113 
REVIEW OF REOE]N^T GEOLOGICAL 
LITERATURE. 
Filial GcoIdijIciiI Jiijinrt af the Arlc'slnii ami I'liiliiujroii ml 1 iiristlijatinn , 
between the nl)teti/-s< rentJi nierldlaii of loiKjltude and the foot-hlUs of the 
liockij Mountninx. To the Secretary of Agriculture, made by Prof. 
RoBT. Hay, F. G. S. A., Part Third, Washington, 1892. 
The above titled report so far as relates to Texas, is based upon 
the observations of ~Slr. Hay during a brief railroad trip through the 
Panhandle of Texas in company with Prof. Kobt. T. Hill, who signs 
himself Assistant (ieologist for Texas, Xew ]\[exico and Indian Terri- 
tory. 
Such reports, to be of importance, must be based upon careful ob- 
servations and correct determinations of the geological structure of 
the area covered l)y the report ; and unless such is the case, the 
guesses of one man as to its artesian water possibilities, will be as 
good as those of another. Not only is it necessary to have a 
knowledge of the geology of the country, but the course and rate of 
the dip of the strata and of the surface must be correctly determined, 
if areas are to be pointed out where artesian water will flow. If an 
observer makes a mistake in regard to a receiving area, that mistake 
will follow his conclusions throughout the entire area under which 
the strata are supposed to lie. If there be a mistake as to the course 
and rate of the dip of the water bearing beds, the result will be mis- 
takes in the fact and extent of the area of possible flowing wells. 
It is utterly impossible for a person to study the geology of a coun- 
try by traveling over it in a railway train and simply stopping off at 
some of the principal stations; and reports based upon such observa- 
tions are more than h'able to be erroneous. It is not the amount of 
travel that a person accomplishes over a district that makes him a 
geologist, or that enables him to correctly determine its geological 
conditions. That the geology of a country cannot be studied in such 
manner is well illustrated in the report under review. 
Mr. Hay came to the Panhandle of Texas, and made recconnois- 
ances with Prof. Hill, as he tells us, and with no more information 
than he obtained from such hasty examination, writes his report of 
that part of the district. The mistakes he has made in the small 
space allotted to Texas are of such a character tiiat one would think 
that he had never been in the district at all. 
Would a man who knew anything, from personal observations or 
otherwise, about tjic head of Red river of Texas ever make it flow- 
through Canon Rlanco, when Rlanco is the canon through which the 
Salt fork of the Krazos flows? Palo Duro is the canon of Red river. 
On page 13 of the report, in speaking of the mountain source of 
