J 
 
 90 
 
 L8A3 
 
 I858a 
 
 UC-NRLF 
 
 M7 235 
 
 5 
 
 5T 
 
 55 
 
 vn 
 
 QO 
 
 IO 
 
 o 
 
 xD 
 CO 
 
 O 
 
BERKELEY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 CALIFORNIA 
 
- 
 
 
 Jk^)Jwv . ^^ $*~Y 
 
 & OF TUB *ZZ- \ 
 
 COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, 
 
 RECOMMENDING A GEOLOGICAL TTIYIiY OF TTIIi miT 
 
 JUN 2? 1955 
 
 UBftARY 
 
 SR^nr^jggj 
 
 WITH A BILL FOR 
 
 
 
 
 BATON ROUGE: 
 
 J. M. TAYLOR, STATE PRINTER 
 
 1S58. 
 
 
BttmiiB $190*1 
 
 L 
 
 OF THI 
 
 COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, 
 
 RECOMMENDING A GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE STATE, 
 
 WITH A BILL FOR THAT PURPOSE. 
 
 BATON ROUGE: 
 J. M. TAYLOR, STATE PRINTER. 
 
 1S58. 
 

R0CUMENTS 
 
 DEPT. 
 
 htunijr 
 
 OF THB 
 
 COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, 
 
 RECOMMENDING A GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE STATE, WITH A 
 BILL FOR THAT PURPOSE. 
 
 To the Honorable W. W. Pugh, 
 
 Speaker of the House of Representatives : 
 
 THE undersigned, members of the Agricultural Committee of the 
 House, to which was referred the Resolution offered February 15th, 
 by the Hon. J. T. Hawkins, to procure -a Geological Survey of 
 the State of Louisiana, beg leave to offer a Minority Report : 
 
 That, considering the future and the permanent prosperity of the 
 State of Louisiana, it is eminently desirable to have a systematic 
 and thorough exploration and survey of the State territory, in refer- 
 ence to its mineral and agricultural resources, its botanical and 
 zoological productions, and its sanitary conditions and capabilities. 
 
 Louisiana stands almost alone among her sister States in respect 
 to these important matters. Other States, old and new, have 
 prosecuted such surveys with considerable energy, and are now 
 profiting by the knowledge of local resources thus developed.* 
 
 Such surveys are preeminently American enterprises ; for they 
 were first devised and executed in our own country nearly thirty 
 
 * Report of New Orleans Academy of Sciences, February 4th, 1856, published by 
 order of the Legislature. 
 
 357 
 
years ago. Commencing with a survey of the counties of Albany 
 and Rensselaer, New York, and of the region of the great Erie 
 Canal all undertaken at the personal cost of Stephen Van Renssa- 
 laer and thence extending to North Carolina (which first set the 
 example of a State survey), they have, in turn, spread to nearly 
 every State, to many of our Territories, to the British-American 
 provinces, and to various countries of Europe ; in which quarter of 
 the globe the earliest survey was undertaken thirteen years subse- 
 quently to those of the counties named in New York, and to North 
 Carolina.* Arkansas has just secured the services of David Dale 
 Owen, who, on the part of the United States Government, sur- 
 veyed Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and part of Nebraska. An 
 Act, authorizing such a survey, has just been passed by the present 
 Legislature of Texas. The Eastern, the Northern, the Middle, and the 
 Western States, it is understood, have completed or have authorized 
 surveys not excepting the youngest in the Confederacy. Of the 
 Southern States, Louisiana is believed to be the only one which has 
 neglected such a work, with the possible exception of Florida, of 
 which nothing has been learned by your Committee. 
 
 The Legislature of Louisiana, in 1841, caused some cursory inves- 
 tigations of a geological nature to be made by Messrs. Carpenter, 
 Trastour, and Forshey. Those gentlemen/ made reports which were 
 never printed, and which are not known to > lOfy extent at the present 
 time ; having probably been lost while in the keeping of Mr. D. E. 
 St. Romes, then the State Printer. f 
 
 For many years past, the devotees of science, and other men of in- 
 telligence, have advocated a geological and scientific survey as a 
 measure preeminently calculated, not only to assist in creating among 
 our citizens a taste for the useful, and the elevating pursuits of true 
 knowledge, but also of enriching the State by developing unknown 
 resources which will, an hundred fold, repay the most liberal expendi- 
 
