James Eights 1798 1882 Antarctic Explorer, Albany Naturalist, His ...

JAMES EIGHTS 

1798–1882

James Eights in 1870. Oil portrait by Asa W. Twitchell (1820-1904). New York State Museum, Accession 

No. 41.5.2, Division of Research and Collections. Photo courtesy R.T. Burch.

JAMES EIGHTS 

1798–1882 

Antarctic Explorer, Albany Naturalist, 

His Life, His Times, His Works 

by 

Daniel L. McKinley 

New York State Museum Bulletin 505 

2005 

The University of the State of New York 

The State Education Departmentn 

Albany, New York 12230

THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

Regents of The University 

ROBERT M. BENNETT, Chancellor, B.A., M.S. ................................................................... 

ADELAIDE L. SANFORD, Vice Chancellor, B.A., M.A., P.D. ............................................. 

SAUL B. COHEN, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. ................................................................................. 

JAMES C. DAWSON, A.A., B.A., M.S., Ph.D. ................................................................... 

ANTHONY S. BOTTAR, B.A., J.D. ....................................................................................... 

MERRYL H. TISCH, B.A., M.A. ......................................................................................... 

GERALDINE D. CHAPEY, B.A., M.A., Ed.D. .................................................................... 

ARNOLD B. GARDNER, B.A., LL.B. ................................................................................... 

HARRY PHILLIPS, 3rd, B.A., M.S.F.S. ............................................................................... 

JOSEPH E. BOWMAN, JR., B.A., M.L.S., M.A., M.Ed., Ed.D. .......................................... 

LORRAINE A. CORTÉS-VÁZQUEZ, B.A., M.P.A. ................................................................ 

JAMES R. TALLON, JR., B.A., M.A. ................................................................................... 

MILTON L. COFIELD, B.S., M.B.A., Ph.D. ........................................................................ 

JOHN BRADEMAS, B.A., Ph.D. .......................................................................................... 

CAROL BELLAMY, A.B., J.D. .............................................................................................. 

ROGER B. TILLES, B.A., J.D. .............................................................................................. 

Tonawanda 

Hollis 

New Rochelle 

Peru 

North Syracuse 

New York 

Belle Harbor 

Buffalo 

Hartsdale 

Albany 

Bronx 

Binghamton 

Rochester 

New York 

Brooklyn 

Great Neck 

President of The University and Commissioner of Education 

RICHARD P. MILLS 

Chief of Staff 

Counsel and Deputy Commissioner for Legal Affairs 

KATHY A. AHEARN 

Chief Operating Officer 

Deputy Commissioner for the Office of Management Services 

THERESA E. SAVO 

Deputy Commissioner for Cultural Education 

CAROLE F. HUXLEY 

Director of the New York State Museum 

CLIFFORD A. SIEGFRIED 

Director, Research and Collections Division 

JOHN P. HART 

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may be made by contacting the Publications Sales, Room 3140, Cultural Education Center, Albany, NY 

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© The New York State Education Department, Albany, New York 12230 

Published 2005 

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Copies may be ordered from: 

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Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2005926866 

ISBN: 1-55557-223-5 

ISSN: 0278-3355 

v

DEDICATED TO 

Margaret McKinley, for many reasons, 

not least, having borne with me and James Eights 

these many years; 

and 

Margaret Stewart, whose faith 

has removed mountains. 

vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Dedication .................................................................................................................................................... 

List of Figures .............................................................................................................................................. 

A Note of Gratitude.................................................................................................................................... 

Permission to Publish................................................................................................................................. 

Sponsors ....................................................................................................................................................... 

vi 

ix 

xi 

xiii 

xv 

Chapter 

1. Why Bother About James Eights? — The Eights Family — Dr. Jonathan Eights................ 1 

2. James Eights Finds His Legs: From Birth to the Erie Canal Years ......................................... 17 

3. The Young Naturalist: From Albany to the City of New York .............................................. 31 

4. James Eights in the Antarctic, Getting Started, 1828-1829....................................................... 39 

5. James Eights in the Antarctic: The Southward Trip, 1829 ...................................................... 51 

6. James Eights in the Antarctic: Farthest South, 1830 ................................................................ 73 

7. James Eights: Chile and the Return from the South................................................................ 109 

8. Southern and Antarctic Plants of James Eights......................................................................... 123 

9. Southern and Antarctic Biology: Mollusks............................................................................... 139 

10. Antarctic Biology: Crustacea — Brongniartia: Sphaeroma: Glyptonotus .............................. 145 

11. Who Wanted to See a Ten-legged Sea-spider? James Eights’s strange Pycnogonid, 

Decolopoda australis......................................................................................................................... 159 

12. Eights in Albany: The Zodiac Years, 1830–1836 — 

(I): “The Naturalist’s Every Day Book”...................................................................................... 165 

13. Eights in Albany: The later Zodiac Years, 1830–1836 — (II): Pedestrian, Geologist, 

Entomologist, Historian................................................................................................................ 205 

14. The New York Natural History Survey, 1836 ............................................................................ 231 

15. The Great South Sea Bubble......................................................................................................... 237 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

vii

16. Remonstrances, Reactions, and the 1840s ................................................................................. 255 

17. Albany in the Early 1850s............................................................................................................. 269 

18. The 1850s: The Gold Fields of North Carolina......................................................................... 295 

19. The 1850s: James Eights as Artist ............................................................................................... 311 

20. Catalogue of the Drawings of James Eights .............................................................................. 317 

21. Eights in Panamá and Texas? The End of the 1850s................................................................ 329 

22. James Eights in the 1860s.............................................................................................................. 335 

23. Pinksterfest, Pennsylvania Coal: The End to the 1860s .......................................................... 353 

24. James Eights: The Decline, 1870–1900 ....................................................................................... 365 

25. The Road Back: 1900 to 1920....................................................................................................... 373 

26. Twentieth Century: The 1920s and Early 1930s ....................................................................... 381 

27. Fame Claims James Eights, 1933–1960 ....................................................................................... 385 

28. James Eights: The End of a Second Century ............................................................................ 391 

29. James Eights as Others Saw Him: The Portraits with an Appendix on 

Ebenezer Emmons, Jr..................................................................................................................... 401 

30. James Eights: Published and Manuscript Works..................................................................... 411 

31. James Eights, a Bibliography of Cited and Consulted Works ................................................ 419 

viii

LIST OF FIGURES 

2.1 The LaFayette Canal Passage Boat Company ........................................................................... 19 

2.2 Entrance into the Erie Canal near Albany.................................................................................. 20 

2.3 View of the Aqueduct Bridge at Little Falls. ............................................................................. 25 

2.4 View of the Aqueduct Bridge at Rochester. ............................................................................... 26 

3.1 James Eights perhaps about 1825. ............................................................................................... 31 

5.1 Nataniel Palmer (1799-1877), captain of the brig Annawan..................................................... 51 

6.1 The track of the schooner Penguin in Antarctic waters, 1829-1830. ....................................... 74 

6.2 The South Sheland Islands, with special reference to King George Island. ......................... 88 

8.1 Aira Antarctica W.J. Hooker, 1837. ............................................................................................... 131 

8.2 Floral details of Frankenia patagonica Spegazzini, 1897. ........................................................... 133 

8.3 Distribution of Frankenia patagonica ............................................................................................ 133 

9.1 Nucula eightsi Couthouy, in Jay, 1839. ......................................................................................... 141 

10.1 Brongniartia trilobitoides Eights, 1833, dorsal and ventral views............................................. 145 

10.2 Major figure shows a long-extinct trilobite, Paradoxus ............................................................ 146 

10.3 Exosphaeroma gigas, a living crustacean ...................................................................................... 153 

10.4 Dorsal view of Glyptonotus antarctica.......................................................................................... 154 

10.5 Glyptonotus antarctica, ventral view............................................................................................. 155 

11.1 Decolopoda australis, a ten-legged pycnogonid (sea spider)..................................................... 160 

12.1 Tiger salamander (now Ambystoma tigrinum)............................................................................ 173 

13.1 James Eights’s drawing to show arrangement of strata of Carboniferous age.................... 210 

13.2 James Eights, “Notes of a pedestrian,” number 2, The Zodiac ................................................ 214 

13.3 J.E.’s “Notes of a pedestrian,” number 7, The Zodiac ............................................................... 220 

17.1 Sketches by James Eights (original unknown) of rock strata near Albany........................... 272 

LIST OF FIGURES 

ix

19.1 Vanderheyden Palace, drawing by James Eights...................................................................... 312 

21.1 Unio eightsii, Isaac Lea, 1860......................................................................................................... 331 

25.1 Decolopoda australis, drawn from a specimen collected by T.V. Hodgson ............................. 374 

26.1 Memorial tablet, installed by the Tawasentha Chapter of the Daughters 

of the American Revolution, in 1933........................................................................................... 382 

x

A NOTE OF GRATITUDE TO INSTITUTIONS 

AND INDIVIDUALS 

Some people who have helped me may not find their names in the list below. Should you 

be among that number, I acknowledge my haphazard practices and suggest that I have 

recorded my obligations to you in the main body of my study. Since provenance of material 

has often been noticed elsewhere, this list is unadorned. While I am grateful to both 

institutions and workers, in the final analysis, no institution replied to my queries: It was 

an individual and, very often, one who cared deeply. I am delighted to have encountered 

so many people who cared whether a person they did not know and probably would 

never see was well served. That, to my mind, is what scholarly functions are about. 

Adams, Harriet Dyer; Aldrich, Michele; Alexander, Robert S.; Anderson, Kathy; 

Anderson, Robert. 

Baatz, Simon; Balla, Wesley G.; Barmes, Jeffrey K.; Barnsley, Barbara; Beauregard, 

Christine M.; Boewe, Charles; Bogan, Arthur E.; Bowser, Sam; Breisch, Alvin; Bronson, 

Kelli Ann; Buszta, John W. 

Cadbury, Warder H.; Callow, James T.; Calvin, Lynn E.; Cameron, David; Campola, 

Karen U.; Cohn, Alan J. 

Dance, S. Peter; Daniels, Robert A.; Dean, Kenneth; Deiber, Gwen; Deiss, William A.; 

Dorman, Kathleen W. 

Emerson, William K.; Ewan, Joseph. Fagan, Christine; Fais, Jennifer G.; 

Fallon, Ellen; Fisher, Dana A.; Fisher, Donald W.; Friedman, Gerald M.; Friis, Herman R. 

George, Carl J.; Giddings, Edward D.; Goldsmith, Naomi; Grimm, Tracy; Gross, 

Marsha. 

Haggarty, Ann; Haller, Jerome; Hart, C. William, Jr.; Hedgpeth, Joel W.; Higginson, Ian 

N.; Hobin, James R. 

Ilnicki, Henry; Irving, Suzanne. 

Johnson, David; Johnson, Markes E.; Johnston, Ardis; Johnstone, R. Shawn. 

Kearns, Jerry L.; Kennedy, Ruth S.; Kennick, Sylvia B.; Kirdahy, Carolyn; Kohn, Alan J.; 

Krause, David J. 

Landing, Ed; Landrum, Betty J.; Larsen, Anne; Leitch, Alae Risse B.; Levin, Janice; Loos, 

William H. 

xi

Margolis, Carolyn; Mascarenhas, Joseph P.; McKinley, Paul; Messinger, Louise S.; Miller, 

Frank Char; Mitchell, Richard S.; Morris, Solene; Mrom, Judy. 

Owens, James K. 

Perkins, Lona C.; Pietrzyk, Gail M. 

Rice, Norman; Richter, William H.; Robinson, Christine; Rothenberg, Marc. 

Sanders, Albert E.; Sawtell, Shirley; Shapiro, Martin; Sheviak, Charles; Skiba, John B.; 

Speckhardt, Barbara A.; Spragg, Ed; Stein, Douglas L.; Stevenson, Sally; Stewart, 

Margaret M. 

Teichroew, Alan; Thackray, J.C.; Thynne, Brian Duncan; Travis, Jeffrey L.; Travis, John 

N. 

Underwood, Sally. 

VanDereedt, Angie; Viola, Herman. 

Walker, Charles A., Jr.; Weimerskirch, Philip J.; Wigdor, David; Williams, Geoffrey; 

Wingfield, Valerie. 

Yochelson, Ellis L.; Young, Robert. 

xii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS FOR PERMISSIONS 

TO PUBLISH 

These paragraphs attempt to record my indebtedness to institutions, especially when 

material was provided for which permission to publish is required. Needless to say, my 

gratitude extends beyond this bare-bones list. I have no way to record the hundreds of 

libraries that have served my needs through interlibrary loan facilities. Aside from a few 

librarians, not otherwise identified, I have recorded nothing of my immense debt to the 

Library of the State University of New York at Albany. Many documents in the National 

Archives and in the New York State Archives have been used. They have been accounted 

for at appropriate points in the text and are not listed here. 

ALBANY COUNTY HALL OF RECORDS. License of Jonathan Eights to practice as a 

physician & surgeon, filed 27 Mar 1799; letters signed by Hunloke Woodruff, John 

Lansing. 

ALBANY INSTITUTE OF HISTORY AND ART, including McKINNEY LIBRARY. I am 

grateful for a host of courtesies. For use of specific items requiring permission for publication, 

arrangements have been made individually. 

AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, LIBRARY. Thanks are due for photocopies 

of documents, none of them manuscript, notably a copy of Eights’s “Report 

upon the mines and railroad owned by the Sullivan and Erie Coal and Railroad Company 

of Pennsylvania,” 1869 (James Hall Papers). 

AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, LIBRARY. Eights, letter to Charles Ridgley, 

10 Feb 1838. 

BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY. Letter, Lardner Vanuxem to William L. Marcy, 5 Sep 1836. 

Chamberlain Papers, CH.E.G.14. 

DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, TAWASENTHA CHAPTER. Minutes, 

16 May and 21 Nov 1933. 

GRAY HERBARIUM, LIBRARY, HARVARD UNIVERSITY. (1) Letter, Eights to Asa 

Gray, 17 Sep 1838. (2) Letter, John Torrey to Joseph Henry, 2 Aug 1838. Historic Letter 

File. (Used from copy in the Joseph Henry Papers, 4: 83-85.) 

HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA. (1) Letter, Eights to Amos Eaton, 22 Jan 

1823. Gratz Collection. (2) Letter, Charles Wilkes to Joel R. Poinsett, 1 May 1838. Poinsett 

Papers. 

HUNTINGTON LIBRARY. Letter, Eights to Benson John Lossing, 15 Jun 1856. Lossing 

Papers, LS624. 

xiii

KANSAS, UNIVERSITY OF, KENNETH SPENCER RESEARCH LIBRARY. Constantine 

Samuel Rafinesque, Journal, 1833-1834. Rafinesque Collection, MS 13:I:5. 

MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY, LIBRARY, HARVARD UNIVERSITY. Letter, 

Eights to Amos Binney, 9 Aug 1834. 

NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN, LIBRARY. Letter, Eights to John Torrey, 8 Aug 

1838. Torrey Papers (previously, Herbarium, Columbia University). 

NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY. (1) Letter, T.R. Beck to Amos Eaton, 10 Sep 1822. T.R. 

Beck Papers. (2) Letter, Jacob Green to T. Romeyn Beck, June 1832. Same. (3) Letter, 

Jonathan Eights to T.R. Beck. Same. 

NEW YORK STATE LIBRARY. (1) Letter, George W. Clinton and James Eights, to Amos 

Eaton, 6 Jul 1826. (2) Letter, Eights to James Hall, 17 Feb 1858. James Hall Papers, PG 

16478, folder 613. 

NORTH CAROLINA STATE ARCHIVES. Letter, Ebenezer Emmons to John Gray 

Bynum, 12 Nov 1850. Private Manuscript Collection. 

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, LIBRARY. Letter, Eights to Samuel Southard, 15 Dec 1840. 

Samuel Southard Papers, Box 65, folder 13. 

SCOTT POLAR RESEARCH INSTITUTE, ARCHIVES. I am grateful for use of photocopy 

of the Antarctic journal of Midshipman Joseph Henry Kay, from which a few 

entries have been quoted. MS. 894. 

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, ARCHIVES. (1) Letter, from Eights to Joseph Henry, 

undated. Record Unit 305, U.S. National Museum Registrar, 1834–1958. Accession 

Records 1850/ James Eights / Accession no. 712. (2) Letter, Richard Varick DeWitt, to 

Joseph Henry, 12 Apr 1849. Joseph Henry Papers, RU 7001, Box 10. (3) Letter, DeWitt to 

Henry, 19 Feb 1850. Same. (4) Letter, DeWitt to Henry, 1 Jul 1850. Same. (5) Letter, 

DeWitt to Henry, 19 Aug 1850. Same. (6) Letter, DeWitt to Henry, 7 Sep 1850. Same. (7) 

Letter, Abraham Eights Williams to Joseph Henry, 8 Jun 1849. RU 7001, Box 9. 

U.S. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. Journal of the Schooner Penguin bound to Falkland 

Islands & Cape Horn. Palmer-Loper Family Papers. Microfilm, Container 9, Reel 5. 

xiv

SPONSORS 

I record here my special gratitude to sponsors whose contributions to a publication 

fund at the New York State Museum have made possible the financial support of the 

material costs of producing this book. 

Harriet Dyer Adams 

Basic Biosciences Minigrants 

Samuel S. Bowser 

Carl J. George 

Helen Ghiradella 

Brian and Hilla Kelly (illustration fund) 

George E. Martin 

Margaret M. Stewart 

Henry Tedeschi 

In addition, I am greatly indebted to salaried personnel at the Office of Cartography 

and Publications of the New York State Museum, for whose expert help and advice I 

have every reason to be thankful. 

xv

Chapter 1 

WHY BOTHER ABOUT JAMES EIGHTS? — 

THE EIGHTS FAMILY — DR. JONATHAN EIGHTS 

JAMES EIGHTS: REFURBISHING 

A REPUTATION 

If God helps those who help themselves, we 

can expect little assistance from the Almighty in 

regard to James Eights. He left a poor record of 

his life and work. 

While James Eights published rather widely, 

some of his work being of a real pioneering 

nature, few of his letters survive. He left no 

diaries or journals or even detailed records of 

scientific work that today would gain him 

worldwide honor. Such specimens as now exist 

are minimally documented. 1 

Although much happened that was no fault 

of his, he spent the greater part of a long life 

paying little attention to the very substantial 

value of the specimens that he did gather, 

notably those connected with his pioneering 

work in the Antarctic. These were poorly curated, 

frittered away as duplicates by museum 

curators, and lost in mass transfers from the 

Albany Institute. If any went to the Lyceum of 

Natural History of New York, they were lost in 

an arson fire, unrecorded and unstudied. 

He alluded in one place to a floral calendar 

of 30 years’ duration he had kept. That, if 

detailed, would be of immense value to Albany 

Pinebush biologists today, but it seems not to 

have survived. A trace of it can perhaps be precariously 

gleaned from various popular articles. 

Letters to and from him, manuscripts, full 

accounts of any of his many forays in lands 

ranging from the fringes of the Antarctic to 

Tierra del Fuego and Chile, to Michigan, North 

Carolina, Panamá, Mexico and, possibly, the 

American Southwest: All is most sparingly documented, 

rarely ever by any effort of himself. 

Today’s Antarctic scientists would dance in the 

streets if they could see Eights’s very first fossil 

plant specimen from King George Island in the 

South Shetlands. Although he realized something 

of the value of that fossil, you cannot be 

sure from published remarks if he actually had 

a specimen in hand or had been forced to leave 

it where he found it. 2 

Can he have failed to keep records out of a 

youthful vanity that his accomplishments 

would be visible in his published work and 

known to the world in general by his good 

repute among scientists? Did he, as a result of 

disappointments, then suffer a sea change and 

cease to care if his history died with his lonely, 

unsung self? 

As will be seen, there was substance to 

James Eights. The purpose of my work is to 

document his accomplishments in various 

fields of natural history. This is a big undertaking 

for, by the year 1900, he was all but 

unknown to the world at large, even though 

there were then people alive who had known 

him intimately. 

One would be justified in dismissing Eights, 

judging from references to him in many standard 

works on the history of natural history 

and its specialized fields. Agassiz’s bibliography 

of zoology ignored him. He got no room in 

George Brown Goode’s history of the begin- 

Chapter 1 1

nings of American science, even though Amos 

Eaton, with whom Eights collaborated out of 

the early Rensselaer school at Troy, and Stephen 

Van Rensselaer, certainly no more than a patron 

of science, were treated at length by Goode. 

Maybe he did not belong in the Fentons’ Giants 

of Geology but he certainly ought to have been in 

Merrill’s The First Hundred Years of American 

Geology. George W. White, a historian of American 

geology devoted to overlooked contributors, 

never noticed Eights, and Mary Ellis’s 

extensive bibliography of science in New York 

State in 1903 gave him short shrift, despite his 

contributions to New York geology and, at least 

incidentally, to its botany and various fields of 

zoology. 3 

And yet, James Eights lived and worked 

and left a few marks by which we can trace his 

path, with some degree of confidence most of 

the time. It becomes evident that Eights knew 

many of the famous of his day. Maybe he knew 

too many of the wrong sort — artists, declaiming 

poets, editors, a few politicians. He also 

must have had some acquaintances who joined 

him in his occasional (perhaps sometimes sustained) 

alcoholic binges, when Demon Rum, at 

least in the eyes of concerned friends, threatened 

to put a premature end to his life’s work. 

His father ultimately disinherited him, after a 

long period of what looks like a cossetted existence. 

Whether he was dominated by his father 

or pampered by his mother (or both) is not 

known, but it all ended abruptly with their 

deaths, leaving him for a while as a ship without 

a rudder. 

So, James Eights lived and worked. We even 

know something of what he looked like, 

although some mystery surrounds two of the 

three portraits of him. One portrait is a late portrayal 

in oil by Albany’s accomplished painter, 

Asa W. Twitchell — surely, indicative of 

Eights’s high standing among at least certain of 

his Albany fellows. 4 

Nothing is known of Eights’s education. 

Perhaps he was tutored privately. There is no 

indication that he was ever connected with the 

Albany Academy (founded 1813), although a 

later brother (one of three ‘Abrahams’ among 

his siblings) was schooled there. 

Just as mysterious is the title of “Doctor” 

frequently found associated with his name. He 

himself often added the term “M.D.” to his signature. 

He did, in one place, state that he was 

naturalist and surgeon on the exploring expedition 

to the Antarctic that is his major claim to 

fame, and such may have been the case. There 

is no record of how much doctoring he did on 

the trip, for the log of his brig has been lost. He 

was briefly “Hospital Surgeon” in the Third 

Brigade Horse Artillery of the State military 

establishment, 1831–1836; but there is no indication 

that he ever had an office or practiced his 

profession. Despite his evident long-term interest 

in medicinal plants, he must have been more 

naturalist than surgeon: In both fields, his 

expertise was practical, not academic. He may 

have gained his medical certification the way 

his father got his: by serving a period of internship 

in a doctor’s office (perhaps his father’s?) 

and then being declared fit to practice. By the 

time of our concern, this would have been a 

decidedly uncommon way to gain certification. 

As mysterious as his claim to being an 

“M.D.,” there was the title of “Professor” a few 

times attached to his name. The nearest I can 

come to documenting the “professor” title is 

that McAllister’s biography of Amos Eaton 

notices that “Dr. Eights” had been an invited 

“Examiner” at the Rensselaer School (now 

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), but the reference 

is very likely to his father. Eaton wrote 

somewhat ambiguously on the subject, claiming 

that Eights had assisted him in teaching natural 

history to Rensselear School students, in a letter 

to Secretary of the Navy Southard, when Eaton 

was promoting Eights for the job of naturalist 

with the Antarctic exploring expedition. 5 

While no prodigy, Eights was a competent 

artist, especially in the field of biological illustration, 

and more especially in the case of invertebrates 

and fossils. But he produced acceptable 

landscapes and would ultimately be known 

locally more for his reconstructions of early 

Albany street scenes than for any other reason. 

However unjust it would have been, we 

should still have heard next to nothing of James 

Eights today but for his early (and long neglected) 

account of a mysterious Antarctic sea-spider 

with ten legs. 6 Early in twentieth the century, a 

bright young zoologist, Leon J. Cole, recognized 

2 James Eights, 1798–1882, Antarctic Explorer

Eights’s worth and had the temerity to dig for 

news of him. By that time, Albany was not the 

place to find out much about one of its famous 

sons, but Cole hit pay dirt. He wrote to John 

Mason Clarke, who had come to New York too 

late to know Eights but found a few people 

who had known him. Clarke’s mission then 

became rescuing Eights from oblivion. Clarke’s 

work, published in 1916, triggered the “reincarnation” 

that he realized to be long overdue. 7 

THE EIGHTS FAMILY IN AMERICA, 

THROUGH THE TIMES OF ABRAHAM 

EIGHTS, WHARFMASTER 

As is clear from a cursory encounter with 

the “begat” chapters of the Bible, a genealogical 

account does not provide exciting reading. Yet, 

at the risk of boring readers, I present what I 

have found out about James Eights’s family. 

Some of this has been summarized in a wellresearched 

account by Char Miller and Naomi 

Goldsmith. To it, I add previously unpublished 

information courteously supplied me by Miller 

(some of which must have come through efforts 

of Goldsmith). In addition, a few obituaries, 

some primary records, and a modest number of 

neglected accounts are brought together for the 

first time. 8 

The family name was of Dutch origin. Early 

spellings may have varied. John Mason Clarke 

was apparently correct to infer that the name 

first appeared in Manhattan as Eght or Echt, for 

the 1699 Dutch Reformed Church marriage 

records state that on 10 December, Willem Echt 

of Rotterdam and Marritje (Marie) Van Dyck of 

Amsterdam were married by Dominie 

Gualtherus Dubois (courtesy of Roger McNair, 

an Eights descendent, who has kindly shared 

this early family history with me). Heretofore, 

the earliest record has stated that these two, 

their names already anglicized to William 

Eights and Mary Van Dyck, emigrated to New 

York (City) in the late seventeenth century. In 

church records, however, it appears they were 

still called by the surname Echt. Clearly, the 

precise date of their emigration needs to be 

determined, given the date of their marriage. I 

have no further dates for their lives. Their first 

child, Catalina, was baptized 26 May 1701, having 

been born in 1700. Their son, later known 

as Captain Abraham Eights, was baptized 12 

Nov 1701, as Abraham Echt; he later married 

Catharine (or Catherine) Benson (born in 1714). 

A second daughter, Maritie, born in 1703, was 

baptized 4 August 1703. 

After Captain Eights died (date unknown; 

he participated in a New York City election in 

1761), his widow removed to Albany in 1769 

with their children, who included our own 

“Father” Abraham (10 May 1746-10 January 

1820), grandfather of James Eights. Other children 

were: Marie, Elizabeth and Catharine. 

Marie (d. 1783/1784) married Hendricus Bratt 

on 9 May or 25 March 1776. There was one 

child, Anthony, born 12 October 1783, of whom 

no more is known. Elizabeth (ca. 1748–31 March 

1838, aged 90; not previously reported) married 

Peter Hilton of Guilderland, New York, whom 

she long outlived. Children were Richard and 

others unnamed. Catharine (1751–3 October 

1825) married Hendrik van Woert on 5 August 

1773. They had seven children, listed but not 

further treated here: Abraham (born 13 February 

1777), Elizabeth (21 Aug 1779), Elizabeth (14 

February 1782), Hendrick (3 April 1784), 

William (7 September 1786), Catharina (29 April 

1788) and Catharina (19 October 1791). 9 

Just why the widowed family of Captain 

Eights moved to Albany is not clear. That it was 

an outpost with marine connections (a matter of 

concern to a family with shipping interests) and 

long, close connections to the Dutch may have 

some relevance. Possibly more to the point, the 

widow, Catharine Benson, was the daughter of 

Dirck Benson (1677–1725) and Elizabeth Radcliff. 

Dirck was the son of Samson Benson and 

Tryntje Van Deusen. Samson was the son of an 

earlier Dirck Benson, who came out from Amsterdam 

about 1648; he married Catalina Berck 

and was living in Beverwyck (Albany) in 1654. 

While this Dirck Benson was a wealthy 

New York (City) merchant, he had Albany connections. 

In addition to Catharine Benson 

Eights, Dirck was also father of Eve, who was 

the first wife of Anthony Duane (1682–1747), 

born in Galway, Ireland. Anthony Duane 

Chapter 1 3

ought an estate of 6,000 acres in the vicinity of 

modern Duanesburg in 1741. 10 

True, while James Duane (1733–1797) and 

later Duanes were not related to the Eights family 

(they were products of Anthony Duane’s 

second marriage, to Althea Keteltes), it is possible 

that Catharine had maintained friendly contact 

with the Duane family. 

Our Abraham Eights — Father Abraham 

— was a young man when his father died. 

Father Abraham (it is recorded that he did not 

early on deserve so saintly a title) received the 

“rudiments of a good English education.” He 

was also made an apprentice to a sailmaker. It 

was in this trade that young Abraham got 

what Char Miller refers to as “a different sort 

of education,” being exposed to “loose and 

profane company,” as Abraham’s memorialist 

put it. In any event, the Eights family quickly 

settled into life in the Albany area. Young 

Abraham married Catharine Broecks (Brooks) 

of Albany on 16 June 1770. His sister 

Catharine married within three years of that 

time; in another three years, Marie had married. 

I do not know when Elizabeth married 

Peter Hilton of Guilderland. 11 

Young Abraham, as might be expected of a 

Dutchman, stoutly defended the Colonial side 

in the Revolution. He served first as 2nd Lieutenant 

in the 2nd Company of the 1st Regiment 

of the City of Albany and then as Lieutenant, 

when he was transferred to the 3rd 

Company. He fought in battles around Lake 

George, the Mohawk River, and in northern 

Pennsylvania. 

As Char Miller tells it, Abraham also fought 

the Devil, for he had undergone a conversion 

under the influence of the Reverend Gano, a 

Baptist preacher. He gained a faith that carried 

him unscathed through “‘the dissipation and 

bustle’” of the Revolution. Upon his return to 

civil life, he became a member of the First Presbyterian 

Church in Albany and was associated 

with it the rest of his long life. There he was 

called “Father Abraham” — partly, a reference 

to his upright life, partly a commentary on his 

stout service to the church, of which he was a 

trustee from 1788 to 1799 and a deacon from 

1795 until his death in 1820. 

Father Abraham stood high in Albany’s 

business and civic communities in post-Revolutionary 

America. His mercantile business on 

Water Street was a bustling concern by 1784, 

where he sold everything from Mucavado 

sugar by the barrel to windmills for cleaning 

wheat. His long-time home was 28 Dock Street. 

In 1894, he joined with other proprietors (the 

Albany Wharf Association) in building a dock 

that ran from Maiden Lane to State Street. A 

year later, he was made “wharfinger” (dockmaster), 

a position he held until his death. 

(Merchant though he was, he was consistently 

listed as a sail-maker in records kept by the 

First Presbyterian Church in entries for baptisms 

of his children.) Abraham also owned 

numerous parcels of land in the city. 12 

Abraham and Catharine (Brooks) Eights 

had 11 children. Sons were Abraham 

(1771–1798), Jonathan (1773–1848), and Maxinius 

(or, according to church records, “Marinus”) 

(b. 1792; may have died young). Daughters 

were Catharine (1775–1845), who married 

(1795) John Burton (born 1764); Rebecca 

(1776?–1852), unmarried; Mary (Maria) 

(1780–1848), unmarried; Elizabeth (1782–1857), 

unmarried; Rachel (1787–1857), married (1814) 

Israel Williams (1786–1840); Phebe (1790–1869), 

married (1812) James Cobb (1788–1872); Ann 

(Anna)(1788–1869), married (1813) Joseph Boies 

(1783–1866); Jane C[atharine?] (1796–1828), 

unmarried. 13 

Father Abraham ran a tight ship with his 

family, as he must have done with his business. 

Four of his daughters became members of the 

Presbyterian Church; he stipulated in his will 

that married daughters were to receive $500 

each from his estate, with the same amount to 

go to those not yet married but who did so 

before their mother’s death. Since Jonathan’s 

medical education had been subsidized by 

loans from Father Abraham, his share of the 

inheritance was diminished by the amount still 

owing (in 1820! — clearly, Jonathan had been in 

no in hurry to settle that debt). 

Father Abraham’s funeral was preached by 

the influential orator, the Reverend Arthur J. 

Stansbury, on 30 January 1820, and was printed 

as “Mourning for the Righteous.” 


DOCTOR JONATHAN EIGHTS, 

FATHER OF JAMES 

Jonathan — the Doctor Eights, in spite of 

pretensions of James — was born in Albany 26 

November 1773 and died there 10 August 1848. 

He married Alida Wynkoop (Wyncoop) (1773- 

15 May 1849), of Dutch stock from near Coeymans, 

on the Hudson south of Albany — just 

when, has not been established. Several dates in 

his life have not been determined with certainty. 

The record is only partly clarified by his own 

brief memoir written hastily and late in life 

(1847) and lapses by various biographers add to 

the tangle. 14 

It appears that Jonathan Eights was an enterprising 

young man. He determined upon a 

career in medicine and, as was done in those 

days, he gained certification by working in the 

office of an established doctor, who then certified 

him as fit to practice. The Albany Hall of Records 

has this document. It is labeled: “License of 

Jonathan Eights to Practice as a Physician & Surgeon 

— filed March 27, 1799.” It bears quoting in 

full, quaint reminder of a simpler age. 15 

“Albany March 22, 1799 

“This is to certify that Mr Jonathan Eights was a 

student of medicine under my care & that of 

Doct Wilhelmus Mancius, with whom I was 

then connected in Business, from the month of 

October 1790 until sometime in April in the 

year 1794. That from his attention to his Studies 

and the opportunities he had of seeing many 

different cases both in Physic & Surgery, 

induced me at that time to give him a Recommendation, 

as a Person well qualifyed [sic] to 

practice Physic & Surgery, and I have understood 

from different persons where he has practised, 

That he has been a successful & useful 

Practitioner since he left my care until the year 

1798 about which time he left this State. 

“Hunloke Woodruff 

“The above named Hunloke Woodruff of the 

City of Albany Physician & Surgeon made oath 

that the preceding certificate is true before 

March 26, 1799 

“John Lansing Jun. [end of page 1] 

“To all whom it may concern I John Lansing 

Junr Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Judicature 

of the State of State of New York do certify 

that Jonathan Eights hath produced satisfactory 

evidence to me that he hath studied physic 

& surgery with Doctors Wilhelmus Mancius & 

Hunloke Woodruff two respectable physicians 

& surgeons of the City of Albany for the Term 

of two years & upwards & that in conformity to 

a Statute of this State entitled[?] ‘An act to regulate 

the practice of Physic & Surgery in this 

State’ he is licensed to practice in both capacities, 

his said Term of study having been completed 

before the passing of the Act aforesaid. 

“In Testimony whereof I have hereunto set 

my hand & seal, at the City of Albany, the 26th 

Day of March 1799. 

“John Lansing Jun.” 

There are apparent ambiguities in the 

record. Jonathan (with his wife Alida, it is said) 

departed Albany for the community of Canajoharie, 

apparently in 1795. There, it is agreed, he 

set up the practice of physic and surgery. It 

appears that he remained only a short time in 

that position. His medical biographer, Sylvester 

D. Willard, intimated that he had “his certificate 

from the Medical Society of the County of 

Montgomery,” in which Canajoharie is located; 

but this was clearly a certification issued later, 

after an absence from Canajoharie and later 

return there, and after his certification by the 

State, cited above. 16 

By Jonathan’s own account, we learn that 

the initial residence in Canajoharie was a short 

one. It is now time to quote in full Jonathan’s 

memoir of 1847, both to correct that important 

document where necessary and to introduce its 

several important facts. 

When Jonathan was ill with what was to 

prove his final illness, he wrote at length on 27 

March 1847, in reply to an invitation to a testimonial 

dinner upon the fiftieth year of service 

of Jonathan’s close associate, Dr. William Bay, at 

Congress Hall, Tuesday, 30 March. His reply, 

written partly to outline his own life’s work, 

partly to correct an assumption on the part of 

the hosts that Bay was his superior in years of 

service, was as follows: 

Chapter 1 5

“To Drs. Beck, Hun, Cogswell, P. McNaughton 

and James F. Boyd: 

“Gentlemen — Your polite invitation to 

attend the complimentary dinner to my old and 

bosom friend, Dr. W. Bay, I have received, and I 

can assure you nothing would gratify me so 

much as to be present and join with you in rendering 

this mark of respect to that venerable 

and able physician. But I am compelled to 

forego that pleasure. — My long and continued 

illness will prevent my attendance, which you 

will accept as my apology. 

“I have known Dr. Bay since our school-boy 

days; but since 1810, when he removed to this 

city, a pure friendship has existed, which I hope 

will only terminate with life. 

“I wish, however, in this connection, to correct 

an error, which, if not noticed at present, 

might be recorded as a fact. I do this not to 

injure my friend — I would not pluck a single 

laurel from his brow — but in justification of 

myself. 

“I send you a short synopsis of my medical 

career, which you are at liberty to dispose of as 

you think proper. 

“I was born in this city on the 26th of Nov. 

1773, and received my classical education under 

the tuition of the late George Merchant, under 

whose care I was nearly three years. 

“In the year of 1790, I commenced the study 

of medicine, under the late Drs. Wilhelmus 

Mancius and Hunloke Woodruff, with whom I 

remained until April, 1795. I was then examined 

by them in the presence of two physicians, then 

of this city, and received their certificate of competency, 

which, I believe, is on file in the Clerk’s 

office in this city. Shortly after, I was solicited to 

go to the town of Coxsackie, then in Albany 

county. A severe bilious, remittent and intermittent 

fever was raging with great violence. I 

remained there until late in the fall, intending to 

make it my permanent residence; but a 

severe family affliction induced me to return to 

Albany, where I remained until the ensuing 

spring. I was then solicited to settle in the town 

of Canajoharie, county of Montgomery, where I 

remained until Nov., 1797, when I went to 

Philadelphia for medical improvement, especially 

in surgery. My limited means, however, 

prevented me from improving every opportunity. 

I was kindly treated by several respectable 

physicians and surgeons, and every opportunity 

offered to me for improvement. I remained in 

Philadelphia until July ensuing [that is, 1798, if 

his dates are correct], when I returned to this 

city, and the following spring returned to Montgo 

mery county, and became engaged in an 

extensive and laborious practice until 1810. In 

May [of the latter year] I removed to this city, 

where I have been engaged in practice ever 

since. 

“Dr. Bay is my senior in years one or two 

months; but from the above statement, which is 

perfectly correct, you will perceive I am his senior 

in practice. The Doctor came into this city 

after I had settled here. 

“I am, gentlemen, very respectfully, yours, 

&c. &c. 

“27th March, 1847.Jon. Eights.” 17 

A close examination will reveal inconsistencies 

in accounts of Jonathan’s career in this letter 

and in the certification signed by Dr. 

Woodruff. Both accounts were written after the 

fact, Jonathan’s long after; Woodruff makes 

most dates of the 1790s a year earlier than 

Jonathan does. There may be additional ambiguities. 

I presume Woodruff’s statement that about 

the year 1798, Jonathan “left the State” refers to 

the sojourn in Philadelphia. I cannot find any 

evidence that Jonathan actually matriculated in 

a medical school there; presumably, he volunteered 

his services in the offices of sympathetic 

doctors and of that one cannot expect to find 

records. In regard to the Philadelphia period, 

note a vague suggestion in the following chapter 

that Jonathan’s son James was born in Pennsylvania. 

Note that Woodruff does not mention 

Jonathan’s return to Albany from Coxsackie, 

due to “a severe family affliction” (what was 

it?). Another absence from Albany also seems to 

need attention, one that Jonathan did not consider 

worthy of note. 

In Coeymans and the Past (written by Edward 

D. Giddings for the Tri-Centennial Committee 

of the Town of Coeymans, 1973), one learns that 


a merchant at Coeymans Landing, William A. 

Dumont, a dealer in general merchandise, 

served the extended community of some 250 

families, whose names appear on his books as 

having bought goods on credit during the period 

1799–1806. Among these names is “Eights” 

— I venture to guess that this was the young 

family of Dr. Jonathan Eights: buying on time, 

as he appears to have done since his initial borrowing 

of funds from his father. 

First of all, Jonathan Eights is the only 

Eights I know of at the time not in Albany. Second, 

Alida Wynkoop is thought to have come 

from the Coeymans area, although her family 

does not appear among names cited in the 

Coeymans publication. Unfortunately, this 

information cannot be further documented at 

this time, for Dumont’s papers have at least 

temporarily strayed from view. 18 

That the Jonathan Eights family very likely 

was in the area at the time is indicated by an 

additional item of great interest. In the Sterling 

Potter Collection in the New York State 

Archives, there appear entries that do much to 

clarify matters. Among baptisms at the Coeymans 

Reformed Church are three for children of 

Jonathan Eights and Alida Wynkoop: Abraham, 

28 October 1796; James, 1 May 1799; Alida, 6 

August 1801. 19 

This means, first of all, that at least 

Jonathan’s wife Alida resided in Coeymans 

much of the time from at least late 1796 through 

autumn 1801; she is very unlikely to have gone 

there from Albany to have her children baptized 

— and trips of that sort from Canajoharie 

are even more unlikely. 

It also helps to resolve several tangles 

regarding both dates of birth of Jonathan’s children 

and the exact composition of his family. It 

is the first proof we have of a probable date of 

birth for Abraham. It throws into doubt the 

usual birth year of 1798 for our James Eights, 

considering that he was not baptized until 1 

May 1799. Nobody, in any case, has ever documented 

the date of 1798 (see comments on his 

birth in the next chapter). 

Alida’s baptismal date of 1801 is important 

(nobody gives her an assured birth date). It also 

puts in doubt a ghost “Abraham W. Eights” 

who is said to be buried (that is, reburied) in 

Albany Rural Cemetery, where he is given the 

dates of 1801–1 January 1822. 20 Now, not only 

was there already a son of Jonathan and Alida 

named Abraham (“Junior”), baptized in 1796 

(he died 6 December 1817), but birth of an 

Abraham in 1801 is impossible, given daughter 

Alida’s baptismal date of early August. Further, 

I cannot believe a son of so prominent a citizen 

as Jonathan Eights would not have been noted 

in an obituary published in Albany newspapers. 

I find none for the period of January 1822. 

Besides, by 15 May 1819, there was another 

Abraham, called Abraham C.W. (he died 5 

November 1836)! 21 

Thus, “Abraham W.” is spurious. It firms up 

the other two Abrahams — but leaves one of 

them unaccounted for in Albany Rural Cemetery, 

where there is a record with (dubious 

dates) of only one. I think the Albany Rural 

Cemetery Abraham likely to be the one who 

died in 1836, although this cannot be proved. If 

so, where was the first one (died 1817) buried? 

Supposing that Alida Wynkoop, who had him 

baptized there, might have insisted that he be 

buried there as well, I have combed records of 

Coeymans cemeteries without success. In any 

case, his death occurred long before establishment 

of Albany Rural Cemetery. 22 

In addition to the four children of Jonathan 

Eights just listed, there were two others: Sarah 

Elizabeth and Catherine. The entire list, in 

order, then becomes: 

ABRAHAM (“Jun.”), 1796-6 December 1817; 

JAMES, 1798/1799–22 June 1882; ALIDA, who 

married Daniel Palmer (1801?–25 August 1880), 

1801–27 December 1862; SARAH ELIZABETH, 

1812–6 Octpber 1827 (reports to the contrary 

can be ignored); CATHARINE, 1816–2 January 

1878, who died unmarried, suffering from ovarian 

cancer; ABRAHAM C.W., 15 May 1819–5 

Nov 1836, who was a student at the Albany 

Academy from December 1828 through April 

1834 (he is recorded as simply “exiting,” not 

graduating). (With the death of Abraham C.W. 

Eights, efforts by Jonathan to leave a son named 

for his father had to be given up.) 

Jonathan Eights’s life as a doctor was a long 

and demanding one. He was ambitious, some 

Chapter 1 7

said imperious, and his interests were many 

and varied. He was active in organizations 

ranging from medical to scientific. He kept 

weather and related records. His talents (and 

opinions) were by no means kept under a 

bushel. When not reelected to the presidency of 

the Albany County Medical Society in 1817, his 

temper flared and he resigned from the Society. 

Politically an ardent Federalist, he had been 

appointed by the Albany Common Council as a 

physician to the poor (the Almshouse Physician) 

as early as 1813. He was duly reappointed 

on 21 January 1820 but his fortunes changed 

with the autumn election, when the “majority 

of the common council being democratic, the 

old federal officers were removed . . . Dr Eights, 

city physician, gave place to Christopher C. 

Yates.” 23 

Some highlights of Jonathan’s career are 

worth noting. He was in 1878, according to the 

F.W. Beers History of Montgomery County, “the 

first remembered physician at Canajoharie.” In 

the same work, it is noted that in October 1806, 

the membership of the Montgomery County 

Medical Society “was increased by the addition 

of . . . Jonathan Eights” and seven other doctors. 

Washington Frothingham notices that Jonathan 

was in fact president of the Montgomery Medical 

Society in 1808. (There remains a question 

whether Jonathan Eights was in any way related 

to an Eights family already in the Canajoharie 

area; in the F.W. Beers & Co. History of 

Montgomery and Fulton Counties, we learn that 

one Adam Eights was surprised and killed in 

1780 or 1781, in a raid of the enemy led by 

Chief Joseph Brant; furthermore, in the first U.S. 

Census of 1790, for Canajoharie Town, there is 

listed Christian Eights, head of a family made 

up of four adult males and three adult 

females.) 24 

Jonathan was debtor to Ezra Ames, the eminent 

painter of Albany, for the painting of a 

Masonic apron, 17 June 1800; perhaps this 

occurred before his second residence at Canajoharie. 

(Ames painted anything — weather 

vanes, Masonic paraphernalia, medals, crosses, 

clock-faces — and swapped portraits for services 

to eke out a skimpy living in those early 

days.) 25 

Upon his return to Albany in 1810, Jonathan 

hit the ground running. He was active in the 

Society for the Promotion of the Useful Arts 

and rose to be its recording secretary. He later 

served as vice president of that group when it 

became one of the components of the Albany 

Institute (whose history will be noted in more 

detail with my account of James). Unlike his 

son James, he regularly paid membership dues. 

In addition, Jonathan frequently figured in 

activities of the Albany St. Nicholas Benevolent 

Society (St. Nicholas being a traditional patron 

saint of the Dutch), and as early as 1831 was a 

physician for that charitable group. 26 

Another slant on Jonathan’s economic and 

social status may be gathered if it can be proved 

that, at least for a brief period, perhaps after the 

death of his father, he was a slaveholder. Howell 

and Tenney (in their Bi-Centennial History of 

the County of Albany, 1886) note, obscurely and 

all too briefly: “One of the most noted agents 

[of the Underground Railroad] at the Albany 

station was Stephen Meyers. He was born a 

slave in Rensselaer County in 1800, in the family 

of Dr. Eights, but was soon liberated by the 

abolition of slavery in this State” (that is, 1827, 

when, on 4 July, 10,000 slaves in the state were 

freed). Perhaps more information on slaveholding 

by the Eights family can be turned up (we 

know, for example, that Abraham Eights had 

two slaves, in his household of 12 white persons, 

as recorded in the first U.S. Census, 1790). 

The whole matter is somewhat obscure, for 

Wesley G. Balla, Albany Institute of History and 

Art, informs me that a search of manumission 

records for Albany, 1800–1828, fails to provide 

information on Meyers or the Eights family. 27 

How frequently Jonathan Eights may have 

had interns in his office is not known but 

William Humphrey (born 2 February 1796) 

studied with him in 1813 (he ultimately graduated 

from the College of Physicans and Surgeons 

in 1819). In May 1828, Jonathan formed a 

partnership with Dr. S.S. Treat, the duration of 

which is not recorded. 28 

Despite his being at Canajoharie until 1810, 

Jonathan served on a committee to draft bylaws 

of the Albany County Medical Society; he 

signed the report of the committee dated 14 


April 1807. He was immediately active in 

Albany County medical matters when he 

removed to Albany. At the quarterly meeting 10 

June 1810, Jonathan produced “his certificate 

from the Medical Society of the County of 

Montgomery” and “took his seat in the Society.” 

He was promptly appointed “a Censor pro 

tempore” and began serving on a committee to 

revise bylaws of the Society, his group reporting 

on 9 October 1810. It was agreed that any doctor 

who presented evidence of membership in 

any county medical society in the state should 

be immediately admitted into membership in 

the Albany County Society. (Members also 

learned, no doubt to their disappointment, that 

the College of Physicians and Surgeons would 

no longer admit, gratis, to its classes “students 

recommended by the county medical societies.”) 

Jonathan Eights lectured to the Albany 

County Medical Society on the hydrocoele 9 

April 1811. 29 

In 1812, Jonathan was nominated President 

pro tempore of the Society and, in 1813, was 

elected President. At the 14 January 1817 meeting, 

“Doctor Jonathan Eights not having been 

reelected President, was at his own request dismissed 

from this Society.” Evidently, he did not 

long remain a nonmember; he was again 

attending meetings by 11 May 1819, at which 

time he proposed for membership his erstwhile 

student, Dr. William Humphrey, and, on 9 January 

1821, Jonathan was again elected president, 

also retaining the function of censor. 30 

Notices related to Dr. Jonathan Eights in the 

Albany Argus were common, concerned with 

his many activities, some professional, some 

social and, even, some political, for his political 

Federalist leanings suited the partisan democratic 

(and later Democratic) Argus not at all. 

On 9 February 1816, Dr. Eights’s election as 

counsellor of the Society for the Promotion of 

Useful Arts was reported. On 5 January 1819, 

he was reported as its secretary. A bit later 

(beginning 22 January), he inserted in the Argus 

a request for information on the performance of 

an experimental Persian wheat; premiums were 

to be offered. 31 

In 1821, Jonathan was a member, representing 

the Second Ward, on the Albany County 

Convention to revise the State Constitution. 32 

On 8 January 1822, Jonathan was elected 

delegate to the State Medical Society. He was an 

associate contributor to the New York Medical 

and Physical Journal in 1822–1823. In 1830 and 

1831, he was president of the New York Medical 

Society, having been its treasurer for several 

years. In his lectures as president, he spoke 

authoritatively on “Vaccination” and “Puerperal 

Fever.” His name appears in various ways in 

Albany County Medical Society affairs over the 

years, and on 14 January 1840, no doubt more 

as an honor than a working position, he was 

elected president. His formal lecture in 1841 

was on “Phlegmasia dolens.” His last recorded 

attendance at a meeting of the Society was 9 

Sep 1845. 33 

In addition to several notices of his activities 

in the Albany County and State medical societies, 

we find that he was elected a first 

vicepresident of the Society for the Promotion 

of Useful Arts in 1824. 34 

On or about 3 May 1825, Dr. Eights began to 

sponsor an advertisement, as follows: “DOC- 

TOR EIGHTS Has removed to No. 41, North 

Pearl, corner of Columbia street. His office will 

be kept in No. 6, Webster’s Buildings, 

Albany.” 35 

On 29 July 1826, Dr. Eights wrote a long 

article (repeated as an advertisement on 31 July) 

on a proposed meeting on 31 July of “The different 

Masonic bodies” in the Capitol. His fondness 

for that craft and its rituals is evident. He 

was chairman of the meeting. 36 

Such was the standing of Dr. Eights that in 

1827, he and five others “received the degree [of 

Doctor of Medicine] on the recommendation of 

the State Medical Society.” Mind you, this was 

an honorary degree only — Jonathan had been 

practicing medicine for some 30 years by then! 

(His was the very first group to receive such a 

degree and, in fact, the practice was not formalized 

until Chapter 366 of the Laws of 1840 laid 

ground rules and allowed the honor to be 

extended to no more than four persons per 

year.) 37 

On 22 April 1830, an advertisement listed 

Jonathan as a member of a committee of 

Chapter 1 9

arrangements for Albany Institute, announcing 

an annual lecture. On 9 June, the Argus carried 

an uncommonly long report by Jonathan, president 

of the Medical Society of the State of New 

York, calling for a “Medical Topographical Survey 

of the State” — a sort of comprehensive 

natural history of each county and not at all 

entirely medical in nature! As noted above, as 

its president in 1830 to 1831, Jonathan gave the 

annual address to the State Medical Society, a 

commentary on “Vaccination as a preventive of 

small pox,” an account “well calculated to sustain 

and increase his reputation as a physician 

of sound practical views, and of extensive information.” 

38 

In September 1831, Dr. Eights began to be 

identified as a driving force in an effort to 

remove free-ranging swine (as garbage collectors!) 

from the streets of Albany. It promptly 

became the “Eights Hog Law,” perhaps partly 

to identify it with his well-known Federalist 

sympathies (in newspaper reports, it was 

“Jonathan Eights’s Hog Law”; there is no mention 

of Eights in Common Council records). At 

any rate, the proposed law was introduced by 

Alderman Barent P. Staats, evidently at the 

request of Jonathan Eights and “some hundred 

others,” as early as the 22 August 1831 meeting 

of the Common Council. Their request “praying 

the passage of an ordinance restraining swine 

from running at large in the City” was read and 

referred to a special committee. 39 

The special committee reported that they 

“had given the subject due consideration” and 

had arrived at the following conclusions: “1st. 

That swine running at large are a greater nuisance 

than the filth they destroy would be, if 

left in the street from one sweeping to the other 

of each week. 2nd. That there are persons in the 

city who will go from house to house and will 

take away the swill and offal of every kind 

without any expense to the owners, except a 

tub or pail in which to deposit the same. 3d. 

The committee cannot find on strict enquiry 

that swine running at large are conducive to 

health in any way whatever, and consider it a 

poor compliment to our citizens, to say that 

[they] must keep hogs in the streets to keep 

them clean. And further, the committee are 

informed, that many of the swine are kept by 

speculators, and not by the poor, as many 

believe.” 40 

There followed a charade that any reader of 

today will find perfectly in tune with the singlemindedness 

of partisan politics. Someone 

brought in a “Remonstrance” — said to have 

been signed by several hundred people. I have 

not been able to find a copy of the Remonstrance 

but some members doubted if the people 

said to have signed it could actually be 

found (a familiar enough charge!); others 

thought that at least two-thirds of the citizens of 

the city supported the restraining law. Others 

found the language of the Remonstrance too 

full of Greek and Latin phrases to be intelligible. 

Was it not, in fact, a joke of some sort that 

those people had signed? There were calls for 

referral to committee and other parliamentary 

pranks. Mr. Seymour supported the Remonstrance; 

he opposed the restraining law because 

it subverted what ought to be their main purpose 

— to provide poor people a way “to support 

their large families.” 41 

Although the Remonstrance was ultimately 

tabled and the restraining proposal became law, 

the end was not yet. As the Argus reported, 

opponents of the law cannily chose the cholera 

season to renew their assault — and timed their 

main barrage to occur when councilmen were 

anxious to end a long evening’s work. A resolution 

suspending the law until November was 

introduced by Mr. Gibbons, who “had found no 

greater nuisances, and none which he thought 

deserving of more immediate attention at this 

time, than those arising from the confinement 

of hogs.” Owners of swine, he noticed, were 

now “obliged to shut them up in pens, cellars, 

and in some instances of poor families, in the 

very room where the family ate, drank and 

slept.” It was, he felt, “his duty to urge 

[suspension] upon the board, at this time, as a 

necessary precaution against the introduction 

and spreading of the Cholera in the city.” He 

was “governed entirely in doing so by that 

sense of duty which had governed, and which 

he trusted always would govern his conduct.” 

Clever man! 42 

Barent P. Staats “regretted that this agitating 

question had been brought up at all; particularly 

at this late hour of the night (11 o’clock), and 


while the Cholera panic was at such a height 

throughout the city.” He doubted that the resolution 

proceeded from a “sense of duty,” unless 

it was the same sense of duty that “prompted 

the mover of this resolution to absent himself 

when the law referred to was passed.” And “he 

disliked the political squinting given to the resolution, 

by proposing to suspend the law until 

after the next election.” The Recorder thought 

the hour late, since it took “an unfair advantage 

of those who were known to be in favor of the 

law, but who were absent from their seats.” Mr. 

Seymour waffled, having opposed the law in 

the first place; he now proposed that free-running 

swine were the best way out of a bad situation, 

namely, the cholera epidemic. Still, after 

some further consideration, the resolution to 

temporarily suspend the Hog Law was withdrawn. 

Even in 1834, some final volleys were fired. 

Mr. Wasson reported a proposal that the Hog 

Law be amended, “so as to prohibit the running 

of swine at large without being ringed in the 

nose, on penalty of $3.” This would prevent the 

swine “doing injury to the paving.” It would 

also retain them as scavengers, which he 

thought useful, and would “prove a benefit to 

poor families.” Mr. Maher was more forthright: 

“He would protect the poor in a sort of prescriptive 

right which they had enjoyed until 

recently, even at the risk of soiling a lady’s 

gown now and then, or offending the sensibilities 

of street critics. The rich could better afford 

to repair the injury to their clothes, than the 

poor could be deprived of their pork in the 

winter.” Simple! The proposed amendment was 

finally referred back to committee. 

And there, as far as I can tell, the matter 

remained for a time. If, however, Codman Hislop, 

in Albany, Dutch, English and American, is to 

be believed, that was not the end of the affair. 

In his essay, “An old custom is hard to change,” 

he aptly exemplified his conclusion in regard to 

the time required to end the reign of free-ranging 

hogs in Albany. “What to do about the hogs 

that were over-running the streets? In 1849 the 

Council received a report that four thousand of 

them were loose in the city. Their owners were 

horrified when the Council ordered that all 

hogs found unringed and roving the streets 

should be captured and held until the owners 

paid a fine. In 1854 fifteen thousand of them 

were captured.” 43 

As for the cholera scare of 1832, it was real 

enough and was closely reported in the Argus. 

Uneasiness was expressed on 16 June. By the 

18th, it was mentioned that “Dr. J. Eights” 

(obviously, Jonathan) was a member of the 

medical staff of the city of Albany; they were 

advising citizens in regard to cholera. On the 

19th, more grist for the mill: and notice that 

prayers against cholera would be held. On 30 

June, Jonathan Eights, as chairman, signed a letter, 

joined by several other doctors, attesting to 

the healthfulness of Albany — the city had no 

cholera. 44 

But, soon, the rosy glow faded. A headline 

from New York City was reprinted: 

“CHOLERA IN NEW-YORK” — the watchword 

was “Be Careful, but Fear Not.” The 

account was a puff of reassurance, with much 

pontificating as to causes and remedies. And, 

gradually, Jonathan Eights found himself 

reporting the number of cases of cholera in 

Albany. On 31 August, there was a summary 

report on cholera in Albany: There had been 

1,120 cases, with 392 deaths. One statistician of 

the day opined that “Thursdays have been on 

the average the mildest, and Saturday’s the 

most severe.” 45 

Human interest stories abounded. There 

was (23 August) the macabre tale of an 80-yearold 

man on an extended stagecoach journey, 

when he came down with what appeared to be 

cholera. Fellow passengers would not let him 

ride with them; no inn would put him up; he 

was finally strapped to the top of the coach and 

carried to his destination, his brother’s house — 

where he was refused entry, being put into an 

out-building, where he died before medical 

attention arrived. 46 

Supposed causes and treatments abounded, 

accompanied by phony analyses, such as long 

accounts of last meals of deceased persons. As 

an example, in New York City, “A man was 

attacked with cholera after dining and supping 

upon Lima beans.” Maybe it was the “supping” 

that did it! 47 

By 1 September, cholera was letting up in 

Albany; some connection between the remission 

Chapter 1 11

and near-freezing cold was postulated. A full 

account of the 1832 cholera season in Albany 

was still news when released by Henry Greene 

in April 1833. 48 

Jonathan Eights remained active in many 

fields. There are numerous references to him in 

Albany Institute affairs (he served on the 

announcement committee, in respect to lecturers, 

for example) and the State Medical Society. 

Numerous accounts of the St Nicholas Benevolent 

Society are to be found, with Jonathan 

often noticed as participating, both as a toaster 

and as its physician. He was chairman (9 January 

1839) of a Committee of Medical Profession 

of the City of Albany which proposed the incorporation 

of a hospital for the city. In 1839, 

Eights used his big guns against what he considered 

unprofessional conduct of practitioners 

of Thomsonian medicine. His letter divided 

medical opinion in Albany. The battle was carried 

forward, with the newly active Albany 

Medical College involved. Part of the flap was 

Eights’s demand that Thomsonists not be 

allowed to attend AMC on an equal footing 

with regular doctors. (AMC, under the leadership 

of Alden March, held its first commencement 

on 1 October.) 49 

In 1840, in the height of the political campaign, 

the openly partisan Argus issued a 

scorching attack on an organization the editor 

considered a notorious hotbed of conservatism 

in previous days, the “Washington Benevolent 

Society.” Although he knew the Society was 

long defunct, he felt sure that surviving members 

were unrepentent and still of their earlier, 

Federalist persuasion. As a guard against their 

exercising any influence today, he felt obliged to 

publish their names — and did so! He listed 67 

men (including Jonathan Eights) but was forced 

two days later to recant to the extent of two 

names on the list, for the men were now firm 

“Republicans” (that is, today’s Democrats). 50 

Age did not dampen Jonathan’s interest in 

the sublimities of nature. We find him writing 

to Dr. Theodric Romeyn Beck on 29 April 1842, 

inquiring whether anyone else had reported 

upon a particularly brilliant display of the aurora 

borealis he had witnessed on the night of 15 

April. It also reflects upon the hours that Dr. 

Eights was forced to keep! “I was returning 

home between two and three o’clock — the 

whole night had been illuminated by the brilliancy 

of the aurora, but at the time I mentioned, 

the whole northern hemisphere was 

peculiarly so. It extended from a line somewhat 

south of west, to the northeast. But what rendered 

it the most remarkable was the waving or 

rolling of the corruscations or flashes of light, 

rising in the west and extending to the zenith in 

quick succession, resembling the rolling of 

flames in a great conflagration.” The color had 

been mainly in the nonreds, else the resemblance 

to actual flames would have been very 

realistic. 51 

Jonathan Eights died 10 August 1848. 

According to the Daily Albany Argus, his “relatives, 

friends and acquaintances” were “respectfully 

invited to attend his funeral, this afternoon, 

at 4 o’clock, from his late residence, No. 

60 North Pearl street.” 

By the time of his funeral (as reported in the 

same issue of the Argus), the Albany County 

Medical Society had met and unanimously 

adopted a motion by Dr. Bay and seconded by 

Dr. March noting the Society’s deep sorrow at 

news “of the death of its worthy and venerable 

member.” By his death, it was noted, “the society 

has lost a member, who, from its foundation, 

has always been ready in promoting its interests 

and its dignity, and who, by the purity of 

his life and by his faithful and disinterested discharge 

of his duties during a practice of half a 

century, has been an ornament and an example 

to the profession.” Members were asked to 

“show our respect for his memory” by attending 

his funeral and wearing “the usual badge of 

mourning.” (The latter could be had from the 

establishment of Van Schaack, “4th Store below 

Hudson street,” where “Mourning Breast Pins,” 

in either jet or Berlin, might be had “at very low 

prices.”) 

The Masons Master Lodge No. 2 also met 

“on the 11th of August, A.D. 1848,” when tribute 

was paid to “our much respected and 

beloved brother and late M.W. Master, Doctor 

Jonathan Eights.” 52 

We know nothing of the atmosphere to be 

found at the Eights residence upon news of the 

passing of its master but some appreciation of 

its gravity may be gathered from a reading of 


the will of Jonathan Eights and its attendant 

legal notations. It was earthy and to the point 

and cannot have been any comfort to James 

Eights. 53 

It was proved and recorded 13 September 

1848. “I Jonathan Eights of Albany physician 

make this my will, as follows: 

First. I give to my daughters Alida and 

Catharine all or so much of my household furniture 

plate pictures and ornaments as they 

may select; also my pew in the Second Presbyterian 

Church and its books and furniture; also 

one Bible for each to be by them selected from 

my family library; and also so much of my family 

library as they may select not exceeding one 

hundred dollars in value; also all fuel and provisions 

provided for family use which I may 

leave — 

Second. I direct that all the rest residue and 

remainder of my property both real and personal 

be by my executors sold or converted into 

money or good securities and out of the same 

that all my funeral expenses and just debts be 

paid and the balance by them invested and 

reinvested upon bond and mortgage or other 

good security and the nett [!] income thereof 

applied to the use and support of my beloved 

wife Alida and my said 

daughters Alida and Catharine during the life 

of my said wife Alida; and at her decease the 

whole to go to my said daughters and the trust 

terminated. ... 

[New line] I authorize my executors to execute 

conveyances for any property real or personal, 

to collect, compound or compromise any debts 

or demands due me and full discharges to 

make; also to execute any contracts in relation 

to real estate which I may leave unexecuted. 

Sales of my property may be made at private or 

public sales.” 

Then, for James, the punch line: “I have left 

nothing to my son James, knowing that he is 

capable of supporting himself, and as I leave a 

scanty income to his mother and sisters; but recommend 

to him industry temperance and the 

practice of religious and moral duties.” 

And for Alida, his wife of many decades: 

“The provisions herein contained for my said 

wife is [!] intended and to be by her taken in 

lieu of and in full discharge of dower and of all 

claims upon my estate. But if she elects to take 

dower [one supposes the usual one third of the 

husband’s estate] then she forfeits the provisions 

herein made for her and the same is not to 

go to her, but shall go to my said daughters.” 

“I appoint my beloved daughter Catharine 

executrix and my friends James N. Cobb 

[wealthy New York businessman, husband of 

his younger sister Phebe] and Otis Allen [looks 

like “‘Allin” here, as elsewhere in the document; 

an attorney in Albany; he was Israel 

Williams’s law partner and married Amelia 

Burton, Jonathan’s niece, in 1838] . . . each to be 

liable for their own acts and not for the other.” 

On 26 August 1846, the will was witnessed 

by James Burton (son of Jonathan’s sister 

Catharine and John Burton) and Abram 

E[ights]. Williams (son of his sister Rachel and 

Israel Williams, 1818–1893). 

The will packet was annotated on 30 August 

1848 by “Lewis Benedict, Jr., Esq., Surrogate of 

the County of Albany” confirming the death of 

Jonathan Eights on 10 August, etc., and referring 

to the will of 26 August 1846. He left his wife 

and “three children, James[,] Alida and 

Catharine Eights, all living in said city of 

Albany,” and all are required to be present before 

the surrogate “on the twelfth day of September 

A.D., 1848.” 

In addition, on 5 September 1848, Otis Allin 

[!], Commissioner of Deeds, Albany County, 

swears (etc.) that he served the above on the fifth 

day of September on “Alida Eights widow of 

Jonathan Eights, James Eights, Alida Eights & 

Catharine, the persons named . . . .” 

Thus, James heard the full measure, 

whether he would or not, and, by 13 September 

1848, Catherine Eights had taken the executor’s 

oath and Abram E. Williams and James Burton 

had reaffirmed their witnessing of the last will 

and testament of Jonathan Eights. 

Jonathan’s widow, Alida Wynkoop, did not 

live long. Her death was announced in the 

Albany Evening Journal (not in the Argus) on 

Wednesday, 16 May 1849: “DIED: / In this city, 

on the 15th inst., Mrs. ALIDA WYNKOOP, 

Chapter 1 13

widow of the late Dr. Jonathan Eights, in the 

77th year of her age. / The relatives, friends 

and acquaintances of the deceased and those of 

the family, are invited to attend her funeral at 3 

o’clock on Thursday afternoon, from her late 

residence, No. 8 Fayette street.” 54 

Little is known of the subsequent fates of 

daughters Alida and Catharine. Alida married 

Daniel Palmer (when, I do not know) and the 

couple lived in Ballston Spa; Alida died 27 

December 1862, Palmer died 25 August 1880; it 

was in their home (by a route that will be clarified 

in the next chapter) that her brother James 

died in 1882. Catharine, unmarried, died of an 

ovarian cancer at Greenfield Center, Saratoga 

County, 2 January 1878. The daughters may 

have lived, even previous to Jonathan’s death, 

in the family of old maid Eights women (the 

“Misses Eights”) at 23 Columbia in Albany. 

Alida Wynkoop promptly moved into 8 

Fayette, where she soon died. James was not 

listed in the Albany Directory for 1849 through 

1852 (having previously always been listed as a 

member of Jonathan’s family at 60 North Pearl); 

and, indeed, the annual Directory never listed 

Alida and Catharine, so it is not possible to say 

when they left Albany. 55 

With this dribble of information, the story of 

the old order ends. We now return to the birth 

of James Eights and the story of his life and 

times. 

NOTES 

1. My debt to Char Miller will become more and more 

evident as this work moves along. He and Naomi Goldsmith 

broke new ground in research on James Eights in 

modern times. The amount of basically new material on 

Eights in their study, “James Eights, Albany naturalist: 

New evidence,” will astonish anyone who thought he previously 

knew James Eights. In addition, Char published a 

list of articles written by Eights, “The scientific career of 

James Eights: an annotated bibliography,” that adds enormously 

to our understanding of Eights’s role as author. 

Along the way, Char gathered an impressive amount of 

material on the Eights family and has generously made it 

available to me. I have used it freely and only he and I 

know how much I owe to him. 

2. JE’s Floral Calendar was mentioned in The Country 

Gentleman, 2(33): 108, 18 Aug 1853. For the Antarctic plant 

fossil, see: JE, “Description of a new crustaceous animal,” 

p. 64, and W.J. Zinsmeister, “Early geological exploration 

of Seymour Island, Antarctica.” 

3. Louis Agassiz, Bibliographia Zoologiae et Geologiae, 

1854; G.B. Goode, “The beginnings of American science, 

the third century,” 1897 (Pt. II, 1901); Carroll Lane Fenton 

and M.A. Fenton, Giants of Geology, 1952; G.P. Merrill, The 

First Hundred Years of American Geology, 1924; G.W. White, 

Essays on History of Geology, 1977. These authorities are 

negative for Eights. M. Ellis, “Index to publications of the 

New York State Natural History Survey and the New York 

State Museum,” did little to document JE’s work in New 

York; a better estimate of JE’s contribution to early New 

York geology can be found in J.W. Wells, Early Investigations 

of the Devonian System in New York, 1656-1836, pp. 59- 

61. 

4. The portraits of JE will be discussed later. 

5. All these points are best documented at a later time. 

6. JE’s pycnogonid was announced in “Description of 

a new animal belonging to the Arachnides of Latreille,” 

1835. 

7. See later chapter for the pycnogonid and its role in 

JE’s rediscovery. 

8. C. Miller and N. Goldsmith, “James Eights” (1980); 

C. Miller, “The scientific career” (1980 [1982]); C. Miller, 

“The family Eights: five generations in America” and 

notes for “An Eights genealogy,” both unpublished. 

Jonathan Pearson, Contributions for the Genealogies of the 

First-settlers of the Ancient County of Albany, index, p. ix; 

best of the early genealogical references to the Eights family 

but must be used with caution. 

9. For Elizabeth (Eights) Hilton, see Anon., 3 Apr 

1838: “DIED, / On Saturday last, 31st ult. in Guilderland, 

Mrs Elizabeth Hilton, relict of Peter W. Hilton deceased, 

and sister of the late Abraham Eights of this city, aged 90 

years.” That is, she died 31 Mar. It appears probable that 

she was widowed in 1786 by the death of Peter Hilton (no 

middle initial given), “of Sarotogo [?], Albany County. 

Wife —- [not named], son Richard and other children, not 

named. Real and personal estate. Executors Abraham 

Eights and Jacobus Vansanti. Witnesses Peter W. Douw, 

Jacob van Shaick and John Sheperd” (Berthold Fernow, 

Calendar of Wills . . . Albany . . . 1626-1836, p. 200). (This is 

marginally annotated: “868 (H 113) / 1783 / Octbr. 6 / 

1786 / Febry. 23,” indicating that it was written in 1783 

and proved 1786, the probable year of death, when Elizabeth 

would have been about 38 years old if, as supposed, 

she was born in 1748). 

10. Dirck Benson and others are mentioned in Anon., 

1993, item 131, an account of Anthony Duane and family. 

For Dirck (Derick) Benson, father of Catharine, who married 

Capt Abraham Eights, father of our Father Abraham, 

see: S.V. Talcott, Genealogical Notes of New York and New 

England Families, p. 12. 

11. For comments on the life and character of Father 

Abraham, see his funeral sermon, “Mourning for the righteous,” 

by the Rev. Arthur J. Stansbury. Stansbury (1781- 

1865) left Albany (and his pastorate) in Feb 1821 and went 

to Washington to be (for 30 years) the reporter of Congressional 

debates for the National Intelligencer (J.M. Blayney, 

History of the First Presbyterian Church of Albany, pp. 28-29). 

G.J. Tucker, New York Marriages Prior to 1784, p. 126, 

records the marriage of Father Abraham and Catharine 

Brooks (16 Jun 1770) and of his sister Mary (Marie) and 

Hendrickse (spelling varies) Bradt (25 Mar 1776). 

12. Transcriptions of records of the First Presbyterian 

Church of Albany by R.W. Vosburgh, 1917, unpubl. MS. 


Albany County Hall of Records, seen courtesy of Tracy B. 

Grimm. 

13. See Note 12; I am also indebted to Robert A. 

Alexander, historian of the Church, for help. I have 

numerous notes on the family of Ann Eights and Joseph 

Boies (Boice) from Mildred (Carswell) Sharpe (still living, 

Sep 1988), wife of Robert Boies Sharpe (1897-1982), greatgrandson 

of Ann and Joseph Boies. 

14. Jonathan Eights, letter to William Bay memorial 

committee, see W. Bay, 1847. Alida Wynkoop seems to 

have been born in 1773. She may have married Jonathan 

Eights when she was about 20 years old, for she is said to 

have accompanied him to Canajoharie about 1795. Joel 

Munsell, Annals of Albany, 6: 198, “Reformed Protestant 

Dutch burial ground inscriptions,” lists two deaths that 

may be of interest: Jacobus Wynkoop, d. 4 May 1795, aged 

74 years; and “Alida, wife of Mr. Jacob Wynkoop, who 

departed this life Oct. 16, 1794, aged 58 years and 5 days”; 

perhaps they were parents of our Alida Wynkoop. 

15. I am grateful to Tracy B. Grimm, Archivist, Albany 

County Hall of Records, for retrieving this document for 

me. 

16. S.D. Willard, Annals of the Medical Society of the 

County of Albany, 1806-1851 (1864), p. 20. F.W. Beers & Co., 

History of Montgomery and Fulton Counties (1878), p. 70, 

indicates that the Montgomery County Medical Society 

formally began in 1806. 

17. Since Jonathan Eights moved to Albany in 1810, as 

did Bay, their service in Albany at the time of his letter 

was the same; I presume Jonathan included his prior service 

in Canajoharie and elsewhere, while Bay measured his 

entire career from 1810. 

18. E.D. Giddings, Coeymans and the Past, pp. 68-69. 

Extensive correspondence has failed to turn up anything 

on merchant Dumont and his receipt book; at one time, a 

correspondent gave hope that the Dumont material would 

ultimately be sent to the N.Y. State Archives. 

19. N.Y. State Archives, NYSL/PA 18448, Box 14, 

Coeymans Reformed Church Records, Baptisms, Marbletown 

Volume, Coeymans, S. Potter, 1903, 237. 

20. Albany Rural Cemetery archives; a stone and an 

entry on an index card claim burial of an “Abram W. 

Eights” who died January 1, 1822, in Lot 53, Section 56, 

Burial no. 3. 

21. Anon., 12 Dec 1817, reported that Abraham, June,” 

“eldest son of Doctor Eights,” died 6 Dec 1817, “aged 21 

years.” Anon., 7 Nov 1836: Abraham C.W. Eights died 7 

Nov 1836; some information on him is to be found in 

archives of Albany Academy for Boys. 

22. In July 1845, Albany Rural Cemetery (which “combines 

the dark dell in the shady retreat — the limpid brook 

and the trickling waterfall”) was still being laid out 

(Anon.., 3 Jul 1845). Contemporary notices include queries 

whether Albany church cemeteries — then well within 

what is now city limits — were to be removed to the new 

cemetery; see Albany Rural Cemetery, Albany Rural Cemetery 

Association 1846. James N. Cobb, wealthy son-in-law of 

Father Abraham, purchased lots for “the heirs of Abram 

Eights” in 1848 (I am indebted to officers of ARC for this 

information); dates of reburials of previously deceased 

members of the Eights clan are not recorded. 

23. S.D. Willard, “Historical address,” pp. 20-21; 

Willard, Annals, pp. 44, 253; Joel Munsell, Annals of Albany, 

5: 48; 7: 143, 153. Willard, Annals, pp. 253-254, notes 

that it “was as a family physician that he [was] held in 

highest esteem; his personage was large and impressive, 

his manners quick and dignified, his scrutiny rigid and 

severe.” 

24. F.W. Beers & Co., History of Montgomery & Fulton 

Counties, p. 70, etc.; W. Frothingham, History of Montgomery 

County, pp. 162, 163; U.S. Census, 1790 (1908), New York, 

Heads of Families, p. 99. 

25. T. Bolton and I.F. Cortelyou, Ezra Ames of Albany, 

p. 28. 

26. J. Henry, Papers, vol. 1, pp. 68, 69, 75, 76, 92; 

Albany Inst., “Dues and memberships, 1823-1833” (MS), 

“Minutes,” 1824-ff (MS); for St. Nicholas Benevolent Society, 

see Argus, 17 Nov, 10 Dec 1831; 15 Dec 1832; 16 Dec 

1833; 10 Dec 1838. 

27. G.R. Howell and J. Tenney, Bi-Centennial History of 

the County of Albany, p. 725; U.S. Census, 1790 (1908), 

Heads of Families, New York, p. 14. Slavery was abolished in 

the state of New York on 4 Jul 1827, when some 10,000 

slaves were freed; see Argus, 3, 7 Jul 1828 for accounts of 

celebration of the first anniversary of manumission; I am 

grateful for help from W.G. Balla, his letter 20 Oct 1995. 

28. J. Munsell, Annals of Albany, 9: 108 (reference to 

Humphrey), p. 166 (Eights–Treat partnership). 

29. Willard, Annals, pp. 6-7, 20, 21, 23. 

30. Willard, Annals, pp. 28, 29, 44, 49, 51. 

31. Argus, 9 Feb 1816; 5, 22 Jan 1819. 

32. Argus, 1 Jun 1821. 

33. Willard, Annals, pp. 55, 135, 252, 253. 

34. Argus, 30 Jan 1824. 

35. Argus, 3 May 1825. 

36. Argus, 29 Jul 1826. 

37. Willard, Annals, p. 252; F.B. Hough, Historical and 

Statistical Record of the University of the State of New York, 

pp. 842-843. 

38. Argus, 22 Apr 1830; 9 Jun 1830; 11 Feb 1831; his 

second address as president, 1831, on “Puerperal fever,” 

appeared in Transactions of the Medical Society of the State of 

New-York (Argus, 18 May 1832); Willard, Annals, p. 253. 

39. Argus, 7 Sep 1831; Albany City records in Albany 

County Hall of Records, Common Council Minutes, 25 

Sep 1831 — see p. 303; my thanks to Mayor Thomas M. 

Walen, III, letter 26 Nov 1991. 

40. Argus, 7 Sep 1831; Common Council Minutes, pp. 

321, 322. 

41. Argus, 7 Sep 1831. 

42. Argus, 20 Jun 1832. 

43. Argus, 13 Mar 1834; C. Hislop, Albany, Dutch, English 

and American, p.304. This shows up the naivete of 

David Lithgow (Anon., 1934), in his commentary on his 

painting showing State Street in 1805: Of course, there 

were no hogs in his painting, for Albany was already a 

civilized city! 

44. Argus, 16, 18, 19, 30 Jun 1832. As for Jonathan 

Eights, more of his energy that summer was expended on 

settling the will of an obscure New York City man, John 

Haberdink (or Harberdink; both spellings appear in the 

Argus; I can find no information on him in standard references), 

than in protecting Albany from cholera; see the 

Argus 22 May, 1, 7, 14, 20, 23 Jun 1832. It was not until July 

that cholera gained the local spotlight: Argus, 30 Jun; 6, 9, 

21 Jul; 2, 22, 24 Aug 1832. 

45. Argus, 3, 6, 9, 21 Jul; 2, 31 Aug 1832 

46. Argus, 23 Aug 1832. 

Chapter 1 15

47. Argus, 27 Aug 1832. 

48. Argus, 1, 5 Sep 1832; 30 Apr 1833. W.E. Rowley, in: 

“The Albany Microscope: gadfly for Jacksonian democracy,” 

pp. 182-183, points out that the establishment newspapers 

did not do the best of reporting of the cholera plague that 

took 416 lives in Albany in 1832. They frequently took 

their cues from fundamentalists and ranting temperance 

groups who were all too ready to blame the disease on 

immigrants, the poor, and drinkers, all presumably “sinners 

receiving divine judgment.” No doubt part of the reason 

for the Albany Microscope’s sanity may have been its 

ebullient antagonism to the temperance reformers, but 

they were on sound ground to note that panic did no 

good, while the dead included “temperate or intemperate 

— dissolute or respectable — young and old — black and 

white.” 

49. Jonathan was physician for the St. Nicholas Benevolent 

Society (Argus, 23 Nov 1832; see notices of the Society, 

6, 15 Dec); he offered toasts at its festivities (Argus, 16 

Dec 1833; 10 Dec 1838). T.R. Beck included Jonathan’s data 

for 1813-1814 in a paper read at the Albany Institute on 

“Abstracts of meteorological observations made at the city 

of Albany” (Jonathan Eights, “Letter on climatic records,” 

Argus, 12 Nov 1831; 21 Mar 1833). Thomsonism: see Argus, 

21, 25 Sep 1839; Eight’s colleague Peter Wendell refused to 

sign his strongly worded letter. Albany Medical College: 

Argus, 1 Oct 1839. 

50. Argus, 26, 28 Sep 1840. 

51. For Eights’s letter on the aurora, see 56th Annual 

Report of the Board of Regents for 1842. The recording of 

auroral activity was popular; see Anon., 1842 for accounts 

taken from Albany newspapers. 

52. Anon., 12 Aug 1848; Jonathan’s library was sold at 

auction, no details recorded, 7 Feb 1849 (Munsell, Annals, 

1: 343). It appears that James N. Cobb’s first purchase of 

lots for the burial of heirs of Abraham Eights was 19 May 

1848 — thus, Jonathan Eights may have been the first family 

member to be buried there directly after death (see 

records, Albany Rural Cemetery). A monument to 

Jonathan and his wife was in place by at least 1864 

(Willard, Annals, p. 254). 

53. Albany Surrogate’s Court, Will books, vol. 13, p. 

343. Since this is a handwritten document, I have retained 

its underscored words in my transcription. In regard to 

Jonathan’s pew in the Second Presbyterian Church, it suffices 

to note that this church was organized and admitted 

into Presbytery in October 1815; see J.M. Blayney, History 

of the First Presbyterian Church of Albany, p. 28: To both it 

and the Third Presbyterian Church “... our own dismissed 

some of its members.” Neither of these churches survives 

today. 

54. Anon., 16 May 1849. 

55. Alida Wynkoop was buried in Lot 53, Section 56, 

Albany Rural Cemetery. I have checked Albany directories 

for Eights-related addresses for all years from 1841 

through 1882. 


Chapter 2 

JAMES EIGHTS FINDS HIS LEGS: FROM BIRTH 

TO THE ERIE CANAL YEARS 

Little is known of James Eights’s early life. 

No one has recorded a birthday and even his 

year of birth is uncertain. Most authors say he 

was born in 1798, perhaps because he himself 

may have at one time said so; perhaps most 

authors follow records at Albany Rural Cemetery. 

Char Miller gives his age at death on 22 

June 1882 as 84. A Ballston Spa newspaper 

recorded his age as 85 (a date followed by 

Albany Rural Cemetery), although this may 

have meant he was “in his 85th year” — that is, 

his 84th birthday had passed. For him to have 

been 85 full years old (that is, born in 1797) 

would introduce a conflict with information on 

the date of baptism (and likely date of birth) of 

his older brother, Abraham. On Greenfield census 

schedules (probably applying to midyear) 

for 1875, he himself or his sister Catharine, with 

whom he was staying, gave his age as 76 — 

that is, that he had by then had his 76th birthday. 

That would make his year of birth the second 

half of 1798 or the first half of 1799. Since 

he was baptized at Coeymans Reformed 

Church 1 May 1799, I suspect he was born in 

that year — that is, he was 83 or, if you prefer, 

“‘in his 84th year” when he died. 1 

A general identification of James with 

Albany has fostered the notion that he was born 

there and lived there all his life. This is a toohasty 

conclusion drawn from a belief that his 

famous Albany street scenes represent intimate 

personal knowledge of the city in the years 1805 

to 1807. If James knew Albany at all at that 

time, it was from casual visits at a tender age. 

The drawings were, in fact, made long after the 

time they represent, by a painter who did not 

live regularly in Albany until 1810, when 

Jonathan removed his family and practice from 

Canajoharie. 

Intimations that James was at least born in 

Albany are subject to serious doubt. He seems 

most unlikely to have been born in Canajoharie, 

where some authorities incorrectly place his 

family at about the time of his birth. To the riddle 

must be added the possibility he was born 

in Pennsylvania, as recorded on Town of Greenfield 

census schedules for 1875. This can only 

mean that Jonathan was accompanied by his 

wife and young son Abraham when he left 

Canajoharie and went to Philadelphia to 

improve his knowledge of medicine. If, as 

Jonathan claimed in 1847, he returned from 

Philadelphia in 1798, this would imply that 

James was born in that year. Jonathan’s memory 

seems imprecise and muddled in regard to 

these critical years. Still, it is possible the Eights 

family returned from Philadelphia, with the 

infant James in hand, in early 1799 and then 

removed with him to the vicinity of Coeymans 

where he was baptized. 

There is no record of James’s schooling. It 

may have been by private tutor and perhaps it 

was entirely within the family. Although the 

Albany Academy was founded in 1813, in time 

for him to have been a student there, there is no 

evidence he was ever associated with it. 2 

Since he frequently called himself and was 

called by acquaintances “Doctor Eights,” we 

Chapter 2 17

may assume that some sort of certification legitimized 

the title. That he never regularly practiced 

is beside the point: What basis, in fact, 

was there for the title? Did he undertake an 

internship in the office of a friendly doctor in 

Albany? Was it in his father’s office only? When 

did it occur? By James’s time, this would have 

been an uncommon way for anyone to claim 

legitimately to be a doctor fitted to practice. 

Despite his frequent use of the title of “Doctor” 

or “M.D.,” records of his having practiced the 

arts of medicine are few. While on the Antarctic 

expedition of 1829–1830, he claimed to have 

been “Surgeon & Naturalist” on the Annawan. 

Maybe anyone with a smattering of medical 

knowledge might dose (and be allowed to dose) 

sailors on the high seas. He was, however, also 

“Hospital Surgeon” to Albany’s Third Brigade 

Horse Artillery, of the New York State military 

establishment in 1831–1836. Whether his titles 

there of “Doctor” and “Major” were both somewhat 

ceremonial in nature cannot be said. 3 

THE ERIE CANAL: A MAN, A PLAN ... 

James Eights was already referred to as 

“Doctor Eights” by the time of the tour of the 

Erie Canal by Eaton’s students from the Rensselaer 

School in 1826. This, despite the loom of his 

father as bearing that well-known name. 

In any case, James Eights came to the 

world’s attention not from official records of 

birth, education, and training, but from happenstance 

connection, beginning in 1822, with a 

geological and agricultural study of lands 

adjoining the great Erie Canal, then a building 

under the leadership of Governor DeWitt Clinton. 

The Canal was a fabled undertaking that 

was to mix the waters of Lake Erie with those 

of the Hudson River and, beyond the latter, the 

seas of the world. It was “Clinton’s Ditch” — 

and things less complimentary if you differed 

with his vision. I leave its rich story for others 

to tell. 4 

The geological survey was a product of the 

“unparalleled munificence” of “the Patroon,” 

Stephen Van Rensselaer, and the fertile mind of 

Amos Eaton. It can hardly have been an accident 

that Stephen Van Rensselaer’s philosophically 

generous, almost Jeffersonian, coat-tails 

would be grasped by interested parties. That 

they were clung to by such an essentially 

benign exploiter as Amos Eaton lends a fairytale 

quality to the story. 5 

But, first, how did James Eights become a 

part of the retinue? So far as can be seen, it 

began with a letter from the eminent doctor and 

teacher Theodric Romeyn Beck. An intimate of 

Jonathan Eights and well-known to Amos 

Eaton, he wrote to Eaton from Albany 10 September 

1822: 

Dear Sir / I was informed that you passed 

through this city on Sunday last — on your way 

to Troy. — In accordance with a promise which 

I made some time since, I now address you — 

You are acquainted with Dr. Eights. He has a 

son about 22 or 23 years of age who has a taste 

for the natural sciences & is desirous of accompanying 

you on your excursions along the 

canal. I presume (though I have had no conversation 

on that point) that he will wish his 

expenses borne & some small compensation — 

If you can take him, pray inform his father — & 

the terms may then be arranged. I may add that 

Mr. Chas R. Webster joins me in the wish that 

(if consistent with your arrangement,) you 

should have him as an assistant. / When you 

visit Albany, I should be glad to see you. / I 

remain yours / Sincerely / T R Beck. 6 

James got the job, terms of contract 

unknown. What was the survey all about? 

Publicly, a chatty little Albany literary light 

called The Ploughboy, which got the story from 

the Albany Daily Advertiser (a newspaper as 

completely lost to the present world as its copier), 

probably had it right. In its issue for 10 September 

1822 (no doubt a little-modified communication 

from Eaton himself), the story was as 

follows: 

UNPARALLELED MUNIFICENCE. 

The honorable STEPHEN VAN RENSSE- 

LAER has engaged Prof. A. Eaton, of Troy, to 

take a Geological and Agricultural survey of the 

Great Canal route from Albany to Buffalo, a dis- 


tance of 380 miles. The survey is to include the 

breadth of ten miles. An accurate investigation 

of the rocks, soils, minerals and plants, is to be 

made on both sides of the canal. The method of 

culture adopted by the best practical farmers is 

to be sought out, and all the varieties of soil to 

be analyzed. 

Similar surveys of the transition district of 

Rensselaer county, and the transition and secondary 

district of Albany county, having been 

taken under the patronage of Mr. Van Rensselaer; 

the proposed survey, across this secondary 

region, will furnish a practical view of all the 

varieties of formation, soil and culture in the 

state; except the primitive districts, which are 

very limited. 

The result of this survey is to be published, 

with a geological map and tranverse [!] sections. 

It will form a complete manuel [!] for the 

travelling geologist and botanist, as well as for 

the practical agriculturist. 

The survey is to be commenced in November. 

No more will be done this season, however, 

than to make a general outline of the geological 

formations, in order to prepare a sketch to be 

filled up hereafter. The survey will be resumed 

next April, and continued through the summer. 

It is not known how much time will be required 

for its completion. But from a comparison of 

former surveys, taken by Dr. [T.R.] Beck, and 

Mr. E. we have reason to believe it will be completed, 

so as to be published in a year from next 

January. 

It is to be presumed that the farmer, and 

landholders on the route will be prepared to 

give all the information required, in aid of the 

undertaking. Every unknown mineral should 

be collected; and every locality, where there are 

any signs of ores, coal, gypsum, &c. should be 

searched out, and ready for inspection. For 

surely, if Mr. Van Rensselaer will be at the 

expense of giving them an opportunity to learn 

the true state of their own resources, they will 

be both assiduous and hospitable, and furnish 

Mr. Eaton all the aid in their power. 7 

For his part, having prepared flying surveys 

of the geology and agriculture of Albany and 

Rensselaer counties for the Patroon, Eaton was 

anxious to extend coverage to the entire state. 

The Erie Canal would provide him with a representative 

strip across the state. It was not an 

opportunity to be missed and, fortunately, Van 

Rensselaer saw it his way. Eaton’s proposal can 

be guessed from the Patroon’s comments, as 

recorded by E.M. McAllister, in her biography 

of Eaton. “I have long contemplated the examination 

you propose,” wrote the Patroon 30 

August 1822, “but was apprehensive it would 

exceed the means of an individual in point of 

expense — Your calculation is so moderate that 

I willing[ly] will engage in the enterprise provided 

you do not expend more — you are the 

best judge & if you undertake the business in 

these terms — you may calculate on paying 

Figure 2.1. A boat on the Erie Canal, similar to the one 

used by Eights and others in their tour to Niagara. Asa 

Fitch referred to such boats as “A coffin clapped in a 

canoe.” (from advertisement in The Microscope, 1825, 

page 40.) 

your orders to...[me].” 8 Chapter 2 19

Figure 2.2. Entrance into the Erie Canal near Albany. From a drawing by James Eights, used as a vignette in a folding chart prepared 

for Amos Eaton’s “ A geological and agricultural survey of the district adjoining the Erie Canal” (1824). The original drawing, given to 

the Albany Institute by Eights, cannot now be found. 

But the Patroon was cautious. The same 

day, he wrote further: “I am pleased with your 

progress in the useful work. I hope it will add 

to your reputation which will repay me for any 

expense [provided it was not too much!]. 

“I approve of your plan to associate either 

of the gentlemen you have named [Matthew 

Henry Webster and Eights?]. I think it all 

important as you propose a change in the 

nomenclature that you have the sanction of a 

scientific Geologist & one known to the public. I 

will mention the business to Professor [Benjamin] 

Silliman. I regret that I cannot accompany 

you, the views will be ornamental — you 

will make the necessary arrangements for the 

tour.” 9 

Maybe Eaton’s services were a bargain but 

he had not lost his ability to aim high. Even so 

early as this, he had determined on having, in 

addition to geological sections, illustrations of 

the sort that James Eights helped to provide. 

Despite his somewhat amused private opinions 

of Benjamin Silliman, who was then laboriously 

promoting his young brainchild, The 

American Journal of Science (“a good cabinet mineralogist. 

... With very little knowledge of geology, 

he affects much”), Eaton was willing to do 

anything necessary to breathe life into his canal 

survey. Eaton thought Silliman “quite too formal 

for a man of science.” (A twentieth-century 

reference to Silliman, with reference to his 

naivete, as “Sober Ben” comes to mind.) 10 

Silliman agreed to check and authenticate 

nomenclature of rocks and strata for areas of 

the state with which Eaton was not familiar. 

The method, merging Eaton’s geology, already 

a patchwork of slender observations, homegrown 

theorizing, and uncritical import of 

European decrees with Silliman’s closet knowledge, 

worked only because it had not been 

attempted before. It had at least the useful outcome 

of putting some new observations on 

record. 

Eaton was not averse to puffing himself a 

little when he wrote to Silliman on 2 September 

1822. The Patroon had “concluded to take a 


Geological and Agricultural Survey across our 

state, following the canal rout. You know he 

always calls on me in such cases; and I have, of 

course, engaged to undertake it. I am to go 

through and take a kind of outline this fall . . . . 

This is to prepare me for making my arrangements 

the better next spring. I suppose I shall 

begin in April and continue through the summer.” 

He might “spend one or two seasons 

about it,” although he hoped “to compleat it by 

Dec. 1823. A geological map and a profile section 

will be published with my report.” 11 

And begin Eaton did. He went to Albany on 

5 November and received instructions from the 

Patroon “respecting the proposed Geological 

Survey of the Canal rout, from the river Hudson 

to Lake Erie.” On Monday, the 11th, “Commence 

an examination of the Canal rout this 

morning at 11 o’clock, in company with 

Matthew Henry Webster, in a one horse waggon.” 

There is here no mention of James Eights. 

To what extent he participated in field work is 

unknown. Perhaps his job was restricted to that 

of draftsman and, later, colorist. 12 

Just what James had to work with is problematic. 

Eaton spent spare time during the early 

winter in his cellar, with forge and bellows, analyzing 

mineral specimens from his hasty survey. 

Somehow, he supplied Eights with rough 

sketches that were made into a map and profile. 

Eaton wrote to Silliman 21 January 1823: “I 

have had a geological profile of the rocks 

drawn by one of my assistants of all the rocks 

from Troy to Genesee river. I have directed a 

copy to be taken for you.” Busy days, those! 13 

No doubt Eaton was impatient, even so, 

that miracles took so long. James appears to 

have had no difficulty painting with the broad 

brush that Eaton thought constituted a proper 

approach to a truly democratic science (let the 

effete, pauperized societies of Europe account 

“for each atom of earth”). There had been no 

hesitation on the part of either Eaton or Eights 

in whipping off the four-and-one-half-foot-long 

map, with its vignettes of the Canal, the 

engraved plate for which cost the Patroon 

$530. 14 

Just why Eights delayed the coloring of the 

maps is not clarified. On 22 January 1823, 

Eights wrote, perhaps a little cheekily, to Eaton: 

Dear Sir 

I presume you must be heartily tired of 

waiting for the maps — I shall not however at 

this time attempt an apology for detaining them 

so long although they have been ready for some 

weeks — the one surrounded by ruled lines I 

intended for the Patroon — Should you want 

any more, you have but merely to intimate your 

wishes, and I will supply you abundently [sic]. 

The box [perhaps he meant the entire supply of 

them?] has not yet arived [sic] but we expect it 

daily — Webster wrote last week and requested 

him to send it immediately — when it arives 

[sic] we will either send or bring to you without 

delay — A few Copies of James’s work has [sic] 

at length reached Albany — I have heard no 

opinion respecting it — Henry W. [Webster] is 

now perusing it when he gets through we shall 

know all about it. L.C. Beck will ‘snap off’ his 

[report?] next week [where Lewis Caleb Beck, 

brother of Theodric Romeyn Beck, comes in is 

not clear] — present my respects to the old man 

at Washington [the Patroon!] in your Epistle — 

also my compliments to Mrs. Eaton & family 

Yours respectfuly [sic], 

James Eights 

Amos Eaton Esqr. 

NB. Give Willis the pictures. 15 

It is not clear what pictures were to be given 

to Willis, who is unidentified. As to the book by 

author James, not further identified, it seems 

likely to have been Edwin James’s account of 

the Stephen H. Long exploratory expedition to 

the Rocky Mountains, although a now obscure 

John James, M.D., had recently published a 

book; both Jameses were active in Albany natural 

history circles. 16 

The map and the vignettes (three of the four 

by James Eights: “Entrance into the Canal in the 

Hudson at Albany” — the Rensselaer mansion 

in the distance, a canal boat aptly named “S. 

van Rensselaer” tied at the dock; “Aqueduct 

Bridge at Little Falls”; “View of the Aqueduct 

Bridge at Rochester”) served Eaton well. As a 

long fold-out map, it illustrated his 1824 memoir, 

Eaton’s most ambitious geological work to 

Chapter 2 21

that time. It was used in Cadwallader David 

Colden’s Memoir of the finished Erie Canal in 

1825. It must have been a blow for James Eights 

to read William Leete Stone’s account of the 

Erie Canal in the Colden monograph, however, 

and find his name given as “J. Bights”! It 

appeared finally as an illustration (without further 

attribution, although with some revision) 

at the front of the number of the American Journal 

of Science that contained the first part of 

Eaton’s “Geological nomenclature, classes of 

rocks, &c.” in 1828, which was the scientific 

outcome of Eaton’s canal survey. Again, Eights 

was inadvertently slighted: it was noted that 

“Mr. G.W. Clinton and Dr. I.[sic] Eights, have 

communicated very important facts,” a reference 

to the article, not the map, of course. Perhaps 

both slights to Eights were due to Eaton’s 

atrocious handwriting. 17 

While there is little record of Eights’s identification 

with the survey itself, he did not rest on 

his laurels. He continued to cultivate his 

acquaintance with Eaton. The practical outcome 

of that was to encourage Eaton in a high opinion 

of Eights’s abilities. Not only did Eights 

assist with conclusions reached in Eaton’s 

crowning achievement, the 1828 publication of 

technical results, in his paper on nomenclature. 

He, (T.R.?/L.C.?) Beck, Joseph Henry, and G.W. 

Clinton joined Eaton in laying strategy for the 

timing of publication of parts constituting that 

paper. In order to give critics their chance, 

Eaton and his friends suggested that Silliman 

publish the first part in March, then leave June 

open for critics, and resume publication in September. 

One can hardly imagine so smooth an 

operation even in this day of electronic communication 

— nor an editor quite so flexible and 

compliant! 18 

THE RENSSELAER SCHOOL 

We are now ahead of our story. What must 

not be forgotten is that the mind of Amos Eaton 

did not rest. With the Canal survey barely afoot, 

he joined his mentor, Van Rensselaer, in another 

project, and one in which James Eights became 

tangentially involved. 

On 10 December 1824, the Albany Argus 

reprinted from The New York Statesman the 

notice: 

RENSSELAER SCHOOL. — The Hon. 

Stephen Van Rensselaer, with his characteristic 

liberality, and benevolence, has lately established 

an institution at the north end of the city 

of Troy, for the purpose of instructing persons 

in the application of Science to the common purposes 

of life. The Rev. Dr. Blatchford, of Lansingburgh, 

has been appointed president; Amos 

Eaton of Troy, Professor of chemistry and experimental 

philosophy, and lecturer on geology, 

land surveying, and the laws regulating town 

officers and jurors; and Lewis C. Beck, of 

Albany, Professor of mineralogy, botany, and 

zoology, and lecturer on the social duties, peculiar 

to farmers and mechanics. A suitable apparatus, 

library, reading room, and other appurtenances 

will be provided. The students will be 

required to give experements [sic] in turn, in 

order to familiarize them with the apparatus 

and the principles derived from books. There 

can be no doubt, that this will become a useful 

institution, reflecting the highest credit upon 

the generous founder. 19 

Since this was a reprinted article, the Argus 

editor felt no reason to rail at Van Rensselaer’s 

Federalist politics. 

The rich story of the school I ignore here, 

except for a few points of contact with James 

Eights. (Incorporated on 5 November 1824, the 

school opened for instruction 3 January 1825; it 

became the Rensselaer Institute in 1832, Rensselaer 

Polytechnic Institute in 1849.) The founding 

of the school set the stage for one substantial 

project where Eights’s name appears often, if 

seldom from his own hand: that of Eaton’s pioneering 

field trip with students the length of the 

Erie Canal in 1826. That lark requires a subheading 

of its own. Meantime, Eights kept his 

foot in the door, perhaps not always at the 

instance of Eaton. Eaton cannily entrained the 

community’s interest in his school by having 

well-known people supervise oral examinations 

of graduating students at gala occasions. For 

example, at graduation in October 1827, Eaton 

suggested to Van Rensselaer a list of names to 

be nominated as examiners. Van Rensselaer 


promptly nominated them: substituting the 

name of “Dr. J. Eights of Albany” for that of his 

own son Cortland. I incline to believe that oldtimer 

Jonathan Eights was meant but a doubt 

remains. If, indeed, James Eights was that “Dr. 

J. Eights,” it was as close as he ever came to 

being a formal “instructor” at the school, 

despite an ambiguous claim by Eaton. When 

nominating Eights for a berth on the proposed 

exploring expedition in 1828, Eaton claimed 

warily that James had “been an assistant in giving 

instruction to the students of this school in 

Natural History.” The precise arrangement is 

not known and was probably quite informal. It 

may have referred merely to Eights’s participation 

in the Canal field trip in 1826. 20 

A GRAND TOUR ON THE ERIE CANAL 

Celebrations of the completion of the Erie 

Canal were held in the fall of 1825. Entrepreneurs 

were already at work on New York’s 

canals. We see by Albany’s ephemeral magazine, 

the Albany Microscope, on 14 May 1825, 

that “The La Fayette Canal Passage Boat Company...INTEND 

running a line of Boats between 

Albany and Waterford....For the present, the 

MINERVA, Wm. Kane master, will perform one 

trip daily until the new boat, La Fayette, now 

building, shall be in readiness to take her place 

in the line. Persons desirous of taking a short 

excursion on one of the most interesting sections 

of the whole line of Canals will find it to 

their advantage by availing themselves of this 

route; as they will have an opportunity of viewing 

the Cohoes Falls, and pass the Side-Cut and 

Weigh Lock opposite Troy, and the Nine Locks 

at the Junction.” An accompanying cut shows a 

small boat with a windowed superstructure 

that provided some cover. A pilot occupied an 

open seat at the rear and a man on horseback 

towed in front. We shall see that somewhat 

more ambitious trips were soon to be undertaken 

but, one gathers, accommodations were not 

immediately much improved. The La Fayette, 

then unfinished, was destined to make history. 21 

With the founding of the Rensselaer School, 

its first year of classes, the initial geological survey 

of lands along the Erie Canal, and much 

else behind him, the restless Amos Eaton broke 

new ground in 1826. He would take his students 

and men of talent on a grand tour of the 

new canal. For the students, it was what would 

today be considered routine: a field trip. At that 

time, it was an unheard-of innovation in teaching. 

As it turned out, the “men of talent” had 

other things to do (Professor Cleaveland of 

Bowdoin College had influenza; Benjamin Silliman’s 

health was not the best; Professor 

Chester Dewey of Williams College had pressing 

business). As a result, talent was homegrown: 

and, indeed, not all that bad. Amos 

Eaton still had his ability to turn sows’ ears into 

silken purses. 

The Argus account was brief: Rensselaer 

School, near Troy. — “The annual commencement 

in this valuable institution, (which is said 

to have succeeded beyond the expectations of 

its founders) will take place to-morrow. After 

which, it is stated in the Troy Sentinel, the Students 

will proceed in a body on a scientific tour 

to the west, to Lake Erie and Niagara Falls. The 

expedition is to be conducted by Professor 

Eaton. The primary object is the study of natural 

history, and the collection of specimens in 

the different departments of botany, geology 

and mineralogy.” 22 

Four contemporary private accounts of the 

trip by participants have survived. While none 

is by James Eights, all were kept by writers 

who would leave a mark on New York history 

or natural history. One was Eaton, whose 

account is still mostly in manuscript and is 

slighted here. The others were daily accounts 

kept by more youthful travelers: George W. 

Clinton, son of Governor DeWitt Clinton, who 

ultimately became a distinguished jurist but 

would have made a capital naturalist (Eaton 

was soon to characterize him as “the greatest 

genius of the name — his father is a pygmy in 

comparison”); Asa Fitch, later a pioneering 

economic entomologist in New York; and 

Joseph Henry, the most noteworthy of 

Albany’s scientific sons, who was later to put 

the Smithsonian Institution on its feet. The 

method, if that is the word, of how the crew 

was assembled was typical Eaton — and, as 

well, probably quite typical Eights. 23 

Chapter 2 23

G.W. Clinton tells it well. “Some time in 

April, 1826, Dr. James Eights informed me that 

Dr. Eaton, with some of his scholars, intended 

to make a tour from Troy to Niagara for the 

purpose of collecting specimens in natural history, 

and that he was empowered to give invitations 

to whom he pleased — and gave me to 

understand that if I chose I might accompany 

them.” It can hardly be said that James Eights 

lacked willingness to assume power! 24 

“I likewise understood from him that Professors 

Cleaveland, Dewey and Silliman might 

be expected.” Clinton was impressed — to his 

credit — by the opportunity “of obtaining a 

practical knowledge of the natural sciences.” 

Naturally, he could not ignore the opportunity 

it would provide “thus to be brought in contact 

with men so celebrated for their attainments.” 

From Clinton’s delightful journal of the tour, 

there can be no doubt the first matter was 

accomplished splendidly. The second matter 

never came to fruition and need not be considered 

a heartbreaker. 

“Thus the party was reduced to Dr. Eights 

and myself from Albany, and Dr. Eaton and 16 

or 18 of his students.” There was a probability, 

however, of “Mr. Joseph Henry of Albany” 

(then recently appointed professor at Albany 

Academy) joining the expedition, and also the 

possibility of Eaton’s colleague at the Rensselaer 

School “Dr. [L.C.] Beck’s overtaking us.” 

Asa Fitch, despite his later accomplishments, 

could hardly have counted in Clinton’s eyes, 

since he was simply asked at the last minute, as 

a prospective student at the school, if he would 

like to go on the summer tour. The boat was 

none other than the LaFayette (or, more formally, 

the Marquis De Lafayette), which Eaton 

described as a freight boat with a portable 

kitchen — and Asa Fitch poetically likened to a 

“Venetian gondola, just like a coffin clapped in 

a canoe.” Samuel Rezneck notes that there were 

on it “twenty odd men...crowded into the single 

cabin, while the stove was on the forward deck, 

subject to drenching in heavy rains. The sleeping 

mattresses were kept in cupboards and 

brought out at night” — so that, as Fitch recorded, 

the bodies were arranged in two rows, like 

“graves in a burying ground.” 25 

Clinton’s early perspective on the boat may 

have been unrealistic. He accounted it “very 

handsome and convenient, having (judging 

from appearances) been built for the accommodation 

of passengers; it...has uncommonly large 

decks behind and before, and the cabin was 

roomy. On this day [29 April 1826] I was 

informed that Mr. Cassidy had volunteered a 

barrel of beef and Mr. Fidler a barrel of beer 

towards the expedition.” 

“Dr. Eights told me that the expense of the 

jaunt would not exceed $20.” However, his 

father had given him $30, along with permission 

to draw additional funds if needed. After 

journeying from Albany to Troy, Clinton began 

the tour by a stop at Titus’s tavern, “where we 

had a long conversation on chemical subjects 

but elicited no before unknown truths.” 

From Asa Fitch’s journal, we learn that 

departure was not a timely affair. “The stove, 

cooking utensials, crockery &c was very tardy 

in being brought on board this morning, so that 

we did not get through the sloop lock until 11 

o’clock. We were detained until about 1 in 

Troy...in taking the chemical apparatus of 

Hezekiah Hulbert Eaton & Timothy Dwight 

Eaton, & mr [Stilman E.] Arms on board. These 

boys & this young man are to stay & lecture at 

different villages on our rout....All the distance 

from Troy to the Cahoes I came on foot, the 

boat was so slow whilst passing through the 

locks. I arrived at the falls...full two hours 

before the boat came up.” Indeed, he and Eights 

continued to out-distance the boat for some 

time in its westward progress. Fitch’s journal 

included a complete list of members of the 

“expodition,” including “Henry” — not further 

identified — and “Dr. Jas Eights.” The group 

totalled 25, including captain, pilot, and cook. 26 

Clinton, too, walked as far as the Cohoes 

Falls. He lost no time in immersing himself in 

local natural history, plants especially in their 

ebullience of spring getting his full attention. In 

the evening, they had a speech (Clinton’s 

emphasis) on the subject of governance of the 

expedition — the essence of it being that it was 

better “on such an expedition to be governed 

by a fool than to have no government.” Clinton 

thought the laws were wise and “I shall set 


Figure 2.3. View of the Aqueduct Bridge at Little Falls. From a drawing by James Eights, the original of which is in the collection of the 

Albany Institute of History and Art. A vignette in the geological chart for Amos Eaton’s “ A geological and agricultural survey of the district 

adjoining the Erie Canal” (1824). 

them down as soon as Mr. E. [Eaton] furnishes 

me with the means” [that is, a copy of them, as 

promised]. At this meeting, apparently, Mr. 

Eights “was appointed purveyor,” whatever 

that term may mean. 27 

Fitch, at least, was somewhat disturbed by 

sleeping arrangements that first night. There 

simply was not room enough for beds in the 

cabin and “I had an idea of going to a tavern 

near by, & beging a small spot on the bar room 

floor to lay. But afterwards I joined, with two or 

three more, in erecting a kind of tent on the 

after deck, in which 4 of us were accomodated, 

in a manner, not the most uncomfortable. I had 

a cushion under me, & my cloak over me, & 

believe I did not awake during the night.” 

On 4 May, they halted for the night nine 

miles above Schenectady. “During the day Mr. 

Eaton remarked that he could prove that before 

the deluge America contained fewer animals 

than Europe. This opinion he supported by the 

fact that a far less variety of organic remains 

have been found in our alluvia.” Science — as 

well as life — was simple in those days! 28 

By 5 May, Clinton had a copy of the laws. 

Among other things, we learn that Professors 

Eaton and Beck (actually Beck was never present) 

were equals, with “the same authority over 

every individual of the party, whether students 

or not.” Assistants were to be appointed daily, 

with powers subservient only to professors 

present. The business of the captain was to 

manage the boat; otherwise, he was in the 

employ of the professor or professors. “No 

member of the party shall whistle, sing, or 

make any loud noises or be guilty of any 

ungentlemanly or uncivil conduct.” 29 

We hear more of the purveyor, who was to 

be “elected by a majority of the party.” He 

could not resign peremptorily. “He shall perform 

the common duties of steward, but no 

labour shall be required of him.” 

“Every member of the party shall collect 

and label a complete set of the geological speci- 

Chapter 2 25

Figure 2.4. View of the Aqueduct Bridge at Rochester. From a drawing by James Eights, the original of which is in the Albany Institute 

of History and Art. A vignette in a folding in the geological chart for Amos Eaton’s “ A geological and agricultural survey of the district 

adjoining the Erie Canal” (1824). 

mens of the canal line...and shall keep a complete 

journal of every important occurrence ...” 

— but maybe our James considered that 

“labour”? 

“Any member of the party may be expelled 

and compelled to leave the boat...by a professor, 

with the consent of half the members of the 

party.” 

For the rest, Clinton’s interesting journal, 

except for a few diversions, is here reduced to 

references to the role of James Eights on the 

tour. 

At Utica, the party created a stir. The 

Albany Argus reported (from the Utica Intelligencer) 

23 May: “Canal Arrival. — Professor 

Eaton, accompanied by about twenty young 

gentlemen from the Rensselaer school arrived 

here on Sunday, on a scientific tour along the 

route of the canal in the boat Marquis Lafayette. 

The party started from Troy about a week since, 

furnished with the necessary apparatus to 

enable them to make experiments on board 

their boat; and we understand intend to proceed 

to Lake Erie. The cabin of the boat presented 

a spectacle which would have delighted a 

professed amateur. A lecture table with its usual 

accompanyments of retorts, galley-pots, furnaces, 

blowpipes, &c.; vials containing snakes, 

lizards and queer worms; spitted spiders, hornbugs, 

flies, musquitoes and other interesting 

insects together with a large variety of earths, 

stones, flowers, &c. and the cooking utensils of 

the party arranged with particular regard to 

disorder, displayed together a most interesting 

group. We saw ‘Noah’s Ark’ last year, but this 

beats it all hollow.” 

“In the evening [15 May] Professor Eaton 

was seized with a fainting fit....He was delirious 

for nearly 1 hour.” As soon as the operation of 

repeated doses of zinc and ipecacuanha had 

ceased (as Clinton put it), his reason returned 

and he slept soundly. 30 

Wednesday, 17 May: at Holley, Clinton and 

Eights found Mytilus (mussel) fossils “in great 

perfection” in one stratum. The next day, they 

found similar fossils that he and Eights thought 


to approach pinnite mussels rather than Mytilus 

— probably an undercurrent of mutual disagreement 

with Eaton. We do not know what 

Eights thought of Niagara Falls but Clinton 

found that the sight did not leave a lasting 

impression. 31 

There are hints of disagreements over definitions, 

probably the usual subversiveness of 

students, in which one can readily imagine 

Eights joining. However, even Eights was not 

exempt from questioning: 29 May, near 

Rochester, they found minerals that were coated 

with a material that “Dr. Eights supposes... 

calamine. Is not this incorrect?” 32 

At Rochester, on the return, they were 

joined by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, “formerly 

professor of natural history in the University 

of Transylvania, Kentucky...a truly scientific 

man, but rather flighty,” as Clinton put it. 

As might be expected, when shown the skin of 

a fish shot in Buffalo Creek, Rafinesque opined 

that its previous notice was inadequate: It constituted 

a new genus. On the 31st, between 

Newark and Clyde, they were treated to further 

examples of Rafinesque’s restless search for 

new forms. Clinton picked up two salamanders, 

one being the “S. erithronota [Clinton’s spelling] 

of Green; the other...named S. fuscata by Mr. 

Rafinesque, who claims the honor of first 

describing it.” Clinton dryly remarked: “We 

have met with both of them in great abundance 

in every place that we have examined.” 33 

Joseph Henry’s account of Rafinesque’s joining 

the party describes him as “a short man 

stoutly formed and very plainly dressed. He 

appears to be about 40 years old and speaks the 

english very purely but with a strong French 

accent. His head is somewhat baled and he 

combes his hair directly across,...he is very 

industrious but his usefulness is said to be 

much impaired by his proness to make new 

genera & species.” 34 

The arrival of Rafinesque is told best by 

Fitch: “As they were making their beds 

preparatory to starting, a stranger inquired for 

Professor Eaton. He proved to be the famous 

Professor Rafinesque...He had heard about the 

expedition at Niagara and had finally caught 

up with it.” Professor Eaton invited him to join 

them for the remainder of the trip to Troy — a 

famous hitchhiker, indeed! 35 

And, 1 June at Jordan, east of Montezuma, 

Eights did not come off well, for Clinton noted: 

“we...examined the stone of which the lock is 

made. In going up...I was told by Dr. Eights that 

it was a coarse-grained limestone, he having 

dissolved it entirely. Seeing him so confident 

and not having an acid by me, I was fool 

enough to take it upon trust, maugre the evidence 

of my senses. It is nothing more or less 

than a sandstone (approaching very near the 

millstone grit), not even in the least effervescing 

with muriatic acid.” 36 

In one way or another, the touring party 

dwindled. At Rome, on 4 June, Joseph Henry 

left the group and took the stage for Albany; 

Clinton noted that “our party, besides the 

hands, now consists of Professors Eaton and 

Rafinesque, Dr. Eights, myself” and students 

Cady, Fitch, McManus, Weston, Pelton, Hale, 

Hanks, and Danker. Clinton and Eights seem 

frequently to have geologized together. The 

group reached Troy at 4:30 P.M., Saturday, 10 

June. Whether Clinton was accompanied by 

Eights on the return to Albany the next day is 

not specified: in any case, there were inordinate 

delays and the trip took five and a half hours. 37 

Of this grand tour, we have nothing directly 

from James Eights. He did not give up any of 

his friendships, however, and also benefitted 

from the chance meeting with Rafinesque, who 

was his guest on a later visit. As we shall soon 

see, his activities among Albany naturalists 

intensified. 

Eights and Clinton were afield shortly: On 6 

July, they visited “Helderbergh Mountain” and 

in a joint letter reported to Eaton what they 

thought worthy to compare with observations 

made along the Canal, with a competently 

drawn geological section of findings of their 

three-day examination of country from the 

Delaware Turnpike to “Whortleberry Hill, 

above Salem village on the New Scotland Road, 

one of the highest of the Helderberghs,” a distance 

in excess of three miles. “It is our intention 

to examine farther north and then trace 

these hills to the Catskill. We will make known 

to you as soon as possible the result of our 

Chapter 2 27

investigations.” Eaton soon came to put great 

value upon Clinton’s help. It is not clear here 

who initiated this exploration. It may well have 

been Clinton’s doing, by then alert to the wishes 

of Eaton, whom he had impressed. In any 

case, it kept Eaton’s eye trained on Eights. 38 

NOTES 

1. See Chapter 1, account of Jonathan Eights, especially 

notes 14, 19. I do not account Jonathan’s memory in 

1847 entirely dependable. Town of Greenfield census 

schedules were checked for me by L.E. Calvin, Saratoga 

County History Department. See C. Miller, “The scientific 

career of James Eights,” p. 10. 

2. Albany Academy (1913), Historical Survey; (1914) 

The Celebration of the Centennial...1913; Academy records do 

not mention Eights. 

3. Virtually all commentators on Eights refer to him as 

a qualified doctor who never practiced. Nobody documents 

the case. For his own statement, see JE to Amos Binney, 

9 Aug 1834. I am grateful to W.G. Balla for notice of 

JE’s service in the state militia’s Third Brigade Horse 

Artillery in Albany. In Ira W. Scott’s Albany Directory for 

1831–1832, p. 190, the Third Brigade Horse Artillery was 

under Brigadier General John Tayler Cooper; “Asst. Hospital 

Surgeon, Dr. James Eights.” There was no “Hospital 

Surgeon” in this unit; in some units, the position was 

unfilled. Thus, it appears the category of Assistant Hospital 

Surgeon and Hospital Surgeon were ranks, not functions. 

In Child’s Albany Directory for the years 1832-1833, 

p. lii, JE is referred to as “James Eights, Hospital Surgeon” 

— no title of “Doctor” being included. In Child’s Albany 

Directory, and City Register for the years 1833–1834, p. lii, 

matters are as in 1832-1833. In the same, 1834–1835, we 

have “Maj. James Eights, Hospital Surgeon,” the only allusion 

to his having a military (or paramilitary) rank that I 

have ever found. In the same, 1835-1836, p. 43, the entry is 

the same as previous year. It is of interest that on p. 42 of 

the last, the list of Albany City physicians included 

Jonathan Eights, Edwin James, and John James, among 

others, but there is no mention whatsoever of James 

Eights. General John Tayler Cooper turns up later as 

owner of originals of some of JE’s Albany scenes — the 

mysterious title of “General” obviously coming from his 

association with the state militia, not the U.S. Army. Further 

as to JE’s practice, he does not appear in S.D. 

Willard’s full and comprehensive Annals of the Medical 

Society of the County of Albany, 1808-1851; nor is he mentioned 

in Amasa J. Parker’s carefully compiled record, in 

“Chronological list of the Medical Society of the County of 

Albany from its organization [28 Jul 1806], with the year of 

admission and place of graduation,” in Landmarks of 

Albany County, pp. 185-ff. 

4. Histories of the Erie Canal abound. A good popular 

article well illustrated with contemporary views and portraits 

(including Eights’s three vignettes — not attributed 

to him, however) is by Donald Tuttle and others, “The Erie 

Canal...The wedding of the waters,” 1977. 

5. Anon., “Unparalleled munificence,” 10 Sep 1822; 

see D. Tuttle, 1977, cited in Note 4; there are many 

accounts of Amos Eaton (1776-1842), few particularly complete; 

manuscript are abundant; see D.W. Fisher, “Amos 

Eaton — passionate peddler of science”; a full account of 

the Canal survey and a generous amount of biographical 

matter on Eaton may be found in Ethel M. McAllister 

(1941), Amos Eaton Scientist and Educator. The survey was 

not Eaton’s first tapping of the munificence of Stephen 

Van Rensselaer (1764-1839). The latter had recently funded 

Eaton’s research for A Geological and Agricultural Survey of 

Rensselaer County...to Which Is Annexed a Geological Profile 

(Albany, 1822), by Eaton, and A Geological Survey of the 

County of Albany, Taken under the Direction of the Agricultural 

Society of the County (Albany, 1824), by Eaton and Theodric 

Romeyn Beck; see also J.W. Wells, Early Investigations 

of the Devonian System (1963), pp. 35, 37. 

