24 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AN'X ARBOR MEETING 



been recorded. Barrell laid aside the problem for a time or proceeded 

 with his original plan, on the theory that, as he expressed it, ''an inde- 

 pendent treatment of any important topic is valuable," and "the results 

 of thinking ought not to be wasted." Geological literature to Barrell was 

 an aid. not a sruide, to thinkino-; but this aid was utilized to the full and 

 in a masterly manner. As Schuchert has remarked, ^'his best results were 

 obtained through generalizing from the publications of others." 



But his criticism of published works, his skill in assembling, testing, 

 and interpreting the field and laboratory observations of others, was of 

 no ordinary sort. T. C. Chaml)erlin made the remark. "I consider Barrell 

 the best reader of geology in America.'^ 



For the average mind, this method of substituting the printed page 

 for direct observation and experiment has ob\ious disadvantages, and the 

 quality of Barrell's mind is nowhere better shown than in the interpre- 

 tations of processes and structures and formations which he had not seen. 

 The remarkable success of his method, recognized as clearly by him as by 

 others, doubtless accounts for BarrelFs neglect of opportunities for ex- 

 tensive field studies in America and abroad. 



The Writings of Professoij Barrell 



In his writings Barrell shows a surprising range of accomplishment, a 

 firm grasp of the subject-matter of geology lying between the extremes 

 of physical chemistry and biology, and familiarity with the inductive 

 and deductive methods of reasoning. His studies of the Elkhorn and the 

 Marysville mining district, which reveal the mastery of petrography and 

 chemical mineralogy, resulted in the invention of the theory of magmatic 

 stoping, which has played such an important part in the investigations 

 of the processes of igneous intrusion. At the other end of the geological 

 field are his interesting contributions to paleontology and evolution, '^the 

 rise of air-breathing vertebrates and the origin of the Tertiary ape-man." 

 Conscious choice and the necessary distribution of labor among the Yale 

 professors led to a centering of interest on dynamical and structural 

 geology — "the center of the geological field/' as he termed it; but within 

 this roughly defined area no subdivisions into structure, phvsiographv. 

 erosion, sedimentation, climatology, isostasy, and stratigraphv were rec- 

 ognized. It is probable that Barrell will l)e valued bv future o'eoloo-ists 

 not as a specialist, but as a man who has enlarged the boundaries and 

 strenothened the foundations of what might be called "sreneral o-eoloo"v " 



All of BarrelFs writings rank with the best and will stimulate thought 

 for many years to come, but the ones which appear to have produced the 



