156 Obituary tiotice of the Hon. Stephen Van Rensselaer. 



ity, and conclusive to their best interests, to terminate short of 

 accomphshing all that was originally intended. 



We had intended to have said, something of the mineralogy of 

 the survey, and also of the fossil remains, but as these are to be 

 made the subject of more special consideration by Dr. Jackson, 

 hereafter, we shall omit, or at least defer, any xiotice of them at 

 this time. 



Art. XXII. — Obituary notice of the Hon. Stephen Van Rens- 

 selaer. 



During the twenty-one years of our editorial course, we have 

 often been called, as our volumes evince, to lament the removal 

 of distinguished coadjutors, patrons and friends — ^friends of our 

 labors, friends of science and of mankind. 



In all these relations, we knew the excellent man whose name 

 stands at the head of this notice. 



He did not indeed, lay claim to great attainments in science, 

 but he evinced the highest opinion of its value ; he cheered its 

 laborers onward, by his kind encouraging voice ; he sanctioned 

 their efforts by his influence, and sustained them, by bounties, 

 free and frequent, as the rains of heaven. 



In this number of our work, a living witness, the pioneer* of 

 American geological surveys, records the early largesses of Gen. 

 Van Rensselaer, for the examination of the opulent and interest- 

 ing region on the Erie Canal ; to that paper, we refer our readers, 

 and to the results of the survey, as given by Mr. Eaton in our 

 fourteenth volume. It is in the character of a most munificent 

 and untiring patron of useful knowledge, that we commemorate the 

 name of our departed friend ; but as he was not less distinguished 

 for his moral excellence, in every department of a long, active 

 and useful life, we hesitate not to cite his virtues as well as his 



* Professor Amos Eaton, was employed by Gen. Van Rensselaer, at his own 

 exclusive expense, to make a detailed examination of a very important and exten- 

 sive region, that on the Erie Canal, in the State of New York. Mr. Maclure, had 

 drawn his great geological sketch of the North American continent, a few years 

 before, but Professor Eaton's was the first instance of an elaborate examination of 

 a region several hundred miles in length. 



