254 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 39 



in its production. There is, indeed, no such thing as "useless knowl- 

 edge" ; for knowledge is a tool ready to the craftsman's hand, always 

 effective if skillfully used. 



In addition to, and transcending, the material contribution of 

 geological science to civilization, is the esthetic influence of the study ; 

 for geology is a stimulant to the imagination. Without intelligence 

 man is but an unsatisfactory animal; intelligent but unimaginative 

 he is a dangerous nuisance; imaginative and unintelligent he is futile; 

 but with imagination controlled by intelligence he is truly human. 

 The glories of nature, whether expressed in a landscape or a sand 

 grain, are wasted on a mind that fails to respond with intelligent 

 curiosity. There is better and more inspiring entertainment to be 

 derived from the works of nature than was ever provided by the 

 art of man. Boredom and disillusionment, those ravaging diseases 

 that kill body and mind, can never approach a man trained to appre- 

 ciate his environment. No very profound geological knowledge is 

 needed to transform a country walk from mere exercise of the legs 

 into an adventure of the mind. Everywhere in this world is a happy 

 hunting ground for a geologist. The average expectation of life 

 among geologists is such that it has fostered the superstition that 

 geology, like bowls, is a pastime of senility ; it is due to the perpetual 

 interest that keeps life worth living. 



My purpose tonight, however, is neither to extol the study of geology 

 as a gateway to long and happy life, nor as the basic factor in the 

 material aspect of modem civilization. I wish to direct your thoughts 

 rather to the reaction on our philosophy of life of such geological 

 facts as can be claimed to be established. Man's place in nature, his 

 whereabouts in time and space, is, and has always been, his funda- 

 mental problem. Early and medieval attempts to solve that problem 

 were foredoomed to failure, for next to nothing was known of nature, 

 and philosophical speculation savored of vacuous bombination. We 

 still know very little about the material universe, but we do know 

 something; and our few established data afford a solid basis for the- 

 oretical deductions that are as worthy of serious consideration as 

 some of the older speculations are of ridicule. 



Most psychologists, and all parents, will agree that a young child, 

 as soon as he acquires independent consciousness, is in his own esti- 

 mation the center of the universe. All phenomena that he experiences 

 are aimed, benevolently or maliciously, at him and at him only. He 

 is, in his own conceit, the only pebble on the beach. Experience and 

 training will in time tend to modify this attitude; and indeed, if and 

 when wisdom comes, egotism will be banished. But knowledge is 

 usually in advance of wisdom, and there is often a regrettable stage 

 in childish development when budding knowledge is mistaken for 



