REPORT 
Of Dr. Lewis C. Beck on the Mineralogical and Che- 
mical Department of the Survey. 
To his Excellency William L. Marcy, 
Governor of the State of JSTew-York. 
Sir — Having been honored by you with the charge of the de- 
partnnent of Mineralogy and Chemical Analysis, in the survey re- 
cently authorized by the Legislature, I beg leave to submit the 
following 
REPORT. 
Upon receiving my commission, the object which engaged my 
attention, was to ascertain the extent and nature of the duties 
which it involved, and to fix with as much precision as possible the 
exact boundaries of that part of the survey committed to me. It 
w^as evident that although many branches of the natural sciences 
were quite closely connected with each other, and thus that in a 
mere reconnoissance of the State, the entire work might have been 
entrusted to one or two individuals, the comprehensive plan sub- 
mitted by the Secretary of State and adopted by the Legislature, 
could only be carried out to its successful completion, by an asso- 
ciation of individuals of various acquirements, and by the greatest 
practicable division of labor. 
The distinction between geology and mineralogy generally re- 
ceived, is, that the former includes the study of those large mass- 
es which constitute the general formation of the earth, their ele- 
vation, their form, their structure, &c.; while the latter has for 
its principal object, the study of the simple minerals that form the 
ingredients of these rocks, and comprises the history of each spe- 
