Hitchcock, EDWARD

Hitchcock, EDWARD, geologist, born at Deerfield, Massachusetts, May 24, 1793, was successively Congregational pastor in Conway, Massachusetts (1821-25), professor of Chemistry and Natural History (1825-45) and of Natural Theology and Geology (1845-64) in Amherst College, of which he was also president from 1845 to 1854. He died on 27th February 1864. He was state geologist of Massachusetts in 1830-44, and of Vermont in 1857-61, and published very full reports, as well as a volume (and supplement) on the Technology of New England (1858-65). In 1850 he was commissioned by the state to visit and examine the chief agricultural schools of Europe (Report, 1851). But he chiefly distinguished himself in the geological department of natural theology, writing The Religion of Geology and its connected Sciences (1851), which had a very wide circulation on both sides of the Atlantic. His Elementary Geology (1840) was also popular both in America and in England. Hitchcock took an active part in founding the American Association of Geologists and Naturalists, and was its first president in 1840. He was also one of the foundation members of the National Academy of Sciences (1863).