North and South Carolina, appointed him to that duty. At the same time he gave a great deal of attention to agricultural chemistry, for which he had acquired a great fondness in Liebig's laboratory, and to this were added researches in geology and mineralogy. Among the attractive features of the agricultural chemistry of his native State that early drew the attention of Dr. Smith, were the unrivaled marls on which the city of Charleston stands. These beds of fertilizers are from 110 to 310 feet deep, and are in what geologists call the Tertiary formation. They extend back more than 100 miles from Charleston. Dr. Smith was one of the first to ascertain the scientific character of this immense agricultural wealth. His paper on this subject, with the correspondence of Prof. Bailey, the great microscopist of the Military Academy of West Point, is one of much interest. He also pointed out the large amount of phosphate of lime in these marls, from which there are now obtained immense quantities of phosphatic nodules.
During these scientific labors, Prof. Smith made a valuable and thorough investigation into the meteorological conditions, character of soils, and culture, affecting the growth of cotton. The report on this subject was so valuable, that in 1846 President Buchanan appointed Prof. Smith, in response to a request of the Sultan of Turkey, to teach the Turkish agriculturists the proper method for successful management of cotton-culture in Asia Minor. On arriving in Turkey Prof. Smith was chagrined to find that an associate in the commission had induced the Turkish Government to undertake the culture of cotton near Constantinople. Prof. Smith was unwilling to associate his name with an enterprise which he felt satisfied would be a failure, and the event fully justified his judgment. Prof. Smith was on the eve of returning to America, when the Turkish Government tendered him an independent appointment, that of mining engineer, with most liberal provisions. This position he filled during four years, and he performed his duties with such signal success, that the Turkish Government heaped upon him the decorations of the empire, and very costly presents. The results of Prof. Smith's labors are a permanent advantage to the empire, and it has received ever since 1846, and continues to receive, large revenues from his discoveries of emery, chrome, ores, and coals, within the domain of Turkey. His papers on these subjects, read before learned societies, and published in the principal scientific journals of Europe and America, gave him a high position among scientific men. His labors in Asia Minor on the subject of emery, which he was the first to discover there, led to its discovery in America; and in Massachusetts and North Carolina a large industrial product of emery is now carried on. In the scientific journals of this country, the papers on emery and corundum recognize the successful researches of Prof. Smith as having done almost every thing for these commercial enterprises. These discoveries of emery in Asia Minor destroyed the rapacious monopoly of the article at Naxos, in the