 * The order of the earlier surveys, as given by President Ed. Hitchcock at the in- 
 auguration of the New York State Geological Hall, August, 1856, was as follows: 
 " Albany and Renssalaer counties, 1820 ; North Carolina, latter part of 1820 : Region 
 of Erie Canal, 1823; South Carolina, 1828; Massachusetts Trigonometrical and Geol., 
 1830 : Tennessee, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Canada, Nova Scotia, New 
 Brunswick, and European surveys, all were subsequent. New York began in 18?6, 
 and is yet in progress. 5 ' 
 
 \ Rep. of N. 0. Acad. Sci., 1856. 
 
ture. On the llth February, 1856, this House, on motion of Hon. 
 Wm. A. Gordon, adopted the following resolution ; 
 
 "Resolved, That the Committee on Internal Improvements be re- 
 quired to take into consideration the propriety of causing a general 
 geological survey of the State of Louisiana to be made, and that they 
 call upon the New Orleans Academy of Science for a report upon 
 that subject." See Journal of House of Reps. , 1856, p. 29. 
 
 On the 27th of February, Hon. P. C. Wright, Chairman of that 
 Committee, " presented a memorial, in the shape of a Report of the 
 Special Committee of the New Orleans Academy of Sciences, on the 
 importance of a geological survey of the State of Louisiana, which 
 was referred to the Committee on Internal Improvements." (Ibid, 
 p. 53). The report was accepted, and printed by order of the Legis- 
 lature ; and it is to be found in the volume of official documents for 
 the year 1856 ; but it is not known that anything further has been 
 done to the present time. The New Orleans Academy of Sciences 
 unanimously declared in favor of a " systematic and thorough explo- 
 ration and survey of the State territory, in reference to its mineral 
 and agricultural resources, its botanical and geological productions, 
 and its sanitary conditions and capacities ;" and they ventured "to 
 predict that the benefits resulting from it would far outweigh its pe- 
 cuniary cost." The State Engineer, in a Special Report, dated Janu- 
 ary 31st, 1857, and again, in his Annual Report for the present year, 
 has ably and eloquently recommended such a survey. In the latter 
 communication, he says, "I have before called the attention of the 
 Legislature to a survey of the State. Accurate surveys should be 
 the basis of all our works, and a survey of the State should have 
 been the first of our labors for the establishment of a system of inter- 
 nal improvements. I do not choose to give my views again on the 
 subject of a survey of the State. I will content myself with respect- 
 fully referring to my Special Report of January 31st, 1857, i On a 
 system of internal improvement.' I wish, however, to add something 
 to the views expressed in the said report, upon one subject ; namely, 
 geology. The idea has been current that, because we have no large 
 mountains, caves, mines, etc., etc., that we know all about Louisiana, 
 and that we therefore need no geological examination or survey. 
 The idea is erroneous, and we do not know our country. There .are 
 millions of facts of which we are in entire ignorance. Were these 
 
facts known, our State might prove to contain such riches aa we 
 never dreamed of. Again, those facts would, beyond a doubt, give 
 us such information as would furnish us with the only correct data 
 required for the direction of many of our works. I could amplify 
 upon the subject, and cite several known facts as indications of what 
 might be discovered by the geologist ; but my report is now lengthy, 
 and I will drop the matter with the recommendation that your Honor- 
 able bodies provide for a geological survey of the State. I do not say, 
 make now a heavy appropriation for this survey, but I do say, or- 
 ganize the Geological Department ; authorize the G-overnor to appoint 
 a competent geologist as the head of the department, and make an 
 appropriation of such a sum as will suffice to perform the work for 
 one year. This will be the beginning, and the Legislature, at every 
 session hereafter, will provide the further means necessary for the 
 annual expenditures. By reference to the documents of former Le- 
 gislatures, it will be seen that I cannot claim to have originated th 
 plan of a geological survey of our State. I do not entertain such a 
 -jOi claim ; and I trust that those who have spoken and petitioned before 
 ^^me, will believe that they will join with me in new efforts to cause 
 " - ' (the system to be established." 
 
 (Signed,) Louis HEBERT, 
 
 SMe Engineer. 
 
 ATON ROUGE, January 1, 1858. 
 
 The proposed measure is demanded by the intelligence of the age. 
 The community is prepared for it, and expect it at our hands ; and 
 it is believed that they will sustain the Legislature, even to the ex- 
 tent of levying a special tax, should that be found necessary, for the 
 support of an enterprise so certain as a geological survey to enhance 
 the wealth of the State and the intelligence and happiness of her 
 children. 
 
