Address before the Association of American Geologists. 271 



apprehend that the chief difficulty is to bring the mind up to a 

 realization of so mighty an agency. In other words, the diffi- 

 culty lies in the narrowness of our views, rather than in the in- 

 adequacy of nature. I confess, that as I have sometimes stood 

 upon some of our loftiest mountains, that seem to have been over- 

 turned, and looked into the valleys, from one thousand to two 

 thousand feet deep, and abroad upon the vast ridges that stretch- 

 ed away far as the eye could follow them on every side, and then 

 tried to conceive of them extending from Canada to Alabama, 

 and to have been ridged up and thrown over, my mind has stag- 

 gered under the mighty thought, and I have involuntarily ex- 

 claimed, that such a work could have been performed only by 

 the immediate agency of Him, who meted out heaven with a 

 span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and 

 weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance. 



But I must not dwell longer upon this fascinating theme : — and 

 I must desist also, not for want of materials but for want of time, 

 from pointing out other objects of interest in American geology 

 that deserve the special attention of this Association. 



And now, on looking back upon the ground which I have gone 

 over, I am astonished and delighted at the progress of American 

 geology, and it seems to me more like a dream than the reality. 

 Only twenty five years ago, when first my attention was turned 

 to the subject, excepting the grand but rough outline sketched by 

 Maclure, and a few insulated eflbrts by Professors Silliman, Cleave- 

 land and Eaton, and Dr. Hayden, all was darkness and perplexi- 

 ty. A geologist was as rare as an oasis amid the sands of Africa ; 

 and to be seen accoutred geologically, with hammer and knapsack, 

 would subject one to ridicule, if not to a suspicion of insanity. 

 But how changed the scene ! From the top to the bottom of the 

 series, the principal groups of our rocks seem now to be nearly 

 settled and identified. And as the rapid rise and developement 

 of this great nation is a spectacle of deep interest and sublimity, 

 so our geologists find a correspondent grandeur in our rock forma- 

 tions. Now too, nearly all the state governments of this country 

 extend their patronage to geological researches ; lectures upon ge- 

 ology are demanded and given in all our larger towns ; and the 

 wonders of this science form the theme of discussion in the draw- 

 ing-rooms of taste and fashion. 



