646 REPORT— 1903. 



'The unimaginable touch of Time,' the antiquity of the glohe as the ahode of 

 life, the absolute iJroof of the evolution of life given by fossils, the evidence of change 

 and evolution in geography and eliraate, the antiquity of man, the nature of the 

 earth's interior, the tremendous cumulative efl'ect of small causes, the definite 

 position of deposits of economic value, the role played by denudation and earth- 

 movement in the development of landscape, the view of the earth as a living 

 organism with the heyday of its youth, its maturity, and its future old age and 

 death, to mention but a few of our great principles, furnish us with conceptions 

 which cannot fail to quicken the attention and inspire the thought of students of 

 history, geography, and other sciences. 



Now that these things are capable of definite proof, that they are of real 

 significance in the cognate sciences and of actual economic value, above all now 

 that the nineteenth century, the geological century, has closed, that the heroic 

 age is over, that we have passed the stages of scepticism and religious intolerance, 

 and reached the stage ' when everybody knew it before,' it might be expected that 

 a fairly accurate knowledge and appreciation of these principles should form part 

 of the common stock of knowledge, and be a starting-noint in the teaching of 

 allied sciences. 



Topograpliy. 



Another feature which adds to the attractiveness of geological observations is 

 their immediate usefulness from many points of view. The relief and outline of 

 any area is as closely related to its rocky framework as the form of a human being 

 is related to his skeleton and muscles. The geological surveyor recognises how 

 every rise and fall is the direct reflex of some corresponding difference in the under- 

 lying rocks ; he seeks to observe and explain the ordinary as well as anomalous 

 ground-features, every one of which conveys some meaning to him. 



A geological basis for the classification and grouping of surface-features is the 

 only one which is likely to be satisfactory in the end, because it is the only one 

 founded on a definite natural principle, the relation of cause to efiect. It is not 

 without good reason that the topographic and geological surveys of the United 

 States are combined under one management, and nowhere else are the topographic 

 results more accurate and satisfactory. Landscape is traced back to its ultimate 

 source, and consequeutly sketched in with more feeling for the country and greater 

 accuracy of knowledge than would otherwise be possible. Geologists were among 

 the first to cry out for increasing accuracy and detail in our government maps, 

 and they have consistently made the utmost use of the best of these maps as fast 

 as they appeared. With the publication of each type of map, hachured, contoured, 

 six-iuch, twenty-five inch, the value and accuracy of geological mapping has 

 advanced step by step. Wherever the topography is better delineated than usual, 

 the facilities are greater for accurate geological work, and the best geological maps, 

 and those in greatest demand, are always those based on the most minute and 

 detailed topographic work. On the other hand geologists are training up a class 

 of men who can read and interpret the inner meaning of these maps, and make the 

 i'ullest use of the splendid facilities given by the minute accuracy of the ordnance 

 vvorjv. 



Lord Roberts has recently complained that the cadets at Woolwich are unable 

 to read and interpret maps, and he ' strongly advised them to set about improving 

 themselves in this respect, or they would find themselves heavily handicapped in 

 the future.' In his evidence before the War Commission he has emphasised the 

 same disability among staff officers. I believe that the only training in this subject 

 before entering the Royal Military Academy and the Royal Military College has 

 been that given to those candidates who have taken up Geology for their entrance 

 examination. By encouraging these students to study and draw maps and sections 

 of their own districts, and to explain and draw sections across geological maps 

 generally, thus accounting for surface-features, the examiners have compelled this 

 small group of candidates to see deeper into a map than ordinary people. If only 

 this training had been encouraged .and advanced and made use of later, the Com- 



