544 GEOLOGY 



elementary sciences, and of their application to geological problems, 

 it is furnished by the literature of geology. It seems to me that the 

 radical defect which pervades the literature of the subject is due to 

 the lack by geologists of such knowledge. Because of this, many 

 geologists are wholly unable to make a logical arrangement of their 

 material, or respectably to discuss the phenomena observed with 

 reference to causes. 



Indeed, some geologists seem to take pride in lack of knowledge 

 of principles and of their failure to explain the facts observed in 

 the terms of the elementary sciences. I have heard a man say: 

 "I observe the facts as I find them, unprejudiced by any theory." 

 I regard this statement as condemning the work of the man, for the 

 position is an impossible one. No man has ever stated more than 

 a small part of the facts with reference to any area. The geologist 

 must select the facts which he regards of sufficient note to record 

 and describe. But such selection implies theories of their im- 

 portance and significance. In a given case the problem is there- 

 fore reduced to selecting the facts for record, with a broad and 

 deep comprehension of the principles involved, a definite under- 

 standing of the rules of the game, an appreciation of what is probable 

 and what is not probable; or else making mere random observations. 

 All agree that the latter alternative is worse than useless, and there- 

 fore the only training which can make a geologist safe, even in his 

 observations, is to equip him with such a knowledge of the principles 

 concerned as will make his observations of value. 



It is doubtful if more than one or two text-books of geology have 

 been written which do not contain many statements capable of 

 arousing the amusement of the physicist. When the geologists who 

 write the standard books of the science are properly equipped with 

 a working knowledge of the principles of physics and chemistry, the 

 books will cease to be a heterogeneous mass of undigested material 

 mingled with inferences as to the meaning of the phenomena, which 

 to any one familiar with the principles of physics and chemistry 

 are often ludicrous. From the above point of view, it might be 

 said that the problem of geology, the problem of problems, is to 

 get men who write geological papers and books so well trained in 

 the elements of the sciences upon which geology is based that they 

 shall be able to reason correctly as to physical and chemical causes, 

 and consequently to observe and describe accurately and discrim- 

 inatingly. It is plain that the geologist who hopes to advance the 

 principles of his science must have a working knowledge of physics 

 and chemistry. 1 



1 C. R. Van Hise, Training and Work of a Geologist, Proceedings of the Ameri- 

 can Academy of Sciences, vol. LI (1902), pp. 399-420. 



