THE EFFECT OF THE WAR 225 



That there should be a national exploration of 

 our remaining mineral-resources is the firm con- 

 viction of many. With regard to this question, as 

 well as with respect to that of the registration of 

 bore-holes and other excavations, we cannot do 

 better than quote a past president of the Geological 

 Society who said that " Unless something of this 

 sort is done, and done in a systematic and masterful 

 manner, we run a great risk of frittering away the 

 most important of our national resources left to us, 

 of destroying confidence, of wasting time and money 

 at a most precious and critical period of our history, 

 and of slipping down hill at a time when our 

 equipment and resources are ready to enable us to 

 stride forward." If these remarks were a fair state- 

 ment of the case in times of peace, how much more 

 forceful they appear to-day. 



The effect of the War. 



One of the results of the great struggle in which 

 we are engaged has been to produce a keener 

 appreciation of the debt that the Country owes to 

 the prosecution of pure science, to work undertaken 

 in most cases with no thought of reward other than 

 the feeling of satisfaction which arises from the 

 knowledge that an advance has been made, and 

 that the world may benefit thereby. In the case 

 of geology, perhaps more than most of the other 

 natural sciences, the general public has failed to 



S. S. N. 



