220 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIII. No. 1367 



what Merrill characterizes as tlie first work 

 on American geology although its title was 

 distinctly mineralogical. I refer to Schoepf's 

 Beitraege zur Mineralogischen Kenntniss von 

 des Oestlichen Theils von Nord Amerika und 

 seine Oebirge, which was published ia Ger- 

 many. 



An event of far-reaching importance upon 

 the development of our science was the ap- 

 pointment ia 1802 of Benjamin Silliman as 

 professor of chemistry, mineralogy, and so 

 forth in Tale University. This appears to 

 have been the first college appointment for 

 mineralogy in America. Silliman began his 

 lectures at Tale in the fall of 1804, and two 

 years later wi-ote a sketch of the "Mineral- 

 ogy of New Haven," which was published in 

 1810 in the Transactions of the Connecticut 

 Academy of Sciences. In those days mineral- 

 ogy and geology had not been sharply differ- 

 entiated, and mineralogy was commonly used 

 as the more comprehensive term. Accord- 

 ingly, this contribution by Silliman is com- 

 monly recognized as the first attempt at a 

 geological description of a region. Mention 

 must also be made here of the " Mineralogical 

 Observations made in the Environs of Boston 

 in 1807 and 1808," by S. Godon, and which 

 were published in the Memoirs of the Amer- 

 ican Academy of Arts and Sciences. 



Interest in the subject was increasing 

 rapidly so that in January, 1810, Dr. Archi- 

 bald Bruce established the American Min- 

 eralogical Journal, the first American publi- 

 cation designed primarily for mineralogists 

 and geologists. He was a native of New Tork 

 City, having been born there in February, 

 17Y7. Although a physician by profession. Dr. 

 Bruce was vitally interested in mineralogy. 

 After completing his medical studies at the 

 University of Edinburgh in 1800, he spent 

 two years visiting important mineral locali- 

 ties and collections in England, France, 

 Switzerland and Italy, so that when he re- 

 turned to New Tork in the fall of 1803 to 

 take up the practise of medicine he brought 

 with him a mineral collection of great value. 



Dr. Bruce's biographer tells us that 

 the ruling passion in Dr. Bruce's mind was love of 



natural science and especially of mineralogy. 

 Toward the study of this science, he produced in 

 his own country a strong impulse, and he gave it 

 no small degree of eclat. His catiinet, composed 

 of very select and well characterized specimens; 

 purchased by himself, or collected in his own pe- 

 destrian or other tours in Europe, or, in many 

 instances, presented to him by distinguished min- 

 eralogists abroad; and both in its extent, and in 

 relation to the then state of this country, very 

 valuable, soon became an object of much atten- 

 tion. That of the late B. B. Perkins, which, at 

 about the same time had been formed by Mr. 

 Perkins in Europe, and imported by him into this 

 country, was also placed in New Tork and both 

 cabinets contributed more than any causes had 

 ever done before to excite in the public mind an 

 active interest in the science of mineralogy. 



And further. 



Dr. Bruce manifested a Strong desire to aid in 

 bringing to light the neglected mineral treasures 

 of the United States. He soon became a focus of 

 information on these subjects. Specimens were 

 sent to him from many and distant parts of the 

 country, both as donations and for his opinion re- 

 specting their nature. In relation to mineralogy 

 he conversed, he corresponded extensively, both 

 vrith Europe and Am.eriea; he performed mineral- 

 ogical tours; he sought out and encouraged the 

 young mineralogists of his own country, and often 

 expressed a wish to see a journal of American 

 mineralogy upon the plan of that of the School of 

 Mines at Paris. This object, as is well known, he 

 accomplished, and in 1810, published the first 

 number of this work. Owing to extraneous causes, 

 it was never carried beyond one volume; but it 

 demonstrated the possibility of sustaining such 

 a work in the United States, and will always be 

 mentioned in the history of American science, as 

 the earliest original purely scientific journal in 

 America. 



It is to be sincerely regretted that the fail- 

 ing health and early death of Bruce caused 

 this journal to be so short-lived. Its con- 

 tinuation would have permitted the mineralo- 

 gists of this country to have looked with 

 pride upon the achievements of our early 

 workers in this direction, for in Europe much 

 progress in the founding of mineralogical 

 journals had already been made. In France 

 there was the Journal des Mines, founded in 



