Online Encyclopedia
Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
EMMONS, EBENEZER (1800-1863)
Online EncyclopediaEncyclopedia Home :: ECG-EMS
del.icio.us it!
|
See also:EMMONS, EBENEZER (1800-1863) , See also:American geologist, was See also:born at Middlefield, See also:Massachusetts, on the 16th of May 1800. He studied See also:medicine at See also:Albany, and after taking his degree practised for some years in See also:Berkshire See also:county. His See also:interest in See also:geology was kindled in See also:early See also:life, and in 1824 he had assisted Prof.See also:Chester See also:Dewey (1784–1867) in preparing a See also:geological See also:map of Berkshire county, in which the first See also:attempt was made to cla,ssify the rocks of the Taconic See also:area. While thus giving much of his See also:time to natural See also:science, undertaking professional See also:work in natural See also:history and geology in See also:Williams See also:College, he also accepted the professorship of See also:chemistry and afterwards of See also:obstetrics in the Albany Medical College. The See also:chief work of his life was, however, in geology, and he has been designated by Jules See also:Marcou as " the founder of American palaeozoic stratigraphy, and the first discoverer of the primordial See also:fauna in any See also:country." In 1836 he became attached to the Geological Survey of the See also:State of New See also:York, and after lengthened study he grouped the See also:local strata (1842) into the Taconic and overlying New York systems. The latter See also:system was subdivided into several See also:groups that were by no means well defined. Emmons had previously described the See also:Potsdam See also:sandstone (1838), and this was placed at the See also:base of the New York system. It is now regarded as Upper See also:Cambrian. In 1844 Emmons for the first time obtained fossils in his Taconic system: a notable See also:discovery because the See also:species obtained were found to differ from all then-known Palaeozoic fossils, and they were regarded as representing the primordial See also:group. Marcou was thus led to See also:advocate that the See also:term Taconic be generally adopted in See also:place of Cambrian. Never-theless the Taconic fauna of Emmons has proved to include only the See also:lower See also:part of See also:Sedgwick's Cambrian. Considerable discussion has taken place on the question of the Taconic system, and whether the term should be adopted; and the See also:general See also:opinion has been adverse. Emmons made contributions on See also:agriculture and geology to a See also:series of volumes on the natural history of New York. He also issued a work entitled American Geology; containing a statement of the principles of the Science, with full illustrations of the characteristic American Fossils (1855--1857). From 1851 to 186o he was state geologist of See also:North Carolina. He died at See also:Brunswick, North Carolina, on the 1st of See also:October 1863. See the See also:Biographical See also:Notice of Ebenezer Emmons, by J. Marcou; Amer. Geologist, vol. vii. (See also:Jan., 1891), p. (with portrait and See also:list of publications). Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML. Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide. |
|
|
[back] EMMIUS, UBBO (1547–1625) |
[next] EMMONS, NATHANAEL (1745–1840) |