WILLIAM MACLUKE. II 



were little known and still less appreciated in this 

 country, he commenced his herculean task. He 

 went forth with his hammer in his hand and his 

 Wallet on his shoulder, pursuing his researches in 

 every direction, often amid pathless tracts and dreary 

 solitudes, until he had crossed and recrossed the Al- 

 leghany mountains no less than fifty times. He en- 

 countered all the privations of hunger, thirst, fatigue 

 and exposure, month after month, and year after year, 

 until his indomitable spirit had conquered every dif- 

 ficulty, and crowned his enterprise with success. 



Mr. Maclure's observations were made in almost 

 iv: rv state and territory in the Union, from the river 

 St Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico; and the Me- 

 moir which embraced his accumulated facts, was at 

 length submitted to the American Philosophical So- 

 ciety, and printed in their Transactions for the year 

 l-<)9.* 



Nov* 1 as this work was, and replete with important 



details, its author did not suspend his researches with 



it- publication, but resumed them on a yet more 



nded scale, in order to obtain additional materials, 



and test the correctness of his previous views. In 



• This memoir is entitled, "Observations on the Geology of the 

 United Slates, explanatory of a Geological Map." It was read January 

 -09, and is published in the sixth volume of the Society's Trans- 

 actions. 



