228 MATHEWS AND LITTLE GEOLOGY AND GEOGKAPHY IN THE U. S. 



which numbered approximately 900, were supplemented by a study of the 

 membership lists of the Geological Society of America, the Paleontolog- 

 ical Society, the Association of American Geographers, the Association 

 of American Petroleum Geologists; a study of the manuscript of the new 

 edition of "American Men of Science"; the catalogues of hundreds of 

 universities and colleges; the bibliographies of North American Geology 

 issued by the U. S. Geological Survey for the decade 1909-1918; and the 

 personnel file of geologists prepared by the Division of Geology and 

 Geography during the war and subsequent thereto. Moreover, to bring 

 the information up to date, letters were written to a number of the lead- 

 ing institutions training geologists, asking for lists of young men who 

 have been receiving special instruction during the last ten years. In this 

 way there was accumulated information regarding nearly 3,500 men who 

 have received instruction or shown interest in the combined subjects of 

 geology and geography in America. Inasmuch as the study was part of 

 the work of the Division of Geology and Geography of the National Re- 

 search Council, it was appropriate to exclude from this study those whose 

 residence was outside of the United States or whose subjects were more 

 closely allied with engineering or chemistry than with the scientific as- 

 pects of geology and geography. The scrutiny of the schedules showed 

 that some at least of those who had reported were interested in the subject 

 merely as an avocation and these were excluded, as were certain engineers 

 who, while using geological methods, were evidently more interested in 

 the exploitation of mineral deposits than in their geological interpreta- 

 tion. There must naturally be more or less personal equation in the prep- 

 aration of a list of this character, but in the present instance every effort 

 has been made to give a generous interpretation to the names involved. 



The final body of schedules and information on which the study of 

 personnel is based consists of 1,275 names, representing that number of 

 individuals in the United States interested in geology and geography and 

 more or less active in the development of these sciences. 



The facts which may be deduced from a study of the information will 

 be treated under the following heads : 



1. The personnel and its training. 



2. The opportunities for education in geology and geography. 



3. The publications dealing with North American geology and geog- 

 raphy. 



4. Organizations supporting i^esearch in geology and geography. 



5. The lines of investigation now in progress. 



