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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLV. No. 1159 



erete work, and not only realize from it a 

 fortune himself, but supply a needed com- 

 modity to industry. In studying these in- 

 exhaustible materials, as well as the ex- 

 haustible ones, the state geologist must 

 consider their quantity and quality, and 

 the possible uses to which they can be put. 

 This involves such things as the condi- 

 tions of supply and demand; mining or 

 quarrying; transportation facilities for get- 

 ting out the raw material, and those of 

 converting it into the manufactured prod- 

 uct ; and such other things as bear upon its 

 profitable utilization. The state geologist 

 must carefully determine whether on the 

 whole these conditions are favorable or un- 

 favorable, for his conclusion may decide 

 whether or not a deposit that can be worked 

 with profit will be used at once or left un- 

 used for many years to come. It is some- 

 times tempting for the geologist, whether 

 acting as an official for the public or an 

 expert for a company, in those cases where 

 he is doubtful as to the value of a deposit, 

 to take the easiest way out and report un- 

 favorably. May it not be that good prop- 

 erty is often thus condemned? Should we 

 not, when placed where we must pass .judg- 

 ment upon deposits of doubtful value, 

 intensify our investigations to the limit of 

 time and means and make sure of our 

 ground, if possible? If the value can not 

 be determined with certainty, then the 

 favorable and unfavorable features should 

 be fully presented. 



EXHAUSTIBLE EESOTJECES 



In studying the exhaustible materials, 

 the state geologist has a double duty. In 

 the first place, it is a part of his work to 

 make known the areas in which such actu- 

 ally, probably or possibly occur, to indicate 

 their quality and character, and to make 

 suggestions as to their development. This 

 part of the state geologist's work has been 



heretofore and is yet considered his main 

 duty. But with the probability of some of 

 our most important products becoming ex- 

 hausted in the not distant future, the geol- 

 ogist's duty in conserving known material 

 is next in importance to discovering what is 

 unknown. To this end, he should exercise 

 the powers of his office to prevent waste of 

 exhaustible raw material of all kinds. For 

 example, if there is no other bureau whose 

 duty it is to see that the least amount of 

 coal consistent with good mining is left in 

 the ground as pillars, etc., it plainly is 

 the duty of the state geologist to exert him- 

 self toward bringing about mining methods 

 by which the largest possible amount can 

 be recovered. The same line of action will 

 apply to oil, natural gas, the metalliferous 

 ores, and all other exhaustible material. 



Again, the state geologist should, at 

 least to a reasonable degree, be alive to the 

 use of by-products. This, to be sure, will 

 take him into the field of metallurgy and 

 chemistry, but most geologists are informed 

 on the elements of these subjects, if they 

 are not experts in them. "We can hardly 

 remain unconcerned and permit by-prod- 

 ucts to be wasted, on the assumption that 

 those operating the mines should employ 

 experts to get the most out of the raw mate- 

 rial. If the experts are not employed, the 

 duty of the geologist becomes all the more 

 incumbent, for the loss, while one to the 

 operating company, may be primarily one 

 to the public. It may mean the waste of 

 valuable material the public can ill afford 

 to spare. 



Recently there has been impressed upon 

 me the lesson that it is a duty of the state 

 geologist to look carefully into developed 

 mines, not only to ascertain if there is not 

 a waste of the ore for which the mine is 

 worked, or of some possible by-product, 

 but of material that is too important to be 

 classed as a by-product. In the case of the 



