428 BlJLLETIIf 109, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



PENNSYLVANIA/ 



FIRST GEOLOGICAL SURVEY UNDER HENRY D. ROGERS, 183 6-184 2. 



Organisation. — In 1834 there was organized a geological society 

 of Penns^^lvania, the objects of which were declared to be: 



To ascertain as far as possible the nature and structure of the rock forma- 

 tions of the State ; their connection or comparison with the other formations 

 in the United States and of the rest of the work! ; the fossils they contain and 

 their nature and positions and associations, and particularly the uses to whicli 

 they can be applied in the arts, and their subserviency to the comforts and con- 

 veniences of men. 



This society continued in existence but four years and left a single 

 volume of transactions as tangible evidence of its career. It Avas, 

 hov/ever, doubtless largely through the interest aroused by this 

 society that there was established in 1836 a State geological survey. 

 The following is the text of the original and supplementary acts : 



An act to provide for a t'eological and uiineralogical survey of the State. 



Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 

 Commomvealth of Pennsylvania in general assembly met, and it is hereby 

 enacted by the authority of the same, That the govei-nor is liereby authorized 

 and recjuired, v/ithin 30 days after the passage of this act, to appoint a State 

 geologist of talents, integrity, and suita))le, scientific, and practical knowledge 

 of his profession, who shall appoint as his assistants two geologists, also of 

 integrity and competent skill, one of whom shall also be a scientific and prac- 

 tical mineralogist, and the said State geologist shall also appoint a competent, 

 practical, analytical chemist to assist him in his duties. 



Sec. 2. It shall be the duty of the State geologist and his assistants imme- 

 diately to commence and to carry on witli as much expedition and dispatch as 

 may be consistent with minuteness and accuracy, and in accordance with a 

 plan previously submitted to the secretary of the Commonwealth, a geological 

 and mineralogical survey of the State, with a view to determine the order, suc- 

 cession, arrangement, relative position, and the dip or inclination, and also the 

 comparative magnitude of the several strata or geological formations within 

 the State, and to discover and examine all beds and deposits of ores, coals, 

 clays, marls, and such other mineral substances as may be deemed useful or 

 valuable, together with such other duties as may be necessary to make a full 

 and compl'^to geological and mineralogical survey of the State. 



Sec. 3. It shall further be the duty of the .said State geologist, on or before 

 the 1st day of January in each and every year, during the time necessisrlly 

 occupied by said survey, to make an annual report of the progress of said 

 survey, accompanied with such maps, drawings, and specimens as may be 

 necessnry and proper to exemplify and elucidate the same to the secretary of 

 the Commonwealth, who shall immediately lay such report before the legis- 

 lature. 



Sec. 4. The said State geologist is further required to cause to be represented 

 on the map of this Commonwealth, by colors and other appropriate means, the 

 various areas occupied by the different geological formations in the State, 



• Compiled in part from manuscript notes by J. P. Lesley in 1886. 