 Encouraged by the examples of other States, and by the express 
 invitation of the previous Legislature, the New Orleans Academy of 
 Sciences, during the session of 1857, addressed a letter to the Chair- 
 man of the Committee on Internal Improvements, requesting that 
 the subject of a survey should be revived, and some decisive measures 
 adopted for carrying it into effect ; but they were informed that just 
 previously to their communication the House had adopted a resolu- 
 tion against the reception of any new bills after a certain date, which 
 
resolution defeated the wishes of the Academy for that session. 
 Within the past few days the Academy (which, it is understood by 
 your committee, was created for the sole purpose of increasing and 
 diffusing knowledge and of elevating the scientific character of the 
 State) have placed at the disposal of your committee copies of a new 
 Report of a special committee of their body, which was unanimously 
 adopted February 1st, 1858, with the view of bringing the matter 
 before the Legislature of the State at the commencement of the 
 present session. This Report they have printed at their private cost, 
 and forwarded by a special delegate from their own body, who is 
 authorized to declare that the Academy neither seeks nor will accept 
 any management or control of the survey, in its corporate capacity. 
 In their present Report they repeat the language adopted in their 
 former one : " That a geological and scientific survey of the State of 
 Louisiana is, under all the circumstances, much to be desired ; that 
 it should be judiciously and not too hastily prosecuted ; and that an 
 annual outlay of ten or fifteen thousand dollars, exclusive of the cost 
 of printing an annual report of the progress of the work, would 
 probably be found sufficient." They estimate " that in about ten 
 years from its commencement, the final report might be ready for 
 publication. Should such a survey be judiciously organized and 
 steadily prosecuted," they "predict that the benefits resulting from 
 it will greatly outweigh its pecuniary cost." For many of the facts 
 and conclusions herewith presented, we take this occasion to acknow- 
 ledge our indebtedness to the Academy's new Report. 
 
 The President of the British Association for the Advancement of 
 Science, in his inaugural address, delivered at Cheltenham, August 
 6th, 1856, said : " It begins to be generally felt that amongst the 
 faculties of the mind, upon the development of which in youth suc- 
 cess in after life mainly depends, there are some which are best im- 
 proved through the cultivation of the physical sciences, and that the 
 rudiments of those sciences are most easily acquired at an early 
 period of life. That power of minute observation those habits of 
 method and arrangement that aptitude for patient and laborious 
 inquiry that tact and sagacity in deducing inferences from evidence 
 short of demonstration, which the natural sciences more particularly 
 promote, are the fruits of early education, and acquired with difficulty 
 at a later period. I look forward to the day when the requirements 
 
in the department of physical science will become so general and so 
 pressing that no institution will venture to risk its reputation by 
 declining to admit those branches of study into its educational 
 courses." Quoted in the Canadian Journal of Industry, Science 
 and Art, January, 1857. 
 
 GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 
 
 i 'From the most authentic information at present obtainable, it is 
 inferred that this- State offers no great diversity of geological forma- 
 tions. Most of the State is of recent alluvion. The north and 
 north-western portions exhibit tertiary, and possibly older formations 
 the tertiary characterized by points of great interest. Our allu- 
 vion which is mostly the creation of the great Mississippi, produced, 
 in part, under our own eyes offers a grand exemplification of geolo- 
 gical dynamics, deserving of profound study." 
 
 MINERALS. 
 
 " As to our useful minerals, there is reason to believe that iron ore 
 of great value is to be found ; and that the north-western parishes 
 abound in gypsum, which is valued as a cement in the arts and in 
 building, and as a fertilizer in agriculture ; also in common salt, 
 which is generally associated with gypsum." 
 
 It is within the personal knowledge of a member of this Com- 
 mittee, that salt is now manufactured, to a limited extent, in the 
 Parish of Claiborne, from saline springs of great purity and rich- 
 ness ; while, from the communications which have recently appeared 
 in the New Orleans newspapers, arguments are derived which encou- 
 rage a reasonable expectation of unusual facilities, on our sea-coast, 
 for the manufacture of salt by the solar evaporation of sea -water, as 
 practised with great success in France and Italy. 
 
 SOILS. 
 
 For several years past, a survey has been in progress in the State 
 of Mississippi. The latest Report of that survey by the State Geo- 
 logist, Mr. L. Harper, was published in March, 1857, and has been 
 submitted to your Committee. 
 
