BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 193 



In 1868 he was appointed Professor of Natural History in Vassar College, which position 

 he soon resigned to take the head of the department of Geology in Cornell University, 

 which he held until the time of his death. 



Whilst at Cornell, when not engaged in the duties of his position, he prepared his report 

 as geologist of the Thayer expedition. This embraced so much of value upon the subject 

 treated, as to lead to its being published in a volume by itself under the title of " The Ge- 

 ology and the Physical Geography of Brazil." It formed a large octavo volume of over 

 six hundred pages. 



In 1870, Prof. Hartt organized another expedition to Brazil, taking with him Prof. 

 Prentice and eleven of the students of Cornell University. This party, after exploring in 

 the vicinity of Para, proceeded to the Amazonas where were found the first Devonian fos- 

 sils east of the Andes in South America. Prof. Hartt soon after made another trip to the 

 Amazonas in company with Mr. O. A. Derby, with important results. He returned to 

 Ithaca in 1872, where he remained from two to three years, giving such time as he could 

 spare to studying up the material obtained in his Amazonian trips, aided by two assistants, 

 Mr. 0. A. Derby and Mr. Richard Rathbun, and in preparing papers for publication. 

 These appeared in various scientific journals. 



In 1875, the government of Brazil, appreciating the^labors of Prof. Hartt, invited him 

 to submit a proposition for the systematic geological exploration of the Empire. He 

 accordingly proceeded to Rio Janeiro, where he was received with great enthusiasm. 

 The suggestions made in his proposition were not fully complied with from economical 

 considerations, which is much to be regretted, considering his early death. In May, 1875, 

 Prof. Hartt was made chief of a commission for the geological survey of Brazil with 

 six assistants, among whom was Mr. Rathbun, also a member of the Boston Society of 

 Natural History. The party was soon in the field, and its active work continued almost 

 uninterruptedly until the close of 1877. The amount of work done during this period 

 was immense, and the investigations made of the most important character. No wonder 

 that the Emperor upon his return from a visit to the Museums of North America and the 

 old world, should have expressed his astonishment when he found that the small party 

 which he had left eighteen months before working hard among the rocks of a portion of 

 the Empire, had created a large Museum containing the collections made, and having con- 

 nected with it biological, chemical and photographic laboratories. 



This brief notice of Professor Hartt will be closed by a few words given in abstract from 

 the paper alluded to, prepared by Mr. Rathbun. 



" In order to judge of the real character and value of his investigations, we must refer 

 to his publications. These, however, give us but a glimpse of the vast store of knowledge 

 he had accumulated. He has left a number of volumes in manuscript, which when pub- 

 lished, will add greatly to his scientific standing, by making known to the world the vari- 

 ety and excellence of the work he had accomplished. Judging from his brilliant begin- 

 ning, we are confident in asserting that had he lived, he would have won for himself a 

 place by the side of such investigators as De le Beche, Murchison, Logan and others, like 

 whom, he was a pioneer in the special field of research he had entered." 



