SAMUEL HUBBARD SCUDDER COLLECTION, 



BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY, 



WILLIAMS COLLEGE. 



INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 



Chemical Laboratory of tfje Geological Survey, 



New Harmony, Indiana, September, 1858, 

 Dr. David Dale Ovvex, 



State Geologist of Arkansas: 



Sir— In conformity with your instructions, I herewith transmit to you 

 the Chemical Report of the Geological Survey of Arkansas, containing 

 the chemical analyses of such ores, rocks, etc., as you deemed most impor- 

 tant for incorporation into this volume. 



The analyses have all been performed in the chemical laboratory of the 

 survey, with the exception of the qualitative examinations of the natural 

 waters, which were executed in the field. Among the valuable mineral 

 productions, in which the northern counties of Arkansas abound, special 

 attention has been paid to the ores of zinc. Specimens of the ores from 

 all the principal localities which were visited by us in the first field excur- 

 sion in the fall of 1857, have been subjected to analysis, and I should not 

 neglect to state, that I have endeavored, by a careful selection of average 

 specimens, to give to those, more directly interested in those mines, a 

 correct idea of the average value of these ores. I am happy to say, that 

 the results of my examinations even surpass the favorable opinion which I 

 formed of their value in the field; and there remains no doubt, in my 

 opinion, that with judicious management, the working of these mines 

 and smelting of the ores, extracted therefrom, will prove not only very 

 remunerative to the enterprising miner and smelter, but highly beneficial 

 to that portion of the state in which these mines are situated. Much, 

 however, remains yet to be done with regard to the development of the 

 mineral riches of these counties: analyses ought to be made of the differ- 

 ent kinds of ore taken from the old mines, as well as of specimens from 

 the newly discovered mines*; all the rocks associated with the ores, ought 



•Mr. E. J. Cox collected specimens of ore from new localities during the field-excursion in 

 arrived^' ' S ° me unaccounUlble «*son, the boxes containing them, ha?e notyet 



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