rR!':sinKNTIAF. ADDRRSS — SliCTION H. 2T 



the institution of a Geological Survey in that territory, I found 

 the want of geological information and guidance, such a.^ could 

 be properly given only by a systematic survey, everywhere ex- 

 pre'^sed among mining men, and it was doubtless largelv a^ a 

 result of this widespread feeling, that the present Survey was 

 established. It might be thought that for the solution of all the 

 geological problems, having a direct practical bearing, presented 

 by any ore-deposit, a short visit by a geologist to the property 

 would be sufificient ; but this is far from being the case. For the 

 proper understanding of the features in the immediate vicinity of 

 the mine, a knowledge of the structure of wide stretches of the 

 surrounding country is often necessarv. and no one is more 

 grateful than the consulting geologist for reliable geological 

 mapping. 



A great part of the literature on ore deposits consists of 

 papers bv different observers on isolated occurrences. The mere 

 fact that thev are the result of the examination of isolated occur- 

 rences takes away from their value. I might add that, as far as 

 my observation goes, in no section of geological literature is there 

 so much unreliable matter as in that on ore-deposits. This is due 

 partly to the insufficient data presented by most mines at any 

 particular stage of development, and partly to the fact that it is 

 not generally recognised how much detailed and laborious w'ork 

 is usuallv necessary to avoid the possibility of a total misconcep- 

 tion of the nature of an ore-deposit. It i'^ no uncommon thinq 

 to find the results of macroscopic examination largely refuted by 

 a further microscopic study. All of these considerations add to 

 the value of careful and co-ordinated work like that contained in 

 the Transvaal Survey Memoir on the Waterberg Tin-fields. In 

 the first place it is an account, not of an isolated tin-deposit, but 

 of the deposits of a large district, all of them genetically con- 

 nected, and capable of throwing light one on another. It is 

 written by highly trained and experienced men, conscious from 

 their position of their responsiblities, and wnth all the re'^ources 

 of an organised survev behind them. Again, the work is sub- 

 ject to revision and enlargement bv the same observers from time 

 to time as the data revealed by further development render ii: 

 necessary. 



T need hardlv add that there are other ways in which the 

 work of a geological survey amplv repays the cost of mainten- 

 ance, and, besides, putting aside all considerations of cash-value, 

 we must, if we are to maintain our dignity as a civilised and 

 intellectual community, take our place beside the rest of the 

 world in supporting science for its own sake, and for all the 

 indirect or unforeseen benefits which follow surely in the train of 

 increased knowledge. 



I remarked earlier that we were approaching the humdrum 

 period of geology, but I did not mean to imply that there was 

 any likelihood of our exhausting the problems presented 



