AMERICAN GEOLOGY DECADE OK 1840-1849. 



381 



Sketch of James 

 Hall. 



rence County. 



plished beneath the ocean, when it entirely covered the surface of the 

 country and was subject to tides and currents like the present ocean. 



Thus we may conceive this whole extent of country to have been submerged 

 beneath the ocean for a long period; and that in its subsequent elevation it lias been 

 washed by the advancing and retiring waves, which have worn the deep indenta- 

 tions in the limestone cliffs and broken up the edges of the strata. 



Hall was born at Hingham, Massachusetts, in LSI 1, and studied under 

 Eaton at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, graduating in 1832, after 

 which be served for a short time as librarian, and was then appointed 

 assistant to Eaton, at a salary of $600 a 3 T ear. 



His first systematic work in geology was done under 

 the patronage of Stephen Van Rensselaer in St. Law- 

 With the organization of the State geological survey 

 in 1836 he was appointed assistant to Emmons, but, after the with- 

 drawal of Conrad, was placed in charge of the fourth district — 



the level, uninteresting western portion of the State, 

 which be was told was good enough for a young man 

 • if twenty-five. The region was not the western New 

 York of to-day; mads were less numerous and less 

 carefully made; exposures were rare and poor. It 

 was necessary to wade along streams for miles to 

 gain fragments which were to be pieced into tenta- 

 tive sections; the people were suspicions, fearing 

 some new scheme for increasing the taxes; but none 

 of these things moved him; as in later years, diffi- 

 culties only increased his determination. So bis is 

 the only one of the four final reports which deals 

 broadly with the problems of the young science, 

 and, though upon the contemned fourth district, it 

 is the only one which has endured with authority 



and become a classic in geological literature. 



1- n.. 33. — James Hall. 



The tinal withdrawal of Conrad from even 

 the paleontological work left Hall almost sole master of the field, which 

 he for a time tilled so completely that he came to regard it as his own, 

 and resented fiercely any intrusion upon his domain. This resentment 

 and his desire to gain priority in all matters relative to Paleozoic 

 paleontology caused him at times to resort to methods so questionable 

 as to rouse the antagonism of nearly eveiy paleontologist in America." 

 and subjected him to criticism of the severest kind. Undoubtedly a 

 portion of the hatred and opposition to him which early became mani- 

 fest was the outgrowth of that peculiar jealous}^ which the poet Riley 

 has so aptly set forth in his humorous rhyme: 



And I've known some to lie and wait, 

 And git up soon and set up late, 

 To find some fellow they could bate 

 For gi ling at a faster gait. 



"See Meek's comments relative to Hall's work in Iowa, and also statements on 

 p. 367 relative to the Troost collection. 



