January 13, 1899.] 



SCIENCE. 



43 



incidental or casual talks led to misunder- 

 standings ; sj'Stematic conference was neces- 

 sary with generous contribution by each of 

 his knowledge to the other. 



On April 2, 18-10, as the result of a con- 

 ference held at Albany in 1839, eighteen 

 geologists met at the Franklin Institute, 

 Philadelphia, and organized the Association 

 of American Geologists, with Professor Ed- 

 ward Hitchcock as the first Chairman ; 

 among these were the State Geologist of 

 Massachusetts, six geologists of the New 

 York Survey, six of the Pennsylvania Sur- 

 vey, two of the Michigan and three not con- 

 nected with any public work. Mr. Martin 

 H. Boye is the only survivor of the eighteen. 

 The succeeding meetings in Philadelphia 

 and Boston were attended by many geolo- 

 gists, of whom only Boye, O. P. Hubbard 

 and J. P. Lesley remain. A volume pub- 

 lished in 1843 contains several papers which 

 made a deep impress on American geology ; 

 here are the five great memoirs on Appala- 

 chian conditions by the Eogers brothers; 

 Hall's noteworthy discussion of the Missis- 

 sippi basin section ; Hitchcock's elaborate 

 discussion of the ' Drift ; ' as well as num- 

 erous contributions by other members. 



Professor Hall said on one occasion that 

 the inspiriting effect of these meetings could 

 not be overestimated. As one of the young- 

 est members, he was impressed by the 

 mental power of those great men, all un- 

 trained in geology, except Taylor, whose 

 training under William Smith proved ad- 

 vantageous in many ways but very disad- 

 vantageous in others, as it had provided 

 him with a generous stock of well-set opin- 

 ions. Though wholly self-taught, working 

 in a country sparsely settled, without ba- 

 rometers, without railroad cuts, oil borings, 

 mine shafts or any of the advantages so 

 necessary for us, those men had elaborated 

 systems, had made broad generalizations, 

 had learned much respecting the succession 

 of life and had discovered the keys which, 



in later years, were to open mysterious re- 

 cesses in European geology. 



But the geologists were not permitted to 

 flock by themselves. The advantages of 

 contact were so manifest that the natural- 

 ists asserted their claims to relationship 

 with sufficient energy to secure admission 

 in 1841, and the name Association of 

 American Geologists and Naturalists ap- 

 peared in the constitution adopted at the 

 1842 meeting. The number of scientific 

 men was still comparatively small, and in 

 most of the colleges the several branches of 

 natural science were embraced in one 

 chair, so that there were many professors 

 who could lay claim to the title of geologist, 

 physicist, naturalist or chemist, as they 

 pleased. Men of this type, as well as 

 phj^sicists, chemists and mathematicians, 

 constantly urged the propriety of broaden- 

 ing the scope of the Association so as to ad- 

 mit workers in all branches of science. 



In 1842 the first series of surveys practic- 

 ally came to an end, and the geologists 

 were scattered, many of the younger men 

 being compelled to enter other callings. 

 The Association held its meetings regularly, 

 but its strength diminished, and in 1848 it 

 yielded to the outside pi-essure, becoming 

 merged into the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science, which threw 

 its doors wide open to all entertaining an 

 interest in any branch of science. The 

 first meeting of the new organization had a 

 roll of 461 members. 



Comparatively little was done in geolog- 

 ical work between 1842 and the close of the 

 Civil War. Professor Hall maintained the 

 New York Survey, after a fashion, but at 

 very considerable pecuniary cost to him- 

 self; surveys were carried on in a number 

 of States, but, except in Illinois and Cal- 

 ifornia, they were mostly reconnaissances 

 by small corps ; the annual appropriations 

 in several instances were little more than 

 enough to pay travelling expenses, so that 



