50 ILLINOIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



at home tried imsiiccessfiilly in 1917 to have teehincal 

 units organized for service at the front, and to introduce 

 certain kinds of instruction in the officers' training camps. 

 In 1918 these hopes were partly realized when a number of 

 geologists and geographers were commissioned in the war 

 college intelligence office, and the geological service with 

 General Pershing began to expand. Later, the educational 

 committee in charge of the S. A. T. C. courses planned to 

 require certain courses in map reading, map-making, and 

 military geology. For this purpose the Geology and 

 Geography Division of the National Research Council pre- 

 pared three textbooks covering military geology, meteor- 

 ology, and the geography of western Europe. 



Aside from these military efforts, the most active service 

 of American geologists during the war was in the develop- 

 ment of domestic mineral supplies for essential industries. 

 The average citizen was aware of the threatened shortage 

 of coal and of oil, but did not realize that we were de- 

 pendent on foreign imports for manganese, chromium, and 

 molybdenum for steel tempering; of pyrite and platinum 

 for making acids for explosives; of graphite and clay for 

 metallurgical crucibles and retorts ; of antimony for hard- 

 ening lead bullets ; of potash for fertilizers ; of optical glass 

 for instruments; and of numerous other minerals for 

 essential purposes. 



Geologists pointed out that the development of domestic 

 supplies of many of these minerals would lessen the danger 

 of submarine attacks on vital commerce, and would permit 

 the use of more ships for transfer of soldiers and munitions 

 to Europe. The search for domestic supplies and the 

 encouragement of production and use, was undertaken by 

 the U. S. Geological Survey, the Bureau of Mines, the 

 state geological surveys, and by mining engineers and 

 metallurgists. The results of the work were so successful 

 that many large ships were transferred to direct war serv- 

 ice, and many of the industries formerly dependent on im- 

 ported minerals were largely or wholly supplied from 

 home sources. Furthermore, to relieve railroad burdens, 

 many ordinary domestic minerals were located and de 

 veloped in new places close to market. 



Work of the kind just described was undertaken in Illi- 

 nois by the State Geological Survey in cooperation with 

 other state and federal agencies. Fluorite for optical use 



