The Geological Survey is being prosecuted as well as could be expected
with the limited means at the hands of the searchers in the bowels of the
earth. They have already found, I am informed, that the earth on which we
live, and move, and have a being, is composed largely of dirt. The
discovery of this fact is alone worth the price of admission. This great
discovery, which will be of such value to the future historian, has only
cost the state the insignificant sum of $8,280. Rather than remain in
ignorance of this astonishing fact, I would willingly pay the money
myself--out of the public treasury. It is rumored that parties employed by
the State to dive down into the ground and bring up sand in their claws,
have discovered symptoms that the world was at one time sick to its
stomach, and threw up divers and sundry kinds of rocks and things, and
there is a probability that lead ore may be discovered. This will be
valuable to make bullets in case of a war with Oshkosh. In peace it is
always best to prepare for war, and I trust you will lend your countenance
to the able men who are investigating the Lower Silurian age.