438 Memorial of George Broivn Goode. 



months Troy could boast of a more extensive collection of American 

 geological specimens than Yale College or any other institution upon 

 this continent." ' 



"In this period," remarked Bache, "the prosecution of mathematics 

 and physical science was neglected; indeed, barely kept alive by the calls 

 for boundary and land surveys of the more extended class, by the exer- 

 tions necessary in the lecture room, or by isolated volunteer efforts. 



"As the country was explored and settled the unworked mine of nat- 

 ural history was laid open, and the attention of almost all the cultivators 

 of science was turned toward the development of its riches. 



' ' Descriptive natural history is the pursuit which emphatically marks 

 that period. As its exponent, may be taken the admirable descriptive 

 mineralogy of Cleaveland, which seemed to fill the measures of that day 

 and be, as it were, its chief embodiment, appearing just as the era was 

 passing away.""" 



The leading spirits of the day seem to have been Silliman, Hare, 

 Maclure, Mitchill, Gibbs, Cleaveland, De Witt Clinton, and Caspar 

 Wistar. 



Names familiar to us of the present generation began now to appear in 

 scientific literature Isaac lyca began to print his memoirs on the Union- 

 idae ; Edward Hitchcock, principal of the Deerfield Academy, was writ- 

 ing his first papers on the geology of Massachusetts ; Professor Chester 

 Dewey, of Williams College [b. 1781, d. 1867], afterwards known to us 

 all from his excellent work upon the Carices, was discussing the miner- 

 alogy and geology of Massachusetts ; Doctor John Torrey, also to be 

 famous as a botanist, was then devoting his attention to mineralogy and 

 chemistry ; Doctor Jacob Porter was making botanical observations in 

 central Massachusetts ; quaint old Caleb Atwater, at that time almost the 

 only scientific observer west of the Alleghenies, was discussing the origin 

 of prairies, meteorology, botany, geology, mineralogy, and scenery of the 

 Ohio country, and a little later the remains of mammoths. 



Professor J. W. Webster, of Boston, was making general studies in 

 geology; the Rev. Elias Cornelius and Mr. John Grammer were writing 

 of the geology of Virginia; Mr. J. A. Kain,upon that of Tennessee, I. P. 

 Brace, that of Connecticut, and James Pierce, that of New Jersey. 



To this period belonged the brilliant Constantine Rafinesque, with 

 Torrey, Silliman, Cleaveland, Gibbs, James, Schoolcraft, Gage, Akerly, 

 Mitchill, Dana, Beck, and Featherstonhaugh. 



'The Troy Lyceum of Natural History was incorporated in 1S19, and a lectureship 

 was created, filled by Mr. Eaton (American Journal of Science, II, p. 173). In 

 1820 a similar association, The Hudson Association for Improvement in Science, 

 was founded in the city of Hudson, and in 182 1 the Delaware Chemical and Geolog- 

 ical Society. 



^Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, VI, 

 1 85 1, pp. VI, xi^vi. 



