WORK OF THE DIVISION OF GEOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY 177 



work in Europe. Attention to the geographical interests of the division 

 was then provided for by adding to the Executive Committee Isaiah 

 Bowman, of the American Geographical Society, and Captain Lawrence 

 Martin, then of the Military Intelligence Branch and now a major on 

 the general staff. J. E. Spurr, of the War Trade Board, was made a 

 member of the division in April. Herbert E. Gregory was added in July, 

 and you have heard at this meeting of the valuable special work per- 

 formed by him. During a part of the summer Professor Gregory was 

 acting chairman of the division. 



The Executive Committee has held nearly thirty meetings during the 

 year. It has been the practice to invite various geologists and geogra- 

 phers to attend meetings for conference on special subjects. Among 

 those who have thus collaborated in the work of the division may be men- 

 tioned J. M. Clarke, W. M. Davis, E. B. Mathews, T. L. Watson, E. A. F. 

 Penrose, Jr., C. P. Berkey, and W. W. Atwood. 



GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE WORK 



In speaking of the role played by geology in assisting the operations 

 of the army at the front, it has been continually emphasized that the ren- 

 dering of such assistance was difficult because there was at the beginning 

 no adequate realization by military authorities that geological advice 

 could be of much value. If such was the situation in France, how much 

 more difficult must have been the task of geologists thousands of miles 

 from the seat of war to secure opportunities for work with the army? 



The geologist, as such, does not contribute, as does the physicist, chem- 

 ist, or engineer, to the invention, development, or production of the mu- 

 nitions and weapons of war, or the machines and various agencies neces- 

 sary to the equipment, transportation, and maintenance of an armv. It 

 is true that there has been a great field of activity for the economic geol- 

 ogist in promoting the production of the so-called "war minerals" essen- 

 tial in munitions and machines. With that part of the geologists' work 

 the Research Council has naturally had little to do, the field being ade- 

 quately covered by the Geological Survey, Bureau of Mines, the War 

 Industries Board, and related Government or State organizations. 



The importance of geographical information in military operations 

 has long been appreciated to a much greater degree than that of geolog- 

 ical knowledge; yet geographers have felt that the fundamental training 

 in various branches of geography given in military schools of the day has 

 been lamentably deficient. Not only has the instruction in map making, 

 reading, and interpretation been inadequate to secure that familiarity 

 necessary to proper use of maps, but the study of the main geographic 

 XII— Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., Vol. 30, 1918 



