Dr. T. JR. Beck's Address. 



143 



Macleay, the affinity between certain classes of plants is most 

 strikingly illustrated, and he has shown that the same chain which 

 we can trace from man down through quadrupeds, to the lower 

 classes of animals, is also to be seen, even in the more minute and 

 inferior orders of vegetable life. These general views are, and 

 evidently must be dependent on previous minute investigation, but 

 the last receives, in this way, a guide to direct its steps, and a de- 

 velopement, which exhibits anew the harmony of the works of the 

 Creator. 



Mineralogy and Geology present inducements so obvious and so 

 valuable, as to render them the most popular of the natural scien- 

 ces. They are very generally cultivated amongst us, and there 

 are many reasons probably, why at the present period, they should 

 receive the preference. The stores of our mineral wealth are but 

 imperfectly explored, and it will require years, even with the pres- 

 ent ardor for mineralogy, to become thoroughly acquainted with 

 the extent and value of these natural treasures. Our own state 

 is annually unfolding new mines of iron — new beds of gypsum — 

 or new springs of salt. As the strata which compose different 

 districts are better understood, examinations will be made with 

 clearer views, and with increasing and brighter prospects of suc- 

 cess. The northern parts of this state are probably among the 

 most interesting, as to metals, of any in the United States; and 

 a circumstance worthy of notice, may be adduced as illustrative 

 on this point. So far as the inquiries of mineralogists have pro- 

 ceeded in that quarter, a remarkable similarity has been observed 

 between the minerals found in it and in the iron districts of Swe- 

 den. It is not necessary to repeat the list, which is considerable, 

 at this time ; but I will refer, in confirmation of my remark, to a 

 paper by Mr. Jessup, in the Journal of the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences of Philadelphia. This indeed is not positive proof that 

 the iron of the north is equal to that of Sweden, but it certainly 

 affords a presumption sufficiently strong to warrant extensive tri- 

 als. Nature has spread this important material, with an impar- 

 tial hand, over every quarter of the globe ; but its superiority for 

 the various uses to which it is applied, must arise from the skill 

 that is employed in its purification, and the knowledge that is ap- 

 plied to its manufacture. The strong conviction entertained on 

 this point, has led the governments of Europe to form seminaries 

 for instruction in mineralogy, geology, the art of mining, and met- 



