DO WE TEACH GEOLOGY? ^^ 



DO WE TEACH GEOLOGY? 



By EOBEET T. HILL. 



n^HE late Prof. Alexander Winchell, who did so mucli to 

 J- popularize geology in this country, asked, " Shall we teach 

 geology ? " and our educational institutions have answered the 

 question in the affirmative by expending liberal sums for the en- 

 dowment of chairs in schools and colleges. The question now is, 

 not shall we teach, but do we teach geology ? 



No modern science has been so vaguely understood and so in- 

 definitely represented as that of geology. Our text-books, as a 

 rule, are from fifteen to twenty years behind in the presentation 

 of the vast results of the army of investigators in the field ; and 

 even among the working geologists there are wide differences in 

 regard to fundamental definitions and theories. This great study, 

 which has done so much for the advancement of knowledge and' 

 for industry, is still in a chaotic condition ; and even its element- 

 ary definitions, as given in our text-books, are confiicting. 



In the popular mind, in consequence of the mighty throes into 

 which^ geological interpretation precipitated religious thought, 

 the science is usually considered an irreligious inquiry into the 

 history of the earth, or a useless study of curious fossils and 

 pretty minerals To the practical investigator and student, how- 

 ever, geology has but one meaning, and that is, the science which 

 treats of the structure of the earth and its changes. 



A glance at the curricula of our universities will show that 

 few of them teach the subject on this basis ; they deal with the 

 science either in the old-fashioned historical way, or devote their 

 energies to some narrow branch— for example, paleontology, mi- 

 croscopic petrography, or economic mineralogy. 

 ^ Geology can in many ways be compared with architecture 

 inasmuch as it is a scientific art, requiring a knowledge of many 

 special arts and sciences. The architect must have a knowledge 

 of mensuration, carpentry, masonry, materials, chemistry, physics 

 decoration, and other specialties pertaining to house-buildino-' 

 Likewise the geologist or student of earth-structure must have a 

 knowledge of chemistry, physics, biology, mineralogy, mensura- 

 tion, and all the sciences which are useful in interpreting this 

 structure. Although we would never mistake a house-painter 

 for an architect, we are overwhelmed by paleontologists, micros- 

 copists, and theologians who assume the title of geologists, and 

 teach their narrow specialties under the broader name. An' eth- 

 nologist who studies primitive dwellings is not an architect, yet 

 how many astronomical data concerning pre-nebular hypotheses 



TOL. XL. — 4 



