE. 
103 
sary for the conduct of an organization such as 
that which under Dr. Hayden has built so broad 
a foundation for our geological knowledge of 
the western part of the continent. 
The volumes now issued constitute the re- 
port for 1878, the concluding season of field- 
work. Great care has evidently been given to 
the editing and printing of the report; and the 
number and good quality of the illustrations 
and maps are noteworthy features. Of plates 
alone, in the two volumes, there are over two 
hundred and fifty ; and most of them are excel- 
lent specimens of lithographic art. 
The first volume is devoted chiefly to paleon- 
tology and zodlogy, while the second may be 
regarded as a memoir on the Yellowstone na- 
tional park. Dr. C. A. White, in his report, 
under the title of ‘ Contributions to invertebrate 
paleontology, No. 2,’ presents the second part 
of his descriptions and illustrations of creta- 
ceous fossils. This is followed (as parts 4 to 
8 of the contributions) by papers on tertiary, 
Laramie, Jurassic, triassic, and carboniferous 
fossils. The article on the Laramie, includ- 
ing, besides the descriptions and plates of a 
number of forms, a systematic enumeration of 
the invertebrate fossils: of the group, assumes 
the character of a synopsis of its fauna invalu- 
able to the student of this period of geological 
history. Mr. Orestes St. John’s very compre- 
hensive and systematic report on the Wind 
River district could be done justice to only in 
a separate note of some length. 
Mr. S. H. Seudder’s report on the tertiary 
lake-basin of Florissant is next in order. From 
this place a number of fossil plants and a few 
fishes and birds have been obtained: but it is 
specially remarkable for the wonderfully numer- 
ous remains of insects which it affords; ‘‘ hav- 
ing yielded in a single summer more than double 
the number of specimens which the famous 
localities at Oeningen, in Bavaria, furnished 
Heer in thirty years.’’ ‘The fossils occur in 
fine-grained volcanic ash-beds, which, together 
with coarser materials of the same origin, 
constitute the deposits of the old lake-basin. 
The age of the beds is apparently about that 
of the oligocene, and the climatic conditions 
may have resembled those of the northern 
shores of the Gulf of Mexico at the present 
day. A complete description of the insects will 
be awaited with much interest. Mr. Packard’s 
monograph of the phyllopod Crustacea of 
North America, having been already noticed 
in Science,* need only be mentioned. In the 
latter part of the first volume, Dr. R. W. Shu- 
feldt treats of the osteology of the Cathartidae 
1 Vol. ii. p. 571. 
