284 The American Geologist. May. 1901. 
A HISTORICAL OUTLINE OF THE GEOLOGICAL 
AND AGRICULTURAL SURVEY OF THE 
STATE OF MISSISSIPPI.* 
By E. W. HlLGARD.t Late State Geologist, Berkeley, Cal. 
The geological and agricultural survey of the state of Mis- 
sissippi had its origin in an act of the legislature entitled "An 
Act to further endow the University of Mississippi," approved 
March 5, 1850, which took effect on the first of June following. 
This act is worded as follows : 
Sec. I. Be it enacted, &f., that the further sum of three thousand 
dollars be and the same is hereby semi-annually appropriated, subject to 
the draft of the President of the Board of Trustees of the University of 
Mississippi, to be applied by them to the purchasing of books and ap- 
paratus, and the payment of the salaries of professors and assistant pro- 
fessors of agricultural and geological sciences in said University ; pro- 
vided that one-half only of the amount of said appropriation shall be 
from the revenue in tlie treasury, and the other half shall be made out 
of the sale of lands belonging to the seminary fund hereafter to be sold 
as provided by law. 
Sec. 2. That the authority required by the State Treasurer for the 
payment of the trustees, shall be the warrant of the President of the 
Board of Trustees, drawn in favor of any person whatever. 
Sec 3. That at least one-half of the amount herein appropriated 
shall be expended in making a general geological and agricultural sur- 
vey of the State, under the direction of the principal professor to be 
appointed under the first section of the Act. 
• Reprinted from the publications of the Mississippi Historical Society. 
t Professor Eugene Woldemar Hilgard was born in Zweibriicken, Rhenish 
Bavaria, Jan. 5, 1833. He emigrated to America in 1836. After completing 
his collegiate education at Belleville, 111., he took the degree of Ph. D., at 
Heidelberg in 1853. He also studied at Zurich, and at Freiberg, Saxony. 
The degree of LL. D. has been bestowed upon him by Columbia University, 
the University of Michigaii, and the University of Mississippi. He was state 
geologist of Mississippi from 1855 to 1873, during which time he filled the 
chairs of Geology and of Chemistry successively. In 1873 he accepted the 
professorship of Geology and Natural History in the University of Michigan. 
After two years' service at this place he went to the University of California 
as I'rofessor of Agricultural Chemistry and Director of California Agricul- 
tural Experiment Station and Dean of the Faculty of Instruction in Califor- 
nia. He is at nresent actively engaged in the discharge of his duty at the 
University of California, Berkeley. California. In 1860 his Report on (tcol- 
ogy ond Af/iiculttirr in Missinnippi was published by authority of the Stat6 
Legislature. This valuable work is still regarded as a standard authority on 
the geological formations peculiar to Mississippi and the Southwest. In i880 
he directed and edited the work on the report entitled "Cotton I'roduction in 
the U. S." (loth Census), to which he himself contributed detailed descrip- 
tions of the agricultural features of Mississippi. Louisiana and California. 
In 1894 he received the Liebig medal for distinguished achievements in agri- 
cultural science from the Academy of Sciences. Munich. Bavaria. 
In 1860 Dr. Hilgard married Miss J. Alexandrina Bello. daughter of Col. 
Bello, of Madrid. Spain. 
In spite of a comparatively feeble body. Mi', llilgai-d's vigorous intellect 
and untiring energy have produced and published a large number of remark- 
ably valuable papers upon topics of scientific interest an d relating to a large 
variety of subjects <-onnected with his wide field of activity. — Editor. 
