

LECTURES IX XK\V YOKK. 373 



my excellent wife, and drew in its train beneficial come- 

 quences which are felt to this day. 



In February, 1836, Mr. Silliman received an invi- 

 tation from many of the leading citizens of New 

 York, to give a geological course in th:it city. ] 

 he complied with, and the lectures were given i 

 ensuing April and May. Of this course he says : 



The course was quite successful, both as to tin- number 

 of hearers and the interest excited. Among the audience 

 were many of the first people of the city ; there were n 

 ladies, and, I suppose, a solid mass of intelligence from the 

 middle classes of society. The excitement was almost as 

 great as in Boston. 



Mr. Silliman introduces here some account of 

 other labors which were partly contemporaneous 

 with the delivery of his public courses of lectures, 

 but which extend back, also, to an earlier date. He 

 first notices a visit of exploration, made in 1830, to 

 the valley of Wyoming, and to its coal formations 

 in the State of Pennsylvania. 



Of the labor of the investigation, in a letter to Mrs. Silli- 

 man of May 25, 1830, it is remarked : " We have finished 

 the investigation. We have examined, I suppose, one hun- 

 dred mines and localities of coal extending through forty 

 miles in length, and as we have explored both sit Irs <.f the 

 valley with many crossings and doublings back :m<l for- 

 ward, we have investigated one hundred and twenty to one 

 hundred and thirty miles of mountains, forests, swamps, and 

 excavations. We have travelled occasionally in wagons, 

 principally on horseback, but much of our movements have 

 been on foot, especially in regions incessible to wheels or 

 horses. I have never in my life gone through a week of 



