ILLUSTRATIONS. PLATE Old English map of Mississippi. I. Seals of the British province of West Florida. IV. The cotton plant. 2d view. V. Caterpillar, chrysalis, and moth on cotton. VII. Primitive roller gin. Fig. 1. Roller gin with treadle and balance wheel. Fig. 2. Whitney's gin of 1807. Fig. 3. Section of same with pointed wire teeth. Fig. 5. VIII. Cotton plantation in the West Indies, in 1764. XIV. Fossil shells from the Eocene marl-beds at Jackson. XV. Fossil shells from the Eocene marl-beds at Jackson. XVI. Fossil shells from the Eocene marl-beds at Jackson. XVII. Fossil shells from the Eocene marl-beds at Jackson. INTRODUCTION. THE Agricultural and Geological Survey of the State originated in an act of the Legislature, approved the 5th of March, 1850, to take effect on the first of June following, entitled "an Act further to endow the University of Mississippi;" and its execution was committed to that Institution. Dr. John Millington was appointed, by the Trustees, principal Professor of Geology and Agriculture, in connection with the professorship of Chemistry then held by him in the University. No assistant was obtained until the latter part of 1851, and the gentleman then appointed relinquished the situation shortly after; having merely commenced a reconnoissance of the State, of which no report was made. The situation was tendered to the present incumbent on the 14th of January, 1852. Since that time he has been occupied in the performance of the duties committed to him, which were somewhat augmented by an amendatory act of the Legislature, passed after his appointment, by which a room in the State House was set apart and placed under his charge, for the better preservation of the collections in Natural History, which, as the State Geologist, he was required to make. |