GEOLOGIGAJL AND NATURAL HISTORY SURVEYS. 827 



NEW YORK. 



The history of the New York State surveys can not well begin 

 without reference to the piorieer work of Amos Eaton, who began 

 his scientific career in 1816, and in 1818, on the invitation of Gov. 

 De Witt Clinton, delivered a course of lectures on natural history 

 before the members of the State legislature. In 1821, under the 

 patronage of Stephen Van Eensselaer, he made a geological and 

 agricultural survey of Eensselaer County, and later (1824), under 

 the same auspices, a survey of the district adjoining the Erie Canal. 

 These surveys, together with his textbooks and other writings, served 

 to arouse the interest of the public, and to him doubtless more than 

 to any other one man was due the early establishment of a survey 

 under State auspices. 



GEOLOGICAL SURVEYS UlsDER HALL, KilMO^S, AND OTHERS, 



As early as 1827 among the laws of the State is the following: 



4. And he it further enacted, That for the purpose of encouraging uiineralogi- 

 cal researches it shall and uiaj- be lawful for the said couimissioners of the 

 land office to grant to any discoverers of mines, minerals, and fossils, other 

 than gold and silver, such lands as they may apply for, not exceeding 500 aci'es 

 of land, without estimating in the valuation thereof the said discoveries, and 

 retaining to the people of this State one-half of any land in which such mines, 

 minerals, and fossils may be discovered. 



It was not, however, until 1835 that the subject of a State survey 

 assumed a definite form. In that year it appears the Albany Insti- 

 tute of New York presented a memorial to the legislature, which 

 seemed to have formed the basis for subsequent action. The im- 

 mediate result of this memorial was the following resolution by the 

 house of assembly : 



Resolved, That the secretary of state be requested to report to the legislature 

 at its next session the most expedient method of obLjiiiiing a complete geological 

 survey of the State, which shall furnish a scientific and perfect account of its 

 rocks, soils, and minerals, and their localities; a list of all its mineralogical, 

 botanical, and zoological productions, and provide for procuring and preserving 

 specimens of tlie same; together with an estimate of the expenses which may 

 attend the prosecution of the design, and the cost of publication of an edition of 

 8,000 copies of the report, drawings, and geological map of its results. 



On the 6th of January of the following year, John A. Dix, then 

 secretary of state, submitted an elaborate report upon the subject/ 

 Realizing that " the principal object of the survey is to procure in- 

 formation which may be applied to useful purposes, it is desirable 

 to complete the work as soon as possible in order that the results 

 ma}^ be available at the earliest practical date," he proposed that the 



'Report of tlie setTctary of state in rplntion to a ci^ological survey, .Tnn. 0, 18;'6. 



