I06 RANSOME: NATIONAI^ GEOIyOGICAI, SURVEY 



in soil mapping, I wish to point out merely that this work, if 

 its results justify its performance by the government, and if the 

 classification adopted is based on chemical, physical and min- 

 eralogical character rather than on crop adaptability, is properly 

 a function of the national geological survey. 



SEISMOLOGY 



Another subject that is comparatively neglected by national 

 geological surveys is seismology. It can scarcely be asserted 

 that earthquakes have no economic bearing and conspicuous 

 or destructive examples usually receive some official attention 

 — after the event. The comparative neglect of systematic study 

 of earthquakes is probably due to a number of causes. One of 

 these is that few geologists specialize in seismology — a science 

 in which little progress can be made unless the investigator 

 possesses unusual qualifications in mathematics and physics. 

 Another reason probably is that to most men the difficulties 

 in the way of gaining real knowledge of the causes of earth- 

 quakes and especially of predicting with any certainty the time, 

 place, intensity and effects of earthquakes appear rather ap- 

 palling. Finally, earthquake prediction or even the recognition 

 of the possibility of future earthquakes in a particular part of 

 the country is Hkely to have consequences decidedly unpleasant 

 to those responsible for the prediction. Experience in Cali- 

 fornia has shown that a community still staggering from a violent 

 shaking may insist with some acerbity that nothing of any con- 

 sequence has happened and that it never felt better in its life. 



Notwithstanding these difficulties, I believe that a national 

 geological surv'ey, in a country where serious earthquakes have 

 taken place and may occur again, should consider the collection 

 and interpretation of seismological data as part of its duty. 

 Such work is regional in scope and cannot be carried far by 

 local initiative and by individual investigators on their own 

 resources. In spite of difficulties I believe that it is within the 

 range of possibility that some day we shall be able to predict 

 earthquakes with sufficient reliabiUty to give the prediction 

 practical utility. 



