BULLETIN OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 



Vol. 25, pp. 157-178 March 30, 1914 



PIONEEES m GULF COASTAL PLAIN GEOLOGY 



PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS BY EUGENE ALLEN" SMITH 



(Read before the Society December SO, 1913) 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Introductory 157 



Early writers 158 



American Geological Society 160 



Early geological surveys 160 



Work of T. A. Conrad, Isaac Lea, and Angelo Heilprin 161 



Researches of G. W. Featherstonhaugh 163 



Lyell's visits 163 



Later geological surveys and studies 164 



Texas 164 



Arkansas 166 



Tennessee 167 



South Carolina and Alabama 168 



Mississippi and Louisiana 170 



Georgia '. 173 



Florida 174 



Cotton Culture Reports of the Tenth Census 176 



Researches of W J McGee 177 



Introductory 



When attending the summer meetings of the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science during the past three or four decades, I have 

 been impressed by the fact that the majority of the papers read before 

 Section E were concerned with the phenomena of the glacial drift. The 

 reason for this is not far to seek, since the drift is the surface formation 

 nearly everywhere present in the northern part of the country, and the 

 question of its origin and the relations of its different phases make it a 

 never-to-be-exhausted subject for the exercise of the imagination and 

 ingenuity of the investigator. 



I have also been impressed by the results and conclusions of the differ- 

 ent geologists as illustrating how doctors disagree. 



1 Received by the Secretary of the Society January 17, 1914. 



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