[Assembly 
but imposing grandeur which characterizes the broad outlines of 
nature. From this cause, unique as it is, displaying to the eye 
and unfolding to the mind upon a giant scale their order of succes- 
sion, that truly may it be said, that the rocks of New-York are 
the key to the geology of all those co-extensive masses, which ter- 
minate only in the far west. 
It was over the verge of one of these terraces, now traced by 
the delighted eye from the Lakes to the Hudson, that those streams 
flowed, which subsequently collecting and uniting into a narrower 
channel, formed that " thunder of the waters," which no one can 
see, but feels his insignificance, and the impress of the power of 
the mightiest of the mighty. 
The inconvenience of the former arrangement as regarded faci- 
lities for geological investigation was exceedingly great. Ranging 
as the rocks do from east to west, the sandstones and shales exten- 
ding beyond the bounds of the fourth district; beginning as we did 
at Chenango, we saw no other rock throughout that long line of 
frontier counties, with the few exceptions already mentioned. The 
great uniformity of the sandstone and shales, though affording am- 
ple evidence of their position as regarded the bituminous coal series 
of Pennsylvania; yet, from the rapid manner of examination, made 
necessary by the shortness of the season, with the fossils for our 
principal guide, whose species and order of arrangement in the di- 
vision of these rocks being unknown, with the exception of those 
in the counties of Chenango and Broome, no little difficulty attend- 
ed our reconnoissance. With the change now made, each district 
embracing nearly the whole series of the western area — from the 
limited length of the line of the section at right angles to the di- 
rection of the series, every facility is afforded for the removal of 
whatever difficulty as to superposition may occur. 
To conclude — so recent has been the introduction of geological 
investigations in our country, that no apology is offered for the 
manner in which we terminate our report. It is well known that 
a small number of mankind yield to that instinctive propensity 
which leads to a knowledge of the works of creation, regardless of 
all practical or ultimate end; whilst the larger portion direct their 
energies to the attainment of objects of immediate utility. The 
obvious providence is, as the tw^o propensities rarely exist in the 
same individual, that whatever discovery the former in the pro- 
gress of his investigations may make, becomes by the applicative 
