EXPLORATION FOR PETROLEUM 13 
of the new tactics at hand, the fundamental need was for some strate- 
gist of prominence and position to realize that the existing stalemate 
could not be solved by the tactics then recognized, and who would 
further cast about for tactics which, even though new and unrecog- 
nized, had possibilities of breaking the stalemate. The inertia of 
accepted thought too frequently exists with discouraging ponderosity. 
In the case of the petroleum industry, a somewhat similar situa- 
tion existed in 1914. New exploration methods had appeared on the 
scene some time before, primarily those of surface mapping, core 
drilling and subsurface stratigraphical studies. However, after in- 
tensive application gf these methods, only marginal prospects re- 
mained, for which the cost of development was obviously high in 
view of the hazard involved. 
As a result of the indicated hazard, the strategy of exploration 
approached a stalemate. New tactics were needed. And yet, in 1896, 
von Eétvés had developed the torsion balance, and had used it in 
1902 to indicate the subsurface extension of the Jura Mountains. 
Even prior to this development, as far back as 1846, Mallet had pro- 
posed the use of artificially excited seismic waves to explore the sub- 
surface of the earth, and had gone so far as to secure field data. He 
anticipated and used the fundamentals of applied seismology, for he 
transmitted electrically an instant of explosion, observed the arrival 
of the resulting seismic wave with an inertia type seismometer, and 
used a chronometer to indicate the interval of time between. Further 
than these, little more, fundamentally, is done today. 
In neither of these two examples was the development of new 
tactics required. The fundamental need was that strategy recognize 
the fact that the law of diminishing returns had run its course in the 
case of the accepted tactics of the day. Both stalemates were strate- 
gical rather than tactical, and the rates with which the newer tactics 
were applied in both cases are probably good measures of the relative 
inefficacy of the older competing tactics. Further, the spectacular 
results which followed strongly suggest the almost complete absence 
of really long range strategy in the years prior to the development of 
these stalemates. 
Case treatments of all the strategies that blossomed with the ad- 
vent of geophysical prospecting would be interesting and instructive. 
The time and detailed information required for such a complete study 
has not been available. However, the writer’s prior and early service 
with the Geophysical Research Corporation has presented some per- 
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