Memoir of William Maclare. 391 



Mr. Maclure's observations were made in almost every 

 state and territory in the Union, from the river St. Lawrence 

 to the Gulf of Mexico ; and the Memoir which embraced 

 his accumulated facts, was at length submitted to the Ame- 

 rican Philosophical Society, and printed in their Transactions 

 for the year 1809.* 



Novel as this work was, and replete with important details, 

 its author did not suspend his researches with its publica- 

 tion, but resumed them on a yet more extended scale, in or- 

 der to obtain additional materials, and test the correctness 

 of his previous views. In after life he often recurred with 

 pleasure to the incidents connected with this survey ; some 

 of which, though vexatious at the time, were subsequently the 

 theme of amusing anecdote. When travelling in some re- 

 mote districts, the unlettered inhabitants seeing him engaged 

 in breaking the rocks with his hammer, supposed him to be 

 a lunatic who had escaped from confinement ; and on one 

 occasion, as he drew near a public house, the inmates, 

 being informed of his approach, took refuge in-doors, and 

 closing the entrance held a parley from the windows, until 

 they were at length convinced that the stranger could be 

 safely admitted. 



Incidents of this kind, and many others which occurred 

 to him, appear to have influenced the following remarks in 

 the Preface to his Geology : " All inquiry into the nature 

 and properties of rocks, or the relative situation they oc- 

 cupy on the surface of the earth, has been much neglected. 

 It is only kince a few years that it has been thought worth 

 the attention of either the learned or unlearned ; and even 

 now a great proportion of both treat such investigations 

 with contempt, as beneath their notice. Why mankind 

 should have so long neglected to acquire knowledge so use- 



* This memoir is entitled, " Observations on the Geology of the United States, 

 explanatory of a Geological Map." It was read January 20, 1809, and is published 

 in the sixth volume of the Society's Transactions. 



3 E 



