La a 
Association of American Geologists and Naturalists. 233 
of Dr. Hosack, and more especially of Dr. A. Bruce, of New 
York ; that of the Philosophical Society, and of Dr. Seybert, in 
Philadelphia: that of Prof. Frederick Hall, recently presented by 
him to Dartmouth College, with a foundation for a professorship 
of mineralogy and geology; that of B. D. Perkins and of Col. 
Gibbs, the latter a splendid collection, since purchased, as that of 
B.D. Perkins had been before, by Yale College. Col. Gibbs 
was a zealous promoter of geology as well as of mineralogy. 
He freely gave time, influence, and money for these objects ; and 
it was my fortune during the summers of 1807 and 1808, to ex- 
plore with him the beautiful fields of Rhode Island. He was 
fresh from the French school of mines of Paris, and fully im- 
bued with the science of that fine national institution. 
It will be observed, that the period of which we are speaking 
Was contemporary with that of the formation of the Geological 
Society of London. The impulse given in Europe had reached 
America, and now geology began to be taught among the phys- 
ical classics of our country, in most of the higher institutions of 
learning. 
Individuals, either alone or associated, undertook geological ex- 
plorations. Among the earlier were — of Prof. Cleaveland in 
Maine, and his fine work on mineralogy, with an appendix on 
geology, produced a powerful effect on the public mind. The 
Messrs. Dana, brothers, in 1818 made a detailed and valuable re- 
port on the mineralogy and geology of the vicinity of Boston, as 
M. Godon had done less extensively in 1807 and 1808. Prof. 
Denison Olmsted, under state authority, explored with signal 
Success the mountains of North Carolina. Prof. F. Hall made 
early and valuable explorations in Vermont and the adjacent 
States. In New York, Dr. A. Bruce, in 1809, had instituted a 
journal of mineralogy and geology, and the connected arts, but the 
decline of his health suspended the work after the completion of 
the first volume, and the American Journal of Science and Arts, 
on amore extended plan, succeeded in 1818 to the journal of 
Dr. Bruce. Mr. Robert Gilmor, of Baltimore, formed a beautiful 
cabinet of the rarer minerals and gems, in which taste, science, 
and wealth, conspire to enrich the collection. 
Dr. H. H. Hayden published an interesting volume on diluvial 
remains and diluvial action; and Prof. Amos Eaton, under the 
and at the expense of the late Gen. Van.’ Renscolnat of 
Vol. xx, No. 2.—July-Sept. 1842. 
