716 



SCIENCE. 



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



fitted out at his own expense the Meek and 

 Hayden expedition to the Black Hills, 

 which gave us our first accurate knowl- 

 edge of the Rocky Mountain Cretaceous, 

 lu studying the collections obtained during 

 this exploration F. B. Meek prepared him- 

 self for his own great work on the Jura and 

 Cretaceous. 



Prof. LeConte has told us that Prof. Hall 

 led him into geology. When Prof. Hall 

 made his memorable journey to the Missis- 

 sippi Valley, in 1841, he remained for a short 

 time at Cuyahoga Falls, in Mr. Newberry's 

 house. Prof. Newberry was then a youth 

 intelligently interested in collecting coal 

 plants, which abounded in the roof shales 

 of his father's mine, but he had no more 

 intention of becoming a geologist than 

 Prof. LeConte had when with Agassiz he 

 visited Hall. Newberry used to say that 

 Hall came as an angel, but before he went 

 away he had become almost divine ; the 

 youth, before the separation, had made the 

 final determination to be a geologist. 



The paleontological laboratory at Albany 

 has been the training school of great men, 

 and through them the impress of the master 

 remains upon American paleontology. In 

 the fifties the assistant was Meek, whose 

 painstaking and conscientious work in later 

 years enriched the literature of Carbonifer- 

 ous and Cretaceous as that of no other 

 American; C. A. White laid the foundation 

 of his honored career when associated with 

 Hall; Whitefield, whose contributions to 

 Cretaceous and Miocene are already classic, 

 was Hall's assistant for eighteen years ; of 

 the younger men, who have made American 

 science respected, one need mention only 

 Walcott, Beecher and Clarke to prove that 

 the type of work and the standard of ex- 

 cellence have shown no deterioration since 

 the time of Meek, more than forty years ago. 



Several members of the Association and 

 Geological Society made brief addresses, 

 eulogizing Prof. Hall's work and recount- 



ing incidents in his history and the work 

 of the Survey; the address of Dr. H. 

 C. Hovey concerning Hall's remarkable 

 energy and perseverance when, as a youth 

 in eastern Massachusetts, he acquired his 

 geologic education under diflBculties and 

 hardships which would have broken any 

 but the strongest resolution, was particu- 

 larly appropriate and significant. 



Prof. Hall again responded briefly but 

 appreciatively, touching on the remarkable 

 development of geologic science in America 

 since the institution of the official Survey 

 in New York, and expressing the hope that 

 the enrichment of the nation through the 

 encouragement and constant application of 

 research might long continue. 



Vice-president Emerson then closed the 

 session with the following remarks : 



In bringing these interesting services to 

 a close I permit myself to go far afield, be- 

 yond the dry light of science into the softer 

 light of sentiment, and to draw a parallel 

 in the manner of Plutarch. A veteran ge- 

 ologist, a past master in the art and science 

 of geology, Josiah D. Whitney, has just 

 died in New England — a man who was 

 held by many to be of cold and repellant 

 nature. I found him through many years 

 a kind and appreciative friend. He was an 

 enthusiastic and most critical lover of mu- 

 sic. It was his custom to secure yearly 

 two seats for his wife and himself in the 

 front of the balcony in the Music Hall for 

 the grand symphony concerts in Boston. 

 His wife died many years ago, yet every 

 year since then he secured the same seats 

 where he listened to the music, and the 

 seat beside him was always to him filled 

 with her presence. 



Amid the conflicting interests of a great 

 and long-continued public service like that 

 of Prof. Hall diflerences were inevitable, 

 and the sounds of conflict carry further 



