18 Economic Geology. 



successful prosecution of all those varied schemes of utility, 

 ornament, or profit, in which the engineer, architect, coal 

 worker and miner are respectively engaged. 



The importance of disseminating information on this sub- 

 ject is therefore unquestionable, and were a proper system to 

 be pursued, the mineral wealth and resources of this country 

 might be investigated and developed to an extent hitherto 

 unknown. Three or four years ago the Government in 

 England having had its attention directed to economic 

 geology by the distinguished geologist Mr. De la Beche, 

 and appreciating its many important applications, sanction- 

 ed the establishment of a Museum for the special purpose 

 of promoting its cultivation, and facilitating its study. The 

 object contemplated in forming this " National Museum of 

 Economic Geology," as it has been called, "is to exhibit 

 at one view the known mineral wealth and resources of 

 Great Britain, so arranged as to furnish every information 

 to those required to direct, or anxious to promote, any pub- 

 lic or private undertaking, as to the extent to which such 

 wealth and resources might be available for their purposes." 

 The localities of all mineral substances used for roads, public 

 works, and buildings, for ornamental purposes, from which 

 useful metals are extracted, or which illustrate the applica- 

 tion of geology to agriculture, are carefully marked on good 

 maps, and all information concerning them centralised and 

 made accessible with every possible facility. 



Indications have recently been given of an intention on 

 the part of the Court of Directors to encourage the for- 

 mation of a similar institution in this country, and should 

 the system which has received the sanction of the British 

 Government be fully adopted here, its influence on the 

 progress of our acquaintance with the economic geology 

 of India will, it can scarcely be doubted, prove most deci- 

 sive. Much consideration will however be requisite in 

 arranging the details of the plan, so as to make it pro- 



