PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 51 



ican geology," sometimes applied to him, would seem to belong 

 more appropriately to Maclure, or, perhaps, to Mitchill. He 

 was, however, only some eight years later than Maclure in 

 beginning geological field-work. Eaton's " Index to the Geology 

 of the Northern States of America," printed in 1817, was the first 

 strictly American treatise, and seems to have had a very stimu 

 lating effect. He was pre-eminently an agitator and an educator. 

 He travelled many thousands of miles on foot throughout New 

 England and New York, delivering, in the meantime, at the 

 principal towns, short courses of lectures on natural history. 

 In March, 1817, having received an invitation to aid in the intro 

 duction of the Natural Sciences in Williams College, his Alma 

 Mater, he delivered a course of lectures in Williamstown. 

 '* Such," he remarks, " was the zeal at this institution that an 

 uncontrollable enthusiasm for natural history took possession of 

 every mind ; and other departments of learning were, for a time, 

 crowded out of the college. The authorities allowed twelve 

 students each day (seventy-two per week) to devote their whole 

 time to the collection of minerals and plants, in lieu of all other 

 exercises."* 



In April, 1818, he went to Albany on the special invitation 

 of Gov. DeWitt Clinton and delivered a course of lectures on 

 Natural History. " In Albany I found," wrote he, " Dr. T. 

 Romeyn Beck, and in Troy, Doctors Burrett, Robbins, and 

 Dale, zealous beyond description in the cause of Natural Science. 

 By the exertions of these gentlemen a taste for the study of 

 Nature was strongly excited in those two cities, especially for 

 that of geology. They, together with several others, had become 

 members of the New York Lyceum of Natural History, and, in 

 the fall of 1818, established a society of the same name and 

 upon a similar plan in Troy. Collections were made with 

 such zeal that, in the course of a few months, Troy could boast 



* Geological Text-Book, 2d ed., 1832, p. 16. 



