November 13, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



701 



Vanuxem, James Hall being Assistant 

 Geologist. Within a y ear the districts were 

 redefined and the assignments were changed 

 by appointing Mr, Conrad Paleontologist, 

 transferring Mr. Vanuxem to the Third Dis- 

 trict, and placing Mr. Hall in charge of the 

 work in the Fourth District.* These as- 

 signments were continued until the primary 

 survey was completed and the four formal 

 reports on geology were prepared for publi- 

 cation. Subsequently other assignments 

 were made, including the transfer of Hall 

 to paleontology ; and this work was con- 

 tinued, with minor modifications in the law, 

 and remained constantly in charge of the 

 vigorous geologist of the western district 

 from the middle of the fourth decade to the 

 middle of the ninth decade of the century. 

 So this summer is the sixtieth season of 

 the work of Prof. James Hall as Geologist 

 and Paleontologist in charge of the Surveys 

 in ISTew York. This period of State service 

 in behalf of science is beyond all parallel 

 in the annals of geology in America, if not 

 in the world. One of the pioneers in 

 American earth science, a student in the 

 days of William Smith, Ehoderick Murchi- 

 son and other makers of the science, Hall 

 has survived his early scientific associates, 

 even the contemporaries of his prime, and 

 remains the sole representative of the first 

 generation of American geologists. Grow- 

 ing up, as he did, among the first Western 

 readers of the great stone book, and con- 

 tinuing, as he has, down to the present day 

 in active research. Hall's biography is the 

 history of American geology. 



While his contributions to the science of 

 geology have been many and varied, cer- 

 tain lines of Prof. Hall's work are promi- 

 nent ; among these his work in stratigraphy 

 and nomenclature, his contributions to 

 paleontology, his researches concerning the 

 principles of deformation, his work in geo- 



* [Second Annual Eeport of the New York Geolo- 

 gical Survey,] Asserably Document 200, 1838, p. 2. 



logic mapping, and his contributions to 

 knowledge of economic resources, are espe- 

 cially noteworthy. 



It is not easy, even if it were needful, to 

 distinguish Hall's work in stratigraphy and 

 nomenclature from that of his early asso- 

 ciates ; it suffices to observe that it is in 

 the Fourth District especially that the 'ISTew 

 York System ' has been found so clearly 

 defined and justly applied as to survive the 

 changes due to later research ; though one 

 who has had occasion critically to study all 

 of the ISTew York reports, for the purpose of 

 platting the recorded observations on a 

 geologic map, may be permitted to say that 

 the voluminous report on the Fourth Dis- 

 trict is notable as bearing on every page 

 inherent evidence of accurate and compre- 

 hensive work. Time has shown the wisdom 

 of the founders of the ' ]^ew York System.' 

 The definition of formations was a singu- 

 larly successful application of the princi- 

 ples developed by William Smith in Eng- 

 land, and many of the major and most of 

 the minor divisions recognized in 1837-43 

 are accepted to-da3\ Other classifications 

 of rocks came into vogue, both earlier and 

 later, yet they have not endured, while 

 that of ]S[ew York, especially that of the 

 western district, has been tried and found 

 not wanting. The nomenclature adopted 

 was equally happy. Half of the names 

 applied in the western district are in cur- 

 rent use, and there is reason for opining 

 that, as detailed surveys are completed, 

 more than half of the others will be re- 

 vived. Thus, although the term ' New 

 York System ' has dropped out of use save 

 in descriptive sense, while the ' Ontario 

 division' is forgotten, and while the ' Cham- 

 plain division ' and ' Erie division ' have 

 been abandoned and the names re-employed 

 in other connections, the Trenton, Utica, 

 Hudson Eiver, Oneida, Medina, Clinton, 

 ]S"iagara, Onondaga, Oriskany, Schoharie, 

 Marcellus, Hamilton, TuUy, Genesee, Port- 



