BULLETIN OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 



Vol. 31, pp. 363-374 SEPTfeMBER 30, 1920 



AMEKICAN PALEONTOLOGISTS AND THE IMMEDIATE 

 FUTUEE OF PALEONTOLOGY^ 



BY CHARLES SCHUCHERT 



{Read before the Society December SI, 1919) 



It is well that we take stock of the men and women in America who 

 are interested in paleontology, to see how many there are of us, what we 

 are doing in spreading the knowledge of our subject, and how well this 

 is being done. As to this personnel, we are greatly aided by a study of 

 the membership of the Paleontological Society, taking the list of 1918. 

 The Society then had 190 members, and this number probably includes 

 all of the American paleontologists but three, and these three, curiously, 

 are actively interested in the science. The list shows 12 members in 

 Canada, 1 in Mexico, and 177 in the United States. Of the 184 living 

 members, about 93 are connected with teaching institutions, about 60 

 with geological surveys and museums, and about 31 are outside of either 

 of these two groups. From these figures we learn that there are but few 

 actual amateurs, meaning by this term those who are interested in pale- 

 ontology, but are not directly connected with some institution of a 

 geologic, paleontologic, or museum nature. 



Now, let us look into this membership in a totally different way and 

 see how many of the 184 are actually working paleontologists. By a 

 working paleontologist the speaker would understand, in this connection, 

 one whose livelihood is more or less concerned with paleontological work 

 and who either teaches the subject, does research work in it, or is em- 

 ployed in husbanding the collections of a museum or survey from the 

 scientific standpoint. You will see, therefore, that all geologists are ex- 

 cluded, even though they are interested in paleontology and make use of 

 fossils through a paleontologist, and also all workers with fossils in sur- 

 veys, museums, and universities who do nothing in paleontology from the 



* Manuscript received by the Secretary of the Society February 2, 1920. 

 This paper is one of a series composing a symposium on the teaching of geology and 

 paleontology. 



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