6. T.R. Beck (1791-1855) to Eaton, 10 Sep 1822; Beck 

Papers, the New York Public Library; a bookseller has 

noted on the outside of this letter, “T.R. Beck, author of a 

celebrated work on medical jurisprudence.” For biography 

of T.R. Beck, see: F.H. Hamilton, “Theodric Romeyn Beck,” 

1861. Eaton was well pleased with the two young men 

Beck nominated (and Van Rensselaer hired); in a letter to 

Van Rensselaer, 22 Jan 1824, in his Geological and Agricultural 

Survey, of the Canal, he reported: “The young gentlemen, 

Messrs. M.H. Webster and J. Eights, whom you 

appointed as assistants, discharged their respective duties 

with ability and the strictest fidelity. Mr. Webster’s discriminating 

talent as a naturalist, and Mr. Eights’ taste for 

drawing, seemed to be indispensable in aid of your purpose” 

(p. 9). The spelling “Theodric” was insisted upon by 

his biographer and niece. 

7. Anon., 10 Sep 1822. 

8. McAllister, Eaton, pp. 300-301; I quote letters directly 

(as reproduced by McAllister, rather than as if quoted 

indirectly); letters of Van Rensselaer to Eaton, 30 Aug 1822. 

9. See Note 8; also J.W. Wells, Early Investigations, pp. 

41-ff. 

10. McAllister, Eaton, p. 301. As to Silliman (1779- 

1864), for “Sober Ben,” see Jeannette E. Graustein, Thomas 

Nuttall, p. 170; for a full-length account of Silliman, see 

Chandos Michael Brown, Benjamin Silliman, 1989. 

11. McAllister, Eaton, pp. 301-303. As for certain blank 

spaces in the resulting map, Eaton stoutly maintained to 

Van Rensselaer, “I wish not to acknowledge that I am 

incompetent to decide in these cases; but want of time and 

the severe rains prevented my taking so wide a range as 

these localities required” (p. 304). That Eaton did not hide 

his talents under a bushel is noted wryly by J.W. Wells, 

Early Investigations, p. 35. 

12. McAllister, Eaton, p. 304. 

13. MaAllister, Eaton, p. 304. 

14. McAllister, Eaton, pp. 304, 305; J.W. Wells, Early 

Investigations, p. 41. 

15. Eights to Eaton, 22 Jan 1823, Gratz Collection, Historical 

Society of Pennsylvania. 

16. If the book was by John James, it was Sketches of 

Travels in Sicily, Italy, and France (Packard and Van Benthuysen, 

Albany, 1820), by John James, M.D. (1789-1859). 

This obscure man was quite active in natural history matters 

in Albany from about 1820 to 1840 (see Albany Institute 

“Minutes, 1824-1857”); the only account of him I have 

found is a short reference in T. Bolton and I.F. Cortelyou, 

Ezra Ames of Albany, p. 240. Dr. Edwin James (1797-1861) 

was a resident of Albany and active in natural history and 

other affairs from about 1817 to 1820 or so and again in the 


middle of the next decade). He appears to have been born 

in 1797, although Albany doctor and medical historian 

S.D. Willard wrote that he was born in 1798, perhaps a 

typographical error (Willard, biographical note on James 

in AI Proc., published in AI Transactions, 6: 282-283). For an 

authoritative general account, see: Susan D. McKelvey, 

Botanical Exploration of the Trans-Mississippi West, pp. 246- 

247. 

17. Eaton, A Geological and Agricultural Survey of the 

District Adjoining the Erie Canal (1824); “Geological nomenclature 

for North America” 1828; published as a separate 

booklet, 1828); William Leete Stone, “Narrative of the festivities 

observed ...,” pp. 289-408, in Cadwallader David 

Colden, Memoir, Prepared at the Request of a Committee of the 

Common Council ..., 1825). The original pencil, ink and 

wash drawings of Eights’s three vignettes were given by 

him to the Albany in March 1836 (see MS “Collections of 

SPUA and ALNH, 1824-1838” in archives of the Institute), 

where the Little Falls and Rochester pictures are catalogued 

as U1976.4.1 and 2; the vignette of the Canal 

Entrance has disappeared. On Eaton’s handwriting, see 

McAllister, Eaton, p. 313. Of the four vignettes in the folding 

chart/geological section, three were by JE; one (“View 

of the village of Black Rock from the Canada Shore in 

1825”) — note engraved date, despite the date of publication 

on title page of Eaton’s report — was by T.W. Wentworth 

and was “procured and presented by Gen. P.B. 

Porter,” according to Eaton; the geological section was presumably 

drawn by JE; the work is a copperplate engraving 

printed by Rawdon, Clark & Co., Albany. Note that orientation 

of the section is counterintuitive to today’s conventions: 

You have to imagine you are looking at the Canal 

from the north side, facing southward; thus, the Atlantic 

Ocean end of the section is nearest to the printed title page 

in the long, folded chart. The chart, slightly revised in 

1828, had little relevance for Eaton’s two papers on geological 

nomenclature that was found in that volume of the 

American Journal of Science, and, indeed, no notice was 

made of the connection. 

18. McAllister, Eaton, p. 318. 

19. Albany Argus, 10 Dec 1824. 

20. McAllister, Eaton, p. 400. The Eaton letter will be 

cited in full in the account of Eights’s Antarctic explorations. 

21. Anon., advertisement for “The La Fayette,” etc. 14 

May 1825. 

22. There is little on this trip in McAllister’s Eaton and 

Eaton’s record remains largely in the archives; Albany 

Argus, Anon., 25 Apr 1826. 

23. George William Clinton (1807-1885), “Journal of a 

tour from Albany to Lake Erie by the Erie Canal in 1826,” 

1910); Asa Fitch (1809-1878), extensive papers in the Sterling 

Library, Yale University; Joseph Henry, Papers, 1: 136- 

154, 1972; see p. 74, note 13 for biographical note on Clinton. 

The Henry Papers reproduce the valuable initial portion 

of Fitch’s journal, pp. 133-136; see also Samuel Rezneck, 

“Joseph Henry learns geology on the Erie Canal in 

1826,” “A traveling school of science on the Erie Canal in 

1826,” “Amos Eaton: a pioneer teacher of science in early 

America.” 

24. Clinton, “Journal,” p. 277, 280. 

25. Clinton, “Journal,” p. 278; Rezneck, “A traveling 

school,” pp. 258-259. 

26. Clinton, “Journal,” pp. 279-280; Fitch, in Henry, 

Papers, 1: 133-136. 

27. Clinton, “Journal,” pp. 280-281; Rezneck, “A traveling 

school,” pp. 259-260. 

28. Fitch, in Henry, Papers, 1: 134-136; Clinton, “Journal,” 

p. 282. 

29. Clinton, “Journal,” pp. 283-284. 

30. Clinton, “Journal,” p. 288; Albany Argus, 13 May 

1826; for other notices of the Canal Tour in the Argus, see a 

Buffalo notice, 29 May, and one from Syracuse, on the 

return, after Rafinesque had joined the boat, 13 June. 

31. Clinton, “Journal,” pp. 290, 291, 292; Henry, Papers, 

1: 149, thought this viewing of the falls more impressive 

than his own the previous year. 

32. Clinton, “Journal,” p. 298. 

33. Clinton, “Journal,” pp. 298-299, 300. Clearly, 

Eaton’s group was well aware of what had even then 

become the official view of Constantine Samuel 

Rafinesque (1783-1840). 

34. Henry, Papers, 1: 152-153. 

35. Fitch, in S. Rezneck, “A traveling school,” pp. 266- 

267. 

36. Clinton, “Journal,” p. 300. 

37. Henry, Papers, 1: 153; Clinton, “Journal,” pp. 303, 

305. 

38. Letter to Eaton signed by Clinton and Eights, 6 Jul 

1826, New York State Library; I have used a transcription 

by Char Miller. To JE goes credit for introducing Clinton to 

Eaton (Clinton’s “Journal,” p. 278). 

Chapter 2 29


Chapter 3 

THE YOUNG NATURALIST: FROM ALBANY 

TO THE CITY OF NEW YORK 

SCIENCE IN ALBANY 

Under pretense of discovering useful 

knowledge, a broad interest in science was carefully 

cultivated by many people in the decades 

of James Eights’s youth. Except that the party of 

Jefferson had officially degenerated into a following 

of yahoos who would deny it, many 

confirmed Jacksonians also carefully promoted 

the broadest sort of interest in scientific matters. 

An interest in natural history and learning in 

general was a popular craze. While the depth of 

his learning made Thomas Jefferson something 

of an anomaly, the political and social world of 

New York seethed with a conviction that one 

benefitted from learning. We have heard of 

DeWitt Clinton and Stephen Van Rensselaer. At 

more modest levels, whatever their political 

persuasion, as shown by people James Eights 

met every day of his life, from his father outwards, 

natural history was the rage. It was no 

longer science for the sake of useful knowledge. 

James Eights, of course, entered on the hustings 

at a time when a naturalist expected to be 

interested in essentially everything and might 

even expect to provide useful answers in several 

of his fields of interest. In many ways, James 

remained the universal genius — while the 

world in general sharpened boundaries of fields 

of interest and elevated barriers between them. 

That darling science, botany, first deepened into 

a recondite philosophy of taxonomic principles 

and soon splintered into professionally guarded 

enclaves of ever greater specialism. 

In 1791, intellectual leaders in New York 

City (then capital of the state) founded The 

Figure 3.1. James Eights perhaps about 1825. Albany 

Institute of History and Art, Acc. No. X1940.832.1 (in red, 

X1940.826.1). Gift of J.M. Clarke 1915. Clarke acquired it 

from Ebenezer Emmons, Jr. Artist unknown. Sometimes 

attributed to Emmons but without any authority. Water 

color on paper, 6 1/2 x 6 3/4 inches. 

Chapter 3 31

Society Instituted in the State of New York for 

the Promotion of Agriculture, Arts and Manufactures 

(incorporated in 1793). In 1798, its 

headquarters were transferred to Albany. When 

its charter expired in 1804, it was reorganized 

under the title of Society for the Promotion of 

Useful Arts (SPUA). Its cabinet (museum) of 

specimens from all parts of the state was 

housed in a room of the new capitol building. 

As such, it was for many years a focus of interest 

in science, much of it only marginally useful. 

Among its active members were such thoroughly 

good naturalists as T.R. Beck and Jacob 

Green. It would be natural for Jonathan Eights 

to plunge into its heady activities upon his 

removal to Albany (he became a member in 

1812). Its four volumes of Transactions published 

between 1813 and 1817 contained many good, 

entirely nonutilitarian papers. 1 

By 1820, however, the SPUA was moribund 

and its members decidedly on the older side. 

Perhaps, too, it was somewhat crippled by its 

claim to have a major interest in useful knowledge 

(however much that guideline was 

ignored in practice). In 1823, a sense of rebellion 

led a coterie of young naturalists to form a rival 

society, really a kind of specialism, despite our 

feeling today that natural history is hopelessly 

generalized. That new organization was called 

the Albany Lyceum of Natural History. It was 

formed 1 March and incorporated 23 April 

1823. It quickly developed its own museum and 

library. 

Then, in a series of moves in 1824, the 

Lyceum, whose president, as we shall see, was 

Stephen Van Rensselaer, joined with remnant 

members of the SPUA to become Albany Institute 

(with Van Rensselaer as its president). The 

Institute had three departments: Physical Sciences 

(new); Natural History (the Lyceum); and 

History and General Literature (the SPUA). 

The curators of the Natural History department 

of the Institute at its beginning were 

Matthew Henry Webster, Richard Varick De 

Witt, and James Eights. 

With this thumbnail account of Albany’s scientific 

organizations as backdrop, let us return 

briefly to the founding of the Albany Lyceum of 

Natural History where we have a chance to see, 

however dimly, James Eights’s young friends in 

action. It is clear that James was not resting on 

his laurels as draftsman for Amos Eaton’s ambitious 

exploration of the geology of the Erie 

Canal. The Earth was his oyster and Eaton’s 

friends were his friends. 

Said the Albany Microscope snippily: “Should 

the Legislature, in their wisdom, pass an act 

incorporating the ‘Albany Lyceum of Natural 

History,’ it is said competent professors will be 

employed to deliver a course of lectures on suitable 

subjects. Committees will be appointed, in 

a few days, to procure for the cabinet of that 

useful institution, a specimen of granite, from 

the Helderbergh; two rats and one white mice, 

from the lobbies of the capitol; and a few of the 

strange looking animals, that are generally 

found lurking about the ‘carroty polls’ of ‘lazy 

indigent young men dedicated to the ministry.’ 

Success attend their efforts.” This entry is 

signed by “W.” Where anyone managed to collect 

granite in the Helderbergs and how come 

white mice (in the plural!) flourished in the 

Capitol are minor mysteries. And were head 

lice so biased that only “carroty polls” of young 

ministers could be home to them? 3 

There were undercurrents of distrust of 

these upstart youngsters intent on overturning 

society. One dour observer hoped to prevent the 

rebels from tapping the protection (and, no 

doubt, resources) of Stephen Van Rensselaer. 

That ill-wisher, calling himself “Amicus,” was 

enabled by privileges then enjoyed by the correspondents 

of congressmen, to send his letter 

under free frank from Albany on 15 February, to 

the Patroon in “Washington City.” It is interesting 

reading: 

“Dr Sir 

I send you a paper printed in Albany in 

which are published the sinister motives of the 

Albany Lyceum in electing you President — 

The very expression quoted [‘used’ is lined out] 

in that paper has been used by two dozen of 

our Members * — I suggested at the time the 

unfareness & meaness of the motive as also the 

simple policy of electing a person of your age 

and standing in society [‘ever’ is lined out] 

president of our association some [‘many’ is 


lined out] of our members being [‘whom are’ 

lined out] under 18 years of age — Thus it was 

that that pure motive was suggested — You will 

see from the paper the pacific & respectable 

policy & deportment of several of its members 

at its 4 th meeting — Nothing but [‘the’ lined 

out] my sincere respect & esteem for you as a 

gentleman & a benevolent citizen has induced 

me to send you this paper with these remarks 

— [‘I write’ lined out] in order that your eyes 

may be opened & that you may accept or 

decline the honor conferred on you with a full 

knowledge of the motives & proceedings of this 

scientific association — 

Yours Respectfully 

Amicus 

* Indeed it was what they all esteemed a politic 

measure because they would get ‘money 

&c.[‘]” 4 

I have found no news item in the Albany 

Argus for December, January or February that 

might be the item referred to by “Amicus.” Nor 

is it in The Plough Boy, and I do not have access 

to any other Albany newspapers. From the 

study of James M. Hobbins, it is clear that the 

ages of the organizers of the Albany Lyceum 

were indeed much as “Amicus” puts it, whatever 

motive one assigns their actions. In any case, 

Van Rensselaer accepted the honor of leading 

Albany’s naturalists, as he continued to do for 

many years. 5 

As for James Eights, we do not know if he 

took part in any of this organizational struggle 

or in the carousing that seems to have accompanied 

it. His name is not connected with the 

“Licence for begging for the Lyceum” that was 

granted by the Mayor for 30 days on 24 February. 

“Begging” or not, Richard Varick DeWitt, 

Matthew Henry Webster, Henry J. Linn, and 

Peter Anderson wished “to circulate a subscription 

paper among Citizens of this place,” for the 

purpose of raising funds to finish, at their own 

expense, an unfinished room at Albany Academy 

which they had been offered for the 

Lyceum’s use. 6 

Expressly modelled on the relatively new 

Lyceum of Natural History of New York (City), 

founded in 1817, the Albany Lyceum faced 

some of the same obstacles as that upstart institution: 

and both, as obviously, joyously overpowered 

the opposition. In New York City, as 

Kenneth R. Nodyne puts it, “tension between 

the Lyceum of Natural History and the established 

intellectual institutions of New York 

extended to personalities as well as collections.” 

In the feuding, feelings ran high and vindictively 

motivated actions ran low: and woe to anyone 

who left his flank unguarded. In New York 

City, De Witt Clinton was caught in the cross 

fire of a feud between David Hosack and 

Samuel Latham Mitchill — when feelings ran 

high that honors ought to go to professionals 

and be withheld from dabblers and the “universal 

gentlemen-scholars” — even though the 

inclusion of Thomas Jefferson was deemed “a 

reasonable exception.” The young upstarts in 

Albany, as we have seen, had no such qualms 

about honoring the nonprofessional, at least as 

long as he was willing to share his clout and 

money. Van Rensselaer, in fact, did originally 

decline to lead the new group but soon changed 

his mind. 7 

Van Rensselaer’s strong point was neither in 

science nor in devotion to attendance. He 

appeared at only one of 31 meetings in 1823. 

But he was there when needed; he donated 

instruments and gave a mineral collection of 

immense worth to the museum. Extra cases 

were soon filled, enthusiasm was high, and 

membership soared. The overall age of members 

remained young. Still, as James M. Hobbins 

observes, the Lyceum’s “youthful cultivators 

had not yet exhibited much learning in natural 

history.” Perhaps it was with a feeling that 

more could be done that the Lyceum’s leadership 

soon changed course and joined forces 

with the SPUA to form the Albany Institute. 8 

Since Albany Institute histories are plentiful 

and amply cover matters, attention now will be 

focused upon James Eights. Some of the emphasis 

is indeed justified by the substantiality of his 

contributions. 

While the SPUA merited occasional notice 

in the Argus over the years 1813–1819, there 

were few reports of activities of the Lyceum and 

even the Institute, a darling of the Argus for 

Chapter 3 33

many years, got few notices indeed until 1828. I 

see no reference to James Eights in affairs of the 

Institute until 1829. Perhaps this was a matter 

of editorial policy or maybe it reflects the 

absence of anyone at the Institute perceptive 

enough to feed ready-made news to the press. 9 

JAMES EIGHTS AND NATURAL 

HISTORY AT THE LYCEUM AND 

INSTITUTE, THROUGH 1828 

“An Act to incorporate the Albany Lyceum 

of Natural History” was passed 23 April 1823 

(N.Y. State Laws, Chap. 227). By this action, the 

State Legislature recognized that “Stephen Van 

Rensselaer, Theodoric[sic] Romeyn Beck, Simeon 

De Witt Bloodgood, Lewis C. Beck, Matthew 

Henry Webster, Frederick Matthews, Richard 

Varick De Witt and James Eights, and such 

other persons as now are or may from time to 

time become members, shall be and hereby are 

constituted a body corporate and politic...”. 

And: “...be it further enacted, That Stephen Van 

Rensselaer shall be the president, Theodric 

Romeyn Beck the first vice-president...Richard 

Varick De Witt, James Eights, and Matthew 

Henry Webster, curators, and James Eights, 

draftsman....” 10 

Eights was active in various ways. On 9 

June 1823, it was reported for the Lyceum 

Botanical Committee by J.G. Tracy, L.C. Beck, 

and R.M. Meigs that Mr. J. Eights (no doubt 

James) had found Erythronium albidum [white 

troutlily], “a new species described by Mr Nuttall 

in his Genera of North American Plants. 

This plant which has not before been observed 

in the Northern or Middle States was found...on 

the alluvion of the Hudson about 2 miles north 

of the city.” The new form was then decribed, 

no doubt mainly by L.C. Beck, who likened it to 

specimens of the species he had seen in Illinois, 

where he had recently briefly resided. 11 

As to actual membership, James Eights 

leaves an ambiguous record in Lyceum-Institute 

archives. While he was a corporate member 

from 1823, being one of 20 members of a joint 

committee of the Lyceum and the SPUA, under 

the chairmanship of Jonathan Eights, and paid 

his Initiation Fee of $2 in 1823, I do not find that 

James Eights again paid dues until near the end 

of his life. Oddly, although lapsed members 

were “Removed” for nonpayment of dues (as 

well as for various unstated reasons), James 

was not removed from the roster. He rather 

tagged along into the Institute in 1824 and was 

there made a resident member in 1827. 12 

Eights was not long delayed in being put to 

work as draftsman for the Lyceum. At the meeting 

of the Lyceum on 2 February 1824, M.H. 

Webster read a translation of Chapter 2 of 

Alexandre Brongniart’s Histoire des Crustacés 

Fossiles (on the subject of their relationships to 

other animals). On 1 September 1824, it is 

recorded that James Eights contributed “Drawings 

of Trilobites, from the plates & according to 

the Classification of Brogniart [sic], with a copy 

of a Cast in the Collection of the Lyceum.” It 

appears that the initial number of drawings 

may have been seven. The total number in the 

collection today (long considered Eights originals) 

is nineteen. 13 

James Eights was among people who met 

on 5 May 1824 to carry into effect the formation 

of Albany Institute. Among his duties as one of 

the curators, he helped catalog libraries and collections 

of both SPUA and the Lyceum, as of 1 

June 1824. On 3 June, James and others signed 

the lists: There were 277 volumes in the library 

of the SPUA, 52 volumes in the Lyceum’s 

library. He signed, as a curator, a catalog of 

SPUA’s collections on 12 June 1824: it contained 

280 specimens of minerals; all were listed with 

donors, dates, and so on. The Lyceum collection 

consisted of 1,014 minerals (one belonged to 

SPUA). At least 39 of the mineral and rock specimens 

were from James Eights; in addition, 

there are separate listings for 6 rocks, 7 examples 

of “organic remains” (fossils), some pertaining 

to Beck and Webster, and 14 pieces of 

“The Arts & Miscellaneous.” In addition, the 

Lyceum collection contained special groups of 

specimens (gifts of Van Rensselaer from Eaton’s 

surveys of Albany and Rensselaer counties). 14 

After this initial catalog, items were entered 

and credited separately, in an ongoing manuscript 

“Catalogue of the Property of the Albany 

Institute; since its formation May 5th 1824”; 

there the name of James Eights appears many 


times. In the remainder of 1824, he contributed 

61 specimens of insects on 14 June; in September, 

several trilobite fossils and the drawings of 

trilobites alluded to above; there was a lizard 

and a specimen of “Salamandra Erythonota”; in 

October, trilobites and other petrifications; 

items of foreign origin in November; a turtle, 

“Testudo Emys,” in December. 15 

Eights was also swapping specimens with 

naturalists in other regions. Charles Upham 

Shepard of Amherst College, on 18 June 1824, 

enthusiastically referred to geological specimens 

received from Eights and offered substantial 

quantities of material in exchange. Eights 

furnished specimens to America’s great pioneer 

zoologist, Thomas Say, for his writings on terrestrial 

mollusks. 16 

Eights maintained his momentum in 1825. 

He donated 11 geological specimens in April, 

along with 13 specimens of freshwater and land 

shells from New York (all named), a snake, crania 

of cat and crow; a specimen of Anguis 

(Glass Lizard) from near Albany in July; and 86 

insect specimens in October, placed in a case 

presented by Charles Clinton. 17 

It appears that James Eights was not a curator 

for the Lyceum in 1825 (or later), although 

he did serve in April 1825 on the committee of 

five that compiled the report on proceedings of 

the Institute since May 1824. By then, his vision 

was obviously widening. On 2 March 1825, 

“Mr. Webster...mentioned, that...Mr. James 

Eights had found three shells which were 

believed to be undescribed. One of these has 

subsequently been described by Mr. [Daniel 

Henry] Barnes, as U. [Unio] alasmodontina, and 

by Mr. [Isaac] Lea...as Symphynota compressa.” 

Although Lea did not publish this new name 

until 1829, he had had the Eights specimen in 

hand for some years. It was listed among the 

specimens of New York freshwater and land 

shells accessioned on 27 April 1825, where it 

was called by the recorder “Unio Alasmodonteanus,” 

from the Norman’s Kill. 18 

It was doubtless this transaction in part that 

is referred to by R.T. Abbott and M.E. Young, in 

their American Malacologists, when they list 

Eights as having given Albany shells to Isaac 

Lea and Daniel Henry Barnes. (Much later he 

gave Lea specimens collected in Mexico.) 19 

Maybe Eights’s standing in the world finally 

induced him to acknowledge his importance 

by sitting for his portrait. The portrait, alleged 

to show him when about 25 years old, is 

described in a later chapter. 20 

The year 1826 was slower: a couple of coins 

(one an “antient” Roman copper; the other from 

Nova Scotia) in January; two geological specimens 

from nearby Bethlehem and 117 specimens 

of insects, number of species not indicated, 

in May; three pieces of Continental Congress 

paper money in September. No contributions 

from Eights are listed during 1827 and 

1828; two geological specimens presented in 

1829 were not of local origin. 21 

CRASHING INTO NEW YORK CITY: 

THE LYCEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 

AND THE WORLD BEYOND 

Due to the poor trail he left, we have only a 

fragmentary record of this critical era of the life 

of James Eights. How long and how regularly 

he lived in the City of New York we do not 

know. It is highly probable that when there he 

was a guest of his aunt, Phebe (Mrs James N.) 

Cobb, 59 Washington Square. 22 

It would be expected that Eights would contact 

fellow naturalists in New York and so he 

evidently did. He created little more than a ripple 

at the thriving Lyceum of Natural History 

of New York (later New York Academy of Sciences), 

aside from his ultimate departure with 

the New York Lyceum’s blessing as naturalist 

on the South Seas Exploring Expedition, a subject 

that will be described in the next chapter. 

Aside from various allusions to the exploring 

expedition, his name comes up in Lyceum 

records in regard to two instances only. On 29 

January 1829, “Dr. [John] Torrey on behalf of Dr. 

Eights presents a speciman [sic] of a singular 

variety of quarts chrystal [sic], Palantine [sic], 

New York.” Then, at the February meeting, he 

was elected a Corresponding Member. His presentation 

of the singular quartz crystal from 

Palatine has been accorded article status in a 

couple of biographies but it is a mere secretarial 

notice — and both bibliographic references mis- 

Chapter 3 35

takenly make “Palestine” its point of origin. 23 

Even in retrospect, James Eights made no 

splash in Lyceum history. He is mentioned in 

no way in Herman Le Roy Fairchild’s history of 

1887. In our century, Simon Baatz’s history of 

the Lyceum contains no reference to Eights and 

Dr. Baatz has confirmed the reality of the lack 

of archival material related to him. 24 

One final item is pertinent here and what I 

have been able to find on it to date is more 

intriguing than informative. As with good gossip 

anywhere, however, one must make the best 

of it. Whether James Eights learned from the 

experience, I somewhat doubt; but, for me, it 

has been a liberal education. 

Dr. James T. Callow reported, in a letter to 

the Albany Institute (in reference to a broader 

matter) in 1985, that James Eights came as a 

guest to New York’s exclusive Sketch Club 24 

April 1829. He apparently so annoyed the secretary 

that the latter quit taking minutes the rest 

of the meeting! Perhaps nothing dismayed, Callow 

thinks, Eights appeared in other minutes as 

“Mr. Ottavo,” surely a play on James’s surname. 

25 

It took me a while to get a handle on the 

Sketch Club and its role in the exciting cultural 

world of Knickerbocker New York. Callow’s 

study of Knickerbocker artistic and literary 

interactions (Kindred Spirits) got me on track, 

and notes from his in-depth study of the minutes 

of the Sketch Club have filled in gaps so 

far as known to him. 

It seems that artists of the Sketch Club met 

at intervals and those present were expected to 

produce a work of art based upon critical reaction 

to an assigned literary work. Early minutes 

(from the era of 1829 to 1833) are singularly full 

and seem almost like humorous (if whimsical) 

essays meant for publication. Long and extravagant 

propositions are pompously announced. 

Several people are given humorous — and not 

always complimentary! — names, some of them 

still to be unscrambled. 

At the 20 March 1829 meeting (the literary 

inspiration being “Lochinvar” by Sir Walter 

Scott), the name of “Mr. Ottavo” (there has been 

no previous reference to him or to his supposed 

double, Eights, in material available to Prof. Callow): 

“Another member proposed Mr Ottavo — 

Moved and seconded to Ballot, carried[.] Ballot 

accordingly — Not elected.” Callow supposes 

(footnote) “Perhaps a code name for Mr. Eights, 

whom the secretary would no doubt have voted 

against. See minutes for April 24, 1829.” (This 

leaves a mystery: There must have been some 

encounter prior to the meeting of 20 March.) 

On 24 April, we find: A meeting at the 

house of Mr. Bryant, “Mr Aights visitor” (again, 

probably a play upon James’s name). Artists 

present were to produce works based upon 

“The Borough,” by George Crabbe, wherein 

they were to picture “the discomfiture of a 

party of pleasure, upon an island which was 

overflowed by the tide, their boat having 

thought proper to travel off without leave or 

license.” After this initial soaring to giddy 

heights, and a transcription of the poem, the 

secretary, John Inman, suddenly wrote: “By 

way of a change the Secretary makes no farther 

minutes of this evening’s proceedings. His time 

having been occupied with reflections upon the 

expediency of admitting strangers to the Noctes 

of the Club.” Callow supposes (footnote): 

“Probably the topographical artist James Eights 

(1798–1882), a native of Albany.” John Inman’s 

willingness to lash out at circumstances was 

well illustrated on various occasions. Prof. Callow 

notices, further, that visitors were not common 

in the early years; but he accounts Inman’s 

reaction as untypical and wonders, as I do, 

what Eights did to annoy him. Maybe he had 

had a drink too many; maybe he refused to take 

part in convivialities; maybe he interfered with 

artists and their sketches. In any case, there is 

some mystery here as to how many times 

Eights appeared as a guest and the date of his 

first appearance. 

With this, one is forced to end the account 

of James Eights in New York, except for following 

him in his application through the Lyceum 

for a position with the proposed South Seas 

Exploring Expedition, the subject of our next 

chapter. 


NOTES 

1. Max Meisel, Bibliography of American Natural 

History, 2: 61-62, 111-112, 417, 432-ff; F.H. Hamilton, “Theodric 

Romeyn Beck,” pp. 783-785; J.M. Hobbins, “Shaping a 

provincial learned society.” 

2. Hobbins, “Shaping a provincial learned society”; 

W.G. Balla, “James Eights and the practical application of 

knowledge.” 

3. Anon., the Albany Microscope, 1 Mar 1823. 

4. “Amicus” (AIHA Archives, Lyceum record group); 

the author has not been identified. 

5. Hobbins, “Shaping a provincial learned society.” 

6. J. Henry, Papers, 1: 61-62. 

7. K.R. Nodyne, “The founding of the Lyceum of Natural 

History”; Hobbins, “Shaping a provincial learned 

society.” 

8. See: Hamilton, Hobbins, Meisel, Note 1. 

9. Anon., Argus, 17 Jun 1828, 30 Jul 1829. 

10. Anon., “History of the Institute, with a abstract of 

its proceedings,” 1830. 

11. AI Archives, McKinney Library. For L.C. Beck 

(1798-1853), see L.B. Sebring and L.B. Sebring, Jr., “Life of 

Lewis C. Beck, M.D.,” pp. 4-5. As to “Tracey,” the Joseph 

Henry Papers, 1: 68, note 14, gives the name as James G. 

Tracy; nobody gives dates for him. I know nothing of 

Meigs. 

12. D.J. Pratt, “Manual of the Albany Institute”; 

Anon., 1830, “History of the Institute”; MS notes on dues 

and memberships, AI; AI Minutes, 14 Mar 1827. 

13. AI Archives, McKinney Library, “The Collections 

of SPUA and ALNH, 1824-1838,” 1 Sep. 1824; the copies of 

Brongniart’s original plates, each executed with great 

accuracy, were probably done at the instance of T.R. Beck; 

maybe they were meant for use in exhibits. 

14. AI “Collections.” 

15. AI “Collections,” 14 Jun 1824-ff. 

16. Charles Upham Shepard (1806-1886); his letter is 

in McKinney Library, AIHA; for Thomas Say (1787-1834), 

see H.B. Weiss and G.M. Ziegler, Thomas Say, p. 184. 

17. AI “Collections,” 27 Apr-Nov 1825. 

18. Anon., 1830, “History of the Institute,” pp. 35-36; 

Isaac Lea, 1829, “Description of a new genus of the family 

Naïdes,” pp. 450-451, pl. XII. The miserable nomenclatural 

tangle involving this species began to settle with its allocation 

to the genus Lasmigona by Bryant Walker, “Notes on 

North American Naides. I,” pp. 1-2; for an account of the 

natural history of the species, see David Strayer, “Ecology 

and zoogeography of the fresh water mollusks of the Hudson 

River basin,” p. 32. Note that the name given by 

Barnes, to whom Eights gave the specimen, was never 

published. It is clear that Barnes got the specimen too 

early for the species to have colonized the Albany area by 

way of the Erie Canal, as has sometimes been supposed. 

19. R.T. Abbott and M.E. Young, American Malacologists, 

p. 96 (on Eights: this material is to be used with caution), 

66 (Daniel Henry Barnes [1785-1828]). Barnes died 

tragically — he impetuously jumped from a runaway 

stage near Troy (see account by J.H. Redfield, in H.L. 

Fairchild, History of the New York Academy of Sciences, pp. 

94-96. 

20. AI Acc. No. (1980) X1940.826.1. 

21. AI “Collections,” Jan through Sep 1826; while the 

Albany Argus, 30 Jul 1829, acknowledged the 1829 gift, as 

“Osseous breccia, from Germany,” it was described more 

fully in the AI Minutes for 29 Apr 1839 as: “A donation 

from Mr. Jas. Eights was announced, of a specimen of 

Osseus Breccia, containing the grinders & bones of an 

extinct bear, from Germany.” 

22. C. Miller, “The Eights family,” unpubl. 

23. Manuscript Minutes, Lyceum of Natural History 

of New York,19 Jan 1829 (kindly provided by the N.Y. 

Academy of Sciences); Anonymous notices of Lyceum 

activities, Am. Jour. Sci.,16: 354-355, 1829; for mistaken 

locality, see Meisel, Bibliography of American Natural 

History, 2: 260, and W.T. Calman, “James Eights,” p. 181. 

24. H.L. Fairchild, History of the New York Academy of 

Sciences; Simon Baatz, 1990, “Knowledge, culture, and science”; 

Baatz, letter, 11 Mar 1992. 

25. I am grateful to W.G. Balla for directing my attention 

to James T. Callow’s letter; Prof. Callow, for his part, 

has been exceptionally generous, supplying me with both 

a copy of his Kindred Spirits and full documentation of his 

beautifully computerized notes on minutes of the Sketch 

Club, which I have used freely. 

Chapter 3 37


Chapter 4 

JAMES EIGHTS IN THE ANTARCTIC: 

GETTING STARTED, 1828–1829 

James Eights was on the move and fate conspired 

in his favor. The story is not a simple 

one. Its web of circumstances reached from 

international rivalry in commerce and national 

glory to the halls of Congress, from national 

political vendettas to organized scientists anxious 

to be in on the action. Excellent general 

accounts of the history of America in the 

Antarctic are several, some of them wrongheaded, 

for one reason or another, some of them not 

fine-grained enough for one to see the little 

drama in which Eights found himself. While 

primary material is uneven, there is a great deal 

of it, some of it not yet adequately incorporated 

into scholarly works. Aside from reporting pertinent 

matters that show the patterns of life at 

the time, my job here is to focus on the entry of 

James Eights into the fray. 1 

The tragic story of commercial exploitation 

of seals (for fur) and then sea lions and whales 

(for oil) has been well told. America, even in the 

age of sail, was in on the ground floor. By 

Eights’s time, it was a mad scramble for the few 

remaining undiscovered islands, for even remnant 

stocks of colony-breeding sea mammals, so 

complete had the sweep been. The carnage was 

not over but the short-lived age of easy fortunes 

was already at its end. 2 

Fortunately, some element of curiosity about 

Earth and its creatures, fired by national rivalry 

for new possessions and the honor of new discoveries, 

if nothing more, began to manifest 

itself. The occasional curious recorder of natural 

history turned up on exploring ships, even 

early on, as shown by such unexpected examples 

as the Dane, Vitus Bering (sailing for Russia), 

and his brilliant but ill-starred naturalist, 

Georg Wilhelm Steller. Thanks to various happy 

coincidences, even as the American Revolution 

ran its course, England sent a distinguished retinue 

of naturalists on the remarkable circumnavigations 

of the globe conducted by Captain 

James Cook. Thenceforward, exploring ships 

were often accompanied by a scientific staff. 

The French, often under the most unlikely circumstances, 

did likewise. Finally, even the Russians 

for a time treated the collection of natural 

history data as a regular part of global exploration. 

3 

In Eights’s era, American horizons expanded 

erratically. At first, expansion occurred, 

humbly enough, at the expense of the private 

sector. But people began to scheme for securer, 

more fair-minded and more generous support 

from federal funding — with, of course, the 

navy’s blessing and protection. It was Eights’s 

sorry luck to be in just as the old order breathed 

its last but before viable government support 

could be expected. But government support at 

that time, necessarily limited as it would have 

been, would probably not have welcomed a 

mere tyro. Considering his chances, as viewed 

from afar, James was lucky to have been there 

at just the instant when government backed 

away and private enterprise stoutly (if brashly 

and ineffectively) claimed its willingness to 

support a measure of scientific endeavor — 

with James Eights on the cutting edge. 4 

Chapter 4 39

The popular craze for natural history information, 

useful or not, has been noticed. But natural 

history simply could not be given much 

support on board a tightly run little ship with 

limited space, with its motives entirely foreign 

to the ship’s reasons for being at sea. Indeed, 

matters worsened rapidly in an economy of 

diminishing resources, when the bottom line 

had to be profit. One can, sort of, imagine a 

highly specialized modern physiologist or histologist 

unobtrusively gathering his body fluids 

and tissues on a sealing expedition. One cannot, 

however fancifully, imagine a tiny brig, intent 

on filling its holds with skins or oil, allowing a 

full-blown naturalist his freedom to make 

unimpeded meteorological and astronomical 

observations, stopping at his command to gather 

specimens, providing precious space merely 

for preserving, studying, and protecting those 

specimens (most of them bulky, even at best). 

The elaborate, if unbelievably cramped, facilities 

provided as a matter of course to Eights’s 

near-contemporary, Charles Darwin, on board 

HM surveying ship Beagle cannot be imagined 

as being available to James Eights on his equally 

small brig Annawan. The expedition ostentatiously 

flew a banner of science — it was, its 

sponsor Edmund Fanning claimed grandly, 

“patronised by the United States Government” 

— and it had a small retinue of naturalists (or 

alleged naturalists). But, even as doctor as well 

as naturalist, Eights must have been a square 

peg. He was later to report that he worked with 

“the almost entire absence of any conveniences 

for collecting & preserving objects of Natural 

History,” and I suspect that was putting it mildly. 

Let’s see how he got there and who went 

with him. His accomplishments on the expedition 

will be the subject of later chapters. 5 

The new era of government support for 

research and exploration began limpingly with 

the able but not always tactful John Quincy 

Adams who was, in his turn, caught up in 

sweeping national changes. In December 1825, 

President Adams called for authorization to 

send properly equipped naval expeditions to 

explore the coast of the American Northwest. In 

January 1826, a bill originated in the House of 

Representatives but nothing came of it. However, 

the seed had been planted and Adams was 

serious about it. 6 

Adams’s Secretary of the Navy, Samuel L. 

Southard, agreed with Adams’s view. So did a 

popular lecturer, backwoods promoter of science, 

and (some said) vocal member of the 

Lunatic Fringe, Jeremiah N. Reynolds. 7 

It may be no accident that James Eights was 

later to interact with Southard and Reynolds in 

regard to exploration of the South Seas. Both 

had visited Albany in this critical era. In June 

1826, Reynolds gave a series of lectures, one of 

them gratuitous, more or less on the subject of 

John Cleves Symmes’s theory of the hollow 

Earth, but with a bit of precautionary fanfare as 

to the glory that geographical exploration 

would add to the nation’s achievements (the 

Argus circumspectly noted that perhaps “it will 

awaken a spirit of inquiry, possibly of adventure, 

which will be ultimately serviceable to the 

cause of science”). Reynolds was not, he 

claimed, lecturing for pecuniary gain but to 

minister to inquiry; his aim was to ease the way 

for the departure of a “vessel, now preparing... 

fitted out for a polar expedition” — “which he 

proposes to accompany.” 

The subject of Symmes’s “New Theory,” the 

proposition “that the earth is hollow and habitable 

within, and that the concave is...accessible, 

both to the north and south,” was secondary to 

Reynolds’s interests. He lectured on it, he said, 

because it was “comparatively unknown” and 

“because the investigation can lead to no possible 

evil, and may elicit facts, which if not a confirmation 

of the doctrine of concentric spheres 

or hollow planets, will make contributions to 

science in another shape.” 8 

At about this time (4 November 1826), President 

John Quincy Adams recorded in his diary 

the activity of Reynolds in promoting “the 

proposition of fitting out a voyage of circumnavigation 

to the Southern Ocean.” Adams 

noted with approval that Reynolds had gradually 

drawn back from his originally forthright 

support for Symmes’s ridiculous notion and 

was promoting the more rational proposal that 

testing Symmes’s idea would lead to Antarctic 

exploration. While Reynolds got clamorous 

popular support, Adams was sure the idea 


would gain no favor in Congress: “That day 

will come, but not yet, nor in my time.” 9 

Secretary Southard’s visit to Albany 

occurred in October 1827, its purpose not further 

reported in the staunchly Jacksonian Argus. 

Whether James Eights may have met Southard 

is perhaps less likely than that he probably did 

meet and talk with Reynolds. At the time of 

Southard’s visit, Reynolds was still good copy 

for the Argus (taken from the Buffalo Emporium): 

“Capt.[!] J.N. Reynolds, has announced in 

a Baltimore paper, that final arrangements have 

been made for the commencement of the long 

talked of polar expedition. A contract has been 

made with an experienced naval architect, for 

the construction of a suitable vessel, and the 

expedition is expected to sail in the course of 

the coming season. But another vessel is wanting 

to accompany the expedition as a tender, 

and for the purpose of obtaining such a one, he 

makes an appeal to the citizens of the United 

States. He says, ‘there are more than one million 

and a half of square miles, which have never 

been explored, and a coast of more than three 

hundred degrees of longitude, in which the 

Antarctic circle has never been approached.’” 10 

In late October 1828, Reynolds again got the 

attention of the press: a notice of his visit to 

Washington — with the pointed information 

that he wishes to distance himself from the 

Symmes theory. In January 1828, as J. M.[!] 

Reynolds, he was reported as having presented 

to the House of Representatives a memorial 

asking the aid of Congress in the Antarctic 

expedition. 11 

By this time, the proposals of John Quincy 

Adams had begun to gel — even as political 

storms brewed that ended his presidency. 

On 21 May 1828, the House passed a bill 

proposing that a small public vessel, with 

appropriate (but cheap!) navy protection, be 

sent out to examine “coasts, islands, harbors, 

shoals and reefs” in the Pacific Ocean and South 

Seas. The action must not (a) “prejudice...the 

general interest of the Naval service” and (b) it 

must be done “without further appropriation 

during the present year.” Even though the Senate 

failed to sanction the measure, Adams and 

Southard proceeded to promote the expedition. 

The outcome, of course, was long evident. 12 

By 19 June 1828 (with the House vote alone 

in their favor), Adams and Southard were laying 

strategy. It was brave talk, in the shadow of 

the forthcoming general election and the Jacksonian 

tidal wave at its highest level. Southard 

wanted to send the war sloop Hornet on the 

expedition, a trip that would require two to 

three years. He wanted men of science on the 

ship, particularly mentioning Mr. Reynolds and 

Mr. (Henry Rowe) Schoolcraft. Adams had 

already been approached by Mr. W. Elliot (possibly 

the amateur botanist, William Elliot?). 

Adams thought the proposed leader, Captain 

Alexander S. Wadsworth, ought to be given full 

instructions, so that practical plans could be 

laid. Southard opined that there ought to be a 

chaplain attached to the expedition, but Adams 

dourly noted: “The want of an appropriation 

must necessarily restrict the expense within 

very narrow bounds.” Even so, Southard shortly 

afterwards approached the Lyceum of Natural 

History in New York as if money were the 

last of his worries. 13 

For the moment, let us stay with President 

Adams. On 25 June 1828, the Southard-Adams 

air castle was abuilding. It was feared that 

Captain Wadsworth would decline taking 

command of the expedition but its fitting out 

was still discussed, not — Adams hoped — 

entirely uselessly. On the 27th, Southard proposed 

that Mr. Reynolds be employed to visit 

Nantucket and report all preliminary information 

that could be gained from the navigators 

there who “have frequented the Southern 

Ocean in whaling ships.” This was agreeable, 

Reynolds’s pay to come from the navy’s contingent 

fund. By 14 July, Commodore Rodgers 

met with Adams, in Southard’s presence, and 

argued against any attempt to send out the 

expedition. There were simply no ships suitable 

for it that were in a fit state of repair and 

the ones available were too small or too large. 

Wrote the president: “I have a deep anxiety 

that this expedition should be undertaken, and 

as far as possible executed, under the present 

Administration; and I observed that the next 

year we might not, as it is in my own mind 

certain that we shall not have the opportuni- 

Chapter 4 41

ty.” The expedition must go forward. 14 

On 4 August, Adams was still pushing; on 5 

December, with thoughts of running for the 

Senate from New Jersey no doubt looming bigger 

in his mind than hopes of seeing an exploring 

expedition on its way, Southard again discussed 

the matter of a chaplain for “this South 

Sea expedition.” In early January 1829, 

Reynolds replied at length to Congressman 

James W. Ripley, as to progress that had been 

made by Southard’s astute promotion of the 

expedition. On the 6 January 1829, the Senate 

began its investigation of expenses of the South 

Sea expedition, which ended with a severe censure 

of Southard’s conduct. Senator Hayne, in 

February, argued at length that the whole matter 

was illegal, since the Senate had never concurred 

with the House in authorizing any such 

expedition as Adams and Southard had sedulously 

furthered. On 5 March 1829, it was all 

over. The Senate defeated the bill, even though 

the House supported it overwhelmingly. 

Adams licked his wounds, even as Reynolds 

assured him that a bill supporting the expedition 

would be introduced in the next session of 

Congress — “and even recommended by the 

President.” Adams, for his part, laid the defeat 

to an opposition that was altogether factious, 

the chief architects of defeat in the Senate being 

Senators Robert Y. Hayne (South Carolina) and 

Littleton W. Tazewell (Virginia) — “both men of 

some talents, but whose sense of justice, of 

patriotism, and of truth is swallowed up by the 

passions of party, combining in both, with overbearing 

arrogance, rancorous tempers, and, in 

Tazewell, with a never-dying personal hatred of 

me.” Adams explained: “I once told him at my 

own table, upon his pertinaciously insisting 

that Tokay and Rhenish wine were much alike 

in taste, that I did not believe he had ever 

drunk a drop of Tokay in his life.” Tazewell, for 

his part, had riled Adams by asserting that “he 

had never known a Unitarian who did not 

believe in the sea-serpent”! 15 

So much for the South Sea expedition of 

John Quincy Adams and Samuel L. Southard. 

Where, before its rather predictable demise, did 

James Eights enter? As we shall see, the expedition 

that finally sailed was a private adventure 

(with a hint of navy oversight, just in case there 

was foreign interference with American commerce). 

How did that come about? 

In 1828, recall that eyes were upon government 

sponsorship of the expedition. The New 

York Lyceum of Natural History wondered if 

the collection of specimens could be undertaken 

by the proposed expedition. The rather freewheeling 

Southard replied that the expedition 

would be “extensively serviceable to commerce 

and to science,” and that any suggestions “as to 

the objects of attention or the persons to be 

employed will be most thankfully received.” 

Joseph Delafield, president of the Lyceum, 

began to explore the matter with Secretary 

Southard; Delafield wrote a memorandum to 

Southard, while on a visit to Washington, on 28 

June 1828, outlining the decided interest of 

members of the Lyceum in being a part of the 

action. 16 

Southard wrote to the Lyceum 3 July 1828, 

requesting a suggestion as to persons who 

could accompany the navy’s voyage to the 

South Seas. After the 14 July meeting, Delafield 

wrote: the “Lyceum of Natural History will 

gladly and at an early day, embrace the opportunity 

you have kindly afforded them, to communicate 

with you upon the various subjects in 

which it is more particularly interested.” He 

wrote further: “Since my return to this City I 

have ascertained that there is a stronger desire, 

on the part of our Naturalists, to explore the 

South polar Seas than I had anticipated; and 

that you may command the services of some of 

the most respectable and distinguished of them. 

[James Ellsworth] DeKay and Mr. I. Cozzens are 

quite desirous to accompany the Expedition.... 

The former as a principal, and the latter as an 

assistant, I have no doubt[,] would effect more 

in [their? — word bound in] respective departments 

of science, than any two persons with 

whom I am acquainted.” Southard could expect 

to hear from them, when they were assured that 

the appointments were not already provided 

for. 17 On 1 September 1828, the Lyceum committees 

reported recommendations on what subjects 

needed attention (but Lyceum minutes 

kept no record of what they desired). 


One suspects that, when the prospect for 

funds diminished, so did the enthusiasm of 

DeKay and Cozzens for exploration of the 

South Seas. In any case, it appears that nothing 

more was officially recorded on the subject at 

the Lyceum until the following year, by which 

time Reynolds and all others interested in South 

Sea exploration were marching to a different 

drum — that of private promotion for the project, 

a subject to which we shall shortly turn. 18 

Meantime, James Eights had already been 

encouraged to consider himself a viable candidate 

for naturalist on the Adams-Southard expedition. 

Just why this was so is not easy to see. He 

was not a member of the New York Lyceum 

until February 1829, although he was already 

active there. Had he some reason to feel that 

Reynolds — or even Southard — would look 

favorably upon his candidacy? Can there be 

some substance to a suggestion, made by a distant 

cousin of James Eights in this century, that 

Eights had somehow gained favor with commercial 

whaling-sealing interests? Alfred LeRoy 

Becker proposed that the family of James Cobb, 

to whom James Eights’s Aunt Phebe was married, 

came from Stonington, Connecticut. That 

area provided Reynolds much of his backing for 

the proposed explorations. It ultimately provided 

the modicum of private support (in the form 

of direct help from the old trading captain 

Edmund Fanning and in the form of the able 

navigators, Captains Pendleton and Palmer, who 

led the vessels involved) that the private endeavor 

had, as Reynolds strove desperately to rescue 

the foundered South Sea expedition. 

It appears the decisive factor was James E. 

De Kay, a chief figure at the Lyceum who was, 

according to William Stanton, actually appointed 

“principal naturalist” by Southard, in a 

brave show of faith, in September 1828, with 

Titian R. Peale and James Eights as his assistants. 

19 

The family tale seems far-fetched and, in 

any case, Eights was already promoting his candidacy. 

He started at the top and, indeed, generated 

a letter in his support even before he 

himself got his application in the mail. The support 

came from Stephen Van Rensselaer, who 

wrote to Secretary Southard: 

New York, 15 Oct. 1828. 

Sir 

Dr. James Eights of the City of Albany a 

young gentleman who has for some time devoted 

himself to the Study of Natural History is 

desirous of obtaining a situation on board the 

vessel now fitting out at the Brooklyn Navy 

Yard for a Voyage of discovery to the Southern 

Ocean — Should it be in your power to grant 

his request you would obtain the service of a 

young gentleman able & willing to be of great 

assistance to the expedition as a Naturalist. 

In the Surveys which have been made of 

this State by Mr. Eaton under my direction Dr. 

Eights has accompanied him as his first assistant; 

and he has by this means been Enabled to 

add to the acquirement [?] of the study the 

practical knowledge which is only to be 

obtained in the fields. In addition to his standing 

as a Naturalist he has by his 

conduct and demeanour acquired the highest 

standing among the young gentlemen of 

Albany. 

For further information as to his standing 

among scientific men Dr. Eights can safely refer 

you to Dr.s DeKay, Torrey, Van Rensselaer of 

New York, Prof. Eaton of Troy, and to Dr. [Beck? 

— bound in] and the other members of the 

Institute of Albany — 

I have the honor to be 

With great respect 

Your Obt Servt 

V Rensselaer 

Hon. S. Southard 

Secretary of the Navy. 20 

Eights himself got off an application three days 

later: 

Albany Oct 18th 1828. 

To the Honble Samuel L. Southard 

Sir 

By the public prints and from conversing 

with several of my friends in the City of New 

York I have learned that a vessel is now fitting 

out under the directions of your department for 

the purposes of discovery in the Southern 

Ocean, and being desirous to procure a situation 

on board such vessel as a Naturalist, I have 

Chapter 4 43

taken the liberty of requesting from you Sir the 

appointment. Being entirely ignorant of the formula 

required to be employed in applications 

of this nature I trust that any departure from 

customary usage will be attributed to its proper 

source & not permitted to affect the Success of 

my application. 

With regard to my fitness for the Situation, I 

am happy to have it in my power to refer to 

Professor Eaton whom I have accompanied in 

each of the Geological Surveys made by him of 

the State of New York under the direction of Mr 

Van Rensselaer. To Dr Beck and the members of 

the Institute of this City Generally. To Drs Torrey 

& Van Rensselaer & Messrs. Cooper & 

Cozzens of the New York Lyceum. 

I would also beg leave most respectfully to 

refer to the accompanying letters which have 

been given to me to be forwarded — 

I have the honor to be with the highest 

respect Your Very Obt & Most humble 

Servant 


Samuel L. Southard 

Secretary of the U.S. Navy. 21 

From this we learn that James was already 

spending some time in New York and that he 

anticipated his securing membership in the 

Lyceum of Natural History of New York by cultivating 

its secrets. Whether he was entirely 

honest in claiming to have been on each of 

Eaton’s geological surveys one may quibble at. 

Maybe he did not think of the two earlier county 

surveys as being “state” surveys; the same 

ambiguity can be noted in Van Rensselaer’s letter. 

Presumably, his letter enclosed those of 

Beck and Eaton, quoted below. 

Theodric Romeyn Beck of Albany Institute 

wrote: 

Albany Oct 18, 1828 

I have been acquainted with Mr. James 

Eights for several years & am personally knowing 

[?] of his having devoted great attention to 

various branches of Naturl History. I venture 

with great sincerity respectfully to recommend 

him as well qualified for a naturalist in [on?] 

the projected government expedition. 

T. Romeyn Beck[.] 22 

For his part, Eaton wrote: 

Rensselaer School, Troy, Oct. 18. 

1828. 

I certify, that D r James Eights of Albany has 

been associated with me several years as chief 

assistant in collecting facts along the Erie Canal, 

for the geological survey published by the Hon. 

Stephen Van Rensselaer. He has also been an 

assistant in giving instruction to the students of 

this school in Natural History. 

I further certify, that he has a good general 

knowledge of every department of Natural History, 

and a very accurate knowledge of some 

branches. I consider him one of the most competent 

geologists in North America. He is also 

well qualified to make drawings. of. subjects in 

Natural History. 

From my knowledge of D r Eights, I feel 

authorized to recommend him for a member of 

the Scientific Corps to accompany the projected 

South Sea Expedition. 

Amos Eaton 

Senior Professor 

in Rensselaer School[.] 23 

Whether the candidacy of James Eights was 

further promoted at this early date is not 

known. By early in 1829, just as Eights was 

being made a member of the Lyceum of Natural 

History of New York, all the above became 

pretty much a dead letter, with Senator 

Haynes’s scuttling of the Adams-Southard 

South Sea dream and Jeremiah Reynolds’s 

resounding challenge that if government would 

not do the job, private enterprise, backed by 

public demand, would accomplish it. H.H. 

Bartlett rather simplistically refers to President 

Jackson as having ordered the “indefinite suspension 

of plans for the Antarctic Expedition” 

— “through motives of economy, rather than 

disapproval.” (That Jackson himself within less 

than ten years would send forth a much costlier 

expedition requires to be noted; it is also clear 

that Bartlett was so anxious to smear Reynolds 

as a member of the Lunatic Fringe, along with 

John Cleves Symmes and his hollow Earth theory, 

that he may have been prejudiced from the 


start in regard to James Eights, whom he may 

have judged a partner of Reynolds.) 24 

On 31 August 1829, Reynolds visited the 

New York Lyceum of Natural History and “stated 

verbally his wishes that an abstract of the 

instructions furnished to the Navy Department 

should be prepared for the Antarctic Expedition 

now fitting out at this port.” What that “fitting 

out” amounted to can be inferred by the following 

piece that appeared in the Albany Argus on 

25 September, relayed from New York by way 

of New Bedford: 

“EXPEDITION TO THE SOUTH SEAS. — 

The New Bedford Mercury of Friday, states that 

Capt. Palmer and Mr. S.N. [!] Reynolds have 

been in that place for the past week, preparing 

one of the finest vessels ever built, for the contemplated 

expedition to the South Seas. This 

expedition is to be fitted out by a number of 

merchants belonging to New-Bedford and 

New-York. Captain Palmer has already shipped 

part of his crew, prepared boats of the best construction, 

and obtained other articles for the 

voyage. The brig will leave New-Bedford in a 

few days for New-York, where she will receive 

on board the remainder of her outfit, previous 

to her departure for the South Seas. Capt. P. is 

spoken of as among the most intelligent, enterprising 

and successful South Sea navigators, 

and possessing much practical knowledge of 

those seas. With Mr. Reynolds’ scientific skill 

and enthusiastic devotion to the cause of discovery, 

the public have long been acquainted. 

Of the number of vessels to be employed in the 

expedition, and the precise time of sailing, the 

editor of the Mercury is not apprised. N.Y. Gaz.” 

This was cut down somewhat from the original 

New-Bedford dispatch, which may have been a 

leak to the press from Edmund Fanning, anxious 

to show up the failure of government to 

support a venture “where objects of the highest 

national importance are to be attained” and 

“the claim becomes peculiarly strong upon the 

fostering aid of Government.” 25 

Private enterprize forged ahead. The Morning 

Courier and New York Enquirer of 25 September 

1829 asked for help: “South Sea Exploring 

Expedition. — Any citizen having an inclination 

to contribute on loan to this Expedition, Books, 

Voyages, Charts, (if ever so ancient) Time Keepers, 

Nautical Instruments, &c. &c. &c. by directing 

them to the care of Capt. Nat’l B. Palmer, of 

brig Anawan, at this port or J.N. Reynolds, Esq. 

96[?] Wall street — they will be thankfully 

received, the best possible care taken of them, 

and returned in good preservation at the end of 

the voyage (the use, danger of the seas, &c. 

excepted) with a true report of their correctness, 

&c. It is contemplated the Expedition will sail 

in...the ensuing month...The papers in this city, 

and in Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, 

Providence, Boston and Salem, will do a favor 

by one or two insertions of the above.” There is 

a pointing hand at the beginning of the notice: 

intended to alert readers and showing support 

of the expedition by the paper. 26 

Whatever was going on, the name of James 

Eights had not surfaced, nor had the Argus 

made any fuss over its native son. 

That Eights was, in fact, to be on the expedition 

gradually became clear, although complete 

details are lacking. Perhaps it was a matter of 

Reynolds’s name being known to everyone, 

while that of Eights was known at the national 

level to no one. Yet, Eights was known in 

Albany and the silence there is a little strange. It 

may have been one piece of Eights’s bad luck, 

like being memorialized in the volume celebrating 

the completion of the Erie Canal as Mr. 

“Bight.” The ill luck held right through the century 

and only in our own times has the press 

been better informed. For example, beginning 

in 1902, a series of carefully documented articles 

by Edward Swift Balch on the history of 

this phase of Antarctic exploration listed only 

the ubiquitous Reynolds (as “John” N. 

Reynolds) and an otherwise unidentified “Watson” 

as scientists but ignored Eights. 27 

The archives of the Lyceum of Natural History 

of New York tell us more or less what happened. 

It is clear enough that sailing away on a 

privately financed sealing ship held little charm 

for the Lyceum’s scientists. At the meeting of 12 

October 1829, it was recorded: “Dr. DeKay 

made a verbal communication to the Society 

[that is, Lyceum/Academy] upon the subject of 

the private expedition towards the South Pole 

Chapter 4 45

which was upon the eve of sailing. He stated 

that Dr. Eights a corresponding member of this 

Society was willing to accompany the Expedition 

provided he was put upon the footing of 

an authorized agent of the Lyceum. After a full 

and free discussion of the subject the following 

resolutions were passed unanimously — 

“Resolved that Dr. James Eights of Albany 

be appointed Naturalist to the expedition now 

about to explore the southern Atlantic and 

Pacific Oceans. 

“Resolved that a subscription paper be 

immediately circulated among the members of 

this society and the friends of science generally 

through the city and state. 

“Resolved that the Lyceum will use its 

utmost endeavors to raise a sum of not less 

than $500 to be paid upon the return of Dr. 

Eights. 

“Resolved that the Committee to be 

appointed to confer with Dr. Eights be fully 

authorised to make such arrangements with 

him as may be deemed advantageous to the 

cause of Science and the interest of the 

Lyceum.” 28 

On 19 October 1829, “Dr. DeKay from the 

Committee appointed to confer with Dr. Eights 

reported the result to be that all collections 

made during the voyage are to be deposited 

with the Lyceum and that a selection will subseqently 

made for the Cabinet.” 29 

It would be both anachronistic and perhaps 

unfair to say in regard to the outcome of these 

arrangements, “Stay tuned!” It appears probable 

that Eights and Reynolds left little or nothing 

in the way of specimens with the Lyceum, 

despite both this stipulation and the promise 

the Lyceum received from Reynolds 28 June 

1830, written at Statenland, “acknowledging the 

patronage of the Lyceum and promising a joint 

statement from himself and Dr. Eights on the 

subject of their discoveries” (reported to the 

Lyceum by Dr. DeKay 28 June 1830). Just what 

went wrong is not clear. In Eights’s case, at 

least, it appears that the Lyceum was, upon his 

return, unable or unwilling to provide the $500 

promised. 30 

By the time the Lyceum had DeKay’s final 

statement, the matter was being aired in the 

press. The Morning Courier and New York Enquirer 

of 17 October 1829 had it thus: “The South Sea 

Expedition. — The brig Anawan, the flag vessel 

of this expedition, dropped down to the lower 

bay yesterday, and will proceed to sea this 

morning. — Thus, after three years of perseverance 

and industry, Mr. Reynolds finds himself 

upon the ocean, in search of the undiscovered 

islands of the South. In addition to the commercial 

importance of this expedition, it is highly 

interesting in a national point of view. Whatever 

lands may be discovered by Mr. Reynolds 

and his enterprising associates, will become the 

property of the United States. The stores of science 

will be increased by the products of the far 

distant islands, as yet unknown to civilized 

man, and curiosity, may, perchance, be gratified 

with something new. 

“We visited the Anawan on Thursday. She is 

a fine vessel, and a very fast sailer. She is furnished 

with an excellent library, and all the 

instruments necessary for such an expedition. 

She has a stout and hardy crew, an experienced 

captain, and first rate officers. After the commercial 

objects of the expedition shall have 

been accomplished, Mr. Reynolds intends to sail 

round the icy circle, and push through the first 

opening that he finds. Success to him. 

“Mr. R. is accompanied by Doctor Eights, of 

Albany, a gentleman of talents and scientific 

accomplishments.” This article was copied verbatim 

by the Albany Argus (27 October) — 

without the slightest local comment or recognition 

of James Eights. 31 

The Morning Courier and New York Enquirer 

(20 October) expanded in enlightening ways in 

an article that followed the previous release. 

“ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION. — In our paper of 

Saturday we noticed the departure of the Brig 

Annawan [note lack of uniformity in spelling] 

from this port, on a three years cruise. She 

belongs to a private association of gentlemen, 

among whom we have heard the names of Mr. 

Rodman, of New-Bedford, and of Mr James 

Bleecker and Capt. Leslie, of his city. She is fitted 

out for the combined purpose of Commerce 

and Discovery, her destination is for the frozen 

regions of the Antarctic Circle, and her whole 

equipment is admirably calculated to encounter 


the hazards and perils of those seas. The 

Annawan is commanded by Capt. Palmer, an 

experienced navigator whose name is already 

connected with the discovery of a Continent or 

large groups of Islands near the Antarctic Circle. 

Associated with him in this enterprise is 

Capt. Pendleton, commanding the Seraph, a vessel 

of equal size, and who we understand was 

selected by the late Secretary of the Navy as 

Chief Pilot for that grand national voyage of 

discovery which after an infinite deal of talk, 

ended in smoke. Captain Pendleton is superior 

office of the Expedition. The crews of both vessels 

amounting to 50 in number, all stout 

healthy young men, the sons of substantial 

Connecticut farmers, and to many of them, it is 

their first voyage. Among other peculiarities in 

her equipment, we were struck with the simple 

contrivance by which her elegant and substantial 

whale-boats may be instantaneously converted 

into sleds for passing over fields of ice. 

“The Lyceum for Natural History of this 

city has also lent its important aid to this public 

spirited enterprise. Under the auspices of this 

learned body, Dr. James Eights, of Albany, a distinguished 

scientific gentleman, goes out as naturalist 

to the expedition. We have thus an 

assurance that nothing of interest to the cause 

of science will be lost to the community. Mr. 

Reynolds, an individual well known for the 

energy and perseverance with which he 

endeavored to call the attention of Congress to 

a similar undertaking, accompanies the expedition 

with commercial views. Much advantage 

to the enterprise may be expected from his zeal 

and geographical information, acquired while 

investigating this subject under the direction of 

the late Secretary of the Navy. A valuable 

library of several hundred volumes, with many 

important and appropriate philosophical instruments, 

have been generously loaned by several 

public citizens; and when we add that all the 

instructions for the voyage, and every arrangement 

has been directed by Capt. Edmund Fanning, 

the Agent of the South Sea Company, 

whose life has been spent in those seas; we are 

only announcing that nothing has been neglected 

to ensure success to these daring 

adventures. May the promised ‘voyage of Pendleton 

and Palmer’ yield neither in interest nor 

value to that of any of their adventurous predecessors 

whose names are identified with the 

reputation and glory of their respective countries.” 

32 

On 21 October, we learn from the New Bedford 

Mercury, “The brig Seraph, Capt. Pendleton, 

sailed from Stonington..., to join her consort, 

the Annawan, Capt. Palmer, off Block 

Island, whence they will proceed on their 

exploring voyage.” (The two ships did not so 

meet.) 33 

Eights’s later claim that he was both “Surgeon 

& Naturalist” on board the brig Annawan 

is not further documented. At any rate, the 

ambitious little party did set sail and its trip 

southward to the southernmost tip of South 

America will be the subject of the next chapter. 

34 

NOTES 

1. Kenneth J. Bertrand’s Americans in Antarctica 

1775–1948 cites not only archival material but also a majority 

of the general, narrative studies, while giving James 

Eights his due in a way that early works did not. Bertrand, 

in “Geographical exploration by the United States” (1967) 

provided a detailed and well-documented preliminary 

account. He was generally favorable to the role of Jeremiah 

N. Reynolds. Vincent Ponko, Jr., Ships, Seas, and Scientists, 

pp. 6-9 (Notes, p. 233), provided a substantial 

although secondary account of this expedition, crediting 

Reynolds with being the hub of action in the entire affair. 

Eights and “a naturalist of Philadelphia, John F. Watson,” 

as well as Reynolds, were “scientists.” He considered the 

expedition “unsuccessful for the most part.” 

2. Many publications allude to the destruction of the 

seal and whale stocks. Bertrand’s work cites useful 

sources. A good statistical survey of sealing and whaling 

expeditions may be found in R.K. Headland, “Chronological 

list of Antarctic expeditions and related events” (1989). 

Henry M. Dater’s “History of Antarctic exploration and 

scientific investigation” (Antarctic Map Folio 19, 1975), 

gives general background. See A. Howard Clark, “The 

Antarctic fur-seal and sea-elephant industry,” for a thorough 

historical account especially from the American 

view. 

3. See H.M. Dater, “History,” pp. 1-2. For Vitus 

Jonassen Bering (1681–1741), see Raymond H. Fisher, 

Bering’s Voyage (1971). For Georg Wilhelm Steller 

(1709–1746), see Leonhard Stejneger, Georg Wilhelm Steller, 

the Pioneer of Alaskan Natural History (1936); archival 

sources are noted by Margery Rowell, “Early Russian 

botanical exploration in the North Pacific” (1973). For general 

voyages, Headland’s list will prove useful. See R.O. 

Cummings, “The organization of the American Antarctic 

expedition of 1830” (1962), p. 1031. The fullest and best 

account of this expedition is William Stanton, The Great 

Chapter 4 47

United States Exploring Expedition, pp. 15-28. 

4. President John Quincy Adams’s keen interest in 

govermental support for scientific exploration is evident; 

the mere fact that the private sector reacted to Adams’s 

failure by sending the Eights crew to sea at all proves the 

existence of considerable direct popular support. 

5. Eights to B.F. Butler, 2 Aug 1836. For Charles Darwin, 

see not only his own Narrative (1839) but many good 

modern commentaries, notably Alan Moorehead, Darwin 

and the Beagle (1969). The expedition, Edmund Fanning, in 

Voyages Round the World (1st ed.), t.p., claimed was “Patronised 

by the United States Government.” This sentiment 

has many times been cited. The nearest Fanning came to 

documenting it was, p. 489, in a letter apparently mailed 

to Fanning by Martin Van Buren. Dated “Washington, Jan. 

20th, 1830,” it was from Wm. Coventry H. Waddell, Agent, 

U.S. Department of State, to Edmund Fanning: “Sir, — 

Yours of the 28th ultimo was duly received, and agreeably 

to the request therein contained, the department has made 

favorable mention of the commanders of the vessels Seraph 

and Annawan (and the expedition generally) to the 

public functionaries of the United States in Mexico, Chili, 

and Peru, and has also requested the navy department to 

afford equal facilities to the expedition, through our naval 

commanders in the South Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.” 

Considering how little of the expedition remained uncompleted 

by the time this message could possibly have 

reached southern South America, one can wonder at the 

amount of “patronage” actually manifested! 

6. See J.Q. Adams, Memoirs (1875), 7: 169, etc.; a great 

deal of background on the Adams initiative (along with 

considerable bias against J.N. Reynolds) can be gleaned 

from H.H. Bartlett’s “The reports of the Wilkes Expedition,” 

pp. 602-610. K.J. Bertrand covers the subject in 

detail; see also Daniel C. Haskell, The United States Exploring 

Expedition, 1838-1842 (1942), pp. 1-2, and various 

authorities, Note 7. 

7. Adams, Memoirs, 7: 168, 8: 37; Bartlett, “The 

reports,” Note 6. The literature (some of it half-baked, 

some over-baked, some fairly handled) on Jeremiah N. 

Reynolds (1799-1858) is, considering the obscurity of the 

man (people, for example, have had a lot of trouble even 

getting his first name correct), enormous. The fullest and I 

suspect the fairest account of Reynolds is in William Stanton, 

The Great United States Exploring Expedition, pp. 13-15. 

Rather than inflate this note into a chapter of its own, I 

relinquish the field to such authorities as can be inferred 

from my many references to him, here and through the 

ensuing decade. 

8. For Reynolds in Albany, see Anon., Argus, 1, 2, 5, 7 

Jun 1826. Jibes at Capt. John Cleves Symmes, Jr. (1780- 

1829), and his wild notion of a hollow Earth, open at the 

poles and inhabitable within, are legion. For a sympathetic 

account of Symmes himself (but flawed with regard to 

Reynolds and this expedition), see John Weld Peck, 

“Symmes’ theory.” 

9. Southard in Albany, Anon., Argus, 5 Oct 1827; 

“Capt.” Reynolds, Anon., Argus, 6 Oct 1827; J.Q. Adams, 

Memoirs, 7: 168. 

10. Anon., Argus, 27 Oct 1827, 28 Jan 1828. 

11. Bartlett, “The reports of the Wilkes expedition,” p. 

606, note 5. See also J.Q. Adams, Memoirs, 8: 37; Bertrand, 

Americans in Antarctica, pp. 145-146; J.N. Reynolds, “Letter 

relative to an Antarctic expedition,” 22 Jan 1828 (Poore, p. 

197, calls him “Rep.” J.N. Reynolds). 

12. Bartlett, “The reports of the Wilkes Expedition,” 

pp. 605-606; J.Q. Adams, Memoirs, 8: 37; Bertrand, Americans 

in Antarctica, p. 145. 

13. J.Q. Adams, Memoirs, 8: 37; N.Y. Lyceum, Minutes, 

14 Jul 1828. The only “W. Elliot” I can suggest is an 

obscure man identified by Max Meisel, Bibliography of 

American Natural History, 3: 570. 

14. Adams, Memoirs, 8: 44, 45, 57-58. One practical 

result of the Adams-Southard promotion was a report by 

Reynolds on the “Islands, reefs, and shoals in the Pacific 

Ocean,” a letter to Secretary of the Navy Southard, 24 Sep 

1828, which appeared in several congressional reports in 

support of the later exploring expedition; see, for example, 

J.N. Reynolds, “Pacific Ocean and South Seas ...,” 27 Jan 

1835. 

15. Adams, Memoirs, 8: 75, 79, 95, 106; R.Y. Hayne, 

Argus, 19 Feb 1829. 

16. N.Y. Lyceum, Minutes, 14 Jul 1828; Joseph 

Delafield, President of the Lyceum, to S.L. Southard, 28 

Jun 1828. 

17. Delafield to Southard, 14 Jul 1828. 

18. N.Y. Lyceum, Minutes, 1 Sep 1828; 31 Aug 1829; 

Bertrand, Americans in Antarctica, pp. 146-147; in regard to 

the role of the Lyceum, see especially William Stanton, 

cited above, p. 23. 

19. For Eights as a possible favorite of the Stonington 

whalers, see Alfred LeRoy Becker to Ledyard Cogswell, Jr., 

24 Feb 1945, Albany Institute archives. William Stanton, 

cited above, p. 21; his documentation is hazy in regard to 

details of the appointment. De Kay’s “appointment” must 

have been quite an indefinite matter but it would have 

been useful in bringing Eights’s name to the attention of 

Southard. 

20. Stephen Van Rensselaer to S.L. Southard, 15 Oct 

1828 (National Archives Record Group 45, Naval Records 

Collection Office of Naval Research & Library. Miscellaneous 

Letters Received, 1828). 

21. Eights to Southard, 18 Oct 1828 (National 

Archives, as above, Entry 21, Secretary of the Navy, Miscellaneous 

Letters Received). 

22. T.R. Beck to Southard, 18 Oct 1828; (National 

Archives, as above, Miscellaneous Letters Received, 1828). 

23. Amos Eaton to Southard, 18 Oct 1828 (National 

Archives, as Note 22). 

24. Bartlett, “The reports,” p. 610; J.N. Reynolds, 

Argus, 10 Jan 1829. 

25. N.Y. Lyceum, Minutes, 31 Aug 1829; Anon., New 

Bedford Mercury, 18 Sep 1829; see Anon., Argus, 25 Sep 

1829; the Mercury article was echoed by Niles’ Register on 3 

Oct, with the interesting disclosure that “the expedition is 

to be under the direction of Mr. Reynolds”! 

26. Anon., Morning Courier and New York Enquirer, 23 

Sep 1829. 

27. See works by Edwin Swift Balch, with considerable 

original research: Antarctica (1902): 91-92; “Antarctica 

addenda,” 1904; “Stonington Antarctic explorers,” 1909. 

28. N.Y. Lyceum, Minutes, 12 Oct 1829; DeKay was 

clearly no longer anxious for the job! 

29. N.Y. Lyceum, Minutes, 19 Oct 1829. 


30. See Note 29; also, N.Y. Lyceum, Minutes, 28 Jun 

1830. 

31. Anon., Morning Courier and New York Enquirer, 17 

Oct 1829; Anon., Argus, 27 Oct 1829; the entire piece, with 

Eights demoted to “doctor” (lower case), appeared in 

Niles’ Register, 23 Oct 1829. 

32. Anon., Morning Courier, 20 Oct 1829. Benjamin 

Pendleton was earlier involved — at considerable expense 

to himself — in preempting and preparing a vessel for the 

navy’s use (with Pendleton to have been a navy lieutenant 

in command of the expedition). All plans came to naught 

and he prayed Congress for compensation; the House 

agreed (C.P. White, “Petition of Benjamin Pendleton to 

Committee on Naval Affairs,” 30 May 1830) but Senator 

R.Y. Hayne, “Petition of Benjamin Pendleton,” 6 Apr 1830, 

denied the claim, thus killing it. 

33. Anon., New Bedford Mercury, 21 Oct 1829. That 

the brigs Seraph and Annawan never saw each other in the 

southward voyage until Staten Island was reached is variously 

documented; see Pendleton to Fanning in E. Fanning, 

Voyages Round the World (1st ed.), p. 479. 

34. JE to Amos Binney, 9 Aug 1834, to be quoted later. 

Chapter 4 49


Chapter 5 


THE SOUTHWARD TRIP, 1829 

Figure 5.1. Nathaniel Palmer (1799-1877), captain of the 

brig Annawan, on which James Eights sailed to the 

Antarctic. Courtesy of the American Geographical Society, 

New York. 

Three small ships sailed for the Antarctic in 

the autumn of 1829. They were the brigs Seraph 

and Annawan and the 84-ton schooner Penguin. 

The nominative flagship was the Seraph, master, 

Benjamin Pendleton, William Noyes, first mate; 

with a crew of 22 men. The Annawan was under 

the command of Nathaniel Brown Palmer and 

carried the five members of the so-called scientific 

corps and a crew of 28. However, Pendleton’s 

Seraph was little involved in what is of 

most interest to us. Of vital concern is the Penguin, 

commanded by Nat Palmer’s brother, 

Alexander S. Palmer; Phineas Wilcox first mate; 

and a crew of 16 men. The Penguin was on its 

own sealing excursion but we are indebted to 

the fates that brought it into the picture, for it 

accompanied the Annawan closely during the 

entire Antarctic segment of its cruise. And, since 

the log of the Annawan has been lost and “the 

corps of scientific gentlemen,” including James 

Eights, left no detailed records, even the 

sketchiest notion of Eights’s Antarctic travels 

would be impossible to comprehend without 

recourse to the log of the Penguin. 1 

Picture the Annawan, where our attention 

must be directed, because the entire scientific 

corps was associated with it during the Antarctic 

sojourn. It was built at New Bedford in 1823 

by Zachariah Hillman & Sons, master carpenters; 

Eli Haskell, surveyor. It was about (reports 

of measurements vary slightly) 158 tons, nearly 

79 feet long, 22 feet wide, and 10 feet deep, with 

one deck, two masts, a square stern, no galleries, 

and a bust head. 2 Chapter 5 51

Benjamin Pendleton was an experienced 

sealing captain. He was technically field commander 

of the flotilla but remains little known. 

Our interest focuses, thus, on the Palmer brothers, 

both well-known members of a notable 

family of sailors and merchants. 3 

As for the scientists, except for James 

Eights, they were very much deserving of the 

epithet “so-called scientific corps.” Down 

through the remains of the nineteenth century 

and well into the twentieth, the only member of 

the team to be regularly named was Jeremiah 

N. Reynolds, although people had all manner 

of trouble getting his forename and initial correct. 

Thus, we have had John and James (the 

former the name of choice of the Library of 

Congress for many years) and various combinations 

of initials. To this day, nobody has filled 

out the middle initial. No scientist, he was a 

man of some ability and, best, a master of 

muckraking. Bertrand terms him “more properly...historiographer 

and commercial investigator 

of the expedition.” He was certainly treated by 

the world at large as much more than that and 

perhaps he shared that view, too. 4 

Since we know about James Eights, and the 

two assistants have never been named, the only 

remaining member of the scientific corps to be 

accounted for is one Watson. I say this so 

ambiguously with some reason. 

Nowadays, Watson’s full name is usually 

said to be John Frampton Watson. Early on, 

with some decisive exceptions, if named at all, 

Watson was usually not provided with a forename. 

Whether he was related to the contractor 

John Watson who unsuccessfully petitioned the 

government in 1831 for redress for losses 

incurred when he built a vessel in New York 

(after having “proceeded” there — from where 

is not stated) for government use in the War of 

1812, I do not know. Our Watson’s city of origin 

is not always mentioned. Taking him to be a 

discovery of Reynolds and noting Reynolds’s 

wide range of travel in promotion of the expedition, 

Watson could have come from anywhere 

in the East. In any case, in Mrs. R.B. Harlan’s 

life and lore of Reynolds, she calls him “Dr. 

Watson, of New York...a man of wealth” and he 

becomes a prime mover in fitting out a ship. 

Hers was a decidedly wild shot. 

Perhaps echoing Mrs. Harlan, Robert F. 

Almy admits that nothing is known of him but, 

as “Mr. Watson of New York,” “it is believed he 

furnished some of the funds for the expedition.” 

By 1940, in Lawrence Martin’s account of 

early southern explorers from the United States, 

he had become “Dr. John Frampton Watson of 

Philadelphia.” Thus, doctor again — but this 

time, from Philadelphia. 

However well founded I am not certain, but 

a John Frampton Watson, who at least “flourished” 

pretty much in the right era, was turned 

up for George Cuthbert Groce’s Dictionary of 

Artists in America. There, he is characterized as 

“Lithographer working in Philadelphia from 

about 1833 until after 1860.” He was a 

daguerreotypist in 1841, “a native Pennsylvanian, 

born about 1805.” Other biographical dictionaries 

of American artists probably merely 

copy this entry. No art historian says anything 

about his Antarctic explorations. Nicholas B. 

Wainwright’s account of him is a little fuller. No 

date of birth is given; he is an artist-lithographer 

only, his work not of a very high order. “He 

was described as a queer chap, very conceited.” 

He “began his career as early as 1832 or 1833 as 

an artist...for a few years...in partnership with 

C.A. Watson, but after 1838 he was on his own 

as a lithographic printer until the end of his 

career in 1866.” A beginning date of 1832 or 

1833 for his active status in Philadelphia does 

nothing to strengthen the case; that he was an 

artist and lithographer might have interested 

Reynolds, although, in retrospect, I know of no 

instance when he made use of Watson’s talents 

in that line. Groce’s supposed date of birth 

sounds good. 

Philip I. Mitterling calls him merely John F. 

Watson, “a Philadelphian.” John Stewart adds 

nothing, simply citing him as John F. Watson, 

“one of the scientists” on the expedition of 

1829–31. 5 

The odd man out in accounts of Watson is 

D.M. Henderson, who has Reynolds with two 

companions, “James Eights, a young geologist 

of Albany, New York, and John Fanning Watson, 

a cousin of Edmund Fanning”! “The latter 

[Watson] practiced law in Philadelphia and was 


also an amateur naturalist.” If he were both a 

naturalist and a cousin of Edmund Fanning, a 

prime organizer of the expedition, this would 

account for his being aware of it. But there are 

difficulties, aside from the solid evidence that 

his middle name was Frampton. While it cannot 

be counted definitive, the only “John Fanning 

Watson” I come up with is in Dictionary of 

American Biography, and he is an unlikely candidate 

for various reasons, even if he was a sometime 

Philadelphian and had ship-owning ancestry 

in the Connecticut area. First of all, he was 

born in 1779 (thus, 1828 would be an unlikely 

year for him to embark on an Antarctic lark). 

He was never a lawyer and by 1812 or so was 

firmly ensconced in Germantown where he 

spent the remainder of his life very actively 

publishing accounts of early life in Philadelphia 

and Pennsylvania. (Nor can he somehow be the 

Philadelphia lithographer, for his works were 

illustrated by a local artist.) 

Finally, an early slip of the pen and an 

obscure footnote confirm Watson’s middle 

name as “Frampton.” In an anonymous newspaper 

article in 1830, he was referred to as “Mr. 

Hampton Watson of Philadelphia, amateur.” 

Actually, there can be no doubt his forenames 

were John Frampton, since Edmund Fanning 

himself so identified him. (See Edmund Fanning, 

Voyages (2d ed., 1838), p. 174, letter to 

President Martin Van Buren.) He tells of 

appearing before President Jackson in December 

1831, with Captain Pendleton and “a scientific 

citizen of first qualifications.” In an asterisked 

footnote, Fanning explained that the men 

were “Captain Benjamin Pendleton, senior in 

the command, and John Frampton Watson, Esq. 

M.D. Professor, and of the scientific corps of the 

American Exploring Expedition / of brigs Seraph 

and Annawan, which had been sent to 

those seas, patronized by the executive government 

[of the] United States.” Thus, his name 

was John Frampton Watson...and he was not 

only an M.D. but also a professor! 6 

Plans for the Annawan and Seraph to rendezvous 

either four leagues south of Montauk 

Point off eastern Long Island or in the Cape 

Verde Islands failed to materialize. Pendleton’s 

Seraph ran afoul of contrary winds on its exit 

from Stonington. Although the Annawan waited 

for the arrival of the Seraph at Boavista (or 

‘Bonavista,’ as then usually written; the second 

is a phonetic variant of the former), it finally 

left without it. Their third planned place of 

meeting was Port Hatches, on the north coast of 

Staten Island, eastern tip of Tierra del Fuego. 7 

The world learned belatedly of the arrival of 

the Annawan at the Cape Verde island of Boavista. 

The Albany Argus of 30 March 1830 carried 

a truncated version of information made available 

to New York newspapers by Reynolds: 

“Mr. Reynolds, who went out on the South Sea 

Expedition, writes from Bona Vista, one of the 

Cape de Verde Islands, on the 14th of November 

[that is, 1829], that the brig Annawan and 

her crew had arrived there in good condition, 

and were waiting for her consort the Seraph, to 

proceed on the voyage. The Seraph left Stonington 

the same day on which the Annawan sailed 

from this port [New York].” 

The New Bedford Mercury carried a much 

fuller account from Reynolds’s report on 2 April 

1830, copied from the Morning Courier: 

“SOUTH SEA EXPEDITION. — The editors of 

the New-York Courier and Enquirer, have 

received from Mr. J.N. Reynolds the following 

letter, dated at Bonavista, (one of the Cape de 

Verd Islands,) 14th November. Mr. Reynolds, it 

will be recollected, sailed, from New-York early 

[sic] in October last, in the brig Annawan...and 

this, we believe, is the first intelligence received 

from him since his departure. The Annawan it 

seems, arrived at Bonavista on the 9th November, 

and was waiting for her consort, the Seraph, 

which sailed from Stonington (Conn.) on 

the same day that the Annawan sailed from 

New-York. The crew were all in good health. It 

is stated in the Mercantile Advertiser that the 

Seraph had arrived, and that both vessels were 

to sail from Bonavista on the 23d November 

[editorial guesswork]: 

‘Gentlemen — after having encountered our 

full share of squalls, head and cross seas, thunder 

and lightning, while passing the Gulf 

[Stream], doomed, as it appeared to be, to the 

eternal conflict of the elements, we arrived in 

this port on Tuesday morning, 9th inst. making 

our passage 24 days from the city of New-York. 

Chapter 5 53

‘On the fifth day out, we fell in with the 

ship Fabius, (bearing our Minister, his Excellency, 

Gov. Van Ness, and family, to Spain) having 

left New-York 24 hours before us. With this testimony 

in favor of the good qualities of our 

brig, we were all well pleased, and watched 

with more than common interest the bearing of 

the two vessels, as they were driven on with 

prodigious force by a stiff north-wester. 

‘Never did “Annawan,” King Philip’s prime 

minister and chief warrior, behave himself more 

nobly in his wars with the Colonies in 1676, 

than did our brig (which bears his name) on 

that day. 

‘What we might lose with the Fabius while 

on a heavy head sea, we could gain on the 

wind. 

‘I have made several excursions over the 

Island, accompanied by my friend and companion, 

Dr. Eights, who has collected a number of 

specimens in Botany, all in perfect bloom and 

much more valuable than we expected to find in 

a place so long and well known, and principally 

noted for its salt, which nature, rather than art or 

labour, supplies in the greatest abundance. 

‘On the arrival of our consort, the brig Seraph, 

Capt. Pendleton, we shall proceed on our 

voyage. She left Stonington the day we sailed 

from New-York. The extent and duration of our 

voyage cannot be determined at this time. 

Besides, acting in good faith, as we mean to do, 

towards our stockholders, in the business part 

of the cruise, two other objects will particularly 

occupy our attention, which, if we can accomplish 

in any tolerable degree, I shall feel that my 

time has been well employed, and that our 

enterprise has not been in vain, even in a 

national point of view. 

‘One will be to collect such facts, within the 

range of our commercial operations in the Pacific 

Ocean and South Seas, as will show, that the 

completion of that expedition, so nearly 

matured, and so unaccountably laid by at the 

last session of Congress, would have been beneficial 

to our commercial interests, as well as 

have reflected the highest credit on our national 

character. In the second place, we shall endeavor 

to make such observations while in the higher 

Southern latitudes, on the formation and 

quantity of ice, cause and velocity of currents in 

the different miredians [!], as well as on the 

points, where there will be probably found the 

least obstruction in reaching a high latitude. In 

a word, to acquire such practical knowledge of 

those seas, as may be useful in guiding the 

operations of a more efficient expedition, contemplated, 

on the return of the present one to 

the United States. 

‘We will do what we can in preserving such 

objects of Natural History as can be collected in 

that part of the globe where so few researches 

have been made in this branch of science: — In 

Geology, Mineralogy, and, to a certain extent, in 

Botany, the field before us is ample and unoccupied.... 

J.N. Reynolds.’” 8 

As indicated, the Seraph did not encounter 

the Annawan until they met in Tierra del 

Fuego. 9 

One is doomed to disappointment if he 

anticipates finding considerable numbers of 

Cape Verde plants that Eights collected. R.O. 

Cummings claimed that “Records in the Albany 

Institute indicate the beginnings of a careful collection 

of specimens [presumably of plants] in 

the Cape Verde Islands.” He cited an entry in 

the Institute “Catalogue of Properties” that 

indicates nothing of the sort; either he scrambled 

references or saw something not actually 

in that “Catalogue” — either is readily possible, 

when so complex a mass of manuscript material 

is involved. So far as I can find from examination 

of specimens in the New York Biological 

Survey herbarium (where a good many Eights 

specimens are to be found), Eights’s Cape Verde 

plant specimens are two: Aerva tomentosa (Amaranthaceae)(now 

named A. persica); and a specimen 

long labeled Lysimachia that has been kindly 

identified by Prof. Per Sunding as Kickxia 

brunneri (Scrophulariaceae). This, at any rate, 

adds the name of James Eights to botanical collectors 

in this area. 10 

As to what the Annawan was doing at Boavista, 

aside possibly from awaiting the arrival of 

the Seraph, the answer is no secret, for the 

island was a favorite source of high-quality salt, 

used in curing sealskins. The popularity of 

“Cap de Verd” sea salt was attested to by 

Charles Darwin. 11 


Little has survived to show how James 

Eights occupied his time on the long sea journey 

southward. That he had kept notes on natural 

history and had even made systematic 

records of the weather, and so on, seems likely. 

That he retained them or made much direct use 

of them seems doubtful, however strange this 

sounds to us today. 

As an example of his day-to-day observations, 

of little direct interest to us, it is so out of 

context, Albany Institute has a fragment. The 

article consists of two facing foolscap sheets of 

data ruled horizontally for the days Tuesday 1 

December through Thursday 31 December. The 

left sheet is entitled “A Table of Thermometrical 

Observations Made in the South Atlantic Ocean 

on Board the Exp Brig Annawan Capn N.B. 

Palmer December, 1829. by James Eights”; the 

right sheet entries bear the label “Winds.” 12 

Actually, the “Table” consists of more than 

temperature readings. Each line gives day of 

week and day of month. Columns to the right 

then make it possible to enter other information 

for each day, if pertinent (or if available): There 

are entries most days for “Latitude South by 

Observation” — exceptions being that there are 

no entries here for 5, 7, 18, and 29 December: 

probably days when, for some reason, determinations 

of latitude were not made. In the column 

next to the right, labeled “Longitude West 

by Chronometer,” there are actually only two 

entries, one for 25.38 on the first, one for 

32.49.45 on the sixth; neither reading can apply 

to the Patagonian coast. Where the fault lies 

here, I cannot tell, but I presume Eights did not 

have access to such readings. “Temperature” 

was recorded, with apparent faithfulness, for 

the air at 6 A.M., 12 noon, and 6 P.M. and for 

the ocean, until 6 A.M. Friday 25 December. 

Under a column left at right for “Remarks,” 

there are few entries, one being that his original 

thermometer was accidentally broken on 20 

December; an even more dismal note is entered 

as a footnote: on the 25th, “Lost our Thermometers,” 

after which no more temperatures were 

recorded. Other remarks are two entries on 

“Variation by Amplitude.” It may be of interest 

to note that at 1° 38 min South, on 1 December, 

air temperatures were 80, 84, and 80 degrees; 

that of the ocean was 80. Temperatures taken 

during the final days he had a thermometer 

were variable but on the last full day of observation, 

Thursday, 24 December, at 40° 46 min 

South, temperatures were 56, 58, 60 degrees; 

ocean, 54. The final day’s record was for latitude 

only, 44.9, which, if accurate, would place 

them in the vicinity of Cabo Raso, south of 

Rawson, Argentina. 

The chart of “Winds” consists of comments 

probably taken from the ship’s log, merely a list 

of directions at 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 A.M.; 12 noon; 2, 4, 

6, 8, 10 P.M.; and midnight. Some entries vary 

to the extent that the wind is said to be merely 

“Variable” or “Calm” or, once, “Squally.” 

One would like to think that the Annawan 

stopped at Fernando Noronha, a rocky island 

off the extreme east coast of Brazil. Benjamin 

Morrell, Jr., described what Eights might then 

have seen. The island is about 67 leagues off the 

coast, in lat. 3° 55’ S., long. 32° 29’ W, and is 

about seven miles long. It was formerly a penal 

colony but had become by this era a stopping 

place for vessels employed in the whale fishery, 

for it was possible to secure fresh meat, water; 

and wood (at the risk of a stove boat). The 

island gave the appearance of being “very 

rugged and barren,” its highest point a “rocky 

peak on its north side, called the Pyramid.” 

Water was often very scarce, when rivulets 

dried up: “this is no uncommon occurrence, 

[but] is neither periodical nor regular.” Vegetables 

were few, in the best of seasons. 13 

To provide this complex chapter with some 

degree of structure, my account will next 

describe ship movements in the South Atlantic, 

so far as known, with some references to ancillary 

matters. Eights’s own published observations 

and comments, including his oft-cited but 

never adequately documented landing(s) in 

Patagonia, having appeared in an unsystematic 

order over many years’ time, will be relegated 

to an Appendix. There, Eights’s later published 

material will be compared with entries in 

Charles Darwin’s Beagle journal, because of his 

alleged unacknowledged use of Darwin’s observations. 

14 

From Reynolds’s letter dated 14 November 

(quoted above), the arrival of the Annawan at 

Chapter 5 55

Boavista on 9 November was reported — the 

Seraph had not then arrived there; editorial 

comments accompanying this letter suggested 

that the Annawan was to leave Boavista on 23 

November. It is known from its log that the Penguin 

was in sight of the Cape Verdes on 31 

October; it took on salt, water and fresh food 

from 4 to 6 November. Sailing more or less 

directly southward, it arrived, at Port Hatches, 

on the north coast of Staten Island, on 24 

December. Unlike the Penguin, the Annawan 

landed briefly in Patagonia at the mouth of the 

Rio Negro, so that it did not arrive at Port 

Hatches until 5 Jan 1830. It appears even then, 

the Seraph had not yet arrived there. The 

Annawan, in company with the Penguin, left for 

the South Sandwich Islands (the subject of the 

next chapter) on 13 January (according to 

Reynolds) or 14 January (according to the log of 

the Penguin). 15 

J.N. Reynolds was later to refer to the 

Annawan being held up at Staten Island. The 

delay gave Reynolds (with help from Eights) a 

chance to look at the countryside and to record 

an adventure with a sea lion. Reynolds’s 

impression of the landscape is worth sampling. 

“The island of Staten Land, which lies 

southeast of Terra del Fuego [spellings are per 

Reynolds, unless I have been misled by fuzzy 

microfilm], from which it is separated by the 

Strait le Maire, when seen from a short distance, 

has a most barren and forbidden appearance; 

but such is not its real character. — The tops of 

the mountains, composed of immense masses 

of granite, produces, it is true, little vegetation; 

but on their sides, and what may be called the 

low lands, there is a rich, thick mould, formed 

by the decomposition of their natural productions, 

and beautified with the most luxuriant 

verdure.” 16 

Compare this with Capt. Ben Morrell, Jr. 

After correcting the mistaken impression that 

Cape Horn is the southern extremity of South 

America, he proceeds to describe Staten Land, 

which is “separated by the Strait of Le Maire 

from the island of Tierra del Fuego, as the latter 

is separated from the continent by the Strait of 

Magellan. It presents to the eye of the navigator 

a surface of craggy hills, which rise to a vast 

height, especially near the west end of the 

island. The coast is rocky, and much indented 

with bays and inlets. The dismal aspect of this 

country (which has been much exaggerated) is 

painted in very strong colours by almost every 

navigator who has visited or passed it.” However, 

avers Morrell, “the scientific gentlemen” 

who accompanied Captain Cook found a land 

“supplied with both wood and verdure.” They 

further pointed to its lack of snow cover and its 

abundance of bays and harbors (to the latter 

Morrell alludes in detail). While more sterile 

than Tierra del Fuego, across the strait, “being, 

in general, one body of craggy sharp-pointed 

mountains; with the sea surging against it on all 

sides, with considerable violence,” it has its 

good points. Its harbors are protected and safe; 

its “shores abound with wood and fresh water, 

and a few seal of the fur and hair kinds are frequently 

found on the beach. Scale-fish of various 

sorts may be caught with hook and line, 

and sea-fowls shot in several directions. Fresh 

green celery in its season can be had in any 

quantities, together with some berries of an 

agreeable flavour.” Captain Morrell deserves 

credit for insightful observation: Staten Land, in 

his opinion, “owes all its supposed terrors to its 

being in a high latitude, and so far from home!” 17 

In words whose purple tint one can perhaps 

lay to the undiscriminating taste of the time, 

and, in general, in better organized prose than 

James Eights often managed to muster, 

Reynolds described a raid on a sea lion and his 

harem in a seacave at the entrance to Port 

Hatches. While one may question whether this 

was the first such raid there, here is his story. 

“Near the entrance of Port Hatches, is a cavern, 

long known as the retreat of a few patriarchs 

of the ocean, to whom its deep recesses 

had been, until the period of which I am about 

to speak, a safe protection. The opening of this 

sea lion’s den is about thirty feet in width, its 

base being on a level with the sea, at low water 

mark. The whole length of the cave, beneath the 

base of the precipice, is two hundred and twenty 

paces, beautifully arched over with stalactites, 

and in some places changing its course 

from a direct line, and forming little apertures, 

which communicate with the main entrance. 


“To enter this cavern, explore its secret 

chambers, and provoke a combat with the 

ancient holders and proprietors of this wild 

citadel, was the object of one of our boat excursions. 

Preparatory to our advance into this 

—— ‘cavern hoar, 

That stands all lonely on the sea-beat 

shore,’ 

fires were placed, one after another, with a distance 

of thirty yards between each two, to 

answer the double purpose of guiding our 

progress, and of securing a speedy retreat, 

should we be too roughly received by the old 

phoca, who, with a number of clap-matches in 

his suite, had taken up a position in the farthest 

corner of the den. 

“With lighted torches, we now advanced 

into the abyss, which the ancient Romans 

would have consecrated to deified nymphs, and 

the Persians have assigned as the retreat of their 

god Mithras. — The fires cast a dim, flickering 

light, which rendered visible the darkness in 

our rear. Every thing around us seemed to partake 

of the gloomy silence of the tomb, until the 

stillness was suddenly broken by the roar of the 

old lion, more appalling, by far, than that of his 

fierce namesake of the Moorish plains. Having 

approached so near that we could see the monster’s 

glaring eye-balls, we discharged our muskets, 

and continued, alternately retiring to load, 

and advancing to fire, until our ears were 

stunned, and our heads bewildered, with the 

reverberations of the reports, mingled with the 

roarings of the whole maddened group, now 

closely pressed, and severely wounded. 

“Our lights failing for an instant, we retreated 

to replenish them. The lashings of the waves 

at the mouth of the cavern, though distant, 

echoed and rumbled so loudly through the 

vaulted passages, that we could not hear each 

others’ voices. As we again moved forward, to 

discharge our pieces, the old sea lion broke out 

into a new paroxysm of rage, tearing up the 

gravel and rocks with his claws and teeth. The 

white foam, mixed with blood, dropped from 

his large red tongue; while so hoarse, so loud 

and deafening, was his howl, that we were 

obliged to stop our ears with our hands, to prevent 

being pained by it. 

“The scene around us had now indeed 

become one of inconceivable wildness and horror. 

Two hundred paces within the mouth of a 

cave which man had never before entered, the 

dim flickering light of our torches, and the 

decaying fires in our rear, together with the suffocating 

smoke from the frequent firing, rendered 

it retrogade[!]. Nor did we commence to 

retreating a moment too soon. Wounded and 

infuriate, the old lion now began to move 

toward us, as we gradually returned, step by 

step, throwing stones and firebrands, to keep 

him in check, until we had reached so near the 

mouth of the cavern, that with deliberate aim, 

capt. Palmer of the Penguin, shot him. This was 

his death wound, although he had previously 

received no less than ten balls. 

“After recruiting our fires with the blubber 

of our victim, we returned to the charge; and 

soon succeeded in taking the remaining five 

females and their pups. The old sea lion (phoca 

jubata) measured ten feet six inches in length, 

and eight feet round the shoulders; and, as we 

supposed, would not weigh less than four hundred 

pounds. The females were from six to 

seven feet in length, and of a more slender 

form.” 18 

The Albany Argus, without indicating 

source, had “the American discovery brigs, Seraph 

and Annawan, under the command of 

Capts Pendleton and Palmer,” leaving “a port 

in the vicinity of Cape Horn, the middle of January 

last, all well,” and proceeding “southward 

for Palmer’s Land in the South Pacific.” New 

York’s Morning Courier and Enquirer had a letter 

from J.N. Reynolds, dated Staten Land, 13 January 

1830; the Annawan, “having taken on board 

a full supply of wood and water, she proceeded 

southward on 13th, all in good health, and in 

high expectations. Mr. Reynolds expected, that 

in ten days thereafter, he would be in between 

60° and 70° south latitude.” Reynolds said nothing 

about accompanying vessels but the 

Annawan had the Penguin as its guardian angel. 

According to its log, the Penguin was still in 

port on “Wednesday 13 th Janry / All this day 

strong gales from S d with snow hail & rain and 

verry cold weather / So Ends / At 4 PM Mr 

Miller returned”[.] And: “Thursday 14 th Jany / 

Chapter 5 57

First part fresh breese from the S d and pleasant 

weather / at 3 PM got under weigh in company 

with the Brig Annawan bound to S d / Latter 

part wind from NW d / at 11 PM Cape S t John 

hove by Comp s W d Dis t 2 Leage from which I 

take my departure [point of losing sight of land; 

point from which following dead reckoning will 

be made] / So Ends”[.] 

The Seraph, in fact, did not arrive at Port 

Hatches until the other ships had left and, on 22 

Jan, it sailed alone for the South Shetlands. The 

‘Seraph’ and ‘Annawan’ made no contact in the 

Antarctic. 19 

APPENDIX. — JAMES EIGHTS ON THE 

HIGH SEAS AND IN PATAGONIA: 

WITH A BOW TO CHARLES DARWIN 

Observations by Eights on the high seas are 

few, contained in a popular article that 

appeared in 1846, in the first of a briefly serialized 

series with the overall title of “Notes on 

natural history.” The articles are not further 

titled; this one contains a variety of loosely 

organized notes relating to marine animals and 

their surroundings and ecology. 

“De la Beche,” he says, “considers it very 

doubtful if a shark could continue long to exist 

beneath considerable depths.” This, Eights 

believes, was not always the case. 

“While leaning over the vessel’s side, during 

a most perfect calm, in the tropical sea, situated 

about midway between the two continents, I 

discovered the appearance of a fish far down in 

the depths below, lazily working its way 

upward toward the place where I was standing; 

indeed, so distant was it, that it seemed no larger 

than an ordinarily sized shad. A baited hook 

secured to a line, was immediately let down 

until within a few inches of its nose. This it 

unhesitatingly received, the attachment of the 

hook appearing but little to incommode the 

serenity of its movements, so that in a short time 

it reached the surface of the sea. A bowline was 

now sent down so as to surround the body of 

the fish, when, without difficulty, it was speedily 

hoisted upon deck. It proved to be a shark of a 

peculiar species, measuring nearly twelve feet in 

length. The upper caudal fin was much elongated, 

and tapering; the dorsal and pectoral ones of 

a clean white, differing from the general color of 

the animal, which was of a deep greenish-blue. 

The beautiful little pilot fish was its companion 

until its arrival at the surface, when it immediately 

left and placed itself beneath the counters 

of the ship. Two specimens of remora, or sucking 

fish, adhered to its back until it reached the 

deck. On dissecting this shark, the stomach was 

found to be entirely empty, not the slightest vestige 

of any thing like food could be discovered. 

Pieces of the intestines, and likewise of the flesh, 

when placed on the hand, produced a sensation 

nearly equal to that of ice. Previous to this, we 

had oft-times remarked the sudden appearance 

of one or more of this species whenever the 

wind subsided and the sea became calm, and 

was greatly at a loss to account for it, until the 

circumstances attending the capture of this individual 

satisfactorily proved to us, that they 

came from beneath, and were inhabitants of the 

deep sea, never having observed them when the 

surface was in the slightest degree agitated into 

waves.” 

After a full stop, he continues: “‘M. Pouillet 

has observed that the gas in the swimmingbladders 

of fish brought up from the depths of 

about 3,300 feet, and therefore under a pressure 

equal to about 100 atmospheres, increases so 

considerably in volume that all muscular effort 

being unable to restrain it, it forces the bladder, 

stomach, and other neighboring parts outside 

the throat into the form of a baloon-shaped 

mass.’ De la Beche on marine animal life. 

“This curious fact I had frequent opportunities 

of observing, when on the banks of Brazil 

and along the Patagonian coast a few years 

since. In water, sixty-two fathoms deep, we 

caught an immense quantity of fish belonging 

to the genus Gadites, which at these places 

inhabit the bottom of the sea; on reaching the 

surface, they almost invariably presented the 

appearance here stated. Such of them as had 

disengaged themselves from the hook, were in 

a short time seen floating at the surface, being 

unable again to descend in consequence of their 

swimming-bladders being thus greatly distended, 

and, with the neighboring parts, protruding 

far beyond their throats. 


“Observations on the open sea and in high 

southern latitudes have perfectly satisfied me 

that fish do not abound in either places, and are 

only to be found in the greatest abundance on 

soundings and along shores, in regions comparatively 

moderate. In sailing from the American 

coast to that of Africa, and from thence again to 

a high southern latitude, we found them 

extremely limited both as to genera and species. 

The flying fish we were daily in the habit of 

seeing as they arose from the bows of the ship 

in their flight over the sea. The parrot fish, 

whose beautiful and evanescent hues in dyeing 

have so often been the theme of admiration, 

were comparatively scarce. The shark, with its 

inseparable companions, the pilot and sucking 

fish, only during calms; a small species of file 

fish but once, and two of scomber completes 

the list. 

“The bonita and the albicore, the two 

species of the last named genus, were exceedingly 

common in the tropical seas. When we 

reached the sixth degree of north latitude we 

fell in with an immense shoal of them, which 

day and night kept perfect time with the vessel’s 

speed, until our arrival at a corresponding 

latitude south; beyond which, we saw them no 

more. The appearance of these fish during the 

night exhibits a most interesting and beautiful 

spectacle. The friction of their bodies in gliding 

through the waves but a few feet beneath the 

surface, cause the surrounding waters to emit a 

brilliancy of phosphorescence, to such a degree, 

that the vessel seems to be richly imbedded in a 

mass of liquid flame — not unaptly resembling 

a multitude of meteors pursuing their varied 

courses through the night. 

“A circumstance occurred which satisfactorily 

proved to us that this individual shoal 

never left us during the whole distance, but 

accompanied us as an escort to the very boundaries 

of their domain. When first discovered, 

the seamen were daily in the habit of striking 

them with the grains from the bows of the ship: 

one of them having been struck, was brought to 

the surface, when the iron losing its hold, it 

escaped, bearing on its side a large ragged 

wound, which easily distinguished it from its 

comrades in the sea. As long as they remained 

in company, this individual continued daily to 

be seen and recognized by the sailors as the 

‘gentleman with the patch.’ 

“When moored at the South Shetlands, we 

were constantly in the habit of suspending lines 

around with baited hooks over the vessel’s side, 

but in no instance did we find them in the 

slightest degree molested, and the only fish that 

we saw during our stay of several weeks was a 

small species of herring that fell from the beak 

of an alarmed sea-bid, on being fired at in its 

flight.” 20 

The dates and locations of landfalls of the 

Annawan can be fixed only approximately. 

Beyond the fact that they probably occurred 

within the month of December, we are pretty 

much in the dark. James Eights, in any case, 

refers to cod-like fishes caught by the seamen 

during calms after one of “the celebrated ‘Pamparos’ 

along the coast of Patagonia.” “After,” he 

says, “landing at several places along the 

coast,” they proceeded to Staaten-Land (as he 

spells it). In the third installment of his “Notes 

on natural history,” he got no closer to providing 

a date than to write of an approach to “the 

La Plataen shore” that occurred “during a most 

beautiful morning in December.” 21 

Eights’s notes on the natural history of 

Patagonia (not all of it his own, as we shall see) 

make a more connected story than the segment 

previously quoted that included diverse observations 

on marine phenomena. Some of these 

records refer to aquatic life but it is definitely 

close-in life. Comments on plagiarism of Darwin’s 

work will be introduced at the ends of 

pertinent paragraphs; this is clumsy but it 

makes apparent instances more readily examined. 

“Our approach to the La Plataen shore was 

during a most beautiful morning in December; 

the first of the summer months in the southern 

hemisphere, with a light breeze blowing directly 

in for the land, and which towards mid-day, 

gradually fell away into a most perfect calm. 

The ship had been quietly forcing her way 

through the light waves, when our attention 

was arrested by the appearance of frequent and 

extensive patches of a reddish brown discoloration 

of the water, in every direction about 

Chapter 5 59

our path, producing much the aspect of numerous 

shoals. Upon repeated soundings, we found 

the depth in no single instance to be less than 

fifty fathoms, with mud and comminuted 

shells, constituting the bottom. On raising a 

bucket of this tinted water, and subjecting it to 

the focus of an ordinary pocket lens, it was discovered 

to be composed of innumerable small 

crustaceous animals, of an oval form, and about 

half a line [a line: probably, one-twelfth inch] in 

length, beautifully margined by a slight purpleish 

fringe, their whole external aspect presenting 

a striking resemblance to some of the 

species of Cytherina, and their rapid gyratory 

motion immediately reminded us of the interesting 

forms of Gyrinus so exceedingly common 

during the months of summer, in the 

numerous shadowy pools in our own country. 

These animals, no doubt, emit a phosphorescent 

light during the hours of darkness, when the 

ocean is briskly agitated into waves. Of this 

however, we had no direct opportunity of 

determining. 

[Darwin’s much more extensive accounts of 

discolored seawater, 1839: 17-20, are more 

astute and diverse than Eights’s but offer no 

evidence that Eights plagiarized Darwin.] 

“As the day drew to a close, a thin greyish 

mist was observed, gradually disseminating 

itself throughout the western horizon, and 

before an hour had elapsed, a dense mass of 

confluent clouds had obscured the entire heavens, 

and enveloped the whole scene in a veil of 

almost impenetrable darkness. But it came not 

alone, for one of those terrific Pamparo’s so 

much dreaded by mariners when on this coast, 

had set in, and continued with slight intermission, 

for the space of nearly three days, accompanied 

by some of the most intense displays of 

lightning and thunder, that I think I ever beheld 

or heard. It was truly an exciting moment; and 

while leaning over the vessel’s side we were 

irresistibly led to the contemplation of the 

awfully grand and sublime spectacle by which 

we were surrounded. On every side the vast 

and widely extended bay of water was seen, 

rolling with a mighty swell, and tumbling wave 

over wave, in sheets of liquid flame, occasioned 

by the extraordinary luminosity of the sea. On 

casting the eye aloft, all was as black as the very 

depths of darkness, whilst now and then a terrific 

gleam of light tore through the murky 

mass, and shot in wild and jagged streaks 

across the scene, as if the presiding spirit of the 

storm had arisen in its wrath, and was lashing 

the ocean with an ungovernable fury down to 

its very foundations. 

“This extraordinary brilliancy of the sea, 

was unquestionably in a great measure produced 

by the myriad of animal forms that 

inhabit its waters. In many instances they were 

observed to attain a size sufficiently large as to 

render them distinctly visible to the naked eye, 

while at others they were diminished to such a 

degree as only to become sensible through that 

avenue to unseen glories, the microscope. They 

likewise varied as greatly in their structural 

forms as the species were everywhere numerous.” 

[Although Eights here brings forward fewer 

separate observations than Darwin had done 

(1839: 190-193), he was much more certain of 

their animal origin than Darwin was. It was 

immediately after this stormy session that 

sailors on the Annawan brought up numerous 

cod-like fishes, in the stomachs of which Eights 

found his first examples of the new crustacean 

that he named Brongniartia (1833).] 

“That the ocean teems with animal life, we 

have in abundance the united testimony of 

many intelligent travellers and naturalists, 

whose qualifications for observation and forming 

correct conclusions, are altogether indisputable; 

and often have I when leaning over the 

vessel’s side, during the most perfect calms, discovered 

the sun’s rays to be intercepted by 

numerous minute points, in such a manner as 

to cast their mingling shadows far below. When 

the waters of the sea are violently agitated during 

a storm, the constant friction of their bodies 

with the waves, cause these animals readily to 

emit those magnificent corruscations, which 

have so often been the theme of admiration, 

and also given origin to so much wonder and 

varied speculation in the development of a 

cause. Fishes are not unfrequently seen, during 

the night, to leave a stream of splendor in their 

passage through the waves, which alone prove 


sufficient to render their forms conspicuous to 

the unaided eye. 

“In approaching these shores, and long ere 

the land became visible, the ship was visited by 

an immense congregation of butterflies, of varied 

and interesting species, the greater proportion 

of which were rather more than an inch in 

the expansion of their wings. They fell upon the 

deck and rigging for a short time in such a 

manner as to present the appearance of falling 

flakes of snow. They were in all probability 

driven on their course by the prevailing breezes 

from the land, and either became bewildered in 

their flight, or were unable to make headway 

and regain the shore in opposition to the continuous 

wind.” 

[Again, Darwin offers many more examples 

of flighted insects found at sea, including vast 

armies of butterflies; but there is no evidence 

that Eights got his observations from Darwin; 

indeed, the next paragraph shows Eights much 

more certain than Darwin that such flights are 

forced: As Darwin had it, many flights occurred 

on days that were fine and calm — “we cannot 

suppose that the insects were blown off the 

land, but we must conclude that they voluntarily 

took flight.”] 

“The many instances of animals, and particularly 

insects, alighting on vessels at great distances 

from the land, are facts exceedingly 

interesting to the naturalist, inasmuch as they 

readily furnish an explanation of one of the 

methods by which islands situated far remote 

from continents, have been visited, and finally 

become populated by living forms, corresponding 

in every degree with those peculiarly 

indigenous to these vast expansions of land. 

“While we were in the parallel of the 

Canaries, about three hundred miles to the 

westward of the nearest isle, two swallows 

were observed flying about the ship, in an 

apparently much exhausted state. In a short 

time one of them lit upon the fore-yard contiguous 

to the mast, and was without difficulty 

obtained. It appeared extremely feeble and in a 

few moments it expired in my hands. It proved 

to be the Hirundo rustica of authors. 

“Charles Lucien Bonaparte, in a letter to the 

secretary of the Linnean Society, dated from on 

board the United States ship Delaware, near 

Gibralter, states ‘that being five hundred miles 

from the coasts of Portugal, and four hundred 

from those of Africa, we were agreebly surprised 

by the appearance of a few swallows, (H. 

urbica and rustica) but what was my surprise in 

observing several small warblers hopping about 

the deck and rigging. These last were the Sylvia 

trochilus or hay bird.’ 

“Soon after entering the trade-winds, in latitude 

20 deg. 16 min. north and longitude 23 

deg. 2 min. west, we were greatly surprised by 

the arrival on board of a large species of acrydium 

(Grasshopper.) Our position was about one 

hundred and fifty-one miles from, and nearly to 

windward of the Cape de Verd islands, so that 

it is not altogether likely that this insect could 

have worked its way for such a distance, almost 

directly in the wind’s teeth. The next nearest 

point of land, and from which the trade-wind 

almost incessantly blows, is Cape Blanco on the 

African coast, a distance of four hundred and 

twenty miles, a prodigious space for so frail an 

animal to be carried by the wind. It is also a little 

singular that about two years later, when 

H.B.M. surveying ship Beagle was in a position 

fifty miles nearer to this Cape, a similar 

grasshopper, and in all probability the same 

species, came on board and was caught, as is 

stated by Mr. Darwin, the naturalist belonging 

to that ship. The insect I obtained is at present 

preserved in the collection of the Albany Institute.” 

[Darwin characterized this (1839: 186-187) 

as the “most remarkable instance I ever knew of 

an insect being caught far from the land; while 

his anecdote resembles Eights’s in many 

respects, that Eights was not fudging data is 

proved by Albany Institute “Catalogue of Properties” 

for October 1833, where we find the 

accession: “African Locust blown on board the 

vessel by the North East Trade Winds, 300 miles 

from the Coast.” The matter of the exact distance 

Eights was from land can perhaps be 

ignored here.] 

“After the storm had subsided, we were 

some days in regaining the land, at a point 

much farther to the south, immediately where 

the Rio Negro disembogues itself into the 

Chapter 5 61

sea, on the northeastern coast of Patagonia. We 

continued leisurely sailing along the coast, 

crossing the Bay of St. Matthias to the peninsula 

of St. Joseph, situated in latitude forty-three 

degrees south. The shore as we passed along, 

presented the appearance of a series of precipitous 

cliffs, stratified in nearly a horizontal position, 

and seemed to be composed of a yellowish 

colored clay, with numerous slides, or ‘tumble 

downs’ as they are emphatically termed by the 

sailors, with occasional ravines, worn by the 

drainage waters from the plains, in their passage 

to the sea. In pulling in for the land, we 

were continually surrounded by the Spheniscus 

demersa, called the jackass penguin, from the 

circumstance of the singular habit it possesses 

when on shore, of throwing back the head, and 

producing a sound very similar to the braying 

of that animal. We were likewise accompanied 

by several seals, who raised their dark heads 

above the wave and apparently gazed with 

silent wonder and astonishment at our appearance 

as we proceeded along, following in the 

wake of our boat, but a few feet astern, until we 

fairly reached the land. These animals are the 

Platyrhincus jubata of Forster, or hair seal of 

mariners. Several of the males, or sea lions, as 

they have not unaptly been named, were quietly 

reposing on the beach, and obstinately 

refused to relinquish their comfortable position, 

until compelled to do so by the close approximation 

of some of the crew. These sea lions are 

provided with a hoarse roaring voice, and have 

their necks clothed with a long, curling mane, 

so that during their quiet enjoyment on the 

shore, and also when disturbed, present a very 

striking resemblance to their more formidable 

prototype in name, upon the land, and it was 

with no small difficulty, that the inexperienced 

observer could be persuaded into the belief of 

their perfect non-identity.” 

[I have corrected a typesetter’s lapse in 

dividing the generic name of the sea lion; the 

final sentence is James Eights at his best — 

what might have been a simple statement is 

meticulously crafted into total incomprehensibility. 

That they had crossed the Bay of St. 

Matthias puts them well south of the mouth of 

the Rio Negro, in the vicinity of Valdés Peninsula. 

This appears, from the context, to be their 

first actual landfall in Patagonia.] 

“The men were leisurely straggling along 

the beach, amusing themselves by pelting the 

seals as they arose tumbling amid the surf, 

whilst we ascended a small ravine to the plain 

above. A condor — the first we had seen, was 

lazily basking in the sunlight upon a projecting 

headland, with drooping wings, so characteristic 

of the tribe to which it belongs, when digesting 

their food. Upon being so suddenly disturbed, 

it reluctantly took to flight, soaring 

gracefully over our heads in gradually expanding 

circles, until it became lost to the eye in the 

remote distance toward the west.” 

[There seems nothing wrong with Eights 

here, except that he was not much of an 

ornithologist; Darwin (1839: 219-224) outdid 

him many times over — with, be it said, much 

more opportunity for observation.] 

“Upon gaining the summit of the cliff, and 

directing the sight over the widely extended 

scene, a prospect was disclosed that for sterility 

and desolation can scarcely be surpassed on the 

surface of the globe. In every direction but in 

that toward the sea, and as far as the power of 

vision could extend, it was one wide monotonous 

plain, occasionally disturbed by such 

slight and gentle undulations, as scarcely at all 

to be discernable. The eye wandered in vain for 

some solitary spot of verdure to afford it a 

moments relief, but none was anywhere visible 

save a few stunted evergreen shrubs, with sombre 

foliage sparingly scattered along the margin 

of the cliff, and in a still less degree, some rigid 

or succulent herbaceous plant, which seemed to 

contend for a bare existence in some sheltered 

or secluded recess among the rocks. The whole 

scene strikingly resembled the sea, in all but its 

beautiful hue. No sounds but those proceeding 

from ourselves disturbed the profound solitude 

that reigned around, and were it not for the 

appearance of a single swallow, skimming the 

surface of the ground in pursuit of sustenance, 

the stridulous sounds of some orthopteras 

insect, and the well defined trail of the wandering 

Guanaco, it would have been difficult to 

realize that animated existence had ever 

approached the spot. 


“Standing pools or salinas are not unfrequent 

in the depressions of these plains, some 

of them of considerable extent, which in the 

winter months, when the rains descend in copious 

showers, become filled with brine, but 

when the summer sun evaporates the water it 

leaves them covered with a glistening sheet of 

white, resembling snow. This deposition is composed 

of crystalline salt, sometimes more than a 

foot in thickness and then it becomes almost the 

only employment of the native Indians to transport 

it in large quantities for sale. Owing however 

to its containing foreign impurities, it is 

not much esteemed for the preservation of animal 

food. Waters that percolate this plain, and 

discharge themselves in trickling rills along the 

shore of the sea, possess at all times an exceedingly 

brackish taste, and the few herbaceous 

plants to be met with scattered along the surface, 

emit the same flavor upon being chewed. 

These salinas are margined by shores consisting 

of a slimy backish mud, containing in large 

quantities most beautiful chrystals of gypsum, 

and strange as it may appear, are inhabited by 

numerous naked worms, or annelides and infusoria. 

These salt lakes are the usual resort of the 

flamingo, and this beautiful and interesting bird 

may not unfrequently be seen in some considerable 

numbers traversing the mud in search of a 

comfortable repast.” 

[That Eights may have seen such a saline 

cannot be denied; however, this account seems 

possibly to have been largely summarized from 

Darwin, Journal of Researchs, pp. 75-77, where a 

more elaborate account occurs; the parallel of 

subjects in the two accounts is considerable: 

winter filling of depressions, summer evaporation; 

extent of salinas, depth of salt deposition; 

exploitation by Indians; lack of esteem of it for 

food preservation; the large crystals of gypsum 

and the abundance of worms; the presence of 

flamingos. Most sentences in Eights mirror 

those to be found in Darwin (although shortened 

and hardly copied verbatim). An exception 

is the statement about the salty taste of 

herbaceous plants growing there.] 

“The most characteristic animal frequenting 

these plains is the Guanaco, (Camelus llama) or 

American camel, from its general resemblance 

to that well known beast of burden in the East. 

