280 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1925 



been used only as a source of borax. Now the steam is bein<r tapped 

 by borinijfs adventurously carried out, and its chief heat is employed 

 in runnin«!: <rreat power stations, only the residual heat being <riven 

 up to the manufacture of borax. This may be but the befrinniuj; of 

 the application of a new and valuable source of power in which 

 the iiervices of jreolojry will be required and from which that science 

 stands to learn much. AVe are haunted by the fear that a limit 

 will be imposed by high temperature to deep mining, Avhile that very 

 heat may provide energy as valuable as the material which would 

 otherwise be mined; just as we dread the gas from certain coal 

 seams when the gas might, if it could be exploited, give a return 

 equivalent to that of the coal itself. 



AgHculture and Forestry. — Leaving aside relations already 

 touched upon, the connection of geology^ with agriculture and forestry 

 is through the medium of soils and subsoils, and, though tlie geolo- 

 gist seems unsuited to deal unaided with soils, his methods are those 

 wliich the soil investigator must use; and soil surveys are now 

 being carried out by agriculturists working in conjunction Avith 

 geologists. This results in giving new and valuable facts and infer- 

 ences for the benefit of both sciences. On the geological side it is 

 rendering more available the facts of plant distribution, and what 

 has been called agronomics, which, speaking for myself, I have 

 always found very hard to get hold of. On the other hand, the serv- 

 ices of geologists are likely to be of especial value in the matter of 

 tranported soils, loams, loess, l>rick earths, drifts, gravels, and the 

 like. Avhere the conditions of formation may in nuiny cases provide a 

 key to thrir peculiarities. The same considerations apply to forestry, 

 and here, in addition, well-established facts, such as the successive 

 forest types displayed in peat bogs, ma}' betray principles that will 

 be of service in practice. Questions of site, sewage-disposal, and 

 health are bound up with questions of water and agriculture and 

 need no further notice here. 



Military Science. — It will be readily admitted that geology has 

 been of consi)icuous service in connection with military operations in 

 such ways as the siting of camps, trenches, and dug-outs ; while the 

 minute study of the water table in northern France during the late 

 war was not only of value in obtaining water supplies but was of 

 conspicuous utility in mining and countermining, in which exact and 

 detailed knowledge was successfully pitted against a knowledge 

 which was "just there or thereabouts." 



The *' eye for a country," the visualizing of features plotted on 

 maps and making the utmost use of them, qualities on which good 

 strategy is founded, are the same qualities which are essential to 

 a competent geological surveyor; and I can not help thinking that 



