GERARD TROOST. 125 



The first and second reports were not published. The third 

 report, made in 1835, contains the results of the geologist's 

 investigations respecting the extent of the coal formations in 

 the State. "I have ascertained," it says, " that the places in 

 which coal may be expected belong exclusively and entirely to 

 that group of mountains which are known by the name of 

 Cumberland Mountains, and are composed of Walden's Ridge, 

 Crab Orchard Mountain, Brimstone Mountain, and some other 

 subordinate ridges of the same system." The breadth of the 

 formation was greatest near the northern limit of the State, 

 and in one part the coal was represented as deposited in hori- 

 zontal strata of great extent. The report also deals largely 

 with marl, iron, and soils, and concludes with the words: "In 

 a scientific point of view, my labours have been very advan- 

 tageous. I have been very fortunate in obtaining organic 

 remains which were unknown, and which eventually will show 

 how far our strata correspond with those on the old continent. 

 I have discovered parts of the American or gigantic mastodon 

 hitherto unknown." 



The fourth report, of 1837, relates to the Ocoee district, 

 comprising a part of the mountain region near the North Car- 

 olina boundary, which Prof. Troost was directed by the State 

 Legislature to explore. It begins with an exposition of the 

 principles of geology and their application to the general 

 structure of the district under view, for the information of the 

 people; an admirable specimen of exact scientific writing 

 adapted to popular comprehension, explicit, lucid in style, and 

 showing familiarity with the subject. The character of the re- 

 gion is depicted in a few words : " Commencing our recon- 

 naissance at the most northern extremity of the district, I 

 found the rocks at Tallassee, on the Tennessee River, en- 

 tirely composed of grauwacke, alternating here and there with 

 limestone; this is the case everywhere along the Tennessee 

 River, where I was able to approach and examine them, to the 

 Smoky Mountain, which forms the southeastern limit of the 

 district, and separates Tennessee from North Carolina. It is 

 almost impossible to penetrate any distance in this wild and 

 mountainous country ; and the apparent confusion of the rocks, 

 which seem at some places heaped up without order, and 

 changing at small distances, makes the geological survey haz- 

 ardous and extremely difficult." The author calls attention to 



