REPORT 
Of Dr. Lewis C. Beck, on the Mineralogical and 
Chemical Department of the Survey 
To His Excellency William H. Seward, 
Governor of the State of JVew-York, 
Sir— 
In fulfilling the duty which the act authorizing a Geological 
Survey of the State imposes upon me, I propose not only to report my 
operations during the past year, but to present a general view of what 
has been heretofore done in the department committed to my care. 
1. The State of New- York is so very rich in minerals, and the exa- 
mination of their chemical characters is in many instances a matter of 
so much scientific and practical importance, as to require the most care- 
ful and patient attention. These investigations have necessarily occu- 
pied so much of my time, that I have thus far visited only some of our 
more important mineral localities. And so much still remains to be 
done in the chemical part of my work, that it will not be possible for 
me within the period prescribed for the completion of the survey, to 
give a much wider range to my field operations. But by the aid ot 
those gentlemen who are engaged in the minute survey of the different 
districts, I shall perhaps be enabled to present a sufficiently complete 
account of our mineral resources. 
2. The following is a tabular view of the minerals which have hith- 
erto been found in the State of New- York. In presenting it in this 
form, I beg leave to observe, that as this is a work which has been au- 
thorized by, and intended for, the people of the State, I think it proper 
to adopt that arrangement which will be most easily understood, and 
which, on the whole, appears to be best suited for a popular and prac- 
tical treatise on the minerals and mineral waters of the State. I pro- 
pose, however, to introduce into the final report all those descriptive 
[Assem. No. 275.] 2 
