464 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVIII. No. 458. 



sessed 'an extensive memory which is at 

 the disposal of the corporation.' 



Even supposing the scheme outlined by 

 Mr. Harmer can not be carried out in its 

 complete form, a great deal will be done if 

 mining engineers can receive a sufScient 

 geological training to enable them to realize 

 the significance of these underground prob- 

 lems, so that they can recognize when any 

 exploration they are carrying out inside 

 their own area is likely to be of far-reach- 

 ing geological and economic significance 

 outside the immediate district in which 

 they are personally and immediately con- 

 cerned. 



Turning to our colonies it is true that in 

 many of them much is being done by com- 

 petent surveys to attain a knowledge of 

 mineral resources, but this work should be 

 pushed forward more rapidly, with greater 

 strength and larger staffs, and above all 

 it should not be limited to areas that hap- 

 pen to be of known economic value just at 

 the present moment. It is almost a truism 

 that the scientific principle of to-day is 

 the economic instrument of to-morrow, and 

 it will be a good investment to enlarge the 

 bounds of geological theory, trusting to 

 the inevitable result that every new prin- 

 ciple and fact discovered will soon find its 

 economic application. Further, it is neces- 

 sary that we should obtain as soon as pos- 

 sible a better knowledge of the mineral 

 resources of the smaller and thinly in- 

 habited colonies, protectorates and spheres 

 of influence. This is one of tlie things 

 which would conduce to the more rapid, 

 effective occupation of these areas. 



With regard to areas not at present Brit- 

 ish colonies, it seems to me that no great 

 harm would be done by obtaining, not in 

 any obtrusive way, some general knowl- 

 edge of the mineral resources of likely 

 areas. This at least seems to be what other 

 nations find it worth their while to do, and 



then, when the opportunity of selection 

 arises, they are able to choose such regions 

 as wiU most rapidly fill up and soonest 

 yield a return for the private or public 

 capital invested in them. 



To sum up, I consider that the time has 

 come when geologists should make a firm 

 and consistent stand for the teaching of 

 their science in schools, technical colleges 

 and universities. Such an extension of 

 teaching will of course need the expendi- 

 ture of time and money ; but England is at 

 last beginning to wake up to the belief, now 

 an axiom in Germany and America, that 

 one of the best investments of money that 

 can be made by the pious benefactor or by 

 the state is that laid up at compound in- 

 terest, 'where neither rust nor moth doth 

 corrupt,' in the brains of its young men. 



This knowledge has been an asset of 

 monetary value to hosts of individuals who 

 have made their great wealth by the iitili- 

 zation of our mineral resources, and to our 

 country, which owes its high position among 

 the nations to the power and importance 

 given to it by its coal and iron. It is 

 surely good advice to individuals and to the 

 state to ask them to reinvest some of their 

 savings in the business which has already 

 given such excellent returns, so that they 

 and we may not be losers throiagh our lack 

 of knowledge of those sources of energy 

 which have made us what we are. and are 

 capable of keeping for many years the posi- 

 tion they have won for us. 



And in our present revival of education 

 it would be well that its rightful position 

 should be given to a science which is useful 

 in training and exercising the faculty of 

 observation and the power of reasoning, 

 which conduces to the open-air life and to 

 the appreciation of the beautiful in nature, 

 which places its services at the disposal of 

 the allied sciences of topography and geog- 

 raphy, which is the handmaid of many of 



