568 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



contributions to our knowledge of the science of the State in several departments. 

 Prof. O. St. John, the accomplished paleontologist, has run a stratigraphical line 

 along the Kansas river from Wyandotte to Manhattan, has carefully determined 

 the formations, and has drawn a chart representing the strata along this base line. 

 He has also, during the past year, located some valuable coal fields in Southern 

 Kansas beyond what was supposed to be the boundary of the coal formations. 

 Prof. Frank H. Snow of the State University has made important contributions 

 to our knowledge of the birds and insects of the State, and of the fish in the 

 Kansas River. Prof. E. A. Popenoe of the Agricultural College, has made valu- 

 able additions to our knowledge of the insects. Professors Carruth and Snow, 

 with the assistance of others, have worked faithfully on the catalogue of the plants 

 of the State. Profs. Snow and Lovewell, Major Hawn and others have taken 

 meteorological observations for years, and have done much to determine the 

 climate of Kansas. Mr. Robert Hay has performed some excellent geological 

 work in Norton county, under the auspices of the Academy, and has published a 

 geological map of the county. Professor F. W. Cragin of Washburn College has 

 published partial lists of Kansas mosses, lichens, algae and fungi, and has made 

 a good beginning in collecting and identifying the lower plants of the State. The 

 chemists have also been at work, and Professors Failyer, Patrick, Bailey, and 

 others have made some valuable analyses. All of this labor of the Academy, 

 covering about two decades of years, has been accomplished by volunteer work- 

 ers, without costing the State of Kansas a single dollar. 



The time has now fully arrived for the Kansas Legislature to take up the 

 scientific survey of the State, to utilize the results already attained, and to carry 

 on the work so well begun to its completion. Kansas is unusually rich in mineral 

 resources which need to be developed by a thorough and complete geological 

 survey. Very little is known at present of the immense coal fields of the State. 

 The lead interests are still in their infancy. Probably there are zinc deposits 

 undetermined. The State has unHmited beds of limestone and freestone, consti- 

 tuting the finest building material in the West, much of which is undeveloped. 

 The Burlington Gravel Beds furnish some of the best gravel for our street pave- 

 ments, and would, if thoroughly explored, furnish an abundance of the best 

 ballasting for railroads. A physical survey would determine the water power of 

 the State, enabling capitalists to plant factories wherever they can be established. 

 Little is known of the saline deposits of the State. The vast gypsum beds of 

 Kansas need development. A thorough and complete survey would develop 

 these immense resources, form a basis for material industries of every description 

 and add largely to the wealth of the State. 



Geological surveys have been prosecuted in the leading States of the Union 

 v/ith the most valuable results. In Michigan there are now millions of dollars of 

 taxable property in salt works, the existence of which is due entirely to the geo- 

 logical survey. The survey developed two rich salt deposits, and the annual 

 export of salt has now reached about a million dollars. The Ohio geological 

 survey developed a fine industry in mining coal in Tuscarawas county. New 



