Coast Survey Report for 1853. 201 
paper, a critic of engraving and of the varieties of engrave 
prints, and a thorough proficient in the printing usages of Con- 
gress. ‘This appointment has thus far, we believe, fallen mito 
to the cu 
ing iu interest. Much important scientific matter now sees the 
light in this and only this form. A large portion of the researches, 
Investigations and explorations of the country, are In Some Wise 
80 related to the general government, as to find their fitting place 
Nas large a portion of the labors of our scientific men are sf 
e ed through these channels. This is doubtless a natural re- 
Sult of 
the great preponderance of descriptive research and science 
1 country so unexplored as ours. and in which for that reason, 
al history, botany, mineralogy, descriptive geology, geogra- 
y and meteorology, rightly occupy leading places, and specially 
St governmental patronag l 
th arches will, and legitimately may, give place to the labors of 
¢ literal historiographer of uature, though this discrimination 
oes of the descriptive scieuce published by Congress has 
i) connection with the various expedition reports by the 
Series, Vol. XVII, No. 58—Sept, 1854. 26 
