Mesozoic and Coinozoic Geolo(/y and Palaeontology. 141 



Belknap wrote, upon the White Mouiitaius, in 1784; Hutchins, on 

 the Rock and Cascade of the Yonghiogheny, in 1786; William Dunbar, 

 on large mammalian bones found in Louisiana, a set of human teeth 

 found while digging a well at the depth of 30 to 35 feet; and on the 

 Mississi[)pi river and its delta, in 1804, which w^as continued in 1809. 

 B. H. Latrobe described the freestone quarries on the Potomac and 

 Rappahannock, in 1809; and William McClure, in the same 3'ear, pub- 

 lished his Observations on the Geology of the United States, explana- 

 tory^ of a geological map. He divided the formations into four classes, 

 viz: 1st, Primitive rocks; 2d, Transition rocks; 3d, Floetz or Secondar^^ 

 rocks; and 4th, Alluvial rocks. These classes he separated on their 

 mineralogical characters, and he treated of their dip and extent, as 

 far as his observations permitted. And Thomas Jefferson, who had 

 been President of the United States, described the fossil bones of the 

 Megalonyx, in 1818, 



The American Academy of Arts and Sciences was established in 

 Boston, and commenced the publication of its Memoirs in 1780. The 

 Academy' of Natural Sciences, of Philadelphia, originated in 1812, but 

 commenced its publications in 1817. It soon collected an extensive 

 library of works upon Natural History, largely owing to the fine dona- 

 tion b}^ the generous and disiinguished geologist, William McClure. 

 and at once entered the field as an active society, alive to the im- 

 portance of the publication of facts, as distinguished from theoretical 

 considerations. Its publications, from the commencement, have oc- 

 cupied the first rank in science, and ai'e now, absolutely, indispensa- 

 ble to every American naturalist, and should occupy a shelf in every 

 public library. 



An idea of the absence of geological information, in this countrj^, in 

 1803, may be formed when it is remembered that geology was not 

 separated as a science from mineralogy, and that so little was known 

 of mineralogy that it could hardly have ranked as a science ; for later in 

 life, Prof. Silliman, speaking of this period, says, "it was a matter of 

 extreme diflSculty to obtain, among ourselves even, the names of the 

 most common stones and minerals; and one might inquire earnestlj^ 

 and long, before he could find any one to identify even quartz, feld- 

 spar, or hornblende, among the simple minerals; or granite, porphyry, 

 or trap, among the rocks. We speak from experience, and well re- 

 member with what impatient, but almost despairing curiosit}^ we eyed 

 the bleak, naked ridges, which impended over the valleys and plains 

 that were the scenes of our youthful excursions. In vain did we doubt 

 that the glittering spangles of mica, and the still more alluring bril- 



