Geology and Industry

GEOLOGY is of service to man in two general ways according to Heinrich Ries in The Scientific Month-ly. The first of these is in exploring and evaluating the mineral resources on which industry and civiliza-tion are built, and the second is the application of geo-logic principles to various lines of human activity, such as engineering, agriculture, chemistry, etc. Both of these are phases of economic or applied geology, but neither could be developed before geology as a pure science was more or less firmly established, and in this process it freely acknowledges its indebted-ness to some of its older sister sciences such as chem-istry, physics, botany and zoology. Chemistry and geology are mutually helpful. Various chemical industries consume large quantities of raw mineral products, but since these vary in their purity and composition, it is important for the chemist to be familiar with the irregularities of composition which the different types may show, because he is often called upon to pass judgment on new sources of supply. Here geology helps the chemist. On the other hand, the laws of physical chemistry which the chemist has worked. out are of great assistance to the geologist in explaining many geologic processes.