556 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XX. No. 513. 



too diflScult a subject to be dealt with ex- 

 cepting by a well organized staff, working 

 on a definite plan resembling that indi- 

 cated above. The tastes and convenience 

 of individuals must give way to the 

 methodical advancement of knowledge 

 along such lines that the work of each in- 

 vestigator shall be of the utmost assistance 

 to the progress of the rest. 



Work in geophysics is already in prog- 

 ress in this country, thanks to the appre- 

 ciative sympathy of Director Walcott, of 

 the Geological Survey and the liberality of 

 the Carnegie Institution, by members of 

 my staff and in part under my direction. 

 Messrs. A. L. Day and E. T. Allen have 

 made an excellent series of determinations 

 of the melting points of the triclinic feld- 

 spars and studied their other thermal prop- 

 erties. They are now preparing to make 

 experiments in aqueo-igneous fusion. Mr. 

 C. E. Van Orstrand has made a novel ap- 

 plication of the theory of functions to 

 elastic problems and has reduced several 

 series of important observations on elastic 

 strains for comparison with theory. Dr. J. 

 R. Benton is occupied in experimental in- 

 vestigation of elastic strains in various 

 substances. The men engaged in these re- 

 searches are able and devoted to their work, 

 but they are too few in number, and they 

 are required to make determinations of the 

 most delicate character in an office build- 

 ing standing in the busiest portion of 

 Washington, where the walls are in a state 

 of incessant tremor and where there is no 

 suggestion of uniformity of temperature. 

 Under such circumstances the results of 

 observation can not be of the most refined 

 character and must be obtained at great 

 expense of time and effort. 



Most of the great physicists of the world 

 have expressed their interest in geophysics 

 and their belief that the time is ripe for 

 its investigation. Geologists are eager for 



its results, but no government can under- 

 take investigations so remote from industry 

 as this. I do not think I can more fitly 

 conclude this paper than by quoting a reso- 

 lution introduced by Mr. S. F. Emmons 

 at Vienna a year ago. It was passed by 

 acclamation by the Geological Congress, 

 after a ringing speech by Professor Suess, 

 and it expresses my own views most* accu- 

 rately. 



EMMONS 'S RESOLUTION. 



"It is a well-known fact that many of 

 the fundamental problems of geology, for 

 example those concerning uplift and sub- 

 sidence, mountain-making, vulcanology, the 

 deformation and metamorphism of rocks 

 and the genesis of ore deposits, can not be 

 discussed satisfactorily because of the in- 

 sufficiency of chemical and physical investi- 

 gations directed to their solution. Thus, 

 the theory of large strains, either in wholly 

 elastic or in plastic bodies, has never been 

 elucidated ; while both chemistry and phys- 

 ics at temperatures above a red heat are 

 almost virgin fields. 



"Not only geology but pure physics, 

 chemistry and astronomy would greatly 

 benefit by successful researches in these di- 

 rections. Such researches, however, are of 

 extreme difficulty. They would require 

 great and long sustained expenditure as 

 well as the organized cooperation of a 

 corps of investigators. No existing uni- 

 versity seems to be in a position to prose- 

 cute such researches on an adequate scale. 



"It is, therefore, in the judgment of the 

 Council of the Congres Geologique Interna- 

 tional, a matter of the utmost importance 

 to the entire scientific world that some in- 

 stitution should fdund a well-equipped 

 geophysical laboratory for the study of 

 problems of geology involving further re- 

 searches in chemistry and physics." 



George F. Becker. 



