Gold and Other Minerals in loi^'a. — Calvin. 371 
Otis rocks in which drills mis,ht be worked eternally without the 
remotest prospect of finding even so much as a trace of gas or 
oil. 
There is another fallacy which should be disposed of, if it 
is ever possible to dispose of any of the popular and deep-root- 
ed fallacies concerning what is hidden from ordinary observa- 
tion beneath the surface of the ground. However it has arisen, 
there is a wide-spread belief that experts in some way are able 
to judge of the presence or absence of valuable products by an 
examinati-on of the topography and general characteristics of 
the surface of any given region. Unscrupulous persons, tak- 
ing advantage of this belief, have robbed some Iowa communi- 
ties unmercifull}'. Such persons usually own an elaborate out- 
fit for drilling, and naturally they want to keep themselves and 
their machines employed. The community to be victimized is 
easily selected. With specious claims of expert knowledge and 
glib assurance that this hill and that ravine and the relations 
of the level plain all bear unmistakable evidence of underlying 
wealth of the very kind that the community for the moment 
most desires, the requisite amount of money is quickly coaxed 
from the pockets of the public spirited subscribers, the hole is 
bored, the driller gets his pay, and the. community is left to re- 
pent its folly at its leisure. Not infrequently it is the public 
spirited men of the community who take the initiative, and. 
without knowledge of their own and asking no advice, but firm 
in the belief that the earth will yield anything desired if we 
only go deep enough, they proceed with the drilling of test 
holes on a scale involving the expenditure of thousands of dol- 
lars. The end is inevitable. It is that which invariably fol- 
lows every ill-advised enterprise in which ascertained facts are 
ignored. The (lisa])p<>intment nia\- be all the keener when the 
promoters realize that the facts bearing on the case were easily 
ascertainable. 
T\\t highest living authority on the distribvUion of oil and 
gas, the man who has done more than any one else for the suc- 
cessful and profitable development of all the interests related to 
these two products, declares that the most valuable service 
which science has been able to render in this cc^nnection has 
been the determination of the fields wherein exploration is 
hopeless. lowans will do v-ell to remember that, even in a 
