PRESENT STATUS OF INVESTIGATION 247 



esteemed investigators have not recorded work which is known to be in 

 progress. Others have apparently expressed their aspirations along many 

 lines rather than investigations actually in progress in a way to produce 

 results. Approximately 100 correspondents answered, indicating lines 

 of current research, and a study of the returns shows that the work is well 

 distributed throughout the fields of geology and geography. In general, 

 the distribution is approximately the same as in the statistics for publica- 

 tions classified into the subjects named. There is, however, a marked 

 relative decrease in the reported investigations in applied geology, par- 

 ticularly oil and gas, suggesting that many of our most active investi- 

 gators are either debarred from mentioning their lines of activity for 

 industrial reasons or because it is recognized that the refined scientific 

 skill applied in investigations incident to their work is to be classed as 

 practice of a scientific art rather than the promotion of scientific research. 



Conclusions 



The conclusions which follow are based on the present critical study of 

 the conditions in geology and geography in America, a wide acquaintance 

 with the active workers — Federal, State, and individual — the investiga- 

 tions in progress, and the material equipment and esprit de corps in our 

 leading institutions. They may be summarized as follows : 



1. The active workers in geology and geography are Avell trained, the 

 majority with more or less specialized university training. 



2. In geology the opportunities for training are, on the whole, sufficient 

 to meet the vocational demands. The great bulk of the men complete 

 their professional study at a limited number of institutions, well distrib- 

 uted throughout the country, and on these improvement of facilities 

 should be localized. 



3. The]:e is need of more widely distributed and higher grade instruc- 

 tion in colleges to furnish the general educational advantages of courses 

 in geology and to present the subject as a possible field for life work. 



4. The recent excessive demand for geologists in 'Applied geology" has 

 drawn students away from the universities before their training has 

 been completed and has attracted their attention to the financial and 

 technical aspects of the subject before they have become thoroughly 

 grounded in the fundamentals. 



5. This increased attention to the art of geology on the part of students 

 and mature workers has arrested the development of the science, except 

 in a few limited fields. 



6. Geologic iuA'-estigations are largely organized under Federal, State, 

 institutional, or industrial agencies. 



