GEORGE JARVIS BRUSH. 



1831-1912. 

 By Edward S. Dana. 



[ Reprinted with unessential changes from the American Journal of Science, May, 1912. 



Prof. Brush, whose long life of active service for science and Yale University closed on 

 February 6, 1912, will always be remembered as a pioneer in the building up of scientific educa- 

 tion in this country. His energy, his indomitable will, his courage in contending with obstacles, 

 and his rare administrative ability were devoted for nearly 40 years with intense singlehearted- 

 ness to the School of Science from which he obtained his degree in 1852. As the reward of his 

 devotion and that of his colleagues, he had the satisfaction of seeing the school expand steadily 

 from the smallest of beginnings until it was established as a vigorous and growing department 

 of Yale University. He began his work when the value of science, and that of the scientific 

 methods of the laboratory, were but meagerly appreciated in the country; when he resigned 

 from active service in 189S, science had won a large place in every institution and schools of 

 science were to be found at many centers of learning. 



Prof. Brush was also an able and trained worker in a special field of science, contributing 

 largely to mineralogy through his own original work and acting as an inspiration to his students, 

 who earned on the research in his favorite subject when his energies were diverted into admin- 

 istrative lines. 



George Jarvis Brush was born on December 15, 1831. He was the seventh in line of descent 

 from Thomas Brush, who settled in Southold, Long Island, in 1653, and who is believed to have 

 been the first of the name in America. The father of Mr. Brush was Jarvis Brush, and his 

 mother, Sarah Keeler. The family home was in Brooklyn, N. Y., where the father was in 

 active and successful business as a commission and importing merchant. In 1835, when still 

 a young man, he retired from business, satisfied with the competency he had gained, and 

 moved with his family to Danbury, Conn., where he resided for some six years until 1841, 

 when he returned to Brooklyn. The early education of George was received in private schools 

 in these two places. When fifteen years old he was sent to a school at West Cornwall, Conn., 

 kept by Mr. Theodore S. Gold, and it was here that his interest in science was first aroused. 

 Mr. Gold was an admirable teacher for such a student, for he was enthusiastically devoted to 

 mineralogy and other branches of natural history, and had a rare power in arousing the interest 

 of his pupils in these subjects. Although young Brush was with Mr. Gold only six months, 

 the effect upon his subsequent career was profound. The evidence of this was not shown, 

 however, at once, for the traditions of the family led him to look forward to a business life. 

 After leaving the West Cornwall school he took a position with a mercantile house in Maiden 

 Lane, New York City, and remained there about two years; occasional mineral excursions were 

 his only indulgence in science. But fate had a wider career in store for him. In consequence 

 of a serious illness in 1848 he was compelled to give up the confining life of business, and it was 

 decided that he should devote himself to farming. This decision led him to come to New 

 Haven in October, 1848, to attend the lectures of Profs. John P. Norton and Benjam in Silli- 

 man, jr., in agricultural and practical chemistry, recently established in connection with Yale 

 College. The college catalogue for 1848 includes his name as a member of the second class 

 in the "School of Applied Chemistry." His work in New Haven was, however, interrupted 

 when in October, 1850, he went to Louisville, Ky., as assistant to Prof. Benjamin Silliman, jr., 

 instructor of chemistry and toxicology in the medical department of Louisville University, 

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