MEMOIR OF JAMES HALL 429 



appropriations for current expenses and salaries, though for some reason 

 which does not appear on the surface the engraving contract was cared 

 for and a small appropriation was made for drawings. 



The state abandoned the work, but Professor Hall did not. Confident 

 that it would be resumed, he retained his assistants for a time and con- 

 tinued the collecting and drawing until 1855, paying practically the 

 whole cost. Despairing then of any assistance from the state, he ac- 

 cepted the proposition, made years before, by Sir William E. Logan, 

 that he go to Canada as paleontologist with the expectation of becoming 

 head of the survey u[)on Sir William's retirement in the near future. 

 But, during the five years. Professor Hall had exhausted his cash re- 

 sources and had incurred obligations which were pressing. A consider- 

 able sum of money was needed to pay his debts and to take him to 

 Canada. 



There was nothing available except the Ohio land, which he had kept, 

 not to be sold until advancing years should render him unable to work- 

 He always maintained that the property would be very valuable before 

 his sixtieth birthday ; but the sale had to be made, and he accepted an 

 offer of S 15,000, which enabled him to pay the obligations incurred to 

 continue the work. Ten years afterward the property was valued at 

 $200,000. Had it not been for this sacrifice, the " Paleontology of the 

 State of New York " would have been closed with the second volume, 

 in 1852. 



In 1855 the Honorable Elias LeaveuAvorth, then recently elected Sec- 

 retary of State, learned that Professor Hall had determined to go to 

 Canada. Realizing that to abandon the work in its incomplete condi- 

 tion would be discreditable to the state, he urged Professor Hall to 

 delay, and called a meeting at his house to consider the matter. That 

 meeting was attended by Professor J. D. Dana, Professor Agassiz, Sir 

 William E. Logan, Mr Blatchford, and, among others, by Dr Beck, then, 

 as for many years previously. Secretary of the Board of Regents. At 

 this conference a plan for continuing the work was prepared, Professor 

 Hall consenting to remain in case the legislature confirmed the agree- 

 ment. The influence of Mr Leavenworth and Mr Blatchford prevailed 

 with the legislature, and Professor Hall remained to carry on the work 

 for 43 years. 



I have thought well to dwell somewhat in detail upon these matters. 

 Professor Hall was severely criticised because of the long intervals be- 

 .tween the appearance of his second, third, and fourth volumes. Much 

 of the criticism was due, no doubt, to the ignorance of the critics, who 

 appear to have imagined that drawings of fossils can be made as rapidly 

 as sketches of scenery, and that the writing of descriptions involves no 



