May 19, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



763 



tific Surveys as will insure rapid, satisfac- 

 tory and economical progress in a noble 

 contribution to human knowledge. 



Since the United States is engaged in 

 the first serious attempt to develop an 

 Anglo-Saxon civilization in the tropics, and 

 among a non- Aryan people, it may not be 

 amiss to call attention to the effect on the 

 enlightenment and culture of the Filipinos 

 which systematically undertaken scientific 

 surveys must inevitably produce. Such 

 explorations will be a practical lesson in 

 the application and value of learning. 



2. Resources of the Islands.— Th.e Phil- 

 ippine Islands form an extreme portion of 

 one of the most interesting areas in the 

 world, viz., Malaysia. The archipelago lies 

 along the edge of the great and permanent 

 abyss of the Pacific Ocean, forming the last 

 bulwark of the Asiatic continent towards 

 the southeast. This geographical position, 

 half-way between Japan and Australia, 

 with the China Sea on one side and the 

 Pacific on the other, is most favorable to 

 the development of a great commerce, 

 which, indeed, the Philippine Islands once 

 enjoyed. 



The archipelago has not always been 

 separated from Borneo, Java, Sumatra and 

 the Peninsula of Malacca ; on the contrary, 

 land connections throughout this area ex- 

 isted at various times in its geological his- 

 tory. It is also probable that at one time 

 Luzon and Formosa were connected. The 

 islands themselves have undergone many 

 geological vicissitudes, still indicated in 

 part by the belts of extinct and active vol- 

 canoes which intersect them. 



Gold veins, seemingly of very ancient 

 origin, are widely distributed in the 

 islands, though no great gold field is knoAvn 

 to exist there ; and there are some valuable 

 copper deposits. The Philippines contain 

 also important deposits of mineral fuel 

 similar to the so-called coals of Japan and 

 Borneo — a good quality of lignite — upon 



which much of the industrial development 

 of the islands must depend. It is well 

 known that the fertility of the Philippines 

 is astonishingly great. This is due pri- 

 marily to a favorable admixture of various 

 igneous rocks with limestones and sand- 

 stones. In the moist and equable climate 

 of the archipelago the rocks are rapidly 

 converted into soil, while the absence of 

 cold and drought results in a vigorous 

 growth of roots, which protects the soil, as 

 soon as formed, from rapid erosion by the 

 heavy rains. One evidence of the fertility 

 of the land is the presence of superb hard- 

 wood forests. These have been estimated 

 to cover at least a third of the area of the 

 islands, or, say, forty thousand square 

 miles, and they include nearly two hun- 

 dred species of valuable timber trees. All 

 tropical crops will grow in the Philippines, 

 while that very important plant {Musa 

 textilis) which yields the so-called manila 

 hemp, flourishes best in the archipelago. 

 The resources of the islands have been 

 very imperfectly developed ; indeed, under 

 Spanish rule, attempts at industrial prog- 

 ress usually met with disfavor. After the 

 establishment of a well-ordered peace, the 

 first step in progress must be the accumula- 

 tion and dissemination of accurate and 

 systematic information. 



3. Need of Coordination.— In order 

 rapidly and economically to provide the 

 information desired, it i$ essential that the 

 various branches of the work should be 

 coordinated, for they are to a considerable 

 extent interdependent ; for example, topo- 

 graphical maps, which are an indispensable 

 preliminary to geological mapping, are also 

 required for planning highways, for mili- 

 tary purposes, for the Land Office, for the 

 Bureau of Forestry and for other ends. 



It will be necessary in the Philippines, 

 as elsewhere, to map some regions on a 

 larger scale than others. Simple relations 

 between the several scales iised should be 



