PREFACE 



FIVE phrases upon the title-page give a summary of 

 this memoir. Professor Dana dwelt long upon the 

 high seas, on their shores and islands and among their 

 primitive inhabitants, so that he might be called an ocean- 

 ographer or ocean-explorer ; his distinction as a naturalist 

 was gained in three great fields; and his career, from 

 beginning to end, was identified with Yale College. 



In preparing the biography, which is personal rather 

 than scientific, the subject of it is his own interpreter, and 

 wherever his language could be introduced, or that of his 

 correspondents, I have preferred to quote rather than to 

 condense or rewrite what they have said. At the same 

 time, I trust that sufficient explanations have been given 

 to show the conditions under which the writers spoke. 



The task of a biographer fell to me by the confidence 

 of Professor Dana's family, who remembered that for a 

 considerable period while living in New Haven, as a pupil, 

 neighbor, and friend, I knew him intimately. To Mrs. 

 Dana the reader is indebted for the care with which she 

 has saved and brought together the memorials of her 

 husband's life and correspondence, and for the readiness 

 with which she has consented to their publication. To 

 Professor Edward S. Dana, his father's colleague in the 

 University and in editing the American Journal of Science, 

 special acknowledgments are also due. Free use has 

 been made of the admirable and appreciative sketch of 

 his father's career which appeared in 1894. For the esti- 

 mate of Professor Dana's work as a man of science, I have 



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