402 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 926 



Geologic research as conducted under gov- 

 ernment auspices should, in my opinion, be 

 largely practical. The purposes for which the 

 United States Geological Survey V7as organ- 

 ized, both as specified by Congress and as 

 recommended by a committee of the National 

 Academy of Sciences, are practical, and the 

 administrator who would venture to disregard 

 the plain intent of that legislation would not 

 contribute to the ultimate advancement of 

 science. The Survey began on very practical 

 lines. Director King arranging the initial work 

 in districts offering " examples of instructive 

 geological structure and great bullion yield," 

 and even that classic work of science planned 

 as the first monograph of the new survey, 

 " Lake Bonneville," had its practical side, the 

 hope having been expressed by Mr. Gilbert 

 himself in a report of progress " that a crit- 

 ical investigation of the secular oscillations of 

 climate in the past will help to solve the prob- 

 lem of secular change which is of such vital 

 importance to the agriculture of an arid 

 domain." 



The most recent index of the trend of the 

 Survey's work is afforded by the schedule of 

 manuscripts being edited August 15, which 

 affords some basis for judging of the character 

 of the publications now in hand. The publi- 

 cations issued each year are known to the 

 public, although I might mention as note- 

 worthy in this connection two contributions 

 that are just coming from the press : Mono- 

 graph LI., " Cambrian Brachiopoda," by Wal- 

 cott, and Professional Paper 71, " Index to 

 JSTorth American Stratigraphy," by Willis. Of 

 the 41 reports now being edited 5 are engineer- 

 ing bulletins, embodying data incidentally col- 

 lected in the course of topographic surveys, 

 and therefore not chargeable to scientific ap- 

 propriations; 8 relate to Alaska and represent 

 work done under an appropriation made spe- 

 cifically " for the investigation of mineral 

 resources " and therefore not to any large 

 extent available for theoretical investigations, 

 though the results of the work in Alaska are a 

 splendid contribution to our knowledge of the 

 geology of the globe ; 8 are water-supply papers 

 contributed from the work under another spe- 



cific appropriation; 6 relate to economic geol- 

 ogy; and the remainder, 14, may fairly be 

 described as outside the " department of prac- 

 tical geology." This group of 14 includes 6 

 paleontologic reports, 3 descriptions of areas 

 having no special economic importance, and 

 one report under each of the following subjects 

 — glaciers. Pleistocene geology, petrography, 

 stratigraphy and mineralogy. 



That the United States Geological Survey 

 concerns itself with the practical side is true 

 now as it has always been in the past ; whether 

 its work is more or less devoted to practical 

 geology than formerly can be decided accord- 

 ing to one's taste or prejudices; but that it is 

 almost exclusively a department of practical 

 geology must be denied. 



Besides making general investigations in 

 geology and highly specialized researches in 

 paleontology, petrography, mineralogy, geo- 

 physics and geochemistry, which it will be 

 generally agreed contribute to the advance- 

 ment of science, the Survey is making other 

 investigations whose theoretic results are so 

 closely combined with the results of practical 

 geology that their scientific value may be over- 

 looked by some readers. In some cases the 

 " purely scientific " conclusions reached are 

 incidental to the practical investigation, but 

 in many instances are essential to it. To-day, 

 as in the past, the study of ore deposits by the 

 Geological Survey continues to yield a large 

 measure of scientific results of the highest 

 grade, and the five manuscripts on economic 

 geology mentioned above are no exception to 

 this rule. Most of these are not detailed de- 

 scriptions of mining camps, but deal to a 

 great extent with the areal geology and physi- 

 ography of the hitherto blank spaces on the 

 geologic map of the United States. The 

 broader studies are not neglected — a fact illus- 

 trated by a manuscript just received from 

 Professor W. H. Emmons on " Secondary Sul- 

 phide Enrichment," which represents results 

 gained in the course of economic work in sev- 

 eral mining districts during the past twelve 

 years. That the answers to the problems of 

 chemistry and physics here discussed possess a 

 practical present value to the mining engineer 



