POLITICAL INHERENCY OF GEOLOGY 
327 
EDITORIAL 
Political Inherency of Geological Science 
A generation ago geologists the world over looked with fond 
delight and supreme admiration upon that bulky set of magnificent 
tomes known as the Pacific Railroad Reports. Loudly extolling 
the immensities of the natural resources of southern and south¬ 
western United States these sumptuous volumes long served as 
veritable mines of information concerning the geological features 
of the regions of which they treated. 
Especially notable was the evident stress placed upon the purely 
scientific aspects of the themes presented. With the latter were 
associated the names of many of the foremost geologists of that 
day. Among them were James Hall, Jules Marcou, John S. New¬ 
berry, Thomas Antisell, William P. Blake, James Shiel, John 
Evans, and George Gibbs. 
But the chief motif of the reports seems not to have been so 
altruistic as simple scientific disquisitions might lead one to be¬ 
lieve. Their basic aim appears to have been as sordid as that of 
some of the Government reports of later days. These surveys 
were not all that they pretended to be. They were in reality poli¬ 
tical and commercial propaganda as deeply dyed in the public 
controversy of that time as any other that immediately preceded 
the Civil War. They were, indeed, pro-slavery documents, as 
pernicious and insinuatory as the northern geologists, who were 
made use of, were innocent of their real mission. 
The attempt to check the influence of these famous volumes was 
also commercial, sectional and selfish; and the success of the at¬ 
tempt proved to be the spark which fell into the powder keg and 
precipitated the great armed conflict among brethren. The emi¬ 
nent scientists of that day were unwittingly drawn into a nefar- 
