4-1: PROCEEDINGS OF THE AXX ARBOR MEETING 



55 and 65 million years ago. Certain Precambrian formations are as 

 old as 1,400 million years, and before this the earth had a long and com- 

 plicated history. "The depths of geologic time leave us face to face with 

 the imknown." "^^ 



CONCLUSIOX 



Although Barrell worked on several different aspects of geology, there 

 was one fundamental, dominant note in all he did. He was primarily 

 striving at the elucidation of the history of the earth. His early training 

 as an engineer supplied him with an appropriate foundation in mathe- 

 matics, physics, mechanics, and astronomy and impressed upon him the 

 engineer's aim for quantitative, not merely qualitative, expression. Bar- 

 rell studied sedimentation, but he did not stop with ascertaining the con- 

 ditions under which certain formations were deposited. He undertook 

 on one hand a study of the strength of the earth's crust, the constitution 

 of the interior of the earth, the age of the earth, and the origin of the 

 earth and the solar system. On the other hand he sought to trace the 

 effects of physical agencies on the evolution of organisms. It was, there- 

 fore, not so much because of this one thing or that one thing that Barrell 

 is preeminent : it was rather because he grasped many things and by his 

 powerful synthetic mind focused them on the great problems of eartli 

 history, and made contributions so monumentally important that he 

 justly deserves appraisal as one of the world's great geologists. 



MEMORIAL OF JAMES E. TODD ^ 

 BY FRANK LEVERETT 



James Edward Todd, one of the charter members of our Society, Avas 

 born at Clarksfield, Ohio, February 11, 1846. His father. Reverend John 

 Todd, a Congregational minister, took up pioneer work in southwestern 

 Iowa in 1850. and it was in these pioneer surroundings that the subject 

 of our sketch grew up. The nearest store was 20 miles away, and the 

 grist-mill still farther. Hulled corn was long the main diet in his child- 

 hood. Economy and industry were made imperative and habits of ease 

 or indolence were not permitted. His father was one of the founders of 

 Tabor College, at Tabor, Iowa, and it was there that young Todd received 

 his early education. From there he went to Oberlin College, where he 

 graduated in 1867. He then attended Union Theological Seminary in 

 Xew York, in 1867 to 1869, and returned to Oberlin to obtain the deoree 



« Op. cit. 



^ Manuscript received by the Secretarj- of the Society February 2. 192o. 



