From the Journal of the Cincinnati Society oj Natural History, October, 1879. 



NOBTH A3IEBICAN MESOZOIC AND G^NOZOIG 

 GEOLOGY AND FALJEONTOLOGY. 



By S. A. Miller, Esq. 



The sciences of Geolog_y and Paleontology had not advanced many 

 steps, in Europe, before their growth had commenced in America. 

 Their development, therefore, has been nearl}^ contemporaneous in the 

 two countries, though more rapid in the early part of the century in 

 the Old World than in the New. Europe has had William Smith, J. 

 S. Miller, Sowerb}^ Murchison, L^^ell, Brongniart, D'Orbigny, Gold- 

 fuss, Sternberg, Barrande, and many other distinguished authors; 

 while America has had McClure, Morton, Vanuxem, Hitchcock, Con- 

 rad, Leidy, Hall, Lesquereux, Logan, Billings, Dawson, and others, or- 

 iginal discoverers, who possessed the philosophical learning necessary 

 for the correct application of the discoveries to the advancement and 

 growth of the sciences. The facts, however, upon which these sciences 

 are based, and which constitute the superstructure, as now understood, 

 have been ascertained, so recently, that one would hardl}' undertake 

 to enumerate a score of the principal fathers of them, in either country, 

 without mentioning the names of some who are still living. 



The first society organized for the advancement of science in North 

 America, of which we have any account, is the American Philosophical 

 Societ}', instituted in 17fi9, in Philadelphia. The earliest geological 

 papers that seem to be worth mentioning, appeared in the Transactions 

 of this Societ}', and though its publications have not been rapid, the^' 

 continue to appear, and to hold a high rank, whether devoted to 

 Geology, PaliBontology, or other departments of science. The society 

 is indebted for its organization to Benjamin Franklin. The first 

 volume of the Transactions appeared, in quarto, in 1771. 



