174 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LI. No. 1312 



sources and methods, but the geologist can 

 not have the greater part of his material 

 brought to him ; he must himself seek it afield. 

 Thus it comes that comprehensive geologic 

 problems require for their solution the equip- 

 ment of more or less expensive expeditions or 

 travel over large areas. Such projects as a 

 rule can not be undertaken by individual 

 geologists or by local organizations. The 

 preparation of a geologic map of a whole 

 country, with its explanatory test, generally 

 recognized as essential fundamental work, is 

 an undertaking that requires consistent efiort 

 by a central organization extending over a 

 period of years. Such a map is not likely to 

 result from the patching together of the re- 

 sults of uncoordinated local effort. From a 

 broadly utilitarian point of view, the intelli- 

 gent layman as well as the geologist must 

 recognize that the development of a country's 

 natural resources in such a manner as to 

 secure their maximum use for the greatest 

 number of its citizens necessarily depends 

 upon reliable information concerning the 

 character, location and extent of these re- 

 sources and that this information should be 

 available before they are exploited, by those 

 who have eyes only for their own immediate 

 profit, or before they pass entirely into private 

 control or are exhausted. Such information 

 can best be obtained and published by an im- 

 partial national organization responsible for 

 its results to the i)eople as a whole. Such 

 a layman will recognize also that knowledge 

 of the mineral resources of a country must 

 rest upon a geological foimdation. As Pro- 

 fessor J. C. Branner has recently said in his 

 " Outlines of the Geology of Brazil " : 



After a life spent chiefly in active geologic work 

 and in the direotion of such work, I should be re- 

 miss in my duty to Brazil if I did not use this 

 occasion to urge on Brazilian statesmen the serious 

 necessity for the active encouragemenit and sup- 

 port of scientific geologic work on the part of the 

 national and state governments. Knowledge must 

 precede the application of knowledge in geology 

 as well as in other matters; and unless the devel- 

 opment of the country 's mineral resources be based 

 on and proceed from a scientific knowledge of its 

 geology, there must inevitably be waste of effort, 



loss of money, and the delay of national progress 

 inseparable from haphazard meithods.^ 



Finally, the citizen of narrower vision will 

 regard as sufficient justification for a national 

 geological survey the fact that he himself can 

 turn to it for information and assistance in 

 the development of particular mineral depos- 

 its, to his own material advantage. 



As a matter of fact, most of the progressive 

 countries of the world maintain geological 

 surveys so that the desirability of such an 

 organization appears to have been generally 

 recognized, whatever may have been the par- 

 ticular reason or reasons that set in motion 

 the machinery of organization in each 

 country. 



Eecognizing the fact that most of the prin- 

 cipal countries have established geological 

 surveys and granting that there are good 

 reasons for considering the maintenance of 

 such an organization as a proper govern- 

 mental function, we may next inquire: What 

 should be the ideals and duties of such a geo- 

 logical survey? How may these ideals be 

 realized and these duties performed? 



General Legal Functions. — The organic act 

 of the United States Geological Survey speci- 

 fies indirectly and in general terms the field 

 that the organization shoidd occupy. It 

 states, with reference to the director: 



This officer shall have the direction of the Geo- 

 logical Survey and the classification of the public 

 lands and examination of the geological structure, 

 mineral resources and products of the national do- 

 main. 



Doubtless the laws or decrees under which 

 other national geological surveys have been 

 established also prescribe to some extent their 

 duties. Such legal authorization, however, is 

 a rule so general as to leave room for con- 

 siderable latitude in its interpretation. I 

 proijose first to discuss the functions of a nat- 

 tional geologic survey without reference to 

 legal prescription or definition and after- 

 wards to consider the extent to which some 



2 Branner, J. C, "Outlines of the Geology of 

 Brazil," Geiol. Soc. America, Bull., Vol. 30, p. 194, 

 1919. 



