THE 
AMERICAN GEOLOGIST 
Vol. XXIII. JUNE, 1899. No. 6 
PROF, BENJAMIN F. MUDGE. 
By S. \V. WiLLiSTON, Lawrence. Kansas. 
(Plate XIL) 
Tliere is no name connected with the early history of Kan- 
sas more widely and generally revered by the people of the 
state than that of the subject of this sketch. A man of ex- 
cellent attainments and scholarly culture, of deep and wide 
sympathies, remarkable enthusiasm and purity of conduct, a 
most skillful and beloved teacher, he has left an impress second 
to that of none other in the early history of Kansas. In the 
senate chamber of the state capitol at Topeka his name occu- 
pies a conspicuous tablet among those of a dozen other illus- 
trious names of Kansas. An honor so exceptional to the mem- 
ory of a modest scientific man finds its explanation in the 
great personal esteem in which he was held, as well as in the 
public work he did for the advancement of the interests of the 
state. 
Benjamin Franklin Mudge was born at Orrington, Maine, 
Aug. II, 1817, and died at^ Manhattan. Kansas, Nov. 21. 187Q. 
He was descended from a family of the characteristic sturdy 
and upright New England type. His grandfather. Enoch 
kludge, was one of the sentinels who guarded the old Province 
House when it was occupied by Washington. His grand- 
mother, Lydia Ingalls Mudge, was the granddaughter of the 
first white settler of Lynn, Mass. His father, James Mudge, 
was for many years one of the most prominent men in Lynn, 
Mass., and a pillar of the Methodist church. "His unbending 
