240 Davis — Framework of the Earth. 



need inspection and corroboration, and to which further 

 work should therefore be directed. If the restraint exer- 

 cised in the translation of "La Face de la Terre" were 

 withdrawn, a critical evaluation of the whole work by its 

 translator would be of immense assistance to the geolo- 

 gists of the world. And the same translator might be, 

 more safely than anyone else, entrusted with the prepa- 

 ration of supplementary bulletins, to be issued at inter- 

 vals of from three to five years, in which the progress 

 of geological exploration should be summarized, not so 

 much with respect to the countries in which they are made 

 or to the geological formations which they describe, as 

 with respect to the earth-crust elements to the definition 

 of which they contribute. 



Thus a revision and an extension of Suess's work might 

 be internationally conducted. Detailed studies might be 

 made of the exceptional features by which certain ele- 

 ments locally depart from the generalized structure of the 

 elements to which they belong. Wisely directed attention 

 might be given to the ancient deformations of the long 

 afterwards undisturbed regions, like Laurentia and An- 

 gara and Gondwana; and coordinated effort might thus 

 be made to extend the beginnings already outlined in the 

 direction of interpreting the Archean framework of the 

 earth, upon which the more modern framework that Suess 

 deciphered has been superposed. 



Where can our efforts towards the attainment of these 

 geological ends be best begun? In my opinion, formed 

 in as detached and impartial a manner as possible, the 

 United States is at present the country best adapted 

 for the beginning, because we, of all the nations geo- 

 logically competent for so great a task, are also of all 

 the larger nations least impoverished by the Great War. 

 We are indeed likely for some years hence not to re- 

 trench our undertakings as an aid toward recuperation, 

 but rather to extend our enterprises in evidence of our 

 undiminished strength; we shall probably embark upon 

 a career of world-wide activity, scientific as well as com- 

 mercial, and on a greater scale than ever before. It 

 behooves us all to see that that career shall be well wisely 

 planned and well conducted ; and it behooves the geolo- 

 gists among us to enlarge our vision to the utmost in 

 order than our share in the coming enterprises shall not 

 be neglected. 



