140 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



what is the spectacle presented to the public ? One expert testifies 

 that the thing under discussion is absolutely jet-black ; the other that, 

 as he sees it, it is purest white; whereas it may be that without 

 the legal setting the same thing would present to most of us varying 

 shades of gray, or perhaps some one using a higher power of lens 

 might call its general color effect rather spotted. I regret to, add that 

 this suppositional illustration is almost paralleled by an important 

 case in which two of my own friends, both honored fellows of this 

 society, were the opposing expert witnesses ; and afterward the 

 judge told me that he could believe neither, although he would 

 have taken the unsupported opinion of either one had this geologist 

 been in the pay of the court! Does not such a statement by an 

 eminent jurist put geologic experts on a par with other expert 

 witnesses, and would it not be a " safety first " measure for geol- 

 ogists to decline professional work of this type until the day comes 

 — and I think it is not far off — when the court will summon the 

 expert witness and compensate him for his services to the state in 

 telling the whole truth and not that special part of the truth which 

 favors one litigant? This society wisely put itself on record last 

 year as recognizing the urgent need of this reform in legal procedure, 

 but to be effective resolutions need to be adopted by each individual 

 geologist. 



As first suggested to me, the subject on which I was invited to 

 speak today was geology in the national service, but I feared if 

 thus expressed my topic might seem to limit opportunities for service 

 to the nation to those of us who are on the Federal Geological 

 Survey. The president and more than a score of other fellows of 

 this society are in the public service as officials of the several states ; 

 and too much credit can not be given to the long succession of state 

 geologists who for nearly a century have both contributed to the 

 science of geology and guided the development of their states. A 

 few years ago Doctor White, in addressing the West Virginia 

 Board of Trade as its president, referred to the function of the state 

 geologist as that of '' a kind of mentor or guardian of the state's 

 natural economic resources." 



Yet I would not limit the obligation for public service to those 

 of us who happen to be public servants. The use of the United 

 States Geological Survey as a training school for professional 

 geologists in private practice can not be regarded as wholly a 

 hindrance to the nation's business when viewed in a large way. The 

 spirit of public service can be carried over into the work outside 

 the official organization, and I like to believe that there is a per- 



