368 NATHANIEL SOUTHGATE SHALER 



dreds of men those of special scientific leaning and the mere 

 seeker after entertainment hours delightfully spent, listening 

 to the wonderful tale of the world's creation. Indeed, there are 

 many who hark back to those lectures in the way men do to 

 the fairy stories of their childhood ; others, to whom nature as 

 yet had hardly been discovered, found them the open door to a 

 kingdom of light, to a magnificent and immeasurable universe. 

 His teaching was not confined to the lecture-room. The 

 geological excursions which he organized, generally known as 

 "Professor Shaler 's Field Days," were notable occasions. A 

 long line of motley-looking students, in costumes more or less 

 complete, embellished by collars and cravats according to the 

 morning hour when the train had to be caught, would be seen 

 moving along the streets, over hills and dales, through swamps 

 and across rivers, following their leader. These excursions were 

 usually in the immediate neighborhood of Boston, though some- 

 times Mr. Shaler was requested to extend his tramp to other 

 districts. The Boston Daily Advertiser's report of one of these 

 expeditions runs as follows : 



On leaving the cars at Quincy the party walked to the top of the high 

 hill just west of the station. Here attention was called to the widespread 

 view of sea and shore, and to the fine mountainlike scenery of the Blue 

 Hills. "They are called hills," said Mr. Shaler, "but in their day they 

 formed a part of a lofty mountain-range extending from Sharon past Boston 

 to Saugus. These now denuded and degraded mountains, presenting but a 

 trace of their former grandeur, are very interesting to the geologist. They 

 have not received the attention from scientific men that they deserve. ..." 

 Mr. Shaler then remarked that he had obtained more information concern- 

 ing their history and structure from a well-known Boston lady [Miss Eliza 

 Quincy] than from scientific works. . . . Gradually the character of 

 the rocks, and the wild, picturesque scenery they made, changed, till at 

 last, on the shore of Weymouth River, the blue-clay slate that crowned all 

 was reached. Here a visit was made to the only trilobite bed in New Eng- 

 land. "These trilobites," said Mr. Shaler, "are the stony remains of the 

 earliest life. They resemble somewhat the horse-shoe crabs so common in 

 Boston Bay." A specimen of this crab was picked up on the beach and the 

 two compared. Placing the dead crab fresh from the sea and his ancient 



