for the information of the appropriation committees in Congress; keeps accounts with the appropriations and allotments made for the various lines of work, and examines all vouchers for expenditures, to see that every requirement has been complied with, before they are forwarded to the Treasury Department for final accounting. Prior to 1901 this division was charged also with the property accountability and the making of purchases; but in the year named, owing to great increase in the appropriations and in the number of accounts and vouchers, the duties relating to property were transferred to the section of correspondence, records, supplies, and shipments.

The chief disbursing clerk pays the salaries of most of the employees and many other bills; but during the field season, when many parties are at work in sections of the country remote from Washington, it is necessary that bills be paid by special disbursing agents near at hand.

There are numerous laws of the United States regulating the disbursement of money by its agents. All disbursing agents are required to submit their official accounts to the accounting officers of the Treasury, who pass judgment on their legality. The rulings of the accounting officers form a body of judicial law supplementary to statute law. The entire system of enactments and rulings is so voluminous and complex that no successful attempt has been made to codify it.

Disbursing agents of the Survey are bonded officers, and must render strict account of the moneys intrusted to them. They are required to have their funds deposited either with the Treasurer of the United States or an assistant treasurer of the United States or with a designated depositary; and disbursing agents are not responsible for the loss of funds thus deposited. They are also required in most cases to make disbursements by check, and are thus relieved of the responsibility involved in the actual handling of cash.

In the office of the chief disbursing clerk the following books are kept: (1) A ledger of disbursements, showing an open debit and credit account with every disbursing officer, and also with every appropriation made from year to year; (2) a consolidated account current, showing a recapitulation of all public funds in the hands of disbursing officers, as per last report, received since, expended or otherwise disposed of, and remaining on hand at the end of every month; (3) a classification of expenditures, showing the amounts paid under the different heads of appropriations; (4) an allotment book, showing the amount allotted every division of the Survey for the fiscal year's work. It is the universal custom of the Government in the settlement of its bills to require the signing of receipts before payment. When accounts are settled by mail, vouchers in duplicate, properly filled out, are transmitted to the creditor for signature, and upon their return a check is sent in payment. All vouchers must be written and

signed in duplicate. One set is transmitted by the disbursing officer to the Director of the Survey at the end of each month, and is ultimately filed in the archives of the Treasury Department. The other set remains in the hands of the disbursing officer. Four classes of vouchers are used-salary vouchers (pay rolls and single vouchers), traveling-expense vouchers, field-expense vouchers (supported by subvouchers), and purchase vouchers. Vouchers must be certified by chiefs of parties and divisions, audited in the office of the chief disbursing clerk, and approved by the Director of the Survey, before payment can be made. From time to time, usually once a year, accounting officers of the Treasury Department, in compliance with law, make a general investigation of the accounts of all disbursing officers of the Survey, and report the result to the Secretary of the Treasury.

Topographic, geologic, and hydrographic work in cooperation with States has been actively engaged in during the last few years, and is constantly growing in importance and volume. During the current fiscal year the Survey is cooperating with 14 States, covering 21 separate appropriations and allotments, whose accounts received, examined, paid, or forwarded to the several State disbursing officers for payment average 230 monthly, exclusive of subvouchers. The appropriations for the current fiscal year's work in cooperative surveys aggregate $217,800.

The expenditure of money from the reclamation fund (see pp. 91–93), also, has greatly increased the work and responsibility of this division. The first appropriation made for the work of the Survey, March 3, 1879, was $106,000. The amount appropriated for the current fiscal year's work (1903-4) is $1,377,820.

During the whole of the first fiscal year of the Survey only 726 money accounts were received, examined, paid, booked, and transmitted to the Treasury Department for settlement. The present fiscal year shows a monthly average of 1,800 accounts-not including subvouchers-examined, paid, and forwarded to the Treasury Department for settlement.

LIBRARY.

The establishment of a library as a part of the equipment of the Geological Survey was suggested in the organic law by the clause "all literary and cartographic material received in exchange [for publications] shall be the property of the United States and form a part of the library of the organization;" and it was further provided that special memoirs and reports should be issued in quarto size, and that 3,000 copies of each should be published for scientific exchanges and for sale.

Considerable time was required for the Survey to put into operation an exchange system-to prepare and publish reports and special

memoirs which could be offered to scientific men and institutions in exchange for material needed for the new library. As a nucleus, the late Maj. J. W. Powell deposited his private collection of State geological survey reports; some material was received from the Powell and Hayden surveys; current material was donated and purchased, and soon the library began to fulfill the objects for which it was established. The collection was arranged in a room in the northeast pavilion of the present United States National Museum building, where the Survey office was then located, and remained there until 1885, when the office was moved to its present location. As the collection increased the quarters were enlarged from time to time and new shelving was added. In 1901 a large part of the wooden shelves was replaced by metal stacks and shelves. At present there are 30 metal stacks, containing 4,800 linear feet of metal shelving; and two rooms are necessary for the maps that have accumulated. Besides the collection in the library proper, several thousand books and pamphlets relating to paleobotany, physics, and chemistry are deposited in the laboratories of these sections. The books are in constant use by the specialists who are employed in research in these branches of science, and their work is greatly facilitated by having them at hand.

