370 C. SCHUCHERT THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE OF PALEONTOLOGY 



institutions having two or more instructors of geology, and yet we can 

 discern, with the most liberal count, but 18 of these in which a paleon- 

 tologist is the head or chairman of the geological department. In uni- 

 versity leadership, therefore, the geologists exceed us 4 to 1. 



In 11 of the Southern States geology is taught in 58 higher institu- 

 tions by 58 instructors, and in but one do we find a paleontologist, and 

 he is not active as such. In the 13 Western States geology is taught in 

 41 institutions by 59 instructors, and here we find the seemingly good 

 representation of 8 paleontologists, but still we are outnumbered 7 to 1. 

 In 12 Eastern States geology is taught in 75 institutions, with a staff of 

 150 instructors, and among them are 23 paleontologists — a ratio of 6 to 1. 

 In the 13 Central States more geology is taught than in any other section 

 of our country — in 115 institutions by 185 instructors. From this we 

 see that geology has attained its widest activity in the central portion of 

 our country, the region of simplest geology, but of greatest natural re- 

 sources; and yet even here we can find but 16 teaching paleontologists — 

 a ratio of 1 paleontologic to 11 geologic instructors. This lack of paleon- 

 tologists is all the more remarkable when one remembers that the Cen- 

 tral States are a paleontological paradise and the region of grandest 

 interpretative stratigraphy. Most of our invertebrate workers are bred 

 and taught here; and yet the geologists outnumber us 11 to 1. 



In line with this overwhelming testimony that the geologists unduly 

 rule the paleontologic outlook, though not intentionally and, above all, 

 not domineeringly, we see that in one of our large universities historical 

 geology is taught by a geologist, and the single paleontologist in a large 

 family of geologists is kept politely but firmly in the background. In 

 still another one a geologist pushes paleontology into the background, 

 and when students go to him for advice as to taking a major in paleon-, 

 tology, he almost always asks scornfully, "Why do you want to go into 

 paleontology?^' On the other hand, when a paleontologist is chairman 

 of the geological department in a university, and there are a few such, 

 we do not see the department filled up with paleontologists. The con- 

 dition is rather quite the contrary, and we can firmly state that the pale- 

 ontologist usually has a wider and better balanced outlook than the 

 average geologist. 



We need today a large body of paleontologists alone to enable us to 

 perpetuate and to increase the knowledge of paleontology. We need 

 many more to apply our information to geology for practical purposes, 

 and a greater number still to teach historical geology, paleontology, and 

 organic evolution in our colleges. Only too often is the course in his- 

 torical geology made "as dry as dust" by a geologist who knows nothing 



