HISTORICAL GEOLOGY 61 



by James D. Dana, and especially in his earlier career 

 as editor. 



Not including mineralogy, there are in the Journal 

 upward of 1500 distinct articles on geology. Of these, 

 over 400 are on vertebrate paleontology, about 325 on 

 invertebrate paleontology, and 90 on paleobotany. Of 

 articles bearing on historical geology there are about 160, 

 and on stratigraphic geology more than 360. In addition 

 to all this, there are more than 2000 pages of geologic 

 matter relating to books and of letters communicated to 

 the editors Silliman and Dana. We may summarize with 

 Doctor Merrill's statement in his well-known Contribu- 

 tions to the History of American Geology : 



"From its earliest inception geological notes and papers 

 occupied a prominent place in its pages, and a perusal of the 

 numbers from the date of issue down to the present time will, 

 alone, afford a fair idea of the gradual progress of American 

 geology." 



Before presenting a synopsis of the more important 

 steps in the progress of historical geology in America, it 

 will be well to introduce a rapid survey of the rise of 

 geology in Europe, for, after all, American geology grew 

 out of that of England, France and Germany. This 

 dependence was conspicuously true during the first 

 four decades of the previous century. With the rise of 

 the first New York State Survey (1836-1843) and that 

 of Pennsylvania (1836-1844, 1858), American geology 

 became more or less independent of Europe. Finally, 

 this article will conclude with a survey of the rise of 

 paleometeorology, paleogeography, evolution, and inver- 

 tebrate paleontology. 



The Rise of Geology in Europe. 



Mineral Geology. The geological sciences had their 

 rise in the study of minerals as carried on by the German 

 chemist and physician George Bauer (1494-1555), better 

 known as Agricola. Bauer originated the critical study 

 of minerals, but did not distinguish his "fossilia," the 

 remains of organisms, from the inorganic crystal forms. 

 Mineral geology endured until the close of the eighteenth 

 century. 



