46 The American Geologist. January, 1895 
Maryland; the Chestnut street, Girard avenue, Callowhill and 
South street bridges over the Schuylkill at Philadelphia; the 
principal bridges of Baltimore, and the new water works 
crib at Chicago. It has also been used in construction of the 
entire plant of the Maryland Steel Company's works at Spar- 
row Point, Maryland, and of Harveford college; besides a 
large number of private dwellings and public buildings in 
Baltimore and Philadelphia. 
EDITORIAL COMMENT. 
State Academies of Science. 
The fact that the general government lends substantial aid 
in furthering scientific research is very generally acknowl- 
edged to be simply a wise provision for promoting the general 
welfare and happiness of the entire people. From this point 
of view the maintenance of organizations for the investiga- 
tion of problems relating to astronomy, geology, mineral re- 
sources, coast and geodetic surveys, irrigation of the great 
arid wastes, chemical and lithological phenomena relating to 
agriculture, sanitation and public health, and other matters 
that aflf'ect more or less the entire public, is recognized as 
nothing more than the discharge of an imperative dut3^ That 
the individual States also have duties in relation to similar 
problems has not been so generally recognized. Most of the 
States support universities where, in addition to the work of 
teaching, a greater or less amount of scientific work is done. 
Many have technical schools under one name or another, but 
these, like the universities, are founded not so much for re- 
search as for purposes of instruction. In a few states geologi- 
cal surveys are supported ; but, as a general rule, States, as 
such, have rarely done much in encouraging scientific work. 
Notwithstanding the indifference of the public to scientific 
work as expressed by the local state governments, nearly every 
State in the Union contains a number of capable men devoted 
to scientific research. The recognized advantages of organ- 
ization and cooperation, as compared with the results of dis- 
connected individual effort, have led to the formation of State 
