HITCHCOCX, EDWARD, D.D., LL.D., an eminent American geologist., b at Deerfield, Mass., U. S., May 24, 1793; Was head of the academy in his native place, 1815-18; pastor of the Congregational church at Conway, 1821-25; professor of chemistry and natural history in Amherst college, 1825-45; principal and professor of natural theology and geology, 1845-54; and, was principal till shortly before his death, Feb. 27, 1864. In 1824 he published The Geology of the Connecticut Valley a work which was well received, and opened the way to Hitchcock's advancement. He was ap pointed a state geologist, and as such made a thorough survey of the geology and mineralogical resources, including also the botany and zoology, of Massachusetts, in 1830; of part of New York in 1836, and of Vermont in 1857. Ile published the, fruits of his researches regarding Massachusetts in 1831; and after issuing supplementary reports in 1833 and 1838, embodied the whole in his Final Repeat• on the Geology ;1' Massachusetts (2 vols. 1841), which is the standard work on this subject. In 1830
Hitchcock was appointed agricultural commissioner for his native state, and received instructions to visit and examine the chief agricultural schools of Europe, which he did; and subsequently published his Report on the Agricultural Schools qf Europe. a valuable work. But he chiefly distinguished himself in the geological department of natural theology. His work on the connection between geology and religion-17.e I?eligion of Geology and its connected Sciences had a very wide circulation on both sides of the Atlantic. Hitchcock came forward prominently as an expositor of the fossil footprints in the Connecticut The most important of his works, besides those mentioned above, are Elementary Geology, with an introductory _Notice by Dr. Po Smith (1840), • a work which has become extremely popular, having gone through 25 editions in America and 9 in England; Fossil Footmarks /Pa the United States (1848); lchnohyy of New England (1838); Report on the Geology of Vermont (1861).