MARYLAND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 31

of meridian lines, and it is hoped that every county will join in carry-
ing out the project which is of such practical importance to the land-
owners throughout the state.

COLLECTION AND DETAILED INVESTIGATION OF THE MINERALS, ROCKS

AND FOSSILS.

Both for the preliminary and for the more complete investigation
of the mineral resources of the state, a careful study of the different
minerals, rocks and fossils is essential. In order that this may be
done, a large collection for comparative purposes must be started. It
is the plan of the survey to bring together at its headquarters as
complete a representation of. the minerals, rocks and fossils as is pos-
sible; and each will be subjected to a critical examination in the light
of modern research, and its bearing upon the interpretation of the
geology of the state fully ascertained. The determination and cor-
relation of the several formations are so largely dependent upon the
mineralogical character of the rocks and their contained fossils that it
becomes a matter of the greatest moment for future economic pur-
poses to fully understand them, although they may not always be of
direct practical importance when viewed by themselves. The speci-
mens collected will be carefully labelled and classified as the result of
the examinations to which they will be subjected, thus affording the
student in geology, the architect, the engineer, or the investor a com-
plete knowledge of the rock formations within the state. It is desir-
able that the state should make provision for the proper exhibition in
some public place of this material after it has been fully studied by
the State Survey. At the same time much duplicate material will
be brought together which can serve a useful purpose in the various
educational institutions of the state, and can also be sent to those
persons without the state who are desirous of more intimate knowledge
of its geology and mineral resources than can be gathered from pub-
lished reports.

THE PREPARATION OP GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC MAPS.

The platting of the geological data upon maps cannot be satisfac-
torily undertaken until after detailed investigation has been accorded