APPLIED GEOLOGY BROOKS. 343 



Another example of this interest is found in the course of lectures on 

 natural history which, according to Dr. ^Terrill, wore delivered before 

 the New York State Legislature by Amos Eaton in 1818. This is 

 probably the only instance in our history where a body of law makers 

 have welcomed serious instruction in scientific matters. 



Most of the collegiate instruction and the scientific societies had for 

 their purpose the promoting of knowledge in pure rather than applied 

 geology, but it was in the latter that geology really had the support 

 of the American people. One far-reaching influence on the develop- 

 ment of applied geology in the early part of the last century was the 

 scarcity of mining engineers or experienced operators, while the voca- 

 tion of prospecting was almost nonexistent. Our mining industry 

 was in the early stages and there were almost no engineers and but 

 few so-called practical men to v/hom the people could turn for informa- 

 tion. In European countries, on the other hand, centuries of mining 

 had developed a class of professional men other than geologists who 

 were considered authorities on mineral wealth. But in our own 

 country it was the scientist rather than the engineer or the practical 

 mmer who was called upon for information. This not onl}^ led to the 

 utilization of science in the preliminary work of seeking mineral 

 deposits, but also had the effect of forcing the scientists to give their 

 investigations a practical turn. 



Either from choice or necessity, the early American geologists, 

 like their successors of to-day, always emphasized in their work the 

 needs of the community. McClure devoted much of the brief text 

 which accompanied his geologic map of the eastern United States to 

 the relation of geology to agriculture, Eaton's first work bore on 

 the resources of the region adjacent to the Erie Canal. Rodgers 

 elucidated the structure of the coal fields, while Jackson attempted 

 a classification of the public lands of the State of Maine. 



I venture the opinion that one reason why the mvestigators of 

 this continent have accomplished so much for the advancement of 

 geology is that their research has never been entirely divorced from 

 the field of applied science. We have had no distinct schools of pure 

 and applied geology, as there were until recently m other lands. In 

 Europe there was the practical school of the mmer, whoso scientific 

 conception seldom reached beyond his immediate environment; and 

 there was the school of the scholar, whose angle of vision was apt to 

 be too wide to focus on facts near at hand. There were, indeed, 

 some exceptions, for the scholar Agricola learned from the miner; 

 Werner's teaching was, in theory at least, an application of geology 

 to the mineral industry; and WUliam Smith used his knowledge of 

 stratigraphy in the practice of his engineering profession. Even in 

 Europe the distinction between the work of these two schools has now 

 almost disappeared. 



