48 brooks: applied geology 



cial exploitation of natural resources under the cloak of geology 

 is not to be confounded with geologic research, which has for its 

 aims the application of scientific principles to the needs of man. 



The geologist who is studying the resources of the public domain 

 to the end that a sound policy may be adopted for their utiliza- 

 tion, or he who is gaging the exhaustion of our mineral wealth by 

 studying statistics of production, is doing his share of scientific 

 work no less than he who is engaged in the more pleasing task of 

 evolving new geologic principles. The masters of the science have 

 not hesitated to turn their attention to economic problems. 

 Clarence King deserves no less credit for his aid in opening up the 

 west by economic investigations than for his contributions to 

 knowledge on the age of the earth. We think of Major Powell 

 as one of the founders of physiographic geology, but his memory 

 will live rather for employing science to make available the latent 

 fertility of the arid regions of the West. Surely no one will charge 

 King or Powell with commercializing their science. 



As I see it, there lies no danger in the present trend toward 

 applied geology, provided our applied geology rests on a broad 

 basis of scientific research. If the spring of pure science is cut 

 off, the stream of applied geology must soon run dry. There is 

 no field of pure geology which will not yield results applicable to 

 questions of material welfare. On the other hand, any given 

 investigation in applied geology may lead to problems of paleon- 

 tology, petrography, geophysics, or other branches of pure science. 

 In view of the pressing demand for results, we are justified in 

 giving precedence to those fields of investigation which promise 

 the earliest returns of material value. There is, however, grave 

 danger that, carried away by the present furor for practical re- 

 sults, we may lose sight of our scientific ideals. Applied geology 

 can only maintain its present high position of usefulness by con- 

 tinuing the researches which advance the knowledge of basic 

 principles. Future progress in applied geology depends on pro- 

 gress in pure geology. 



