Boiiv6.] 36 



the cause of education, his untiring devotion to whatever he deemed 

 his duty, and his many acquirements and great ability are all too well 

 known to make an extended notice necessary. Yet it may not be 

 amiss to reflect for a few moments upon such an experience as his well- 

 rounded life of labor in all good works presents to us. 



In calling Dr. Hitchcock to mind, one cannot but think of him as 

 presenting a good example of a man, in many respects, peculiarly 

 American. There was something about him that at once expressed 

 the influence of New England ideas and institutions, no less than that 

 of self-culture and extended observation. Like many others of our 

 countrymen who have become prominent in science and literature, his 

 early education was not beyond that within reach of nearly all in our 

 favored land ; yet, through his natural ability and indefatigable perse- 

 verance, he early made himself known to men of science, both by as- 

 tronomical and geological observations and publications. Subse- 

 quently, when pastor of a church, which office he held for some years, 

 he by no means neglected the scientific studies he loved, or failed to 

 impart to the public the result of his geological and mineralogical 

 observations, as shown by his publications in the American Journal of 

 Science and Arts. 



But it is in connection with Amherst College and as the Geological 

 Surveyor of the State of Massachusetts that he is best known. 



Like many other Professors In some of our educational institutions, 

 he was called upon to instruct In various branches, and by untiring 

 labor he was enabled to accomplish an amount of work truly astonish- 

 ing. Yet he never became so absorbed In present duties as to lose an 

 02:)portunity of self-culture, especially in that science most dear to his 

 heart, and to the advancement of which he gave a large portion of his 

 Ufe. 



It Is Indeed Interesting and most Instructive to perceive how a man, 

 without the endowment by nature of great genius, without the advan- 

 tages of early systematic culture in science or literature, and without 

 more aid from books or sympathizing minds than could have been 

 within reach in his younger days, should have been able to accomplish 

 so much for himself and others as a teacher and professor, and finally 

 to achieve enduring fame as one of the leading geologists of the Avorld 

 by the production of such works as those of " The Final Report upon 

 the Geology of Massachusetts," " The Ichnology of New England," 

 and others which followed. 



Mr. President, we may not and should not mourn the departure of 

 our distinguished associate, as we would if he had been cut off in the 

 vigor of manhood and not been allowed to fill up the measure of his 

 usefulness by length of years. As It is, we have for liim nothing to re- 

 gret, for he had accomplished well his work and resigned life full 



