XII 



CONTRIBUTIONS OF GEOLOGY 

 DOUGLAS W. JOHNSON 



TT was at dinner at the mess of General X. During a 

 * pause in the lively conversation carried on by the members 

 of his staff, I casually asked the General himself a question 

 which I had propounded many times before under similar 

 circumstances : 



" Have you found any practical use for geological informa- 

 tion or assistance in the course of your operations?" 



On previous occasions the answers had varied from an em- 

 phatic " yes," with concrete illustrations of the practical uses 

 made of the science in solving military problems, to an equally 

 emphatic " no," with reasons why geology could not be useful 

 in warfare. One general naively explained that trenches and 

 dugouts reached but a moderate depth below the surface, and 

 that as geology only dealt with deep-seated rocks it could of 

 course not come into play in military operations. 



This evening my host replied by telling the following story : 



" We had to establish a big aviation camp at Y, and I sent 

 an officer who is a trained geologist to report on the matter of 

 water supply. After a careful examination he reported that 

 for the number of men to be assigned to that camp, so many 

 wells must be dug to assure adequate quantities of water 

 throughout the entire year. This report was sent to the com- 

 manding officer of the camp for his information and appro- 

 priate action. It soon came back with the endorsement: 

 ' What is the use of digging wells in a country which is al- 

 ready saturated with water ? ' 



196 



