A century of science in America

by Unknown

In 1802 Benjamin Silliman was appointed professor of chemistry and mineralogy in Yale College. After the Gibbs Collection was brought to America he spent much time with the owner in studying it and, as a result, Col. Gibbs offered to place the collection on exhibition in New Haven if suitable quarters would be furnished by the college. This was quickly accomplished and in 1810, 1811 and 1812 the collection was transferred to New Haven and arranged for exhibition by Col. Gibbs. Later, in 1825, it was purchased by Yale and served as the nucleus about which the present Museum collection of the University has been formed. There is no doubt but that the presence at this early date of this large and unusual mineral collection had a great influence upon the development of mineralogical science at Yale, and in the country at large.

In the year 1810 Dr. Archibald Bruce started the “American Mineralogical Journal,” the title page of which reads in part as follows: “The American Mineralogical Journal, being a Collection of Facts and Observations tending to elucidate the Mineralogy and Geology of the United States of America, together with other Information relating to Mineralogy, Geology and Chemistry, derived from Scientific Sources.” Unfortunately the health of Dr. Bruce failed, and the journal lasted only through its first volume. It had, however, “been most favorably received,” as Silliman remarks, and it was felt that another journal of a similar type should be instituted. Such a suggestion was made by Col. Gibbs to Professor Silliman in 1817 and this led directly to the founding of the American Journal of Science in 1818 under the latter’s editorship. Although the field of the Journal at the very beginning was made broad and inclusive it has always published many articles on mineralogical subjects. Three of its editors-in-chief have been eminent mineralogists, and without question it has been the most important single force in the development of this science in the country. More than 800 well-established mineral species have been described since the year 1800, of which approximately 150 have been from American sources. More than two-thirds of the articles describing these new American minerals have first appeared in the pages of the Journal. While the description of new species is not always the most important part of mineralogical investigation, still these figures serve to show the large part that the Journal has played in the growth of American mineralogy.

It is convenient to review the progress in Mineralogy according to the divisions formed by the different series, consisting of fifty volumes each, in which the Journal has been published. These divisions curiously enough will be found to correspond closely to four quite definite phases through which mineralogical investigation in America has passed. The first series covered the years from 1817 to 1845. In looking through these volumes one finds a large number of mineralogical articles, the work of many contributors. The great majority of these papers are purely descriptive in character, frequently giving only general accounts of the mineral occurrences of particular regions. However, a number of articles dealing with more detailed physical and chemical descriptions of rare or new species also belong in this period. Among the mineralogists engaged at this time in the description of individual species, none was more indefatigable than Charles U. Shepard. He was graduated from Amherst College in 1824, at the age of twenty. In 1827 he became assistant to Professor Silliman in New Haven, continuing in this position for four years. Later he was a lecturer in natural history at Yale, and was at various times connected with Amherst College and the South Carolina Medical College at Charleston. His articles on mineralogy were very numerous. He assigned a large number of new names to minerals, although with the exception of some half dozen cases, these have later been shown to be varieties of minerals already known and described, rather than new species. In spite, however, of his frequent hasty and inaccurate decision as to the character of a mineral, his influence on the progress of mineralogy was marked. His great enthusiasm and ceaseless industry throughout a long life could not help but make a definite contribution to the science. His “Treatise on Mineralogy” will be spoken of in a later paragraph. He died in May, 1886, having published his last paper in the Journal in the previous September.

The first book on mineralogy published in America was that by Parker Cleaveland, professor of mathematics, natural philosophy, chemistry and mineralogy in Bowdoin College. The first edition was printed in 1816 and an exhaustive notice is given in the first volume of the Journal (1, 35, 308, 1818); a second edition followed in 1822. In his preface Cleaveland gives an interesting discussion concerning the two opposing European methods of classifying minerals. The German school, led by Werner, classified minerals according to their external characters while the French school, following Haüy, put the emphasis on the “true composition.” Cleaveland remarks that “the German school seems to be most distinguished by a technical and minutely descriptive language; and the French, by the use of accurate and scientific principles in the classification or arrangement of minerals.” He, himself, tried to combine in a measure the two methods, basing the fundamental divisions upon the chemical composition and using the accurate description of the physical properties to distinguish similar species and varieties from each other.

