236 Prof. Silliman's Address before the 



Lyceums. — Voluntary associations have been formed in great 

 numbers in the United States, and are rapidly increasing, in which 

 citizens and especially young people meet for instruction, chiefly 

 by lectures ; they form museums devoted to the collection of 

 interesting objects, chiefly in natural history, and geology is a 

 favorite subject of attention. 



Geology is not confined to the learned. Popular lectures upon 

 this science are now demanded in many of our cities, towns and 

 villages, and with the aid of diagrams and specimens, the subject 

 is rendered both intelligible and instructive to large and attentive 

 audiences. 



So highly and so justly is geological science appreciated among 

 us, that a new order of professional talent is now called into ac- 

 tion. Individuals, interested in exploring or in working useful 

 minerals, no longer depend upon the decisions of the credulous, 

 the ignorant, the superstitious, or the crafty ; they invoke the aid 

 of geologists conversant alike with theory and practice, and their 

 opinions are usually regarded as final in questions of this nature, 

 often involving heavy and it may be ruinous expenditures. The 

 negative, which the geologist is often able to pronounce with per- 

 fect confidence in regard to a proposed mineral enterprise, is fre- 

 quently of the most momentous interest to the parties, and may 

 save them from destruction ; while the aflirmative will be pre- 

 sented with guarded caution by every geologist who regards his 

 duty or his honor. 



BECENT STATE OF GEOLOGV IN THE UNITED STATES, WITH SOME 

 PRACTICAL RESULTS. 



The results obtained in the United States for scientific geology 

 have been highly satisfactory. For their details we must refer to 

 the various reports of the state geologists, of which even a sum- 

 mary would occupy more time than we have at our command ; 

 and it is the less necessary as Prof. Hitchcock in his excellent 

 address pronounced last year before this Association at Philadel- 

 phia, presented a lucid synopsis of American geology. On re- 

 viewing that abstract, I perceive very little to add. 



Frequent notices, abstracts and reviews of the reports of the 

 state geologists, often furnished by correspondents, have been 

 published from year to year in the American Journal of Science, 

 and the editors have had only to regret their inabihty, on account 



