IK* 1/iC ^ViH('r/c((,i fjiohx/tuf. i-i'iiiii.ii-.N. is'.t8 
across the state with such accuracy. Tlic \\ orthcn c-oHcetion, 
now catalogued in llic Museum, uumbers 2.S7!> entries, and the 
total entries reacli IS.')!)?, an increase, during the past four 
years, of 1 l.ooS. Numerous dui)lieate specimens have l)eeu as- 
sorted for distribution to the schools of the state. Tlu' lif)rarv, 
wholly built up since Prof. Worthen's death, contains alxuit 2,000 
volumes, and as inauN' {)am|)hlets. In the records of the oftice 
are 400 logs of borings :ind shafts, with collateral informa- 
tion. 
This growth, which entails a vast correspondence, and which is 
necessarily a growth that must go on. under the intelligent guid- 
ance and watchful inspection of one mind, during a series of 
years, cannot fail to be very useful to the State in the near future, 
if it is |)roperly husbanded and mastered by comparative studies. 
It is evident that it cannot be easily [)icked up liy any new num. 
It is a misfortune when from any cause such a chain of research 
is broken by change in the incuml)ency of the responsible posi- 
tion of state geologist, (leologicnl science is, in its nature, nec- 
essarily a thing of slow progress, and it has suffered many losses 
and serious checks by the suicidal efforts of politicians to scatter 
the emoluments of partisan politics among their fi-iends. The 
governor s chair can be emi)licil and tilled annually, or semi-an- 
nually, by successive incumbents, and the state will not suffer, 
but the work of ;i g(>()logical bui'cnu is (•diuiected and cumulative, 
and valuable only as its (h>ta are wisely collected and concen- 
trated from the experience of several years, under the systematic 
plans of the same iucumltent. This was perfectly illustrated by 
the long service of Woithen, in his persevering paleontological 
labors, and is again liy that of jjindahl in his extansive sti'atigraph- 
ieal and economic studies. Would that e\(MT State had the wis- 
dom thai is shown by Illinois in this work. 
SoMK Ukcknt Cki'ikms.m. 
The somewhat ;icrimonious ;issanlt upon Prof. (x. V. ^VI■ight's 
late volume entitled '-Man and the (ilacial Period' has iu .some 
points exceeded the due bounds of scientilic criticism if not those 
of courtes\'. It is to be regretted that the reviewer should be 
lost in the assailant or that the pursuit of truth should be subor- 
dinated, or even seem to be subordinated, to the desire of personal 
