Not including mineralogy, there are in the Journal upward of 1500 distinct articles on geology. Of these, over 400 are on vertebrate paleontology, about 325 on invertebrate paleontology, and 90 on paleobotany. Of articles bearing on historical geology there are about 160, and on stratigraphic geology more than 360. In addition to all this, there are more than 2000 pages of geologic matter relating to books and of letters communicated to the editors Silliman and Dana. We may summarize with Doctor Merrill’s statement in his well-known Contributions to the History of American Geology: “From its earliest inception geological notes and papers occupied a prominent place in its pages, and a perusal of the numbers from the date of issue down to the present time will, alone, afford a fair idea of the gradual progress of American geology.” Before presenting a synopsis of the more important steps in the progress of historical geology in America, it will be well to introduce a rapid survey of the rise of geology in Europe, for, after all, American geology grew out of that of England, France and Germany. This dependence was conspicuously true during the first four decades of the previous century. With the rise of the first New York State Survey (1836–1843) and that of Pennsylvania (1836–1844, 1858), American geology became more or less independent of Europe. Finally, this article will conclude with a survey of the rise of paleometeorology, paleogeography, evolution, and invertebrate paleontology. _The Rise of Geology in Europe._ _Mineral Geology._—The geological sciences had their rise in the study of minerals as carried on by the German chemist and physician George Bauer (1494–1555), better known as Agricola. Bauer originated the critical study of minerals, but did not distinguish his “fossilia,” the remains of organisms, from the inorganic crystal forms. Mineral geology endured until the close of the eighteenth century. _Cosmogonists._—Then came the expounders of the earth’s origin, the cosmogonists of the sixteenth to the end of the eighteenth centuries. The fashion of this time was to write histories of the earth derived out of the imagination. _Earliest Historical Geology._—Even though Giovanni Arduino (1713–1795) of Padua was not the first to classify the rocks into three series according to their age, he did this more clearly than any one else before his time. The rocks about Verona he grouped in 1759 into Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, and Volcanic. This three-fold classification came into general use, though modified with time.