Oh the Intportance of Geological Information^ SfC. 129 



tion which natural science has received in that country. They 

 give all the information v^hich military engineering requires, and 

 in practical geology, they point out the probable existence of all 

 the useful metals and minerals, and the extent of the formations 

 in which they are contained. No blame, it is true, can attach 

 to the government here, for having hitherto omitted to follow 

 that example. The field of investigation is too extensive, and 

 the probable expense too great, to be undertaken without the 

 authority of congress. Nevertheless, opportunities appear to 

 have been neglected, of adding to our stock of knowledge, in this 

 branch of natural science, without the necessity of going into ad- 

 ditional expenditures ; at least, any that would be regarded as 

 objectionable, when compared with the importance of the object 

 to be obtained. The very extensive surveys and reconnoisances 

 which have of late years been made by order of government, in 

 relation to internal communications for military and civil pur- 

 poses, are here alluded to. Admirably as they have been exe- 

 cuted, it is nevertheless true, that they have been performed 

 without reference, in most cases, to the value of those mineral 

 and metallic substances, which are contained in the geological for- 

 mations, the engineers were obliged to travel over, and the pro- 

 duction of which would go far to justify the execution of those 

 contemplated internal improvements. There is no evidence that 

 geological or mineralogical information, have been held of any 

 account, in those expensive surveys, whilst it is true, that any 

 person competent to the examination of those branches, might in 

 all cases have conferred an intrinsic value upon those surveys 

 and reconnoisances, even if none of them were executed. When 

 the value of geological information shall become more extensive- 

 ly known, territorial maps will probably have geological charac- 

 ters given to them, which can be done for almost the same 

 expense, in every case of original survey. Where important in- 

 formation of this character, is omitted to be acquired, it is a loss 

 to the nation, and an omission which ought to be brought, both 

 before the consideration of the government, and the public. 



There is no mathematical truth more firmly settled, than that 

 the mineral formations, of which the crust of the earth is formed, 

 succeed each other in an invariable order. That the most im- 

 portant deposits of metals are found low down in the series, as 

 well as the marbles most used in the arts. Coal, that invaluable 



Vol. L— 17 



