238 Address before the Association of Ainei^ican Geologists. 



stantljr employed in the examination of this vast region, under 

 the patronage of the state governments or of that of the Union. 

 In three or four of the states, the surveys are for the present sus- 

 pended ; not, however, from a conviction of their being useless, 

 but from peculiar circumstances. In Massachusetts, New York, 

 Ohio, and Michigan, zoological and botanical surveys are con- 

 nected with the geological ; in Maryland, Ohio and Michigan, 

 there is a topographical department ; — and on these various sub- 

 jects several valuable reports have already appeared, which this 

 is not the proper place to notice. 



I ought also to mention here that the British provinces of New 

 Brunswick and Nova Scotia, have been geologically examined by 

 Dr. Gessner, who has made reports. I am credibly informed, 

 also, that the governor general of Canada, will recommend 

 strongly to the House of Assembly at their next session, to order 

 a geological survey of that territory. 



Another very important feature of most of these surveys, is the 

 chemical department. In the New York survey, one gentleman 

 devotes himself to it exclusively. In some other states, also, as 

 in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maine and New Hampshire, laborato- 

 ries for the sole purpose of analyzing the substances discovered, 

 are fitted up, and one or two chemists are employed in them 

 through the year. The number of analyses already executed in 

 these establishments is immense, amounting to several thousands, 

 and when they are all published, it will be seen that they have a 

 most important bearing, not only in an economical, but also in a 

 scientific point of view. 



The annual reports have been confined chiefly to economical 

 geology; — but it was understood from the commencement, that 

 careful attention should be given to the scientific geology of the 

 regions examined, and that the details should be given in the final 

 reports. An immense mass of materials must now be in the 

 hands of the gentlemen concerned in the surveys ; and we may 

 anticipate from their publication, most interesting disclosures re- 

 specting the geology of this country. Then too, the extensive 

 and complete collections of our rocks, fossils, minerals and soils, 

 which have been made and will be deposited in the capitals of 

 the states, will prove an invaluable treasure. Another important 

 result, which I trust only a few years will see consummated, will 

 be the construction of an accurate geological map of the whole of 



