THE PROBLEMS OF GEOLOGY 539 



of geology, but it is impracticable, within the limits of this paper, 

 even to list the problems demanding solution. As evidence of the 

 correctness of this statement it may be noted that a subcommittee 

 of the Carnegie Institution stated scores of problems upon the inves- 

 tigation of rocks, the statement of which, limited to the briefest 

 possible terms, occupies a number of printed pages. 1 



Illustrations of Treatment of Geological Problems from the point of 

 view of Energy, Agent, and Process 



While it is not practicable to discuss, or even to list, the particular 

 problems of geology, it is possible to mention illustrations of the sys- 

 tematization and simplification of the science by the treatment of 

 processes in terms of energy and agent. These I shall take from my 

 own publications, for the reason that I can more easily give them than 

 any others. My chief subjects of study have been (1) the gross and 

 minor deformations of the lithosphere, and (2) the interior trans- 

 formations of the rocks, or metamorphism. When I began the study 

 of the first of these subjects, I found a heterogeneous mass of facts 

 in reference to the deformation of many regions, with various guesses 

 as to how the results came about, but with no consistent attempt to 

 reduce the many observed phenomena to order under the principles 

 of physics and chemistry. The subject of metamorphism was in an 

 even worse condition. The work upon this subject was of the most 

 random character; indeed, nothing short of chaos prevailed. A 

 person who attempted to carry the multitudinous statements of facts 

 in his mind would need more than cyclopaedic powers of memory, 

 and the statement would not even have had the artificial order of an 

 encyclopaedia. I became convinced that, if the treatment of meta- 

 morphism was to continue along the old lines, the subject was 

 doomed to hopeless confusion. 



With the above condition of affairs before me, I set about attempt- 

 ing to ascertain the principles which control the various kinds of 

 deformation of rock masses, and which underlie the transformation 

 of rocks. It soon became plain to me that the task was a great pro- 

 blem in applied physics and chemistry. When this was realized, it 

 became clear that it was necessary to know the principles of physics 

 and chemistry applicable to the deformation of matter and to the 

 alteration of rocks. Thus my first task was to remedy the defects 

 of my basal training by gaining a working knowledge of the well- 

 established principles of these subjects. This task I found a formid- 

 able one, which occupied much of my time for several years, and 

 which I can claim to have only very imperfectly accomplished. 



In order to understand the diverse phenomena of crustal deforma- 

 1 Carnegie Institution Y ear-Book, no. 2, pp. 195-201. 



