jA>fUAEY 13, 1899.] 



SCIENCE. 



51 



differentiated tlie deposits and removed 

 erroneous impressions respecting the extent 

 and distribution of the ores. The effect of 

 discussion and of the positive fixing of areas 

 has been to increase development and to 

 cheapen ores of the best quality so far that 

 Bessemer steel can be manufactured more 

 cheaply in the United States than elsewhere, 

 in spite of the fact that wages are still 

 higher, not simplj' numericallj'. but in pur- 

 chasing power, than in any other iron-pro- 

 ducing countrj'. An examination of the 

 reports which have brought about this re- 

 sult compels one to say that the anxiety for 

 economic results does not appear to have 

 been an impelling motive during the work. 

 There were perplexing geological problems 

 to be worked out, and the solutions could 

 be discovered only bj' the most painstaking 

 work. This investigation led to the eco- 

 nomic results. 



The United States Survey retained its 

 original character for a number of years, 

 the studies being devoted almost wholly to 

 pure science. There were those who looked 

 upon the elaborate pictrographical work as 

 merely an elaborate waste of public funds ; 

 who, like tlie member of the Ohio Legisla- 

 ture, regarded fossils only as ' clams and 

 salamanders ' and considered the diagrams 

 of sections as merely bewildering humbug, 

 while they asserted that attention ought to 

 be given to other matters, which, however, 

 tliey were not always ready to designate. 

 But the outcome of these studies was the 

 inevitable ; petrography has its applications 

 now in the investigation of building stones, 

 and it has proved of service in aiding to de- 

 termine the source of precious metals at 

 more than one important locality. The de- 

 termination of fossils has led to the proper 

 definition of the great coal horizons of the 

 Upper Cretaceous ; the close study of strati- 

 graphical relations made possible a wide 

 development of artesian well systems in 

 the Dakotas, just as similar work in Eng- 



land led to the game practical result ; while 

 the study of climatic and structural condi- 

 tions was brought to bear on the great 

 problem of our arid lands with no mean 

 results. 



But these illustrations must suffice, not 

 because they exhaust the material — for 

 every official survey on the continent affords 

 illustrations — but because this is an ad- 

 dress, not a history, and already the time 

 allotted has been exceeded. 



It is the old story — the same in geology 

 as in other branches. The kind of work 

 for which this Society stands lies more 

 closely to the welfare of the community 

 than is supposed even by men in high posi- 

 tion and of far more than average intelli- 

 gence. This work is responsible in large 

 part for the industrial progress of our con- 

 tinent, which we must regard, in spite of 

 protests from those who lament the domi- 

 nance of commercialism, as the force which 

 has made possible our great advance in 

 physical comfort as well as the equally 

 great advance in literary culture and ses- 

 thetic taste. Coal, iron and oil, chief 

 among our products, have been so much 

 the objects of minute study by closet inves- 

 tigators that improvement in processes of 

 manufacture has not been a growth, but 

 rather a series of leaps. 



We give all honor to applied science, yet 

 we cannot foi-get that it is but a follower of 

 pure science. The worker in pure science 

 discovers ; his fellow in applied science 

 utilizes ; the former receives little credit 

 outside of a narrow circle; pecuniary reward 

 is not his object and rarely falls to his lot ; 

 the latter has a double possibility as an 

 incentive, large pecuniary reward and popu- 

 lar reputation in case of noteworthy suc- 

 cess. The two conditions are well repre- 

 sented by Henry, the investigator, and 

 Morse, the inventor and promoter. 



Men are ignorant of their debt to closet 

 workers because the facts have never been 



