il PREFACE. 
must be struck with the amount of Geological information it contains, particularly as relates to the Tertiary 
formation of the State. 
In the renewal of my commission, by his Excellency, Gov. Aiken, in 1844, I was directed to make a 
Geological and Agricultural Survey of the State. Such a survey, as it is at present to be understood, includes 
the following objects. 
1. The determination and description of the various minerals and rocks of the State. 
2. Their examination as to extent and relation to each other in their order of superposition, as well as their 
influence upon the physical features of the State. 
3. The discovery of metallic veins, and beds of other useful substances, such as lime, rock, marl, &c. that 
they may contain. 
4, The relations of the rocks to soils, and their chemical examination, to a certain extent. 
5. The pointing out of such improvements in mining and metallurgy, as may be thought useful to those 
engaged in those operations. 
While the Natural Sciences form so limited a portion of the systems of instruction in our schools, there will 
always be difficulty in presenting to the minds of the mass of the people information derived from these 
sciences. Hence, we constantly hear the objection made to Geological and Agricultural Reports, that they 
“are too scientific,” which only, generally, means that words have been used that are not understood. Now if 
we speak at all of the constitution of plants, or of rocks, we must use such words as Hydrogen, Oxygen and 
Carbonic acid—Gneiss, Mica and Hornblende; nor could any degree of circumlocution obviate the difficulty. 
Every profession and eyen every trade has terms technical to itself, yet no one objects to them on this account. 
No one finds fault with the art of the miller because he uses such terms as ink, headstock and hopper, although 
they are quite as unintelligible as any scientific terms could be to persons who haye paid little or no attention 
to the subject. I never heard that the long name morws mu/ticaulis offered any impediment to the introduc- 
tion of that plant, nor does it, at present, produce any difficulty or ambiguity. 
Geology proper, however, has but few technical terms, and these are explained in the brief sketch of the 
science prefixed to this Report ; I know of no other means of obviating the difficulty complained of ; when new 
objects are presented they must have names ; and to bring every thing down to our previous knowledge, would 
put an end to all progress. 
It is always pleasant to acknowledge the labors of those who have preceded us, and who have aided in the 
removal of the difficulties, inseparable from the first steps, in geological investigations. In the Cabinet of the 
South Carolina College, an excellent collection of the minerals of the State will be found, which were collected 
by Mr. Vanuxem in 1826. 
A list, and an account of the distribution of these minerals, I have appended, taken from Mills’ Statistics, 
where the substance of his report was published.* 
He also published a paper on the Tertiary and Cretaceous formations of the State,t and was the first to 
notice the Post Pliocene of Charleston. 
In 1832, Mr. Conrad examined the Tertiary of the Cooper and Santee rivers, and determined the existence 
of the mode Tertiary, from some fossils discovered by the late Stephen Elliott, Esq. 
Mr. Lyell has gone over the Eocene of the State, and the results of his observations have appeared in the 
Journal of the Geological Society of London, and in Silliman’s Journal. 
Before Mr. Ruffin’s Report, there had been but little published in relation to the economic value and extent 
of the beds of the Tertiary. The existence of the middle Tertiary was barely known, from the inference alluded 
to, drawn by Mr. Conrad from a few fossils, said to be from “below the junction of the Wateree and Congaree 
rivers.” He pointed out in his Report, localities of this formation, in Darlington and on Goose Creek; and in 
an appendix to my annual Report, he mentions others on Lynch’s Creek, and on Waccamaw river; so that it 
* Appendix. 
+ Journal Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. 
oe? 
