188 G. 0. Smith — Government Geological Surveys. 



materially changed from those of the founders of the 

 science in America. From time to time too much empha- 

 sis may have appeared to be laid upon applied geology as 

 contrasted with pure science, yet the report of the 

 National Academy to Congress in terms placed the stress 

 upon economic resources and referred to paleontology as 

 "necessarily connected" with general and economic 

 geology. The practical purpose of geologic research 

 under Government auspices must be recognized by the 

 administrator, whether he be the paleontologist like Wal- 

 cott, the philosopher like Powell, or the mining geologist 

 like King. That the task of steering the true course is 

 no new problem can be seen from the statement of Owen 10 

 written 70 years ago, and these words describe conditions 

 of Government geological work even to-day : 



Scientific researches, which to some may seem purely specu- 

 lative and curious, are essential as preliminaries to these 

 practical results. Further than such necessity dictates, they 

 have not been pushed, except as subordinate and incidental, 

 and chiefly at such periods as, under the ordinary requirements 

 of public service, might be regarded as leisure moments ; so that 

 the contributions to science thus incidentally afforded, and which 

 a liberal policy forbade to neglect, may be considered, in a 

 measure, a voluntary offering, tendered at little or no additional 

 expense to the department. 



The increased attention given to mineral resources has 

 been a matter of gradual growth. Mr. King early 

 organized a Division of Mining Geology with Messrs. 

 Pumpelly, Emmons, and Becker as geologists in charge, 

 to whom were assigned the collection of mineral statis- 

 tics for the Tenth Census. These Survey geologists and 

 Director King himself held appointments as special 

 agents of the Census Bureau, and on the staff selected for 

 this work appear the names of T. B. Brooks, Edward 

 Orton, T. C. Chamberlin, Eugene A. Smith, George 

 Little, J. R. Proctor, E. D. Irving, N. S. Shaler, 

 John Hays Hammond, Bailey Willis, and G. H. Eldridge, 

 indicating the extent to which the supervision of these 

 inquiries was placed in the hands of economic geologists. 

 This procedure was reverted to by Director "Walcott and 

 in the last ten years has become a well-established policy, 

 the statistics of annual production of all the important 

 mineral products being under the charge of geologists, as 



10 Owen, D. D., 30th Cong., 1st sess., Senate Doc. No. 57, p. 7/ 1848. 



