AMERICAN GEOLOGY— DECADE OF 1850-1859. 485 



At a meeting of the St. Louis Academy of Sciences, held on Feb- 

 ruary 18, L858, Prof. G. C. Swallow presented a paper announcing- the 

 finding of Permian fossils among some collections submitted to him for 

 identification by Maj. F. Hawn. This, as being- the 



The Kansas Permian n j. ,1 .1 ,• , 1 



controversy, 1858. nist apparently authentic announcement or the occur- 

 rence of Permian rocks on the American continent, 

 excited a great deal of interest and started a somewhat bitter personal 

 controversy between Hawn, Swallow, and Meek, which may be 

 referred to in some detail." 



Hawn, it appears, was a civil engineer engaged in the linear survey 

 of Kansas, but whose interest in matters geological led him to make 

 extensive collections of fossils. These, for purposes of identification, 

 he divided, sending the supposed Cretaceous forms to F. B. Meek, 

 then at Albany, New York, and the Carboniferous to (i. C. Swallow, 

 at Columbia, Missouri, the particular collection referred to in this 

 controversy being made at the Smoky Hill Fork of the Kansas River. 



The collections received by Meek were of such a character as to 

 lead him to think that the beds from which they were taken might be 

 Triassic or Permian, though perhaps belonging to the Upper Coal 

 Measures. He immediately wrote Hawn, asking that he obtain for 

 him other materials and, if possible, get from Professor Swallow all 

 all of those forwarded to him which were not Carboniferous. To 

 this Hawn readily agreed and wrote as follows: 



Professor Swallow certainly will not attempt to interfere with you in this matter. 

 He knows perfectly well the relation existing between us and expressed himself 

 gratified that I was furnishing you with important information in furtherance of your 

 investigation. Furthermore, he. has not the data to establish a relation between the 

 several points under review by you. I merely sent him the ( larboniferous fossils for 

 classification and comparison with those of the Missouri collection, that a parallel 

 may be established in my further operations. 



Again, under date of September .">, L857, Hawn wrote to Meek: 



[ wrote to Professor Swallow * * * and requested him particularly to send you 



all the fossils that were not Carboniferous, as they were intended for your use. I 

 hope lie will comply with my request, as I shall not have time to go to see him. 



And again, under date of September 9, of the same year: 



Should this formation turnout to he as you anticipate, new and important, will 

 you discuss the details in an article for my contemplated work on the mineral and 

 agricultural characteristics of K. T., and describe the fossils that are new" 



Under date of January 4, 1858, he wrote again: 



1 have a letter before me from Professor- Swallow in which he thinks the speci- 

 mens sent him from Smoky Hill Fork are Carboniferous. Therefore suppose he has 



"It should be noted that Marcou claimed priority in the discovery of Permian 

 (Dyas) beds in America, the discovery having been made while connected with the 

 Pacific Kailroad survey in 1853. (See his American Geological Classification and 

 Nomenclature, Cambridge, 1888. ) The correctness of his paleontological identifica- 

 tion was questioned by Meek, White, Hall, and Newberry. 



