SCIENCE 



NEW YORK. JANUARY 13, 18S3. 



THE WORK OF THE U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.' 



BY J. Vf. POWELL, DIRECTOR. 



Organization. 



Under statutory provisions, it is the function of the Geological 

 Survey to classify the public lands and examine the geologic 

 structure and the mineral resources and products of the national 

 domain, and to prepare a geologic map of the United States. 



When the bui-eau was instituted in 1879, it was organized into 

 a number of geologic divisions by the first director, Mr. Clai'ence 

 King. Work was at once commenced in western States and Ter- 

 ritories in several localities selected by reason of great mineral 

 wealth or special scientiflc interest. 



It was found at the outset that thei-e were no adequate maps of 

 the regions selected for survey ; and it soon became evident that 

 the geologic work could not be carried on without maps showing 

 the relief of the land as well as the hydrography and culture. 

 Accordingly, topographic surveys were instituted in each of the 

 regions selected for examination. At first these surveys were 

 planned to meet immediate needs, and the methods of mapping 

 ■were not systemized or unified ; the scales were diverse and the 

 methods various, the areas were selected by geologic needs and 

 were not fitted to a general scheme for the geologic map of the 

 country, and the resulting maps were discordant in their conven- 

 tions. At this stage the topographic surveys were executed under 

 the direction of the chiefs of the geologic divisions. After two or 

 three years of trial this form of organization was found unsatis- 

 factory, and the topographic surveys were separated from the 

 geologic work and assigned to a geographic division, which has 

 ever since been maintained. 



When the bureau was created, the science of geology was less 

 specialized than to-day, and the geologists assigned to the differ- 

 ent divisions were individually charged with the duties of identi- 

 fying fossils, making analyses and assays, recording mineral 

 statistics, and other collateral work, in addition to their areal and 

 structural surveys; but, vvith the expansion of the several divisions, 

 the different lines of work were gradually differentiated in each, 

 so that each chief geologist employed assistants charged with 

 special work; and still later it was found more economical to 

 separate the collateral work for the entire survey, and to assign 

 it to special divisions. In this way a division of chemistry and 

 physics, a division of mining statistics and technology, and sev- 

 eral divisions of paleontology were created and have since been 

 maintained. 



In the beginning the geol'^gists commonly made their own 

 drawings and constructed their own geologic maps; but with the 

 extension of the work it was found better to assign all such me- 

 chanical work to skilled draftsmen; and still later it was found 

 more economical to concentrate the work of this character in a 

 division of illustrations. 



Under the comprehensive plan for the construction of a geologic 

 map of the United States, the topographic surveys were planned 

 to yield atlas-sheets of uniform character, so related as together 

 to make up a great map of the national domain. At first these 

 atlas-sheets were engraved under contract through the Public 

 Printer; but it was subsequently ascertained by experiment that 

 the engraving could be executed at much less cost in the office of 

 the Geological Survey, and an engraving division was instituted 

 and is still kept up. 



Thus the principal branches of work in the bureau are (1) the 

 geologic survey proper, including the examination of the public 

 lands and the study of mineral deposits as well as the preparation 



' Kead before the Geological Society of America at Ottowa, Dec. 30, 1892. 



of the geologic map; (3) a topographic survey, designed as a basis 

 for the geologic map of the United States; (3) paleontologic re- 

 searches, designed primarily to aid geologists in the identification 

 and classification of rock formations and mineral deposits, and 

 incidentally to increase knowledge of past life upon the earth ; (4) 

 the collection and publication of mineral statistics; (5) the chemi- 

 cal and physical examination of ores, rocks, and other mineral 

 substances; (6) the preparation of special charts and other illus- 

 trations for reports; and (7) the engraving of topographic and 

 geologic maps. Clerical, editorial, and other lines of work are 

 also carried on. 



Current Work. 



Three principal lines of work are carried on, to which the other 

 lines are collateral. Foremost among these is the geologic survey 

 proper, which is made with a view to the preparation of the geo- 

 logic map of the United States; but this work can be carried for- 

 ward only in those areas in which the second principal line of 

 work, i.e., the topographic survey, is completed. The third 

 principal line is the collection and publication of information 

 concerning the mineral resources and mining products of the 

 country. 



In describing the work of a scientific institution it is necessary 

 to distinguish two stages in the development of scientific work, 

 viz., the preliminary, or experimental, or preparatory stage, and 

 the final or effective stage. During the first stage methods are 

 devised, experiments are conducted, scientific apparatus is in- 

 vented and subjected to trial, and the plan for the work is formu- 

 lated; during the second stage the methods and apparatus are 

 practically employed and the plans are carried out. Thus the first 

 stage is that of research, more or less recondite according to the 

 character of the work, the second stage is that of applied science; 

 and since it is the highest function of systemized knowledge to 

 promote human welfare, the first stage represents the seed-time, 

 the second the harvest-time of science. 



Now, in classing the work of scientific institutions by these 

 stages, it is to be observed that the stages are unequal in all cases 

 and dissimilar when difl'erent cases are compared : Thus, topo- 

 graphic surveying may be considered as an art and the methods 

 and apparatus already known may be employed without research 

 into principles or the development of new methods, or the art may 

 be considered incomplete and new principles and methods may be 

 > developed from research and experiment; while geodesy always 

 involves research concernmg principles, which, in turn, affects 

 methods. So, too, geologic surveys might be taken to represent 

 applied science, and geologic tryos might be sent over the land to 

 plat dips, strikes and outcrops, and to construct simple and primi- 

 tive geologic maps adapted to the needs of the preceding genera- 

 tion ; but it is the honor of geology that geologic surveys have 

 commonly begun their work by researches relating to their special 

 fields, and have thus advanced the science and subserved the needs 

 of their own contemporaries and the coming generations. Again, 

 simple land surveys represent art or applied science alone, while 

 the natural history surveys sometimes conducted by States repre- 

 sent nearly pure research. In brief, it may be said that the pro- 

 portion of research to efi'ective work increases with the complexity 

 of the branch of knowledge to which it pertains. So in the three 

 principal lines of work in the Geological Survey, the collection of 

 information concerning mineral resources and mining products is 

 a statistical work involving no research and little experiment ; the 

 topographic survey might have been conducted by old methods 

 and apparatus without research and experiment, but since these 

 were expensive and dilatory, considerable preparatory work be- 

 came desirable ; while the geologic survey required a vast amount 

 of research and experiment for the purpose of developing a sat. 



