700 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 98. 



and expressing full appreciation of the 

 honor shown him by this meeting. 



The two more formal papers, which fol- 

 low, were then presented. 



JAMES HALL, FOUNDER OF AMERICAN 

 STRATIGRAPHY, 



Sixty years ago the budding science of 

 geology received an impulse by which it 

 was started toward the front rank of the 

 sciences. This impulse was a well-consid- 

 ered enactment authorizing a survey of the 

 geology and natural history of the Empire 

 State, Although it was not the first State 

 Geological Survey in the country, this scien- 

 tific survey was among the pioneers, was 

 more broadly planned and brilliantly ex- 

 ecuted than its predecessors, and has long 

 outlived its successors during the same 

 generation. So in the light of events it 

 seems just to say that the Geological and 

 Natural History Survey of New York was 

 the model by which other official institu- 

 tions for research concerning resources were 

 shaped, the exemplar by which the states- 

 men and savants of the country have been 

 inspired and guided. 



The institution of this survey of New 

 York marked an epoch in the development 

 of American science. The sumptuous series 

 of tomes by Torrey and DeKay, Beck and 

 and Emmons, Mather and Vanuxem, Con- 

 rad and Hall and their associates, and the 

 continuation of the series by Hall, are prom- 

 inent among the classics of the New World. 

 Fortunately, too, the treatises are well 

 known ; under an admirably sagacious 

 policy the lawmakers made liberal provi- 

 sion not only for printing, but for distribu- 

 ting the results of the investigations; thus 

 the noble books -emanating from the Survey 

 passed into the hands of citizens and found 

 their way into libraries in other lands, as 

 well as throughout this country, where they 

 stirred emulation to the benefit of many 

 States. Through the difiusion of knowl- 



edge concerning her resources, these docu- 

 ments contributed much toward the enrich- 

 ment of the Commonwealth ; and through 

 the diffusion of exact knowledge and sound 

 method they enriched science and the Na- 

 tion, So the delver among rocks, who 

 works for human weal, may well pause to 

 pay a tribute to the New York pioneers who 

 laid the foundation for scientific agriculture 

 and entomology as well as for paleontology 

 and stratigraphic geology, and at the same 

 time aided in the making of botany and 

 zoology in this country. 



One of the side issues springing from the 

 institution of the New York Survey is es- 

 pecially significant to members of the Amer- 

 ican Association, As the surveys pro- 

 gressed it was found desirable to arrange 

 for conferences among the geologists ; and 

 when similar surveys were confronted with 

 scientific problems in Pennsylvania, New 

 Jersey, Virginia and other States, confer- 

 ences among surveyors were found increas- 

 ingly useful. So in 1840 the geologists at 

 work in these States united in an ' Associa- 

 tion of American Geologists;' and in 1841 

 the same geologists, with their confreres in 

 natural history, reorganized themselves into 

 a society under the name ' Association of 

 American Geologists and Naturalists,' In 

 September, 1847, this body '■ agreed to re- 

 solve itself into the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science , ' Thus the 

 present National organization for the ad- 

 vancement of science originated in the 

 semi-annual conferences among the New 

 York geologists, and may (at least in part) 

 be reckoned among the results flowing from 

 the impulse given to American science by 

 the statesmen of New York in 1836, 



When the of&cial Survey was organized in 

 July, 1836, special prominence was given to 

 the geologic work ; and the State was di- 

 vided into four districts, assigned respec- 

 tively to William W, Mather, Ebenezer 

 Emmons, Timothy A, Conrad and Lardner 



