176 



SCIENCE 



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



large public museiuns. Probably few who 

 read the admirable government reports on the 

 aboriginal antiquities of our country and on 

 the arts and customs of the Indian tribes 

 could point out any particular usefulness in 

 these studies but they have to do with human 

 life and their popular appeal is undeniable. 

 The average visitor to a museum probably has 

 little conception of what to a scientific man 

 is the real purpose of such an institution. 

 He gazes with interest at the contents of the 

 display cases without realizing that by far the 

 greater part of the material upon which the 

 scientific staff is working or upon which in- 

 vestigators will work in future, is hidden 

 away in drawers and packing cases. The 

 principal recognizable result so far as he is 

 concerned is that he is interested in what he 

 sees and feels that he is being pleasantly 

 instructed. 



In other words, it is as important for man 

 to have his imagination quickened as to have 

 his bodily needs supplied, and in ministering 

 to either requirement science is entitled to be 

 called useful or valuable. 



It may be remarked in passing that 

 Pasteur's work had this in common with pure 

 science, or science pursued with the single 

 aim of adding to human knowledge, in that 

 Pasteur himself could not foresee all of the 

 applications that would in future be made of 

 his discoveries. 



Enough, I think, has been said to show 

 that the term usefulness as applied to science 

 covers a wide range and that when employed 

 by people of imagination and liberal culture 

 may include much more than when used by 

 those whose only standard of value is the un- 

 stable dollar. 



Functions under an ideal Autocracy. — If 

 government were in the hands of a wise and 

 benevolent autocracy a national geological 

 survey would be so conducted as to be useful 

 to the people whose taxes go towards its sup- 

 port; but it would probably be useful in the 

 broader sense that I have outlined. It woidd 

 give the people not perhaps what they think 

 they want but what, in the wisdom of their 

 government, seems best for them. I believe 



that a survey so directed would aim to en- 

 courage and promote the study of geology 

 by undertaking those general problems and 

 regional investigations that would be likely 

 to remain untouched if left to private enter- 

 prise. It would lay the foundation for the 

 most economic and efficient development of 

 the natural resoiu-ces of the country by ascer- 

 taining and making known the location, 

 character and extent of the national mineral 

 resources. As an aid to the intelligent utili- 

 zation of these resources, and to the discovery 

 of deposits additional to those already known, 

 it would properly occupy itself with problems 

 concerning the origin and mode of formation 

 of mineral deposits. Last, but not least, it 

 would accept the responsibility, not only for 

 making known the material resources of the 

 country but for contributing to the moral 

 and intellectual life of the nation and of the 

 world by seeing to it that the country's re- 

 sources in opportunities for progress in the 

 science of geology are fully utilized. I may 

 illustrate my meaning by examples taken 

 from the publications of the IF. S. Geological 

 Survey. In my opinion such works as But- 

 ton's Tertiary History of the Grand Canyon, 

 Gilbert's Lake Bonneville, and the investiga- 

 tions of Marsh, Cope, and their successors, 

 on the wonderful series of reptile, bird and 

 mammal remains found in the Cretaceous and 

 Tertiary strata of the west are ftilly as ade- 

 quate and appropriate a return for the ex- 

 penditure of public funds as a report describ- 

 ing the occurrence of a coal bed and giving 

 the quantity of coal available in a given field. 

 Many years ago when the United States Geo- 

 logical Survey was under heavy fire in Con- 

 gress one member of that body in some un- 

 explained way learned that Professor Marsh 

 had discovered and had described in a govern- 

 ment publication a wonderful fosssil bird 

 with teeth — a great diver up to 6 feet in 

 length. He held this up to ridicule as a 

 glaring example of the waste of public fimds 

 in useless scientific work, quite unaware of 

 the light that this and similar discoveries 

 threw upon the interesting history of the 

 development of birds from reptiles and upon 



