STATE GEOLOGIST. 35 



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



tin. mis to Bay thai we have been e\ir\ where received with i 

 me, and furnished with every p Bsible facility in further- 

 ance of our Labors. 



1 canm I Buffer the opportunity to pass without warning our 

 gainst lending too credulous an ear to the representa- 

 tion- of the self-styled "geologists/ itinerating amongst us. 

 •ling- under the cloak of science, they take pains to keep 

 out of the way of those who would detect "the imposition: and 

 instead ^l' informing themselves truly o^ the geological stnic- 

 tore of the State, prowl around the frontiers of civilization, and 

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

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

 class of men lead their deluded followers over mounds of drift 

 materials, they explore clay I anks, they dredge the lakes, and if 

 perchance a -tray 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 lol copper is promised 

 forthcoming in unlimited quantities. I have m>vn too 

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

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

 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 prdnounce 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 "f our peculiar gcol- 

 safe adviser in important mining or quar* 

 » n the man well versed in gi oeral geology 

 ■• n l.- at fault among our formations; but most of the 



neither local w i 

 Information. It Beems unm to multiply words upon the 



subject Trust d -t " or •■ ■• i" whose en d< n- 



are not knowi j,,, clothe their a. ti as «rith an air 



y, and hint at thine;, which th-y d I not plainly 



