NOVEMBER 3, 1899.] 
System of Mineralogy, first published in 
1837 as a volume of 580 pages, passed toa 
second edition in 1844, a third in 1850, a 
fourth in 1854, and a fifth in 1866, when it 
had increased to 827 pages. The later edi- 
tions were prepared by his son. To these 
must be added four editions of his smaller 
Manual of Mineralogy, the last of which ap- 
peared in 1887, and was a duodecimo vol- 
ume of 518 pages. Of his mineralogy, Pow- 
ell says : 
Thus he was the first to give us a system of 
mineralogy ; but his work in this field did not 
end at that stage. He still pursued his inves- 
tigations, collecting from many fields and draw- 
ing from the collections of many others in many 
lands, until at last he developed a new system 
of mineralogy, placing the science on an endur- 
ing basis. This accomplishment alone was also 
worthy of a great man, and by it anew science 
was organized on a mathematical, chemical and 
physical basis.* 
The broader field of geology became his 
after his return from the exploring expedi- 
tion, and he published his Manual of Geol- 
ogy in 1862. Of this work one of his col- 
leagues says: 
The treatment of strata and fossils from a 
chronological point of view as historical geology 
is a characteristic feature of this manual. The 
growth and development of the earth, its con- 
tinents and seas, and the progress in the organic 
life on its surface, were thus unified into a 
special department of geology, the history of 
the earth and of its inhabitants, which was by 
other authors dealt with as formational, strati- 
graphic, or paleontologic geology. 
He prepared four editions of this work, 
the last of which appeared early in 1895, 
shortly before his death. As with his 
mineralogy he prepared an elementary text- 
book of geology, of which two editions 
* Memorial address on James Dwight Dana before 
the Scientific Societies of Washington, by John W. 
Powell, Sct=ENcE, New Series, Vol. III., February 7, 
1896, p. 183. 
SCIENCE. 635 
were published. Concerning his valuable 
work on geology, Powell said: 
So Dana’s Geology is not only a text-book of 
geology, but itis the hand-book for all National, 
State and local geologists, and all students in 
the field. It is the universal book of reference 
in that department of science. Other text- 
books haye been developed but no other hand- 
book for America. It isa vast repository of 
facts, but all arranged in such a manner as to 
constitute a geologic philosophy. It is on every 
worker’s table and is carried in the kit of every 
field observer. It has thus become the standard 
to which all scientific research is referred, and 
on which geologic reports are modeled.* 
Besides the foregoing, Dana was the au- 
thor of Coral Reefs and Islands, which he 
enlarged and published later as Corals and 
Corals Islands; of The Geological Story 
Briefly Told; The Characteristics of Vol- 
canoes; and The Four Rocks of the New 
Haven Region. 
In conclusion Powell says of him: 
Dana as a zoologist was great, Dana asa 
mineralogist was greater, but Dana as a geolo- 
gist was greatest, and Dana in all three was a 
a philosopher ; hence, Dana’s great work is en- 
during. + 
The ninth meeting of the American As- 
sociation was held in Providence, Rhode 
Island, and over that meeting John Torrey, 
‘chief of American botanists,’{ presided. 
TORREY. 
Torrey was born in New York City in 
1796, and was the son of Captain William 
Torrey, of the Continental army, from 
whom he inherited the much-prized eagle 
* Powell, op. cit., p. 184. 
fT Idem, p. 184. 
{ Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of 
Sciences, Washington, 1886, Vol. II., p. 267. John 
Torrey, by Asa Gray. In addition to the foregoing a 
sketch of Torrey accompanied by an engraved portrait 
on wood is contained in the Popular Science Monthly, 
Vol. III., p. 632. Also his portrait can be found in 
a History of the New York Academy of Science, by 
Herman Leroy Fairchild, New York, 1887. 
