PREFACE. 
The following gentlemen have been engaged with me as regular assistants on 
the geological survey, viz : Dr. William Horton, of Orange county; Professor 
L. D. Gale, of New-York University; Professor J. L. Cassels, of the Wil¬ 
loughby Medical College; Professor F. Merrick, of the Ohio University; Pro¬ 
fessor C. Briggs, of the Rensselaer Institute; J. Gerhard junior, esquire, of 
Schoharie; Cadet T. Seymour, United States Military Academy; and Mr. 
Henry Green, of Albany ; and I here tender them my thanks for their assistance, 
and my hopes that they may continue to aid in developing the resources of our 
country, and the wonderful works of our Creator. 
The State of New-York is the first that has fully carried out the principle of 
division of labor in the execution of a survey on the Natural History of the State, 
under the name of a geological survey. By this arrangement each head of a de¬ 
partment of the survey has been enabled to devote his whole time and attention 
to his own specific duties, without having the entire range of natural science to 
distract his attention. 
The survey of New-York, unlike that of some of the other states, has been 
uninfluenced by party and political considerations, and the chief magistrates, 
during its execution, have been actuated by high and ennobling motives. I here 
tender to Ex-Governors William L. Marcy and William H. Seward my 
sincere thanks for their continued kindness, and for the warm interest they have 
continually manifested for the successful accomplishment of the survey. 
I now commit this work to the public, with the hope that it may be useful in 
developing the resources of the State and of our country; that it may lead many to 
a contemplation of the wonderful works of our Creator, and exalt their minds 
from nature up to nature’s God. 
Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, 
September 1, 1843. 
W. W. MATHER. 
