MICHIGAN ACADEMY OP SCIENCE. 55 



later ones; that it was, in fact, what we are striving for at the present 



time, and that it was terminated by the same difficnltv that confronts 



us, — diflficulty in obtaining the necessary funds from the legislature. 



In 1859 the survey was reorganized on nearly the same basis as the 



original one, but appro])riations were provided for only two years. The 



act was entitled "An act to finish the geological survey of the state," 



and read as follows : 



That tlie Governor is hereby authorized and directed to appoint a competent 

 person, whose duty it shall be to finish the Geological Survey of the state, which 

 shall be accompanied with proper maps and diagrams, and shall furnish a full 

 and scientific description of its rocks, soils and minerals, and of its natural pro- 

 ductions, together with specimens of the same; which maps, diagrams and speci- 

 mens, shall be deposited in the library of the State University, and the library 

 of the Agriculture College, and similiar specimens shall be deposited in such 

 other library [literary] and scientific institutions in the state as the Governor 

 shall direct: and the Governor is further authorized to appoint, from time to 

 time, as the exigencies of tlie case may require, competent persons to act as 

 assistants, under the direction of the Geologist.^ 



One important feature of this act was that the University of Michigan 

 and the ]\lichigan Agricultural College were specifically designated as 

 depositories of the collections. 



In 1869 a geological survey was again organized and has continued 

 to the present time. The sections of this act relative to the scojje of 

 this survey read as follows : 



Sec. 1. That the Governor, the Superintendent of Public Instructioii, and 

 the President of the State Board of Education shall constitute a Board of Geolog- 

 ical Survey; they shall control and supervise the continuation and completion 

 of the geological survey of the state; they shall appoint and commission a. 

 suitable person, possessed of the requisite knowledge of the Science of Geology, 

 v.-ho shall be director of the geological survey hereby instituted. 



Sec. 4. It shall be the duty of the director to make or cause to be made, 

 a thorough geological and mineralogical survey of the State, embracing a deter- 

 mination of the succession, arrangement, thickness, and position of all strata and 

 rocks; their mineral character and contents, and their economic uses; an in- 

 vestigation and determination of the organic remains of the State; a general 

 examination of the topography, hydrogi'aphy, and physical geography of the 

 State; an investigation of the soils and subsoils, and the determination of their 

 character and agricultural adaptation; the investigation of all deposits of 

 I rines, coal, marl, clay, gypsum, lime, petroleum, metals, and metallic ores, 

 building stone, marble, grit-stone, materials for mortar and cement, mineral 

 paint, and all other productions of the geological wbrld within the limits of this 

 State capable of being converted to the use of man. 



Sec. 5. It shall be the duty of the director to collect ample materials for the 

 illustration of every department of the geology and mineralogy of the state. 

 and to determine, catalogue, and label the same, and prepare them for exhibition 

 to the citizens of the state, in suitable cases, in the museums of the State Uni- 

 versity and State Agriculture College, at the State Normal School, and such 

 other colleges of the state as may make application to the board prior to the 

 making of the geological survey, and obligate such colleges to pay the extra ex- 

 pense necessarily incurred in furnishing such specimens." 



I would like to call your attention to two deficiencies in this act. 

 First, no natural history work is provided for, as was the case ia the 

 previous surveys, and, second, the survey was given no official name. 



For several years previous to 1905, you as members of the academy, 

 realizing the opportunities that were being neglected to advance our 



'Laws of Michigan. 18.50 — Xo. 206. 

 -Laws of Michigan, 1860 — Xo. 65. 



