NOVEMBER 10, 1899.] 
and until the meeting of the American As- 
sociation in Boston last year, our senior 
past president. I refer, of course, to that 
Nestor of American geologists, James Hall. 
It was but natural that he should be called 
to preside over the meeting in the city of 
his chosen residence. The second Albany 
meeting was held late in August, in 1856, 
and must ever remain a memorable one in 
the annals of American science on account 
of the inauguration of the Dudley Observa- 
tory at that time. It isno purpose of mine 
to consider the unfortunate controversy 
that followed that event, involving as it did 
the names and reputation of four great pres- 
idents of our Association—Henry, Bache, 
Pierce and Gould, but no student of the 
history of American science can well ignore 
its existence. 
HALL. 
Hall was born of English parents in Hing- 
ham, Massachusetts, in September, 1811, 
and after the usual schooling was about to 
prepare himself for the medical profession, 
when in 1831 his interest turned toward 
natural science and he entered the Rensse- 
laer School in Troy, where he was graduated 
in 1832. It was there that he came under 
the influence of Amos Eaton, and, like Tor- 
rey, profited by it. His connection with the 
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute did not 
cease on graduation, for he was made an as- 
sistant, and later became professor of geol- 
ogy, which chair he retained until 1876, 
when he was made emeritus. Thus his loy- 
by a formal resolution of the New York Board, with 
other geologists, especially with those engaged in State 
surveys, of which several were then in progress. 
This correspondence led to an agreement for a meet- 
ing of geologists in Philadelphia in the spring of 
1840, and this assemblage, of less than a score of per- 
sons, led to the organization of the Association of 
American Geologists, which, at a later period, on the 
occasion of its third meeting, added the term Natur- 
alists ; and, finally by expanding its title, it became 
the American Association for the Advancement of 
Science.’’ 
SCIENCE. 
671 
alty to his alma mater continued for nearly 
seventy years, and was only severed by his 
death.* 
His real life-work, however, was in con- 
nection with the Geological Survey of New 
York, which was organized and divided 
into four divisionsin 1836. Hall was made 
an assistant geologist and assigned to the 
second division under Ebenezer Emmons. 
A year later he was appointed one of the 
State geologists, and assigned to the charge 
of the fourth district. He began his ex- 
plorations in the western part of the State, 
and from 1838 to 1841 prepared the annual 
reports of progress in the work of his 
district. His final report, issued in 1843, 
as Geology of New York, Part IV., con- 
tains, according to T. Sterry Hunt, a de- 
scription ‘“‘in a very complete and exhaus- 
tive manner the order and succession of the 
strata, their mineralogical and lithological 
characters, and the organic remains which 
they contain.”’} 
Retaining the title of State Geologist, he 
was in 1843 given charge of the paleonto- 
logical work of the State survey, and the 
results of his many years of study have 
been given to the world in the thirteen vol- 
umes of the Natural History of New York, 
which bear the subtitle of Paleontology. 
These volumes have received the well-de- 
served encomium of being ‘‘ the most com- 
prehensive work of the kind which any 
state or country in the world possesses.” { 
The first appropriation—$15,000—that 
was made for this work was with the un- 
derstanding that it should be completed for 
that sum, but again and again as the work 
progressed Hall appealed to the legislature 
for additional funds for its completion, until 
in 1894, it was estimated that the entire 
* Biographical Record of Rensselaer Polytechnic In- 
stitute. 
} T. Sterry Hunt in the American Cylopzedia, Vol, 
VIIL., article James Hall. 
{New York Times, August 9, 1898. 
