Charles Thomas Jackson. — Woodworth. 75 
stances of each succeeding series of sediments and products 
of change. 
Like Noali Webster, he made use of his wanderings in the 
rural districts to disseminate liis views, and while one thus 
attempted a reform in the spelling of New England the other 
solight to improve the relations of men to the earth. 
This report like the others from his pen was addressed to 
the people in language which they understood. His was not 
the task of the geologist detailed to report upon an uninhab- 
ited terrane, who writes for readers who know the area sur- 
veyed only throiigli the medium of the printed page and tlie 
topographical map. His report could convey no description of 
the landscape to those mostly interested in it, for the^^ knew it 
'oetter even tliaii he did. It was in the economical and agricul- 
tural side of his investigations that appreciation was to be be- 
stowed on his woi'k. The vast resources of the West were not 
3'et made known. The soils and bog ores of New P^ngland still 
presented possibilities for agriculture and for industries which 
led the small landowner to entertain hopes which the succeed- 
ing years of national exploration and discovery have ever since 
proved false. 
His Rhode Island report is embellished with some of the lore 
of the country folk. Just as Herodotus upon his entrance into 
Scythia was shown, among the curiosities of that country, the 
footprint of Hercules near the Tyras, so Jackson on going into 
Rhode Island had pointed f)Ut to him as the natural wonder of 
the liind the Devil's foot-prints on the sandstone-gneiss ledges 
near Wickford, pits of differential weathering which remain 
to this day the common knowledge of the Rhode Island-born. 
Not to have incorporated this legend would have rendered the 
report of the state'geologist incomplete. 
In his geological work, Jackson saw everywhere the effects 
of igneous causes. He attributes the tilting of strata at Mi- 
antonomah hill near Newport to subterranean fire. He notes 
the crystals of magnetite in the paste of the conglomerates at 
Purgatory and regards their occurrence "as an absolute proof 
of the agency of fire, which has fused the cement and crj'stal- 
lized the oxide of iron." (3nce only do we find him tripping 
in his field observations in this survey. The wave-washed 
chasm in the conglomerate ledge at Purgatory, he makes the 
