2 ' JOHN CASPER BRANNER— PENROSE IUMWM [vo"sxi: 



Cornell. Doctor Hartt had made several trips to Brazil in previous years and had published a 

 valuable account of its geology. He finally decided to make another trip into that country 

 and invited Doctor Branner to accompany him. Doctor Branner had not yet completed his 

 university course, but was much pleased at this opportunity to visit what was then a somewhat 

 remote region, and he sailed with Doctor Hartt from New York for Rio de Janeiro in September, 

 1874. In later years, on his return to the United States, he received the degree of B. S. from 

 Cornell University. 



The expedition to Brazil was of much interest and importance as the beginning of the first 

 serious attempt to start systematic geologic work in that country; and it was greatly to the 

 gratification of the two explorers that in the following year the Brazilian Government, under 

 the Emperor Dom Pedro H, established a department to continue this work under the name of 

 Commissao Geologico do Imperio do Brazil. This was due largely to the efforts of Doctor 

 Hartt and Doctor Branner, assisted by Brazilian scientists and others interested in this work. 

 The new department was under the Ministry of Agriculture, and Doctor Hartt was appointed 

 director, with Doctor Branner as assistant. Orville A. Derby, Richard Rathbun, and E. F. 

 Pacheco Jordao were also on the same survey. Work was begun in the spring of 1875. 



Doctor Branner's first exploration in Brazil was largely in the coastal region of the State 

 of Pernambuco and in the States of Sergipe and Alag6as, as well as on the island of Fernando 

 de Noronha, off the coast of Brazil. Large collections of geologic materials were rapidly 

 assembled at the headquarters of the Commissao Geologico do Imperio do Brazil in Rio de 

 Janeiro, including many cretaceous fossils from Sergipe and Alagoas,, and Doctor Branner 

 did much work in systematizing and arranging them. Somewhat later Dr. Charles A. White 

 also described some of the fossils. 



In 1876 Doctor Branner returned to the United States, but went to Brazil again within 

 a few months. The work of the Commissao Geologico was carried on until the next year, 

 when it was discontinued by the Brazilian Government. Doctor Hartt died shortly afterwards. 

 In later years other Government organizations were instituted for geologic research' and Doctor 

 Branner in some of his subsequent trips to Brazil worked in conjunction with them. 



After the discontinuance of the first survey, however, Doctor Branner accepted a position 

 as assistant to James E. Mills, a well-known American mining engineer engaged in operating 

 gold mines in the State of Minas Gereas. In this work Doctor Branner rapidly became familiar 

 with the older paleozoic rocks of the region and the occurrence of gold and other ores in them; 

 but though the scientific results of the work were of much interest, the financial results were 

 not equally satisfactory, and in 1880 he returned to New York. 



A few months later, however, he again went to Brazil at the request of Thomas A. Edison, 

 the inventor, to search for a vegetable fiber which would add strength to incandescent lights. 

 Doctor Branner collected and tested many kinds of bamboo and other fibrous plants through- 

 out Brazil and the neighboring countries of Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay, but only a few 

 of them seemed to possess the necessary straight-grained length and hardness desired. More- 

 over, when occasionally he found a fiber which might partly answer the purpose it was either 

 too difficult to obtain or too rare in its occurrence to use practically. Doctor Branner was a very 

 persistent man and was not easily baffled; but though he traveled many thousands of miles in 

 this search, he eventually concluded that the bamboos of Japan and China, already known 

 to be suitable for the use in question, were usually cheaper and could be more readily obtained 

 than those of South America. He returned to New York again in December, 1881. 



In the following year he was commissioned by the United States Department of Agriculture 

 to go to Brazil to study the culture of cotton there, and especially the nature of the insects 

 injurious to the cotton plant, with a view to securing information which might be useful in 

 combatting the destructive insect common in the cotton regions of the United States. Though 

 this investigation was the main feature of the trip, yet he also collected much data on insects 

 injurious to sugar cane, oranges, and other fruits and plants. 



This work covered a large area of the country, and Doctor Branner and his assistant, 

 Albert Koeble, were given every assistance by the Brazilian officials to facilitate their research. 



