STATE GEOLOGIST. 35 



tality received from our citizens ; and it would be almost super- 

 fluous to say that we have been everywhere received with a 

 welcome, and furnished with every possible facility in further- 

 ance of our labors. 



I cannot suffer the opportunity to pass without warning our 

 citizens against lending too credulous an ear to the representa- 

 tions of the self-styled "geologists," itinerating amongst us. 

 Traveling under the cloak of science, they take pains to keep 

 out «f the way of those who would detect the imposition; and 

 instead of informing themselves truly of the geological struc- 

 ture of the State, prowl around the frontiers ef civilization, and 

 live upon the falsely excited hopes of a people too ready to 

 believe that every gravel hill conceals a mine of wealth. This 

 class of men lead their deluded followers over mounds of drift 

 materials, they explore clay banks, they dredge the lakes, and if 

 perchance a stray nodule of kidney ore is found, they proclaim 

 the discovery of a mine of haematite ; a piece of black shale 

 turns up, and the country is rich in coal; they discover a green 

 streak upon a fragment of .limestone, and lo! copper is promised 

 to be forthcoming in unlimited quantities. I have seen too 

 much of this scientific quackery to allude to it with forbearance. 

 Let the people bear it in mind, that it is not every man who 

 styles himself a geologist who is worthy of being trusted in a 

 geological opinion. The questions which these men attempt to 

 decide, are the very ones most difficult for an acknowledged 

 expert to pronounce upon. They are the last conclusions of a 

 general and scientific survey. How can a stranger drop down 

 in our State, without a line of knowledge of our peculiar geol- 

 ogy, and be at once a safe adviser in important mining or quar- 

 rying enterprises. Even the man well versed in general geelogy 

 may often be at fault among our formations ; but most of the 

 class of persons referred to, possess neither local nor general 

 information. It seems unnecessary to multiply words upon the 

 subject. Trust no "geologist" or "professor" whose creden- 

 tials are not known; none who clothe their actions with an air 

 of mystery, and hint at things which they do not plainly state, 



