116 C. D. WALCOTT — OUTLOOK OF TJIE GEOLOGIST IN AMERICA 



principle — and thus a problem is presented which it is the delight of the 

 investigator to attack. Geologic science, or the body of geologic princi- 

 ples, makes applied geology, or geologic art, possible, and reciprocally 

 the practice of geologic art opens the way to progress in geologic science. 



The Future 



The preceding portions of the address have served to show the present 

 condition of professional geologic work in the United States ; that is, 

 they give some suggestion of the quantity of work and indicate more 

 fully its range in several respects. They show that geology, although 

 affording occupation to a somewhat limited number of persons, is never- 

 theless a well established profession — a profession which nourishes in so 

 many places and under such a variety of conditions that it may be 

 assumed to have altogether passed the experimental stage. If its recent 

 history were reviewed in connection with its present status, its develop- 

 ment as a profession would be seen to have fully kept pace not only 

 with population but with the general development of culture factors. 

 There is no reason to doubt that its expansion will continue. 



The areal work and other labors constituting the geologic survey of 

 the country are but begun, and the task would require decades for its 

 completion if no change were made either in the scope of the work or in 

 the size of the working force ; and this work is regarded as fundamental 

 not only to scientific generalizations but to the intelligent guidance of 

 economic enterprises. But experience warrants the prediction that the 

 standards of the future will be progressively higher and higher, and that 

 the scope of routine investigations will become broader. As geologic 

 science progresses, and as new uses are discovered for mineral resources, 

 it will become necessary to increase the number of classes of facts to be 

 covered by areal surveys. In the field of pure science there is even less 

 suggestion of the approaching completion of the work. Every investi- 

 gation undertaken to solve some geologic problem, whether it prove suc- 

 cessful or not, is sure to develop other problems, and the geologic 

 Alexander will never lack worlds to conquer. This is a law of growth 

 for every science and is merely an expression of the infinite complexity 

 of nature. 



It is impossible to forecast the problems of the future. When in- 

 vestigators are questioned they respond only with the problems of the 

 present, but the problems of the present were equally unknown to an 

 earlier generation. Suffice it to say that the work to be done in the 

 field of geologic science is no less assured and no less important than 

 the work in applied geology and in economic geology. G'eology, as is 



