£28 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1904. 



scheme in the map. (See Plate 5.) The lirst section extended from 

 Camden in Penobscot Bay, Maine, to Oxboro, near Kingston, on Lake 

 Ontario; the second from Plymouth, Massachusetts, to Cayuga Lake, 

 New. York; the third from Egg Harbor, New Jersey, to Pittsburg, 

 Pennsylvania; the fourth from Cape Henry, Virginia, to Arlington, 

 in the same State, and the fifth from Cape Fear, North Carolina, to 

 Warm Springs, in the same State. The poverty of information at 

 that time relative to the Rocky Mountain region is shown in the state- 

 ment that "the tops of the Stony Mountains are covered to a consid- 

 erable extent with perpetual snows and pendent glaciers." 



As was the case with a majority of the earlier surveys and geological 

 text-books, considerable attention was given to the relation of the 

 science to agriculture, and the two closing chapters of the second issue 

 were given up to Hints on the Decomposition of Rock, with an 

 Inquiry into the Probable Effects they may Produce on the Nature 

 and Fertility of Soils. The kinds of soils resulting from the decom- 

 position of various rocks were discussed with particular attention to 

 their physical nature, but while occasional references were made to 

 their content of lime, the alkalies, and other constituents, no chemical 

 analyses were given, nor was their desirability apparently appreciated. 



It does not seem to have been realized, however, that throughout 

 the entire glaciated area as now known there may be little connection 

 between the soils and the rocks immediately underlying them. 



During 1818, as already noted, there was founded the American 

 Journal of Science, or, as it was familiarly called, Silliman's Jour- 

 nal, the first volume bearing on the title-page the date 1819. It is 

 notable as being the first American journal to be given 



The American i-i ■ ii • 



journal of science, up largely to geological subjects, although other sci- 

 ences were b}^ no means debarred. In fact, as noted 

 in his plan of the work, the Journal was intended to embrace the circle 

 of the physical sciences and their application to the arts and to every 

 useful purpose. 



From its earliest inception geological notes and papers occupied a 

 prominent place in its pages, and a perusal of the numbers from the 

 date of issue down to the present time will, alone, afford a fair idea of 

 the gradual progress of American geology- I shall note in the follow- 

 ing pages many articles taken from the Journal, particularly the 

 earlier numbers, as serving best to illustrate the condition of the 

 science at the time of their issue. 



Among the earliest publications on the geology and mineralogy of 

 New England mention must be made of J. F. and S. L. Dana's Out- 

 lines of the Mineralogy and Geology of Boston and Vicinity, which 

 bears the date of 1S18, and which is further noteworthy 



Dana's Geology and . . . , . * 



Mineralogy of for containing a geological map ot the area indicated, 



Boston, 1818. . & & a t- ? 



being antedated only a year by Edward Hitchcock's 

 geological map of a part of Massachusetts on the Connecticut River 



