Dr. J. W. Evans — Presidential Address. 515 



data. This would be in most cases ensured if every mining student 

 were required to carry out geological research as part of his 

 professional training. It is now recognized that no education in 

 science can be considered to be up to University standard if it is 

 limited to a passive reception of facts and theories without any 

 attempt to extend, in however humble a way, the boundaries of 

 knowledge. In the case of geology such research will naturally 

 in most cases take the form of observations in the field. The 

 important point is that the work must be original, on new lines, or 

 in greater detail than before, and not a mere confirmation of 

 published results. It is only by the consciousness that he is 

 accomplishing something which has not been done before that the 

 student can experience the keen pleasure of the conquest of the 

 unknown and acquire the love of research for its own sake. 



At present it is disheartening to realize how few of those who 

 have received scientific instruction understand the obligations under 

 which they lie of themselves contributing to the growth of know- 

 ledge. If they have once had the privilege of achieving individual 

 creative work they will henceforward desire to take advantage of 

 every opportunity of continuing it. 



There is one respect in which geological workers suffer a heavy 

 pecuniary handicap — the cost of railway fares. This affects both 

 the staff and students of colleges, as well as local workers who are 

 extending their radius of work — an inevitable necessity in the 

 investigation of many problems. It also seriously interferes with 

 the activity of local Natural History Societies and Field Clubs, 

 the Geological Societies and Associations of the great provincial 

 towns, and, 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 nationalized, 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 afforded them every facility and 

 assistance, which their comparatively limited staff and heavy duties 

 permitted. 



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

 Survey 1 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 



1 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. 



