RELATION OF GEOLOGIC WORK TO PUBLIC WELFARE 93 



and matters' connected with his material side were contemned. With 

 our century the reaction was too great, for even educated men sneered 

 at abstract studies as absurdities, while they thought material things 

 alone worth}'' of investigation ; but the balance is steadying itself, and at 

 each oscillation the index approaches more closei^^to the mean between 

 the so-called intellectual and material sides. Even devotees of pure 

 science no longer regard devotees of applied science as rather distant re- 

 lations who have taken up with low-born associates. 



There appears at first glance to be very little connection between 

 great manufacturing interests on one hand and stone-pecking at the 

 roadside or the counting of strise on a fossil on the other ; yet a geol- 

 ogist rarely publishes the results of a vacation study without enabling 

 somebody else to improve his condition. About twenty years ago one 

 of our Fellows began to give the results of reconnaissance studies made 

 during vacations. These concerned certain fault lines, and the notes 

 included studies upon coal-beds and other matters of economic interest 

 involved in the faults. The coal-beds were all bought up, railroads were 

 constructed, mines were operated, towns were built, a great population 

 was supplied with work at good wages, and many men were enriched. 

 According to the latest information, no one has offered to reimburse the 

 geologist his expenses, nor has an}^ paper in the whole region suggested 

 that the geologist had anything to do with bringing about the develop- 

 ment. 



Geological work in this, as in other lands, was originally vacation work, 

 but eventually the investigations became too extensive and the problems 

 too broad for the usually limited means of the students. Meanwhile it 

 became manifest, as in the case just referred to, that important economic 

 results were almost certain to follow publication of matters discovered 

 by geologists, so that men interested in economics were ready to assist in 

 securing state aid to advance geological work. As one of our Fellows 

 remarked the other day, economic geology has been the breastwork 

 behind which scientific geology has been developed by state aid. 



Ducatel's reconnaissance proved the importance of Maryland's coal 

 field, and the survey was ordered ; the Pennsylvania Geological Society 

 discussed coal-fields until the legislature gave the state a survey; the 

 geologists of New York promised to settle finally the question of the 

 occurrence of coal within the state, and so in many other states. 



The United States Geological Survey had a somewhat different origin, 

 for the economic side did not attain importance until a late period. 

 Soon after the annexation of California the necessity for railroad com- 

 munication with the Pacific became apparent, and the Congress ordered 

 exploration of several lines across the Rocky Mountain region. At that 



