86 Notice of a Geological Model. 



is tolerated we shall continue to convey and to view every thing 

 under a false medium, and shall describe objects under every 

 shape but their real one. Geological sections, if drawn with suit- 

 able care and with the nicety that such works demand, particu- 

 larly if they be engraved rather than lithographed, may be made 

 perfectly distinct at a very small vertical scale. Detailed sections 

 of particular portions, on a larger scale, can readily accompany 

 and elucidate the general section. The present writer has con- 

 structed sections of many hundred miles in this country upon a 

 scale, both vertical and horizontal, or very nearly corresponding, 

 as small as five miles to an inch, and yet has exhibited all impor- 

 tant features therein. The system is clearly the right one, and 

 ought to be followed. It is the only one, in fact, which can be 

 made to exhibit the true inclination of the strata, the real bearing, 

 position and magnitude of the formations and their relation to 

 each other, and furnishes the means of measuring the thickness 

 of those masses. In modelling also, although not always attain- 

 able, it would be equally desirable to approach as nearly as possi- 

 ble to the same rule. 



I have dwelt the more strenuously upon these methods of illus- 

 trating geological phenomena, with a view to attract the attention 

 of gentlemen who are about to place before the public, for the 

 benefit and instruction of us all, the result of their respective 

 labors in the field. I would take the liberty of earnestly solicit- 

 ing their attention to a matter which we all admit is extremely 

 desirable, — namely, uniformity in the process and modes of rep- 

 resentation. Wherever it is possible, let similar scales be em- 

 ployed for the geological sections of different states. Wherever 

 it is practicable, and to a very great degree it already is, let simi- 

 lar colors represent similar formations, wherever they occur. If 

 at this stage we cannot yet settle that extremely difficult point, 

 that " consummation devoutly to be wished," a common nomen- 

 clature, let us approach it as near as we can, by the use of com- 

 mon symbols, as a temporary substitute for a common language. 



I think these are matters on which the present meeting might, 

 with perfect propriety, enter. Let it be borne in mind that the 

 accumulation of facts is one thing — a desideratum of primary im- 

 portance, certainly. But the science of putting together those 

 materials — the exemplification of those facts — to effect the pur- 

 poses of geological elucidation, to reach the understanding, to 



