Geology and the War. 57 
The mountain passes of Galicia were the only practical ways into 
and out from the plains of Hungary on the east. The valley of the 
Danube was a most effectual barrier for Serbia until she was over- 
whelmed by the great armies of the Central Powers. The numerous 
mountain passes of the Balkan States, large and small, were alike help- 
ful and harmful in offensive and defensive warfare. 
The engineering feats of the Italian and Austrian troops as they 
fought in the high mountain barriers of their respective countries have 
won the admiration of the world. The wonderful bravery of these troops 
will ever be matters for historical comment like the defense of the im- 
mortal Greeks at the pass of Thermopylae. 
How different would the political and economic history of the whole 
of southern Europe have been had the area been a great plain like much 
of Russia instead of the series of almost impassable mountain ridges. 
It has been, it is now, and probably always will be mainly a geolog- 
ical question as to where many of the boundaries between countries will 
be located. It was thousands of centuries ago when the political history 
of Europe was largely determined. It was 
“When you were a tadpole and I was a fish” 
that the shores of the Paleozoic seas were very different from the present 
shore lines and thick sediments were deposited over the region that is 
now southern Evrope, and it was much later that these sea beds were 
elevated and eroded into the mountains of today. 
“The violation of Belgian neutrality was predetermined by events 
which took place in western Europe several million years ago. Long 
ages before man appeared on the world stage Nature was fashioning 
the scenery which was not merely to serve as a setting for the European 
drama but was, in fact, to guide the current of play into blackest 
tragedy. Had the land of Belgium been raised a few hundred feet 
higher above the sea, or had the rock layers of northeastern France not 
been given their uniform downward slope toward the west, Germany 
would not have been tempted to commit one of the most revolting crimes 
of history and Belgium would not have been crucified by her barbarous 
enemy.” * 
But what did the geologists do and what can geologists do in time 
of war? It is sure that, should there ever be another great war, the 
geologists would be a more important factor than ever before. They 
will be among the first of our scientists to be organized into an efficient 
working corps. 
The following is an abstract of an article from “Economic Geology,” 
July, 1918, entitled “The Geologist in War Times; the United States 
Geological Survey’s War Work,” by Philip S. Smith: 
1 Topography and Strategy in the War, Douglas Wilson Johnson. 
