James Dwight Dana .— Beecher. 
3 
Seldom has it been the good fortune of a young man to be 
placed in actual contact with such varied aspects of na¬ 
ture. At that time many of the islands were almost unknown, 
and few of them had felt the disturbing influences of modern 
civilization, so that, practically, everything was new and of¬ 
fered the richest opportunity for study and observation. In 
this connection it may be recalled that quite a number of 
notable men of science of this century have had similar nat¬ 
ural instruction through extensive travel. Darwin, just before, 
had traversed some of the same regions and independently 
both worked out the same theory to explain the origin of coral 
islands. Humboldt, Huxley, Haeckel. Agassiz, Moseley, and 
Thompson had similar opportunities for extensive observation, 
and their works show the influence of this most liberal kind 
of education. 
It must not be imagined that all Dana’s geological work 
was of a general nature. He spent much time, and published 
numerous papers embodying the results of his investigations 
in the field, on the glacial phenomena of New England, the 
geology of the New Haven region and the questions involved 
in the Taconic controversy which led him into a detailed ex¬ 
amination of the geology of Berkshire county, Massachusetts, 
and Westchester county, New York. His zoological works on 
the Crustacea and Zoophytes are more extensive than on any 
other subject, but they were not carried through life in the 
same active manner as his geological studies. 
One of the most striking qualities of the man, indicating 
his greatness as well as his mental activity and vigor, was the 
ability to keep in adjustment with the progress of much of 
the leading thought during the long and revolutionary period 
in which he lived. Those who knew him personally or as a 
correspondent probably realize this to a greater degree than 
those who judged of his opinions only through the periodic 
publication of his larger works. Nearly all the debatable and 
unsettled problems of geology were constantly uppermost in 
his mind dnd received the test of each new discovery of fact 
as soon as announced. The gradual advance and establish¬ 
ment of the doctrine of evolution in opposition to special cre¬ 
ation has probably required a greater mental elasticity and 
(equilibration on the part of thevmen who bridge the transition 
