JOHN LANGDON SIBLEY. 537 



tions aud his labors. lu 1829, nearly sixty years since, his first paper 

 on the subject was published ; and others followed, uutil the number 

 reached nearly forty, the series closing with one in the last volume 

 (September, 1885) of the American Journal of Science, to which he 

 was thus a constant contributor during a period of over half a century. 

 His collection grew, each paper being usually based on one or more 

 acquisitions ; and it was long the largest in the country. It became, 

 like the minerals, and with them, the property of Amherst College. 



Dr. Shepard's zeal to the end kutw no flagging, and he had the 

 satisfaction of seeing great progress in his two departments, that of 

 meteorites and that of minerals, through his labors. His knowledge 

 of mineral species was unsurpassed in the land ; and he was hence 

 ready with quick judgments as to new and old, — sometimes too quick, 

 but in any case imparting progress to American mineralogy. 



Dr. Shepard was several times in Europe, and had the personal 

 acquaintance of many European mineralogists. He was a member of 

 various American and foreign societies ; among them, the Imperial 

 Society of Naturalists of St. Petersburg, and the Royal Society of 

 Gbttiugen. He was a man of refinement and great courtesy, and 

 was held in very high esteem in Charleston, S. C, as well as at his 

 Northern homes. His place of residence after leaving Amherst, and 

 for much of his life before, was New Haven. He leaves two children, 

 a son and a daughter. 



JOHN LANGDON SIBLEY. 



John Langdon Sibley, the eldest son of Dr. Jonathan and Persis 

 (Morse) Sibley, was born in Union, Maine, December 29, 1804. He 

 was fitted for Harvard College at Exeter, under the tuition of Dr. 

 Abbot, and entered college in 1821. He held a good rank in his 

 class, was rigidly faithful in all college duties, and at the same time 

 commenced his life-work in the Library, then occupying the two rooms 

 in the second story of Harvard Hall, and a little more than filling one 

 of them. On graduating, in 1825, he received an appointment as As- 

 sistant Librarian ; but at the end of one year the olFice was abolished, 

 on the appointment of a Librarian who was expected to devote his 

 whole time to his official duties. Mr. Sibley also entered the Divinity 

 School in 1S2.3, began to preach in 1828, became a pastor in Stow, 

 INIass., in the following year, and resigned his pastorate in 1834. He 

 then took up his residence in Cambridge, and engaged in several edi- 

 torial aud publishing enterprises, the chief of which was " The Amer- 



