86 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 



advice to be given respecting the character and distribution of soils ; the 

 utilisation of constructional stones ; limestone and its products ; brick and 

 pottery clays ; formation of marine breakwaters ; silting and reclamation 

 of lagoons and estuaries — a most important work for the future in some 

 colonies — and prevention of coastal erosion. 



Now for a consideration of the belief, and the assertion often expressed 

 that the ' practical ' man, and he alone, be he miner, prospector, 

 water-diviner, or any other ' practical specialist,' and not the geologist, is 

 the man who discovers deposits of minerals and supplies of underground 

 water. Were we in the eighteenth century instead of the twentieth, with 

 its great advance of scientific knowledge, such remarks might perhaps be 

 justifiable, but who can honestly say that such is the case in nineteen 

 hundred and twenty-nine ? We have evidence on every hand that the 

 managements of large industries recognise the value of science and have 

 their own laboratory staffs ; mining companies — whether of the precious 

 or base metals, non-metallic minerals, coal, oil and gas — have permanent 

 or consulting geologists attached to their staffs to advise upon the general 

 and special geological conditions — mainly structural, petrological, mineral- 

 ogical — and character of the ore-bodies, rocks, seams and wells. That 

 being so, it is high time that this legacy from medisevalism was dispelled. 



There is no desire to belittle the value and importance of the so-called 

 ' practical man,' particularly the prospector with some knowledge of 

 geology and the mode of occurrence of ore-deposits. It is well known that 

 many valuable mineral deposits have been found by intelligent capable 

 prospectors, men of keen observation, close reasoning and long experience, 

 who thoroughly deserved their success. Similarly is it known that many 

 others were the chance discoveries of novices who made no claim to the 

 term of prospector, for with the proverbial ' luck of the beginner ' they had 

 been fortunate. All men conversant with the early history of mineral 

 fields know numerous instances of this kind. But there are other prospect- 

 ors, with more or less experience of searching for one particular kind of 

 mineral, frequently gold or tinstone, and possessed of remarkable assurance, 

 who, ignorant of the merest rudimentary knowledge of the origin and genetic 

 relations of minerals generally, pose as prospectors of minerals of every de- 

 scription. They may be entirely ignored so far as their value as prospectors 

 is concerned. Nevertheless, the capable prospector, unless possessed 

 of a good geological knowledge of the origin, association and distribution 

 of minerals, has his limitations, for usually he has restricted his operations 

 to some one or two — perhaps more — kinds of minerals, usually gold alone, 

 or gold and tinstone, or perhaps copper or diamonds. If he has experience 

 of the mode of occurrence of these minerals in several countries under 

 different conditions he is usually successful in proving a locality with 

 respect to the presence or absence of any or all of these minerals. But 

 otherwise, if the modes of occurrence in his new sphere of operations differ 

 from those with which he was acquainted previously he may not detect the 

 minerals there. 



Two Gold Coast examples of this may be given. One prospector had 

 sunk a shallow hole on the side of a hill, apparently for gold, and unearthed 

 good manganese ore, but not recognising its identity, and probably 

 regarding it as iron slag, apparently took no special notice of it. While 

 the Director of the Geological Survey was surveying the Insuta manganese 



