180 The American Geologist. ssptember, isos; 
survey may be curtailed in scope, but at the same time it may be- 
given directness and individuality which will carry it triumphantl}' 
through future years to an end that will be "simple and entire." 
Unfortunately, the United States Geological Survey never had 
any other organic act, nor any other duty assigned it more defi- 
nitely than to "construct a geological map of the United States." 
It was left practically to the judgment of the director, who offi- 
cially reports to the Secretary of the Interior, although he is in no 
sense subject to his direction, to give significance and scope to 
that simple clause. It is manifest that there was open a wide 
door for difference of opinion, and for the expansion of the work 
of conitfructlng a mcq), so as to include inquiries into the historj' 
and philosophy of geology, the physics of mountain structure, 
the causes of earthquakes, the laws of solids and fluids, the eco- 
nomic statistics of the rocks to be mapped, the description of the 
fossil contents, the microscopic delineation of the internal struc- 
tures and the chemical characters of the minerals in the strata* 
concerned. All this, if entered upon, would require a large librar}' 
and numerous laboratories. It would mean the establishment of 
a scientific bureau which in its original research would be limited 
in its ultimate scope only by the bounds of human knowledge and 
the appropriations of money which Congress might grant. It is 
quite possible that the zeal of the director for American science in 
general has led him to take some such a view of the proper duty 
of the survey, and that under the head of geology he has been 
induced to include, practically', all that it covers theoretically, 
and has not sufficient warrant for it in the law ordering the con- 
struction of a geological map of the United States. However 
desirable such a bureau might l)e, whether as an agent for the ad- 
vancement of American science, or as a guide to other bureaus or 
to the state governments, in carrying forward allied investigations, 
it is open to doubt whether Congress intended to organize one 
when it created the geological survey. In the uncertainty which 
must exist on that point, it is plain that any parties or institu- 
tions which might become aggrieved, whether through fancied or 
actual wrong, or who might suppose their prerogatives were being 
usurped by the geological bureau, would not fail to point out the 
necessity of some change, and that their united voices, becoming 
voluminous, should finally find expression in adverse action by 
Congress. 
There are various minor causes that might be appealed to, to 
