Gerard Troost — Glenn. 79 
in. Not in the least disturbed, Troost removed his coat, 
tied it over the basket and sought to quiet the fears of his 
fellow passengers by the advice, "Gendlemen, only don't let 
dese poor dings pite you unt dey won't hoort you." 
He was also interested in ethnology and found in Ten- 
nessee a most excellent field in which to collect and study 
the relics of the mound-builders and other aborigines, speci- 
mens of whose handiwork are found so abundantly and 
often in such rare and interesting forms in this state. 
Some of the rocks of Tennessee are highly fossiliferous 
and in his geological work, Dr. Troost had abundant oppor- 
tunity for collecting paleontological material. He publish- 
ed a number of articles describing the new species found, and 
lists and descriptions of fossils were added to several of his 
reports as state geologist, as notably the fifth report, which 
is often referred to as "Troost's list." 
Shortly after becoming state geologist he projected a 
translation of Goldfuss" Petrefactenkunde and arranged to 
use the original plates, designing to add, as an appendix, de- 
scriptions and plates of Tennessee fossils. Responses to the 
subscriptions invited were too few to justify the undertaking 
and, the State having declined to aid, the proposed transla- 
tion was reluctantly abandoned. 
Dr. Troost became especially interested in the crinoids 
of Tennessee and finished only a short time before his death 
a monograph describing and figuring 107 species of them. 
This was submitted to the State as an appendix to his tenth 
report but its publication by the State was declined. It was 
then submitted to the Smithsonian Institution, which accept- 
ed it and referred it for revision to a committee consisting 
of Prof. Louis Agassiz and Prof. James Hall. The manu- 
script was received by the Smithsonian Institution July 18, 
1850, and was carried to Albany by Dr. James M. Safiford, 
along with the specimens and placed in the hands of professor 
Hall, who sent them to professor Agassiz for revision. The 
subsequent unfortunate history of this work of Dr. Troost 
may be best given by quoting from professor Charles Schuch- 
€rt's paper "On Siluric and Devonic Cystidea and Camaro- 
"crinus."* 
♦ Smithsonian Misc. Coll., Quart, Issue, vol. 2, pp. 220 and 221, 1904. 
