NEEDS OF PALEONTOLOGY 371 



directl}' of biolosry or paleontology, or by some inexperienced young man 

 upon whom the teaching of the course is shunted. The subject must be 

 taught by those not only having the knowledge of organisms, but also 

 with the very spirit of paleontology. Think of the three decades of Har- 

 vard students who felt that their education was incomplete without the 

 course in paleontology and evolution given by Nathaniel Southgate 

 Shaler. And when this great teacher passed away, his students com- 

 memorated him by giving to Harvard an endowment that yields each 

 year about $2,500, to be devoted to research work in geology and paleon- 

 tology. This is, moreover, not the only brilliant case of successful pale- 

 ontologic teaching, for we know that at California Merriam attracts to 

 himself each year several hundred undergraduate students in paleon- 

 tology, and that he is turning out more professional students of the sub- 

 ject than almost any other teacher. And Lull in his course in organic 

 evolution at Yale, which is largely based on paleontology, has each year 

 upward of a hundred undergraduate men. If the geologists will only 

 turn historical geology and evolution over to the paleontologists, we are 

 convinced that in the great majority of cases they will never again have 

 the chance to kill these courses by making them "as dry as dust." 



If the paleontologists of America will justly and adequately assert 

 themselves, it is certain that our clan at the close of another decade will 

 number at least 160 active workers instead of 112. New colleges are 

 arising and many an old one is enlarging. In addition, there are being 

 founded in many places local museums, and some of these will need a 

 paleontologist, because he can, if necessary, husband the biological col- 

 lection as well. At present, however, there are not enough of us to fill 

 the demand. Our colleges and universities are being depleted of students 

 and instructors at a frightful rate. Not only are most of our students of 

 geology and paleontology being absorbed by the mining companies and 

 the petroleum barons, but these all-powerful interests are now invading 

 the ranks of our assistant professors and professors. Truly our heads 

 are dizzy at the salaries offered — rarely under $5,000 and often $10,000, 

 with exploration in foreign lands, and in at least one case a man was 

 offered $20,000 by two different companies within a week. Under these 

 circumstances, it is a question who can resist mammon, even knowing 

 that capitulation to it means the loss of an honored university position 

 and a research career. In this way the young life of our teaching insti- 

 tutions and of the United States Geological Survey is taken away from 

 us, and unless we are very careful to meet the crisis by higher salaries 

 and the chance to do more research work, the sciences of geology and 

 paleontology will be greatly retarded. The danger is not yet fully felt 



XXVI — Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., Vol. 31, 1010 