It has no hump, and is in every respect a singularly 

beautiful and graceful creature, with long 

slender neck and legs, and clothed all over with 

a dense mass of chestnut colored hair. They are 

frequently to be met with traversing the plain in 

herds of from ten to thirty, and sometimes 

more, moving along in regular lines, confining 

themselves to well beaten tracks from which 

they rarely diverge. When approached, they 

utter a shrill neighing note of alarm, and in a 

short time trot rapidly away in a direction 

towards the nearest hills. In some instances 

however they exhibited a considerable degree 

of curiosity, particularly when taken by surprise. 

The natives appear to be well acquainted 

with this peculiarity of habit, for they not unfrequently 

take advantage of it by throwing themselves 

upon the ground and performing numerous 

strange antics, in order to entice them within 

the influence of their weapons. In this manner 

great numbers of them are annually slain, 

not only for the purposes of food, but also for 

the construction of mantles from their skins. 

These animals have particular spots selected for 

depositing their excrement, which places are 

much resorted to by the Indians for the purpose 

of collecting the substance for fuel. It proves an 

excellent substitute for wood, which can rarely 

be obtained in sufficient quantity on these 

plains. They likewise are possessed of a singular 

habit of resorting to some favorite situation 

on the approach of death, to lay themselves 

down and die. This is generally among the light 

brushwood in the neighborhood of some running 

stream. Several of these receptacles for the 

dead have been discovered, profusely strewed 

with bones, and in no instance have the marks 

of teeth been visible, to denote their destruction 

by wandering beasts of prey. This animal has an 

extensive geographical range inhabiting the 

entire temperate region of South America, as far 

as the straits of Magellan. At the period of the 

conquest, it was the only beast of burden the 

Peruvians possessed, carrying from one hundred 

to a hundred and fifty pounds at a load, 

and this for short distances only.” 

[This paragraph requires comment. Eights 

here does not distinguish between wild and 

Chapter 5 63

domesticated forms of this South American 

camelid, there being two domesticated forms 

(llama, proper, and alpaca) and two wild forms 

(guanaco and vicuña). As for parallels with 

Darwin’s much fuller account of this mammal, 

Journal of Researches, pp. 195-197, there are several. 

Eights’s description seems to be his own; 

his reference to flock sizes is much like Darwin’s. 

Their usual behavior in neighing and 

quickly disappearing is described similarly in 

both accounts, although Eights’s is not wordfor-word 

copying. Darwin’s account of their 

curiosity when seeing a hunter engaging in 

“strange antics” is close to Eights’s. It is very 

possible that Eights got his statements about 

both the piles of excrement and the use of the 

dried product for fuel and the notion of a communal 

dying place from Darwin; the two 

accounts are quite similar — even to the reference 

to absence of tooth marks on skeletal 

remains. Eights’s reference to geographic distribution 

may well be a paraphrase of Darwin but 

his notice of them as beasts of burden is his 

own or, at least, not in Darwin’s main account 

of the animal.] 

“Wherever this plain supports a growth of 

grass, which is generally of a coarse, brown, 

wiry nature, the common deer of the country 

(Cervus campestris) may not unfrequently be 

seen, quietly grazing in herds consisting of from 

a few in number, up to a hundred or more, and 

when their position is to windward of the spectator, 

the exceedingly nauseous and disagreeable 

odour emitted by the buck, taints the surrounding 

atmosphere to such a manner as to 

render it distinctly sensible for some miles distant. 

When a person is mounted they are difficult 

to approach, but when crawling along over 

the surface of the ground, their curiosity seems 

to be excited to such a degree that they without 

hesitation gradually draw near the object of 

their wonder as if for its gratification, and it is 

in this manner that the Indians decoy them into 

shooting distance and destroy them in great 

numbers. It is in pursuit of these animals and 

the guanaco, that the puma or South American 

lion is frequently enticed down into the plains, 

and their destruction is speedily accomplished 

by either dislocating or fracturing their necks, 

as the skeletons of those which have become 

victims to these beasts of prey, upon inspection, 

have universally presented this appearance.” 

[Darwin, Journal of Researches, pp. 55-56, 

uses the same scientific name; he seems to say 

nothing of their having been seen in herds of a 

hundred or more; his accounts of their curiosity 

and the method of killing them by hunting on 

foot and arousing their curiosity and of the singular 

overpowering and offensive odor of the 

male is similar to Eights’s; Darwin, p. 328, was 

told that in killing large prey, the puma 

“always” breaks the neck of the prey — “I have 

seen in Patagonia, the skeletons of guanacoes, 

with their necks thus dislocated”; the parallels 

here may be accidental.] 

“Inhabiting the vicinity of rivers and fresh 

water lakes, is to be found the largest rodent, or 

gnawing animal, hitherto known to naturalists, 

the Hydrochaerus capybara or water-hog. I know 

not of its being found in this immediate neighborhood, 

but am informed that it is exceedingly 

common a few degrees to the north, particularly 

along the tributaries of the river Plata. They 

grow to some considerable size, frequently 

attaining a weight of nearly a hundred pounds, 

and when seen at a distance, greatly resemble 

pigs, but on closer inspection their relation to 

the cavies and rabbit is strikingly perceptible. A 

fossil species closely connected with this, has 

recently been found in the redish [sic] clay of 

these plains, associated with numerous other 

extinct and gigantic quadrupeds.” 

[Clearly, Eights had not seen capybaras; Darwin 

had not heard of them south of the Plata; 

the one he shot there weighed 98 pounds, 

indeed “nearly a hundred pounds.” Both Eights 

and Darwin refer to jaguars as potential enemies 

in some areas; Eights did not see them. 

Whether the reference to fossil capybaras associated 

with extinct mammals is Darwin’s 

remains to be confirmed; if Eights had seen 

them himself, one might expect him to be more 

specific.] 

“There is another singular little animal 

inhabiting this place in great numbers which is 

rarely seen above the ground. Its habits are nocturnal, 

and very similar to those of the mole, 

burrowing in ramifying trenches just beneath 


the surface of the soil, for unknown distances, 

and throwing up small hillocks of earth before 

their openings. They are said to live in families 

of six or eight together, and when at their usual 

occupation, utter strange and unearthly sounds 

from their subterranean abode. These noises oft 

times greatly surprise an individual unacquainted 

with their habits, while passing over 

the plain. Sometimes it appears to proceed from 

directly beneath his feet, and then again it is 

heard repeated in quick succession from various 

distances around, so that in a short time 

from seeing nothing visible, he becomes exceedingly 

bewildered in endeavoring to obtain a 

reasonable explanation. The natives have given 

to it the name of Tucutuca, in imitation of this 

peculiar sound. It is the Ctenomys Brasiliensis of 

authors, and besides some few others species 

found on the pampas, an allied extinct animal 

has likewise been procured.” 

[Certainly, in general, there was an abundance 

of rodents; see Darwin, Journal of 

Researches, pp. 56-57. In regard to this species, 

called “Tucutuco,” species Ctenomys Braziliensis, 

Darwin, pp. 58-60, has a much fuller but similar 

account of family sizes, patterning of burrows 

and vocalization. It seems likely that Eights 

made a brief summary of Darwin’s remarks.] 

“A singular feature in the landscape, is produced 

by the habitations of the Biscacha, (Lagastomus 

trichodactylus) which form their burrows 

in the clayey portion of the soil, near those 

spots where thrive most luxuriantly the giant 

thistle of the plains, upon the roots of which 

they are supposed chiefly to exist. In general 

appearance these animals much resemble the 

common rabbit, but differ considerably in their 

zoological structure, and what is a remarkable 

circumstance in their habits, is that they are universally 

found associated with the same little 

burrowing owl (Athene cuniculata,) so commonly 

met with among the Prairie dog villages in 

the western portion of the United States. These 

animals are endowed with the curious propensity 

of picking up all hard and loose substances 

that they occasionally meet with in their perambulations 

over the plain, and conveying them to 

their dwellings, where they may usually be 

seen piled up in considerable sized conical 

heaps before their entrances. For what essential 

purposes these mounds are constructed, 

remains yet a subject of conjecture, but the Indians 

profiting by the circumstance, frequently 

destroy their symmetry in searching for small 

articles which at any time may have been lost 

on the plain near their dwellings, and sometimes 

as it was stated with complete success.” 

[The Biscacha, or Viscacha, is called Calomys 

bizcacha by Darwin, p. 143; why Eights may 

have updated its nomenclature is not clear. Its 

requirement of a clay soil is noticed by Darwin, 

as is its (according to the Gauchos) nearly 

exclusive use of thistle roots as food. Darwin’s 

account of their habit of dragging hard objects 

back to the burrow-mouth, admittedly mostly 

hearsay, is much fuller, although one might easily 

derive Eights’s statement from it without 

precise plagiarism. Darwin, too, p. 145, mentions 

the close association of burrowing owl 

with viscachas, although he restricts the symbiosis 

to certain areas. The parallels between 

owls and viscachas and owls and prairie dogs 

are Eights’s own, drawing from his reading.] 

“The Agouti, (Cavia Patagonica) found here, 

belong[s] to the family of the Guinea pigs, and 

greatly exceeds them all in size, being nearly 

twice the magnitude of the common hare, and 

which it much resembles when seen at a short 

distance peaceably hopping over the surface of 

the plain in small numbers together. Their legs 

are remarkably long, which enables them when 

alarmed to make extraordinary leaps. They are 

exceedingly numerous, inhabiting the burrows 

in common with the biscacha and little owl, but 

when these animals do not exist in their immediate 

neighborhood the agouti readily forms for 

itself habitations of a very similar nature. This is 

likewise the case with the little owl. When 

properly dressed these animals form an excellent 

article of food, but is held in little repute by 

the wandering tribes.” 

[Here, Eights’s account of the agouti as 

food resembles Darwin’s reference to the viscacha; 

Darwin has flesh of the agouti white 

but “rather tasteless and dry.” Their being 

twice the bulk of hares, etc., is as in Darwin 

(pp. 81-82) — Darwin properly cites the 

European hare, while Eights would not have 

Chapter 5 65

had any experience with an American hare 

for comparison.] 

“There is also a small species of armadillo 

found quite common at this place, which is so 

remarkably rapid in its movements that when 

discovered it immediately buries itself beneath 

the earth so quickly, as to render it almost a 

matter of impossibility to obtain them. When 

attacked by a dog or other animal, they roll 

themselves up into a ball, similar to the woodlouse, 

and their shells being impervious to the 

teeth, it slips from the mouth and rolls for some 

considerable distance over the plain. Two other 

species are likewise found here, which differ 

some in their habits, one at least being nocturnal. 

Their food consists of reptiles, insects and 

vegetables. When roasted in the shell, this animal 

furnishes a delicious repast.” 

[That there were three species in this general 

region, one of them nocturnal, is noted by 

Darwin, p. 113; Eights seems rather to conflate 

Darwin’s species, making his a combination of 

the small pichy, which can dig itself in with 

such singular rapidity, and the mataco, with its 

ability to roll itself “into a perfect sphere, like 

one kind of English woodlouse.” Perhaps 

Eights’s observation about their service as 

human food is his own. Darwin, pp. 113-114, 

does note: “It appears almost a pity to kill such 

nice little animals, for as a Guacho said, while 

sharpening his knife on the back of one, ‘Son 

tan mansos’ (they are so quiet).] 

“The most characteristic and interesting bird 

frequenting these plains is the South American 

ostrich (Struthio rhea.) It is frequently to be 

observed in flocks of from twenty to thirty, 

feeding on the scanty vegetation, which at 

times clothes the surface of the ground, and 

when seen from some gentle elevation, in 

strong relief against the intense blueness of the 

sky, they present a truly picturesque, though 

somewhat formidable appearance. When first 

approached they are seemingly quite tame, but 

on a nearer approximation they immediately 

spread out their short wings and sail off with 

an unusual speed, easily distancing the fleetest 

horse in his wildest career. The males can easily 

be distinguished from their companions by 

their superior size, larger heads and deeper 

color of the plumage, and are said while feeding 

to utter a peculiar deep-toned hissing note, 

the sound of which appears singularly deceptive 

to the ear, so that an individual present not 

suspecting from whence it proceeds, becomes 

frequently excited to no small degree of alarm. 

They are said also to feed on small fishes and 

moluscus animals, being frequently seen wading 

about the muddy shores and in the shallow 

waters of the sea, and likewise swimming from 

one rocky islet to another, in some secluded bay 

or rivers mouth. Their nests are merely shallow 

depressions in the ground, and each one generally 

contains from twenty to fifty or more eggs. 

The males are said to perform all the duties of 

the female in sitting on the nest, hatching out 

the young, and accompanying them for some 

time after in their perambulations over the 

plains. While thus occupied, these birds are 

exceedingly fierce and dangerous to approach, 

so that the Indians are sometimes obliged to 

defend themselves with some considerable 

energy against their vigorous assaults. It is a 

well known fact that several females deposit 

their eggs in the same nest; a singularly wise 

economy of instinct, and happily adapted to the 

peculiar circumstances in which they are 

placed, for by no other contrivance could so 

large a collection be made to agree so conveniently 

in age. The hen lays but one egg at a 

time, at regular intervals of three days each; 

now if all those found in a nest were the production 

of a single hen, the time that must necessarily 

elapse from the commencement of laying 

until its termination, would in all probability 

cause most of them to become addled and 

impure, and in this manner greatly interfere 

with one of the most simple and beautiful provisions 

of nature. Single eggs are often found 

scattered promiscuously over the plain, and 

although unbroken, are universally spoiled. 

These no doubt have been dropped by the hens 

when the males are not sufficiently numerous 

to take charge of them during incubation. These 

birds are easily taken by the Indians, who, 

mounted on horses, surround them in extensive 

circles, and gradually close in until they are 

brought within the influence of their unerring 

bolas.” 


[Darwin gives a long and detailed account 

of both the common rhea and the more southern 

form that John Gould named Darwin’s rhea. 

I think there is no doubt that Eights had no 

experience with the common rhea (for Darwin’s 

rhea, see the next paragraph); his account here 

comes pretty much phrase by phrase from Darwin, 

pp. 105-110, although it is much shortened. 

Charges of plagiarism can be made to stick, I 

fear, for there is not even an allusion to Darwin’s 

name.] 

“There is another species of ostrich, which in 

general appearance much resembles the rhea, 

and though smaller in size is a far more beautiful 

bird. Its plumage is of a deeper hue and most 

pleasingly mottled with white and black, the legs 

are shorter and covered much farther down with 

feathers; in their habits they are strikingly similar 

to the former species, but are found in smaller 

numbers herding together, and do not so readily 

expand their wings when taking to flight. Their 

eggs are fewer in number and rather smaller in 

size, varying slightly in form and characterised 

by possessing a beautiful tinge of blue. This 

species is rarely found in the north, but inhabits 

the southern portion of Patagonia, almost to the 

exclusion of the larger one.” 

[See Darwin, pp. 108-110; Darwin’s party had 

prepared for food his initial example of this form 

before he realized his error and salvaged enough 

pieces of the bird’s anatomy to make a presentable 

specimen. If Eights saw a rhea, it was this 

species. Even so, nothing in his account can be 

interpreted as indicating personal observation 

and I think it comes from Darwin.] 

“In rambling over the plains one day, our 

men caught a curious little bird, which from its 

habit and general aspect, appears to hold an 

intermediate station between the quail and 

snipe, and which it greatly resembled, both in 

color and the peculiar markings of its plumage, 

so much so indeed as without difficulty to 

deceive the eyes of the inexperienced observer. 

It was easily obtained by carefully covering it 

with a hat while quietly squatting on the 

ground for the purpose of concealment. They 

inhabit the most sterile portions of the plain, 

either in pairs or small flocks feeding together, 

and so common as to be seen at almost all times 

of the day, dusting themselves in the dryest 

portion of the sand. It is the Tinochorus rumicivorus 

of naturalists.” 

[This is the seed-snipe; the generic name 

may also be spelled Thinochorus. See Darwin, 

p. 110, in a paragraph that immediately follows 

his long account of rheas; he gives a different 

specific name. I doubt there is significance in 

Eights’s having adopted a different specific 

name. Aside from the reference to one having 

been caught under a hat, Eights’s account 

shows no departure from Darwin.] 

“Among the numerous reptiles belonging to 

these shores, the most remarkable of the number 

is a venomous serpent whose poison is of a 

most deadly nature. It is possessed of an 

exceedingly fierce and hideous countenance, 

and has been placed by naturalists in a position 

intermediate between the rattlesnake and viper, 

but more closely approximating to the former. 

As a substitute for the rattle, however, it is provided 

with a peculiarly formed tail, and whenever 

approached or irritated in any degree, it 

rapidly vibrates it among the rigid grass or 

other vegetable substances, and produces a 

sound not unlike the noise of that formidable 

reptile of the north.” 

[Darwin, p. 114, places this in the genus 

Trigonocephalus or Cophias; to him, Eights owes 

allusions to its deadly poison, its fierce and 

hideous (Darwin says hideous and fierce”) face, 

its supposed intermediate taxonomic position, 

the vibration of its tail. If there is any personal 

observation here, it is the final sentence; perhaps 

he did indeed see one, but merely filled in 

from Darwin.] 

“A remarkable looking little toad is likewise 

not unusually seen in this region. It is of a perfectly 

black color, with the soles of the feet, and 

breast stained a bright vermillion hue. It is not 

nocturnal like its associated species, but found 

during the hottest hours of the day quietly 

basking in the sunshine among the dry sandy 

hillocks and naked clayey portions of the plain. 

The Indians have given to it a strange diabolical 

name not easily to be recollected when heard 

pronounced by them.” 

[Darwin notices this batrachian in a paragraph 

immediately following his account of the 

Chapter 5 67

crotalid snake just mentioned, pp. 114-115. 

Here, Darwin rivals Eights in purple language: 

tints of “blackest ink” and “brightest vermilion.” 

Beyond that, all is Darwin barely rewritten, 

except for a quaint twist. Where Eights 

brazenly suggests he has heard a “diabolical 

name not easily recollected,” Darwin says: “If it 

is an unnamed species, surely it ought to be 

called diabolicus, for it is a fit toad to preach in 

the ear of Eve.” I presume this toad, unnamed 

here, is today called Melanophryniscus stelzneri. 

Its preference for arid habitats can be appreciated 

from Darwin’s notice of one which he meant 

to favor by dropping it into a pool of water; 

“not only was the little animal unable to swim, 

but, I think, without help would soon have 

been drowned.”] 

“Besides these reptiles [sic] there is a singular 

lizard frequently to be observed crawling 

over the surface of the ground, which, when 

approached, immediately feigns death, and 

from its curiously mottled appearance, so closely 

resembles the earth upon which it lies, as 

often to be passed by an individual without 

being perceived; upon being disturbed, however, 

it speedily buries itself in the ground and as 

quickly becomes lost to the sight.” 

[See Darwin, p. 115, in a paragraph immediately 

following his account of the diabolical 

toad. He allots it to the genus Ophyressa of that 

day. He remarks that there are many kinds of 

lizards, “but only one remarkable, from its 

habits.” He does credit it to “bare sand near the 

sea coast,” so Eights may have seen it. Eights’s 

account is similar to Darwin’s.] 

“The above enumerated animals, with some 

dozen species of mice, are those most commonly 

to be met with by a traveller journeying over 

these plains. 

“These Pampas extend into the interior 

almost to the base of the Cordilleras of the 

Andes, a distance of nearly three hundred 

miles, rising up in a succession of terraces, and 

terminating abruptly in a direction towards the 

east, and although the surface presents such a 

bare and sterile appearance, its geological construction 

is of a highly interesting nature. It is 

unquestionably a member of the Tertiary period, 

though the green earth so profusely disseminated 

throughout some of the lower strata, 

might readily induce an investigator on first 

inspection, to assign to it a position among the 

rocks of the cretaceous group, of the Secondary 

series. Its entire thickness at this point is about 

seventy feet, rising up in a bold precipitous 

manner directly fronting the sea, and by this 

means affords to the geologist an admirable 

opportunity for inspecting its various strata. 

This whole formation rests in an unconformable 

position upon a thick mass of redish [sic] brown 

porphyry, and in an ascending series, the strata 

of which it is composed may be described in 

the following order: 

“The first and lowest stratum visible, is 

composed of a greenish sandstone made up 

almost entirely of particles of green-earth, associated 

with fine grains of sand, evidently 

derived from some trappean rocks. It is about 

six feet in thickness, and is completely charged 

with fossils, a few of which have a close alliance 

to the recent species along the shores of the sea. 

“The second is a layer of about eight feet 

thick, composed of a fine grained yellowish 

marly clay, with but few fossils. 

“The next in order is a coarse grained, 

greenish sandstone, very similar in appearance 

to the lowest stratum, and is likewise abundant 

in organic remains. It has a thickness of nearly 

nine feet. 

“The fourth in number is a layer of yellowish 

marly clay, eight feet in thickness, and with 

rarely a fossil. 

“The fifth is a dark bluish sand, partially 

indurated, though crumbling readily in the 

hands. It is six feet thick with no remains visible. 

“The sixth is a fine grained, yellowish, 

marly clay or marl, ten feet in thickness and 

abounding with large pectens almost to the 

exclusion of other fossils. 

“A light bluish covered sandstone succeeds, 

six feet thick, with some few organic remains. 

“The eighth is a ten foot stratum, of a red 

and yellowish appearance composed of marly 

clay mingled with sand. The upper portion is 

much broken up, but no fossils are visible at 

this place. 

“The ninth and upper stratum varies 

exceedingly in thickness, being at this point 


about ten feet, while at other locations it frequently 

exceeds one hundred, and is chiefly 

made up of rounded pebbles, consisting of fragments 

of granite, trappean rocks, porphry, 

quartz, jasper, pumice, and agates in abundance. 

This great covering of gravel, has, in 

many places been entirely removed by the 

action of flowing waters over the surface of the 

plain at some far distant era, so that the stratum 

of sand and clay from beneath, has been frequently 

exposed to view, and in some instances 

to no inconsiderable extent.” 

[Joel Hedgpeth, in “James Eights of the 

Antarctic,” p. 45, notes that Eights was a better 

geologist than Darwin and that he evidently 

depended more on his notes than on Darwin’s 

writings. What may be inferred, too, is that 

Eights had a chance to investigate few sites — 

perhaps only one — and took advantage of it. 

Darwin attempted to paint a much broader picture. 

I am unable to comment further on the 

astuteness of Eights’s geological observations; 

one needs to know precisely where he was and 

then one must overcome a century and a half of 

permutation of jargon. Darwin’s general discussion 

of the step-like terraces of the Patagonian 

countryside begins on page 200. Eights’s entire 

account of Patagonian geology (pp. 256-259 of 

the present work) was reprinted as “Geological 

notice of the coast of Patagonia,” in the Country 

Gentleman in 1853.] 

“The numerous fossil organic remains 

found in the above section, are characteristic of 

the Tertiary period, and with the exception of 

the giant mammalia, in all probability to its 

most ancient strata. 

“In the more recent deposites [sic] of these 

plains, and evidently formed by the disintegration 

of its strata, are at present to be found the 

remains of some of the most remarkable gigantic 

animals that have ever inhabited the globe, 

and which at some far distant period of time 

held undisputed sway, and throve luxuriantly 

upon the vegetation that once had an existence 

in this region of country, now so bare and desolate 

to the sight. They are to be discovered in 

the greatest profusion, associated with numerous 

recent species of shells, which may yet to be 

found both on the land and in the sea in this 

vicinity, furnishing to the mind convincing evidence, 

that they lived and passed away at a 

comparatively recent era of the earth’s history, 

without leaving any other indications of their 

existence. In some few instances, even the genera 

to which these animals belonged, are no 

longer to be met with on this great continent of 

the west. Those most commonly met with 

belong to the following genera, and many others 

have been found and described by naturalists. 

They are nearly all about the size of the elephant, 

and most of them are represented by 

diminutive species still living about these 

plains: mastadon, megatherium, megalonyx, 

mylodon, toxodon, scelidotherium and equus.” 

[Spelling as in Eights; compare Darwin’s 

informed and thoughtful remarks on these 

great mammals and their disappearance, pp. 

209-212.] 

“Skirting the shores of the sea and extending 

beneath its waves to the distance of about 

one hundred miles to the east, is to be found a 

continuous plain, and from what little is known 

of its nature, it appears to exhibit in a peculiar 

manner indications of a much lower and similarly 

constituted terrace, or step. It extends 

along the South American coast for an immense 

distance, and is familiarly known as the Brazilian 

and Patagonian banks. At its estern termination 

it falls abruptly into the profound depths of 

the ocean, and for nearly its whole extent supports 

an average mass of about sixty fathoms of 

water. 

“From some recent geological researches of 

ancient sea beaches, situated far into the interior 

of the land, satisfactory evidence has been furnished, 

of the gradual upheaval of this entire 

range of country, from the Rio de la Plata to 

Cape Horn, a distance of more than twelve hundred 

miles, and at this point to an elevation of 

four hundred feet; and as there is every reason to 

believe that this rise of the land is still in 

progress, I think we may safely infer that at 

some future and unknown period of time, this 

bank will have slowly emerged from the waters 

and become a part of the present existing continent, 

and by that means furnish a striking illustration 

of the manner in which these Pampas 

have been originally produced; and during the 

Chapter 5 69

elevation of this great terrace, the numerous strata 

of which it is composed will successively 

appear to view, disclosing in the greatest profusion 

the remains of the various existing animals 

of the sea and neighboring land, occasionally 

mingled with works of art, proving to generations 

yet to come, that civilized man was a 

denizen of the earth long e’er this widely extended 

plain had risen from the waves, and become 

in all probability a vast and fertile scene.” 

[See Darwin, pp. 204-206; wherever he got 

his information (and he would have strengthened 

his case by citing authority), Eights need 

not bow to anyone in terms of an evolutionary, 

if somewhat apocalyptic, point of view.] 

“On casting the eye over a chart of the 

Atlantic ocean, we will scarcely fail to have our 

attention attracted to the singular conformity of 

the shores of the three great continents: Europe, 

Africa, and America; but far more remarkable 

will it appear, when we contemplate for a 

moment the wonderful agreement in their geological 

construction. The primary ranges of 

Canada, have their equivalents in the elevated 

portions of Norway and Sweden, and even the 

mineral region of Lake Superior is replaced by 

the Ural mountains in Russia. The great silurian, 

devonian and carboniferous systems of the 

United States, are beautifully represented in 

Russia, Germany and Great Britain, and are 

alike accompanied by the wide spreading secondary 

and tertiary formations. The volcanic 

and trappean rocks of the Azores, Canary and 

Cape de Verd islands, are repeated in the West 

Indian group of isles, and the vast tertiary 

deposits of the African continent and the 

immense extent of the same formation in southern 

America, present little or no dissimilarity in 

their respective geological ages, as the fossil 

shells in some instances have been perfectly 

identified; and we may continue still farther, 

and compare the devonian rocks of the Falkland 

islands, with those of the same period in 

the vicinity of the Cape of Good Hope. This 

enumeration is merely intended as a general 

comparison. Were it necessary, however, to 

enter into a more minute detail, a much more 

particular relation might easily be furnished as 

an illustration.” 

[Eights was certainly a birth-right Continental 

Drifter! However, he falls into mere geographical 

homologizing along the way, as in 

matters having to do with mineral-rich regions 

in North America and Russia.] 

“When we reflect upon these circumstances, 

we are almost irresistibly led to the conclusion 

that the immense space at present occupied by 

the Atlantic Ocean, was originally a continuous 

tract of land, which has since been gradually 

submerged beneath the waves, while the mountainous 

regions now constituting the elevated 

portions of the continents on either hand, were 

as slowly rising from some unknown and widely 

expanded bodies of water. From reflections 

such as this, we are almost induced to give 

countenance to the idea that the far famed 

Atlantes of Plato, was not altogether based 

upon a vision. 

“The belief so long entertained, that the 

Earth was the emblem of stability, is fast becoming 

obliterated from intelligent minds since the 

investigations of geologists have from time to 

time disclosed new and important facts for their 

consideration. The numerous discoveries that 

have recently been made of the gradual rise of 

large tracts of land in some portions of the 

globe, and equal depressions in others, have 

satisfactorily established the theory of oscillatory 

movements in the earth’s crust. The gentle 

upheaval of Norway and Sweden in the vicinity 

of the Gulf of Bothnia, and the depression of 

Greenland beneath the sea; the rise of southern 

America, and the slow subsidence of the Coral 

islands in the Pacific Ocean, are but a few of the 

many instances that might be produced in confirmation 

of its truth.” 

NOTES 

1. See Bertrand, Americans in Antarctica, pp.. 146-147; 

Edmund Fanning and Benjamin Pendleton, “Memorial” 

(House Doc. 61, 1832) and Fanning, “Memorial” (Sen. Doc. 

10, 1833); E. Fanning, Voyages Round the World (1st ed., 

1833), pp. 478-489; R.O. Cummings, “The organization of 

the American Antarctic expedition of 1830” (1962 [1965]); 

E.S. Balch, “Stonington Antarctic explorers” (1909: 486- 

489); John Stewart, Antarctica (1990), “Palmer-Pendleton 

expedition,” p. 743. Bertrand alludes to the slight official 

stewardship provided: inspection of the vessels before 

departure and a Foreign Service memorandum that was 


circulated in foreign parts indicating that the government 

“regarded the expedition favorably.” See also: Fanning, 

Voyages (1833), p. 489; Fanning’s interest in popularizing 

the claim of sponsorship of government was not entirely 

selfless, since he and Pendleton hoped to recover some of 

their losses through claims in the U.S. Congress. Regarding 

the log of the Annawan, E.S. Balch, “Antarctic addenda,” 

p. 87, alleged that it was in the possession of Mrs. 

Richard Fanning Loper, daughter of Capt. Alexander S. 

Palmer. If so, it has not surfaced since Balch’s day; it did 

not go with Mrs. Loper’s family papers to the Library of 

Congress, “Papers of the Palmer-Loper families,” LC Shelf 

No. 18,965, consisting of documents filling 5.2 feet of shelf 

space, about 4,000 items, 9 reels of microfilm. 

2. Survey of Federal Archives, 1940, vol. 1, “Ship registers 

of New Bedford, Massachusetts,” pp. 15-16. 

3. I have not been able to establish dates for Pendleton. 

Both the Palmers are memorialized by E.S. Balch, 

“Stonington Antarctic explorers,” pp. 474-476; Nathaniel 

Brown Palmer was born 1799, died 1877; Alexander Smith 

Palmer was born 1806, died 1894. Nat Palmer has a considerable 

following, even having his portrait on a United 

States stamp (25 cents, Scott catalog no. 2386, 1988); see 

also J.R. Spears, Captain Nathaniel Brown Palmer (1922) and 

Robert Silverberg, The Adventures of Nat Palmer (1967); and 

J. Stewart, Antarctica, p. 742; inevitably, Palmer enters into 

controversies over who discovered what first. 

4. Previous references to Reynolds apply. See for now: 

Bertrand, Americans in Antarctica, p. 147; Reynolds himself 

wrote: “In the month of October, 1829, I sailed from the 

city of New-York in the brig Annawan...to the South Seas 

and Pacific Ocean” (Voyage of the U.S. Frigate Potomac, 

1835: p. v); in her embarrassingly laudatory account of the 

1838 expedition, in “The first American exploring expedition,” 

“Miss A.E. Carrell” (actually, Anna Ella Carroll, 1815- 

1894), with fulsome praise of “James R. Reynolds” (p. 60), 

mentions Reynolds alone as “scientist” on the 1829-1830 

voyage; Mrs. R.B. Harlan (The History of Clinton County, 

Ohio, pp. 580-585) has a decent beginning of a biography 

of Reynolds but manages to get a lot of facts wildly 

skewed in regard to the Antarctic expedition; in Henry 

Howe, Historical Collections of Ohio (vol. 1, 1904, pp. 431- 

433; the same information appeared in the edition of 1889), 

we hear much the same as above, with an added personal 

note: “Mr. Reynolds in his politics was a Henry Clay 

Whig, and...delivered free lectures in behalf of protection. 

At one of these we were present. According to our memory 

he was a firmly built man, of medium stature, with a 

short nose, and a somewhat broad face. His delivery was 

monotonous, but what he said was solid, and his air in a 

high degree respectful and earnest and withal very sad, as 

though some great sorrow lay upon his heart ...”; at a time 

when a better account might have appeared, Helen S. 

Wright (The Seventh Continent, 1918, pp. 78-79) heaped 

praise upon Reynolds but got no further than that there 

were “two other scientists” on board the Annawan. For 

more on Reynolds, including his alleged friendship with 

Edgar Allan Poe, see: R.F. Almy, “J.N. Reynolds: a brief 

biography with particular reference to Poe and Symmes” 

(1937); Aubrey Starke, “Poe’s friend Reynolds” (1939); and 

Ian N. Higginson, “The first Antarctic voyage of Edgar 

Allan Poe” (1994). I have inserted in the bibliography a 

fairly full list of Reynolds’s works. 

5. For the petition of John Watson, shipbuilder, see 

report on his claim by the House Committee on Naval 

Affairs, H.R. Rept. No. 112, 21st Cong., 2nd sess., 1831. 

Benjamin Pendleton’s letter to Edmund Fanning, dated 

from New York City 15 Sep 1831 (in Fanning, 1833, p. 10), 

was attested to by “J.F. Watson, of Scientific Corps.” Mrs 

R.B. Harlan’s account is in History of Clinton Co., Ohio, p. 

584. See also: R.F. Almy, “J.N. Reynolds,” 1937, p. 239, note 

31; Lawrence Martin, “Early explorers of southern South 

America from the United States” (1940). George C. Groce 

and D.H. Wallace, Dictionary of Artists in America, 1957, p. 

665, says nothing about Watson as Antarctic and austral 

explorer. The same is uniformly true of art biographers. 

P.I. Mitterling, America in the Antarctic, p. 97, and J. Stewart, 

Antarctica, p. 1080, add nothing to the record. The best 

account of John Frampton Watson, although strictly from 

the artistic perspective, is to be found in Nicholas B. Wainwright, 

Philadelphia in the Romantic Age of Lithography, pp. 

22, 33, 46 and citations to him as printer and artist. No 

birth date is given. “Except for his ability as a copier of 

English prints, Watson’s work is not of a high order and 

his press was never a notable one.” And, “He was 

described as a queer chap, very conceited.” He “began his 

career as early as 1832 or 1833 as an artist working for 

M.E.D. Brown. For a few years Watson was in partnership 

with C.A. Watson, but after 1838 he was on his own as a 

lithographic printer until the end of his career in 1866.” 

Except for citing individual prints, Wainwright offers no 

documentation for his biographical information. Is it possible 

that Watson is an unsung hero of some of the drawings 

that Reynolds turned over to the Boston Society of 

Natural History? I thank Nancy Hoffmann for trying to 

find additional material on Pendleton. 

6. D.M. Henderson, The Hidden Coasts, p. 31, provides 

no documentation for his surprising statement. The 

account of John Fanning Watson is by Joseph Jackson. For 

“Hampton,” see Argus, Anon., 29 Nov 1833. The clinching 

document is: E. Fanning, Voyages (1833), p. 174; see also 

Fanning to Dickerson, House Document 147, p. 3. 

7. Bertrand, Americans in Antarctica, pp. 147-148; Benjamin 

Pendleton, in Edmund Fanning, 1833, pp. 8-10; since 

Pendleton was in charge, he has probably inflated the role 

of himself and the Seraph in the Fanning memorial; see E.S. 

Balch, “Stonington Antarctic explorers,” pp. 486-488. That 

the Seraph and Annawan did not meet at Boavista, see Fanning, 

Voyages (1833), p. 479. 

8. Anon., Albany Argus, 30 Mar; New Bedford Mercury, 

2 Apr 1830. The letter as printed in the Mercury has the 

editorial paragraph at the beginning added locally; I have 

used the text of the letter as printed originally in the Morning 

Courier and New-York Enquirer, “country edition,” 30 

Mar.; the Mercury editor got Reynolds’s initials correct. For 

a sympathetic account of the Wampanoag war chief 

Annawan (d. ca. 1676), see Harvey Markowitz, ed., American 

Indians, 1: 38. 

9. Pendleton, 1831, in E. Fanning, 1832, p. 3; see Fanning, 

Note 7. 

10. If any of Eights’s Cape Verde specimens went to 

the W.J. Hooker collection that ended in Kew Gardens, 

they have not been found, although several Eights specimens 

of Antarctic and austral plants were sent by Beck for 

Hooker to identify. I am greatly indebted to Charles J. Sheviak, 

Curator of Botany, New York State Biological Survey, 

for sending the specimen to Per Sunding for identification 

and, of course, to Prof. Sunding for his authoritative help 

Chapter 5 71

in documenting it. See A. Hansen and P. Sunding, “Flora 

of Macaronesia. Checklist of vascular plants” (Sommerfeltia, 

1, 1985); and F.N. Hepper and F. Neate, “Plant collectors in 

West Africa,” 1971. Miss P. Halliday kindly checked Cape 

Verde specimens at Kew. In regard to the Albany Institute 

“Catalog” reference, which I have examined, see R.O. 

Cummings, 1962 (1965), p. 1032. 

11. Darwin, Journal of Researches, 1839, p. 76. A contemporary 

pen portrait, not very flattering, of Boavista 

and its people and industries may be found in A Narrative 

of Four Voyages, by Benjamin Morrell, Jr., 1832, pp. 264-268. 

Water was scarce, and that of a brackish flavor. Meat was 

not found in surplus, any refreshments had to be brought 

at great price from other islands. Salt “is produced in great 

abundance on the north-west and eastern parts of the 

island in natural pans or ponds, where it crystallizes in the 

sun. These receptacles for sea-water are in the low valleys 

near the sea-shore, and in the whole process nature 

receives very little aid from the hand of art.” Its cost, 

delivered on board, was about six and a quarter cents a 

bushel. As for the natural scene, the soil “for the most part 

is sandy, barren, and uncultivated.” It shared in the rather 

temperate oceanic climate of the Cape Verdes. From Morrell’s 

remarks, it appears that Eights was on Boavista during 

the rainy season. James Eights (“Notes on natural history 

[I],” p. 220) later recalled his visit to the Bonavista 

saltworks. “Their method is, during gales of wind and 

high tides to admit water from the sea to float over 

depressed plains, or basins, where for a time it is exposed 

to the influence of a tropical sun; after a deposition of the 

salt, the superfluous water is drawn off into pits prepared 

for its reception. In these pits, and in the vicinity of these 

salt-pans, large masses of beautiful transparent crystals of 

sulphate of lime are formed, embracing not only fragments 

of the trap which form the hills and rocky portions of the 

island, but likewise, in some abundance, the recent species 

of shells which inhabit the neighboring sea.” 

12. Manuscript, McKinney Library, Albany Institute. 

13. B. Morrell, Jr., A Narrative of Four Voyages, pp. 145- 

146. 

14. The charge of what would today be considered 

plagiarism was raised by J.W. Hedgpeth in his sympathetic 

“James Eights of the Antarctic,” pp. 44-45. 

15. See J.N. Reynolds, in Anon., 30 Mar 1830; K.J. 

Bertrand, Americans in Antarctica, p. 151; Anon., 2 Jun 1830, 

letter of Reynolds, dated 13 Jan; Anon., Argus, 14 May 

1830. Eights’s Patagonian plant specimens will be accounted 

for in a chapter on his Antarctic and austral plants; E.J. 

Godley, “Botany of the southern zone,” pp. 159-160, gives 

locations as far as known. Strictly, some note could here be 

taken of at least one Patagonian animal that Eights 

described but it, too, will be treated later; J.W. Hedgpeth’s 

“James Eights of the Antarctic” fairly summarizes Eights’s 

animals. Some notes on both animals and plants are to be 

found in L. Martin, “Early explorers of southern South 

America from the United States.” 

16. J.N. Reynolds, “Leaves from an unpublished journal” 

(1838); “Bearding a sea lion in his den” (1839). For the 

kind of marine climate that greeted them upon their 

arrival, consult the log of the Penguin: “Thurs. 24 Dec 81 

days from Stonington / Commences with fresh breese 

from the West d and pleasant weather[.] At 5 made [came 

within sight of] Statenland bearing S By W Dist 9 

leagues[.] Midder [logger’s own word for ‘middle’?] part 

heavy gales from SW with a heavy sea, hove to at 5 AM[.] 

moderate made sail [that is, after wind moderated, made 

sail] at 8 came too in Port Hatchet[.] at 10 the boats started 

on a cruise. Ends strong wind & squally SW’[.] 

17. B. Morrell, Jr., A Narrative of Four Voyages, pp. 71- 

73. 

18. Reynolds, “Bearding a sea lion in his den.” While 

Phoca jubata would have been acceptable then, the species 

name jubata is now restricted to the northern Pacific sea 

lion; the correct name for the South American sea lion is 

Otaria byronia (or flavescens). 

19. Anon., Argus, 14 May 1830; Anon., Courier, 2 Jun 

1830; Penguin, log; K.J. Bertrand, Americans in Antarctica, p. 

151. 

20. JE, “Notes on natural history” (I), 1846; one observation 

on the disintegration of basaltic columns at high 

latitudes will be quoted later. It must be noted that Charles 

Darwin (Journal of Researches, 1839: 190-193) was as far 

from explaining the phenomenon of marine phosphorescence 

as Eights; the observations reported here appear to 

be Eights’s own. 

21. Eights, “Notes on natural history” (III, 1847: 246). 

How sad that the log of the Annawan has been lost! 


Chapter 6 


FARTHEST SOUTH, 1830 

With the departure of the Annawan and the 

Penguin from Staten Island in mid-January, 

James Eights was on his way for a brief look 

within the veil of the Antarctic. It was high 

summer, however much the raw cold, relentless 

wind and ever-present flurrying of snow and 

sleet denied it. He doubtless had hopes of a 

landfall on the fabled Antarctic Continent itself. 

Only our century begins to appreciate how 

unrealistic that dream was, considering the centuries 

of wild philosophizing, unproved claims, 

vague reports of marine phantasmagoria and 

hard-won glimmerings of the most southerly 

continent that preceded his brash adventure. 1 

It is now hard for us to realize in full the 

daring — the supreme folly, perhaps — of the 

undertaking in which Eights was caught up. By 

the year 1900, ignorant as we were, we knew 

there was a continent at the southern end of 

Earth. We had a vague notion of its shape and 

extent. The heroic age, when men took on the 

unknown of the Antarctic with little more than 

conventional navigational skills and bare 

hands, was not quite over. But we had learned 

that even bravery and brawn combined would 

not turn the trick. It took sustained organization 

and expert maneuvering just to remain alive. 

Cracking the code of life there was still a long 

way in the future. 2 

Aside from the fragmentary nature of 

reports of lands in the south polar sector, 

including ghost islands thought seen through 

fog or beyond an impenetrable range of icebergs, 

conflicts arose in regard to discoveries by 

commercial adventurers. Immediate airing of 

discoveries opened the areas up to intense competition 

for rapidly vanishing resources. With 

some sealers, you kept quiet if you found a new 

island rookery. Or, you remained quiet until the 

plums had been plucked (by yourself), only to 

find competing claims that others, too, knew of 

it but had said nothing. A century and a half of 

rancorous bombast from English, American, 

French, and Russian perspectives has hardly 

laid all those uneasy spirits. 3 

While this chapter skews perspective by its 

focus on James Eights, it will also attempt to 

sketch roughly what he may have seen. Eights’s 

taxonomic studies and accounts of his specimens 

will be reserved for later chapters. General 

statements on plants and animals will be 

treated here, with comments where necessary. 

One is hampered by lack of an extended commentary 

by Eights. If he kept a detailed journal, 

it has not surfaced and he made little use of it. 

Perhaps keeping such a diary was in the bailliwick 

of Reynolds. Certainly, when Eights came 

later to write of the Patagonian coast, he leaned 

heavily upon Darwin. Even so, his contributions 

deserved fuller recognition than they got 

during his lifetime. 4 

First, the log of the Penguin, close companion 

of the Annawan. The Penguin’s approximate 

track has been mapped by K.J. Bertrand. Departure 

was 14 January 1830. 

“Friday / 15 th Janary / Commec with fine 

breese from N d with passing squales / all sail 

set to advantage / course SSE / Brig a head / 

Chapter 6 73

Figure 6.1. The track of the schooner Penguin in Antarctic waters, 1829-1830. Map compiled from the log of the Penguin, 

which was closely associated with James Eights’s brig Annawan during the time they were in Antarctic waters. The log of 

the Annawan has been lost. (K.J. Bertrand, Americans in Antarctica, 1775-1948; American Geographical Society, New 

York, Special Publication 39, page 152, 1971.) 

Midder part light winds from NW with steady 

rain / Jibed ship / latter part [that is, of day] 

winds varible and pleasant with a large sea roling 

from W d / Saw a ship stearing to SW / Latt 

By Act 63.25 W d .” 5 

Comments from the Penguin log are henceforth 

quoted, in part or in full, only when of 

general interest. The ships were sailing nearly 

due south from Staten Island. Saturday, 16 Jan, 

was a pleasant day, with “all sail set to advantage...spoke 

the Brig / I went on board & spent 

the afternoon.” “A large sea roling from the W d 

/ Saw a Ship stearing to NW / Latt. By Act 

57.14 S / Long. per Chronomt r 61.56 West.” 

Sunday, 17 Jan: “fine pleasant weather...at 10 

AM Cap t Palmer came on board of [off] the Brig 

/ Jib boom & spent the day with us.” 18 January: 

“At sea bound to South Shetlands...Cold 

weather / Brig a head.” Tuesday, 19 Jan: “passing 

squales of snow / midder part the same / 

Latter part fresh squales of wind and snow / at 

11 PM toock in flyingjib / took one Reef d in the 

Mainsail / Ends cold weather.” 

Pay dirt — Wednesday, 20 January: “Commencs 

with strong breese from SSW and 

squally / at 4 AM keept off E d / thick rainy 

weather / at 1 PM made [that is, ‘made out,’ 

saw] the Land bearing S d / plenty of drift Ice / 

in ship [?that is, they shorten sails?] / at 2 

spoke the Brig & two boats on shore / at 8 

returned with 75 prim fur skins / 52 pups / 

Ends light breese and cloudy weather.” 

Thursday, 21 Jan: “Lying off [meaning ‘well 

clear of land’] Elephant I sd / First part calm / 


lying by of the Isl d / at 2 AM the boats started 

on shore / Midder part passing squales from 

WSW / at 11 returned with 24 prim skins / at 1 

PM started in company with Brigs boats thick 

foggy weather & returned with 50 sk [end of 

line bound in] / Lying off.” 

Friday, 22 January: “... thick foggy weather...Stearing 

in for Isl d ...at 8 [?] AM the fog 

lights up / the boat started on a cruise a sealing 

in company with the Brigs boats / landed in 

one boat & took 35 skins / in latter part thick 

foggy weather & short sea / Stearing on from [I 

have trouble with two words here] a number of 

Ice bergs around which are frequently falling to 

pieces makeing a noise like distant thunder / 

Ends with fair & calm.” 

“Lying off the Elephant Is d / Saturday 23 th 

[log-keeper uses the ordinal ‘th’ whether appropriate 

or not] Jany 1830 / All these 24 hours 

light baflin [baffling: changeable] airs from the 

East d with verry thick fog and a heavy sea 

heaving on shore / chafing our riging & sails 

verry much / at 7 PM lost sight of the Brig / 

grate quantity of Ice a flote around us.” 6 

“Sunday / 24th Jan’y / First part light airs 

from ESE thick rainy weather heavy sea rooling 

on shore & large Isl d of Ice close to us / we 

hove to / Reef d sails on the Sch r to keep clear of 

them. Chafing our riging & sails verry much / 

verry anxious for the safety of the Sch r / Midder 

part fresh breese from SW / kept off and 

run down under the lee of the Is d . / we experience 

a strong current setting to NE / latter part 

calm with thick fog.” 

Monday, 25 January: “First part calm with 

thick fog / at day light we find the current has 

set us to W d / at 6 AM boat returned with 90 

prim skins.” Tuesday, 26 Jan: foggy; “Capt 

Palmer came on board & spent the day.” 27 Jan: 

“begins calm & foggy weather / at 6 AM the 

fog light up / the boats started on a cruse a 

sealing...hands Employed in Salting skins.” 28 

Jan: Foggy, morning and noon; “at 6 PM the 

boats returned with 120 skins / latter part light 

airs from the E d with clear weather / stearing 

of[f] on awind to get a offing” [that is, putting a 

safe distance between ship and land?]. 

“Bound to King George Isl d / 29 th January 

1830 / Commences calm and thick foggy 

weather / at 4 AM light breese from the W d / 

Stearing on wind to NWN / at 10 tacked to SW 

/ fog light up / saw the Land bearing SSE / at 

2 PM kept off SSW / Set the square sail / at 4 

saw Obriens Isld to South d & W d / [—-] clear of 

Ice bergs / latter part Strong breese from NNW 

with thick fog / cours South by Comp s [compass].” 

7 

Entered in margin of page along side entry 

for 30 January is: “Pups 52 / Prime 

[skins]...344”; there was a “thick gale” the 

morning of the 30th. “Sunday 31 th Jany / This 

day begins with light winds from WSW with 

squales of fog / at 4 made the land bearing by 

comp s S By W / Midder (and latter part) fresh 

breese from SW / at 10 AM Landed in the brigs 

boat & took some Elephant / at 8 PM worked 

up & came to in Potters Cove in 12 fathoms / 

good bottom / found here a shallop left by 

James Johnson / saw a number of Ice bergs in 

the offing / So Ends.” 8 

“Monday 1 th February / First part fresh 

breese from the W d with cloudy weather / at 7 

AM took 2 of the Brigs boats & crews on board 

& got under weigh / worked up & came to in 

Nebles harbour / Midder & latter part thick 

rainy weather /...walked over & looked at the 

beach for seals[?].” 9 

On 2 February, “All this day strong gales 

from ENE with thick snow storm & cold freseing 

weather.” “Wednesday 3 th Feb / All this 

day fresh gales from E d with thick snow storm 

& cold disagreeable weather / waiting for a 

chance to go a sealing.” 

“Lying in Nebles Harbour / 4 th February 

1830 / First part strong gale from E d with thick 

snow / midder part breese from the S d & 

cloudy weather / At 10 AM the boats started on 

a cruise to S d and North d / at 8 PM boats 

returned / found no sealing” [? last word 

uncertain]. 

“Friday 5 th Feby / First part calm and 

cloudy weather / at 6 AM M r Wilcox & Pendlteron 

[word seems clear; there seems no reason 

to suppose the name is Pendleton; Phineas 

Wilcox was First Mate of the Penguin] started 

on a cruise a sealing /.../ M r Smith returned / 

found no seal / went on shore & killed 50 Port 

Egmonts & got some water & Ends calm.” 10 

Chapter 6 75

“Saturday 6 th February / Commences thick 

cloudy weather and calm / at 7 AM light breese 

from SW / fog light up / got under run down 

to Potters Cove & took the boats crew from the 

Brig and proceeded on to W d / Midder part 

light airs from NNW / latter part winds from 

WNW passing squales of fog / working 

through King George Strait / steared clear of 

several Ice bergs / Landed on one & got a specimen 

of rocks which are not [this has been 

added marginally after a previous word was 

thoroughly blotted out] found at Shetlands we 

found” [last two words seem added at same 

time as the previous word not]. 11 

“Sunday 7 th February /...passing snow 

squalls / beating down for Clothiers harbour 

/...strong gales from SW with thick fog / back 

[?] up run down / came to in Harmony Cove / 

7 fathoms good bottom / Latter part heavy 

gales from WSW / at 7 PM lett go secant [?] 

anchor / So Ends.” 12 

“Monday 8 th February /...heavy gales from 

SW By # with cloudy weather / midder part 

more moderate / went on shore & shot some 

Port Egmonts / hove up our starboard anchor / 

a short sea roling in to the bay / clear pleasant 

weather / at 11 PM got under weigh bound 

into Clothiers harbour....” 

“Bound to Clothiers harbour / 9 th Febuary 

1830 /...passing fog squales / beating out the 

Straits /...thick snow and sleete / stood in & 

made the land at 4 PM / hauled off / made all 

snug for the night / grate number of Ice bergs 

along the cost / Ends thick snow squales and 

verry cold disagreeable weather.” 13 

“Wednesday 10 th Feb / Commences with a 

breese from NE By E with thick snow squales 

and & [!] sleete / worked up into the mouth of 

Yankee Straits / came to in shallow Bay / tide a 

falling / struck several times / got under weigh 

/ middle [!] part fog cleared up / run down & 

came to in Sherriff Cove / 20 fath s / good bottom 

/ Ends fresh breese from NE.” 14 

“Thursday 11 th February /.../ look’d at the 

beaches / found a few seal / walking over the 

Ice bergs I fell down a crack in the Ice but 

ascended without much injury /.../ at 4 PM got 

under weigh / run down to Ragged [read 

‘Rugged’] Isl d harbour / at 1/2 past 7 came too 

in 6 fath s / good bottom / grate number of Ice 

burgs floting along the Isl d / latter part more 

moderate & pleasant.” 15 

“Friday 12 th Febay / First part pleasant 

weather & calm / at low water found we were 

close to a sunken Rock / hove up & dropt [? or 

is it drapt?] off / at 5 AM started & walked 

over to the beaches / at 6 PM returned / found 

a few seal /...cloudy weather.../ quantity of Ice 

drifting past us.” 

“Saturday 13 th Feby / First part of 24 hours 

light snow / wind to S d / at 6 AM got under 

weigh [—-] / the boate started to look for seal / 

breese freshened from N d / Worked up along 

shore th[r]ough a grate number of Ice Il ds / at 3 

PM the boat returned with a few prim skins & 

some drift wood / Ends calm.” 

“Sunday 14 th Febuay / Commences with 

fine pleasant weather / light breese from NE / 

midder part calm / landed on Sherriff Cape [!] 

& took one prime skin / clear pleasant weather 

/ grate quantity of whales asounding / latter 

part fresh breese from NE & thick cloudy 

weather.” 

“Monday 15 th Febuary / First part fresh 

breese from NE / thick snow storm / took in 

flying Jib / put 2 Reef d mainsail / beating 

down for Potters Cove / Midder part thick fog 

breese from NW / waiting for clear weather / 

latter prt thick weather as usual.” “Tuesday / 

16 th Feby / This day begins with fresh breese 

from WNW and dark cloudy weather / at 4 PM 

run in & made the Land / found we ware [!] to 

E d / proceeded on round King George Isl d / 

Middle passing fog squales / wind W d / latter 

part fresh breese from SWByW / thick snow 

storm / beating down for Potters Cove / so 

Ends.” 

“Wednesday 17 th Febuary / This day begins 

with thick snow storm wind from NE / 6 AM 

cleared away fine pleasant weather / run in / 

came to in Potters Cove close to Brig / brigs 

had returned / found no seal / hand [!] 

Employed getting wood from the shallop on 

shore & filling water [?] getting ready for Sea 

&c / Ends calm & pleasant weather.” 

“Thursday 18 th Feby / First part fine pleasant 

weather & calm / Employed in getting 

wood repairing windlas &c / bote [or bots?] 


went out & tryed to catch some fish but did not 

find any / waiting for a wind / latter part 

strong breese from W d with thick fog” [this 

appears to end entry]. 16 

“Sch Penguin South Shetland / Lying in 

Potters Cove King George Isl d 19 Febuary 1830 

/ Throughout this day fresh breese from W d 

and foggy weather / awaiting for a chance to 

go to sea / put boat on shore & shot some Port 

Egmonts.” 

“Saturday 20 th Feby / First part strong 

breese from W d with foggy weather / at 7 AM 

got under weigh in company with the 

Annawan bound to W d in search of a new Isl d 

[the word, bold and underscored, Left is in otherwise 

blank left margin of page at this point] / 

in beating out the harbour the Brig run on a 

shoal but gott off with out much dammage / 

midder part light buflin breese with [line pretty 

much impossible to read] clear of the Ice / latter 

part the same.” 17 

“Sunday 21 th Febuary / This day begins 

with cloudy weather / light buflin winds from 

all points of the compass / working down for 

King George Straits [that is, Nelson Strait] / 

midder part the same / latter part heavy squals 

from NW d / Capt Palmer came on board & 

spent the day / Ends with breese from W d .” 

“Monday 22 th Febuary / This day begins 

with foggy weather & breese from W d / beating 

through King George Straits / Middle part clear 

weather / hands Employed unbending cables & 

stowing them away / at 4 AM Heywood Island 

/ hove by Compass SByE Dist by Estimation 3 

Leagues from which I take my Departure [that 

is, logkeeper will now leave land and record 

position by calculation] / latter part light breese 

& foggy.” [In left margin: “large bergs.”] 18 

“Wednesday 23 th Feb / Commences with 

thick foggy weather / wind from N d / all sail 

set to advantage / stearing to W d / pass’d a 

number of Ice bergs / Middle part strong 

breese with light rain / 2 Reef d sails / Brig a 

head / latter part wind NW / Latt by Dr [is this 

Dead Reckoning?] 61.34 / Long By C [?] 61.44 

W.” 

“Wednesday 24 th Febu / Commences with 

cloudy weather / breese from NNW / set all 

sail / Middle part clear weather with a heavy 

head sea / put one reef d in the M. sail & fasten 

the flying Jib / latter part passing squales of 

rain / Latt By Dr 61.58 S / Long By Act 65.21 

W” [position hard to read; line much oxidized 

and fuzzy]. 

“In search of a new Isl d / At Sea Bound to 

Westward / Thursday 25 th Febuary 1830 / 

Commences with small rain & fresh breese from 

NW / under single Reef sails / Brig off to 

windward / at 3 AM passed a chain of Ice 

Islands, frequently falling to pieces making a 

noise like dist t thunder / Middle part fresh 

gales / double Reef d the sails / heavy sea heaving 

from the W d / latter part more moderate / 

turned out Reefs / Latt By Act 62.20 S / Long 

by Dr 69.19 W.” [Apparently inserted at end (on 

next line): “Cours WSW with 3 pt co” — fuzzy 

and doubtful; but seems jargon, in any case.] 

“Friday 26 th Febuy / First part cloudy 

weather with small rain / wind from NW / at 4 

AM set all drawing sail / middle part cloudy / 

a large Sea heaving from the WNW / at 5 PM 

heavy gales from W d / ballance [?bullance] / 

Reef M sail / Reef d the F Sail & took the bonnet 

off the Jib / Ends with strong and rainy / Latt 

By Act 62.33 [hence, their farthest south when 

at sea on this leg of the exploration] / Long By 

Dr 73.10” [cannot be totally sure of longitude 

reading]. 

“Saturday 27 th Febu / This day begins with 

passing squales of hail and rain / fresh gales 

from W d under heavy seas / at 6 PM moderated 

/ set all sail / midder part light breese from 

NW & pleasant. I went on board of the Brig & 

spent the afternoon / latter part strong gales 

from NE & stormy / Reef d the sails / a large 

sea from NW / Latt By Act 61.50 S / Long By 

Dr 74.10 W.” [There is a line entered below, on 

space at right end of dateline of 28 Feb that 

seems likely to belong to 27 Feb: “Cours W By 

N.”] 

See previous day: does “Cours W By N” 

belong here? “Sunday 28 th Feb / This day 

begins with strong gales from the N d / with 

light rain / under 2 Reefs [?] sails main sail jib 

/ clear pleasant weather / wind NNW / Brig 

off the lee bow / latter part heavy gales with 

passing squales of hail & rain / ballance / 

Reef d M Sail/ Reef d the F sail / took the bonnet 

Chapter 6 77

off Jib / Latt By Dr 62.12 / Long 72.23” [some 

words in line indistinct]. 

“Monday 1 th March / This begins with 

strong [word left out?] from NW with rain & 

sleet / under close Reef s / Midder part calm 

with a heavy sea / at 4 PM a breese sprung up 

from SSE...latter part heavy gales as usual with 

passing squales...close Reef d ...61.58 S / Long By 

ct 81.14 West” [much of this day’s entry nearly 

impossible to read securely]. 

“At Sea in Company Brig Annawan / 2 th 

March 1830 / First part of this day light winds 

from S d and cloudy / Employed in repairing 

our riging / Midder part strong gales from S.W. 

with snow & rain squales / set 3 Reef s [?] / latter 

part more moderate / made sail / saw a 

number of Penguins / cours WByN / Latt By 

Act 60°.28 S / Long By Dr 84.40 W.” 

“Wednesday 3 th March / Commences with 

cloudy weather & light breese from W d / all 

sail set to advantage / in midle part fresh gales 

from WNW with steady rain / tacked to SW / 2 

Reef d Sails / latter part moderate / set all sail / 

saw some sea birds / so Ends / Latt By Act 

60°.28 S / Long By Dr 87.08 West.” 

“Thursday 4 th March / Commess [?Commen] 

with heavy gales from WNW with steady 

rain & sleete / under 3 Reef d in company with 

the Brig / saw several fise birds & a piece of 

kelp / at 8 AM wind changed to NW By W / 

tacked [word is above line, place of insertion 

not certain] to SW / middle part the same / latter 

part passing squales of Sleete / Lat By Act 

59.56 / Long By Dr 89.27 W.” 19 

On 5 March: squalls of fog and sleet; “under 

Reef / at at 8 AM tacked to NW...Tookin [?one 

word] the main Sail / I went on board the Brig 

& spent the afternoon...saw some Kelp & several 

birds...Latt By Act 60.36 S / Long Chr 88.00.” 

6 March: At first, “light breese from SW / 

all drawing sail set to advantage /...latter part 

fresh breese from SW with passing of rain / 

took in flying Jib & put in single sail ...” [from 

here, the bottom lines of the page are impossible 

to make out clearly; there are references to 

sea birds and, unhappily, also possibly to the 

“fise birds” referred to above]. 

“Bound to Westward in search of land / 7 th 

March 1830 / Commences with strong breese 

from SW with passing squales of rain / under 

single Reef d / Brig off to windward / Saw a 

grate number of Penguins & several pieces of 

Kelp...Latt By obs [?] 58.38 / Long By Act 91.25 

W.” 

“Monday 8 March / This day begins with 

fresh breese from NW & squally weather / all 

drawing sail set to advantage / at 4 AM wind 

& sea increasing / took in flying Jib & 2 / Reef d 

in the main Sail /.../ saw kelp[,] penguins and 

sea birds /.../ Brig astern / Lat By Act 59.03 S / 

Long By [—-] 93.23 W.” 

Tough reading but it appears to be: “Tuesday 

9 March / This day begins with heavy 

gales of rain, sleete[,] snow & hail / 3 Reef d M 

Sail / Reef d F Sail & took bonnet off the Jib / at 

3 AM wind hauled to SW / wore ship to WNW 

/ Middle part heavy gales with passing squales 

of hail & rain & bad sea...latter part more moderate...latt 

by Obs 58.53 S / Long By Act 94.22 

W.” 

Wednesday 10 March / First part fresh 

breese from WSW and clear weather / under 2 

Reef d / 4 AM set all sail...Capt n Palmer came on 

board & spend the day / shot several birds, 

saw Penguins & Kelp.../ under sail stearing on 

around to W d / Latt By [—] 59.[—] S / Long By 

Chront r 93.30 W.” [Reading some of this is 

guesswork.] 

Thursday 11 March [nothing significant]: 

“Latt By Act 58.18 S / Long By Dr 95.72 West.” 

“At Sea in Company Brig Annawan 12 th March 

1830 / This day begins with moderate breese 

from WNW & passing clouds / all drawing sail 

set to advantage / at 10 AM thick rain weather 

wind & sea increasing / took in flying Jib & put 

in 2 Reef d / Middle part the same / Saw several 

pieces of Kelp / 6 PM / Strong gales / ballance 

/ Reef d M. Sail 

/ Reef d F Sail / took bonnet of Jib / latter part 

thick rain / Latt By Dr 58.11 S / Long By Act 

96.54 W.” 

“Saturday 13 th March / First part strong 

gales from NNW / under snug Reef d with 

steady rain / at 4 AM wind / hauled to SW 

with heavy squales of wind rain & hail / wore 

ship to WNW / Middle & latter heavy gales / 

hove to / Brig off to windward / verry heavy 

sea / saw number of birds / Latt By Act 58.35 / 


Long 97.[—] W.” The next day was no better: 

“Sunday 14 th March / First part strong gales 

from SW By W with passing squales of wind 

hail rain & snow / Lying to under Reef d F sail 7 

head [?] of Jib / Middle part the same / at 2 PM 

wore ship SSW / Ends with strong gales & 

passing squales / Saw Penguins & Kelp / Latt 

By Act 57.48 S / Long By Act 99.20 W.” 

Although the fore-part of 15 March was 

“more moderate,” by midday, “heavy gales 

with squales of rain & snow” returned; “several 

of the crew of[f] duty occasioned by steady wet 

weather we have experienced for last ten days.” 

Wet alone was hardly the word for it! “Saw 

some Kelp / Latt By Act 57.41 S / Long By Act 

99°.27 W.” 

The entry for “Tuesday 16 th March” offers 

little that is new: “strong gales from WNW with 

sleete gales still increasing”; the entry ends on 

the following page, with the unrelated note at 

top of the page: “In Search of a New Isl d Said to 

be near this.” By mid-day, the storm had mitigated 

somewhat; they “Saw Penguins & other 

sea birds...Latt By Obs 59°06 S / Long By Act 

101.10 West.” 

Wednesday, 17 March was calmer; they 

“Saw a number of Birds / Latt By Obs 59°.48’ / 

Long By Act 102°.32’ West.” “Thursday 18 th 

March / First part fresh breese from SW with 

clear weather / all drawing sail set to advantage 

/ Stearing WNW / at 8 AM calm / took in 

sail, went on board the Brig / at 4 PM returned 

/ shot several birds.../ at 6 PM heavy gales / 

hove too under Reef d F Sail / Ends with verry 

heavy gale with passing squales short heavy 

sea / Lat By Dr 58°.38 S / Long By Chrmt r 

102°.26 W.” [Worse was to come.] 

“Friday 19 th March / Commences with 

heavy gales & squally from SSE / verry rough 

ugly sea / lying to under Reef d F. Sail / at 12 

midknight [!] a sea which stove our boat bulwarks 

& knocked cabose & heaved to the 

leward &c / Midder part moderate with 

squales of snow / Employed in repairing damages 

& lashing the stoven boat / at 6 PM hove 

to under Reef d F Sail for the knight in copany [!] 

with Brig / wind SW / So Ends this day / Latt 

By Obs [?] 58°.01’ S / Long By Act 103.02[?] W.” 

On 20 March, there were fresh gales, heavy 

squalls of wind, hail and snow — ending with 

“light winds & pleasant weather.” [I make out 

position to be 58.09 S, 96.[—] W.] 20 

On 21 March, still “In Search of New Isl d / 

At Sea in company Brig Annawan...Latt by Act 

58.11 S / Long By Chro tr 98.05 W.” Monday, 22 

March started with moderate breeze and pleasant 

weather but “at 6 PM wind backing to NW 

with heavy gales & steady rain...Ends blowing 

heavy with a cross ugle sea / Latt By Obs [?] 

58.08 S / Long By Act 96.00.” Tuesday, 23 

March, another stormy day, ended “Latt By Act 

57.30 S / Long By Act 95.20 W.” 

On Wednesday, 24 March, their course 

became northward, under cloudy weather with 

frequent squalls of rain. “Saw a number of 

black [?] fish & porpoises / Latt By Act 56.48 / 

Long by Obs 96.[?].” And the following day, 

with “cloudy weather & passing squales of 

rain,” they were “stearing north under all possible 

sail in company with Brig / saw a number 

of birds.” [The position given seems to be: 54.00 

S, 94.36 W.] 

Friday, 26 March: stormy, position 51.40 S, 

92.00 W. Saturday, 27 March: position, 49.25 S, 

89.15 W. Sunday, 28 March: position, 47.52 S, 

86.00 W. Monay, 29 March: some passing 

storms, “saw a number of birds,” position: 46.16 

S, long. illegible. On Tuesday, 30 March, under 

full sail, “Capt Palmer came on board & spent 

the day / Employed in laying platform & to 

work on the boat...Cours N By E...Latt By Obs 

44°.58’ S / Long By Act. 81.05 W.” 

There was nothing of consequence to report 

on 31 March: position, “Latt Act 42.53 [possibly 

it has been made ‘43.53’ by penning over] / 

Long By Act 78.00.” On Thursday, “1 th April,” 

they sailed steadily, “saw plenty of kelp & birds 

/ Latt By [—] 40°.17’ S /Long By Chr tr 75.43 

W.” 

And, on “Friday 2 th April / Commences 

with clear weather pleasant light wind from 

SSE / all sail set to advantage / at 10 Am saw 

the Island of Mocha / bearing NE Dist 10 

Leagues / bent the cables & got the Anchors 

over the bows / middle part same / Standing 

in for Isl d / at 4 [?] PM came up & spoke Ship 

Cincinatus of N York 6 months out with a 

whale along side & 300 bbs [barrels?] of oil / 

Chapter 6 79

Ship [the Annawan or another ship?] in sight to 

windward / latter part fresh wind NNW with 

rain / Lying by under short sail for Knight / 

Latt By Obs 38°.30 S” [no long. given.] 

“Saturday 3 th April / Commences with light 

buflin winds from N d with thick fog & rain / 

lying by to E d of Isl d in 16 fathom water / at 11 

AM wind came in SW with clear pleasant 

weather / Stood in to the Isl d & came to Anchor 

in 10 fathom abreast of watering place, in Company 

with Brig / went on shore & shot some 

birds, got some grain [so seems, even though 

‘greens’ might be more appropriate] / horses & 

hogs are verry scarce / we found 14 Spaniards 

here sealing the Keys / they had taken 2000 

skins & 400 Ambers of oil / they in formed 

[two words here] us there were plenty Seal on 

the Keys / So Ends this day.” [One wonders 

what the landfall meant for James Eights!] 21 

Two more entries end the saga of the Penquin 

here. Not only have Penguin and Annawan 

reached a parting point but the Penguin log 

becomes, for a time, nearly impossible to read. 

On Sunday, “Lying to Anchor off the Isl d 

Mocha 4 th April 1830 / First part clear pleasant 

weather / light airs from NW / 5 AM the boats 

went around & look d at Keys / 12 noon 

returned / Saw plenty Seal / to rough to land, 

took two boats & crew on board from the Brig / 

M r Willcox & the stoven boat went on board the 

Brig to proceed to Isl d St Marys / at 4 PM Parted 

Company / Ends with breese N.” 

“Monday 5 th April / This day begins with 

light breese from NNE with passing clouds / 6 

AM got under weigh / Stood around the Keys 

to rough to Land / Shorten sail & lay By for 

Knight / middle & latter part the same with 

large seas roling in from W d / Saw two ships in 

the offing.” 

James Eights’s own story becomes even 

more complicated than the printed record has 

heretofore intimated. The final history of the 

cruises of the Annawan and the Seraph will be 

told later. That history has rather little to do 

with James Eights, it turns out, even though at 

this point one may assume he and the Annawan 

were still together. Commentators who have 

covered the history of this expedition have 

assumed that they remained together until the 

return of the Annawan in 1831. The outcome 

was decidedly different. 

My task now turns to rounding out Eights’s 

Antarctic experience. 

It becomes evident that James Eights did a 

certain amount of collecting (mainly shells, it 

would seem) on the Chilean coast. That entire 

episode, very poorly understood indeed, will be 

recounted in later chapters on technical results 

of his Antarctic journey. Meanwhile, by means 

of the log of the Penguin, having taken the reader 

on an orienting and rather bare-bones tour 

into the fringes of the Antarctic, I now return to 

a reconstruction of what can be gleaned from 

Eights and others as to what, in fact, an observant 

naturalist may have seen there. My sources 

are primarily of three sorts. One is a delayed 

essay by Jeremiah N. Reynolds, perhaps part of 

his proposed work on the expedition that never 

got beyond a few newspaper notices. 

Part two consists of Eights’s own all too 

short account in “Remarks on the New South 

Shetland Islands” that accompanied his taxonomic 

study of a new species of crustacean, 

Brongniartia trilobitoides (1833). The third part is 

made up of excerpts from more or less contemporary 

travelers in the Antarctic (with an 

emphasis upon natural history), who may be 

taken to have seen pretty much what Eights 

and his compatriots saw. 22 

JEREMIAH N. REYNOLDS IN THE 

ANTARCTIC 

First, let us have pertinent extracts of 

Reynolds’s account, entitled “Leaves from an 

unpublished journal.” Published in 1838, we are 

told that it was written “a few years since” during 

a cruise “to the South Seas.” It was held to 

be “descriptive of the first arrival among the icy 

regions of the Antarctick.” 

“The nineteenth [of January] was the first 

day that reminded us of the high latitudes upon 

which we were entering. We now found ourselves, 

by observation, fifty-nine and a half 

degrees south of the equator. Here the wind, 

changing to the south-west, brought with it a 

chilling and piercing freshness, which convinced 

us that, as it swept from the antarctick, it 


had lingered not a little among the mighty 

floating crystals which lift their glittering cones 

to the regions surrounding the pole. [Maybe 

this is poetic metaphor; maybe, however, he 

really believed that the winds off the continent 

were not already cold.] Our vessels now glided 

on with greater rapidity; storms of snow and 

sleet gathered thicker around us, and increased 

vigilance became necessary to prevent parting 

company. Our feelings grew more and more 

excited with every plunge of our bark; and we 

loved to feel the elastick bound she gave on the 

back of every roaring and hissing billow, inasmuch 

as each one bore her onward to regions, 

to us, at least, unknown. The temperature of the 

air had gradually fallen to forty degrees, and 

that of the water to thirty-eight degrees. 

“On the twentieth, being satisfied, from our 

reckoning, that we were in the neighbourhood 

of the north-east extremity of the Shetland Isles, 

we maintained an unceasing watch for land. 

The fog was dense, and rested on the surface of 

the water, so that our prospect was very circumscribed, 

and it became necessary to arrange 

our men so as to keep perpetual guard against 

the ice-hummocks which were occasionally 

seen floating near us, and whence we augured 

the vicinity of some of those immense, towering 

islands of ice, which impart such grandeur to 

these regions, and lend such a perilous interest 

to polar voyages....As the vapour lifted gradually 

from the south, we were struck by the 

appearance of a white, lustrous spot, which 

expanded to a circle upon the horizon.... We 

were soon satisfied that this was the blink of a 

number of grounded icebergs, of vast magnitude, 

and with summits wrapped in snow. 

Beyond them rose, in still loftier spires of rock 

and ice, the north-east point of Barrow’s Island; 

nor was it possible to trace the termination of 

these eminences, so nearly did they resemble 

the white, fleecy clouds, by which they were 

enveloped. The air, meanwhile, became so light, 

that the movement of the vessels was scarcely 

perceptible, as we passed slowly under the lee 

of the island and icebergs. 23 

“The whole of Barrow’s Island, which forms 

the north-east extremity of the Shetland group, 

gradually broke upon us, as the mist passed 

lightly away. We were about two leagues from 

the land, and, as there was not wind enough to 

enable us to command the direction of the vessels, 

we put off in boats for the shore. The savage 

and cheerless aspect of the coast gave birth 

to more thrilling emotions in our minds, as we 

drew near it, than the most beautiful meadows 

and shaded lawns could have imparted. Additional 

interest was imparted to this domain of 

solitude and desolation, from the absence of 

vegetation, as well as of every animated being, 

save the sea-gull, which sent forth its melancholy 

shriek from its wild perch among the 

cliffs, thus adding to the dreariness of the scene. 

“As the vapour continued to pass away, a 

clear, cold, yellow brilliancy, glittered along the 

sea, and the sun came forth in a flood of dazzling 

splendour, which was reflected and multiplied 

from a thousand gleaming pinnacles of ice 

and snow....We had long panted to behold the 

realms of snow and ‘thick-ribbed ice,’ and now, 

for the first time, were under the shadow, and 

inhaling the cold breath of the polar icebergs. 

They were before and around, realizing all we 

had ever dreamed of their fearful grandeur and 

sublimity. In the afternoon, a deep calm, saving 

the light ripple occasioned by the tides, had settled 

upon the ocean. At this time the huge hummocks 

were floating by, under every conceivable 

variety of figure, and white and spotless as 

the purest alabaster.” 

A “shoal of whales” attracted their attention. 

“An old finbacker rose directly under the 

bows of the brig, and heaved her for some distance 

in the water, as if determined to test the 

weight and prowess of the new intruder....” 

“The rookery penguins next attracted our 

notice. They gathered and flitted about the vessel 

in flocks that could not be numbered. Portions 

of the shore were literally covered with 

this bird. In the water, their movements are 

rather those of a fish than of any species of 

winged creatures; they are continually plunging 

and emerging like a shoal of porpoises before a 

storm, and are more than half the time beneath 

the surface. As we drew near the island, its 

shore seemed singularly bold and abrupt, alternately 

presenting formations of rock and bodies 

of unbroken ice. Among the many exciting 

Chapter 6 81

spectacles we witnessed, was the falling asunder 

of an immense iceberg, which parted like a 

rent mountain, before the warmth of a wind 

bearing more of summer on its wings than any 

we had experienced here before, and shot 

crashing into the ocean, with a sound to which 

none on earth may be compared. 

“But one spot where we could land from the 

boats was attainable, and here we succeeded in 

capturing a heavy sea-elephant. ‘The male of 

this species has a cartilaginous substance projecting 

from the nose, six or seven inches in 

length, and from this peculiarity it derives its 

name, as its purpose seems to be similar to that 

of an elephant’s proboscis.’ [The author of this 

quotation is not identified.] Sometimes the male 

is more than twenty feet in length, and measures 

more than two fathoms about the body; 

while the female is never half that size, and 

bears a resemblance to the hair-seal. Between 

their movements in the sea and on shore, a 

striking contrast is observable — the former 

being sluggish and ungraceful, while the latter 

are quick, sagacious and elastick [surely, he has 

reversed these?]. The sea-elephant rarely runs, 

or turns to battle. Herein he is unlike the furseal. 

But when the club is lifted above his head, 

or the spear pointed at this heart, he merely 

raises his weeping eyes with a look of supplication 

to his murderer, and awaits the deadly 

blow with the resignation of a martyr. A light 

breeze began to crisp the surface of the water, 

as we returned to the vessels. We were consequently 

enabled to bear away to the westward, 

under easy sail. The night was uncommonly 

thick, so that, notwithstanding all our efforts to 

prevent it, we parted company with the Penguin, 

and did not see her again until the afternoon 

of the following day. 

“After rejoining our consort, we hove-to, in 

view of a cluster of rocks, bearing south-west 

from Barrow’s Island. To approach near them 

with the vessels, would, however, have been 

hazardous; we accordingly determined to 

reconnoitre them in our boats. These crags are 

called the Seal Rocks. They constitute a group 

about four miles in circumference, and appear 

to be the disintegrated ruins of an island 

washed away by the heavy and ceaseless action 

of an icy sea. Here and there are left rugged and 

spiral peaks, rising from one to four hundred 

feet above the tumbling waters, which dashed 

and foamed through the dark, narrow channels 

between them. In attempting to navigate one of 

these contracted passages, we met with a little 

accident. Our boat, while hurrying down the 

boiling current with the speed of a race-horse, 

encountered an opposing eddy, and, rearing 

perpendicularly from the shock, instantly capsized. 

We were cast upon a small beach at the 

foot of one of the rocks, in the struggle to attain 

which, the utility of a knowledge of swimming 

was practically illustrated. We landed, during 

the afternoon, on another small island, bearing 

east by south from the Seal Rocks, but which 

has never been laid down or described, on any 

of the still very unsatisfactory charts of the 

group. It would not claim any particular notice 

here, were it not rendered remarkable by a 

rocky column, soaring, partly perpendicularly, 

to the height of three hundred and fifty feet, 

while it does not exceed fifty in width and 

twenty in thickness. This lofty, natural pillar, 

might almost be imagined a vast tombstone, 

towering over the sepulchre of some ocean-god. 

As night gathered about us, a calm settled upon 

the ocean and the relaxed sails flapped wearily 

and heavily against the masts, like the tired pinions 

of some gigantick bird wheeling slowly 

and lazily over the waves. 24 

“During the night, we drifted, by the force 

of the current, several leagues, and were not a 

little surprised to find ourselves, as the fog scattered 

on the morning of the twenty-second, 

completely hemmed in by icebergs, a portion of 

them in motion, others aground, looming like 

mountains around us. Within the very ripple of 

some of them we must have glided, when a 

view of their now glistening summits was prevented 

by the blackness of darkness which 

hung around us. 

“We could not think of leaving Barrow’s 

Island, without a better acquaintance with its 

position and peculiarities; but, at the same time, 

it was not deemed safe for the vessels to 

approach nearer the coast, on account of the 

masses of ice and crags by which it was surrounded, 

and which were constantly enveloped 


in a mist of spray, from the breakers that surged 

high up their precipitous sides. We had no 

recourse but to land from the boats, and they 

were accordingly lowered for our reception. 

The trials and hardships of boat excursions, 

south of latitude sixty degrees, were something 

with which we had yet to become acquainted...Notwithstanding 

the eager hurry of our 

departure, however, we did not forget to take 

with us a camp-kettle, tinder-box, some muskets 

and sealing-clubs, and a small supply of 

provisions. We provided ourselves with these 

articles as a precautionary measure, seeing that 

we might possibly be compelled to ‘haul,’ as the 

sealers have it, and thus remain absent during 

the night, though such a necessity did not 

exactly come within the plan of our excursion. 

We now took to our oars, and, making the 

island on the north-east side, distant about 

three leagues, we laid our course west, and shot 

rapidly toward the shore. As we pulled along 

its verge, we found, in a sweep of coast several 

miles in extent, only two or three places where 

it was practicable to land; and even at those 

points we were obliged to leap from the cuddy 

of the boat, as the lifting sea threw her bows in 

close contact with some overhanging cliff. The 

shore, constituted of rock and solid ice, was 

particularly bold; indeed, so perpendicularly 

did it rise from the water’s edge, that an ascent 

of the island was utterly impossible, although 

we wearied ourselves with exertions to accomplish 

it. We could not even land, without running 

imminent risk of getting our boat stove 

against the sharp, shelving crags. But the 

absorbing consideration was this — that, had 

we succeeded in reaching some tenable spot, 

we could not have passed the night there, without 

danger of being whelmed by the avalanches 

of snow and ice, which were constantly liable to 

be detached from the overshadowing peaks on 

which they reposed. 

“While we glided through the water under 

‘easy oars,’ the wind was suddenly down upon 

us, and a fog like the night of Egypt enveloped 

us in its dismal veil. The sea began to rise, and 

the surf thundered against the rocks with 

added violence. To attempt returning to the vessels, 

would have been an act of madness; for it 

was clear, from the point to which the wind had 

hauled round, that their captains would but 

consult their own safety, by putting at once to 

sea, to avoid the impending masses of ice by 

which they were environed. We therefore kept 

as close as possible to the coast, observing narrowly 

every indentation where shelter might be 

hoped for, while each moment served to 

increase the black and threatening aspect of the 

elements. It was late in the afternoon, when, 

after a laborious struggle for a distance of more 

than fifteen miles, we had the good fortune to 

discover a narrow beach, upon which we were 

enabled to land. Yet, even here, the ocean broke 

in white and booming surges, and with a sound 

like the continual discharge of artillery. The 

lateness of the hour precluded farther examination, 

and we prepared to take advantage of this 

opportunity to obtain safety and rest. For a few 

moments we rested on our oars, about two hundred 

yards from the place where we proposed 

landing, until we had ridden over the huge 

rollers that were heaving heavily beneath us. 

Then the words, ‘Steady, boys — steady! bows 

on! bows on! — Stand ready to leap, the instant 

she touches the shore!” and, as our tough 

blades cut the water, she seemed to bound from 

billow to billow, like a ‘thing of life.’ To guide a 

boat amid the lifting and leap of the surf, is, by 

no means, an easy undertaking; but, by proper 

and skilful management, disastrous consequences 

may usually be avoided. The men 

should be kept firm and steady on their seats — 

the oars from entanglement in the waves — and 

the boat well-poised — directly off and on. The 

spring is to be made simultaneously with the 

craft’s taking ground; and she is then to be 

raised at once from the water, and borne to a 

safe distance up the shore. By these means, we 

all reached the narrow beach, with no other 

damage than complete immersion; but wet, 

cold and comfortless — what were we to do for 

fuel and furnace! That this desolate island, in 

whose icy furrows no vegetation ever sprang, 

must be our abode for the night, was, of course, 

a settled question; the necessity was unavoidable....Yet, 

how often is man troubled with the 

thought of evils he is not destined to experience! 

He fails to remember, as he ought, that the 

Chapter 6 83

arm of the Creator is ever about him...On the 

present occasion...this protecting care...was 

apparent. The last boat had been lifted from the 

surf, and the desolateness of our situation and 

prospects was beginning to weigh heavily on 

our hearts, when we descried, at a short distance 

on the same beach, a small rookery of seaelephants, 

thrusting their heads upward with a 

fierce expression of defiance, as if determined to 

maintain their exclusive right to the dreary and 

solitary spot they had chosen for an abode. 

“But what place is exempt, what creature 

safe, from the intrusion of man?...In this 

instance, instigated by that necessity which 

admits neither question nor delay, we prepared 

to attack the rookery. It is almost needless to 

add...that the issue was, the capture of six of the 

animals. Our success relieved us of all apprehensions 

on the score of fuel, as the blubber of 

the sea-elephant will kindle and support an 

admirable fire; while his tongue constitutes an 

excellent and luxurious article of food. An 

expression of gratitude and delight now 

seemed to beam from every countenance, for 

our wants being in a great measure removed, 

the novelty of our situation could not fail to 

awaken feelings of pleasure as intense and 

absorbing as they were peculiar. A day or two, 

it was true, might reduce us to our last biscuit; 

but on this it was not the disposition of sailors 

to speculate. 

“But little labour was required in making 

our preparations for the night. The wandering 

Arab, when overtaken by darkness on the 

desert, could not in less time pitch his tent than 

we occupied in reversing our boats on the 

frozen snow and sand, and extending the dripping 

canvass which was to be our bed. As the 

night began to lower around us, the thickening 

clouds added tenfold to its darkness, and everything 

was prophetick of a coming tempest. Our 

blubber fire had been kindled on a platform of 

stones, and, as we clustered about it, with faces 

blackening in the dense oleaginous smoke it 

emitted, we might readily have been taken for a 

group of northern Esquimaux, or their counterparts, 

the natives of Terra del Fuego, who 

inhabit the opposite extremity of our continent. 

“With the approach of morning it began to 

blow a strong gale, which continued unintermittingly 

through the day, flinging the surf so 

angrily and heavily in, that to launch our boats 

was out of the question. Nor would such a 

measure have been in the least avail, had we 

been able to effect it, as the island was still 

shrouded in a mist which was as impervious to 

the eye as the darkness of midnight. In the 

evening we had again recourse to the shelter of 

our boats, beneath which, wild and dreary as 

our situation ws, the sailors did not forget on 

this, the closing night of the week, to crack their 

jokes and spin their long yarns, and they even 

said something about home and their ‘sweethearts 

and wives.’ The fierceness of the storm 

did not diminish during the hours of darkness. 

The deep thunder of the waves as they heaved 

the enormous icebergs from their foundations 

and scattered them in fragments around; the 

lurid tartarean glow, caught from our lambent 

fires, which was reflected from objects around 

us, threw over our singular encampment a 

character of wildness and horrour, which, 

heightened as it was by thoughts that would 

intrude as to the possible duration of our exile, 

is not to be described or even conceived. 

“On the twenty-fourth, intimations of a 

return of pleasant weather began to dawn upon 

us. Our anxiety for the safety of the vessels, so 

intimately connected with our own, was infinitely 

relieved by these appearances. Filling our 

camp-kettle with young penguins, and a bird of 

the gull family called the Port Egmont hen — 

which had been drawn to our bivouack by the 

remnants of the slaughtered sea-elephants — it 

was swung, at an early hour, over our fire of 

blubber. Having breakfasted, we succeeded, 

after repeated trials, in shooting the boats once 

more into their proper element; then bidding, as 

we imagined, a last farewell to our rude harbour, 

which we distinguished by the title of 

Rodman’s Cove, in remembrance of our much 

esteemed friend, Benjamin Rodman, Esq., of 

New-Bedford — we bore away on our blind pilgrimage 

in search of the vessels. Urging our 

course as rapidly as we might, we plunged on 

league after league from the shore: but still the 

vast circuit of the horizon unveiled nothing to 

our straining eyes but sky, ocean, clouds and 


glittering pyramids. At length, satisfied that our 

vessels had not returned to the island, we 

found ourselves under the necessity of again 

seeking, though with much reluctance, our former 

shelter. As the day was not very far 

advanced, we sent two of the boats on shore, 

and proceeded to examine the western point of 

the island until our direction was clearly southeast. 

Upon this part of the coast is the only 

indentation that deserves the name of bay. It 

opened upon us with a degree of imposing 

grandeur, of which those who have never visited 

these regions of wild sublimity, would find it 

difficult to conceive. This inlet, in honour of the 

late secretary of the navy, we named Southard’s 

Bay; not, however, with any reference to his 

publick character and services, for of these he 

has better and more durable monuments, but 

simply as an evidence of friendship and 

regard. 25 

“A firm, unbroken body of ice seemed here 

to constitute the coast for more than six miles. It 

rose perpendicularly from the water’s edge, 

and, extending back, appeared to form a material 

part of the island. This vast glittering collection 

had probably been accumulating for centuries. 

The falling and drifting snow and sleet, 

congealing year after year upon the old formation, 

had not only supplied the portion dissolved 

by the short and partial summers, but 

added annually to the extent and picturesque 

appearance of this huge mass of crystallization. 

After coasting the base of several icebergs and 

making our way through the field-ice floating 

around us, we reached the neighbourhood of a 

long and dangerous reef which partly obstructs 

the channel between Barrow and Clarence Isle, 

being the extreme attainable point of the former 

in this direction. The dashing of the heavy swell 

upon the breakers, as it poured from the south, 

heaved in vast quantities of field-ice. As they 

plunged forward upon other floes in advance, 

the whole body was broken into atoms, and a 

mist, like the smoke from the crater of a volcano, 

was cast to the clouds from an area of 

many miles. In addition to this, let the imagination 

of the reader picture the savage features of 

the shore, whence the overtowering cliffs of ice 

are not unfrequently separated from the main 

body by the undermining rush of the billows; 

let him conceive the plunge of the disparted 

ruin; the thundering crash of its collision with 

the ocean; the vortex of foam and spray which 

mark where it fell; and even then, be his fancy 

ever so vivid, he will fail to realize the sublime 

realities of the Antarctick. 26 

“To progress farther being impossible, we 

leaned for a season on our oars, gazing in mute 

admiration on the wonders around us — only 

moving occasionally and slightly, to avoid the 

iron grasp of the closing ice. In the evening we 

retraced our course to the old place of encampment, 

where we joined some of the party who 

had preceded us to the spot, and had, moreover, 

been fortunate enough to provide fuel for 

the night, by killing another sea-elephant of 

large size. 

“As yet, we had discovered no part of the 

coast where we could ascend to the summit of 

the island; and as the ‘golden set’ the sun was 

about to make, promised fine weather on the 

morrow, it was probable that we should have 

no opportunity, after the present evening, of 

making farther trials. We, therefore, determined, 

as an hour or two of daylight yet 

remained, to make a hasty search for some 

practicable acclivity. 

“The altitude of the shore land at this spot, 

seemed to be about one thousand feet, rising 

toward the interiour to a much greater elevation. 

The only point we could find by which an 

ascent could be attempted with any feasible 

prospect of success, was a slight ravine, into 

which the snow had drifted nearly to the top of 

the rocks. So slippery and difficult to impress, 

had the congealed accumulations which 

blocked up the defile become, that we were 

compelled to proceed slowly, and with caution 

— no certain foothold being attainable except 

by making indentations in the snowy mass with 

the heel or toe of the shoe. 

“On gaining the first eminence, we found 

our situation to be one of no little danger. The 

valley up which we had toiled, avoiding the 

center of the island, ran obliquely with the 

coast, and, on reaching the summit, we found 

ourselves hanging over the terrifick front of a 

frowning precipice. The ridge on which we 

Chapter 6 85

stood could not exceed twenty-four inches in 

breadth. Gravel and loose stones constituted the 

soil, which seemed each moment as if about to 

crumble beneath our feet, and hurl us from our 

precarious position a thousand feet into the 

yawning gulf below. As we leaped forward, a 

part of the loose soil separated from the rest, 

and actually shot into the sea at the very instant 

we had quitted it! A safe foothold was, however, 

soon obtained, and, after surmounting two 

other peaks, which rose one above another, we 

at length stood on what was evidently the loftiest 

point of the island. ... 27 

“The sun, at this time within an hour of setting, 

was sinking in a clear horizon, and the 

evening was precisely such as might be naturally 

desired for the enjoyment of a scene like that 

before us. ... 

“Long will it be ere that twilight...shall fade 

from memory. ... 

“Never till now had we felt so bitterly the 

absence of those boon and brave spirits with 

whom we had hoped, aforetime, to encounter 

the perils and enjoy the wonders of these seas. 

Could it be told us where were Jones, and 

Pinkham, and Long, and Wilson, and 

Buchanan! Why were they not with us, as well 

as those noble companions whose names fill an 

enviable place in the “Naval Register?” They 

were appointed to a national expedition — they 

would well have fulfilled a nation’s expectations. 

Why was not the Peacock discernible, 

standing off the island, awaiting our return? 

Her bows of iron would have burst a passage 

through those icy fields, as a boat cleaves her 

sparkling way through the froth of ocean. 

But...the rapid approach of night warned us to 

lose no time in rejoining our comrades in Rodman’s 

Cove. The sun had already dipped in the 

waters; but he was leaving a glory behind, 

which promised, in some measure, to atone for 

his departure. Shooting horizontally along the 

surface of the waves, and reflected in their passage 

from myriads of sparkling cones of ice, the 

last beams of day illuminated, with a more 

solemn and touching splendour, the dazzling 

expanse. It was a beautiful sunset, and a sabbath 

evening. At such a time, in such a temple, 

devotion is an instinct! 

“Our companions we found seated round a 

small blubber-fire, waiting for us to assist them 

in making a descent upon a supper of boiled 

and roast penguins, obtained from a rocky 

promontory but a short distance from the little 

beach we occupied. The flesh was quite juicy 

and tender, and, by unanimous consent, of 

excellent relish. An alteration had been made as 

regarded our quarters for the night, by removing 

the boats to a spot where we could cover 

them with an embankment of snow to keep out 

the wind, and lessen the danger of being 

crushed by falling rocks from the precipice that 

beetled above us. A portion of the cliff had, 

indeed, fallen the previous night, and so close 

to us, that one of the fragments had partially 

shattered the boat under which we were lying. 

“The morning of the twenty-fifth was such 

as might have been anticipated from the preceding 

evening. At the first break of day, which, 

in this latitude and at this season, is perceptible 

at two o’clock in the morning, we again put to 

sea in our boats, and made for the eastern side 

of the island, where we hoped to rejoin the vessels....We 

swept along with spirit-stirring rapidity 

for some distance to the eastward, when we 

suddenly found ourselves again enveloped in a 

dirty and desolate mist. Assisted by a small 

compass, we steered immediately for the island, 

of which, notwithstanding the precipitous 

aspects of its shore, we could see no trace — not 

even the faintest outline. We had not proceeded 

far on our new course, before we found ourselves 

on the very brink of destruction — about 

to rush amid sunken ledges and blind breakers, 

of which we had no intimation until the white 

foam was leaping and whirling in fearful 

eddies around the very bows of our frail and 

plunging skiffs....Immediately shaping our 

course from the land, we determined to tempt 

the hazards of the open sea sooner than 

encounter the perils of such a coast. We had 

rowed, or rather groped our way, for about a 

league, when we fortunately ran into a small 

channel that shot between two rocks, one of 

which had a shelving base more than two hundred 

yards in circumference. This we ascended, 

and forthwith kindled a fire from some pieces 

of blubber which remained in the boats. The 


day was moderately mild, and the sailors, wearied 

by protracted exertion at the oar, soon lay 

scattered upon the rock, like so many marine 

animals come up from their element to sun 

themselves. ... 

“The sudden changes which distinguish 

these latitudes are truly astonishing. Suddenly 

the fog that surrounded us would lift and display 

a view only girdled by the horizon; and 

again, as quickly, the broad prospect, and even 

the objects immediately about us, were lost in 

obscurity. We had ascended and seated ourself 

with a spyglass on the loftiest pinnacle of the 

cliff, from whence nothing was to be descried 

but the boundless, ice-speckled sea....At length, 

as day was fading, and hope itself began to tire, 

we caught a glance of what appeared to be the 

rising and sinking topsail of a vessel. The suspense 

and doubts of that moment were indeed 

intense. It might be the ‘blink’ of a distant iceberg;...[but 

it was indeed the Annawan and the 

Penguin]. 

“To describe what followed is almost unnecessary....Leaving 

the simmering, half-cooked 

dinner to be devoured by the Maulemucks, Nellies, 

Gulls, and Mother Carey’s chickens, we 

started in high spirits, and, by nine o’clock the 

same evening, arrived safely on board. ...” 28 

Thus, Jeremiah N. Reynolds. 

JAMES EIGHTS, FARTHEST SOUTH 

It is now the turn of James Eights, this time 

a consideration of his first work on the natural 

history of his Antarctic experience. It appeared 

in 1833, as a kind of afterthought to his description 

of what he deemed a new species and 

genus of crustacean. I have elected to keep the 

first paragraph of the account with his taxonomic 

analysis of Brongniartia trilobitoides, printed 

elsewhere. 

“After landing at several places [on the 

Patagonian coast] and spending some days at 

Staaten-Land, we proceeded to the new South- 

Shetland islands, which are situated between 61 

and 63° of south latitude, and west longitude 54 

and 63. They are formed by an extensive cluster 

of rocks rising abruptly from the ocean, to a 

considerable height above its surface. Their true 

elevation cannot easily be determined, in consequence 

of the heavy masses of snow which lie 

over them, concealing them almost entirely 

from the sight. Some of them however, rear 

their glistening summits to an altitude of about 

three thousand feet, and when the heavens are 

free from clouds, imprint a sharp and well 

defined outline upon the intense blueness of the 

sky: they are divided every where by straits and 

indented by deep bays, or coves, many of 

which afford to vessels a comfortable shelter 

from the rude gales to which these high latitudes 

are so subject. When the winds have 

ceased to blow and the ocean is at rest, nothing 

can exceed the beautiful clearness of the atmosphere 

in these elevated regions. The numerous 

furrows and ravines which every where 

impress the snowy acclivity of the hills, are distinctly 

visible for fifty or sixty miles, and the 

various sea-fowl, resting upon the slight eminences 

and brought in strong relief against the 

sky, ofttimes deceive the experienced eye of the 

mariner by having their puny dimensions magnified 

in size to those of the human form. 29 

“The ocean in the vicinity, as far as the eye 

has vision, is here and there studded with ice 

bergs, varying in magnitude from a few feet to 

more than a mile in extent, and not unfrequently 

rising two hundred feet in the air, presenting 

every variety of form, from the snug whitewashed 

cottage of the peasant, to the enormous 

architectural pile, containing either broadly 

expanded Grecian domes, or having the many 

lofty and finely attenuated spires of some Gothic 

structure. 

“The sun, even at midsummer, attains but a 

moderate altitude in these dreary regions, and 

when its horizontal beams illumine these masses 

of ice, their numerous angles and indentations 

catching the light as they move along, 

exhibit all the beautiful gradations of colour 

from an emerald green to that of the finest blue. 

Some of them whose sloping sides will admit of 

their ascent, are tenanted by large assemblages 

of Penguins, whose chattering noise may be 

heard on a still day at an incredible distance 

over the clear smooth surface of the sea. When 

the storms rage and the ocean rolls its mountain 

wave against their slippery sides, the scene is 

Chapter 6 87

Figure 6.2. The South Shetland Islands, with special reference to King George Island, where most of James Eights 

Antarctic observations were made. From R.H. Headland, Chronological List of Antarctic Expeditions and Related Historical 

Events (Cambridge University Press, 1989, page 581). 

truly sublime. Tall columns of spray shooting 

up far above their tops, soon become dissipated 

in clouds of misty white; gradually descending, 

they envelope the whole mass for a short space 

of time, giving to it much the appearance of 

being covered with a veil of silvery gauze. 

When thus agitated they not unfrequently 

explode with the noise of thunder, scattering 

their fragments far and wide over the surrounding 

surface of the deep. These hills of ice are 

borne onwards at a considerable rate by the 

power of the wind and the velocity of the current 

— when so, they sweep along with a 

majesty that nothing else can equal. 

“The sky too in these latitudes presents a 

very singular aspect; being, most generally 

filled with innumerable clouds, torn into 

ragged and irregular patches by the wild gales 

which every where race over the Antarctic seas: 

the sun as it rises or sets, slowly and obliquely 

in the southern horizon, sends its rays through 

the many openings between, tinging them here 

and there with every variety of hue and colour, 

from whence they are thrown in mild and beautiful 

reflections upon the extensive fields of 

snow which lie piled on the surrounding hills, 

giving to the whole scene for a greater part of 

the long summer day, the ever varying effect of 

a most gorgeous sunset. 

“Although many of the scenes about these 

islands are highly exciting, the effect produced 

on the mind by their general aspect is cold and 


cheerless to an unusual degree, for on their 

lonely shores the voice of man is seldom heard: 

the only indication of his ever having trod the 

soil, is the solitary grave of some poor seaman 

near the beach, and the only wood that any 

where meets the eye, are the staves that mark 

its dimensions; no sound for years disturbs the 

silence of the scene, save the wild screech of 

sea-birds as they wing their way in search of 

their accustomed food — the incessent [!] chattering 

of the congregated Penguins — the rude 

blasts, tearing among the icy hills — the sullen 

roar of the waves, tumbling and dashing along 

the shores, or the heavy explosions of the large 

masses of snow falling into the waves beneath, 

to form the vast ice-bergs which every where 

drift through the southern ocean. 

“The shores of these islands are generally 

formed by perpendicular cliffs of ice frequently 

reaching for many miles, and rising from ten 

feet, to several hundred in height. In many 

places at their base, the continued action of the 

water has worn out deep caves with broadly 

arched roofs, under which the ocean rolls its 

wave with a subterranean sound that strikes 

most singularly on the ear, and when sufficiently 

undermined, extensive portions crack off 

with an astounding report, creating a tremendous 

surge in the sea below, which as it rolls 

over its surface, sweeps every thing before it, 

from the smallest animal that feeds on its shallow 

bottom, to those of the greatest bulk. Entire 

skeletons of the whale, fifty or sixty feet in 

length, are not unfrequently found in elevated 

situations along the shores many feet above the 

high water line, and I know of no other cause 

capable of producing this effect. Whales are 

very common in this vicinity, and in calm 

weather great numbers of them may be seen 

breaking the surface of the ocean in the many 

intervals which occur between its numerous 

ice-bergs, sometimes sending forth volumes of 

spray, at others, elevating their huge flukes in 

the air to descend head first, as it were, to fathom 

the ocean’s depth. When they perish either 

from accident or some more natural cause, their 

carcasses in drifting towards the shore are overtaken 

by these billows and thrown thus far 

upon the land, here they are left by the retiring 

wave, and in a few hours their bones become 

perfectly denuded by the numberless sea-birds 

that feed upon the flesh. It is after these waves 

have subsided that the animal here described 

[his Brongniartia], together with several other 

equally interesting crustacea may be obtained 

in considerable numbers. 

“The geological features that these islands 

present in those highly favored situations, 

where the continuous power of the winds has 

swept bare the rocks, correspond in a great 

measure with their desolate and dreary aspect. 

They are composed principally of vertical 

columns of basalt, resting upon strata of argillaceous 

conglomerate; the pillars are united in 

detatched groups, having at their bases sloping 

banks constructed of materials which are constantly 

accumulating by fragments from above. 

These groups rise abruptly from the irregularly 

elevated plains, over whose surface they are 

scattered here and there, presenting an appearance 

to the eye not unlike some old castle crumbling 

into ruin, and when situated upon the 

sandstone promontories that occasionally jut 

out into the sea, they tower aloft in solitary 

grandeur over its foaming waves; sometimes 

they may be seen piercing the superincumbent 

snow, powerfully contrasting their deep murky 

hues with its spotless purity. Ponds of fresh 

water are now and then found on the plains, 

but they do not owe their origin to springs, 

being formed by the melting of the snow. 

“The rocky shores of these islands are 

formed by bold craggy eminences standing out 

into the sea at different distances from each 

other, from whose bases dangerous reefs not 

unfrequently lie out for several miles in extent, 

rendering it necessary for navigators to keep a 

cautious watch, after making any part of this 

coast: the intervals between these crags are 

composed of narrow strips of plain, constructed 

of coarsely angulated fragments of every variety 

of size, which at some previous period have 

fallen from the surrounding hills. They slope 

gradually down to the water terminating in a 

fine sandy beach: a few rounded pieces of granite 

are occasionally to be seen lying about, 

brought unquestionably by the ice-bergs from 

their parent hills on some far more southern 

Chapter 6 89

land, as we saw no rocks of this nature in situ 

on these islands. In one instance, I obtained a 

boulder nearly a foot in diameter from one of 

these floating hills. The action of the waves has 

produced little or no effect upon the basalt 

along this coast, as its angles retain all the 

acuteness of a recent fracture, but when the 

conglomerate predominates, the mass is generally 

rounded. 30 

“The ocean about these shores is generally 

of great depth, the materials which constitute 

its bottom are comminuted particles having 

their origin from the decomposition of the 

neighbouring rocks. Our stay at these islands 

occupied a period of four weeks, during which 

time we observed but one ebb and flow of the 

tide in twenty-four hours. I know not if this be 

universal, but have been informed by mariners 

familiar in these seas, that they have generally 

found it so; if it should prove to be the case, it is 

a very singular phenomenon. 

“Not a day occurred that snow did not fall 

or ice make on our decks, and during the time 

we spent between the latitudes of 60 and 70° 

south, and 54 & 101 west longitude, which was 

more than two months, we found the current 

setting with considerable velocity from the 

south-west to the north-east. The prevailing 

winds were also westerly, most commonly from 

the south-west and north-west. 

“The colour of the basalt is generally of a 

greenish black. The prisms are from four to nine 

sided, most commonly however of but six, and 

from three to four feet in diameter; their greatest 

length in an upright position above the subjacent 

conglomerate is about eighty feet. Their 

external surfaces are closely applied to each 

other, though but slightly united, consequently 

they are continually falling out by the expansive 

power of the congealing water among its 

fissures. When they are exposed to the influence 

of the atmosphere for any length of time, 

they are for a small depth of a rusty brown 

colour, owing no doubt to the iron which they 

contain becoming partially oxydized: sometimes 

they are covered by a thin coating of 

quartz and chalcedony. 

“Clusters of these columns are occasionally 

seen reposing on their side in such a manner as 

to exhibit the surfaces of their base distinctly, 

which is rough and vesicular. When this is the 

case they are generally bent, forming quite an 

arch with the horizon. When they approach the 

conglomerate for ten or twelve feet, they lose 

their columnar structure and assume the 

appearance of a dark coloured flinty slate, 

breaking readily into irregular rhombic fragments: 

this fine variety in descending, gradually 

changes to a greenish colour and a much 

coarser structure, until it passes into a most perfect 

amygdaloid, the cavities being chiefly filled 

with quartz, amethyst, and chalcedony. Sometimes 

an interval of about forty or fifty feet 

occurs between these columns, which space is 

occupied by the amorphous variety elevated to 

some considerable height against them, their 

edges in this case are not at all changed by the 

contact. 

“The basalt is very tough and hard, the 

effect produced upon it by the action of the file 

is very slight: the steel elicits no sparks: the 

fragments are angular with an imperfect conchoidal 

fracture: its structure is coarsely granular 

and uneven, and is composed essentially of 

hornblende, feldspar, and a greenish substance 

in grains much resembling epidote: crystals of 

leucite of a yellow and reddish tinge are disseminated 

throughout the mass whose fractured 

surfaces strongly reflect the rays of light 

to the eye: in some places it sensibly affects the 

needle, owing no doubt to its iron. Veins of 

quartz frequently traverse the fine variety, some 

of them containing beautiful amethysts. 

“The basic rock of these islands, as far as I 

could discover, is the conglomerate which 

underlies the basalt. It is composed most generally 

of two or three layers, about five feet in 

thickness each, resting one on the other and 

dipping to the south east at an angle of from 

twelve to twenty degrees. These layers are 

divided by regular fissures into large rhombic 

tables, many of which appear to have recently 

fallen out, and now lie scattered all over the 

sloping sides of the hills, so that the strata when 

seen cropping out from beneath the basalt, present 

a slightly arched row of angular projections 

of some considerable magnitude and extent. 

“These strata are chiefly composed of irreg- 


ular and angular fragments of a rock, whose 

principal ingredient appears to be green earth, 

arranged with both a granular and slaty structure, 

united by an argillaceous cement; the 

whole mass when moistened by the breath giving 

out a strong odour of that earth. The upper 

portion of this conglomerate for a few feet, is of 

a dirty green colour, and appears to be constructed 

by the passage of the amygdaloid into 

this rock, the greenish fragments predominating, 

and they are united to each other principally, 

by zeolite of a beautiful light red, or orange 

colour, together with some quartz and chalcedony; 

a few crystals of lime cause it to effervesce 

slightly in some places. These minerals 

seem in a great measure to replace the earthy 

cement. In descending a few feet further, the 

green fragments gradually decrease in number 

and become comparatively rare, the minerals 

also give place to the cement until the whole 

mass terminates below in a fine argillaceous 

substance, with an imperfect slaty structure and 

a spanish-brown aspect. 

“This rock being much softer in its nature 

than the basalt and more affected by decomposing 

agents, the number of fragments are consequently 

greater in proportion, and much more 

finely pulverised, forming the little soil, which 

supports some of the scattered and scanty 

patches of the vegetation of these islands. 

“The minerals embraced in this rock are 

generally confined to its upper part where it 

unites and passes into the incumbent amygdaloid, 

many of them are also in common with 

that rock. They consist chiefly of quartz, crystalline 

and amorphous, amethyst, chalcedony, 

cachalong, agate, red jasper, felspar, zeolite, calcareous 

spar in rhombic crystals, sulphate of 

barytes, a minute crystal resembling black 

spinelle, sulphuret of iron and green carbonate 

of copper. 

“The only appearance of an organized 

remain that I any where saw, was a fragment of 

carbonized wood inbedded in this conglomerate. 

It was in a vertical position, about two and 

a half feet in length and four inches in diameter: 

its colour is black, exhibiting a fine ligneous 

structure, the concentric circles are distinctly 

visible on its superior end, it occasionally gives 

sparks with steel, and effervesces slightly in 

nitric acid. 31 

“There are a number of active volcanoes in 

the vicinity of these islands, indications of 

which are daily seen in the pieces of pumice 

found strewed along the beach. Capt. Weddel 

saw smoke issuing from the fissures of Bridgeman’s 

island, a few leagues to the N.E. Palmers 

land, situated one degree south: what little is 

known of it, which is only a small portion of its 

northern shore, contains several. Deception 

island also, one of this group, has boiling 

springs, and a whitish substance like melted 

felspar, exudes from some of its fissures. 32 

“The rocky fragments on these islands are 

generally very hard and little liable to the disintegrating 

influence of the atmosphere, and 

rarely indeed are they subject to a power capable 

of agitating them sufficiently to remove 

even the acuteness of their angles, consequently 

but a small quantity of soil can any where be 

found, and when discovered, being destitute of 

the necessary ingredients that give fatness to 

the earth elsewhere, it affords but a few scattered 

patches of vegetation, which appear to 

struggle hard for the small portion of vitality 

they enjoy. The Usnea faciata, Torrey [Silliman’s 

Journal, vol. 6, page 104. Imperfectly described 

in consequence of the badness of the specimen 

(Eights’s footnote).], is most common. A species 

of Polytrichum [a moss] resembling the 

alpinum of Lin.[,] one or two lichens and a 

fucus found in the sea, along the shores — 

when you add to these an occasional plant of a 

small species of avena, you complete the botanical 

catalogue of the islands. 33 

“The only vertebral animals [he means 

mammals] ever observed on these islands are 

very few in number, and confined to the 

amphibia carnivora of Cuvier; all being 

embraced in the genus Phoca [not as now 

understood!]. The P. leonina, Lin. (sea elephant) 

is the largest of the species, sometimes attaining 

the length of twenty-five feet, and is regularly 

proportioned. These animals are remarkable for 

the powerful strength of their jaws. When 

attacked, and wounded in such a manner as to 

be unable to reach the sea, in the struggle, 

either through agony or rage, they not unfre- 

Chapter 6 91

quently take up considerable sized stones with 

their mouth, and break them into a number of 

fragments between their teeth: sometimes they 

seize upon the lance, breaking it instantaneously, 

or else, bending it in such a manner as to 

render it perfectly useless. The sea leopard is 

not so large, but is a far more beautiful animal. 

P. vitulina, Lin. (fur-seal). This beautiful little 

animal was once most numerous, but was 

almost exterminated by the sealers at the time 

these islands were first discovered. There is also 

a fourth species, which I have no recollection of 

ever seeing the slightest notice of. It is probably 

not common, as I saw but one; it was standing 

on the extremities of its fore-feet, (flippers) the 

head and chest perfectly erect, abdomen curved 

and resting on the ground, the tail was also in 

an upright position: the animal in this attitude 

bore a striking resemblance to the representations 

we frequently meet with of the ‘mermaid,’ 

and I think it was undoubtedly one of the animals 

of this genus that first gave origin to the 

fable of the maid of the sea. I regret that I could 

not obtain a nearer view of this interesting animal. 

When I approached within one hundred 

feet, it threw itself flat and made rapidly for the 

sea: it appeared about twelve or fifteen feet in 

length, and distinctly more slender in proportion 

than any of the other species, so much so 

that the motion of the body when moving 

seemed perfectly undulating. Some of the seamen 

had seen them frequently on a former voyage, 

and mentioned that they were known 

among sealers by the name of sea-serpent, from 

this circumstance. Some of the teeth were 

brought to me which had been picked up on 

the beach. The crown of the grinders is deeply 

and singularly five lobed. 34 

“When these animals resort to the shores for 

the purpose of breeding or shedding their hair 

[whether he here refers to the elephant seal 

alone or to seals in general is not clear] they are 

in fine condition. During this time they require 

no food, existing by the absorption of their fatty 

matter: if killed at this period, you generally 

find a quantity of small stones in the stomach, 

swallowed most probably for the purpose of 

keeping that organ distended and preventing 

its internal surfaces from adhering to each 

other. When the season for returning to the sea 

arrives, these stones are ejected on the beach, 

and they proceed in search of their ordinary 

food, which is chiefly penguins [a gross oversimplification]. 

A singular character in the habit 

of these animals is the faculty they possess of 

shedding tears when in any way molested. The 

eyes becoming suffused and the large teardrops 

chasing each other in quick succession 

over their wrinkled faces, creates quite a sympathy 

in the breast of the beholder. Of the 

Cetacea inhabiting the ocean among these 

islands, the Balaena physalis (fin whale) with a 

smooth belly, is very numerous: the B. mysticetus 

(right whale) is occasionally seen. The 

Grampus and Dolphins are quite common, and 

a species of Porpoise which I had not before 

seen, occurs in great numbers. From their 

appearance in the water their colour seemed 

dark, with a broad, somewhat waved white 

line, extending from the posterior and inferior 

part of the head, backward and upward to the 

dorsal fin: a second and similar one commences 

on the abdomen immediately below the termination 

of the first, and ends at the origin of the 

tail above: these marks are distinctly visible as 

they glide through the sea. They are called sea 

skunks by the sailors. I am told they are confined 

to high southern latitudes. 35 

“The birds which frequent these islands are 

much more numerous than any of the other 

classes of [vertebrated] animals; of penguins 

there are five species. The Aptenodytes patagonica, 

Gm. [For a further account of the animals 

and birds here mentioned, I must refer to the 

four voyages of Capt. B. Morrell, jr. and those of 

Capt. Edmund Fanning, two popular works 

recently published in New-York. — Eights’s 

footnote] (king penguin) is the largest and by 

far the most beautiful of the species, and may 

be seen in great numbers covering the shores 

for some considerable extent. They are remarkably 

clean in their appearance, not a speck of 

any kind is suffered for a moment to sully the 

pure whiteness of the principal part of their 

plumage: their upright position, uniform cleanliness, 

and beautiful golden yellow cravat, contrasts 

finely with the dark back-ground by 

which they are relieved, so that the similitude is 


no unapt one, which compares them to a regiment 

of soldiers immediately after parade. The 

females lay but one egg on the bare ground, 

which is rather larger than that of a goose, and 

of about equal value as an article of food, but 

differs a little in shape, being more tapering at 

its smaller end. The egg lies between the feet, 

the tail being sufficiently long to conceal it 

effectually from the sight. When approached 

they move from you with a waddling gait, 

rolling it along over the smooth surface of the 

ground, so that person not acquainted with the 

fact might pass through hundreds of them 

without discovering it. The Spheniscus antarcticus, 

Shaw. (rookery penguin) is more numerous 

than any of the other species, assembling 

together in vast congregations, occupying the 

smooth strips of plain for a mile or more in 

extent; passing through them, they barely give 

you sufficient space, picking at your legs, and 

keeping up a continual chatter. Their whole 

appearance as you walk along, brings powerfully 

to your recollection the story of Gulliver, 

striding among the Lilliputians. The Chrysocoma 

saltator, C. Torquata, C. catarractes, Shaw, 

are occasionally found along the beach, and 

scattered among the others. These birds swim 

with great velocity through the sea and may be 

seen several feet in depth shooting along in 

every direction, at short intervals rising to its 

surface, darting out and in again, at the same 

time, uttering a quick sound very similar to that 

produced by a single blast on a split quill. Phalacrocorax 

graculus, Shaw. Sterna hirundo? Lin. 

Diomedea exulans, Lin. and fuliginosa, Lath. 

Daption capense — antarcticum — niveum, 

Shaw. Fulmarius giganteus, and antarcticus, 

Shaw, are all very common. Procellaria pelagica? 

Lin. This is much smaller than any I 

observed in other parts of the ocean, and may 

probably prove a distinct species. Larus 

eburneus? Gmel. Lestris catarractes, Tem. are 

also common. Chionis Forsteri, Shaw. (sheath 

bill.) This is the white pigeon so often mentioned 

by mariners as inhabiting the islands of 

the southern ocean, it is easily caught by the 

hand, and soon becomes domesticated. We kept 

a number of them several days after leaving 

these islands, they ran about the decks of the 

vessel apparently without any disposition to 

leave them, feeding from the hand of any individual 

that offered them food. 36 

“The mollusca are very few, though unique. 

An interesting species of Pholas; a beautiful 

Nucula, and a fine Patella, neither of which I 

think have been described, comprise all that we 

saw. 37 

“The existence of a southern continent within 

the antarctic circle is, I conceive, a matter of 

much doubt and uncertainty, but that there are 

extensive groups, or chains of islands yet 

unknown, I think we have many indications to 

prove, and were I to express an opinion, I 

would say, that our course from the south Shetlands 

to the southwest, until we reached the 

101° of west longitude, was at no great distance 

along the northern shores of one of those 

chains. The heavy clouds of mist which encircled 

us so often, could arise from no other cause 

than that of the influence of large quantities of 

snow or ice, on the temperature of the atmosphere: 

the hills of floating ice we encountered, 

could not form elsewhere than on the land. The 

drifting fuci we daily saw, grow only in the 

vicinity of rocky shores, and the penguins and 

terns, that were almost at all times about us, 

from my observation of their habits, I am satisfied, 

never leave the land at any great distance. 

During our cruize [!] to the southwest above the 

60° of south latitude, we found the current setting 

continually at a considerable rate towards 

the northeast, bearing the plants and ice along 

in its course, some of the latter embracing fragments 

of a rock, the existence of which, we 

could discover no where on the islands we visited. 

When the westerly winds drew well 

toward the south, we were most generally 

enveloped in banks of fog, so dense that it was 

with difficulty we could distinguish objects at 

the distance of the vessel’s length. When 

Palmer’s land becomes properly explored, 

together with the known islands situated 

between the longitude of Cape Horn and that of 

Good Hope, I think they will prove to be the 

north eastern termination of an extensive chain, 

passing near where Capt. Cook’s progress was 

arrested by the firm fields of ice in latitude 

71°10’ s. and west longitude about 105°; had 

Chapter 6 93

that skilful navigator succeeded in penetrating 

this mass of ice, he would unquestionably in a 

short time have made the land upon which it 

was formed. Capt. Weddel after passing the icy 

barrier to the east of the South Shetlands, succeeded 

in reaching the 74°15’ south, (the highest 

latitude ever attained by man,) and found in 

crossing this chain and progressing towards the 

south, that the sea became more free of ice, and 

the weather almost as mild as summer, evidently 

proving I think, that the south pole can be 

nearly approached, without incuring any great 

degree of hazard in the attempt. But for further 

information on the practicability of reaching the 

south pole, I must refer to the judicious remarks 

of Capt. Edmund Fanning of New-York, contained 

in his account of several voyages to the 

southern ocean, with which I perfectly coincide; 

and will conclude with the regret that the government 

of the United States, with a population 

whose daring enterprize has already carried our 

flag into the remotest corners of the globe, 

could not be induced to forward an expedition, 

the expense of which would little exceed that of 

a vessel doubling Cape Horn. They might thus 

settle this interesting question, and also determine 

with certainty the situation, magnitude, 

and extent of these lands, and by that means 

open a new source of revenue to the country in 

the oil and fur animals which must necessarily 

exist in these high southern regions.” 38 

With the above essay, we can think of James 

Eights as nearly done with the Antarctic. His 

brief stay on the Pacific coast of Chile will be 

treated in an upcoming chapter. It is perhaps 

unfair to neglect Benjamin Pendleton’s brig Seraph, 

which left Staten Island 22 January 1830 for 

a month of sealing in the South Shetlands, then 

took a swing westward, south of 60°, west to 

101°, in search of mythical islands. Pendleton 

left reports of nothing of interest to us, although 

he rather insisted on the primacy of his efforts, 

if not of results, in memorializing Congress, 

hoping for recompense for losses. In fact, he 

was prone to claim that his part in landing 

Reynolds and Watson on the Chilean coast for 

an incursion into usually unfriendly Araucanian 

Indian territory was of more consequence to 

national renoun than anything accomplished in 

Antarctica. Nowhere, either in his and Fanning’s 

memorials to Congress or in his letter 

reproduced in Edmund Fanning’s Voyages 

(1833), did Pendleton acknowledge the presence 

of Eights or allude to his work. This was due no 

doubt to the fact that Eights was on the 

Annawan alone during his Antarctic journey. By 

the time Pendleton and Nat Palmer began to 

explore the Chilean coast, Eights had parted 

company with the expedition and returned 

home. Obviously, Eights’s 1833 paper was not 

available to Fanning for the first edition of his 

Voyages (he quoted the entire natural history 

section in the 1838 [2nd] edition). 39 

Eights’s memories of Antarctic Seas were 

seldom shared with his readers. A notable 

exception was an essay published in 1846, “On 

the Icebergs of the Ant-arctic Sea.” A transcription, 

with a few elaborations removed, follows. 