 Nothing can exceed the interest, to us, of a knowledge of the 
 geology of that State ; for her geographical and topographical pecu- 
 liarities are strikingly similar to those which distinguish Louisiana ; 
 
and the discoveries made there are almost certain to be repeated 
 here. Both the States are almost exclusively agricultural, and are 
 distinguished for lands of such fertility as can scarcely be paralleled 
 in either hemisphere. But our agriculture is of the most wasteful 
 character. We perpetually repeat the same crop, until the soil is 
 exhausted of some indispensable ingredient ; and then we abandon it 
 for newer fields. " Our own State, in reference to its fertility, is 
 confessedly the Egypt of the New World ; but, rich and deep as is 
 most of our soil, it nevertheless becomes gradually exhausted of 
 potassa and the phosphates, by repeated cereal crops ; and it hence 
 behooves us to cast about, in good time, for the most economical 
 means of preventing such a result. The thorough investigation of 
 the nature and composition of all our prominent and prevalent varie- 
 ties of soil, implied in the prosecution of a scientific survey, could 
 not fail to be of the greatest value. We should thus be put in pos- 
 session of all the important facts and data necessary to the advance- 
 ment of our agriculture. Our planters could economically prevent 
 the deterioration of the cultivated soil, whatever crops should be 
 raised ; and since chemical analyses have shown that each species of 
 plants appropriates, while growing, certain special kinds of mineral 
 matters, the analysis of the soil would indicate the adaptability of 
 certain soils to any particular crop. It is not improbable that the 
 shores of many of our unfrequented bays and inlets from the Gulf 
 will be found to yield a guano-like substance, rich in phosphate of 
 lime. This can only be determined by exploration and chemical 
 analysis. Should such conjecture be found correct, its value for fer- 
 tilizing the fields devoted to the raising of human food, would trans- 
 cend all moderate calculation." 
 
 There is one aspect in which chemical analysis of soils would 
 possess here a value unknown elsewhere : namely, here the extent 
 of soils which are identical would make a few analyses suffice for 
 vast regions ; whereas, in more northern States, a separate analysis 
 would be required for nearly every field. 
 
 MARL. 
 
 "We possess numberless beds of shell-marl, more or less useful in 
 agriculture ; but whether we have marl-beds rich in phosphates or 
 potassa (two of the most important ingredients of good soil for pro- 
 ducing cereals and fruits), we are unable to say. The investigation 
 
10 
 
 of this matter alone is of vast importance to our future well-being 
 as a prosperous State." In our peculiar climate, it is practicably 
 impossible to produce or import artificial manures, by reason of their 
 costliness. The discovery, therefore, of natural fertilizers under 
 our very feet, which are competent to restore both our poor and our 
 exhausted lands, is of more importance to us than the gold mines of 
 California. In Mississippi, such discoveries have been made, sur- 
 passing, in quality and extent, any others in the world. Commencing 
 in the south-east part of Missisippi, near the State line of Alabama, 
 a broad belt of shell-marl extends, in a north-west course, quite 
 across the State, to the mouth of the Yazoo River. It underlies 
 more than two thousand square miles, and varies in thickness from 
 a few inches to one hundred feet. It is found not only in the 
 extreme northern counties, but also, where it is most needed, among 
 the nearly worthless lands in the vicinity of the gulf coast [Harper's 
 Greol. Rep., p. 16, 17]. A better fertilizer does not exist. It will 
 continue, through ten years, to produce effects which, in the case of 
 guano, are merely limited to one year. 
 
 GREEN SAND. 
 
 Green sand, containing silica, alumina, protoxyde of iron, lime, 
 magnesia, and potassa, is found in many diversified localities in Miss- 
 issippi, and is perfectly adapted to heavy clay lands, whether post- 
 oak or prairie soil. It is certain to be discovered in Louisiana. 
 
 COAL. 
 
 A species of mineral coal, called lignite, or brown coal, exists in 
 great abundance in the counties of Lauderdale, Claiborne, Warren, 
 Franklin, Hinds, Rankin, and Yazoo [Harper, p. 168]. A peculi- 
 arity which is characteristic of the southern lignite, consists in its 
 saturation with a resinous substance resembling amber, which renders 
 it invaluable for all purposes as fuel. From its first discovery in 
 Scotland, it received the name of torbain-hill mineral and big-head 
 coal. It was employed, on one occasion, for furnishing gas to light 
 the Queen's palace at Windsor, and with gratifying results ; but it 
 is now considered, in England, too valuable in the arts to be con- 
 sumed as fuel. Its most extraordinary deposit has recently been 
 found in Arkansas, on the Ouachita River, immediately adjacent to 
 
11 
 
 the northern line of Louisiana. The following comparative analysis 
 of five different specimens of coal, will exhibit the value of the 
 southern lignite. In one hundred parts of 
 
 Volatile j 
 Comb' able Fixed 
 Matters. Carbon. 
 
