10 



REPORT ON THE GEOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT. 



By Josiah D. Whitney, Sturg is- Hooper Pr»fessor of Geologj/. 



During the year a course of lectures on Economical Geology 

 was given. This course (twice a week, lasting through the Col- 

 lege year) was attended by about twenty students, mostly 

 Seniors and candidates for higher degrees. 



The time of the Professor in this department, when not engaged 

 in lecturing or preparing for lectures, has been mostly given to the 

 continuation of the work on the Century Dictionary, which has now 

 reached the end of the letter R, and will be completed as originally 

 planned, and laid before the public, in about eight months. 



The collections of rocks made by and under the direction of 

 the Sturgis-Hooper Professor in former years have been removed 

 to the new Palasontological Rooms and placed in charge of the 

 Professor of Petrography. These collections embrace a wide 

 field, principally representing the western side of North America, 

 Mexico, and parts of Central America. There is also a fine 

 representation of the rocks of San Domingo, the same being the 

 collection made by Mr. W. M. Gabb during his survey of that 

 region. There is also a large collection of rocks made by Mr. 

 Diller, while connected with the Assos expedition. All the speci- 

 mens are of good size and in perfect order. There are also about 

 three thousand slides belonging to these specimens, made in 

 former years at the expense of the Sturgis-Hooper Professor. A 

 portion of these slides are still in possession of Mr. Wadsworth, 

 formerly Instructor in Petrography in this institution. A report 

 on the rocks to which these slides belong is still expected from 

 Mr. Wadsworth, and he has recently promised to have the same 

 in readiness by the year 1892. 



A small amount of field-work has been done by the Sturgis- 

 Hooper Professor in continuation of that carried on in previous 

 years with reference to the surface geology and glacial phenomena 

 of North America, and the general subject of climatic change. 



