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importance. It will enable him to point out locali- 

 ties where the best building materials are to be 

 sought; to direct lines of communication, so that 

 they may run near the requisite materials, and avoid 

 difficulties which might prove costly to overcome, as 

 well as to bring these communications within a con- 

 venient distance of formations yielding materials of 

 profitable trade, such as coal, iron, and other useful 

 metals, and mineral manures. 



The agriculturist will find, in a knowledge of ge- 

 ology, the means of ameliorating and increasing the 

 products of the soil, by enabling him to discover the 

 existence of accessible beds of the mineral manures, 

 which produce such lasting and beneficial effects 

 when applied to the soil. 



Indeed, the knowledge of geology contributes, in 

 an essential degree, to all the useful arts ; and it is 

 obvious that collections of geological and mineralo- 

 gical specimens, brought from every part of our 

 country and rendered generally accessible to the 

 people of the United States, being exhibited at the 

 seat of Government, will tend to the advancement 

 of knowledge, and its diffusion among our fellow- 

 citizens. 



The reciprocal relations which exist between 

 the several branches of science are, perhaps, more 

 strongly exemplified in that of geology than in any 

 other. This science makes every day large exac- 

 tions upon other branches, compensating them, how- 

 ever, by its discoveries within and its enlargement 

 of their respective circles. It calls upon the com- 

 parative anatomist to give the domain, the habits, the 