 Name of Chemist. 
 
 ] Pittsburg coal | 32.95 
 
 j Breckeuridae 60.41 
 
 i Kanawha..." 41.85 
 
 ! Picton, Nova Scotia. 26.76 
 
 I Southern lignite ! 59.00 
 
 64.72! 
 
 2S.89J 
 55.55 
 60.73 
 32.70 
 
 2.31!Prof. B. Silliman, Jr. 
 
 10.70 
 
 Prof. J. B. Chilton. 
 
 2.60 
 12.51! 
 8.30 Prof. J. L. Eiddell. 
 
 [See H. 0. Morris' "Papers relating to Ouachita Coal-field," 1857, 
 p. 7.] 
 
 The Arkansas bed of lignite is reported to be fifty miles in length, 
 fifteen miles in breadth, of an average thickness of five feet, and 
 accessible to boats at all seasons. It burns with a clear flame and 
 very little smoke, until the volitile portion is consumed, and the whole 
 mass then remains incandescent until it is resolved into a small por- 
 tion of reddish ashes, which seem destitute of grittiness. It is stated 
 to be superior to Pittsburg coal for producing gas, and the other 
 precious products obtainable from it (such as kerosene, parafine, nap- 
 tha, benzole, and other hydro-carbons), will open new resources for 
 manufactures. Its power of generating steam has been tried on a 
 large scale, and is declared to be " equal to Pittsburg coal, pound for 
 pound." Mr. Harper says, "This lignite is useful, not only for the 
 purposes named, but, when pulverized, by exposure to the air and 
 sun, or by mechanical means, it makes an excellent manur'e, specially 
 adapted to the soil of those counties in Mississippi where it is most 
 valuable and most abundant. From eight to ten wagon-loads applied 
 to the acre have proved effective for a term of six or eight years." 
 [Harper, p. 304, 305.] It is not doubted that portions of this Ouachita 
 bed of lignite will be discovered in Louisiana. In one of the northern 
 parishes of our State, similar lignite has been taken from the bed of 
 a stream, and used by a blacksmith with satisfactory results. This 
 fact has been communicated to the Committee by one of its own 
 members. The development of such an inexhaustible supply of fuel 
 would, in itself, repay the pecuniary cost of surveying many States 
 such as Louisiana. It is truly to be regarded as a reproach that, 
 
12 
 
 thus far, we have been indebted to mere accident for discoveries 
 which should have been the rewards of enlightened forecast and 
 careful investigation. 
 
 CLAY AND KAOLIN. 
 
 The Mississippi survey has discovered the existence of a fine green 
 clay, in three different localities in Wayne County, which is perfectly 
 plastic, dries with scarce any cracking, becomes hard and susceptible 
 of a fine polish, and is entirely refractory in every fire to which 
 it has been possible to subject it. Its color is probably due to a 
 minute portion of silicate of iron. It is adapted to the making of 
 fire-bricks, fine pottery, and the modeling of statuary. A clay still 
 finer, perfectly infusible, and adapted to the manufacture of very 
 good porcelain, is found in the same county. In Wilkinson County, 
 adjoining our parish of West Feliciana, exists excellent plastic clay 
 for pottery and for fire-bricks. In Tippah and Adams Counties, the 
 manufacture of the finer kinds of pottery has already been com- 
 menced. [Harper, p. 169.] The State Geologist seriously recom- 
 mends the manufacture of fire-bricks in Wayne County, for exporta- 
 tion to Mobile and New Orleans, even by railroad, as a remunerating 
 enterprise, [p. 307.] 
 
