30 



up the contributions so important which he made to 

 science. 



Doctor Cook's scientific attainments and tastes were 

 broad, but as was natural in the head of a geological 

 survey of a State, they centered more and more in 

 geology, and in that department his specialty was in the 

 formations exemplified in this State, and particularly their 

 structural, rather than their paleontological features. 



The annual reports of the Geological Survey, of which 

 he was head, and the volumes published or about to be 

 published, are a monument most enduring to his patient 

 and thorough work thereon, and to his scientific ability. 

 Though his work was not fully completed, he did enough 

 to put him in the front rank, as an original investigator 

 and important contributor to geological science. He 

 cultivated science from love for it and its beneficent fruits, 

 and cared little for the notoriety or fame to be won. 



Few took less part in the ventilation of theories or the 

 contentions of schools, yet no one had clearer views or 

 could express them more exactly and in language intelli- 

 gible to the plain people, and few among our working 

 geologists have contributed more abundantly to the 

 ascertained facts of the science. Among these contribu- 

 tions may be noted : 



First. The subsidence of the Atlantic coast, discovered 

 and proven by his observation on the Jersey shore. This 

 was announced in 1857 to the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science at Montreal, and as we have 

 already mentioned, continued a matter of investigation 

 even to the end. 



Second. The discovery of the stratigraphical relations 

 of the green-sand marl beds, and the addition to the 

 geological column of newer and important strata, bearing 

 fruit not only in improved agricultural resources, but in 



