10 MEMOIR OF 



and by the ability and diligence of this commission, 

 the object of their appointment was accomplished to 

 general satisfaction. 



During the few years which Mr. Maclure passed 

 on the Continent in attention to these concerns, he 

 took occasion to visit many parts of Europe for the 

 purpose of collecting objects in Natural History, and 

 forwarding them to the United States — which from 

 his boyhood had been to him the land of promise, 

 and subsequently his adopted country. With this 

 design he traversed the most interesting portions of 

 the old world, from the Mediterranean Sea to the 

 Baltic, and from the British Islands to Bohemia. 

 Geology had become the engrossing study of his 

 mind; and he pursued it with an enthusiasm and 

 success to which time, toil and distance presented 

 but temporary obstacles. 



Instructed by these researches, Mr. Maclure was 

 prepared, on his return to the United States, to com- 

 mence a most important scientific enterprise, and one 

 which he had long contemplated as the great object 

 of his ambition, viz: a Geological Survey of the 

 United States. 



In this extraordinary undertaking we have a forci- 

 ble example of what individual effort can accomplish, 

 unsustained by government patronage, and unassisted 

 by collateral aids. At a time when scientific pursuits 



