NEW PUBLICATIONS. 267 



and every locality of interest was well known to them. To those 

 points, then, which yielded the most ready information, the author 

 was conducted ; and from their disclosures, and from in'^ormation 

 freely furnished by the geologists themselves, Mr. Lyell has been 

 able to compile an interesting and correct account of our geology in 

 a comparatively short time. These remarks, in explanation of his 

 geology of this country, are due to the American geologists. 



Mr. Lyell's first object, on landing upon our shores, was to com- 

 pare the New- York rocks with the Silurian system, which had been 

 so recently brought out by Mr. Murchison. In a few days, then, we 

 find the author upon a tour across the State of New-York. This 

 tour was designed to embrace an examination of the New-York 

 system, up to the Coal measures of Pennsylvania. The line of route 

 was by that of the canal to Niagara Falls, and thence by Genesee 

 valley to Blossburgh. This tour gave him a full opportunity to see 

 the entire series of rocks, from the Calciferous sandstone to the 

 Coal measures, and it is gratifying to find liim confirming step by 

 step all the conclusions which had been previously obtained by the 

 New- York geologists. 



Mr. Lyell briefly refers to the New-York survey, in the following 

 words (vol. i, p. 13) : " The Legislature of New-York, four years 

 ago, voted a considerable sum of money, more than 200,000 dollars, 

 or 40,000 guineas, for exploring its natural history and mineral 

 structure ; and at the end of the first two years, several of the 

 geological surveyors, of whom four principal ones were appointed, 

 reported, ^tnong other results, their opinion that no coal would ever 

 be discovered in their respective districts." " This result," observes 

 Mr. L. in continuation, " occasioned no small disappointment, and 

 even some complaint ; yet it was really of great benefit to the people, 

 in checking the rashness of private speculators. Large sums, for 

 the last twenty years, had been expended or squandered in trials for 

 coal in rocks below the Carboniferous series ; and there can be no 

 doubt," he adds, " that the advantage derived to the resources of 

 the State, by a cessation of needless expenditure, is sufficient to in- 

 demnify the country on mere utilitarian grounds, for the sum so 

 lur imunificently expended by the government on geological investiga- 

 tions." 



Another remark of Mr. Lyell, in this connection (vol. i. p. 15), 

 will, we think, interest our readers. " In the course of this short 



VOL. II. — NO. II. ' M ' 



