X 
PREFACE. 
The order of the several departments, as set forth in the first published 
volume of the Natural History, was as follows: 
©enrral Jntrobuction ; 
[By William H. Seward.] 
PART I. 
^oologt): 
By James E. De Kay. 
PART II. 
i3otanij: 
By John Torrey. 
PART III. 
illiucralagn: 
By Lewis C. Beck. 
PARTS IV AND V.* 
il^calogij anh Palceantologn: 
By William W. Mather, Ebenezer Emmons, Lardner Vanuxem . 
and James Hall. 
Agriculture was not prominent in the original plan of the survey, and repre¬ 
sentations coming from the State Agricultural Society, in 1842, led Governor 
Seward to recognize its importance in this relation. He decided that Agricul¬ 
ture and Palaeontology should be considered as departments to be continued 
and completed as a part of the Natural History of the State of New York. 
The Department of Agriculture was placed in charge of Dr, Ebenezer 
Emmons, who retained his position as State Geologist, and was also the custo- 
* After 1842 the Department of Geology was designated as Part IV, Ag-riculture as Part V, and 
Palaeontology as Part VI. 