The growth of the collection has been steady. About 1,300 periodicals and proceedings of scientific societies are received annually. There have been a few gifts, the most notable being that of about a thousand volumes of scientific serials, transactions of scientific societies, and monographs collected by the late Dr. F. V. Hayden while in charge of one of the earlier geologic and geographic surveys and presented to the Geological Survey by Mrs. Hayden after her husband's death; and that of 576 books and pamphlets, mostly on early American geology, presented in 1889 by Miss Frances Lea, of Philadelphia, after the death of her father, Dr. Isaac Lea. Several large purchases have been made. In 1882 there were bought from the geologic library of Mr. Robert Clarke, of Cincinnati, 1,885 volumes. This collection was especially rich in reports of early State surveys and Federal exploring expeditions. In 1888 the sale of the library of M. Jules Desnoyers, of Paris, afforded opportunity to purchase 700 books and 2,000 brochures, and in 1896 chemical dissertations to the number of 6,000 were bought.

For several years Congress has appropriated annually the sum of $2,000 for the purchase of periodicals and books. The main source, however, of the increase of the library has been exchange, by which are acquired the publications of almost every scientific institution, private and governmental, engaged in similar lines of research throughout the world, as well as those of authors publishing individually. The exchange list, which was established in 1883, has gradually increased. At first it was separated into two divisions one consisting of those to whom all Survey publications except maps were sent,

the other of those who received only the annual reports. It was soon found that by this plan many individuals and institutions were receiving Survey publications which were not used or permanently placed in their libraries, while others failed to receive those they most needed. To remedy this faulty distribution the following plan has been devised: Individuals and institutions whose work is so general that they need all Survey publications-libraries, publishers of periodicals, and scientific societies are placed on a list to receive all the publications except maps. To all geologists who need books of a special character the Survey sends, at intervals of about two months, a list of its new publications, and from these lists they select the publications they desire. By act of Congress copies of geologic and topographic maps may be sent in exchange to a limited number of individuals and institutions. This list has been complete for several years, the number allowed by law falling far short of the demand.

The distribution of the publications of the Geological Survey was conducted under the supervision of the librarian until 1893, when it was transferred to the newly established document division.

There are in the library about 50,000 bound volumes, 80,000 pamphlets, and 30,000 maps, besides many books that form parts of sets of periodicals and of proceedings of societies, museums, and congresses that have not been entered in the accession book. A rather large percentage of books received are unbound, and during the last few years the binding has not kept pace with the increase. An effort is being made to remedy this, and in 1903 there were bound 1,750 books, and in addition many pamphlets were furnished with board covers by the library assistants.

An author card catalogue has been in use since the establishment of the library. At first much of the cataloguing was done by untrained assistants and by methods essentially different from the accepted usage of the large libraries of the present day. This author catalogue is being replaced by a new catalogue of printed cards, procured from the Library of Congress and the John Crerar Library. A subject index on cards is in preparation and is being added to as fast as the books are catalogued. A shelf list of books in the library is also in preparation. In arranging books on shelves a subject classification is used. Serial publications are grouped together, the general arrangement being: First, official geological surveys; second, periodicals; third, proceedings and transactions of scientific societies; fourth, separate books and pamphlets, arranged according to subject-matter. In addition to library work proper, the work of preparing an annual bibliography and index of North American geology, paleontology, mineralogy, and petrology is done by the library force.

A librarian was first appointed in 1882. At that time he could perform all the duties connected with the office. With the increase of

the library, through publications of the Survey, purchases, donations, and exchanges, the working force has been increased until it now consists of 9 persons, including the librarian in charge.

Under the law the library is open from 9 a. m. until 4.30 p. m. During these hours it is in constant use by outside students as well as by members of the Survey. The latter are permitted, in addition, to draw from the library any books, except encyclopedias and dictionaries, that are needed by them in their investigations.

The work of the Geological Survey has a wide range in the domain of science and economics. It is recognized that the library should completely cover the field of geology in its broadest sense, including the practical, historical, and bibliographic ground. The endeavor is made to procure all publications needed for reference in geology, geography, engineering, statistics, chemistry, and physics, and for administrative purposes. This standard of completeness has not been reached, but it is believed that the library of the Geological Survey - approaches it more nearly than any other, except, perhaps, that of the Geological Society of London.

GEOLOGIC BRANCH.

The geologic branch is composed of four divisions: (1) Geology and paleontology; (2) Alaskan mineral resources; (3) mining and mineral resources; (4) chemical and physical researches.

DIVISION OF GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY.

Previous to the organization of the United States Geological Survey, in 1879, there had existed various organizations in which men had been trained and investigations started. The newly organized Survey inherited much unfinished work from these different surveys previously prosecuted under the auspices of the Government in the Western Territories. Since it seemed desirable to carry forward and complete these surveys as rapidly as possible, investigations were continued in the fields covered by them, and thus the early organization of the Survey was determined in part by antecedent geologic work. At the same time, however, demands for local economic investigations came from various portions of the country, and new investigations were consequently begun.

The history of the division of geology and paleontology may be divided into four periods: (1) From the organization of the Survey in 1879 to 1884, during which there was a process of differentiation of the various lines of work that were being carried on; (2) from 1884 to 1893, during which geologic work was organized under divisions based in part on the subject-matter under investigation, but largely on geographic provinces; (3) from 1893 to 1899, during which work