Apbil 9, 1909] 



SCIENCE' 



563 



tions on a metallic basis and thus for the 

 first time gave to them a common standard 

 of international value. 



Thus far the three distinct contributions 

 of the sciences to the economic factors that 

 go to make up the . modern world market 

 are: (1) The discovery of new lands, (2) 

 the utilization of ocean transportation— the 

 cheapest known and (3) an international 

 standard of value. These three things 

 have determined the plane on' which in- 

 vestment activity in its most comprehen- 

 sive scope is still working out its various 

 problems under the guidance and direction 

 of the sciences of geology, chemistry, phys- 

 ics and engineering. 



SCIENCES IN SELECTION AND SUBSTITUTION 



Possibly the most signal contribution of 

 geology to the advance of investment is 

 seen in the service which national and state 

 surveys render to the development of nat- 

 ural resources. Bach of the American 

 commonwealths now regards such an in- 

 ventory of the earth's formations and 

 composition as geology alone can give as 

 the indispensable condition of inducing 

 capital to seek profitable employment 

 within its borders. Investment of to-day 

 is itself specialized in such a way that it 

 depends upon the specialist's most com- 

 plete researches to ascertain beforehand 

 the wisdom or the unwisdom of putting 

 capital of any given amount into an enter- 

 prise, as well as of locating it with due re- 

 gard to the assemblage of the materials of 

 production and to the expenses of market- 

 ing the products. Geological data deter- 

 mine in large part the answer to these 

 questions. The state survey of the clays 

 of New Jersey decided the location of a 

 large pottery works at the city of Trenton 

 —a point which had ample beds of the 

 chief raw materials, but which also had 

 the advantage of being half way between 

 two cities of over a million population, yet 

 not a hundred miles apart. 



Thus the sciences, besides encompassing 

 the globe to determine where nature has 

 hid her treasures, determines where lines 

 of transportation shaU be laid down, where 

 population is destined to concentrate, and 

 in what particular channels of employment 

 both labor and capital may find the maxi- 

 mum returns. In other words, science is 

 a function of economic progress, operating 

 under the law of substitution. According 

 to that law, the fall of the rate of profits 

 impels the producer of commodities to find 

 some less expensive substitute among the 

 articles that make up the elements of the 

 cost of production. In the other direction, 

 the making of extraordinary profits may 

 effectively impel the producer to escape 

 the limitation of supplies which keep him 

 from entering on large-scale production, 

 thus multiplying his profits manifold. 

 The burden of discovering what might, 

 serve as economical substitutes falls upon 

 the scientific laboratory. 



EVOLUTION OP MACHINE INDUSTRY AND 

 TRANSPORTATION 



The chemical and physical laboratory 

 constitute the experimental and exploring 

 arm of the up-to-date industry. The rail- 

 road must have it to test its materials. 

 The manufacturer must have it to insure 

 himself, not only against deliveries of in- 

 ferior materials in contract, but even more 

 so to enable him promptly to test the ap- 

 plicability of any new discovery to his 

 business, to decide as to whether or not 

 there is any advantage to him in changing 

 his methods, and to put to test his finished 

 product before it is sent out, thus detecting 

 any defect in construction which actual 

 use might disclose. 



Not only has science made industry and 

 commerce more technical, calling progres- 

 sively for a more highly skilled and a more 

 varied class of labor and talent, but it has 

 without doubt been the chief factor in 

 differentiating modern industry and com- 