Cleaveland’s mineralogy was followed nearly twenty years later by the Treatise on Mineralogy by Charles U. Shepard already mentioned. The first part of this book was published in 1832. This contained chiefly an account of the natural history classification of minerals according to the general plan adopted by Mohs, the Austrian mineralogist. The second part of the book, which appeared in 1835, gave the description of individual species, the arrangement here being an alphabetical one throughout. Subsequent editions appeared in 1844, 1852 and 1857.

James Dwight Dana was graduated from Yale College in 1833 at the age of twenty. Four years later (1837) he published “The System of Mineralogy,” a volume of 580 pages. The appearance of this book was an event of surpassing importance in the development of the science. The book, of course, depended largely upon the previous works of Haüy, Mohs, Naumann and other European mineralogists, but was in no sense merely a compilation from them. Dana, particularly in his discussion of mathematical crystallography, showed much original thought. He also proved his originality by proposing and using an elaborate system of classification patterned after those already in use in the sciences of botany and zoology. He later became convinced of the undesirability of this method of classification and abandoned it entirely in the fourth edition of the System, published in 1854, substituting for it the chemical classification which, in its essential features, is in general use to-day. The System of Mineralogy started in this way in 1837, has continued by means of successive editions to be the standard reference book in the subject. The various editions appeared as follows: I, 1837; II, 1844; III, 1850; IV, 1854; V, 1868; VI, 1892 (by Edward S. Dana).

J. D. Dana also contributed numerous mineralogical articles to the first series of volumes of the Journal. It is interesting to note that they are chiefly concerned with the more theoretical aspects of the subject, in fact they constitute practically the only articles of such a character that appeared during this period. Among the subjects treated were crystallographic symbols, formation of twin crystals; pseudomorphism, origin of minerals in metamorphosed limestones, origin of serpentine, classification of minerals, etc.

The volumes of the Second Series of the Journal covered the years from 1846 through 1870. This period was characterized by great activity in the study of the chemical composition of minerals. A number of skilled chemists, notably J. Lawrence Smith, George J. Brush and Frederick A. Genth, began about 1850 a long series of chemical investigations of American minerals. Very few articles during this time paid much attention to the physical properties of the minerals under discussion, practically no description of optical characters was attempted, and only occasionally were the crystals of a mineral mentioned. J. D. Dana was almost the only writer who constantly endeavored to discover the fundamental characters and relationships in minerals. He published many articles in these years which were concerned chiefly with the classification and grouping of minerals, with similarities in the crystal forms of different species, with relations between chemical composition and crystal form, chemical formulas, mineral nomenclature, etc. The following titles give an idea of the character of the more important series of articles by him which belong to this category: On the isomorphism and atomic volume of some minerals (9, 220, 1850); various notes and articles on homœomorphism of minerals (17, 85, 86, 210, 430; 18, 35, 131, 1854); on a connection between crystalline form and chemical constitution, with some inferences therefrom (44, 89, 252, 398, 1867).

A great many new mineral names were proposed between 1850 and 1870, a large number of which have continued to be well-recognized species. But there was also a tendency, which has not wholly disappeared even now, to base a mineral determination upon insufficient evidence, and to propose a new species with but little justification for it. In this connection a quotation from the introduction by J. D. Dana to the 3rd Supplement to the System of Mineralogy (4th edition) published in the Journal (22, page 246, 1856), will be of interest. He says:

“It is a matter of regret, that mineral species are so often brought out, especially in this country, without sufficient investigation and full description. It is not meeting the just demands of the science of mineralogy to say that a mineral has probably certain constituents, or to state the composition in a general way without a complete and detailed analysis, especially when there are no crystallographic characters to afford the species a good foundation. We have a right to demand that those who name species, should use all the means the science of the age admits of, to prove that the species is one that nature will own, for only such belong to science, and if enough of the material has not been found for a good description there is not enough to authorize the introduction of a new name in the science. The publication of factitious species, in whatever department of science, is progress not towards truth, but into regions of error; and often much and long labor is required before the science recovers from these backward steps.”