No. 172.] 
7 
can not, so far as I know, be obtained at any reasonable price ; the 
book may, in fact, be said to be out of print, 
" I have been informed that many thousand copies of the * Narra^ 
tive of the Exploring expedition' have been sold. Three distinct edi^ 
tions of this work, at different prices, were published, and have, it is 
^ believed, been profitable to all concerned. I see no reason why the 
' Natural History of New- York' should not meet with equal success. 
But I may be too much interested in this matter to give a trustworthy 
opinion. 
" I have only to add, that it will give me pleasure to cooperate in 
any plan which may be agreed upon to effect the object contemplated 
by the Assembly's resolution* 
" Your obed't serv't. 
("Signed,) LEWIS C. BECK.'* 
Doctors Torry and De Kay have each been consulted upon the sub» 
ject of an abridged edition of their works, and have given the assu* 
ranee that ihey will cordially undertake the revision of their respec- 
tive parts, should any person be authorised to publish an abridged 
edition of the *' Natural History of New^York.'^ 
Doctors Emmons and Hall have also been consulted, and they fully 
concur in the views expressed by your committee. In their commu- 
nication they say that, 
*' We have examined the volumes on the Geology of the State with 
reference to the views expressed in the resolution of the Assembly, 
and have become satisfied that the matter may be advantageously con* 
densed, so that the letter press will not occupy more than two volumes, 
octavo size, of four or five hundred pages each. We fully concur with 
the views expressed by your honorable committee, and by our asso- 
ciates, that a condensed or abridged form of the work is much needed, 
and will soon be demanded by the public. The valuable information 
contained in these reports, being the results of several years' investi- 
gation, can not be diffused among the people so long as the work re- 
mains in its present form. The small number of copies of this work 
now distributed among the people of the State will not give one copy 
to every thousand inhabitants, whereas every tenth person should pos- 
sess a copy. The results of these investigations are of a practical 
