E. W. Hilgard—Silt Analyses of Soils and Subsoils, 9 
With the exception of the rude stone hammers and the sink- 
ers, the number of perfect stone implements seems to me un- 
usually small throughout this entire series of mounds. The 
question arises: Had this people the habit of sometimes break- 
ing the stone implements cast into the burial mounds. Or 
were broken ones selected for this purpose as being of little 
other use 
Art. IL— Silt Analyses of Mississippi Soils and Subsoils ; by 
UGENE W. HILGarp, State Geologist of Mississippi. 
THE results here communicated are the first-fruits of an in- 
vestigation on the physical constituents of soils and clays, 
undertaken with the aid of the “churn elutriator” for silt 
analysis, described in another paper. While far from being as 
complete or satisfactory as I could desire, there is much that is 
suggestive of the direction to be pursued in the farther prosecu- 
tion of the research, and of the importance of the results to be 
attained. The necessary interruption of the work on my part, 
for some time to come, may serve as an additional apology for 
an otherwise somewhat premature publication. 
he materials of which the silt analyses are here given were 
chosen as typical representatives of the more important varie- 
hes of soils in the State of Mississippi. For reasons repeatedly 
explained, I have, in most cases, preferred to deal with the sub- 
soil instead of the soil itself, whose organic ingredients materi- 
S a standard for comparison and reference, I place first in 
the table a ver pure, highly plastic pipe-clay ; probably as free 
from foreign admixtures as ‘a sedimentary clay can well be, the 
Sediments being exclusively white quartz grains, sharp and 
angular, J mbles kaolin, and is probably directly derived — 
from the Carboniferous fire-clays.* , 
* Miss. Rep., 1860, p, 34 and ff. 
