The Beginnings of American Science. 437 



tended to scientific advances on the other side of the Atlantic, and the 

 results of the labors of Cuvier, whose glorj- was now approaching its 

 zenith, of Brongniart, of Blainville, of Jussieu, of Decandolle, of Werner, 

 of Hutton, of Buckland, of De la Beche, of Magendie, of Humboldt, 

 Daubuisson, Berzelius, Von Buch, of Herschel, of Laplace, of Young, of 

 Fresnel, of Oersted, of Cavendish, of L^avoisier, Wollaston, Davy, and 

 Sir William Hooker, were eagerly welcomed by hundreds in America. 



"In truth," wrote one who was among the most active in promoting 

 these tendencies — ' ' a thirst for the natural sciences seemed already to 

 pervade the United States like the progress of an epidemic." 



The author of these enthusiastic words was Amos Eaton [b. in Chat- 

 ham, New York, 1776, d. May 6, 1842], one of the most interesting men 

 of his day. In 18 16, at the age of forty, he abandoned the practice of 

 law and went to New Haven to attend Silliman's lectures on mineralogy 

 and geology. He was a man of great force and untiring energy, and one 

 of the pioneers of American geology; though the name, Father of Ameri- 

 can 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 18 17, was the first strictly American treatise, and .seems to 

 have had a very stinmlating effect. He was preeminently an agitator 

 and an educator. He traveled many thousands of miles on foot through- 

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

 principal towns, short courses of lectures on natural history. In March, 

 18 1 7, having received an invitation to aid in the introduction 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 uncontrolable enthusiasm for Natural His- 

 tory, took possession of every mind; and other departments of learning 

 were, for a time, crowded out of College. The College authorities 

 allowed twelve .students each day (72 per week) to devote their whole time 

 to the collection of minerals, plants, etc., in lieu of all other exercises." ' 



In April, 18 18, he went to Albany, on the special invitation of Gov- 

 ernor De Witt Clinton, and delivered a course of letures on natural history. 

 ' ' In Albany I found, ' ' wrote he, ' ' Doctor T. Romeyn Beck, and in Troy, 

 Doctors Burrett, Robbins, and Dale, zealous beyond description in the 

 cau.se of natural science. By the exertions of these gentlemen a taste for 

 the stud}' 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 Eyceum of Natural History, and in the fall 

 of 18 18 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 



'Geological Text-Book, 2d edition, 1832, p. 16. 



