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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXV. No. 631. 



leled in depth and extent; the lava flood 

 of the northwest, surpassed in area only 

 by that of the Deecan. The exploration 

 of a region so vast and so varied must, of 

 course, have made an important addition 

 to the facts upon which geological science 

 is founded. 



Of these facts, however, I do not propose 

 to give even an outline. I propose rather 

 to ask the question, 'What has our country 

 contributed to the stock of geological 

 ideas ? ' In that classical history of geolog- 

 ical science which Lyell has given us in his 

 'Principles of Geology,' he calls attention 

 to the fact that the share which different 

 nations bore in the early development of 

 geological science was dependent not alone 

 upon the genius of individual workers, but 

 in large measure upon the peculiar geolog- 

 ical conditions of the various countries in 

 which they worked. It was in the pres- 

 ence of the varied mineral wealth of the 

 Erzgebirge that "Werner laid the founda- 

 tions of mineralogy and lithology; the 

 magnificent display alike of igneous and 

 of aqueous agencies in the Highlands of 

 Scotland helped to guide Hutton to those 

 theoretical views which were the beginning 

 of modern dynamical geology; the remark- 

 able completeness with which, for an area 

 so small, the series of stratified formations 

 is developed in England, gave William 

 Smith the opportunity to lay the founda- 

 tions of stratigraphical geology; and the 

 abundant vertebrate fossils in the Paris 

 basin enabled Cuvier to create the science 

 of paleontology. That history of the labors 

 which founded our science in the close of 

 the eighteenth and the beginning of the 

 nineteenth century, suggests the question 

 whether there have been developed any 

 characteristically American ideas in geol-' 



ogy. 



Of course, it must be admitted that 

 there is to-day no department of geolog- 

 ical science which is as characteristically 



American as mineralogy was German, and 

 dynamical geology was Scotch, and strati- 

 graphical geology was English, and paleon- 

 tology was French, a century ago. The 

 conditions of life in colonial days and in 

 the early decades of our national history 

 did not afford the opportunity for fruitful 

 scientific investigation. We had no uni- 

 versities, no libraries, no museums, that 

 could be compared with those of the Old 

 World. The conquest of the land from 

 forest and wild beast and savage man, the 

 achievement of national independence, the 

 beginning of the development of national 

 wealth, necessarily preceded the beginning 

 of scientific investigation. When the time 

 came for scientific work in this country, 

 geology had already become a recognized 

 science. That early stage of incomplete- 

 ness in which one department was devel- 

 oped here and another there, had passed. 

 It was too late for any country to create 

 a new department in geology. I believe, 

 nevertheless, that there have been certain 

 contributions to the stock of geological 

 ideas which are characteristically Amer- 

 ican; and that it is not fanciful, in the 

 spirit of that passage of Lyell which I have 

 cited, to connect these characteristically 

 American ideas with our geological en- 

 vironment. 



I. THE PERMANENCE OF CONTINENTS 



Among the early state geological surveys 

 there were two commenced in 1836 which 

 were destined to have in different ways a 

 surpassing influence upon the development 

 of geological thought. Those were the sur- 

 veys of New York and Pennsylvania. In 

 passing southwestward across New York, 

 from the Adirondacks to the Pennsylvania 

 border, one would traverse substantially 

 the whole series of Paleozoic formations 

 from the Cambrian to the Carboniferous, 

 most of these formations extending across 

 the state in approximately parallel east 



