126 



NATURE 



[Feb. 



2, I 



in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical 

 Society, Philadelphia, 1869. 



In May 1862, Dr. Hayden was appointed acting- 

 assistant surgeon of volunteers by the Surgeon-General of 

 the United States Army, and was sent to Satterlee 

 Hospital in Philadelphia. He was confirmed by the 

 United States Senate as assistant-surgeon and full 

 surgeon of volunteers on the same day (February 16, 

 1863), and sent to Beaufort, S.C, as chief medical officer, 

 where he remained for one year, when he was ordered to 

 Washington as assistant medical inspector of the Depart- 

 ment of Washington. On February 19, 1864, he was 

 sent to Winchester, Va., as chief medical officer of the 

 army in the Shenandoah valley. Here he remained until 

 May 1865, when he resigned, and was brevetted lieu- 

 tenant-colonel for meritorious services during the war. 

 During the remainder of the year 1865 he was employed 

 in work at the Smithsonian Institution. It was during 

 this year that he was elected Professor of Geology and 

 Mineralogy in the University of Pennsylvania, — a position 

 he held until 1872, when the increased executive duties in 

 connection with the Geological Survey of the Territories 

 induced him to resign it. 



In the summer of 1866 he undertook another expedition 

 to the Bad Lands of Dakota, under the auspices of the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, for the 

 purpose of clearing np some doubtful points in the 

 geology of that region, and returned with large and 

 valuable collections of vertebrate fossils, which were 

 described in a memoir published by the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences of Philadelphia in 1869. From 1867 to 

 1879 the history of Dr. Hayden is the history of the 

 United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the 

 Territories, of which he was geologist-in-charge, and to 

 the success of which he devoted all his energies during 

 the twelve years of its existence. In this time more than 

 fifty volumes, together with numerous maps, were issued 

 under his supervision. One of the results of his surveys, 

 and the one in which he probably took the greatest interest, 

 was the setting aside by Congress of the Yellowstone 

 National Park. The idea of reserving this region as a 

 park or pleasure-ground for the people originated with 

 Dr. Hayden, and the law setting it apart was prepared 

 under his direction. The work of the Geological Survey 

 of the Territories had its consummation in the Atlas of 

 Colorado, which increased greatly our knowledge of one 

 of the most interesting portions of the Great West. In 

 1879, after the disbanding of the Survey of the Territories, 

 Dr. Hayden received an appointment as geologist on the 

 newly organized United States Geological Survey. For 

 about three years he was occupied in the completing of 

 the business of the Geological and Geographical Survey 

 ■of the Territories, and the preparation of the final results 

 of that survey. His health had already begun to fail, but 

 early in 1883 he asked to be reheved from the supervision 

 of the printing of the reports, and during the three 

 following seasons he undertook field work in Montana. 

 By the latter part of the year 1886 his health had become 

 so poor that he was confined most of the time to his bed. 

 He then resigned his position as geologist, closing an 

 honourable connection with the Government that included 

 twenty-eight years of actual service as naturalist, surgeon, 

 ^ and geologist. To the general interest in science excited 

 by the enthusiastic labours of Dr. Hayden in his geologic 

 explorations, is due in a great degree the existence and con- 

 tinuance of the present United States Geological Survey. 



In 1876 the degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him 

 by the University of Rochester, and in June 1886 the 

 same degree was conferred upon him by the University 

 of Pennsylvania, Dr. Hayden was a member of the 

 National Academy of Sciences and of many other 

 Societies scattered throughout the country. He was also 

 honorary and corresponding member of a large number of 

 foreign Societies. 



As to Dr. Hayden's personal character, those who were 

 personally associated with him know best how genial he 

 was, and how sincere and enthusiastic his desire to 

 forward the cause of science. Although impulsive at 

 times, he was generous to a fault. His subordinates 

 all knew that each one stood upon his own merits, and 

 that due credit would be awarded to his successful efforts. 

 The same spirit actuated him in respect to those not 

 immediately connected with him. His views are ex- 

 pressed as follows in one of his earliest reports, when 

 speaking of those who had preceded him : " Any man 

 who regards the permanency or endurance of his own 

 reputation will not ignore any of these frontier men who 

 made their early explorations under circumstances of 

 great danger and hardship." 



His ideas were broad and liberal. He aimed to make 

 a thorough astronomical, topographical, geological, and 

 botanical survey of the Great West, with a view to the 

 development of its mining and agricultural resources. 

 The greater part of his work for the Government and for 

 science was a labour of love. 



To the foregoing notice some token of recognition and 

 regret on the part of brother geologists on this side of the 

 Atlantic may perhaps be fittingly appended by one who 

 knew Dr. Hayden personally, was familiar with his writings, 

 and had wandered in his footsteps among the solitudes of 

 the Far West. The first impression which the late geologist 

 made on those who came to know him was one of gentle- 

 ness, almost of timidity. They could hardly help asking 

 themselves, "Can this be the man who has so successfully 

 won over the blustering Congressmen to grant him year 

 after year such large appropriations for his western sur- 

 veys ; who has organized such wonderful expeditions ; 

 who has gone through such hardships, and in an incredibly 

 short space of time has made such excellent reconnaissances 

 and published such voluminous Reports and admirable 

 maps .'"' It was some time before one could see the real 

 underlying secret of his success. This was undoubtedly 

 a quiet enthusiasm for science, supported by an unde- 

 monstrative but indomitable courage, and a determination 

 to gain the pjoposed end, cost what it might in bodily 

 and mental endurance. No one who has not been in 

 some measure admitted behind the scenes of political 

 wire pulling in the States, can realize what had to be 

 undertaken by the man of science who would obtain and 

 retain an annual subsidy from Congress for scientific 

 investigation in the days when Hayden carried on his 

 explorations. There were other rival claimants for 

 Parliamentary aid who were doing similar work, under 

 other Government Departments. There was likewise 

 the wide outside circle of scientific men who had 

 no State employment, and some of whom thought them- 

 selves at least as deserving of it as those who fortunately 

 had gained it. Then there were the Gallios of Congress, 

 who cared nothing about science of any kind, those who 

 grudged money spent out of their own States, those who 

 required to see on their drawing-room table a well got up 

 Annual Report with pictures and maps before they could 

 be made to believe that the money was well besto\yed. 

 And the weeks and months of early summer, so precious 

 for field work, had to be passed in the lobbies of the 

 Capitol, making sure that there would be no failure in 

 the granting of the appropriation. The most wearisome 

 and profitless part of his year was this "lobbying" at 

 Washington. But Hayden had no choice in the matter. 

 He must either go through with that part of his work or 

 abandon his western surveys altogether. This alternative 

 has not always been borne in mind by those who have 

 judged of him. 



There can be no doubt that among the names of those 

 who have pioneered into the marvellous geology of 

 Western North America, that of F. V. Hayden will 



