342 ANNUAL EEPOET SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1912. 



Nowhere were conditions for the evolution of geologic science 

 better than in our own land. Being far removed from the con- 

 troversies which occupied the sole attention of many European 

 geologists, we could accept or reject without prejudice this or that 

 theory. Our people had entered upon the exploitation of a new land, 

 with boundless possibilities of natural wealth, and pioneer conditions 

 brought most of them mto ultimate contact with natural phenomenon. 

 Books of travel written in the early part of the century bear witness 

 that a close observation of geologic facts was forced upon every 

 traveler. 



A general interest in science and its application was prevalent in 

 America, even in colonial times. This was reflected in the scientific 

 and practical character of educational ideals. In its first advertise- 

 ment, issued in 1754, Columbia College (then called King's) provided 

 for the instruction of youths — 



in tlie arts of numbering and measuring; of sui-vejang and navigation; of geography 

 and history; of husbandry, commerce, and government, and in the knowledge of all 

 nature in the heavens above us and in the air, water, and earth around us, and in the 

 various kinds of meteors, stones, mines, and minerals, plants and animals, and every- 

 thing useful for the comfort, the convenience and elegance of life; and in the chief 

 manufactures of these things. 



This was half a century before the idea of scientific and technical 

 instruction had taken root in European countries. In the period 

 extending from 1768 to 1811 chairs of chemistry were established in 

 11 colleges of the United States. In 1824 the Rensselaer Polytechnic 

 Institute was founded — the first school of applied science in any 

 English-speaking country. The avowed aim of this school was to 

 apply "sciences to the common purposes of life." Van Rensselaer, 

 who founded it, was a patron of geologic science, and Eaton, the 

 geologist, its first president. 



Geology had, however, received recognition in several American 

 colleges long before the founding of the Rensselaer Institute. Accord- 

 ing to Prof. Hopkins there were 31 American colleges which offered 

 courses in geolog}^ previous to 1845. Of these, one began teaching 

 geology in 1804, one in 1807, one in 1819, and one in each of the years 

 from 1820 to 1845. The large number of scientific societies founded 

 at this time shows the widespread interest of the people in science. 

 Nearly every town had its lyceum of natural histor}^, while the larger 

 cities boasted of academies of science and sunilar associations, of 

 which several have survived to the present day. In 1819 the Ameri- 

 can Geological Society was organized — only 12 years after the found- 

 ing of the Geological Society of London and nearly 30 years before 

 that of the Deutsch Geologische Gesellschaft. 



Numerous journals devoted to science and art were established 

 during the period under discussion. While some of these were only 

 short lived they attest the interest in science of the American people. 



