I 



JAMES DWIGHT DANA 



GEOLOGIST 



1813-1895 

 BY WILLIAM NORTH RICE 



JAMES DWIGHT DANA l was born in Utica, New York, Feb- 

 ruary 12, 1813. He was a descendant of Richard Dana, who is be- 

 lieved to have emigrated from England to Massachusetts about 

 1640. Among the numerous posterity of Richard Dana are in- 

 cluded a remarkably large number of men of eminent achievement 

 in science, literature, and politics, in the ministry and the law. 2 

 The history of the family prior to the emigration of Richard Dana 

 is uncertain. It appears probable that the family name is of Italian 

 origin, and that some ancestor of Richard emigrated from Italy 



1 In the preparation of this sketch, the principal sources (aside from per- 

 sonal memories of a revered teacher and friend, and from Professor Dana's 

 own works) have been the biography by President Oilman (The Life of 

 James Dwight Dana, Scientific Explorer, Mineralogist, Geologist, Zoologist. 

 New York and London, 1899), and the appreciative articles by Professors E. 

 S. Dana (American Journal of Science, series 3, vol. 49, pp. 329-356), Le- 

 Conte (Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, vol. 7, pp. 461-479), 

 Williams (Journal of Geology, vol. 3, pp. 601-621), Farrington (Journal of 

 Geology, vol. 3, pp. 335-340), and Beecher (American Geologist, vol. 17, 

 pp. 1-16). 



2 Among the most eminent descendants of Richard Dana may be men- 

 tioned Francis Dana, member of the Continental Congress, Chief Justice of 

 Massachusetts; Richard Henry Dana, poet; Richard Henry Dana, Jr., jurist; 

 Samuel Whittlesey Dana, United States Senator from Connecticut; John 

 Winchester Dana, Governor of Maine; James Freeman Dana, chemist and 

 mineralogist; Samuel Luther Dana, chemist; Charles Anderson Dana, ed- 

 itor, Assistant Secretary of War. 



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