PREFACE. 
The Address which is now presented to the public, is pub¬ 
lished as it was delivered, with a few alterations and addi¬ 
tions, that subsequent information has enabled me to make. 
In composing it, the aim proposed has been a specific 
one. It was to exhibit at one view the mineral riches of 
the United States, with their various application to the Arts, 
and to demonstrate the practicability of the increase of dif¬ 
ferent manufactures, whose materials are derived from this 
source. On the policy of extensive manufactories in this 
country, I have not dared to touch. It is more properly the 
province of the politician. I may however observe, that 
those establishments which spring up spontaneously, with¬ 
out the aid of imposts and heavy duties on foreign materi¬ 
als, ought to be encouraged, and indeed must unavoidably 
flourish. It cannot however be the wish of any true patriot, 
that the United States should become, in the strict sense of 
the word, a manufacturing country. The disease, vice, and 
diversified forms of misery, that exist in those parts of Eng- 
laiid, from whence our hardware and cloths are obtained, 
are sufficient to make the most sanguine advocate for the en¬ 
couragement of manufactures tremble. After all that has 
been written and said on the subject, together with the no¬ 
tice that our national legislature are giving to it, the wants 
of the country are the true data, which must guide to a de¬ 
cision on this subject. 
It can hardly be supposed that in noticing a subject so 
extensive, as the mineral kingdom, some omissions should 
not be made. Information is with difficulty obtained, and 
particularly so where the subject is new, and has not excit¬ 
ed general attention. The errors that must necessarily be 
observed, will, it is hoped, be pardoned. From those, who 
are best acquainted with the extent and nature of the theme, 
I have little to fear. They are fully capable of appreciating 
its difficulty. 
If these pages should call the attention of any of its read¬ 
ers to the science of mineralogy, and cause them to lend 
their exertions to promote its usefulness, the highest wish 
of the Author will be gratified. 
