APPLIED GEOLOGY — BROOKS. 335 



practical and developed a high degree of skill in certain branches 

 of engineermg. Undoubtedly the Egyptian engineers paid some 

 heed to the distribution of building stones as. well as to methods 

 of quarrying, while among other peoples who excelled in metal mming 

 it is presumed there were engineers who specialized in mining matters, 

 as do their successors of to-day. 



It is far easier to speculate on the laiowledge the ancients may 

 have had of some of the principles of applied geology than to trace 

 the actual extent of this knowledge. Ancient Hebrew literature 

 abounds in references to the metals and their utilization, but fur- 

 nishes little clue as to what was known of them. The same is true of 

 the records of ancient Egypt, in which both placer and lode gold are 

 mentioned. One document that has come down to us shows that 

 location of mineral wealth was considered worthy of note. An 

 ancient papyrus, dating about 1350 B. C, displays a crude map for 

 the purpose of locating Nubian gold mines. It is one of the oldest 

 maps in existence and the first which can be said to impart geologic 

 information. The oldest written record of geology or allied subjects 

 is Theophrastus's descriptions of metals, stones, and earths, dating 

 back to 315 B. C. Plmy's work of four centuries later seems to have 

 been the first attempt at a complete treatise on minerals of economic 

 importance, but he was more concerned m the utilization of the 

 metals than in their mode oi occurrence. Other of the ancient 

 writers, notably Aristotle, touched on geologic subjects, but rather 

 from the standpoint of speculative pliilosophy than of interest in 

 material problems. Some of the early geographers and historians, 

 like Strabo and Herodotus, discussed the geographical distribution 

 or the exploitation of metals. Another field of applied geology 

 is found in treatises on agriculture containing references to character 

 and distribution of soils. Even Virgil in his Bucolics attempts a 

 practical classification of soils. As tliis dwells on the physical rather 

 than the chemical properties of soil, it would seem to have at least 

 the merit of being in accord with some of the latest scientific maxims. 



I have dealt with this subject as if the nations of Europe and 

 western Asia had alone made advances in teclmology. Mining and 

 metallurgy, even in very early tunes, were important mdustries in 

 both India and China, and it is not unlikely that there may be in 

 those countries a literature of practical geology which antedates our 

 own. 



The meager records of the early period of mining give no clue to 

 the laiowledge of applied geology held by the ancients. But that 

 they were not entirely ignorant of its prmciples is to be presumed 

 from the importance of the minhig mdustry, and the absence of 

 written records does not argue against this theory. The same is true 



