GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



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session of 1832 and '33, to the Legislature of Pennsyl- 

 vania, for the purpose of obtaining their aid towards the 

 prosecution of a geological, topographical and mineralo- 

 gical survey of this state, is still under the consideration 

 of that body ; nor do we permit ourselves to doubt the 

 final success of a petition so reasonable. 



One of our colleagues who has recently experimented 

 on the gold ores of Virginia, cautions others engaged in 

 similar experiments against using the mercury of com- 

 merce, or such as is sold in our apothecary shops, as it 

 is not sufficiently pure to amalgamate with the gold, un- 

 less it be previously well washed with nitric acid. 



Dr. Douglass Houghton who accompanied Mr. School- 

 craft and Lieut. Allen in their late expedition to the 

 sources of the Mississippi, under the authority of the 

 U. States' government, is now preparing a work on the 

 geology of the country embraced by the objects of the 

 expedition. From this work of Dr. H. we anticipate 

 a satisfactory elucidation of the geology and mineralogy 

 of the north western section of the United States, a re- 

 gion hitherto almost entirely unknown. 



During the late session of the New Jersey state Le- 

 gislature, a bill was reported for the geological survey 

 of that state. 



The geological and mineralogical surveys of Professor 

 Olmstead and of Professor Vanuxem, the former of 



