486 A great American Geologist — James Hall. 



with the organization of the International Congress of Geologists, 

 which originated from a convocation of geologists held in Bufialo, 

 N.Y., in 1876. Hall was chairman of the organizing committee 

 and was chairman of the first congress that met in Paris under the 

 presidency of Professor Hebert. He followed the congresses eagerly 

 at their subsequent sessions, and at the age of 86 he went with his 

 daughter to Europe, passing through England and visiting the 

 British Museum (Natural History) on his way to St. Petersburg 

 to attend the session of that year, and going even so far afield as 

 the Caucasus Mountains. This last great experience in his life was 

 something of a triumphal progress, for he was venerable not only 

 in years but in experience, and carried with him a most impressive 

 personality. His strong vigorous body, his head adorned by snow- 

 white hair and flowing beard, and his cheeks, even at that age, 

 bearing the ruddy tints of vigorous health, did not fail to attract 

 attention wherever he went, and his tour through Russia and the 

 states of Europe commanded wide attention. 



James Hall has left an indelible stamp upon the history of 

 American geology. The time will never come when his work can 

 be laid aside as no longer of service or needed in aid of the progress 

 of geological knowledge. What he did was fundamental, and the 

 superstructure which his successors have laboured to raise can rest 

 securely upon his foundations. Hall was naturally much honoured 

 by scientific societies and by the bestowal of many orders and 

 decorations. He became a Foreign Member of the Geological 

 Society of London in 1848. 



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Encouraged by such early pioneers as James Hall and his con- 

 temporaries, a host of modern palaeontologists have boldly sailed 

 into those little -known seas of past geologic time, and have 

 discovered new lands and new faunas and floras, adding vastly 

 to our knowledge of the buried past, furnishing at the same time 

 reliable landmarks for the stratigraphical worker, and thus trans- 

 forming geology from a dead into a living science. 



