LINCOLN SOCIETY. 127 



ore, liard, flint}- rock, or soft slate stoue, and cold, lieavy, clayey 

 ground, or lig-lit gravelly loam ; unless by chance some one may 

 have found a small deposit of tourmalin, in connection with a 

 granite ledge, or quarry of primitive or chrystaline limestone. 

 By the aid of a work on geology they will soon begin to talk 

 of primitive, secondary and tertiary formation; will become 

 familiar with the names of hornblende, talc or talcose slate, and 

 grey wacke ; but this information, even to those who possess it, 

 is too limited and imperfect to be of much practical advantage, 

 it being directed to one single point — that of making themselves 

 suddenly rich by the discovery of a bed of coal, either on their 

 own or neighboring farms. 



This is not such a study of these sciences as I would recom- 

 mend. It should be more general, more practical, — a knowledge 

 by which the farmer may enrich himself and neighbors, by fer- 

 tilizing and working the surface so as to secure a good crop, 

 rather than by sinking a shaft deep into the bowels of the earth, 

 with the expectation of finding fields of coal and beds of miner- 

 als among the primitive ledges of the State of Maine. It was 

 not till about the middle of the last century that the structure 

 of the earth engaged, to any extent, the attention of philoso- 

 phers. Geology has now become an interesting and important 

 branch of human knowledge. It is founded exclusively on ob- 

 servation ; and, availing itself of all accessible sources of infor- 

 mation, has already accumulated an astonishing amount of valu- 

 able and instructive facts. 



There are but few persons, of inquiring minds, to whom the 

 following questions have not frequently presented themselves : 

 How was the world made ? — of what material ? The only an- 

 swer to the first question is, briefly, by the '' almighty power of 

 its Creator." In order to answer the second question, it is 

 necessary to examine the component parts of the substances of 

 which the earth is composed ; the order in which they aro 

 arranged, and what changes they appear to have undergone. 



These inquiries comprise the most important objects of min- 

 eralogical and geological research, and the study and investiga- 

 tion of them must be of more immediate and practical advantage 

 to the farmer than to any other class of citizens. 



The State requires carefully compiled statistics and reports 



