Bibliography. 187 



Art. XX.- — Bibliographical Notices. 



1. Report on the Geology of Connecticut; by James G. Percival. 

 Published under the direction of the Commissioners appointed by the 

 Legislature. New Haven, Osborn & Baldwin, 1842. pp. 495, 8vo., 

 with a map. — This long expected report has just come into our hands wet 

 from the press, as we are closing our present number. From the cursory 

 examination we have been able to give it, we are strongly impressed by 

 the great amount of condensed information it contains, relative to the 

 exact limits and extent of our several geological systems — the primary, 

 the secondary, and the intrusive or plutonic rocks. When we remember 

 the learning and talent of the author, and the laborious accuracy with 

 which he investigates every subject which occupies his attention — that 

 he began this exploration in 1835, and has pursued it with great diligence 

 until the present year — that he has been personally and on foot in contact 

 with every one of the four thousand six hundred square miles in the state ; 

 and has carefully collated and compared more than eight thousand spe- 

 cimens, beside much more numerous dips and bearings — it cannot be 

 doubted that he has laid the foundation for all future investigations into 

 the geology of Connecticut. 



Dr. Percival tells us, that "this report is but a hasty outline;" by this 

 we presume he intends that the full exposition of his theoretical opinions 

 is not given ; but we feel assured as to the fullness and accuracy of the 

 facts, and that it will prove a satisfactory solution of a problem of the 

 highest practical as well as scientific importance — the exact determination 

 of the geological system of the state.* 



That this report will meet the expectations of the unscientific but oth- 

 erwise intelligent bulk of the reading population of the state, would be 

 unreasonable to expect ; it is not the object of the book to please or 

 amuse, nor even to point out new sources of wealth, (though this 

 duty has not been neglected whenever opportunity offered,) and we are 

 not to suppose, that the greater portion of the legislative assemblies who 

 have voted grants of money for its completion, looked mainly to these 

 secondary ends. But we have the satisfaction of knowing that we have 

 for all future time a faithful guide to our explorations, and a standard 

 of comparison at once full and simple. The scientific geologist, who 

 reads Dr. Percival's report, will only regret that he has not the advantage 

 of the full exposition of the author's theoretical views on many points of 

 interest to science at large — views which we know the accomplished au- 



* We are however not a little surprised, that he hesitates in expressing an opin- 

 ion as to the age of our secondary. The facts published by others, render the de- 

 termination almost beyond dispute, that our sandstones belong to the new red group. 



