6i2 CHARLES R. VAN HISE 



and what is not probable; or else making mere random observations. 

 All agree that the latter alternative is worse than useless, and there- 

 fore the only training which can make a geologist safe, even in his 

 observations, is to equip him with such a knowledge of the principles 

 concerned as will make his observations of value. 



It is doubtful if more than one or two text-books of geology have 

 been written which do not contain many statements capable of 

 arousing the amusement of the physicist. When the geologists who 

 write the standard books of the science are properly equipped with 

 a working knowledge of the principles of physics and chemistry, the 

 books will cease to be a heterogeneous mass of undigested material 

 mingled with inferences as to the meaning of the phenomena, which 

 to anyone familiar with the principles of physics and chemistry are 

 often ludicrous. From the above point of view, it might be said that 

 the problem of geology, the problem of problems, is to get men who 

 write geological papers and books so well trained in the elements of 

 the sciences upon which geology is based that they shall be able to 

 reason correctly as to physical and chemical causes, and consequently 

 to observe and describe accurately and discriminatingly. It is plain 

 that the geologist who hopes to advance the principles of his science 

 must have a working knowledge of physics and chemistry. ^ 



PRINCIPLES OF GEOLOGY THE SAME FOR THE ENTIRE EARTH. 



The phenomena of geology for any extensive area — for instance, 

 a continent — are so numerous that, had the science originated in 

 Europe, in America, and in Asia independently, the principles of the 

 science developed in these three regions would have been essentially 

 the same. The chief differences would have been that the emphasis 

 placed upon the diiferent principles would have varied. Also the 

 principles of certain divisions of the subject would have been some- 

 what more fully developed in one case than in another. For instance, 

 because of differences in the range of latitude and other climatic 

 conditions, certain parts of the principles of physiography would have 

 been more fully developed on one continent than in another. 



It is, of course, understood that the foregoing statements premise 



I C. R. Van Hise, "Training and Work of a Geologist," Proceedings of the 

 American Academy of Sciences, Vol. LI (1902), pp. 399-420. 



