10 



exposed just above the steamboat landing at Warsaw, where 

 its whole thickness may be seen in the bluff above the railroad 

 grade, and there is perhaps no locality known in the west 

 where a few hours labor of a good collector would be rewarded 

 by so large a variety of finely crystallized specimens. There is 

 no formation in the State that presents such attractive and in- 

 teresting specimens of crystallized minerals as are to be found 

 in this division of the Keokuk limestone, and tons of these 

 beautiful geodes have been sent from the county of Hancock 

 to adorn the cabinets of mineralogists throughout the civilized 

 world." It may be added that by far the largest portion of 

 these shipments have been sent abroad by Pro f . Worthen him- 

 self. One can easily imagine what an impetus such surround- 

 ings would give to a love of nature already abounding, and to 

 powers of observation and analysis already somewhat trained 

 and cultivated by study and travel, accordingly his attention 

 from the first was strongly attracted to the geological features 

 of his new home, and its geode beds at once commanded his 

 admiration and close investigation. Even at that early period 

 he felt stirring within him that spirit of investigation and love 

 for natural science that later caused him first to neglect and 

 then to abandon entirely all business less suited to his taste, 

 and to devote himself to science with a singleness of purpose 

 and devotion as rare as it is honorable to the individual and 

 advantageous to mankind. He gathered and took with him to 

 Boston several barrels of the splendid crystallizations called 

 "geodes," then rare in collections, and there, instead of selling 

 them, with a naturalists true love for his (to be) calling, ex- 

 changed them for a cabinet of sea shells, which he brought 

 back with him to Warsaw when he returned there in July, 1844. 

 Similar forms to these shells he saw everywhere preserved in 

 the limestone rocks and shales of his neighborhood and every 

 spare hour found him with his hammer and satchel exploring 

 every ravine, bluff and quarry and every exposure of the sub- 

 jacent rocks which could be reached. He was consumed with a 

 desire to know something of their history and nomenclature. 

 The science of geology may be termed a child of the nine- 

 teenth century, during which more progress has been made in 

 the knowledge of the history of the earth than during all pre- 



