66 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



The results of the analysis were 



By experiment. By calculation. Atomically. 



Carbon 36-083 36*11 5 atoms. . 382-185 



Azote 33361 33-36 4 364'07'2 



Hydrogen 2-44-1 2-34 4- 24959 



Oxygen 28-126 27*19 3 300-000 



100-011 99- 1071-216 



According to this atomic weight, the compounds of lithic acid with 

 bases which are at present known, are supersalts. — Ibid., p. 571. 



GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



We announce with great satisfaction a most important act of 

 legislation by the Congress of the United States, the authorization 

 of a geological survey of that fine country, so rich in minerals and 

 geological phaenomena. It gives us pleasure also to add that Pre- 

 sident Jackson has committed the execution of this arduous under- 

 taking to Mr. Featherstonhaugh, one of the members of the Geolo- 

 gical Society of London, who has acquired deserved reputation as 

 a practical and ardent geologist. This gentleman has been many 

 years a resident of the United States, and it is of him that Mr. Cony- 

 beare, in his celebrated Report*, says, — " Mr. Featherstonhaugh, a 

 geologist eminently qualified, from his intimate acquaintance with 

 European formations, to advance those comparative views which 

 demand the principal attention in our science." 



We cannoc but look with unmixed admiration upon the steadi- 

 ness with which all the great interests of the United States are pur- 

 sued: the States have wisely concurred in a great act of legislation 

 that cannot but redound to the best interests of their country, and the 

 substantial advancement of natural science. It is an act that Europe 

 will admire, and we hope imitate, and that will ever reflect great 

 honour upon the administration of the present distinguished chief 

 magistrate of the United States. 



Private letters state, that Mr. Featherstonhaugh left Washington 

 in July, for the country west of the Mississippi, to examine the 

 high lands in the Arkansa territory, called the Ozark and Mazerne 

 Mountains. These are separated, to the distance of about five hun- 

 dred miles, by the gorge of the Mississippi valley, from the high 

 lands east of the Mississippi, which constitute the Alleghany 

 ranges ; and their geological structure has not yet been examined. 



By the kindness of Dr. Buckland we are enabled to annex some 

 extracts from a letter addressed to that eminent Geologist by our 

 friend R. C. Taylor, Esq., F.G.S., dated some time before the Act 

 of Congress, but containing some interesting particulars of the 

 Geology of the United States. 



" I am happy to report that the spirit of geological inquiry is fast 

 spreading in this state. A committee is now sitting in the House of 

 Representatives on the subject of a Geological Survey of the whole 



* See our last volume, p. 42/. 



