PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 177 



above all, that focus of amateur geological activity — the Geologists' Association 

 of London. It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of these agencies in the 

 promotion of geological education. Both professional and amateur geologists 

 are deeply indebted to the excursions which are in most cases directed by 

 specially qualified workers, with whom it is a labour of love. At the same time 

 one of their most valuable results is the creation of interest in scientific work 

 in the localities that are visited. Now that the railways are, if report speaks 

 truly, to be nationalised, or at any rate controlled by the State, the claims 

 of scientific work carried out without reward in the national interest to special 

 consideration will surely not be ignored. All questions as to the persons to 

 whom such travelling facilities should be extended and the conditions that 

 should be imposed may safely be left to the decision of the Geological Survey, 

 ■which has always had the most friendly and sympathetic relations with private 

 workers and aft'orded them every facility and assistance, which their compara- 

 tively limited staff and heavy duties permitted. 



It is impossible to speak in too generous terms of the Geological Survey * and 

 its succession of distinguished chiefs (the last of whom, I am glad to say, is 

 with us to-day), or of the work it has accomplished, in spite of somewhat 

 inadequate financial support from the powers that be, who have taken every 

 precaution that the Honours graduates who join its ranks should do so for the 

 pure love of science and not for the sake of worldly advantage. With increased 

 staff and less straitened finances the Survey would be in a position, not only to 

 discharge the additional duties my suggestions would impose on ttieni, but to 

 extend still further the sphere of their usefulness. There is, for instance, at 

 the present time a very urgent need for the provision of further facilities for 

 the analysis of rocks and minerals to assist and complete the researches both of 

 the official surveyors and of private persons engaged in research. The work is 

 of a very special character, and the number of those who have given sufficient 

 att«ntion to it and understand its difficulties and pitfalls is very limited. The 

 chemical staff at our Universities are chiefly concerned with organic chemistry, 

 and private analysts devote themselves mainly to the examination of economic 

 products. The effect of a hasty excursion of workers of either of these cate- 

 gories into the analysis of such complex silicates as augite or biotite or any 

 of our ordinary igneous rocks is apt to be disastrous, only exceeded in this 

 respect by the results obtained when, as not infrequently happens, a student is 

 given a similar task by way of practice. A certain amount of good work is 

 undoubtedly done in College laboratories, but it is vei'y little in comparison with 

 what is needed. ° 



At present the analytical work of the Survey is organised on a very modest 

 scale in comparison with the personnd and equipment of the laboratory of the 

 United States Geological Survey, though the quality of the work has been as 

 a rule in recent years quite as high. There are two analytical chemists attached 

 to the Geological Survey, and some of the other members of the staff are capable 

 of doing good analytical work. The demand, however, for analyses for economic 

 purposes is so great that it is impossible to carry out all the analyses that would 

 be desirable in connection with the purely scientific work of the Survey itself. 

 There is consequently no possibility of their being able to assist private investi- 

 gators. 



Strictly speaking, the individual minerals of a rock should be separately 

 analysed and their relative amounts determined, but this is at present a counsel 

 of perfection that we cannot hope to attain ; and when the difficulty of obtaining 

 pure material, especially in the case of fine-grained rocks, and the zoned character 

 of practically all complex rock-forming minerals are considered, it is seen that 

 intrinsically it is not quite so important as it would seern to be at first sight. 

 The bulk analysis, intelligently interpreted in connection with the actual 



* Since 1905 the Irish Survey, a small but enthusiastic band led by one of 

 the most broad-minded of modern geologists, has been separated from that of 

 the remainder of the country. 



' I should like to refer in this connection to the excellent analytical work of 

 Dr. H. F. Harwood, of the Chemical Department of the Imperial College of 

 Science and Technology. 



