• 



14 



compiler has enabled him to assemble to- 

 gether nearly five thousand localities of mi- 

 nerals, of which Massachusetts and New- 

 York contribute the largest proportionate 

 share. 



Other pleasing proofs of the ardor with 

 which this study is pursued, are to be found, 

 as we have before remarked, in the exist- 

 ence of numerous public and private mine- 

 ralogical collections, which are to be met 

 with in every town of note, and even in 

 many villages, from Maine to Louisiana. 



But it is not the properties of minerals 

 alone, nor the regular and complete syste- 

 matic arrangement of which they are sus- 

 ceptible, nor the beautiful and harmonious 

 laws observed in their structure, that form 

 their complete history. To determine their 

 relative position, their disposition and ar- 

 rangement in various parts of the globe,' 

 constitutes another division of Natural 

 Science, termed 



GEOLOGY. 



This does not consist, as many have ima- 

 gined, in mere ingenious speculations con- 

 cerning the origin of the globe, or in idle 



