October 9, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



455 



developinoiit of landscape, tlie view of the 

 earth as a living organisui with the heyday 

 of its youth, its maturity and its future 

 old age aud death, to mention but a few 

 of our great principles, furnish us with 

 foneeptions which can not fail to quicken 

 the attention and inspire the thought of 

 students of history, geography and other 

 sciences. 



Now that these things are capable of 

 definite proof, that they are of real signifi- 

 ficance in the cognate sciences and of 

 actual economic value, above all now that 

 the nineteenth century, the geological 

 century, ha-s closed, that the heroic age is 

 over, that we have passed the stages of 

 scepticism and religious intolerance and 

 reached the stage 'when evei-ybody knew 

 it before,' it might be expected that a 

 fairly accurate knowledge and appreciation 

 of the.se principles should form part of the 

 common stock of knowledge, and be a start- 

 ing-point in the teaching of allied sciences. 



Another feature which adds to the at- 

 tractivene.ss of geological observations is 

 their immediate usefulness from many 

 points of view. The relief and outline of 

 any area is as closely related to its rocky 

 t'l'amework as the form of a human being 

 is related to his skeleton and muscles. The 

 geological surveyor recognizes how every 

 rise and fall is the direct reflex of some 

 cori"e.siK)nding difference in the underlying 

 rocks; he seeks to observe and explain the 

 ordinary as well as anomalous ground- 

 features, every one of which conveys some 

 meaning to him. 



A geological basis for the cla.ssification 

 Hnd grouping of surface-features is the 

 only one which is likely to be satisfactory 

 in the end, because it is the only one 

 founded on a definite natural principle, 

 the relation of cause to effect. It is not 

 without good reason that the topographic 

 and geological survevs of tlie United 



States are combined under one nianage- 

 iiient, and nowhere else are the topographic 

 results more accurate and satisfactory. 

 Landscape is traced back to its ultimate 

 source, and conseqiiently sketched in with 

 more feeling for the country aud greater 

 accuracy of knowledge than would other- 

 wise be possible. Geologists were among 

 the first to cry out for increasing accuracy 

 and detail in our, government maps, and 

 they have consistently made the utmost use 

 of the best of these maps as fast as they 

 appeared. With the publication of each 

 type of map, hachured, contoured, six- 

 inch, twenty-five-inch, the value and ac- 

 curacy of geological mapping has advanced 

 step by step. Wherever the topography 

 is better delineated than usual, the facilities 

 are greater for accurate geological work, 

 and the best geological maps, and those in 

 greatest demand, are always those ba.sed 

 on the most minute and detailed topo- 

 graphic work. On the other hand geologists 

 are training up a class of men who can 

 read and interpret the inner meaning of 

 these maps, and make the fullest use of 

 the splendid facilities given by the minute 

 accuracy of the ordnance work. 



Lord Roberts has recently complained 

 that the cadets at Woolwich are unal)le to 

 read and interpret maps, and he 'strongly 

 advised them to set about improving them- 

 selves in this respect, or they would find 

 themselves heavily handicapped in the 

 future.' I believe that the only training 

 in this subject before entering the Royal 

 Military Academy and the Royal Military 

 College has been that given to those candi- 

 dates who have taken up geology for their 

 entrance examination. By encouraging 

 these students to study and draw maps and 

 sections of their own districts, aud to ex- 

 plain and draw sections across geological 

 maps generally, thus accounting for sur- 

 face-features, the examiners have com- 