“To the voyager...there is perhaps no scene 

in all his wide wanderings, that so powerfully 

arrests his attention, and calls forth those feelings 

of admiration in so sublime a degree as 

that produced by his earliest prospect of the 

polar seas. In approaching these dreary and 

uninhabitable regions, the chilling influences of 

the land are sensibly felt, long ere it becomes 

visible; but when the curtain of mist that 

enshrouds its glories, discloses the sublime 

spectacle, all the feebler sensations of the mind 

are at once lost in the all-absorbing sentiment of 

delight which pervades his breast. 

“The vast masses of snow and ice that lie 

piled over the uneven superficies of the land, 

and the numerous icebergs that drift through 

the Southern ocean, and are every where 

strewed along its surface, are, in a peculiar 

manner, adapted to create feelings of awe and 

admiration in the bosom of the beholder, not 

alone from the majesty of the size, but likewise, 

by the variety of the forms and everchanging 

hues that they assume, throughout the different 

hours of the long-continued light in these high 

latitudes. 

“From the shapeless mass of comparatively 

small dimensions, to that of some miles in 

extent, these icebergs are not unfrequently seen, 

elevated to the height of between two and three 

hundred feet above the ocean’s level; they are 


then swept along with an inconceivable 

grandeur, borne by the powerful currents, and 

aided by the almost ceaseless winds, they move 

steadily onward until they finally become dissolved, 

and entirely disappear, in the warmer 

regions much farther to the north. 

“It is almost impossible to conceive anything 

more delicately beautiful than the effect 

produced by these icebergs, when the sky is 

free of clouds, and the ocean is at rest; it is then 

there can be traced, among the numerous 

angles and indentations by which they are 

impressed, all those mingling gradations of 

color, from the faintest tinge of emerald green 

to that of the most intense shades of blue; and 

when the sky is filled with clouds — which is 

most generally the case — the scene, though 

equally as picturesque, exhibits a much severer 

aspect; these clouds being all over torn into 

rough and irregular patches, by the powerful 

winds that here prevail; while the sun, having 

but a moderate altitude, and almost encircling 

the heavens but a few degrees above the horizon, 

pierce with its rays the numerous openings 

between, and light up both cloud and ice, into a 

most magnificent glow. These changing hues 

are again brought to the eye of the spectator, in 

mild and beautiful reflections, so that, throughout 

the hours of the long summer day, the 

entire scene presents the ever-varying aspect of 

a most gorgeous sunset. 

“But when seen amid the turbulence of 

cloud and storm, the scene become sternly sublime. 

The dense masses of heavy vapor that 

deadens the entire face of the heavens, and roll 

rapidly along its surface, together with the 

dashing of the wild waves against the icebergs’ 

slippery sides, sometimes sending the spray far 

beyond their loftiest tops, where, soon becoming 

dissipated in clouds of silvery mist, it gradually 

descends and envelopes the distant view 

as with a soft transparent veil of light. But it is 

only when, under these circumstances, these 

masses of ice are seen through the gloomy twilight 

of the midnight hours, that they assume a 

strangely terrific aspect; their huge forms then 

loom in the hazy atmosphere that surrounds 

them, and fall upon the vision shadowy and 

indistinct, like fragmentary spectres of a disruptured 

world. 

“These icebergs at all times derive their origin 

from the land; being merely detached fragments 

from the huge glaciers which every 

where fill the numerous valleys, and cover the 

hills from the water’s edge upward, until they 

attain their greatest eminence. These glaciers 

are all formed from the accumulating snows of 

ages, this being almost the only form that moisture 

ever assumes in falling in these elevated 

regions; scarcely a day occurred while we were 

in the vicinity of these southern lands — even 

though at mid-summer — that snows did not 

descend, and water congeal into ice upon our 

decks. 

“The powerful winds which prevail in these 

high latitudes, acting with their usual energy 

upon such portions of the land as are freely 

exposed to their sweeping influence, have a 

direct tendency in the first instance, to drift up 

and fill the valleys and other depressions with 

snow, until they become almost even with the 

adjoining hills; it is then, by the pressure of the 

enormous weight, that it is speedily condensed 

into solid ice. During this process it is, that 

those numerous shrinkage fissures are also produced, 

that are to be seen traversing the glaciers 

in almost every possible direction. 

“In passing along the surfaces of these glaciers, 

the journey oft-times becomes one of 

extreme peril to the incautious traveller, from 

the circumstance that the fissures are not unfrequently 

crusted over by a thin and fragile covering 

of snow, which readily yields to his footstep, 

and suddenly precipitates him some hundreds 

of feet below. [Footnote: This, but to an 

unimportant depth, occurred to one of the officers 

of our ship, and it was only after a considerable 

time had elapsed, and some exertion on 

our part, that he was ultimately relieved.] It is 

in this manner that animals sometimes perish, 

and when at length discovered, firmly imbeded 

in the drifting ice, give rise to no small degree 

of surprise and varied speculation. 

“The carcasses of penguins and seals, which 

in the greatest profusion inhabit the southern 

lands, were, in several instances, observed in 

such positions; and it is in this way that the 

remains of animals are frequently conveyed to 

Chapter 6 95

distant shores, and deposited in climes in every 

way uncongenial to their species. 

“From the constantly increasing weight of 

accumulating snows above, these glaciers are 

silently and almost imperceptibly encroaching 

on the sea, so as, in many places, to project far 

over its foaming waves. Sometimes they are 

seen gradually to approach from opposite directions, 

and eventually to bridge over some of the 

narrower straits that in various places divide 

the land; in most instance, however, they are 

observed to encompass the land by a series of 

precipitous cliffs, which have an extent for 

miles together, presenting a naked wall or barrier 

of ice to the sea. Huge masses of these, particularly 

during the season of summer, are continually 

breaking off with an astounding 

report, and after falling into the waves beneath 

are carried onward, and constitute the vast icebergs 

of the Southern ocean. 

“These icebergs, when first detached from 

the land, are of a rudely tabular form, but by 

the continued action of the oceanic waters 

about their bases, penetrating into their fissures, 

and wearing them away in such a manner as to 

destroy their equilibrium, they suddenly topple 

over, and then exhibit all those strange and imitative 

forms which have so often been 

described in most glowing terms, by the many 

voyagers whose good or evil fortunes have 

hitherto led within their influence. 

“Embraced within these drifting icebergs, 

rocky fragments, varying greatly in size, are not 

unusually to be seen, sometimes rounded into 

the boulder form, but for the most part angular, 

and so arranged as to present a dark striped, or 

partially stratified appearance, strikingly visible 

from the contrast of their darker hues, with 

those of the lighter tints of the ice in which they 

are inclasped. The origin of these last is 

extremely obvious, and admit of a simple 

explanation. In many places, isolated masses of 

the rock that constitute the land, are observed 

to penetrate and protrude far above the general 

level of the surrounding snows; portions of 

these are almost continually falling, from the 

expansive power of the congealing water 

among their fissures; these fragments are 

thrown upon the indurated surface of the 

snows, and are then slidden to some considerable 

distance from whence they were derived; 

upon these the falling snows soon accumulate 

to a sufficient depth to retain them in their 

places, until they become firmly embraced 

within the mass. When portions of these glaciers 

are detached, and tumble into the sea, icebergs 

bearing rocky fragments are then produced. 

These fragments, like the animal 

remains, are frequently borne along, and 

deposited in regions far remote from the parent 

rock, from whence they were detached. 

“The largest drifting iceberg that we saw, 

during a period of three months in their vicinity, 

was estimated about two miles in extent, and 

elevated between two and three hundred feet in 

the air. Should we take into consideration the 

specific gravity of ice, which allows about eight 

parts beneath, to one above the sea, we will be 

able to form some conception of the vast magnitude 

of these floating mountains. One of these 

larger ones was seen drifting along at the rate 

of two and a half knots an hour, at which speed, 

on approaching Cornwallis island — one of the 

South Shetland group — it suddenly became 

arrested in its course, the anterior portion 

grounding, and remaining attached, while that 

which followed, submitting to the powerful 

impulse of the current, was swept around, 

describing a complete semicircle ere it again 

became free. Should this part of the ocean’s bottom, 

at any future time, be elevated into dry 

land by the active energies so peculiar to volcanic 

regions, the impressions made by this iceberg 

would furnish to the world a highly interesting 

subject for geological speculation. When 

agitated by the waves, these mountains of ice 

are frequently rent assunder [!] with terrific 

explosion, scattering their fragments far and 

wide over the surrounding surface of the deep. 

In fine weather too, they are not unusually seen 

covered with penguins, whose chattering noises 

is often heard at an incredible distance over the 

silent sea.” 40 

AND AS OTHERS SAW IT 

A few excerpts drawn from both predecessors 

and contemporaries of James Eights in the 


vicinity of the South Shetlands will bring this 

long chapter to a close. Not only is there justice 

in this, giving credit where credit is due (and, 

as with Eights, overdue); it also adds authenticating 

observations and points of view. 

Chronologically come two accounts associated 

with a trip made by Warrant Officer 

Edward Bransfield, R.N., master of William 

Smith’s ship the Williams, which reached the 

South Shetlands in 1820. While there was no 

official published account, two short narratives 

came into the hands of the press, one by Adam 

Young and one by Thomas Maine (or Main) 

Bone. 

First, that of Dr Adam Young (the anonymous 

article was attributed to someone on 

H.M.S. Slaney — Young’s later ship; the author, 

for this reason, has sometimes been given as 

“Slaney”’). As a monument to editorial error, it 

was headed “Notice of the voyage of Edward 

Barnsfield [!], Master of his Majesty’s Ship 

Andromache, to New South Shetland.” Warrant 

Officer Bransfield, R.N. (d. 1852, aged 67 years) 

was meant; and he was temporarily in command 

of the Williams. Despite its alleged 

“vague and diffuse” nature (“a layman’s story 

of a technical expedition”), it has its stirring 

points. It began: “About a twelvemonth ago, an 

English merchant brig...made [that is, saw] 

what they supposed to be land, several degrees 

to the southward of Cape Horn, and in a situation 

in which it is positively asserted that no 

land can exist.” Bransfield (called “Barnsfield” 

here) was chosen to check out the matter and 

among three volunteers sent with him was Dr. 

Adam Young, since “it was deemed necessary 

to send a medical officer.” They were a month 

getting from Valparaiso to within sight of land 

on 16 January 1820, “having been almost constantly 

harassed with baffling winds and calms 

till we arrived in a high southern latitude.” 

Land, to the southeastward, extended as far as 

the eye could reach. “At a distance, its summits 

could scarcely be distinguished from the light 

white clouds which floated on the tops of the 

mountains” — a view of the landscape now 

familiar to us. “The whole line of coast 

appeared high, bold, and rugged; rising abruptly 

from the sea in perpendicular snowy cliffs, 

except here and there where the naked face of a 

barren black rock shewed itself amongst them.” 

A boat was sent out but could not see a fit place 

to land; seals and penguins were reported to be 

the only animate objects seen. On one island, 

they were enabled to land: “Words can scarcely 

be found to describe its barrenness and sterility. 

Only one small spot of land was discovered on 

which a landing could be effected...every other 

part of the bay being bounded by the same 

inaccessible cliffs which we had met with 

before. We landed on a shingle beach...from 

which a small stream of fresh-water ran into the 

sea. Nothing was to be seen but the rugged surface 

of barren rocks, upon which myriads of 

sea-fowls had laid their eggs, and which they 

were then hatching. These birds were so little 

accustomed to the sight of any other animal, 

that, so far from being intimidated by our 

approach, they even disputed our landing, and 

we were obliged forcibly to open a passage for 

ourselves through them. They consisted principally 

of four species of the penguin; with albatrosses, 

gulls, pintadoes, shags, sea-swallows, 

and a bird about the size and shape of the common 

pigeon, and of a milk-white plumage, the 

only species we met with that was not webfooted. 

We also fell in with a number of the animals 

described in Lord Anson’s voyage as the 

sea lion...many of which we killed. Seals were 

also pretty numerous; but though we walked 

some distance into the country, we could 

observe no trace either of inhabitants, or of any 

terrestrial animal. It would be impossible, 

indeed, for any but beasts of prey to subsist 

here, as we met with no sort of vegetation 

except here and there small patches of stunted 

grass growing upon the surface of the thick coat 

of dung which the sea-fowls left in the crevices 

of the rocks, and a species of moss, which occasionally 

we met with adhering to the rocks 

themselves.” Because of “the almost constant 

fogs in which we were enveloped,” they were 

unable to say if they viewed a new continent or 

merely a group of islands. Prophetically 

enough, Young foresaw the result of the incursion 

of merchant seamen into this region of a 

“very great numbers of whales with which we 

were daily surrounded; and the multitudes of 

Chapter 6 97

the finest fur-seals and sea lions which we met 

both at sea and on every point of the coast, or 

adjacent rocky islands, on which we were able 

to land.” “The fur of the former is the finest and 

longest I have ever seen; and from their having 

now become scarce in every other part of these 

seas, and the great demand for them both in 

Europe and India, they will, I have no doubt, 

become, as soon as the discovery is made public, 

a favourite speculation amongst our merchants.” 

41 

The second contribution from the Bransfield 

survey was made, also anonymously, by 

Thomas Maine (or Main) Bone, Midshipman, 

R.N., son of the painter Henry Bone the Elder; 

he went with Bransfield as a skilled draftsman 

(and, indeed, a useful early map resulted from 

his work). His observations on the South Shetlands 

are valuable, even though he also was 

uncertain (because of the fog) whether they 

were viewing a continuous land-mass, or if, 

perhaps, there were separating straits between 

the points they saw. Bone goes on at length, 

supplementing Young. 42 

Bone was impressed by the swarms of seals 

(“of great size, full of oil, and with the finest 

furs”). “In other respects animal existence is 

limited in variety, though not in the numbers of 

particular species. The shores are covered with 

penguins, which even disputed possession with 

the human visitors. There are gulls, albitrosses 

[!], and one land bird about the size of a pigeon. 

The sea-elephant also inhabits these dreary 

parts, and whales are very numerous, but 

excessively lean and poor. No fish were caught 

or seen, and the only conchological products on 

the shore were the empty shells of limpets.” 

There are references to elephant seals (still ignorant 

of human affairs at that time) and penguins, 

many of which were killed to clear a way 

for the advancing exploratory party. Previous to 

leaving this island (King George), they were 

able to make a few forays to the interior. “The 

swampy land, the lowest of all, was covered 

with a sort of grass and moss, nourished by the 

dung of the several oceanic birds; this moss and 

grass abounds in great quantities, and is all that 

deserves to be called vegetation. The little rocky 

ridges, at the foot of the snow, seemed to be the 

haunt of the albatrosses; their nests are of small 

pieces of broken stones scraped together, in 

which their eggs are deposited. So unused were 

they to the sight of man, that they would not 

stir from their nests till forced off with sticks, 

which they bit with the most savage determination. 

There was also a large brown bird, with a 

few white feathers in the upper part of the 

wing, a sharp bill, and web-footed. It builds a 

nest of moss, and lays a brownish, spotted egg; 

this bird is frequently found among the albatrosses. 

The other marine birds were Capepigeons, 

petterel, and several species of the 

gull, besides a shag, which has a singular mud 

nest on the rocks, close to the water. No land 

animal and no other bird were seen, except a 

sort of pigeon, which builds in the crevices of 

rocks with grass from the swamp; these were so 

tame that they allowed the people to approach 

and knock them down with sticks, though sufficently 

on their guard not to be captured by the 

hand. Of penguins there were five different 

kinds, all equally troublesome. What these creatures 

subsist upon it is difficult to divine, as no 

fish was seen but the limpet, which came up 

with the ship’s anchor when she weighed. Only 

a few seals were seen, but they produced a very 

fine fur. The sea elephants seemed to reign the 

undisputed monsters of the whole bay.” 

Some notice was taken of “snow of a reddish 

tint,” which had also been seen in Arctic 

regions; the color could not have come from the 

soil, for it was found on the surface of snow 

that was very thick. References to various penguins 

and marine mammals characterized their 

travels as they tried in vain to learn more about 

the lands in a period of sea-ice and nearly continuous 

fog. A shag (cormorant) with white 

breast may be noted, as well as a claim that an 

entirely white penguin was seen; whether a 

“sea lion,” along with elephant seals and fur 

seals, is to be credited needs evaluation. 43 

A final contribution from the same era 

comes from Richard Sherratt, master of the 

British sealer Lady Trowbridge, wrecked off Cape 

Melville, King George Island, on Christmas 

Day, 1820. He recorded: “The first intimation 

you have of being near South Shetland, is meeting 

with a great quantity of whales, of the black 


kind, and what are called the fin-back; you may 

thence conclude you are about 150 miles from 

land. Standing on to the southward, you will 

meet with innumerable penguins, so many that 

you would almost conclude the sea was animated....The 

first sight you have of the land, is at a 

distance of about 15 leagues, and its appearance 

is similar to a white cloud...Still standing on, 

you gain the land, until some parts touch the 

clouds, the whole being covered with eternal 

snow, save here and there a hill in the form of a 

cone or sugar-loaf, which is of a very dark 

colour, and these spots are generally on the tops 

of mountains.” He describes the precipitate 

coast line, rocky islets, the awful crashes as ice 

and snow fall from the precipices. He alleges a 

kind of coal was found. As for vegetation, he 

had a poor opinion: “There is not a tree, not a 

bush, not a shrub, not a flower, in all the 

islands. There is a little coarse moss here and 

there, and in Potter’s Cove there is a small plot 

of land with a little grass of a small kind, and 

very short.” 

“Animals [meaning land mammals] there 

are none.... 

“Birds are plentiful and various. The penguins, 

which are innumerable, are of three different 

sorts; namely, the crown penguin, with a 

red tuft on the head, and beautiful yellow and 

black plumage; 2d, without the tuft, but of similar 

plumage; 3d, the black and white one. All of 

these have a very disagreeable smell. There are 

also sea-gulls, gannets, Cape hens, and a sort of 

pigeon, which is the only bird that has not a 

web-foot; and I think these last must have 

blown from South America in the heavy northwest 

gales. 

“Fishes are likewise in abundance and variety. 

The black whale and the fin-back whale are 

numerous, but I believe there are not any spermaceti 

whales here, at least I did not see any, or 

hear of any person who did. However, the 

grampus, the porpoise, the sea elephant, and 

the seal, are in vast quantities. There is also a 

very delicate fish to be caught near the different 

detached rocks, which I call the black or rock 

cod, weighing from 4 lbs. to 8 lbs. the only eatable 

fish taken here. — Shrimps are in abundance, 

if I may judge by the quantities which 

we found in the maws of the penguin and seal, 

when killed. There are clams on the rocks 

which are eatable.” 44 

So far as qualified scientists are concerned, 

however, Eights has only to bow in priority to 

Dr. William Henry Bayley Webster, doctor and 

surgeon on HMS (sloop or bark) Chanticleer, 

commanded by the unfortunate Captain Henry 

Foster. Webster’s observations in the South 

Shetlands occurred during a quite happenstance 

visit to Deception Island in January, February, 

and March 1829, a year before Eights was 

in the South Shetlands. 

Webster’s incomparable pen portrait of 

Deception Island deserves reading in its entirety, 

for it far excels in perceptiveness and informational 

content that of any contemporary or 

near-contemporary. I am confident that no seagoing 

scientist of his time did better work than 

his dissections of the leopard seal and penguin. 

To begin: imagine the landscape itself. “A 

more dreary or more cheerless scene cannot be 

imagined than that which Deception 

Island...presented: the wild and solitary woods 

of Staten Island...lonely and uninviting as they 

appeared to us, were desirable to this. There the 

visiter [sic]...finds vegetation flourishing; and in 

the animated face of nature there is much to 

gladden his heart and to employ his mind in 

the solitary glens; but here all is joyless and 

comfortless, huge masses of cinders and ashes 

lie strewed about...No vestige of vegetation 

relieves the eye....” 

Again, “hosts of penguins...harmless and 

happy in their dreary abode.” 

He painted a cheerless scene! “The temperature 

of the sea-water in the basin was not affected 

by the subterranean heat of the island, the 

surface being generally between 32° and 37° of 

the Fahrenheit. One night during our stay, the 

surface was frozen entirely over; and this occurring 

in the middle of summer.” Vegetation he 

thought to consist of a small moss and a striped 

coralloid lichen; seaweeds were neither common 

nor interesting; fish there were none in the 

basin. 

By Webster’s time, what a change had 

occurred in regard to seals! “The islands of 

South Shetland, and Deception Island among 

Chapter 6 99

the rest, formerly abounded with seals; but 

such is the havoc made by sealers among them, 

that they are now scarce and seldom seen.” 

During the stay, they did not see a single fur 

seal. There were, however, leopard seals, of 

which specimens were obtained — about 29 

gallons of good oil could be obtained from a 

single carcass but the skin was of little value. 

Birds got top billing with Webster and his 

account is full and detailed. Penguins (species 

not further identified) still occurred in unbelievable 

numbers, even after the death of thousands 

taken for food by his crew. Penguin meat sliced 

and fried with a little pork was more or less 

acceptable food; salted and preserved, it was 

totally disgusting. He counted two species of 

terns; the Port Egmont hen; a black-headed 

gull; stormy petrel, “or Mother Cary’s chicken 

of sailors,” in abundance. There were Cape 

pigeons; “procellaria nivea,” “or snowy bluenosed 

peterel”; ‘procellaria gigantea,’ a “large 

grey bird of voracious habits, more commonly 

known as the Nelly.” He listed further “pelicanus 

graculus,” or blue-eyed shag; the “vaginalis 

alba,” sea pigeon, made, he noted approvingly, 

“excellent materials for pies, 

and...considered the best dish on our table 

afforded by these regions.” He speculated how 

they got there, having, he thought, no great 

power of flight. 

In a separate commentary on Deception 

Island (unsigned but evidently by Webster), we 

hear an echo of the above, together with a 

detailed account of geology and morphology. 

There is some comment on seaweeds; no fish 

were seen; the abundant crustacea fed the multitudes 

of sea-fowl; while, “formerly two thousand 

skins [of fur seals] a week could be procured 

by a vessel: now not a seal is to be seen.” 

His account of leopard seal anatomy is detailed 

and perceptive. Some aspects of penguin anatomy 

are also remarked upon. 45 

We have a nice counter to Dr. Webster’s 

masterful account of the tour of the Chanticleer 

from the manuscript private journal of Midshipman 

Joseph Henry Kay of that ship. This 

attractive narrative is in the library of the Scott 

Polar Research Institute, Cambridge, and has 

been seen through their courtesy. Perhaps Kay’s 

preliminary estimate that theirs was a ship that 

“could not be more completely fitted up for a 

hazardous scientific or long cruize” was optimistic 

but he makes it sound impressive. The 

ship had been rigged and fitted “for the mutual 

convenience and comfort of the Officers and 

Men”; it had been “most handsomely supplied 

by Government with Instruments for the different 

scientific observations intended to be 

made”; they hoped to be prepared to fend off 

ice (although they were barred from visiting the 

Antarctic continent by sea-ice, even in the 

southern summer); they were supplied with 

Donkin’s preserved meats and pickles (but still 

spent a good part of their southern visit miserably 

short of rations); and had a stove 

“arranged on the Lower Deck of W. Frasers 

construction which entirely dispensed with that 

great nuisance on board a ship, viz. smoke.” Its 

accounts of landings along the way to Staten 

Island, and the forays into and around Cape 

Horn are, perhaps, lightweight. But they provide 

a touch of authenticating humanity that 

one misses in works left by James Eights. 

Thus, it is atmosphere and details of daily 

life that you get from Joseph Kay. In this chapter, 

unhappily, I must stick to notices of Antarctic 

life alone, for Kay is a lively presence 

throughout. 

On 5 January 1829, they sighted Smith 

Island (westernmost of the South Shetlands), 

from which they then meant to steer for Deception 

Island. It was “a miserably wet and cold 

morning” and the island was “Black, barren and 

[with] summits covered with snow.” A heavy 

swell was accompanied by a rising wind; rain 

turned to a severe snowstorm. Midshipmen 

were posted out on the confines of the exposed 

forecastle to keep watch for icebergs. Movement 

was impossible and the cold most distressing, 

yet the safety of the entire ship depended upon 

correct observation and suitable directions. As 

Kay puts it, in a Kiplingesque turn of phrase: It 

was “necessary that great attention should be 

paid to the steerage of the ship among the 

numerous icebergs[,] as one accident might have 

been the means of our having had to spend the 

remainder of our lives there (however short they 

might have been).” 46 


On 7 January 1829, a party from the ‘Chanticleer 

’ landed on Smith Island and proclaimed 

British ownership and on 8 January the ship 

steered easterly for Deception Island. The sun 

did not set until 9:30 and Kay could read a book 

clearly at midnight. There were numerous icebergs, 

some of immense dimensions. 

Kay writes ruefully (9 Jan) of the destruction 

of the fur-seal populations within a short 

decade in the South Shetlands. There were still 

penguins — what sort they may be, he does not 

say; he describes one rookery near their landing 

place that was from 300 to 400 yards square. 

A deceptive island Deception was: icebergs 

all around, the bay itself freezing over one 

night, hilltops covered with snow and nevermelting 

ice. Yet, smoke (or steam) issued from 

crevices at water level. “By digging a small hole 

in the ground it would be immediately filled 

with hot water at the temp. of about 54º C and 

indeed would (had we possessed any) easily 

have boiled an egg.” Midshipmen were 

assigned the task of continuous recording of 

magnetic readings — under a mere flap of canvas 

by way of protection, the nighttime temperature 

down to 34 ° F: even with “all the blankets I 

could muster ... besides monkey jackets, it was 

confoundedly cold sleeping...but I managed to 

bring inside my bed up to blood heat I think” 

(14 January). 

On 17 January 1829, the launch visited a 

penguin rookery “to procure some for salting 

sea stock,” an experiment that Webster characterized 

so emphatically as producing a most 

disgusting product. On the way there Kay shot 

several albatrosses (refers to them as 

“Diomedea,” leaving no doubt of their general 

identity; which species he saw cannot be determined) 

“and Eglets, Nellys, &c.” I presume 

“eglet” to be his name for skua; “nelly” is the 

giant petrel or giant fulmar, Macronectes (see 

note further along). He was much astonished to 

find their craws filled with shrimps, “which 

plainly showed that the water was not so 

unproductive as I had supposed.” “We landed 

amidst myriads of penguins all drawn up in 

battle array and our work of execution soon 

began, disdaining to shoot them, but using a 

small clubbed stick, some killing, while others 

loaded the boat. We massacred 500 thinking 

that would be enough for the present.” 

When the atmosphere was clear, they could 

see smoke (or steam?) issuing from the snowcapped 

mount behind them (28 January). “We 

fancy sometimes (and I believe it is reality) that 

subterraneous rumbling noises are heard as if 

proceeding from the very entrails of the adjacent 

hills.” At the end of the entry for 31 January: 

“Memo: I find the bread is not near enough 

for us.” 

On 2 February 1829, Kay noted the presence 

of a leopard seal; his promise to supply “a small 

account” of it did not materialize, although 

there is a blank space in the journal, perhaps 

left for that purpose. On 8 February, they awoke 

to find ice a quarter-inch thick on the water of 

the harbor; the thermometer had been as low as 

24 ° . The steepness of the cinder-covered hill was 

ascended with difficulty, for the soil would not 

allow foothold. However, he had a good view 

of nearby islands, particularly Livingstone, 

“whose very shores were encompassed with 

massive icebergs.” The temperature in the hot 

springs was 150°[F] to day and the beach was 

smoking greatly all along.” 

“Febr y 9 th From the great havocs that our 

men have made among the penguins on this 

part of the harbour, the supply is become but 

scanty and therefore a cutter was dispatched to 

day to replenish our present use stock. Quantities 

of birds of the following species are flying 

about our tents all day long. First the Silvery 

Gull (Larus Argentea) that really most elegant 

bird uttering a harsh scream but its plumage of 

a silvery white. The Eglet, the Nelly, so called 

by Sailors, but in reality the grey peterel. Penguins, 

a most delicate species of Tern with red 

beaks, and a kind of white pigeon with a Parrots 

bill which latter is only found near the 

mouth of the Harbour. The Nelly has such a 

predilection for blubber or any sort of oily food 

that I have frequently seen them so gorged as 

not to be able to fly. This unaccountable taste 

renders their flesh unpalatable, nor are their 

eggs so good as those birds who are not so 

voracious. The Eglet something resembles a 

young eagle in appearance and is a most voracious, 

ravenous bird, of a dark brown colour. I 

Chapter 6 101

have also frequently seen them [that is Eglet 

and Nelly] contending one with the other, who 

shall have the honor or pleasure of picking the 

entrails out of a Penguin just killed and yet 

warm, left there perhaps by some one gone 

after some more. Indeed if a Sea leopard or Seal 

was killed and his carcase left on the beach 

these gentlemen assisted by M r Nelly would 

sufficiently dissect him in a few hours.” 47 

On 13 February: “Our provisions are so 

very scanty that we cannot afford to drink tea 

of an evening and must now content ourselves 

with fasting from 12 i.e. dinner time to 8 AM 

the next morning and therefore go supperless 

to bed.” The following day, “dirty weather” 

reported, “Parties are employed all day long 

with the Purser, skinning and salting the Penguins 

for Sea Stock of which I believe 700 are 

going to be prepared.” The winds, snow, and 

sleet were so disagreeable that “(except when 

duty forced us out) we very seldom quitted 

our blanket bags.” Kay’s bag was “3 blankets 

sewn one within the other and [I] used to ‘turn 

in’ during the day ‘all standing’ except my 

shoes.” 

On 20 February: In their tent — “Gale 

unabated and dreadfully cold and having no 

observations to make we lay in bed till dinner 

time, not being able to get any breakfast as the 

snow had blocked up our little fire place and 

we could not get the fire to light.” “I think I do 

not exaggerate when I say that hundreds and 

hundreds of penguins have come up during the 

night and taken shelter in the vicinity of our 

tents.” 

26 February: Kay and Midshipman Charles 

Frederick Collnett ascended “S t Georges Mount 

to day for the purpose of placing a flag on its 

summit which was evidently composed of one 

immense iceberg. We commenced the ascent at 

8 over a rugged path...composed of cinders and 

ice intersected with streams of snow water...and 

by 1/2 past 9 had reached a more level part of 

the hill....All around the ground was perforated 

with holes from whence issued hot steam with 

a loud hissing noise and at such a temperature 

that we could not bear our hands near them. 

The Ground was also cracked in several places 

as if it had been done by the heat.” Later the 

same day, he noted that the “only vegetable 

production that was found by any of us was a 

little moss — most likely produced by dampness 

in the caves and holes where it was found; 

as for any other the island does not produce it 

and we could not therefore make a weekly 

demand for fresh provisions and vegetables”: 

no doubt a rueful reference to the relatively 

much more clement lands about Tierra del 

Fuego. In any case, their work over, after a fearfully 

dangerous departure from Deception 

Island in early March and an ensuing rough 

passage, they made Cape Horn, which they 

sighted on 23 March. 

Life was not entirely luxurious even when 

Cape Horn was reached. Kay’s shoes had worn 

out, supplies were short, and the cold, wet climate 

was debilitating. However, they cut wood 

for fuel, made a rude log hut for protection, and 

for “amusement (or rather necessity)” they 

went “by boat among the kelp [to] catch fish for 

our dinner, of which sometimes several dozen 

might be caught in a morning, a hint which we 

received from the Indians who used to catch 

them by enticing them to the top of the water 

with a small piece of seals fat or anything and 

then as dexteriously quick as lightning put out 

their hands & seize hold of them. The usual 

employment of the men was catching fish when 

the weather permitted, which was indeed seldom. 

There was no level spot of ground there 3 

yards in circumference on which any one could 

walk, and the celery was again picked & eaten 

as before.” 

“13 th 1829 The 2/3 allowance of provisions 

was again commenced today and all contrivances 

were in vogue to obtain something to 

eat. The berries of the Arbutus Aculeata were 

much sought for although few were to be got 

and I used to go into the woods after dinner, 

and search for them by way of dessert. Parties 

were appointed to cut wood and make charcoal, 

some to fish, some to pick celery and berries 

and all had employment. My gun was a constant 

companion, in search of something for the 

‘pot’ for these hungry times.” Joy of the party 

was unfeigned when Captain King of HMS 

Adventure sailed into their harbor with relief 

supplies (17 April). 


Leave is now taken of Midshipman Joseph 

Henry Kay. As for James Eights, sometime naturalist 

and surgeon of the Annawan, there 

remains little of a concrete nature to say of his 

South American visit. His stay in Chile, where 

the happenstance visit of his ship and its consort 

the Penguin after the Antarctic cruise, rather 

unceremoniously and unexpectedly left him, 

remains largely a mystery. To that mystery, I 

shall return in my next chapter, which will treat 

of his activities in Chile, so far as they can be 

guessed from his works, and of his unscheduled 

and unheralded return to Albany. Certain 

of his activities in Chile add to the technical 

accomplishments of his work but tell us nothing 

securely about his itinerary or his personal 

fortunes. 

NOTES 

1. W.A. Taylor, “A history of Antarctic discovery” — a 

good look at the late Classic world’s view of a polar continent; 

Hugh Robert Mill, “South polar exploration in the 

last hundred years”; he alludes inaccurately, p. xxviii, to 

“An American man of science, Mr. J.N. Reynolds,” who 

“had gone to Palmer Land in the early days”; Brian 

Roberts, “Chronological list of Antarctic expeditions” (ess 

especially p. 111), gives full credit to whaling and sealing 

crews who explored this turbulent region; R.K. Headland, 

Chronological List of Antarctic Expeditions and Related Historical 

Events, is full and useful. 

2. See G.E. Fogg, A History of Antarctic Science (in 

which Eights gets full billing, pp. 45-48; reference to 

Reynolds, p. 58-59); for an early effort, nearly missing 

Eights, see H.R. Mill, “A bibliography of Antarctic exploration 

and research” — only one of JE’s papers, a reprinting, 

is noted, p. 542. For various perspectives see the following, 

some of which will later be cited in more detail: 

Lawrence Martin, “Early explorations and investigations 

in southern South America and adjacent Antarctic waters 

by mariners and scientists from the United States of America” 

(1940), with its focus on Eights, needs to be checked 

against later accounts; Philip I. Mitterling, America in the 

Antarctic to 1840, pp. 97-100, 101 and documentation; 

Richard S. Lewis, A Continent for Science, The Antarctic 

Adventure, pp. 14-15, 25; Herman R. Friis and Shelby G. 

Bale, Jr., eds., United States Polar Exploration, pp. 44-45, 103, 

105; Henry M. Dater, “History of Antarctic exploration and 

scientific investigation,” various, but see especially plate 2; 

G.E. Fogg and David Smith, The Explorations of Antarctica, 

the Last Unspoilt Continent, pp. 24-25; the best American 

perspective is in the able synthesis written by K.J. 

Bertrand in Americans in Antarctica. It quickly becomes 

clear that even as commercial sealers, the Eights party was 

out of synchrony with the times. 

3. Bertrand, Americans in Antarctica, deals even-handedly; 

others have been too anxious to put their heroes 

alone in the limelight; a lot of ink has been spilled, some of 

it injudiciously, by those anxious to untangle claims (particularly 

those favoring one nation or another); see E.S. 

Balch, “Stonington Antarctic explorers” and other papers 

by him; R.T. Gould, “The charting of the South Shetlands, 

1819-28,” is a good example of the kind of spirited periodical 

warfare that has gone on, right into our time. J.N. 

Reynolds was not above such sniping, even at friends: 

“Fanning’s account of the voyage of 1819 is not entirely 

accurate,” and Benjamin Morrell’s “descriptions have 

more poetry than truth” (Balch, “Stonington,” p. 477). 

4. The lack of recognition, already alluded to, will be 

further treated later; see Bertrand, Americans in Antarctica, 

for a good summary. Eights himself (letter to Amos Binney, 

9 Aug 1834) intimated that he was to supply species 

descriptions to a book by J.N. Reynolds. Reynolds’s proposed 

book never got to a front burner. 

5. Spellings as in original, as far as I can make them 

out from a microfilm that is, in this critical Antarctic part 

of the log, often fuzzy; with the best of luck, I may have 

misinterpreted some nautical abbreviations and jargon. 

For example, “Act” is not always clear; I take it to mean 

“Account,” that is, calculating position from ship’s 

records, with allowances for current, leeway, etc.; this is 

sometimes equated to “dead reckoning” but some authorities 

define “by Account” as meaning “estimated position” 

and reserve the term “dead reckoning” for a calculation 

made without such allowances. I have supplied a period 

at ends of each daily entry (none in original!); within text 

of the log, I have introduced a slant (/) between what I 

take to be separate statements; I may have here and there 

misinterpreted these breaks. 

6. Elephant Island, 61°10’S, 166°32’E, also called Barrows 

Isle and Mondrins Island; 24 miles long, greatest 

width 12 miles; discovered by Bransfield in 1820; named 

by Americans from the abundance of elephant seals; see J. 

Stewart, Antarctica, p. 299. The South Shetlands were first 

sighted by William Smith, an English sealer from Blythe, 

in 1819 — the first sighting of truly Antarctic land, that is 

land south of 60°S (Stewart, p. 927); see Note 45. For a useful 

survey of the South Shetland Islands, see: R.K. Headland, 

Chronological List of Antarctic Expeditions, p. 15 (map, 

p. 17): a “540 km chain of four main groups, including 

eleven major islands...several minor ones, with many islets 

and rocks; some volcanic; average about 120 km N of the 

Antarctic Peninsula.” Part of British Antarctic Territory but 

also claimed by Argentina and Chile. 

7. O’Briens Island; see Stewart, p. 718: 61°30’S, 

55°58’W, 2 mi SW of Aspland Island. 

8. “Made the land” = came within sight of King 

George Island; for Potters Cove, see “Potter Cove,” Stewart, 

pp. 788-789, 62°14’S, 58°42’W, an indentation on the 

SW side of King George Island, to the east of Barton 

Peninsula, discovered by sealers prior to 1821; Stewart, pp. 

508-509, is unable to identify further James Johnson, 

whose tender (or shallop) is here referred to — he “must 

have been a sealer of the 1820s”; Bertrand, p. 153, thinks 

this shallop may have been later “rigged and used to 

cruise along the beaches,” perhaps being used to carry 

James Eights on the visit to Deception Island that Bertrand 

believed he alluded to in his natural history account — a 

visit that I think needs careful evaluation. 

9. Stewart, p. 689, describes Nebles Harbour as a harbor, 

precise location now unknown, named by Weddell in 

Chapter 6 103

1825; the name is preserved in Nebles Point (62°12’S, 

58°52’W), on the “west side of the entrance to Collins Harbor, 

in the SW part of King George Island.” 

10. Port Egmont (or Port Egmont hen), the great skua, 

Catharacta skua antarctica. 

11. Bertrand, Americans in Antarctica, p. 153, believed 

that this passage proved that James Eights was among the 

men brought along in the boats from the Annawan, for he 

alone would have recognized an erratic boulder in an iceberg; 

this will be discussed further. I am uncertain about 

the meaning of all this, for it appears clear to me that the 

words not and we found are later entries, perhaps after 

Eights had clarified matters to his own satisfaction. Thus, 

there is the possibility that the change was made after consulting 

with Eights, who may not have been with the 

party. 

12. Harmony Cove, 62°19’S, 59°12’W, between Harmony 

Point and The Toe, west side, Nelson Island; named 

by U.S. sealers in 1820 for the schooner ‘Harmony’ (Stewart, 

p. 430). 

13. They had emerged from the north end of Nelson 

Strait (called King George Strait here); Clothier Harbor 

was on the northern side of Robert Island; see Bertrand, p. 

153. 

14. Yankee Straits, perhaps also Yankee Sound, apparently 

is now referred to as McFarlane Strait, according to 

Stewart, p. 604; if so, its location is 62°32’S, 59°55’W; both 

names go back to the early 1820s; for Sherreff Cove (as 

spelled here), read Shirreff, as in Bertrand, p. 153, and 

Stewart, p. 907: the latter gives location as 62°28’S, 

60°48’W., just SW of Cape Shirreff, “on the north side of 

Livingston Island”; it was named in 1820 for William H. 

Shirreff, early English surveyor of the Pacific Coast of 

South America. 

15. While the name is definitely “Ragged” here, it is 

properly Rugged Island; Stewart, p. 809, 858, gives location 

as 62°38’S, 61°15’W, three miles long and a mile wide; 

elevation 650 ft; discovered 1820 by crew of the Hersilia; 

they actually named it “Ragged Island” but the name later 

became corrupted; Bertrand, p. 153, identifies the logkeeper 

as Captain Palmer. 

16. Eights commented on the rarity of fishes in high 

latitudes that would take a hook. 

17. Thus ended the southerly adventure of James 

Eights in the Antarctic. If the story is not entirely mythical, 

it must have been here that Eights enacted the piece of 

bravado credited to him by relatives in later years: In a letter 

of 24 April 1915, Henry Sage Dermott, of the First Presbyterian 

Church of Albany, wrote that he had been told by 

relatives that Eights had many years before gone off “with 

a vessel in search of the South Pole....When the ship could 

go no farther south, it faced about. James Eights ran with 

all speed to the stern of the vessel and ever after claimed 

that he had been nearer the South Pole than any other 

mortal.” This, naturally, would not have been true, in any 

event, for they were not as far south as the Antarctic Circle, 

which had been crossed more than once by James 

Cook, in his ship’s circumnavigation of Antarctica a half 

century earlier. See Bertrand, p. 154, in regard to the new 

destination, “in search of the islands reported by Captains 

Swain, Macy, and Gardiner.” 

18. For Heywood Island, see Stewart, pp. 453-454, a 

crescent-shaped island WNW of the northern tip of Robert 

Island; named in 1822 for Capt. Peter Heywood, RN; 

62°20’S. 59°41’W; see Bertrand, p. 154, for account of 

departure, etc. 

19. The words “fise birds” are relatively clear in the 

manuscript, so all the more confusing. While it is difficult 

to believe that a New England sealer would have used an 

obscure word like “fise” (see O.E.D. [2] 5: 962 — “... a 

small windy escape backwards”), that is, calling it a Fart 

(or Fizzle) Bird, I am reminded (W.L. McAtee, Nomina 

Abitera, p. 23) that the diving petrel, Pelecanoides urinatrix, 

was called a “Horse-fart” by whalers, probably in reference 

to its frequent obvious release of fecal material; in 

addition, the skua relatives, also possibly seen, have a generally 

suspect reputation (McAtee, pp. 35-38) with regard 

to release of fecal wastes; R.C. Murphy (Oceanic Birds, p. 

1033), provides a likely laundered name of “Dirt Bird” for 

the Tristan skua. 

20. See excellent map of track of the ships in Bertrand, 

p. 152. 

21. For Mocha Island, on the Chilean coast, see U.S. 

Hydrographic Office, South America Pilot (3: 169): “about 7 

miles long, by 3 miles across, and is about 18 miles off the 

coast.” “The summit of the island, 1,112 feet above the sea, 

is a prominent landmark. The island is surrounded by 

shoals and rocks on all sides...These are particularly dangerous 

during the flood tide...Thick weather occasionally 

sets in for days.” W.G. Blackie’s fine old gazetteer (1855, 2: 

370) has it: 20 m off coast of Chile at 38°23’S. 73°59’W; 

about 7 m long, 3 m broad; altitude 1250 ft; anchorages 

indifferent, landing bad; no supplies except wood and 

water (latter excellent). 

22. The Eights paper was the first of his scientific 

reports and ought to have brought him greater honor than 

it did. The natural history part of the paper was rather 

widely used; its later obscurity becomes all the more difficult 

to comprehend. First of all, it made up pp. 58-69 of his 

“Description of a new crustaceous animal found on the 

shores of the South Shetland Islands, with remarks on 

their natural history” (“by James Eights, naturalist to the 

exploring expedition of 1830, and corresponding member 

of the Albany Institute. Communicated July 10, 1833”). His 

affiliation, as given here, is in itself odd; his paper was 

read by a member, M.H. Webster, at a special meeting of 

the Institute on 10 July; the original manuscript is still in 

Institute archives (see AI “Minutes. 1824-1857”); yet, he 

continued for some years to make contributions as if he 

were a regular member as, indeed, in most respects he 

seems to have remained. These natural history notes were 

quoted in their entirety in Niles’s Register, 3 May 1834, pp. 

167-168 (where they were reprinted from the New York 

Mercantile Advertiser and Advocate), both notable popular 

notices of the work. Edmund Fanning used the notes, 

except for a few sentences, in his Voyages to the South Seas 

(1838, etc.), pp. 195-216. Nearly all these notes were used 

again by the editor of American Journal of Science in 1856, 

where they accompanied a reprinting of a taxonomic 

study of another of Eights’s new crustaceans, the naming 

of the isopod Glyptonotus. 

23. J.N. Reynolds, “Leaves from an unpublished journal” 

(1833). Barrows Isle was also called Mordrins Island; 

why Reynolds used this name for it is not clear, since, after 

its discovery by Bransfield in 1820, it was named Elephant 

Island “in 1821 by American sealers who found an abun- 


dance of elephant seals here.” It is located 61°10’S, 

55°14’W and is 24 miles long, its greatest width 12 miles 

(Stewart, p. 299). 

24. Seal Rocks, presumably now Seal Islands; Stewart, 

p. 888: 60°58’S, 55°24’W; small rocky isles, 3-6 mi north of 

Elephant Island; the northernmost of the South Shetlands, 

they were discovered by Bransfield in 1820; notable numbers 

of seals were killed there in the early years. If identification 

is correct, Reynolds was in error to write that the 

isles were southwest of Barrows (Elephant) Island; they lie 

to the northwest of that island. Reynolds certainly adopted 

a heroic stance, to make so little of a swim in that icy 

water! At that time, one veteran of the Antarctic sealing 

age recalled, “no fire was known on the vessels, only that 

used for cooking the food. Even the cabins were cold and 

cheerless, and after returning to the vessel from the labour 

of the day, the men would retire to their bunks as the only 

means of getting warm” (E.S. Balch, “Stonington Antarctic 

explorers,” p. 490). I am unable to identify the islet 

described in detail by Reynolds, although if his directions 

are to be trusted (and if I am correct in the identification of 

Seal Rocks), it may have been part of Gibbous Rocks, 4 mi 

NW of Cape Belsham, Elephant Island. 

25. “Rodman’s Cove,” as presently understood, seems 

to be the same as Reynolds had in mind but was officially 

bestowed by Lawrence Martin about 1940; Stewart, p. 842, 

gives its position as 61°07’S, 55°28’W, west coast of Elephant 

Island; Benjamin Rodman was the owner of New 

Bedford whaling ships; also called Emma Cove. As for 

Samuel Lewis Southard, he has been honored in the 

Antarctic, but not at the place here mentioned (Stewart, p. 

946). 

26. “Clarence Isle” = Clarence Island, Stewart, p. 192, 

61°12’S, 54°05’W; 12 mi long; named before 1821. 

27. I begin at this point to trim more and more of 

Reynolds’s peroration. 

28. The names listed are sailors’ appellations for four 

various seabirds; if Reynolds is to be trusted as recounting 

a realistic list of those present and not being merely 

metaphorical, he meant: Mollymock, some species of albatross; 

Nellie, giant petrel, Macronectes; Gull, presumably a 

true gull, since he would have used a different name for 

skua — the dominican gull is the local species; Mother 

Carey’s chickens, probably Wilson’s storm petrel. 

29. J. Eights, “Description of a new crustaceous animal,” 

pp. 58-69, 1833; see relevant comments earlier. 

Antarctic literature, by now, has an abundance of references 

to the South Shetlands (the term “New” is not used), 

for they are the center of much modern scientific research. 

For a thumbnail sketch, with a complete list of islands and 

islets, see Stewart, pp. 945-946. Despite some petifogging 

claims by Edmund Fanning, they appear to have been discovered 

in 1819 by British seaman William Smith (who initially 

called them “New South Britain”; see Note 2). For a 

notably complete documentation of the South Shetlands’ 

early history (with a few grains of salt thrown in for good 

measure), see R.T. Gould’s “The charting of the South 

Shetlands, 1819-28.” The history of the destruction of the 

fur seal and elephant seal resources has been recorded 

many times; see Alonzo Howard Clark, “The Antarctic furseal 

and sea-elephant industry” (1887); various publications 

touch upon the history of sealing expeditions, a 

recent example being Jorge Berguño B., “Las Shetland del 

Sur: el ciclo lobero” (‘South Shetland Islands: the sealing 

cycle’), parts 1-2, 1993. There is a good summary account 

of the South Shetlands in George C. Watson’s Birds of the 

Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic, pp. 266-271; a reliable working 

list of birds to be expected there may be gleaned from R.C. 

Murphy’s list of Scotia Arc species, in his Oceanic Birds of 

South America, 1: 232. It is appropriate to remember, when 

reading accounts by Reynolds and Eights, that King 

George Island today is subjected to such intense usage, 

from “scientific activities, tourism, vehicles, use of fuels 

and waste disposal,” that “existing management practices 

have not been adequate to deal with these problems and 

new approaches are required” (Colin M. Harris, “Environmental 

effects of human activities on King George Island,” 

p. 193). 

30. For additional reflections, with some repetition, 

see Eights, “On the icebergs of the Ant-Arctic sea,” quotedin 

full later in this chapter. It is of interest to note that in 

the case of iceberg erratics, long a matter of great interest 

to him, Darwin inadvertently cited Eights’s work without 

crediting him. In 1839 (“Note on a rock seen on an iceberg 

in 61° south latitude”), Darwin built his case for the transportation 

of rocks by icebergs, citing records later than 

that offered by Eights. He noted that the French naturalist, 

Pierre Louis Antoine Cordier (“Expéditions scientifiques,” 

p. 283, 1837) did refer to an interesting finding “by the naturalist 

of an American expedition in 1830.” It appears that 

Darwin hastily overlooked Cordier’s recognition of Eights 

as the naturalist, whose names is mentioned. This is 

explained at length by Lawrence Martin in “James Eights’ 

pioneer observation and interpretation of erratics in 

Antarctic icebergs.” Later the same year, in an addendum 

to his Journal of Researches, p. 613, Darwin quoted Cordier 

correctly but claimed to know nothing of either the expedition 

or of Eights. William Mills, in “Darwin and the iceberg 

theory” — without giving any credit to Eights — 

shows that the roots of the theory considerably antedate 

Eights and Darwin: but Darwin still gets the spotlight. 

Turnabout, I suppose, being fair play, in an 1842 contribution 

on icebergs, with much on transport of boulders, 

some personal observations going back as early as 1827, 

Joseph P. Couthouy cited works by neither Darwin, whose 

work he ought surely to have known about, nor Eights, 

with whom he was at least somewhat personally acquainted. 

31. Here, again, by many decades, Eights had an 

unnoticed “first.” John F. Splettstoesser, in “First in Antarctica,” 

belatedly recognizes Eights’s priority. William J. 

Zinsmeister, in “Early geological exploration of Seymour 

Island, Antarctica,” points out not only Eights’s early discovery 

(p. 2) but notes that the next earliest report of 

Antarctic fossil plants, in the early 1890s, went largely 

unnoticed for many decades. The extent to which Eights 

was sitting on the mother lode of fossil floras at King 

George Island (supposed source of his specimen) can be 

appreciated by noting the abundance of finds there as 

shown by K. Birkenmajer and E. Zastawniak, in “Late Cretaceous-Early 

Tertiary floras of King George Island, West 

Antarctic”; see especially the map, Fig. 2, p. 229. It must be 

noted that it is not clear whether any part of Eights’s specimen 

was brought back by him or if he merely described it 

from his notes; if he did bring it, or a sample, back it has 

vanished. 

32. Bertrand, p. 153, on the basis of this allusion to 

Deception Island, assumes that Eights actually visited it. 

Chapter 6 105

Without an extensive study of other accounts of the 

Antarctic, including that by Weddell, to see if Eights 

quotes from any of them, I should be cautious about doing 

so. If Eights is credited with an early visit to Deception 

Island, such has not caught on in popular literature. John 

Reynolds, “Land of ice and fire” (1995), says nothing 

about him in regard to the islands early history. Stewart 

gives details of Bridgeman and Deception islands: Bridgeman 

Island, p. 236, 62°04’S, 56°44’W, a volcanic island, 

one-half mi long, circular, 240 m high, 23 mi E of King 

George Island; named about 1820; Deception Island, p. 

246, 62°57’S, 60°38’W, a volcanic, horseshoe-shaped 

caldera; the crater, which forms a notable harbor, is 8 mi in 

diameter; its volcano has erupted three times within recent 

years; note references to it in Kay’s journal farther along. 

33. Eights’s “avena,” a grass, will be described in the 

scientific results of his investigations. Some reference will 

be made there to the other plant species of the South Shetlands. 

34. It is better to ignore Eights’s hodgepodge of scientific 

names of seals; his common ones will provide identification: 

elephant seal (or sea-elephant); leopard seal; southern 

fur seal; and, judging from the remarkable teeth alluded 

to (if of the species he had a glimpse of, which seems 

likely), the crab-eating seal, Lobodon carcinophaga, as suggested 

by W.T. Calman, “James Eights, a pioneer Antarctic 

naturalist,” pp. 177-178. 

35. This is certainly a truncated list of whales; but 

identifications can be accepted as far as they go; the “sea 

skunk,” is indicated in Calman, p. 178, to be probably 

Lagenorhynchus cruciger, the hourglass dolphin, a species 

not scientifically named until 1847. 

36. Eights’s bird taxonomy was as unsteady as his 

punctuation in this nearly endless paragraph. In addition 

to finding modern equivalents for his barbaric Latin terms, 

one must reckon with the possibility that he may have 

added the occasional species which he saw elsewhere. A 

case in point may be his seemingly excellent account of the 

king penguin. R.C. Murphy, Oceanic Birds, 1: 344, 348, cautiously 

accepted Eights’s record of the species for the 

South Shetlands but noted that there is no such record for 

it there in modern times; indeed, it consitutes a distinctly 

southern record, especially considering the numbers that 

Eights claims to have seen. Calman, p. 178, suggested that 

Eights may have observed the species at Staten Island, 

then forgetfully put it with other penguin species on the 

South Shetlands. It is, however, worth pointing out that 

Ulrich Lange and Jan Naumann, “Weitere Erstnachweise 

von Vogelarten im Südwesten von King George Island,” p. 

165, established a recent record for the species. Perhaps it 

was previously present but was exterminated early on, 

certainly a possibility, considering the massive slaughter of 

all resident animals there. Note also that one of the penguins 

noted (see below, Note 43) by Richard Sherratt 

seems certainly to have been this species. The final three 

genera and species of penguins listed are difficult to 

untangle as to possible species; I should assume his “rookery 

penguin” to be the chinstrap penguin; two others to be 

expected are Adélie and gentoo penguins. “Phalacrocorax’ 

is a shag or cormorant; “Sterna,” a tern; his two species of 

“Diomedea” (albatross) are believable but I should be 

wary of his scientific names without further study; “Daption” 

is the Cape pigeon; two species of fulmar, including 

“giganteus” (Giant fulmar), are acceptable; “Procellaria” is 

some sort of petrel; “Larus,” a gull, is acceptable; by 

“Lestris,” he means the skua; “Chionis”’ is the sheath-bill 

and his remarks are apt. While some authors have credited 

Eights with being the first scientist to report upon work in 

the Antarctic, this is not true. It is correct, if you will, to 

say he was the first American scientist. As regards bird 

life, Brian Roberts (“A bibliography of Antarctic ornithology,” 

p. 341) makes him the second observer, W.H.B. Webster 

having made a respectable list of birds for nearby 

Deception Island a year earlier (this will be discussed 

later). Indeed, there are decent merchant seamen’s bird 

lists that antedate both observers (see accounts, quoted 

later, of Young, Bone and Sherratt). 

37. Mollusks will be treated in a part of the section on 

systematic zoological results of Eights’s trip, since the list 

(including those from southern South America) is an 

extensive one; his reference to Nucula is noteworthy, as 

will be shown. 

38. Consult Bertrand’s map, p. 152, and note that the 

“southwestern” explorations made by the Penguin and 

Annawan in search of islands took them progressively farther 

from southern continental lands than they were at 

King George Island. Beyond this, Eights’s final paragraph 

here requires little comment, except to say that he was 

guessing. The ability of American exploiters of natural 

capital to exhaust their resources and thus be ever in need 

of new lands to ravage, can hardly have been better enunciated. 

In his green certainty that somewhere out there lay 

an ever-teeming cornucopia, he identified himself with the 

dream of his age. John McNab’s log of the schooner Eliza 

Scott, 1839, although kept a decade later and on nearly the 

opposite side of Antarctica, shows clearly that you could 

frequently encounter whales and an abundance of penguins 

and other sea birds in marine waters far indeed 

from land. 

39. Bertrand, pp.154-15, refers briefly to Pendleton’s 

adventure. E.S. Balch, “Stonington Antarctic explorers,” 

cites manuscripts of interest, including one ascribing to 

Capt. Alexander S. Palmer (Pendleton shared the same 

sentiment) the statement “... said cruise furnished an 

example that no sealer ever wished to imitate, namely to 

search for land south-west from Cape Horn.” For Pendleton’s 

statements in regard to his role in the expedition and 

the generally low rank he accorded Antarctic research, see 

“Memorial of Edmund Fanning” (properly, ‘and Benjamin 

Pendleton’), 1833, pp. 3, 9, and elsewhere; see also E. Fanning, 

Voyages (1833), pp. 478-488. 

40. JE, “On the Icebergs of the Ant-arctic Sea.” 

41. Railing against the past is a vain endeavor but one 

must not lie. See Lieut.-Commander R.T. Gould, “The 

charting of the South Shetlands, 1819-20,” pp. 207-208, for 

a retrospective comment on sealing and whaling worthy 

of our notice; see also J. Stewart, Antarctica, p. 889. See 

Gould, pp. 218-220, for further documentation 

on Bransfield’s explorations. Adam Young (as he reported 

in 1821) did not do badly for an amateur: note the reference 

to the stunted grass, the “myriads of sea-fowls,” 

including four species of penguins, albatrosses, gulls, pintadoes 

(Cape pigeon, Daption, a petrel), shags (cormorants), 

sea swallows (terns) and, notably, the white bird 

with unwebbed feet, the sheath-bill, Chionis, a bird that 

Eights also found worthy of extended comment. His “sea 


lion” is pretty surely some other species of seal, perhaps 

the elephant seal, for he accounts for the fur seal. Stewart, 

p. 1127, gives no useful information on Dr. Adam Young; 

his account (p. 120) of Edward Bransfield (b. ca 1795, d. 

1852) is fuller and there is a good accounting for the stay 

in the South Shetlands, 16 Jan–4 Feb 1820, which they tentatively 

took to be part of the mainland. They did indeed 

glimpse the Antarctic coast of Trinity Land but sea-ice conditions 

prevented their making a landfall. For the exploration 

of the Williams, see Stewart, p. 1107. 

42. Gould, p. 220, reproduces maps of this expedition 

(and much else). Stewart, p. 107, adds nothing to a biography 

of Bone, and, in fact, merely gives his middle initial 

only, not a name. 

43. Thomas M. Bone (journalist), with editorial 

notices, “Edward Bransfield’s Antarctic voyage, 1819-20, 

and the discovery of the Antarctic continent” (1946), pp. 

385, 388, 390. Red snow seems likely to have been the 

product of an abundant colonization by various algae, as 

has been proved elsewhere. The bird list is a good one and 

most of his species can be accounted for. If he did see five 

species of penguins, perhaps one of them was Eights’s 

king penguin. His report of an all-white penguin is incorrect, 

unless a mere individual color anomaly. He makes no 

distinction among albatrosses; his “large brown bird with 

a few white feathers in the upper wing” was probably the 

skua, otherwise known as Port Egmont hen; Cape pigeon 

is Daption; “Petterel” is a small petrel, one of Mother 

Carey’s chickens; whether he thought there was more than 

one species of gull is not clear; his shag is a cormorant, 

probably the blue-eyed — whether the white-breasted one 

seen on a boating trip was thought different from the nesting 

species is not clear; the “sort of 

pigeon” is our friend the sheath-bill. It had not occurred to 

him that penguins do not feed on land but in the sea. 

Information touching upon the exploration described by 

Young and Bone appears, in somewhat elaborated (but not 

improved!) form in an account written by a nonexploring 

acquaintance of Edward Bransfield; see “John Miers’ 

account of the discovery of the South Shetland Islands” 

(1950, quoted from the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, 

1820). Its natural history is somewhat wild, evidently 

added by the author, English engineer John Miers (1789- 

1879), at the time resident at Valparaiso: the presence of 

sea otters and what “may prove to be a variety of the 

ornithorynchus [duck-billed platypus],” and trees being 

singularly imaginary guesses. 

44. “Richard Sherratt’s chart of the South Shetland 

Islands, 1831” (ed. by Brian Roberts), 1952, pp. 363, 364, 

365; reproduced from a periodical dated Oct 1821. It is a 

sane, if somewhat imprecise, list in the line of natural history. 

Two species of whales, fur seals, sea elephants, various 

small whales all sound right. The bird list requires 

some comment but is mainly sound. Three species of penguins 

makes it appear quite modern (see Murphy, 1936, 1: 

232); there is some question which three species he meant, 

however; the “crown penguin” seems likely to have been 

the king, a handsome creature with a distinct red band 

around the back of the head and the only penguin in the 

region that could be described as having “beautiful yellow 

and black plumage”; this may tend to confirm Eights’s 

report of that species from King George Island; the Adélie 

is likely “the black and white one”; it is more difficult to 

imagine what his penguin without the red “tuft” but similar 

to number one was; ‘gannets’ is difficult — the term 

would presumably be used for some species of booby but 

no species of the genus Sula is now known for the area, 

although they are abundant farther north; “Cape hens” are 

sea hens, Cape hawks, Port Egmont hens, or skuas; 

“pigeon” is the sheath-bill — they are by no means windblown 

waifs. 

45. For a biography, see “Dr. W.H.B. Webster, 1793- 

1875: Antarctic scientist,” by A.G.E. Jones, 1974. Capt. 

Henry Foster’s Narrative of a Voyage to the Southern Atlantic 

Ocean was prepared for publication by Dr. Webster, surgeon 

of the sloop Chanticleer (Foster was drowned on the 

return trip). Except for signed appendices, its contents can 

be credited primarily to Webster and is so listed in this 

book. There is a rather favorable account of Staten Island, 

vol. 1, pp. 99-131; a technical account of hydrography, etc., 

2: 255-264, its vegetation, 2: 290-299; for Deception Island, 

see especially vol. 1, pp. 147-164; technical memoir on 

South Shetland (that is, Deception Island) by Henry Foster, 

2: 273-280, with a further description of Deception Island 

by Webster, 2: 300-306. For Henry Foster (1796–1831), see 

memoir in DNB by Gordon Goodwin. Webster’s bird list 

requires little comment: He does not distinguish among 

penguins; one presumes Sterna vittata to be one of his 

terns; Port Egmont hen was the skua; his gull was the kelp 

or southern black-headed gull (he used the name of a 

northern species); stormy peterel, is Oceanites oceanicus, 

Mother Carey’s chicken; “snowy blue-nosed peterel” is 

probably snow petrel, Pagoderma nivea; “Procellaria gigantea” 

is the nelly (or nellie), Macronectes giganteus; blue-eyed 

shag is the cormorant, Phalacrocorax atriceps; sea pigeon, is 

the sheath-bill, Chionis alba. Captain Alexander S. Palmer, 

on a sealing expedition in the Penguin in 1827–1828, told of 

encountering Captain Foster of the Chanticleer at Port 

Hatches, 26 Oct 1828. He was able to guide the Chanticleer 

to a safe and comfortable anchorage, an act of courtesy 

that was graciously acknowledged in a message that Foster 

drafted and gave to Palmer (E.S. Balch, “Stonington 

Antarctic explorers,” pp. 484-485). 

46. I have found virtually nothing on Joseph Henry 

Kay. He listed himself as a midshipman in the Royal Navy 

in his journal. Scott Polar Research Institute, holder of this 

journal, knows little else about him. They have a couple of 

letters, one of a personal nature, signed Henry Kay, to 

John Franklin, 23 Sep 1847, another signed Joseph Henry 

Kay (probably the same person), to Sir James Clark Ross, 

Van Diemen Land, requesting his recall; in the former letter, 

he blames Ross for not effecting his promotion. The 

Institute Library has two additional letters from Mary 

Anne Kay, 1826, 1848, to John Franklin, her uncle. It 

appears probable that Joseph Henry Kay was related to 

Franklin. Smith Island, named for William Smith, discoverer 

of the South Shetlands (Stewart, p. 927), is located 

63°S, 62°30’W; it is 45 mi W of Deception Island and separated 

from it by Boyd Strait; it is 19 mi long, 5 mi wide; it 

was discovered by the sealing vessel Hersilia 18 Jan 1820, 

being called at first Mount Pisgah Island; the name Pisgah 

is now restricted to one of its high points. For William 

Smith, called by John Stewart (Antarctica, p. 927) “in a way, 

the most important man in Antarctic history,” I have 

found nothing of substance beyond this comment. 

47. Kay is sometimes overprecise, sometimes ambiguous, 

with regard to species of birds. The “silvery gull” 

deserves comment as apparently differing from a black- 

Chapter 6 107

headed form noted by other observers; it would not be the 

northern form that he names here. He again mentions 

“Eglet” and “Nelly” in the same breath but subsequently 

appears to distinguish them satisfactorily into skua 

(“Eglet”) and giant petrel or fulmar (“Nelly”). What 

species of penguin he viewed is still not clear. The tern 

with a red beak is clearly Sterna vittata, the Arctic tern. The 

“white pigeon with parrot’s beak” is the sheath-bill. 


Chapter 7 

JAMES EIGHTS: CHILE AND THE RETURN 

FROM THE SOUTH 

In what may be called the received view, 

there is not the slightest indication that James 

Eights did not stick with the Annawan or the 

Seraph after their brief Antarctic tours and the 

futile search to the westward for nonexistent 

islands. K.L. Bertrand tells the story authoritatively 

and I know of no one who disputes him. 1 

To summarize Bertrand: The crews found 

poor sealing in the South Shetlands and the 

voyage of discovery to the westward was an 

exhausting one — and quite enough exploration 

for them. They were tired and at risk of 

scurvy by the time they reached the coast of 

Chile in early April 1830. When it was proposed 

that a little sealing along the Chilean coast be 

followed by an extended exploration of the 

Pacific Ocean, the crews threatened to mutiny. 

As a sop to exploration, Jeremiah N. Reynolds 

and John F. Watson “were put ashore and made 

a successful trek through the territory of the 

then warlike Araucanian Indians, with whom 

they were able to deal on peaceful terms.” 

When there was again talk of more exploration, 

the crews refused to go. Captains 

Pendleton and Nat Palmer (apparently with 

reduced crews) turned to sealing alone. They 

“ranged as far to the northwest as the islands of 

San Felix and San Ambrosio, where they had to 

be content to take the skins of the hair seal 

rather than the more valuable fur seal.” 

Reynolds remained in Chile, for the nonce, and 

in October 1832 became “private secretary” to 

Commodore Downes of the U.S. frigate 

Potomac, then on an extended Pacific trip. Few 

dates are cited and the length of Reynolds and 

Watson’s tour among the Araucanians is not 

given. 

The Penguin sealed along the Chilean coast 

and around Cape Horn and sailed for Stonington 

from the Falkland Islands on 26 April 1831, 

arriving there on 22 June. “The Annawan left 

Talcahuano, Chile, on May 23, 1831, and arrived 

in New York on August 6,” after a stormy 

rounding of Cape Horn, where three boats were 

lost. Capt. Pendleton reported, upon his arrival 

in the Seraph 8 August 1831, that six members of 

his crew had deserted. In all this, Bertrand does 

not disclose the fate of Watson and one is left to 

envision an extensive year-and-something of 

southeastern Pacific travel for James Eights. 

The true outcome was both simpler and 

more complex than Bertrand indicated. Definitive 

records are few. Next to nothing is known 

of Eights’s experiences in Chile, although that 

little deserves its due. Further, it seems fair to 

outline briefly what is known of the trek of 

Reynolds and Watson among the Araucanians. 

In due course, the return of the brigs Annawan 

and Seraph will be accounted for a little more 

fully, although the fate of the latter is of no concern 

to us and that of the former has less interest 

than might previously have been imputed to 

it. 

It needs to be reemphasized that Antarctic 

discovery held little charm for Capt. Pendleton 

(and, we may safely assume, for at least Capt. 

Alex Palmer). Pendleton made that clear in his 

memorial (with Edmund Fanning) to the U.S. 

Chapter 7 109

Congress. Pendleton wrote to Fanning 15 September 

1831, ignoring completely the stay in the 

South Shetlands. He dismissed Antarctic discovery 

and talked only of “a lengthy cruise (of 

much anxiety and suffering,) towards the icy 

region, for the discovery of new lands to the 

westward of Palmer’s land, and in the search 

after the land to the southwestward of Cape 

Horn, said to have been seen by Captains Macy 

and Gardiner, &c., during all which time we 

were so unfortunate as not to make any discovery; 

and, except occasionally a sight of birds, 

seals, drift, &c., we had no encouragement of 

passing in the vicinity of any land. Our crew, 

now being much worn down by fatigue, and 

being almost constantly wet in this region of 

rough sea, and cold rugged weather, with 

alarming symptoms of that dread disease, the 

scurvy; it was judged judicious to bear up, and 

proceed for the coast of Chili to refresh and 

recruit our men, also to replenish our wood and 

water. We arrived on this coast early in May, 

where, by their late sufferings, and our ill luck 

in not making any discoveries, and of course 

not having collected any thing in which they 

could share in as a compensation for their late 

hardship and labor, (their pay or compensation 

being mainly, as you are aware, in a lay or share 

out of what should be collected during the voyage,) 

they now became uneasy, and began to 

show a spirit of disobedience to their officers, 

and mutiny; indeed, so much so, as to make it 

necessary for Captain Palmer to put into Valparaiso 

with the Annawan, and deliver a part of 

his crew over to the United States’ Consul, 

which was the cause of such a delay, that it 

made it too late in the season to enable me to 

accord with your instructions, and to proceed to 

the unexplored parts of the northern Pacific 

coast of Japan, eastern coast of Asia, &c. In this 

disappointment and dilemma, on a consultation 

with Capt. Palmer, and the scientific gentlemen 

[note this! — to Pendleton, the scientific corps 

by this time consisted only of Reynolds and 

Watson], it was resolved to proceed with the 

vessels to the coast of Araucania, and endeavor 

to obtain a friendly communication with that 

nation which modern history had so little 

knowledge of; and, if so fortunate as to succeed, 

and, also, in the mean time, to be enabled to 

procure a good collection of furs, seal skins, &c., 

on its coast, to ship and forward home; by then, 

the next season came about for proceeding to 

the North Pacific; this would, it was thought, 

tend much to make our men contented, and to 

proceed in the spirit of harmony and perseverance 

to the northward. Accordingly, we shaped 

the course of the brigs for that coast; and on the 

22d of July, we landed Messrs. Reynolds and 

Watson of our scientific corps, at the river Arauco, 

with a view to enter the Araucanian country, 

and procure, if possible, a friendly intercourse 

with the head or leaders of this noble and warlike 

nation. We then, after again recruiting our 

wood and water at the island of St. Mary’s, (our 

men still so restless and uneasy, that a number 

of desertions here occurred,) proceeded to the 

Archipelago, in the extensive bay or gulf at the 

southern extreme of the Araucanian coast, to 

make surveys and collections; during the time, 

Messrs. Reynolds and Watson were employed 

on their attempted embassy, in which their trial 

proved successful, beyond our most sanguine 

expectations; and learning from the Araucanian 

fishermen at the Archipelago, that Messrs. 

Reynolds and Watson had passed into the interior 

of their country, where no stranger had 

been permitted to come for 150 years past, and 

had been friendly received, and were then on 

the bank of a river in about the latitude 39° 

south.” 

When they arrived at that point, they were 

met by armed Araucanian warriors determined 

to oppose their entry into their country. However, 

as soon as they were able to convince the 

head chief that theirs were “the vessels that 

brought Messrs. Reynolds and Watson to their 

country, their arms were promptly laid aside, 

and we were received as friends....They are certainly 

a very noble race; and, by the evidence of 

our reception and observations, it appeared that 

if an agency from our Government was sent 

out, now the door to a friendly understanding 

is opened, it would find but little difficulty in 

establishing a friendly and important commercial 

trade with this nation. The resources of 

their country is vast indeed; and abounds in 

wool, hides, tallow, rich furs, skins, &c;.... Not 


eing able, on account of their distance up the 

river, to communicate with our scientific gentlemen, 

we, therefore, returned to our collections 

of seal skins, &c. with the view to the content of 

our men; calculating, agreeable to our previous 

understanding and arrangement, in April 

[1831], to ship all [the cargo, that is] home from 

Talcuanna [!] or Valparaiso, and receive 

Messers. Reynolds and Watson again on board; 

recruit our provisions, and refit our vessels, in 

the full hope then to be able to proceed, with 

contented crews, in the spirit of perseverance 

and harmony, to the Northern Pacific, agreeable 

to our instructions, and when the season came 

about, to then proceed to the south again. But 

on our arrival at Talcuanna, to my utter mortification, 

I was doomed to experience all our 

expectations overturned and blasted, by the 

conduct of our crews, in mutinous, disorderly 

behaviour; and with such a stern determination 

to desert, which forced me, after a consultation 

with Capt. Palmer, to adopt the only expedient 

left; which was, to return home, while we had a 

sufficient number to navigate our vessels, relying 

on the liberality of our Government for a 

compensation, for the national good we have, at 

least, tried our best to do, with the limited and 

shackled means in our power, as well as in consideration 

for our loss and sufferings. 

“I take the liberty, also, to remark, that I am 

now convinced, in the experience of this enterprise, 

that an exploring expedition, by any private 

means, can never produce great or important 

national benefits.” 

Pendleton went on but this is the meat of 

his letter. It ends, for us, with two significant 

developments. First, a reemphasis that only 

Reynolds and Watson and their Araucanian 

adventure counted: “Messrs. Reynolds and 

Watson, in their perseverance, &c., deserve the 

favor and thanks of our Government and fellow 

citizens.” And, then, the clearing up of at least 

one mystery: What had became of Watson? Benjamin 

Pendleton’s letter is signed by himself, 

“Commander of the Exploring Expedition,” and 

is attested to by “James E. Bleecker, Clerk” and 

“J.F. Watson, of Scientific corps.” Clearly, while 

Reynolds remained in Chile and went to sea 

with Commodore Downs, Watson continued to 

keep company with the “exploring expedition,” 

but on the Seraph, not his original ship, the 

Annawan. 2 

Note that the date of this letter was 15 Sep 

1831. What had happened since the arrival of 

the brigs on the coast of Chile after the Antarctic 

adventure in April 1830? 

From James Eights, we have little indeed on 

his experiences on the Chilean coast. While he 

collected shells and plants there, as he apparently 

did wherever he was, a reliable itinerary 

cannot be established from records of the specimens. 

For various reasons, it appears best to 

reserve references to localities to the technical 

account of his specimens. 

Eights’s only published reference that 

proves he was on the Chilean coast is in an 

essay on “Origin of guano,” that appeared in 

1844. It is here transcribed in its entirety. His 

contribution, in quotation marks in the original, 

is preceded by an editorial comment. 

“Concerning the extraordinary fertilizer 

which is now exciting wide-spread interest in 

the agricultural world, (and we may add, in the 

commercial world also, seeing that so many 

vessels are employed in the traffic,) we are 

indebted to Dr. James Eights of Albany, for the 

following memoranda. The opportunities for 

observation presented by the Expedition — the 

first American Exploring Expedition — in 

which he was employed as Naturalist, certainly 

furnished ample scope for judgment on the subject 

to which Dr. Eights refers: 

“‘Much has recently been said,’ observes Dr. 

Eights, ‘and various have been the conjectures 

respecting the origin of the justly popular 

manure termed “Guano,” brought in such vast 

quantities from the numerous islands and headlands 

of the African and South American coasts; 

but little or nothing of a definite nature has as 

yet I believe, appeared in print. All writers on 

the subject, however, seem to agree in considering 

it to be the production of some piscivorous 

birds. 

“‘As much uncertainty seems yet to prevail, 

permit me to cast my faggot on the pile, by 

offering to such of your readers whom it may 

concern, the substance of some extracts taken 

from my notes of a voyage, made several years 

Chapter 7 111

since to the South Atlantic, Antartic [!] and 

Pacific Oceans; and likewise, some remarks 

from personal observations of at least one of the 

birds that largely contribute to its formation. 

“‘Being moored at the Island of St. Mary’s 

on the coast of Chili, (latitude 37 south,) I was 

at an early hour in the morning, called on deck 

to witness the flight of ‘Shags,’ (Phalacrocorax 

graculus) on one of their fishing excursions to 

the sea; they appeared in such prodigious numbers, 

that the whole surface of the heavens was 

almost entirely obliterated from the sight; flying 

in irregularly formed streams from the main 

land, from the breadth of but a few feet to that 

of more than a mile the whole way, extending 

in a north and south direction along the coast as 

far as the eye had vision, strikingly bringing to 

my recollection the highly interesting descriptions 

of Wilson and Audubon, of the multitude 

of wild pigeons in some of our western States. 

They continued in an almost unceasing flight 

from the time they were first observed, until we 

were summoned to our mid-day meal, after 

which time I paid no further attention to their 

progress. 

“‘The favorite resting places of these birds, 

were the southern headland of the Island, 

which arose in a precipitious [!] manner from 

the waters of the sea to an elevation of about 

ninety feet above its surface, and likewise on 

the summits of the numerous rocky islets which 

were every where scattered about the vicinity. 

Upon examination, these resting places were 

found to be entirely covered by well characterized 

Guano, but so firmly compact, and the surface 

of the rock so completely besmeared with 

the substance at their uniting edges, that it was 

next to an impossibility to determine with any 

degree of accuracy, its relative thickness. 

“‘These birds are esteemed as a palatable 

food, and for the period of three weeks that we 

remained at this Island, they were daily served 

at mess for both officers and crew of the ship. 

Upon examining the contents of the stomachs 

of several of these birds, we almost invariably 

found them distended with the bones and the 

partially decomposed relics of a small species of 

Clupea (Herring,) which range [!] along this 

coast in immense shoals from the cold waters in 

the regions about Cape Horn to the immediate 

vicinity of the tropical line. These cormorants 

dive and swim well, pursuing and securing 

their prey while in the water; ascending in the 

air to devour it which they do with the greatest 

facility, tossing it up and catching it again as it 

descends, they swallow it almost instantaneously 

in a head foremost direction. From their 

prodigious numbers, their voracious appetite, 

and exceedingly rapid digestion, a very large 

amount of these fishes are daily consumed by 

them. After having thus gorged themselves 

with food, they retire to their usual resting 

places on some projecting headland or rocky 

islet in the sea, where they remain for hours 

together, with outspread wings, until digestion 

has completed its course, when they again proceed 

to sea to renew the process. It is at such 

times that the Guano is so copiously deposited. 

“‘This species of cormorant has a great geographical 

range, being found along both continents, 

from the frozen regions of the north, to 

the antartic sea, and of course are not uncommon 

along our whole Atlantic board, but in 

consequence of the frequent and copious rains 

which fall in these latitudes, the guano is 

unable to accumulate, being dissolved and 

washed away almost as rapidly as it can be produced. 

“‘Penguins likewise, have frequently been 

mentioned as contributing largely to the formation 

of guano, but from the peculiar habits of 

various species of these birds it will be readily 

seen that but a comparatively small portion of 

this substance can justly be attributed to them. 

In the warm climate of the Peruvian coast 

where this manure chiefly abounds and where 

rains are seldom, if ever known to fall, these 

birds are relatively of rare occurrence, but gradually 

increase in number in proceding [!] to the 

south, until the antartic seas are reached, in the 

cold waters of which, they in the greatest profusion 

are found, being not unfrequently 

observed, covering the surfaces of its numerous 

icebergs which are every where to be seen drifting 

along at a rapid rate by the power of the 

winds and the velocity of the currents. 

“‘These birds are also of an aquatic nature, 

spending the greater portion of their existence 


in the open sea, visiting the land only for the 

purposes of molting, hatching and rearing their 

young. In the high latitudes where Penguins 

most abound, guano is exceedingly scarce. 

“‘From the facts here stated, and the circumstance 

that no piscivorous birds are so numerous 

in the regions where guano is found in the 

greatest profusion, as the Phalacrocorax graculus, 

I consider myself fully justified in the conclusion, 

that it is by these birds that this truly valuable 

manure is almost altogether produced.’” 3 

A brief recapitulation of the trek of 

Reynolds and Watson (the “scientific gentlemen” 

of Pendleton’s letter to Fanning) into the 

Araucanian country is called for. Since, clearly, 

it had nothing to do with James Eights, my 

account will do little more than list relevant 

documents. 

The itinerary of Reynolds and Watson is 

hard to flesh out. They apparently started 

inland at the latitude of Isla de Santa María at 

about 37°S at the river Arauco and explored 

southward to about the latitude of Isla de la 

Mocha at about 39°S. By Pendleton’s record, 

they were left at the former place 22 July. 

Reynolds reported to U.S. Consul Michael 

Hogan at Valparaíso, in October (no date 

given), from Castilio de Antuco, in the 

Cordilleras, a point reached by following a trail 

along the river Bío Bío. That was covered by 

Reynolds’s “A leaf from an unpublished manuscript” 

which concerns the period of a few days 

in mid-November in the northern part of the 

trip. A third contribution appeared in “Rough 

notes of rough adventure” and concerns the 

southern part of the trip, near Valdivia. It seems 

to me that discrepancies had crept into 

Reynolds’s calendar. Even if the month is correct 

(and that appears hardly possible, if you 

consider Pendleton’s admittedly somewhat 

imprecise proposal to charge the government a 

total of four months’ expenses while waiting for 

Reynolds and Watson, picking them up, etc.), 

the date of January 15th 1833 assigned to their 

planting a flag on the summit of the Villarica 

volcano is still two years out (can it be that the 

year 1831 is meant?). As to their length of stay 

by then, Reynolds makes it “near seven 

months.” The date of 1833 is simply impossible, 

for we know from Reynolds’s editorial comment 

in his account of Voyage of the U.S Frigate 

Potomac, under the Command of Commodore John 

Downes, that he shipped with Commodore 

Downes in October 1832, “just three years from 

my commencement of my voyage” from New 

York on the Annawan. It appears unnecessary to 

quote material from the Reynolds pieces. They 

are personal adventure narratives of little substance, 

with a few place names casually noted 

from time to time. No animals are mentioned 

and the only plant named is the Araucanian 

pine. 4 

We can now leave Reynolds to finish his 

journey around the world in the Potomac, whose 

tour was completed in 1834. His role in launching 

the great Exploring Expedition of 1838, in 

which Eights was involved to his hurt, was 

shortly afterwards a monomaniacal concern of 

Reynolds and any planned account of the present 

exploration was put aside. But Reynolds has 

one further claim to fame: While at the Isla de 

la Mocha, he fell in with a whaling ship, its captain 

and first mate and their tale of a fabulous 

white whale, “Mocha Dick.” Watson, we have 

discovered, had returned to the United States 

with Pendleton. It is now James Eights’s turn to 

be brought home. 5 

A few items concerning the return of the 

Annawan must yet be introduced but one item 

concerning James Eights deserves mention. The 

tale is pure hearsay but has an interesting ring 

to it. It goes back to John Mason Clarke and 

concerns a time when all grain was grist to 

Clarke’s mill. He obviously knew next to nothing 

about James Eights when he received a letter 

from Leon J. Cole, a young student of seaspiders, 

a long-ignored species which Eights 

had discovered and named. 

Clarke’s letter of reply of 20 March 1905 has 

Eights “passing off the scene about 1850”! 

“Early in life he got into bad habits and on that 

account it was arranged that he should go as 

zoologist on the Wilkes Exploring Expedition. 

One of his contemporaries still living here and 

formerly a member of our staff has told me that 

he acted so badly on that trip that when the 

expedition reached Patagonia he started off to 

walk home”! That this confuses, in this early 

Chapter 7 113

stage of Clarke’s interest in Eights, the expeditions 

of 1829 and 1838 is of little account. If it 

has any substance at all, it may be a garbled 

version of Eights’s dissatisfaction with the outcome 

of the scientific prospects of his expedition 

and its foundering on the Chilean (not the 

Patagonian) coast. But he can hardly have been 

classed with mutinous sailors, whatever his 

parting may have lacked in grace. 6 

Early on, I was worried by references to 

gifts from James Eights to the Albany Institute 

during the calendar year 1830 and early 1831, 

when the Annawan was still on its sealing 

cruise. However, when I weighed in short statements 

in a letter to John Torrey from Constantine 

Samuel Rafinesque (6 March 1831) and 

John Torrey’s letter to Lewis David von 

Schweinitz (26 April 1831), it became clear that 

Eights had returned long before the arrival of 

the Annawan. Wrote Rafinesque, “I am of course 

very curious to hear more of the Antar[c]tic living 

trilobite of Dr. Eights? pray is he in 

Albany?” And Torrey to Schweinitz: “You have 

probably heard that Dr. Eights, whom the 

Lyceum sent out in a vessel bound for the S. 

Seas, returned last fall without having accomplished 

much, for it turned out just as several of 

us suspected, that the expedition was destined, 

not for discovery & for scientific purposes — 

but to catch seals!” 

Clearly, Eights had returned “last fall” — 

that is, 1830 — and Torrey, in his preeminent 

standing among scientists at the Lyceum of 

Natural History, was in a good position to 

know that. 7 

It was necessary to dig in and see what 

could be found to prove that Eights was already 

in Albany before Reynolds and Watson finished 

their tour of the Araucanian country. My old 

friend, the Albany Argus, let me down. Fortunately, 

access to the Albany Evening Journal 

turned the trick. On Thursday, 2 September 

1830, there was the entry: “The brigs Anawan 

and Seraph, discovery vessels which sailed last 

year for the Southern Ocean, appear to have 

forgotten their errand, or concluded it was not 

worth pursuing. The former was left at Valparaiso 

by a vessel just arrived at Stonington. 

The latter had gone to the coast of Peru. — Both 

were in pursuit of seals. Doct. Eights, of this city, 

and other scientific gentlemen, attached to the 

expedition, have returned.” For James Eights, it 

was the end of a trip from Valparaíso to Albany. 

For me, it was the end of the beginning in getting 

him home! 8 

Thus, one step forward and two steps into 

the unknown. What ship deposited Eights and 

his companions at Stonington? U.S. Customs 

records of official landings of ships at Stonington 

have no reference to any such ship. Microfilms 

of newspapers with marine notices from 

the New Bedford-Stonington area are nil. U.S. 

Customs records for the port of New York had 

no notice of arrival of a ship from Valparaíso 

prior to 2 September that could be of interest. 9 

I could see no reason to search Boston 

records, since there would be no sense in Eights 

then going to Stonington to get to Albany (to 

some extent, the same argument applies to New 

York, for he could have taken a steamboat 

directly to Albany). Yet, I felt that port of New 

York information might somehow be useful. 

Besides, I wanted to know how long a sailship 

of the day might take to get from Chile to a 

New England port. Therefore, I turned to the 

Morning Courier and New York Enquirer, a daily 

newspaper (not Sunday, unhappily), with an 

abundance of marine listings. I found no arrival 

from Chile that seemed of interest but I did find 

good references to times required for trips from 

Chile to New York, a figure often cited in 

arrival announcements. The trip ordinarily took 

something in the order of three months: (1) the 

ship Rassalas, from Valparaíso to Boston, took 2 

months 20 days; (2) the Lafayette, Valparaíso to 

Baltimore, took 3 months nearly to a day; (3) 

the Romulus, Buenos Aires, 14 February, Montevideo, 

4 March, arrived New York 3 May; the 

brig Louisiana, from Rio de Janeiro to Baltimore 

took only 27 days but that was a record. Then, 

pay-dirt: on 1 September 1830, as a news items, 

not in the marine listings: “From Valparaiso. — 

The brig Bogota, Stanton, arrived at Stonington 

last Sunday evening, in 105 days from Valparaiso, 

with 21,000 seal skins, 18,000 hair and 

3000 fur skins. The brig Anawan, Captain 

Palmer, one of the discovery vessels that sailed 

from this port last year, was at Valparaiso. She 


had abandoned the exploring expedition, and 

was to sail in a day or two for the coast of Peru 

for seal. She and the schr Penguin, of Stonington, 

had been to the South Shetland Islands, 

and taken six hundred fur skins, and obtained a 

great number of shells, petrefactious [!], and 

other curiosities of that country. The brig Seraph, 

another of the exploring ships had also 

gone to the coast of Peru after seal. The Bogota 

left on the coast, April the 1st, brig Sea-Nymph, 

Nash, of this port, with 8000 skins on board, to 

sail for New York in a few days. Came passengers 

in the Bogota, Mr. Eckford, of the U.S. 

Navy, and Dr. Eyting [!], of the Anawan. There 

were great dissentions in Chili; and the influence 

which the clergy had formerly exerted in 

preserving peace, had been entirely destroyed, 

and set at defiance by both parties.” 10 

It was now clear enough that the Bogota had 

arrived (and unloaded!) at Stonington on a Sunday 

— and it is as clear that one did not interrupt 

Sabbath worship by employees of the U.S. 

Customs! Thus, the arrival of James Eights 

(poor man, his name scrambled again!) at Stonington 

on Sunday, 29 August 1830. 

There was more, this time pinning most of 

the story neatly together. I turned again to port 

of New York Customs records and found two 

references to the arrival of the brig Bogota, at the 

port of New York from “South Seas” on 2 September 

(in both cases, the captain is given as 

Swanton, not Stanton); all of which could have 

nothing to do with the arrival of James Eights 

and the thousands of sealskins at Stonington, 

for that had already occurred. The Bogota had 

made its unofficial landing at Stonington on a 

Sunday, then immediately sailed for the port of 

New York! 11 

Before returning to James Eights, a couple of 

published references to Jeremiah N. Reynolds 

are worth citing. It is clear that Reynolds was 

still good copy in newspapers. Just as clear, the 

U.S. Consul at Valparaíso thought Reynolds 

alone the qualified scientist with the exploring 

expedition. 

On 12 September 1830, Michael Hogan 

wrote from Valparaíso to Secretary of the Navy 

John Branch: “Three seamen who left the sealing 

brig Seraphim[!], Capt. Benjamin Pendleton, 

of Stonington, arrived here this morning from 

the Island Mary’s, a little south of Conception, 

report that the brig Annawan, Capt. Palmer, on 

board of which Mr. Reynolds and other scientific 

gentlemen were employed on the double 

object of exploring and skinning, was at the 

Island they came from, having been obliged to 

abandon the idea of making any discoveries, in 

consequence of the difficulty of keeping the 

crew in order, eight of whom left her near Pisco, 

on the coast of Peru, after she left this in May 

last. They say Mr. Reynolds landed at Aruca on 

or about the 28th of July, who with Mr. Hampton 

[!] Watson, of Philadelphia, intended to 

come by land to this place. Mr. Watson came 

out as an amateur on the sealing brig Seraph. I 

feel satisfied of their perfect safety, and am of 

opinion, that the world will derive more information 

from the observations and researches of 

the sanguine, persevering disposition of Mr. 

Reynolds, than could have been expected, had 

the project by sea been continued for the time 

intended to be devoted to it. The Araucanian 

country is the finest of South America.... “The 

failure of the Annawan is proof that merchant 

vessels are totally unfit for exploring; ships of 

war only are calculated for service, requiring 

discipline and good order.” Hogan warned: 

“Those seas will soon swarm with runaway 

seamen, who, for support, must become 

pirates. 12 

That Reynolds was in the public eye the 

“scientist” of the Pendleton-Palmer Expedition 

is further emphasized by an exchange printed 

as late as 29 November 1833, in an extraordinarily 

long account of the “South Sea Exploring 

Expedition,” drawn from a Philadelphia newspaper 

and reprinted in the Albany Argus. Since 

the main title has below it the parenthesized 

phrase “By Request,” we may suspect that 

someone planted the larger part of it, more to 

promote a new government-sponsored expedition 

than to make an honest query about scientific 

results of the previous one. Indeed, better 

than half the article is unalloyed (and not 

entirely well-informed) propaganda of one sort 

or another. The second part of the piece ignores 

the recent reprinting of Eights’s natural history 

Chapter 7 115

notes and proceeds to explain why “the scientific 

notes of the gentlemen of the corps, attached 

to this [Pendleton-Palmer] Expedition, have not 

been yet given in print to the public. — Particularly 

those relating to the Araucanian nation, of 

which the civilized world has so little historical 

knowledge;...On inquiry, I learn the following 

to be the cause of delay. 

“Those two talented, persevering, and scientific 

tourists, Messrs. Reynolds and Watson, 

who were detached on this daring and arduous 

service, to explore the Araucanian country, were 

landed from the exploring brigs, on the banks 

of the river Arauco. — Each of these gentlemen 

having retained in his possession a part of the 

historical notes taken, they could not be put to 

press until the arrival in the United States of 

both of them. Mr. Watson, I am informed, 

returned home sometime past, his health having 

been seriously impaired, owing to the 

severity of his sufferings, and the arduous 

nature of his duties. 

“Mr. J.N. Reynolds is at present engaged in 

the station, as private Secretary to Commodore 

Downes, on board the United States Frigate 

Potomac, and will, it is presumed, return home 

in that ship; when it is contemplated they will 

put the whole of their notes to the press, in a 

joint work, for the nation’s benefit. ...” 13 

The time has now come to account for the 

return of Eights’s specimens and for their disposition 

— unhappily, these are two rather distantly 

related matters and neither can be dismissed 

with a well-turned phrase. 

It will be recalled that James Eights went off 

to the Antarctic with the apparent blessing of 

the Lyceum of Natural History of the City of 

New York. There was the explicit promise that, 

upon his return — with specimens, obviously! — 

he would be paid “a sum of not less than $500.” 

That something of the sort was at least attempted, 

seems evident from Lyceum Minutes: But 

did the Lyceum actually pay up? It appears that 

the egregious Reynolds also made overtures for 

support: on 28 June 1830, “Dr. DeKay read an 

extract of a letter from Mr. Reynolds dated from 

Statenland [the recording secretary had some 

trouble with that; the letter would have been 

dated December 1829 or January 1830] 

acknowledging the patronage of the Lyceum 

and promising a joint statement from himself 

and Dr. Eights on the subject of their discoveries.” 

14 

On 6 September 1830, “The President read a 

letter from Mr. Reynolds at Valparaiso [no date 

given] announcing the return of Dr. Eights [to 

the U.S.]. On motion it was resolved to circulate 

subscription papers in accordance with the resolution 

passed Oct. 12, 1829” (in regard to the 

$500, that is). There may be some mistake here; 

perhaps Reynolds did carefully write (in May 

1830?) from Valparaíso warning of Eights’s 

imminent return; maybe, on the other hand, by 

6 September 1830, Eights himself had told 

someone at the Lyceum of his return. In any 

case, on 13 September, “Dr. Torrey read a letter 

from Dr. Eights containing a sketch of his observations 

during his late expedition.” It was further 

noted: “Dr. Eights presents Crustacea 

found in Cove off Cape Horn, referred to Eights 

& DeKay” (that is, they were authorized to treat 

them taxonomically). Further: “On motion of 

Dr. Torrey it was resolved that the Lyceum subscribe 

the sum of one [!] hundred dollars under 

the resolution of Oct. 12, 1829...it being understood 

that his reports, notes, descriptions, journals 

and collections be first presented to the 

Lyceum and deposited there.” 

Finally, 20 September 1830: “Dr. Eights presents 

another specimen of crustacea from the 

South Seas. Referred to Drs. DeKay & Eights.” 

The Lyceum was proceeding cautiously! 

Comprehensive histories of the Lyceum 

(and Academy of Sciences) by Herman Le Roy 

Fairchild (1887) and Simon Baatz (1990) fail to 

make anything of Lyceum support of the expedition 

of 1829. Did the Lyceum get the specimens 

expected? Did it deliver on the $500 (or 

any part of it)? How many specimens did 

Eights bring back with his own person in 1830? 

How many had to await arrival of the Annawan 

in 1831? Few definitive answers can be given. 

From the Lyceum Minutes, quoted above, it 

is evident that Eights himself brought back at 

least a few specimens. Since his return from 

Valparaíso was possibly precipitate, he is 

extremely unlikely to have brought back much. 

He did share some of his specimens, presum- 


ably the ones thought new, with the Lyceum 

(with Eights and DeKay retaining first shot at 

them). Is it possible that the Lyceum withheld a 

substantial part (or all) of its promised payment 

until it had in hand the full number of specimens? 

Did Eights rebel at that treatment? 

Unfortunately, little documentation has 

been found that provides details of what in fact 

came back or where it went. No records of 

Annawan manifests upon return have been 

found. National Archives records give the date 

of return as 4 and 6 August 1831 (the latter 

probably being the date cargo was inspected by 

customs). The Morning Courier and New-York 

Enquirer for 5 August has two items of interest. 

In the “Marine List” (from miserably poor 

microfilm): “Brig Annawan, Palmer, of New 

Bedford, from Talcohuano, 23d May, with seal 

skins, to E. Fanning, Agent. Left [?], ships 

Phenix, Gardner, for Nantucket, next day, with 

2400 brls oil, Cincinatus, Sayer, New York, in 10 

days, 3000 brls oil; Good Return, Terry, N Bedford, 

800 [?] brls, on a cruise next day; Gov. Fenner 

[?], Lawton, of Bristol, E.T. [?] 60 do do 

[sic?], the only American. The ship Iris, Norton, 

for N Bedford, with 1100 brls. sailed 10 ds previous. 

[These entries regularly give ship name, 

then captain, then destination.] Spoke 28th, lat. 

31 S. lon 65 30 Br brig Coriolanus, Fez, fm 

Trinidad for Plymouth, Eng. The A[nnawan] 

experienced very heavy weather in coming 

round Cape Horn; had 3 boats stove and suffered 

in sails and rigging.” In the nonmarine 

section, same day: “In the brig Annawan, Talcohuano: 

— D. Messer [or Mercer?].” 15 

K.J. Bertrand says, without documentation: 

“Upon its return the expedition deposited 13 

chests of natural history specimens with the 

Lyceum of Natural History of New York, and 

two chests were sent to Philadelphia. Reynolds 

gave his personal collection to the Boston Society 

of Natural History, and Eights’ specimens 

were given to the Albany Institute.” The nearest 

I can come to substantiating the main part of 

this claim is the statement signed by Edmund 

Fanning and Benjamin Pendleton, dated 7 

November 1831: “Remark. — Those two discovery 

and exploring vessels have, during their 

route, collected and passed to the Lyceum of 

Natural History, in the city of New York, thirteen 

chests of various collections of scientific 

specimens for the benefit of science, and also 

two chests to Philadelphia.” There is no claim 

that any of this pertained to work done by 

James Eights. 16 

What was the outcome of all this? How 

many of the “thirteen chests of various collections 

of scientific specimens” — if, indeed, any 

— stayed with the Lyceum? Two opposite 

views may be held: They went to the Lyceum 

where, apparently untouched for thirty-odd 

years, they burned in an arson fire in 1866 — or, 

they did not go there at all. If the first, it is certainly 

incredible that the biological world did 

not recognize its treasures and name the new 

species that were represented. I know of a single 

species of mollusk, a member of the genus 

Nucula, that may have come from the Lyceum 

collection (no proof of provenance has been 

forthcoming). But, as we shall see, a substantial 

percentage of Eights’s mollusk species were 

new or noteworthy. It is simply unbelievable 

that Eights’s southern and Antarctic plant specimens 

would not have been of interest to botanical 

members of the Lyceum, if they had had 

access to them. Bertrand seems nearer the mark 

when he says that “Eights’ specimens were 

given to the Albany Institute,” although 

“given” is not the right word. 17 

As for Reynolds and his specimens, it seems 

that his communication offering them to the 

Lyceum came to naught. We find James Eights 

writing from Albany 9 August 1834 to Amos 

Binney at the Boston Society of Natural History, 

shortly after Reynolds’s return from his long 

journey with Commodore Downes: “I returned 

a few days since from the City of New York, 

where I met my old friend M r. Reynolds. M r. R. 

informs me that he has determined on sending 

his collections to Boston, agreeable to some 

arrangement made with your society of Nat. 

History. I saw part of his collection in New 

York, & deem them highly interesting, and the 

Lyceum there, will, no doubt feel some mortification, 

in having permitted such a requisition in 

science to pass beyond their reach.” Recall that 

Eights himself wrote to Benjamin F. Butler, 

when beginning his campaign to go on the 

Chapter 7 117

exploring expedition of 1838: “Although from 

the almost entire absence of any conveniences 

for collecting & preserving objects of Natural 

History, I was depreived of the power of doing 

as much as I could have desired, yet the collections 

then made by me & now in the Museum 

of the Albany Institute are such as I can with 

honest pride, point to, as proof [of] industry & 

skill.” The Lyceum in New York City seems not 

to have been involved in housing his collections. 

While I know of no detailed catalog of 

Reynolds’s contributions to the museum of the 

Boston Society of Natural History, the Journal of 

that Society listed among its donors in 1834 several 

items of great interest from J.N. Reynolds. 18 

As for receipt by the Albany Institute of a 

substantial number of James Eights’s specimens 

from the Pendleton-Palmer Expedition 

(although hardly thirteen chests!), the evidence 

is convincing. I suspect Eights was unable to 

come to satisfactory terms with the Lyceum. 

It might be accounted a trifle strange that no 

mention seems ever to have been made in Minutes 

of the Institute that Eights was away on the 

voyage of discovery — or that they were glad 

to have him back. He returned to Albany 

unheralded and then fell into his previous pattern 

of contributing various items to Institute 

collections (and not paying annual dues, something 

that his father did regularly). As early as 

12 January 1831, Joseph Henry noted that James 

Eights had contributed to the library during the 

past year (that is, after his return in early September). 

Eights made fairly regular donations 

of specimens during the years 1831, 1832, and 

1833. In January 1834, he served on a committee 

to make the annual report of the Curators, even 

though he was not a curator. Unfortunately, 

notices of contributions in the Minutes were 

rarely specific as to number or identification of 

items and even the surviving “Catalogue of 

Properties” is not entirely satisfactory. 19 

Ignoring for the moment donations not of 

Antarctic or southern provenance, it seems to 

have been 28 April 1832 before anything of 

interest was entered in the “Catalogue”: “Gourd 

containing Cayenne Pepper, Valparaiso (from 

Jas Eights)” (a donation to the Institute by 

James Stevenson). In February 1833, there was 

submitted an elaborate report on fund-raising 

during the years 1831 and 1832 (no precise 

dates mentioned), a total of $410 having been 

raised from 19 subscribers ($200 came from 

Stephen Van Rensselaer). “The Curators in disposing 

of this liberal subscription, directed their 

first attention to obtaining the natural history 

Collections made by M r James Eights, in South 

America & the South Sea Islands — They purchased 

them for the sum of $100. The Collections 

contain many new specimens [=species], 

& on the whole are very interesting & valuable. 

It is hoped that during the ensuing summer, 

detailed reports on the various departments 

included in it, will be offered to the Institute.” 

In the detailed account of expenditures, entry 

No. 5 is $100.00 “To Do (= Ditto = Cash) p d Ja s 

Eights for his South Seas Collection.” Twentysix 

bottles to contain Eights specimens cost 

$6.25; bladders to cover them, twelve and a half 

cents. For once, a notice in the Argus is more 

helpful than Institute records, there being on 9 

April a notice of Institute Minutes for 21 February: 

“The Curators reported their purchases and 

expenditures in detail. The collections made by 

Mr. James Eights in South America of plants, 

shells, rocks, and various marine animals had 

been purchased.” 20 

Matters must have moved unevenly; few 

details of transactions now exist. On 10 July 

1833, there was “A Special Meeting of the Institute,” 

at which “Mr. M.H. Webster read a 

description [communication is lined through] of 

a new Curstacious [!] animal found on the 

shores of the South Shetlands Islands with 

remarks on their Natural History — By James 

Eights.” In October 1833, the collections were 

enriched by “African Locust blown on board 

the vessel by the North East Trade Winds, 300 

miles from the Coast,” from James Eights. In 

May 1834, 62 named specimens of shells, given 

in exchange for duplicates of Eights’s “South 

Seas” shells, were received from Hugh Cuming 

of London by way of corresponding member 

Obadiah Rich. At the same time, Cuming sent 

back 84 shell specimens (these had been submitted 

in duplicate — the duplicates being 

retained, as noted), named as far as possible, for 

many of them were new. It was 23 March 1837 


efore the Minutes recorded receipt by L.C. 

Beck, Botanical Curator, of Eights’s named 

duplicate plants from W.J. Hooker. If additional 

reports on Eights “South Seas” specimens were 

communicated to the Institute, neither Minutes 

nor “Catalogue of Properties” record them. 21 

Before carrying on with the life of James 

Eights in approximately the order in which he 

lived it, some technical chapters must intervene. 

They account for his southern and Antarctic 

specimens of animals and plants. 

NOTES 

1. K.L. Bertrand, Americans in Antarctica, pp. 154-155. 

2. A completely chronological narrative becomes 

impossible at this point. Before taking brief notice of the 

explorations of Reynolds and Watson and all that is certainly 

known of James Eights’s Chilean stay, it is necessary 

to document some parts of the above story. Benjamin 

Pendleton had already brushed fur the wrong way in Congress 

when he tried to claim recompense for losses sustained 

when he acted upon Secretary Southard’s vague 

directives to prepare a vessel for the ill-fated Adams 

Exploring expedition. Although the House agreed (C.P. 

White, “Benjamin Pendleton,” 11 May 1830) with him, a 

negative decision in the Senate (R.Y. Hayne, 

“Report...adverse to claim of Benjamin Pendleton, 6 April) 

had already killed the claim. E. Fanning and B. Pendleton 

renewed their battle in 1832, documenting losses of their 

private explorations of more recent date. Pendleton 

described his efforts to carry out what he and Fanning 

deemed work in the interest of the United States in the 

Antarctic and on the Chilean coast and added various severally 

dated letters, estimates, and assertions in regard to 

expenses, claims for losses, etc., in: “Memorial of Edmund 

Fanning and Benjamin Pendleton” (18 Jan 1832), pp. 205; 

and “Memorial of Edmund Fanning” (1833), pp. 8-10. Fanning, 

Voyages (1st ed., 1833), pp. 478-488, repeated most of 

the previous memorials and his title page makes much of 

“the report of the commander of the first American exploring 

expedition, patronised by the United States Government, 

in the brigs Seraph and Annawan, to the southern 

hemisphere.” Unlike the second edition of Fanning’s Voyages 

(1838), which reprinted Eights’s statement on natural 

history, the Pendleton-Fanning works of 1832-1833 fail 

utterly to notice Eights’s existence. Whether this was out 

of personal animosity on Pendleton’s part or simply 

reflected his lack of acquaintance with Eights and his work 

is not clear. To show the emphasis upon Araucanian exploration, 

note that in Doc. 61 (1832), p. 5, expenses were 

added for “Messrs. Reynolds and Watson in exploring the 

Araucanian country, for Indian presents, &c.,” $2,420. On 

p. 6, he listed the national share of costs for “Five scientific 

gentlemen” at $40 each per month, totalled $200 per 

month; victualling 15 offices and scientific gentlemen per 

month came to $270 (thus was Eights charged for but not 

honored by name!). The landing of Reynolds and Watson 

at the river Arauco 23 Jul 1830 became an important date; 

it cost two and a half months’ expenses ($5,580) to maintain 

the brigs while waiting for Reynolds and Watson to 

finish their exploring, etc.; and additional one and a half 

months’ expenses were needed to cover the time required 

to return and pick up Reynolds and Watson. 

. 3. J. Eights, “Origin of guano” (1844). Eights was too 

restrictive in supposing that cormorants alone were 

responsible for guano production; his notion of cormorant 

nomenclature need not detain us here; he was on sound 

ground in regard to the role of arid conditions (coupled 

with colonial life of an abundant animal) in guano production 

— both bats (in caves) and seals being notable accumulators 

of guano under favorable microclimatic conditions. 

The classic account of guano production worldwide 

is a great monograph by G. Evelyn Hutchinson, “The biogeochemistry 

of vertebrate excretion,” 1950. The present 

account is of immediate interest in telling us that Eights 

did in 1844 have notes of some sort from his travels and 

that his group spent three weeks at Isla de Santa María. 

For a primitive panoramic view of that island about the 

year 1610, see F.A. Encina, Resumen de la Historia de Chile, 

Fig. 130, p. 191. The island is described by Blackie, 

Gazetteer, 2: 298: 37°2’8”S. 73°34’15”W; 2 or 3 mi off Point 

Lavapie, opposite the entrance into Arauco Bay. 

4. Cited in evident order, the pieces by Reynolds are: 

“South America. — Mr. Reynolds’ letter. Castilio de Antuco, 

Oct. 1830”; “A leaf from an unpublished manuscript,” 

1839 (this is followed, pp. 413-415, by a spirited defense of 

Reynolds, alleging his shabby treatment in being denied a 

berth on the Exploring Expedition of 1838); and “Rough 

notes of rough adventure,” 1843 (see p. 707 for the date of 

15 Jan 1833 and p. 715 for claim that he and Watson had 

been nearly seven months in Araucanian territory). By 

“Arauco river,” Pendleton meant the bay on the coast 

opposite Isla de Santa María. Valdivia is the capital city of 

the province of the same name, 39°49’S. 73°15’W (Blackie, 

2: 1155-1156); note that “Araucania” was still an independent 

country as late as Blackie’s time (ca. 1850; see 1: 190). 

There is a beautiful map of the region dated 1771 in Encina, 

Resumen de la Historia de Chile, Lam. III. Antuco is a valley 

and volcano in the Chilean Andes, 140 mi east of Concepción, 

about 26°50’S. 70°40’W; the volcano towers to an 

elevation of 16,000 ft. Blackie (1: 170) says the valley “is 

remarkable for the mildness of its climate, and the beauty 

of its plants and flowers.” The river Bío Bío (Blackie, 1: 

409) is the largest stream in Chile and enters the Pacific at 

Concepción, 36°49’30”S. 73°5’30”W; at that time it formed 

the northern boundary of Araucania. 

5. Reynolds’s “Mocha Dick: or the white whale of the 

Pacific: a leaf from a manuscript journal” first appeared in 

1839. It is supposed to have inspired some parts of the 

classic tale of Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. Reynolds’s 

version has appeared several times. 

6. J.M. Clarke, letter to L.J. Cole, 20 Mar 1905; N.Y. 

State Archives, BO 561, Box 11. The still-living contemporary, 

formerly on the staff with Clarke in the State Museum, 

was Ebenezer Emmons, Jr. (1822-1907). This is, in any 

case, a new slant on Eights’s “bad habits” (excessive 

drinking, I have little doubt), some reference to which will 

surface from time to time. But any connection to Patagonia 

or to Wilkes is out of the question. How the family managed 

“to get Eights on an exploring expedition” is not further 

explained. Whether the story had earlier currency or 

consequences is not clear. (Did Pendleton resent Eights’s 

Chapter 7 119

abrupt departure or did Wilkes somehow learn of it and 

therefore take him to be unreliable?) 

7. Rafinesque to Torrey, Medical Center Library, Duke 

University; seen courtesy of Charles Boewe; Torrey to 

Schweinitz, The Correspondence of Schweinitz and Torrey, p. 

247. Torrey’s statement need not be thought derogatory to 

Eights personally; the latter felt the same way about the 

expedition. 

8. Albany Evening Journal, Anon., 2 Sep 1830. Eights 

was not long in airing his feelings about the failure of the 

expedition, since the italicized words would hardly have 

come from anyone else in Albany. That Eights was accompanied 

at least to the point of debarkation by the “other 

scientific gentlemen” is news but can hardly be the whole 

truth. It can refer only to the two as yet unnamed assistants 

sent along to help Eights, Watson and Reynolds. 

While Eights left no impression of his visit to Valparaíso, it 

is still worth looking at a contemporary view of that city 

(Encina, Resumen de la Historia de Chile, Lam. VII); for a 

note on the city, see Blackie, 2: 1161-1163; it is located at 

33°1’56”S. 71°41’45”W; its population in 1847 was about 

40,000. 

9. I have been patiently helped through many difficulties 

by James K. Owens, Director, National Archives, New 

England Region, Waltham, Massachusetts, where Customs 

records for the New Bedford area are kept. He checked — 

then rechecked — Customs records in regard to a possible 

arrival in the time frame required here. Arrivals at the port 

of New York from Valparaíso for the critical period were 

studied in U.S. National Archives microfilm records 

M1066, Roll 3 (see Note 11). 

10. Morning Courier and New-York Enquirer, Anon., 1 

Sep 1830. Whether any of these skins were being carried 

by the Bogota for the Annawan or Seraph is not clear; it 

appears likely, considering context, that the “great number 

of shells, petrefactions, and other curiosities” were left 

aboard the Annawan for later delivery and not on the Bogota, 

although I suppose this cannot be ruled certain. 

11. Pertinent Customs records for the port of New 

York are on National Archives microfilm M1066, Roll 3. 

Customs records are evidently in error in regard to the 

captain’s name: I am told by James K. Owens that the 

Bogota, Charles Stanton master, left New London for a voyage 

to the South Pacific on 7 Oct 1828. 

12. From the Albany Argus, Anon., 24 Dec 1830 

(copied from the Washington Telegraph); from Eights’s own 

hometown paper, not a word about his role in scientific 

exploration of the southern end of the world! Hogan was 

in error to suppose that Reynolds and Watson were to 

explore from the Araucanian country to Valparaíso; they 

went in the opposite direction from their landing place. 

Since Eights left Valparaíso on or about 18 May (it took the 

Bogota 105 days to reach Stonington on 29 August), it 

seems likely that he had not been on the Annawan when it 

sealed at Pisco, on the Peruvian coast, where the seamen 

deserted. For Pisco, see Blackie, 2: 639 (13°43’S. 76°17’W). 

Michael Hogan, a long-time New York resident of Chile, 

was U.S. Consul in Valparaíso “1823-1834?” (W.B. Smith, 

America’s Diplomats and Consuls, p. 176). Hogan provides 

yet another characterization of Watson (never mind the 

“Hampton”), as “an amateur” from Philadelphia: perhaps 

a reflection of something Reynolds had said to him. 

13. “South Sea Exploring Expedition,” Anon., 29 Nov 

1833. One wonders who hatched up this one! 

14. These and immediately subsequent notes are from 

Minutes of the Lyceum, kindly supplied by the New York 

Academy of Sciences. 

15. Talcahuano is a Chilean seaport near the city of 

Concepción (Blackie, 2: 1025, spells the name Talcaguana, 

or Talcahuana; it was credited by him as having the best 

anchorage on the Chilean coast). Morning Courier and New- 

York Enquirer (country edition), 5 Aug 1831; National 

Archives, letter, 2 Oct 1992. The National Archives, which 

has port of New York Customs records, can locate no crew 

lists or cargo manifests for the brig Annawan, either outgoing 

or incoming (letter, 30 Apr 1992). It seems likely that 

records of the return were somehow lost early on, for A. 

Howard Clark (“The Antarctic fur-seal and sea-elephant 

industry,” p. 450), in a full accounting of sealing ships in 

1887, mentions the departure but not the return of the 

‘Annawan.’ I have been unable to identify D. Messer. 

16. Bertrand, Americans in Antarctica, p. 151; the same 

information is to be found in V. Ponko, Jr., Ships, Seas, and 

Scientists, pp. 6-9, 233; “Memorial of Edmund Fanning and 

Benjamin Pendleton,” 1832, p. 7. Maybe the two chests for 

Philadelphia were private collections of Watson. 

17. Many authors refer to the arson fire of 1866 that 

destroyed the Lyceum’s collections; see H.L.R. Fairchild, A 

History of the New York Academy of Sciences, pp. 50, 106. The 

type specimen of the South Shetlands species of Nucula 

will be accounted for later; it may have been among specimens 

brought back by Eights personally. Eights did not 

precisely “give” his specimens to the Albany Institute. 

Considering the hundreds of papers on natural history, 

many of them on shells, that appeared over the years 

1817-1865 (and beyond) in Lyceum publications, it is highly 

likely that someone would have jumped at the chance 

to name Eights’s species, had they gone to the Lyceum. I 

conclude that they did not go there. 

18. Eights’s paper was on the remarkable pycnogonid 

or sea-spider, Decolopoda, that only in this century gained 

him his deserved fame. I quote from JE’s letter to Binney 

by permission of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 

Archives, Harvard University, courtesy of Robert Young. 

JE deposited a specimen of the animal in Boston as well (it 

is now at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology). 

Among “Donations” to the Boston Society of Natural History 

in 1834, see its Journal, Anon., 1837, pp. 521-522: “Two 

gigantic Galipagos Tortoises (living) weighing near three 

hundred and twenty pounds each,” from Capt. John 

Downes (U.S. Navy); “An herbarium with fifty-one 

species of plants from Chili and fifteen from the Galipagos 

Islands,” from J.N. Reynolds; “A sheet of colored Drawings 

of rare Fishes taken at Charles and Galipagos 

Islands,” Reynolds; and (October) “Four hundred and 

forty-four Birds’ skins, from Chili, Peru and South Shetland 

Isles [note this!] — Botanical specimens from Chili, 

Peru, Araucania, and the Galipagos Islands — several 

Boxes of Minerals and Organic Remains, from the Southern 

Andes — a large and valuable collection of Shells, 

comprising many rare specimens of Bulimus and Chiton, 

from Chili and Peru — Nests and Eggs of various South 

American Birds — Colored Drawings of numerous Insects, 

Fishes, Fruits, &c., collected in the Pacific Ocean and South 

America,” from Reynolds. It is hard to know where to 

begin shedding tears. Minimally, what a shame that Eights 

and Reynolds did not get their act together and follow up 

on the work envisioned by James Eights in his letter to 


Binney! His drawing of the pycnogonid, he wrote, was 

“one of a number I have on hand, & which I intend as a 

scientific appendix to M r. R’s forth coming journal of a 

voyage to the S. seas &c.” It may be noted that not all the 

Reynolds material was collected by him on the Palmer- 

Pendelton Expedition. Perhaps Commodore Downes 

favored the Boston repository. No Reynolds (or Watson) 

archival material can now be traced in holdings of the 

Museum of Science, Boston, or in the Museum of Comparative 

Zoology, Harvard University, heirs of the old Boston 

Society of Natural History. See letters from Carolyn Kirdahy, 

Museum of Science, and Robert Young, MCZ 

Library (both 1997). Botanical and zoological specimens 

from the Society, if retained, will have been dispersed in 

Harvard University collections. 

19. I have made a careful examination of Albany Institute 

Minutes, 1824-1857, a bound volume in the AIHA 

McKinney Library. More details on acquisitions are to be 

found in “Catalogue of the Property of the Albany Institute; 

since its formation May 5th 1824.” This volume 

proved rather elusive but turned up under the catch-title 

of “AI / 1824-1838 / The Collections of SPUA and ALNH” 

(AIHA Archives Box 4.1.4). 

20. The finalization of the purchase is noted in the 

Minutes for 7 Mar 1833; the detailed itemization which 

was then reported, is filed in McKinney Library as: DE 

563/V/2g/Treasurers’ Reports. See also Albany Argus 9 

Apr 1833. 

21. As indicated, Eights made donations not identified, 

so additional “South Seas” specimens may have been 

become Institute property. The Argus, Anon., 10 Jun 1834, 

noticed the exchange of shells: “Since the 1st of January, 

132 volumes and 12 pamphlets, have been added to the 

Library, and 98 specimens to the Museum. A duplicate set 

of the shells collected by Mr. James Eights (on the coast of 

South America, the Gallipagos [!], &c., and which, with the 

remainder of the collection, were purchased by several of 

the citizens of Albany, for the Institute) was some months 

since sent to London. They have been examined by skilful 

conchologists there, and more than half are pronounced 

new and undescribed....The Institute have duplicates of 

several, and are willing to exchange them for shells not in 

the collection.” (The suggestion that JE had collected on 

the Galápagos can be ignored; reference is to shells 

exchanged in return for his.) The Argus also reported in 

some detail on the named shells that had been received 

from Cuming, failing to notice that they were in exchange 

for Eights’s duplicates. Later chapters will consider in 

detail the shell and botanical specimens. Hugh Cuming 

will be given his due in the chapter on the shell collection. 

AI corresponding member Obadiah Rich (1783-1850) was 

an accomplished bibliophile and bookseller, buying books 

for institutions, etc. He was in London with his business 

1829-1834 (and later); see G.B. Utley, 1935. Connected 

notice of Eights’s relations with the Institute over the following 

years will be given later. Aside from occasional 

donations, his next serious connections with the Institute 

came with its resurrection in the 1850s, after a stagnant 

period of years. At that time some attention was again 

paid to Eights’s southern and Antarctic work but it seems 

best at this point to postpone further mention of it. 

Chapter 7 121


Chapter 8 

SOUTHERN AND ANTARCTIC PLANTS 

OF JAMES EIGHTS 

While he may have been unaware of his 

fame, several of James Eights’s southern and 

Antarctic plants were credited to him in the 

decade following his voyage. Southern and 

Antarctic botany loomed large in those days. In 

Eights’s case, he owed a special debt to the 

incredible Sir William Jackson Hooker and his 

admirable son, Joseph Dalton Hooker. How his 

plants came under their purview has frequently 

puzzled historians of Antarctic science. This 

chapter considers Eights’s plants, how they got 

where they are, and how they fared along the 

way. 1 

It may seem odd that Eights so assiduously 

collected plants, yet made no effort to name 

them himself or even to note what he thought 

might be new species. The general account of 

Eights’s return and the disposition of his collections 

will not be repeated. We first find a specific 

notice of his plants in April 1834 (no day 

cited), when Albany Institute Minutes record: 

“The Curators of the Albany Institute desirous 

of rendering their collections available to the 

Cause of Science do hereby agree that a complete 

set of the specimens in botany purchased 

of James Eights be sent to Dr W.J. Hooker of 

Glasgow, for the purpose of having them properly 

named & described.” It was signed by T. 

Romeyn Beck and Lewis C. Beck. 2 

The first result of this exchange was a letter 

fired off to James Eights, via L.C. Beck, from 

W.J. Hooker. Whether it really reached Eights is 

unknown, but a somewhat mutilated letter at 

Albany Institute shows W.J. Hooker’s keen 

interest in Eights (and his total misunderstanding 

of Eights’s standing as a collector of plants 

from foreign places). Unhappily, the first sheet 

of the letter was written on both sides and, 

apparently, the letter was cut open in such a 

way that rectilinear segments in the upper right 

and lower right corners of page one and (thus) 

the upper left and lower left corners of page 

two have been lost. The writing is now faded 

and worn, so some uncertainties (indicated by 

queries or dashes in square brackets) about a 

few words remain. The blank areas on this page 

represent areas of the sheet that have been lost. 

It was addressed: “D r Eights / Care of D r 

Beck / Professor of Chemistry [——] / Albany 

/ State of New York.” 

