Address before ike Association of American Geologists. 239 



the United States ; — for it can hardly be doubted, that surveys 

 will be soon ordered in the comparatively few states that yet re- 

 main unexamined ; — or if they should not, if I form a right es- 

 timate of the spirit that actuates American geologists, a work of 

 such importance will not be left incomplete. But the liberal feel- 

 ing that has led so many of our state governments, within a few 

 years, to do so much for geology, forbids the idea that any of this 

 work will be left for volunteer labor. I cannot but feel, that 

 the liberal governmental patronage which geology has of late 

 received among us, and the fact that this patronage has come 

 from all classes in the community, should make us justly proud of 

 the enlarged views and extensive knowledge displayed by our 

 countrymen. I speak advisedly, when I say, that probably our 

 favorite science is now in this country twenty years in advance of 

 what it would have been, if left to individual efforts. 



Let us now enquire how much of American geology has been 

 developed by all the efforts that have been made, with and with- 

 out governmental patronage. As I must depend for these state- 

 ments upon what has already been published, I shall of course 

 fall far short of the actual knowledge that is possessed on this 

 subject by individuals. 



The primary rocks of this continent, both stratified and un- 

 stratified, correspond so exactly with those in other parts of the 

 world, as to be easily identified. For the most part, also, they 

 compose the principal axes of our extended chains of mountains. 

 Thus, we find a range of these rocks, xjommencing in Alabama, 

 and extending northeasterly, in a belt from eighty to one hundred 

 miles broad, to New York ; and thence through New England, 

 occupying nearly the whole surface ; and probably from thence 

 to Labrador. In the northern part of New York, a range diver- 

 ges from that just described, and extends in a westerly and north- 

 westerly direction, till it approaches the Rocky Mountains, which 

 are also primary. Thus the vast basin of the Mississippi, is 

 bounded for the most part, on three sides by primary rocks, while 

 the secondary and tertiary strata are found chiefly in that valley, 

 and on the Atlantic slope, as far north as New York. 



Only a small portion of these vast primary deposits has yet 

 been carefully examined ; — nor have many features been discov- 

 ered in them that are very peculiar. The vast deposit of Labra- 

 dor feldspar and hypersthene rock, in the north part of New York, 



