11 



Up to the accession to office of the late State Geologist, 

 in 1854, no analysis had been made in connexion with the 

 survey, (simply because there was no one to make them,,) and 

 the data concerning the general geology of the State, were 

 but very fragmentary. 



During the years 1854-55, the arrangement just spoken 

 of, continu- d in force. In January 1856, however, the Board 

 of Trustees passed a resolution relieving the State Geologist 

 of any duties as a teacher in the University, in order that 

 he might devote his whole time to the prosecution of the sur 

 vey. Up to October 1855, Mr. Harper was without a field 

 assistant, except for a very short period j after that date, 

 and until removed by the Board, in October 1856, 1 myself 

 held the office of Assisstant ; and from that time forward, 

 until March 1857, (when the Act dissolving the connexion 

 thus far existing between the survey and the University went 

 into operation,) the duties of the office of State Geologist 

 devolved upon me by order of the Board of Trustees. 

 From the expiration of my term of office until I was ap- 

 pointed by yourself in March last, the operations of the sur- 

 vey were suspended ; since the time during which Mr. Har- 

 per held the office after his re-appointment by Gov. McRae, 

 it was occupied by him in the publication of his Report, at 

 New York. By the law detaching the survey from the Uni- 

 versity, the office of Assistant Geologist was abolished ; all 

 the duties thenceforth devolving on the Principal alone. 



In reviewing the results heretofore elicited by the survey 

 prosecuted so far, under circumstances so unfavorable it 

 cannot but be a matter of regret, that with the exception of 

 my own field notes, all the original records heretofore made? 

 and used by the late State Geologist in the compilation of 

 his Report, (both his own and those of his predecessors,) have 

 disappeared. 



It is too well known to require discussion, that however 

 small may be the qualifications of the observer, the records 

 of observations, written down on the spot, is always of value- 

 while in any case whatever, the preservation of this kind of 