Glasgow University / Dec r 9 [?] 1834 

Sir 

I had scarcely sent my letter 

the Post Office for D r Beck, [————-] 

thank him for some of your 

from the Pacific, whch [?] he was [?] kind 

enough to send me & to offer some remarks 

upon them , t[han?] I received a visit from Mr 

McNab on his return from the states. From him 

I learned that you had it in contemplation to 

have sent me a parcel [?] yourself & If as I have 

reasons to believe, of the Pacific, I am anxious 

to tell you how very acceptable they will be to 

me & that I shall be most happy to make any 

returns from [for?] them in my power. In the 

Islands of the whole of South America I am 

much interested; for I am 

Chapter 8 123

[————————] [con-] 

tributions towards a more [——————] 

Flora of that country; & I am 

desirous of getting as many [?] & 

specimens as I possibly can 

[end page one] 

extreme southern coasts. 

nine [?] plants you must have col- 

During your interesting voyage, 

not help [?] confessing to him my 

that you might visit again 

some distant regions, & still more further the 

cause of botanical science, by collecting plants 

extensively. 

I wish you & D r Beck would encourage 

some one to accompany the Fur-trading [——— 

] as high as possible in [line nearly completely 

lost in fold; seems to say in part “your great 

west & [————]” to the Rocky Mountains 

above the sources of the Missouri, [———], & 

to the south of that chain, more is to be done in 

Botany than in any other part of N. America, & 

the most 

collections might be made. 

any persons in Europe as well 

America [——-] study plants 

Herbaria, that will direct 

imens of plants from the less fre- 

[end of page two] 

quented parts of the world here [?], with [——-] 

at least a certain value, like any other merchandize, 

& from Mexico, Peru, Chili, N. Holl d [,] 

Cape of Good Hope &c. I pay [?] £2 the hundred 

species. And in these various countries & 

many others besides there are many persons get 

a living by collecting & drying plants. 

Mountain-plants, too, like your Straits of 

Magellan plants, have the advantage of going in 

a very small compass & are thus the more 

portable. 

I understand you are acquainted with 

Entomology as well as Botany[.] My second son 

is a very zealous [?] Entomologist but of N. 

American Insects he has, at present, only a few 

from the extreme southern states. Are there any 

persons in your part of America who collect 

Insects for sale: & if so, what is the price of 

them? Pray excuse my thus [?] addressing [?] 

you & believe me to be, Sir, 

Your faithful & obed t Serv t 

W.J. Hooker.” 3 

There is a memorandum, probably in L.C. 

Beck’s hand, dated 1836 (incorrectly catalogued 

as 1830, since the “tail” of the number 6 is indistinct), 

“List of Eights’ Plants named by Hooker 

in his Companion to the Botanical Magazine.” 

The plant names, eight in number, were copied 

from two issues of that periodical published in 

1835. Interestingly, three of these were mistakenly 

credited by Hooker (and Arnott) to “Dr. 

Beck,” but in Beck’s note are properly interpreted 

as Eights’s specimens. In my summary list of 

Eights’s plants, some attention will be paid to 

lapses in this Beck list as well as to other matters. 

4 

In the Albany Institute’s Minutes for 23 

March 1837, there is a short notice: “Dr. L.C. 

Beck reported that the duplicate specimens in 

the botanical collection purchased by the 

Institute Sometime since from Dr James Eights 

had been forwarded to Sir William Jackson 

Hooker of Glasgow, who had named most of 

them & returned a catalogue of the names 

which Dr Beck submitted to the Institute 

together with all the specimens arranged in 

port folios & properly labelled.” It is not clear 

what species Beck refers to. Not one of the eight 

species in the just mentioned list is now to be 

found among Eights/Beck specimens in the 

N.Y. State Museum Herbarium. 5 

It thus appears that there were then specimens 

of Eights plants in an Institute collection, 

as well as in Beck’s personal collection (probably 

duplicates of the main group for which he 

had swapped) — and that it is the latter alone 

that has come down to us. Since this catalogue 

of 1836 concerns species not present in the Beck 

collection now at the State Museum, it appears 

that the Institute’s herbarium had been 

destroyed before residual collections were 

transferred to the State Museum in 1891. 

Because of this ambiguity, even though it postpones 

a discussion of the plant specimens, the 


history of the transfer of the Beck herbarium to 

the State of New York Natural History Cabinet 

deserves immediate notice. 

The first generally public notice that the 

State Herbarium included the Beck herbarium, 

with its Eights specimens, is to be found in the 

Torrey Botanical Club survey of institutional 

libraries and herbaria in 1876: The State 

Herbarium held specimens of about 1,600 

species of phanerogams and about 2,500 cryptogams 

(higher and lower plants). A part of this, 

but kept separate (and not included in the 

above figures) was the herbarium of L.C. Beck, 

with more than 3,000 species of phanerogams 

and more than 600 cryptogams. “The specimens 

have been derived from various parts of the 

world, and among them are the types of several 

species. Not the least interesting specimens are 

those collected by Dr. James Eights in the southern 

part of South America and the islands of the 

South Pacific Ocean.” 6 

Two items are pertinent here, both of which 

have been published, although hardly in the 

public press. On 2 February 1857, among various 

dispensations of monies by the State 

Cabinet of Natural History and the Historical 

and Antiquarian Collection, there is the entry: 

“By cash paid Mrs. L.C. Beck for the Herbarium 

of the late Dr. Lewis C. Beck ... $400.” In 1865, 

Chancellor John V.L. Pruyn, of the University of 

the State of New York (ultimate keeper of the 

State Cabinet), noted that the Herbarium of L.C. 

Beck, now in the State Cabinet, required care; it 

was, he said “rich in plants of the West, of the 

South Pacific Ocean, and of Europe and the 

Indies. It is rich also in the labels of 

Muhlenbergh [!], and of many eminent 

botanists of this country and of Europe.” 7 

A relatively brief treatment of the use of 

Eights’s southern and Antarctic plants by the 

Hookers, father and son, follows. This is not 

exhaustive either historically or nomenclaturally 

and certain species will be further noticed in 

the extended species list that follows. The main 

purpose of this account is to show the early, relatively 

extensive use made of his plants. 

In the early 1830s, William Jackson Hooker 

and G.A.W. Arnott undertook a seemingly endless 

series of articles on plants of South America 

and the islands of the Pacific. They are not light 

reading, being little more than lists of scientific 

names of plants sent them by collectors from 

around the world. Many of them were supposed 

new species, hardly any of them well 

known and with established nomenclature. 

Hooker and Arnott were notable, if for nothing 

else, in that they attempted to credit collectors 

of plants — not just collectors of a new species 

but collectors of duplicate specimens of a 

species, new or otherwise. 

The Hooker-Arnott series was already 

under way when Beck’s offering of Eights specimens 

reached Glasgow. Thus, only his daisylike 

composites got noticed, and even some of 

these appeared in sort of stop-the-press footnotes 

to composite species previously listed. 

Since Hooker and Arnott numbered their 

species, it is usually possible to put the parts of 

this long series of papers in taxonomic order. 

Unfortunately, the first Eights species got sandwiched 

in as supplements to a previous part. 

Fortunately, with our narrow focus, we have 

less interest in getting through the maze than in 

simply accounting for Eights’s plants. 8 

The first plants collected by Eights to reach 

Hooker were made known by Hooker and 

Arnott in 1835, in volume 1 of The Companion to 

the Botanical Magazine. At this time, under their 

first notice of Eights (miscalled Dr. “Eight”) 

they noted the arrival of “Some very interesting 

plants from the extreme southern countries of 

South America and parts of the Pacific, gathered 

by this gentleman while on a voyage of 

discovery in an American vessel, have been 

very generously communicated to us by Dr. 

Beck, from the Curators of the Albany Institute, 

New York.” The species noticed are: No. 733, 

Seriola Brasiliensis, from “E. coast of Patagonia.” 

Species No. 741, Sonchus pectinatus, from the 

“Patagonia, East coast, Dr. Eight; probably 

introduced.” Species No. 763, Perezia Beckii 

(supposed new species proposed by Hooker 

and Arnott honoring L.C. Beck), “East coast of 

Patagonia, Dr. Eights [right, this time!].” Species 

No. 764, Perezia Magellanica, “Cape Horn, Dr. 

Eights” — presumably Hooker jumped to the 

conclusion that Staten Island was the same as 

Cape Horn, unless Eights collected plants at 

Chapter 8 125

Cape Horn on his return voyage — which is 

most unlikely. For no known reason, Hooker 

and Arnott then stumble in the next segment of 

their series, for four species are credited to “Dr. 

Beck,” all of them clearly being Eights specimens: 

Species No. 828, Mutisia spinosa, “St. 

Mary, South Patagonia, Dr. Beck,” presumably a 

double error; it was an Eights specimen and, if 

“St. Mary” is to be believed, it must be the socalled 

St. Mary Island, off the coast of Chile; 

since other specimens listed here are Chilean, 

this seems likely. Species No. 831, Mutisia retrorsa, 

is from “East Coast of South Patagonia, Dr. 

Beck.” Species No. 834, Mutisia subulata, is from 

“Valparaiso, Dr. Beck.” Species No. 851, 

Chuquiraga hystrix, came from “East coast of 

South Patagonia, Dr. Beck.” 9 

Since this is properly an account of plants of 

Eights’s expedition, in the broader sense, the 

third segment of 1835 has some interest: “Since 

the publication of our last Memoir...we have 

had the pleasure of receiving...additional collections 

...; the second, a small but very interesting 

one, for which we are indebted to our friend 

B.D. Greene, Esq., consisting of specimens from 

the southern provinces of Chili, chiefly in 

Araucania, made by J.N. Reynolds, Esq., author 

of the ‘Voyage of the United States’ Frigate, 

Potomac;’ and from whom we further expect the 

account of his ‘Travels through the Republic of 

Chili and the Araucanian and Indian Territories to 

the South.’ The only species involved here is 

Species No. 940, Eupatorium glechonophyllum, 

‘Araucania, Capt. [!] Reynolds (n. 18).’ 10 

Hooker and Arnott used their next article to 

supplement previous species as well as to 

advance through the Compositae, having meanwhile 

received such prestigious collections as 

those of Darwin. There was also the need to 

include additional species of composites represented 

in Reynolds’s collection. This appeared 

in the Companion to the Botanical Magazine 

(1836). Ten specimens from Reynolds are 

noticed, credited to southern Chile or 

Araucania, mainly as supplementary to previously 

treated species: Species No. 751, Picrosia 

longifolia; Species No. 763, Perezia linearis; 

Species No. 769, Leuchaeria senecionides; Species 

No. 773, Leuchaeria runcinata; Species No. 776, 

Leuchaeria volcanica (a new species from Volcano 

of Antuco, elevation 6,000 ft); Species No. 789, 

Triptilion spinosum; Species No. 828, Mutisia 

truncata; Species No. 833, Mutisia subspinosa; 

Species No. 834, Mutisia subulata; Species No. 

1032, Madia viscosa. Eights had three specimens 

noticed: One was an added specimen, attributed 

to that strange locality called “St. Mary, S. 

Patagonia,” Species No. 828, Mutisia truncata; 

Species No. 1029, Gutierrezia linearifolia, “East 

Coast of Patagonia”; Species No. Species No. 

1031, Lagenophora Commersonii, “Cape Horn.” 11 

Hooker and Arnott next used two of 

Eights’s plants in a volume of the Journal of 

Botany, volume 3, dated 1834, but it seems actually 

to have appeared in 1841: Species No. 1046, 

Baccharis eupatorioides, “Isle la Moche, South 

Pacific Ocean”; and Species No. 1047, B. ovata, 

“St Mary, S. Pacific Ocean.” 12 

The next (and final) use by Hooker and 

Arnott of plants collected by Eights and 

Reynolds was in a part of volume 3 of the 

Journal of Botany intended for 1835 but actually 

published in 1841. Eights’s specimens are: 

Species No. 1191, Leptinella [?] acaenoides (query 

is theirs), “Cape Horn, Staten Land”; Species 

No. 2014, Senecio Eightsii, new species, from 

“Staten Land, Cape Horn”; Species No. 2035, 

Senecio nigrescens, “St Mary, South Pacific 

Ocean”; Species no. 2052, Senecio albicaulis, 

“East coast of Patagonia”; Species No. 2058, 

Senecio chrysocomoides, “East coast of 

Patagonia.” Three of Reynolds’s specimens are 

noticed: Senecio ceratophyllus, “S. Chili,” 

“Captain Reynolds”; Species No. 2035, Senecio 

denticulatus, “South Chili,” “Capt. Reynolds,” as 

in next; Species No. 2037, Senecio otites, 

“Araucania.” 13 

Hooker and Arnott cited a total of 18 of 

Eights’s specimens. Only five of these have collection 

numbers mentioned; these range from 

39 through 81. I cannot see that any useful 

information on landfalls in Patagonia can be 

gained from the very vague localities given; 

those from the Chilean side will be abundantly 

documented in regard to Eights’s animal specimens. 

A total of 15 of Reynolds’s specimens is 

cited. A valuable commentary on Eights’s work 

is to be found in E.J. Godley’s “Botany of the 


southern zone Exploration to 1843.” 14 A couple 

of species of Eights’s plants will be discussed at 

some length separately. 

It must be noted here that certain of Eights’s 

plant species were cited by Sir William 

Hooker’s son Joseph Dalton Hooker, in his classic 

Flora Antarctica. He cited Eights’s specimens, 

as follows: Viola Magellanica, “Staten Land”; 

Stellaria debilis, “Staten Land”; Adesmia candida 

(new species), “Patagonia, east coast”; Ribes 

Magellanicum, “Cape Horn”; Myzodendron 

oblongifolium, Eights’s locality not given; Galium 

Antarcticum, “Staten Land”; Senecio Eightsii, 

“Tierra del Fuego, Staten Land” — maybe 

Eights’s specimen is only one of these; Clarionea 

Magellanica, “Staten Land”; Pratia repens, 

“Fuegia, Staten Land”; Aira Antarctica, “New 

Shetland Islands, Dr. Eights” (see also extended 

commentary, below); Usnea melaxantha, a lichen, 

“New South Shetlands; Webster, Dr. Eights.” 

There were, thus, 11 species cited, two of which, 

Clarionea Magellanica and Aira Antarctica, were 

illustrated. 15 

Eights’s moss specimens have fared badly 

and this separate note is justified, thanks to 

recent detective work by Jerome Haller and 

Charles Cheviak at the New York State 

Museum. Just why the dispersal of Eights’s 

mosses has been so erratic is not clear. For some 

reason, L.C. Beck did not retain them in his 

main collection that ultimately came to the State 

Museum. As documented in Ochyra’s Moss 

Flora of King George Island, Eights not only 

referred (page 22) to collecting Polytrichum 

alpinum (now Polytrichastrum alpinum) in his 

account of Antarctic biology (1833), but there 

are actually specimens of the plant collected by 

him on King George Island in herbaria of the 

U.S. National Museum of Natural History and 

the New York Botanical Garden. In addition, he 

collected a specimen of Sanionia uncinata which 

Ochyra illustrates (Fig. 19, page 24) that is now 

at the New York Botanical Garden. 15A 

APPENDIX I: 

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF PLANTS 

This list of plants is as complete as I can make 

it. I have added specimens recently found by 

Jerome Haller by inserting them in alphabetical 

order, giving them the previous number for that 

section, plus an uppercase letter (thus: 

Adiantum, 1-A). Two plants are specimens collected 

on Boavista, Cape Verde Islands, on the 

southward part of the journey in 1829. 

Furthermore, two species, Aira and Frankenia, 

have such a tangled history or have been so 

insufficiently noticed in the literature that a separate 

appendix for each is justified. The species 

are arranged alphabetically by genus, usually 

according to the name used in Eights’s time 

(except for Lysimachia / Kickxia, where I wish to 

draw attention to a misidentification that has 

recently been authoritatively cleared up). (There 

is an unnumbered cross-reference in this case.) 

For plants in the New York State Museum 

Herbarium, I have usually started with the 

identification now on the specimen; annotations 

may then include its history elsewhere (whether 

ever fully identified, etc.); those known only 

from published sources, of course, use whatever 

identification was cited there. All Eights specimens 

in the State Museum Herbarium are in 

the Lewis Caleb Beck herbarium. 16 

1. Adesmia (no further identification). “Coast 

of Patagonia. Collected by J. Eights.” State 

Museum, Beck Collection. Can this be Adesmia 

candida, n. sp., J.D. Hooker, Flora Antarctica, p. 

257, an Eights specimen from “Staten Land”? 

1-A. Adiantum sp. Boavista, Cape Verde. 

Collected by J. Eights, State Museum, Beck 

Collection. 

2. Aerva tomentosa. Boavista, Cape Verde 

Islands. State Museum, Beck Collection. Now A. 

persica. 

3. Aira Antarctica. No specimen, State 

Museum. See Appendix II. 

4. Arbutus microphylla. “Staten Land, Cape 

Horn. Collected by J. Eights.” State Museum, 

Beck Collection. No Eights specimen was cited 

by J.D. Hooker. 

4-A. Arbutus mucronata. “Staten Land, Cape 


Beck Collection. 

4-B. Asclepiadaceae (genus Vincetoxicum?). 

Collected by J. Eights, State Museum, Beck 

Chapter 8 127

Collection. Not further identified at this time. 

5. Baccharis angustioribus. No specimen, State 

Museum. New species, H & A, Journal of Botany, 

3: 22, Species No. 1046, “Isle la Moche, South 

Pacific Ocean. Dr. Eights.” 

6. Baccharis ovata. No specimen, State 

Museum. New species, H & A, Journal of Botany, 

1841, 3: 22, Species No. 1047, “St Mary, S. Pacific 

Ocean.” 

7. Berberis buxifolia. “Staten Land, Cape 



8. Berberis ilicifolia. “Staten Land, Cape 



8-A. Boopsis antheroides. “Coast of Patagonia. 

Collected by J. Eights.” State Museum, Beck 

Collection. 

8-B. Cacalia sp. “Coast of Patagonia. 


Collection. 

9. Chenopodium (n.f.i.). “Coast of Patagonia. 


Collection. A distinctly short-woolly species. 

10. Chenopodium (n.f.i.). “Coast of Patagonia. 


Collection. This may be the species called 

Blitum antarcticum in Flora Antarctica, p. 549. 

10-A. Chilitrichum amelloides. “Staten Land, 

Cape Horn. Collected by J. Eights.” State 

Museum, Beck Collection. 

11. Chuquiraga hystrix. Said in Albany 

Institute list (1836) to be from “East Coast of 

Patagonia.” No specimen, State Museum. This 

is H & A, Species No. 851, called “Chuquiraga 

hystrix, Gill,” but this seems a garbled citation 

of David Don’s “Descriptive catalogue of the 

Compositae contained in the herbarium of Dr. 

Gillies,” 1832. It was cited by H & A as from 

Beck, “East coast of South Patagonia.” 17 

XXX. Clarionea Magellanica, in Flora 

Antarctica, pp. 321-322; see Perezia magellanica. 

No specimen, State Museum. 

11-A. Codonorchis lessonii. “Staten Land, 



12. Crassula — Tillaea moschata. A strange 

case, for although so named on sheet, it is in a 

Crassula genus folder. “Staten Land, Cape Horn. 


Collection. There is no mention of an Eights 

specimen in Flora Antarctica, p. 278, where this 

species is cited as a synonym of Bulliarda 

moschata. 

12-A. Escallonia terrata. “Staten Land, Cape 



13. Frankenia. “Coast of Patagonia. Collected 

by J. Eights.” State Museum, Beck Collection. 

See Appendix III. 

14. Galium antarcticum, Flora Antarctica, 

“Staten Land.” p. 303-b (page number is duplicated). 

No specimen, State Museum. 

15. Gutierrezia linearifolia. No specimen, State 

Museum. New species in H & A, Companion, 

1836, p. 51, Species No. 1029, “East Coast of 

Patagonia, Dr. Eights.” 

15-A. Hymenophyllum sp. “Staten Land, 



16. Kickxia brunneri. Boavista, Cape Verde 

Is., originally listed in Beck Collection as 

“Lysimachia,” q.v. 

17. Lagenophora Commersonii. No specimen, 

State Museum. H & A, Companion, 1836, p. 51, 

Species No. 1031, “Cape Horn, Dr. Eights.” 

18. Leptinella [?] acaenoides. Queried H & A, 

Journal, 3, p. 326, Species No. 1191. Eights specimen 

from “Cape Horn, Staten Land.” Index 

Kewensis, 2: 61, col. 2, = Cotula reptans. No specimen, 

State Museum under either genus. 

18-A. Lotus vix (sessilifolius). Boavista, Cape 

Verde. Collected by J. Eights, State Museum, 


18-B. Lycopodium magellanicum. “Staten 

Land, Cape Horn. Collected by J. Eights.” State 


XXX Lysimachia. See Kickxia, as now properly 

named. In State Museum, Beck Collection, it 

was originally listed as: “Lysimachia, apparently 

new resembling an Anagallis (Hooker). Bona 

Vista Cape Verde. Collected by J. Eights.” A 

notable misidentification, since Lysimachia is in 

the Primulaceae, while Kickxia is in the 

Scrophulariaceae. 

XXX Mutisia. There is no specimen of the 

genus in the State Museum; however, the 

Herbarium has a folder, with printed plates of 


Mutisia ilicifolia, inflexa, linearifolia, linifolia, runcinata, 

and subspinosa, mounted as if specimens; 

all from W.J. Hooker’s Botanical Miscellany, vol. 

1, plates 4, 6, 8, 9, 5. 7. (But see 19-A, below.) 

19. Mutisia retrorsa. No specimen, State 

Museum. On AI list (1836), “East Coast of 

Patagonia.” H & A, Companion, 1: 107, No. 831, 

“East Coast of South Patagonia, Dr. Beck [i.e., 

Eights].” 18 

19-A. Mutisia runcinata. “Coast of Patagonia. 


Collection. 

20. Mutisia spinosa. This is “Mutisia spina” in 

the AI lits (1836), where its locality is “St Mary’s 

South Patagonia.” As M. spinosa, it is H & A, 

Contributions, 1, p. 107, No. 828, where it is 

credited to “St. Mary, South Patagonia, Dr. Beck 

[i.e., Eights].” No specimen, State Museum. 

Now considered equivalent to M. ilicifolia; but, 

in their additions, H & A, Companion, 2: 44, No. 

828, made this specimen, properly credited to 

Eights, an example of Mutisia truncata. 

21. Mutisia subulata. No specimen, State 

Museum. On AI list (1836) given as from 

Valparáiso, therefore an Eights specimen, even 

though listed by H & A, Companion, 1: 107, No. 

834, as from “Dr. Beck.” 

22. Mutisia truncata. No specimen, State 

Museum. Known only from H & A, Companion, 

1836, p. 44, No. 828, “St. Mary, S. Patagonia, Dr. 

Eights.” 

22-A. Myrtus nummularia Poir. Staten Land, 

Cape Horn. Collected by J. Eights, State 


23. Myzodendron oblongifolium. No specimen, 

State Museum. Flora Antarctica, p. 301-b, refers 

to an Eights specimen with ripe fruit; the locality 

is evidently “Fuegia,” including Staten Land. 

24. Perezia beckii. Something of a tangle. As 

Species 763, called a new species by H & A, 

Companion, 1: 34, from “East Coast of Patagonia, 

Dr. Eights.” It is on the AI list (1836). No specimen, 

State Museum. Under the assumption that 

P. beckii is a junior synonym of P. recurvata of 

Lessing, the State Museum lists an Eights specimen 

collected at “Staten Land, Cape Horn” as 

the latter (q.v.). Merely mentioned (since 

extralimital) in Flora Antarctica, p. 322, where it 

is called a Patagonian species, to be distinguished, 

J.D. Hooker says, from recurvata, 

which he listed under the species Homoianthus 

echinulatus. The Patagonian specimen is not represented 

by a duplicate at the State Museum. 

25. Perezia magellanica. No specimen, State 

Museum; but mentioned on AI list (1836) as 

from Cape Horn. H & A, Companion, 1, p. 34, 

No. 764, give it as “Cape Horn, Dr. Eights.” 

Flora Antarctica, pp. 321-322, considers it under 

Clarionea magellanica, where it is credited, no 

doubt correctly, to Staten Land. 

26. Perezia recurvata. State Museum, Beck 

Collection, has specimen, “Staten Land, Cape 

Horn. Collected by J. Eights.” Evidently, not 

sent to Hooker, for H & A, in additions to 

Compositae, Companion, 2: 42, Species No. 763*, 

do not cite an Eights specimen. 

26-A. Polytrichum alpinum (now 

Polytrichastrum alpinum). Collected by J. Eights, 

King George Island. Specimens now in U.S. 

National Museum of Natural History and the 

New York Botanical Garden; see Ochyra, page 

22. See also: Sanionia uncinata, below. 

27. Pratia repens. No specimen, State 

Museum. Known as Eights specimen only in 

Flora Antarctica, p. 325, where credited to 

“Fuegia, Staten Land.” 

27-A. Pratia repens Gaud. Specmen located 

by J. Haller. Staten Land, Cape Horn. Collected 

by J. Eights, State Museum, Beck Collection. 

28. Ribes magellanicum. State Museum, Beck 

Collection, “Staten Land, Cape Horn, collected 

by J. Eights.” Flora Antarctica, p. 279, cites an 

Eights specimen from “Cape Horn.” 

28-A. Sanionia uncinata. Collected by J. 

Eights, King George Island. Specimen in New 

York Botanical Garden. See Ochyra, page 22 

and his Fig. 19, page 24. See Polytrichum 

alpinum, above. 

29. Senecio, sp. indet. State Museum, Beck 

Collection: “Coast of Patagonia, collected by J. 

Eights.” This is annotated by L.J. Uttal, 1982, as 

“indet.” It may be an example of another 

species of the genus in the collection but needs 

further study. 

30. Senecio albicaulis. State Museum, Beck 

Collection: “Coast of Patagonia, collected by J. 

Eights.” It is given no number, unlike a specimen, 

number 50, cited by H & A, Journal, 1841, 

Chapter 8 129

3, p. 344, their No. 2052, credited to the same 

locality. 

31. Senecio chrysocomoides. State Museum, 

Beck Collection, an unnumbered specimen collected 

by Eights in Patagonia. H & A, Journal, 

1841, 1, p. 346, No. 2058, cite Eights specimen 

no. 54 from “East coast of Patagonia.” They 

refer to it as “Apparently a small and very distinct 

plant.” 

32. Senecio Eightsii. A State Museum, Beck 

Collection specimen, “Staten Land, Cape Horn, 

collected by J. Eights.” With Eights’s number of 

39, it is not identified as to species. Its annotation 

is confusing but Hooker seems to have 

marked it as new. Although L.J. Uttal, 1982, was 

unprepared to vouch for it, it seems that a specimen 

with the same number was made the type 

of a new species, Senecio Eightsii, in H & A, 

Journal, 1841, 3, p. 332-333, their No. 2014, citing 

an Eights specimen, no. 39, from “Staten Land, 

Cape Horn.” (If this is so, Eights numbered his 

specimens by collection lots, not by individual 

specimens.) It is, they remark, “A small, wellmarked 

species.” It would appear that the point 

of origin of this specimen would rule it out as 

being the same as my No. 29. S. Eightsii is listed 

in Flora Antarctica, p. 317. 

33. Senecio nigrescens. No specimen, State 

Museum. Known only from Eights specimen 

no. 81, “St. Mary, South Pacific Ocean,” cited in 

H & A, Journal, 1841, p. 339, No. 2035. 

33-A. Serapia lutea. Locality not listed by J. 

Haller. Collected by J. Eights, State Museum, 


34. Seriola brasiliensis. No specimen, State 

Museum. AI list (1836), “East Coast of 

Patagonia.” H & A, Companion, 1: 30-31, No. 

733, same locality: collector was “Dr. Eight.” 

Now a synonym of Hypochoeris brasiliensis. 

35. Silene, species unknown. Specimen, State 

Museum, Beck Collection, “Coast of Patagonia, 

collected by J. Eights.” Evidently a duplicate 

submitted to Hooker drew the response “Silene 

?” from him. 

36. Sonchus pectinatus. No specimen, State 

Museum. An Eights specimen, “East Coast of 

Patagonia,” was on AI list (1836). H & A, 

Companion, 1835, 1: 32, No. 741, credit “Dr. 

Eights” with a specimen from “Patagonia, East 

coast,” — “probably introduced.” Now called 

Sonchus tenerrimus. 

37. Stellaria, species not originally determined. 

Specimen in State Museum, Beck 

Collection, “Staten Land, Cape Horn, collected 

by J. Eights.” It is there described as “near 

Arct[ic] America var. of S. borealis.” Flora 

Antarctica, p. 250, lists an Eights specimen from 

“Staten Land,” presumably from this collecting 

site, as Stellaria debilis. The State Museum specimen 

now has a new label: “Stellaria of North 

America / Stellaria alsine Grimm / Det.: 

Richard K. Rabeler, 1986 / Mich. St. U. Herb. 

(MSC).” 

38. Stipa humilis. Specimen, State Museum, 

Beck Collection, “Coast of Patagonia, collected 

by J. Eights.” 

38-A. Tillea moschata (“Tragopogon” is pencilled 

on NYS sheet). Specimen No. 60, as sent 

to Hooker. Coast of Patagonia. Collected by J. 

Eights, State Museum, Beck Collection. 

38-B. Tragopogon. See 38-A. 

38-C. Tribulus alba. Collected by J. Eights, 

State Museum, Beck Collection. 

38-D. Vincetoxicum (?). See Asclepiadaceae; 

identification not yet confirmed. 

39. Viola Magellanica. Specimen, State 

Museum, Beck collection, “Staten Land, Cape 

Horn, collected by J. Eights.” A “Staten Land” 

duplicate of this was used in Flora Antarctica, p. 

244. 

40. Usnea melaxantha. While not a vascular 

plant, it is worth noting that Eights collected a 

specimen of this lichen while in the South 

Shetlands Islands (he remarked upon its presence 

in the scant flora in his natural history 

account). The above identification of such a 

specimen is to be found in “Flora Antarctica,” 

pp. 519-521. Since both Webster and Eights 

brought back specimens from that locality, it is 

not clear who collected Hooker’s specimens. 

APPENDIX II. 

AIRA ANTARCTICA, A FAMOUS FIRST 

The most famous of James Eights’s southern 

and Antarctic plants was named by Sir William 

Jackson Hooker Aira antarctica. While the gener- 


Figure 8.1. Aira Antarctica W.J. Hooker, 1837. First documented 

flowering plant from Antarctica, collected by 

James Eights. Due to an unfortunate nomenclatural tangle, 

now called Deschampsia antarctica Desvaux. (W.J. 

Hooker, Icones Plantarum, 2, Plate 150, 1837.) 

ic name is no longer accepted and the specific 

name has been conserved in a roundabout 

manuever, that unfortunate taxonomic matter 

will be reviewed later. For the moment, it is 

Aira antarctica, the first flowering plant to be 

collected in the Antarctic region. 

Eights alluded in his natural history review 

of the South Shetlands in 1833 to “a small 

species of avena” that, with a lichen of the 

genus Usnea and a species of moss, formed the 

entire botanical catalogue of the islands. 19 

While Eights’s record was certainly the first 

to be substantiated by a specimen, others had 

earlier reported the existence of a grass in the 

Antarctic. These were cited in my chapter on 

Eights in the Antarctic. I here recap the record, 

chiefly from an excellent review of “the earliest 

report of a flowering plant in the Antarctic,” by 

R.I. Lewis Smith. Some commentators have 

claimed that James Weddell, who saw grass in 

the South Orkney Islands and at an unspecified 

point in the South Shetlands in 1823, was the 

first to report an Antarctic flowering plant. 

Smith points out that the anonymous report 

attributed to Thomas Bone, draughtsman with 

Edward Bransfield in 1819–20, referred to a 

grass on Penguin Island, in the South Shetlands. 

Bone was followed by Richard Sherratt, master 

of the sealer Lady Trowbridge, which was 

wrecked off Cape Melville, King George Island, 

in the South Shetlands, Christmas Day 1820; 

probably early in 1821, he reported “a little 

grass of a small kind, and very short.” 20 

It would be nice to think that James Eights 

saw the fruits of his labor recorded by Sir 

William Jackson Hooker in his volume of illustrations 

of “new or rare plants” that appeared 

in 1837. There, as text for Plate 150, under the 

introductory term “Eightsianae” (a reference to 

himself as collector), Eights could have read a 

spirited tribute, in regard to a notable new 

species of grass, Aira antarctica. The species 

diagnosis, in dignified botanical Latin, need not 

detain us. Its habitat was “New South 

Shetland.” Its collector: “Dr. Eights.” 

Hooker then continued: “New South 

Shetland has been described by voyagers as a 

region which, though yielding a few Lichens 

upon the hard rocks, yet is utterly destitute of 

phaenogamic or flowering plants. Dr. Eights 

however collected in that desolate country specimens 

of the grass which is here figured; and 

probably other kinds may yet reward the 

researches of the Botanist who shall have the 

courage to visit those remote islands. Aira 

antarctica agrees in several particulars with our 

well-known A. caryophyllea; but the habit of the 

two is totally different no less than the colour, 

in ours throughout of a yellow green, particularly 

the paleae, not exhibiting the greyish tint 

and dry and scariose appearance of the former. 

The glumes too in our plant are much longer, 

(twice or thrice as long,) narrowed at the base, 

Chapter 8 131

and the awns are by no means so much exserted.” 

The plate illustrates a habit sketch of the 

plant, together with enlarged views of a 

spikelet, florets removed from the paleae, stamens, 

pistil, and squamulae, and paleae. 21 

The younger Hooker, too, paid his respects to 

James Eights in Flora Antarctica: “The South 

Shetlands have been visited by an American gentleman 

of scientific acquirements, Dr. Eights, 

who detected a small species of Grass, the Aira 

antarctica, Hook....the most Antarctic flowering 

plant hitherto discovered.” His account of the 

species is as follows: Aira Antarctica. “HAB. 

Hermite Island, Cape Horn, the Falkland Islands, 

and Kerguelen’s Land, abundantly, J.D.H.; New 

South Shetlands, Dr. Eights.” He goes on: “This 

elegant grass, appropriately named A. Antarctica, 

attains a higher southern latitude than any other 

flowering plant, being the only phaenogamic 

species that inhabits the South Shetland Islands. 

Kerguelen’s Land in latitude 48° is its northern 

limit; but that Island being situated in a longitude 

where the rigour of the Antarctic climate 

extends farther north than in any other, this 

grass is even there more typical of the frigid 

zone than the latitude would indicate, and 

always seeks the most sheltered places. In the 

Falkland Islands again, the most temperate 

region it inhabits, it invariably avoids shelter, 

being found chiefly in open marshy places near 

the sea, fully exposed to the violence of the 

winds.” His full-page plate, CXXXIII, delineates 

the species, with taxonomic details of interest. 

But Aira antarctica was too simple and the 

battle of the taxonomists had yet to be fought. 

A part of the story was put straight by C.J.F. 

Skottsberg, who then obfuscated a further portion. 

He supposed that the elder Hooker actually 

knew there had been an earlier Aira antarctica 

from New Zealand, framed by Forster in 1786. 

But since “Forster’s plant had been transferred 

to Avena...in 1817 and to Trisetum...in 1831 he 

felt at liberty [incorrectly!] to use the name 

antarctica under Aira.” In a work on the grasses 

of Chile, E. Desvaux “removed it from Aira and 

placed under Deschampsia where it remained as 

D. antarctica (Hook.) Desv. until Parodi found 

that the specific epithet of Hooker was illegitimate 

when coined and that the first legitimate 

name was Airidium elegantulum Steudel 1855 so 

the correct combination had to be Deschampsia 

elegantula (Steud.) Parodi 1949 — another wellknown 

name of a famous species, quoted in 

scores of books and papers, had to disappear. 

However, Dr. Turrill pointed to me that Art. 81 

of the International Rules comes to our rescue: 

if we write D. antarctica Desv. leaving out 

(Hook.) everything is in good order.” Sadly, that 

is the way it must be. 22 

Traveling under its new name Deschampsia, 

our Aira antarctica has been the object of recent 

intensive studies. S.W. Green reviewed its history 

and described modern experiments relative 

to growth and reproduction under controlled 

environments. Dorothy M. Greene and Anne 

Holtom have summarized all recent work on 

the species, their most recent work consider 

“habitats and performance in the Antarctic 

botanical zone.” 23 

APPENDIX III: THE MYSTERY 

OF FRANKENIA BREVIFOLIA 

It may be that everything comes to him who 

waits but, among those eventuations, there are 

sure to be a few surprises. My colleague Sally 

Underwood, knowing my interest in plant specimens 

collected by James Eights, came to me in 

1989 with a strange story. I had by then combed 

the exotic (colored) genus folders at the 

Herbarium of the Biological Survey of the New 

York State Museum for Eights’s plant specimens. 

A specimen that someone marked for 

removal from the collection had been brought 

to Sally’s attention. 

The specimen, collected on the coast of 

Patagonia by James Eights, bearing the usual 

printed label of the L.C. Beck Collection within 

the Herbarium, was clearly labeled “Frankenia 

brevifolia...Hooker MSS.” 24 

A check in Index Kewensis failed to disclose 

any such name as Frankenia brevifolia. 

Furthermore, no species clearly attributed to 

Patagonia could be discerned in the initial two 

volumes. It would appear, therefore, that 

Hooker (Sir W.J., no doubt) had been supplied 

with a duplicate specimen of this plant, had 


Figure 8.2. Floral details of Frankenia patagonica 

Spegazzini, 1897, a plant discovered by James Eights. W. 

J. Hooker gave it a name but, unaccountably, never published 

it. A specimen, so named, exists in the herbarium of 

the New York State Museum. Illustration from M.A. 

Whalen, “Systematics of Frankenia,” 1987, page 54. 

realized it to be new and had provided a name 

— then failed to publish it. 

Recalling Dusén’s study of plants of the 

Straits of Magellan and of East Patagonia, I 

checked and found that he listed for Puerto 

Madryn, on Golfo Nuevo, north of the mouth of 

the Río Chubut, a species of Frankenia, which he 

mysteriously provided with the specific name 

(to be confirmed!) of cymbifolia Hooker, in Icones 

Plantarum, 3: 265. Could this, I wondered, possibly 

be our species, which Hooker had, unaccountably, 

given another name? 25 

Back to Index Kewensis. There I found that 

Frankenia cymbifolia was properly Wilsonia 

humilis! The nonbotanist must realize that 

Figure 8.3. Distribution of Frankenia patagonica (see previous 

illustration). Map modified M.A. Whalen, 

“Systematics of Frankenia,” 1987, page 48. 

Frankenia (family Frankeniaceae) and Wilsonia 

(family Convolvulaceae) are not at all closely 

related. Well, even the greatest taxonomist 

stumbles now and then. Thus, a mystery within 

a mystery. 

It was necessary to check the original publication 

of Hooker’s so-called Frankenia cymbifolia, 

plate 265 in the Icones Plantarum. A request 

through interlibrary loan elicited so unusual a 

reply that my first reaction was that there must 

be more than one Plate CCLXV (265): The text 

of the plate was clearly entitled “Gunnianae 

[from the name of the purveyor of the specimen]...Convolvulaceae...Tab. 

CCLXV. Wilsonia 

humilis. Br.[R. Brown, describer].” No mention 

of Frankenia cymbifolia! Yet, the index for volume 

III, to which Plate CCLXV belonged, clearly 

said that that plate showed a new species, 

Chapter 8 133

Frankenia cymbifolia Hook., in the family 

Frankeniaceae. What had happened to Frankenia 

in the text? 26 

Floundering about, hoping to find why I 

could not see the light, I asked Miriam T. Gross 

of the New York Public Library to check their 

copies of the Icones Plantarum so that I should 

know where to find what I assumed to be the 

correct Plate CCLXV in volume III, with its picture 

of Frankenia cymbifolia, Hooker, new 

species. No trouble, I was told, and forthwith I 

had in hand exactly the same plate — but an 

entirely differently labeled text page! The text 

began “Backhousianae [the name of the collector, 

James Backhouse, not the purveyor, Ronald 

Gunn]...Frankeniaceae. TAB. CCLXV. Frankenia 

cymbifolia.” Internally, the two texts did not differ 

much, except that the Cornell copy, labelled 

Wilsonia, listed R. Brown as author of the 

species humilis (in 1810) — he having had his 

specimens from Backhouse, by way of Gunn. 

In any case, both captions, mysteries aside, 

agreed that the specimen (and species) came 

from Australia. Why had Dusén ever thought 

the name applied to a Patagonian species? As 

for the confusion on the part of Hooker, when 

did he discover that his original plate 265 was 

wrongly identified? Even though the Cornell 

University index for volume 3 says that plate 

265 is Frankenia, its contained plate 265 is 

Wilsonia. Had there been public notice of a 

revised text for plate 265, supplied perhaps 

with later numbers of the Icones, that indicated 

a change of heart on the part of Hooker — to 

accompany his newly captioned plate? 27 

With this information in hand, I enquired at 

the Royal Botanic Gardens, to see if any manuscript 

information was to be had in regard to 

the determination that Frankenia cymbifolia was 

actually Wilsonia humilis. Miss R.A. Davies, 

compiler of Index Kewensis, was kind enough to 

reply. She was entirely unaware of a replacement 

text, having supposed the correction to 

have been merely a matter of the notice supplied 

by Hooker in the text to plate CDX (410), 

Wilsonia rotundifolia, in the Icones, volume 5 

(1842): “The true Wilsonia humilis of Mr. Brown 

is figured in our Icones Plantarum at vol. 3. tab. 

265. The habit indeed of both these plants is 

extremely similar to that of Frankenia.” 28 

Meanwhile, this convoluted puzzle came to 

rest where it started: in the L.C. Beck collection 

of the herbarium of the New York State 

Museum. The unfortunate James Eights had 

again failed to get credit for an unnamed 

species that he fairly found. The specimen 

called Frankenia brevifolia by Hooker (a name 

unaccountably not published by him!) has now 

been determined by Sally Underwood and 

Museum Botanist R.S. Mitchell to match in all 

essential characters a common and widespread 

Argentine species, Frankenia patagonica, named 

by Carolo (Carlos) Spegazzini (1858–1926) in 

1897 — nearly 70 years after Eights collected a 

specimen of it and attempted to bring it to the 

attention of botanists. 29 

APPENDIX IV: A RUEFUL NOTE 

Perhaps the title of this appendix ought to 

be another rueful note: one of many that can be 

associated with the life of James Eights. It may 

be unfair to build a case for the notion that 

American (and world) biologists early on simply 

agreed tacitly to ignore Eights. Yet, a 

poignant case of deliberate avoidance, a refusal 

to grant recognition where recognition might 

have been both just and pertinent, is to be 

found in Asa Gray’s account of the botany of 

the Wilkes Exploring Expedition. My query is 

why in the world did Gray create a new genus 

of plant in honor of Jeremiah N. Reynolds but 

ignore Reynolds’s scientifically better qualified 

contemporary and sometime exploring companion 

James Eights? That Eights did not sail 

with the Wilkes Expedition is beside the point: 

neither did Reynolds. 

Asa Gray, certainly the best-known botanist 

America has produced, had ample opportunity 

for acquaintance with both Eights and 

Reynolds. He had been everyone’s first choice 

to go on the exploring expedition as botanist 

and, early and late, took part in deciding what 

books were to be ordered for use on the voyage: 

meetings in which both Eights and Reynolds 

were often involved. While, as we shall see, 

Gray got a more secure offer and dropped out 


of his own accord, Eights was dropped both 

because a come-lately commander considered 

the scientific corps too large and, to an 

unknown extent, because of certain alleged — 

and unnamed — bad habits. Reynolds, protesting 

loudly the while, was as unceremoniously 

left behind, but evidently because nobody in an 

official capacity at the time could stand him. He 

has been widely (with less than total justice) 

viewed as a shyster; at any rate, he was certainly 

not more than a tenth the scientist that Eights 

was. 30 

When, as a result of various miscarriages of 

good intentions, Gray inherited the plant specimens 

collected on the exploring expedition, he 

saw fit to ignore Eights while honoring 

Reynolds by naming for him a new genus, 

Reynoldsia, a taxon of the family Araliaceae, 

consisting, in his work, of two new species collected 

in Hawaii and in one of the Samoan 

Islands. Not, mind you, collected by Reynolds! 

The plants need not detain us here. What merits 

attention is appended to the generic diagnosis 

and discussion: “I dedicate the genus to J.N. 

Reynolds, Esq., who merits this commemoration 

for the unflagging zeal with which he 

urged upon our Government the project of the 

South Sea Exploring Expedition, and also for 

having made, under trying circumstances, an 

interesting collection of dried plants in 

Southern Chili, many years ago.” 31 

“Unflagging zeal” is almost an understatement 

— but can Gray have been so unmindful 

(or so forgetful?) of injured egos among even 

some friends of the expedition, publicly denigrated 

as they were by Reynolds, that he put it 

in such innocent-sounding words? Can Gray, 

somehow, even have approved of Reynolds’s 

roughshod dealings with the combination of 

navy brass and civil bureaucrats, so deviously 

set on denying Reynolds a berth on the expedition 

that would, surely, have been largely nonfunctional 

and honorary? And can Gray have 

been ignorant of Eights’s plants? We do not 

know the full story of either man’s collection, so 

it is bootless to compare numbers of plants. It 

does appear that more of Eights’s plants were 

cited, as by Hooker and Arnott, than 

Reynolds’s. And, perhaps most of all, one is justified 

in protesting that Reynolds can hardly 

have collected his plants under more “trying 

circumstances” than did Eights! Furthermore, 

Eights gets no attention from Gray even in 

regard to the more southern and Antarctic 

species that surely ought to have been pertinently 

cited in regard to the botany of the 

exploring expedition for which Gray was 

accounting. 

NOTES 

1. Sir William Jackson Hooker (1785-1865) was the 

magician who made the Kew Gardens into the delight and 

storehouse they are today; see Mea Allan, The Hookers of 

Kew. Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911) shared Eights’s 

plants in his great Flora Antarctica. Had Antarctic botany 

continued to be championed by such minds, perhaps 

Eights would have long since had his share of attention. 

Typically, students of Antarctic botany either ignore collectors 

(as in the otherwise admirable accounts by Per Dusén, 

“Die Gefässpflanzen der Magellansländer” and “Die 

Pflanzenvereine der Magellansländer” (1900), or Eights 

simply falls through the holes, as with W.B. Turrill’s 

account of botanical collectors in “Botanical exploration in 

Chile and Argentina” (1920). It is probably understandable 

that Eights did not qualify for mention in Alan A. Beetle’s 

capable review of literature on “Phytogeography of 

Patagonia” (1943). Thanks to the fact that modern 

Antarctic scientists have been sensitized to Eights’s existence, 

S.W. Green’s “Plants of the land” (1964), George A. 

Llano’s “The flora of Antarctica” (1965) and D.C. Lindsay’s 

“Vegetation of the South Shetland Islands” (1971) all 

include his notably early report of a species of grass from 

King George Island. The only botanist to give a thorough 

history of Eights’s southern and Antarctic plants is E.J. 

Godley, in “Botany of the Southern Zone / Exploration to 

1843,” pp. 158-160, 1965. 

2. AI Minutes. W.J. Hooker was soon to be at Kew. It 

is of interest that the Becks report sending a complete set 

of plant specimens to Hooker, not just duplicates, as 

appears to have happened with mollusks sent to Hugh 

Cuming. Hooker was a recognized authority, of course, 

and L.C. Beck had long been a correspondent of his, 

although none of the correspondence I have seen, courtesy 

of Kew archivists, concerns the Eights specimens. As will 

be evident in a close study of Eights’s plant specimens, 

Hooker was sent more plants than he actually used: therefore, 

perhaps he really did name some without retaining 

them for his own use; maybe, of course, he was given 

duplicates in return for his services. L.C. Beck’s relationship 

to Eights’s plant specimens is somewhat uncertain, 

too, but he ended, evidently by exchange for duplicates in 

the AI cabinet, with what was certainly the only substantial 

collection of Eights’s plants in America in private 

hands. 

3. I thank Susan Safford, McKinney Library, Albany 

Institute, for bringing this previously uncatalogued letter 

to my attention. Since xerocopying of this fragile item 

Chapter 8 135

seemed both dangerous and likely to prove useless, I transcribed 

it by hand; perhaps study of a photographically 

enlarged copy would elucidate a few of the questioned 

words. “Mr McNab” was no doubt James McNab (1810- 

1878), author of “Account of the rarer plants observed 

during an excursion in the United States and the Canadas 

in 1834”; but this report contains no hint of any dealings 

with botanists in Albany. See also E. Charles Nelson and 

W.G. Dore, “James McNab’s collections from eastern 

North America, 1834.” 

4. McKinney Library, AI; reference is to W.J. Hooker 

and George Arnott Walker Arnott (1799-1868), 

“Contributions towards a flora of South America and the 

islands of the Pacific. I. Extra-tropical South America,” in 

the Companion to the Botanical Magazine, vol. 1; details of 

the tangled use of Eights (and Reynolds) specimens will 

follow. 

5. AI Minutes. It is evident that Hooker had returned 

to Beck a list of plant numbers and names (not specimens), 

the latter of which Beck then applied to similarly numbered 

specimens in the Institute herbarium. 

6. Anon., 1876, “Libraries and herbaria. II. (The New 

York State Herbarium).” 

7. 11th Ann. Rept., Cabinet of Natural History, 

Assembly, No. 163, p. 10, 1858; Board of Regents, State 

University of the State of New York, 18: 6-7. For Lewis 

Caleb Beck (1798-1853), noted naturalist, physician and 

author, see F.A. Stafleu and R.S. Cowan, “Taxonomic 

Literature,” 94: 160; L.B. Sebring and L.B. Sebring, Jr., Life 

of Lewis C. Beck, M.D.; W.H. Cole, “That amazing man 

Beck.” It is annoying that no catalogue of the Beck herbarium 

has been retained by the Albany Institute, the State 

Museum or administrators of the old State Cabinet, for it 

is inconceivable that Beck did not have such a list of his 

herbarium’s holdings. 

8. Hooker and Arnott began their series modestly 

enough with “Contributions towards a flora of South 

Ameica and the islands of the Pacific,” in The Botanical 

Miscellany, 3: 129-212, 1833, covering species 1-384. They 

initially planned the work to describe a collection of plants 

of nontropical South America, mostly from west of the 

Andes, made by Hugh Cuming, whom we shall meet 

again when Eights’s mollusk specimens are described. 

Meanwhile, they had accumulated a substantial amount of 

material from other collectors, a few of whom collected in 

Argentina, and they gradually enlarged the scope. The second 

article occupied pp. 302-367 of the same volume and 

covered species 385-653. The next article in the series came 

out in a journal given a new name, The Journal of Botany 

(often referred to as “Hooker’s Journal of Botany” or 

“Journal of Botany [London, ed. by Hooker]),” 1: 276-296. 

The third article covered species 654-729. Through the end 

of this segment, no plants collected Eights had yet come 

into Hooker’s hands. 

9. Hooker and Arnott, “Contributions,” The Companion 

to the Botanical Magazine, 1: 29-38, 102-111, 1835. Eights 

(and Beck) items are noticed pp. 30-31, 31 note 1, 32, 34 (2), 

107 (3), 109. I can find nowhere any reference to a “St. 

Mary” in Patagonia. 

10. Hooker and Arnott, “Contributions,” Companion, 1: 

234-244, 1835; see pp. 234-235, 243. Reynolds must have 

been pleased at the advance in rank! — the world still 

awaits the publication of his promised Travels. Hooker’s 

friend Greene was Benjamin Daniel Greene (1793-1862), 

first president of the Boston Society of Natural History 

(1830-1837) (Meisel, Bibliography, 2: 462). 

11. Hooker and Arnott, “Contributions,” Companion, 2: 

41-52, 250-254, 1836; Reynolds, pp. 42(4), 43(2), 44(3), 51; 

Eights, pp. 44, 52(2). Bear in mind that what is today’s 

southern portion of Chile was then the independent native 

nation of Araucania. 

12. Hooker and Arnott, “Contributions,” Journal of 

Botany, 3: 19-47, “1834.” The Eights specimens are cited on 

p. 22. 

13. Hooker and Arnott, “Contributions,” Journal of 

Botany, 3: 310-348, published April 1841; Eights, pp. 326, 

332-333 (Senecio Eightsii), 339, 344, 346; Reynolds, pp. 332, 

339(2). While indicated on p. 348, “To be continued,” I 

have not found that it was. 

14. E.J. Godley, “Botany of the southern zone / 

Exploration to 1843,” Tuatara, 13(3): 158-160; the year 

“1829” is too restrictive; J.W.[!] Reynolds and J.R.[!] 

Watson did not sail on Capt. Pendleton’s Seraph — 

Reynolds certainly was on the Annawan with Eights and I 

know of nothing to the contrary on Watson. 

15. Joseph Dalton Hooker, The Botany of the Antarctic 

Voyage of H.M. Discovery Ships Erebus and Terror, in the Years 

1839-1843. Under the Command of Captain Sir James Clark 

Ross, vol. I, Flora Antarctica. See pp. 244, 250, 257, 278-279, 

301, 303, 317, 321-322, 325, 377, 519=520; Pl. CXI (Clarionea, 

left figure), CXXXIII, Aira. 

15-A. I thank Jerome Haller and Charles Sheviak, who 

have been engaged in identifying Eights plant specimens 

and arranging them into a permanent Eights subcollection 

(2001), for making additional information available to me. 

Charles Boewe obligingly tracked down the complete reference 

to Ochyra’s book, which was unavailable to me. 

16. I am indebted to many people for making this list 

as complete as it is. Certain persons will be cited in regard 

to individual species/specimens and their names may not 

appear here. In Albany, Charles Sheviak, Richard Mitchell, 

and Kenneth Dean made the search in the herbarium of 

the New York Biological Survey both possible and fruitful. 

Dr. G. Ll. Lucas was kind enough to check several specimens 

in the Herbarium of the Royal Botanic Gardens, 

Kew. A few notes of interest turned up in archives of 

Albany Institute of History and Art. Two species of Cape 

Verde plants are mentioned in my account of Eights’s 

southward journey in 1829; both are listed here. I checked 

for Cape Verde plants in the State Herbarium, using “Flora 

of Macaronesia, checklist of vascular plants” (3d ed., rev.), 

by A. Hansen and P. Sunding, kindly supplied by Per 

Sunding, who also thoughtfully provided a list of likely 

genera to search for. (Providentially, exotic species are easy 

to search for in the State Herbarium, because they are 

stored in colored folders.) While not ideal, I used genera 

cited by J.D. Hooker’s Flora Antarctica in searching for 

Antarctic plants. All original genera/species have been 

checked in Index Kewensis, although not through all its 

Supplements, so this by no means qualifies as a laundered 

and up-to-date list of names. With them, however, you can 

get a start! 

17. This is proof that Hooker and Arnott’s “Dr. Beck” 

specimens were collected by Eights. Along with other 

hints, it makes it clear that L.C. Beck’s herbarium and that 

of Albany Institute were always separate. It also indicates, 

sadly, that the original Institute herbarium has entirely disappeared. 


18. The listing of this species on the Institute list of 

1836, where the plants are clearly identified as Eights’s, is 

further proof that Hooker’s attribution of specimens to 

Beck as collector was incorrect. 

19. Eights, “Description of a new crustaceous animal,” 

p. 65; Eights somehow missed the only other flowering 

plant yet discovered in the South Shetlands, the pearlwort 

(pink family) Colobanthus quitensis (or C. crassifolius); it was 

not discovered until Feb 1905. For a comprehensive general 

account of Antarctic plants, see: S.W. Greene, “Plants of 

the land,” 1964; his text reference to Eights’s collection of 

Aira, p. 247 (in “the 1820s”) is not further documented. See 

also: George A. Llano, “The flora of Antarctica,” in Trevor 

Hatherton, ed., Antarctica, p. 335; D.C. Lindsay, 

“Vegetation of the South Shetland Islands,” 1971, pp. 63, 

65, 74; George E. Watson, Birds of the Antarctic, p. 270 (he is 

in error to make Eights “the first scientist to visit anywhere 

in the Antarctic”). 

20. R.I. Lewis Smith, “The earliest report of a flowering 

plant in the Antarctic?” 

21. Sir William Jackson Hooker, Icones Plantarum; or 

Figures...of New or Rare Plants, vol. 2, text and plate CL 

(150). Sir William obviously painted with a broad brush in 

regard to descriptions of previous voyagers, even as he 

held out unrealistic hopes that more discoveries awaited 

the daring collector. 

22. C. Skottsberg, “Antarctic flowering plants,” pp. 

330-331; see also pp. 331-334. Skottsberg had been unable 

to trace Eights’s plants, for reasons not clear; he was, in 

addition, badly misled by Dr. W.B. Turrill of Kew, who 

provided Hooker’s type specimen, but also told him that a 

cryptic annotation read “D. Berk,” which Turrill interpreted 

to mean “Debit Berkeley” — thus that “the specimen 

was given to Hooker by the Rev. Berkeley who had correspondents 

in America”! As E.J. Godley, “Botany of the 

southern zone,” p. 159, has pointed out, the annotation is 

properly read as “Dr. Beck” who, of course, had transmitted 

Eights’s specimens to Hooker. Lorenzo R. Parodi, “Las 

gramineas sudamericanas del género Deschampsia,” 

described the new combination Deschampsia elegantula 

(Steud.), pp. 452-454. The affair of Aira antarctica has also 

been summarized by G.A. Llano, “The flora of the 

Antarctic,” p. 335. And a footnote to a footnote: in 1953, 

Skottsberg, p. 337, recorded a single specimen seen (and 

collected) of Poa annua at Whalers’ Bay, Deception Island: 

“In flower. — As far as I know this is the first record for a 

weed in the Antarctic.” Considering the considerable success 

of some man-dispersed plants in the Antarctic, R.I. 

Lewis Smith (“Introduced plants in Antarctica: potential 

impacts and conservation issues”) warns against the laxity 

of past and current practices — lest the list of plant species 

in the Antarctic be artificially lenghtened, to our hurt. 

23. S.W. Greene, “Studies in Colobanthus quitensis 

(Kunth) Bartl. and Deschampsia antarctica Desv.”; D.M. 

Greene and A. Holtom, “Studies in Colobanthus quitensis...and 

Deschampsia antarctica Desv.: III. Distribution, 

habitats and performance in the Antarctic botanical zone.” 

24. I am most indebted to Sally Underwood for thinking 

of me and to Dr. Charles Sheviak of the Biological 

Survey Herbarium for his splendid cooperation. 

25. Per Dusén, “Die Gefässpflanzen der 

Magellansländer nebst einem Beitrag zur Flora der 

Ostküste von Patagonien,” p. 255. Dusén annotated his 

citation of the Hooker name with the abbreviation “cfr.” 

which I take to mean “awaiting confirmation.” 

26. Sir W.J. Hooker, Icones Plantarum, 3, pl. 265, with 

text; note, however, variant texts described herein! This 

copy of the Icones is in the Cornell University Albert R. 

Mann Library, from which I have kindly been supplied 

xerocopies of plate, text, title page, and index. 

27. Ed Spragg, Reference Librarian, Cornell, checked 

two copies of volume 3 and found no binders’ instructions 

in regard to such a matter. 

28. I am most grateful to Miss Davies for her help; she 

supplied a copy of plate 265 from the only copy of vol. 3 at 

Kew: its caption to plate 265, claiming to show Frankenia, 

has added in pencil, “Wilsonia humilis.” She likewise 

copied plate 410 and pages of relevant later floras citing 

the information she shared. At that time, her feeling was: 

“I do not think this is a case of text being replaced.” She 

could only suppose that Dusén “thought he had the same 

plant as Hooker but his was a Frankenia. According to Sue 

Zmartzy who curates Frankeniaceae at Kew herbarium, 

there is a superficial similarity in appearance, if there are 

no flowers or if the flowers are over” (letter, 19 Feb 1992). 

When I supplied a photocopy of what clearly is a revised 

text for vol. 3, plate 265, Miss Davies replied (20 Mar 1992) 

that there was nothing at Kew concerning this and that the 

matter would be checked with other libraries; since I have 

heard nothing further, I assume nothing was learned. 

29. My thanks to friends Sally Underwood, Richard 

Mitchell, and Charles Sheviak for help with the State 

Museum specimen. There are splendid illustrations, maps 

and keys in Dr. Maevia N. Correa’s “Las Frankeniaceae 

argentinas,” 1966, see especially pp. 80-82, Fig. 4. 

Spegazzini named his new species, Frankenia patagonica in 

“Plantae patagoniae australis,” p. 497. For further 

information on the Frankeniaceae, see: William L. Bray, 

“The geographical distribution of the Frankeniaceae considered 

in connection with their systematic relationships”; 

F. Niedenzu, “Frankeniaceae,” in Adolf Engler, Die 

Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien, 21: 276-281; M.N. Correa, “Las 

Frankeniaceae argentinas”; Molly Ann Whalen, 

“Systematics of Frankenia (Frankeniaceae) in North and 

South America” — see especially Fig. 4, p. 8, excellent 

maps, pp. 16, 48, and account of F. patagonica, pp. 52-55. A 

possible clue to Hooker’s ignorance of Brown’s work with 

Australian plants, may lie in Brown’s reluctance to share 

that information with Hooker. This is hinted at in Brian J. 

Ford’s account of Brown’s notably astute early observations 

on the physical phenomenon known as Brownian 

Movement. Robert Brown (1773-1858) left a record of solid 

work on Australian plants. See B.J. Ford, “Brownian movement 

in Clarkia pollen: a reprise of the first observation” 

(The Microscopist, 40: 235-242). 

30. As an example of Gray’s work in preparation for 

the departure of the Exploring Expedition, see a list of 

about 11 Nov 1836, in Gray’s handwriting, of “List of 

botany books,” National Archives Microfilm 75, I:0516-ff. 

This era of Eights’s life will be treated in a later chapter. 

31. Asa Gray, United States Exploring 

Expedition...Botany. Phanerogamia, vol. I, pp. 723-724, 724, 

725. The new species were illustrated on plates 92, 93, in 

the folio atlas. Surely, Gray would have read Edmund 

Fanning’s peroration denouncing popular feelings that all 

credit for advancing the national exploring expedition 

should be given Reynolds (Voyages to the South Seas, 1838, 

pp. 168-172). 

Chapter 8 137


Chapter 9 

SOUTHERN AND ANTARCTIC BIOLOGY: 

MOLLUSKS 

Throughout his life, shells held an interest 

for James Eights. The total bulk of his shell collection 

in southern waters must have been 

large, both relative to other forms of life collected 

and absolutely as to total numbers. No 

doubt his own predilections contributed to the 

result; but one must also realize the convenience 

of collecting shells and the enormous popularity 

of shells, among both scientists and 

amateurs. No preservative was needed, since 

no emphasis was given to retaining soft parts. 

A wooden chest and minimal packing insured 

safe carriage. As to popularity, the craze for 

shells knew no bounds. 1 

The uncertainty as to where Eights’s specimens 

went is already known. The first public 

notice of the specimens was simply that shells 

were among natural history objects bought by 

the Albany Institute. In 1834 the public learned 

more: On 10 June, the Argus carried a long 

account of donations to the Institute since the 

first of January. Two parts of the account are 

pertinent. “A duplicate set of the shells collected 

by Mr. James Eights (on the coast of South 

America, the Gallipagos, &c. and which, with 

the remainder of his collection, were purchased 

by several of the citizens of Albany, for the 

Institute) was some months since sent to 

London. They have been examined by skilful 

conchologists there, and more than half are pronounced 

new and undescribed. Such as have 

been previously known, are named from the 

writings of Sowerby, King, Broderip and others. 

The Institute have duplicates of several, and are 

willing to exchange them for shells not in the 

collection.” The second item of interest concerned 

donations: “A collection of rare and 

valuable shells...[not copied here] amounting to 

62 [!] specimens, each of different species — 

from H. Cumming [!], of London, through O. 

Rich.” 2 

There is nothing in Institute Minutes to clarify 

matters but the “Catalogue of Properties” is 

more explicit, listing both specimens sent by 

Cuming and Cuming’s names, so far as known 

to him, of the original lot of duplicates sent 

from the Eights collection. Both lists are merely 

summarized here, since they refer to collections 

that have most unfortunately been, when not 

totally homogenized into other collections, dispersed 

and lost. 3 

Readers will find even summaries of the 

Cuming and Eights lists hopelessly tangled. 

Notes expand a little on the mess but I refrain 

from an annotated, faithful copy. The list, “A 

Collection of Shells in exchange for Duplicates 

of Mr Jas Eights’ Collection from Mr H Cuming 

/ London / through O. Rich Esq.,” consists of 

82 [!] specimens, provided in most cases with 

both generic and specific names, together with, 

for those already known, some indication of 

“where described & by whom.” Many of the 

scientific names have, understandably, been 

changed since Cuming’s day (putting aside possible 

incorrect names, which in the absence of 

specimens cannot be investigated). His place 

names are both out of date and often hopelessly 

inexact (e.g., “Panama,” “Central America,”’ 

Chapter 9 139

“Gallipagos Isle” — not to mention his Lord 

Hood’s Isle or Island, a name he applied to at 

least three places). The same, of course, applies 

to his shorthand list of authorities and works by 

whom and where names were published. For 

the most part, of course, patient digging has 

unearthed pay-dirt. Some ambiguities remain: 

Three specimens of Helix have no specific name 

(secretarial lapse?); unnamed new species of 

Cardita and Chama are included. 4 

Tinkered with as it is (I assume that the 

specimens sent originally to Cuming were numbered 

and that, in return, he made out a list of 

names to go with those numbers, which curators 

at the Institute then assigned to their specimens 

and entered in the “Catalogue”), the list 

of Eights’s shells deserves more detailed attention 

than has been given to the Cuming list. 

There is a total of 84 [!] specimens. 

The list of shells of Eights’s alleged collection 

(he may have swapped with other collectors 

along the way) offers some difficulties in 

analysis, partly because nine were thought by 

Cuming to be duplicates (that is, perhaps, color 

or size variants). Thirty-six were given full 

binomials; 26 were listed by genus only (thus, 

are considered new species). One new form, the 

name perhaps undecipherable by the recorder, 

was listed as “T” only; one was the operculum 

of one of the species; another specimen was the 

spine of a sea urchin. Ten specimens are listed 

without either part of the binomen; oddly, not 

all of these are asterisked as “new species.” 

Thirty-three specimens were labeled as new 

(that is, unknown to Cuming). Even if half these 

were truly new species, James Eights ought to 

be given credit for a good season’s work. These 

specimens were just those deemed the duplicates 

of Eights’s collection. Nor does it take into 

account possible additional specimens in the 

collection of the Lyceum of Natural History of 

New York (nil?) or in Eights’s own keeping. 

Some analysis is pertinent, in an effort to wring 

as much information as possible from a project 

that has gone bad. 

Some specimens were entered with two 

localities, one assigned to “E” (Eights) and one 

to “C” (Cuming) or another collector (that is, 

Cuming had specimens from both localities). 

Some were assigned locations based upon published 

names (usually with authority and publication 

— thus, we have the locality of the 

named type specimen, not Eights’s specimen). I 

try to treat here only those that have clear connections 

with Eights’s collection points and 

those with only one location (which ought to 

be, but probably are not in all cases, Eights 

localities). It will become clear that a reliable 

itinerary for Eights cannot be constructed from 

these collection data. 

In geographic order, north to south and 

southwest, along Eights’s trail, the specimens 

are: a species each of Planaxis and Fusus from 

the Cape Verde Islands (both accounted new); 

African coast, where Eights did not collect, two 

genera (Purpura and Siphonaria), both, oddly, 

accounted new; Río de la Plata, where Eights 

did not collect, Anodonta crassus Swainson, 

accounted a new species; and a new species of 

Pecten from “Newpoint, Patagonia,” a valuable 

locality, if it can be sustained, since so little is 

known of Eights’s places of landfall there. There 

are six species from Staten Island, five of them 

new; three are listed as from Cape Horn, one 

new, even though to my knowledge Eights did 

not collect there, while Cuming did — I see no 

reason for the Cape to be confused with Staten 

Island. There is, notably, a new species of Patella 

from “Potter’s Cove, New South Shetland” (but 

note the absence of Nucula, to be treated later!). 

Six species were credited to the coast of Chile 

(hardly a pinpoint locale!). There seems no reason 

to doubt 16 species from “Island St. 

Mary’s,” two species from “La Mocha,” and 17 

species from Valparaíso; nor are three species 

from the “Island of Huaffo” (Guafo) and one 

from the “Island of Chiloe” unbelievable, even 

though we know little about Eights’s activities 

there. There is some reason to doubt that Eights 

collected the 10 species from the “coast of Peru” 

credited to him. I have no reason at all to think 

he collected four species (two somewhat 

ambiguously marked) at Juan Fernández or the 

six species said to have come from the 

“Gallipagos Islands.” I suspect in all cases 

Eights’s locality has been suppressed because 

Cuming had similar or identical material from 

those islands (at both of which he had collect- 

140 Janes Eights, 1798–1882, Antaric Explorer

ed). (Bear in mind that “species” here is used 

because it is less ambiguous than “specimens,” 

even though there is minor duplication of specimens.) 

5 

Before going on to James Eights’s by now 

famous specimen of Antarctic mollusk given, in 

a rather roundabout manner, the name of 

Nucula eightsii, I propose to finish off the sad 

story of the Eights mollusk collection at the 

Albany Institute. Facing the loss of its rooms at 

the Albany Academy (with storage and work 

space long since reduced to the vanishing 

point), around 1890 members of the Institute set 

about salvaging what they could by transferring 

the scientific collections to what they 

hoped would be a safe haven offered by the 

New York State Museum. Collections were 

already in disarray. The move further contributed 

to loss of specimens, loss of identifying 

information on specimens, and loss of significant 

specimens deemed unworthy of salvage 

when not pristine in some way. The ultimate 

step was, with good luck, homogenization 

within State Museum collections, but often 

without evidence of the transfer. It may thus be 

difficult or impossible to trace them. The history 

of this mass changing of the guard is briefly 

summarized with emphasis upon the fate of 

Eights’s southern and Antarctic mollusks. 

Initially, we hear from the State Museum in 

1891: “The Albany Institute has donated to the 

State Museum its extensive collection of minerals, 

fossils, shells and alcoholic specimens. 

During the next year this material, most of 

which is now stored in boxes, will be unpacked 

and catalogued so far as possible.” 6 

What appears to be the entire residual 

Institute zoological collection, as retained and 

presumably catalogued by the State Museum, 

was listed in the State Museum Report for the 

year 1892. This includes specimens of some 121 

species of mollusks. A substantial number of 

these are obviously a part of the Eights southern 

and Antarctic collection, although his name 

was not mentioned. This is particularly to be 

regretted in the case of Panamanian specimens, 

where knowledge that he was a collector would 

do something to document his otherwise mysterious 

travels in that area. There are 11 species 

from Valparaíso (up to 24 specimens of each); 

13 species from Isla de Santa María (up to 30 

specimens of each); two species from Isla de 

Guafo. There are also four species from Cape 

Horn, perhaps a pooling of specimens from 

Staten Island (not listed). Peru, Chile, Juan 

Fernández, Río de la Plata, Galápagos are also 

listed — clearly, no one had ever attempted to 

clean up localities. Notably, Eights’s new 

species of river mussels (Unio) were not represented, 

nor were any of his Antarctic species of 

Crustacea or Pycnogonida. 7 

Nucula eightsii 

The case of Nucula eightsii comes next. 

However strange its history, there is no lack of 

information about the species. 

Richard I. Johnson, in his bibliography of 

new species of Joseph Pitty Couthouy (with 

biographical notes), rigidly denied Couthouy 

credit for describing the species eightsii, 

because, although “the description was read by 

Couthouy before the Lyceum of Natural 

History, New York,” it was not published until 

used in the third edition of Dr. John C. Jay’s 

shell catalogue in 1839. It is, however, perfectly 

correct to refer to it as “Nucula eightsi [the 

spelling now preferred] Couthouy, in Jay, 1839,” 

as R.K. Dell has done. 8 

The start was hesitant, the history convoluted. 

Dr. John Clarkson Jay’s first (1835) and second 

(1836) editions of his Catalogue did not 

include the species. In 1839, Jay’s species No. 

914d was “Nucula Eightsii, Couth., Sandwich 

Figure 9.1. Nucula eightsi Couthouy, in Jay, 1839. It is 

now known as Yoldia (Aequiyoldia) eightsi. From R.K. 

Dell, “The identity of Yoldia (Aequiyoldia) eightsi,” 

Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London, 35, 

page 248, 1963. 

Chapter 9 141

Islands [!],” with a reference to a plate. In the 

extended caption of Plate 1, he wrote: “Figure 

12, 13. Nucula Eightsii, Couthouy. / Annals 

Lyceum Natural History. / Habitat, New South 

Shetland [thus getting the locality correct]. / 

Remarks. A description of this new species of 

Nucula was read before the Lyceum during the 

last year, by Joseph P. Couthouy, Corresponding 

Member. Mr. C. presumes this to be a new 

species, from its remote locality, and the fact 

that it is neither alluded to by M. Des Hayes in 

his new edition of Lamarck, nor figured by 

Sowerby in his ‘Illustrations of the Genus 

Nucula,’ which embody all the new ones carried 

to England by Mr. Cumings [!], from the 

South Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. A few specimens 

only of this shell were picked up on the 

shores of New South Shetland, by Dr. James 

G.[!] Eights, of Albany, N.Y.” Figures 12 and 13 

show external and internal views of a valve. 

How Couthouy, who was very active in naming 

new mollusk species, came to have the specimen 

is not clear. Possibly it was given to him 

for description by the Luceum, supposing that 

Eights had deposited a specimen there. More 

likely, Eights himself gave it to Couthouy to 

describe, since the two of them were for a while 

associated in preparations for the great Wilkes 

Exploring Expedition (and by the time Jay’s 

work appeared, Couthouy was at sea with the 

expedition). It is still a mystery why 

Couthouy’s paper was not published by the 

Lyceum. 9 

In 1846, Sylvanus Charles Thorp Hanley 

published An Illustrated and Descriptive 

Catalogue of Recent Bivalve Shells, where we have 

Yoldia eightsi, although the figure shows a different 

specimen from that figured by Jay. In 1860, 

Hanley described Yoldia woodwardi, a widely 

distributed Antarctic form, supposing it to be 

different from Yoldia (or Laeda, as he called it) 

eightsii. In the following decades, the names 

were used together or alone and it was not until 

R.K. Dell’s thorough review of the matter that 

the dust was settled. 10 

After coming to a conclusion, based upon 

Couthouy’s figure (in Jay, 1839), that the illustration 

either showed an individual variant or 

was an artist’s error, Dell assigned Couthouy’s 

name to the sometime specimens of Yoldia woodwardi 

in his comprehensive list of Antarctic and 

Subantarctic bivalves (1963). After a firsthand 

study of Couthouy’s type specimen (now in the 

type collection of the American Museum of 

Natural History: type No. 56119), Dell established 

his case (1964). “Examination of this 

specimen showed immediately the source of all 

subsequent uncertainty. Jay’s figure gives a 

good representation of the type but the specimen 

is deformed, the whole posterior portion of 

the shell having been twisted rather violently 

during growth in a clockwise direction. The 

dorsal margin and the posterior hinge line are 

both very considerably displaced. Jay gave no 

description so that the concept of the species 

has rested upon these rather inadequate figures 

of a distorted specimen.” 11 

This Antarctic discovery of James Eights has 

recently been thoroughly investigated, both taxonomically 

and, to some extent, even biologically. 

The genus Yoldia has been revised by Ian W. 

Rabarts and Solene Whybrow and growth in 

the species has recently been studied by Conor 

P. Nolan and Andrew Clarke. The latter have 

found a slow growh rate, maximum shell 

height of 22.3 mm (shell length of 35.6 mm) 

being reached at the age of more than 60 

years. 12 

NOTES 

1. Early in the nineteenth century, a biobibliography 

of writings on shells already came to a substantial monograph: 

see W.G. Maton and T. Rackett, “An historical 

account of testaceological writers,” 1804. 

2. Albany Argus, Anon., 10 Jun 1834. Thus did 

Obadiah Rich, “12 Red Lion Square, London,” show his 

usefulness; he thoughtfully provided the Library with a 

book, A General Catalogue of Old and New Books, in the 

English, Spanish, Italian, French and Other Languages that 

were available from his shop. What is not said is that the 

named specimens from Hugh Cuming were sent in 

exchange for Eights’s unnamed specimens. 

3. I record here my best thanks to Richard E. Petit, 

who patiently answered questions that must have seemed 

both endless and ill-informed. In the process, I learned a 

good deal more molluskan nomenclature than I needed to 

know. I also studied the travels of naturalists and works of 

conchologists of the era and tracked down place names 

that turned out to have much to do with Cuming but 

nothing with Eights. Nor did I need to have bothered 


about “Sowerby, King, Broderip and others,” for that was 

name-dropping: a reference to previous describers of 

species, not those of James Eights’s specimens. 

4. Hugh Cuming was the shell collector of shell collectors 

of his day. He has his followers as well as his detractors. 

For the former, see especially “Hugh Cuming (1791- 

1865) prince of collectors,” by S. Peter Dance and Dance’s 

long chapter on “The Cumingian era,” in his A History of 

Shell Collecting, pp. 110-131. Among detractors, see W.J. 

Clench, “Some notes on the life and explorations of Hugh 

Cuming” (1945), where you hear that he depended “upon 

his memory for the name of locality of his specimens”; 

that he may, in fact, have destroyed habitat data that came 

with specimens; that names were often not permanently 

attached to specimens; that he cared little for unnamed 

specimens (“names were needed for his wares”); that he 

dealt with “weaker men” (not the leading conchologists of 

his generation) when soliciting names for new species 

(and perhaps even paid for that service); that even type 

specimens might be discarded from his collection when a 

handsomer example came along. Some of which may be 

unfair, as Dance says. Cuming, at any rate, was a creature 

of his own time — but of gigantic dimensions in all ways! 

Many a collector of that day preserved little in the way of 

habitat or even precise locality data with a specimen. It 

was a day when taxonomists neglected collector’s names 

and museum curators cared even less. It was also a time 

when few taxonomists (or would-be taxonomists) had 

access to adequate literature and confused and unnecessary 

duplication of names was certain to occur. Cuming, in 

any event, was everybody’s dream of a collector. He was 

so successful in his Chilean-based sail-making business 

that he retired after seven years, built an impressive boat, 

the Discoverer, designed especially for his collecting, in 

which he sailed throughout much of the southern Pacific. 

He had returned to London only in 1831 from one such 

major exploration. One wonders, in fact, if James Eights 

had not met him in Chile, where Cuming was treated with 

favoritism by the government and where he had collected 

widely. Additional publications on Cuming are: (1) E.D. 

Merrill, “Hugh Cuming’s letters to Sir William J. Hooker”; 

(2) Harold St. John, “Itinerary of Hugh Cuming in 

Polynesia”; and (3) J.T. Howell, “Hugh Cuming’s visit to 

the Galapagos Islands.” The last needs to be consulted in 

regard to various Galápagos specimens that are cited in 

the Cuming donations to Albany Institute. The presence of 

three “Lord Hood Isles” among Cuming’s localities is 

noticed by W.H. Pease, “Descriptions of new species of 

marine gasteropodae inhabiting Polynesia” pp. 82-83. 

5. It must be realized that Cuming in this entire era 

was most actively accumulating specimens from all parts 

of the world. Notable for our records is a new species, 

Anatina prismatica, from “New South Shetland,” that had 

been “Driven on shore after a gale” (G.B. Sowerby, in an 

untitled account of Cuming’s new species, Proceedings of 

the Zoological Society of London, 2: 87); this is not, as 

might be thought at first blush, to be credited to Eights but 

rather to Lieutenant Kendall, of the sloop Chanticleer, as is 

another species, Anatina elliptica (Philip Parker King, 

“Description of the Cirrhipeda, Conchifera, and 

Mollusca...southern coasts of South America,” 3: 335 — 

both collected a year before Eights was in the South 

Shetlands. Modern maps do not show a “Newpoint” in 

Patagonia; but I am indebted to Brian D. Thynne, 

Hydrography Section of the National Maritime Museum, 

Greenwich (29 Jun 1992), for pointing out that this was 

probably even then usually known by the name of 

“Nuevo Head,” now “Morro Nuevo” (“Morro” being the 

Spanish word for headland or bluff); this is at the entrance 

to Golfo Nuevo, at 42°52’ S. 64°09’W. If this locality can be 

confirmed, it seems to document a landfall of interest for 

Eights on the Patagonian coast. Isla Guafo (or Huafo) is a 

small island of 64 square miles 20 mi off the SW tip of 

Chiloé at 43°35’S. 74°45’W. Chiloé is a large island with 

many small ones off the SW coast of Chile, its southwestern 

point being 43°17’S. 74°26’W. The Galápagos consist of 

a group of 12 small or moderate sized islands on the equator 

at 91°25’W., some 600 mi west of Ecuador. Juan 

Fernández is a forbidding island of small size 400 mi west 

of Chile, at 33°45’S. 79°2’W. References to Cuming’s travels 

in Note 4 are pertinent to his collections at Juan Fernández 

and the Galápagos. I end this inadequate account of localities 

by acknowledging my indebtedness to the many 

British naturalists and navigators (not cited here) who left 

their marks and names on all manner of geographic features 

in southern South America — usually with full 

descriptions and careful documentation. 

6. “45th Annual Report of the Regents for the year 

1891,” New York State Museum Annual Report (1892), p. 

20. For fossils, none of southern or Antarctic origin, see the 

careful record by J.M. Clarke. 

7. “46th Annual Report of the Regents for the year 

1892,” New York State Museum Annual Report, (1893), pp. 

24-27. 

8. R.I. Johnson, “Joseph Pitty Couthouy — a bibliography 

and catalogue of his species,” p. 39; John C. Jay, A 

Catalogue of the Shells, arranged according to the Lamarckian 

System, 3d ed., 1839, pp. 22, 113, Pl. 1, Figs. 12, 13; 

R.K.Dell, “The identity of Yoldia (Aequiyoldia) Eightsi 

(Couthouy, in Jay, 1839),” 1964. 

9. Jay, 3d ed., as cited in Note 8; see biographical notes 

on Couthouy in R.I. Johnson, 1946, pp. 33-34. Proof 

enough that it was not until the third edition of Jay’s 

Catalogue (1839) that Couthouy’s Nucula Eightsii appeared 

may be found in notes of new species listed by W.G. 

Binney’s “Bibliography of North American Conchology 

Previous to the Year 1860,” p. 486. 

10. S.C.T. Hanley, 1846, Plate 20, Fig. 2 + caption; 

Hanley, “On some new species of Nuculaceae in a collection 

of Hugh Cuming, Esq.,” pp. 370-371, 1860; Hanley, 

“Monograph of the family Nuculidae, forming the 

Lamarckian genus Nucula,” p. 142, Plate V, Fig. 164 + caption 

(in G.B. Sowerby, Thesaurus Conchyliorum, Vol. III, Pt. 

XX, 1860 (title page of volume is dated 1866); Dell, “The 

identity of Yoldia (Aequiyoldia) eightsi ...,” 1964; I have had 

helpful correspondence from Solene Morris, Curator of 

Bivalves and Chitons, British Museum (Natural History). 

11. R.K. Dell, “Antarctic and Subantarctic Mollusca: 

Amphineura, Scaphopoda and Bivalvia,” pp. 146-147, 

Plate II, Fig. 11, 1963; Dell, “The identity ...,” 1964, p. 247, 

and a notably good figure, p. 248; Margaret Crozier 

Richards and William E. Old, Jr., “A catalogue of molluscan 

type specimens in the Department of Living 

Invertebrates, the American Museum of Natural History,” 

Chapter 9 143

pp. 11-12, Nucula eightsii, holotype, A.M.N.H. 56119, 2 

paired valves, Jay Collection 1447. 

12. I.W. Rabarts and Solene Whybrow, “A revision of 

the Antarctic and Subantarctic members of the genus 

Yoldia Moller, 1842 (Bivalvia: Nuculanidae)”; C.P. Nolan 

and Andrew Clarke, “Growth in the bivalve Yoldia eightsi 

at Signy Island, Antarctica, determined from internal shell 

increments and calcium-45 incorporation.” 


Chapter 10 

ANTARCTIC BIOLOGY: CRUSTACEA — 

BRONGNIARTIA : SPHAEROMA : GLYPTONOTUS 

While James Eights, to his hurt, shied away 

from naming his new species of mollusks, he 

must have felt more at ease with crustaceans. 

He named three supposed new species, two of 

which have been sustained. In the accounts that 

follow, his diagnoses are reproduced as originally 

printed. The notes on natural history of 

the South Shetland Islands, which accompanied 

the first of his species accounts, have already 

been reviewed in the chapter on his Antarctic 

adventure. 

BRONGNIARTIA TRILOBITOIDES 

Figure 10.1. Brongniartia trilobitoides Eights, 1833, dorsal 

and ventral views. Albany Institute Transactions, volume 

2. Now placed in the genus Serolis. See #10.2. The original 

drawing by James Eights is in the Albany Institute of 

History and Art. 

The first of his crustaceans generated the 

greatest amount of discussion in his lifetime 

and, with modest suggestion from himself, 

became part of a long debate over its possible 

relationships to the great extinct group of 

arthropods called trilobites. 

His effort to establish it as a new genus and 

species was only partially successful. Even if it 

had been entirely so, his effort to name the 

genus Brongniartia, in honor of a great authority 

on trilobites, was doomed, for that name had 

already been used for a trilobite. Having convinced 

himself that it no longer applied there, 

he incorrectly supposed he was free to use it for 

what he took to be a new genus of living crustacean. 

1 

Let us first have the paper, “Description of a 

new crustaceous animal found on the shores of 

the South Shetland Islands, with remarks on 

their natural history.” It was by “James Eights, 

Chapter 10 145

tail: teguments solid and calcareous. Eyes two, 

superior, sessile and immoveable. Antennae 

four, on a line with the margin of the shell. 

Mouth inferior, composed of a labrum, two 

mandibles bearing palpi, two pair of maxillae, 

tongue, and a labium formed of the first footjaws. 

Feet fourteen, anterior four with a dilated 

hand, and an incurved moveable finger, 

remaining ten unguiculate. Branchiae situated 

under the post-abdomen in pairs. Tail with foliaceous 

fin-like appendages on its lateral edge, 

inferiorly it supports four pairs of diaphanous 

laminae. 

B. TRILOBITOIDES. 

Figure 10.2. Major figure shows a long-extinct trilobite, 

Arctinurus (called Paradoxus boltoni by Eights), showing 

its superficial resemblance to Eights's Brongniatia trilobitoides. 

Authorities do not think these animals are related 

to modern crustaceans. 

Albany Institute Transactions, 2, plate 2. 

Naturalist to the Exploring Expedition of 1830, 

and Corresponding Member of the Albany 

Institute.” 2 

Eights’s genus and species diagnoses follow 

here, without quotation marks. 

CRUSTACEA. / MALACOSTRACA. / 

BRONGNIARTIA. 

Animal broad-oval, much depressed, trilobate, 

lobes formed by a slightly impressed sulcus; 

divided from the head downwards into 

eight articulations, and a terminal cordiform 

Head approaching the segment of a circle, 

descending from the vertex to its anterior portion, 

and laterally to the edge of the margin, 

which is slightly serrate; anterior extremity terminated 

by a broad sinus, having a narrow, 

raised and reflected rim, furcate at each extremity: 

posterior edge gently elevated, sinuous, and 

corresponding to the articulation of the 

abdomen. Eyes elevated and prominent: cornea 

oblong, lunulate, reticulate, composed of an 

infinite number of facets, distinctly visible to 

the naked eye: colour blue, the superior surface 

covered by an irregular calcareous incrustation: 

from the posterior and external angle of the eye 

extends a suture forward and outward, dividing 

the front and anterior portion of the head 

from its lateral expansion; at the origin of the 

suture commences a transverse furrow, overshadowed 

by a narrow reflected rim, which 

gradually becomes obliterated at the outward 

margin, giving to the posterior portion of the 

head somewhat the appearance of a distinct 

segment: a second narrow rim commences near 

the termination of the suture, extending backwards 

until it almost bisects the transverse one 

near the margin. The Front between the eyes is 

raised to a line with them, assuming in appearance 

somewhat the figure of a corona in high 

relief; posterior to it is an elevated angle bearing 

a small tubercle of a dark colour, resembling 

an ocellus; between the anterior angles of the 

eyes is also a reflected sinuous rim, rising to the 

same height. Antennae four, inserted one above 


the other by a tri-articulated peduncle into the 

sinus of the anterior portion of the head, contiguous 

at the base, setaceous, a three-jointed 

clavola with a terminal pluri-articulated stem, 

the inferior projects forward and rises to an 

equal height, so that the four antennae appear 

as if situated on the same line: superiorly, the 

segments are longitudinally grooved, inferiorly 

crossed, the shortest by three, the second six, 

and the external one by five ciliate elevations; 

superior one two thirds, and inferior one half, 

the length of the animal. Labrum attached to the 

nasi anteriorly, triangulate, slightly punctate, 

with two central depressions. The body of the 

Mandibulae are somewhat trapezate, with an 

angular dental process, armed, the one on the 

left with two corneous teeth, placed one within 

the other, that on the right contains but one, 

they are convex externally and internally concave, 

with a small foramen at their base. A pediform 

three-jointed palpi is inserted into the base 

of the mandible, the first segment about equal 

in length to its body, lies in a deep groove on its 

anterior margin, the middle one corresponds in 

size, terminal one half its length, subovate, 

dilated and compressed, with a ciliate inferior 

edge. Maxillae, two pair, inserted at the side of 

the mentum; superior one simple, apex armed 

with six rigid spines, arranged in a triple series: 

inferior, compound, the upper lobe covering the 

lower externally, and is cleft almost to its first 

articulation, giving to the maxillae the appearance 

of being three-lobed: the apex of each is 

furnished with flexile spines. Tongue linguiform, 

with an acute apex, cartilaginous, short and 

retractile. The appendages corresponding to the 

first foot-jaws approximate closely to a true lip, 

each being furnished with a palpus, they rise 

up to the mandibles, meeting each other at a 

line in the centre, so as to close effectually the 

lower portion of the mouth; they are somewhat 

rhomboidal in form, and divided into four 

subequal portions by both a longitudinal and 

transverse articulation: the palpus is situated 

superiorly near its inner margin and is composed 

of a small peduncle supporting a sub-triangulate, 

dilated segment, the anterior edge of 

which is fringed with cilia, and a terminal subovate 

one containing a row of hairs on its 

extreme edge: when these two lips meet in the 

centre the parts are osseous and triangular; the 

apex is armed with a small rigid tooth. The first 

pair of feet corresponding to the second footjaws, 

are attached to the head a short distance 

from the lower lip, laterally; they are directed 

forward and laid on the mouth in such a manner 

as if constituting one of the organs of manducation, 

six-jointed: the second, third and 

fourth nearly equal, short and irregular, seeming 

to form a kind of wrist for supporting a 

rather large, subovoid, dilated hand, with a terminal 

incurved finger reflected on its inner ciliate 

edge. Abdomen with five transverse articulations, 

somewhat arcuated backwards, their posterior 

margin is slightly elevated so as to suffer 

the anterior edge of the following ones to pass 

under them; the three first segments have their 

lateral portions divided at the sulcus by a 

deeply impressed line, or suture, which may be 

disunited by macerating the parts in water, otherwise 

they are immovable; the remaining two 

are entire: the lateral parts are falcate and separated 

from each other by an incisure extending 

to the longitudinal sulcus, near which, both on 

their anterior and posterior edges, is situated a 

small tooth-like process; a narrow elevated rim 

runs along the anterior margin until it becomes 

obsolete near the external slightly serrated 

edge. The second pair of feet corresponding to 

the third foot-jaws, are attached to the first segment 

after the head, and also seem to assist in 

the process of manducation; they are more slender 

than any of the other feet, the first joint is 

longest, the penultimate one slightly dilated, 

forming a hand with an incurved moveable finger. 

The four remaining segments are each furnished 

with a pair of six articulated coriaceous 

feet, resembling each other both in size and 

appearance, being largest at the base, and gradually 

attenuated to the slightly curved terminal 

nail; the first segment is much compressed, the 

succeeding ones tubular and armed at the apex, 

both forward and behind, with a number of 

small moveable spines; on their anterior edge 

are one, two or more small processes armed in 

like manner. The sexual organs are double, and 

situated near the origin of the posterior pair of 

the last mentioned feet. The Post-Abdomen is 

Chapter 10 147

divided into three articulations, and a terminal 

cordiform appendage constituting a tail proper. 

The anterior segment has no lateral elongation, 

in place thereof its extremities are produced 

inferiorly, giving insertion to the posterior pair 

of true feet; these feet differ only from the preceding 

ones, in being rather smaller and having 

the terminal nail more curved. The two last segments 

are somewhat similar to those of the 

abdomen, though inferior in size. The three segments 

have on their under sides each a pair of 

pediform appendages, composed of a single 

compressed joint, to which are attached one 

about midway, the other terminal, two subovate 

vesicular bursae, fringed with branchial fibres: 

the inferior ones of the middle pair have inserted 

along their inner edge a flexile setaceous 

style, extending backwards about twice the 

length of the whole appendage. Tail cordiform: 

a raised and reflected rim terminating in an 

acute spine near the outward margin, gives the 

anterior part the appearance of a distinct segment; 

longitudinally through the centre is an 

elevated, sharp, muricate ridge, terminating the 

end of the tail with an attenuated spine; at its 

base are situated a pair of short and reflected 

teeth: the posterior margin is slightly elevated, 

having its edge armed with a row of sharp 

spines pointing backwards; on the outer edge 

are two narrow, rather thick, serrate and acuminate 

leaflets, inserted into a moveable peduncle; 

their motion is lateral, and when at rest the 

superior shuts over the inferior one like the 

sticks of a fan. At the origin of the tail inferiorly, 

on each side of the vent so as to conceal it, are 

inserted in pairs eight membranous laminae, 

meeting each other by a longitudinal line in the 

centre, when they form the perfect figure of a 

heart; they are entirely covered by the external 

pair, which is rather thicker, and is diagonally 

articulated. 

Males more numerous than females. 

Females carry their ova between scales under 

the thorax. Ova orbicular, nearly a line in diameter, 

of a fine orange colour. Colour of the animal, 

an olivaceous green. Length two and three 

quarter inches. Breadth two and one quarter. 

Hab. Seas, along the coast of Patagonia, Cape 

Horn, New South Shetlands. 

Cabinet of the Albany Institute. 3 

Professor Eaton, in his Geological Text- 

Book, has created a genus of Trilobites, to 

which he applies the name Brongniartia; comprising 

B. isotela, (Isotelus gigas. De Kay.) B. 

carcinodea, (Triarthus Beckii. Green.) and B. 

platicephala, (Asaphus platycephalus. Stokes.) 

Dr. Green in his Monograph of Trilobites, has 

justly thought proper to retain the genus of Dr. 

De Kay. His second species is the head of 

either an Asaphus or Paradoxide of 

Brongniart, and was previously described by 

Green, leaving the A. Platycephalus, which is 

well known to come under the genus Isotelus. 

The name of Brongniartia then, being unoccupied, 

I have employed it for this interesting 

animal, in honor of Professor Alexander 

Brongniart, not only for the eminence he has 

attained in science, but in consideration of his 

having been the first individual that ever 

attempted a systematic arrangement of the 

trilobites; and trilobitoides, from its resemblance 

both in form and appearance to these fossils. 

[See the paragraph below.] 

Explanations of the Plates will appear as 

captions to the illustrations and are not copied 

here. 

In the rest of Eights’s paper, he described 

the natural history of the South Shetland 

Islands; this material, with the exception of the 

initial paragraph, has already been analyzed. 

That paragraph, since it concerns his 

Brongniartia, is given here. 

“During one of those calms which most 

generally succeed to the celebrated ‘Pamparos’ 

along the coast of Patagonia, the seamen 

employed themselves in catching some of the 

fine bottom fish, that are so abundantly to be 

obtained after making soundings. They comprise 

chiefly the whole of Cuvier’s family of 

Gadites. On examining the contents of the 

stomach of several of an undescribed species of 

Phycis, I was struck by the resemblance of some 

Crustacea that I obtained, to the Paradoxus 

boltoni, figured and described in the fourth volume 

of the Journal of the Academy of Natural 

Science of Philadelphia. On referring to that 


work, which I fortunately had on board, I was 

convinced that this animal came nearer to the 

long lost family of Trilobites than any thing 

hitherto discovered. They were scarcely more 

than an inch in length, and most of them partially 

decomposed. That part which particularly 

attracted my attention, was the lunate markings 

on the head of Dr. Bigsby’s figure, corresponding 

in a wonderful manner, both in form and 

situation, to the eyes of this animal, although 

the fossil is represented as being deficient in 

these organs. In fact, I think it doubtful if any of 

the trilobites were destitute of eyes, the circumstance 

of their never having been found in some 

of the few fragments that we possess any 

knowledge of, is certainly no evidence that they 

did not exist. In some of the Crustacea that I 

collected in the southern ocean the eyes are 

extremely small and situated on the external 

margin of the head, very near to its edge: had 

but a small portion of this part of the shell been 

mutilated, we should have been put to no small 

difficulty in assigning to them organs of 

vision.” 4 

It is appropriate to introduce here a short 

note that James Eights published in 1852. The 

Institute, having fallen on bad times many 

years before, resumed publication of its 

Transactions and gave him a chance to admit an 

error in naming his new species. It was not in 

regard to the inadmissibility of “Brongniartia” 

but the fact that his species belonged to the previously 

named genus Serolis. By this time, the 

correct generic allocation of his species had 

already been noticed by others. Eights wrote as 

follows: “In the second number of this volume, 

I have described a Crustacean, under the new 

genus Brongniartia. A few years later the figure 

of a Serolis (Leach,) was given in Dr. Buckland’s 

volume of the Bridgewater Treatise; though 

much smaller in size, every one must be struck 

with the close resemblance of the two. At the 

time my article on this animal was published, 

there was nothing but a description of the 

genus Serolis that I could have access to, and in 

all the works containing it, it was [incorrectly, 

he means] described as being destitute of Palpi 

to the mandibles. In the Brongniartia, these 

[those] organs are strikingly palpigerous, a distinguishing 

character, which must remove it, 

not only from the genus Serolis, but also from 

the order to which that animal belongs. James 

Eights.” 5 

Eights’s article on Brongniartia brought him 

a goodly measure of fame, if we include the 

natural history part as well as the description of 

the new species, both in the popular and the 

scientific press, although the latter got afloat 

rather clumsily and skimpily. Its possible trilobite 

relationships were rather overblown by 

uncritical fellow scientists who made more of 

them than he did. 

The paper gained immediate notoriety from 

a doubly unfortunate notice, presumably by 

Benjamin Silliman, editor of the American 

Journal of Science. He announced its publication, 

obviously more from memory than evidence: 

“Modern trilobites of New South Shetland.” He 

had meant, he wrote, to provide a lengthier 

notice of the paper “but the work having been 

mislaid, we have not been able, after much 

search, to find a copy of it and of course could 

not fulfil our design.” Thus Eights’s “living 

trilobite” was overemphasized while he missed 

a prime early chance to have the entire work 

properly brought to the attention of scientists in 

the premier American scientific publication of 

that era. 6 

There was a limited acknowledgment from 

abroad in 1835. A French zoological periodical 

carried a translation of Eights’s description of 

the new species, “Sur le Brongniartia trilobitoides, 

nouveau crustacé de l’Amérique 

meridionale.” The illustrations were not copied 

and the general natural history part was 

ignored. The natural history section of the 

paper fared much better, being reproduced several 

times between 1834 and 1856. 7 

BRONGNIARTIA AS A LIVING 

TRILOBITE 

This matter was, surprisingly enough, not 

laid to rest until near the end of James Eights’s 

life. That was partly due to the tenacity with 

which defenders of belief in a generic relationship 

between certain Crustacea and the longextinct 

trilobites clung to their convictions. 

Chapter 10 149

Right or wrong, the view was a popular one 

with respected zoologists, even as others were 

already preaching a new dispensation. 

The first to notice so great an oddity as a 

living trilobite in possession of James Eights 

was Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. His 

Johnny-at-the-rat-hole awareness of all the latest 

news need surprise no one. From 

Philadelphia, he wrote to John Torrey in New 

York City on 6 March 1831 of his anxiety to hear 

more of Dr. Eights’s “living trilobite.” 8 

The notion of a living trilobite was quickly 

taken up; both paleontologists and general 

geologists were ready to admit the discovery. 

Jacob Green, early American authority on trilobites, 

wrote to Albany Institute curator T.R. 

Beck, who had a long-continued interest in 

these fossil forms, in June 1832: “Could you not 

through our friend M.H. Webster Esq r get from 

Eights, his recent trilobite for my monograph[?] 

I had hoped before this that he would have 

sent me a drawing — Our naturalists doubt the 

fact of the identity of his animal with any of 

the fossil genera — I would give a good plate 

of it — name it — discet [!] it, & all that kind of 

thing — Your Institute will loose [!] it by design 

[?] or accident if it is not soon attended to — I 

am not very anxious to describe it myself but I 

want it to give a finish to all theories on this 

subject — If the bottle containing one were sent 

me — thats all — [.]” 9 (By “recent,” Green 

meant “living.”) 

That Green was not averse to the idea of 

survival of living trilobites (perhaps even to 

their kinship with modern Crustacea) is evident 

from a statement in his Monograph of 1832. 

Pointing out “the strong analogy which exists 

between them and certain species of crustaceous 

animals now living, it is highly probable 

that they will yet be found alive.” Only a small 

portion of the earth had yet been explored; 

“many animals as confidently declared to be 

peculiar to a former world, are now found to be 

among the creatures at present in existence.” 

Thus, he was not ready to conclude “that all the 

trilobites are confined to an order of things 

before the present glorious creation.” Clearly, 

Green wrote his book as he gathered information, 

for he ended it with an essay on the 

“Nature of the Trilobite,” in which he outlined 

various views of the controversy among naturalists 

“respecting the precise link in the grand 

chain of organized beings, these singular fossil 

animals, should occupy.” He goes on: “It was 

our original intention to have closed this 

Monograph with a short history of these theories 

— and of the notion advanced by Latreille 

and others, that the Trilobites have been annihilated 

by some ancient revolution of our planet. 

All these matters, we think, are now put to rest 

by the late discovery of some living Trilobites in 

the southern seas, near the Falkland Islands. In 

the cabinet of the Albany Institute, we have 

examined some of these recent animals, which 

have very nearly the size and general appearance 

of the Parodoxides Boltoni, as represented 

on our frontispiece; the species cannot, however, 

belong to that genus, as the buckler is furnished 

with eyes very similar to those of the 

Calymene Bufo; its organs of locomotion are 

short, numerous, and concealed under the shell 

— but I do not feel at liberty to notice the interesting 

animal more minutely. It will probably be 

described and figured shortly, in a perfectly full 

and satisfactory manner, by Dr. James Eights, 

the enterprising discoverer, together with several 

other new and remarkable genera and 

species belonging to the Entomostraca.” 10 

Local support for the notion of a living trilobite 

was not lacking. In a note written from the 

Rensselaer School, 6 March 1832, Amos Eaton 

informed the editor of the American Journal of 

Science of recent advances in the study of trilobites: 

“I have now before me a specimen of 

what appears to be a living trilobite, collected 

on the beach at Cape Horn [!], by Dr. James 

Eights, of Albany. It certainly appears to be of 

the same genus [as Eaton’s Brongniartia, shown 

by Eights to be inapplicable] and very closely 

resembling in most specific differences, the fossil 

specimens from the Mohawk. Dr. E. has, 

what I believe to be another species of trilobite, 

which he found at New Zealand [did he mean 

New South Shetland?]. Both of these he will 

soon publish with figures....” 11 

In the second edition of his Geological Textbook, 

for Aiding the Study of North American 

Geology, Amos Eaton introduced a footnote to 


his account of the trilobites: “Brongniart, in his 

excellent ‘Natural History of Crustaceous 

Fossils,’ refers to crustaceous articulata. Latreille 

refers them to the Chiton family of the multivalve 

mollusci. I was inclined to Latreille’s opinion, 

until Dr. James Eights, of Albany, brought 

home a collection of crustaceous animals, made 

by himelf in the Southern Ocean. Assuming 

Brongniart’s definition of a trilobite, Dr. E. has 

certainly two species (and I am inclined to 

believe he has three) trilobites, which are now 

living in those seas.” He twice more inserted 

footnotes in regard to the same matter. 12 

Thus did Jacob Green and Amos Eaton 

carry the name of Eights into a long-lived controversy 

among zoologists on the similarities of 

trilobites to isopod crustaceans. In regard to the 

very first such crustacean that is now put in the 

genus Serolis, Johan Christian Fabricius 

(1745–1808), in 1781, had wondered about its 

affinities with trilobites. W.E. Leach and 

Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest (1784–1838) had 

been cool to the notion of trilobite–crustacean 

relationships. Jean Victor Audouin and Henri 

Milne Edwards (who promptly realized Eights’s 

“Brongniartia” to be a Serolis [1841]), strongly 

favored the notion of close relationships 

between trilobites and isopods. C.D. Walcott 

(1881) summarized arguments against the idea, 

but his views were still contested by Milne 

Edwards (1881). This was not merely good 

zoologists versus poor zoologists: It was a wonderfully 

complex matter, involving — if not 

relationships — some of the most beautiful 

known examples of evolutionary parallelism. 13 

There remains a strange episode to be disposed 

of, before the final history of Serolis trilobitoides 

(Eights, 1833) can be laid to rest. I refer 

to what may be called The Agassiz Affair. 

With the fanfare that the public came to 

associate with Louis Agassiz, the editorial page 

of the New York Tribune, 28 March 1872, noted 

that “another letter from our correspondent 

with the Hassler Expedition...gives some curious 

and interesting information relative to the 

recent discoveries of Prof. Agassiz. His deep-sea 

soundings have brought to the surface a new 

crustacean which seems to stand outside of all 

previous classifications. This creature, supposed 

to be related to the trilobites of the carboniferous 

era...also helps to fulfill some of the predictions 

which the great naturalist made before 

sailing.” Such adulation was bread and butter 

to Agassiz. Agassiz’s letter, under the heading 

“The Hassler Expedition / Letter from Prof. 

Agassiz / Another fullfilment of his prophecy 

— Discovery of a new crustacean,” fairly 

glowed with self-congratulation. In releasing to 

the press this ostensibly private letter to Prof. 

Peirce of Harvard College, Agassiz had multiple 

motivations: one being thus publicly to notify 

Peirce of an honor to be bestowed upon him. 

Dated 12 February, Agassiz described successful 

dredges at night in 45 fathoms of water. “In my 

first letter...concerning deep-sea dredgings, you 

may have noticed the paragraph concerning 

crustacea, in which it is stated that among these 

animals we may expect ‘genera reminding us of 

some Amphipods and Isopods aping still more 

closely the Trilobites than serolis.’ A specimen 

answering fully to this statement has actually 

been dredged....It is a most curious animal. At 

first sight it looks like an ordinary Isopod, with 

a broad, short, flat body. Tested by the character 

assigned to the leading groups of crustacea, 

whether we follow Milne Edwards, or Dana’s 

classification, it can, however, be referred to no 

one of their orders or families. As I have not the 

works of these authors before me, I shall have 

to verify more carefully these statements hereafter, 

but I believe I can trust my first inspection.” 

It was very like Serolis but, he thought, 

different in important ways. Despite his not 

having relevant literature at hand — however 

strange that would seem — he went on at 

length and in great detail to mark out his territory, 

yet careful to leave escape hatches, trusting, 

if all else failed, to blame any unfavorable 

outcome on his poor memory and lack of reference 

books. Was the creature a crustacean? Was 

it a living trilobite? All issues were hedged. 

There is the usual double talk about “synthetic 

types” as opposed to “natural groups” “which, 

without being strictly synthetic themselves, 

have nevertheless characters capable of throwing 

light upon the whole subject.” It is, finally 

(perhaps!) merely a remarkable new crustacean, 

which he diagnoses (without literature!), as 

Chapter 10 151

Tomocaris Peircei, in honor of the recipient of the 

letter. 14 

Agassiz was not long, both in matters of 

self-fulfilling (and self-aggrandizing) prophecy 

and of zoological identification, in finding himself 

challenged. In the American Journal of 

Science, S.I. Smith recapped Agassiz’s diagnosis 

and went on: “From the details of Professor 

Agassiz’s description, the animal is evidently 

one of the Serolidae, apparently congeneric, 

perhaps specifically identical, with the 

Brongniartia trilobitoides of Eights.” Smith dismantled 

Agassiz’s case item by item and all 

claims of any consequence were dismissed. 15 

At the Albany Institute, 7 May 1872, there 

was a complaint registered against Agassiz, as 

well as some soul-searching among his friends. 

R.P. Whitfield rose to protest with faint praise: 

He “read several extracts from the Tribune article 

to show the form and nature of the newly 

discovered crustaceans, and then stated that it 

might be questioned whether this was the first 

discovery of crustaceans possessing these peculiar 

trilobitic characters. He thought they had 

been long known to science, and stated that it 

was undoubtedly to a member of the Albany 

Institute that the credit of their first discovery 

belonged. He stated that if we refer to the second 

volume of the Institute Transactions, page 

53, we shall find the description of a species 

possessing most if not all the peculiar characters 

of Professor Agassiz’s species, in a paper 

communicated to the Institute on the 10th of 

July, 1836, by James Eights of Albany.” 

Whitfield went on to describe Eights’s discovery 

and its endorsement by Jacob Green, 

Amos Eaton. and others. He exhibited an 

enlarged view of Brongniartia and Serolis, compared 

these with Agassiz’s description, and 

concluded that there was “very close resemblance, 

if not positive identity of structure of 

the two.” His view was confirmed by the article 

of S.I. Smith, which had come to hand after his 

own remonstrance was prepared. 

James Hall, then vice president of the 

Institute, had no doubt in the matter and wondered 

“that Professor Agassiz, who was formerly 

familiar with Dr. Eights’s discovery, should 

have so far forgotten it as to have recently predicted 

that such an animal might be found in 

the Southern seas.” He was not prepared to 

charge Agassiz “with knowingly ignoring the 

former discovery”; perhaps “such knowledge 

once possessed may have escaped recollection, 

and that the omission to recognize it was purely 

accidental.” James Eights, still living but too ill 

to attend the meeting, agreed that Agassiz’s 

species was the same as his own. 16 

BRONGNIARTIA AND SEROLIS, A 

TAXONOMIC HISTORY 

Eights’s difficulties with his attempted recycling 

of the name Brongniartia, as well as his 

early unawareness of the true nature of the 

Isopod genus Serolis, soon became apparent. 

This was made clear in the way that good taxonomists 

deal with such matters: by reallocation 

of the taxon, if viable, to its appropriate 

superior category. He was dealt with in an 

authoritative manner, in a way that made his 

work zoologically respectable and that also sustained 

his good judgment in recognizing a new 

species. In 1841, Jean Victor Audouin and Henri 

Milne Edwards recognized that Eights had 

named a new species of Serolis. It was likewise 

illustrated on a beautiful plate. 17 

In a contribution on the lower animals of 

Kerguelen Island, Théophil Studer treated the 

genus Serolis and, using information on Eights’s 

S. trilobitoides supplied by Audouin and Milne 

Edwards, concluded that it was the same as his 

new species Serolis cornuta. His references to the 

zoogeography of Kerguelen reflect the same 

decision. 18 

Frank E. Beddard’s account of the species of 

Serolis collected on the voyage of HMS 

Challenger treated trilobite affinities of the 

Isopoda circumspectly. He accepted the decision 

of Audouin and Milne Edwards that 

Eights’s crustacean belonged to the genus 

Serolis and noted Eights’s rather skimpy argument 

that the species was a living trilobite. 

Beddard did not think highly of the species, 

supposing it to be “identical with Studer’s 

Serolis cornuta, or at most a local variety.” He 

supplied large, beautifully detailed illustrations 

of Serolis cornuta. 19 


Figure 10.3. Exosphaeroma gigas, a living crustacean that 

James Eights figured in a report on fossil trilobites, and 

called Sphaeroma bumastiformis. His interest was in its 

ability to roll itself into a protective ball, as it appears many 

trilobites could do. Adapted from T.R.R. Stebbing, 

Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1900, 

Plate 39. 

In his “Crustacea of South Georgia,” Georg 

Pfeffer accepted Serolis trilobitoides Eights without 

comment, but did so only from Beddard. 20 

In the present century, it appears that Serolis 

trilobitoides has gained general acceptance, as 

indicated by E.M. Sheppard’s study of the 

Family Serolidae. 21 

THE STRANGE CASE OF EIGHTS’S 

SPHAEROMA BUMASTIFORMIS 

The second of James Eights’s Antarctic 

Crustacea has an odd history. It was tucked into 

an account of the trilobites of New York by his 

friend Ebenezer Emmons Sr. There, its history 

consists of three views in a woodcut illustration 

and a lengthy footnote (“furnished by Dr. James 

Eights”) to a list of “Fossils [!] represented in 

the woodcuts,” under the name Sphaeroma 

bumastiformis. The footnote follows. 

“Sphaeroma. Latreille [sic]. Antennae four, 

very distinct, setaceous, terminated by a multiarticulate 

filament; the lower pair longer than 

the upper, and inserted beneath its basal joint. 

The anterior portion of the head, situated 

beneath the antennae, is rudely triangular. The 

mouth, as usual to the Isopoda. The tail is composed 

of but two complete and mobile segments; 

the first of which, however, exhibits 

impressed and transverse lines, indicating vestiges 

of the usual number of segments. The subcaudal 

branchiae are soft, naked, and disposed 

longitudinally in pairs; these appendages are 

curved inwards, and the inner side of the anterior 

pair is accompanied in the males with a 

small linear and elongated piece. The posterior 

extremity of the animal, on each side, is furnished 

with a swimmeret, terminated by two 

plates, the inferior one alone moveable; the 

upper is formed by an external elongation of 

the common support. 

“S. bumastiformis. Eights. Animal subovate, 

oblong, very smooth, not serrated. Color olivaceous 

green; under side, legs, and segmentary 

margins, pale ochraceous. Head a transverse 

square, inserted in a notch of the first abdominal 

segment. Eyes lateral, reniform, closely 

approximating to the anterior portion of the 

first segment. Superior antennae slightly longer 

than the head, three-jointed; the basal joint subangular, 

much enlarged, and solid; terminating 

filament composed of numerous small and 

short articulations. Inferior antennae nearly 

double the length of the upper, four-jointed, 

and ending with numerous short and smaller 

joints. Abdomen articulated into seven subequal 

segments, each containing beneath a pair 

of perfect legs. Legs rather stout, each terminated 

by a strong slightly incurved nail. The segmentary 

impressed lines on the basal segment 

of the tail do not extend to its lateral edges; the 

terminating segment is triangular, and entire. 

The swimming fins are much depressed; the 

superior one extends nearly the length of the 

segment; the lower one is about two-thirds its 

length, and closes in under the superior one 

similar to the sticks of a fan. The subcaudal 

branchial laminae are bifid; one portion articulating 

on the other, not unlike the palpi on the 

jaw appendages. These laminae are eight in 

number. 

“In consequence of the near resemblance of 

this animal to the fossil genus Bumastus, it has 

Chapter 10 153

eceived its specific appellation. When in a state 

of contraction, it assumes the form of a ball. 

“Found in considerable abundance in pools 

left by the receding tides, along the shores of 

Cape Horn and its adjacent islands.” 

The purpose of showing the species, called 

here a “recent [that is, living] trilobite,” 

Emmons noted, was to show why so little was 

known about legs, and so on; in species of trilobites 

that shared the habit of folding themselves 

into a ball when disturbed. 22 

General agreement is that Eights struck out 

with Sphaeroma bumastiformis. He claimed only 

new species status for it, of course. He was 

incorrect to credit the genus Sphaeroma to 

Latreille — its author was W.E. Leach. Indeed, 

Calman pronounces it Leach’s species gigas of 

1818. It was beautifully illustrated by Thomas 

R.R. Stebbing, who created the new generic 

combination Exosphaeroma based upon Leach’s 

species. 23 

A SOLID HIT: GLYPTONOTUS 

ANTARCTICA 

With the third and last of James Eights’s 

crustaceans, we view a man a generation 

removed from the Antarctic adventure when it 

was collected. Overall, it was well received, 

both by his contemporaries and by later workers. 

As we shall see, it was a busy time for him, 

if one rather shrouded in mystery. Why 

Glyptonotus waited so long to appear and other 

species of animals were never accounted for, we 

shall never know. 

The paper, apparently presented in person, 

was entitled “Description of a new animal 

belonging to the Crustacea, discovered in the 

Antarctic Seas, by the author, James Eights. / 

[Cabinet of the Albany Institute.].” It is copied 

below. 

Genus Glyptonotus. (Eights.) 

Figure 10.4. Dorsal view of Glyptonotus antarctica. In 

Albany Institute Transactions, volume 2. From drawing by 

James Eights, the original of which is in the Albany 

Institute of History and Art. 

Animal composed of a head, thorax, and 

post-abdomen or tail, constituting in all thirteen 

distinct segments. 

Head deeply inserted into the cephalic segment 

of the thorax. Eyes sessile, and finely granulate. 

Antennae two pairs, placed one above the 

other, with an elongate multiarticulated filament. 

Mouth as in the ordinary Isopods; 

mandibles not palpigerous; the two superior 

foot-jaws expanded into a well defined lower 

lip, bearing palpi. 

Thorax separated into seven distinct segments, 

the three posterior ones biarticulate near 

their lateral extremities; each segment giving 

origin to a pair of perfect legs, terminating with 

a strong and slightly curved nail. 

Post-abdomen, or tail, divided into five segments, 

provided with neither styles nor swimmerets; 

the under surfaces each supporting a 

pair of branchial leaflets, longitudinally 

arranged, and covered by two biarticulated 

plates attached to the outward edges of the last 

segment, closing over them much in the manner 

of an ordinary bivalve shell. 

Species G. antarctica. (Eights.) 

Antarctic Sculpture-back. 


Figure 10.5. Glyptonotus antarctica, ventral view. Albany 

Institute Transactions, volume 2, 1852. From James 

Eights drawing of which is in the Albany Institute of History 

and Art. 

Animal perfectly symmetrical, ovate, elongate, 

and depressed. Teguments solid and calcareous. 

Color, brown sepia. Length, from the 

insertion of the antennae, three and a half inches; 

width, one and three quarters. 

Head transversely elliptical, terminating at 

its lateral and anterior corners acutely, and 

incurved; anterior margin obtusely elevated, 

and arched each way to its centre. Superior surface 

of the head ornamented with an imperfectly 

sculptured “fleur-de-lis;” posterior portion 

obtusely elevated, producing a marginal rim. 

Eyes small, reniform, indigo blue, and placed 

near the lateral and anterior portion of the 

head, so deeply impressed in the margin of the 

shell as to be easily distinguished from beneath. 

Inferior pair of antennae longer than the superior, 

corresponding in length to the width of the 

head, transversely, from spine to spine; articulations 

four in number; last segment longest, the 

remaining three gradually diminishing in 

length as they proceed to the place of insertion; 

segments triangulate, with angular projections 

on their surfaces; edges of the angles, and articulating 

extremities rigidly spined. Terminating 

filament about the length of the basal articulations, 

gradually attenuated until it diminishes 

to a finely pointed apex. Superior antennae half 

the length of the inferior, three-jointed, and terminating 

with an attenuated filament whose 

articulations are indistinct; segments angular, 

external one much the longest; extremities and 

angles likewise spined. Mouth with the labrum 

or upper lip hard and massive, resembling in 

form a reversed heart. The mandibles are without 

palpi, stout and osseous, tipped with a hard 

and black enamel. The maxillae are furnished 

with the usual palpi. The lower lip, or superior 

foot-jaws when united, sub-cordate; its palpi 

five-jointed, snugly embracing the manducatory 

organs along their base, like a row of ciliated 

leaflets. 

The thorax is composed of seven distinct 

segments, each one being beautifully ornamented 

on its superior surface by an elongated and 

sub-conic insculptation, forming a series, whose 

pointed apices almost unite along the longitudinal 

dorsal ridge. These segments are finely bordered 

along their posterior articulating edges 

by an elevated and continuous marginal rim, 

extending to the lateral extremities of the shell. 

The cephalic depression is likewise margined 

by an obtusely elevated border. Each segment 

of the thorax gives origin, beneath, to a pair of 

ponderous angulated legs, composed of the 

ordinary parts. The three anterior pairs project 

themselves forward, and are closely compressed 

upon the inferior surfaces of the three 

foremost segments; they are monodactyle, with 

the nails incurved upon the anterior edges of 

the rather largely inflated penultimate joint. 

Each joint is furnished at its articulating extremity 

with rigid spines; the inner edges of the 

penultimate joint, together with those of the 

three adjoining, are provided with a double row 

Chapter 10 155

of tufted cilia, disposed diagonally, and much 

resembling in appearance the arrangement of 

hairs in an ordinary brush. The four posterior 

pairs of legs are directed backwards, strongly 

triangulate, stout and ponderous, terminating 

by a slightly curved nail; their length is nearly 

equal, but they gradually increase in thickness 

as they recede toward the tail. The basal joints 

are large and inflated; the remainder regularly 

angulate. The extremities of the articulating 

joints, and edges of the two inferior angles, are 

each provided with a series of tufted and rigid 

spines. 

The post-abdomen is composed of five segments. 

The four anterior ones are much smaller 

than those which constitute the thorax, but 

greatly resemble them in form, being ornamented 

on their superior surfaces with similar 

insculptations, though but slightly defined. 

Each of these segments is provided beneath 

with a pair of articulated pedicels, which furnish 

a support to the bifoliated bronchial 

leaflets. These leaflets are arranged longitudinally 

one upon the other, and are entirely concealed 

by the biarticulated plates of the caudal 

segment; they are subovate and elongate; the 

outward ones smaller than those which they 

cover, and are nearly surrounded by a fringed 

cilia, most conspicuously developed along their 

inner margins. The second pair are each supplied 

with an elongated style, extending almost 

to the termination of the caudal segment. The 

terminating segment is large and triangular, 

giving attachment to the biarticulated plates at 

a single point on its outer margins near the 

base, which enables the animal to close them 

together in a line along its centre beneath. These 

plates are about the length of the segment, and 

of a triangulate form, each one having near its 

termination a small oval articulation. The segment 

and marginal plates are slightly inflated 

along their external edges, producing an 

obtusely elevated border. 

The segments constituting the thorax and 

post-abdomen are supplied by a central, angular, 

and elongated knob, which, when united, 

form a prominent dorsal ridge, gradually 

diminishing in its backward course, and forming 

a sharp elevated line along the caudal segment, 

terminating at its extremity in a short and 

obtusely pointed spine. 

This beautiful crustacean furnishes to us 

another close approximation to the long lost 

family of the Trilobite. I procured them from the 

southern shores of the New South Shetland 

Islands. They inhabit the bottom of the sea, and 

are only to be obtained when thrown far upon 

the shores by the immense surges that prevail 

when the detached glaciers from the land precipitate 

themselves into the ocean.” 

