290 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1904. 



by Featherstonhaugh in his journal, as "the neatest and best executed 

 work on geology which has been gotten up in the United States/' 



Dr. Charles T. Jackson was born at Plymouth, Massachusetts, June 

 21, 1805; was graduated at the Harvard Medical School in 1829, and 

 settled down to the practice of medicine in Boston in 1833, having 

 spent a portion of the intervening years in Europe. 

 c k T C JacLon He shortly , however, abandoned his medical practice 



in order that he might devote himself to chemical and 

 geological investigations more to his taste. In 1836. he was appointed 

 State geologist of Maine, and published during the three years he held 

 that office three octavo reports comprising some 1,000 pages and an 

 atlas of 21 plates. These volumes, while recording a large number 

 of disconnected observations, contain nothing of striking interest or 

 importance. They are devoted also largely to economic questions. 

 It must lie remembered, however, that the country at that time was 

 largely a wilderness, without rail or carriage roads, and many of his 

 journeys were made by canoes on streams and lakes. 



In 1839, as State geologist, he made a survey of Rhode Island, and 

 in the year following submitted the manuscript copy for his report, 

 1,000 copies of which were issued, constituting the first, last, and 

 only official account of the resources of the State ever published 

 (Wood worth). In 1810 he began work upon the geology of New 

 Hampshire, having been appointed geologist for that State September, 

 1839. This survey lasted until 1813, the final report appearing in 

 1811. It was while in the prosecution of this work that he made the 

 discovery of tin ore at Jackson, and from it smelted the first bar of 

 metallic tin produced in America. 



In 1817 Jackson was appointed United States geologist to report on 

 the public lands in the Lake Superior region, but spent only two 

 seasons in the field, resigning for personal and political reasons in 

 1849. It was through his instrumentality, however, in part, that the 

 copper regions of Lake Superior were opened up. Other economic 

 work of Jackson which needs mention is that in connection with the dis- 

 covery and description of the emery mines at Chester, Massachusetts. 



After withdrawing from the Lake Superior survey, Jackson devoted 

 himself largely to laboratory work, having an office at 32 Somerset 

 street, Boston. As is well known, he was one of the claimants for 

 priority in the discovery of the "anaesthetic properties of ether. He 

 was well and favorably known as a chemist and all-round naturalist, 

 and is described as "an enthusiastic personage, a ready conversation- 

 alist, even eloquent in his speech and fond of story telling — a man of 

 large stature, square shoulders, and massive head." As a geologist 

 he was conservative almost to the point of obstinacy, as is shown by 

 his steady adherence to the older forms of classification, though find- 

 ing it necessary to depart somewhat from the ideas of Werner. He 



