THE 
OURNAL OF GEOLOGY 
VEE INTE NMIEISIRAOICINOIEIE TE, EOS 
JAMES DWIGHT DANA AND HIS WORK AS A 
GPOLOGIST,- 
James Dwicut Dana, who for a generation has been our fore- 
most geologist, on the fourteenth day of last April, died at the 
ripe age of eighty-two years. It is difficult to appreciate how 
much American geologists owe to the indefatigable industry of 
this one man; though he has laid down his pen, the results of 
his labors remain with us, and are wrought into the very founda- 
tion structure of American geology. The main events of his. 
busy life have been narrated in many places; one of the most 
vivid sketches is the one published in the American Journal of 
Science, written by his son. To this we would refer for a clear 
view of the many-sided life as a whole. 
There were certain conditions of birth and early education — 
certain traits of character—and events in his early life, which 
in some measure specially prepared him for the career which he 
so successfully carried out. A few of these may be here 
recounted as an introduction to this brief sketch of his work asa 
geologist. 
Dana was the son of an active, successful business man; and 
the qualities of business common sense, industry and economy 
thus acquired, although he chose to apply them in other than 
commercial pursuits, were elements of inheritance which con- 
tributed greatly to the quality of his greatness and success. 
In his boyhood he had the stimulation of a great teacher, 
Vot.. III., No. 6. 601 
