THE EIGHTH 

 ALEXANDER PEDLER LECTURE.* 



HUMANITY IN GEOLOGICAL 

 PERSPECTIVE. 



BY 



Prof. HERBERT L. HAWKINS, D.Sc, F.R.S., F.G.S. 



It is a curious corollary to our system of education that a large part of the 

 population should be almost completely ignorant of geological science. 

 This ignorance is common to all classes, not least among those who have 

 suffered intensive mental cultivation. Without unduly stressing the 

 sentimental consideration that ordinary people might be expected to take 

 an interest in the nature and history of their mother, we must marvel at 

 the lack of curiosity of those who use and enjoy the material amenities 

 of civilisation. In an age of petrol engines and ferro-concrete, an intel- 

 ligent interest in the nature and origin of essential raw materials would 

 be expected to extend beyond the few whose business it is to locate and 

 exploit them. 



A bare catalogue of the necessities of life to-day or at any time in the 

 past, under any form of civilisation or none, is but a list of materials 

 that are directly or indirectly the concern of geological research. For 

 Geology is the science of the Earth and all that it contains, inanimate or 

 animate, past and present. Fuel, metal, stone, water and soil are neces- 

 sary to our various activities and for our very lives ; so that the practising 

 geologist (whether called by that name or not) is and must always be at 

 the back of every enterprise. 



No intelligent person can fail to realise the immense importance of 

 Applied Geology in such matters as Mining or Civil Engineering ; but the 

 uninitiated may be forgiven for doubting the utility of some branches of 

 geological research. The character and evolution of extinct micro- 

 organisms seems a topic that can serve little useful purpose save to keep 

 some crank out of worse mischief ; while the molecular and atomic 

 readjustments of minerals subjected to violent treatment far underground 

 appear suitable to be dismissed as ' academic,' a word often considered 

 synonymous with ' useless.' Nevertheless, petroleum companies find it 

 advantageous to employ experts on the evolution of the Foraminifera ; 

 and the discovery and exploitation of mineral wealth depends on know- 

 ledge of the processes involved in its production. There is, indeed, 

 no such thing as ' useless knowledge ' ; for knowledge is a tool ready 

 to the craftsman's hand, always effective if skilfully used. 



In addition to, and transcending, the material contribution of geological 



* Delivered under the auspices of the South - Eastern Union of Scientific 

 Societies at Worthing, June 24, 1938. 