Two plates of Eights’s excellent drawings 

accompany the report, showing dorsal and ventral 

views, natural size, of the animal, with 

magnified views of an inferior and superior 

antenna. 24 

Glyptonotus received two notices in the 

American Journal of Science, the first a short note 

in 1853, that was itself reprinted later in the 

year in London in Annals and Magazine of 

Natural History; the second in 1856 was a full 

reprinting. 

The short notice announced “A new genus 

and species of Crustacea; by James Eights” that 

was “remarkable for its gigantic size” and for 

some other peculiarities. The name was given, 

the source was given without indication of volume 

or pagination, and it was said to be 

“accompanied by two handsome plates.” 25 

Without any intimation that the two had 

ever met or even that Eights might still be alive, 

the editor of the American Journal of Science, 

James Dwight Dana, republished in 1856 both 

plates and description of Glyptonotus, supplementing 

the latter with an unhurried reprinting 

of nearly all the natural history notes from 

Eights’s paper on Brongniartia of 1833 — which, 

it will be recalled, was in a copy of the Albany 

Institute Transactions that the contemporary editor 

had misplaced. Dana, not entirely willing to 

relinguish his position as undoubted lion of 

systematic invertebrate zoologists, provided a 

lengthy foreword of evaluation, partly systematic, 

partly zoogeographic, of isopod crustaceans, 

of which Eights’s new species was a 

giant representative. Dana was reluctant to 

accept it as a new genus but thought “it will 

probably be sustained on the ground of the 

form of the head, the character of the abdomen, 


and perhaps the distinctive peculiarities of the 6 

anterior legs.” 26 

Glyptonotus antarctica waited until 1887 

before it was noticed again. Georg Pfeffer used 

the generic name in describing the Crustacea of 

South Georgia discovered by the German 

Exploring Expedition of 1882–1883. 27 

NOTES 

1. Alexandre Brongniart (1770–1847), whose Histoire 

Naturelle des Crustacés Fossiles...Les Trilobites (Paris, 1822) 

Eights knew well, was a noted French geologist, mineralogist 

and chemist. W.T. Calman, “James Eights, a pioneer 

Antarctic naturalist,” p. 176, refers to Eights’s “rough and 

ready treatment of the principles of nomenclature” but 

notes sympathetically that his diagnosis of it as a new 

species has been confirmed. 

2. It was communicated 10 Jul 1833, at a special meeting 

of the Institute, according to the Minutes, where “a 

description of a new curstacious [!] animal . . .” was read 

by Mr. M.H. Webster. Does this mean that Eights was not 

present? Since he was listed as Corresponding Member, 

perhaps he had to have a sponsor. For Matthew Henry 

Webster (1803/1804-1846), see J. Henry, Papers, 1: 62, note 

3. A manuscript copy, still in archives of the Institute, was 

deposited; in March 1836, according to the Catalogue of 

Properties, Eights gave his original drawings of the creature 

to the Institute, where they still reside. 

3. No such specimen was among Crustacea transferred 

from Albany Institute to the State Museum; see 

report of 1892 (N.Y. State Museum, 1893, p. 22). AI 

Transactions, vol. 2, no. 1, which included the Brongniartia 

paper, was published 1 Oct 1833. Nothing else was published 

in that volume until 1852. 

4. For Bigsby’s splendid plate (drawn [and probably 

engraved] by Charles-Alexandre Lesueur [1778-1846] — 

and much superior to the reproduction in Eights’s Plate 2, 

Fig. 8), see Pl. XXIII, accompanying “Description of a new 

species of trilobite,” by John Jeremiah Bigsby (1792-1881), 

Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of 

Philadelphia, first series, 4(2), 1825. Eights guessed astutely 

in assuming that most trilobites had eyes. 

5. The original manuscript is in McKinney Library, 

AIHA (DH 566 / L/1/4). Albany Institute, Transactions, 2: 

354 (I have put in square brackets one word in the manuscript 

that was printed differently). The Rev. William 

Buckland’s popular Bridgewater Treatise, Geology and 

Mineralogy Considered with Reference to Natural Theology, 

treated similarities of certain isopod Crustacea to trilobites; 

see volume II, Plate 4, Figs. 6, 7; plate caption is pp. 

71-72. William Elford Leach (1790-1836), in Dictionnaire des 

Sciences Naturelles, article on the “Cymothoadae,” 12: 340, 

made an older species, Cymothoa paradoxa, into Serolis 

fabricii, the type species of a new genus. I thank Ellen 

Fallon, N.Y. Botanical Garden Library for providing a photocopy 

of this elusive work. See J.W. Hedgpeth, “James 

Eights of the Antarctic,” p. 43. 

6. Anon., 1835 (editorial notice), p. 395. While it is 

hardly likely that Silliman’s copy of the Albany Institute 

Transactions remained forever lost, it was not until 1856 

that that influential periodical rectified the lapse by 

reprinting most of the natural history notes of the 

Brongniartia article at the end of Eights’s paper on 

Glyptonotus. Scientific fame in his own land came hard to 

James Eights. 

7. James Eights, “Sur le Brongniartia,” Bulletin 

Scientifique. Zoologie, L’Institute (etc.), 3, no. 105, pp. 158- 

160. The title of Eights’s paper is cited on p. 147. The natural 

history part of Eights’s paper fared better than the taxonomic 

part and ought to have made his name recognizable 

to interested readers of the period. It appeared in late 

April (or very early May) in the Merchantile Advertiser and 

New-York Advocate (not available to me), from which it was 

reprinted as “The South Exploring Expedition,” in Niles’ 

Weekly Register, 3 May; P.L.A. Cordier, “Expeditions scientifiques: 

Voyage au Pôle Austral. Géologie,” 1837, cited it 

briefly; Edmund Fanning used it as a chapter in the second 

edition of his Voyages, as “A description of the New 

South Shetland Isles, by James Eights, Esq., M.D., naturalist 

in the scientific corps in the American exploring expedition,” 

pp. 195-216, 1838; and, finally, most of it was used 

as an appendix to a reprinting of JE’s later crustacean, 

Glyptonotus, 1856. 

8. CSR to Torrey, 6 Mar 1831; letter in Medical Center 

Library, Duke University. 

9. Jacob Green to T. Romeyn Beck, June 1832; T.R. 

Beck Papers, the New York Public Library; the envelope 

seems to bear the postmark date of 19 June. See next paragraph 

and Note 10. 

10. J. Green, A Monograph of the Trilobites of North 

America, 1832, pp. 14-15, 92-93. He had consulted the cabinet 

of James Eights in his study of trilobites (p. 26); there is 

a further reference to Eights in Green’s unfinished A 

Supplement to the Monograph of the Trilobites of North 

America, 1835, p. vii. He and T.R. Beck were particularly 

close friends (Monograph, pp. 87-88). Jacob Green (1790- 

1841) was very active in the SPUA (that ultimately formed 

part of the Albany Institute) from about 1812 to 1816. He is 

variously noticed in biobibliographies of American naturalists; 

a good account of his Albany years is to be found 

in the Joseph Henry Papers, 1: 322-323, note 1. 

11. Amos Eaton, “Trilobites,” 1832, p. 166. 

12. Eaton, Geological Text-Book, 2nd ed., pp. 30, 32, 33. 

13. Frank Evers Beddard, “The Genus Serolis,” p. 2, 

sufficiently accounts for the trilobite-isopod viewpoints of 

Audouin, Milne Edwards (or Milne-Edwards) and 

Walcott. See C.D. Walcott, “The trilobite.” 

14. Louis Agassiz, “The Hassler expedition”; the editorial 

notice is on p. 4, the letter, a prominent, full column, 

is on p. 5. Louis Agassiz (1807-1873) was professor of zoology 

at Harvard from 1848 until his death. “Prof. Peirce” 

was Benjamin Peirce (1809-1880), Harvard professor and 

greatest American mathematician of his day; a devoted 

friend of Agassiz. 

15. Sidney Irving Smith, “The Hassler Expedition”; for 

Smith (1843-1926), associated with Yale University’s 

Peabody Museum, in charge of Crustacea 1867-1906 (when 

forced to retire because of blindness), see A.E. Verrill, 

“Sidney Irving Smith.” 

16. Robert Parr Whitfield (1822-1910), Albany Institute 

Proceedings, 1: 322, meeting of 7 May 1872 (manuscript 

account of meeting does not differ); he was an assistant in 

paleontology at the New York State Geological Survey, 

Chapter 10 157

1871-1875. For Whitfield, see Roger L. Batten, “Robert Parr 

Whitfield: Hall’s assistant who stayed too long”; it is probable 

that by this time he and Hall were not on very good 

terms. What was not said was that this was the quintessential 

Agassiz: the master of absorbing (and making his 

own) the work of others, capable even of accusing those 

workers of plagiarism of his work, if they asserted ownership. 

Said the evolutionist Ernst Haeckel in 1875: “Louis 

Agassiz principally owed his exceptional and wholly predominant 

situation among American naturalists, not to the 

scientific value of his own work, but to the marvelous talent 

he had for appropriating to himself the work of others.” 

Haeckel did not mean to be misunderstood; he 

summed up his characterization: “Louis Agassiz was the 

most ingenious and most active swindler who ever 

worked in the field of natural history” (quoted in Mary P. 

Winsor’s translation, Reading the Shape of Nature, 

Comparative Zoology at the Agassiz Museum, p. 54). 

17. Jean Victor Audouin and Henri Milne Edwards, 

“Description des crustacés nouveaux ou peu connus”; 

“Sur le genre Sérole,” pp. 8-9; a long, detailed description 

of the genus follows, with full reference to Eights’s work, 

pp. 14-22; Eights’s Serolis trilobitoides is described pp. 29- 

30; Plate II, Fig. 11, shows an example of Eights’s animal, 

natural size, copied from the 1833 plate; the caption for 

Plate II is on pp. 33-34. There is a good discussion of the 

history of the genus, with comments on similarity to trilobites. 

18. T. Studer (1845-1922), “Beiträge zur Kenntniss 

niederer Thiere von Kerguelensland,” p. 21, good illustrations, 

Plate III; “Die Fauna von Kerguelensland,” pp. 136, 

138; in no case did he ever spell Eights’s name correctly. 

19. F.E. Beddard, “The genus Serolis, pp. 2-3, 5, 7, 50, 

Plate I, with caption. 

20. Georg Pfeffer, “Die Krebse von Süd-Georgien,” p. 

17; there are comments on zoogeography of the genus, p. 

19. 

21. E.M. Sheppard, “Isopod Crustacea — Part I. The 

Family Serolidae,” pp. 323, 326-328, excellent illustration 

Plate XIV, Fig. 7. 

22. E. Emmons, Natural History of New York, vol. 4, 

Geology, pt. 2; the figure, apparently engraved on wood 

by E. Emmons, Jr. (see p. 7), is on p. 390; reference to its 

resting form, p. 391; the list of “fossils” and Eights’s diagnosis, 

pp. 433-434. W.T. Calman, “James Eights, a pioneer 

Antarctic naturalist,” p. 178, points out this work was not 

so much ignored as simply published where no one would 

think of looking for it. The only early reference to it that I 

have found is Ledyard Lincklaen, “Guide to the geology 

of New York, and to the State Geological Cabinet,” p. 6, 

Plate III, Fig. 10 (where it is correctly called “a living crustacean 

from the South seas, somewhat resembling the 

trilobites”). Amos Eaton, Geological Text-Book, 2nd ed., p. 

129, refers to this Eights form, then unnamed, as similar to 

a fossil trilobite when contracted. 

23. W.E. Leach, Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles, vol. 

XII, p. 346, 1818; Thomas Roscoe Rede Stebbing (1835- 

1926), “On some crustaceans from the Falkland Islands 

collected by Mr. Rupert Vallentin,” Exosphaeroma, new 

genus, p. 553; Plate XXXIX. 

24. JE, “Description of...Glyptonotus,” AI Transactions, 

2: 331-334, 2 plates. This paper holds an honorable place in 

the annals of Albany Institute, having been presented less 

than a year after the reorganizational meeting of 6 Mar 

1851 — the first reported meeting since 14 Apr 1843. 

Eights’s paper was given on 5 Feb 1852, apparently by 

himself; the Minutes say simply: “Doct. Eights presented a 

description of a specimen [species] of glyptonotus, accompanied 

by drawings.” There was no comment from the 

floor and if there was the ordinary courtesy of moving 

thanks to the speaker, the secretary failed to record it (AI 

Minutes). The plates do not reflect the usual practice of 

indicating artist and preparator of the plate; it is to be 

assumed that the plates are accounted for by the motion 

presented on 1 Jun 1852 (AI Minutes) when “it was 

resolved that the two papers heretofore presented by Dr. 

Eights [the other was his “Observations on the geological 

features of the post-tertiary formation of the City of 

Albany”]...form a part of the 2nd Volume of the 

Transactions and that the same be printed and the Volume 

prepared for distribution, provided the printing & engraving 

of the plates accompanying Dr. Eights [!] paper on the 

post tertiary formation &c. can be procured [?] to be executed 

gratuitously, it having been intimated that Mr. Van 

Benthuysen had liberally offered to do the printing and 

Mr. Gavit having offered to do the engraving without 

charge to the Institute.” Evidently, plates for Glyptonotus 

were included in the “&c.”; we find James Dwight Dana 

(see Note 28) thanking “Mr. J.E. Gavit” (but not James 

Eights!) for use of the “two fine plates.” 

25. JE (actually by J.D. Dana, editor), “A new genus 

and species of Crustacea, by James Eights.” This notice 

was copied in full (without credit) in Annals and Magazine 

of Natural History, 1853. 

26. JE, “Description of an isopod crustacean from the 

Antarctic Seas, with observations on the New South 

Shetlands; by James Eights. — With two plates” (1856). 

While Dana may be thought a trifle cold toward Eights, 

his gratitude to Gavit was real: It saved him the cost of 

having them copied locally. 

27. G. Pfeffer, “Die Krebse von Süd-Georgien nach der 

Ausbeute der Deutschen Station 1882-83,” pp. 19, 21, 75- 

85, Plates II, Fig. 7 [No! — Glyptonotus is shown in dorsal 

view, without legs, in Fig. 1], VI, Figs. 13-27. 


Chapter 11 

WHO WANTED TO SEE A TEN-LEGGED SEA-SPIDER? 

JAMES EIGHTS’S STRANGE PYCNOGONID, 

DECOLOPODA AUSTRALIS 

Dr. W.T. Calman tells the story well. When 

Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s first Antarctic 

expedition called at New Zealand in April 1904, 

among tidbits released to eager newspapermen 

(“in an obscure corner of one of the telegrams”) 

was the news that T.V. Hodgson, naturalist on 

the the ship Discovery, had found a ten-legged 

sea-spider. Was it journalists’ hyperbole: their 

“infinite capacity for distorting anything that is 

said...on scientific matters”? Remarked 

Professor D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson 

thoughtfully, “‘I wonder if he has found 

Decolopoda?’” 1 

Decolopoda was James Eights’s name for a 

ten-legged pycnogonid or sea-spider, imparted 

in 1835 to a world that knew for a fact all seaspiders 

had eight legs. But Hodgson’s discovery 

was a ten-legged form entirely different from 

that described by Eights. It was not until W.S. 

Bruce’s collections made in the ship Scotia were 

examined a few months later that a veritable 

example of Eights’s own Decolopoda forced itself 

into the spotlight — some 70 years after Eights 

had announced his discovery, only to be met by 

silence, revisionism, and innuendo. Slow as the 

world was to acknowledge Eights’s discovery, 

with the new century in place, his odd pycnogonid 

was a major factor in his elevation to a 

place of scientific renown. 

It began in a characteristically unhurried 

way with James Eights’s letter, dated 9 August 

1834, to Dr. Amos Binney, editor of the Journal 

of the Boston Museum of Natural History. He 

had recently visited in New York City with 

Jeremiah Reynolds and was pleased that 

Reynolds had determined to send his collections 

to the Boston museum. “As evidence of it, 

I have prepared for publication in your journal, 

the description of a new & very curious animal, 

that evidently occupies the situation between 

Cuvier’s two great classes in the Animal 

Kingdon, Crustacea & Arachnoides, possessing 

essential characters of both....The description is 

accompanied by a drawing, representing the 

animal & I only regret that the want of a convenient 

opportunity alone prevents me from 

forwarding it immediately.” 2 

Eights’s paper is printed here. 

Description of a new animal belonging to 

the Arachnides of Latreille; discovered in the 

sea along the shores of the New South 

Shetland Islands. By James Eights, M.D. 

(Communicated September 17, 1834.) 

ARACHNIDES. / Gen. Decolopoda* [footnote: 

From {the Greek for} “...ten...perfect... 

feet.”]. 

Thorax. Elliptical, composed of five segments, 

separated from each other by slightly 

impressed articulations; anterior one produced 

into a head-like process. Contracted behind, 

Chapter 11 159

Figure 11.1. Decolopoda australis, a ten-legged pycnogonid (sea spider) that ultimately catapulted James Eights to fame. 

Original drawing unknown. This illustration, published in the Boston Natural History Society Journal, was photographed 

from an unevenly faded colored copy by Carl J. George. Jennifer G. Fais supplied color. 


and having on its superior surface a subconic 

tubercle with two eyes placed on each side; segments 

terminated at each extremity by a tubular 

joint, to which are attached ten perfect legs. 

Rostrum longer than the thorax, tubular, clavate, 

arcuated downward, with a triangular aperture 

at its apex; inserted into the anterior portion of 

the head-like process below. Chelicerae rather 

longer than the rostrum, inserted on each side 

of its base, above, biarticulate, and terminated 

by a forceps composed of a finger and thumb, 

much curved, and meeting only a short distance 

along their tips, the superior finger, alone 

movable. Palpi setaceous, ten jointed, longer 

than the rostrum, inserted beneath the chelicerae. 

Egg-bearing organs attached to a process at 

the base of the palpi, ten-jointed, with a terminal 

incurved nail. Legs cylindrical, composed of 

a three jointed coxa, one jointed femur, and a 

two jointed tibia and tarsus, the latter terminated 

by a simple, slightly curved claw. Abdomen? 

attached to the posterior segment of the thorax 

by a movable articulation, small, sub-clavate, 

and perforated at its extremity by an anal incision. 

D. Australis. 

Entire animal of a bright scarlet; disk of the 

thorax convex, beneath, slightly so; on the superior 

surface of the tubular joints, near the margin, 

are situated about four very small, rigid 

spines; basal joint of the chelicerae, elongated. 

Palpi with the third and fifth joints elongate, the 

former of greater length than the latter. Eggbearing 

organs with the three first joints small 

and sub-equal, fourth and sixth elongate, the 

remainder nearly equal: the four terminal joints 

are prehensile, and have their inner margins 

dentated, the teeth arranged in about four longitudinal 

rows. Legs bony and nearly equal, 

posterior pair rather smaller; joints of the coxae 

short and subequal. Thighs about twice the 

length of the coxae, furnished with small spines 

at their superior extremity. The first joint of the 

tibia equal in length to the thigh; the last joint 

of the tibia, and those of the tarsi, each armed at 

their extremities beneath, with four rigid spines. 

Eyes very small. Teguments pergamineous. 

Habitat: sea in the vicinity of the New 

South-Shetland Islands. 

Cabinet of James Eights. 

I have placed this interesting animal in the 

class ARACHNIDES, in consequence of its close 

approximation to Latreille’s second family 

Pycnogonoides [footnote: Cuvier, Regne 

Animal.], of his order Tracheariae; it possesses 

all of the characters, besides which, it has a segment 

supporting two additional legs, making in 

all five perfect pairs; this latter circumstance 

would doubtless bring it in the preceding class 

CRUSTACEA, being a character which strikingly 

distinguishes the animals that compose it; at 

all events, I think it will certainly form a connecting 

link in the great chain of the animal 

kingdom, between these two classes, passing 

from the CRUSTACEA into the ARACHNIDES 

by the genera Nymphon, Phoxichili, 

Pycnogonum, &c. Their mode of respiration I 

could not determine, as no appearance of stigmata, 

through which they are supposed to 

breathe, were visible. Of the many specimens 

that I obtained, I saw none but such as were 

furnished with what are termed the egg-bearing 

organs, consequently, if those are the females 

that are thus distinguished, they prove much 

more numerous than the males. 

The tegument covering the body is soft and 

yielding, the appearance of the segments and 

articulations are necessarily faint, indicating 

that little motion of the parts is required. 

They are to be found in considerable numbers 

in connexion with the fuci, thrown up by 

the waves along the shores of the islands, after 

being detached by the motion of the large masses 

of ice, from the bottom of the sea. 

Plate VII. 

Fig. 1. Superior view of the animal, natural size. 

“ 2. Inferior “ “ “ 

deprived of the legs near the coxae. 3 

Before we undertake a tour of taxonomic 

zoology to see how Eights’s discovery fared, it 

may be well to note a parallel case, in order to 

appreciate that the work of collectors, no matter 

how carefully documented, is frequently overlooked, 

dismissed or thoughtlessly destroyed. 

Chapter 11 161

Captain James Clark Ross, of the Erebus and 

Terror Antarctic Expedition of 1839, aided by Dr. 

Joseph Dalton Hooker (whose fame as botanist 

has been noted), studiously collected marine 

invertebrates. That among them there was 

probably a ten-legged pycnogonid is shown by 

one of Hooker’s surviving drawings in the 

British Museum (Natural History). 4 

Remarkable as it was, Eights’s discovery 

waited long for confirmation. It was slightingly 

referred to by John O. Westwood in 1840 — “A 

still more extraordinary genus, with ten legs,” 

whose perfectly good name he promptly 

respelled as “Decalopoda,” intimating that 

Eights was incompetent to coin a Greek word. 5 

P.P.C. Hoek in 1881 knew of Decolopoda only 

from Westwood. He copied the latter’s amended 

spelling: “I have not been able to ascertain 

whether this is a good genus, nor where it has 

been found.” 6 

In 1902, the Rev. T.R.R. Stebbing, noted 

authority on the Crustacea, wrote a lighthearted 

account of pycnogonids, which he termed “the 

nobodies”: they had, “comparatively speaking, 

no bodies.” And, he noted, they had “no flaunting 

reputation,” although with names “they 

have been abundantly blessed,” more than 40 

genera having been established, “some of them 

so obscurely that now and then a desperate 

author pounds up eight or nine into one. Then 

again [— perhaps presciently!] the counsels of 

despair have to be modified, and some of the 

rejected names resume their place in the system.” 

As to their enemies, they seem to have 

few and make little effort to escape or fight, 

there being “no satisfactory nutriment in their 

long branching tubes of chitinous, or as Eights 

calls it ‘pergamineous’ integument. They won’t 

fatten.” Stebbing goes on: “Nevertheless, like 

other animals, they have obeyed some stimulus 

impelling them to vary.” After that notable 

achievement in making a dull subject fun, 

Stebbing stumbled in regard to Eights’s 

Decolopoda (which he astutely spelled right), 

evidently thinking that Eights had made out his 

species to have the “second pair of 

appendages...ten-jointed.” It required, he 

thought, either a new family or a widening of 

the definition of a previous one. As Stebbing 

characterized Eights’s species (incorrectly), “Its 

chelifori are large with much curved thumb and 

finger. Of...specimens obtained all were provided 

with ovigerous limbs, eleven-jointed, so that 

Eights counted these in with the four following 

pairs of legs, and framed a generic name which 

signifies that...there are ‘ten perfect feet.’” 

Perhaps, as Calman suggests, Stebbing was 

writing from memory. 7 

The new century thus got off to a discouraging 

start. And in 1905, “the very year in which 

Hodgson re-discovered the species,” J.C.C. 

Loman called it “ein irrationelles Monstrum,” 

implying that Eights had an individual monster 

as his example — or that he had made a mistake 

in counting legs. In the same year, E.-L. 

Bouvier actually handled another species of 

Decolopoda but described it as a species of 

Colossendeis — without mentioning the number 

of legs! He wrote later that he had regarded it 

an anomaly without great value. 8 

Thus did the zoological world cling to its 

belief that all normal pycnogonids had eight 

legs. But 1905 was the year of revision. Not only 

was Eights’s long-ignored discovery brought to 

light and exemplified but a rediscovery of the 

man himself was initiated. The initial break 

came from T.V. Hodgson, biologist to the 

National Antarctic Expedition: the discovery of 

a ten-legged pycnogonid. That was followed by 

a one-two punch when Hodgson summarized 

findings of both his own and W.S. Bruce’s new 

pycnogonids from the contemporary Scottish 

National Expedition on the Scotia — the latter 

including veritable specimens of Eights’s animal. 

He followed that by a full acknowledgment 

of Eights’s discovery of three quarters of a 

century earlier and a sharp correction to 

Loman. 9 

An additional episode of that eventful era 

fits neatly into what has been reviewed in the 

previous paragraph. I have left it last, in this 

series of taxonomic coups, for it concerns not 

merely a zoological taxon but soon led to significant 

expansions in the world’s knowledge of 

James Eights, the man who started the argument 

many years before. 

In fact, its initial volley antedated two of 

T.V. Hodgson’s papers just referred to. On 12 


January 1905, Leon J. Cole of Harvard 

University deposited a substantial manuscript 

with editors of the Annals and Magazine of 

Natural History, which had just brought out 

Hodgson’s initial paper of December 1904. In it, 

Cole pointed out that, far from Hodgson’s 

being the first ten-legged pycnogonid (“a character 

which separates it from all Pycnogonids 

hitherto known”), there had been another: 

Decolopoda australis of Eights, 1837 (he used the 

date of the finished volume) — “a fact which 

seems never to have come to the attention of 

workers on the group since that time.” Cole 

promptly corresponded with Hodgson; Cole 

had already tried to find out something about 


Just whom Cole tried to reach in regard to 

James Eights in 1904 I cannot say (I have been 

unable to find his correspondence for that era), 

but in 1905, he hit pay-dirt. The initial response 

must have disappointed him. 

On 20 March 1905, John Mason Clarke, 

director of the New York State Museum, and 

long its paleontologist, replied to a letter from 

Cole dated 18 March. In it, Clarke told what he 

knew (not much) and what he had been able 

hastily to find out (neither much nor very reliable). 

Details of this rediscovery of James Eights 

will be found in a later chapter in its historical 

sequence. 11 Clarke lost no time in learning more 

about Eights and in 1916 published what for 

many years remained the best account of his 

life. 

These technical chapters on southern and 

Antarctic biology have taken us out of historical 

sequence. We now return to a decade-by-decade 

enquiry into the life of James Eights. 

NOTES 

1. W.T. Calman, “James Eights, a pioneer Antarctic 

naturalist,” p. 171. For a zoogeographic account of sea-spiders, 

see J.W. Hedgpeth, “Introduction to Antarctic zoogeography” 

and “Pycnogonida,” Antarctic Map Folio 

Series, Folio 11, pp. 1-9, 26-28, also maps, Plates 13, 14. 

2. The letter, then in the Library of the Boston Society 

of Natural History, was quoted by Calman, “James 

Eights,” p. 181. I quote from the letter by permission of the 

Museum of Comparative Zoology Archives, Harvard 

University, a photocopy having been kindly provided by 

Robert Young, Special Collections Librarian. That Eights 

was not long in delivering the paper and the illustration is 

shown by the fact that the paper, Article 11 in Part 2 of 

Volume 1 that appeared in May 1835, was said to have 

been “Communicated September 17, 1834.” Evidently, 

Eights also sent a male specimen, for it presumably found 

its way from the defunct museum of the Boston Society of 

Natural History to Harvard’s Museum of Comparative 

Zoology, where it is Neoholotype No. 12271. See J.W. 

Hedgpeth, “On the evolutionary significance of the 

Pycnogonida,” pp. 9-10, note 2. Ardis B. Johnston, 

Curatorial Associate, Invertebrates, Museum of 

Comparative Zoology (letter 3 Mar 1992) confirms the 

presence of Eights’s No. 12271 — their only invertebrate 

specimen collected by James Eights. Unfortunately, 

Eights’s original drawing, if kept by Binney, cannot be 

found. While a considerable volume of original artwork 

belonging to the old Museum of Natural History was 

retained by the Boston Museum of Science, a thorough 

search of both listed and uncatalogued drawings there, 

kindly made by Carolyn Kirdahy, Librarian/Archivist (letter 

23 Apr 1992), shows no evidence of it. Binney’s color 

plate was aquatinted by G.G. Smith. For a review of pycnogonid 

anatomy and physiology, see P.E. King, 

Pycnogonids. Existing colored plates accompanying 

Eights’s article are usually irregularly oxidized. In my 

illustration, I have used a photograph kindly supplied by 

Carl J. George and its original coloration has been restored 

by Jennifer G. Fais, both of whom have my best thanks. 

3. James Eights, “Description of a new animal...,” May 

1835 (the date of 1837 comes from the title page of the finished 

volume). 

4. J. Davenport and G.E. Fogg, “The invertebrate collections 

of the ‘Erebus’ and ‘Terror’ Antarctic expedition: a 

missed opportunity,” p. 325. 

5. J.O. Westwood, “The second family of the trachean 

Arachnida, — the Pycnogonides,” p. 468. 

6. Paulus Peronius Cato Hoek (1851-1914), “Report on 

the Pycnogonida,” p. 6. 

7. T.R.R. Stebbing, “The Nobodies, — a sea-faring 

family,” pp. 186, 189. Calman, “James Eights,” p. 180. 

8. Calman, “James Eights,” p. 180; Jan Cornelis 

Christiaan Loman, in “Decolopoda Eights oder Colossendeis 

Jarz.,” p. 723, prided himself on keeping the realm of 

nomenclature free of errors; Eugène Louis Bouvier (1856- 

1944), “Observations préliminaires sur les Pycnogonides 

recueillis dans la région antarctique par la mission du 

‘Français,’” p. 295, his Colossendeis antarctica nov. sp.; 

Bouvier was quick to admit his error, faulting Loman as he 

did so, in “Nouvelles observations sur les pycnogonides 

recueillis dans les régions antarctiques au cours de la campagne 

dirigée par M. Jean Charcot,” pp. 16-19. As 

Hedgpeth wrote, “James Eights of the Antarctic,” p. 43, 

Eights’s species “is not a rare anomaly; every season several 

specimens are collected somewhere in the Antarctic 

and it ranges from South Georgia through the Ross Sea to 

Heard Island.” What would zoologists of the turn of the 

century have thought had they been told of a twelvelegged 

pycnogonid? Just such a creature — and, again, no 

monster — was described by W.T. Calman and Isabella 

Gordon in 1933 in “A dodecapodous pycnogonid,” p. 107: 

yet another genus added to the Pycnogonida! 

9. Thomas Vere Hodgson (1864-1926), (1) “On a new 

pycnogonid from the south polar regions” 

(Pentanymphon),” (Dec 1904), in which P. antarcticum was 

Chapter 11 163

hastily announced; (2) in “On Decalopoda [!] australis, 

Eights — an old pycnogonid rediscovered,” Hodgson 

quoted verbatim Eights’s original description and added 

his own diagnosis, pp. 36-41, with extremely handsome 

illustrations on plates II and III; and (3) in the periodical 

that had carried Loman’s paper, Hodgson summarized his 

findings in “Decalopoda and Colossendeis” and, except 

for his misspelling of Eights’s generic name, put all to 

rights in regard to doubts planted by Loman: noting, p. 

254, that “Eights’s description is remarkably accurate and 

the figure is little, if any, worse than many produced at the 

present day. As he made it clear that he obtained a number 

of specimens it is out of the question to consider the 

species as a monstrosity”; Hodgson, pp. 255-256, recharacterized 

the genera “Decolopoda” Eights and Colossendeis 

Jarzynsky, having restudied the latter genus. 

10. Leon Jacob Cole (1877-1948), “Ten-legged pycnogonids, 

with remarks on the classification of the 

Pycnogonida,” p. 405: “Eights gives a very good description 

and illustration of the species — much better than the 

average at that early date.” Cole had attempted in vain to 

find out more about Eights, p. 406. Even though he had 

the assistance of the curator at the Boston Society of 

Natural History, he was unable to find the specimen. One 

final comment may be pertinent: All this occurred in the 

Bad Old Days, before interplanetary rocketry, supersonic 

transports, radio communication, the information highway, 

or even xerocopy. Hodgson’s paper was deposited 

with the Annals & Magazine of Natural History in time to 

appear in its December 1904 issue; Cole’s paper, with its 

comments on the December paper, was received by the 

editor 12 Jan 1905; Cole had already corresponded with 

Hodgson; Hodgson’s paper, that included new information 

from the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition and a 

reference to Decalopoda (!), was received at the Royal 

Physical Society of Edinburgh 17 Jan and read on 23 Jan 

1905. 

11. These letters of John Mason Clarke (1857-1925) are 

in N.Y. State Archives, BO 561. Box 11; Cole’s letters to 

Clarke have not been retained. 


Chapter 12 

EIGHTS IN ALBANY: THE ZODIAC YEARS, 1830–1836 — 

I: “THE NATURALIST’S EVERY DAY BOOK” 

The year 1830 witnessed the hurried return 

of James Eights from his southern and Antarctic 

voyage. The following decade saw most of the 

somewhat ambiguous disposition that was 

made of plant and animal specimens he 

brought back. 

The decade was a notably busy period for 

Eights. Important visitors came to his doorstep. 

He kept up with old friends. He made a few 

efforts to record his Antarctic observations. He 

immediately renewed his activities in the 

Albany Institute. He wrote copiously, published 

often, traveled widely within the compass of his 

now diminished universe, and clearly showed 

promise of going onto bigger, more solid things. 

His only known engagement in local political 

maneuvering occurred. He was briefly associated 

with the prestigious New York State Natural 

History Survey, but left it. His efforts to gain a 

position with the great national South Sea 

Exploring Expedition loom large in the final 

years of the decade. 

The story is a little unfocused. James Eights 

emerges as a busy field naturalist for whose 

mill all Creation was grist. He ought to have 

worked more assiduously on his Antarctic specimens. 

He ought to have realized that the way 

of the world was by then with the narrower 

specialties, however much it needed (as always) 

someone to train the popular imagination on a 

coherent and informed vision of the whole. His 

efforts at the latter task went by fits and starts, 

as he jauntily wore by turns the hat of one or 

another of his fancies. His speaking acquaintance 

with vertebrates and botany never deepened. 

Perhaps he found insects and other invertebrates 

more to his liking. Even his early love 

for geology, as a sustained passion, soon 

foundered. 

The decade saw the playing out of minor 

projects and ended in the bitterness of failure. 

There is material for two long chapters in 

Eights’s first half dozen years of the 1830s, ending 

as they do in a crescendo of activities centered 

on The Zodiac. 

LIFE AT THE INSTITUTE 

We know about the purchase of Eights’s 

Antarctic collections by the Albany Institute, the 

presentation of his early paper on one of his 

new species and its appended general account 

of South Shetlands natural history. 

James Eights gave books to the Institute 

library and specimens to its museum, many not 

further identified as to number or content. Even 

though he was not officially a curator, on 8 

January 1834, he served with Richard V. DeWitt 

and Peter Bullions on a committee to provide 

the Institute with an annual curatorial report. 

His name was commonly among donors in the 

regular reports on Institute activities in the 

Albany Argus. 1 

In the “Catalogue of Properties” of the 

Institute, a somewhat fuller detail of donations 

was usually kept. On 10 April 1830, even 

though not returned from the Antarctic, he was 

credited with a 1666 book in Dutch, perhaps 

Chapter 12 165

given in his name by his father. In March 1831, 

he contributed a medal and an East India copper 

coin. He gave books in 1831 and 1832; copper 

coins from Upper Canada (1820), England 

(1774), and Connecticut (1787). On 28 April 

1832, James Stevenson donated Eights’s “Gourd 

containing Cayenne Pepper” from Valparaíso; 

in June, there was a plaster medallion of DeWitt 

Clinton and a cast of a trilobite fossil (probably 

given to him by Jacob Green, then attempting to 

catalogue American trilobites, followed by several 

copper coins in October and November. On 

9 January 1833, Eights contributed a specimen 

of Salamandra tigrina from the Erie Canal. This 

was the first known example of Ambystoma 

tigrinum in Albany, an area no longer within its 

range. It was obviously Eights’s salamander 

phase (one wonders when he acquired the specimens 

— surely not in January, unless they were 

found hibernating), for the same day, he presented 

a specimen of Salamandra fusca, now 

called Desmognathus fuscus, a much more widespread 

species, although his was the first record 

from Albany. Among other 1833 donations: arm 

of a human foetus; the African locust blown on 

board the Annawan (already noticed); sample of 

Tertiary Rock, from the “Islands of St Mary, 

coast of Chili”; a Hirudo (leech) from Africa 

and 10 European trilobites. 2 

In 1834, the Albany Institute was enriched 

by various books and specimens due, in one 

way or another, to Eights. In May, shells from 

Hugh Cuming sent in exchange, as well as the 

list of names for Eights’s mollusks provided by 

Cuming (see chapter on mollusks); a plaster 

medallion of Berzelius, “copied from a foreign 

one in Iron”; specimens of Limulus, the horseshoe 

crab, from Long Island; five kinds of seeds 

— not further identified — from the West 

Indies; certain library volumes were acquired in 

exchange “for Sundry Duplicate Shells & Rocks 

in Eights’s Collection.” In December, Eights 

donated a copper medal, awarded for 

Woodworth’s Patent Planing Machine, together 

with a sample “Plank planed by W.P. Haskins, 

Troy.” 3 

In 1835, a medal was contributed by “D r J. 

Eights” (possibly Jonathan, for in the 

“Catalogue” James was usually either “James” 

or “Jas”); James contributed vertebrae of a fish 

from the Lias of Germany, specimens of Libinia 

canaliculata, “with their external pedipalps,” 

from the bays and inlets of New York, and 

other fossils and rocks. 4 

On 1 November 1831, Eights sent a short 

letter on “Habits of the ruffed grouse, or pheasant” 

for use in the first volume of the Cabinet of 

Natural History, edited by John and Thomas 

Doughty of Philadelphia. He noted the “stupidity” 

of that bird, a supplement to a somewhat 

similar notice in a previous issue of the Cabinet 

by Jacob Green. It was perhaps on account of 

this letter that James Eights was promised by 

the editors as a future contributor to the magazine. 

Eights served 1831–1832 through 

1835–1836 as “Hospital Surgeon” in Albany’s 

military establishment (similar to today’s 

National Guard), in the Third Brigade Horse 

Artillery (see an earlier chapter with reference 

to his title of doctor for details). 5 

Thus, the world enlarged to include James 

Eights. Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, a naturalist 

whom he had met on the return from 

Niagara Falls in 1826, renewed his acquaintance, 

anxious to see Eights’s so-called living 

trilobite, the crustacean Brongniartia. 

Rafinesque, having arrived in Troy 

(Lansingburgh) on the “Troy towboat Barges,” 

on 29 July 1833, soon met up with Lewis Beck 

and James Eights; he was a house guest of the 

Eights family on 1 August 1833, where, as he 

recorded in his A Life of Travels, “Dr. Eights 

showed me his 2 N.G. [new genera] of 

Crustacea from the Austral seas, for which I 

suggested the names of Lomops and Decatelopus, 

but could not approve of his name of 

Brongniartia for a living austral trilobite, as this 

name is employed and disputed. Trilobalis 

would have been better.” On Rafinesque’s 

return to Pennsylvania by an inland route, 

Eights accompanied him as far as Clarksville on 

10 and 11 August, introducing Rafinesque to his 

favorite geologizing sites in the Helderbergs. 

They traveled the first part of the journey by 

lime cart. On 12 August, Eights left him and he 

continued alone — walking, the better to study 

the geology of the countryside on his way to 

Middleburg, the inland leg of “a kind of scien- 


tific pilgrimage long ago contemplated to the 

sources of the rivers Delaware and 

Susquehanah.” 6 

In all this, there is not much continuity. 

There is the occasional notice of him in the correspondence 

of Joseph Henry, who had gone on 

from his formative days in Albany to the university 

at Princeton (and would ultimately put 

the Smithsonian Institution on the map as a 

world-famous center of exchange of scientific 

information). On 27 October 1834, he wrote to 

his brother James Henry in Albany: “Give my 

thanks to James Eights for the Medalion in 

Plaster of the Swedish chemist Berzelius.” 7 

The year 1834 also gives us one of the rare 

hints that Eights was now and then a man of 

his time. There was a wonderful outburst from 

Edwin Croswell, the staunchly Jacksonian editor 

of the Argus, on 6 May 1834. An important 

election occurred that very day and, the night 

before, there was formed “a committee of vigilance 

to promote the election of the republican 

candidates in this ward.” Editorial efforts consisted 

of some bombast and the nearly endless 

listing of some 400 names, including Croswell 

and James Eights, making up that “committee.” 

It is obvious that the committee far outnumbered 

the voter turnout (or, who knows, perhaps 

even the total number of potential Jackson 

voters in the ward?). The candidates of the 

“republican” ticket (that is, the Jackson-Van 

Buren, now called Democratic, party) lost both 

in the Second Ward and city wide. In the 

Second Ward, for all its Committee of Vigilance 

of some 400 alert and concerned partisans, the 

highest number of Republican votes for any of 

the five candidates was but 202! 8 

And from the Henry correspondence: 

Albany resident Philip Ten Eyck wrote 7 Dec 

1835, sharing scientific interests and local news: 

“Jim Eights has just returned from the 

Pennsylvania coal mines and threatens to blow 

up Silliman & the fellow who filled up his last 

journal.” 9 

JAMES EIGHTS AND THE ZODIAC 

For a brief period in the mid-1830s, The 

Zodiac, a monthly periodical “devoted to science, 

literature and the arts,” was published in 

Albany. It has for us the special significance that 

for a time it provided James Eights with nearly 

unlimited (mostly anonymous) exposure to the 

public. Nothing of Eights’s connections with the 

magazine or its editors is known. It may not be 

amiss to notice that the name associated with 

editing and publishing the magazine for the 

entire period when Eights’s works were appearing 

regularly was Erastus Perry and that, when 

he was gradually edged from the scene, works 

by Eights also disappeared from the pages of 

The Zodiac. Maybe, on the other hand, Eights 

had simply run his course for that period. 10 

The departure of Erastus Perry must have 

been a choice piece of gossip in Albany. In the 

September 1836 issue, we find the discreet 

“Notice”: “In consequence of the extraordinary 

conduct of Mr. Perry, who has withdrawn himself 

from all charge or management of this 

paper, with which he declares he has nothing to 

do, while he still retains the subscription book, 

and attempts to collect as well the amounts due 

for the last as the current volume, I have been 

compelled to assume the sole management of 

it.” The notice is signed H.L.V. Ducoudray- 

Holstein, a colorful emigré Frenchman, probably 

among the “number of literary gentlemen” 

who assisted Perry from the first, although only 

listed by name as joint proprietor (with his 

name first) with the first number of volume 2, 

July 1836, when M. Henry Webster was named 

as editor (there having previously been no 

specifically named editor). With the September 

issue, Ducoudray-Holstein became the only 

proprietor, Webster the editor, as both continued 

to be through the final page of the seventh 

number of The Zodiac for January 1837 — after 

which all is silence. 11 

In all this, James Eights was a shadowy figure. 

Of some 15 articles definitely by him, only 

one carried his name within the magazine: his 

unfinished “A synopsis of the rocks of the State 

of New-York,” signed “James Eights, M.D.” 

Still, in the index to volume 1, provided by the 

original publisher, he was given as author of 

articles entitled “The naturalist’s every day 

book” (six), “Notes of a pedestrian” (five), and 

one on “Entomology” (signed “E.”). In his two 

Chapter 12 167

final installments of the “Pedestrian,” in volume 

2, he was also not named but attribution of 

the articles to him is clearly correct. However, 

he certainly was not, as recently claimed, the 

author of a series of urbane articles in volume 2 

describing a tour in France and Scotland. 12 

There was, of course, a certain coyness 

about naming names in literary periodicals of 

the time. In The Zodiac, 1(4), October 1835, p. 63, 

we read: “We continue the Naturalist’s every 

day book, knowing that the series commends 

itself to every lover of nature and of science. We 

are confident that there is not in the United 

States, any one better qualified to make the 

observations recorded there, than the person 

from whom we receive them.” Brave — faceless 

— words. Did the editor hope the articles 

would thus be credited to a more eminent 

writer? Was Eights paid and, thus, not entitled 

to a by-line? In any case, that was the last 

installment but one of the “Every day book,” 

and that last appearing number was actually 

chronologically the first of the series. Eights 

simply did not have anything written at the 

moment, being then on his trip to the 

Pennsylvania coal mines, as described in his 

later series, “Notes of a pedestrian.” He was 

temporarily replaced by four installments of 

“The study of natural history,” identified only 

within an introductory paragraph (not in the 

index) as being by the English naturalist 

William Swainson. 13 

THE ZODIAC: “THE NATURALIST’S 

EVERY DAY BOOK” 

The day-by-day march of events at critical 

times of the year has always inspired naturalists 

to record their findings. The comparative study 

of the march of seasonal events has a scientific 

name — phenology. 14 

For his part, James Eights put Albany on the 

map phenologically with a series of articles on 

the parade of events in the spring and summer 

of 1835. They number altogether six with the 

July segment divided editorially into two 

installments and, unhappily, what Eights meant 

to be the introductory essay for May, to begin 

the series, not published until last. Clearly, the 

sequence is May through September. It was the 

year 1835 (the days of the week match the 

expected calendar for that year); Eights began it 

and ended it as a record of what he conceived 

the growing season of that year. That nature has 

its winter aspects, Eights no doubt recognized. 

It is unfortunate that we do not have from him 

a continuous record of a full calendar year. 

Anyone wishing to examine the record in 

full can read Don Rittner’s facsimile edition of 

The Zodiac. Here, I treat Eights’s five months 

(six installments) in phenological order, starting 

with May, the last published. I have elected 

here to reduce notice to a summary of what I 

conceive as lasting in Eights’s observations. 

There will be quotations where called for; there 

will be critical evaluations when such are due. 

In March 1836, The Zodiac carried, as its lead 

article, Eights’s account of the month of May 

1835: “at the request of several scientific gentlemen, 

who wish to compare the events in the 

natural history of the coming month of May 

with those of the preceding year.” 15 

May, Eights wrote, is “attended by its usual 

train of all that is exhilarating and beautiful; to 

enliven and adorn the year, and render the face 

of nature a delightful subject of contemplation 

to man.” His sustained peroration is a little too 

staged to be entirely effective and the suddenness 

and simultaneity of nature’s awakening (as 

if all had been dead previously) challenges reality. 

Forests “put forth their brightest vestures of 

green”; “birds flutter through their hitherto 

silent glades”; “flowers unfold their varied 

beauties to the genial influence of a returning 

summer sun, and scatter their delicious odours 

on the balmy winds of the south”; feathered 

songsters, the insect tribes, silver scaled fish, 

“even the loathed reptiles,” all join “in one universal 

exhibition of gratitude.” 

Friday, the first of May, will do to exemplify 

the approach. “This morning some of our social 

summer friends, the barn-swallow, (Hirundo 

rufa Gm.) were seen in considerable numbers, 

sportively performing their evolutions above 

the Hudson river, in eager pursuit of the few 

winged insects that have yet appeared, or gliding 

gracefully along its surface, drinking and 


washing their soiled plumage in the placid 

stream. A few of them had been observed about 

a week previous, but as they could not succeed 

in making it summer, they soon wandered 

away to a more genial climate in the South.” 

“Vegetation this season has been very slow in 

developing itself; the following plants have 

only now for the first time appeared in bloom”: 

Ranunculus fascicularis; Thalictrum aneminoides; 

Saxifraga virginiensis (early saxifrage); Viola blanda 

— “This delicate little plant, so familiar to 

every school-boy that sports in the meadow, 

possesses medical properties in some degree of 

strength. It is tonic, purgative, and emetic, 

according to the doses given from ten grains up 

to fifty. The usual time for flowering is generally 

about the 12th day of April, being now nearly 

three weeks behind the more regular seasons.” 

16 

Saturday, 2 May, Eights noticed that “some 

of the tortoises have left their winter retreats, 

and are seen wandering through the woods, 

particularly the Testudo insculpta of Le Conte. 

The natural habitation of this species is in rivers 

and ponds, but they have a singular disposition 

to travel on dry land, being frequently found at 

considerable distances from either, and sometimes, 

even on hills of no slight eminence. They 

will live some months in a dry place without 

suffering any great inconvenience.” 17 

Monday, 4 May: “Vegetation still continues 

at a stand.” Irregularities in the Helderbergs 

and Catskills “yet contain great quantities of 

snow.” Tuesday, 5 May: lilac flowers open, two 

species of salamanders, now called red-backed 

(Plethodon cinereus) and two-lined (Eurycea bislineata), 

were found active in wet shady woods 

— they are vulgarly called lizards, but “the true 

Lacerta is rarely if ever found north of the 

Highlands on the Hudson river” [presumably, 

he means the fence lizard, whose distribution 

he describes accurately]. To a birder today, his 

use of the term “our social summer warbler” 

for the purple martin, present in notable numbers 

on this day, would be confusing; but he 

referred to its cheering notes and was not using 

the word “warbler” in a nomenclatural sense. 

Uncommonly intense lightning activity was 

noted on both this and the previous day. 

Wednesday, 6 May: A white moth, to which 

Eights misapplies the generic name Bombyx, is 

noticed for the first time; Ranunculus acris is 

now in bloom: a common plant that “is supposed 

not to be a native, but introduced from 

some parts of Europe.” He doubted claims that 

it is deleterious to cattle when it is eaten — at 

least, as dried hay. Its acrid matter, “chiefly confined 

to the root,” however, had well-known 

properties: “before the Spanish fly became its 

substitute, it was used to some extent in creating 

blisters, requiring about the space of half an 

hour to produce the desired effect....And it is 

recommended as an excellent remedy for the 

removal of corns and warts.” 

Insects were noticed on 7 May: water-boatmen, 

honeybees, black wasps (the latter two 

said to be feeding on pollen of greenhouse 

plants put into the sun). “From some of the 

numerous pools scattered through the swamps 

in the neighborhood of the city, several specimens 

of the red salamander (Salamandra rubra 

Daud:) were obtained this afternoon.” And: 

“Leather leaf...is now in full bloom in the 

swamps on the pine plains.” 18 

Friday, 8 May: “During the last week the 

small species of Sturgeon...was for the first time 

brought to our market, and within the last day 

or two the larger ones have also made their 

appearance.” This takes us back to a happier 

day when Albany was called “Sturgeonville” or 

“Sturgeonopolis” and the Albany area was 

“Sturgeondom,” its inhabitants “Sturgeonites,” 

from the great quantities of sturgeon flesh consumed 

there. It also draws attention to the 

Hudson’s noteworthy possession of two distinct 

species of this primitive fish. Most of the 

day’s entry was occupied by a detailed and 

well-informed account of two species of tiger 

beetles that were by then common in dry sandy 

and sunny areas. Their larval caverns at that 

time were very common in the compacted soils 

of walks at the Academy. 19 

Saturday, 9 May: bloodroot, “most profusely 

in flower on the banks of running streams”; 

wood anemone (he calls it Anemone nemorosa), 

Viola cuculata; Trillium erectum; two species of 

shad-bush are in full bloom (he cites two 

species of this difficult genus, neither name 

Chapter 12 169

now being used). He obtained several specimens 

of what he calls “yellow water salamander” 

(then the genus Triturus of Rafinesque; 

now Notophthalmus viridescens), the terrestrial 

phase of which is the familiar red eft and the 

aquatic phase the red-spotted newt. He thought 

them imperfectly described; they were common 

in the neighborhood of Albany and appeared to 

be frequently stranded by the overflowing of 

the Hudson. 

Sunday, 10 May: Three specimens of tree 

frog (Hyla versicolor) were collected, all of colors 

conforming “with the objects upon which they 

are found.” What his “small species of sand 

snake” may have been, brought out in great 

numbers by the warm sun of this day, I cannot 

say. If his use of the generic term Coluber can be 

trusted, it was a black racer. 

Monday, 11 May: He found black salamanders 

numerous “in wet springy places near running 

streams about the city; they vary, however, 

from the common description of their species, 

being as universally yellowish-brown as black.” 

One of his three specimens was regenerating its 

tail. Willow and tortoise-shell butterflies “have 

been changed from their chrysalis state into 

active existence, by the heat of the returning 

summer sun,” and are found along with “several 

of the numberless species of moth.” 20 

Tuesday, 12 May: Indian turnip (jack-in-thepulpit), 

oval-leaved violet (he says Viola ovata; is 

it now V. sagittata?), toothwort (his Dentaria, 

now Cardamine diphylla) and Carex varia (now C. 

artitecta) first noted in bloom. Indian turnip has 

“a powerfully caustic root when fresh from the 

ground, and exhibits sensibility in a slight 

degree upon being rudely grasped,” the first 

aspect being universally known; the second, to 

my knowledge, a new observation. He now discovered 

under moss and decayed wood the 

small elaterid beetle vulgarly called (as he put 

it) snap-bug — a good enough term, except that 

the insect is a beetle, so our common name of 

click-beetle is in that sense more appropriate. 

His description of its behavior is perfect. 

Wednesday, 13 May: The “common Spider, 

has now, for the first time commenced spinning 

its widely spread geometrical web in our gardens, 

indicative of dry pleasant weather.” No 

species is indicated; one presumes he refers to 

the strikingly marked orb-weaving garden spider. 

He found both the white and yellow dogtooth 

“violet” (better called troutlily) in bloom. 

Both the lilies would deserve cultivation “were 

they not so common”! They are, he goes on, “a 

popular remedy administered with milk for 

scrofula among the western tribes.” 21 

Thursday, 14 May: Horse leech (in pairs, in 

shallow ditches); two mollusks, a Helix and a 

Physa, are noticed; the beautiful painted turtle 

(his Testudo picta is now in the genus Chrysemys) 

basks commonly along the banks of streams, 

plunging from sight when disturbed. And on 

the 15th: Plum and pear trees have just come 

into bloom in city gardens. A snail is noted in 

ditches along the Hudson. The following plants 

are now in bloom: strawberry, wild black currant 

(his Ribes floridum; now R. americanum), 

Dutchman’s breeches (now Dicentra cucullaria: 

“this plant when eaten produces cholic, whence 

one of its vulgar names, cholic-weed,” although 

who would be induced to eat it, I cannot imagine!), 

spring beauty (now Claytonia caroliniana; 

“it is frequently used in cataplasms, to apply to 

ulcers proceeding from scrofula”) amd bluet 

(Houstonia coerulea). Toward the end of the day, 

“a violent flurry, attended with snow, passed 

from the west to the northward of the city.” 

On Saturday, 16 May: A species of Brachinus, 

bombardier beetle, is commonly found. “When 

taken in the hand they discharge a brown caustic 

liquor, having the odour, and producing the 

effect of nitric acid on the skin,” no more than 

half the story of this interesting creature. The 

columbine is just bursting into bloom (this was 

and is Aquilegia canadensis: “In vinous infusions 

it has frequently been used for jaundice”). “A 

great number of shad and herring are daily 

taken in the river near the city,” the former 

inexplicably deficient in fat. (Scientific names 

are not given; shad would now be called Alosa 

sapidissima; his herring is probably the alewife, 

Alosa pseudoharengus.) Sunny weather of recent 

weeks had speeded vegetation along: “The season 

is now very little if at all behind that of the 

preceding year.” 

On Monday, 18 May (evidently on the 

Sunday he had rested), Eights recorded trailing 


arbutus in fullest bloom, “whilst the following 

plants have just appeared”: bearberry (“tonic, 

diuretic, and an astringent: the leaves yield a 

black dye, and are not unfrequently smoked by 

some of our Indian tribes”), gold thread, thymeleaved 

speedwell, early life everlasting (“used 

by the Indians for the bite of the rattlesnake”) 

and wood horsetail. He had that morning the 

first visit of the season of a ruby-throated hummingbird; 

the humming bee (he uses the term 

Apis lapidarius) was also visiting flowers. Plants 

in flower are: Epigaea repens; Arbutus uva-ursi, 

now in genus Arctostaphylos; Coptis trifolia; 

Veronica serpyllifolia; Gnaphalium plantagineum, 

now Antennaria plantaginifolia; and Equisetum 

sylvaticum (not a flowering plant; he refers to its 

spore-bearing structures). 

On Tuesday, 19 May: Several species of 

grasshoppers are seen; they are the true locusts 

of various authors — the locusts so-called of 

popular lore are cicadas, “two species of which 

are common in the vicinity of Albany; one of 

them may be seen every summer, and the other 

makes its appearance in great numbers about 

once in every seventeen years.” The latter was 

last seen in Albany in 1826. He correctly reports 

that, while retaining their regular periodicity, 

“They vary...as to the date of the year in which 

they appear in different sections.” The beautiful 

bluejay “is now quite common in the pine 

woods” (surely, they were permanently resident, 

as now?); he notes that “this bird possesses 

great musical powers” — he might also have 

pointed out that its domestic whisper song is 

decidedly pleasing. 22 

Wednesday, 20 May: “A few miles from the 

city, in the shade, the thermometer at 12 o’clock 

stood at 87° Fahrenheit.” Two turtles are noted: 

what he calls Testudo punctata of LeConte, 

“every where seen in the pools of clear water 

about the pine plains” and the painted turtle, 

previously noted, now seen “in company with 

its young, the latter being about the size of a 

cent.” The delicate Viola lanceolata and V. muhlenbergiana 

are now in flower in moist places; 

“on the pine plains,” flowering wintergreen 

(now commonly called fringed milkwort), a 

species of cinquefoil, whortleberry (Vaccinium), 

and a scrub oak have just flowered. 23 

Thursday, 21 May: A species of snail (Helix 

tridentata Say, he says) was found in considerable 

numbers; lilacs were in full bloom in gardens; 

the following native plants were seen in 

bloom: Trillium grandiflorum, T. erythrocarpum 

(now undulatum) and T. cernuum; the bellworts 

Uvularia sessifolia and perfoliata — “this last 

when chewed, the saliva is said to be used with 

beneficial effects in diseases of the throat and 

mouth”; red-berried elderberry — “said to be 

baneful to the feathered race, and also poisons 

insects and mice. The bark yields a black die [!], 

and is ofttimes used to give a fine flavor to 

vinegar and wine.” Also in flower: rue anemone 

(then called Leontice thalictroides); geranium — 

“a beautiful plant, and deserves to be cultivated 

in gardens, by which process, it sensibly 

improves; it is not unfrequently used in bowel 

complaints, and by the Indian it is highly 

esteemed for a variety of diseases”; two species 

of wild cherry (wild red cherry and choke-cherry); 

wild ginger — “a most excellent substitute 

for ginger in every respect, and it has been used 

with fine effect in a variety of spasmodic diseases.” 

Friday, 22 May: a day for invertebrate observations 

— three species of mollusk in the Erie 

Canal; two species of Helix snails in shady 

ravines. Most of the entry was taken up with 

dermestid beetles (Dermestes), then commonly 

found “wandering about in search of some 

proper object, upon which to deposit their 

eggs.” He writes at length of the destructive 

habits of the larvae, especially among dried 

specimens in a natural history collection — but 

notes also their usefulness in speedily cleaning 

even the most delicate skeletons of mammals or 

birds without the least damage to the bones. 

Saturday, 23 May: a mixed bag. A great 

number of membranous wings are seen on the 

surface of a dead and decaying tree — newly 

shed by swarming individuals of a small black 

ant; he alleges that they belonged to males and 

females which, “having accomplished the grand 

purposes of their existence, had just shed 

them,” while the neuters, or workies...were 

industriously employed in carrying in food, 

and preparing the cells for the accommodation 

of their [whose?] future progeny.” Small limbs 

Chapter 12 171

could be seen developing on tadpoles. A passerby 

“observed that he had often heard they 

turned into frogs, but never had been able to 

discover the tails which they must have shed!” 

Evidently, he did not learn from Eights, who 

tells us only: “As the legs expand, these now 

useless appendages become gradually obscured 

by the great extension of the powerful muscles 

and teguments of the hinder legs.” Song from 

summer-resident birds is noticed: no details. 

Monday, 25 May. Cherry and apple trees are 

in full bloom; neither they nor pears sustained 

any injury during the past severe winter that 

almost entirely destroyed the peach crop. 

White-lipped snails (his Helix albolabris), kept in 

a closed pill-box, soon withdraw into their 

shells and secrete successive layers of a slimy 

substance that dries into a secure protection. 

The substance “effervesced in nitric acid, indicating 

the presence of carbonate of lime. With 

others I amused myself by sawing out, with a 

pen-knife, square pieces of the shell, varying at 

each time its situation, and in a brief space of 

time, the parts removed were replaced by the 

same viscid substance, which became indurated 

like the remainder of the shell.” 23A 

Tuesday, 26 May: An extended note on the 

black bass, which he calls Cichla fasciata, 

Lesueur, and holds to be “peculiar to Lake Erie; 

it was never found in our waters until the completion 

of the Erie canal, since which time it is 

not unfrequently taken along our wharves, and 

also in the canal, together with several others 

which have heretofore been exclusively confined 

to that lake.” Unfortunately, the “others” 

are not named. A mussel and some aquatic 

snails were seen today. Plants first observed in 

flower today were: Zizia, a parsnip family 

genus, the species aurea and aptera; three species 

of violet, Viola pubescens, canadensis and pedata 

(V. pedata is not a wide-spread species in upper 

New York); two species of wild cherry (his 

Cerasus borealis and obovata — now Prunus pensylvanica 

and virginiana); beaked-cornsalad 

(Valerianella radiata), another rare species. 24 

Wednesday, 27 May: There was a welldefined 

halo around the sun, “indicative of 

moisture in the atmosphere, and consequently 

rain.” The boxturtle, called by him Testudo 

clausa, is “not unfrequently met with in warm 

sandy exposures; it is this species upon which 

individuals are in the habit of inscribing their 

names.” “The very beautiful and very fragrant 

Pinxter blomache...has just appeared in bloom”; 

so has red baneberry (then Actaea rubra; now A. 

spicata rubra). 25 

Thursday, 28 May: A notable salamander 

record and a retrospective on “popular prognostics 

indicative of rainy weather, a number of 

which were observed this morning [does he 

mean he observed prognostics or rainstorms?]; 

rheumatic old persons complain of aches, cats 

wash their faces, dogs grow drowsy, hogs run 

with straws in their mouths, leeches in jars 

become uneasy, flies bite and frogs are noisy, 

spiders forsake their webs, and are seen crawling 

on walls and fences, cirrous clouds, commonly 

called mares-tails, in the sky, insects 

draw nearer the earth as moisture accumulates 

in the atmosphere, consequently swallows skim 

the surface of the earth in order to obtain 

them.” “The first thunder this month occurred 

to day during a shower” (one wonders how 

there could have been the dramatic displays of 

lightning on the 4th and 5th of the month without 

thunder being heard). And the salamander: 

“A fine specimen of the Salamandra tigrina, 

Green, was brought me to-day, having been 

taken within a few miles of the city, this is the 

second specimen yet found as far north as this: 

it measured seven inches in length, the first was 

caught in our streets, having been brought to 

the city in a hollow piece of wood down the 

Erie canal.” 26 

Friday, 29 May: Baltimore orioles or hangbirds 

are “now not unfrequently met with in 

the trees of our gardens.” Eights takes issue 

with Shakespeare’s pronouncement that “the 

poor beetle that we tread upon, feels a pang,” 

and so on. On the basis of his own observations 

and accounts he had read, he suspects them 

indifferent to pain. The aurora borealis was 

faintly visible in the evening. 

Saturday, 30 May: A marsh hawk (harrier) 

was shot in a wet meadow near the river, a 

species, he says that “is not frequently met with 

in our region,” but I suspect he meant to write 

“not unfrequently.” He found the remains of a 

fish in its throat, a rather uncommon food. 

Among plants now observed in bloom: false 


Figure 12.1. Tiger salamander (now Ambystoma tigrinum) one of two specimens reported by James Eights. The species 

is now unknown as far north as Albany. This original drawing (now in the Boston Science Museum) is about 2 3/4 x 4 3/4 

inches. It was probably meant to accompany a report that was never published. It is reproduced here by permission, 

through the courtesy of Carolyn Kirdahy. 

sanicle (Mitella diphylla); mitrewort (Tiarella 

cordifolia); bladder nut; two species of 

hawthorn; five buttercups (his Ranunculus sceleratus, 

lacustrus, repens, intermedius, and 

bulbosus); honewort, Cryptotaenia; his Cardamine 

rhomboidea; his Dentaria laciniata; Arabis lyrata; 

the sandworts Arenaria stricta and serpyllifolia; 

Pedicularis canadensis (lousewort) and what he 

calls Carpinus arenaria (perhaps a mistake in 

specific name; Rittner credits him with C. caroliniana). 

And Sunday, 31 May: The garden shrub, 

snowball viburnum, is in full flower and what 

was probably a species of rose-leaf roller cater- 

Chapter 12 173

pillar was then committing great ravages on 

roses. 

Thus, James Eights and the first month of 

his natural history of Albany. His second 

month, for June 1835, follows. 

Monday, 1 June: Moccasin flower and large 

yellow lady-slipper orchids (now Cypripedium 

acaule and C. calceolus pubescens) are for the first 

time in bloom. While prize flowers for the garden, 

they prove difficult to cultivate; he reported 

a considerable, continuing demand for roots 

for the trade for transplanting in Europe, 

because they usually die out right away. 

Tuesday, 2 June: Caterpillars of the leafroller 

previously noted “have now extended 

their devastation indiscriminately to all the 

trees of the garden, which they greatly disfigure.” 

Strong suds and saturated salt solution do 

not accomplish their destruction; he supposed 

the only way to diminish their numbers was the 

tedious one of “picking them off as fast as they 

are discovered.” Among plants newly in bloom: 

Lupinus perennis, “the beautiful blue 

lupine...every where in bloom along the pine 

plains”; his woodbine (honeysuckle), Lonicera 

parviflora, presumably now L. dioica, in rocky 

situations; Mayapple, in light woods; dwarf 

ginseng and water avens in more moist habitats; 

and Styrandra bifolia of Rafinesque. Major 

Fay’s hedge of English hawthorn on Arbor Hill 

is in full bloom; a lunar corona was visible this 

evening. 27 

Wednesday, 3 June: Nighthawks were 

observed for the first time just after sunset 

today; his comments on differences from whippoor-wills 

would be helpful only with a specimen 

seen under very favorable circumstances. 

While his characterization of the sound produced 

by the male nighthawk’s wing feathers is 

apt, he supposes the noise “uttered,” rather 

than a mechanical one. There follows a quite 

long account of a kind of fly here identified as 

the stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans, but noted in 

his July installment as Musca carnaria. Whether 

the latter species name is still valid is immaterial: 

His fly was obviously not the stable fly, 

which breeds in decaying vegetation — the 

young of the one he described (one of the best 

examples, he held, “in which the admirable 

wisdom of our Maker is...strikingly displayed, 

in his benevolence to the human race”) fed 

upon putrefying flesh. The same heat that produced 

the fastest putrefaction speedily roused 

these insects from “their hybernating torpor” 

and “they immediately set about the great purposes 

of their existence.” Dead bodies of animals 

are soon “covered by myriads of these little 

scavengers [he notes that the females are 

equipped to take immediate advantage of a carcass 

and its evanescent supply of food, in that 

they deposit young maggots, not eggs, upon 

the food supply], voraciously devouring it as 

fast as putrefaction ensues, and by that means 

preserve the air pure and undefiled, for the 

healthful supply of the human family.” 

Thursday, 4 June: He notes various small 

mollusks, both terrestrial and aquatic. In the 

evening, he watched the ascent of an illuminated 

balloon, during which it twice changed its 

horizontal direction of movement, as it intercepted 

differentially moving masses of air. Its 

final movement was from west to east, contrary 

to the flow of air at lower elevations. That air 

currents first changed directions at higher elevations 

and gradually descend to earth he 

thought proved by the fact that wind directions 

the following morning were from the west. A 

skillful meteorologist will be able to predict 

wind directions some hours ahead, he thought, 

“by observing attentively the course of the 

clouds, in the superior regions of the air.” 

Friday, 5 June: During a thunderstorm, he 

calculated the distance of lightning flashes by 

counting the seconds of time that elapsed after 

a flash. Fireflies were observed tonight for the 

first time this year. A friend of his, he claimed, 

had found that if he imprisoned a firefly under 

the crystal of his watch, he could agitate it, 

causing it to flash, and he could tell time in the 

dark. 

Saturday, 6 June: A quarry of quite beautiful 

green jaspery slate has been opened on the 

Normans Kill. New plants now in flower: 

white-flowered elderberry, Sambucus canadensis; 

tree cranberry, hobblebush and maple-leaved 

and pear-leaved viburnums (all genus 

Viburnum, species opulus, lantanoides, acerifolium, 

his pyrifolium — his pear-leaved species — is 


perhaps now nudum); red and white clovers, 

presumably Trifolium pratense and repens; 

hounds-tongue, Cynoglossum officinale; forgetme-not 

(he says Myosotis arvensis, but the matter 

is too complex to be sure of his identification); 

robins plantain (he says Erigeron bellidifolium, 

but it is perhaps a species of Antennaria); 

American water-cress (he says Cardamine 

hirsuta, a rare escaped species); two species of 

Kalmia (he claims angustifolia, sheep laurel, and 

glauca var. rosmarinifolia — the latter is now perhaps 

polifolia); flowering dogwood and dwarf 

cornel or bunchberry (Cornus florida and 

canadensis); two orchids, Orchis spectabilis and 

Arethusa bulbosa; Smilacina racemosa; Uvularia 

grandiflora; Clematis verticillaris; Stellaria 

longifolia. There was a beautiful colored corona 

about the moon at night. 

Monday, 8 June: Eights makes no argument 

in regard to remarks by “our oldest inhabitants, 

that the waters of the Hudson river have been 

gradually diminishing in quantity within the 

period of their remembrance.” He attributed it 

“to the circumstance of evaporation proceeding 

with more rapidity and to a much greater 

extent, as the lands from time to time become 

cleared and cultivated about its numerous supplies.” 

Channels change direction, islands of 

deposits form anew; higher water levels at former 

times he thought proved by strata of 

deposits now about six feet above high water 

mark, yet containing clam shells of a species 

still inhabiting the river. 

Tuesday, 9 June: House wrens have again 

taken possession of a birdhouse in the family’s 

garden. He described their skillful maneuvers 

as they brought long sticks into the nesting cavity. 

The larvae of the leaf-rolling moths, previously 

so destructive, have run their course. The 

clammy locust, a cultivated form, is in bloom; 

the everlasting Antenarria in flower 18 May is 

everywhere in seed. 

Wednesday, 10 June: He describes the 

wood-louse (pill-bug, a terrestrial crustacean) 

and its habit of rolling into a bead-shaped ball 

when disturbed, “bearing pretty harsh treatment 

before they would acknowledge their 

vitality by moving.” He avers that “these 

insects [!] formerly were in great use to cure 

agues, consumptions, and a variety of other diseases, 

and were as deservedly popular as a host 

of the patent medicines of the present day”! 

“Their spherical form must have greatly facilitated 

the administering, and probably first suggested 

their use as such.” In the pine plains, he 

noted the first flowering of what he called 

veined hawkweed (Hieracium venosum), “when 

bruised or chewed has been used to apply to 

the bite of rattle-snakes”; his crosswort, 

whorled loosestrife (Lysimachia quadrifolia); 

Jacob’s-ladder, Smilax herbacea; and a meadowrue 

that he calls Thalictrum purpurascens (now 

perhaps T. dioicum). 

Thursday, 11 June: Another example of 

insect indifference to severe injury, in the case 

of a bumblebee. Bobwhite quails were very 

noisy in the afternoon, “whistling at intervals of 

a very few seconds, in recently cleared fields 

about the pine plains. There was also an unusual 

activity and bustle among the inhabitants of 

the ant-hills...both of which are considered as 

indications of forth-coming rain. It is a very singular 

circumstance, that these animals [both 

species?] often denote the changes in the weather 

by their particular motions and habits; it is 

owing no doubt to some peculiar sensibility in 

them to electricity, or other atmospheric influence.” 

Of the mussel Symphynota compressa 

(now Lasmigona compressa), he notes: “It is a 

very curious fact that this singular bivalve 

should be found only in the Ohio river, and in 

the Normans-Kill near this city. They are not, 

however, as common in this last locality as the 

other shells of the family. I obtained several 

specimens to-day, but nearly all of them imperfect, 

having been injured by...the musk rat, the 

marks of the teeth are plainly to be seen on the 

external side of either valve.” 28 

Friday, 12 June: “The side-saddle flower, or 

pitcher-plant (Sarracenia purpurea, Linn:)...is 

now most profusely in bloom in the sphagnous 

pools about our city.” He alleges a need of the 

plant for a regular supply of moisture, supplied 

to it by nature’s provision of cup-shaped leaves 

“with their orifices upward, in order to catch 

the falling rains, and by that means they serve 

as cisterns for nourishing the plant throughout 

the dryest seasons.” However, he also notices 

Chapter 12 175

the need of the plant for “a certain proportion 

of animal substance,” made possible by “a most 

wonderful provision in nature,” the inwardpointing 

spines that prevent intruding insects 

from escaping from the pitchers of water. 

Leaves invariably contain “about a thimble full 

of remains of insects,” chiefly beetles. Eights 

wondered at swarms of tiny gnats that were 

able to fly throughout a period of brisk rainfall, 

crediting them with “a vast degree of skill in 

navigating thus freely through the falling 

drops.” The orange lily, Lilium bulbiferum, of 

gardens has commenced flowering. Other 

plants in full flower: silvery cinquefoil, 

Potentilla argentea; deer-berry, Vaccinium stamineum; 

“the beautiful fragrant Asclepias quadrifolia; 

golden ragwort, Senecio aurea; “and in running 

brooks,” water speedwell, Veronica anagallis. 

Saturday, 13 June: “On the sandy pine 

plains and on road-sides, the yarrow (Achillea 

millefolium, Linn:) is now just coming into 

bloom. The root of this plant is much in use 

among our western Indians as a remedy for 

tooth-ache. Their manner of using it is after 

bruising or chewing, to apply it between the 

tooth and cheek, where it is suffered to remain 

until the pain is removed. I once saw it used 

with beneficial effect, but considered it rather a 

harsh application, owing to its burning pungency. 

The blue flag (Iris versicolor, Linn:) is all 

over in flower in wet places, both on hills and 

plains. This is kept in ponds by the southern 

tribes, and much used by them as a purgative.” 

He comments upon the “error of instinct” that 

induces moths and other nocturnal insects to 

enter a room when a lighted lamp is placed at a 

window to lure them inside. 

Monday, 14 June: There is an extended commentary 

on aphids, now found in prodigious 

numbers on snowball trees. Ants are supposed 

by many to feed upon the aphids but, in fact, 

they are interested only in obtaining the “honey 

which is voided with their excrements.” Other 

people aver that ladybird beetles are “great evils 

in our gardens, and some have supposed that 

they were the authors of these aphides; on the 

contrary, they are of great benefit to us, for they 

feed almost altogether upon them.” He notes 

presciently: “What a great pity we could not 

light upon some method of multiplying these 

little insects.” He quotes recent authority to the 

effect that aphids are at one time viviparous, “at 

another oviparous;...the intercourse of one original 

pair, serve for all the generations which proceed 

from the female for a whole succeeding 

year.” One calculation had it that in five generations, 

“one aphis may be the progenitor of 

5,904,900,000 descendants: and it is supposed 

that in one year, there may be twenty generations.” 

He dryly comments: “upon learning this 

fact, our wonder at meeting with such prodigious 

numbers...will probably cease.” Add the 

following plants that have come into bloom: 

cucumber root, Medeola virginiana; bush-honeysuckle, 

now Diervilla lonicera; brook-lime, his 

Veronica beccabunga (if correct, this is an escaped 

plant); round-leaf wintergreen (or leathery shinleaf), 

Pyrola rotundifolia; blue-eyed grass, his 

Sisyrinchium anceps, now angustifolium); rockrose 

or frost-weed, Helianthemum canadense — 

“this plant is used by empirics for curing scrofula, 

in decoctions and cataplasms”; dwarf scabish 

(an evening primrose); none-such (black medick, 

Medicago lupulina, an escaped legume); ox-eye 

daisy, long familiar as Chrysanthemum leucanthemum, 

this is now Leucanthemum vulgare. 29 

Tuesday, 16 June: “The Salamandra subviolacea 

of Barton is occasionally found in the deep 

woods under decaying trees and logs; a mutilated 

specimen was obtained to-day a few miles 

from the city. I had previously found them in 

Washington county, in this state.” He comments 

upon salamanders’ mythical ability to survive 

fire, supposing it due to secretion of “such an 

uncommon quantity of a viscous substance” 

from the skin that a moderate amount of flame 

might be extinguished. This is also the time of 

emergence of mayflies (he calls them “ephemeral 

flies”) and they are to be seen in immense 

numbers beneath trees near the water, where 

for hours on end they may be seen flying, 

“ascending and descending in the air, as if 

dancing.” They soon perish in immense numbers 

and “yield an abundance of food to the 

various fishes...particularly so to the trout. 

Anglers to be successful, should by all means 

use them as bait, or construct their artificial flies 


after their model as long as they are in 

season.” 30 

Wednesday, 17 June: “The following native 

plants were observed to-day for the first time 

this season in bloom”: Ground-ivy, Glechoma 

hederacea — “This plant has been used for curing 

acute head aches by snuffing it up the 

nose”; frost grape; hare-bell Campanula rotundifolia; 

sweet briar, Rosa rubiginosa; silver-weed, 

Potentilla anserina; “Cerastium tenuifolium Pursh, 

just passing into seed.” Most of the day’s entry 

— for the delight of the less squeamish — concerns 

the elegant habits of ichneumons, whose 

females, by means of an enormously elongated 

ovipositer, place their eggs in or on the body of 

a living caterpillar or pupa of a lepidopterid. 31 

Thursday, 18 June: This long entry is taken 

up with a fishing story, recommended to those 

who like to read fishing stories. It starts out 

with the observation that the snapping turtle 

(his Testudo serpentina, now Chelydra serpentina) 

“is not uncommon in the standing pools about 

the city. I saw them this morning offered for 

sale in our streets, and also had an opportunity 

of observing them in their more proper element.” 

Some local reader may be able to guess 

where Eights was, as “upon emerging from a 

noble forest of lofty pines, I beheld a fine sheet 

of water spread out before me, exceedingly picturesque 

in its appearance, though contracted 

in its dimensions, upon the brink of which was 

quietly seated an individual, attentively 

engaged in watching the cork of his line which 

was gracefully dancing in the light ripples of its 

surface.” Upon being told that the aim was to 

catch “‘cat-fish and eels,’” the evidently sceptical 

Eights elected to wait for evidence. The 

result, more than once, was a painted turtle — 

the patient fisherman admitted to having 

caught seven that morning. A final episode 

resulted in his bringing to light, but not to creel, 

an enormous snapping turtle that broke his hook 

and escaped. He stoutly insisted that “plenty” of 

catfish and eels were still to be found there. 

Friday, 19 June: “Since the last enumeration 

of native plants, the following have been 

observed in bloom”: swamp rose (Rosa carolina); 

seneca snake-root, Polygala senega; white honeysuckle 

(clammy or white azalea), Rhododendron 

viscosum; Solomon’s seal, his Polygonatum multiflorum; 

fever root (horse gentian), Triosteum perfoliatum; 

Anemone pennsylvanica; Houstonia longifolia. 

There follows an account of scale insects, 

the damages they cause and how they must be 

destroyed on sight. The freshwater mussel, 

“Unio radiata of Say has within a few years 

become quite common in the canal at this place; 

this is a very fine bivalve shell, and appears to 

thrive much better in this situation than in the 

Hudson river.” 32 

Saturday, 20th June: Under the name of 

American ticks, with the scientific name Acarus 

americanus then in use, the prevalent species is 

noticed as “now very numerous in our light 

woods, particularly among the alder trees 

[species not identified]. They are voraciously 

inclined for blood, of this I wish no better proof 

than the circumstance of obtaining two specimens 

from the back of my neck, where they 

were industriously employed in inserting their 

serrated rostrums through the cuticle into the 

flesh.” And: “At the half-way house on the rail 

road, I observed the nest of a swallow situated 

on the frame of the window, under a piazza in 

the second story, and an accident deprived me 

of the satisfaction of making myself more intimately 

acquainted with this interesting bird. As 

its habits are so distinctly different from any of 

the known swallows of this country, I have little 

doubt that it will prove to be an acquisition to 

the catalogue of American birds. The Hirundo 

urbica of Linn: is very common in Europe, 

building its nests in like situations, and I should 

not be surprised, if, upon close examination, it 

should prove to be the same species; if so, this 

will be the first notice ever made of it in our 

country. The cliff swallow, described by the late 

Gov. Clinton, builds under the eves [!] of houses; 

but its peculiar nests are easily distinguished 

from all others of the Hirundine race, in having 

the entrance formed similar to the mouth of a 

chemical retort. The female was sitting on the 

eggs.” Flowers in bloom for the first time: 

Lilium philadelphicum (wood lily) and what he 

calls Convolvulvus spithamaeus, presumably the 

low bindweed, now Calystegia spithamea. 32A 

Monday, 22 June: Cool, wet weather has 

beneficially reduced the numbers of voracious 

Chapter 12 177

caterpillars, compared to previous years. And a 

lesson in microentomology: “To-day, while my 

eye was directed through the microscope — 

that avenue to concealed glories, — a number 

of flies were allured into its focus by some small 

lumps of sugar, upon which they immediately 

commenced exercising the full force of their 

suction pipes: but before they could derive any 

nutriment from it, I observed that they were 

obliged to resort to a method of first converting 

it into a liquid state by occasional discharges of 

a fluid substance, previously supplied from vessels 

or fountains, situated internally, at no great 

distance from their mouths, in a manner very 

similar to that in which saliva is produced from 

the glands in man, during the process of mastication.” 

Tuesday, 23 June: The evening primrose, 

Oenothera biennis, “has now commenced flowering 

most profusely.” He notes that this flower of 

the night “is one of Flora’s time-keepers, 

expanding their large yellow corollas about the 

setting of the sun, and as regularly closing them 

again at its appearance in the morning, peacefully 

slumbering throughout the ungenial heats 

of the day. The flowers are fragrant, and are 

said to be phosphorescent at night. The leaves 

are sometimes bruised and applied to wounds.” 

He observed what he took to be an instance of 

cannibalism in a female spider (“no doubt her 

own mate”), a ready explanation, he thought, 

for the fact that male spiders are rarely met 

with. 33 

Wednesday, 24 June: Obviously, a day 

devoted to insecticide — thoughts on how one 

can become his own “Sampson” and “slay his 

many thousands, and on the succeeding season 

he will have great cause to congratulate himself 

that his labor was not bestowed in vain.” As for 

aphids on plum trees, that soon disfigure 

leaves, he encouraged “the free use of some of 

those simple [unnamed] remedies recommended 

in the various works on horticulture.” 

Thursday, 25 June: Plants that are now in 

bloom: his sleek mullien (moth mullein), 

Verbascum blattaria, an introduced species, “in 

old stony fields and sides of the way”; vervain, 

Verbena rostrata; upright loosestrife, his 

Lysimachia stricta; beard-tongue, his Pentstemon 

pubescens; lady-slipper, Cypripedium spectabile 

(presumably now reginae, the showy lady-slipper); 

his poke root, by which he means false 

hellebore, Veratrum viride — “a poison to all 

insects, and has been used with success to kill 

cockroaches”; common cockle (corn-cockle), 

Agrostemma githago, an introduced species; partridge 

berry, Mitchella repens; clasping bellflower, 

his Campanula amplexicaulis; snapdragon 

(he means butter-and-eggs, Linaria vulgaris, a 

naturalized plant); motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca, 

a naturalized plant). His “cross-ear basswood, 

Tilia pubescens,” is perhaps to be equated 

with Tilia heterophylla, an introduced tree, but 

may be a mistake for the native Tilia americana 

or a form of it. And: white avens (he says Geum 

virginianum but may mean today’s G. 

laciniatum) — “this plant is much used in decoctions, 

and it is stated upon good authority, that 

by long use it is capable of restoring to health 

the most shattered and feeble constitutions.” 

Seeing an abundance of hornets, and wasps of 

various species, he assures us that we may 

shortly expect the number of flies to diminish, 

“as these insects devour them in vast numbers.” 

French butchers welcome wasps around their 

stalls, as they drive away flesh flies; “and we 

are told, that in some parts of our own country, 

the inhabitants are in the habit of suspending a 

hornet’s nest in their sitting rooms, the occupants 

of which eagerly prey upon the flies, 

without molesting any of the members of the 

family.” An abundance of wasps also denotes a 

bountiful season of fruits. 34 

Friday, 26 June: Dogbane (Indian hemp) is 

now coming into full bloom. “This is one of 

those singular fly-catching plants: the insects 

being entrapped by the irritability of the stamens, 

which close upon them immediately 

upon being touched. That these vegetables 

derive nutriment from the animal matter thus 

obtained, has been much questioned by many 

experienced botanists, but of this fact I think 

there can be little doubt, for nothing in nature 

has been created in vain, consequently, these 

ensnared insects, must unquestionably be subservient 

to some important purposes in their 

economy, and the experiments of a nurseryman 

in London I think have decided the point in 


question in a most satisfactory manner, for he 

found that upon supplying the leaves of one of 

these plants with fine filaments of rare beef, 

that it thrived better, and was far more luxuriant 

in its growth than those that were not so 

treated. The powdered root of this plant when 

used fresh, is considered equal to ipecacuana as 

an emetic, thirty grains being given at a dose; in 

smaller quantities it acts as a tonic. Chewing the 

fresh roots and swallowing the juice, is by some 

of the Indian tribes considered as a specific in 

syphilis — Its nauseous bitter taste, however, is 

a great objection to its popular use.” 35 

In the evening hours, Eights caught a specimen 

of the scarab beetle, genus Copris of 

Latreille, lured into his room by a light. He 

found the animal infested by “a great number 

of minute parasitical insects belonging to the 

Aphidae distributed in various situations, about 

the head and thorax, and also on the thighs, 

having with their slender rostrums, perforated 

the hard corneous covering, and quietly 

employed in pumping out the fluids at their 

leisure; and it was with some difficulty that 

they could be removed.” He supposes all 

insects are each beset with its peculiar parasites 

— perhaps there are as many parasites as host 

species. “I have seen it asserted, that even those 

parasites, minute as they appear, have others 

again to prey upon them.” 36 

Saturday, 27 June: Examples of mountain 

laurel (Kalmia latifolia) were brought “from the 

limestone range of the Helderberg mountains, 

fourteen miles west. This is the nearest locality 

to the city of Albany, in which this beautiful 

plant thrives.” “It is from this plant that the 

bees extract the honey, which ofttimes proves so 

deleterious to the health of individuals who 

have eaten it.” He repeats accounts that the 

flesh of ruffed grouse becomes poisonous when 

they are forced to feed extensively on this 

plant. 37 

Monday, 29 June: A long disquisition on 

fireflies, whose splendid displays of light may 

be seen to perfection by “the individual who 

has occasion to walk out a short distance 

beyond the boundaries of our city an hour or 

two after the sun has set, just when the shadows 

of night have spread deeply over the 

land.” Particularly great numbers of them may 

be seen if the pathway leads near a morass or 

standing pool of water. While the flight of these 

insects seems undetermined and deviating, the 

observer “will have cause to observe some one, 

or more of them, darting through the air like an 

eagle swooping for its prey.” He thought the 

flights motivated by the same interests as 

eagles: namely, the pursuit of food. They are 

great benefactors of the human race, since 

“their natural food consists chiefly of gnats and 

moschetoes, vast numbers of which they 

devour.” He comments upon the fact that insect 

prey species of fireflies had selected these wet 

areas as safe places to deposit their eggs; but 

the mature gnats and other flies, when forced to 

leave the security of the water, are “immediately 

seized and speedily devoured by the watchful 

fire flies, long ere they could have an opportunity 

of even once beholding the light of day.” 

The function of the flashing, he thought, was 

that of luring and directing the male fireflies to 

the females, for the males, were “not endued 

with light, or possess it in a very feeble degree.” 

“These insects are to be observed most numerous 

just as the darkness sets in, flying very low, 

but as midnight approaches, they become more 

scattered, and then gradually put out their 

lights.” 38 

Tuesday, 30 June: And, at the end of June, 

an entry bears quoting: “I remember having 

read somewhere, that a lively old lady, by way 

of consoling an invalid friend of hers, who was 

complaining most bitterly of her annoyance 

from fleas, said: ‘Don’t you like fleas? Well, I 

think they are the prettiest little merry things in 

the world. — I never saw a dull flea in all my 

life.’ If this facecious [!] old lady had but accompanied 

me this afternoon, during a short ramble 

I took to the neighborhood of the city, I think 

she would have been exceedingly delighted at 

the animated spectacle, presented, by a prodigious 

assemblage of her favorite little vaulters; 

for I sincerely believe that the king of the fleas 

held his court in the place I visited. In pursuit 

of the chrysalis of a peculiar and beautiful 

species of moth, whose caterpillar generally 

selects old ruinous buildings for its purpose, I 

passed the threshold of an ancient and delapsed 

Chapter 12 179

[!] barn, whose situation, it can with truth be 

said, was open, airy, and spacious, and from the 

arrangement of its scanty and uncouth furniture 

within, I should readily conclude, that it 

‘oftimes proved the blessed abode, of’ — hogs, 

belonging to both the biped, and quadruped 

families. In a short time, in consequence of their 

rapidly increasing numbers, I was constrained 

to beat a speedy retreat, and upon issuing from 

beneath the ample, festooned, cob-web curtains, 

I found my clothes almost every where occupied 

by them, skipping about in all directions, 

and it was with the greatest degree of 

endurance that I could refrain from something 

more than an occasional skip or two in return.” 

Finally, a dour note, likewise worthy of quotation: 

“This has proved a cheerless, dreary, 

November-like looking day, with heavy masses 

of clouds driving with the wind, from the 

west.” In June, too! 

Despite that gloomy footnote to June just 

quoted, Wednesday, 1 July brought forth a 

cheerful comment: “The season has now 

arrived when the excessive heats of summer 

may naturally be expected to prevail, and when 

the atmosphere, teeming with electricity, most 

frequently seeks relief in repeated lightnings, 

attended with copious rains; by that means 

purifying itself, and cooling the earth’s surface 

with refreshing showers.” The entry in fact is a 

long retrospect on the summer season and not a 

proper phenological report at all. A brief note in 

regard to cessation of bird song is pertinent but 

unspecific; his comment that the calls of the 

whip-poor-will “may again be heard” is worth 

noting. 39 

Thursday, 2 July: Eights records an example 

of what he thought “might with propriety be 

considered a close approximation to reason, 

rather than to the operations of animal 

instinct,” in what he termed a Sphex wasp. He 

describes the maneuvers of a female that had 

dug a deep hole in clay soil, then captured a 

large spider (“having deprived it of existence 

by a puncture from her venomed sting”). She 

had a great deal of trouble flying with the spider, 

whose legs projected so far they obstructed 

her wings. “After considerable perseverance, 

the true nature of the impediment appeared 

suddenly to occur, when she immediately 

descended to the earth, and deliberately proceeded 

to remove successively the obstacles 

[the spider’s legs?] and seizing her prey as 

before, soon bore it away triumphantly on her 

course.” 40 

Friday, 3 July: “The yellow vapour [first 

reported the afternoon before] still continues 

spread through the heavens, and the weather 

has become exceedingly warm, with little or no 

wind stirring.” He procured, from a piece of 

wood that had lain for many months in the 

woodshed, a specimen of Anobia (a death-watch 

beetle). He comments on the singular ability of 

their larve to subsist on the driest wood, one of 

them “having been known to subsist for 

months on the ligneous fibres of a chair, which 

had been baked for fifty years before the fire.” 

He accounts for the popular name of the group 

among the superstitious, who impute premonitory 

powers to the animals and believe their 

ticking sounds in wood imply that a death will 

occur in the family. Brilliant and beautiful 

northern lights were seen to the northwest in 

the evening. 

Saturday, 4 July: Cherries and red raspberries 

are being hawked through the streets. He 

had just witnessed the emergence of specimens 

of the willow butterfly whose caterpillars he 

had fed in his room. Each was “fourteen days 

in the chrysalis before it emerges the perfect 

fly.” He saw again the ascent of illuminated balloons 

in the evening sky, which “afford us an 

excellent opportunity of observing the direction 

of the winds in the superior regions of the 

air.” 41 

Sunday, 5 July: Many willow butterflies 

have emerged into the adult state; “as soon as 

they became sufficiently prepared to range the 

fields, they invariably discharged a drop of a 

reddish fluid, very much in appearance like 

that of blood. These blood-like drops have not 

unfrequently been the cause of a great deal of 

terror and alarm in some parts of Europe.” 

Monday, 6 July: “I obtained to-day a mutilated 

specimen of the soft-shell tortoise, (Trionyx 

ferox. LeConte,) which had been captured by a 

fishing party under the Cohoes Falls on the 

Mohawk river. It measured seven and a half 


inches in length, and was of a palish green 

colour. The dusky spots scattered over its back 

were also fewer in number and of a much 

lighter hue than any that I had hitherto seen. It 

was taken with a hook baited with a portion of 

a small fish. The propriety of its specific name, 

ferox, has been much questioned by recent naturalists, 

in consequence of its seldom having 

exhibited a disposition to bite; however, I am 

told, that in the West they have been known to 

do so, and that too, severely, and I myself had 

an opportunity of witnessing a large one from 

Cayuga Lake in this state, dart out its head ferociously 

at a dog which had been purposely 

brought near, and take from its side a mouthful 

of hair in the attempt.” He reports specimens of 

the clams Cyclas dubia and C. rhomboidea (now in 

genera Sphaerium and Pisidium respectively); the 

former occurs sparingly in the Erie Canal, the 

other is found in the Normanskill. Polanisia 

graveoleus (stinkweed, clammyweed; species 

now dodecandra) is now abundant along rivers; 

one-leafed cancer-root (he means one-flowered; 

Orobanche uniflora), common in shady ravines; 

the same is true of cow-wheat, Melampyrum lineare 

americanum. Bladderwort, Utricularia gibba, 

“is just flowering in the pools about the pine 

plains.” 42 

Tuesday, 7 July: He refers to three species of 

terrestrial snail, genus Helix, two of which are 

found at Albany. Plants found in bloom today: 

field bindweed, Convolvulus arvensis, a naturalized 

species that “has become quite common on 

the banks of the canal since its completion, the 

seeds are supposed to have been transported by 

its waters to its present position. It possesses a 

yellow ingredient for dyeing.” Also: New Jersey 

tea, Ceanothus americana (“The leaves of this 

plant yield a tea very similar to that produced 

from Bohea, and was freely used as a substitute 

for it during the revolutionary war. The roots 

are used for giving a red dye”); great willowherb 

or fireweed, presumably Epilobium angustifolium 

— a species he thought worthy of cultivation 

for its beautiful flowers. Also in flower: 

arrowhead, Sagittaria heterophylla (said by him 

to be rare); hedge hyssop, “common in wet 

places”; sweet scented bedstraw, Galium triflorum. 

He found Pyrola asarifolia, elliptica and 

secunda (wintergreen, shinleaf), “all in bloom in 

the shades of the pine forests and along their 

edges”; lady’s-tresses, his Spiranthes tortilis, 

“have just commenced flowering for the season”; 

pale touch-me-not, Impatiens pallida (“The 

decoction is frequently used with success in 

jaundice and asthma, it is also sometimes used 

for colouring wool of a saffron hue”); twinflower, 

Linnaea borealis, “found to-day on the 

pine plains...not often seen in this vicinity.” 43 

Wednesday, 8 July: The stalking activities of 

a species of “hunting spider” (evidently a jumping 

spider), “now very common,” is described. 

Its agility is admired and its ability to jump 

unerringly upon prey from almost any angle is 

well described. “Dark spots may be discovered 

on the sun’s disc by the aid of a telescope of 

moderate magnifiying power.” 

Thursday, 9 July: “This morning I saw a fine 

collections of eels from the Erie canal a few 

miles from this city. The immense size of some 

of them I think renders their claims to a nativity 

in these waters a very questionable circumstance. 

In all probability, they may have been 

introduced from the Schoharie, or the Mohawk 

rivers, although the canal elsewhere abounds 

with them; and I am told that in some places to 

the west, they materially effect [!] its security by 

boring into the banks, and by that means, not 

unfrequently cause a serious rupture. It has 

repeatedly been stated...that there are no eels 

found above the falls of the Niagara, either in 

Lake Erie, or any of its tributary waters; whilst 

below the falls, in Lake Ontario, and the various 

streams that empty into it, they are very 

numerous. This...is universally attributed to the 

circumstance, that although these fish are 

admirably adapted and fully capable of ascending 

any falls of a more moderate elevation, they 

are totally unable to stem this mighty torrent. 

However, I think that these waters are not destined 

to remain much longer untenanted by 

them, judging from the fact of the black bass 

and some other of the fishes, which have hitherto 

been considered as being exclusively confined 

to Lake Erie, having been repeatedly 

caught within the last year or two, in the 

Hudson river along our wharves.” The terrestrial 

snail, Helix arboreus of Say, is noted. Eights 

Chapter 12 181

circumspectly investigated an incident of this 

day — it being, as he said, “one of those scenes 

which distance lends enchantment to” — where 

a man had just shot a skunk. The man’s dog, 

however, was not so fortunate and “was 

ploughing in every direction, deep trenches in 

the sand, in order to free his nostrils from its 

pollution.” The man accounted the skunk a serious 

predator upon his eggs and poultry. Eights 

was a trifle skeptical of a story regarding two 

residents of the New York community of 

Geneva (as reported in Doughty’s Cabinet of 

Natural History) who encountered a skunk. One 

of them received a direct hit in the eyes; recovering, 

after a period of painful inflammation, he 

discovered that he had the ability to see accurately 

in the dark! 44 

Saturday, 11 July: While not a specific observation, 

his account of the great variety of oaks 

in America is well taken. This is always a matter 

of remark by observant foreigners. There 

are, he claimed, more species of native oaks in 

North America than there are species of forest 

trees in the entire European flora; he brings 

attention to the fact that there are 75 or more 

species native to the United States, contrasted 

with but a single native species in England. 

Currants and gooseberries are offered for sale in 

the streets. Two species of mussel (he calls them 

Anadonta marginata and Alasmidonta undulata; 

both are now in the latter genus) are found in 

the Erie Canal, the former being especially 

numerous and large with a fine nacre. 

Monday, 13 July: Most of this long entry is 

taken up with colors and other visible characteristics 

of stars, which Eights considers a subject 

neglected by poets and other imaginative writers. 

Clearly, he knew his stars, a matter facilitated 

by the absence of urban lights and the clearness 

of the sky in his time. Welcome showers 

occurred during the evening and night. 

Tuesday, 14 July: Lacewings are now plentiful, 

many of them perishing when they blow 

into streams, where they are eaten by fishes. 

Among benefactors of the human race, their larvae 

destroy great numbers of aphids. 

Blackberries are now ripe. Plants now in bloom 

include: wild indigo, Baptisia tinctoria, “every 

where through the woods along the pine 

plains” (“In strong decoctions it is often used as 

a wash, or in fomentations for ulcers of any 

kind, particularly for those of a foul nature”); 

the orchid, downy rattlesnake-plaintain, 

Goodyera pubescens (“The bruised leaves of this 

plant are applied by the Indians to sores, and 

by empirics in a decoction it is given for scrofula”); 

white and round-leaved orchids “are finely 

in bloom”; succory or chicory, Cichorium intybus 

— “though very common in meadows and old 

fields, is not indigenous to this country”...its 

“fine large blue flowers make quite a fine 

appearance when in full bloom”; his creeper, 

now Virginia creeper or woodbine, 

Parthenocissus quinquefolia, “in sunny exposures 

on the side of rocky ravines”; American water 

plantain, Alisma plantago-aquatica (“pools and 

ditches about the meadows”); yellow or Canada 

lily, Lilium canadense, “makes a most superb 

show in the low meadows and in the light 

woods...I frequently counted from ten to sixteen 

flowers on a single plant”; Pyrola umbellata (now 

genus Chimaphila, prince’s pine or Pipsissiwa), 

“This is the Pipsissiway of the Indians, and has 

been for some time a very popular medicine 

throughout Europe and the United States, for 

the cure of various diseases”); Indian pipe or 

ghost flower, Monotropa uniflora, “is beautifully 

in flower in the pine woods” (“This is a very 

singular plant, entirely of an ivory-white colour. 

It is used by Indians and empyrics [!] as a lotion 

for inflammations of the eye”). 45 [End of Part 1.] 

Wednesday, 15 July: “To-day a fine specimen 

of the Black Snake...measuring nearly five 

feet in length, was shot from the horizontal 

branch of an Apple tree upon which he was 

stretched, attentively watching a circular opening 

in the trunk above, into which some small 

bird had constructed its nest. A number of birds 

were hovering about him in full cry, not however 

attracted by its fascinating powers, but anxiously 

endeavoring to drive it from its dangerous 

approximation to their young.” Whortleberries 

are hawked along streets. “Berries of all 

kinds are very abundant this season, and whenever 

such is the case, it is generally indicative of 

great severity of the approaching winter; however, 

there are some well known exceptions to 

this rule.” 46 


Thursday, 16th July: Cedar birds 

(waxwings) have become quite common: “flying 

about our gardens, generally in pairs, or 

along the eves [!] of our dwellings. These birds, 

like most other beautiful plumaged birds, are 

by no means musical.” There are notes on several 

species of riverbank or freshwater snails: 

He mentions two species of what he calls 

Lymnaea, one of which is common in the pine 

plains, a species each of Paludina and Helix. 

“The American Locust, which appears annually, 

are now to be seen emerging from the ground, 

they are not very common, I have only seen 

four specimens. This species of Tettigonia differs 

very essentially in its colour and size from 

the famous seventeen year Locust.” 47 

Friday, 17 July: Various species of longhorned 

beetles (he calls them Goat Horns and 

refers one of them to the genus Cerambyx) are 

now emerging in the adult state from trees of 

the forest. They also live in logs used for building, 

often doing damage. No wood is too hard 

for the larvae to eat their way through, 

although one might wish more evidence in his 

second-hand tale that a species in England has 

larvae that can chew their way out through lead 

sheeting one-sixth inch in thickness! The following 

plants are in bloom: maidenhair fern, 

Adiantum pedatum (not a flowering plant, of 

course), “a very delicate and most beautiful fern 

and greatly sought after by foreigners on that 

account alone” (“Its properties are pectoral and 

expectoral, and it is stated that the Cherokee 

Indians use a strong decoction of it for the cure 

of Agues, &c.”). Other plants in bloom: agrimony, 

“a very mild astringent...much used in 

coughs and complaints of the bowels”; his 

American hemlock, “a well known poisonous 

and medicinal plant, growing near streams and 

swamps; in meadows, and on the road sides, 

quite common.” 48 

Saturday, 18 July: “Whoever has occasion to 

walk out a short distance beyond the boundaries 

of our city, during hours of day-light, will 

have his attention not unfrequently attracted by 

a pair of black beetles, industriously employed 

in rolling along a round ball of earth much larger 

than both of them put together. This is the 

Ateuchus pilularius of authors, and the examples 

of extraordinary industry that these insects 

exhibit in depositing their eggs, is worthy of 

admiration. After having constructed this pellet, 

into which the female has carefully placed her 

eggs, they, with unwearied industry, and by 

their united efforts commence rolling it along 

over the surface of the ground, through declivities 

and over elevations, until they succeed in 

placing it in a cell which they had previously 

completed for its reception. These cells are dug 

with prodigious labor in the hard earth, nearly 

three feet in depth, and the distance from the 

place where these balls are composed is sometimes 

almost incredible.” 49 

Monday, 20 July: “Any person wishing to 

obtain the skeletons of the smaller animals in a 

beautiful state of preservation may readily do 

so by first besmearing the carcase all over with 

honey or any saccharine matter, and then burying 

it for a few days in a common ant hill: he 

will be sure to find it perfectly denuded of the 

flesh, with the ligaments and cartilages alone 

untouched. I have before me several fine specimens 

which have been thus prepared. In order 

to have them in a natural attitude I had previously 

placed them in the desired position with 

wires, on small squares of shingle.” Various 

species of snails, two of the genus Helix and one 

perhaps of the genus Planorbis, are noted. 

Tuesday, 21 July: Larvae of insects that lay 

eggs in standing water are now commonly 

seen. He alleges great benefits from their existence 

in water where, by “abstracting all the 

unwholesome properties from the water they 

by that means preserve it pure and free from 

the marsh miasmata which would otherwise 

exhale from it. This fact may easily be determined 

by filling two vessels one with the water 

containing them and the other without, the latter 

will in a few days become impure and give 

out a very unpleasant odor.” Two species of 

lobelia are now in flower: “the delicate little L. 

Kalmii of Linn: along the rocky shores of the 

river, and the L. claytoniana of Mich: all over the 

edges of woods, bearing a raceme well filled 

with beautiful pale blue flowers.” Asters begin 

to flower, the first being what he called Aster 

conyzoides Willd. Two species of dogbane, his 

Apocynum hypericifolium and pubescens, are 

Chapter 12 183

noted in flower “in various places about the 

pine plains.” Several unnamed species of milkweed, 

Asclepias, are noted: “The silky down [he 

alleges] attached to the seeds of these last plants 

can be wove [!] into cloths similar to that made 

by a mixture of silk and cotton. Vid. Silliman’s 

Journal for the last year.” The curious dodder, 

Cuscuta gronovii, “is now in flower along the 

wet meadows. — This is a...parasitic plant, 

extracting its nutriment from the various plants 

around which it twines.” False gromwell, 

Onosmodium molle (now a rare plant), “is just 

coming into bloom on the sandy hills along the 

plains”; beech-drops, Epifagus virginiana, “on 

hills under the shadow of the trees; quite common 

in some places.” 50 

Wednesday, 22 July: “Various species of the 

Dragon Flies now every where abound in 

marshy places and still waters. You can scarcely 

approach a stagnant pool, without discovering 

them wheeling over the water, watching for 

other insects whose similar instinct, may lead to 

like situations for food. Many a desperate conflict 

ensues, should any of its own species 

approach, nor does it terminate until one is 

obliged to relinquish the field to the superior 

prowess of the other. These insects seize and 

devour their prey while on the wing, and the 

brief space of time in which they will secure, 

cast off the wings, and extract the contents of 

their bodies, excites surprise in the beholder. In 

both the larva, and pupa state, they are inhabitants 

of the water, where they prey most[.] 

Their heads for this purpose are armed with 

powerful jaws, which they artfully conceal 

beneath a mask. Rapaciously preying upon all 

the aquatic insects that come in their way. 

When an unsuspecting victim approaches they 

instantaneously cast off the mask, fix upon it 

with their jaws, and devour it at their leisure. 

Having arrived at the perfect state, they differ 

from most other insects, by becoming more sanguinary 

and voracious than before.” 51 

Thursday, 23 July: An interesting, if mainly 

second hand, account of one of the burying or 

sexton beetles (he uses the generic name 

Necrophagus, but see Nicrophorus, family 

Silphidae). He assumes that his specimens had 

recently been burying a dead body of some sort 

(a mouse or frog, for example), in which they 

would have previously deposited eggs. 

Friday, 24 July: He finds a lacewing, “very 

delicate and exceedingly beautiful...of an entire 

green colour, and having very conspicuous 

large golden eyes,” now common about fruit 

trees. They seek a place to deposit their eggs, 

“among the most appropriate food for their 

young. I am sorry to add, that upon close 

acquaintance, the whole effect of their fine 

appearance is completely destroyed, by the 

strong, disgustful odour, which exhales from 

them, particularly on being handled.” “Pleurisy 

Root (Asclepias tuberosa, Linn:) is now beautifully 

in bloom all over the Pine Plains. It is a very 

ornamental plant and richly deserves to be cultivated....It 

contains many valuable properties 

as a medicine, and has frequently given great 

relief in diseases of the chest.” Meteors were 

common in the nighttime sky. 52 

Saturday, 25 July: Although fossils “are not 

frequently found in the slaty grauwacke of this 

vicinity, they nevertheless do occasionally 

occur.” This day he had found, from neighboring 

ravines, specimens of this rock with fossils 

of Spirifera, Producta, Terebratula, an 

Orthoceratite and a Trilobite, “all perfectly identical 

with those most commonly found in the 

transition limestones, whose natural position is 

immediately in connection with this grauwacke, 

above.” Habernaria fimbriata “is now beautifully 

in bloom in the light swamp woods; this is a 

very beautiful plant exhibiting a densely covered 

spike of blue flowers. The H. ciliaris...is 

now also in bloom; this plant beautifully ornaments 

the light woods on the Pine Plains, and 

might be introduced, and prove a great acquisition 

to our gardens with its splendid spikes of 

rich orange flowers.” Today he accounted “the 

commencement of the Dog Days.” 53 

Monday, 27 July: “To-day whilst walking 

along the shore of the river, I saw several 

instances of the common Sturgeon, springing 

for several feet into the air and falling with a 

great splash upon it surface. Various have been 

the conjectures as to the mode in which they 

accomplish the wonderful feat of ability, but I 

have no recollection of ever seeing an explanation 

on which any reliance can be placed. Some 


state that when under full way they suddenly 

strike their cartilaginous nose against the bottom, 

and thus bound up into the air, others, that 

when near the surface and swiftly pursuing 

their course, by turning on their side and slightly 

elevating their head they are easily enabled 

to glide out of their native element, but I was 

assured to-day by an individual who follows 

the taking of fish as a business, that it is often 

done when the animal is not under any considerable 

speed but comparatively, when at rest, 

by rolling over on the side and bending the 

posterior portion of the body under until the 

tail is brought nearly in contact with the head, 

then by a quick and powerful effort of its strong 

muscles, without difficulty it accomplishes the 

desired act.” 

Tuesday, 28 July: The tiger swallowtail butterfly 

is now common. Hard-hack, Spiraea 

tomentosa, is coming into flower: “It grows all 

over the plains. It is recommended by good 

authorities as an excellent astringent and tonic.” 

A goldenrod (he calls it Solidago canadensis) has 

just commenced flowering. “The Lions-foot...is 

just blooming, this plant is a popular remedy 

for the bite of the rattle-snake, all over the 

United States. — It is used as a poultice applied 

to the wound.” False foxglove, his Gerardia 

flava, is “a very showy plant and richly deserves 

cultivation, the flowers are very large and of a 

bright yellow color.” Water-Target’s oval leaves 

may be seen floating on the surface of ponds. 

Virgin’s bower, Clematis virginiana, “is a very 

pretty vine and forms a very ornamental covering 

for summer houses, not only when in 

flower, but also in seed, at which time, it is 

clothed with long silken hairs”: “It is a corrosive 

poison when fresh and taken internally. 

The leaf and flowers are so acrid that if applied 

to the skin, they readily form blisters.” Small 

spear-wort, his Ranunculus flammula, “is now in 

full bloom in moist places, it is considered a 

powerful and speedy emetic.” Gaura biennis “is 

a very showy plant now in flower along the 

sides of ditches, and deserves cultivation in 

consequence of the beautiful spike of rose colored 

flowers which it bears. It is frequently mistaken 

for the Epilobium spicatum, which it 

much resembles.” Albany beech-drops (a common 

name no longer used), Pterospora andromedea, 

“is only found in the state of New York, 

and was first discovered by Dr. Edwin James in 

the vicinity of this city, whence it derived its 

peculiar name. Dead flies are frequently found 

sticking to the stems, being retained by a 

gummy substance which exudes from it in great 

profusion.” Smooth sumac, Rhus glabra, is now 

in full bloom. 54 

Wednesday, 29 July: The whip-poor-will 

“has again commenced its peculiar notes the 

sound of which were [!] easily to be recognized 

this evening from the skirts of a neighboring 

forest. This bird is not unfrequently mistaken 

for the Night-Hawk, though I cannot conceive 

how Cooper the celebrated American Novelist 

could confound it with a quadruped of the west 

— the ‘Wish-ton-wish’ of the Indians.” Eights 

says that Cooper in one place equates “Wishton-wish” 

with the rodent called prairie dog: 

clearly in defiance of his statement elsewhere 

that “Wish-ton-wish” is a bird. He then, Eights 

says, confounds confusion by saying that whippoor-wills 

and nighthawks are the same species 

of bird. As to the restriction of Wish-ton-wish to 

the prairie dog, I do not know; however, it was 

a very long while before American ornithologists 

got nighthawks and whip-poor-wills 

untangled. Eights’s insistence upon anatomical 

characters hardly visible except with a specimen 

in the hand does not really help much: The 

birds can be much more reliably separated by 

their behaviors and sounds. The notice of 

recrudescence of vocalization in the whip-poorwill 

after a period of quiescence is well taken. 

Thursday, 30 July: The entry for this day is a 

morality lesson from the spider, species not 

named. Having, in early May, confined an adult 

female spider in a jar, whose mouth he covered 

with gauze, he watched her persistent “instinctive” 

efforts to climb its smooth walls. He found 

that she ultimately learned “to elevate her 

abdomen to its greatest extent, along one of the 

sides to which she firmly secured a small mass 

of web, then passing to the opposite side, by the 

same process, succeeded in attaching a line, and 

after having taughtened [!] its slack, she soon 

mounted the first step of the ladder in triumph, 

in this manner by continuing her labours from 

Chapter 12 185

day to day she finally succeeded in reaching the 

top and then, on the under surface of the gauze, 

she soon constructed a resting place.” She “subsequently 

constructed a portion of her customary 

geometrical web.” She regularly ate her 

three flies per day (ignoring them if more were 

given) — he called attention to what he conceived 

as a prodigious quantity of food 

required to support the entire population of spiders 

and other fly-eating animals — neatly 

inverting the equation, however, to prove how 

great the number of flies is. 

Friday, 31 July: Clusters of spots have been 

for the last few weeks visible on the surface of 

the sun; he calculated that a spot required 13.5 

days to pass over the visible face of the sun — a 

rotation period of 27 days for the sun. Spots 

“have been visible on the sun’s disk for some 

considerable time and I cannot discover that 

any atmospheric phenomenon can be attributed 

to them.” 

Saturday, 1 August: Our essayist perceives 

that nature gradually takes on a more sober 

hue, “plainly indicative, to the most common 

observer, that the decline of the year is rapidly 

approaching. Peaches, Pears, Plumbs and 

Apples, now successively ripen into their most 

delicious kinds, and many of the herbaceous 

plants, yield us their refreshing productions: 

some of which, being most admirably adapted, 

by a wise providence, to nourish and sustain us 

through the severities of the coming winter.” 

Plants observed in flower today were: Dwarf 

snakeroot or whorled milkwort, Polygala verticillata 

(“a very delicate little plant, quite common 

all over, along the edges of light woods”) and 

purple milkwort, now P. sanguinea (“in like situations”). 

Also in flower: wild senna, Cassia marilandica, 

now hebecarpa — “a beautiful herbaceous 

plant, and richly deserves cultivating, 

both on account of its appearance, and also for 

its admirable properties as a medicine. It is a 

simple cathartic, and although a little inferior to 

the East India Senna, it is considered infinitely 

superior to that from Egypt. A decoction from 

an ounce of the leaves and pods is considered 

an efficient dose: September is the proper time 

for collecting it.” The small species of senna, 

presumably today’s C. Chamaecrista, or partridge-pea 

“is also in flower along the shores of 

the river; this plant exhibits some considerable 

sensibility on being touched by the hand.” Also 

in flower: pickerel-weed, Pontederia cordata 

(shores of river, other wet places); elecampane 

or horseheal, Inula helenium: “it is esteemed of 

some value for a variety of diseases”; marsh 

cud-weed or wartwort, Gnaphalium uliginosum: 

“this plant is mentioned as a good substitute for 

tobacco in smoking and is also used for various 

diseases, being anodyne and pectoral in its 

nature”; hemp-nettle, Galeopsis tetrahit, “in old 

fields and other waste places”; two species of 

Hypericum are in profuse bloom. 55 

Monday, 3 August: An essay brought on by 

a friend who wondered why one of his two 

canaries was infested with vermin, while the 

other remained free from their annoyance. 

Eights found that the claws of the mite-infested 

bird had been injured. “It is a well known fact 

among naturalists, that the claws of Birds are 

used in the capacity of combs to free their 

plumae from the noxious vermin which infest 

them.” “Birds which have short legs are mostly 

infested by insects.” 

Tuesday, 4 August: “To-day I amused 

myself by irritating with the twig from a tree, a 

small species of sandsnake which I found 

crawling through a marshy piece of ground, 

and was pleased to see the threatening attitude 

it assumed for defense, coiling itself up as if in 

the act of springing. When in this position, the 

whole body seemed inflated to almost double 

its usual size, and the scales, which had hitherto 

been so smooth, now became rough in appearance, 

and nearly erect.” The entry, maddeningly 

enough, lacks enough information to enable one 

to be positive about the snake’s identity (it may 

have been a hog-nosed snake). He goes from 

this rather imprecise particular to a general 

account of serpentine anatomy and “springing” 

ability that becomes quite imprecise. 

Wednesday, 5 August: He received a piece 

of limestone from the vicinity of Glens Falls 

that was rich in remains of fossil crinoids of a 

species of Pentacrinus. He describes their commonness 

as fossils, their rarity in nature, 

although they had recently been found still living 

in marine habitats — some, he alleges, are 


of the same genus as those in his slab of limestone. 

Thursday, 6 August: “This morning I caught 

two specimens of the Bot-fly, (Oestrus Equi, of 

authors) during a short excursion in the country; 

they are much behind their usual time of 

appearance, which is the month of June. As 

there appears to be some uncertainty as to the 

manner in which this gad-fly introduces her 

larva into the stomach of the Horse, it may not 

be improper here to mention it. During the 

month of May the female fly having selected an 

object, suitable for her purpose, immediately 

proceeds to attach her eggs to the hairs of the 

animal, carefully avoiding such places as it is 

unable to reach with its tongue; the number of 

eggs is generally about four hundred, which are 

made to adhere to the hair, by a glutinous substance, 

with which they are covered. In a few 

days they become hatched into the larva state 

by the heat of the sun, and when the animal 

licks the spot with its moist tongue, they immediately 

adhere, and are so conveyed into the 

stomach, where they generally remain about 

three or four weeks, before they pass off, and 

become the perfect fly. The situations which the 

fly prefers to deposit her eggs, are the inside of 

the knee, the sides, and back part of the shoulders.” 

56 

Friday, 7 August: “Within the last few days 

grass-hoppers have become exceedingly numerous, 

a warm, sunny day will exhibit them to a 

spectator by thousands, as he strolls leisurely 

along, through the fields and light woods. 

Grass hoppers are always much more numerous 

than the majority of other insects, and this 

is a wise provision of Nature, for they afford an 

abundance of food for nearly the whole of the 

feathered race, few indeed, refuse them, if we 

except the rapacious birds of prey. Poultry are 

very fond of them, and they become very fat by 

using them as food. Early in the morning and at 

evening, they become the most noisy.” These 

sounds, he points out, “are not produced by the 

mouth, for no insects make use of their mouth 

to produce their songs, but by applying their 

posterior shank to the thigh, and then rubbing 

them briskly against the elytra, alternately right 

and left.” Also “ beautifully in bloom,” 

Polypodium vulgare (“frequently made use of in 

some parts of our country, for violent coughs; it 

is pectoral and emulcent, and is sometimes 

used as a vermifuge”); his Polypodium phegopteris 

(now Thelypteris phegopteris, long beechfern) 

“is also common, and now in flower.” 57 

Saturday, 8 August: Unusual numbers of 

bats are now seen, “flitting about during the 

course of the evening, until a very late hour; 

this circumstance is indicative of fine weather 

on the approaching morrow, and it is seldom 

known to fail. When, upon the contrary, they 

appear uneasy in their flight, and repeatedly 

utter their shrill cry, disappearing early in the 

evening, and retiring to their caves and cells, it 

is as surely a prognostic of foul weather. I very 

much doubt, however, that the phenomena of 

the atmosphere have any direct influence upon 

the motions of these singular animals, but that 

it can more properly be attributed to the fact, 

that the insects upon which they feed, being 

more sensible to the coming changes in the air, 

seldom leave their places of repose, consequently 

the Bats are unable to obtain their usual 

quantity of food and soon give up their fruitless 

attempts.” 

Monday, 10 August: The assassin bug, 

Reduvius, “is now very common in our gardens, 

preying upon whatever insects it can obtain, 

perforating them with its acute rostrum, and 

soon exhausting them of their fluids. It in its 

turn, again yields an ample nourishment to the 

more artful spiders.” “These insects are very 

nearly allied to the common bed-bug...of our 

dwellings, and an odour equally disagreeable, 

exudes from them upon being handled, and 

they also make a puncture in the flesh which is 

extremely painful and which leaves a numbness 

of the parts, continuing for some time after.” 

Tuesday, 11 August: “The season has now 

arrived in which spiders make their aerial 

excursions, but for what purpose, it has not 

been determined; though many suppose their 

object is, to seek a more favorable situation to 

procure their food. Their long lines of gossimer 

[!] web may now, not unfrequently be seen on 

calm evenings, gently undulating in the light, 

balmy airs from the south. To-day I had an 

opportunity of witnessing one of the largest 

Chapter 12 187

species, very nearly allied to the Arania diadema, 

of Europe, sailing most gracefully along, my 

path: by some deviation of the end of the line, it 

at length caught the angle of an out-house, 

which the spider immediately detected, and by 

a rapid movement along the line, soon gained 

the building: here after a short time, as if not 

satisfied with the situation, he again made 

active preparation to resume his journey. He, 

probably, deeming that his gossamer was not 

sufficiently buoyant to bear him above the common 

obstacles, began immediately to lengthen 

the line. This was soon done, by elevating the 

abdomen in the air, and then rapidly spinning 

out the web to the necessary length. He now 

cast off, and with great activity ran till nearly to 

its centre, and away he went again, as gracefully 

as before. It has been generally supposed that 

the spiders which take these aerial excursions 

are confined to but few species. On the contrary, 

I think that all those which are termed geometers, 

are subject to these flights.” 58 

Wednesday, 12 August: “The common small 

fresh water Lobster, a species of the genera [!] 

Astacus of Leach, and probably the A. Bartonii of 

American Authors, is by no means uncommon 

now, in some of the brooks, and other small 

streams about the city, and it is curious to see 

with what activity they spring backwards into 

their holes, beneath the loose stones, the 

moment they are approached by any one. Their 

food appears to be of an animal nature, for I 

have not unfrequently surprised several of 

them at once, feeding upon the carcases of the 

small fish.” 59 

Thursday, 13 August: “A prodigious number 

of the young river herring may be 

observed skipping above the surface of the 

stream, in calm weather, during the changing 

of the tides. As their natural instinct leads 

them again to seek those streams, where they 

were originally spawned, we need not entertain 

apprehensions but that an abundant supply 

will reward the toils of our fishermen during 

the ensuing season.” Plants now in full 

bloom: bugle weed, Lycopus virginianus, and 

water horehound, L. europaeus — “in moist situations, 

through meadows and old fields. 

