364 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1892. 



In short, it is essential that the public should be furnished with the 

 same means of judging of the significance of all the facts and condi- 

 tions that may be reported by an original, or any other, observer that 

 they have themselves employed. It is largely with reference to the 

 collection and conservation of the kinds of evidence referred to that 

 the claims of biological geology are here presented. 



In considering the claims of science upon the individual it is desir- 

 able to make some reference to the amateur as well as to the special 

 investigator. This recognition of nonprofessional work is desirable 

 because the general subject of geology has acquired such a hold upon 

 the popular mind and the opportunities for making observations with 

 relation to it are everywhere so common that in every civili7A*d coun- 

 try there is a multitude of persons who are in the habit of making more 

 or less critical observations. Notwithstanding the usually limited and 

 desultory character 'of such observations, they have often contributed 

 materially to the general fund of geological knowledge, especially when 

 accompanied by a faithful record and preservation of evidence. Indeed 

 some of the most valuable facts in geology have been brought out by 

 amateur observers, who themselves were hardly conscious that they had 

 made their way alone to the frontier of acquired knowledge; and from 

 the ranks of such observers have arisen many of the leaders in geologi- 

 cal investigation. 



Although only a small proportion of amateur observers can hope to 

 accomplish so much as this, it is proper to assume that a very large pro- 

 portion of them desire to contribute all they can to the advancement 

 of science. These will therefore be included with other individual in- 

 vestigators in presenting the claims of science upon them, but for 

 obvious reasons no reference need be made to those whose attention is 

 directed to geology by mere curiosity or the desire for pecuniary gain. 

 In the following remarks concerning the claims of science upon the in- 

 dividual the amateur will readily perceive what portions of them are 

 applicable to himself. 



It has been shown in the preceding essays that systematic geology 

 could have no existence without the use of fossil remains, and also that 

 without their use structural geology would be reduced to mere local 

 and disconnected studies. It has also been shown that to arrive at a 

 just estimate of the value of fossil remains in these branches of geology 

 they must be thoroughly and systematically studied as representatives 

 of faunas and floras as well as tokens of the formations in which they 

 are found. The proper collection and preservation of fossil remains is 

 therefore a subject of the greatest importance. In view of these facts 

 it is the plain duty of every geologist upon beginning a piece of held 

 work in structural geology to accompany every step of his examina- 

 tion of the strata by as full a collection as possible of the contained 

 fossils and to preserve them, together with notes recording the results 

 of his observations and a statement of all the facts relevant thereto. 



