Abstract
GEOLOGICAL MAP OF BELGIUM.—Considerable discussion has lately taken place in Belgium regarding a detailed geological map of that kingdom which it has been proposed to construct. The Academy of Sciences, the Geological Society of Belgium, and the Association of Engineers have all formed committees of inquiry as to the best methods of preparing the map. It may interest geological readers to know the scheme which after prolonged discussion has been agreed upon by the Geological Society of Belgium. The organisation of the staff is proposed to include a geological committee charged with the actual survey, and consisting wholly of geologists; a cartographical committee composed of cartographers and geodesists, to take charge of the engraving and publication of the map in chromolithography; a director, as president of both committees, to be appointed by the King, on the recommendation of the geological committee. Each committee is to be independent of the other, and to have the almost liberty within its own proper sphere of action. The Government, on the recommendation of the Royal Academy of Belgium, names the first five members of the geological committee, and the additions to this number are made by the Government on the recommendation of the committee itself. The geological committee may nominate for appointment by the Government as associate members, the assistants which it will require for the execution of the work, and it will regulate their remuneration subject to ministerial approbation. This committee will settle the legend of the map, as well as all details which can be regulated in advance; it will determine by whom and under what conditions the geological work is to be carried on, and it will decide upon the memoirs or other works connected with the geology of the country, which are to be published as accompaniments of the map. Each published sheet of the map will bear the name of its author. The geological committee will communicate through the director with the cartographical committee before the final printing off of the sheets of the map. The cartographical committee will comprise five members, including the director-president, all appointed by the Government. The Director will convoke the committees as often as he considers necessary and at least once in three months. It will be his duty to superintend the execution of the work determined by the committees, and to give an account of its progress at every quarterly meeting. He will also present annually to Government a report upon the whole work connected with the map and upon the employment of the funds placed at his disposal. These regulations embody the views of the majority of the Geological Society of Belgium, but from the keen and prolonged debate on the subject (well reported in the Bulletin), it is clear that some members of the Society shrewdly foresee the difficulties which are sure to arise if these regulations are finally adopted by the Government. The whole scheme is too cumbrous. Unless the president happens to be a man of singular powers, it will be a matter of herculean labour to get a harmonious and complete result out of the independent work of two committees, who need not be summoned above once a quarter, and who are not compelled to have any direct communication with each other until just before the final issue of each sheet of the map. The actual survey will be made, in part at least, by paid assistants. Their work will be subjected to the criticism of the geological committee, the majority of which may change from time to time, thus affording.no guarantee of uniformity of system. The maps, after coming out of the ordeal of this committee, will pass under that of the cartographers, who, it seems, are to have full power to bring out the maps in any style or shape they choose, and who may possibly be quite unacquainted with geological requirements. We can anticipate the astonishment with which some fine day one of the assistants may peruse a published copy of his own “feuille.” Perhaps his name engraved at the bottom of the sheet may be the only indication he will recognise of his association in a work with which his connection ceased when he handed his field-maps over to the geological committee. It is to be hoped that the Government will reduce this somewhat complicated machinery. A responsible director, with, if need be, a small council of geologists, palæeontologists, and map-makers with whom he might from time to time consult, would be sufficient to organise a staff of field-surveyors and to carry out in fullest detail and in complete harmony a geological survey of the country.
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Geological Notes . Nature 16, 51–53 (1877). https://doi.org/10.1038/016051a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/016051a0