T2 A CENTURY OF SCIENCE 



which eventually was to fructify in that great official 

 work: The Natural History of New York. (See 43, 215, 

 1842; and Youmans' sketch of Eaton's life, Pop. Sci. 

 Monthly, Nov. 1890.) 



Edward Hitchcock (1793-1864), reverend, state geolo- 

 gist, college president, and another of the founders of 

 American geology, was largely self-taught. Previous to 

 1825, when he entered the theological department of Yale 

 College, he had met Amos Eaton, who interested him 

 in botany and mineralogy, and between 1815 and 1819 

 he had made lists of the plants and minerals found about 

 his native town, Deerfield, Massachusetts. Therefore, 

 while studying theology at Yale it was natural for him 

 also to take up mineralogy and geology with Silliman, 

 whose acquaintance he had made at least as early as 1818. 



Hitchcock, who was destined to be one of the most 

 prominent figures of his time, was appointed in 1825 to 

 the chair of chemistry and natural history at Amherst 

 College. His first geologic paper, one of five pages, 

 appeared in 1815. Three years later appeared his more 

 important paper on the Geology and Mineralogy of a 

 Section of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont 

 (1, 105, 436, 1818). This is also noteworthy for its 

 geological map, the next one to be published after those 

 of Maclure of 1809 and 1817, In 1823 came a still 

 greater work, A Sketch of the Geology, Mineralogy, and 

 Scenery of the Eegions contiguous to the Eiver Connecti- 

 cut (6, 1, 200, 1823; 7, 1, 1824). Here the map above 

 referred to was greatly improved, and the survey was 

 one of the most important of the older publications. 



Youmans in his account of Hitchcock (Pop. Sci. 

 Monthly, Sept. 1895) says: 



"The State of Massachusetts commissioned him to make a 

 geological survey of her territory in 1830. Three years were 

 spent in the explorations, and the work was of such a high char- 

 acter that other States were induced to follow the example of 

 Massachusetts . . . The State of New York sought his advice 

 in the organization of a survey, and followed his suggestions, 

 particularly in the division of the territory into four parts, and 

 appointed him as the geologist of the first district. He entered 

 upon the work, but after a few days of labor he found that he 

 must necessarily be separated from his family, much to his dis- 



