Geology in partnership with American industry

Abstract

TWENTY-FIVE years ago the college student was fairly certain in making his choice of a life-work between science and business. Then the dividing lines were fairly distinct between a life of quiet study in a search for truth and a life of strenuous activity in a struggle for wealth; now much of that distinction has been lost, for we find science and business working together and the scientist even earning a salary comparable with that once thought of only as the compensation of the merchant prince or the captain of industry. It is because of these changed conditions that I have followed the thought of Editor Rickard, of the lMining and Scientific Press, that the geologist “ has developed from the academic student of Lyell’s and Murchison’s time to a pioneer of commerce; he has been required to submit his work to the test of economic usefulness, and he has succeeded triumphantly; he has become a real partner to the engineer and to the capitalist, and they appreciate his comradeship.” With that thought in mind I will discuss with you the partnership of geology with industry. Science of all kinds has become more practical; whether we who chose science as a shrine at which to worship like it or not, science has become a centre of service. This utilitarian trend of science has logically brought it into close touch with industry, and the scientist can now claim partnership with the industrial executive. The linking of scientific research with industrial practice has in recent years found definite expression in the system of industrial fellowships. The latest administrative report of such an industrial experiment-station in your own State lists nearly fifty of these fellowships, and I was interested to note that nearly one-fourth of the subjects under investigation are connected with the utilization of mineral products. This is a very practical kind of partnership between science and industry, and the fact that industrial corpora-