360 Ceneral Strata. 



ties of Ditton, Whiston, and Buffon, are outdone by our tra- 

 velling Werners and Huttons. Even grave looking clergy- 

 men and civilians, who cannot distinguish granite from pud- 

 ding-stone, often hold us by the button to tell us how a ridge 

 was thrown up, or a rock thrown down, or how a breach was 

 made through a mountain. 



Could the attention of such persons be drawn to the con- 

 templation of facts as they present themselves at every step, 

 and could they be induced to systematize those facts and to 

 use them as subjects for solid instruction, the taste, and even 

 the morals of the community, would be greatly improved. 



After becoming familiar with a system of general strata, 

 every geological fact that passes under observation, excites 

 deep interest. The mind will then withdraw itself from the 

 vagaries of fancy, and enter with avidity upon the investiga- 

 tion of substantial things. 



I do not offer this nomenclature as a perfect system. But 

 it is the best I am capable of preparing without more knowl- 

 edge of the subject. Though I have devoted more time to 

 American geology than any other person, and that too under 

 the most favorable auspices,* I confess that my investigations 

 have, at every step, convinced me, that the work is but be- 

 gun. The wonderful discoveries of Cuvier and Buckland 

 have opened a new source of inquiry, which almost promises 

 to revive the long lost history of the antediluvians. We are 

 already enabled to look beyond the flood, and to hold com- 

 munion with beings which have left no descendants on the 

 earth, and to learn much of their characters. 



The growing importance of geology requires redoubled 

 vigilance in teachers to guard the science from those absur- 

 dities, which are calculated to degrade its character. Long 

 experience has convinced me, that the most essential safe- 

 guard is a correct nomenclature of general strata. The stu- 

 dy is not laborious, if conducted judiciously. Like the fa- 

 mous adit at the Southampton mines : though the miners 

 make their way slowly into the granitic rock ; a traveller may 

 overtake them in a few minutes. So the student may soon 

 overtake the science of geology ; though to advance it, a 

 very little, requires much labor and reflection. 



* My expenses have been defrayed for the last seven years by the Honora- 

 ble Stephen Van Rensselaer ; who has expended more than eighteen thousand 

 dollars, during that period, in causing researches and trials to be made, for the 

 purpose of improving and extending the natural sciences. 



