42 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



probably his well-known book " Statistics of Coal," published in 

 Philadelphia in 1848. The book contained summaries of labors 

 of a long life in connection with coal formation and coal production, 

 and it was received both in England and here with the highest ap- 

 proval and with unstinted commendation. 



It was not exclusively to economic geology, however, that he 

 devoted his interests, for his geological contributions show the 

 versatility of his observations. He writes on the fossil marine 

 plants of Mifflin county, on the existence of an ancient lake in 

 Mifflin county, on the copper region of Cuba, on fossil plants in 

 Dauphin county, on Indian mounds and earthworks, etc., etc. 



Mr Taylor was a member of the American Philosophical Society 

 and it is from the obituary notice of him read by Isaac Lea that 

 the above memorandum has been largely taken. No mention, how- 

 ever, is made in any of the notices of his life that the writer has 

 found, of his association with the New York State geologists or 

 of his experience in the field of New York geology. As Mr Taylor 

 was 52 years old when he came into the New York field, he was 

 older than any of the four geologists engaged upon the survey and 

 unquestionably had an experience in the field, especially, at least, in 

 the field of economic geology, to which none of them could lay 

 claim. Yet in spite of this fact, there is nothing in this notebook 

 to indicate that his mind was especially fixed or his eye particularly 

 keen to such development in New York. He seemed to be looking 

 only for a knowledge of geological structure, to test the conclusions 

 of the four geologists for his own personal and professional in- 

 formation and, so far as the writer is aware, he never expressed 

 any public opinion or published any reference to his experiences 

 and observations in the New York field. 



Mr Taylor died in Philadelphia in 1851. 



The time may come when it will seem well to reproduce, for the 

 purpose of perfecting the record of the history of this survey, more 

 of these sketches than are here given ; but to indicate their char- 

 acter, their worth and their exactitude, the following pages carry a 

 few of these, given, so far as seems practicable, in their original 

 tints and with the original memoranda attached thereto. 



