116 THE UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. [bull. 227 
The cost of printing from the engraved plates is comparatively 
small, } 7 et for a number of years there was no provision of law by 
which the topographic atlas sheets could be published for general dis- 
tribution. Only small editions for office use could be printed, and 
under this authority an office edition of 250 copies of each sheet was 
printed as soon as the plate had been engraved. This condition 
existed, with a growing demand, until February 18, 1897, when Con- 
gress authorized the publication and distribution by sale of the topo- 
graphic atlas sheets at a price which would cover the cost of printing 
and materials. Since that time, under a stimulating demand, the size 
of the editions has been increased to 3,000. Even these large editions 
are rapidly exhausted and frequent reprints are necessary to supply 
the demand. 
The first year after the organization of this division 26,000 copies 
of all topographic sheets were printed. Ten years later the number 
of printed copies had increased to 533,655. The total printed to date 
has been 3,131,121. 
The first folios of the Geologic Atlas of the United States were 
published in the fiscal year 1892-93, which was the fourth year of the 
existence of the division. These four years were devoted largely to 
study and experimentation with colors, patterns, symbols, and processes 
of geologic notation. At the time mentioned the necessary pattern 
plates had been engraved, six folios had been published, and others were 
under way. A folio contains several pages of text, a topographic ' 
atlas sheet, an areal geology sheet, an economic geology sheet, a sheet 
of (geologic) structure sections, and a sheet of columnar sections; and 
sometimes an artesian-water sheet, a soil sheet, a forestry sheet, or a 
special illustration sheet, the latter consisting usually of half-tone 
prints from nature illustrative of geologic phenomena. 
Each geologic map is a topographic map which has been over-! 
printed with from 3 to 27 colors, either in flat tints or in patterns. | 
During the year 1902-3, or ten years after the issuance of the first 
geologic folios, there were 11 published. The total number published 
to date is 100. 
The total number of copies of all geologic folios printed in 1892-93 
was 3,000. In 1902-3 there were printed 73,080 copies. The total 
number printed to date is 181,958. 
Incidental to the publication of the topographic and geologic atlas 
sheets, which is the main function of the division, a large and growing 
volume of miscellaneous engraving and printing has been done. 
Much of this is intended for general distribution, but some part of 
it is designed primarily for office use. It includes index maps, notices 
and circulars in ordinary type and with map illustrations, pamphlets, 
photolithographs of maps enlarged or reduced for various purposes, 
Land Office plats, maps of the entire United States on different scales, 
