236 Prof. Silliman’s Address before the 
Lyceums.—Voluntary associations have been formed in great 
numbers in the United States, and are rapidly increasing, in which 
citizens and especially young people meet for instruction, chiefly 
by lectures; they form museums devoted to the collection of 
interesting wbiades; chiefly in natural history, and geology isa 
favorite subject of attention. 
eology is not confined to the learned. Popular lectures upon 
this science are now demanded in many of our cities, towns and 
villages, and with the aid of diagrams and specimens, the subject 
is rendered both intelligible and instructive to large and attentive 
audiences. 
So highly and so justly is geological science appreciated among 
us, that a new order of professional talent is now called into ac- 
tion. Individuals, interested in exploring or in working useful 
minerals, no longer depend upon the decisions of the credulous, 
the ignorant, the superstitious, or the crafty ; they invoke the 
of geologists conversant alike with theory and practice, and their 
opinions are usually regarded as final in questions of this nature, 
often involving heavy and it may be ruinous expenditures. ‘The 
negative, which the geologist is often able to pronounce with per- 
ect confidence in regard to a proposed mineral enterprise, is fre- 
quently of the most momentous interest to the parties, and may 
save them from destruction ; while the affirmative will be pre- 
sented with guarded caution. by every geologist who — his 
duty or his honor. 
RECENT STATE OF GEOLOGY IN THE UNITED STATES, WITH SOME 
PRACTICAL RESULTS. 
The results obtained in the United States for scientific geology 
have been highly satisfactory. For their details we must refer t0 
the various reports of the state geologists, of which even a sum- 
mary would occupy more time than we have at our commal ; 
and it is the less necessary as Prof. Hitchcock in his excellent 
address pronounced last year before this Association at Philadel- 
phia, presented a lucid synopsis of American geology. On re- 
a ns that abstract, I perceive very little to add. 
quent t notices, abstracts and reviews of the. reports of the 
often furnished by correspondents, have bee? 
poblished year to year in the American Journal of Science; 
and the editors e ereded only to regret their inability, on account 
