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THE 
AMERICAN GEOLOGIST 
Vol. VII. JANUARY, 1891. No. 1. 
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF EBENEZER EMMONS. 
By Jules Makcou, Cambridge, Mass. 
The founder of American palaeozoic stratigraphy and the first 
discoverer of the primordial fauna in any country. Dr. Ebenezer 
Emmons, was born at Middlefield, Massachusetts, May 1G, 1800. 
He received the Puritan education of the communities and fami- 
lies of New England, which influenced him through life, giving 
him an apparent severity and sternness of manners, although in 
reality of a cheerful and playful disposition. Without being in the 
least melancholy, he was distant in his manner, and being deeply 
religious, he enforced in his family strict Puritan discipline. For 
instance, with him ' ' Sunday commenced Saturday evening at sun- 
down and did not end until Monday morning, and it was consid- 
ered sinful to laugh at any time during this interval," as one of 
his children wrote me. 
Emmons prepared for college at Plainfield, Mass. . under Rev. 
Mr. Halleck, and during his vacations his time was mostly spent 
among the Middlefield and Chester rocks, collecting minerals and 
also making collections of insects and plants. He entered Wil- 
liams college at the age of sixteen, and graduated in the class of 
1820. During his stay at college, he became the favorite pupil of 
C. Dewey, the professor of natural history, and a short time after. 
when a medical student at Albany, he became acquainted with the 
geologist, professor Eaton. 
After graduation Dr. Emmons practiced medicine and surgery 
in Berkshire county fifteen years, and during that time performed 
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