March 11, 1921] 



SCIENCE 



223 



its doors to students a collection of approxi- 

 mately 5,000 entries was available. 



It will also be recalled that in 1807 Yale 

 University acquired the Perkins collection, 

 and that in 1825 the Gibbs collection also 

 became the property of that institution. In 

 discussing the growth of mineralogy in this 

 country from 1818 to 1918, Ford says. 



There is no doubt but that the presence at this 

 early date of this large and unusual mineral eol- 

 leetion had a great influence upon the develop- 

 ment of mineralogical science at Yale and in the 

 country at large. 



From the foregoing discussion it is quite 

 obvious that mineralogy played a very im- 

 portant role in the development of higher edu- 

 cation during the first half of the nineteenth 

 century. It was one of the first sciences to 

 find a place in the curricula of our colleges 

 and universities. Its devotees founded the 

 first general scientific journals, one of which 

 has continued uninterruptedly up to the 

 present time and is held in high esteem the 

 world over. Mineralogists were also among 

 the fijst to recognize the need and value of 

 national organizations, and were important 

 factors in the founding of our most general 

 scientific society, the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science. 



THE PERIOD OF EXPANSION, 1850-1900 



The second half of the nineteenth century 

 was a period of rapid development in higher 

 education. Colleges and universities sprang 

 up all over the United States in quick suc- 

 cession, especially in the mid and far west. 

 It was also a period in which mineralogy and 

 geology were applied practically on a very 

 large scale by the federal and state surveys. 

 The demand for competent geologists became 

 very great, so that more emphasis was now 

 placed upon geology than upon mineralogy 

 by the institutions of higher learning. How- 

 ever, during the last two decades of the cen- 

 tury the need of specialization became im- 

 perative and the number of scientifically 

 trained mineralogists increased materially. It 

 was during this period also that petrography 



and economic geology began to be recognized 

 as independent disciplines. 



ISTot only did the expansion of our surveys 

 and the development of our vast mineral re- 

 sources, but also the fostering of graduate 

 work by our older and larger universities, de- 

 mand adequately trained specialists. It will 

 be recalled that during the eighties and early 

 nineties comparatively large numbers of 

 Americans went to Europe and especially to 

 Germany, to acquire the latest methods in 

 petrography and mineralogy. 



After the Association of American Geolo- 

 gists and Naturalists in 1847 voted to resolve 

 that organization into the American Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science, geology 

 participated along with other sciences in the 

 activities of the association, and with geog- 

 Taphy formed what is known as Section 

 •E. Although at first the American Asso- 

 ciation served the interests of the geologists 

 rather satisfactorily, nevertheless with the 

 rapid growth of the Association the oppor- 

 tunities for meetings of a strictly scientific 

 character became fewer and the need of a 

 separate organization began to be felt. Ac- 

 cording to Alexander Winchell an independ- 

 ent organization was first openly agitated by 

 the geologists assembled at the meeting of the 

 American Association at Cincinnati in 1881. 

 Although a committee was appointed, which 

 canvassed the situation and reported favorably 

 upon the organization of a separate society 

 and the establishment of a geological maga- 

 zine, no definite action was taken at the next 

 meeting. 



However, this question continued to be con- 

 sidered quite regularly at successive annual 

 meetings of the Association and the publication 

 of the American Geologist was begun in Min- 

 neapolis in January, 1888. Again on August 

 14, 1888, in Cleveland, it was resolved that the 

 formation of an American Geological Society 

 was desirable, and organization plans were 

 made. The first meeting was held in Ithaca 

 on December 27, 1889, with a membership of 

 137. This organization, officially known as the 

 Geological Society of America, was from the 

 beginning independent and in no way subor- 



