OrroiiKii !). UHW. 



SCIENCE. 



4'A) 



depend upon geology. If, on the other 

 hand, he is a purely theoretical man with- 

 out a detailed practical and working ac- 

 quaintance with the facts which specially 

 concern him, he will be put down by his 

 colleagues as unpractical; he will have to 

 learn the facts as quickly as he can and 

 buy his experience in the dearest market. 



It seems to me that there is certain com- 

 mon ground which must be acquired by 

 all types of professional men. The gen- 

 eral petrographic character of the com- 

 mon rocks, enough of their mode of origin 

 to aid the memory, the principle of order 

 and age in the stratified rocks, the use of 

 fossils and superposition as tests of age, 

 the nature of unconformities, the relation 

 of structure to the form of the ground, the 

 occurrence of folds and faults, and above 

 all the reading of maps and sections, and 

 siifiBeient field work to give confidence in 

 the representation of facts on maps— the.se 

 things are required by everybody who 

 makes any use of geology in his daily life. 



But when so much has been acquired it 

 should be possible to separate out the stu- 

 dents for more special treatment. The 

 coal-miner will re([uire especially a fuJl 

 knowledge of the coal-bearing systems, not 

 in our own islands merely, but all over the 

 world ; a special accjuaintance with the 

 effects of folds and faults, and an advanced 

 training in the maps and sections of coal- 

 bearing areas. The vein-miner should be 

 well up in faulting and all the geometrical 

 problems associated with it, and he should 

 have an exhaustive accjuaintance with the 

 vein and metalliferous minerals. 



The water engineer needs to know espe- 

 ciall.y weU the porous and impervious rock 

 types, the texture and composition of these 

 rocks, the nature of their cements and 

 joints, and the distribution of water levels 

 in them. Further, he mu.st know what 

 there is to be done on the problems of per- 



irieability and al)sorption, the relation of 

 rain to supjjly. the changes undergone by 

 water and the paths taken by it on its route 

 undergrounil, and the varying nature of 

 rocks in depth. He must also realize the 

 effects of folds and faults on drainage areas 

 and on underground water courses, the 

 special qualities of water-j'ielding rocks, of 

 those forming the foundation of reservoir 

 sites, and those suitable for the construc- 

 tion of dams. 



The sanitary engineer will need to be 

 acquainted with the same range of special 

 knowledge as the water engineer, but will 

 naturally be more interested in getting rid 

 of surface water without contaminating it 

 more than he can help than in obtaining 

 it; he will also need a moi-e detailed ac- 

 quaintance M'ith superficial deposits than 

 any other class of professional men. 



The quarryman and architect ought to 

 know the rocks both maeroseopically and 

 microscopically, in their chemical and min- 

 eralogical character, their grains and their 

 cements. But he ought to be well ac- 

 quainted with the laws of bedding, joint- 

 ing and cleavage, with questions of outcrop 

 and underground extent, and all those 

 other character which make the differ- 

 ence between good and bad stone, or be- 

 tween one desirable and undesirable in the 

 particular circumstances in which a build- 

 ing is to be erected. Further, he should 

 make a particular study of the action of 

 weight and weather on the rocks which he 

 employs. 



The road engineer and surveyor, now 

 that it has been discovered that it is 

 cheaper and better to use the best and most 

 lasting road metal instead of any that 

 happens to be at hand, requires to have an 

 extensive acquaintance with our igneous 

 and other durable rocks. He needs, how- 

 ever, not only petrographic and chemical 

 knowledge, but also a type of information 



