31 ft KEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1904. 



now dealing will scarcely permit us to overlook the explorations of 

 Jean N. Nicollet throughout the Middle West. 



Nicollet was born in Fiance in 1790 and came to 

 sketch of America in 1832 from purely financial considerations, 



Nicollet. l J / 



having" involved not merely his own fortune but those 



of friends in unfortunate speculations. His main scientific work 



up to this date had been of an astronomical nature, and it is perhaps 



natural that his attention in a new country should have 



work in turned toward exploration and map making. 



From 1833 to 1838 he was engaged, with the coop- 

 eration of the War Department, though without financial assistance, 

 in mapping the region of the upper Mississippi. From 1838 to 1841 

 he was in the employ of the Government, completing the surveys 

 and maps thus begun. Other work of like nature was projected, but 

 before plans were matured his health gave way and he died in 1843. 

 His geological work, under the conditions mentioned above, was 

 therefore of comparatively slight importance, excepting as calling 

 attention to regions as } T et but little explored. 



He claimed to have traced the Cliff limestone of Owen over a vast 

 extent of country in the Mississippi Valley, and connecting his own 

 work with that of Owen, Locke, H. King, and others, felt justified in 

 assigning the Falls of St. Anthony as the northern limit of the forma- 

 tion. In this he was correct. He added to the knowledge of the 

 geology of the region of the Sioux and Missouri rivers by bringing 

 in important Cretaceous fossils, both vertebrate and invertebrate in 

 their nature; described the occurrence of the Indian pipestone (Cat- 

 linite) of the Coteau des Prairies of Minnesota, and correctly described 

 the pseudovolcanoes and their pumice-like product as due to burning 

 lignite beds. 



The second American edition of Bakewell's Geology, from the 



fourth London edition, was printed, as was the first, in New Haven 



and under Silliman's supervision. The work needs notice here, as it 



shows Silliman's gradually expanding views and dis- 



Second American . . . . , , , ,. . . . 



Edition of Bakeweii's position to shake on the shackles of tradition, though 



Geology, 1833. • n 1 • ,1 1 p ,1 XT ■ • 



still floundering in the deep waters of the JNoachian 

 deluge. Of particular interest are his remarks on the nature of geo- 

 logical evidence and its consistency with sacred history. 



Silliman took the ground that there was no reason to believe that 

 any part of the crust of the earth is now in the same condition as first 

 created, every portion having been worked over in accordance with 

 physical laws which are as much the Creator's work as are the mate- 

 rials upon which they operate. Unlike some of his predecessors and 

 contemporaries, he did not, however, at this time feel it incumbent 

 upon him to close his eyes to, or even to distort, any evidence that 

 might present itself in order that it might not conflict with the state- 



