THE 
AMERICAN GEOLOGIST 
Vol. I. JANUARY, 1888. No. i. 
INTRODUCTORY. 
The starting of a new scientific journal is a step which should 
be accompanied by a statement of the reasons and purposes 
which have actuated its originators. These reasons and pur- 
poses should form the platform of principles, and the arena of 
action which should characterize the publication. 
The science of geology is comprehensive, and depends for 
its progress on the special researches of laborers in all the 
natural sciences. The editors of The American Geologist 
have lamented from time to time the lack of a distinctively 
geological journal in the United States, whose purpose should 
be to coordinate and express the results of these special labors 
on the general science of geology, and which should serve as a 
repository of the progressive stejDS which the science, as such, 
makes from 3''ear to year. They have lamented the absence of 
a journal which should take cognizance of the various labora- 
tories of the world, and of the publications that emanate from 
the various scientific centers, and, culling from them all such, 
facts and discussions as throw light on the history and consti= 
tution of the globe.) should authentically eliminate for its sub-. 
scribers the essential grand results, freed from the distractions, 
of too much detail. These results, mingled with a confusion 
of unsystematized details, are now scattered through journals 
and special publications which are devoted to the special 
sciences, and are inaccessible and unavailable to the geologist 
without the expenditure of much time and money. 
The promoters of The American Geologist have wit- 
nessed a growing popular apjDreciation of the grand truths of 