 An immense deposit of the purest kaolin true porcelain clay- 
 has been discovered, by the Mississippi survey, in Tishamingo County, 
 which, in its extent, has not been equalled in America. Kaolin is a 
 chemical compound of silica 47.20 parts, alumina 89.10 parts, and 
 water 13.70 parts in 100 parts : a real hydrated silicate of alumina. 
 It underlies a surface, within Mississippi, of nearly 60 square miles, 
 and extends across the State into Alabama. Pure kaolin is of com- 
 paratively rare occurrence, and is chiefly confined to parts of China 
 and of Europe, where its value surpasses that of mines of the precious 
 metals, and its ownership is monopolized by princes. The Mississippi 
 bed is competent to supply the whole world with kaolin for many 
 thousands of years. [Harper, p. 64.] The probability of similar 
 treasures in Louisiana, now waiting to reward the enterprise of a 
 survey, does not admit of a doubt. " Within a few weeks, a body of 
 clay has been found in the parish of Catahoula, which, for all uses in 
 the mechanic arts, is pronounced equal to the best Stourbridge clay, 
 BO precious for making crucibles and the melting-pots of the glass 
 
13 
 
 manufacturer ; and a company of practical workmen is already on the 
 spot, preparing for the manufacture of fire-bricks, for exportation 
 and for domestic consumption. It is the declared expectation of the 
 company to employ, as their permanent source of fuel, the Ouachita 
 lignite already described as lying in their vicinity. No argument can 
 be necessary to enlighten the sugar-planters of Louisiana as to their 
 interest in this matter. 
 
 BUILDING STONE. 
 
 "It is not certain that we possess valuable building materials, in 
 the form of quarries of stone, within our State limits ; yet some 
 beautiful specimens of variegated marble have been presented to the 
 New Orleans Academy of Sciences, by Newton Richards, Esq., 
 which were found in the parish of St. Landry, and which encourage 
 the hope that it may exist in quantities and of qualities worthy of 
 attention. A geological survey would decide the question." It 
 would likewise inform us as to the existence of any materials from 
 which we may obtain supplies of lime and hydraulic cement ; and 
 thus become independent of the foreign sources from which those 
 indispensable articles are now obtained. Our sand is, perhaps, the 
 purest in the world ; and is adapted not only to building purposes, 
 but is the very material required for the manufacture of all kinds 
 of glass. 
 
 HYDROGRAPHY. 
 
 " A complete geological survey would incidentally bring to light 
 much valuable information respecting the topography and hydrogra- 
 phy of our enormous but now worthless sea-marsh, and the possi- 
 bility of its reclamation for agricultural purposes." Such acquisi- 
 tions of knowledge, added to the more reliable information which 
 must result as to the best method of controlling crevasses, would 
 point out to Legislators the manner of fulfilling both the letter and 
 the spirit of the Constitution as to the employment of the Swamp 
 Land Fund. " It would, of course, devolve upon the Legislature to 
 decide whether or not the geological and mineralogical exploration 
 contemplated should include, or be prosecuted in connection with, a 
 a topographical and hydrographical survey." 
 
14 
 
 NATURAL WATERS. 
 
 u A thorough investigation should be included in the plan, into 
 the qualities of all our indigenous waters including rivers, bayous, 
 creeks, lakes, lagoons, wells, and springs, whether yielding ordi- 
 nary potable fresh water, or water charged with mineral ingre- 
 dients. To sustain the mosfc desirable tone of good health, human 
 beings require water, not absolutely pure, but containing from one 
 to three parts in ten thousand of the mineral salts of lime, soda, 
 iron, etc. In other parts of the world, great value, as curative 
 means, is deservedly attached to mineral waters. There is reason to 
 suppose that our State is unusually rich in these hygienic resources." 
 Indeed, members of your Committee have mentioned chalybeate, 
 sulphurous, and other springs, in many parishes of the State, which 
 only need to be properly known, to command a popularity as great 
 as that enjoyed by the celebrated watering-places of the North 
 and of Europe. 
 
 ARTESIAN WELLS. 
 
 " By a careful study of the various geological beds of superposed 
 sands, clays, marls, and rocky strata, which occur in the north and 
 north-western portions of this State, and especially by clearly iden- 
 tifying them with their equivalents in Alabama and Mississippi, our 
 theory of artesian wells will become of practical value. In the 
 States named, adjacent to us, geological surveys have been for some 
 time in progress under legislative authority. Before sinking such a 
 well, the depths at which water will be obtained can then be very 
 closely calculated. Now, however, aside from the developments of 
 the well of six hundred and thirty feet in Canal street, New Orleans, 
 all beneath us is literally terra incognita." 
 
 COLLECTON OF SPECIMENS. 
 
