PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 55 



The publication in London in 1813 of Bakewell's " Introduc- 

 tion to Geology" seems to have given a great stimulus to geo- 

 logical researches in this country, as may be judged from the 

 publication of an American edition a year or two later. 



Mitchill, Bruce, and Maclure soon had a goodly band of asso- 

 ciates. Naturalists were not confined to limited specialties in 

 those days, and we find all the chemists, botanists, and zoolo- 

 gists absorbed in the consideration of geological problems. 

 Maclure and most of the Americans were disciples of Werner. 



Silliman, writing in 1818, said: 



"A grand outline has recently been drawn by Air. Maclure 

 with a masterly hand and with a vast extent of personal oliser- 

 vation and labour; but, to fill up the detail, both observation and 

 labour still more extensive are demanded ; nor can the object be 

 efiected till more good geologists are formed and distributed over 

 our extensive territory." 



On the 6th of September, 1819, the American Geological 

 Society was organized in the philosophical room of Yale Col- 

 lege, an event of great importance in the history of science, 

 hastening, as it seems to have done, the establishment of State 

 surveys and stimulating observation throughout the country. 

 This Society, which continued in existence until about 1826, 

 may fairly be considered the nucleus of the Association of Ameri- 

 can Geologists and Naturalists, and, consequently, of the Ameri- 

 can Association for the Advancement of Science. Members 

 appended to their names the symbols, M. A. G. S., and it was 

 for a time the most active of American scientific societies. 



The characteristics of the leading spirits were summed up by 

 Eaton at the time of its beginning : 



" The President, William Maclure, has already struck out the 

 grand outline of North American geographical geology. The 

 first Vice-President, Col. G. Gibbs, has collected more facts and 

 amassed more geological and mineralogical specimens than any 

 other individual of the age. The second Vice-President. Pro- 

 fessor Silliman, gives the true scientific dress to all the naked 



