At the same time the survey called attention to the possibility of obtaining artesian water at a moderate depth in the drift deposits over a wide tract of country in the northwestern part of the Statea circumstance that has latterly been widely improved with the most satisfactory results.

While these material benefits can easily be enumerated, those that are invisible can not so readily be pointed out. Some good must result from a diffusion of knowledge concerning the physical features of the State, and from the publication of accurate statements concerning its natural undeveloped resources. There must be some benefit to the State in having its geology and natural history known. The scientific facts that are ascertained help to swell the data on which important conclusions are based, and to point out needed corrections in others that may have been published. The additions to science which have resulted from the survey can not here be enumerated. They are the common property of educators and scientists who may wish to use them, and, at the same time, some of them are still subject to further investigation, and hence can not be concisely described nor categorically stated.

MISSISSIPPI.'

Organization. The geological and agricultural survey of the State of Mississippi had its origin in an act of the legislature entitled "An act to further endow the University of Mississippi," approved March 5, 1850, which took effect on the 1st of June following. This act is worded as follows:

SECTION 1. Be it enacted, etc., That the further sum of $3,000 be, and the same is hereby, semiannually appropriated, subject to the draft of the president of the board of trustees of the University of Mississippi, to be applied by them to the purchasing of books and apparatus, and the payment of the salaries of professors and assistant professors of agricultural and geological sciences in said university: Provided, That one half only of the amount of said appropriations shall be from the revenue in the treasury and the other half shall be made out of the sale of the lands belonging to the seminary fund, hereafter to be sold as provided by law.

SEC. 2. That the authority required by the State treasurer for the payment of the trustees shall be the warrant of the president of the board of trustees, drawn in favor of any person whatever.

SEC. 3. That at least one-half of the amount herein appropriated shall be expended in making a general geological and agricultural survey of the State, under the direction of the principal professor to be appointed under the first section of this act.

SEC. 4. That the survey herein provided for shall be accompanied with proper maps and diagrams, and furnish full and scientific descriptions of its rocks,

1 See Historical Outline of the Geological and Agricultural Survey of the State of Mississippi, by E. W. Hilgard. American Geologist, vol. 27, 1901, pp. 284-311.

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soils, and geological productions, together with specimens of the same; which maps, diagrams, and specimens shall be deposited in the State library, and similar specimens shall be deposited in the State University and such other literary institutions in the State as the governor may direct: Provided, That the survey shall be made in every county in this State.

SEC. 5. That the trustees of the State University shall cause a report to be made annually to the governor, to be by him laid before each session of the legislature, setting forth, generally, the progress made in the survey hereby required.

SEC. 6. That this act take effect and be in force from and after the 1st day of June next.

In 1852 this law was amended as follows:

An Act to amend An act to further endow the University of Mississippi, approved March 5, 1850, the provisions of which are as follows:

SECTION 1. That the fourth section of the above-recited act be so amended as to read "zoological" instead of geological productions.

SEC. 2. That the room adjoining the State library, formerly occupied by the surveyor general, be appropriated and set apart for the deposit and safe-keeping of such specimens as may be collected during the progress of the geological survey provided for in the above-recited act, and that the sum of $200 be appropriated, out of any money in the State treasury not otherwise appropriated, to defray the expense of fitting up and preparing said room for the reception of said specimens.

SEC. 3. That the fitting up of said room shall be done under the direction of the governor, upon whose requisition the auditor shall issue his warrant for the sum herein appropriated, or so much of said sum as may be necessary. SEC. 4. That the said room after being so fitted up shall be under the charge of the State geological society, who shall be authorized to employ the librarian as curator of the same.

SEC. 5. That the said room shall be open to the public during such hours as the State library is now required by law to keep open, and the librarian shall be allowed an additional compensation of $50 per annum for the services required by the fourth section of this act.

In 1854 further legislation relative to publication was enacted, as below:

An Act to authorize the printing of the first annual report of the agricultural and geological survey of the State.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Mississippi, That 2,000 copies of the report of Prof. B. L. C. Wailes, State geologist, be printed under his supervision, in quarto form, and in such manner and with such illus trations and plates, as his excellency, the governor, shall deem appropriate and necessary for its illustration.

SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That, when printed and bound, the said report be deposited in the office of the secretary of state, to be by him distributed as follows: Fifty copies to be deposited in the State library; 25 copies to be deposited in the State University; one copy to each State in the Union; one copy to be given to each incorporated college and academy in the State; one copy each to the governor, secretary of state, auditor of public accounts, State treasurer, adjutant general, the chancellor and vice chancellors, the judges of the high court of errors and appeals, the attorney general, the judge and

district attorney of each district, each member of the present senate and house of representatives; and 100 copies to the said State geologist, to be by him exchanged for similar reports from other States, and to furnish to scientific societies and public libraries.

SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, That 1,000 copies of said report shall be deposited in the office of the secretary of state, to be sold by any agent or agents to be appointed by the governor, under such regulations and for such sum each as he may deem proper and advisable, for the purpose of reimbursing the State for publishing the same, and the balance to be distributed among the several counties of the State, in proportion to their representation in the legislature, to be furnished to the people thereof, in such manner as the boards of police of the several counties may direct.

SEC. 4. Be it further enacted, That, previous to the printing of said report, it shall be revised and completed by the said State geologist; and the portion of it which treats of zoology, as far as prepared, shall be omitted, and in lieu thereof a catalogue of the fauna of the State, as far as ascertained, shall be substituted.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That, for the further and more efficient prosecution of the survey, analyses of the marls, soils, mineral waters, and the chief agricultural productions of the State shall be made at the University of Mississippi, as the trustees may designate; and the State geologist may, from time to time, furnish such soils, marls and waters as may be required for analysis, and shall receive in return from the chemist full and precise reports of all analyses which may be made; and specimens of soils and marls shall be preserved in convenient glass bottles in the State cabinet, and in the cabinet of the State University, properly labeled with the chemical character of the substance and the locality from which the same was obtained.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the said geologist shall make collec tions of specimens to illustrate the mineral character and paleontology of the State, in addition to the zoological productions which by law he is now required to collect, and to cause them to be suitably arranged and preserved in the State cabinet and in that of the university; and any duplicates that remain may be distributed by him among such of the incorporated colleges in the State as may apply for them.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That a sum not to exceed $2,500 be appropriated out of any money in the treasury, to be drawn upon the requisition of the governor, for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of this act. SEC. 8. Be it enacted, That this act shall be in force from and after its passage.

Approved March 1, 1854.

In 1857 a portion of the act of 1850 was repealed and certain other changes made, according to the following:

[Extract of act to provide for the printing of the Second Annual Report of the Agricul tural and Geological Survey of the State, and for other purposes.]

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Mississippi, That so much of "An act to further endow the University of Mississippi," approved March 5, 1850, as appropriates out of the treasury $3,000 per annum to aid in making an agricultural and geological survey of the State, and also so much of said act as connects the said survey in any manner whatever with the university, he, and the same is hereby, repealed.

SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That the agricultural and geological survey of the State shall be prosecuted to completion according to the provisions of the above-recited act, and of an act entitled “An act to authorize the printing of the First Annual Report of the Agricultural and Geological Survey of the State," approved March 1, 1854, by a State geologist, to be appointed by the governor.

SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, That the State geologist shall keep his office in the city of Jackson, etc.

SEC. 6. Be it further enacted, That 5,000 copies of Professor Harper's report be printed, under the direction of the governor, to be bound in boards, with such plates, charts, and woodcuts therein, as his excellency may deem appropriate and necessary for its illustration.

SEC. 7. Be it further enacted, That when said report shall be printed and bound, it shall be distributed according to the provisions of the last-recited act. SEC. 10. Be it further enacted, That the State geologist to be appointed under the provisions of this act shall enter upon the discharge of the duties of his office on the first Monday in March, 1857, and this act shall go into effect from and after its passage.

Approved January 31, 1857.

Still again, in 1860, there was passed:

An act to prosecute the geological survey of the State of Mississippi, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Mississippi:

SECTION 1. That the Governor of this State be and is hereby authorized to appoint an assistant State geologist, who shall act in subordination to and under the direction of the State geologist, at an annual salary of not more than $1,500.

SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That the expenses of the State geologist and his assistant shall be paid by the State, an accurate account of the same being kept by said officers, and reported to the governor of the State, as now provided by law for the State geologist, provided the same shall not exceed the sum of $1,300.

SEC. 3. Be it further enacted. That the sum of $545 be, and the same is hereby, appropriated out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, to reimburse the State geologist for expenses necessarily incurred in fitting up a chemical laboratory for making analyses in the prosecution of said survey, to be drawn from the treasury, upon the requisition of the governor, and paid over to said State geologist.

SEC. 4. Be it further enacted, That 5,000 copies of Dr. E. W. Hilgard's report be printed under the direction of the governor, to be bound in board, with such diagrams and maps as he may deem necessary for its illustration; and it is hereby expressly enjoined upon his excellency, in the publication of said book, to have the same performed in the South, if the same can be done at a cost of 10 per cent upon the cost of its publication in the North, and that same when published shall be distributed as provided by law for the distribution of Professor Harper's report.

SEC. 5. Be it further enacted, That the sum of $3,500 be placed at the disposal of the governor, to be drawn from the treasury, upon his requisition, to carry into effect the provisions of the fourth section of this act.

SEC. 6. Be it further enacted, That the State geologist may, at his election, keep his office at or near the University of the State of Mississippi, and he is