OCTOBEK 18, 1912] 



SCIENCE 



497 



Niagara, the lake and great western plains 

 district — and in its diversity second only 

 to that of California. Beautiful as the 

 surface is with its flora and fauna, its in- 

 terest, significance and utility have been 

 vastly enhanced for man by the thorough 

 understanding of its natural history and 

 its prehistory, from the birth of the Adi- 

 rondacks and Highlands to the final sculp- 

 turing of the state by the glaciers, with all 

 the grand procession of life from the time 

 of the interior paleozoic seas to the plants 

 and animals of our day. For all this deeper 

 knowledge we are indebted to the natural 

 history survey of the state, begun in 1836 

 and practically continuing to the present 

 time. 



The Survey'' was by far the most impor- 

 tant scientific event in the history of our 

 state and one of the most important in the 

 history of the nation.^ It attracted five of 

 the most able geologists and naturalists of 

 the country to its service, Lardner Va- 

 nuxem (1792-1848) from Pennsylvania, 

 Ebenezer Emmons (1799-1843) from 

 Massachusetts, from our state Mather, the 

 geologist, and Torrey, the botanist, James 

 Hall (1811-1898) from Massachusetts. 

 The survey set a high standard not only 

 for the state but for the country; it exem- 

 plified the ideal development, side by side, 

 of pure and applied science. Emmons ob- 

 served : 



The Survey of New York was indebted for its 

 projection and' execution to a movement in science 

 —a movement which pervaded the entire thinking 

 community. It was one of those natural results 

 which mark the progress of truth; and itself was 

 an evidence of the progressive intelligence of the 

 human mind. 



' It was the essay of John A. Dix as Secretary 

 of State (1835) on the Natural Eesources of the 

 State that was the efficient final act before legis- 

 lation was effected, a report prepared at the re- 

 quest of the legislature with reference to the 

 organization of the Natural History Survey. 



* See Merrill 's ' ' Contributions to the History 

 of American Geology," p. 344. 



Hall observed: 



The enlightened spirit in which this Survey was 

 directed, and the munificence with which it has 

 been sustained, have afforded every means re- 

 quired for its completion. The state of New 

 York, which has hitherto established her claim to 

 the dignity of the Empire State, has now added 

 another wreath to her laurels, in becoming the 

 first in the patronage of science, and in the bene- 

 fits thereby bestowed on her citizens, as she is 

 first in resources, in commerce and public im- 

 provements.^ 



Mather observed : 



The State of New York is the first that fully 

 carried out the principle of division of labor in 

 the execution of a survey on the Natural History 

 of the State, under the name of a geological 

 survey. By this arrangement each head of a 

 department of the survey has been enabled to 

 devote his whole time and attention to his own 

 specific duties, without having the entire range of 

 natural science to distract his attention. . . . The 

 survey of New York, unlike that of some of the 

 other states, has been uninfluenced by party and 

 political considerations, and the chief magistrates, 

 during its execution, have been actuated by high 

 and ennobling motives." 



Merrill observes: 



This led to an organization which has left a 

 more lasting impression upon American geology 

 than any that has followed or had preceded it. 

 As fate ordained, the locality was one of the most 

 favorable that could have been selected for work- 

 ing out the fundamental principles of stratigraphic 

 geology; moreover, those appointed to do the work 

 proved equal to the occasion. The New York 

 survey gave to American geology a nomenclature 

 largely its own; it demonstrated above everything 

 else the value of fossils for purposes of correla- 

 tion, and incidentally it brought into prominence 

 one man, James Hall, who was destined to become 

 America's greatest paleontologist.' 



° Hall, James, ' ' Natural History of New York, ' ' 

 Part IV., 4to, New York, Boston, Albany, 1843, 

 p. ix. 



"Mather, Wm. M., "Natural History of New 

 York," Pt. IV., 4to, New York, Boston, Albany, 

 1843, p. X. 



' Merrill, George P., ' ' Contributions to the His- 

 tory of American Geology. ' ' Eept. U. S. National 

 Mus. for 1904, pp. 189-734 (p. 344). 



