brooks: applied geology 45 



of secondary enrichment, are among the triumphs of applied 

 geology. 



Moreover, the field is being extended. In Germany the work 

 of the geologist is regarded almost as essential to railway or canal 

 location as that of the engineer — a lesson we have only recently 

 learned at Panama. The investigations of soils is now a distinct 

 science, based largely on applied geology. Questions of public 

 health, such as purity of water and sanitation problems, also in 

 part fall in the domain of the geologist. 



A significant phase of the new epoch in applied geology is its 

 contributions to political economy. A striking example of this 

 is the geologic survey of Korea, executed by the Japanese during 

 their war with Russia. It need hardly be said that this was not 

 made for the purpose of advancing geologic knowledge, but solely 

 to gain a scientific valuation of the land which was costing so 

 much blood and treasure. Though the present status of the 

 science does not permit of a quantitative determination of re- 

 sources which is more than approximate, yet the fact that geolo- 

 gists are being called upon by political economists for assistance 

 indicates how fundamentally the science affects the welfare of the 

 nation. 



This historical survey of applied geology, in which special em- 

 phasis has been laid on its progress in this country, seems to point 

 to several conclusions. First, that much of the modern science 

 of geology originated in the field of applied science. It was the 

 striving of mankind to solve problems of material welfare that 

 gave the first impulse to geologic thought. Second, that, as a 

 rule, the science has made most rapid strides at those times when 

 its study was inspired by a desire to achieve some practical end. 

 Whenever geology has become entirely divorced from industry, it 

 has drifted towards pure speculation. The geologists of the past, 

 like those of the present, received much of their inspiration from 

 the fact that they were adding to the material welfare of mankind. 

 Werner, Humboldt, von Buch, de la Beche, were not only trained 

 as mining engineers, but continued for most of their careers to be 

 intimately connected with the mining industry. William Smith 

 was an engineer before he was a geologist, and even Hutton knew 



