APPENDIX

A.

THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE STATE UNIVERSITY TO THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE.

Jackson, Miss., January 12, 1854.

His Excellency John J. Mcrae,

Governor of Mississippi. Sir—In pursuance of an order of the Board of Trustees of the University of Mississippi, I herewith lay before you the Keport of Prof. B. L. C. Wailes, on the Agriculture, Geology, and Natural History of Mississippi; and in doing so, I embrace the occasion to express' the entire satisfaction of the Board with the able manner in which the professor has discharged the duty which had been assigned him.

With due respect, your obedient servant,

J. THOMPSON

Prest. Board of Trustees.

B.

MESSAGE OF GOVERNOR McRAE TO THE LEGISLATURE.

Executive Office, January IT, 1854.

To The Senate And House Of Representatives.

I invite the attention of the two houses to the Report of Prof. B. L. C. Wailes, Geological Department of Mississippi University, on the Agriculture, Geology, and Natural History of Mississippi, which, in pursuance of an order of the Board of Trustees of the University has been presented as required by law to the Governor, and which I have the honor to submit for the consideration of the Legislature.

The Board of Trustees express their entire satisfaction with the able manner in which Prof. Wailes has discharged his duties, and as an individual member of the Board, I concur in their unanimous opinion in favor of the publication of the report.

It is the first of a series, which will form the Geological History of our State, and is preceded by an interesting historical outline of the discovery and early settlement of the Mississippi Territory, with other valuable statistical information, which will be useful and interesting to the people of the State.

I recommended the printing of the report by the authority of the Legislature in neat and durable style, and in such numbers as will be sufficient for distribution in our own State, and for partial distribution in other States.

Should the printing of the report be ordered as recommended, it is proper to say that I am informed by Prof. Wailes, that the preliminary historical outline is not entirely finished, the period during which the country was subject to the Spanish rule having yet to be supplied to bring it down to the time of the surrender of the country to the United States.

The department of Zoology is also incomplete, and there are blanks in the tables of statistics, to be filled up when the census returns are published, and several plates representing the fossils and geological sections, required properly to illustrate the report, are yet to be added.

These can all be perfected, and the report be revised by the State Geologist, before it is printed.

I accompany the report with the letter of the President of the Board of Trustees, of the University, submitting it to the Governor.

JOHN J. McRAE.

C.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE SENATE.

January 20, 1854.

In The Senate.

Mr. Cobb, from a Select Committee, made the following report:—

Mr. President—The Select Committee, to whom was referred the special message of his Excellency, communicated to the Senate on the 17th inst., together with a manuscript copy of a scientific wrork, by Prof. Wailes, of the Geological Department of the State University, and recommending the publication of the same by the authority of the Legislature, have had the same under consideration, and do earnestly advise that provision be made for carrying into effect his Excellency's recommendations.

The advantages to be derived from the circulation of a work so eminently meritorious as this, under the patronage of the Legislature, cannot be questioned or easily calculated; for it will, in all likelihood, prove to be the initiative step to great attainments in developing the scientific talent and resources of our State.

Science, in many of its branches, as we are taught by history, can never be successfully prosecuted or made to subserve extended useful purposes without adequate patronage; and in the absence of any incorporated scientific societies, or institutions possessed of the requisite means and influence to extend material aid in this respect, your Committee are of opinion that such patronage should, as a matter of justice as well as policy, be cheerfully and seasonably extended by the Legislature.

The end for which this department of the State University was established, can never be attained, if assistance of this character shall be refused or grudgingly extended; and that benefit which is to be derived from the experience and labors of learned professors, will be entirely cut off.

The branch of science embraced and illustrated in this work, has been too long neglected to admit of further delay in rendering the aid necessary to its proper development, if the Legislature design to promote beneficial and practical results.

With this view, and in conformity with the recommendations of his Excellency, your Committee beg leave to report the following bill, and. recommend that it be passed.

D.

AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE PRINTING OF THE FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE AGRICULTURAL AND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE STATE.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Mississippi, That two thousand copies of the report of Professor B. L. C. Wailes, State Geologist, be printed, under his supervision, in quarto form, and in such manner, and with such illustrations and plates, therein given, as his Excellency, the Governor, shall deem appropriate and necessary for its illustration.

Section 2. Be it further enacted, That, when printed and bound, the said report shall be deposited in the office of the Secretary of State, to be by him distributed as follows: Fifty copies to be deposited in the State Library; twenty-five copies to be deposited in the State University; one copy to each State in the Union; one copy to be given to each incorporated college and academy in the State; one copy each to the Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor of Public Accounts, State Treasurer, Adjutant-General, the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellors, the Judges of the High Court of Errors and Appeals, the Attorney-General, the Judge and District Attorney of each District, each member of the present Senate and House of Eepresentatives; and one hundred copies to the said State Geologist, to be by him exchanged for similar reports from other States, and to furnish to scientific societies and public libraries.

Section 3. Be it further enacted, That one thousand copies of said report shall be deposited in the office of the Secretary of State, to be sold by any agent or agents to be appointed by the Governor, under such regulations, and for such a sum each, as he may deem proper and advisable, for the purpose of reimbursing the State for publishing the same, and the balance to be distributed among the several counties of the State, in proportion to their representation in the Legislature, to be furnished to the people thereof, in such manner as the Boards of Police of the several counties, shall direct.

Section 4. Be it further enacted, That, previous to the printing of said report, it shall be revised and completed by the said State Geologist; and the portion of it which treats of Zoology, as far as prepared, shall be omitted, and in lieu thereof, a catalogue of the Fauna of the State, as far as ascertained, be substituted.

Section 5. And be it further enacted, That for the