428 PROCEEDINGS OE THE NEW YORK MEETING 



cided frame of mind. As paleontologist of the surve}^, he had found an 

 accumulation of material that seemed too much for a lifetime. " To 

 describe and figure the new s{)ecies alone would require a great quarto 

 volume with more than one hundred plates," was his moan. The pros- 

 pect so terrified him that soon afterward he threw ofl" the work and 

 returned to Philadelphia. Mather ..was already in Ohio and Vanuxem 

 had determined to retire to his farm. Hall and Emmons remained in 

 Albany, desirous of retaining connection with state work that they might 

 continue their studies. They were employed for a time in arranging the 

 mass of material gathered during the survey work. While thus engaged, 

 they discovered that the paleontology would prove even more important 

 than Conrad had imagined. Each determined to be the paleontologist. 

 The contest was hardly what might be termed friendl}^, but the outcome 

 was that the paleontology was assigned to Hall, while Emmons was 

 commissioned to write up the agriculture, and was appointed custodian 

 or curator of the collections. But the new officials had hardly settled 

 down to hard work when the legislature transferred the collections, or 

 the cabinet of natural history, to the care of the Board of Regents of 

 the University of the State of New York. The secretary of that board 

 removed Doctor Emmons from the curatorship and thrust both of the 

 geologists out of their quarters in the old State house. Soon afterward 

 appropriations for the paleontology were cut off, except, curiously enough, 

 those for the engraving, which were not opposed, but rather favored. At 

 that time was begun a contest between Professor Hall and the board of 

 regents which lasted for a number of j^ears. When the executive officer 

 of the board was changed the relations became friendl}'' again, and so 

 remained for many years. 



Expelled from the State house, Professor Hall at once erected a build- 

 ing adjoining his residence, where his work was carried on until 1852, 

 when he removed to a larger house. In 1857, after the state had begun 

 appropriations for collecting fossils, he eretted a very commodious brick 

 building, in which the work was done until within a few years of his 

 death. The first volume of the Paleontology was published in 1847 and 

 made a notable impression, though the mechanical execution of the work, 

 as well as the work itself, was far below the standard of later years. The 

 second volume, published in 1852, was a great improvement upon the 

 first, both in matter and manner, but prior to the appearance of the 

 latter volume the state had abandoned further prosecution of the work. 

 Its magnitude had not been foreseen at the beginning, but before the 

 second volume was completed it was clear that the extent could hardly 

 be foretold. This phase was emphasized so strongh^b}' Professor Hall's 

 chief opponent that frugal legislators were induced, in 1850, to cut off all 



