n8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



gentleman, whose vast acquirements and simple habits were pleas- 

 antly characterized by Mrs. Emma Willard's designation of him 

 as " the Republican Philosopher/' Three of his sons adopted 

 scientific pursuits or cultivated scientific tastes. One, Hezekiah 

 Hubert Eaton, was Assistant Professor of Chemistry in Transyl- 

 vania University, but died when only twenty-three years old. 

 Major-General Amos B. Eaton was an officer of the United States 

 Army and interested in science. A daughter, Sara C. Eaton, was 

 a teacher of natural sciences and the modern languages in a 

 young woman's seminary at Monticello, 111. A grandson, Prof. 

 Daniel Cady Eaton, has been Professor of Botany in Yale College 

 since 1864. 



The list of Prof. Eaton's books includes an Elementary Treatise 

 on Botany, 1810 ; Manual of Botany, 1817 ; Botanical Dictionary, 

 1817 ; Botanical Exercises, 1820 ; Botanical Grammar and Diction- 

 ary, 1828 ; Chemical Note-Book, 1821 ; Chemical Instructor, 1822 ; 

 Zoological Syllabus and Note-Book, 1822 ; Cuvier's Grand Divis- 

 ion, 1822 ; Art without Science, 1800 ; Philosophical Instructor, 

 1824 ; Directions for Surveying and Engineering, 1838 ; Index to 

 the Geology of the Northern States, 1818 ; Geological and Agri- 

 cultural Survey of the County of Albany, N. Y., 1820 ; Geological 

 Nomenclature of North America, 1822 ; Geological and Agricult- 

 ural Survey of the District adjoining the Erie Canal, 1824 ; Geo- 

 logical Text -Books, prepared for Popular Lectures on North 

 American Geology, 1830 ; and Geological Text-Book, for the Troy 

 class, 1841. 



Speaking of the practical teaching of geology, in his address in the British 

 Association, Prof. A. H. Green took np the case of places where it is hard to find 

 within manageable distance of the school the kind of field geology which is within 

 the grasp of a beginner. Even here the teaching need not be wholly from books. 

 Object-lessons may be given indoors. "For instance, give a lad a lump of coarsest 

 sandstone; let him pound it and separate by elutriation the sand-grains from 

 the clay ; boil both in acid, and dissolve off the rusty coating that colors them ; 

 ascertain by the microscope that the sand-grains are chips and not rounded pel- 

 lets, and so on. All such points he will delight to worry out for himself; and, 

 when he has done that, an explanation of the way in which the rock was formed 

 will really come home to him. Or it is easy to rig up contrivances innumerable 

 for illustrating the work of denudation. A heap of mixed sand and powdered 

 * clay does for the rock denuded ; a watering-can supplies rain ; a trough, deeper 

 at one end than the other, stands for the basin that receives sediment. By such 

 rough apparatus, many of the results of denudation and deposition may be closely 

 imitated, and the process is near enough to the making of mud pies to command 

 the admiration of every boy. . . . The great facts of physical geology, which 

 have so important a bearing on geology and history too, often admit of experi- 

 mental illustration, such, for instance, as the well-known methods of imitating the 

 rock-folding caused by earth-movements. " 



