GEOLOGY. 263 



of the border counties, or along the Grampians, to the Ger- 

 man ocean, he would conclude, from such a journey of many 

 hundred miles, that Britain was a thinly-peopled, steril 

 region, whose principal inhabitants were miners and moun- 

 taineers.' 



" Not so the traveller tlirous:h the minincr districts of 

 Western America. These afford promise of liberal rew^ard, 

 no less to the husbandman than to the miner ; and a chemical 

 examination of the soils gives assurance that the promise 

 will be amply fulfilled. 



" The mode of analysis adopted was, in its general fea- 

 tures, the samxC which has been recommended by Dr. Dana, 

 of Low^ell, and adopted by the geologist of Massachusetts. 

 I have carried it out, however, in regard to the salts found in 

 the most interesting specimens, into more minute detail than 

 that simple and practical, rather than rigidly accurate, mode 

 of analysis presupposes. 



" The following table, with the appended notes, exhibits, 

 w^th sufficient accuracy for practical purposes, the propor- 

 tions of organic and of earthy matter, the per centage of 

 saline ingredients, and the specific gravity of each specimen 

 of soil. The specimens were selected from the different 

 formations-^chiefly, of course, from the cliff limestone ; they 

 were taken from about six inches below the surface, and, 

 with a single exception (No. 13), from wild lands. They 

 may be considered a fair average of the virgin soils of the 

 district. 



