20 



s, to aid him in keeping lii&amp;lt; apparatus in i&amp;gt;;ooct 



There scarcely appears to exist, in the nature of the work, 

 any reason why the locality where the in-door work of the 

 survey is to be carried on, should be fixed by law. The 

 headquarters of the geological survey of Arkansas and Ken 

 tucky, for instance, are at the residence of the Geologist to 

 those States, Dr. D. D. Owen, in Indiana. It is true that 

 all other things being equal, it would be natural that a de 

 partment under control of the Executive, should be located 

 at the seat of Government. The fact that in most cases the 

 collections resulting from geological surveys have been or 

 dered to be ultimately deposited at the State capital, would 

 alone furnish a sufficient reason, since the removal of collec 

 tions of this kind can rarely be effected without some injury to 

 delicate specimens, and always gives a good deal of trouble. 



In the present instance, however, it is ordered that the 

 specimens collected be divided between the State University] 

 and a State collection to be formed at Jackson. It become?, 

 therefore, from the outset, a matter of indifference in which 

 direction one-half of the collection may finally require to be 

 moved. Almost all the specimens heretofore collected have 

 ineen (lepasited at the University ; and were the removal of 

 headquarters necessary at the present stage of the survey, it 

 would be quite impracticable to effect the subdivision of the 

 collections, save to a very small extent. For the work of 

 examination and determination remains to be done yet, and 

 it is of the utmost importance in this study, to have the ma 

 terials as full and complete as possible. Practically, it 

 would become necessary to remove almost the whole of the 

 collections, involving a great expenditure of time and labor, 

 and the destriicLioii of many specimens the majority of 

 these being of a character unusually delicate. But worse 

 than this, it would deprive the University for several years 

 to come, of the use of a collection illustrating the geology 

 of the State ; or in other words the opportunity of ocularly 



