Geologist; born in Salins,
Jura, France, April 20, 1824; was educated in
Paris, and while travelling in
Switzerland became interested in scientific investigation.
In 1846 he was appointed an assistant in the department of mineralogy in the Sorbonne, and in 1847 travelling geologist for the
Jardin des Plantes, in
Paris.
It was under this last appointment that he came to the
United States, and with
Prof. Louis Agassiz visited the region around
Lake Superior in 1848.
During the following year he studied the geology of
Pennsylvania, New
[
106]
Jersey,
Virginia, and the
Canadian provinces.
He returned to
Europe in 1850, but was soon again in the
United States, and in 1853 entered the service of the government.
He was the first geologist to cross the
American continent, and during his trip he made a section map of the thirty-fifth parallel from the
Mississippi to the
Pacific coast.
In 1861-64 he had charge of the division of paleontology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, an institution which he founded in conjunction with
Professor Agassiz, in
Cambridge, Mass. His publications include
Recherches geologiques sur la Jura Salinois;
Geological map of the United States and British provinces of North America;
Geology of North America;
Geological map of the world;
A catalogue of Geological maps of America, etc. He died in
Paris, France, April 16, 1898.
