IOWA ACADEMY OP SCIENCE 
71 
It may also be added that a few years ago the U. S. Geological Survey, Division 
of Hydrplogy, made a survey of the State as to its underground waters. I 
understand that the report will be issued some time during the present year. 
Norton had this work in immediate charge. . . 
Topographic surveys have been conducted in certain parts of the state by 
the Topographic Division of the U. S. Survey and more than forty rectangles 
have been completed and maps have been published which are available for 
use in the schools and elsewhere at a moderate expense. Naturally the 
rectangles have been located where the topographic features are most pro- 
nounced, but in time the whole area of the state will have been covered by 
this work. 
Another important phase of the geological history of Iowa during the last 
quarter century is the advance made in the work offered in physiography and 
geology in its high schools and colleges. Without attempting to enter into the 
details, I wish to call attention to the importance of what has been done. Twenty- 
five years ago physical geography was taught quite generally in the high schools 
and in the larger high schools geology appeared in the courses of study offered. 
But the physical geography of those days devoted much time to topics that had 
no connection with geology even in its broadest sense. Today physiography is 
practically the underlying basis of about all that is offered in the place of the 
old physical geography and it also is largely the basis on which commercial 
geography is built up, a branch of geography that has been developed almost 
wholly in the past quarter century. Physiography involves about every practi- 
cal detail of dynamical geology and much of descriptive geology. The more 
obvious principles of physiography are often given under the head of Nature 
Study even in the grades in many schools, thus creating an interest in sub- 
jects that, when generally understood, will hasten the coming of that “brighter,, 
higher and grander intelligence” forseen by Calvin. 
Not only has the scope and application of physiography been greatly enlarged 
and improved, but it is taught today in every high school of any pretensions 
in the state. Then, too, the equipment in way of specimens, maps, charts, pic- 
tures, lantern slides, etc., has been multiplied and the method of handling the 
subject has become modern in the best sense of the word, insuring a clear com- 
prehension of the subject and a practical application of the facts and principles 
involved. And here, I may speak of another phase of the work of the Survey 
in furnishing all high schools that desired it an illustrative collection of the 
minerals, rocks and fossils of the state, and also a large wall map of Iowa 
showing every detail of the formations as they were understood at the time of 
its publication. The geological column of the state accompanies the map, 
leaving little to be desired that could be graphically presented. The published 
volumes of the Survey also became a part of the reference library of each high 
school, so that the latest knowledge of each county’s geology becomes promptly 
available in each school. 
The advance in the courses and equipments of the university and colleges 
of the state has been even greater than in the high schools, as would have been 
expected, since they are the fountain heads, whence the advance in the secondary 
schools has been derived. Since we can not particularize in every case, it would 
be invidious to particularize in any case. Suffice it to say, therefore, that the 
