. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. AMERICAN GEOLOGY EATON!AN ERA, 1820-1829. 2fi7 and its included rocks and minerals. He noted that the "whole sec- tion of country from the great slate formation to the Blue Ridge" is granitic, containing numerous subordinate formations, such as mica- slate and greenstone, with beds of iron ore, etc., and described with some detail the Natural Wall of Rowan, which was supposed by early observers (see p. 255) to be the work of human
. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. AMERICAN GEOLOGY EATON!AN ERA, 1820-1829. 2fi7 and its included rocks and minerals. He noted that the "whole sec- tion of country from the great slate formation to the Blue Ridge" is granitic, containing numerous subordinate formations, such as mica- slate and greenstone, with beds of iron ore, etc., and described with some detail the Natural Wall of Rowan, which was supposed by early observers (see p. 255) to be the work of human hands, but which he rightly ascribed to the natural jointing and decomposition of a basic igneous rock. The "peculiar assemblage of rocks that cross the Dan River at Buckingham'1 he classed as transition. In his kt conclusion " he remarked that " the rocks are not, as in most other countries, particularly New England, exposed on the surface, but are very generally concealed b}r a thick covering of clay and ; This he rightly regarded as having resulted from the decomposition of the rocks themselves, and not due to a deluge of waters, "as might at first be thought/1 Olmsted was not primarily an investigator. He himself, as we are informed by his biographer, always regarded it as his more appro- priate sphere of effort not so much to culti- vate science as to teach and sketch of oimsted. diffuse it. Graduated at Yale in 1813, and for a time employed as tutor there, he in 1817 was appointed to the chair of chemistry in the University of North Carolina. While here he conceived the idea of a State geological and mineralogical survey and laid the plan before the board of internal improvements in 1821, with the oner to himself perform the entire work gratuitously, asking only an appropriation of $100 (to be afterwards renewed or not at the pleasure of the board), to defray his necessary expenses in traveling. This proposition was, however, declined,"
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