478 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 928 



to applied geology. His results are graphic- 

 ally set fortli in the upper diagram of the 

 figure. While his method is not above criti- 

 cism, it probably gives a crude idea of both 

 volume and scope of American geological pub- 

 lications in recent years. It is based upon a 

 count of publications listed in the annual 

 survey bibliography of North American Geol- 

 ogy, the papers in pure and applied geology 

 being separated on the basis of their titles. 

 Ey the same method, a separate count was 

 made of the publications of the TJ. S. Geolog- 

 ical Survey V7ith results reproduced in the 

 lovs^er diagram of the figure. Upon this dia- 

 gram the reviewer has indicated the periods 

 of the Powell, Walcott and Smith adminis- 

 trations of the survey, since these appear to 

 be not *ithout significance. This diagram 

 shows that although in 1890 less than 1 per 

 cent, of the publications issued by the federal 

 survey treated either wholly or in part of ap- 

 plied geology, no less than 98 per cent, of those 

 issued in 1910 were in this field. Probably 

 the real change is somewhat less striking than 

 the figures indicate, since pure science is often 

 included in reports primarily economic, but 

 no one familiar with the recent transforma- 

 tion of the United States Geological Survey 

 will doubt that the figures are essentially cor- 

 rect. A comparison of the upper and lower 

 diagrams furnishes a suflSoient refutation of 

 the notion that the universities of the country 

 have degenerated by the same proportion dur- 

 ing the period covered by the investigation. 



The apology for this state of affairs, which 

 we think every true friend of science must 

 deplore, is made by Mr. Brooks in the follow- 

 ing terms : 



If geologic surveys are properly a function of 

 the state, in the last analysis the people must be 

 the final arbiters as to what phase of science is to 

 be emphasized. In our democracy the citizen has 

 the right to inquire what he, as a member of the 

 body politic, is gaining by expenditures from the 

 public purse. 



These statements, of course, ignore com- 

 pletely the well-recognized fact that in the 

 long run the greatest material gains have 

 come through basic studies in pure science 



and not from " hand-to-mouth " investigations 

 which have always a definite economic end in 

 view; as they do also the further fact that the 

 people are not expert geologists and expect to 

 be advised by those who are and who are 

 employed by them. Most geologists will admit 

 that studies in applied geology were near the 

 close of the Powell administration somewhat 

 too largely subordinated to larger and more 

 fundamental investigations, and that this had 

 much to do with the temporary setback which 

 the survey then received; but in this there is 

 no justification for the almost complete neg- 

 lect of work in pure science which has been 

 characteristic of later administrations. No 

 one doubts that an entire surrender to the 

 politician clamoring for quick returns makes 

 the securing of survey appropriations com- 

 paratively easy, but it should not be concluded 

 from this that the present tendency in the 

 survey is approved by the people of the United 

 States. 



Mr. Brooks ventures the opinion that " one 

 reason why the investigators of this continent 

 have accomplished so much for the advance- 

 ment of geology is that their research has 

 never been entirely divorced from the field of 

 applied science." The reviewer would venture 

 the opinion, and the facts seem to support it, 

 that the great era of American geology was 

 already passing as the craze for investigations 

 in applied geology was gathering headway. 

 Mr. Brooks's further statement that " ad- 

 vances in pure science were always in more or 

 less direct proportion to advances made in the 

 applied sciences," would be much improved by 

 transposing " pure science " and " applied sci- 

 ence." We doubt the truth of the statement 

 that " science has made most rapid strides at 

 those times when its study was inspired by 

 desire to achieve some practical end." The 

 declaration that geologic research " has for its 

 aims the application of scientific principles to 

 the needs of man " should be prefaced by the 

 statement, " As interpreted by the United 

 States Geological Survey." In many quarters, 

 we believe, its aim is still quite as much the 

 discovery of scientific principles as their adap- 



