PREFACE. 
IX 
ately connected with their pecuniary interest, but to direct them in gratifying 
the wants of a higher nature, and appreciating the wisdom and beneficence, and 
the harmony of design, in all the creations that have preceded, as well as in all 
that now surround them. I cannot but believe that the organic remains presented 
in this report, and which are so widely distributed, and so abundant in nearly all 
the rocks, will be found an interesting subject of observation. To all young 
persons, and to pupils of schools and academies, they will become a fascinating 
study, and at the same time induce recreation and exercise, promoting health 
and happiness. 
Many points where I had promised myself a further time for investigation, 
I have reluctantly been compelled to abandon. To have been able to review 
many portions of the district would have given me pleasure, but the close of 
every season has found me leaving the field only after the snows of winter 
admonished me that I could no longer labor to advantage. 
The enlightened spirit in which this survey was directed, and the munificence 
with which it has been sustained, have afforded every means required for its 
completion. The State of New-York, which has heretofore established her 
claim to the dignity of the Empire State, has now added another wreath to her 
laurels, in becoming the first in the patronage of science, and in the benefits 
thereby bestowed on her citizens, as she is first in resources, in commerce, and 
public improvements. 
Under such circumstances I offer these results with diffidence, conscious that 
neither limitation of time, nor of expense, can be urged for the imperfections, and 
none can feel more than myself the deficiency of the present report as an illus¬ 
tration and description of the grand physical and geological features and phe¬ 
nomena of Western New-York. But the field widens as we advance; as in 
every department of nature, examination leads to more extended discoveries, 
so the geology, and more especially the palaeozoic geology of every country is 
a progressive study, offering to the student treasures ever new and in exhaust¬ 
less variety. 
JAMES HALL. 
