Geological Text-Book

Amos Eaton was an educator and skilled amateur scientist best remembered for bringing hands-on applied science to the American educational curriculum. In 1824, he co-founded the Rensselaer School in New York, an institution dedicated to "the application of science to the common purposes of life," with Stephen van Rensselaer III. He lectured widely, training teachers, including many women, and was an advocate for women's involvement in higher education, an unconventional idea at the time. He wrote textbooks on several scientific subjects for use in schools, working to give these subjects, previously the occupation of a learned few, a broader reach. His Geological text-book helped introduce geology, a relatively new and exciting subject in the 1830s, to a new generation of American scientists. This copy is inscribed by the author to Isaac Lea, a prominent conchologist (a scientist who studies mollusk shells) who was, like Eaton, known for his geological studies.