Note 23—page 281.
Geological Surveys.
The legislatures of several States have lately shown a laudable zeal for geological examinations of the soil. Maryland has a State geologist (Mr Duchatel) who is engaged in preparing a geological map of the State, particularly with reference to economical purposes. Dr Duchatel has already made some important discoveries in agricultural geology, especially in respect to the use of marl. Tennessee has also its geologist, Dr Troost. Massachusetts has a geological map prepared by Professor Hitchcock. Congress has caused some examinations to be made on the upper Mississippi. Dr Jackson has been several years employed in making geological surveys in Maine, and is at present occupied in Rhode Island; he has also been appointed by New Hampshire to explore the geology of her mountains and valleys. New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Connecticut, Kentucky, Michigan and Georgia, have also engaged in the same enterprise, and partial examinations have been made in North Carolina. New York has in addition to a corps of four geologists, Messrs Vanuxem, Mather, Emmons and Conrad, a chemist (Dr Beck,) a botanist (Mr Torrey,) and a zoologist, (Dr DeKay.) It is principally to the efforts of the late Secretary of the State, General Dix, that New York is indebted for this great undertaking. Massachusetts has also organised a board of naturalists, to report upon the different branches of botany and zoology. In many of the States, a topographical survey more or less minute, has been connected with the geological explorations. Massachusetts has been trigonometrically surveyed.