﻿344 
  JOURNAL 
  OF 
  THE 
  WASHINGTON 
  ACADEMY 
  OF 
  SCIENCES 
  VOL- 
  12, 
  NO. 
  15 
  

  

  produced 
  rather 
  by 
  engineers 
  than 
  by 
  geologists, 
  the 
  science 
  of 
  the 
  

   Earth 
  has 
  yielded 
  no 
  Herschel, 
  Huggins, 
  or 
  Hale, 
  intent 
  on 
  improving 
  

   the 
  tools 
  of 
  the 
  workman. 
  Sorby's 
  work 
  on 
  the 
  petrographic 
  micro- 
  

   scope 
  was 
  good, 
  but 
  that 
  was 
  mineralogy, 
  not 
  measurement 
  of 
  the 
  

   Earth. 
  The 
  hammer 
  and 
  compass 
  still 
  suffice 
  for 
  the 
  geologist, 
  and 
  

   he 
  borrows 
  an 
  aneroid 
  or 
  a 
  transit 
  from 
  the 
  engineer. 
  No 
  elaborate 
  

   fluviometer 
  costing 
  hundreds 
  of 
  thousands 
  of 
  dollars 
  stands 
  on 
  the 
  

   banks 
  of 
  the 
  Mississippi 
  or 
  the 
  Ganges, 
  comparable 
  to 
  the 
  improved 
  

   speculum 
  of 
  the 
  star 
  gazer. 
  No 
  mighty 
  oceanometer 
  has 
  been 
  in- 
  

   vented 
  for 
  penetrating 
  the 
  deeps 
  of 
  the 
  sea 
  — 
  unless 
  it 
  is 
  the 
  submarine, 
  

   not 
  yet 
  available 
  for 
  the 
  geologist. 
  And 
  no 
  great 
  Alpine 
  observatory 
  

   exists, 
  with 
  a 
  staff 
  of 
  forty 
  trained 
  physicists 
  and 
  computers, 
  and 
  

   instruments 
  which 
  look 
  inward 
  at 
  the 
  core 
  of 
  the 
  Himalaya 
  and 
  in- 
  

   terpret 
  every 
  movement 
  of 
  uplift 
  and 
  erosion 
  in 
  terms 
  of 
  physical 
  

   process 
  and 
  progress. 
  Is 
  this 
  because 
  the 
  living 
  Earth 
  is 
  less 
  impor- 
  

   tant 
  to 
  mankind 
  than 
  the 
  number 
  of 
  units 
  in 
  a 
  star-cluster 
  or 
  the 
  diame- 
  

   ter 
  of 
  a 
  heavenly 
  body? 
  And 
  yet 
  nowhere 
  on 
  Earth, 
  so 
  far 
  as 
  known 
  

   to 
  the 
  writer, 
  is 
  there 
  a 
  skilled 
  geophysicist 
  and 
  inventor 
  giving 
  his 
  

   whole 
  life 
  to 
  an 
  observatory 
  devoted 
  to 
  measurement 
  of 
  change 
  in 
  

   a 
  river 
  system 
  or 
  a 
  mountain 
  range. 
  

  

  The 
  perpetual 
  measurement 
  and 
  record 
  of 
  these 
  changes 
  and 
  their 
  

   minutiae 
  will 
  not 
  be 
  done 
  "somehow" 
  or 
  "anyway," 
  and 
  the 
  results 
  

   be 
  stored 
  in 
  the 
  libraries. 
  It 
  will 
  not 
  be 
  done 
  by 
  travellers. 
  It 
  will 
  

   not 
  be 
  done 
  by 
  teachers 
  of 
  school 
  geography. 
  It 
  is 
  not 
  being 
  done 
  

   by 
  engineers 
  and 
  governments 
  and 
  geological 
  surveys. 
  Little 
  quali- 
  

   tative 
  dabs 
  are 
  being 
  done 
  here 
  and 
  there 
  but 
  not 
  quantitative 
  records 
  

   that 
  will 
  show 
  cycles 
  and 
  crises, 
  that 
  may 
  be 
  platted 
  as 
  curves 
  of 
  

   change, 
  that 
  will 
  create 
  formulas 
  useful 
  in 
  the 
  discovery 
  of 
  the 
  indices 
  

   or 
  coefficients 
  of 
  process 
  for 
  different 
  places 
  and 
  climates. 
  

  

  The 
  writer, 
  from 
  his 
  experience 
  of 
  a 
  decade 
  of 
  recording 
  on 
  an 
  active 
  

   volcano, 
  is 
  convinced 
  that 
  all 
  that 
  he 
  learned 
  in 
  seven 
  volcano 
  expedi- 
  

   tions 
  to 
  distant 
  lands 
  was 
  as 
  nothing 
  compared 
  with 
  a 
  few 
  years 
  in 
  

   a 
  fixed 
  experiment 
  station. 
  He 
  never 
  had 
  the 
  slightest 
  suspicion, 
  

   from 
  the 
  travellers' 
  accounts, 
  of 
  the 
  number 
  of 
  changes 
  which 
  occur 
  

   in 
  a 
  short 
  time. 
  Processes 
  of 
  which 
  he 
  never 
  dreamed 
  are 
  dominant. 
  

   Physical 
  statements 
  by 
  reputable 
  persons 
  are 
  proved 
  wholly 
  erro- 
  

   neous. 
  Dimensions, 
  even 
  when 
  estimated 
  by 
  engineers, 
  are 
  exag- 
  

   gerated. 
  Interest 
  never 
  flags. 
  Measurement 
  of 
  change 
  becomes 
  

   increasingly 
  precise 
  and 
  the 
  charts 
  become 
  increasingly 
  illuminating. 
  

   New 
  problems 
  open 
  out 
  endlessly 
  and 
  new 
  experiments 
  are 
  suggested. 
  

  

  