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Washington the most desirable place of meeting for 

 the scientific associations of the Union. 



The great importance of geology is derived from 

 its usefulness. There is scarcely a vocation in life 

 which will not feel the value of and derive benefit 

 from a competent knowledge of the geological struc- 

 ture of the earth. It will teach the miner to distin- 

 guish between deposits which are rich and such as 

 are sterile in ores ; in what manner they vary in dif- 

 ferent formations, as well as the varieties and pecu- 

 liarities of the metals each produces; which are the 

 most easily worked, and which furnish their own 

 fluxes ; where, from certain indications, the mineral 

 vein may be pursued with every probability of suc- 

 cess, and where its farther pursuit would result in 

 disappointment, and waste of labor and capital. In 

 short, the study of geology opens, as it were, the 

 interior of the earth to the miner, and enables him 

 to predict with great probability, if not with abso- 

 lute certainty, the existence or absence of valuable 

 minerals beneath the surface. This knowledge is 

 important in this country to all classes; for emigrants, 

 whether farmers or mechanics, are interested in be- 

 ing able to select localities in the neighborhood of 

 veins or fields of coal, which the geologist can ascer- 

 tain by unfailing indications, and on the existence of 

 which, in some situations, the comfort of our people 

 so much depends. Fortunately for us, they are vast 

 and accessible, beyond all precedent in the old 

 world, and form an element of the wealth and power 

 of the United States. 



To the civil engineer this study is of the highest 



