BEGIN,NINGS OF ECONOMIC GEOLOGY 395 
tion in which they live, and therefore their colleagues all over 
the world are able to . relieve a little part of their distress by 
sending to them, through some safe intermediary, the publications 
which they have been longing to read during years of seclus¬ 
ion/' 
Surely when earth-students stand first among the classes, rise 
first in society, and take precedence over major-generals, for the 
first time in the history of the world be it said, something good 
must come out of Isreal. 
Russia is sometimes called Red. But “Reds” sought out and 
returned no less than 47 Rembrants safely to their old home in 
that most famous art treasury of all Europe, The Hermitage; 
and they have gathered up the priceless art treasures from the 
deserted palaces of the Grand Dukes and likewise deposited them 
in the Petrograd sanctuary. And more thrills; priceless geological 
treasures are safe. The famous Lena mammoth, that huge hairy 
elephant, which with its complete skeleton, its flesh, its hide and 
its flowing hair, still rests unharmed in the halls of the Academy 
of Sciences overlooking the Neva. 
Our Finnish confere goes on to say: “A Russian paleon¬ 
tologist and geologist of great renown, Alexander Karpinsky, the 
former director of the Geological Survey, was lately reported to 
be living in great distress, but the last news from him is more 
comforting. His health has improved, and he is now, as Presi¬ 
dent of the Academy of Sciences, and keeper of its paleontological 
museum, very active in spite his 77 years.” 
Beginnings oe Economic Geology in America 
The rise of Applied ^ Geology in this country appears not to 
date from the time of the attachment of scientific men to the 
various Governmental exploratory undertakings in the Far West, 
but to proceed from the special engagement of trained geologists 
by large corporations and private business interests wherein are 
sought quantitative and not merely qualitative results, and where 
returns are measured in dollars and cents. 
Curiously enough, the first real impetus given to the com¬ 
mercial application of the principles of geological science was 
closely linked up with the most exciting political episode of the 
