102 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOSTON MEETING 



development as in later times, that Hutton^s conception of nniformi- 

 tarianism applies to the pre-Cambrian, and that there is no evidence of an 

 "original'^ earth shell. 



In the structural aspects of geology. Van Hise was not content with 

 the mere observation and platting of dips, strikes, faults, joints, and other 

 common structures, but he saw in them expressions of great earth move- 

 ments, governed by mechanical laws, caused by stresses originating in 

 the basic conditions of the origin and development of the globe. This 

 phase of Van Hise's work attracted some attention, especially as presented 

 in his ^'Principles of pre-Cambrian Geology,^^ but the geologic profession 

 as a whole has not yet learned to employ the application of mechanical 

 principles to structural geology in any large and effective way. Further 

 investigation and application of these principles have naturally resulted 

 in some modification, but it was Van Hise that furnished much of the 

 impetus to this quantitative method of attack. 



In the investigation of old rocks it is necessary to deal with rock 

 alterations of all sorts — physical, mineralogical, and chemical. Descrip- 

 tive details had become so voluminous that the subject was regarded as 

 one of the most difficult of geologic problems. Here again Van Hise saw 

 in these multifarious alterations the action of certain definite physical and 

 chemical laws, and when expressed in terms of these general laws the 

 story became much more simple, definite, and understandable. His 

 sound early training in physics and chemistry here finds its best appli- 

 cation. It is interesting to recall that he began his work in the field of 

 metamorphism before there was general recognition of simple processes 

 like induration of sediments and of the fact that they could be turned 

 into schists. Van Hise characterized his great monograph on meta- 

 morphism as '''an attempt to reduce the phenomena of metamorphism 

 to order under the principles of physics and chemistry, or, more simply, 

 under the laws of energy .^^ While the book contains an astounding mass 

 of detail, throughout Van Hise is consistent in his attempt to develop the 

 general laws. The success of this effort, directly and indirectly^ can not 

 be questioned, even though later results have required the modification of 

 some of Van Hise's conceptions. He was one of the most active in urging 

 che kind of attack on the problem so successfully inaugurated by the 

 Geophysical Laboratory and others, and he eagerly welcomed every con- 

 tribution from these sources, whether it confirmed or disproved some of 

 his earlier generalizations. 



Ore deposits in themselves did not particularly interest Van Hise, so 

 far as their study was confined to descriptive detail or economic con- 

 siderations. When, however, he began to see in an ore body the evidence 



