Editorial Counncnt. 109 
and at the time of his death, wliioh took place at ]Manitou, Col- 
orado, in 1883, matters were in a state of great confusion, ow- 
ing to the large amount of material that had accumulated and 
the extensive census work undertaken but necessarily uncom- 
pleted. 
The rapid increase of the paleontological collections and the 
growing demand of the geological survey for space for storage 
and work-rooms, resulted in early additions to the honorary 
force, Mr. C. D. Walcott being- appointed honorary assistant 
curator in charge of the paleozoic fossils in 1882, and ]\Ir. L. F. 
Ward, honorary curator of fossil plants in 1883. In this same 
year Mr. L. W. Clark was appointed honorary curator of min- 
eralogy. 
In 1894 a partial reorganization of the division took place, 
resulting in placing the entire paleontological collections under 
the direction of Mr. Walcott, with Mr. Charles Schuchert as 
assistant curator ; Prof. O. C. ]\Iarsh of Yale College having 
nominal charge of the fossil vertebrates. 
From the time of the death of Dr. Hawes until 1897 the 
mineralogical and geological divisions, as a whole, remained 
without an official head, the assistants, Messrs. F. P. Dewey,* 
W. S. Yates and G. P. Merrill, retaining charge of their vari- 
ous divisions and reporting directly to the assistant secretary. 
At this date a complete reorganization took efifect which is 
still in force and is apparently working very satisfactorily. The 
entire department, including mineralogy as well as paleontol- 
ogy, is placed in charge of a head curator. In creating the 
various divisions and sections, regard has been had mainly to 
convenience in administration and arrangement of material 
most readily accessible for study and reference. The aim has 
been to give each officer control of such collections as he may 
be most interested in and not to hamper him with the care of a 
great amount of other matter. The general scope of the de- 
partment in tabular form is given below : 
Department of Geology : 
George P. Merrill, Head Curator. 
(a) Division of Physical and Chemical Geology, (Systematic and 
Applied) : 
George P. Merrill, Curator. 
W. H. Newhall, Aid. 
*Mr. Dewey resij^ned in 1889. 
