348 The American Geologist. June, lico 
would compare favorably with some of the most recent. As a 
rule, later workers in this field have done little towards com- 
paring the earlier results with their own. Some have ignored 
this phase of the subject altogether. Others have referred to 
it only incidentally. The general desire has seemed to be to 
pass over it all as quickly as possible and without definite allu- 
sions. 
All geologists acquainted with the geological literature of 
the Mississippi basin know that Swallow, Hawn, Meek, Hay- 
den, Broadhead, and others, traversed the region extensively. 
Yet, we find in most of the later literature little attempt to 
recognize these early efforts. Those scientists personally ac- 
quainted with the men named know that they were keen ob- 
servers, and that they did good work in this and many other 
fields, even though they did at times make some mistakes. 
In Nebraska Meek's work has been made mvich of. In 
Iowa and Missouri the pioneers have been referred to time and 
again. In Kansas one would almost be led to believe that 
there never had been any pioneers in geology. Lately, how- 
ever, Prosser has reviewed some of the earlier work in central 
Kansas and has correlated it all with his own results. This 
efifort has really furnished us the first definite connection be- 
tw'een the old work and the new. 
In the recent rather extended inquiry into the stratigraphy 
of the whole I'rans-Mississippi coal measures personal interest 
in the previous work and especially the pioneer efforts has 
been, as the investigation has gone on, more and more keenly 
aroused. Through this personal investigation, an insight into 
the working methods of these early geologists, and into the 
often insurmountable difficulties with which they had to con- 
tend, and the manner of reaching their conclusions, was gained 
that seems worthy of special note. 
In the present connection attention is called briefly to some 
of the labors of G. C. Swallow in eastern Kansas and south- 
western Missouri, and the remarkable similarity of the results 
that he obtained 40 years ago concerning the subdivisions 
which he thought should be recognized in the coal measures, 
and the conclusions arrived at, practically independently, by 
later workers. 
In 1866, Swallow published his official Preliminary Report 
