ANNUAL ADDRESS. 185 



Scientific interest was aroused, and eventually a geological sur- 

 vey of the State was ordered by the Legislature. The appro- 

 priation was insignificant, and many of the legislators voted for 

 it, hoping that some economic discovery might be made to jus- 

 tify their course in squandering the people's money. Yet there 

 were lingering doubts in their minds and some found more than 

 lingering doubts in the minds of their constituents. But when 

 the marls were proved to contain materials which the chemist, 

 Liebig, had shown to be all-important for plants, the conditions 

 were changed and criticism ceased. The dismal sands of eastern 

 New Jersey, affording only a scanty living for pines and grasses, 

 were converted by application of the marl into gardens of un- 

 surpassed fertility. Vanuxem's study of the stratigraphy and 

 Morton's study of the fossils had made clear the distribution of 

 marls and the survey scattered the information broadcast. 



Morton and Conrad, with others scarcely less devoted, labored 

 in season and out of season to systematize the study of fossil 

 animals. There were not wanting educated men who wondered 

 why students of such undoubted ability wasted themselves in 

 trifling employment instead of doing something worthy of them- 

 selves so as to acquire money and fame. Much nearer to our 

 own time, there were wise legislators who questioned the wis- 

 dom of *' wasting money on pictures of clams and salamanders," 

 though the same men appreciated the geologist who could tell 

 them the depth of a coal bed below the surface. But the lead 

 diggers of Illinois and Iowa long ago learned the use of palae- 

 ontology, for the *' lead fossil" was their guide in prospecting. 

 The importance and practical application of this science, so 

 largely the outgrowth of unappreciated toil in this country as 

 well as in Europe, is told best in Professor Hall's reply to a pat- 

 ronizing politician's query, " And what are your old fossils 

 good for?" " For this. Take me blindfolded in a balloon ; 

 drop me where you will ; if I can find some fossils, I'll tell you 

 in ten minutes for what mineral you may look and for what 

 mineral you need not look." 



Many regard Botany as a pleasing study, well fitted for women 

 and dilletanti, but hardly deserving attention by strong men. 



