EXPERT WORK. 325 



than in that of instruction. The results of blundering are more appar- 

 ent and their immediate effect on the reputation of the science more 

 unhappy. That this branch of learning has managed to retain a fair 

 place in the esteem of the public in face of the criminal blunders which 

 its prophets have made is indeed remarkable. It shows how much our 

 people are disposed to pardon where they believe that men mean well, 

 however ill may they do. There is, however, a lesson from this unhappy 

 experience which we should all read and inwardly digest. This is in 

 effect that what is called expert work demands other qualities of mind 

 and another training than those which go to make a successful investi- 

 gator or teacher. We, as well as the general public, need to recognize 

 that fact, that there is as much reason to suppose that a noted teacher 

 of political economy should prove successful in determining the merits 

 of a proposed business project as that his colleague in geology should be 

 fit to advise in regard to a mining venture. The teacher may be an ex- 

 pert in the economics of the profession, but the proof of the fact is not 

 to be found in his scientific work or in his success as an instructor. If 

 he has not had the other training, it may be safely assumed that he will 

 be totally unfitted to wrestle with the tricky fellows who try in amaz. 

 ingly varied ways to deceive him, or even with the tendencies of his own 

 mind, which naturally lead him to see riches where others fancy they 

 discern them. 



In the interests of our science it is most desirable that all expert work 

 should pass into the hands of a body of men who should bring to their 

 task so much of geology as is needed for the particular inquiry, com- 

 monly not very much, and who can join with it the more important 

 practical acquaintance with the miner's art and the conditions of trade 

 which relate thereto. In certain cases the men of theory may well serve 

 these experts; all their inquiries are likely to be of service in the deter- 

 minations, but on them should not be the responsibility for the business 

 side of the problems. There is little the geologist does in the way of 

 research which may not have some practical application to the affairs of 

 men, but he should not mistake this possibility of usefulness as an indi- 

 cation that it is for him to give his inquiries an economic turn. 



Conclusion. 



We thus see that geological science, like the most of the other branches 

 of natural learning, has two distinct points of contact with society — that 

 of instruction and that of economic affairs. In each of these fields of 

 usefulness its services to man have been great and are to be far greater 

 in the time to come. As for instruction, the task is to give to men an 



