322 Geo. H. Cook.— Smock. 
county, New Jersey, January 5, 1818. His early education 
was obtained in the country school of his native town. After 
leaving school he was for a time engaged in surveying the line 
of the Morris and Essex railroad. In 1838 he entered the 
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, Avhere he was grad- 
uated in 1839. In that institution he came under the instruc- 
tion of Amos Eaton and acquired that love for the natural 
sciences with which that famous teacher inspired all who 
heard him. After graduation he was employed as tutor, then 
as adjunct professor, and from 1842 to 1846, as senior professor 
in the Institute. Removing to Albany he was engaged for a 
short time in business. In 1848 he entered the faculty of the 
Albany Academy as professor of mathematics and natural 
philosophy, and in 1851 was made principal, which place he 
filled until 1853 when he was called to the chair of chemistry 
and natural sciences in Rutgers College. He was elected 
vice president of the college in 1864, and in 1867 agriculture 
was added to his professorial work. The subsequent addi- 
tional professorship in chemistry and geology relieved him of 
a part of his college duties, and from 1880 on he retained 
geology and agriculture. Rutgers Scientific School and the 
State College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, established 
at New Brunswick, owe their existence and their prosperity 
largely to his earnest and persevering efforts in securing the 
congressional grant of public lands for the support of state 
■colleges, and to his successful appeals for the legislative act 
in behalf of the Rutgers Scientific School. The education of 
the farmer and the promotion of agriculture were subjects of 
much thought and, after years of patient and unwearied 
■effort, he rejoiced in the establishment of a state agricultural 
■experiment station at New Brunswick and in connection with 
the state college. It was organized in 1880 with him as its 
director. His wise and economic administration brought 
increased appropriations and, in 1888, a special gift for the 
•erection of a large and well planned building to be devoted to 
scientific investigations and experiments for the benefit of 
agriculture. No other state agricultural experiment station 
in our country has reached so large a part of the farming pop- 
ulation of the state in which it is located. Its hold on the far- 
mer is the evidence of the valuable work it has done for him. 
Dr. Cook's official position in the geological survey of New 
