geology

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.

James Sowerby's British Mineralogy is the first comprehensive illustrated work on mineralogy. Though more than 200 years old, in many ways it has never been superceded. It was issued in parts over 15 years and ultimately contained 550 plates meticulously drawn from actual specimens, engraved and brilliantly colored by Sowerby himself and members of his naturalist/artist family accompanied by descriptive text. It is by common consensus "the supreme work of British topographical mineralogy, [and] the most ambitious colourplate work on minerals ever published" (Conklin).

This is a manual for collecting, preserving, and organizing natural-history specimens: specifically, the arrangement of a mineral collection, organizing a botanical collection and creating an herbarium, and the conservation of zoological exhibits. These subjects form one of the Cullman Library's particular interests, in support of collection management staff as well as historical research at the National Museum of Natural History. The half-dozen or so German manuals in our collection fall mainly at either end of the 1800s, and this one forms a continuum through the 19th century.

Raised in one of the most important mining districts in Germany, Carl Hartmann (1796-1863) served as Commissioner of Mines in Brunswick through the 1820s and 1830s, and published more than 100 works on the subjects of mineralogy and mining. His books are important for their comprehensiveness and detailed technical knowledge and served to disseminate the latest information and technological advances to European audiences.

Schulze, a German physician (1730-1775) with interests in mineralogy and paleontology, was a pioneer of paleobotany, the study of fossil plants. He is credited with recognizing the true nature of fossils, rejecting the supernatural explanations that had held sway for centuries. The Smithsonian Libraries already holds a related publication by Schulze concerning fossil woods; this one is on plants more generally, and the six copper plate engravings in the book are some of the earliest published images of plants preserved in rock sediments.