 " In order to make the results of the proposed scientific survey widely 
 available and permanently useful, the plan should contemplate the 
 collection of several complete sets of specimens of all our rocks, 
 minerals, sands, clays, marls, varieties of soils, and samples of waters. 
 These should be accompanied with labels, specifying the localities 
 whence obtained, the results of exact chemical analysis, and the 
 various economical uses to which they are applicable, In like manner, 
 
15 
 
 there should be collected, and duly preserved and labelled, sets of dried 
 or prepared specimens of all our indigenous flora and fauna, including 
 trees, herbs, grasses, weeds, wild flowers, ferns, algae, fungi, lichens, 
 mosses, shells, insects, reptiles, fishes, birds, quadrupeds, etc. One 
 of these museums should be kept in the State House, at the seat of 
 government, one at the University of Louisiana, one in the West- 
 ern State Seminary, one in the New Orleans Academy of Sciences, 
 and one in any such institution as the State may hereafter create in 
 the nature of a normal school, for the education of teachers of her 
 public schools." 
 
 ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 " Various species of insects often become the dreaded pests of the 
 planter, who is liable to suffer from ' blight,' from 'rust, 'from the 
 4 army worm,' and from the thousand organized enemies of his crops ; 
 and the study of natural history must furnish him with means whereby 
 their ravages may be arrested or lessened. There is a kind of dy- 
 namic or vital equilibrium, or reciprocal balance, among the members 
 of organized nature, by which the excessive prevalence of one race or 
 species is found to depend upon the paucity or the redundance of 
 some other, remotely removed, perhaps, in the scale of being. The 
 agriculturalist, by availing himself of a knowledge of these depend- 
 encies, may sometimes almost annihilate a particular race of dstruc- 
 tive insects, by encouraging the multiplication of particular species of 
 birds which prey upon them." Children, too, are universally inte- 
 rested with such objects, and pictures of beasts, birds, fishes, insects, 
 and flowers, are ever the most attractive to them. But the course of 
 school training would seem to have been devised with a purpose to 
 make them despise such natural tastes as puerile. It has been well 
 said by the late State Geologist of Vermont, " that a better day is 
 dawning upon our country, and the time is not far distant when 
 instruction in natural history shall occupy its true place, and receive 
 its due share of attention, in all our schools and seminaries of learn- 
 ing. * * Let the pupils in our schools be 
 encouraged in collecting, and aided in examining such objects which 
 abound in every neighborhood, and they will, at length, acquire such 
 habits of careful observation and discrimination as will be of incalcu- 
 lable service to them in after life. * * They will become so 
 
16 
 
 imbued with the spirit of the naturalist, that they will go forth from 
 the school-room to their rural occupations prepared to appreciate the 
 manifold workings of that beneficent Providence which so liberally 
 rewards them for all their toil. * * * To watch the genial 
 
 influence of sun and rains ; the process of vegetation through all its 
 stages of growth and decay ; the transformations and habits of insects 
 and other living creatures, and their relations to the business and the 
 interests of the farmer : such pursuits promote health of body by 
 inducing habits of cheerfulness and mental serenity. They sharpen 
 and invigorate the intellectual powers. They enlarge our views of 
 the divine wisdom and goodness, and awaken continual gratitude to 
 God for the rich provision He has made for our support and happi- 
 ness here, and for training and fitting us for that new earth which we 
 hope to inhabit hereafter." [ZadocJc Thompson s Address before the 
 Hoston Society of Natural History, June, 1850.] Such pursuits teach 
 us to find "books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good 
 in everything." 
 
 GR ASSE s. 
 
 " A thorough scientific and practical investigation of our native 
 grasses would be apt to bring to light some species which, by culti- 
 vation, might supply the great desideratum of grasses as well adapted 
 for making hay as the phleum pratense and other hardy exotics now 
 are in the colder latitudes of New York and New England." 
 
 FOREIGN PLANTS. 
 
 The whole vegetable kingdom (which is now known to embrace 
 more than one hundred thousand distinct species) is comprised in 
 comparatively few great natural groups or families. Those of the 
 same group or family possess many traits in common flourishing, 
 although even on opposite sides of the earth, in localities not unfre- 
 quently similar, as respects the climate and the constituents of the 
 soil in which they grow. The investigation of our flora would give 
 valuable indications as to what foreign plants, useful to man, con- 
 generic with indigenous ones, might be introduced here with a pros- 
 pect of success. 
 
