FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT 
Of E. Emmons, of the Survey of the Second Geolo- 
gical District. 
To his Excellency William H. Seward, 
Governor of the State of New- York : 
Sir : — The prosecution of the Geological survey has proceeded dur- 
ing the past year without interruption. My regular assistant and my= 
self were in the field during the period of six months, which is about 
the medium term in which field duties can be prosecuted to advantage » 
Our labors have been principally directed to the valuable ores of iron 
and lead, in w^hich the Second Geological District is known to abound. 
There are important reasons for giving an undivided attention to those 
mineral deposits. Their geological position requires an exact determi- 
nation. The indications of their presence demand a full investigation, 
in order that a system of rules may be formed by which the miner may 
judge of the presence, or absence of any given mineral production in a 
given formation. Besides these economical considerations, there are 
others which relate to the science in general, and which are promoted 
by exact and particular observations on the accumulation of mineral 
matter in general. The idea that cursory observations are sufficient to 
establish rational hypotheses or to develop a system of formations, is 
not admitted at the present day ; but on the contrary, it is required that 
every fact should be collected which bears even remotely on the subject. 
In this method only, may we hope to advance geology, and remove 
those uncertainties which belong to it and place it on a foundation less 
empyrical than it rests at present. The consideration that exact obser- 
vations are of the highest importance in geology, is fully supported by 
the measures which both the governments of England and France have 
instituted to secure minutely accurate geological surveys in their re= 
spective kingdoms. 
