OtTOBER 9, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



463 



from them tlie maximum amount possible 

 of the energy that they contain. The same 

 problems which beset the earlier explorere 

 of the visible coal fields will again be 

 pi-esont with us in our new task, and there 

 will be in addition a host of new ones, even 

 more difficult and costly, to solve. In spite 

 of this the task will have to be undertaken, 

 and we must not rest until we have as good 

 a knowledge of the concealed coal fields as 

 we have of those at the surface. This 

 knowledge will have to be obtained in the 

 old way by geological surveying and map- 

 ping and by the coordination of all the 

 observations available in the productive 

 rock.s themselves and in those associated 

 with them, whether made in the couree of 

 geological study or in mining and explora- 

 tion. But now the work will have to be 

 done at a depth of thousands instead of 

 iiuudreds of feet, and under a thick cover 

 of newer strata resting unconformably on 

 those we wish to pierce and work. When 

 we get under the unconformable cover we 

 meet the same geology and the same laws of 

 stratigraphy and structure as in more 

 superficial deposits, but accurate induction 

 is rendered increasingly difficult by the 

 paucity of exposures and the small num- 

 ber of facts available owing to the great 

 expense of deep boring. How precious, 

 then, becomes every scrap of information 

 obtained from sinkings and borings, not 

 only where success is met with, but where 

 it is not ; and how little short of criminal 

 is it that there should be the probability 

 that much of this information is being 

 and will be irretrievably lost ! 



Mr. Harmer pointed out in a paper to 

 this section in 1895 that under present con- 

 ditions tliere was an automatic check on all 

 explorations of this kind. The only per- 

 son who can carry it out is the land-owner. 

 If he fails he loses his money and does not 

 even secure the sympathy of his neighbors. 



If he succeeds his neighbors stand to gain 

 as much as he does without sharing in the 

 expense. The successful explorer nat- 

 urally conceals the information he has ac- 

 quired, because he has had to pay so heavily 

 for it that he can not afford to put his 

 neighbors in as good a position as himself 

 and make them his rivals as well ; while the 

 unsuccessful man is only too glad to forget 

 as soon as possible all about his imfortunate 

 venture. And yet in work of this kind fail- 

 ure is second only to success in the value 

 of the information it gives as to the under- 

 ground structure which it is so necessary 

 to have if deep mining is to become a real 

 addition to the resources of the counti-y. 



Systematic and detailed exploration, 

 guided by scientific principles, and advanc- 

 ing from the known to the \inknown, ought 

 to be our next move forward : a method of 

 exploration which shall benefit the nation 

 as well as the individual, a careful record 

 of everything done, a body of men who 

 shall interpret and map the facts as they 

 are required and draw conclusions with re- 

 gard to structure and position from them— 

 in short, a geological survey which shall do 

 as much for hypogean geology as existing 

 surveys have done for epigean geologv' 

 is now our crying need. Unless something 

 of this sort is done, and done in a sys- 

 tematic and masterful manner, we run a 

 great risk of frittering away the most im- 

 portant of our national i-esources left to 

 us, of destroying confidence, of wasting 

 time and money at a most precious and 

 critical period of our history, and of slip- 

 ping down-hill at a time when our equip- 

 ment and resources are ready to enable us 

 to stride forward. 



We do not want to be in the position of 

 a certain town council which kept a list of 

 its old workmen and entered opposite one, 

 formerly sewerage inspector, that he pos- 



