714 



SCIENCE. 



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



gist, and may be found next week, perhaps, 

 examining some of the portions of the State 

 and adjoining States which have not yet 

 been fully investigated. This is so char- 

 acteristic of his energy and activity that it 

 seems fitting to allude to it. 



Prof. Fairchild, Secretary of the Geo- 

 logical Society of America, then presented 

 the following communication from Dr. 

 George M. Dawson, Director of the Geo- 

 logical Survey of Canada : 



It would be inappropriate to permit the 

 occasion of the meeting in commemoration 

 of the sixtieth anniversary of Prof. Hall's 

 work on the New York Survey to pass, 

 without placing on record, on the part of 

 the Geological Survey of Canada, an ex- 

 pression of indebtedness to the distinguished 

 geologist of Albany. Upon his already 

 well founded classification of the fossilifer- 

 ous rocks of the State of New York the 

 investigation of the connected region to the 

 north has from the first been based, practi- 

 cally without change of plan or nomencla- 

 ture. 



Reviewing the geological nomenclature 

 adopted by the Canadian Survey, for the 

 general report of 1863, the Director, Sir 

 William Logan, wrote : 



" But, in addition to such general gui- 

 dance, the Canadian Geological Survey has 

 throughout been under special obligation 

 to Prof. Hall. Soon after Sir William Logan 

 began this Survey, in 1843, he established 

 intimate relations with Prof. Hall and his 

 colleagues of the New York Survey. In 

 1854 Prof Hall took the trouble to appear 

 personally before a select committee of the 

 Legislative Assembly appointed to report 

 on the work already done by the Canadian 

 Survey. In the same year he undertook 

 the examination of the Graptolites of the 

 Quebec group, the results of which were 

 eventually published as the Second Decade 

 of our Paleontological Series. In 1855 he 



assisted in the field in tracing out the De- 

 vonian rocks of the peninsula of Ontario 

 and, for the purposes of the geological map 

 of Canada of 1866, he freely placed all his 

 materials and knowledge of the northern 

 part of the United States at Logan's dis- 

 posal, becoming thus responsible for the 

 delineation of nearly one-half of the com- 

 pleted map." 



There is thus a particular fitness, at the 

 present time, in adding a tribute of ac- 

 knowledgment from Canadian geologists to 

 the numerous felicitations which Prof. Hall 

 will undoubtedly receive on the occasion of 

 this commemoration. 



Prof. John J. Stevenson, of the New 

 York University, called attention to cer- 

 tain unwritten chapters in the history of 

 the New York Survey, and expressed ap- 

 preciation of Prof. Hall's remarkable fidelity 

 to the interests of his Commonwealth, in the 

 ensuing language : 



Some matters, which exhibit most clearly 

 Prof Hall's unselfish devotion to his work, 

 have not been referred to by the preceding 

 speakers. They should not be overlooked. 

 If I speak of them without reserve, it is to 

 be hoped that Prof. Hall will not think me 

 guilty of breach of confidence, for, unless 

 the story be told now, most of us will die 

 without hearing it. He has discovered the 

 fountain of perpetual youth, and his obituary 

 is not likely to be written until after the 

 majority of us have been buried. 



The care of collections made by the Sur- 

 vey was transferred to the Regents of the 

 University in 1845, and Profs. Hall and 

 Emmons were compelled to give up their 

 rooms in the old State hall. Prof. Hall at 

 once erected a building next to his residence 

 to provide accommodations for his work ; 

 this proving too small, he erected a large 

 brick building in 1856 for the same pur- 

 pose ; but no allowance for of&ce rent or 

 other incidental expenses was made by the 



