60 



stances, individuals, prompted by the love of science, and a de- 

 sire to extend the blessings it confers upon mankind, have pur- 

 sued their labors and enquiries to a very considerable extent. 

 And wherever these surveys have been made, they have been at- 

 tended with useful results to the various branches of industry and 

 enterprize. 



But although the Committee have thus classed these surveys 

 together, and acknowledged the importance of both ; still their 

 execution is not necessarily connected, and there is, in the esti- 

 mation of your Committee, a considerable difference between them 

 in point of immediate practical utility. It is true a Topographical 

 Survey, by fixing certain station points in various parts of the 

 State and determining their relative height, with their distances 

 and direction from each other and by ascertaining the drainage 

 or fall of streams from their sources to their mouths, would form 

 data for calculation relative to the construction of canals and rail- 

 roads. It would enable us, likewise, in any given place to deter- 

 mine the position or direction of the true meridian ; to settle the 

 boundaries of towns and counties with such unvarying precision as 

 almost to supersede the necessity of the usual landmarks ; to ascer- 

 tain with unerring certainty from time to time the variations of the 

 magnetic needle without having recourse to the more tedious pro- 

 cess of astronomical calculations, now so often necessary to deter- 

 mine these points. These, it must be admitted in general terms, are 

 objects of high importance. But the data which would be indis- 

 pensable in calculations relative to the construction of canals and 

 railroads, would be of little practical use until business and wealth 

 should indicate the necessity and furnish the means of putting 

 these works in operation ; and the other advantages which have 

 been alluded to, can be dispensed with, although at the expense 

 of some inconvenience^ and perhaps at times uncertainty, in im- 

 portant calculations. 



That some preliminary facts, relative to the Topography of the 

 State, would form a starting point for geological investigation, and 

 in a considerable degree facilitate its progress, is readily admitted ; 

 and if it were a settled point that both Surveys should be under- 

 taken within a few years, unquestionably the Topographical 

 should take precedence in order of time. But as one is not es- 

 sential to the accomplishment of the other, and as the expense of 



