lied
geology, on the ground that the function of the college is to teach pure
science and that in some way economic applications are non-scientific,
seems to the writer an equally objectionable procedure,--because it does
not take into account the unavoidable human relations of the science,
which vivify and give point and direction to scientific work. The
development of science in economic directions does not necessarily mean
incursion into less scientific or non-scientific fields. It is true
that many of the economic applications of geology are so new and so
constantly changing that they are not yet fully organized on a
scientific basis; but this fact is merely an indication of the lag of
science, and not of the absence of possibilities of developing science
in such directions. There is today a considerable tendency among
geologists of an academic type, whose lives have been spent in purely
scientific investigation and teaching, to assume that anything different
from the field of their activities is in some manner non-scientific, and
therefore less worthy. Many economic geologists have been made to feel
this criticism, even though seldom expressed openly. For the good of
geologic science, this tendency seems to the writer extremely
unfortunate. The young man entering the field of economic geology should
be made to understand that his is the highest scientific opportunity;
and that if parts of his field are not yet fully organized, the greater
is his own opportunity to participate in the constructive work to be
done.

Under war requirements many geologists were called upon to extend their
efforts to bordering fields of endeavor. In some quarters these
activities were regarded as non-scientific, and as subtracting from
efficiency in purely geological work,--and yet out of this combined
effort came a wider comprehension of new scientific fields, between the
established sciences and between sciences and human needs. It is
inevitable that in the future these fields, now imperfectly charted,
will be occupied and developed, perhaps not by the men who are already
well established in their particular fields of endeavor, but by coming
scientists. In this light, it was a privilege for geologists to
participate in the discovery and charting activities of the war.

Still another attempt to discriminate between scientific and
non-scientific phases of geologic effort has been the assumption by
certain scientific organizations with