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desk, or engaged in the thousand varied and wearying occupations for 

 the accumulation of wealth. 



Many sciences combine and call forth in their pursuits energies 

 conducive to health ; and the one for which I seek to enlist disciples 

 ranks second to none in this grand desideratum. What more ex- 

 hilarating than the field pursuits of the geologist ? What more com- 

 panionable '? In the bright fresh morning he hastens to his labours. 

 He woos nature in all her forms, and in all the wondrous diversity of 

 her beauty. The stern features of the early world are pleasing con- 

 trasts to the softened landscape evidences of the younger formation. 

 The sandy desert he knows to have once been the depths of the bright 

 green sea, and the loftiest mountain the habitat of the world-creating 

 coral. He seeks and finds in the relics and debris strewn around him 

 evidences of life, oftentimes most wondrous in its formation, but long 

 past away. But he knows that all are links in that great chain that 

 encircles time; materials that form the base of that mighty pyramid, 

 the apex of which is still a mystery. 



The study and applicaljility of this science has yet scarcely been fully 

 appreciated. The architect and his handy craftsman, the mason, are 

 too palpably indebted to its aid for useful and important lessons to ren- 

 der details necessary. Another large and most influential class of men 

 may gather information to~ guide their judgments from its teachings : 

 I mean the medical profession. In ordinary physical and pathological 

 treatment, the geological structure of localities, where the patient 

 resides or resorts, must in many cases be of vital importance. Some 

 formations, by their stiff clays, retain the moisture near the surface, 

 thereby causing an excess of damp and cold ; another is peculiar for its 

 dryness, retaining heat, and thereby keeping up a more even tem- 

 perature. Some evolve gasses deleterious to many constitutions, 

 perhaps medicinally beneficial to others. In the same manner we find in 

 some strata elaborate mineral waters possessing certain medicinal pro- 

 perties, which, if properly understood and rightly applied, often reinstate 

 health and re-invigorate the constitution. To have a sound knowledge of 

 temperature and other ruling influences, radiating as it were therefrom, 

 is a knowledge, I apprehend, exceedingly desirable, if not absolutely 

 necessary, for the medical practitioner. 



But of all sister sciences and tastes benefiting by the study of geology, 

 there is one which is largely indebted to it, and th:it is painting. 

 What master-hand should depict the iron-fronted and timcworn 

 frowning masses of the older rocks, rearing their heads hoared with 

 the snows of almost immeasurable time, in a locality where only 

 the gentle undulations of the new red, the oolite, or chalk are 



