MEMORIAL OF E. W. HILGARD 41 



but on account of political troul:»le there existing at the time he changed 

 to the University of Zuricli, and then to tlie Eoyal Mining School at 

 Freiberg, in Saxony, returning later to Heidelberg, where in 1853 he 

 received the degree Ph. D. suninia cum laude at the age of 20. 



In 1853, on account of continued ill health, he visited the coast of 

 Spain, where he spent two years in geological investigations. Here he 

 met Miss J. Alexandrina Bello, daughter of Colonel Bello, of the Spanish 

 army at Madrid. She became his wife in 1860. 



In 1855 he returned to Washington and fitted up a small chemical 

 laboratory in the Smithsonian Institution, but later in that year he ac- 

 cepted the position of assistant on the Geological Survey of Mississippi, 

 then under the direction of Lewis Harper. In 1857 the Mississippi Sur- 

 vey was suspended by the legislature, and Hilgard returned to Washington 

 as chemist in the laboratory of the Smitlisonian Institution and lecturer 

 on chemistry in the N'ational Medical College. 



On the revival of the Mississippi Survey in 1858 he was appointed 

 State Geologist, and the next two years were devoted by liim to detailed 

 investigations of the geology, botany, agriculture, and other economic 

 features of the State and the preparation of his report on these investi- 

 gations. This report was in great part written while he was making the 

 chemical analyses of soils and marls and other useful materials. The 

 work extended often far into the night, when, in the intervals between 

 his chemical manipulations, he wrote up liis manuscript, for he had to 

 finish tliis report before going back to Spain, in August, 18 GO, to claim 

 his bride. As he states it : 



*'But .several forms [of the report] were not jet in print when in August 

 imperative matters called me to Europe, and Prof. W. D. Moore undertook to 

 see the remainder of the work through the press." 



Eeturning to the University of Mississippi with his wife, he found the 

 State in the throes of war; the exercises of the university were suspended, 

 and as State Geologist he was placed by the Governor in charge of the 

 library and other possessions of the university. Later he was appointed 

 an agent of the Confederate Nitre Bureau, and during the siege of Vicks- 

 burg was ordered to erect calcium lights on the bluffs for the illumination 

 of Federal gunboats in their attempt to pass the city. The fleet, however, 

 got by before he could complete his arrangements for the lights. It was 

 at Vicksburg that he contracted bodily ills which seriously affected his 

 health for the rest of his life. 



In 1866, twelve months after the close of the Civil War, the Geological 

 Survey of Mississippi was revived, ipso facto on the basis of the act of 



