126 The American Geologist. February, i897 
cies; but tlieu they would not be leaders any longer, and it is 
what the}^ will never submit to. 
Alexandre Erongniart and William Smith had no idea that 
the great principles of strata identified by organic remains, 
would be used in such a way as to pave the road to the suc- 
cess of error and mistake, instead of showing how to work in 
order to get at truth. 
Post Scriptum. New geological map of New York. — The 
geological map of the state of New York, so long expected and 
referred to in The American Geologist, vol. xiv, p. 259, has 
been at last presented to the public, the 24th of August, 1896, 
at the meeting of the American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science, at Buffalo. The title is: "Preliminary Geol- 
ogic Map of New York, exhibiting the structure of the state, 
so far as known. Prepared under the direction of James Hall, 
state geologist, b}^ W J McGee. Published by authority of 
the Legislature of the state of New York. Printed by the 
United States Geological Surve}^ J. W. Powell, director. 
Scale 1 : 316,800. 1894." It is in six large sheets, of which 
two are simply map outlines, without any color or any 
geological indications. On the four other sheets, one only is 
complete, it is the one representing the western part of the 
state, called generally and known as the "Fourth Geological 
District." The other three sheets, comprising the southern, 
eastern and northern parts of the state, are incomplete; large 
areas in several counties, like, Dutchess, Columbia, Washing- 
ton, Warren, Essex. Clifton, Franklin, Lawrence, Jetferson, 
and Levis, as well as the whole of Long Island, are left blank. 
No explanation has been published yet, or even given orally 
when the map was presented to the American Association for 
the Advancement of Science, and we are obliged to read it 
without any help as regards classification and nomenclature; 
that is to sa}^ without the chronological dates on whicli it 
has been constructed, except the rather obscure "legend," 
printed on the sheet containing New York city and its envi- 
rons. The constructor of the map, Mr. McGee, has only let 
us know, without explanation, that "unexpected difficulties 
have been encountered."' 
In order to compare the three geological maps of New York, 
issued in 1842, 1844 (although dated 1844, that agricultural 
