744 A. W. GEABAU INTERPRETATION OF SEDIMENTARY ROCKS 



glomerate can only be fully uiulerstood when we have a knowledge of the 

 locations of the niouiitMijus, lowlands, and seas of the respective periods, 

 and this requires the study of the Mississippic anrl (^^arbonic formations 

 of a considerable portion of Norti] America. 



Above all, we must broaden our knowledge of the physical conditions 

 under which sedimentary deposits are formed today, and we must replace 

 the inadequate and often too superficial descriptions, given us by the 

 geographers and travelers, by the more detailed and exact observations 

 which only the trained geologist can make. 



^Twenty years ago/' Waltlier writes/ "i was constantly told : 'What 

 you are doing is not geology.' " Me paid the penalty of leaving the path 

 where orthodoxy was wont to travel. Today the science of lithogenesis 

 founded by Walther is coming into its own, and this symposium, conceived 

 of the wisdom of our president, gives promise that in this field, too, we 

 in x^merica may hope to march in the front ranks of those whose business 

 it is to advance the boundaries of liuman knowledge. 



- Private communication. 



