SKETCH OF PROF. LARDNER VANUXEM. 835 



In 1830, having returned to Philadelphia, he purchased a farm 

 near Bristol, Pa., and soon after married a daughter of his neigh- 

 bor, John Newbold, Esq., of Bloomsdale. His farm remained the 

 home of himself and family for the remainder of his life, about 

 seventeen years. " While he often assisted with his own hands," 

 says Dr. Lea, " in the cultivation of the farm, he never at any 

 moment ceased to cultivate his already extensive acquirements in 

 geology, mineralogy, and chemistry, nor to add to a collection of 

 specimens of great extent and rareness." 



In 1836, at the solicitation of Governor Marcy, he entered upon 

 what has been pronounced " one of the most magnificent investi- 

 gations ever made in the geological developments of any country 

 or by any government" the geological survey of the State of 

 New York. The results are given in Geology of New York, Third 

 District, Albany, 1842. The Third District, of which Prof. Van- 

 uxem had charge, comprised fourteen counties in the central part 

 of the State. The scope of the work performed by Prof. Vanuxem 

 and his colleagues is thus indicated by Prof. James Hall : * " Dur- 

 ing the few years of field work the New York geologists had har- 

 monized the conflicting views before entertained regarding the 

 relations of the geology of the eastern and western parts of the 

 State ; they had traced the boundaries of the successive geological 

 formations, had shown the extent and limits of the iron-bearing 

 strata, and had rectified the erroneous views which had been held 

 till some time after the commencement of the survey regarding 

 the boundaries and distribution of the salt-bearing formation of 

 the State. They had also shown the limits of the granitic forma- 

 tions and their associated mineral products, the thickness and 

 extent of all the limestone, sandstone, and shale formations of the 

 State, and had definitely settled the relations of the rocks of New 

 York to the coal measures of Pennsylvania and the geological 

 formations of the Western States." 



The important service rendered to geological science in the 

 matter of nomenclature by the members of this survey is also 

 described by Prof. Hall, as follows : " Since there was no possi- 

 bility of identifying the individual rocks and groups of strata 

 with those of Europe, as described, the New York geologists were 

 compelled to give names to the different members of the series ; 

 and since the sandstones, limestones, slates, and shales are so simi- 

 lar in different and successive groups, it was impossible to give 

 descriptive names which would discriminate the one from the 

 other. Therefore local names were proposed and adopted as, for 

 example, Potsdam sandstone, Trenton limestone, Niagara lime- 

 stone, and Niagara shale (the two latter, with subordinate beds, 



* In The Public Service of the State of New York. 



