12s The American Geologist. February, 1394 
his studies he went to Paris and soon made himself known for his in- 
telligence. He was attached to the Paris Observatory as "secretaire 
bibliothecaire" in 1817. He was naturalized in France in 1819 and en- 
tered the Bureau of Longitudes in 1823. He received the Cross of the 
Legion of Honor in 1825. He was at one time both professor of mathe- 
matics in the college of Louis le Grand and Examiner for the Naval 
School. Ruined financially by the depreciation in the value of stocks 
caused by the Revolution of 1830, he sailed from Brest for the United 
States in 1831. 
In a former number of this journal* is an account of his work in this 
country. It is not necessary to repeat the facts there given. The fol- 
lowing details are in addition. 
Among his writings which were not mentioned in the former sketch 
are: "Sur le mesure d' un arc du parallele moyen entre le pole et 
1" equateur," Paris, 1820: "Cours de mathematiques a I' usage de la ma- 
rine," 2 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1830; "Essay on Meteorological observations, 
printed by order of the War Department,'" Washington, 1839. 
He presented some remarks on his observations in the west before the 
Association of Geologists in 1813, the substance of which is given in the 
American Journal of Science, volume xlv, pp. 153 and 323. The first is 
on the Cretaceous formation of the upper Missouri river; the second is 
on the glacial theory of Agassiz. In this latter paper he expressed his 
astonishment that Agassiz had overlooked the labors of his predecessors 
in the same field, and particularly of M. de Saussure, who spent forty 
years in investigating all the glacial phenomena of the Alps and had 
nearly exhausted the subject. It was, he said, impossible to conceive 
how the effects ascribed by M. Agassiz to the moving glaciers could 
with propriety belong to them. The Mer de glace was an immense ice- 
vault, under which, as in a grotto, one could walk even for twenty 
miles, while on its bottom runs a stream of water. How, then, could the 
bottom of the Mer de glace be supposed to score and furrow the rocks in 
its path? Moreover, M. Agassiz had overlooked the true effect of the 
expansion of the ice. He had ascribed to it the downward movement of 
the glacier, while De Saussure long ago proved that this motion was due 
to gravity only. Agassiz also overlooked the influence of the direction 
and shape of the valleys on the direction of the "diluvial furrows.'' 
J. X. Nicollet died in Washington on Monday morning, September 11, 
1813, at the age of fifty-seven. He left in manuscript a dictionary of 
Indian dialects and a collection of Indian songs. In various United 
States publications his name is given as "I. N. Nicollet," while in the 
histories of Minnesota it is printed "Jean N. Nicollet," thus confusing 
it with the earlier explorer. They were both remarkable men and their 
memory is worthy of being perpetuated. Horace V. Winchell,. 
Minneapolis, Jan. n. t$94. 
Spire-bearing Genera of the Pal.eozoic Brachiopoda. Palaeon- 
tology of New York, vol. viii, pt. ii, fascicle i, pp. 1-176, with 155 wood 
*Jean N. Nicollet. By N. II. Winchell. American Geologist, vol. vm, pp. :;4:i-:;:>:J. 
Dec. 1891. 
