36 THE LEWIS BROOKS MUSEUM. 



gical surveys are the starting points in the development of 

 the physical resources of a State. 



A geological survey would be especially valuable to 

 Virginia. She claims to possess great physical resources, 

 and yet, although she is the oldest of the States, she has 

 done almost nothing to make these resources known. Vir- 

 ginia now is less known to the scientific world than the 

 youngest Territory of the United States, 



Foreigners no longer invest their capital without de- 

 pending largely on science to give them accurate informa- 

 tion. Even the greatness of the claims of this State, to the 

 possession of valuable undeveloped wealth, is against her, 

 so long as these claims are vaguely stated. Anything that 

 is written about Virginia is -sought for and eagerly read, 

 provided it has the authority of the State or of some, one 

 known in science. 



I have been told that a complete copy of the reports of 

 Prof. Wm. B. Rogers would command its weight in gold. 

 It cannot be obtained. And here I would do violence to 

 my sense of justice if I did not pay a tribute to the value 

 of the scientific work of this eminent gentleman. 



Called by the Legislature of Virginia,. more than forty 

 years ago, to devote the time not occupied by the duties of 

 his chair in this Institution to the survey of the State, he 

 performed this duty thoroughly, so far as the time and 

 means at his command allowed. The results which he ob- 

 tained amount to a complete preliminary survey of the 

 State, with, in many cases, a large amount of detail work. 

 They have never been published in any complete form, and 

 are as yet lost to the State and to science. 



It must be remembered that when Professor Rogers 

 made hi« examinations Geology was in its infancy. The 

 geology of the United States was then being worked out, 

 and was mainly unknown. When we take these facts into 

 account, along with the shortness of the time allowed him, 

 and the scanty and imperfect scientific apparatus possessed, 