These are not showy plants, but they are 

esteemed of great value, on account of their 

medicinal virtues. The former species is much 

used throughout the western states by consumptive 

persons, to lessen the frequency of 

the pulse, and allay the irritation and cough. 

Its action is similar to that of Digitalis, without 

producing its bad effects, and consequently, is 

considered by some authors, superior to it. It is 

also recommended as an excellent substitute 

for all narcotics.” Also in flower: Indian tobacco, 

Lobelia inflata, “a powerfully medicinal 

plant, and much used by empirics for the cure 

of almost all diseases known; but it is a dangerous 

medicine in the hands of the ignorant, 

and should be used with the utmost caution, 

or it speedily produces death”; cardinal flower, 

L. cardinalis, “one of the most splendid North 

American plants” (“A decoction of the root is 

used by some Indian tribes, as a vermifuge, 

and also for the cure of Syphilis”). 60 

Friday, 14 August: The day’s entry concerns 

a fossil, in “Carboniferous limestones from the 

Helderberg mountains, a few miles to the westward 

of the city,” of the genus Cyathophyllum. 

The fossils are the remains of habitations of a 

colonial marine animal. He then proceeds to 

reconstruct the life history as if the species were 

still alive. 61 

Saturday, 15 August: A lesson in preemptive 

entomology. “The Aegeria exitosa of Say is now 

occasionally met with. This is that beautiful 

winged insect, so destructive to our peach trees, 

in this section of our country. The male and 

female of which differ so much in their color 

and markings, that it requires a nice discernment 

to identify them, as belonging to the same 

species. They emerge the perfect insect, about 

the latter part of July and the beginning of 

August...and as this is the time in which they 

deposit their egg, it becomes necessary to the 

cultivators of the peach, to bestow some little 

attention, in destroying them. Their eggs are 

deposited near the surface of the ground, from 

whence the larva, upon being hatched, soon 

penetrate into the roots of the tree, and produce 

their devastating effects.” He recommends digging 

soil away from the base of the tree with a 

trowel and picking out the larvae. They can be 

more effectively controlled by shielding the 


trunk from the eggs with a close-fitting wrap 

whose lower edge is covered with soil: “should 

this wrapper contain some noxious substance, 

like tobacco leaves, so much the more effectual 

will be the attempt.” 62 

Monday, 17 August: “Fire flies are now no 

longer seen, having disappeared when the chill 

evenings commenced. When these little insects 

appear in the earlier parts of summer, we may 

be sure that the regular heats of the year have 

set in, for they are totally unable to endure the 

slightest degreee of cold; and when it approaches, 

they soon perish and are seen no more.” 

Plants now in flower: nightshade, the introduced 

Solanum dulcamara (“A decoction of this 

plant is very beneficial in all cutaneous diseases, 

and is said to produce all the good effects 

of sulphur, antimony, and mercury, in many 

others. One ounce of the decoction is recommended 

as a dose, to be given three times a 

day”); various species of Lespedeza (none identified); 

Martynia proboscidea, an escaped plant, in 

bloom along roadsides in several places (“it has 

recently been introduced in our gardens, in consequence 

of the fruit, when young, yielding 

good pickles”). 63 

Tuesday, 18 August: Yellow and white 

melilots, or sweet clovers, are in flower (they 

make excellent, sweet-scented hay, are superior 

to other clovers as cattle food and their “flowers 

and leaves are pectoral and emollient, and are 

used for leucarrhea [!], coughs, &c.”); wild marjoram, 

Origanum vulgare (“as a tea it is used for 

coughs, and asthma, and for chronic rheumatism, 

and palsy, in lotions and fumigations; the 

flowers and tops also yield a purple dye”); the 

“fine [five] flowered Gentian,” Gentiana quinqueflora: 

“occasionally found, and well worthy of 

being cultivated in our gardens; the whole plant 

is intensely bitter.” Also: boneset or thoroughwort 

— “Eupatorium perfoliata...in swampy 

grounds all over; the excellent medicinal properties 

of this plant are too well known throughout 

our country to need a description. It is a 

powerful remedy for fevers among some of the 

Indian tribes, and it is stated, that a cold infusion 

speedily restores the tone of the stomach, 

after a fit of drunkenness. The E. purpureum is 

also in flower in moist open places; it sometimes 

attains the height of twelve feet, and possesses 

the same properties as the former 

species.” In the course of the day, there was a 

dramatic shift in winds, from warm to cold and 

from southeast to northwest. 64 

Wednesday, 19 August: A plea for recording 

comparative data on the coincidence of the 

aurora borealis and atmospheric phenomena: 

“On referring to my notes of former years, I 

find that similar clouds, and light cool winds, 

from the quarter whence these interesting phenomena 

occur, most generally accompany them, 

and the weather nearly always, for some hours 

preceding them, is cool and clear.” 65 

Thursday, 20 August: Swallows (species not 

named) have, for several days past, been seen 

congregated on church spires and tops of tall 

buildings. He opines: “little doubts can be 

entertained, but that their objects are preparatory 

to a migration to the more genial regions of 

the south.” The general course of flights has 

been southerly; he thinks that they fly not in 

continuous and sudden flights, but move gradually, 

feeding and resting as they go, “the swallows 

seen on the spires in the evening, are not 

the same as those which occupied them on the 

preceding day.” 

Friday, 21st August: Among the curious 

geological phenomena exhibited by the Marly 

Clay found in the vicinity of Albany are the 

“singular vegetable organic remains which are 

embraced in some of its strata.” The remains are 

“invariably...found, spread out in a horizontal 

position, in a thin seam of fine bluish sand, 

about twenty feet beneath the surface of the 

ground. They are of an elongated and cordate 

form, and are supported by a petiole, about two 

thirds the length of the leaf; that [the length] of 

the leaf itself, being about one fourth of an inch. 

They appear as if merely dried by the sun, 

without pressure.... This very singular fact will 

give to this extensive Marly-clay formation, a 

much more recent origin than has ever been 

supposed.” 66 

Saturday, 22 August: “Meteors and falling 

stars have been quite common for the last few 

weeks, and this is the month in which it is generally 

believed that they most commonly occur, 

and they were very numerous to- 

Chapter 12 189

night....particular observations of these phenomena, 

should be carefully registered, for 

some time previous and also after the periodical 

time assigned to its appearance.” Worm-seed 

(presumably Chenopodium ambrosioides L., 

Mexican tea, an introduced plant) “is now quite 

common in flower; it is sometimes cultivated 

for its medicinal virtues, being a powerful vermifuge; 

the seeds and their essential oil, are the 

most efficacious; eight or ten drops of the latter, 

on sugar, morning and evening, are considered 

a suitable dose for a child, when it speedily 

expels the worms.” 67 

Monday, 24 August: “The antipathy which 

the common Honey Bee exhibits to some particular 

individuals, and not to others, is truly surprising....I 

saw an individual to-day, who had 

received several severe punctures, from their 

envenomed stings, in consquence of approaching 

too near their hives, whilst other persons 

were standing equally near, who escaped perfectly 

unmolested. He informed me that they 

always exhibited those unfriendly feelings 

towards him....The most efficacious remedy for 

the sting of bees, as well as for the bites of musquetoes, 

is the application of the aqua ammoniae: 

it gives relief almost instantaneously, and 

particularly so should it contain a few additional 

drops of the tincture of opium.” 

Tuesday, 25 August: “It has been observed, 

that ‘sounds do not always give us pleasure 

according to their sweetness and melody;’ nor 

do harsh sounds always displease; for what can 

be more grating to the ear than the noise produced 

by the common field Cricket,...and where 

is the individual that does not feel pleasure at 

the sound, particularly during the season for 

harvesting? — it is, no doubt, from sympathy, 

for whenever we hear its brisk chirup, we 

invariably associate with it the delights of the 

summer months....Those persons who are fond 

of the melody, may easily cultivate them. By 

confining some of them in a paper cage and 

placing it in the sun, they will thrive exceedingly 

well, provided they are fed continually with 

wet grass, and will sing so loud as to make it 

unpleasant to remain in the same room where 

they are kept. These sounds are produced by 

the insect elevating its elytra, almost vertically, 

and then rubbing them briskly together.” 68 

Wednesday, 26 August: “A very beautiful 

species of Clytus, of Fabricius, are [!] now making 

their appearance in great numbers, and may 

commonly be seen, devouring the sweets from 

the fine yellow flowers of the Golden rod, 

(Solidago) and some other plants with the same 

colored flower. They can at once be determined 

by the singular, bright yellow, zig-zag lines 

across their elytra. This is the insect which 

proves so fatal to our locust trees, destroying 

them when in a larva state, by feeding on the 

wood, and perforating it in every direction.” 

Since this is their egg-laying time, trunks of 

trees should be “freely washed with some solution 

that may either destroy the eggs already 

laid, and also prevent them from alighting on 

them.” 69 

Thursday, 27 August: “A fine specimen of 

the common Rail was shot to-day, in a watery 

situation, in the neighborhood of our city. This 

bird cannot, with strict propriety, be considered 

a native of this vicinity, although an occasional 

straggler is sometimes found. In the same parallel 

of latitude to the west, however, they are 

quite common.” Plants in bloom: “In wet, 

swampy places, the Snake-head, Chelone glabra 

— “This plant is used in many diseases, principally, 

however, the leaves, which are powerfully 

bitter; they are strongly tonic, cathartic, and 

hepatic, and most commonly used for affections 

of the liver, in full doses, when it purges the 

bile, and cleanses the system of the morbid or 

superfluous bile; by that means restoring the 

natural color of the skin. The Indians use a 

strong decoction for eruptive diseases.” Also, in 

wet places, “Parnassus Grass [now Parnassia 

glauca] — “a neat and beautiful plant, and 

young Botanists are very apt to be puzzled in 

reading it out, frequently mistaking its abortive 

stamens [actually, staminodea], for the perfect 

ones.” Likewise in bloom: “Blooming spurge 

(Euphorbia corollata Linn:)...considered as equivalent 

to the ipecac of commerce; the root alone 

is used, ten grains of which are recommended 

as a dose, when it proves cathartic; in larger 

doses, about twenty grains, it proves a safe and 

valuable emetic. In small doses, it often acts as a 

diaphoretic, and is preferred to ipecac, in conse- 


quence of having no unpleasant taste; nor does 

it excite pains or spasms.” And another favorite 

of the herbalists: Lobelia syphilitica — “it bears a 

spike of large blue flowers...the extract has been 

used for dropsy, in doses from five to twenty 

grains. Some Indian tribes use it for the cure of 

syphilis.” 70 

Friday, 28 August: Except for a few stragglers, 

swallows “have taken their departure for 

the more genial climates of the south.” “The 

breast of man is susceptible of the same unvarying 

changes as those with which the great 

Author of Nature has characterized the other 

portion of his works.” So, in spring, we thrill to 

sprightly tints of the vegetation, the unwearied 

cheerfulness of bird song. But...“ere long, this 

passes away, and the scene becomes changed: 

the flowers vary their tints for a more sober 

hue, then droop and fade away — the birds 

cease their melody, tribe after tribe disappear 

from our sight, and with these, it is the nature 

of mankind, to become once more sad and contemplative.” 

Friday, 29 August: Spectrum femoratum of 

Say is now quite common. “They are destitute 

of wings, and their greatest length is about five 

inches; from the regular and steady manner in 

which they traverse, from one part of a person’s 

dress to the other, they have received from the 

farmers, the appellation of the Yard stick, or 

measuring stick....I could not discover that they 

were productive of any great evil to vegetation.” 

71 

Monday, 31 August: The large yellow butterfly 

(the tiger swallowtail) “is now becoming 

quite rare, besides those of several other genera. 

This beautiful tribe of insects is fitted to exhibit 

their gaudily adorned plumage but for a brief 

space of time, being very sensibly affected by 

the slightest changes of the atmosphere.” 

Maryland yellowthroats (Eights obviously was 

not a keen ornithologist, considering the few 

birds he names) “have at length disappeared 

from our woods, and taken their annual journey 

to the more genial regions of the south; 

their singular, though pleasing twitter can no 

longer be heard from every bramble bush as we 

walk along.” 

With this, the end of a month and the beginning 

of another — the last of the series entitled 

“The Naturalist’s Every Day Book.” For Eights, 

both end and beginning must have its bit of 

philosophy. 72 

Tuesday 1 September: “With this month 

commences the fall season of the year, when all 

our herbaceous plants ripen, previous to their 

decay, when many of our forest trees, assume 

those magnificent hues, which so peculiarly 

characterize the decline of the year.” Still, it is a 

month of flowers that have come into bloom: 

monkey-flower, “in watery places, on the 

Helderberg mountains. This plant is rather 

showy, bearing large pale blue flowers; but it is 

not known to possess any medicinal virtue. It 

seems to thrive best in limestone regions, and 

this is its nearest locality to this city.” Also: 

chaff-seed, “a few specimens...met with in some 

few situations about the Pine Plains...not commonly 

found in this region”; false foxglove 

makes “a showy appearance with its large yellow 

flowers”; lousewort is “now finely in 

flower, in moist places about”; horse balm, “a 

handsome estival plant, and now all over in 

bloom, in rich and shady soils, through the 

woods; it has received the appellation of healall 

from the circumstance of its popular use for 

almost all diseases, both internally and in application 

externally, for the cure of ulcers of every 

kind.” Also seen: trailing bush-clover (“this delicate 

plant is now frequently met with, finely in 

bloom, in the sandy woods”); giant ragweed, 

“along the banks of the river”; common ragweed, 

“in old fields”; and in “the small streams 

and pools about are now seen the Potamogeton 

perfoliatum, of Linn: and also the Typha latifolia, 

of Linn.” 73 

Wednesday, “3” [=2!] September: “Some 

weeks since I obtained from the Hudson 

River...several living specimens of the common 

spawn eater: (Clupea Hudsonia, of Clinton.) After 

keeping them for a few hours, in a jar of pure 

water, they gradually perished, one after the 

other; and in doing so, I remarked that they 

invariably turned on their sides, with their 

heads and tails beneath, forming quite a regular 

curve; they were then thrown away, in a situation 

where they ever since remained....On 

examining them to-day, I discovered that in 

Chapter 12 191

drying, they had assumed the same distorted 

postures as those occupied by many of the fossil 

fishes, which have so commonly been found, 

in several of the rock strata, in various parts of 

the world; and more particularly bore a striking 

resemblance in form, to some well characterized 

fossil specimens, belonging to the same 

genus, now in the Museum of the Albany 

Institute. These specimens were brought from 

some parts of Germany....This circumstance 

would certainly be a strong inducement to a 

geologist, to conclude that the fossil fish, had 

perished in a similar manner, and not by any 

powerful convulsion, as many now believe.” 74 

Thursday, 3 September: “On the Patroon’s 

creek, a short distance above the stone dam 

which has very recently been constructed, is a 

curious deposit of calcarious tufa both massive, 

and in a stalactite form, firmly adhering to the 

face of the indurated, coarse conglomerate, 

which supports the extensive beds of marly 

clay, every where about our city. This tufa is 

deposited from water, which, after percolating 

through the loose porous mass of sand and clay, 

which covers the slope of the hill, arrives at the 

firm rock, the upper surface of which has 

become perfectly compact. By the same deposit 

of carbonate of lime, it is soon again discharged 

over its sides, in constant and copious drops. 

This constant falling has obtained for the whole 

formation the name of the ‘Dripping Well.’ 

Some of the hardy vegetables are, not unfrequently, 

found embraced in this tufa, still containing 

their original forms, but not their 

natures, having had their substance gradually 

infused in the interstices, until they have 

become perfectly changed.” 

Friday, 4 September: “The Spotted Slug, 

(Limax maculata, Nob:) is now very common in 

the garden...; many of them being accompanied 

by their eggs, whilst others are quite small, 

being undoubtedly the young. But very little is 

known of the peculiar habits of these small animals, 

although in various works on horticulture 

I have repeatedly seen instructions given for 

their extermination; but for what particular purpose 

has never been stated. Our garden has 

abounded with this species for many years 

back, and from a close inspection of their 

habits, I have never been able to discover that 

they were ever the cause of an injury to the 

herbs, shrubs, or fruit trees. The eggs are orbicular, 

pellucid, and nearly a line in diameter, 

resembling very much in appearance those of 

the common white lipped snail, (Helix albolabris, 

of Say.)” And “Halley’s Comet was discovered 

in this city, for the first time, this morning, situated 

above the horns of Taurus. It presents the 

appearance of an indistinct nebula. It was 

noticed at Yale College, by Professor Olmsted, 

on the 31st of August.” 75 

Saturday, 5 September: “The female of a 

species of Moth is now depositing her eggs in 

some considerable numbers, on the stems of 

many of our fruit trees; and as they do infinite 

damage to them on the ensuing spring and 

summer, it would be advisable to gardeners, 

and other cultivators of fruit, to remove them as 

fast as they can be discovered, as the eggs of 

this species are much more tender in their 

nature, than those of many of the tribe, in order 

to preserve them safe through the severities of 

the approaching winter, the mother exercises an 

instinct which is truly admirable, taking the 

wise precaution of covering them with a thick 

mantle of hair, plucked from her own body, 

which, being a non-conductor, and equally 

impervious to wet and cold, is most suitably 

adapted to afford them the necessary protection, 

until the spring arrives.” And: “A most 

beautiful display of the Aurora Borealis was 

exhibited this evening, and although the moon 

was nearly full, it was exceedingly brilliant: 

some of the rays were seen reaching the 

zenith.” 76 

Monday, 7 September: “It is a curious fact 

and one which is not generally known, save to 

naturalists, that such insects as afford many 

broods of young in a season, are chiefly those 

which pass through the severities of the winter 

in the ova, or egg state. It is a wise provision of 

nature, and easily admits of a solution. Such 

females as are the last to deposit their eggs, are 

constrained to do it when the season has so far 

advanced, and the temperature of the atmosphere 

so low, that there is not a sufficiency of 

heat remaining to fully accomplish the desired 

effect, consequently they are destined to remain 


through the winter in the ova state, and only to 

become hatched, when the more genial heat of 

the spring time sets in, and then, not until the 

leaves of the peculiar vegetable on which they 

are designed to feed, are suitably developed.” 77 

Tuesday, 8 September: Eights visited a 

“marble yard” in the city and noticed very fine 

fossils of a species of Lituites in slabs of limestone 

brought from Vermont. Septae that divide 

the inner animal into chambers were distinctly 

visible. Since now totally extinct, nothing is 

known of their habits although, considering 

their similarity to the mollusks Spirula and 

Nautilus, “little doubt can be entertained but 

that their habits were very similar.” 78 

Wednesday, 9 September: “A number of 

flocks of our social little summer friends, the 

Blue-bird...were observed to-day at some considerable 

height in the air, pursuing a seemingly 

hurried flight to the south, indicative of the 

approach of chilly days. The first appearance of 

these birds, with the earliest warm days in 

spring, would induce us to suppose that their 

migrations do not extend in any great degree to 

the south, yet the general belief among naturalists 

is, that they winter in a tropical climate. The 

snow has scarcely left the fields when they 

make their appearance and may be seen perching 

on the posts of our fences, or on the stems 

of trees, anxiously watching for the insects 

which furnish them food.” And: “The Aurora 

Borealis was very brilliant this evening. A 

splendid arch expanded the heavens elevated to 

some considerable degree.” 79 

Thursday, 10 September: “I was requested 

to-day to visit a situation in the suburbs of the 

city, where they informed me that the soil was 

so exceeding hard as to be almost impenetrable. 

On examination I discovered it to be composed 

of a mixture of clay and gravel, firmly united 

by a large quantity of Sulphuret of Iron, (Iron 

pyrites,) which rendered it so very tenacious, 

that the labourers employed in excavating, were 

almost unable to do so. This iron unquestionably 

had its origin from water percolating 

through the mass, highly charged with that 

mineral, and for some space of time. Springs 

containing water of that nature are not unfrequently 

met with in various situations in the 

neighbourhood of the city.” Plants in flower: 

Soap gentian, in bloom in “most places about 

our meadows” (“plant is medicinal, and when 

taken in large doses proves cathartic. It might 

be introduced in our gardens with great advantage 

in consequence of the large flowers which 

adorn it”). Also in flower: New England and 

common blue wood asters — the first, “most 

beautifully in flower along the fences through 

meadows...a very ornamental 

species...frequently cultivated. A decoction of 

this plant is frequently used, both internally 

and externally, in many eruptive diseases of the 

skin, and it is reported, with great success”; the 

second is “considered a very good aromatic 

nervine, and in many cases it has superceded 

the use of valerian.” And: dodder is “occasionally 

seen in flower, it possesses a colouring matter 

which dyes a pale red, and is sometimes 

used in a decoction, for scrofula, and agues”; 

water beggar-tick is “now quite common in 

ditches and near ponds” (when established in 

fields, “it is with great difficulty exterminated”; 

it furnishes a rusty yellow dye for woollens). 80 

Friday, 11 September: “This afternoon, 

whilst examining the ‘Dripping Well,’ previously 

mentioned, for land shells, it became necessary 

for the purpose, to disturb a considerable 

quantity of the large mass of a mixture of earth, 

marl and vegetable decomposition which had, 

for some time previous, been accumulating 

beneath, and in doing so I obtained several 

specimens of the Salamandra bis-lineata, of 

Green. — These animals appear to thrive much 

better in this situation, than in any where I had 

previously found them; for they were much 

beyond their usual size, and might easily have 

been mistaken for a distinct species, were it not 

that the lines on their backs, upon close examination, 

could faintly be detected.” 81 

Saturday, 12 September: While it “has been 

repeatedly stated that Pike, and Pickerel are fish 

that will not thrive in muddy waters, but 

always require running streams, and lakes 

which abound in springs...I this morning had 

an opportunity of observing several fine specimens 

of each, which had been captured in the 

Erie Canal, a few miles to the north, whose 

waters are never clear, but always turbid; with 

Chapter 12 193

the exception of one or two situations in the 

west, where running streams have been appropriated 

to its use; and on referring to my notes 

of former years, I find, that nearly two years 

since, on the north side of the Mohawk River, in 

Saratoga County, the banks of the Canal suddenly 

gave way, and its waters overwhelmed a 

low tract of land, for some distance around. 

When it subsided...the inhabitants...collected in 

great numbers, Pike, Pickerel, Eels, and a variety 

of other species of fish.” 82 

Monday, 14 September: “I have before me a 

number of specimens of Anthracite, brought me 

for inspection, from the north side of the 

Mohawk River, near the Noses. They are 

accompanied by pieces of the rock in which 

they were found, and, also, by quartz chrystals, 

some of which embrace masses of the same 

mineral. From an examination of these specimens 

I had no difficulty in deciding that they 

were from the true transition series of rocks; a 

series in which Anthracite in any considerable 

quantities, has never yet been discovered; but, 

in limited portions, it is not unfrequently found, 

and then disseminated in such a manner, as to 

produce evidences to the Geologist, that extensive 

beds of it, can never be found in them. 

However, I do not wish it to be understood it is 

my decided opinion, that it may not be found in 

this series of the rocks in our State, for in some 

few instances, other useful minerals have been 

found to deviate in as great a degree, from the 

proper situation of the rocks which embraced 

them in other countries. It must therefore 

require a more particular investigation on the 

spot before it can be determined with any 

degree of certainty.” 83 

Tuesday, 15 September: “A beautiful 

Caterpillar, [of a] species of Moth, has been 

preying, in prodigious numbers, for the last 

several years, on the leaves of our common 

Scrub Oak...completely denuding the branches 

of their leaves, for miles together, along our 

Pine Plains, and covering them in dark clusters, 

as fairly to hide them from the sight. It has been 

stated by Entomologists, that, when insects 

appear in vast numbers, and commit their 

greatest devastation, that they are always productive 

of beneficial effects to the vegetation 

upon which they feed, for on the ensuing season 

they become far more fertile than they otherwise 

would have been. To prove this assertion, 

instances have been cited from Africa, of 

the celebrated Locusts, which, have swept like a 

scourge over the land, desolating every fertile 

spot, and giving to the whole country the 

aspect of a blasted heath, yet that portion of the 

earth, on the following season, yielded far more 

profusely than it could under any other circumstances. 

But for my part, I cannot conceive of 

what great advantage it can prove to this 

species of Oak, to have the leaves, year after 

year, stripped from their branches, by these 

Caterpillars, as fast as they can be put forth, 

and by that means, rendering them objects of 

disgust to the sight. To-day I saw in the ditches, 

on the sides of the Shaker road, prodigious 

numbers of these Caterpillars, strewed along 

for several miles. They had been arrested by the 

severe frosts, which have appeared for the last 

few nights, in their passage to their winter 

quarters, in the ground to some depth beneath 

the surface.” 84 

Wednesday, 16 September: “The Zodiacal 

light is now not uncommon, during the hours 

of a short time previous to the Sun’s rising, and 

I very much question, if too much importance 

has not been attached to this rather unusual 

phenomenon, by the scientific individuals who 

have hitherto been in the habit of speculating 

on it. It is my opinion that its appearance is 

altogether connected with some peculiar state 

of the atmosphere as regards its moisture, for 

that part of the season when they are most frequently 

occur, is during the month of 

September and October, just when our morning 

fogs prevail, and whenever I have observed 

them in the evenings, I have, almost invariably, 

discovered a moistness in the atmosphere, 

which particularly obscured the most remote 

objects.” 85 

Thursday, 17 September: “Insects whose 

eyes [no doubt a misprint for eggs] necessarily 

should remain uninjured throughout the severities 

of the season of winter, generally select 

such situations to deposit them, as are most 

admirably adapted to their purposes. Thus the 

species of Gryllus, and many othere insects 


whose eggs are of a tender nature, deposit them 

deep in the earth, far beneath the influence of 

the frost, whilst others, such as some of the 

Moths, with due regard to the necessary food to 

sustain their larva on being hatched, and which 

is principally young leaves, place them upon 

the twigs and large branches of trees, upon 

which they are to feed. To day on examining the 

fruit trees of the garden, I discovered in great 

numbers, clusters of the eggs of a species of 

Bombyx, firmly glued around many of the twigs, 

in the form of bracelets, and which the female 

insect had covered with a peculiar glutinous 

substance, in a short time becoming so perfectly 

indurated, that it was with the utmost difficulty 

they could be removed by an ordinary pen 

knife. As this is one of the species whose larva 

are hatched just as the leaves have been fairly 

developed in the spring, and over which they, 

in a short time, spread in such prodigious numbers 

as soon to disfigure the trees and render 

them a disgusting sight to the eye,” it is recommended 

that the assiduous use of a gardener’s 

knife will in a few hours time “completely free 

the trees” of them, destroying immense numbers 

of them in embryo. The good effects the 

gardener “will have ample cause to rejoice at on 

the ensuing season.” 86 

Friday, 18 September: Inconsequential comments 

on cool weather and spiders and the precautions 

taken by spiders when they walk on 

smooth surfaces such as a ceiling. 

Saturday, 19 September: Eights saw this day 

a specimen of long-eared owl shot within a few 

miles of the city. “This bird is not unfrequently 

met with in the gloomy recesses of the forests, 

where it remains in a perfectly passive state 

during the hours of daylight.” He had seen 

recently another example shot from an elm tree 

“in the yard of the South Dutch Church, in the 

city.” And: “This day began with strong winds 

from the south east, accompanied with scuds, 

and towards it close thick clouds commenced 

accumulating in the heavens, indicative of a 

coming storm, probably the equinoctial” — a 

fair enough prediction, should a storm occur at 

all, considering the calendar. 

Monday, 21 September: “Many insects are 

now passing into their winter quarters preparatory 

to a state of hybernation; the situations 

which they generally select, are under stones, in 

holes, and in the crevices of old walls. To day in 

turning over stones, in search of a peculiar 

species, I discovered several of them, belonging 

to the Genus Harpalus of Latreille, which had 

already become almost inanimate from the 

chilliness of the weather; they were invariably 

in a position with their backs downward, 

adhering with their feet to the inferior surfaces 

of the stone.” When warmed, they slowly 

regained mobility. “The great degree of cold 

which many insects are obliged to endure during 

the progress of the winter and again survive, 

to become animated in the spring, is truly 

surprising; some caterpillars have been found 

so frozen, that, when dropped into a glass jar, 

they chinked like stones...and yet in their due 

season perfectly revived, and passed into their 

perfect stage of existence.” And: “The comet 

was distinctly visible to the naked eye, it is 

approaching with great rapidity.” 87 

Tuesday, 22 September: “To day, on visiting 

the Normans kill, a few rods to the west of the 

bridge across that stream, on the river road to 

the south, I obtained every variety of the lower 

Grauwackes. This is one of the first localities in 

the state for the student of Geology to make 

himself acquainted with the singular contortions 

that these rocks are subject to, for a nearly 

perpendicular cliff of about sixty feet in height, 

exhibits them in wild disorder, as if they had 

been raised by some mighty effort, and then 

thrown into one vast mass of confusion. They at 

this place contain thin seams of Anthracite and 

also some Quartz chrystals of large dimensions. 

The scenery about this place is extremely picturesque, 

and far exceeding in beauty any other 

spot in the vicinity of our city; the highly elevated 

sides of the gorge, through which the 

water rushes along for some distance over a 

noble cataract, are generally covered with the 

densest foliage, extending from the basin to the 

very summit.” A magnificent display of the 

aurora borealis was visible in the evening. 

Wednesday, 23 September: House-flies have 

fallen victim to the chill of evening and morning, 

although they still revive “in the more 

genial rays of the sun. This morning I beheld a 

Chapter 12 195

prodigious number of them strewed along in 

shady places, and particularly about the windows 

of my room, in a perfectly inactive state. 

In this situation, however, they seemed to yield 

a rich repast to many of the spiders, who 

seemed fully aware, that they yet retained a sufficiency 

of juicy fluids to suit their peculiar 

tastes.” Finally: “The beautiful fringed 

Gentian...is now finely in flower along the 

banks of the Rail Road, and elsewhere, on the 

edges of light wood. This plant richly deserves 

cultivation, in consequence of the showy, large 

blue flowers which it bears.” 88 

Thursday, 24 September: “About four years 

since, I placed some tight wire ligatures around 

the stems of several of the scrub oaks, immediately 

after discovering that the caterpillars of 

the Bombyx [sic], previously mentioned, denuded 

them yearly of their leaves, merely for the 

purpose of ascertaining if their growth was not 

materially affected by being thus deprived of 

them, as fast as they could be put forth, and to 

day, upon examination, I had the satisfaction of 

determining the fact, as the ligatures, with but 

one exception, were but slightly impressed in 

the bark.” The result, he thought, was due to 

the fact that trees, systematically deprived of 

their leaves, exhaust their ready food supply 

and thus cannot lay down layers of wood and 

do not increase in diameter. “It is by a knowledge 

of this circumstance, that the Chinese are 

enabled to obtain several successions of leaves 

from their tea plants in a season: and those that 

are first picked, possess most vigor, and are 

therefore considered the best flavored teas, and 

bear the highest prices.” 89 

Friday, 24 September: “To day I saw one of 

our common land Tortoises...busily employed 

in digging for himself a habitation in which to 

pass away the dreary hours of winter, in a torpid 

state. This reptile is very common all over 

our pine plains, in the summer season, and may 

easily be recognized from the other species, by 

its superior height, and also by its suddenly 

withdrawing itself into its shelly covering on 

the approach of any person, and closing the orifice 

by a valve attached to the anterior portion 

of the lower shell, and thus effectually protecting 

itself against all danger. Their general color 

is yellow, irregularly marked with brown, or 

black, no two of the animals scarcely ever 

agreeing in appearance; and it is stated by good 

authority, that the shell is so hard, and their 

limbs so strong, as to enable them to walk with 

the weight of sixty pounds upon their backs.” 

He doubted stories of the great ages they 

attained, all such accounts depending upon 

dates carved in their shells, the year being “no 

doubt antedated by the inscriber.” 90 

Saturday, 26 September: “I saw an account 

in an English journal that a perfect petrifaction 

of a human leg had been discovered at Whitby, 

in England.” It was “about the size of a middling 

sized leg, and perfectly formed, with the 

exception of its being slightly swollen at the 

ankle and heel. To the truth of this story, I feel 

very much inclined to doubt, for I know of no 

process by which such a circumstance could 

possibly be accomplished, and it is a well 

known law in nature, that all animal matter is 

much more liable to putrify than to petrify, consequently, 

if any part of the leg could have been 

preserved in the rock, it must have been no 

other than the bones; and the rock at Whitby is 

the Lias of authors, a formation too old in the 

series for such discoveries, even allowing that 

such a thing ever did take place in any of the 

series. It is true, that there has [!] been many 

accounts of the discovery of antediluvian 

human bones in various parts of the world, but 

recent investigations have determined them to 

belong to extinct animals, and not to the human 

race.” Finally: “A severe frost occurred last 

night which seriously injured much of the corn 

in the vicinity of the city.” 91 

Monday, 28 September: “This evening, just 

after the darkness set in, I had an opportunity 

of witnessing the flight of two woodcocks...through 

the streets of our city within a 

few feet of the spot I occupied. This is not such 

an unusual occurrence as many have been in 

the habit of supposing, for I recollect in the 

space of a few years several instances of the 

kind, and not long since, a friend of mine shot 

an individual of the species from a garden in 

the very heart of the city.” 92 

Tuesday, 29 September: “The common 

Horse Leech...is very common in the vicinity of 


Albany, in the Hudson river, but more particularly 

in the small brooks and ditches which 

drain the meadows about; to day I observed 

them in great numbers, in a small pool from 

whence the water was rapidly evaporating, 

they were unquestionably, in the first instance, 

introduced thither by some freshet of the river, 

and where they have since bred, as I saw them 

of various sizes, and also differing greatly in the 

color of their markings. This species, when 

properly prepared, is considered by good 

authority, more efficacious in extracting blood 

than any of the others, but the great objection to 

their use is, that when disturbed during the 

operation, they are very apt to leave their teeth 

in the wound, and by that means cause a flow 

of blood, at once difficult to stop, and also, an 

inflammation, not only very painful, but dangerous 

in its nature.” 

Wednesday, 30 September: “Our migratory 

birds which have for some time back been congregating 

in flocks, are now rapidly departing 

to the more genial regions of the south, and 

many of those which have spent the summer 

season much farther to the north, are now again 

making their appearance, and to day I was 

much gratified by observing in some of our 

orchards, the beautiful little Ruby-crowned 

Wren....These birds pass to the north in the 

early part of the spring, and breed in great 

numbers in the neighborhood of Hudson’s Bay. 

They return again gradually during the months 

of autumn. Those I saw to day were so busily 

employed in searching for insects, that I could 

frequently approach till within a few feet without 

disturbing their labors, and which offered 

me a fine opportunity for inspection.” And, a 

final comment: “Vegetation is fast disappearing 

from the sight, few plants are now in flower 

save the many species of Asters.” 93 

With his account of September, James Eights 

ended his adventure through the growing season 

of the year 1835. It is unfortunate that 

Eights’s perennial diary of the seasons has not 

survived, although it surely must have been in 

existence at one time. We shall perhaps meet 

excerpts from it from time to time. It is clear 

enough, in any case, that the present series was 

written pretty much off the cuff in 1835. It 

ended with September of that year, not because 

all natural life stopped at that time but because 

Eights was off on another adventure, described 

in “Notes of a pedestrian.” The episodes in the 

latter series are not expressly dated but a few 

dates can be discerned. The next chapter continues 

the saga of Eights in the 1830s with particular 

reference to the Zodiac years, with emphasis 

on “Notes of a pedestrian” and a couple of individually 

titled essays. 

NOTES 

1. AI, Minutes; Argus: for this period, see 28 Apr 1832, 

the first notice of Eights since his return from the 

Antarctic, a donation of copper coins. On 22 Nov 1833, 

there was a notable list, including “African Locust, blown 

on board a vessel by the north east trade winds, at 300 

miles from the coast”; fossils from Germany, Surrey, 

Hastings sand from Tilgate Forest, Oxford; ten trilobite 

fossils from Albany vicinity. 

2. AI, “Catalogue of Properties”; there will be further 

notice of Eights’s salamander when The Zodiac articles are 

analyzed; my thanks to Alvin Breisch for alerting me to 

the significance of an Eights specimen of the tiger salamander, 

presumably this one (in 1987 it had the N.Y. Mus. 

No. 5888). Annual Reports of the State Cabinet of Natural 

History for 1860 (p. 16) and 1864 (p. 14) listed this species, 

then called “Triton tigrinus,” among desiderata of the 

Cabinet — then, of course, missing from their collection, 

for it was not until 1892 (Anon., 1893, p. 21) that the State 

Museum accessioned this Institute specimen. The species 

is now Ambystoma tigrinum (Green). See Sherman C. 

Bishop, “The salamanders of New York,” pp. 172, 325. JE 

later found a second specimen of this rare species, as 

reported in his “Every day book” for 28 May 1835. 

Carolyn Kirdahy, Boston Museum of Science, has been 

kind enough to draw my attention to a watercolor by 

Eights in their archives; it is captioned in JE’s hand, 

“Salamandra Tigrina (Green)” and signed by Eights; on 

reverse is his manuscript note: “from the banks of the 

Mohawk River, N.Y. / James Eights.” The brackets around 

“Green” were unnecessary; see Green’s Salamandra tigrina 

1825 in “Description of a new species of salamander.” 

James Stevenson (1781-1852), conveyor of the pepper-containing 

gourd from Chile, was an Albany attorney, Mayor 

1826-1828, and Institute Counsellor. 

3. AI “Catalogue of Properties.” JE was into making 

plaster casts of medallions (recall one honoring DeWitt 

Clinton); he sent a duplicate of the medallion of Jöns Jacob 

Berzelius (1779-1848), Swedish founder of modern chemistry, 

to Joseph Henry. 

4. Libinia is a shallow-water marine spider crab. 

5. The Cabinet of Natural History and American Rural 

Sports was a short-lived (1830-1833) periodical that 

attempted to present respectable natural history observations 

as well as hunting anecdotes, illustrated by colored 

plates of better than average quality for the time. Jacob 

Green’s letter is in vol. 1, p. 96: an account of the “occa- 

Chapter 12 197

sional stupidity” of the “pheasant” (grouse) as exemplified 

in an individual observed some time since at Albany; 

Eights’s letter, “Habits of the ruffed grouse, or pheasant,” 

was a rambling affair that alluded to an experience in the 

autumn of 1814, a report “about three years since,” together 

with reminiscences from a severe winter “about fifteen 

years since.” JE was listed as a possible contributor in a 

note on the wrapper of vol. 1, no. 11 (Gail Stewart, editor, 

the Imprint Society’s reprint of the Cabinet, 1973, pp. x, xii 

[note 4]). 

6. Eights has left no record of these encounters. I 

thank Charles Boewe for his help with Rafinesque records; 

it is noteworthy that, in his definitive research on the correspondence 

of Rafinesque, he has found no instance of 

letters between the two naturalists. See C.S. Rafinesque, A 

Life of Travels, pp. 106-107 (337-338 in Merrill reprint); 

essentially the same information is to be found in the 

French original, Précis ou Abrégé des Voyages, Travaux, et 

Recherches, p. 94. See also sheets 7, left and right, MS 13:I:5 

(Rafinesque’s Journal for 1833-1834); Charles Boewe 

helped with certain transcriptions and Ann Hyde, Curator 

of Manuscripts, Spencer Research Library, University of 

Kansas Libraries, kindly provided a consultation copy of 

certain passages. 

7. Henry, Papers, 2: 272; AI, “Properties,” Aug 1834, “A 

Plaster Medallion of Berzelius, copied from a foreign one 

in Iron.” James Henry (1803-1851) was at one time a bookseller 

in Albany. 

8. Albany Argus, Anon., Tuesday 6 and Wednesday 7 

May 1834. Your cynical commentator on things Albanian 

would not be surprised at such shenanigans! Still, it must 

have given rock-ribbed old Federalist Jonathan Eights a 

turn to have his own son engaged in such lowly endeavors. 

9. Henry, Papers, 2: 486-487. Philip Ten Eyck (1802- 

1892) was Henry’s successor in the Institute, as well as at 

the Albany Academy. Eights’s visit to Pennsylvania coal 

mines was the one touched upon in “Notes of a pedestrian,” 

that appeared in The Zodiac in 1836. The reference is 

to Benjamin Silliman’s American Journal of Science, then 

commonly referred to as Silliman’s Journal, where an 

uncommonly long account by Samuel Prescott Hildreth 

(1783-1863) of Ohio, “Observations on the bituminous coal 

deposits of the valley of the Ohio, and the accompanying 

rock strata,” did indeed nearly fill an entire number of 

Silliman’s prestigious periodical for October 1835. Eights’s 

reply to Silliman and Hildreth was not quite so straightforward 

as promised: rather, he slipped it into his 7th 

“Notes of a pedestrian.” His quaint conclusions will be 

noticed in my commentary on that series of articles. 

10. A good history of The Zodiac may be found in the 

preface of a facsimile edition edited by Don Rittner, 1980, 

pp. [i]-[ii]. Note that Rittner created a title page and provided 

an index for volume 2; the magazine ceased publication 

without notice with the issue of January 1837, with 

neither title page nor index being provided by the publisher. 

Erastus Perry (1786-1858) is described by Rittner as an 

Albany “realtor and credit collector.” 

11. The reference to the absconding Perry is on p. 48. 

The volume ends, with no signs of its impending demise, 

on p. 112. General Henri Lafayette Villaume Ducoudray- 

Holstein (1763-1839) was author of several books on 

French grammar and popular biography. 

12. Rittner (in his index to the Zodiac, volume 2) credited 

Eights with the these articles on a European tour and 

Char Miller (“The scientific career of James Eights: an 

annotated bibliography,” pp. 12, 13) accepted them on that 

authority. I have no doubt that Eights was not the author. 

He was off on other pursuits by then and there is not the 

slightest evidence for such a trip. Furthermore, the writing 

is totally unlike Eights’s style. The suggestion that he may 

have already been in Europe buying books and instruments 

for the proposed great South Sea Exploring 

Expedition is untenable, since the trip described in these 

articles was completed well before any such purchases 

could have been made; furthermore, the official record of 

planning for that expedition fails to mention such activity 

on the part of Eights. 

13. Interestingly enough, the only signed article by 

Eights, on the rock sequences in New York geology, was 

indexed without his name. Whether it was a case of anything 

on natural history goes and Eights had not provided 

copy is not clear; Swainson’s “Natural history” was soon 

replaced by Eights’s new series, “Notes of a pedestrian,” 

and the final (but phenologically earliest) installment of 

the “Every day book.” “Pedestrian” alone spilled over into 

volume 2. 

14. Phenology’s popularity ebbs and flows. For a definition, 

see OED, (2), 11: 672; for a modern example with a 

perspective, see Aldo Leopold and Sara Elizabeth Jones, 

“A phenological record for Sauk and Dane counties, 

Wisconsin, 1935-45.” An example from the Albany area 

that may have encouraged Eights to record his findings on 

a seasonal basis was written by Lansingburgh (Troy) horticulturalist 

Alexander Walsh, “A record of the leafing and 

blossoming of fruit, ornamental and culinary plants, in the 

month [of] April and part of May 1831...and of the appearance 

of birds and insects.” 

15. The Zodiac, 1(9): 129-132; I take it that it was prepared 

by Eights the previous year to begin his series. 

Perhaps The Zodiac did not get underway in time to make 

seasonal use of it. The author’s initial long drone on the 

glories of the “long wished for and ardently anticipated 

month” that “has at length appeared” makes it even more 

likely that he thought of it as introducing a study of a single 

growing season. 

16. Eights, like any author, was at the mercy of his 

type-setter; I have italicized his scientific names as would 

usually be done today. Some effort is made to untangle 

botanical names, both common and scientific, when 

required. The scientific names used will either be the correct 

ones or the correct one will be added (if total uncertainty 

prevails, the name used by JE will be cited). 

Botanical authorities are primarily Don Rittner’s “Flora of 

the Pine Bush” (pp. 103-166, in his Pine Bush) and New 

York Flora Association’s Preliminary Vouchered Atlas of New 

York State Flora (1990); the former will be cited as “Rittner” 

and the latter as NYSF. Certain older names will be traced 

in Index Kewensis and M.L. Fernald’s Gray’s Manual of 

Botany (8th ed.). Many people would have appreciated 

information about medicinal benefits attributed to the violet 

and other species. The phenological comment on the 

lateness of its flowering, if based upon evidence, is a valuable 

observation. As to his names, his early buttercup 

(Ranunculus) seems all right, although the species is not 

listed in Rittner. Thalictrum anemonoides (note misspelling) 

is now Anemonella thalictroides, rue anemone. His early saxifrage, 

Saxifraga virginianus, is all right, although not in 


Rittner. Viola blanda is listed by Rittner as kidney-leaved 

violet but is not credited to Eights; it is not now in NYSF 

and their kidney-leaf violet is V. renifolia. 

17. Common names and comments on distribution of 

reptiles are taken from Roger Conant’s A Field Guide to 

Reptiles and Amphibians. This characterization of the wood 

turtle (Clemmys insculpta) is right on target. Archie Carr, 

Handbook of Turtles, pp. 482, 532, refers to JE’s turtle notices 

in the Zodiac but does not appear to use the records in his 

text. 

18. The red salamander is now Pseudotriton ruber; 

identification confirmed by Margaret M. Stewart. Eights’s 

generic name of Andromeda for leather-leaf today takes you 

to bog rosemary, an entirely different plant: while leatherleaf 

is still leather-leaf. So much for nomenclatural stability 

as a major achievement of the Linnaean binomial system! 

19. For a general early (undated, but before 1856) 

account of “The sturgeon trade,” see Joel Munsell, Annals 

of Albany, 7: 255-256. See also Henry P. Phelps, The Albany 

Hand-book for 1881, p. 119; and “The rhyme of 

Sturgeonopolis, a coöperative poem” (1880) (which, however, 

says nothing about sturgeons!). In Munsell’s time, an 

estimated 312,500 pounds of sturgeon meat was marketed 

during an average summer season in Albany. No wonder 

it was “Albany beef”! The main species, the Atlantic or 

sharp-nosed sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrhynchus), measured 

from four to eight feet (there are former records of 18 feet); 

the record weight then known for an individual fish at 

Albany was 486 pounds. The smaller species mentioned 

by Eights (maximum length about three feet) was the now 

gravely endangered short-nosed sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum). 

Both were anadromous fishes that came 

upstream in the Hudson to spawn. 

20. His black (now dusky) salamander is 

Desmognathus fuscus, a notably variable species. His willow 

butterfly appears to be our mourning cloak. 

21. Recall that “the Botanical Committee” of the new 

Albany Lyceum of Natural History on 9 Jun 1823 reported 

the first local record of the white troutlily, a discovery 

credited to James Eights. Eights’s intimation here that the 

white species was “never found eastward of the 

Mississippi river, until a few years ago” is not correct, 

although it does have a restricted distribution in a narrow 

band across central New York from west to east (NYSF). 

22. The literature on cicadas, periodical and otherwise, 

technical and popular, is enormous. See Paul 

Dudley’s early notice of them in New England, in R.P. 

Stearns, Science in the British Colonies of America, pp. 468- 

471; J.A. Lintner, Report of the Curator of Entomology, 

New York State Museum, 44th Annual Report, for 1890, 

pp. 296-301, comments upon them in New York; see various 

papers by Henry S. Dybas and Monte Lloyd, as well 

as H.S. Dybas and D.D. Davis, “A population census of 

seventeen-year periodical cicadas.” 

23. His Testudo punctata is the spotted turtle, now 

Clemmys guttata. The young turtles were sharing a sunny 

spot with adults; parents do not interact with young; 

young hatch in late August but late-emerging hatchlings 

may overwinter in the nest (thanks to Margaret M. Stewart 

for comments on this). Viola lanceolata still stands, while V. 

muhlenbergiana is perhaps now species conspersa; Polygala 

paucifolia and Potentilla canadensis still stand; Vaccinium 

resinosum is now Gaylussacia baccata; Quercus banisteri is 

now species ilicifolia. 

23A. On 1 Mar 1836, Eights presented to Albany 

Institute specimens of “Helix albolabris showing their 

mode of mending the shell.” If he read a paper of any sort 

on this, it was not published. 

24. The role of the Erie Canal (as canals in general) in 

the dispersal of species is an interesting one. However, in 

the case of the small-mouth black bass, Micropterus 

dolomieui, the role ascribed to the Canal may be doubted; 

the species appears to have always been distributed 

throughout at least northern New York, perhaps Albany 

was near its southeastern limits and so had not commonly 

been observed in previous times. Eights may also have 

been misled by Lesueur’s claim that it was so exclusively a 

species of Lake Erie. 

25. “Pinxter blomache” must be Eights’s Dutch name 

for a species of Rhododendron. While he gave it the name 

Rhododendron nudiflorum — the name usually equated with 

pinxter flower — he may have actually seen (and smelled) 

Rhododendron roseum, a more widespread species. Fernald 

holds flowers of nudiflorum to be “essentially odorless,” 

while those of roseum are very fragrant. JE’s box turtle, 

now rare in New York, is Terrepene carolina. 

26. The arrival of the tiger salamander by way of the 

Erie Canal is most unlikely. The appearance of a second 

specimen (the first was noted above, Note 2) indicates a 

notable local population of the species at that time. See 

S.C. Bishop, “The Salamanders of New York,” pp. 172-173. 

27. The lupine is one of the Pine Bush’s most noted 

plants, being the obligate food of caterpillars of the Pine 

Bush’s Karner blue butterfly. See Robert Dirig, “Karner’s 

famous Blue Butterfly,” pp. 197-210. For a definitive study, 

see David Alan Andow et al., eds., Karner Blue Butterfly. 

Styrandra was the old generic name for Maianthemum, false 

lily-of-the-valley; perhaps the application of bifolia was 

incorrect; he meant the species canadense. 

28. Whether bobwhites are reliable prognosticators of 

weather may be doubted; it is likely that ants swarm more 

commonly when air is heavy with moisture, a physiologically 

less stressful time for them; I see no reason why they 

could not perceive humidity more directly than is suggested 

here. As for the mussel, while it is mainly an interior 

basin species, it is not restricted to the Normanskill, being 

found in scattered streams of the Hudson River basin — 

see David Strayer, “Ecology and zoogeography of the 

freshwater mollusks of the Hudson River basin,” pp. 32, 

57; Strayer’s comment that it did not likely enter the 

Hudson by way of the Erie Canal is well taken, particularly 

in view of Isaac Lea’s comment in 1829 that his type 

specimen came to him from James Eights, by way of 

Daniel Barnes, “some years since” — certainly too early 

for mussels to have made their way eastward along the 

Erie Canal (I. Lea, “Description of a new genus of the family 

Naïdes, including eight species,” pp. 450-451). 

29. So far as I can tell, his dwarf scabish was an 

evening primrose, a notoriously variable genus, his taxon 

is now considered a form of Oenothera biennis. 

30. His Salamandra subviolacea is Ambystoma 

maculatum. The astute comment about using artificial flies 

modeled after successive hatches of mayflies will evoke a 

cheerful comment from fly-fishing buffs, who do just that, 

the “entomology” of fishing flies being almost as complex 

as the natural history of the insects themselves. 

31. Ground ivy (Glechoma) and sweet briar are not 

native species; his Cerastium, field chickweed, is now C. 

Chapter 12 199

arvense; he calls his frost grape Vitis vulpina, which would 

once have been right; it appears that the latest wave of 

experts call it riparia — but it is still frost grape. 

32. Solomon’s seal is presumably now Polygonatum 

biflorum; his Anemone was more recently A. dichotoma and 

appears now to be called A. canadensis; if his Unio radiata 

“of Say” was actually “of Gmelin,” it is now in the genus 

Lampsilis. 

32A. This swallow account is Eights at his most 

annoying. Without describing the bird and nest that he 

saw, he brings in two other species of swallow; the extent 

to which these differ from the one he saw is not clear. It 

seems to me he implies that his species was different from 

Clinton’s cliff swallow (now Petrochelidon pyrrhonota but 

then likely to have been called Hirundo fulva). Why he 

thought it possibly the European house martin, Hirundo 

(now Delichon) urbica, I do not know, unless from the 

shape of its nest: Its wall of mud pellets narrows to a 

rather wide opening above, instead of the classic laterally 

placed nozzle he attributes to the American cliff swallow. 

In any case, Clinton merely noticed the species: He did not 

describe and name it. It does appear that the cliff swallow 

became common in the Northeast only in Eights’s time: (1) 

it was only becoming known in the 1820s — Thomas Say 

named a Midwestern specimen lunifrons in 1823 but it was 

later found that Rafinesque had named a Kentucky specimen 

albifrons in 1822 — see Samuel E. Perkins III, “Letters 

by Rafinesque to Dr. Short,” p. 206; due to tangles of priority, 

etc., both have been displaced by pyrrhonota of Vieillot, 

1817; (2) Jeannette E. Graustein, “Early scientists in the 

White Mountains,” p. 60, recalls an observation of the 

Boston botanist, J. Wright Boott, that cliff swallows as 

“newcomers from the Far West, began to build at 

Crawford’s in 1818”; (3) Robert Howell, in “Some observations 

on the cliff swallow,” reported that the species was 

first seen at Nichols, Tioga County, “about the year 1838 or 

9, in small numbers, and has since that time increased 

yearly”; (4) from Eights’s own later works, there is an 

entry that seems to indicate that it was indeed the cliff 

swallow of Clinton to which he referred: see “Scraps from 

a naturalist’s note book [5],” May 1853, where he says that 

the species appeared in the Albany area about the year 

1822; (5) for the sort of structure Eights meant by “the 

half-way house on the rail road,” see the painting by E.L. 

Henry, published under the title of “The Childhood of 

Rapid Transit” (Schenectady Museum), in The 

Conservationist (Albany), Nov.-Dec. 1977, p. 25. 

33. Evening primrose flowers are not phosphorescent 

(that is, luminescent) at night; an individual flower is open 

for only one night: the whole plant may sleep away the 

day but each flower closes to open no more. 

34. Whatever errors Eights made in identifying plants 

with the primitive floras he had at hand, we have now to 

add the tangle of a century and a half of nomenclatural 

free-for-all among botanical authorities. Some questionable 

names have been noted parenthetically. As for upright 

loosestrife, Lysimachia stricta Ait., it is now presumably L. 

terrestris; his beard-tongue is now Penstemon hirsutus; 

Campanula amplexicaulis, his clasping bellflower, is Venus’s 

looking-glass in a related genus, long called Specularia perfoliata, 

now Triodanus perfoliata; Rittner accepts his basswood 

as a subspecies of the native Tilia americana and calls 

it southern basswood. 

35. While Eights’s philosophy of nature is familiar 

enough, he has struck out in regard to true insect-catching 

(or at least insect-using) behavior in flowers of dogbane 

(genus Apocynum). Evidently, smaller and weaker insects 

flies do become entangled in sticky clefts between closely 

connivant stamens and are unable to extricate themselves. 

This can be clearly seen in flowers of milkweed (genus 

Asclepias). In the latter, insects too small to pull their legs 

from the specialized structures of the flowers and carry off 

the massive pollen sacks are frequently trapped miserably. 

Benjamin Smith Barton (“Memorandum concerning a new 

vegetable muscipula”) found great numbers of houseflies 

trapped by legs or proboscides in milkweed flowers. He 

noticed that Erasmus Darwin had imputed the same powers 

to Apocynum. Darwin thought the plant capable of 

muscular movement: “The apocynum androsemifolium 

contracts its petals or nectaries round the proboscis of the 

flies which stimulate it, and holds them till they die, or till 

the sleep of the plant releases them by the relaxation of its 

muscular action” (Desmond King-Hele, The Essential 

Writings of Erasmus Darwin, p. 103, from Darwin’s 

Phytologia, pp. 132-133). Dr. Darwin was both imprecise in 

designating how the insects were trapped and quite 

wrong in regard to “muscular action” of the plant. 

Apocynum flowers lack some of the specialized anatomy 

that milkweeds have for treating with potential pollinators 

(and killing off the unwary nonpollinators). However, 

anthers of Apocynum flowers lean inwards toward the 

style and at one point touch and are essentially attached to 

it. One authority holds that, at their upper ends, “the 

chinks between the anthers narrow...and serve as clips to 

hold fast unbidden guests. The actual pollinators...after 

sucking nectar are obliged to withdraw their proboscis 

between the anthers, i.e. through these clips, and it can 

only be freed by the exercise of considerable force. During 

this withdrawal the proboscis passes over the stigma, and 

its sticky upper edge through the pollen-chamber, from 

which it takes up some of the adhesive granular pollen, to 

be transferred to the next flower visited” (Knuth, cited 

below). This implies that weak and tiny insects might be 

held by their proboscides. In any case, these examples of 

insect-catching by Asclepias and Apocynum serve no useful 

function to the plant and, indeed, fail to accomplish its 

needs in the matter: that of ensuring cross-pollination. One 

wonders indeed at the story of the London nurseryman 

who smeared meat on leaves “of this plant”: Can Eights 

refer to “experiments” where leaves of the Venus fly-trap 

or other truly carnivorous (insectivorous) plant have been 

so treated? Since natural history studies of plants are now 

out of fashion, readers may want to know more about pollination 

strategies by milkweeds and dogbanes (and fates 

of innocent and useless thieves of nectar who fall victim to 

them): Friedrich Ludwig, “Über die 

Bestäubungsvorrichtung und die Fliegenfalls des 

Hundskohles, Apocynum androsaemifolium L.”; F. Ludwig, 

“Zur Biologie der Apocyneen”; Paul Knuth, Handbook of 

Flower Pollination, vol. 3, pp. 88-89; Wendy B. Zomlefer, 

Guide to Flowering Plant Families, p. 243. The best modern 

study is R.E. Woodson, Jr., “The dogbane: roadwide weed 

and future staple.” Woodson has dismissed most of the 

more fantastic claims, writing (p. 95) that the number of 

insects caught is relatively small, that there is no spectacular 

elastic movement of stamens, that there is never any 

movement to release the insect. He believed sticky nectar 

to be the main element retaining small insects (p. 96) but 


supposed that tiny insects might wedge their proboscides 

between the rather closely apposed parts of the inner 

flower (p. 98). His illustration of flower parts, p. 97, is 

excellent. I am greatly indebted to Sally Underwood for 

help with source material on this interesting matter. 

36. As to Copris, it is a scarab, one of the dung beetles. 

Eights was certainly in error to suppose the parasites of 

these beetles were aphids; no doubt they were acarid 

mites; “bugs upon bugs” is a common sight in entomology 

and, indeed, the watchword of ecology. 

37. The dubious repute of native species of Kalmia is 

thoroughly reviewed by Charlotte Erichsen-Brown, 

Medicinal and Other Uses of North American Plants, pp. 196- 

199. 

38. This is a mixed bag. We are not informed of the 

seasonality of firefly activity. The final observation that the 

activity diminishes by midnight seems to the casual 

observer to be correct. While the larvae feed actively upon 

various small invertebrates, the food of adults is not so 

easily characterized; apparently, it is usually nectar — or 

nothing at all. That the flashing lights bring the sexes 

together (the various species having different flashing 

sequences) cannot be doubted; I think JE’s conclusion that 

males have diminished flashing powers is not correct. 

39. July’s account appeared in two installments, The 

Zodiac 1(2): 23-25, (3): 33-35, August, September 1835. 

Naturalists will recall the recrudescence of whip-poor-will 

song after a midsummer diminution. 

40. There are numerous species of digger wasps that 

provision underground tunnels with paralyzed spiders for 

their forthcoming young; the generic identification is not 

to be taken too seriously. Erasmus Darwin relates a similar 

instance of reason in a wasp: the wasp had paralyzed a fly 

nearly as large as itself; when it attempted to fly with its 

prey, the fly’s wings were caught by wind and caused the 

wasp to turn around in the air; the wasp settled to the 

ground: “I then distinctly observed him cut off with his 

mouth, first one of the wings, and then the other, after 

which he flew away with it unmolested by the wind” 

(Darwin, in Zoologia, 1: 263, in D. King-Hele, Essential 

Writings of Erasmus Darwin, p. 66). 

41. His identification of the butterflies, July 4-5, as 

Vanessa antiopa of Leach is somewhat misleading (apparently 

it was named by Linnaeus, not Leach). These are 

now called mourning cloak butterflies and generic allocation 

has ranged from Vanessa to Aglais to Nymphalis. I am 

not acquainted with Réaumur’s account of the blood-spot 

mentioned in the ensuing entry of 5 July. W.H. Elder tells 

me the subject is not discussed in any of the standard, 

comprehensive American butterfly books. However, he 

has witnessed the phenomenon, having reared this species 

to adulthood. Lepidopterids, he explains, have a body 

fluid (of various colors in different species) that is pumped 

into the unfolding wings to expand them to full size; at the 

end of the process, the fluid is ejected from the body. 

42. The record of the soft-shelled turtle was a notable 

one, it obviously being an individual that had dispersed 

southward from a population in extreme northeastern 

New York; otherwise, the species is found in western and 

northern New York only. The species is the eastern spiny 

softshell; Eights’s ferox is now restricted to a southeastern 

Florida species; however, Eights need not have doubted 

the ferocity of any of the softshells. That a softshelled turtle 

from the Albany area was a novelty may be gathered 

from the stir created when R.V. DeWitt brought back living 

specimens from Cayuga Lake to the Institute; they were 

displayed at the meeting of 1 Sept 1824; the recording secretary, 

M.H. Webster “read a description of the Testudo 

ferox extracted from Turton’s Linnaeus, by the Hon. 

DeWitt Clinton”; at the Institute meeting of 13 Oct 1824, 

“A notice of the Testudo ferox, genus Trionyx of Cuvier, by 

Dr. James C. Dekay [DeKay] of New York was read” (these 

papers are abstracted in Institute Transactions, 1, pt. 2, app. 

pp. 29, 30). Note the New York distribution of this turtle in 

A. Carr, Handbook of Turtles, p. 414. 

43. His Sagittaria heterophylla Pursh is now S. rigida; if 

his common name is to be trusted, his hedge hyssop was 

Gratiola neglecta. Lady’s-tresses, Spiranthes tortilis Rich., is 

questionably named by Eights; I presume it is now 

Spiranthes gracilis or S. lacera var. gracilis, although Rittner 

does not credit it to Eights. 

44. Given the widespread distribution of eels in the 

upper Midwest and in Lake Erie and along the St. 

Lawrence, I think Eights’s claim about their primitive distribution 

needs to be weighed carefully. 

45. I have been unable to identify his lacewing, called 

here Osmylus maculata. Rattlesnake plantain is still secure 

but his other two orchids have wandered about in classifications: 

bog-candle (or white) and large round-leaved 

orchid were then and are now Plantanthera; in between, 

they were long comfortably called Habenaria orbiculata and 

dilatata. 

46. There is no way to decide with certainty if Eights 

saw the black racer (even though he calls it Coluber constrictor) 

or the black rat snake (Elaphe obsoleta). Maybe he 

nodded in the summer heat: He certainly knew that nothing 

in nature tells you what the weather will be next winter; 

it is even more surprising that he would provide his 

rule with a built-in escape clause. 

47. The final statement rather shakes one. He appears 

to use “Tettigonia” as a generic name; if so, it applies to 

orthopterans known generally as katydids, species that no 

one would confuse with any of the grasshopper-like 

locusts. 

48. As for agrimony, he uses the name Agrimonia eupatorium 

and I guess this to be A. parviflora, woodland agrimony, 

although Rittner credits JE only with A. pubescens; 

one trusts that he distinguished between two water-hemlocks, 

Cicuta maculata (his name) and C. bulbifera; both 

have the chemical qualities he mentions. 

49. The account goes on. Why Eights failed to share 

with his audience the fact that scarabeid dung beetles, or 

tumble-bugs, known to every schoolchild, were actively 

engaged in making balls not of earth but of manure into 

egg-cases and food sources of young is beyond me. For 

general life history, he probably consulted the received, 

generalized version of his day. Evidently, eggs are laid in 

(or with) the balls of dung after the latter are rolled (with 

all the dedication that he lauds) to the nest tunnels. His 

beetles may have been in the modern genus Phanaeus. 

50. His Lobelia kalmii is Kalm’s or brook lobelia; L. claytoniana 

is L. spicata. As to Apocynum, his species are now A. 

sibiricum and cannabinum. His Aster conyzoides is somewhat 

problematic and I assume it to be what some authors call 

genus Sericocarpus, white-topped aster; given the tangle of 

species within the genus Aster, it is better not to be dogmatic 

as to what Eights had in hand. JE’s memory played 

a joke on him in regard to the weaving of the floss of milk- 

Chapter 12 201

weed seeds into cloth; Margaret Gerrish, in “The Asclepias 

Syriaca or milk weed a substitute for flax,” referred entirely 

to the use of the processed bark of the stem as a fiber 

source. 

51. This is an interesting early account of territoriality 

in dragonflies; technically, young dragonflies are called 

nymphs, there being no sharply defined states such as 

larva and pupa. He does not distinguish the various wellmarked 

species. 

52. JE was talking about green lacewings, family 

Chrysopidae, not a brown lacewing, which his genus 

Hemerobius is. Orange milkweed has proved a popular garden 

flower. 

53. I think I have his fossils spelled as he intended; his 

prose occasionally has a way of becoming hopelessly 

intertwined. The old orchid genus Habernaria has fallen 

prey to nomenclators and is now Plantanthera; both his 

species names (for, respectively, large purple fringed and 

orange or yellow fringed orchids) have survived. 

54. His lion’s-foot (or gall-of-the-earth or rattlesnakeroot) 

is Prenanthes serpentaria, if proper specific status was 

determined. Yellow false foxglove, is now called Aureolaria 

flava. Water-target is not easy, for the common name is 

now water-shield and the scientific name is Brasenia schreberi. 

His small spearwort seems to be Ranunculus reptans. 

Beech-drops or pine-drops, although very rare, is not confined 

to the State of New York. It is not clear where Dr. 

Edwin James (1797-1861), for some years in active practice 

in Albany, and an ardent naturalist, presented his account 

of Pterospora. 

55. The August installment was in Zodiac, 1(3): 42-44, 

Sep 1835. Hypericum, St. John’s-wort, offers some difficulties; 

he has the species ascyroides and kalmiana but appears 

to mean ascyron and kalmianum; there are few New York 

records for the latter and none near Albany county. 

56. Horse botflies (family Gasterophilidae), whose life 

history is described, have a very different life cycle from 

flies of the genus Oestrus (family Oestridae, sheep botflies, 

etc.) whose genus he names. 

57. It is not possible to make much of the grasshopper 

interlude, since no species are mentioned; noise production 

of typical grasshoppers is somewhat as he describes, 

although there is great variation among orthopterans in 

how instrumental music is made. Various hawks do prey 

upon grasshoppers. Ferns do not bloom. 

58. Such behavior of spiders, ballooning as it has been 

called, when gossamer is produced freely, surely functions 

as a dispersal mechanism and is common among orbweavers 

and many other diurnal species. 

59. Crayfishes, of course. I cannot imagine their not 

being common more or less year-round. His nomenclature 

is needlessly tangled; Leach was not author of the genus; 

it is now Cambarus bartoni, if his identification was correct. 

For a contemporary illustration of Astacus bartoni, see J.E. 

De Kay, Zoology of New-York...VI. Crustacea, pl. 8, fig. 25. 

60. JE’s Panglossian philosophy shows through in 

regard to the herrings; unless one harvested one-year-old 

fish, a spawning this year would not guarantee a grand 

harvest a year hence. His river herring is also known as 

alewife, Alosa (sometimes Pomolobus) pseudoharengus, 

unless he misidentified Alosa aestivalis, the blueback herring. 

61. Cyathophyllum is a genus of long-extinct tetracorals. 

His reconstruction is imaginative but requires a drawing 

to make the description effective. To say the little animalcules 

“masticated” their food stretches it. 

62. The peachtree borer he describes is either the hornet 

moth or a relative; he does not exaggerate the damage 

done by them. 

63. As for fireflies disappearing because of cooler 

weather, this is perhaps an example of Whitehead’s “fallacy 

of misplaced concreteness.” His pickle plant is unicornplant 

or elephant’s trunk, now Proboscidea louisiana, considered 

to be a rare escape in New York. 

64. In providing his gentian with a common name, 

Eights misread the scientific name as Gentiana (now 

Gentianella) “quinqueflora,” instead of quinquefolia — and 

provided a common name accordingly; it is now called 

small stiff gentian or gall of the earth, the latter reflecting 

the bitter taste that he notes. The second Eupatorium is 

called pale Joe-Pye weed. I see no authority who makes it 

such a height as claimed here. 

65. The statement itself is a singularly murky one: I do 

not see any sense in “the season has now arrived in which 

atmospheric phenomena most generally prevail”! 

66. For further notice of these plant remains, see JE’s 

“Observations on the geological features,” p. 346 (1852). 

67. His worm-seed is now called Mexican tea. Why 

“Mexican,” I do not know, unless because, as with “horsemint,” 

“horse-radish,” and “Indian turnip,” fit only for 

uncivilized palates. As with many homegrown remedies, 

one needs to be careful not to fall victim to the belief that 

if a little is good, a great deal is much more beneficial: In 

amounts little more than the prescribed doses, grave 

results may ensue (Erichsen-Brown, Medicinal and Other 

Uses, pp. 415-416). 

68. His “common field Cricket” would presumably 

now be placed in the genus Gryllus. For my part, having 

little sympathy for the heat of summer’s months of harvest, 

I have thoroughly enjoyed the song of crickets in 

winter months, when lucky enough to have one claim hospitality 

in my basement. Crickets would surely soon eat 

their way out of a paper cage. 

69. His Clytus is perhaps the locust borer, Megacyllene 

robiniae, or related long-horned beetle. Not the clearest 

writing ever; but it will be evident that it is the larvae of 

the insect that damage locust trees. 

70. In the absence of species identification, nothing 

can be made of the “common rail” — there are Atlantic 

coastal rails that would, indeed, be uncommon inland; but 

there are also similar inland freshwater rails that would 

have occurred in the Albany area. 

71. This is the strange phasmatid given the common 

name of walking-stick, now Diapheromera femorata. 

72. The September offering appeared in The Zodiac, 

1(4): 60-63, Oct 1835. 

73. Eights uses botanical names only here; for the 

most part, I have reduced the list to one of accepted common 

names. I indicate here most of his botanical names 

and comment on a few that require further explanation. 

Monkey-flower, which he calls Mimulus alatus, is called 

“rare” by NYSF, although there are voucher specimens for 

a few New York counties; Rittner does not include the 

species in the pine bush flora, nor does he credit Eights 

with collecting his one species of this genus, M. ringens, a 

widespread and common species. Chaff-seed, Schwalbea 

americana, seems excessively rare in New York; considering 

its common blooming time of May–July, perhaps Eights 


did not see it in bloom but merely collected specimens this 

date. His Gerardia glauca of Eddy, smooth foxglove, having 

for a time been called G. quercifolia, is now Aureolaria flava. 

His Pedicularis pallida of Pursh, lousewort, is somewhat of 

a puzzle. This is now called P. lanceolata, a species of the 

genus found in this area (and still called “lousewort”) that 

blooms August to October; Rittner does not list this 

species but does correctly credit Eights with P. canadensis 

— a species that blooms much earlier than this date. One 

should have no trouble with horse balm, Collinsonia 

canadensis, also called richweed and stone wort. His trailing 

bush-clover is Lespedeza procumbens; tufted (or cow, 

blue or bird) vetch is Vicia cracca. Giant ragweed is 

Ambrosia trifida; what I have elected to call common ragweed, 

he calls A. elatior, now accounted a form of A. 

artemesiaefolia — oddly, Rittner credits Eights with the former 

but not the latter species. Rittner lists five species of 

pondweed, Potamogeton, crediting none to Eights; he does 

not list Eights in regard to P. perfoliatus (he calls it “perfoliatum”); 

this species is not only listed as a widespread New 

York species by NYSF but, notably, it is a species that 

blooms late in the season. I should not expect to find the 

cat-tail, Typha latifolia, in bloom in September, although 

Rittner does give the season of “appearance” as Aug–Sept. 

74. The fish is now also called smelt or spottail shiner, 

Notropis hudsonius; Eights’s groping prose at its best is 

shown here and I have intentionally pruned the account 

but little; why the fishes of old could not have died of an 

exhausted supply of oxygen (as I suppose his to have 

done) in some general “convulsion,” I do not see. 

75. I have not bothered to confirm Eights’s species 

name for his slug but it seems to have been the common 

sort; since it is hard to imagine a more pernicious pest in 

the kitchen garden than this animal, I can only conclude 

that JE was a much better naturalist in general than garden 

observer. 

76. This sloppy entry is Eights at his worst: surely, he 

could have given some indication of what kind of moth he 

was writing about! That an economic entomologist may 

guess what he meant is beside the point. The egg-laying of 

Hemerocampa matches that described here. 

77. One is almost inclined not to challenge the vapidity 

of this kind of writing because it is so insubstantial. I do 

not know if statistics bear out the initial thesis; he does not 

cite evidence and exceptions are ignored. As for such 

“wise provisions of nature” as “easily admit of solution,” 

an observant naturalist would be more cautious in coming 

to conclusions. 

78. A genus of fossil nautiloid mollusks of Ordovician 

age; unlike the majority of nautiloids, they were coiled 

only at the beginning of life, the older animal consisting of 

a number of chambers in a straight, stick-like row. 

79. The observation on bluebird migration, although 

something of a strawman, was essentially correct. 

80. Soapwort gentian, Gentiana saponaria, seems a rare 

plant, perhaps a member of the attentuated northeastward 

extended pine bush flora. The asters are Aster novae-angliae 

and cordifolius. Water beggar-tick (Bidens cernua), sticktight 

or bur marigold, can be a showy flowering plant as 

well as a persistent weed in cultivated areas. His dodder is 

likely to have been the widespread Cuscuta gronovii. 

81. This common, highly variable salamander is now 

called Eurycea bislineata. 

82. He perhaps overstates pikes and pickerels as 

found only in running water. They also seem to thrive in 

small quiet streams and drainage ditches that are heavily 

vegetated. 

83. The admirable scientific spirit of the final sentence 

rather redeems this otherwise notable example of someone 

talking out of both sides of his mouth simultaneously, and 

somewhat murkily at that. 

84. Unfortunately, I cannot guess the name of his 

moth caterpillar. Caterpillars of the tussock moths, genus 

Hemerocampa, are handsomely marked and can wreak 

great devastation upon their food supply. However, I am 

uncertain this is the species he had in mind. His Quercus 

bannesteri (properly Q. banisteri) is now Q. ilicifolia, the 

bear or scrub oak of the pine bush. His observation that 

such depredation had occurred is much more important 

than the highly circumstantial statements concerning benefits 

to the natural community. One wonders why the 

slaughter of caterpillars was not cited as a wonderful 

example of the providence of nature. Can he have been 

sure that the species overwintered underground (and, if 

so, in what stage)? He did not comment on the rather 

early, evidently slight, frosts. 

85. Whatever the speculations of “the scientific individuals” 

of Eights’s time may have been, the Zodiacal 

Light is real enough and even the most elementary explanation 

of it makes it a quite mysterious matter — having 

nothing to do with atmospheric moisture. 

86. Whatever species of moth Eights had in mind, it 

was not a member of the genus Bombyx (silkworm) or a 

close relative. 

87. Harpalus is a genus of common ground beetles, 

family Carabidae. 

88. Fringed gentian is now given the botanical name 

of Gentianopsis crinita. 

89. The validity of his experiment is vitiated by several 

factors, one of which is that you are not even told how 

long it had been going on. As for the Chinese, part of what 

Eights attempts to say is that tea growers thought that the 

first crop of leaves in the new growing season, before the 

plants had exhausted their food supply, was of higher 

quality than later pickings. 

90. The box turtle Terrapene carolina is now quite a rare 

species in New York, being near the northern limits of its 

range. 

91. Without knowing what manner of English journal 

carried the story, it is trivial to quibble that a human leg of 

considerable age (not old, geologically speaking, of course) 

might be preserved if buried in a bog. The date of a killing 

frost is quite in line with the expectable; most corn would 

surely have been harvested by this date. 

92. Perhaps this entry does not require comment; 

Eights can be supposed to have known what he was talking 

about (he used the proper scientific name for the time). 

With such shooting of any bird of significant size that 

came within sight, even in the city, it is not difficult to see 

why American cities lack the rich and varied bird populations 

of many foreign communities. 

93. Eights’s “Wren” is now called kinglet, Regulus calendula. 

Chapter 12 203


Chapter 13 

EIGHTS IN ALBANY: THE LATER ZODIAC 

YEARS 1830–1836 — II: PEDESTRIAN, GEOLOGIST, 

ENTOMOLOGIST, HISTORIAN 

With James Eights finished with his phenological 

account of Albany, a breather is due. 

Although he was already off on his way before 

that series ended, a look at his activities at 

Albany Institute shows that he remained busy 

on many fronts. 

In March 1835, Eights contributed the vertebrae 

of a fossil animal from the Cretaceous of 

Maryland; in October, he gave two specimens 

of green jaspery slate from the Norman’s Kill. 

In March 1836, perhaps a sign that he did not 

treasure and retain old ties, he entrusted to the 

Institute his original drawings of Brongniartia 

and his three vignettes of the Erie Canal (the 

Canal entrance on the Hudson; the Aqueduct 

Bridge at Rochester; the Aqueduct Bridge at 

Little Falls — all prepared for Eaton’s Canal 

Survey). In June, he gave the Institute a copy of 

A Simplified Anatomy for the Use of Families and a 

specimen of “Hair Snake” (his Gordius 

aquaticus) from Oneida. In August, he contributed 

a pamphlet, Cosmogenia, Containing 

Illustrations of Various Doctrines, by the 

Reverend Hugh White of Watertown (1830). 

In November 1836, Eights gave the Institute 

specimens of belemnites from New Jersey and 

phytolite from Canajoharie. He was probably 

instrumental in steering to them the gift, “by 

the author,” of Jeremiah N. Reynolds’s 1836 

address on the exploring expedition to the 

House of Representatives. 1 

The reputation of James Eights as a geologist 

rests primarily upon material that he contributed 

to The Zodiac. However much he 

learned by working for and with Amos Eaton 

and, later, Lardner Vanuxem during a brief 

tenure with the New York State Natural History 

Survey in 1836, all that was rather anonymous. 

In The Zodiac, for all his fits and starts, it was 

his own. 

At this time, in order to keep all geology 

and para-geology in one place, it seems wise to 

take out of turn an unrelated piece in The Zodiac 

that was initialled by “E.” (and credited to him 

by name, “James Eights, M.D.,” in the contemporary 

annual index). Although entitled 

“Entomology,” it specifically addressed only a 

query in regard to spiders. However, a long 

introductory note on the importance of the 

study of insects perhaps justified the title. The 

entire essay, described as “For the Zodiac,” 

except for the query from a correspondent, was 

indeed by Eights. Did he overemphasize the 

importance of the subject, as one may do when 

called upon to justify writing about something? 

Was entomology nearer his heart’s-desire than 

botany? Did his lists of plants in nearly every 

entry in “The naturalist’s every day book” 

merely give readers what they demanded? 2 

Chapter 13 205

INSECTS AND SPIDERS: EIGHTS’S 

ESSAY ON “ENTOMOLOGY” 

“Among the manifold periodicals which 

continue daily to throng in upon us...how many 

a page do we behold, devoted exclusively to the 

elaborate essays of the votaries of botany; 

whilst one of its sister sciences, equally useful 

and far more interesting, can with the greatest 

difficulty, command the pen of even a solitary 

individual in its cause. Why it is, that the science 

of entomology is thus almost totally neglected, 

I am utterly unable even to conjecture: 

surely, it cannot be said, that nature has reared 

the product of this her ample field, far remote 

from the busy habitation of man, and consequently, 

that she requires too much exertion of 

the body or mind, in the procuration of specimens, 

ever to render it an object worthy the 

attention of many, however strong may be their 

inclination to pursue the study, either for edification 

or amusement. From the simplest plant 

that springs and blossoms by the way-side, to 

the aged monarch that rears its head in the stillness 

of the forest, each bears a record of the 

devastating march of myriads of the insect race, 

nor is even the tenement of man itself, exempt 

from their intrusive wanderings; for day after 

day, are we not destined to hear the bitter 

lamentation of some individual of our families, 

for injuries sustained in the comforts or luxuries 

of the table, or, for some favorite article of wearing 

apparel rendered completely unfit for service, 

by the perforations of some of these minute 

particles of creation; and how various, too, are 

the species, to be observed of a summer 

evening, as they hover leisurely along the walls 

of our chamber, or gliding apparently unconscious 

of their danger, amid the rays of the 

lamp’s fatal flame, presently dart into its every 

centre, and either perish, or fall sadly mutilated 

upon the table before us. 

“Should there be any that have not the inclination 

to extend their researches, far beyond the 

shadows of the places they inhabit, and do not 

consider those that visit them in the recesses of 

their abodes sufficiently numerous or important, 

they have but to walk into the garden 

which surrounds them, and however limited be 

its extent, they will there find ample employment 

for the leisure hours of a season, merely in 

noting the various habits of the multitudes 

which daily throng to the little vegetation it 

may contain. 

“To such individuals as derive pleasure 

from observing the beauties of nature, I would, 

in a peculiar manner, recommend the study of 

insects, for certainly, none other of her productions 

can present a more extensive, or richer 

field of enjoyment; the loveliest flowers that 

bloom, and breathe forth their fragrance to the 

summer air, are utterly unable to exhibit a more 

beautiful variety of tints, so delicately blending 

into each other, as those which she has decorated 

this interesting portion of her works; nor can 

even the vast mineral kingdom afford a single 

fragment of its treasures, to surpass them in the 

brilliant magnificence of their appearance. 

“When we consider the many advantages 

the farmers of our country might derive from 

even a partial knowledge of this science, and 

the variety of amusements it is capable of 

affording those, who are not under the necessity 

of becoming tillers of the soil for a sustenance, 

it certainly appears somewhat remarkable, 

that we possess so little information of the 

habits of the commonest insects which are continually 

around us, and more especially so, 

when we reflect, that scarcely a solitary hour 

can elapse in the existence of the life of man, 

that does not, in a manner, present to his senses 

some of the numerous species.” 

These reflections were occasioned by receiving 

from a subscriber of The Zodiac, J.B. Wilcox 

of Castile, a letter written on 2 May 1836. Upon 

reading some references to spiders in “The naturalist’s 

every day book,” he was reminded of 

“the question...‘how does the spider throw his 

web across from one object to another through 

empty space?’...I will mention the following 

facts, and wish your naturalist, if he is able, to 

solve the problem. 

“Late in the autumn, in a yard, in which a 

farmer had placed several stacks of hay, the 

web of the spider was observed stretching 

across from the top of one hay pole to another, 

and from this to a third, and so on, until a chain 

of communication was formed throughout the 


whole. The question immediately arose, how 

did he get his web across from one pole to the 

other? Did he fasten it at one end, descend to 

the ground, climb the other stack, draw it up 

after him, and then fasten it at the top of the 

other pole? This was impossible. While the 

question was being agitated, a small grey spider 

was observed on a dry spire of grass near at 

hand. The spire of grass was secured with the 

spider on it. Another spire was then set up at a 

little distance from it, say twelve inches, with 

no other object near it. The thumb and finger 

then grasping the spire below the spider, were 

gradually raised so as to drive him to the top; 

being pressed for room, after a little hesitation, 

he started off in a direct line to the top of the 

other spire. The moment he left the one for the 

other, a web could be seen, but not till then. The 

web was then broken, and being driven up the 

other spire, he went back to the first in the same 

manner. 

“The experiment was variously repeated 

several times, the position being different in 

every case, the spires being placed at different 

distances, but always with the same result. 

This experiment was a very amusing and 

interesting one, but we were no better prepared 

to solve the question at the end, than we were 

at the beginning. Now if your learned naturalist 

can solve this problem for us, we shall remember 

him with very great respect every time we 

come in contact with a spider. 

Yours, &c., 

“J.B. Wilcox.” 

To this preposterous query, Eights tactfully 

replied: “The ingenuity that these interesting 

animals display in accomplishing objects which 

they at any time require, is with certainty, most 

admirably calculated to excite feelings of pleasure, 

and even astonishment, in the breast of the 

beholder; and I have repeatedly experienced 

great delight, in observing the peculiar manner 

in which the singular feat alluded to in the 

above letter, is accomplished by them. There are 

two ways in which it is principally done. The 

one is, to fasten the end of the thread to an 

angle of a fence [I assume him to mean a zigzag 

rail fence], or any other object similarly situated, 

and then to proceed along until it reaches 

an opposite angle, taking the precaution of 

keeping it from coming in contact with any of 

the parts, by projecting one of its posterior 

limbs, through the claw of which the thread is 

made to glide in such a manner as to be kept 

nearly an inch from the wall. After having 

reached a situation suitable to its purpose, the 

slack of the web is speedily taken in, and the 

end, firmly secured as before. This acts as the 

basis line from which the others are extended in 

various directions. The second mode is, for the 

spider to ascend some eminence, and then by 

elevating the abdomen, rapidly to dart out 

threads, so extremely fine as almost to elude the 

observation of the spectator, until they reach 

some neighboring object, along which it then 

with unusual speed pursues its course, at the 

same time spinning out a much stronger line, 

and one far thicker in its dimensions. The 

experiments referred to in the preceding letter, I 

sincerely think must have been accomplished in 

the manner last described: the thread produced 

having been so extremely fine in its texture, and 

the rapidity with which the animal completed 

its object, renders it highly probable, that during 

the process it fairly escaped detection, for 

they are by no means constructed for a passage 

through the atmosphere by any other mode of 

conveyance than through those of their buoyant 

webs.” 

Eights then quotes at length accounts from 

the literature, all uniformly promoting the belief 

that “spiders contrive to extend lines which are 

often many feet in length, across inaccessible 

openings” only when air currents carry across 

the space a singularly delicate thread of gossamer. 

The threads are then secured and made 

taut; if the spider is successful in traversing the 

thread, it is reinforced by a stouter filament of 

web. He concluded by appealing to his own 

experiences. 

“I shall now conclude this communication, 

with a brief description of the whole process, 

which I had an excellent opportunity of witnessing 

a few mornings since. It was accomplished 

by one of the larger species of hunting 

spiders. When first observed, it had taken its 

station upon a superior corner of a piece of 

Chapter 13 207

joist, about four inches square, and which projected 

three feet and a half beyond the building 

to which it was attached. Its abdomen was elevated 

in the air, and it was apparently with 

great industry spinning out its web, no doubt 

with the intention of reaching the nearest object 

to its position...which proved to be a plum tree, 

situated nearly four feet distant. This web was 

so exceedingly fine that a considerable time 

elapsed e’er [he means “ere”] I could readily 

discern it, floating most gracefully in long 

undulations upon the light morning air. In a 

short time, I observed that it had become entangled 

in one of the smaller branches of the tree, 

which the spider almost instantaneously discovered, 

and, after once or twice tugging at the 

line with its anterior feet, in order to ascertain 

that it was sufficiently secure, it suddenly, and 

with great force, launched out upon its aerial 

voyage, but not, however, before it had taken 

the precaution of firmly cementing an additional, 

and much stronger thread, to the point from 

whence it started. The utility of this measure 

soon became very apparent, for it had barely 

proceeded a few inches upon this slender 

bridge, e’er the lighter thread suddenly disunited 

from the weight alone, when the spider was 

left freely swinging to and fro by the larger line, 

three or four inches beneath the joist; otherwise, 

prefectly free from injury.” 

It was only upon the third attempt that the 

spider was able to achieve what Eights supposed 

its object: that of reaching the plum tree 

and the abundant supply of flies that it provided. 

He then watched its hunting behavior: “I 

was highly amused to see the cat-like caution 

with which it stole along the opposite side of 

the branch, towards a position where several of 

these insects were assembled...sometimes running 

for a short distance with uncommon 

speed, then resting for some moments, as if for 

reflection, and so alternately moving onward 

until it came within several inches of the 

intended spot: it now proceeded with much 

greater care, occasionally pausing, and slowly 

projecting its head around the branch, as if to 

ascertain its true approximation. At length, after 

approaching within a few inches to where the 

flies appeared, it gradually stole to the upper 

surface of the branch, and then became perfectly 

motionless; and so it continued for some 

moments, as if to select a victim from among 

their number, and, for the purpose of making a 

more sure and deadly aim. The favorable 

moment having now occurred, it all at once, 

and with a motion almost as rapid as the light, 

sprung through the air, immediately upon one 

of the flies, and soon bore it away triumphantly 

to some secluded recess among the leaves.” 

Eights ended with the hope that he had 

amply explained “the manner in which spiders 

transport themselves, through space, from one 

object to another.” 3 

EIGHTS AS GEOLOGIST: THE 

UNFINISHED “SYNOPSIS” 

Nothing shows better than Eights’s “A synopsis 

of the rocks of the State of New-York” his 

willingness to take up serious projects and put 

them aside unfinished. What happened in this 

case, I cannot fathom. Did someone anger him 

with criticism? Did he tread on sensitive toes of 

a fellow geologist? Were editor or publisher of 

the Zodiac unimpressed by reader response to 

such solid science? If so, why did he not continue 

its publication elsewhere? In any case, what 

was evidently meant to be a series of articles 

ended as abruptly as it began, its initial number 

being its last. 4 

The work certainly starts expansively 

enough. It proceeds systematically, only to 

founder in mid-step. There can be no doubt that 

it helped bring attention to him as a geologist, 

at least of the work-horse type, apt at learning, 

capable of gathering information first-hand, 

willing (for a time) to become a pedestrian 

scholar to boot. While it seems unnecessary to 

quote the work in full, a few excerpts are justified. 

They show James Eights at work and we 

can perceive how his mind operated. Perhaps 

they will also give a hint of why he foundered. 

No attempt is made here to bring Eights’s geological 

nomenclature up to date. 


“A SYNOPSIS OF THE ROCKS OF THE 

STATE OF NEW-YORK 

“The advantages which the State of New- 

York affords to the geological investigator, are 

truly without a parallel in this country. The well 

defined limits of each individual series of strata, 

as they successively emerge from beneath its 

surface, the various streams which every where 

traverse them, from its very centre to its confines, 

and whose waters may be traced in 

almost every direction in their passage towards 

the sea — the number, situation, and magnitude 

of its lakes, whose basins are deeply depressed 

in them, together with the facilities which the 

works of art present, for transporting the traveller 

from one portion of it to the other, freely 

offer, wherever they occur, the happiest opportunities 

that the scientific enquirer can reasonably 

expect or desire. Yet with all these advantages, 

the true nature of its rocks has never been 

distinctly defined. They certainly are equivalent 

to those of other countries, and the various treatises 

on Geology which have been published 

abroad, within the period of the last fifteen 

years, apply, with very slight exceptions, in a 

most admirable manner to the different series 

which compose its groups. 5 

“No inconsiderable portion of the surface of 

the State of New-York, is occupied by the cropping 

out of the different series of strata, which 

compose that magnificent carboniferous group, 

whose extent is over the greatest portion of the 

vast territory of the United States. Its eastern 

origin, is along the shores of the Hudson river, 

from whence it stretches out, in a nearly horizontal 

position, far away into the remote 

regions of the west, until it eventually becomes 

lost beneath the disintegrating fragments, that 

are so profusely strewed along the base of the 

Rocky Mountains. From the boundaries of 

Canada on the north, but few difficulties occur 

in tracing it almost, if not entirely, to the shores 

of the Mexican Gulf. 

“So admirably distinct are the different 

series of rocks which compose the state, displayed 

over its surface, that should an intelligent 

traveller take his departure from the elevated 

lands, any where along the Pennsylvania 

line, to the westward of the county of Broome, 

and pursue his course to that of St. Lawrence, 

on the river of that name, he will have ample 

cause to admire the manner in which he 

descends in regular succession, down a series of 

gigantic steps — first, the great coal measures; 

next, the carboniferous limestones; then, the old 

red sandstones; fourth, the grauwacke slates; 

and lastly the transition limestones, whose strata 

will be seen, terminating against the primitive 

ranges of the north, with their edges, in 

many places, elevated in a direction towards 

their summits — the intervening rocks being 

generally unseen. 

“It may not be improper here to remark, 

that whenever the sandstones, grits or 

grauwackes occur, in any of these series, in a 

regular position, their superior portions are universally 

of the nature of breccia, or conglomerate, 

which, in descending, gradually become 

finer in their structure, until they terminate 

below, in fine grained arenaceous or grauwacke 

slates. 

“It is my intention, at some future period, to 

put into proper form, the many facts which I 

have for several years been collecting from personal 

inspection, with a view to a complete 

description of the geology of the state, to be 

accompanied by the necessary sections, and 

correct figures of its numerous organic remains; 

but the time which must necessarily elapse 

before this can be accomplished, I am now convinced 

will be much greater than I anticipated. I 

have therefore, been induced in the mean time, 

to make public the following synopsis of the 

rocks of the State of New-York. In doing so, it is 

no more than justice to state that I have been 

altogether guided by the Manual of M. de la 

Beche, from the circumstance, that the descriptions 

contained therein, apply well to our strata, 

and more particularly, because the series of 

rocks of the state had already naturally 

arranged themselves agreeably to the same 

order. 6 

“Various species of the organic remains 

whose genera will be enumerated hereafter, are 

contained in my own collection, and also in that 

of the Albany Institute.” 

Chapter 13 209

Figure 13.1. James Eights drawing to show arrangement 

of strata of Carboniferous age. Appeared in his “A synopsis 

of the rocks of the state of New York”, The Zodiac, 1, 

page 27. 

At this point, Eights launched into a 

detailed discussion of the CARBONIFEROUS 

GROUP — and never got beyond it. He probably 

meant to cover all rock series of the State in 

similar detail. It is illustrated by a diagrammatic 

section with the subtitle of “I. Coal Measures.” 

Some of the succeeding paragraphs are here 

somewhat condensed. 

“Strata of conglomerates, sandstones, and 

grits compose the upper portion of this series, 

whilst argillaceous shales, grauwacke shales, 

and bituminous shales predominate in the 

lower. These lower strata sometimes embrace 

layers of lime stones, and lime stone shales, 

whose characters correspond in a great degree 

with those of the adjacent lime stones, upon 

which the whole series repose; and also, extensive 

beds of anthracite, and bituminous coals. 

“The minerals embraced in this series are 

not numerous, but some of them are of the 

utmost importance to our country. Those most 

commonly seen, are, carbonates of lime, sulphate 

of alumine and potash, quartz, mica, 

feldspar, chlorite, anthracite, bituminous and 

sulphurous coals, carbonate of copper, sulphuret 

of iron, argillaceous oxide of iron in nodules, 

and sulphate of iron. 

“The organic remains contained in this 

series, are also the same as those which characterize 

the coal measures of other countries, 

belonging chiefly to the vegetable kingdom, 

and allied to those which are now known to be 

natives of a tropical climate. Various species of 

the following Genera, have with considerable 

accuracy been determined. Stigmaria, 

Sphenophyllum, Annularia, Calamites, 

Neuropteris, Pecopteris, Lepidodendron, 

Sigillaria. The other fossils, generally found in 

the grits, are, Encrinus, Spirifer, Terebratula, 

Producta, Lingula, Inoceramus, and Orthocera. 

In the Lime stone, and Lime stone shales, are 

observed, Cyathophyllum, Astrea, Favosite, 

Encrinus, Spirifer, Producta, Inoceramus, 

Calymene.” 7 

The coal measures, he thought, compose the 

“most recently indurated rocks” of New York 

and covered about one-third of the state. In 

Pennsylvania, this series includes the anthracite 

region to the east and the bituminous coal fields 

of the western parts of the state. 

The greatest elevation of these so-called coal 

measures is to be found in the Catskills, “whose 

summits attain the altitude of three thousand 

eight hundred and four feet.” To the west, 

upper layers seem to be eroded away, so elevations 

are not so great. 

Most coal measure strata in New York are 

relatively undisturbed, in contrast to those of 

Pennsylvania’s anthracite region, which are 

often “elevated...disrupted and contorted.” 

He considered the main ridge of the 

Alleghenies to divide Pennsylvania’s anthracite 

from its bituminous strata; the line continues 

into New York toward Cayuga Lake. To the 

westward, “thin seams of bituminous coal are 

not unfrequently met with.” Between that line 

and the Hudson, small amounts of anthracite 

are to be found. He did not, however, think that 


New York would be found to have extensive 

beds of workable coal — a sound conclusion, 

however sketchy his reasons. 

Strata of red sandstones of varying thickness 

are to be seen in upper layers of the mountains, 

distinguishable from the older red sandstones 

elsewhere by their organic remains. 

Having thus established his nomenclature, 

he deemed “it somewhat necessary, in order to 

be properly understood, to insert with reference 

to the figures accompanying the engraved section 

of each series,” the equivalents from 

Eaton’s geological synopsis. Then, in the middle 

of his list of equivalents, the article ended with 

the words “To be continued” — and was heard 

of no more. 8 

Whatever the reason, Eights’s account of the 

rocks of New York did not thrive. That was not 

the end of James Eights’s interest in New York 

geology, however much he may have shied 

away from a systematic recounting of his 

knowledge of it. With the demise of “The naturalist’s 

every day book” at the end of the 1835 

growing season (except for the belated publication 

of the already written May segment), 

Eights was in limbo. He began to be heard from 

again in January 1836, in “Notes of a pedestrian,” 

the product of his roving eye and busy pen 

for that period of time. It probably had, in faith, 

as much geology as the readers of the day were 

likely to find tolerable, leavened as it was by 

social, economic, and biological comments 

along the way. 9 

NOTES OF A PEDESTRIAN. PART 1 

“Soon after leaving Albany, the shadows of 

night began to spread deeply over the face of 

nature, gradually obscuring all things from the 

sight. The day-light remained only sufficiently 

long to enable me to observe for a few miles 

along the shores, the transition clay slate here 

and there emerging from beneath the extensive 

beds of marly-clay and gravel, which so abundantly 

constitute the sides of the valley of the 

Hudson, at intervals, almost along its whole 

extent. The night, however, was clear and beautiful, 

with a light breeze playing gently over the 

waters from the northern quarter of the heavens, 

whilst now and then a slight and transient 

glimmer of the aurora borealis was distinctly 

visible in the same direction. Meteors or shooting-stars 

were also not unfrequently streaming 

through the air above our heads, in directions 

as various as they were numerous; and 

although the shores were obscured by the 

gloom of night, the scenes on this noble river 

were by no means destitute of their peculiar 

interest, for the attention was constantly excited 

by the numerous lights which almost continually 

strewed along, on either side, and also from 

those of the steamers and vessels of nearly 

every other description, that so constantly navigate 

the stream. 

“Our steamer, independent of the urbanity 

of those connected with her, and also her 

unusual speed, certainly exhibited advantages 

in a superior degree beyond any thing of the 

description that I had previously met with, and 

conspicuously among them were the comparative 

ease with which she passed along through 

the water, dividing it with a gentle agitation, 

and delivering it again from her counters with a 

freedom as great. She evidently possessed but 

in a slight degree that disagreeable jarring 

motion, so distinctly perceptible and which is 

so frequently the subject of lamentation with 

steam boat travellers on this river. It was nine 

o’clock when we reached the landing of Red 

Hook, and I was fortunate enough, through the 

politeness of some individuals whom I found 

on the wharf, to obtain an immediate and 

speedy passage to the village of Ulster, on the 

opposite shore. 

“The village of Ulster [present-day 

Saugerties] is pleasantly situated on the western 

side of the Hudson, nearly opposite Clermont, 

the residence of the late chancellor Livingston. 

Only a small portion of it can be distinguished 

from the steamers in their passage along, in 

consequence of an irregularly elevated ridge of 

grauwacke that conceals it almost entirely from 

the sight, and through which the waters of the 

Esopus river have at some remote period, 

formed themselves a channal [!] in their course 

towards that stream. It is of a quite recent date, 

not having been much improved till within the 

period of the last eight or ten years. It now con- 

Chapter 12 211

tains about two thousand five hundred inhabitants, 

and wears very much the appearance of 

youth and vigour. The falls on the stream, at 

this place, give site to several manufacturing 

establishments, to which in fact the village 

owes its origin and growth. Iron, white lead, 

and paper are the principle articles produced, 

the former in some considerable quantities; but 

there is no novelty connected with it that would 

be of much interest, particularly to those who 

have visited these establishments elsewhere in 

various sections of our country. On applying for 

an admission into the iron manufactory in this 

place, I was most rudely repulsed by some one 

exercising ‘a brief authority.’ It is by such boors 

that the cause of science and the arts is often 

regarded and injured. The white lead produced 

here is by a new process, being an improvement 

on all former plans, and it is conducted on 

strictly chemical principles; the consequence is 

that a better article is obtained at a considerable 

saving of expense. This improvement in the 

manufacture of white lead has been effected by 

Col. Edward Clark, who, like most other inventors, 

is likely to reap only the bare reputation, 

while other individuals by playing on his 

credulity under the professions of friendship, 

will probably secure in the first instance, all the 

benefits; at least so speaks rumor. 

“The paper mill is ingeniously contrived to 

produce from the pulp a continuous sheet of 

sized and dried paper, completely prepared for 

subdividing and printing. They manufacture 

about one hundred reams per day, and the 

whole establishment is owned and conducted 

by Henry Barclay, Esqr., who has his residence 

at the place, and to whom, in fact, it is chiefly 

indebted for its celebrity. 

“There is also quite an extensive establishment 

for the manufacturing of axes, belonging 

to a company of gentlemen residing in the city 

of New-York, in which from one hundred and 

sixty and one hundred and seventy axes are 

daily made, and about forty men kept constantly 

employed. Besides these there is a chair factory 

and a brewery; the former preparing for 

market each day, about one hundred chairs — 

the materials, with the exception of the bottoms, 

being furnished elsewhere in a finished state; 

the latter is on a rather contracted scale, furnishing 

but a comparatively small quantity of 

beer at each brewing. But notwithstanding the 

superior advantages this place possesses, there 

seems to be a discordance of interests among 

the inhabitants, which, beyond a doubt, tends 

greatly to retard its prosperity and growth.” 10 

Here follows a detailed account of the 

topography, physiography, and geology of the 

lower Esopus in the neighborhood of Ulster. 

The interested reader is referred to the entire 

piece in Rittner’s facsimile reprint of The Zodiac. 

I quote only a few entries of general interest. 

“The minerals embraced in this formation 

are extremely rare, and as to organic remains, 

none were discovered.” In this grauwacke slate 

and associated strata, he found one small example 

of anthracite: “but this circumstance is certainly 

by no means an evidence, nor even an 

indication, that this useful mineral in any considerable 

quantities, can ever be obtained at this 

place — sufficiently so as to render it an object 

of serious attention, as the true position of those 

strata which embrace the extensive beds of 

anthracite in Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, over 

the surface of the globe, is geologically some 

thousands of feet above the proper position of 

this grauwacke.” 

It is unnecessary to quote fully his detailed 

descriptions of the geological strata and their 

characteristics. Suffice it to say that J.W. Wells, a 

modern geologist, considers Eights “a keen 

observer, and his descriptions of the various 

formations allow them to be identified with 

considerable certainty.” 11 

In the limestone near the Hudson at Ulster, 

he found an abundance of fossils, and despite 

“the advanced state of the season, two of our 

most beautiful native plants were profusely in 

bloom every where, about in the crevices, not 

only of the limestones, but also in the fissures of 

the perpendicular cliffs of the grauwacke...the 

Hair-bell [harebell], (campanula rotundifolia of 

Linn:) and the Herb Robert (geraneum robertianum 

of Linneus.)” 12 



“In proceeding to the south, this ridge of 

lime stone gradually becomes much more elevated 

in appearance, until it wells out into an 

altitude of some considerable height, but at the 

same time, as it proceeds along, it still retains 

its peculiar characteristic of being elevated and 

depressed at different intervals. About two 

miles from the village, and but a short distance 

from where the road strikes this ridge, in situated 

a lime-kiln, at which place the workmen 

were industriously engaged in excavating the 

rock for the purpose of calcination; in doing so 

they accidentally came upon a fissure or vein, 

containing some small quantities of well characterized 

bituminous coal....But circumstances like 

this are by no means unusual in many of the 

strata, which comprise the extensive carboniferous 

series of limestones to which these layers 

belong....No good workable coal, to any great 

extent has ever yet been discovered in it.” His 

advice: “under no consideration whatever... 

heedlessly...embark in any project of research 

for that useful mineral, without previously consulting 

some competent geologist, who by a 

few minutes investigation, would satisfactorily 

inform them that their labors would prove 

fruitless, and that their money would be 

expended in vain.” 13 

“A short distance beyond the lime-kiln the 

road makes rather an abrupt turn to the right, 

through this ridge, down towards the bed of 

the Esopus river....It was here for the first time 

that I beheld the sheep laurel and mountain 

laurel (Kalmia angustifolia and K. latifolia of 

Linneus) thriving luxuriantly together, a thing 

quite uncommon, as the former is a native of 

moist sandy plains, and the latter an inhabitant 

of rocky, mountain districts; they were not in 

flower, for their period of blooming has long 

since passed, nor were any other species of 

plants that I could discover, save the delicate 

and hardy little harebell, whose beautiful purple 

flowers were now and then seen projecting 

from some sheltered and secluded recess 

among the rocks. Two beautiful ferns...were 

also exceedingly common, and in full fruit, 

growing from almost every crevice that could 

any where be seen. It was here too, in moist and 

shady situations, that I detected several specimens 

of the painted snail (Helix alternata of 

Say.)...not having yet retired to their winter 

retreats.” 14 

“A little farther up the course of the stream, 

at the great falls, as they are termed in the town 

of Saugerties, and about three miles above the 

Village of Ulster, are romantically situated the 

white lead manufactory, and hermitage of Col. 

Edward Clark, and communicating with them 

is to be seen a very curious and unusual suspension 

bridge, extending from one shore of the 

river to the other; it is constructed altogether of 

iron wire, with the exception of a single layer of 

planks, and the few rests upon which they 

repose. At this place an excellent opportunity 

presents itself for observing these layers of 

limestone passing out from beneath a thick stratum 

of gritty clay slate, which forms the abruptly 

elevated hill for a mile or two along the western 

shore of the stream....Immediately after 

their appearance from beneath the slate, the 

strata of lime stone spread out almost horizontally 

for a short distance...to furnish the stream 

with a fine level floor over which to glide...and 

then, bending upward, they rapidly swell out 

into an eminence of some considerable 

height....On gaining this eminence and looking 

towards the west, a scene is displayed before 

the spectator, that for beauty and grandeur can 

scarcely be equalled in our country....The 

Catskill mountains, bold, lofty, and sublime, 

presenting an eastern front of mural precipices, 

and clothed in those austere habiliments so 

characteristic of the decline of the year; stretching 

away into the west, connect themselves 

with the elevated ranges of the Alleghany, to 

which they belong; hill rising beyond hill...Such 

was its aspect in the last month of autumn — 

what then must it be when all nature is in 

bloom?” 

“It is here that Colonel Clark is the proprietor 

of very extensive and valuable water privileges, 

still remaining, it may with propriety be 

said, in an unimproved state. The place is sometimes 

designated by the name of ‘the Great 

Falls,’ but some of his facetious neighbors, 

probably the fairer portion, from the circum- 

Chapter 13 213

stance of his living in a state of single blessedness, 

have bestowed upon it the appellation of 

‘the Hermitage.’” 15 

Eights foresaw a grand future for this site, 

deriving from the permanency of its water supply, 

the stretch of falls spread out for a quarter 

of a mile, during which the stream descended 

some 80 feet. Since so little expense would be 

required “to apply its water to manufacturing 

purposes...I sincerely think...they bid fair at no 

distant period to render this place, the Lowell 

of the state of New-York.” 

Near this place, the Catskills attain their 

greatest altitude. Eights pays particular attention 

to the geology of the area, listing minerals, 

peculiarities of physiography and fossils of each 

formation. In one place, he describes a limestone 

formation that lies upon one of gritty 

clay-slate, the latter then forming a plain that 

slopes to the Esopus. “This plain is covered 

principally by a forest composed chiefly of 

chesnut, beach [his spellings], and maple, occasionally 

interspersed with hemlock, and it was 

along the edges of these woods that I beheld in 

full flower, several specimens of the delicate little 

venus’ pride (Houstonia coerulea of Linn.) 

This being one of our earliest flowers in spring, 

it consequently has experienced two seasons of 

bloom in the year, a curious circumstance, 

which can only be attributed to the unusual 

mildness of the atmosphere at this advanced 

stage of autumn.” 16 

One meadow in this vicinity, Eights heard, 

was “much infested by the copper-head snake, 

which, whenever the first chills of autumn 

appear, retires to its den among the numerous 

cleavages which these limestones every where 

present, and there dozes away the hours in a 

state of torpor, until the genial warmth of the 

returning spring, again revives it into action. It 

is fully as venomous as the rattle snake, and I 

was informed that during the preceding summer, 

a horse...was so severely bitten by several, 

that he survived but a brief space of time.” 

He thought it possible to find locally marbles 

as ornamental as those imported from 

abroad: “We have no reason yet to believe, that 

Nature has been less lavish of her favors in this 

country, than she has in Ireland, or that of any 

other spot on the surface of the globe.” 

One layer of limestone he found unusual: 

“the peculiar sonorous sound which the loose 

fragments give out upon being agitated in the 

slightest degree; it is by no means dissimilar to 

that produced by a number of broken pieces of 

pot metal, when shaken; the mere walking over 

them easily affects [effects] it, and I have no 

knowledge of any other limestone in the state, 

that at all possesses this singular property.” 

At one rocky outcropping of grauwacke 

slate, “I observed a number of specimens of the 

beautiful little scarlet pimpernel...in full 

flower.” 17 

There follows at the end of this article “A 

geological section from the summit of the 

Catskill Mountain to the Hudson River, through 

the town of Glasco.” This section, reproduced 

by J.W. Wells in his study of the history of the 

Devonian formations of New York, is accounted 

by him as “broadly correct as understood today, 

but does not show the great discordance 

between the older Paleozoic rocks (A) and the 

Devonian limestones (B).” 18 

Figure 13.2. James Eights, “Notes of a pedestrian, “number 

2, The Zodiac, volume 1, page 116. 


“In approaching the village of Kingston, 

from the north, the surrounding country gradually 

becomes more level...until you reach the 


plain upon which it is situated, and which is 

composed principally of marly clay and gravel, 

over-layed by the yellow sand. The village presents 

quite an aged aspect, rendered so in a great 

measure by the number of ancient buildings of 

stone which it yet contains, and more particularly 

by the sad looking ruins of the venerable 

edifice which for such a great length of time, 

had been appropriated as a sanctuary of worship 

by the fathers of the present generation of 

its neighboring inhabitants; but here I regret 

that I am constrained to add, by a barbaraity 

wholly unworthy the enlightened age in which 

we live, this remnant of American antiquity has 

been reduced to its present forlorn condition, 

merely to give place to a more modern structure 

without architectural chasteness, and alike 

destitute of either taste or comeliness, — the 

hands of the law, I think, should always be 

stretched out for the protection of these landmarks 

of other days.” 19 

A short distance to the eastward of 

Kingston, the road is crossed by an elevated 

ridge of limestone that is but little higher than 

“the stratum from whence the celebrated 

hydraulic cement is obtained.” 

He proceeded from Kingston landing to the 

entrance of the Hudson and Delaware Canal; 

the grauwacke formation was frequently in 

view due to recent blasting. He found a building 

which, “from its peculiar structure, I should 

most readily conclude was intended for the 

manufacturing of Pyroligneous acid or vinegar; 

but the individuals whom I saw at the place 

seemed to exercise no small degree of mystery 

on the occasion of my visit; a circumstance 

totally unnecessary, as all the improvements on 

those subjects up to a very recent date have 

been divulged, and the processes by which they 

may be obtained made known to the public 

through the avenues of various scientific journals 

from abroad, as well as in the pages of 

some of our own.” He then laid bare all the 

technical information — he said — needed to 

set up your own distilling plant. 

A lime kiln, claiming to use a local product, 

was evident nearby but darkness prevented his 

learning anything more of its geological nature. 

“The Hudson and Delaware canal has its 

eastern termination in the Rondout creek, 

about three miles from Kingston, at a place 

called Eddyville, formerly known as the 

Esopus strand, from whence a small steamer 

plys almost constantly to the landing below, 

for the purpose of towing the boats freighted 

with the company’s coal to that place, ninetyfive 

thousand tons of which I am informed it is 

their calculation to receive previous to the 

ordinary period for the navigation of the river 

to cease. Large quantities of lumber and cord 

wood are also yearly borne on the waters of 

this canal, intended chiefly for the market of 

New-York, and independent of coal crafts, 

about twenty-five sloops are kept continuously 

in employ for transporting the various products 

from the Rondout creek, to that city. The 

number of boats kept in active employment on 

the canal amounts in all to nearly four hundred.” 

19A 

The complex geological setting of Eddyville 

is described, as are the settings of the canal 

through lock number six to the village of 

Rosendale, six miles from the eastern termination. 

Some mile or two west of Rosendale, kilns 

have been erected for the purpose of calcining 

the native rocks, once they are broken into 

pieces by the stone mill, into hydraulic cement. 

At the High (or Great) Falls about ten miles 

west of Eddyville, Eights suggested that exploration 

might result in the discovery of salt or 

gypsum. The waterfalls themselves were in a 

relatively undeveloped state, “giving origin 

only as yet, to two woollen manufactories, a 

tannery, and some few mills.” 

A short distance above the High Falls, the 

grits of the grauwacke shales supply “the celebrated 

mill-stones of the county of Ulster.” “It 

was also, skirting the shores of the Rondout 

creek, at this place, that I first beheld the highly 

ornamental evergreen shrub, the American 

Rose-bay, (Rhododendron maximum of 

Linnaeus,) abounding in the greatest profusion; 

it was not in flower, for its season of bloom is in 

the earlier parts of the summer, however, the 

beauty of its foliage will always render it an 

object of delight to the discriminating eye of 

taste, and should justly entitle it, at all times, to 

a conspicuous situation in the gardens of such 

as take enjoyment in cultivating the vegetable 

portion of nature’s productions.” 

Chapter 13 215

He found only two freshwater mussels, 

even with diligent search, but painted tortoises 

(now Chrysemys picta) “were extremely common, 

basking in the sunbeams, on the flat surface 

of stones and logs, which, when 

approached, dropped suddenly into the water, 

and soon concealed themselves from the sight.” 

He disagreed with the naturalist who thought 

that turtle restricted to ponds, for he often 

found them in running water. 


“In proceeding onward to the Delaware 

river, the lofty ranges which bound this widely 

extended valley on either side, are seen gradually 

to converge, until after passing the confines 

of the state of New-York, where they approach 

each other so near, as barely to admit a passage 

to that turbulent stream, in its progress along.” 

Eights then described the ridges to the right, the 

“Blue Hills,” so called because “of the beautiful 

azure hues they exhibit in the distance, when 

no clouds obscure them from the sight.” He 

then refers to the Shawangunk range that rises 

from the edge of the canal and soon attains an 

impressive eminence; there, too, on the western 

slopes, strata become more and more upright, 

“until they assume a position as nearly vertical, 

as they are fairly capable of being placed.” 

Where there is an ample supply of soil, a heavy 

growth of forest trees is found, along with a 

luxuriant display of mosses and lichens. From 

limestone strata “good lime 

is...manufactured...by the neighboring inhabitants.” 

20 

“About thirty-five miles from Eddyville, at a 

place containing a few scattered dwellings, dignified 

by the appellation of Frantzville, I was 

informed that anthracite of a good quality had 

been discovered a short time previous, at no 

great distance among the western hills.” His 

examination suggested that the discovery was 

to be expected and he maintained that workable 

amounts of anthracite would not be found in 

the region. 

“It is near this place that an extensive 

sphagnous swamp has its commencement, and 

continues, almost uninterruptedly, to Port 

Jervis, a distance of about twenty-five miles, 

forming a principal portion of the floor of the 

valley, and is for the most part completely covered 

with wild and dense forests, consisting 

principally of the following trees and shrubs.” 

He then lists some dozen species of woody 

plants with both common and Latin names — 

the former generally more useful than the latter 

for certain identification today: Poison ash 

(sumac), red maple, alder, black birch, button 

wood (or sycamore, perhaps two species, yellow 

and white), black oak, swamp white oak, 

chestnut, hoop ash (the single exception to my 

statement: he means hackberry), hackmatack 

(larch), black spruce, white cedar. “Wherever 

these forest trees are not so dense, openings in 

the rich sphagnum exhibit numerous pools of 

water, tinged of a dingy hue, which abound 

with several fine species of tortoises...the beautiful 

painted tortoise...the spotted tortoise...and 

also what is termed in the northern states the 

snapping turtle....This last named species, at 

this place, grows to an enormous extent: the 

superior shell of one that I saw, measured nearly 

two feet in length, and I was informed that 

they were not unfrequently obtained far exceeding 

that in their various dimensions. Scattered 

at various intervals through this morass, and 

also along the adjoining plain, are occasionally 

to be seen arable patches of fertile lands; many 

of which are still occupied by ancient Indian 

orchards, containing venerable apple trees, 

which the disintegrating hand of time has not 

yet entirely obliterated, — furnishing sad 

memorials of a once powerful and warlike 

tribe, which, for an unknown space of time, 

held undisputed sway over this peaceful 

vale.” 21 

“The canal, from Westbrookville to Port 

Jervis, a distance of about twenty-two miles, 

skirts the base of the western range of hills, 

and, in some instances, it is excavated from 

their shales. From among these shales...it is that 

the beautiful flags [flagstones] are obtained in 

such quantities, to be transported on the waters 

of the canal, to the Hudson river, and there 

again shipped to the appropriate markets.” 

“Port Jervis is beautifully situated, at a distance 

of sixty miles from the Hudson river, and 


just at the great bend of the Delaware....It is of a 

quite recent date...it possesses an excellent 

water privilege, upon which are already placed 

a grist-mill, one for the grinding of plaster, and 

also a building for the manufacturing of oil. It is 

but a short distance from this place that the 

contemplated state road is laid out to pass 

through the blue ridge.” 

“The canal to this place is by no means in as 

fair a condition as the amount of transportation 

upon its waters necessarily requires: the banks 

and locks, are, in many places, in a wretched 

state. When constructed, it had a regular width 

of thirty-six feet, and an average depth of four; 

but at the present time, the sloping surfaces of 

its banks have by degrees, here and there, settled 

in, so that ladened boats are unable to pass 

each other, and frequently become stranded, 

when they are compelled to discharge a portion 

of their cargoes on the shore, in order once 

again to float; every few miles can plainly furnish 

evidences of this fact, from the quantities 

of anthracite to be seen distributed in heaps as 

you proceed along. Many of the stone locks are 

also much out of repair, freely discharging as 

large a quantity of water, through the numerous 

fissures in the side walls, as can readily obtain a 

passage by the regular flood gates. In all works 

of this nature, this is a sad piece of negligence; 

small injuries should always be attended to 

immediately on their discovery.” 

“Within the last week, the common passenger 

pigeons...have been exceedingly numerous, 

covering the whole heavens in widely spreading 

flocks, both at the early and latter parts of 

the day, flying in a direction towards the north; 

no doubt on their passage to those extensive 

forests of beech, that so beautifully skirt the 

base of the Catskill mountains; the mast which 

has been so abundantly produced during the 

last season, being fully capable of furnishing 

them with a rich repast of the food that they so 

peculiarly relish. The inhabitants of the vicinity 

have all been on the alert, to ensnare them in 

their artfully spread nets; immense numbers of 

them are daily thus obtained. The direction of 

their flight, so near to the close of the year, is 

doubtless an indication of a further continuance 

of the mild pleasant weather we at present 

experience.” 22 

“After leaving Port Jervis the canal turns 

abruptly into the blue ridge, and follows the 

course of the Delaware river through it, for the 

distance of about fifteen miles; winding gracefully 

along the base of a perpendicular cliff, 

which rises some hundreds of feet in the air.” 

Near the mountain house of Pine Orchard, “the 

hills appear to have had the singular disposition 

of arranging themselves in magnificent 

groups, each individual one that composes 

them, assuming the forms of stupendous pyramids. 

which, in many places, exhibit some of 

the wildest, and most picturesque scenery that 

the eye delights to witness.” 


“After crossing the Delaware river, the canal 

skirts the base of the hills along the northern 

shore of the Lackawaxen creek, until it reaches 

its western point of termination, at the village 

of Honesdale, a distance of about thirty-three 

miles. This is certainly a most beautiful and 

well constructed portion of the work; much 

greater pains appear to have been bestowed 

upon the building of the locks, and, nothwithstanding 

that their sidewalls are faced with 

wood, they surely exhibit a much better aspect, 

and, I think, that they will doubtlessly prove far 

more durable than any that I beheld to the eastward 

of the blue ridge.” 23 

“The scenery along this distance presents 

the same general appearance as that previously 

seen, since entering this mountain ridge.”...“In 

passing along through these hills, the attention 

of the traveller is continually excited by the 

immense quantities of a beautiful species of 

usnea, which is every where to be seen, covering 

the dark branches of the trees of the forest, 

hanging far below them in ample, cinerousgreen 

locks, or, in graceful festoons, and which 

gives an effect to the scene that is at once peculiarly 

hoary, and wild in the extreme. This fine 

lichen is reputed by botanists to be extremely 

slow in its growth, requiring many years for it 

to ripen into maturity, a fact which I consider in 

no small degree exaggerated, for in progressing 

along, repeated opportunities afforded them- 

Chapter 13 217

selves for beholding it in dense masses, adhering 

to the branches of apple trees in the 

orchards about, which, from the diminutive size 

and youthful appearance, with certainty, never 

could exceed beyond the age of five years.” 

“The village of Honesdale is situated directly 

at the junction of the canal with the rail-road 

to Carbondale, a distance of one hundred and 

eight miles from the Hudson river, and if anything, 

has rather a pleasant position, although it 

still exhibits all the fresh appearances of having 

but recently been extricated from the heavy 

masses of forest, by which it is surrounded. Its 

population at present is about four hundred 

inhabitants, and they are slowly on the increase; 

the houses are very much scattered, which is 

most generally the case in all newly established 

villages, where individual interests are striving 

with one another for the ascendency. It contains 

two buildings for public worship, an 

Episcopalian, and one for Methodists; this latter 

denomination seems greatly to prevail in this 

region of country. There are also an academy, a 

scythe and axe manufactory, and one for 

leather. The neighboring hills readily yield an 

abundance of lumber of an excellent quality, 

large quantities of which are daily floated to 

their respective markets, either by way of the 

Hudson and Delaware canal to New-York, or 

down the Lackawaxen and Delaware river to 

the city of Philadelphia, and elsewhere along 

the course of that stream. 

“The Delaware and Hudson canal company’s 

rail-road has been constructed principally 

for the purpose of conveying the anthracite 

from the mines of Carbondale to the canal, a 

distance of sixteen and a half miles: its passage 

is over a country exceedingly rugged, and 

mountainous, sometimes being excavated from 

the mill-stone grits and shales, and at others, 

stretching across ravines of no inconsiderable 

width, elevated on timber stanchions, twenty or 

more feet in height, most readily impressing the 

mind of an individual, unused to this mode of 

conveyance, with sensations of fear, by the fragile 

appearance it presents to his view. For the 

first twelve and a half miles, it rises gradually 

by a series of variously inclined planes, until it 

attains its greatest elevation, near the summit of 

the Moosic mountains, an altitude of nine hundred 

and twelve feet above its base, and one 

thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight feet 

above the ordinary tide water level. In the 

remaining four miles it, by the same means, has 

a rapid and rather abrupt descent of nine hundred 

perpendicular feet, to the bottom of 

Carbondale valley, immediately in the vicinity 

of the mines. 