 Louisiana, in all the elements of true greatness, is surpassed by 
 few States in the Union. Her sources of wealth are enormous, yet 
 they are only partially developed. Her liberality is scarcely to be 
 
17 
 
 matched anywhere : witness her encouragement of domestic enter- 
 prises, manufactures, and railroads ; her asylums for the insane, the 
 deaf, the dumb, and the blind ; her Charity Hospital, and her con- 
 tributions to the support of the orphan and the destitute ; her public 
 school encouragement, and her million and a quarter of dollars lav- 
 ished upon endeavors (we will not say -how fruitless) to establish 
 universities, colleges, and medical schools. But in the development 
 of her resources that liberality needs wise direction such direction 
 as would be imparted by a survey like that which has for many years 
 past been in progress in New York. It is believed that she is able 
 and ready to emulate the examples of other States to equal the 
 best and surpass many of them. A survey, worthy of the name, will 
 cost, it is true, a considerable sum of money ; but it will develope 
 mineral, agricultural, and other resources, which will many-fold repay 
 all the cost ; and it will secure great accessions to that " knowledge 
 which is power." Unlike ordinary State enterprises, (such as the 
 erection of public works, etc.,) which are useless until they are com- 
 pleted, every discovery made by a geological survey is an achieve- 
 ment complete in itself valuable for its intrinsic worth, independent 
 of any other discovery that may be lying beyond it ; so that if the 
 crippled finances, or the caprice of legislation, or any other cause, shall 
 suspend its prosecution, all the good that has been gained remains as 
 a real, permanent good. A survey of the State of Louisiana, accord- 
 ing to all experience elsewhere, will prove a sure, a paying invest- 
 ment ; and it will open to the brightening intellects of her youth a 
 field vast as the variety of the Creator's works, pursuits dignified as 
 human interests and fascinating as romance. 
 
 The New York survey the most brilliant hitherto attempted on 
 this continent was originally authorized by the unanimous vote of 
 her Legislature. It has produced an increase of her real wealth, 
 and a contribution to the world's stock of knowledge, never before 
 equalled by any nation within a similar period. It has elevated the 
 American name wherever science is respected. It has given to 
 geology a new nomenclature, the propriety of which has commanded 
 the assent and the adoption both of American and foreign States. 
 It was the testimony of Prof. Agassiz, at the inauguration, of the 
 State Geological Hall, at Albany, in August, 1856, and confirmed 
 by Sir William Logan, of the Canadian survey, that "no geologist. 
 
18 
 
 of any country, can henceforth venture to bring before the world his 
 theories until he shall first have consulted the beautiful volumes 
 which comprise its results ; and when men of science from Europe 
 reach our shores, their first inquiry is, * which is the way to Albany, 
 where we may see that State collection of which we have read so 
 much ? ' ' But the New York survey has produced results much 
 more precious. It has elevated the mental and the moral character 
 of her children. It has awakened an extraordinary desire for edu 
 cation, and an enthusiastic love for their native State, which it is 
 impossible to estimate by any standard not commensurate of the 
 highest interests of the human race. 
 
 We cannot doubt that the same precious results will follow a simi- 
 lar work in Louisiana. It is impossible to set bounds to her destiny, 
 if she but wisely administer her resources for the improvement of 
 the beautiful heritage which is entrusted to us for future generations. 
 It is as true this day as when uttered by Solomon " There is that 
 scattereth, and yet increaseth ; and there is that withholdeth more 
 than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty." Let the Legislature of the 
 State of Louisiana authorize a geological survey on a scale that shall 
 be liberal, efficient, and thorough, and the people will justify the 
 necessary expenditure ; " Her children [shall] arise up and call her 
 blessed;" even the time-serving politician shall find its advocacy to 
 be the surest road to popular favor ; and from other countries shall 
 come such men as Cuvier and Ehrenberg and Agassiz, to cast in their 
 lot with a people youthful, sagacious, and generous, and to identify 
 their fortunes and their fame with, the development of a State whose 
 progress is the progress of humanity, and whose enterprises are des- 
 tined to add lustre to the American name, and to elevate the species. 
 
 For the purpose of carrying into effect the objects contemplated in 
 the resolution of Hon. J. T. Hawkins, and in this Minority Keport, 
 we offer the accompanying Bill, and recommend its passage ; and we 
 respectfully request that this Minority Report, and the Bill accom- 
 panying it, be printed for distribution throughout the State. 
 
 Respectfully submitted, 
 
 E. W. FULLER, 
 JESSE WRIGHT. 
 
YC 36056