RARY|» 



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servable, ta'cii-; that word in its ordinirv acce I'-a'ion. Th? work of 

 the Geological Survey is of various kinds. In its inception it was held 

 to include more particularly the study of the rock crust of the earth, 

 and the determination of its mineral resources, since the relations 

 between these two subjects are exceedingly close, (gradually attention 

 was directed to the study of plants and insect^, collections of these 

 being occasionally made by some assistant attached to one of the 

 regular exploring parties. Chemistry, which embraced not only the 

 analysis or the assay of important ores, but of rocks as well, together 

 with the analysis of mineral waters, and other kindred suojects also 

 received a large amount of attention. But the rapid development and 

 extension ot the country and its various interests have in time necessit- 

 ated a corresponding change m the operations of the Survey, so that it 

 has gradually come to embrace not only Geology, Paleontology, Chem- 

 istry and Topography, but the Natural History of the country as well, 

 including the subjects of Botany, Ornithology, Entomology, Zoology, 

 Ethnology, Mining Statistics, and other kindred subjects — the proper 

 carrying out of which is, however, at the present time very seriously 

 interfered with, not only by great lack of space for disp'aying collec- 

 tions when made, but by a lack also of workers in the several fields. 



In the American Survey the different lines of work are carried on 

 in much the same way as the Canadian department, though on a much 

 more elaborate scale. Thus the work of the interior department is ar- 

 ranged under certain divisions, of which the principal are those of 

 Topography or Geography, Geology, Paleontology, Mining Statistics 

 and Technology, Chemistry and Physics, Illustrations, Library and 

 Documents, &:c. Of these the topographical division has charge of the 

 surveys proper, and the preparation of the maps connected therewith, 

 with the care of the instruments, &c., and for the year 1887-88 their 

 field parties were distributed over twenty states, extending from the 

 .\tlintic to the Pacific. The geological work is also arranged in 

 divisions, of which there are thirteen, named principally on grounds of 

 location, as the Atlantic Coast division, the Mountain division, &:c., but 

 also in some cases from the character of the work, such as the division 

 of Archaean genlo^v. 



In paleontology also the work is specialized, and instead of pla- 



