appendix b: biographical sketches. 697 



Foster, John Wells. 



Born in Petersham, Mass., March 4, 1815; died in Hyde Park, Chicago, 111., June 

 20, is?:!. Received collegiate education at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., 

 after which he studied law and settled at Zanesville, Ohio. Was assistant to Jackson, 

 and subsequently worked with Whitney on survey of copper lands of Lake Superior. 

 Wrote work on Prehistoric. Races of the United States and on The Mississippi Valley, 

 Its Physical Geography, etc., in 1869. 



Biogr. Fop. Sci. Monthly, III, August, 1873, p. 508. 

 Frazer, Persifor. Geologist and chemist. 



Born in Philadelphia, Pa., July 24, 1844. Graduated from University of Pennsyl- 

 vania, 1862; studied in Royal School of Mines, Freiberg, Saxony, 1866-1869. Miner- 

 alogist and metallurgist on U. S. Survey under Hayden, 1869-70. Professor of 

 chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, 1870-1874; assistant on second geological 

 survey of Pennsylvania, 1874-1882. 

 Gabb, William More. Paleontologist. 



Born in Philadelphia, Pa., January 20, 1839; died there, May 30, 1878. In 1862, 

 paleontologist on geological survey of California under Whitney. In 1868, under- 

 took survey in Santo Domingo for private company, and in 1873, published a memoir 

 of topography and geology of that island. In 1873, went to Costa Rica and engaged 

 in a geological and topographical survey. 



Biogr. Amer. Jour. Sci., XVI, 1878, p. 161. 

 Genth, Frederick Augustus. Mineralogist and chemist. 



Born in Waechtersbach, in Hesse, May 17, 1820; died in Philadelphia, Pa., Feb- 

 ruary 2, 1893. Took degree of Ph. D. at University of Marburg in 1845; chemical 

 assistant to Bunsen for three years. In 1848, came to America and settled in Phila- 

 delphia. In 1872-1888, professor of chemistry in University of Pennsylvania. Best 

 known by his studies of corundum, copper products, and ammOnia-cobalt bases. 

 Biogr. Geo. F. Barker. Natl. Acad. Sci., Biogr. Mems., IV, 1902, pp. 203-231. 



Gesner, Abraham. Physician, geologist, and chemist. 



Born in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, May 2, 1797; died in Halifax, Nova Scotia, April 

 19, 1864. In 1838, appointed provincial geologist of New Brunswick. Aside from his 

 geological work, he achieved distinction as inventor of method for manufacture of 

 illuminating oil from coal and other bituminous substances. 



Biogr. G. W. Gesner. Bull. XIV, Natl. Hist. Soc. of New Brunswick, 1896. 



Gibbs, George. 



Born in Newport, R. I., January 7, 1776; died in Sunswick, near Halletts Cove 

 (now New York City), L. I., August 6, 1833. First vice-president of American Geo- 

 logical Society, founded in 1819; owner of one of the finest mineralogical cabinets of 

 the time. 

 < insBs, George. Lawyer and geologist. Son of Col. George Gibbs. 



Born in Sunswick, near Halletts Cove (now New York City), L. I., July 17, 1815; 

 died in New Haven, Conn., April 9, 1873. Graduated from Harvard University and 

 entered upon the practice of law. In 1848, accompanied military expedition to the 

 far West, and settled at Columbia, Oreg. Geologist to survey of railroad route to 

 Pacific; in 1857, appointed on northwest boundary survey, submitting report on 

 geology and natural history of the country. Secretary of Hudson Bay Claims 

 Commission; for some time before his death connected with Smithsonian Institution 

 upon ethnological and philological work. 



Biogr. J. A. Stevens. Ann. Kept. Smith. Inst, for 1S73, pp. 219-225. 

 Gibson, John Bannister. Jurist. 



Born in Carlisle, Pa., November 8, 1780; died in Philadelphia, Pa., May 3, 1853. 

 Graduated from Dickinson College in 1798 and admitted to the bar in 1803. Wrote 

 on the trap rocks of the Conewago Hills. 



