brooks: applied geology 43 



maps were compared with the present standards of refinement, 

 they represent the earliest general attempt in this country to 

 apply engineering methods to geologic problems. It was very 

 unfortunate that this first epoch of engineering geology, as it 

 might be called, was so soon interrupted and the work practically 

 discontinued for over a decade. The people were, in fact, hardly 

 educated up to an appreciation of its value; moreover, the natural 

 resources that could be readily exploited without the aid of sci- 

 ence were so extensive that the time was hardly ripe to make full 

 use of this new geology. 



We have seen that the period following the civil war was espe- 

 cially favorable to the development of applied geology. The same 

 is true of pure science. This, in fact, has been the history of 

 geology in this country — advances in pure science were always 

 in more or less direct proportion to advances made in the applied 

 science. 



It has been shown that, in the early history of the nation, the 

 genius of the American people was essentially scientific. A deep 

 interest was felt both in the facts and deductions of science, and 

 in the affairs of life deference was paid to the opinion of the inves- 

 tigator. Unfortunately, for reasons which are difficult to fathom, 

 this scientific attitude gradually declined. At the beginning of 

 our national existence we were in close contact with the intel- 

 lectual life of Europe, which was then essentially scientific. This 

 gave us our first intellectual stimulus and led us to do our full 

 share of the work of advancing both pure and applied science. 

 Then came an interim between the time when we forsook the intel- 

 lectual standards of the old world and before we fully established 

 those of our own. Meanwhile, the opening of a continent, with 

 its unbounded resources, was calculated to bring out the char- 

 acteristic efficiency and self-reliance of the average American. 

 Then gradually developed what may be called the era of the 

 "practical man" — an era characterized essentially by unscientific 

 thought among the mass of the people. The " practical man" 

 now became a national fetish, and the people, overlooking the 

 fact that his success was due to energy and opportunity, attrib- 

 uted it rather to the absence of technical and scientific knowledge. 



