FINAL ACT OF SECOND PAN AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS. 123 



neer unlocked and tapped great force-fountains that the world has not 

 had time to digest properly its uses or control the haste, greed, and waste 

 that has been brought in its train. 



Coming to the work of the Section, it is to be noted in the first place 

 that the subsection on mining and metallurgy considered only those 

 mining problems of direct importance to the development of the mineral 

 wealth and to the promotion of commeice between the American 

 Republics. The aims and purposes of this Section, as stated in the pre- 

 liminary program, were: 



(i) The assembling of laws governing titles to mineral lands or mineral 

 rights, or specifically applying to the operations of mines, quarries, oil 

 wells, and plants for treating minerals; (2) the discussion of the methods 

 of mining and treating ores and minerals of possible commercial impor- 

 tance, with a view to the devising of methods of greater economy and 

 efficiency or increased safety chemical processes to be considered by the 

 conference on applied chemistry at joint sessions; (3) showing the items of 

 cost, including mining, treatment, and transportation, that determine the 

 price at which a raw material or mineral product can be profitably sold 

 at a shipping port or point of export, and the possible means by which costs 

 of production can be lessened and the development of mineral resources 

 thereby increased; (4) the development of increased efficiency in the pur- 

 chase of minerals and mineral products, through the use of uniform tests 

 and specifications, and the promotion of economy and efficiency in the 

 utilization of mineral products through the use of improved methods and 

 apparatus, it being recognized that this purpose will also be within the 

 province of the conferences on applied chemistry and of mechanical 

 engineering. 



The program of the subsection, as actually carried out, has already 

 been given in the preamble to the Final Act, and the topics treated, the 

 papers presented, and the specialists who took part, are shown in the 

 detailed program appended to the Final Act, from an inspection of 

 which an idea can be had of the value and of the importance to the 

 Americas of the proceedings in this subsection of the Congress. 



In the subsection on economic geology and mineral resources of the 

 American Republics, the contributions and discussions were largely 

 regional rather than local in interest. They describe in detail the area, 

 distribution, and mode of occurrences of deposits of iron, coal, petroleum, 

 potash and niter, gold, silver, tin, vanadium, sulphur, lead, etc. 



The underlying thought of this subsection and the method devised to 

 make its deliberations of value to the Americas are thus stated in the 

 Preliminary Program: 



Contributions on Economic Geology and Mineral Resources should be 

 regional rather than local in interest; should describe and map the dis- 

 tribution, area, and mode of occurrence (economic geology) of the par- 

 ticular kinds of deposits, such as iron, coal, petroleum, copper, potash, and 



