Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 45.djvu/688

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
668
THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

riphery of the massive granites. He thought the water occurred in the form of inclusions in the granite constituents, which was proved ten years later by Sorby. From this time on there was the new theory for a mixed origin of granite. When synthesis was applied it was found impossible to obtain granite by purely igneous fusion.

The new mineralogy has accomplished much and has extended our knowledge of rocks and minerals far beyond even the dream of its founders, so that to-day nearly all known rocks have been formed artificially with the same minerals and under the same associations as in Nature. Of the different mineral species but very few remain which have not been reproduced in the laboratory, and each year decreases this number. The only ones which have not been reproduced are epidote, allanite, zoisite, staurolite, disthene, andalusite, and tourmaline, a very small number, which will probably be removed in the next few years. All this work has been accomplished in a comparatively short period of time in three countries, France, Russia, and Germany.

Thus we see the new mineralogy has given breadth to the old and has established a better foundation on which to build, since it has disclosed the long-hidden mystery of the origin of minerals and rocks.

SCIENCE AS A MEANS OF HUMAN CULTURE.[1]

By FLOYD DAVIS, E.M., Ph. D.,

PRESIDENT OF THE NEW MEXICO SCHOOL OF MINES.

THE day has long since passed when men expected to meet with success without faithful effort. We now realize that one of the fundamental principles underlying success in any field is concentration of thought and energy in rightly directed channels. We are glad to see so many of our higher institutions of learning, particularly the technical schools through their laboratory methods of instruction, training young men to concentrate their energies. The beneficent results of such training will be enjoyed by generations to come.

The trained intellect grasps in a comprehensive manner details which the untrained can never see; it analyzes subjects in all their bearings and gives wise direction to the advancement of truth. In all scientific work, and even in the business world, the demands are for men trained to comprehend subjects down to the very details in a single glance. A business firm once employed a


  1. An address delivered at the formal opening of the New Mexico School of Mines, at Socorro, September 5, 1893.