BOOK REVIEWS 



Amos Eaton 



Amos Eaton, scientist and educator, 1776-1842. By Ethel M. McAllister. 

 587 pages. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1941. $5.00. 



One by one the early American workers in the botanical field 

 are receiving adequate attention at the hands of enthusiastic and 

 competent biographers. It is nearly a century since Darlington 

 devoted volumes to Baldwin and to the Bartrams and Marshalls; 

 these consisted largely of letters written by and to those worthies, 

 but contained biographical data to which little could be added today. 

 In 1895, the late R. E. Call published a carefully digested record 

 of the work of Rafinesque, which has stood the test of time. Several 

 years ago Andrew D. Rodgers, 3rd, of Columbus, Ohio, became 

 interested in botanical biography, and the first volume of what it 

 is to be hoped may be an extended series from his pen was issued 

 last year. This dealt with the life of Sullivant, and a parallel 

 exhaustive treatment of Torrey's life is expected shortly. Similar 

 in its evidence of thorough research, although not limited to a 

 hingle subject, is S. W. Geiser's "Naturalists of the Frontier." 



And now there lies before us a volume of nearly 600 pages 

 devoted to Amos Eaton. Eaton's was a very forceful character, 

 making a very strong impression upon every one whose life touched 

 his. He was a versatile genius ; first a practicing lawyer and land- 

 agent, later a traveling lecturer on botany, mineralogy, geology, 

 zoology, and chemistry, and finally the founder and head of the 

 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, an educational establishment 

 unique in its scope and methods. Throughout his earlier life he 

 was beset by misfortunes that might have crushed a less buoyant 

 spirit, but toward the end he was able to enjoy in comparative 

 peace the fruits of his long and honorable career. An inscription 

 on a bronze tablet in Amos Eaton Hall, at Rensselaer, sums up 

 his life in these words : "Pioneer, as student, teacher, and author, 

 in agriculture, botany, chemistry, and zoology. Promoter of field 

 work and laboratory practice. Father of American geology. One 

 of the great figures in the history of science in the United States. 

 He directed the destinies of Rensselaer School from its inception 

 until the year of his death." 



Because of his versatility, Eaton is remembered by different per- 

 sons for various reasons. To the botanists of this country, however, 



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