PART III. 

 SCIENTIFIC GEOLOGY 



OF 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



To His EXCELLENCY LEVI LINCOLN ESQ. 



GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



ACCORDING to the plan suggested in the first part of my Report, I 

 now proceed to a consideration of the Scientific Geology of Massa- 

 chusetts. 



Having already given a view, professedly popular, of our rocks 

 and minerals which are interesting in a pecuniary respect, I shall 

 make no apology for entering into full details in this third part of my 

 Report, of all the geological phenomena in the state, that have fallen 

 under my notice, and seem of any importance to the science. I shall 

 endeavour, however, to avoid all unnecessary prolixity. 



No science is making such rapid progress as geology. Even 

 since I received your Excellency's Commission, three years ago, sev- 

 eral important principles have been developed by able geologists, 

 which I shall apply to the rocks of this region, so far as I am able. 

 In Europe geological researches have been pushed much farther than 

 in other quarters of the globe : And it is an interesting inquiry, how 

 far the phenomena of rocks in other regions correspond with those in 

 Europe. I hope to show that the rocks of Massachusetts exhibit 

 some analogies of this kind, that prove an identity of the causes that 

 produced them. 



The technical terms which I shall be under the necessity of em- 

 ploying, will be used, so far as I understand them, in the sense adop- 

 ted by the most recent and approved authors. Geology, however, 

 does not abound in terms of this kind ; nor shall I employ more than 

 necessity requires. 



I ought perhaps to remark that the term rock, will be sometimes 



