June 5, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



819 



our children will know more than we know, 

 a society which aims to establish fraternal 

 relations among its members and which 

 recognizes that hearty and continued co- 

 operation is essential if we would succeed 

 in securing those rich rewards of mind and 

 body which past scientific discoveries lead 

 us to expect to find in the unexplored re- 

 gions. G. A. Miller 



TEE FOUNDATION OF THE GEOLOGICAL 

 SOCIETY OF AMESICAi 



There was an " American Geological So- 

 ciety " in 1832 at New Haven, Conn., but it 

 faded out in the glare of the chemical and 

 physical sciences which bloomed brilliantly at 

 that time in New Haven. I have not been able 

 to get any detailed information concerning it. 



About the same time was organized the Geo- 

 logical Society of Pennsylvania, 1832. At a 

 meeting of February 22, 1832, the officers were 

 John R. Gibson, president, Nicholas Biddle, 

 vice-president; Stephen S. Long, vice-presi- 

 dent; Henry S. Tamer, treasurer; Peter A. 

 Browne, corresponding secretary; George Fox, 

 recording secretary. 



This society sent out a circular signed by 

 John Gibson and George Fox announcing the 

 organization and asking assistance in getting 

 information and specimens. The organ of 

 publication was Featherstonhough's Monthly 

 American Journal of Geology. 



This society seems to have aimed to develop 

 the geology of Pennsylvania specially, but its 

 plan of operation covered other states. It 

 came quickly into competition with the Phila- 

 delphia Academy of Science. Its transactions 

 were published in Featherstonhough's Journal, 

 at first, but as that Journal passed through 

 only one volume, it is unknown to me whether 

 the society survived long after the death of the 

 Journal. It appears that there was close sym- 

 pathy between them, and it may be presumed 

 that Mr. Featherstonhough was the instigator 

 and prime mover of both. 



1 Ecsponse by Professor N. H. Wiachell at the 

 banquet of the Geological Society of America, 

 Princeton, N. J., January 1, 1914. 



There may have been other local geological 



societies in the country since 1832 whose re- 

 cords have not been published, but I have not 

 heard of any. 



The period of discussion and gestation prior 

 to the birth of the present Geological Society 

 of America extended from August, 1881, to 

 August, 1888, seven years. 



A few weeks before the 1881 meeting of the 

 American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, at Cincinnati, Professor Chamberlin 

 called on the speaker at his home in Minne- 

 apolis. The Western Society of Naturalists 

 had been organized several years earlier, and 

 one of its annual meetings was announced to 

 take place at some point in the Mississippi 

 Valley. In the conversation which took place 

 in my parlor the suggestion was made by the 

 speaker that the geologists of the western part 

 of the country ought to be organized into a 

 Mississippi Valley Geological Society. Pro- 

 fessor Chamberlin immediately fell in with the 

 idea, and it was agreed by us that the project 

 should be broached at the approaching meeting 

 of the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science at Cincinnati. But this idea 

 expanded, in conversation with geologists at 

 that meeting, into greater dimensions, and it 

 was resolved to organize the geologists of 

 America in a general society. 



The first informal meeting embraced those 

 present at Cincinnati and was held in the room 

 of Section B, at 5 p.m., August 18, 1881. A 

 committee was chosen to draft a constitution, 

 consisting of George C. Swallow, of Missouri; 

 N. H. Winchell, of Minnesota; S. A. Miller, 

 of Ohio; Wm. J. Davis, of Kentucky; John 

 CoUett, of Indiana, and H. S. Williams, of 

 New York. 



On meeting the committee elected Winchell 

 chairman and Williams secretary, and Miller 

 was designated to draft a constitution for the 

 proposed society. This constitution was pre- 

 sented the next day at an adjourned meeting 

 of the committee, but after considerable dis- 

 cussion it was finally decided that it was best 

 to defer more definite action to the next meet- 

 ing of the American Association, and that 

 meantime the committee prepare and distribute 



