350 ANNUAL KEPOET SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1912. 



entirely divorced from industry it has drifted toward pure specula- 

 tion. The geologists of the past, like those of the present, received 

 much of their inspiration from the fact that they were adding to the 

 material v/elfare of mankind. Werner, Humboldt, Von Buch, De la 

 Beche were not only trained as mining engineers, but continued for 

 most of their careers to be intimately connected with the mining 

 industry. Desmarest devoted most of his life to promoting the indus- 

 trial advancement of France, William Smith was an engineer before 

 he was a geologist, and even Hutton knew from personal experience 

 the value of applying the sciences of agriculture and chemistry. On 

 this continent McCiure, Eaton, Rodgers, Owen, Leslie, Logan, Whitney, 

 Orton, Cook, Dawson, and lOng, with a host of others, were all identified 

 with the industrial application of then- scierice. The elder Silliman, 

 in an account of his own training in geology, said, ' ' I learned in the 

 mining districts liow and what to observe." The years that Dana 

 spent on explorations may be counted in the field of applied geology. 

 James Hall, for two generations the leader in American geology and 

 the founder of that organization which for three-quarters of a cen- 

 tury has preserved the highest scientific ideals, gained his early 

 inspiration in studying practical problems. An enumeration of the 

 leading geologists of the present generation will, I think, show that 

 the larger part have given much attention to the material application 

 of geology. 



The recent economic trend of geology is only a counterpart of 

 similar tendencies in most fields of scientific research. The intro- 

 duction of science into practical affairs is a feature of the present 

 age. It has come about not only because as the sciences progressed 

 their results were more directly applicable to material problems, but 

 more specially because of the gradually changing conditions through- 

 out the world. With a sparse population and abundance of natural 

 resources the need of applied science is never so evident as when 

 the lands become crowded and the more readily accessible resources 

 depleted. The people of a vii'gin land need pay small heed to ex- 

 haustion of soil or destruction of forests, and can carry on shallow 

 mining operations with little recourse to science or technology. It 

 is only when increasing population results in a demand for a greater 

 food supply and makes sanitation important, when the depletion of 

 timber becomes a factor in cost of structures, and the superficial 

 deposits can no longer yield sufficient minerals, that the need of 

 scientific knowledge becomes strongly emphasized. This stage has 

 been reached in most of the civilized countries of the world to a 

 greater or less extent, and the evils of relative overpopulation and 

 depletion of nature's wealth are resulting in an appeal to applied 

 science. China stands alone among the great nations of the world 

 in not utilizing scientific thought to better the conditions of her 



