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SCmNOE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 167. 



ics, chemistry and geology meet, and to 

 speak of the Signal Service system, the 

 outgrowth of the studies of an obscure 

 school teacher in Philadelphia, but the dan- 

 ger of trespassing too far upon your endur- 

 ance makes proper only this passing ref- 

 erence. 



While men of wealth and leisure wasted 

 their energies in literary and philosophical 

 discussions respecting the nature and origin 

 of things, William Smith, earning a living 

 as a land surveyor, plodded over England, 

 anxious only to learn, in no haste to ex- 

 plain. His work was done honestly and 

 slowly; when finished as far as possible 

 with his means, it had been done so well 

 that its publication checked theorizing and 

 brought men back to study. His geological 

 map of England was the basis upon which 

 the British Survej-- began to prepare the de- 

 tailed sheets showing Britain's mineral 

 resources. 



In our country Vanuxem and Morton 

 early studied the New Jersey Cretaceous 

 and Eocene, containing vast beds of marl. 

 Scientific interest was aroused and eventu- 

 ally a geological survey of the State was 

 ordered by the Legislature. The appro- 

 priation was insignificant and many of the 

 Legislators voted for it hoping that some 

 economic discovery might be made to 

 justify their course in squandering the peo- 

 ple's money. Yet there were lingering 

 doubts in their minds and some found more 

 than lingering doubts in the minds of their 

 constituents. But when the marls were 

 proved to contain materials which the 

 chemist Liebig had shown to be all-im- 

 portant for plants the conditions were 

 changed and criticism ceased. The dismal 

 sands of eastern New Jersey, affording only 

 a scanty living for pines and grasses, were 

 converted, by application of the marl, into 

 gardens of unsurpassed fertility. Vanux- 

 em's study of the stratigraphy and Mor- 

 ton's study of the fossils had made clear 



the distribution of the marls, and the sur- 

 vey scattered the information broadcast. 



Morton and Conrad, with others scarcely 

 less devoted, labored in season and out of 

 season to systematize the study of fossil 

 animals. There were not wanting educated 

 men who wondered why students of such 

 undoubted ability wasted themselves in 

 trifling emploj'ment instead of doing some- 

 thing worthy of themselves so as to acquire 

 money and fame. Much nearer to our 

 own time there were wise Legislators who 

 questioned the wisdom of ' wasting money 

 on pictures of clams and salamanders,' 

 though the same men appl-eciated the 

 geologist who could tell them the depth of 

 a coal bed below the surface. But the lead 

 diggers of Illinois and Iowa long ago 

 learned the use of paleontology, for the 

 ' lead fossil ' was their guide in prospecting. 

 The importance and practical application 

 of this science, so largely the outgrowth of 

 unappreciated toil in this country as well as 

 in Europe, is told best in Professor Hall's 

 reply to a patronizing politician's query : 

 " And what are your old fossils good for ? " 

 " For this, take me blindfolded in a balloon ; 

 drop me where you will ; if I can find some 

 fossils I'll tell you in ten minutes for what 

 minerals you may look and for what miner- 

 als you need not look." 



Many regard Botany as a pleasing study, 

 well fitted for women and dilletanti, but 

 hardly deserving attention by strong men. 

 Those who speak thus only exercise the pre- 

 rogative of ignorance, which is to despise 

 that which one is too old or too lazy to 

 learn. The botanist's work is not complete 

 when the carefully-gathered specimen has 

 been placed in the herbarium with its 

 proper label. That is but the beginning, 

 for he seeks the relations of plants in all 

 phases. In seeking these he discovers 

 facts which often prove to be of cardinal 

 importance. The rust which destroys wheat 

 in the last stage of ripening, the disgusting 



