Excerpt from Address Delivered at the Meeting of the Association of American Geologists and Naturalists, Held in Washington, May, 1844Prof. Frederick Hall possessed great ardor in the pursuit of knowl edge, and was one of the earliest cultivators in this country of geology and mineralogy. He was educated at Dartmouth College, became pro feasor of natural philosophy and chemistry in Middlebury College, and afterwards president of Mount Hope College in Maryland, and at the time of his death (which took place at Peoria, Ill.) was professor of chemistry in the medical department of Columbia College, Washington. Of a generous and enthusiastic nature, he manifested the sincerity of his zeal for science and the cause of education, by the very handsome contribution in money and a rich cabinet, which he made a few years ago in aid of the establishment of a new professorship in the respected institution from which he imbibed his strong love for learning. Though not a practical geologist, he was a successful teacher of the science, evinced a lively interest in its advancement, and earnestly encouraged this our present effort to promote its progress in our country.Mr. Nicollet was born in Savoy between Geneva and Mont Blanc. Repairing to Paris about the age of twenty, he applied himself with great enthusiasm to improve, through the resources of that capital, the defects of his early education, and gifted with a fine mathematical ability, and enjoying the lessons and friendship of Laplace, he soon rose to distino tion as a mathematician and astronomer. In his assiduous devotion to his favorite branches, he became the author of several works of merit.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.