SAMUEL CALVIN 387 



concerned with the whole of natural history, was already beginning 

 to specialize in paleontology and geology. The two men became 

 intimate friends and close companions. Together they explored the 

 neighborhood and later, in the long vacations, the more distant 

 parts of Iowa. With team, covered wagon, and simple camp outfit, 

 trips were made as far west as the Missouri River, and collections 

 of various sorts were brought back to enrich museum and class- 

 room instruction. In the course of this work Calvin came into 

 contact with C. A. White, at first state geologist and later professor 

 in the State University at Iowa City. When White went East 

 Calvin succeeded him at the university, and when the Iowa Geo- 

 logical Survey was re-established in 1892, he also followed him in the 

 position of state geologist. The change to Iowa City, which took 

 place in 1874, was an agreeable one, since the university, having 

 larger resources, offered a larger opportunity for work; and for 

 work Calvin always was greedy. The State University of Iowa 

 in 1874 was not a large institution and the professors found plenty 

 to do. Calvin occupied what has been aptly described as the 

 "settee rather than chair" of natural history, and, as he once 

 whimsically phrased it, he was ever after "shedding professor- 

 ships." As rapidly as funds would permit he divided the work 

 and called other men to him. Among the first was Macbride, 

 then Nutting, and others in succession until in the closing years 

 of his work it was not only possible for him to confine his work to 

 geology, but to have the aid of an able corps of assistants in that. 

 His work in the other sciences, however, was more than time- 

 serving. His interest in animal morphology was especially keen, 

 and in organizing and conducting zoological explorations he did 

 work of real value. The results of the Bahama expedition, which 

 brought back such unheard-of wealth of specimens of living crinoids, 

 were due in no small part to him. 



As a geologist Calvin's name and fame are principally bound up 

 with that of the Iowa Geological Survey, which, except for a brief 

 interim, he directed from the day of its organization, in 1892, to the 

 day of his death. As a former member of the staff of this Survey 

 I may be over-partial, but it is none the less my conviction that, 

 considering time, place, and means, the Iowa Survey is and has 



