278 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1025 



the coach roads were, perhaps, too sensitive to the psyeholog}' of 

 their horses and the limitations of their vehicles, and their roads are 

 not ideal for present-day traffic. Some compromise seems to be 

 required between the two methods, and not the method of the 

 Romans tempered by the cuttin«ijs and tunnels of the raihvay engi- 

 neer. Now that we have a vehicle that rejoices in a hill, whether 

 lor or against it, and for the first time have a means for hill climbing 

 at speed, it is a pity to flatten down gradients too much ; and though 

 it is legitimate and even necessary to remove dangerous crossings and 

 curves, it should be remembered that an everlasting straight vista 

 is as exasperating to a driver as it is heartbreaking to a horse. And 

 if roads of this most desirable type are to be satisfactorily and 

 cheaply maintained, it will be more than ever necessary to study 

 routes in relation to tho rocks that are traversed and the water 

 contained in them. 



Something of what has been said with reference to roads applies 

 with equal force to other engineering undertakings, railwaj^s, and 

 canals, harbor-works, bridges, and large and heavy buildings, par- 

 ticularly those intended to stand for centuries. The general success 

 of such works is ample testimony to the Iniowledge and skill ex- 

 pended upon them by engineers and architects, as well as to the 

 elastic toleration of sites so heavily taxed; and one is tempted to 

 believe that a much larger amount of stud}^ has been given to 

 geological questions in these cases than is usually admitted. 



Wafer. — Of all engineering questions, that most closely involved 

 with geological science is probablj^ Avatcr supply. So far as under- 

 ground Avater is concerned, geologists and engineers working to- 

 gether have amassed a A^olume of fact and principle which has not 

 yet been completelj" codified and rendered accessible. An unex- 

 pectedly large proportion of the available rainfall has in many 

 instances been obtained by successful drilling, in spite of the com- 

 plication of the question hj surface pollution, and in the face of 

 many legal inanities and much charlatanry. And the extension of 

 these methods to arid regions, as in Australia and north Africa, has 

 brought under cultivation large areas Avhich needed nothing but the 

 " striking of the rock b}^ the rod '■ of the driller to make new oases 

 in the desert, and thus render available some of the richest soils in 

 the world. 



Much the same is true of overground supplies, which have been 

 a blessing not merely to the towns and lands supplied, but to the 

 rivers and drainage basins regularized and protected in large 

 measure from ever-recurrent floods and the damage consequent upon 

 them. Although in such works geological conditions are often taken 



