rPROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION. 333 



^day, with our means of rapid transportation, many naturalists would hesitate to 

 undertake the long journeys then made for purely scientific purposes. 



The public mind was finally awakened to the importance of the work which 

 these explorers and investigators had carried on single-handed. Government 

 now came to the aid of Science. In 1824, one State Legislature, that of North 

 Carolina, authorized a geological survey to be made. This example was loUowed 

 lin 1830 by Massachusetts and soon after by New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia 

 and other States, and also by the national Government, until as is now well 

 known, the whole territory of the United States and Canada, either has been or 

 •is in the process of being surveyed. Several of the State surveys published inde- 

 ipendent volumes on the mineralogy of their respective States, and these surveys 

 have been a powerful auxiliary in extending our knowledge of the occurrence of 

 minerals on this continent. The opening of mines and quarries throughout the 

 .country has also furnished abundant material for study. 



Proceeding to call attention to some of the developments made in the field 

 'in which American mineralogists have worked, he said : It was thought by many 

 -scientists in the .first half of this century that our rocks seemed likely to afford 

 iless variety of mineral contents than the rocks of Europe. Further study, how- 

 ever, and more careful and extended observations encourage us to believe that 

 ■our mineral riches, even in variety of species, will compare favorably with those 

 •of other continents. Already fully one-half of the known mineral species have 

 been found here. The present number of known minerals is variously estimated 

 to be from seven hundred to one thousand. There have been described, as oc- 

 curring here, nearly three hundred supposed new American minerals. Of these, 

 perhaps one-quarter are new to science and the remainder have either been proved 

 to be indentical with species already described, or their characters are so imper- 

 ifectly given that further investigation is needed to ascertain what they are. 



After speaking particularly of some of these new minerals of most interest to 

 science, he observed : — While the service done for mineralogy by our geological 

 surveys is gratefully acknowledged, we feel we have a right to demand much 

 more from them in the future. Mineralogy has been too largely looked upon as 

 a guide to the discovery of useful ores and minerals and not as a matter for scien- 

 tific study; fortunately during the past decade the discoveries in optical mineral- 

 ogy, and their importance in the determination of the constituent minerals of the 

 crystalline rocks, have led many geologists to again recognize the desirability of 

 a knowledge of our science. Much will be accomplished if those in charge of 

 geological surveys will direct competent persons to make observations, not only 

 on the main mineral constituents of rocks but also on the manner of occurrence 

 of individual minerals. The careful inspection of quarries and mines is greatly 

 ■to be desired. 



It is too true that many of the most interesting discoveries already recorded 

 -seem to have been due more to the result of fortunate accident than of systematic 

 and intelligent exploration. If our trained mineralogists, instead of devoting 

 'most of their attention to the examination of specimens in cabinets collected by 



