PRESENT PROBLEMS OF GEOPHYSICS 521 



needful to undertake, without help, the investigation of geophysics 

 as a whole. Only a few of the topics touched upon in the earlier 

 pages of this essay are independent of cooperation; for instance, the 

 astronomical conditions favorable to glaciation, and perhaps the 

 application of the mathematics of capillarity to the problem of ero- 

 sion. On the other hand, the list of geophysical problems requiring 

 cooperation could be almost indefinitely extended even now, and will 

 be supplemented when the most pressing questions approach their 

 answers. 



Organization increases efficiency in scientific work as much as in 

 technical pursuits, though it has seldom been attempted. Instances 

 in point are the U. S. Geological Survey, the Reichsanstalt and 

 astronomical surveys of the sky. Geophysics, then, is too difficult a 

 subject to be dealt with excepting by a well-organized staff, working 

 on a definite plan resembling that indicated above. The tastes and 

 convenience of individuals must give way to the methodical advance- 

 ment of knowledge along such lines that the work of each investi- 

 gator shall be of the utmost assistance to the progress of the rest. 



Work in geophysics is already in progress in this country, thanks 

 to the appreciative sympathy of Director Walcott of the Geological 

 Survey, and the liberality of the Carnegie Institution, by members of 

 my staff and in part under my direction. Messrs. A. L. Day and E. T. 

 Allen have made an excellent series of determinations of the melting- 

 points of the triclinic feldspars and studied their other thermal 

 properties. They are now preparing to make experiments in aqueo- 

 igneous fusion. Mr. C. E. Van Orstrand has made a novel application 

 of the theory of functions to elastic problems, and has reduced 

 several series of important observations on elastic strains for com- 

 parison with theory. Dr. J. R. Benton is occupied in experimental 

 investigation of elastic strains in various substances. The men 

 engaged in these researches are able and devoted to their work, but 

 they are too few in number, and they are required to make deter- 

 minations of the most delicate character in an office-building stand- 

 ing in the busiest portion of Washington, where the walls are in 

 a state of incessant tremor, and where there is no suggestion of uni- 

 formity of temperature. Under such circumstances the results of 

 observation cannot be of the most refined character, and must be 

 obtained at great expense of time and effort. 



Most of the great physicists of the world have expressed their 

 interest in geophysics and their belief that the time is ripe for its 

 investigation. Geologists are eager for its results, but no govern- 

 ment can undertake investigations so remote from industry as this. 

 I do not think I can more fitly conclude this paper than by quoting 

 a resolution introduced by Mr. S. F. Emmons at Vienna a year ago. 

 It was passed by acclamation by the Geological Congress, after a 



