Abstract

It is a maxim in geology that the soil and its underlying rocks forecast to the trained eye the character of the inhabitants, their number, and the quality of the civilization of those who will in time occupy it. Indeed, so close are the relations between man and geology, that the law is plain and fixed that a new country may have its outlines of history written, when first looked upon; and it is not, as many suppose, one of those deep, abstruse subjects, that must be relegated to a few investigators and thinkers, whilst to the practical masses it shall be as a sealed book. The youth of the country may learn the important outlines of geology, and apply the inevitable laws of that science obtained thereby to their own localities, with no more trouble than to master the multiplication table; nor need they be possessed of any extraordinary attainments other than those required to understand a few of the technicalities of the study, which they will find as entertaining as profitable.

Ellis County Historical Museum, 1972 (1892 History of Ellis County, Chapter V, p. 48)