THE 
AMERICAN GEOLOGIST. 
Vol. XVII. JANUARY, 1896. No. 1. 
JAMES DWIGHT DANA. 
By Charles E. Beecher, New Haven, Conn. 
[Portrait, Plate I.] 
Professor Dana often said that of all the natural sciences, 
geology most interested him. He explained this preference 
on the ground that it gave him the widest mental scope and 
involved more profound problems than the cognate sciences. 
This disposition in favor of geology finds further and more 
conclusive support in the number of publications he issued 
relating to his favorite science, for out of two hundred titles 
of books and pamphlets written by him, more'than half relate 
to geology alone. Therefore the world’s estimate of the man 
will be as a geologist, notwithstanding the many valid claims 
of zoology and mineralogy, for in these sciences, also, his 
many and extensive works fully entitle him to rank as an au¬ 
thority. 
“Geology is all the sciences combined into one 1 ’ was a re¬ 
mark of his, and gave his interpretation of the nature of his 
many-sided science. And no American has yet dealt with 
the subject from so many points of view. There is, however, 
a manifest tendency or preference shown in his works toward 
generalization and the consideration of the grander theoreti¬ 
cal and philosophical problems relating to the earth’s history. 
The evolution of the continents, the history of the oceanic 
basins, mountain building, the Glacial period, coral islands, 
and volcanoes were subjects which most attracted him, and 
inspired a large number of his separate papers. 
