6 
The American Geologist. 
January, 1896 
he rose into eloquence. His lecture on Corals and Coral Is¬ 
lands, which he often repeated at the earnest desire of suc¬ 
cessive classes of students, will long be remembered with 
peculiar pleasure by all who listened to it.” 
Some mention should be made of the honors received, all of 
which came unsought and were valued chiefly as a recog¬ 
nition and appreciation of work done. Professor Dana was 
awarded the Wollaston medal from the Geological Society of 
London, in 1872, the Copley gold medal from the Royal Society 
of London, in 1877, and the Grand Walker prize from the 
Boston Society of Natural History, in 1892. The degree of 
Ph. 1). was conferred by the University of Munich in 1872 and 
that of LL. D. by Amherst College in 1853, and by Harvard 
and Edinburgh in 1886. He was elected president of the 
American Association for the Advancement of Science in 
1851, and was a corresponding or honorary member of most 
of the leading learned societies of the world. 
The main events of his life have been fully recounted else¬ 
where, and also summaries and estimates of his work have 
been given. The fullest account of his life is the one pub¬ 
lished by Edward S. Dana in the May number of the Ameri¬ 
can Journal of Science for 1895. President Dwight has ably 
described his relations to Yale University in a memorial ad¬ 
dress commemorative of Professors Dana and Whitney, before 
the graduates, June 23d, 1895, and since printed in pamphlet 
form. His work as a geologist is treated at some length by 
Henry S. Williams, in the Journal of Geology, for Sept.-Oct., 
1895, and his characteristics as an educator are discussed by 
O'. C. Farrington in the same journal for April-May, 1895. In 
the present sketch but a brief outline of his life is given. 
James Dwight Dana was born in Utica, New York, Febru¬ 
ary twelfth, 1813. He came to New Haven, Connecticut, in 
1830, and entered Yale College with the class of 1833. Here 
he enjoyed the scientific advantages then offered by the elder 
Silliman. The years from 1833 to 1842 were largely spent in 
travel with the expeditions already mentioned. The following 
thirteen years were mainly devoted to the study of the collec¬ 
tions made by the Wilkes’ expedition, and to the preparation 
of the extensive and classic volumes on the geology, zoophy¬ 
tes, and Crustacea. In 1844 he married Henrietta Frances, 
