3459. GEOLOGY, Imperfect knowledge of.—[continued].
I could not offer myself as geological correspondent in this State, because
of all the branches of science it was the
one I had the least cultivated. Our researches
into the texture of our globe could be but so
superficial, compared with its vast interior construction,
that I saw no safety of conclusion
from the one, as to the other; and therefore
have pointed my own attentions to other objects
in preference, as far as a heavy load of
business would permit me to attend to anything
else.—
To Thomas Cooper. Washington ed. v, 531.
(M.
1810)
