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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LI. No. 1313 



come within the field of engineering and have 

 so little connection with geology that it is 

 difficult to see any logical ground for their 

 inclusion within the group of activities be- 

 longing properly to a geological survey. In 

 an ideal apportionment of fields of endeavor 

 among the scientific and technical bureaus of 

 a government, stream gaging and estimation 

 of water-power would scarcely fall to the na- 

 tional geological survey. As it happens, the 

 United States Geological Survey does perform 

 these functions and I am not prepared to say 

 that there is not ample legal and practical 

 justification for this adventitious growth on a 

 geological bureau. There has been little or 

 no tendency to draft geologists into hydraulic 

 engineering and consequently the principal 

 objection urged against the inclusion of sta- 

 tistical work within the sphere of a geological 

 survey does not here apply. Apparently the 

 only practical disadvantages are the intro- 

 duction of additional complexity into a pri- 

 marily scientific organization and the con- 

 sequent danger of the partial submergence of 

 principal and primary functions by those of 

 adventitious character. 



It should be pointed out in this connection 

 that certain studies of surface waters, espe- 

 cially those that are concerned with the char- 

 acter and quantity of material carried in sus- 

 pension and in solution in river waters, have 

 much geological importance. Such studies 

 supply data for estimating the rate of erosion 

 and sedimentation. They are to be regarded, 

 however, rather as an illustration of the way 

 in which geology overlaps other branches of 

 science and utilizes their results than as 

 reason for considering hydraulic engineering 

 as normally a function of a geological survey. 



Foreign Mineral Resources. — One of the 

 results of the war was to suggest the advan- 

 tage to the citizens and government of the 

 United States of a central source of informa- 

 tion concerning the mineral resources of for- 

 eign countries. The United States Geological 

 Survey undertook to gather this information, 

 primarily for the specific purpose of supply- 

 ing data to the American representatives at 



the Peace Conference. As the director of the 

 survey states in his fortieth annual report: 



Two general purposes were served — first that of 

 obtaining a clear understandiiLg of the relations 

 bertween our own war needs and the foreign sources 

 of supply from which these needs must or could 

 be met; second, that of obtaining an understand- 

 ing of the bearing of mineral resources upon (the 

 origin and conduct of the war an4 upon the po- 

 litical and commercial readjustments that would 

 follow the end of hoatdlities. 



This work, of a kind that so far as known 

 had not previously been undertaken by any 

 national geological survey, has been continued 

 with the view that it is important for those 

 who direct American industries to possess as 

 much information as possible concerning those 

 foreign mineral resources upon which they 

 can draw or against which they must compete. 

 The results aimed at are directly practical 

 and are largely obtained by compilation of 

 available published and unpublished material 

 as it is manifestly impossible to make direct 

 detailed investigation of the mineral resources 

 of all foreign countries. Nevertheless the 

 work appears to fall appropriately within the 

 field of a geological bureau and if it can be 

 made to furnish the opportunity, hitherto 

 lacking, for geologists in the government serv- 

 ice to make first-hand comparison between 

 our own mineral deposits and those of other 

 lands the experiment will probably bear scien- 

 tific fruit. 



Mineralogy and Paleontology. — Mineralogy 

 and paleontology are so closely related to 

 geology that there can be no question of the 

 propriety of including the pursuit of these 

 sciences within the scope of a geological 

 survey. 



Chemistry and Physics. — The application of 

 chemistry and physics to geological problems 

 admits of more discussion. Chemical work, 

 however, as carried on in connection with 

 geological investigations is of such special 

 character and must be conducted in such 

 intimate contact with geological data as to 

 make it almost certain that better results 

 can be obtained with a special staff and equip- 

 ment than would be possible were the routine 



