43 Editorial Comment. 
ion that those departments and those studies are most worthy of 
support which sustain the most immediate relations to the pro- 
duction of wealth. 
The final outcome of the conflict waged by geology for 
standing in the university, assumes form somewhat as follows : 
The smallest possible allowance bf means is granted for carry- 
ing on the work of instruction and investigation. Other de- 
partments of instruction h^'iy be allowed numerous assistants,, 
w^hile that of geology, with similar necessities, lias none or al- 
most none — even for simple manual work. Other departments 
secure supplies of the means of illustration and investigation,, 
while geology may plead for years in vain for some small pur- 
chase indispensible for work according to modern methods. 
Even in the ostensibly, and it might be added ostentatiously, 
equal distribution of appropriations for books, geology is placed 
at a double disadvantage. First, scientific works if illustrated, 
as they are apt to be, belong to a relatively costly class; so that 
a given allowance to geology secures less literature on the sub- 
ject than the same allowance to history, English or Greek. 
The same may of course be said of zoology and botany. Sec- 
ond, of the relatively large allowance usually assigned for 
miscellaneous books, a very large proportion of those purchased 
might well fall to the charge of the literary and philosophic 
departments. They are largely accessory to those departments, 
while the taint of natural history or geology is enough usually, 
to consign a book to the catalogue of those chargeable to the 
special funds for those subjects. 
We have drawn a picture of one of the most strongly colored 
cases. It is a case where scientific interests have no indepen- 
dent or exclusive endowment, or school, or standing; where 
every provision and regulation is at the dictation of the literary 
interests; where the executive and consultative authorities are 
identified with those interests; and the highest external control 
seeks only the recommendations which emanate from a single 
source. These various conditions may not be found united in 
one institution. There may exist, assuredly, collegiate and 
university institutions in which geology enjoys abetter standing. 
There are institutions whose founding and expansion are as re- 
cent as the very modern expansions of the natural sciences, 
