CHAPTER 1. 



THE MACLUREAN ERA, 1785-1819. 



In order that one may fully appreciate the conditions under which 

 the early workers in geology in America labored, it is necessary to 

 refer somewhat briefly to foreign workers and the general condition 

 of the science at the time this history opens. A detailed statement is 

 presumably unnecessary, the subject having been well covered by 

 Lyell." Geikie, 6 and Zittel/ 



The literature extant at that time was not large, and was, moreover, 

 for the most part quite inaccessible to the average American student. 

 Libraries were few, small, and far between, and the workers, as a rule, 

 men of moderate means who studied geology as a recreation or when 

 the cares of their professions permitted. 



Disregarding the cosmogonists — those who, to use a popular expres- 

 sion, did not allow what few facts they may have possessed to seri- 

 ously hamper the flights of their imaginations — mention should be 

 made of the writings of the French geologist, Giittard, during the 

 period 171H-1765. Gi'ittard studied the now well-known region of 

 the Auvergne in central France, recognized the volcanic nature of the 

 phenomena there displayed, and, though he fell into error when he 

 attributed their origin to the combustion of petroleum or bitumen, 

 he may, nevertheless, according to Doctor Geikie, be regarded as the 

 founder of volcanic geology. Singularly enough, as it seems to-day, 

 he failed to recognize the connection between volcanoes and basalt, 

 and attributed the latter to crystallization from an aqueous solution. 

 Giittard's papers were for many years lost sight of, but their value 

 and interest have of late been made apparent by the author above 

 quoted. Desmarest, who followed Gi'ittard, corrected this error in 

 his memoir on basalt, which appeared in 1774. 



The geological results obtained by the Russian astronomical expe- 

 dition under Pallas, in 1769, though important, could, for a long time 

 at least, have had little effect on American workers, and then only 

 through the writings of others. They were first published at St. 

 Petersburg in German (1772-177*)) and afterwards translated into 

 French. Pallas taught, among other things, that a granite core was a 



" Principles of Geology. 



''The Founders of Geology. 



c History of Geology and Paleontology. 



207 



