OUTLINES OF THE BIOGRAPHY 



Berzelius to Darwin, and the inspiration of successive 

 generations of young students are among the services of 

 his life. Five great works, several smaller volumes, and 

 numerous minor publications are the enduring illustrations 

 of his ability. 



Problems of world-wide interest engaged his attention. 

 Opportunities, such as will never come again, were opened 

 to him in the exploration of the Pacific Ocean. More- 

 over, he lived in a period when scientific inquiry was 

 more varied, comprehensive, and exact than it ever was 

 before in the progress of mankind ; when new fields in- 

 vited students; when new instruments of research were 

 at command, and large outlays for the advancement of 

 science were made by institutions and governments. The 

 great principle of evolution was announced and developed 

 during this period, and Dana's correspondence on this and 

 kindred subjects, with Darwin, Gray, Agassiz, and Guyot, 

 and his successive papers, bearing more or less upon this 

 subject, are of significance in the history of the acceptance 

 of that doctrine. 



The career of Mr. Dana is naturally divided into two 

 portions, preparation and fulfilment ; but it is not pos- 

 sible to make a sharp division between the two. The 

 same character is apparent in both. In youth he was 

 a productive investigator, and, with advancing years, 

 he lost none of the spirit of research. For example, the 

 first edition of his Mineralogy appeared in 1837 (when 

 he was but twenty-four years old) ; and not long before 

 his death in 1895, the last revision of his Manual of Geol- 

 ogy passed under his eye. Here are nearly sixty years of 

 scientific productivity. For a long period in his early 

 manhood it was quite uncertain where his residence would 

 be fixed and upon what he could rely for the maintenance 

 of a family. He had been preparing himself to be a 

 naturalist ; but where in the middle of this century was a 

 naturalist to obtain a remunerative position ? To what 



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