than its proportion of success.

Even under the most favorable conditions, the chances against the
success of an individual drill hole or underground development are
likely to be greater than the chances for it. The geologist may not
change this major balance; but if he can reduce the adverse chances by
only a few per cent, his employment is justified on purely commercial
grounds.

The above comments refer to sound geological work by competent
scientists. The geologic profession, like many others, is handicapped by
numbers of ill-trained men and by many who have assumed the title of
geologist without any real claim whatever,--who may do much to discredit
the profession. The very newness of the field makes it difficult to draw
a sharp line between qualified and unqualified men. With the further
development of the profession this condition is likely to be improved
(see pp. 427-428).

So new is the large-scale application of geology to exploration and
development, and so diverse are the scientific methods of approach, that
it is difficult to lay out a specific course for a student which will
prepare him for all the opportunities he may have later. In the writer's
experience, both in teaching and practice, the only safe course for the
student is to prepare broadly on purely scientific lines. With this
background he will be able later to adapt himself to most of the special
conditions met in field practice.

PARTLY EXPLORED VERSUS VIRGIN TERRITORIES

In selecting an area to work, the geologic explorer will naturally
consider various factors mentioned in succeeding paragraphs; but the
natural first impulse is to start for some place where no one else has
been, and to keep away from the older principal mining camps,--on the
assumption that such grounds have been thoroughly explored and that
their geological conditions bearing on exploration are fully understood.
It is safe to say that very few mineral districts are thoroughly
understood and explored. Numerous important discoveries of recent years
have been in the extensions of old mines and old districts; and when one
considers the scale of even the most extensive mine openings in
comparison with the vast body of rock available for exploration, it is
clear that this will continue to be the situation far into the future.
It is the writer's belief that the economic geologist stands at least as
good a chance of success in exploration in the older districts as he
does in n