364 ]ilJLLETlJ>r 109, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



discovered already, or which may, from certain well-linown iudlcatioiis, t>e 

 reasonably expected to be found hereafter. Such are the following: 



1. Different kinds of stone made use of in buildings, as freestone, slate, lime- 

 stone, and soapstone; marble, serpentine, etc. 



2. Beds of gypsum, salt, coul, marl, potters clay, and other fossils used in agri- 

 culture or domestic economy. 



3. Beds of ocher, bole, reddle, plumbago, and similar substances used in 

 painting. 



4. Metallic ores, {is iron, lead, antimony, zinc, etc. 



5. Mineral springs. 



It is superlluous for me to say, that these substances are of great importance 

 to the public both for domestic uses, and, under favorable circumstances, as 

 articles of commerce. 



That they ai'e also very intimately connected with the improvement of in- 

 ternal navigation will be obvious, if we reflect, that, by a free navigation, 

 their value as articles of exports is, like tliat of the productions of agriculture, 

 greatly enhanced ; that were we in possession of marbles equal to those of Greece 

 and Italy, their commercial value would be lost by the difficulty of transporta- 

 tion ; while with a free navigation, many things of which we are now in the 

 actual possession, might be turned to much more profitable account. As, there- 

 fore, the treasures of the mineral kingdom (in which there is reason to think 

 this State is as opulent as any in the Union) are exhibited to the view of the 

 public, the necessity and advantages of internal navigation will be most strik- 

 ingly manifest. 



But all these things are so obvious that it is only necessary for me to show, 

 that an actual examination of the country, conducted with the requisite knowl- 

 edge of the geological principles, will have a tendency to multiply the dis- 

 coveries, an J extend the uses of these valuable substances. 



1. Many valuable minerals now lie neglected, because their nature and 

 uses are not generally known. 



2. Geology furnishes rules for discovering useful minerals by certain known 

 indications, derived from other minerals in the neighborhood, from the general 

 structure of the country, and so on. It materially aids the progress of discovery 

 by showing whether a given mineral, as gypsum, for instance, is to be looked 

 for in a pnrticular section of country, or not. It thus limits the field of exami- 

 nation and prevents fruitless researches. 



3. So fully have the advantages resulting from such investigations been ex- 

 perienced in Great Britain that landed proprietors frequently cause them to 

 be made on their own estates. 



4. In the State of New York where public enterprise is directed to the objects 

 as those which this honorable board have in view, the geological examination 

 of the country, through which their operations are carried on, has been at- 

 tended with highly important and beneficial results, as will be seen by refer- 

 ence to the late speeches of his excellency the governor of New York, to the 

 legislature of that State. 



Should the honorable board be of opinion that the objects specified in this 

 communication are worthy of their attention and patronage, I hereby offer 

 them my services during such seasons of leisure as can be spared from the 

 exercise of my official duties at the tuiiversity, and ask merely such an ap- 

 propriation as shall (defray the expenses of the undertaking. 



These would be chiefly such as would accrue from the hire of a horse and 

 servant and the charge of traveling, consequently they could not be great. T 



