12 
Records of the Geological Survey of India. 
[voL. XI. 
During the past field-season none of the officers of the Survey were absent on 
sick leave or furlough; and still, compared with some seasons gone by, our muster- 
roll was short, sanction not being yet obtainable to (ill the last three vacancies. In 
view of the work remaining to be aceornjilislied, especially in the geology of the 
Himalayas, for which arduous work a man must bo in full physical vigour, this 
temporary suspension of our powers is much to be deplored. 
Puhlications .—It is pretty generally understood that in mixed publications 
of acknowledged authorship the writers are separately responsible for the opinions 
expressed, the editor’s veto being reserved for open breaches of logic or of pro¬ 
priety. As, however, I have been snjiposed to hold certain views, because they 
were allowed to appear in the Records of the Survey, it would seem to be the 
opinion of some that an official body of woi’kors should run in a groove, that the 
chief of the staff should consider himself so superior to his official subordinates as 
to form, or at least control, their opinion. The notion may bo a relic of the 
early British idea that a* geological survey might bo mainly carried on by men 
devoid of mental culture or scientific training, the materials so oollectod being 
worked into shape by a resjionsihle head. In a civilised country, where the main 
linos of the work are already laid down, and where it is always easy to risit 
and study any crucial features of the ground, such a system might, to some 
extent, be practicable; hut the attempt would ho impossible in India, where, 
off the main highways, one can only move about with all the incumbrances of a 
camp; so that the work of inspection would take nearly as much time as the 
preliminary survey. But, indeed, there is no cause to regret the absence of a 
system based upon an essentially narrow idea of geological work, in which the 
important duty of making and recording observations of obscure facts is entrusted 
to men who can have hut a feeble conce])tion of what they arc about, and 
who arc without the sure incentive of responsibility for the finished work. 
No doubt, however, a chief of the staff is in a peculiar position as editor 
of a departmental publication, but it seems to me that the rationale of the 
position tends in our case to loosen rather than to tighten the bonds of his 
responsibility. As ofllcial head of a body of scientific workers, his functions are 
rather those of the heads of the intelligence and commissariat dopaitments than 
of the commanding officer. Unless under very unfortunate circumstances, he 
would cortaiidy have colleagues as competent as himself to do work, and to 
whom any dictation on his part would bo impertinence. In so complex a business 
as a geological .survey, there must be several experts more proficient in their 
scvoi’al branches than any one can be in them all, and whose work can only 
bo fully criticised by their poors. Thus, then, the business of the department 
being to collect and publish information, which is not obtained by manual opera¬ 
tions performed by rule, but must bo the result of pure intelligence, every 
member has more or less of a right, according to hi.s ability to produce finished 
work, to appear as author of that work. And so, under anything like normal 
conditions, the editorial responsibilities become distributed; and so far, too, it 
becomes unreasonable to charge the Survey collectively, or its official head, with 
views that may be taken by one of its members. In many matters, uniformity 
