330 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLVII. No. 1214 



important decisions of life are reached by 

 the balancing of conflicting evidence. Thor- 

 ough training in geology must lead to the 

 balancing of seemingly conflicting evi- 

 dence, for there are multitudes of questions 

 to which the student of .even the elements 

 of the subject is introduced, concerning 

 which evidence must be weighed, and a 

 tentative decision reached, with a full rec- 

 ognition of its tentative character. The 

 recognition of this character of a conclusion 

 opens the way to a revision of judgment 

 when additional facts warrant, and this 

 attitude of mind is the attitude to which 

 good education should lead in connection 

 with all questions where evidence is incon- 

 clusive, and this means in connection with 

 many of the affairs of life. 



No claim is set up that no other subject 

 does the same thing. As a matter of fact, 

 some do and some do not ; but the claim is 

 set up that the type of subject which works 

 on strictly mathematical lines can not, by 

 itself, afford the best preparations for the 

 solution of the average problems of the 

 average man. Neither can other types of 

 subjects which do not involve the balancing 

 of evidence, and the development of the 

 power to separate what is weighty and rel- 

 evant, from that which is light and irrel- 

 evant. 



We progress from the uncertain to the 

 certain. There are numerous problems in 

 geology which were unsettled a generation 

 ago, which have been solved now. There 

 are many open questions now, which await 

 solution. No subject better than geology 

 gives training in the methods by which un- 

 certainties are cleared up, by which stimu- 

 lating but unverified hypotheses are tested, 

 and advanced or rejected, as the case may 

 be. 



One of the great lessons which the world 

 needs most to learn is that progress comes 

 from cumulative achievement. If every in- 



dividual could be made to realize that even 

 his tiny contribution to the sum of useful 

 work is really moving the world along, it 

 would add grandeur to life and dignity to 

 all human endeavor. This is a frame of 

 mind that should be developed in every 

 young person, and cultivated till it becomes 

 a habit. Where can this be done better 

 than in connection with such a subject as 

 geology, where the stupendous results of 

 processes which, day by day, seem insignifi- 

 cant, are constantly under consideration. 

 Nowhere else in the whole range of sub- 

 jects in our ken is the majesty of the 

 cumulative results of seemingly slight proc- 

 esses more sharply emphasized and more 

 constantly reiterated. 



Processes are at work on the land which, 

 by themselves, would in time destroy it 

 utterly. They have been in operation so 

 long that they would have accomplished 

 this result eons ago, if nature had not 

 provided counter-activities which defeat 

 this end. Nowhere is the inter-play of 

 constructive and destructive forces, using 

 these terms in their bearing on man's life 

 and welfare, more pointedly studied. 



Dr. J. M. Clarke pointed out years ago 

 that the study of paleontology afforded 

 the basis for much of the philosophy of 

 modern life. Professor Chamberlain has 

 taken the general position that the study 

 of ancient life is the proper starting point 

 for the study of sociology. Unquestionably 

 these men are right, at least in the claim 

 that some of the principles which have 

 been worked out laboriously in connection 

 with modern human life, are well illustrated 

 by the liistory of organisms long since ex- 

 tinct. It is perhaps too much to expect 

 the sociologist to become a paleontologist 

 first. Probably there is no more reason 

 why he should, than why a man who wishes 

 to use the English language well, should 

 first become a Latin scholar. But it is 



