1906.] GEOLOGY IN RELATION TO WATER SUPPLY. 283 



The substance of the following paper was presented at the 

 annual mid-winter meeting of the Board of Agriculture, held 

 in Hartford December 14-16, 1904, but the Secretary was not 

 at liberty to publish the stenographer's report without revision 

 by the author, which serious illness prevented until too late 

 for insertion in report for that year. 



The importance and permanent value of the paper amply 

 justify its insertion here and the thanks of the Board are due 

 Prof. Gregory for revising the stenographer's notes for publi- 

 cation. 



THE GEOLOGY OF CONNECTICUT IN RELATION 

 TO ITS WATER SUPPLY. 



By Herbert E. Gregory. 



Professor of Geology in Yale University. 



Whatever may be said of man's intellectual and spiritual 

 endowments he is, nevertheless, an animal, and as an animal is 

 controlled by his geographic environment, and he must adjust 

 himself to temperature, rainfall, and other conditions of 

 climate, and is dependent upon the plant and animal life about 

 him, which in turn are dependent upon the soil, water, and 

 food supply. Man is not the swiftest animal, nor the keenest 

 scented, nor the keenest sighted. He is not the strongest ani- 

 mal nor the longest lived. He has won out in the struggle for 

 existence and has established his supremacy at the head of the 

 animal kingdom simply because he is better adjusted to his 

 environment. Man has been remarkably successful in modi- 

 fying and overcoming his natural environment, but evidently 

 within limits. He cannot prevent the lightning, nor make a 

 flood plain where lofty mountains now stand, nor can he change 

 a desert into a region of heavy rainfall. 



No factor has exerted such control over man's advance- 

 ment, civilization, and migration as the supply and character of 

 v/ater. The normal human adult consumes daily about 4^ 

 pounds of simple liquids, and when it is considered that this is 

 the chief part of his food supply, and at the same time, the 

 part which is most liable to contain harmful organisms, the 

 importance of water supply is readily seen. Furthermore, the 

 plants on which man depends for food supply require enormous 



