10 INTRODUCTION. 



contribute most essentially to the attainment of a high state of perfection 

 in the mechanic arts. 



Foremost in the list of utility, stand coal and iron ores; then platinum, 

 gold and silver, copper, lead, tin, zinc: all producing metals for which 

 there is a regular and constant demand in every land of active industry; 

 ores of antimony, manganese, cobalt, nickel, cadmium, aluminum, arsenic, 

 bismuth, sodium, yielding metals which, though in use to only a limited 

 extent, are, many of them, very essential in the arts, and generally com- 

 mand hi^h prices, on account either of their partial diffusion within the 

 reach of the miner, or the expense of reduction. 



Every commercial 'and civilized nation also demands a supply of a 

 variety of saline substances and earthy minerals, found either on the 

 surface of the earth or interstratified in its geological formations; such as 

 common salt, alum, nitre, carbonates of soda and potash, sal-ammoniac, 

 gypsum, potter's and other clays, ochres, and other paints; also, an abun- 

 dant supply of limestone, and all the various rocks, useful as building 

 materials and for all kinds of ornamental work, hydraulic cements, mate- 

 rials suitable for the manufacture of glass, fluxes for the metallurgist, 

 are some of the most useful materials that may be enumerated as required 

 to supply the wants of a progressive, commercial, manufacturing people: 

 while the agriculturist, in his vocation, derives many valuable mineral 

 manures from the strata constituting the earth's crust, such as marls, bone- 

 earth, argillaceous and ferruginous earths, and saline deposits and 

 efflorescences, which often form the most accessible, the cheapest and 

 most available materials for the renovation of his land. 



Such being universally recognized facts in the history of mankind from 

 the earliest period up to the present time, is it not incumbent on every 

 country and every state of this Union, to adopt measures calculated, first to 

 develop their resources in the various raw materials necessary for their 

 welfare and progress, and having done so, to direct public attention to 

 their stores of mineral wealth; so that the capitalist, seeking profitable 

 investments, and the skillful artizan business and employment, may take 

 cognizance of their peculiar advantages? and, at the same time, proclaim 

 before the immigrant farmer their agricultural resources. 



What better method can a state adopt for this purpose, than to institute 

 and support with liberality a well-conducted and judiciously managed 

 geological survey of her territory and publish the results to the world in 

 reliable, creditable and attractive geological reports, emanating from 

 eources in which the public generally have full confidence. 



This is forcibly brought home to us by a recent communication from our 

 enlightened Minister to Prussia, writing to his friend Judge Law of Indiana, 