“From the village of Carbondale to the summit 

level, on the Moosic mountains, the ladened 

carriages are drawn up the different inclinations, 

by five stationary steam engines, which, 

for the most part are kept constantly in operation, 

and from thence, in descending towards 

the canal, three inclined planes occur at distinct 

intervals, though of no very considerable 

extent, down the slope of which the loaded 

wagons are made use of for returning those 

which have become unladened; and over a gentle 

declivity, extending a distance of six miles, 

they descend in a most beautiful manner by 

their gravity alone; but in returning, horsepower 

is necessarily employed. Further on, and 

terminating the road in that direction, is a slight 

inclination of four miles, upon which horses are 

made use of for transporting the carriages in 

either direction. 

“This rail-road is a temporary structure; 

however, from increase of business transacted 

upon it, I am induced to believe, that in a short 

space of time, the company will be enabled to 

render it far more permanent; some valuable 

improvements have already been made in several 

places, by Mr. Archibald, their intelligent 

and enterprising engineer; but much more still 

remains to be done. The full amount of transportation 

upon this road for the present year, 

(1835) has been ninety thousand tons of 

anthracite, ten millions [!] feet of lumber, and 

other articles, amounting in all, to something 

over one hundred thousand tons of transit. 

“The face of the country through which this 

rail-road pursues its tortuous course is wild and 

dreary in the extreme, being principally made 

up of alternate hills and dales, constructed of 

harsh and cragged rocks, covered for the most 

part all over by dense forests of hemlock, beech 

and cherry, with some maples and ash. The soil 


I should suppose would not admit of any high 

degree of improvement, in consequence of its NOTES OF A PEDESTRIAN. PART 6 

being composed chiefly of the disintegrating 

particles of the mill-stone grits and shales, 

“One of the nearest positions to the confines 

which, containing no lime, yields but a meagre of the state of New-York, where the great coal 

earth to be susceptible of much profitable cultivation; 

the only richness it possesses, being geologists, occur, is in the beautiful valley of 

measures, as they are termed by all foreign 

derived almost exclusively from the decomposition 

of the heavier vegetables, which so luxuri- 

embrace all those extensive beds of anthracite 

Lackawanna, and here they are found to 

antly thrive throughout this region of country. that are now the property of the Delaware 

Many of those hardy shrubs and under-shrubs, Canal Company, by whom the most considerable 

of the number is at this present time 

which are comprised in the natural order 

Ericeœ of Linneus, are also very abundant[;] worked extensively. 26 

those which displayed themselves in the most “This valley derives the appellation it bears 

conspicuous manner, though not in bloom, from the Indian words, ‘Lechaw’ and ‘hanna,’ 

were the leather-leaf...bear berry...trailing arbutus...spicy 

winter laurel [!]...mountain green extends in a south-west direction, with an aver- 

which signify the meeting of two streams. It 

[!]...and the beautiful American rose-bay....” 24 age width from about two to four miles, from 

The village of Carbondale is described: It the village of Carbondale until it becomes lost in 

lies about midway in the valley of Lackawanna, the adjoining valley of Wyoming, at the village 

near the company’s extensive anthracite mines; of Pittston, a distance of twenty-three miles. On 

this is considered near the northern edge of either side it is bounded by lofty ranges of wild 

beds of anthracite. The village has some 2,500 and densely wooded hills, which, however, now 

inhabitants and their rude cottages occupy the and then, present to the eye some arable patches 

slight elevations nearby. 

of finely cultivated fields. The ridge to the eastward 

has been designated as the Moosic moun- 

At this point, I intrude a matter of some 

interest not touched upon by James Eights. A tain, and forms the dividing range of the waters 

charter to build the Delaware and Hudson of the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers, whilst 

Canal was granted by the State Legislature in that in the opposite direction has not yet 

1823. Ground was broken two years later on a received a name. Through the centre of this valley, 

a fine stream of water pursues a serpentine 

canal from Rondout, on the Hudson, to 

Honesdale, Pennsylvania. It was completed in course, winding along in a most graceful manner, 

throughout its whole extent, until it dis- 

1828. The Canal was primarily used for transporting 

coal mined near Carbondale. It was carried 

over a gravity railroad, begun in 1827 and meeting with which, first gave origin to the 

charges itself into the Susquehanna river, the 

completed in 1829. “It was on this railroad that name that it and the valley through which it at 

the ‘Stourbridge Lion,’ the first locomotive present flows, possesses.” 

engine that ever turned a wheel on any railroad “The principal vegetation which clothes the 

on this continent, was used. It was imported surfaces of the valley of Lackawanna and its 

from England by the Delaware and Hudson neighboring hills is, beech, maple, ash, cherry, 

Canal Company, taken by canal-boat from New hemlock, and in several places, pine, oak, hickory 

and chestnut [common names alone sup- 

York to Carbondale, Pa., and the first trip made 

August 8, 1829, from Honedale to Seeleyville plied]; consequently they are fully capable of 

and return.” This matter was ignored by Eights. affording an abundance of the finest lumber...which 

may...be either floated down the 

It is true that the “Lion” did not roar for long. 

After two trips, the historic locomotive was Susquehanna, or else transported by the railroad 

and canal to the waters of the Hudson 

withdrawn in favor of horse and mule power, 

the track being found incapable of sustaining river.” 

train traffic. Still, it is a neat story! 25 The final paragraphs of this segment are 

Chapter 13 219

taken up with an elaborate calculation concerning 

the equivalence of various geological strata 

and — again — how adventurers should not 

expect to find “the true coal measures” in the 

state of New York. 


“The coal measures, occupying the 

Lackawanna valley throughout nearly its whole 

extent, may, with strict propriety, be considered 

as varying from between two to three hundred 

feet in thickness, and are composed of numerous 

strata of anthracite, conglomerate sandstone 

and shales, in repeated alternations: separated 

from the millstone grit and shales upon 

which they rest, by a stratum, consisting principally 

of nodular clay oxide of iron. — These 

strata repose one upon the other in a conformable 

position, stretching across the whole width 

of the valley, in nearly a horizontal manner, 

until their terminating edges touch the sloping 

sides of the mountain ranges which define its 

limits in that direction.” 27 

Henceforth, Eights’s description becomes 

detailed and specific, most of which is ignored 

here. His diagram shows clearly that the coal 

beds are of limited horizontal extent, even 

though “many intelligent individuals, without 

the necessary scrutinizing investigations” have 

been led to believe that they are of much 

greater extent, “that they extend through the 

centre of the elevated hills.” “This is certainly a 

great mistake, and I venture the assertion, that 

neither it [anthracite], nor the bituminous coal, 

to any considerable amount, exists in any of the 

strata which compose its loftiest ranges of hills, 

but is exclusively confined to the coal measures, 

which are geologically superior to them, 

although reposing far beneath their summits, in 

the bosom of the valley.” 

He then proceeds to illustrate how the coalbearing 

strata are arranged, referring to his diagrammatic 

section in a step-by-step explanation. 

In the section, “A” is the valley of the 

Lackawana River that has cut through the entire 

series of coal-bearing strata. “B” is the Moosic 

Mountains, composed of millstone grit and 

shales, whose strata “bend downward and constitute 

the immediate floor of the coal measures, 

Figure 13.3. James Eights, “Notes of a pedestrian,” number 

7, The Zodiac, volume 2, page 8. 

then ascending again, in like manner, they form 

the elevated range of hills on the opposite side 

of the valley.” He then accounts for ten coalbearing 

strata, giving measurements, so far as 

he was able to make them, accompanying fossils, 

and so on. 

“Beneath this the stream exposes to view 

the superior coarse conglomerate of the underlaying 

series of millstone grit and shales, the 

same as that which has already been described 

as rising upward and constituting the summits 

of the neighboring ranges of hills, which 

enclose the valley on either side.” 

The only stratum of anthracite then being 

worked was layer No. 7, at Carbondale, 23 feet 

in thickness. There were nine principal 

entrances, which accommodated as many small 


ailroads that “branch out in every direction to 

the various parts of the layer.” “The whole 

extent of these roads is at present estimated at 

about six miles.” 

He detected gentle undulations in the layer 

and noted that there were fissures, running 

north–south and east–west, dividing it into 

large rhombic tables, a phenomenon that he 

had observed in the underlying strata of grit, 

shales, and limestones. 

Parts of the mine on a level with the river 

may contain water, “to remove which the company 

have been at the expense of erecting a 

series of most admirably constructed pumps, 

which, whenever necessary, are kept in constant 

operation by an over-shot wheel, the water for 

this purpose being supplied by the stream itself. 

In some other of the openings, however, a single 

horse power is applied, which proves amply 

sufficient.” 

Then, at the end of his final part of “Notes 

of a pedestrian,” we have his shot, mentioned 

by Joseph Henry’s Albany correspondent Ten 

Eyck, meant “to blow Silliman and Hildreth out 

of the water.” 

“The general belief entertained among the 

geologists of the present day is, that anthracite 

and coal have had their origin from vegetables; 

a supposition which I have a very great inclination 

to question. The fact of vegetable organic 

remains, of a tropical character, having always 

been found accompanying these useful minerals, 

wherever they occur in any considerable 

quantitites, is by no means a conclusive evidence, 

to my mind, that they thus originated; 

for these plants might just as well have grown 

upon the soil which the strata supported, as our 

more modern ones do on the surface of a marsh 

or swamp. If these minerals ever did originate 

from vegetable substances, the earth at that 

remote period must have been much more 

densely covered with them than it is in our 

present day and generation; for I am well convinced 

that all the vegetation which now 

clothes the surface of the globe is totally insufficient 

to furnish sufficient materials to produce 

the extensive beds which are embraced in the 

state of Pennsylvania alone. I can see no reason 

why anthracite and coal could not have been 

formed in the state in which it now occurs, as 

the beds of chalk and various other mineral 

substances in nature.” 

This ends James Eights’s productive relationship 

with The Zodiac. I have already given 

reasons why five articles signed “E.” that concern 

a supposed tour in France and Scotland 

were not by James Eights. I suspect they were 

written by whoever wrote an urbane article 

entitled “Scenes in Paris” (said to be by “a 

young gentleman of Albany”) that appeared in 

the Argus in 1832. 28 

One final item demands attention, before we 

see Eights off on loftier endeavors in the latter 

end of the 1830s. One may suspect that it was 

prepared with the hope it would appear in pages 

of The Zodiac. It was on a subject that Eights 

found to his liking and one to which he returned 

from time to time — the history of Albany. The 

work was entitled Reminiscences of the City of 

Albany. At least two editions appeared in the 

year 1836, the presumed original being without 

name of printer and evidently privately printed; 

the second edition (“Copyright secured”) was 

published by A.J. Bready, a printer of Albany, 

and probably was a commercial venture. The 

work is not Eights’s reminiscences but a history 

of the Dutch in Albany. Contents of the two editions 

show some differences, in addition to variation 

in type-bed size and number of pages. Both 

had a folding engraved plate of a drawing by 

Eights showing the Albany waterfront from 

across the Hudson. 29 

The following transcription is a faithful 

copy of what I term the private, fuller edition. 

Quotation marks do not enclose paragraphs; 

when they occur they are his own. Round 

brackets are his own; I have introduced material 

into the text by means of square brackets. His 

occasional square brackets I have replaced with 

braces ({}). Footnotes are put directly in the text 

within square brackets. Except that the second 

edition ends without telling the early history of 

Rensselaerwyck (the final two and a quarter 

pages of the first edition), differences between 

the editions are minor: mostly a few corrected 

(or at least differently spelled) words, with far 

fewer italicized words in the second edition. 

Chapter 13 221

REMINISCENCES OF THE CITY 

OF ALBANY 

ALBANY, was thus named, in the year 1664, 

in honor of James, Duke of York and Albany, 

who afterwards mounted the throne of 

England, as James II. Its original Indian name 

was Scho-negh-ta-da, signifying “the end of the 

pine woods;” and this name, for the same reason, 

was applied by the aborigines to the site of the 

City of Schenectady, where it is yet retained 

with a slight variation in the orthography. The 

Dutch named Albany “Beverwyck,” and afterwards 

“Williamstadt.” It was never known as 

Fort Orange or Urania, as has been asserted; but 

the fort only was called Fort Orange. By some 

this place was named in derision, “De Fouck” or 

The Net, in allusion to the supposed grasping or 

catching propensity of its inhabitants, in the 

accumulation of wealth. The shores of Albany 

never knew the footsteps of a white man till the 

month of September, in the year 1610, when 

Henrick Chrystyance, who was sent up the 

river by Henry Hudson, to reconnoitre, or 

explore the country, first landed here, and as far 

as can be learned from tradition and some documentary 

evidence, somewhere in the vicinity 

of the present North Market. In that or the succeeding 

year, a party of the Dutch built a block 

house on the north point of Marte Girritse’s or 

Boyd’s Island, a short distance below the Albany 

ferry. This house was erected for a two-fold 

purpose, first to open a trade with the Indians 

in furs, and next to secure themselves against 

any sudden attack of the savages. But it was 

soon demolished, for the next spring’s freshet 

and ice swept the whole of it away. This party 

then chose a hill subsequently called 

Kiddenhooghten [footnote: Kiddenhooghten, or 

Kidd’s heights or hill, received that name about 

the year 1701, and according to tradition, in 

memory of the pirate Kidd, so celebrated “in 

song and story,” who it was supposed concealed 

much of his ill-gotten treasure in its 

vicinity. It is however doubted whether Kidd 

ascended the Hudson river as far as Albany.], 

within two miles of Albany, for the erection of 

another trading-house. The Indians called this 

hill Ta-wass-a-gun-shee or the Look-out-Hill. Not 

long afterwards, however, this post was abandoned, 

and a more convenient one selected. The 

spot thus chosen was in the vicinity of the 

house now called “Fort Orange Hotel,” in South 

Market-street. The Dutch there erected a fort, 

“mounting eight stone-pieces” [footnote: 

According to Mr. Vander Kempt, the translator 

of our Dutch Records, they were called “Stiengestuken,” 

or stone pieces, because they were 

loaded with stone instead of iron ball. They were 

formed of large and strong iron bars, longitudinally 

laid, and bound with iron hoops, and 

were of immense calibre.], and called it “Fort 

Orange.” 

Till after the year 1625, the Dutch did not 

contemplate making any permanent settlements 

in this state. They merely visited the country in 

the autumn and winter, with a view to the fur 

trade with the Indians, returning in the spring 

to Holland or “Vader-landt.” But in that year, 

the Dutch W.I. Co. first entertained the idea of 

Colonizing their newly discovered territories in 

America; and accordingly offered large appropriations 

of land to such families as should “settle” 

in their Colony of New-Netherlands. This 

soon brought many over, and from that period 

till 1635, several of our most respectable Dutch 

families arrived. Among them were the ancestors 

of the Van Schelluyne, Quackenboss, 

Lansing, Bleeker, Van Ness, Pruyn, Van Woert, 

Wendell, Van Eps and Van Rensselaer families. 

It does not appear that any stone or brick building 

was erected here (the fort excepted) until 

the year 1647, when, according to a letter from 

“Commissary De la Montagnie” to the Dutch 

Governor at New Amsterdam {New-York} a 

stone building was erected near the fort, and he 

complains of “the enormous libations” poured 

out on the occasion of celebrating its completion; 

“no less (he says) than eight ankers of 

brandy were consumed.” [Footnote: An anker 

contains 16 gallons. At this period gin is not 

named as being in use; nor until the year 1652 

does it appear to have been introduced here 

among the Dutch.] No doubt the whole garrison 

partook of the festivity. It is believed that 

the stone building recently taken down, and 

which stood at the corner south of the theatre in 

South Pearl-street, was the stone house alluded 


to by De la Montagnie. About 96 years ago, 

Albany was protected against sudden irruptions 

from the Indians, by the erection of 

Palisades, [footnote: These palisades consisted of 

large pieces of timber in close contact with each 

other, driven end-wise into the ground, and 

gates or openings were made at suitable intervals, 

which were closed at night. One was 

called the “North Gate,” and that name, till 

recently, was applied to that part of the city 

now called “the fifth ward.” These palisades 

surrounded but a small part of the city.] (sometimes, 

though improperly, called Stockades or 

Stockadoes,) part of the remains of which were 

visible within the last thirty years. Barrack (now 

Chapel) street was the principle place for business. 

Here the Indians congregated with their 

furs, and here the Dutch attended “with their 

guilders, their blankets, brandy, powder and 

shot.” Although we cannot vouch for the truth 

of Dr. Franklin’s anecdote, that in those early 

days, a Dutchman’s hand, placed in one scale 

against a quantity of fur in the other, was computed 

at one pound, and his foot at two, yet 

doubtless many frauds were practised upon the 

natives in their intercourse and trade with the 

Dutch. The government of the city was 

extremely rigid, and often times cruel. It bore 

the character more of a military despotism, than 

that of an internal or civil police — heavy penalties 

were imposed for the least infraction of the 

laws for regulating trade with the Indians, and 

many families consequently ruined. This severity 

drove some of the “traders” to the 

Schenectady flats, where they intercepted a considerable 

portion of the fur on its way to 

Albany, and which occasioned for many years 

the most bitter animosities between the inhabitants 

of the two places. The circulating medium, 

or currency, then principally in use, was seawant 

[footnote: Seawant was formed of the oyster or 

clam-shell, and was either of a blue or purple 

color, or white. The former was the most valuable, 

being usually worth five times more than 

the white.]. 

The amusements of the Dutch were chiefly 

sleigh-riding, Pinxter and Paas holidays and 

wedding festivities called “Maughet de Bruyt.” 

To these may be added, strange as it may seem, 

funeral festivities. Pinxter was celebrated during 

the whitsuntide holidays, and usually continued 

three or four days, during which booth or 

tents were erected for furnishing refreshment, 

&c. and the dance called “the totaw,” was a 

great favorite among the inhabitants. The dance 

was performed by the blacks of both sexes, and 

somewhat resembled the Spanish Fandango. This 

holiday has fallen into disuse within the last 15 

or 20 years, but many of our inhabitants still 

remember our celebrated “King Charles,” who, 

with his red uniform, black shining face, tall figure, 

and commanding attitude, made this his 

gala-day, and attracted universal attention. Paas, 

or Easter holidays, was celebrated by the breaking, 

or (as the Dutch phrase was) “butsing” of 

eggs, boiled and colored in a decoction of logwood; 

and “Maughet de bruyt, ghoe cookies ouwt,” 

[footnote: We have not at present a Dutch 

Dictionary at hand, to give a translation of these 

words. We believe they signify “Happy bride, 

throw out cakes.”] was the clamerous [!] and 

reiterated cry of an assemblage of men and 

boys in the evening, about the door of a house 

where a wedding had been solemnized, and 

woe betide the windows, if the happy bridegroom 

did not cause cakes and apples to be distributed 

in great abundance among the crowd. 

The funeral ceremonies were very expensive, and 

usually attended by hundreds. Spiced wines, 

and “doode cook,” (or dead cake) were plentifully 

used, and pipes and tobacco were added to 

these refreshments, till clouds of smoke 

involved the whole company in almost 

Cimmerian darkness. 30 

————- 

Although the Dutch of Beaverwyck had 

been proverbially charged with an inordinate 

love of gain, yet their Records demonstrate that 

they were not indifferent to the more important 

matters of religion. 

Attached from education and principle to 

the doctrines and faith of the Reformed church, 

and firmly believing in the unerring wisdom of 

the Synod of Dort, and, that, next to the Bible, 

that Synod had established doctrines, entitled 

to unqualified veneration and obedience, they 

held in abhorrence all who entertained different 

opinions from them. That they should possess 

Chapter 13 223

this feeling most intensely against the Roman 

Catholics was not indeed wonderful. 

The wars between Holland and Spain were 

yet fresh in their recollection, and the cruelties 

and oppressions which their ancestors had 

experienced in those contests, rankled in their 

bosoms, and made them cling the closer to the 

religion of their fathers. But at that early period 

there were none or but few Roman Catholics in 

the Colony against whom they could direct 

their resentments. Yet, of Jews, Quakers and 

Lutherans, (and they were all considered by the 

Dutch as Dissenters, or rather heretics,) there was 

a considerable number, particularly in New 

Amsterdam, {New York} for we find that as 

early as January, 1656, the Jews were forbidden, 

under severe penalties, from “trading” at 

Beaverwyck. In 1658, the governor and council 

by another edict declared that “for the honor of 

God,” the reverend Johannis Erasmus 

Gottewater, a Lutheran minister, should leave the 

colony. In the same year likewise a cruel and 

absurd prosecution was carried on against the 

Quakers on Long Island, where some of the families 

and connexions of the Townsends, and others, 

had “abetted and harbored” a number of 

“that abominable sect,” (for so they were named 

in the proceedings of the Governor and council.) 

Several of them were imprisoned and banished, 

and a few having appeared before the 

Governor “with their heads covered,” the sheriff 

was ordered “to take them immediately to 

Communipaw where they came from.” But 

these weak and wicked persecutions did not 

long continue. A stop was put to them as soon 

as the Dutch West India Company in Holland 

were apprised of these proceedings, and the 

Jews, Quakers and Lutherans enjoyed for a season 

repose from their persecutors. Nay, so liberal 

and enlightened had the Governor and council 

become, from the merited rebuke given them 

by the D. W. Ind. Co. that even the Jews, the 

most odious of all these sects, were admitted to 

the rights of “small Citizenship” [footnote: 

Rather “Lesser or inferior citizenship,” which conferred 

the right of holding and transferring 

property, but not of trading without special 

license. “Great citizenship” conferred every political 

and civil right.]. Ministers of the Reformed 

religion were regularly sent from Holland to the 

Colony. In April, 1657, the Rev. Gidion Schaats 

set sail from this Amsterdam for this Colony, 

and about the same period the D. W. I. Co. 

wrote a letter, stating that they would soon 

send a Bell and a pulpit “for the inhabitants of 

Fort Orange, and of the village of Beaverwyck 

[footnote: Beaverwyck (one of the names of the 

city of Albany under the Dutch) is synonimous 

with Beaver-town or borrough. “Wyck” is equivalent 

to the English word burgh or borough, as 

Peterborough, Williamsburgh, &c. or as the 

Dutch have it, Wiltwick, Beaverwyck, &c.] for 

their newly constructed little church.” This 

church stood on the site of the old Dutch 

church near the foot of State-street. In this “little” 

church divine service continued till the 

larger one was built and enclosed it; and this 

larger church was demolished some years since. 

It was a venerable pile of by-gone days, and the 

march of improvement has seldom overturned 

a nobler structure. Not a few of our Dutch 

inhabitants mourned over its destruction as for 

a lost child, and some of the painted or bunrt 

[burnt] glass of its Gothic windows with other 

relics of its existence, are still preserved and 

cherished by many of our Dutch families with 

religious affection and veneration. 31 

The Government of Beaverwyck was in the 

hands of three or more “Commissareis [!],” 

appointed by the Governor and council, and 

they held their office usually for one year. Their 

powers and duties are not easily defined. They 

acted as a Court of Justice with very ample and 

discretionary powers, both civil and criminal, 

subject to an appeal to the Governor and council. 

They also exercised legislative powers over 

the village, similar in some degree to the powers 

now exercised in this State by trustees of villages, 

or by corporations of cities. It is difficult to 

determine the limits of their powers beyond 

what has been mentioned, unless we should 

add that whatever seemed “good in their eyes,” 

they were allowed to do, or cause to be done, 

and when difficulties or opposition occurred in 

the execution of their edicts, they had only to 

call on the garrison of Fort Orange to enforce 

them. One thing is certain, these Commissaries 

were authorised, or did at least undertake to 


give or refuse permission to any one they 

thought proper to build houses, carry on trade, 

buy or sell, to make or establish manufactures, 

stores, shops, taverns, “beer-houses,” &c. In 

short their power appears to have been despotic 

and unlimited. The fines, forfeitures, duties, 

and taxes which were imposed in Beaverwyck 

were very heavy. In the month of June, 1647, 

Jan La Battie, who probably, judging from his 

name, was a Frenchman, (for many of the 

Hugonots had sought an asylum here,) applied 

for permission “to build a Brewery” in this city, 

and it was granted him “on his paying yearly 

six Beavers.” Now this could not have been less 

than a duty of from 60 to 80 dollars and perhaps 

$100 by the year! The revenues arising 

from the sale of beer in this city were enormous, 

considering the paucity of its inhabitants. 

The duties were usually farmed out, or sold at 

auction, and during this year and for several 

years afterwards the duties on beer in 

Beverwyck exceeded eight hundred dollars — a 

pretty strong evidence that the Duch [!] were, as 

Mr. Vander Kempt called them, “famous beerdrinkers.” 

It cannot be clealy [!] ascertained 

whether this beverage was extracted from barley 

or wheat, but we incline to think it was the latter, 

as but little barley was then cultivated in the 

Colony. The laws against Sabbath breaking 

imposed very heavy fines on offenders, and 

many cases are on record in which the mulcted 

prayed in vain for mercy. Still, there was a kind 

of relaxation indulged which must somewhat 

move our risible muscles. Thus, one regulation 

declared “that no beer should be bought, drank 

or sold on Sunday, after the bell had tolled for 

church,” impliedly allowing it before. But of all 

the objects to which the Dutch extended their 

protecting and jealous care, that of the fur trade 

with the Indians claimed the greatest, and was 

almost the all absorbing subject of their edicts 

and proclamations. The Indians (as has been 

already stated) usually obtained blankets, gun 

powder, guns, ball, &c. in exchange for their 

furs, and consequently the D. W. Ind. Co. 

attempted to monopolize the entire trade in blankets, 

powder, &c. Any invasion of this right was 

severely punished. By an ordinance or law 

passed in the year 1639, it was declared “that if 

any one without previous license should sell 

any gun powder, &c. to the Indians, he should 

suffer death, and the informer under this law was 

entitled to a reward of 50 guilders.” The laws of 

Draco have scarce a parallel to this, nor can it 

be justified on the ground that the Colony 

would otherwise have been in danger from 

Indians having arms and munitions of war in their 

hands, and that therefore great caution and 

severity was absolutely necessary for their safety. 

No, the Indians on the west bank of the 

Hudson were friendly and pacific, and the Dutch 

in Beverwyck traded with none other. The law, 

whatever might have been the pretext, was 

clearly dictated by the love of gain — the spirit 

of monopoly. Of the same character, and to prevent 

strangers from travelling in the interior 

without the knowledge of the magistrates, was 

a regulation of “placard” adopted in 1652, and 

with some modifications continued for several 

years after. This “placard” (which word according 

to Dr. Johnson is derived from the Dutch 

and French, and signifies “edit, declaration, 

manifesto,”) is so remarkable that we think a 

part of it should be given in its very terms. It is 

in these words, “all persons are hereby notified, 

that henceforth until further orders, on every 

Monday two yachts or barges may start from 

here {New York} to Fort Orange with privilege to 

take together, or one by one, not more than six 

passengers who shall receive due certificates for 

the purpose, and the skippers and passengers 

may pursue their journey having such passports, 

and which shall be given them by the honorable 

Arent Van Hattem and Willem Beekman at the 

office of Jan de Yonge, on Saturday morning at 8 

o’clock precisely.” It bears date New 

Amsterdam, August 7, 1653, and signed “Arent 

Van Hattem, P.L. Vandergrist, Willem Beekman, 

Johannis Willem Van Bruggen.” — Genius of 

Clinton and of Fulton! what would ye say if 

you could have beheld this puny attempt of 

Mynheers not more than a [!] 180 years since, to 

stop the progress of navigation, the march of 

human intellect, the development of our moral 

and physical energies, ahd [!] the increase of 

our trade, commerce and manufactures! And 

could Gov. Stuyvesant and his cotemporaries [!] 

now arise and witness the great improvements 

Chapter 13 225

of the present age in all these and many other 

respects, would not their tobacco pipes drop 

from their lips? and would they not, like Rip 

Van Winkle, be astonished at the wonderful 

changes which they beheld! But raillery apart, 

our good burghers of Beaverwyck were not disposed 

tamely to submit to this infringement of 

their privileges. On receiving the first intelligence 

of this edict, they seized and dismantled 

the vessel which brought it, and attempted to 

Lynch (to use a modern phrase) the Commander 

of it, but who fortunately escaped the severe 

drubbing intended for him. The Commissaries 

of Beaverwyck were alarmed, the soldiers from 

the fort were called to their aid, and after a 

smart skirmish order was restored, the vessel 

re-captured and sent back to New York. Gov. 

Stuyvesant summoned his Council and 

declared that “if ever the Beaverwyckers should 

repeat this offence, he would put them out of 

his protection, and they should never have 

another Domine {,minister} Sloop or Soldier from 

him.” (To be deprived of the last would have 

been no great matter of regret to the 

Beaverwyckers.) 

Fort Orange at this time was in a tolerable 

state of repair. The garrison consisted of 40 soldiers, 

and occasionally was increased to 60 or 

even 100, as Stuyvesant thought the exigencies 

of the times required. 

According to the Records, “an elegant large 

house with a ballustrade,” had been built by 

Dirck Cornelise of Wesel, within the precincts of 

the fort, and also, “eight small dwelling houses 

for the people of the fort.” But one can hardly 

refrain from smiling, when he reads the complaint 

made in the year 1639, by the commander 

of the fort to Gov. Stuyvesant, stating, “that 

the fort was in a miserable state of decay, and 

that the hogs had destroyed a part of it.” The proceedings 

of our Dutch Courts at Beaverwyck, 

even in civil suits, evince more of the spirit of 

litigation than is compatible with the morals of 

an elightened people, and those in Criminal 

cases, and for violations of Ordinances, furnish the 

same melancholy evidence. The fines imposed 

were generally distributed in the sentence, in 

this way, “one third to the church, one third to 

the public, and one third to the Attorney General.” 

No doubt the office of Attorney General was 

very profitable and eagerly sought after. Taxes 

were imposed on Cattle called Hoorn Gelt, and 

on land, called Morgan tal [footnote: A Morgan 

of land contained two English acres and one 

seventh of an acre, so that seven morgans are 

equal to fifteen English acres.]; besides, there 

were other taxes on property, which produced a 

handsome revenue to the city. Heavy duties 

were also laid on tobacco, of which large quantities 

were raised for exportation on Manhattan 

Island, and of a quality, according to the letters 

from the D.W.I.C., “Equal, if not superior to the 

best Virginia.” Goats were likewise taxed, animals 

that were in general abundance in the 

Colony. Yet under all these exactions and taxes, 

the Colony flourished and increased in population 

and resources, owing, no doubt, among 

other causes, to the extravagant profits derived 

from the fur trade. 

The Criminal Code, though apparently severe 

in its terms, was seldom carried so far as to 

inflict the punishment of death, except for murder. 

But we too often find instances recorded of 

the accused being put to the torture in 

Beaverwyck and New Amsterdam, to extort 

confessions of guilt. This was then a practice 

common in every civilized country in Europe. 

In this Colony the accused was not put to the 

torture, unles [!] strong or violent presumptions 

of guilt were manifest; and the case of P. 

Willemson is recorded, who was charged with 

house-breaking, and on the 24th August, 1654, 

was tortured, and confessed his guilt, and was 

afterwards banished. In what manner particularly, 

the torture was applied, whether by thumb 

screws, similar to those found on board the 

Spanish Armada, or by the rack, &c. as was 

practised by the Dutch upon the English at 

Amboyna [footnote: Gov. Stuyvesant in his correspondence 

with the D.W.I. Co. alluding to the 

charges made by Cromwell’s government 

against the Dutch says, that the English account 

of the Amboyna tragedy, “was a damnable lie, 

which even the devils in hell would have been 

ashamed to repeat.”], in the reign of the first 

James, we know not. 

We have several instances of banishment 

from the colony by the mere sic volo of the 


Governor. Two of them we shall mention. In 

June, 1654, one Jan E. Bont was appointed a 

Commissary of Beaverwyck, by an order from 

Stuyvesant. Bont, for some reasons not now 

known, declined the office, and so informed 

Stuyvesant. The latter was in a rage: “what, not 

accept an office worth 150 guilders by the year 

for a salery [!], and double that in perquisites!” 

The thing was almost incredible to him; and 

certainly had Stuyvesant lived at the present 

day, he would have found no other instance of the 

sort. Stuyvesant issued his edict, that “Jan E. 

Bont must hold himself in readiness to leave the 

Colony by the next ship, called the King 

Solomon, that would sail for Vaderland, 

{Holland, or rather “Father Land,”} And, sure 

enough, poor Bont was packed off sans ceremonie, 

to Holland! But the next case was of a 

more noted character. Brant Arentse Van 

Slichtenhorst, (how euphonious!) who had for 

some years been an agent for the Patroon of 

“the Colony” of Rensselaerwyck, or as our 

translator calls him “the President of it,” {probably 

more correctly, Steward,} who had had [!] 

most grievously offended Stuyvesant by his 

repeated claims of absolute sovereignty over this 

manor, by claiming a part of Beaverwyck as 

lying within its territorial limits — by refusing 

to pay certain “recognitions and taxes” to 

Stuyvesant — by claiming a fort at “Beeren 

Eyland,” and “daring to fire at the Company’s 

sloops sailing from New Amsterdam for Fort 

Orange, in order that they might lower their peaks 

as a mark of submission to his authority,” and 

by several other indignities to the person and 

government of Stuyvesant. After a long, angry 

and procrastinated paper war of placards, manifestos, 

declarations and protests, Stuyvesant 

had at last the good fortune to capture Van 

Slichtenhorst and imprison him at New 

Amsterdam, and notwithstanding the most 

humble petitions from his prisoner for liberation, 

he sent him off in a government ship to 

Holland! [NB: the 2nd edition ends here.] While 

treating this last case, we may as well briefly 

allude to the origin and claims of “the Colony” 

{Manor} of Rensselaerwick [!] under the Dutch. 

In 1625, (as has been before stated,) the Dutch 

for the first time intended to colonize, and in 

order to encourage emigrations, they promised 

large bounties of land to settlers in their newly 

discovered territories in America. The “conditions” 

of settlement stated that the emigrants 

might locate their lands in the Colony wherever 

they might think proper, provided such locations 

did not interfere with prior locations or with the 

rights of the Company to lands set apart for 

public purposes, as for villages, forts, warehouses, 

&c. By the terms of the condition the 

then patroon of Rensselaerwyck, in right of 

himself and his three associates in Holland had 

made a location north of Fort Orange, and was 

entitled to take four Dutch miles, (equal to sixteen 

English) but it would seem from the Dutch 

Records that the patroon had never caused an 

accurate, or indeed any survey to be made so as 

to ascertain the boundaries or limits of his location. 

It would seem also that the patroon 

claimed, as lying within his manor a part of the 

village of Beaverwyck, nay, even Fort Orange itself. 

This enraged Stuyvesant, who claimed (and he 

showed much legal lore on the occasion) that no 

one but the government would claim within a 

{Dutch} mile from the fort, (that being the distance 

which it was supposed a cannon ball 

might reach) and that Beaverwyck had been 

located before the “Colony” of Rensselaerwyck 

had existed, and he declared Van 

Slichtenhorst’s claims were “wicked, unjust and 

diabolical,” but that in order to settle this controversy 

he proposed, that the patroon should take 

his four miles “all on one side the North {or 

Hudson} River, or two miles on each side.” Van 

Slichtenhorst, in a subdued tone, “prayed for 

delay till he should consult his lords and masters 

in Holland.” And there the affair rested till 

at a subsequent period it was revived. Perhaps 

hereafter his subject may be renewed in these 

reminiscences. 

Gov. Stuyvesant was usually called by the 

inhabitants “Houten-bien-Piet,” or Woodenlegged 

Peter, in allusion to his having a wooden 

leg — he having lost a leg in battle before he 

became Governor of this Colony. He was certainly 

an extraordinary man. All the public documents 

and opinions of that day recorded in 

the Dutch Records shew that he was a well educated 

classical scholar. On one occasion a 

Chapter 13 227

equest was made by some Englishmen from the 

New England Colonies for permission to be 

employed in repairing the fort at Beaverwyck, 

he promptly replied, “the request cannot be 

granted — it would be like bringing the Trojan 

horse within the walls, — timeo Danaos et dona ferentes.” 

Amidst all his severities he occasionally 

evinced an eccentric disposition — a commissary 

having offended him, he directed “two 

Gospel ministers to go and reprimand him for his 

offence.” It is true (as Washington Irving infers 

in his writings) that Stuyvesant possessed the 

bumps of adhesiveness and combativeness,” in a 

very great degree. Although eccentric, he was 

resolute and firm, seldom swayed from his 

opinions, and evincing much obstinacy when 

his rights, as governor, or the rights or interests 

of those he represented, were called in question; 

but he did not appear to be cruel or ferocious 

unless we except the instances before mentioned 

of Bont and Van Slichtenhorst. In his correspondence 

with the Dutch West India 

Company, he displayed uncommon powers of 

mind as a statesman, a financier, a diplomatist 

and a scholar. In short, he was well fitted in 

every respect for the station which he occupied. 

Whatever faults may now be detected in the policy 

of his administration, they may fairly be 

ascribed to the spirit of the age in which he 

lived, and the commercial character and enterprise 

of the Dutch. 

Thus ends Eights’s most serious foray into 

local history. 

With this, we reach the end of an identifiable 

segment of the life of James Eights. How 

he spent the remainder of the decade, we shall 

consider. His brief, rather low-key participation 

in the New York State Natural History Survey 

may be looked upon as a natural outgrowth of 

the previous decade of preparation — including 

his culminating pedestrious tour to the 

Pennsylvania anthracite mines. For reasons that 

we can merely guess at, that role in the Survey 

failed to fit his fancies and he assiduously cultivated 

a chance to return to an exploring life — 

for which, of course, one brief part of the previous 

decade had made him an obvious candidate. 

In that totally unhappy affair, he was left 

standing, almost literally, at the pier. 

NOTES 

1. The book last mentioned must have been J.N. 

Reynolds’s Address, on the Subject of a Surveying and 

Exploring Expedition to the Pacific Ocean and South Seas. 

Delivered in the Hall of the Representatives on...April 3, 1836 

(“With Correspondence and Documents,” it came to 300 

pages). Reynolds’s tireless promotion of a National exploring 

expedition cannot have escaped James Eights’s notice. 

All gifts are listed in AI “Catalogue of Properties.” The 

Albany Argus from time to time, often tardily, carried 

notices of gifts to the Institute that mentioned Eights’s 

gifts: see 18 Apr, 4 Nov 1835, 8 Oct 1836, 23 May 1837, 15 

Feb 1838. 

2. The Zodiac, 1(12): 178-180, June 1836. I have been 

unable to find out anything about J.B. Wilcox, whose illinformed 

query sparked this long response. Castile is in 

Wyoming County, far western New York. 

3. A vain hope, in all probability, considering his 

efforts to be scientific and Wilcox’s determination to ape 

the methods of science without gathering facts along the 

way. 

4. Eights, “A Synopsis of the Rocks of the State of 

New-York,” The Zodiac, 1(2): 27-28, Aug 1835. J.W. Wells, 

Early Investigations of the Devonian System in New York, 

1656-1836, pp. 59-60. 

5. Eights always warmed up to his subject in sonorous 

sentences within a mile-long paragraph — and, even as he 

made his points, he hedged a little. 

6. The enormity of the task outlined here must shortly 

have become evident. Perhaps he scared himself out of 

pursuing the matter any further than he did. His “M. de la 

Beche” was Sir Henry Thomas De La Beche (1796-1855); 

the work referred to was A Geological Manual (1831; a third 

edition. was available by 1833). One marvels at his temerity 

in openly championing a foreign authority, however 

sound his reasons may have been, with Amos Eaton’s geological 

star so much in evidence in the firmament of that 

time. 

7. I have left words spelled and unitalicized as in the 

original. Except perhaps for luxuriance, he had no reason 

to characterize the plant fossils as similar to today’s tropical 

forest. 

8. See Amos Eaton, Geological Text-book, 2nd ed. 

9. J.W. Wells, Early Investigations, p. 60, takes it to be a 

valid part of Eights’s geology of New York. The first number 

appeared in The Zodiac, 1(7): 111-112, Jan 1836. 

10. One wonders what secret lurks here! 

11. Wells, Early Investigations, p. 60. 

12. If Eights left immediately after finishing his 

September segment of “The naturalist’s every day book,” 

the time would now be early to middle October. 

13. Part 2, Zodiac, 1(8): 113-116, Feb 1836. 

14. The ferns, not in fruit as that term is defined today, 

were the spleenwort, Asplenium ruta-muraria and one, 

apparently thought by him to be the same genus, but by 

error said only to be “aelenum,” that I am unable to identify. 

15. As to Colonel Edward Clark, he may have been a 

colonel in the state military establishment or the title may 

have been honorary. His bachelor status is dubious; perhaps 

he was unmarried at the time he lived at Ulster. I 

assume he was the “Edward Clark of Brooklyn, inventor, 

who erected the first white-lead works in America” 


(National Cyclopaedia of American History, 7: 46), whose 

daughter Maria Amelia was mother of Gardiner A.A. 

Deane (b. 1840). According to the Ulster Telegraph (index 

prepared by Audrey M. Klinkenberg, 1994), “Col. Edward 

Clark, formerly of this town,” died in Brooklyn 8 Jun 1848, 

aged 65 years. Some perspectives on Clark and the plant 

may be gained from an anonymous report written after a 

visit to “the Ulster White Lead Co. (the Telegraph, vol. 36, 

no. 10, p. 1, 1881). By then, all memories of Clark had disappeared 

but it was claimed that the mill was established 

in 1832 as “The Great Falls Manufacturing Company.” The 

site had a checkered history of entrepreneurial enterprize. 

In N.B. Sylvester’s History of Ulster County, p. 39, it is 

reported that in 1835 Charles Ripley bought the site, 

“enlarged the building, and commenced the manufacture 

of white lead according to a process Col. Edward Clark, 

his superintendent, claimed to have discovered.” If this 

date is correct, Clark’s association with the mill began the 

year of JE’s visit. Eights was, in any case, right in predicting 

that Clark would be bilked of his rights (or alleged 

rights). Ripley died in 1837, the mill passed to a creditor 

who operated it successfully for several year, whereupon 

Clark attempted to claim a royalty of $10 a ton on all the 

lead that had been made. In the ensuing trial, “it was 

proved that the process claimed to be discovered by Mr. 

Clark had been used and abandoned in France many years 

before.” The lead plant is mentioned in J.H. French, 

Gazetteer of the State of New York, p. 666, note 8. I am 

indebted to generous help by Florence Prehn and Audrey 

M. Klinkenberg, Ulster County Genealogical Society. 

16. Houstonia is now, unhappily, Hedyotis; the specific 

name is usually spelled caerulea; Eights’s common name of 

Venus’s pride is a new one to me — and a welcome turn 

from the usual chaste names of bluet, innocence, and 

quaker-ladies; many spring-blooming plants may flower 

in late autumn, if cold weather does not come and delay 

their blooms to the following spring. 

17. Anagallis arvensis is an introduced weedy annual. 

18. The Zodiac, p. 116; Wells, Early Investigations, p. 60. 

19. This attitude must have shaken both his Federalist 

and Jacksonian neighbors. Some of its sentiment surely 

motivated his later graphic reconstructions of early Albany 

street scenes. The Zodiac, 1(9): 141-143, March 1836. 

19A. The Delaware and Hudson Canal operated from 

1828 to 1898; see D.H. Sanderson, The Delaware & Hudson 

Canalway, map, p. 11. 

20. The Zodiac, 1(10): 146-147, Apr 1836. 

21. His Rhus venenata is now R. (or Toxicodendron) 

vernix; alder is Alnus serrulata; black oak, his Quercus tinctoria, 

is now Q. velutina; his name hoop ash for hackberry 

(genus Celtis) is new to me; Pinus pendula is now Larix 

larcina or larch, although his hackmatack is a perfectly 

good common name for it. I know no reason to suppose 

he saw two kinds of sycamore; perhaps he saw trees of 

different bark color, due to age or a local influence. The 

turtles are painted, Chrysemys picta; spotted, Clemmys guttata; 

snapper, Chelydra serpentina. 

22. It is unfortunate that no date nearer than midautumn 

1835 can be put to this notable record. It appears 

to have been a purely local, food-oriented movement by 

the birds. For a definitive account, see A.W. Schorger, The 

Passenger Pigeon; there is no reference to this event in his 

summary notes on New York, pp. 276-277, or 

Pennsylvania, pp. 277-279. 

23. The Zodiac, 1(12): 177-178, Jun 1836. For an account 

of the railroad, see D.H. Sanderson, The Delaware & Hudson 

Canalway, pp. 20-ff, map, p. 19. 

24. One would say “Order Ericales” today. His common 

names are sufficient for identification, but the typesetter 

scrambled words, thus we ought to have “spicy 

winter-green” and “mountain-laurel.” Interestingly 

enough, even the generic names have been “spoonerized”: 

we have “Kaltheria procumbens” and “Gaulmia latifolia,” 

instead of Gaultheria and Kalmia! 

25. Warwick, Stevens Carpenter, The Summer Paradise 

in History, pp. 50-51. See further: Sanderson, The Delaware 

& Hudson Canalway, pp. 20-23; illustration, p. 21. 

26. The Zodiac, 2(1): 10-11, Jul 1836. 

27. The Zodiac, 2(2): 28-29, Aug 1836. This complex 

matter can be envisioned by reference to Eights’s diagram 

of the coal measures in the Lackawanna valley, p. 28. 

28. The Zodiac, 2: 36, 57, 65, 81, 110, Sep 1836 to Jan 

1837. Albany Argus, 18 Sep 1832. Note 12, chapter 11. 

29. Reminiscences / of the / City of Albany. / by James 

Eights, M.D. / With an engraving, / shewing a view of the 

city, from the opposite / side of the Hudson River. / 

Albany: / 1836. 18 pages; type-bed size 2.75 x 5.5 in. What 

I term the commercial edition has been newly type-set: 

Reminiscences / of the / City of Albany. / With a beautiful 

and correct Engraving of the City, / taken from the opposite 

side, of the Hudson River. / by James Eights, M.D. / 

(Second edition.... Copyright secured.) / Albany: / 1836. / 

A.J. Bready, printer. 12 pages; type-bed size 3.25 x 6.25 in. 

Mildred Sharpe, 20 Sep 1988, reported on a letter in her 

possession from William Eights Burton (son of Harriet 

Gibson and great-grandson of Abraham Eights), dated 

1903 (the only date she gave), in which Burton wrote: 

“James painted a picture of the old dock on the Hudson 

River at the foot of Broadway with sloops and schooners 

landing their freight. This picture is now, I believe, at the 

rooms of the Albany Historical Society.” The Albany 

Historical Society later merged with AIbany Institute. No 

such painting is in today’s AIHA collection, according to 

W.G. Balla. I know of no evidence that the engraving of 

this work of 1836 was done from a painting. For a biography, 

with portrait, of W.E. Burton, see G.R. Howell and J. 

Tenney, Bi-centennial History of the County of Albany, pp. 

946-947. 

30. Eights returned in later life to a history of the 

Pinkster Festival. I shall add to it a full review of relevant 

references. The resemblance of “Maughet de bruyt” to the 

American “shivaree” (charivari) will be noted. 

31. Similarly, when the Lydius House was demolished 

in the autumn of 1833, old Dutch tiles were salvaged and 

accessioned by Albany Institute; see “Catalogue of 

Properties.” 

Chapter 13 229


Chapter 14 

THE NEW YORK NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY, 1836 

The role of James Eights in the historic New 

York Natural History Survey that got under 

way in 1836 is poorly documented. As usual, he 

left little record of his activities. Worse than 

that, we do not know how he got the appointment, 

what, specifically, he was supposed to do, 

what he accomplished, nor, except in the most 

general way, why and when he left. It cannot be 

claimed that such information does not exist: 

only that to this time it has not been found. 

Perhaps someone will one day check official 

papers of the primary state offices and officers 

most intimately involved with the Survey for 

the true history that lies back of official statements 

and interim and final reports of investigators. 

1 

Acting upon a suggestion of a select committee 

of the State Assembly in 1835, Secretary 

of State John A. Dix quickly prepared a brilliantly 

conceived report to the State Legislature 

in January 1836. The Legislature agreed. With 

authorization for a four-year Survey on his 

desk, Governor William L. Marcy signed the bill 

into law 15 April. Year one was already ticking 

away. 2 

On the advice of Amos Eaton and Edward 

Hitchcock (1793–1864) (the latter a widely 

respected Massachusetts geologist), Marcy 

divided the state into four geological 

districts, each with its own chief geologist; each 

chief had at least one assistant field geologist, 

with money to hire extra staff. (See my Chapter 

end notes in regard to the geological staff.) 

Geology was only part of the grandiose plan of 

the Survey. After consulting with advisors that 

included Dix, Stephen Van Rensselaer, T.R. 

Beck, Eaton, and Edwin Croswell, Governor 

Marcy appointed Lewis C. Beck mineralogist, 

John Torrey botanist, and James Ellsworth 

DeKay zoologist. 3 

Whatever the reasons, James Eights played 

a low-key role in the field of geological candidates. 

Maybe he recognized his limitations. 

After all, Conrad’s national recognition ill prepared 

him for either field work, reliable record 

keeping or administration. Maybe the governor’s 

advisors recognized Eights’s limitations 

without making their feelings public. In any 

event, he served briefly as field assistant to 

Timothy A. Conrad in the Third (Central) 

District. Conrad’s tenure as geologist was short 

(see Note 3). Eights was then shunted to 

Lardner Vanuxem’s Fourth (Western) District 

for the remainder of that first season (1836). 

(Vanuxem served as chief geologist of the Third 

District 1837–1841.) 

There appears to be no record at all of James 

Eights’s work with Conrad. We only know (as 

noticed by Fisher) that he was so attached for 

an unspecified time. The little we know of 

Eights as a geologist in the Survey is from 

Vanuxem’s work in the Fourth (Western) 

District. The first annual report on work in that 

area was endorsed by Eights. 

An unpublished letter from Vanuxem, written 

early in their association, is more concrete. 

In addition, it is a blockbuster in that it includes 

material never more than hinted at anywhere 

Chapter 14 231

else. Lardner Vanuxem wrote from Elmira, 5 

September 1836, to Governor William L. Marcy, 

whose letter of 29 August Vanuxem had just 

received. 4 

Vanuxem reported to Marcy that he had 

communicated to Eights the governor’s confirmation 

of Vanuxem’s selection of Eights at $800 

per year (Fisher makes the annual pay of assistants, 

at least initially, as $700, that of chief geologists 

as $1,500 — princely compensations for 

the day, he thinks). It is evident that Eights had 

approached Vanuxem with an application to 

work with him, perhaps indicative of friction 

with Conrad or an acknowledgment that 

Conrad would not last. Vanuxem avers that he 

had, in any case, accepted Eights’s proffered 

services only because “I understood it was 

acceptable to you.” He goes on: “I was aware of 

his infirmity & but little feared it knowing that 

it would have no countenance from me & so far, 

if he has taken spirits it has been at night after I 

have gone to bed.” He expected his restraint to 

continue to be effective. “I have,” he says further, 

“no reason to believe Mr E. wishes to serve 

more than one year as he has often told me for 

the pay can be no object for were he not to walk 

from time to time the pay at the rate of 800 D s 

would hardly pay travelling expenses.” 

Things had not gone smoothly, for Vanuxem 

operated upon the understanding that he 

would pay assistants quarterly, in advance, yet 

Eights’s draft, with Vanuxem’s endorsement, 

“was returned dishonored.” Anyway, Vanuxem 

thought, since Eights was “indifferent as to continuing 

in the Survey,” it might be “well to 

withhold the appointment paying him for his 

year of service should he remain so long.” 5 

Some attention is due the “First Annual 

Report on the Geological Survey of the Fourth 

District of the State of New-York, by Lardner 

Vanuxem,” because it was signed by both 

Vanuxem as State Geologist and James Eights, 

Assistant. There is no internal evidence to say 

precisely whose views were represented. I suspect 

they were mostly Vanuxem’s. According to 

Fisher, it was characteristic of him to write 

reports devoid of acknowledgments. However, 

there is an Eightsian quality about the initial 

paragraphs that is worth notice. 6 

“This district comprises the [fifteen] counties 

of Otsego, Chenango, Broome, Tioga, 

Chemung, Cortland, Tompkins, Seneca, Yates, 

Steuben, Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauque [!], 

Erie and Niagara. 

“In conformity with the letters and instruction 

otherwise received...no attempt at a 

detailed survey was commenced the past season 

[i.e., during Eights’s tenure with the 

Survey], confining myself merely to that kind of 

reconnoisance best calculated to obtain such 

general geological information, as would enable 

me knowingly and satisfactorily to enter upon 

the detailed survey the coming season; a knowledge 

highly important for a survey of the magnitude 

contemplated, the importance of which, 

from the means furnished; the judicious distribution 

of its several parts; the facilities afforded 

by the horizontal position of a large portion of 

the rocks; the great extent and number of the 

valleys which intersect them; the abundance of 

fossils and the well marked order of the succession 

of the fossils, form a combination of circumstances 

so favourable, as to be without parallel; 

and should its execution be commensurate 

with the spirit in which it was conceived, can 

not but place New-York in a position as enviable 

for scientific distinction, as she stands pre 

eminent for boldness of conception, and for the 

promptness with which she executed her truly 

noble public works.” 

He goes on to say that no annual report, 

“embracing objects of immediate utility” could 

be expected: for “a district comprising 15 counties, 

containing 11,594 square miles, could not 

from a travel of less than three months, that 

being the period from the date of my commission, 

to the close of the favourable season, be so 

examined as to give satisfactory practical 

detail.” Yet, “no less than 2,200 miles of distance 

of that district was travelled over, more than 

half performed on foot,” and “much important 

scientific information, both general and particular, 

was obtained.” 

The report is an interesting and creditable 

general topographic and geologic account of the 

area, laced with observations that are both firsthand 

and perceptive. There are comments on 

“Petroleum or Seneca Oil” and coal, the former 


then rather more a curiosity than a commodity, 

the latter much sought after but found only in 

tantalizing amounts that seemed likely would 

never prove abundant. It is pertinent to note 

that Vanuxem must have given Eights an education 

in regard to the vegetable origin of coal: 

“To those who may doubt the vegetable origin 

of coal, it may be necessary further to state, that 

in all countries, so far examined, the regular 

associates of coal are blue shale, gray sandstone 

and conglomerate; one, or all, with vegetable 

remains.” Whether he finally agreed or not, 

Eights signed the report. 

The investigators (there is no reason to suppose 

that Eights differed much in his opinions 

from those of Vanuxem) ended their report, 

“with no apology,” on a philosophical note. “It 

is well known that a small number of mankind 

yield to that instinctive propensity which leads 

to a knowledge of the works of creation, regardless 

of all practical or ultimate end; whilst the 

larger portion direct their energies to the attainment 

of objects of immediate utility. The obvious 

providence is, as the two propensities 

rarely exist in the same individual, that whatever 

discovery the former in the progress of his 

investigations may make, becomes by the 

applicative habit of the latter, subservient 

to the well-being of all.” Basking in the warm 

glow of this laissez-faire principle, it was confidently 

predicted that power would build upon 

power, just as “what is known forms but a limited 

scale or measure by which to estimate what 

the future will reveal.” 

In all this, “negative knowledge” is important: 

“Do not hundreds seek for coal, where 

none can exist? and is it not so with tin, antinomy, 

and many other mineral products. A survey 

is a cheap way of acquiring and imparting 

knowledge.” If you know what rocks “have 

been created” in your area, you know (both 

from observation and from what has been 

found in similar rocks elsewhere) what can 

fruitfully be searched for. “A knowledge of 

geology destroys confidence in empires, a 

source of evil in the direct ratio of ignorance.” 

The laws of geology teach humility and discard 

“all that savors of the mystical.” The authors 

accounted it strange that there were more skeptics 

to be found regarding the earth “as the 

work of the Lord,” than “to the truths of revelation.” 

The layers composing the earth, they 

were sure, are the leaves of a book, “none of 

them without instruction; and in their whole we 

see a display of successive creations, and that 

too of countless ages, rivalling in wonder, and 

drawing as much upon our imagination, as do 

the fictions of the east upon their youthful readers. 

These successive creations doubtless were 

preparative to each other, and of the present, 

the final or Mosaic one — being in this that 

man for the first time appears; and in his creation, 

as we have good reason to believe, the 

successive creations find their ultimate limit.” 

Thus, the motivation of an age: The best is 

yet to come — yet, the end is already here. 7 

Several instances can be found where James 

Eights generously shared material with leaders 

of the Natural History Survey, no doubt a 

reflection of his inclination to be interested in 

everything. 

With his friend Ebenezer Emmons Sr., he 

discussed the probable habits of trilobites. In 

his so-called Sphaeroma, he provided an example 

of a pill-bug-like crustacean from his southern 

cruise, whose habit of rolling itself into a 

protective ball mimicked the rolled-up state in 

which many fossil trilobites are found. Such 

behavior made it hard for modern investigators 

to be sure they had legs, since it was difficult to 

dissect them and reconstruct the closely covered 

ventral body parts. 8 

Eights must have contributed freely his 

abundant observations on New York plants to 

botanist John Torrey. Torrey did not lack generosity 

in regard to cooperators but did not generally 

cite collectors in full, nor is it possible to 

know whether authorities cited were being 

credited with specimens or mere reports. 

Torrey’s fourth annual report on the botanical 

department consists of a full, modestly annotated 

Catalogue of plants of the state. There are 

several Albany area records that may have 

come from Eights, directly or by way of L.C. 

Beck. Both are thanked “for rare plants of 

Albany County and other parts of the State.” 9 

John Torrey’s model final report was A Flora 

of New-York, in two volumes, in 1843. With its 

Chapter 14 233

abundant information on medicinal uses of 

plants, it was both informative and useful. “Dr. 

J. Eights” (no doubt James) was among people 

“who favored me with many rare and interesting 

plants.” Eights was not among authors 

cited; aside from synonymy, most species were 

discussed without citing people who collected 

or otherwise documented them. 10 

Eights turns up a few times in James 

DeKay’s Zoology of New-York, notably in volumes 

on Mollusca and Crustacea. In the mollusk 

volume, he was cited among “conchological 

works referred to”: “Eights, J. Various contributions 

to the Zodiac...1835-6.” In regard to 

Helix palliata, DeKay was informed by Dr. 

Eights of Albany that “this species appears to 

affect more especially the Limestone region.” 

Dr. Eights found Pupa pentodon “common about 

Albany and Troy.” In regard to Unio 

complanatus, he was informed by Eights, “this, 

as well as other fluviatile bivalves, are more 

perfect and ponderous in the canals and ponds 

than in quick running streams.” Oddly, Eights 

was not mentioned in regard Unio compressus 

(formerly Symphynota compressa), although he 

supplied the original specimens to Daniel 

Henry Barnes, whose shells fell to Isaac Lea to 

name. 11 

DeKay’s citation of Eights in the volume on 

Crustacea was uncalled for, since he merely 

referred to Eights’s Brongniartia trilobitoides (by 

that time moved to the genus Serolis). He felt it 

allowed him to classify properly a puzzling 

crustacean he called Fluvicola herricki. 12 

By the time Eights’s name began to appear 

in any way as part of the Natural History 

Survey, he was no longer associated with it, 

except for ties of friendship with some of its 

workers. His departure, considering statements 

in Vanuxem’s letter, while the first season of 

field work was hardly more than begun, can be 

no surprise. It would be interesting to know 

how he maneuvered his departure, considering 

that he seems to have remained on amicable 

terms with several participants in that prestigious 

undertaking. How he went about gaining 

a foothold on what he hoped to be his next 

assignment is less of a mystery, since many 

details of his application, his references, and so 

on, went off to Washington, where they became 

a lasting part of the national archives and have 

since been studied in detail. 

Meanwhile, he seems to have sustained his 

connections with the Albany Institute, then no 

longer in the best of shape financially, although 

for some years yet meetings were held regularly. 

He was credited with contributing specimens 

January 1836 and January 1837; in April 1837, 

he presented a collection of trilobites from 

Becrafts Mountain, near Hudson, and in May, a 

scrapbook composed of clippings he collected 

from newspapers in Nov 1833. There were further 

gifts in August, October, and November 

1837: various snail, mussel, and shrimp specimens; 

a piece of Bank Note money printed by 

Randon, Wright, Hatch & Co., New York; a 

bivalve, Sanguinolaria, now Macoma, from Long 

Island; to the library, Sewall’s memoir of John 

Godman and J.N. Reynolds’s Voyage of the 

Unites States Frigate Potomac. 13 

Despite inconsequential notices in the 

Albany Argus to an exploring expedition during 

the year 1836 and 1837, there was never a hint 

that a local naturalist might be campaigning for 

a berth on it. Then, in January 1837, the Argus 

carried the terse and noncommittal notice: 

“Doct. James Eights, of this city, has been 

appointed by the Secretary of the Navy, a member 

of the Scientific Corps to be attached to the 

South Sea Surveying and exploring expedition.” 

Perhaps Eights gave the Institute a copy of 

“Message of the President on the Exploring 

Expedition,” reported among June 1837 accessions. 

14 

Obviously not a red-hot topic, the next 

notice of the exploring expedition in the Argus 

was 26 October 1837, when the composition of 

the scientific corps was announced — it included 

“J. Eights, esq., Albany, N.Y..” 15 

The next chapter will tell in detail how these 

events came to pass. 

NOTES 

1. The literature on the Natural History Survey, even 

though concentrated on derived, official reports, is enormous. 

Little of it is related to Eights. As a start, see: Meisel, 

Bibliography of American Natural History, 2: 606-618; John 

Mason Clarke, James Hall of Albany Geologist and 


Palaeontologist 1811-1898; Jeffrey K. Barnes, Asa Fitch and 

the Emergence of American Entomology (see especially “More 

scientific and agricultural developments in New York 

State,” pp. 37-44, for a history of the inception of the 

Survey); Donald W. Fisher, “Emmons, Hall, Mather, and 

Vanuxem — the four ‘horsemen’ of the New York State 

Geological Survey (1836-1841)” (a mine of information; in 

many ways the best account of personalities, assignments, 

achievements); Robert H. Fakundiny and Ellis L. 

Yochelson, eds., “Special James Hall Issue,” Earth Sciences 

History, 1987. 

2. Fisher, “Emmons, Hall, Mather, and Vanuxem,” p. 

32; Barnes, Asa Fitch, pp. 37-38. 

3. Barnes and Fisher, as in Note 2; Fisher says the 

chief geologists initially were: Edward Hitchcock, mentioned 

above, who, for unknown reasons, lasted only a 

month; William Williams Mather (1804-1859), an Army 

engineer, brought in to replace Hitchcock; Ebenezer 

Emmons, Sr., Rensselaer School Junior Professor; Timothy 

Abbott Conrad (1803-1877), authority on fossil shells; 

Paris-educated Lardner Vanuxem (1792-1848). Conrad 

proved to have little capacity for administration and was 

soon replaced, his place being taken by Emmons’s assistant, 

young James Hall, who was incompatible with 

Emmons, even though he had been the latter’s favorite 

student at the Rensselaer School. In the 1837 shuffle, 

Vanuxem moved from the Fourth to the Third. These shifts 

will be noticed below, since Eights was involved. See 

Fisher, pp. 34, 36, 37-38. For a detailed account of Hall’s 

role, see not only references here cited but also J.M. Clarke, 

James Hall, and the fresh, detailed look by Michele L. 

Aldrich and Alan E. Leviton, “James Hall and the New 

York Survey,” pp. 24-33, in Fakundiny and Yochelson, 

1987. 

4. L. Vanuxem to W.L. Marcy, 5 Sep 1836, Boston 

Public Library, Ch.E.G.14. 

5. Fisher, “Emmons, Hall, Mather, and Vanuxem,” p. 

38, makes Vanuxem to be a man who valued his private 

life, “a quiet, wiry, active, mild-mannered man of small 

stature but with great endurance. He was deeply religious, 

abstaining from alcohol and tobacco. He was brought up a 

Presbyterian but became an ardent student of 

Mormonism, Millerism, Egyptian antiquities and phrenology 

during his retirement.” For a contemporary evaluation, 

see James Hall, “Letter on Lardner Vanuxem,” 1848. 

6. L. Vanuxem and J. Eights, “First Annual 

Report...Fourth District.” 

7. There was a long review of this report (taken from 

the American Journal of Science, April), noting James Eights 

as assistant to Vanuxem, in the Argus, Anon., 19 Apr 1837. 

8. Emmons, Geology of New York; Part 2: comprising the 

survey of the Second Geological District, 1842, pp. 390-391, 

description of species, pp. 433-434. It is no disgrace to 

claim a new species that turns out to have been named; 

but it does seem unlikely that Eights so lacked outlets for 

his work that he had to bury a new species in such an outof-the-way 

place. Meisel’s statement, Bibliography of 

American Natural History, 2: 616, that Eights described fossils 

in this volume, is incorrect. 

9. Torrey, Fourth annual report of geological survey of 

the state...Jan. 24, 1840 (Assembly Doc. No. 50), “Report on 

the botanical Department,” pp. 117-197. Several Albany 

county and sand plains records no doubt owe something 

to Eights; his help is briefly acknowledged, p. 115. 

10. Torrey, A Flora of New-York, being the final report 

of Division 2, Botany, of the Natural History of New York. 

See Meisel, Bibliography, 2: 614, for a useful analysis of contents. 

It is not clear whether Torrey’s original herbarium of 

“about 50 folio volumes...deposited in the Cabinet of 

Natural History at Albany” survived intact; he claimed (2: 

vii) to have made up six other sets of specimens for presentation 

to public institutions. “Dr. J. Eights” was among 

people thanked (2: ix). 

11. J.E. DeKay, Zoology of New-York, or the New-York 

Fauna, Part V, Mollusca, Pp. [5], 34, 51, 188, 191. 

12. DeKay, Zoology, Part VI, Crustacea, Pp. [3], 52-53; 

for illustration of Fluvicola, claimed to be similar to 

Brongniartia, see plate X, fig. 37. 

13. Various documents at AI have been combed. 

Richard E. Petit kindly untangled the reference to 

Sanguinolaria. At meetings of the Institute in these years, 

the treasurer commonly reported the absence of money in 

the treasury. 

14. Argus, Anon., Tuesday, 10 Jan 1837. See also Argus, 

16 Jul 1836; 11 Jan, 30 May 1837. For the new pamphlet, 

see: “Message on the Exploring Expedition,” President 

(soon to be ex-president) Andrew Jackson, 6 Feb 1837. 

15. Argus, Anon., 26 Oct 1837: a piece quoted, without 

elaboration of any sort, from the New York Daily 

Advertiser. 

Chapter 14 235


Chapter 15 

THE GREAT SOUTH SEA BUBBLE 

As the hope for a nationally sponsored voyage 

of discovery burgeoned in 1836, James 

Eights’s contentment with the newly born 

Natural History Survey waned. Well before the 

date of Lardner Vanuxem’s letter of 5 

September (cited in the last chapter), Eights had 

written to his political acquaintance, Benjamin 

F. Butler, at West Point: 

”Albany 2nd August 1836 

”Sir, 

The fact of having been in some degree 

known to you during your residence in this City 

emboldens me to request your aid in procuring 

an appointment to the Expedition about to be 

dispatched by Government to the Southern 

Ocean. The length of time which I have devoted 

to the study of the different branches of Natural 

History, and the circumstances of having 

obtained some acquaintance with that region of 

the globe, while in company of Mr. Reynolds in 

the Anawan [!], afford the highest evidence of 

my qualifications for the situation I desire. 

Although from the almost entire absence of any 

conveniences for collecting & preserving objects 

of Natural History, I was deprived of the power 

of doing as much as I could have desired, yet the 

collections then made by me & now in the 

Museum of the Albany Institute are such as I can 

with honest pride, point to, as proof [of] industry 

& skill — Should it comport with your means to 

mention my application to the Secretary of the 

Navy in a favorable manner you will confer a 

great favor upon 

Sir, your most respectful and obdt Servt 

James Eights” 1 

Butler wrote promptly to Mahlon 

Dickerson, Secretary of the Navy, from West 

Point, 4 August 1836 (I ignore irrelevant matters 

here): “I take the liberty to send you a letter just 

received from Mr. Eights of Albany, in whose 

behalf Mr. Croswell of the Argus also spoke to 

me a few days since, & requested me to write 

you. His scientific attainments as a naturalist, 

are said to be very admirable, and should you 

favor his application, I presume proper testimonials 

can be furnished in respect to them. As I 

have no knowledge of this sort, I can only 

speak on the authority of others; and though I 

should be glad to have Mr. Eights employed, if 

duly qualified, I must, of course, refer as to his 

qualifications to the initiated of whom there are 

several at Albany to whom, I presume, he will 

apply in case there is any utility in his doing so. 

May I trouble you to give me so much information 

on that point, as to enable me to answer his 

letter?” 2 

What was the exploring expedition to which 

Eights and Butler referred? The present enquiry 

concerns Eights’s connections as a candidate for 

a position in its scientific corps. The entire story 

of what came to be called the Wilkes Expedition 

(1838–1842) must be largely put aside. 3 

The ball was given an additional push by 

Gerrit Y. Lansing, an Albany politician. He 

wrote 8 Aug 1836 to John Boyle, Chief Clerk, 

Navy Department, Washington: “I have this 

Chapter 15 237

day directed to the address of the Secretary of 

the Navy a package containing information in 

reference to the South Sea exploring expedition 

— It is communicated by James Eights Esquire 

a young gentleman of this City who was once 

in that region — The package is marked A and 

is intended for Captain Ap C. Jones who I am 

informed is appointed to the command of the 

expedition — Permit me to ask on behalf of Mr 

Eights that you cause the [piece?] to be delivered 

to Capt n Jones if in your city and if not 

that it be sent to him from [?] the Department 

— Knowing that the matter is of public concern 

I have taken the freedom [?] thus to trouble 

you.” This was endorsed to the effect that it 

was received 13 August; “I shall have it delivered 

to him on his arrival in Washington to 

which City he is now on his return from an 

excursion to North.” 4 

James Eights then prepared to see B.F. 

Butler in person, taking with him a letter written 

2 November 1836 on his behalf by T. 

Romeyn Beck, his longtime friend and supporter: 

“Mr James Eights of this city is desirous of a 

place as Naturalist aboard the projected South 

Sea Expedition. I have no doubt of his qualifications 

for that station, as he has devoted himself 

for many years to the study of Science, & 

indeed some time since made a voyage to South 

America & the Islands belonging to it. He will 

present this personally, as he informs me, & you 

will then be better able to judge respecting his 

wishes. ”5 

Thus, Eights moved to secure an interview 

with Attorney General Butler — and, through 

him, with Secretary of the Navy Dickerson. This 

was further indicated by Edwin Croswell’s letter 

to Butler dated Albany, 8 November 1836: 

“Our friend Dr Eights will hand you this. He 

visits Washington on the subject about which 

we had some conversation when I last had the 

pleasure to see you, & which he will explain to 

you more fully. Any service which you can render 

him, will be appreciated by him, & will be 

gratefully rec’d by his friends here. / With great 

regard, / and in ‘hot haste’ / E. Croswell.” 6 

Eights’s strategy was to get Butler’s help in 

securing an audience with Secretary Dickerson 

— to whom he carried a bundle of letters of 

endorsement, with a note from Butler to 

Dickerson testifying to Eights’s mission. 

Butler’s letter to Dickerson, dated 

Washington, 11 November 1836, appears to 

have included a list of books on botany, prepared 

by John Torrey and Asa Gray (but in 

Gray’s handwriting) that will be noticed later. 

The letter read: “The enclosed, together with 

other letters, will be handed to you by Dr. 

Eights whose application for employment in the 

Scientific Corps, I sent to you last summer.” 7 

First: Governor William L. Marcy: 8 

November 1836: “Sir: I take pleasure in introducing 

to you the bearer hereof Mr. James 

Eights of this city. He is a Gentleman of much 

knowledge particularly in the natural sciences. 

For a part of this season he has been engaged 

by me in the Geological Survey of this State and 

has, I believe, deservedly a good reputation as a 

Geologist. He has been once into the South Seas 

in an exploring Expidition performed in 1829 & 

30 — he is desirous of being employed in the 

U.S. Service in the expedition to those seas 

which is about to be fitted out by the 

Government — I [find?] him well qualified for 

the service [he] wishes to be engaged in — I 

should be gratified if you sho[uld] see fit to 

employ Mr Eights —.” 8 

Second: Gerrit Y. Lansing wrote to 

Dickerson as follows, under date of 8 

November 1836: “Dr James Eights of this City is 

about repairing to Washington to make application 

for the appointment of naturalist or 

Geoligist [!] to the Southern Exploring expedition 

— With much pleasure I recommend his 

application to your favorable notice.” 9 

Third: N.Y. Secretary of State John Adams 

Dix wrote to Dickerson from Albany on the 

same day: “Dr. James Eights of this City is 

desirous of procuring the appointment of 

Naturalist or Geologist on the exploring 

Expedition to the South Seas. Dr. Eights has 

devoted many years to studies, which are calculated 

to fit him for either place. He has been 

recently engaged in geological examination in 

this State, and besides being well qualified by 

scientific attainments for the appointment he 

seeks, he is one of the best and most accurate 

geological draughtsmen in this quarter. He was 


employed in 1829 & 1830 in the capacity of naturalist 

on the private expedition to the South 

Seas fitted out from the City of New York.” On 

the back of this letter there is a note: “We concur 

in the within recommendation of Gen. Dix 

in favor of Dr. Eights. / A. C. Flagg / Edwin 

Croswell.” 10 

And finally, there was a letter to Dickerson, 

under date of 8 November 1836, from Albany: 

“Dr Eights of this City will explain [to] you the 

object of his visit to Washington[.] [I a]m not 

personally acquainted with him [bu]t the 

enclosed letter from Gen l Dix our [Sec]retary of 

State is decisive as to his [ca]pacity & I hope 

you may be able [to] gratify him with the 

employment [he] desires. / Very truly yours / 

M Van Buren.” 11 

Support continued to come in. From New 

York, John Torrey, already busily promoting talent 

for the exploring expedition, wrote to 

Dickerson, 17 Nov 1836: “My friend Dr. James 

Eights of Albany having informed me of his 

intention of applying for a situation on the 

South Sea Exploring Expedition, & having 

requested of me a recommandatory [!] letter, I 

would state that I have long known Dr. E. as a 

zealous naturalist, & a first rate draughtsman. 

He has devoted much time to the study of several 

branches of natural history, particularly 

geology & zoology. He wishes a situation in the 

latter branch, but is willing to be useful in other 

departments, so far as he may have time to 

spare from his own subject. The particular division 

of zoological science which he desires to 

have assigned him is Entomology, but he has no 

wish to confine himself exclusively to this. Dr. 

E. has labored with great zeal & success, for 

many years, in examining the geological structure 

of the State of New York.” 12 

Joseph Henry, Professor of Natural 

Philosophy, wrote to Dickerson from the 

College of New Jersey (now Princeton), 17 

November 1836: “I am informed by my friend 

Dr James Eights of Albany that he is an applicant 

for the situation of a naturalist in the 

expidition now fitting out for the South Seas. In 

reference to this application permit me to state 

that I have long been acquainted with Dr Eights 

and that in my opinion he is eminently well 

qualified to be a valuable member of the scientific 

corps of the expidition. He possesses much 

general scientific knowledge — has devoted 

many years to the study of natural history — is 

an accomplished Draughtsman and has had 

much experience in collecting specimens.” 13 

As regards his scientific competence, Eights 

can hardly have asked for higher endorsements 

that he got from the geologists of the New York 

Natural History Survey. On 22 November 1836, 

the following letter to Dickerson was written 

from Albany: “The undersigned respectfully 

recommend Dr James Eights of Albany to be 

attached to the Zoological department in the 

proposed naval expedition. He is well known to 

us as a zealous naturalist independent of his 

zoological attainments, has devoted much time 

to geological investigations and is considered as 

an eminent Draughtsman for objects of Natural 

History. Dr Eights it is believed would do great 

credit to the Expedition.” This was signed by 

the following (identified on a separate page): 

Lewis C. Beck, M.D., “Prof. University of New 

York & Mineralogist for the Survey of the 

State”; Ebenezer Emmons, M.D., “Prof. 

Williams College, & one of the Geologists for 

the Survey of the State”; George W. Boyd, M.D., 

“Curator of N.Y. Lyceum & one of the 

Geologists for the Survey of the State”; James E. 

DeKay, M.D., “Zoologist for the Survey of the 

State of New York”; Lardner Vanuxem, “late 

Prof. in the College of So. Car. & one of the 

Geologists for the Survey of the State”; Timothy 

A. Conrad, “one of the Geologists for the 

Survey of the State”; William W. Mather, “late 

Prof. in the Mil. Acad. at West Point & one of 

the Geologists for the Survey of the State”; 

James Hall, “one of the Geologists for the 

Survey of the State.” 14 

The officers of the Albany Institute were 

equally loyal. Stephen Van Rensselaer and other 

officers signed a joint letter dated 24 November 

1836: “The undersigned, officers of the Albany 

Institute, respectfully recommend M r James 

Eights as well qualified, as naturalist & draftsman 

in the proposed South Sea Expedition.” It 

was signed by: S. Van Rensselaer, President, Joel 

A. Wing, Corresponding Secretary, First 

Department; Rich d Varick DeWitt, Vice 

Chapter 15 239

President, Second Department; P[eter] Bullions; 

S[imeon] DeWitt Bloodgood, Vice President, 

Third Department; Daniel D[ewey] Barnard, 

Corresponding Secretary, Third Department; 

James G. Tracy, Treasurer; Matthew Henry 

Webster, Corresponding Secretary, Second 

Department, Horace Bush Webster, Curator; 

Ph[ilip] Ten Eyck, Curator; William H. Fondry, 

Recording Secretary, Second Department; 

William Alvord, Recording Secretary, First 

Department; John V[anSchaick] L[ansing] 

Pruyn, Recording Secretary, Third 

Department. 15 

Sparring for positions began almost immediately. 

In a letter dated New York, 3 December 

1836, John Torrey wrote to Dickerson to say (in 

part): “I have recently heard what has caused 

me some uneasiness, viz. that D r Eights has 

applied for the situation of geologist instead of 

a place in the department of zoology. When I 

gave him a recommendatory letter it was with 

the express understanding that he was not to 

apply for the place of geologist & mineralogist, 

as I knew that it was the general wish of the 

most intelligent naturalists of the U. States, to 

have that department filled by Mr. Dana. Dr E. 

told me to solicit an appointment for him as one 

of the zoologists for which I think he would do 

very well. His forte, however, is natural-history 

drawing, — & in this he would be most useful to 

the Exped n — provided he would be willing to 

work out of his own particular branch.” 16 

On 28 December 1836, Secretary Dickerson 

finally got moving on the exploring expedition 

and sent out similar quite unspecific letters of 

appointment to several men who had by that 

time been selected for the scientific corps. That 

to James Eights read: “You are hereby appointed 

a member of the Scientific Corps to be 

attached to the South Sea Surveying and 

Exploring Expedition now being filled out 

as...an act of Congress of the 18th of May last — 

/ Your compensation will be at the rate of two 

thousand five hundred dollars a year and one 

ration per day while on duty under 

the...department. Your allowances for travelling 

will be the same as those made to officers of the 

Navy.” 17 

James Eights’s reply to Dickerson’s offer 

was prompt: 

“Albany, January 10 th 1837. 

“Sir 

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt 

of your communication of the 28 th ultimo, 

appointing me a member of the scientific corps 

to be attached to the South Sea surveying & 

Exploring expedition now being fitted out 

under an Act of Congress of the 18 th of May 

last. 

“Your orders addressed to me at this City 

will be promptly complied with. 

I have the honor to be 

with profound respect 

Your o bt Serv t 


Hon. Mahlon Dickerson / Secretary of the 

Navy.” 18 

At this point, Eights cooled his heels. It may 

be appropriate to take a brief look at machinations 

that had, by now, been going on for several 

months among individuals concerned with 

fitting out the expedition and finding berths on 

it. The amount of intrigue is astounding, the 

total a function of time, the power of rumor, a 

degree of noncooperation in high places, some 

genuine interest, and a vast amount of confusion. 

All this, be it said, in an expedition that 

President Jackson hoped to have on the high 

seas in October 1836! 

While Jackson’s hopes were entirely unrealistic, 

it is still true his lean little government did 

not move with any great celerity on a matter 

that had suddenly become to him a matter of 

great importance. 

My account of who did what to whom, 

illustrative of the tangle of motives that had 

erupted on the scene, is here sparingly documented, 

since it is peripheral to my main interest 

in James Eights. Instances cited are from 

Dickerson’s report to Congress in 1838 (HED 

147) and the National Archives roll of letters 

received by the Navy Department relative to 

the exploring expedition in 1836, 1837, and 

1838. The role of James Eights will be documented 

thoroughly. 

Trouble was evident as early as 10 June 

1836, when Edmund Fanning wrote a rambling 

letter to Dickerson, saying that even if keels 

were laid that day, it would be eight to twelve 


months before a properly equipped ship could 

sail. Fanning felt a superintendent would be 

necessary but did not wish to enter into a newspaper 

altercation with Jeremiah N. Reynolds 

over it. Just as clearly, he did not want to operate 

under Reynolds’s thumb in any way — 

whose “knowledge and views” he (Fanning) 

thought he knew full well. He could not appeal 

to Captains Pendleton and Palmer, who were 

out of the country, but “I can refer to two of the 

scientific gentlemen, companions in the voyage, 

Messrs. John Frampton Watson, of Philadelphia, 

and James Eights, of Albany; those are profound 

scientific men.” 19 

Dickerson, 1 August 1836, asked for advice 

from the Geological Society at New Haven. 

Edmund Fanning, never mind his letter of 19 

June 1836, thought perhaps he could relieve 

Secretary Dickerson of much fretful worry by 

being authorized to put two exploring vessels 

into service himself — if funds were turned 

over to him, he could economically provide the 

vessels within 60 or 90 days. On 31 August 

1836, Dickerson asked the U.S. Naval Lyceum, 

New York, for advice on persons suited for the 

scientific corps and on subjects that ought to be 

covered. A similar letter went to the Lyceum of 

Natural History of New York. 

On 28 September 1836, Asa Gray, already 

involved in advising on botanical matters, 

applied for the position of botanist; he suggested 

James Dwight Dana for mineralogist. On 29 

September 1836, John Torrey, a Gray 

spokesman, suggested John Bartram Carr, son 

of Col. Robert Carr of Bartram’s Botanic 

Garden, and Joseph Barratt as Gray’s assistants. 

On 2 October 1836, the New York Lyceum 

listed subjects to be covered and recommended 

James D. Dana as geologist, Asa Gray as 

botanist, Charles Pickering as zoologist. 

Lyceum leaders were content that competent 

scientists would not be secured without “an 

ample and liberal remuneration.” In early 

October, Reynolds and Dickerson were sparring 

as to whether Reynolds was “corresponding 

secretary” to the whole expedition or just to the 

commander of the expedition — and when 

salary was to begin. On 6 October, Dickerson 

thanked the New York Lyceum for their information 

but was wary of the matter of salary. 

Even though the expedition could accommodate 

no more than 12 “gentlemen,” they must 

be men of “respectable attainments” (surely a 

viewpoint he had acquired from Reynolds): no 

“secondary characters” will be sent — they 

must be “mutual assistants to each other.” “I 

have thought that $2,000 per year, with rations, 

would be sufficient; this would not command 

the services of those who have lucrative business 

at home, and it is not probable that such 

would wish to engage in the expedition.” The 

name of William Rich, as a botanist, had come 

to Dickerson, evidently with some political 

clout; opinion from botanists was that he was 

unknown but that there was work enough for 

two botanists, provided they were not assigned 

to precisely the same thing. On 8 October, Gray 

suggested that the field of Comparative 

Anatomy (under Zoology!) required a scientist; 

Torrey felt (7 November) that a botanical draftsman 

was not to be had in America and suggested 

importation from Europe (he obviously had 

no feeling that Eights would qualify for that 

job). On 7 Nov, Gray, in a long letter, did not 

entirely approve of either Raphael Hoyle or I.H. 

Shegogue but thought Alfred T. Agate might 

become a good draftsman. On 24 November 

1836, Torry wrote a savagely anti-Reynolds letter 

to Dickerson, warning “that if Mr. R. is to 

have any control whatever of the scientific gentlemen, 

they will (at least the majority of them) 

abandon the Expedition....He is utterly unacquainted 

with Natural History & no man of science 

who is possessed of the least self respect 

will accept of a situation under him.” This was 

a rather strange thing for Torrey to have said, 

considering that most of the scientific staff, 

except for the political appointments, owed 

much to Reynolds for scouting them out and 

making their talents known to authorities. 

Many of them, in fact, including Gray, remained 

loyal to him. On 3 December, Torrey begged to 

be understood “that I have no unpleasant feeling 

towards Mr. Reynolds — nor was I urged to 

write to you by any gentleman who expects to 

accompany the Expedition. I knew, however, 

the sentiments of many of them, & merely gave 

you the information to make what use of you 

Chapter 15 241

thought proper. I have seen Mr. R. but once, & 

then only for a few moments, since he sail’d 

from N. York many years ago, in the 

Annawan.” With this private letter of 23 

November, Torrey enclosed a list of books, compiled 

by himself and Gray but in Gray’s handwriting, 

that were “required in the Botanical 

Department of the South Sea Expidition” — 50- 

odd titles, a few of which were already in 

Gray’s library. No time was being lost, even 

though nobody had, as yet, been appointed. 20 

Even before passage of the authorizing act 

of Congress, Reynolds loomed large in the public 

eye and had become a thorn in the flesh of 

Dickerson. Jackson so favored him that he was 

to be given a major appointment with the expedition, 

something to the effect that he was to be 

“corresponding secrtary and commercial 

agent,” an appointment immediately opposed 

by Dickerson, who wanted no civilian invading 

navy turf. Dickerson offered to make him secretary 

to the commanding officer, a task that 

Reynolds denounced as a “clerkship,” and 

appealed his case to higher authority. It was to 

be a galling experience throughout for 

Dickerson, with both men ultimately taking 

their ostensibly anonymous cases to the public 

press. 21 

Thanks more to Reynolds than his enemies 

liked to admit, candidates of real scientific merit 

had been recruited, marred by no political 

clunkers. Having once put on record that he 

wanted men of talent (even if reluctant to pay 

them commensurately), Dickerson had to follow 

suit. The final list included talent: Asa Gray 

(botany); Charles Pickering (zoology); James 

Dwight Dana (geology-mineralogy); Titian 

Ramsay Peale (ambiguously, as zoologist); 

James Eights (at least ultimately, paleontology, 

called then organic remains); Joseph Pitty 

Couthouy (conchology); John Witt Randall 

(entomology); Walter R. Johnson (physical sciences); 

Horatio Hale (philology, perhaps what 

we should call anthropology today) — and the 

two political appointments, William Rich 

(botany) and Reynell Coates (some aspect of 

zoology). 22 

In spite of Jackson’s hope to see the exploring 

fleet asea before the end of his administration, 

that was not to be. Part of the fault was 

surely administrative and functional incompetence 

among both civilians of government and 

naval officials; part of it was deliberate footdragging 

(or substantial dunderheadedness) on 

the part of Dickerson. 

The scientific corps, for its part, refused to 

participate in planning without compensation, 

which Dickerson was reluctant to offer. Several 

of them (Eights among them, if we are to 

believe him), gave up jobs and awaited orders — 

and salary checks. It was 30 June 1837 before 

Dickerson sent James Eights a letter, notifying 

him that his duties would begin on 4 July. To 

this Eights replied 5 July 1837: “I have the 

honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication 

of the 30 th ult. informing me that 

my duties would commence on the 4 th current 

& directing me to hold myself in readiness for 

orders, and also to inform you of my place of 

residence. The latter will remain unchanged at 

this city to which place orders to me may be 

addressed. 

“Having, on receiving my appointment 

from you to the Scientific Corps of the Southern 

Exploring expedition felt bound to relinquish 

the employments in which I was [then] 

engaged, & to decline any others subsequently, 

I am now in want of sufficient funds to equip & 

prepare myself for service. You will therefore 

pardon me for requesting to be informed 

whether it is customary to allow of any portion 

of pay being drawn in advance, and if so to 

whom I must apply therefor. In case this should 

not be contrary to the regulations of the service 

I should like to receive pay for two or three 

month’s which would satisfy all my wishes. / 

May I also beg to be informed whether there is 

required any peculiar dress or uniform, as I 

should like to make preparations to meet such 

an exigency.” 23 

Presumably in response to Eights’s letter, 

Mahlon Dickerson wrote to him 11 July 1837: 

“Shortly before the sailing of the South Sea 

exploring expedition, it is intended that gentlemen 

comprising the scientific corps shall 

receive an advance of their pay for two, three, 

or probably for four months. You will not be 

required to go on ship-board before the 4th of 


September; so that you will, by that time, be 

entitled to two months’ pay.” Dickerson’s reply 

of the same date to John W. Randall’s query of 

recent date was less patient — or perhaps, in 

fact, he had not yet received Eights’s letter of 6 

July: “I have to state that, in your letter of 

appointment, care was taken that no mistake 

should happen as to the time on which your 

pay and emoluments should commence. If the 

condition contained in that letter was unacceptable 

to you, it was entirely at your option to 

decline the offer, or to ask for its postponement 

until the pay and emoluments were to commence.” 

Dickerson was no more merciful to 

Joseph P. Couthouy, who was so badly in debt 

by this time that he was in danger of arrest by 

creditors and only escaped by pledging his 

shell collection. 24 

Obviously both eager to show his weight 

and not particularly thoughtful of what another 

geologist might require (for he covered all 

fields), Dana wrote to Dickerson from New 

Haven 13 July 1837, in partial reply to a letter 

from Dickerson of 7 July, a list of some 15 book 

titles to be secured for his use. 25 

On 2 August 1837, Dickerson wrote to 

Eights: “As there will be a meeting of the members 

of the Scientific Corps of the S.S. Exploring 

Expedition who are to belong to the 

Departments of Zoology, at Philadelphia for the 

purposes of consultation, I have to request that 

you will repair to that place as your leisure will 

permit. You will receive for your travelling 

expenses 10 cents per mile. You are hereby 

authorized to draw on the Navy Agent, Mr. 

Paulding at New York $214.53/100 having one 

month’s compensation due you this 4th inst — 

as member of the Scientific Corps of the S. Seas 

Exploring expedition.” 26 

What the previous order did not intimate is 

that the scientific corps in Philadelphia was represented 

by a substantial group of scientists, not 

zoologists only. On 3 August 1837, under a 

Philadelphia dateline, the following men signed 

a request that Dickerson consider “the application 

of Richard Philips as a general assistant to 

the Corps,” considering him capable of looking 

after chemicals, scientific apparatus, packing 

and preparing specimens”: Johnson, Coates, 

Pickering, Couthouy, Randall, Dana, Peale, 

Gray, Drayton, Darley and Eights. 27 

On 11 August 1837, Dickerson informed 

Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones, chosen 

to lead the expedition, that although the scientific 

corps was still incomplete, he wished Jones 

to go to Philadelphia to meet such as were by 

then appointed and able to be there. The roster 

consisted at that time of Pickering, Peale, 

Coates, Johnson, Dana, Gray, Couthouy, Eights, 

Randall, Rich, Hale, Darley, Drayton, A.T. 

Agate, R. Hoyle. Some were principals, some 

assistants, some artists, one philologist: “All 

these points are to be settled before they will be 

instructed to report for service.” Various additional 

“duties connected with geography, 

hydrography, &c., will be performed by officers 

of the navy, according to arrangements to be 

made.” This was, as Jones replied acidly in a 

letter dated the same day, something he had for 

a year tried to arrange but had had, to that date, 

no information on makeup and status of 

appointments to the corps. 28 

The zoologists met and gradually came to a 

fair concensus. J.P. Couthouy acted as secretary 

of the group, clearly a sound head, even if he 

consistently spelled “zoological” as “goological” 

(discreetly corrected in the printed version 

of proceedings). On 17 August 1837, he reported 

to the “Committee of Conference” on the 

assignment of duties among zoologists. Except 

for the position of mammalogist, each field was 

assigned to a particular individual. There was 

unanimous agreement that Reynell Coates 

should have comparative anatomy and 

helminthology; Couthouy (malacology, conchology, 

and actinology — that is, coelenterates); 

Eights (organic remains); Randall (entomology 

and crustacea); Peale (ornithology); Pickering 

(herpetology and ichthyology). Both Peale and 

Pickering wanted mammalogy. Other members 

decided to give it to them jointly. Minor distributions 

could be satisfactorily made at a later 

time, as needed. Another adjustment had been 

made, namely in regard to Eights, who had particularly 

desired paleontology (so called here), 

while he had given over the crustacea to 

Randall who had wished it. 29 

Some insight into the hassle that took place 

Chapter 15 243

can be gathered from a letter of Dana to 

Edward Claudius Herrick (1811–1862), dated 

merely August. (Couthouy’s letter does not 

mention Dana — perhaps he had not arrived in 

Philadelphia at the time of that conference.) 

There had been some difficulties, Dana wrote, 

but “the disputes on this subject are now about 

brought to a close...entomology, arachnology 

and crustaceology go to Mr. Randall, of Boston, 

who is a young man, not more than twenty-two 

or twenty-three years of age, scarcely bearded 

[Dana was born in 1813!], but I believe a good 

entomologist.” Dana had been requested to 

attend to Entomostraca (one group of crustaceans, 

oddly, considering Randall’s assignment) 

and Hydrachnella (which I assume to 

mean corals and similar coelenterates); 

Couthouy had conchology and actinology (coelenterates 

aside from corals?) — and, “as it 

seemed to meet his wishes, and to be desired by 

the corps,” Dana “resigned” organic remains to 

Dr. Eights of Albany. 30 

On 23 August 1837, members of the corps in 

Philadelphia recommended to Dickerson the 

candidacy of Henry J. Drayton for “assistant in 

the Hydrographical department, if such a 

department be constituted.” They pointed out 

that “the Commander of the Expedition [Jones] 

has stated that there will be no difficulty in 

placing such an assistant.” The letter was 

signed by Couthouy, Pickering, Coates, Randall, 

Eights, Peale, and Johnson. 31 

With no sailing date in sight (nobody quite 

admitted that), the scientific corps burgeoned. 

So did purchases of materials and equipment, 

both for the expedition as a whole and for the 

scientific corps. Dickerson’s parsimonious soul 

must have cringed. Those in which Eights was 

closely involved I shall list in detail and in as 

nearly chronological order as possible (some 

lists were prepared under one date, but made 

known under letters of a later date). One such 

expenditure was a list of books procured [and 

to be procured!] for the U.S. Exploring 

Expedition, along with lists of supplies presented 

separately by members gathered in 

Philadelphia. 32 

To this list of some 570 book titles (many of 

them made up of multiple volumes; some 

required in multiple copies) I allude only to the 

loom of Eights in the planned purchases: His 

requests total 33 only, the overwhelming bulk 

on fossils, a few on geology, fewer yet on biogeography, 

one on British animals, one on the 

development of the human brain. 

To the list of books he added a list of such 

supplies as Newman’s colors, dissecting instruments, 

stone hammers, stone chisels, pocket 

compasses, parallel rulers, chemical tests, and a 

camera lucida. 33 

A list of materials for general use of the 

corps was added. At about the same time, “the 

committee on the organization of certain 

departments of the corps” recapitulated the distribution 

of duties among zoologists (no mention 

of Dana!) on 26 August 1837. Differences 

from what has already been seen include: entomology 

and crustacea, J.W. Randall; ornithology 

and mammalogy, T.R. Peale; “erpetology” and 

ichthyology, C. Pickering. Eights remained in 

command of organic remains. 34 

From Albany, 4 September 1837, Eights 

wrote to Dickerson: “The arrangements of individual 

duties made by the Corps so far as 

regards myself are in the highest degree 

equable, and will I hope receive your sanctions. 

I am to take charge of the Department of 

Palaeontology one of the most Extensive and as 

yet almost the least cultivated of the branches 

of Natural Science. The department of the 

Crustacea was assigned to Mr. Randall, my 

attention to this latter has been paid with the 

view to a knowledge of the fossils belonging to 

it, but it will afford me great pleasure to give 

Every assistance in my power to Mr. R. should 

he desire it, when attention to my own branch 

will allow. 

“The list of books & instruments which I 

think necessary to Enable me to discharge my 

duties properly was submitted to & I understand 

approved by the Commission appointed 

for that purpose. If it is in accordance with the 

usual practice of the department I should be 

pleased to be authorised to purchase these, and 

therefore request an order to this effect. Some of 

the Books on my list which are not for sale in 

the United States are to be [found] in the 

Library of the State of New York & of the 


Albany [Institute] and can be procured from 

those sources if you will dire[ct] importation of 

others to supply their places. The [demand] for 

similar books & instruments has hitherto prevented 

their [being] kept in any Extent by the 

merchants and it will be [necessary] to visit 

Boston, New York & Philadelphia for that 

purp[ose].” 35 

An item of interest, especially with regard 

to possible feelings that nobody in the navy 

touched liquor: Isaac Chauncey of the Navy 

Commissioner’s Office on 30 September 1837 

wrote to John Thomas, Baltimore: “You will 

please purchase the high-proof whiskey from 

Mr. Wilson [of Baltimore], required for the 

exploring expedition; that is, you will take ‘all 

that is of any given proof equal to fourth, or 

over it, if, by admixture of the several proofs, he 

will reduce it to one standard, or to different 

standards of above fourth proof; provided there 

are not less than fifty barrels of each kind, and 

all to be gauged and marked so as to show the 

contents, the proof, and the quantity of water it 

will take to reduce it to first proof.’ A certificate 

of inspection to be given by the custom-house 

inspector, (if to be got,) setting forth these facts, 

which certificate must accompany the shipment 

to Norfolk, and a copy to be sent to this office. 

The whiskey must be shipped to Norfolk so as 

to arrive there on or before the 6th proximo.” 36 

Dickerson was in a penny-pinching mood, 

made worse by a desire by Congress to know 

how much more money was needed. He would, 

therefore, not add to corps personnel until he 

knew how much money was available (4 

October). Furthermore, he would not pay a bill 

for $58 for a double-barreled gun for Couthouy; 

it was permissible for members to buy items on 

the approved list but the gun was not on the list 

(which was in Couthouy’s hand). He had given 

money to Dr. Pickering, to whom members 

should send their bills. “The articles which you 

were requested to purchase by Dr. Eights, as 

well as by Drs. Pickering and Coates, will be 

paid for.” 37 

It seems unnecessary to document closely 

expenditures recorded by the Navy 

Department, even when concerned with Eights. 

An order of 18 October 1837 from Pickering 

noted (“with surprise”!) immediate costs 

totalling at least $7,700 — these included bills in 

hand at that time, and “probable estimates,” the 

latter including $300 for books (chiefly for Mr. 

Eights). 38 

That was not the end, of course: On 21 

October 1837, James Eights wrote from Albany: 

“Through inadvertence on the part of the committee 

of the scientific corps...my requisition for 

stationary, &c., was not forwarded to you for 

approval; and I now take leave to hand it to 

you annexed, with the request that directions 

may be give to me for procuring it. 

“In attempting to procure the books of 

which I had the honor to submit a list that has 

received your approval, I find that many of 

them cannot be procured; and I respectfully 

suggest whether I may be allowed to supply the 

place of such as cannot be obtained by others 

not included in that list.” This was accompanied 

by a list of 19 items, ranging from pencils, 

ink, paper, cards, drawing pens — plus “a light 

pick and small spade for digging fossils.” 39 

Commodore Jones on 6 November 1837 

announced to Dickerson from New York that 

the gentlemen of the scientific corps (his italics) 

had “reported themselves in person to me....The 

appointments held by these gentlemen do not 

assign to them any particular station or duty...; I 

am, therefore, greatly at a loss to know how to 

dispose of them individually, but more especially 

how and where to find room for the apparatus, 

stores, and materials they require, and have 

already collected at the navy yard, without 

encroaching too much upon the space appropriated 

for the stowage of provisions, or taking 

from the accommodation of the men....P.S. — It 

does appear to me still, that your original 

plan of having only six or seven persons in 

the scientific department, including geographical 

and hydrographical draughtsmen, 

would be decidedly preferable to the present 

enlarged and somewhat complicated subdivision 

of duties among so many persons.” To this 

letter, he added the list of men who comprised 

the corps that had reported to him: Randall, 

Rich, Hoyle, Pickering, Agate, Hale, Drayton, 

Peale, Couthouy, Gray, Eights, and Johnson. 

(Note well the absence of the name of 

Chapter 15 245

Reynolds!) Meanwhile, hardly lessening Jones’s 

task of finding room for them, Dickerson (7 

November) appointed Passed Midshipman J.A. 

Underwood as assistant draftsman to the geographical 

and hydrographical department of 

the corps. Jones the same day, ordered 

Lieutenant M.F. Maury to proceed to 

Washington, to secure instruments in the hands 

of the Secretary of the Navy, then to proceed to 

New York by the first vessel available from 

either Washington or Norfolk. To Dickerson, the 

same day, he urged the appointment of Dr. 

William Morton as badly needed librarian. That 

is to say, there was no more room for scientists 

— but another chief was required. 

And more alarums. If Reynolds is to be 

believed, rumors that he would not accompany 

the expedition, even in a reduced capacity, were 

received with dismay by the scientific corps. 

Members drafted a letter to him 12 November 

1837, saying in part: “That you would of necessity 

occupy a promiment station in the expedition 

has so long been considered by us, in common 

with the whole country, as a point beyond 

all question, the present contingency takes us 

wholly by surprise; and we have heard, with 

not less astonishment than grief, that in the official 

list of the civilians connected with this 

undertaking, the name of J.N. Reynolds is 

nowhere to be found. Upon the manifest injustice 

of this omission no comments are requisite.” 

To any extent that the decision (to refuse a 

subordinate position) was his, they urged him 

to reconsider. It was signed “Your sincere 

friends” — Agate, Couthouy, Coates, Dana, 

Gray, Randall, Eights, Hale, Hoyle, Johnson, 

Pickering, and Drayton. 40 

More encouraging noises, indicative of an 

early sailing: 9 November 1837, Dickerson sent 

to Jones the guiding “Instructions” for the 

Surveying and Exploring Expedition to the 

Pacific Ocean and the South Seas, the fleet to 

consist of the frigate‘Macedonian, the ship Relief, 

two brigs Pioneer and Consort, and the schooner 

Active, all now at New York. “The primary 

object of this expedition is the promotion of the 

great interests of commerce and navigation. The 

advancement of science is considered an object 

of great, but comparatively of secondary importance.” 

This document spelled out the steps to 

be taken to carry out the aims of the scientific 

corps, which were laid out in detail. Pertinent 

to Eights were the following directives: Eights, 

along with Hoyle and Underwood, were to 

assist Maury and James Glynn in the geographical 

and hydrographical surveys; Gray was 

botanist, with Rich as assistant, Agate as “drawer 

and painter of botanical subjects”; Doctor 

James Eights was in charge of organic remains; 

Chaplain Walter Colton (contra Jones’s wishes) 

was to act as librarian, while he would also 

write a history of the voyage. Further guides 

and directives were appended, all to be shared 

with the scientific corps. 41 

Various bills for goods bought for Eights are 

not itemized further. It is pertinent to note that 

with no definite departure date in sight, J.K. 

Paulding, navy agent in New York, reported on 

13 November 1837 his dismay that appropriations 

for the exploring expedition were exhausted. 

Annoyed by what he considered ill-conceived 

tinkering and tampering by Dickerson, 

and worn out by all the delay and uncertainty, 

Commodore Jones resigned in disgust in 

November 1837. Immediate sailing was out of 

the question and so it remained for many 

months. 

There was further dawdling and posturing, 

most of which must have affected Eights, but 

his role in it is unknown. He was apparently 

simply ignored. About this time, Reynolds published 

as a substantial book the newspaper 

salvos that he (“Citizen”) and Dickerson 

(“Friend to the Navy”) had fired at each other 

over the previous months. Jacksonian papers 

defended Dickerson, some of them even taking 

their sometime hero Reynolds to task. With 

patience playing out on all sides, nerves frayed 

and tempers short, Dickerson had a private letter 

15 January 1838 from crotchety Philadelphia 

naturalist George Ord, who wanted to reduce 

the scientific corps to Peale and a taxidermist 

(Drayton), a botanist, and a machinist. 

Astronomy and hydrography were to be done 

by qualified officers; meteorology should be 

taken care of by someone in the medical corps. 

“Dispense with the remainder of the corps, 


whose proceedings, ever since their first organization, 

have evinced any thing but a desire to 

advance science, or promote the legitimate 

objects of the Expedition.” He especially wanted 

to eliminate “that incendiary fellow” — 

unquestionably Reynolds. Ord (1781–1866), an 

old-fashioned naturalist whose success in making 

money had assured him his niche in 

Philadelphia’s high society, must have echoed 

many of Dickerson’s sentiments. 42 

Dickerson’s days confronting his nemesis, 

Reynolds, and promoting a project that he did 

not much care for in the beginning, were numbered. 

One naval officer after another declined to 

lead the expedition. President Van Buren suggested 

a rest for Secretary Dickerson and asked 

Secretary of War Joel Roberts Poinsett to “aid the 

Secretary,” a charge that could be (and was) 

interpreted by either party to his own delight. 

Poinsett, in a word, took over. Erosion in willingness 

of navy personnel to undertake command 

of the expedition continued. In a moment of 

inspired genius — as might be said — Poinsett 

suggested (in secret) that Dickerson appoint 

Lieutenant Charles Wilkes (who at one point had 

refused command of one of the vessels) to the 

command of the entire expedition. It was a daring 

move: Of 40 lieutenants on the active list, 38 

had more sea service than Wilkes. 43 

Nor was Charles Wilkes unwilling to add to 

his turf, an inclination enhanced by the degree 

of autonomy granted him by Poinsett, who 

worked closely with him. One result of the synergy 

was that the tonnage of the final expedition 

exceeded that of the one that did not sail — 

while its complement of scientists suffered a 

diminution: “‘a singular kind of reduction,’” as 

Dana put it. Given his own bent, Wilkes would 

have dismissed the whole civilian corps — but 

could find no possible replacements for them 

among navy personnel. Besides, Poinsett cautioned 

him, some of the corps must sail, for it 

was expected. Wilkes conquered by dividing, 

using the leverage of Titian Ramsay Peale’s 

advice and influence as a wedge to achieve his 

own objectives. 44 

Sailing or nonsailing, red tape must be dealt 

with. Eights wrote from Albany 10 February 

1838 to Commodore Charles Ridgley of the 

New York Navy Yard: “In compliance with a 

request made to me by Mr. Johnson that I 

should forward to you at the Navy Yard 

Brooklinn, without delay a list of all the articles 

procured by me for the South Sea Surveying 

and Exploring Expidition, I have the honor to 

transmit herewith a full and complete list of 

such purchases made by me, shewing the 

Number and Kind of Instrument, Book etc.” 

There follows his list of books and other articles 

“purchased by James Eights for the use of the 

Palaeontological Department of the South Sea 

Exploring Expidition.” It is divided into two 

parts. The first is a detailed list of nine books 

(on fossils, geology, plus English and German 

dictionaries), various bits of stationery and 

writing materials, dissecting instruments, and a 

box of water colors — all “secured in a box at 

the Naval Store Brooklyn Yard.” He had in his 

own possession Deshayes, Coquilles Fossiles, in 

three volumes, a dozen “Pen Knifes,” several 

instruments, including a compound pocket 

microscope. 45 

Meanwhile, Wilkes was on his way. He 

wrote to Poinsett on 1 May 1838: “I yesterday 

had a long conversation and a very satisfactory 

one with M r . T. Peale relative to the organization 

of the Scientific [Corps] of the Exped n / he 

coincides in the majority of a reduction and 

goes to the full length of my views in relation to 

them, & informs me that[?] the gentlemen who 

are at the heads of the Depts. are all extremely 

averse to its being as large or larger than I have 

expressed in my memorandums to you. Mr. 

Peale is fully of opinion that Himself and Mr. 

Pickering will be with Naval assistants, quite 

competent to all the duties in Natural history 

and that he can dispense with many of the articles 

provided in his Department and a great 

many certainly can be dispensed with in the 

other departments — he spoke candidly and 

sensibly and said he was extremely glad to find 

the few scientific persons who were to be 

employed were going to be amalgamated with 

the officers. 

“Those he spoke of as being best qualified 

were[:] 

Mr. Pickering as a Zoologist 

Chapter 15 247

Mr. Dana — as mineralogist 

Mr. Gray as Botanist 

Couthouy Conchologist 

which including himself will make five. [A]nd 

Mr. Drayton and another as draughtsman. 

These are the best among the former corps & all 

efficient men — 

Mr. Randall the Intomologist is not agreeable 

[capable?] 

D r . Coates for Comparative Anatomy & etc. is 

out of his Senses 

D r Eights for Organic remains is not wanted — 

from what I can learn his habits are not of the 

best — 

M r . Johnson, M r . Hale Philologist, The 

Taxidermist & Machinist can be dispensed with, 

and three of the painters. 

“[T]hus we can be at once settled as respects 

the Scientific Dept. Mr Gray I have just seen 

and he coincides with these views also. [B]oth 

these gentlemen also inform me that the different 

scientific men contemplated that there 

would be employed more [Did he mean no 

more?] than five or six persons to assist in their 

departments[.] 

“I hope in a few days to give you the views 

of Mr. Dana and Couthouy to whom I have 

written to meet me here if possible in a day or 

two[.] I see no difficulty now to occur to us 

from this ridiculously overgrown corps, if the 

Department will only suffer their pay to continue 

until the Sailing of the Expedition, which 

will keep them quite quiet, as that has undoubtedly 

been the motive which has induced many 

of them to get employment in the Expedition.” 

There follows commentary on the state of 

instruments, etc. 46 

As for Reynolds, he was down but not out. 

However little good it did, he did not remain 

quiet in regard to rumors that paleontology (he 

did not mention Eights by name) had been 

eliminated from the departments making up 

the corps. His scorn, in one of his notorious 

public letters (addressed to Poinsett, the moving 

force, now that Dickerson was abandoning 

the field) signed “Citizen,” was unbounded. It 

was a ringing defense of the value of the science 

of organic remains. He defined his terms, 

as if to the village idiot; he called upon all manner 

of authority; he recited a litany of names 

and works — to complete which “would be to 

give the names of nearly all the great men who 

have written, during the last half century, on 

Natural History.” 47 

The plot thickened. Wilkes (memorandum 

unsigned but in his hand) on 10 July 1838 listed 

personnel of the scientific corps: Pickering, 

Peale, Couthouy, Dana, Gray, Drayton, and 

Agate. 48 

The same day, Asa Gray, having consulted 

his tea-leaves, resigned. Even though Poinsett 

tried to change his mind and even though 

Gray’s name was on Wilkes’s list of 24[26?] July 

to J.K. Paulding of scientists to be alerted for 

sailing, Gray stuck to his guns. 49 

In a memorandum by Wilkes, placed with 

August material but probably of earlier origin 

(see especially the Wilkes–Poinsett exchange of 

1 May), it is clear that he was quite prepared to 

take no outside personnel whatever. This is but 

one item of a long list of proposals: “Scientific 

Department — All the duties apportioned to 

Astronomy, Surveying, Hydrography, 

Geography, Geodesy, Magnetism, Meteorology, 

and Physics generally to be exclusively confined 

to the Navy officers, these [are] deemed 

the great objects of the Expedition....The other 

Scientific Depts. consisting of Zoology, Geology 

& Mineralogy, Botany and Conchology, it is 

proposed to fill up as far as can be from among 

the Medical Corps that will be attach’d to the 

Expedition, if however none of the Medical officers 

of the Navy can be found sufficiently qualified 

or willing to undertake to become [principals] 

in any of these Deparments, then I would 

suggest that there be appointed the following, 

viz — 

Two persons for the Zoological Depts. 

One “ “ Botany. 

One “ “ Geology & Mineralogy 

One “ “ Conchology. . . . 

All the appointments that may be made to fill 

the above Scientific Situations, to be Naval 

appointments, so as to place them entirely 

under the control and direction of the 

Commander of the Expedition.” To this, 

Poinsett commented on the back of the last 


page of the memorandum: “The first part...is 

concurred in but it would appear injudicious to 

dismiss entirely the whole of the Scientific 

Corps, the number designated by the memorandum 

may be formed too small to be carried into 

effect without creating much clamour.” He 

thought most literary and philosophical societies 

might agree to some diminution in size of 

the corps. Assistants may be taken from the 

medical officers. As for control, “the Civil Corps 

may have either such temporary Naval 

appointments or be so subjected to the rules & 

regulations of the Service as may place them 

under the direction & control of the 

Commander of he Expedition.” 50 

By 2 August 1838, John Torrey had heard 

that the exploring expedition would “sail (so 

they say) on the 10th” — “without Johnson, 

Hoyle, Eights, young McMurtrie and some others.” 

51 

Eights, who must by this time have known 

what was coming, wrote from Albany to James 

K. Paulding, Secretary of the Navy, 8 August 

1838: “Not having received any orders from the 

Department since having reported myself to 

Commodore Jones, on board the Macedonian, 

in Nov: last, & feeling considerable anxiety on 

the subject, as the fleet is on the eve of sailing: 

Will you permit me most respectfully to enquire 

if I am still considered by the Department as 

being a member of the Scientific Corps of the 

Expedition.” 52 

Evidently, Eights never had official notice 

that he was being passed by. On the same date 

as the last, he wrote to John Torrey: “On my 

return to the city a few days since I found your 

letter laying on my table and am heartily 

rejoiced to hear that you are employed in a 

work of the kind mentioned, for I certainly do 

think it will prove of the utmost importance to 

the votaries of science, particularly to such as 

are devoted to Botany. I have shown the 

prospectus to several of those last and they 

unanimously coincide with me on the subject. 

Friend Bloodgood is at present from home with 

his family; on his return I shall take the earliest 

opportunity of seeing him on the subject. Our 

Academies also and our Seminaries are for the 

present closed in consequence of their vacations. 

“I think the best plan you can pursue is to 

forward a few copies of the present number 

(say two to each) to some of our booksellers 

accompanied by a subscription list attached to 

the prospectus. O. Steele, W.C. Little & by all 

means E.W. & C. Skinners, and I will do everything 

in my power to favour your views, particularly 

in Newspapers articles &c. 

“I sincerely rejoice that Gray has received 

the appointment you mentioned for he richly 

deserves it. Yea, and a much better one to boot. 

“And now be so kind as to give me some 

information respecting the Corps of the 

Expedition, for I have no means at this place of 

obtaining any that can be relied upon, farther, 

than what I occasionally see in print. I of course 

am one of the defunct, having received no 

orders since last fall. Who are going & what are 

their respective departments? And more particularly, 

is J.N. Reynolds one of them? How are 

those that remain behind to proceed not having 

received any notification from Government on 

the subject? Is such a thing as a notice to be 

expected? And lastly if there is such a thing as 

remuneration for them, what is it & how to be 

obtained. Now Dear Sir your friendly advice on 

these last questions will be most gratefully 

received by 

Yours 

Very respectfully 


North Pearl St. Albany.” 53 

There was a rapid-fire series of events, some 

of omission, some of commission. Couthouy 

wrote to Secretary Paulding from on board U.S. 

Ship Vincennes on 12 August 1838, drawing 

attention to a matter of fairness that had been 

overlooked: “I should feel myself guilty of neglect 

of duty towards the other members of the 

Scientific Corps & especially those who are left 

out of the present arrangment, were I not 

respectfully to solicit your attention to the following 

statement. 

“When in New York in Nov’r last under the 

command of Comm. Thos Ap C. Jones, the 

Corps were ordered by him to procure all their 

own stores, as it was intended they should mess 

Chapter 15 249

y themselves. Accordingly thirteen of them 

contributed the sum of $120 each, for the purchase 

of the necessary articles & appointed me 

their agent in the premises[?]. Stores to the 

amount of about $1600— were provided 

accordingly under the impression that we were 

to sail in a few days.... 

“We, or those of us still attached to the 

Expedition are distributed in three vessels, and 

ordered to mess with the officers, who refuse to 

take our stores, as the perishable is now old, & 

the furniture &c. is not deemed costly enough. I 

have therefore been obliged to dispose of them 

as I best could, at a loss of $576—...or about 

$44.30 to each contributor. As this loss was not 

sustained from any fault on our part, but in consequence 

of Government having changed its 

views...I would respectfully submit to the 

Department, whether in justice it should fall 

upon the Corps or if...relief should not be granted 

us. It would seem to fall with peculiar severity 

upon those who remain behind — and we 

who go, have in addition to contribute over 

$200 each as a mess outfit, without even the 

privilege of expressing our opinion as to 

whether we deemed so large an amount necessary. 

We had in the first instance organized as a 

strict temperance body — admitting no wines 

&c. to our table. We are now called upon to 

contribute a large sum for the purchase of those 

articles to the use of which the majority of us 

are on principle opposed. It would seem hardly 

just, that in addition to this, we should be called 

upon to lose so large a sum, in consequence of 

our superiors having changed their views. 

“In making this statement I have been actuated 

solely by a sense of duty to those who 

entrusted me with the funds & provided they 

were made whole, I would most cheerfully 

relinguish my individual claim for relief....P.S. 

The names & residence of the contributors were 

as follows...” — he lists 13 men, including himself 

(evidently Johnson did not contribute), four 

of whom had been dismissed, one resigned. 54 

On the eve of the sailing (which was 18 

August), Wilkes accounted to Paulding his 

apportioning of the Corps: On the Vincennes, 

Couthouy, Pickering, Drayton (artist), Brackenridge 

(assistant botanist, later “horticulturalist”), 

J.G. Brown (repairer of instruments); on 

the Peacock, Peale, Dana, Hale; on the Relief, 

Rich, Agate (portraitist and botanical painter). 55 

Apparently, the only dismissed member of 

the original corps to have formal notification of 

his status was none other than Jeremiah N. 

Reynolds, perhaps because he never ceased to 

make his presence known by frequent visits to 

high places. 56 

While the matter of formal remonstrances 

by the dismissed members of the Corps must be 

postponed, there are a few rag-tag ends now 

that will close the matter of James Eights and 

the by-now departed exploring expedition. On 

17 September 1838, Eights wrote from Albany 

to Asa Gray (care of John Torrey, New York), 

with reference to the money Couthouy had 

managed to collect by selling the unwanted 

stores of the corpsmen: “Inclosed I send you 

Couthouy’s order for Thirty Dollars which you 

can transmit to me in notes of your City Banks 

by some early opportunity. At the time I paid C. 

the amount of my contribution I also gave him 

an additional Ten Dollars to purchase at Boston 

some cheap linen pantaloons similar to some of 

his own, this he neglected to do, no doubt in 

consequence of the uncertainty of the individuals 

to be selected to accompany the Ex: since 

then, however, it appears to have escaped his 

memory. I do not know that you consider yourself 

authorized to return it from the funds you 

hold of his but I sincerely wish you would, for I 

shall be most sadly in need of it e’er long. I feel 

perfectly convinced that he would have not the 

slightest objection to your doing as he himself 

would have done had he been reminded of it. 

Let me know when you start for your new station, 

likewise, what success your new work 

meets with for I feel some interest as to its welfare.” 

57 

On 17 September 1838, Joseph Couthouy 

wrote to Secretary Paulding from Funchal, 

Madeira, that “a very important and costly 

work...purchased for the Exploring Expedition, 

is not on board any of the vessels.” He referred 

to Coquilles Fossiles, by Deshayes, “in several 

Quarto volumes.” “It was taken charge of last 

October by James Eights M.D. of Albany...and is 


doubtless still [in] his possession.” It would be 

important “at our return,” since the great standard 

of European geologists. Eights had, of 

course, notified the navy office at Brooklyn the 

previous February that he held the work in 

question. Eights, when asked to return the 

work, explained the circumstances in a letter to 

Paulding 23 November 1838: “...The 

Department has been correctly informed, that a 

work...was in my possession. It was purchased 

by Mr. J.P. Couthouy at Boston, in numbers, and 

there bound. When placed in my hands, it was 

discovered to be imperfect to a considerable 

degree, and was retained, for the purpose of 

having it exchanged — No opportunity 

occurred, and not having been notified that I 

was not to accompany the Squadron, until it 

had sailed, I, consequently, was unable to place 

it in the Library of the Expedition. 

“...I have forwarded it by the most direct 

and safe conveyance, which the enclosed 

receipt, I trust, will amply bear witness.” It was 

accompanied by a receipt signed by the boating 

agent: “One Paper Package said to contain 

Three Books.” 58 

It seems appropriate to put here Eights’s 

immediate appeal for justice. The long battle 

over compensation, in the halls of Congress, 

will be covered later. Meanwhile, Eights put his 

claim directly to Secretary of the Navy 

Paulding. From Albany, 21 September 1838, he 

wrote: “May I be informed by the Department, 

if it is the intention of Government, to allow 

any compensation to such members of the 

Scientific Corps as have not been selected to 

accompany the Expedition under its present 

organization, as an indemnification, for losses 

they may have sustained, in consequence of 

holding their respective appointments. 

“For my own part, I deem it a duty, in justice 

to myself, briefly to declare, that, when I 

had the honour to receive my appointment 

from the Secretary of the Navy, in the December 

of 1836, constituting me a member of the 

Scientific Corps, I was employed in the service 

of the State of New York, as a Geologist in their 

Geological Survey[,] which situation, I was 

immediately compelled to relinquish, on the 

acceptance of the said appointment, from which 

time, I was kept without compensation of any 

kind, until the fourth day of July 1837, (a period 

of full six months) at which date, I was for the 

first time placed under pay. And, that, during 

the last winter, situations of the same nature, in 

two other States were tendered, and likewise 

declined from the same Cause. These Situations 

have since been permanently occupied. 

“After reporting myself to Commodore 

Jones on board the Macedonian, in November 

last, we were daily under the expectation of 

proceeding to sea, and was [!] continually urged 

by the commander, to keep ourselves in perfect 

readiness for immediate departure; 

Consequently, the principle [!] portion of my 

pay was expended in the purchase of such articles 

as could alone be used on the Expedition, 

and which can be of no earthly service to me in 

any other capacity whilst on shore. 

“I deem it also necessary, to state, that, 

when the fleet was under sailing orders, at the 

Navy Yard, (Brooklyn) that I paid into the 

hands of the Caterer of the Corps, Mr. J.P. 

Couthouy, the sum of 120 dollars, as my share 

to a contribution for stores for the mess. A few 

days previous to the sailing of the Expedition 

from Norfolk, I received a letter from that 

Gentleman, inclosing an equivalent to the 

amount of 80 dollars: there being a deficiency of 

40 dollars in the disposal of the purchased articles, 

which he attributes altogether, to injuries 

sustained in consequence of the various delays 

in the Departure of the Squadron. This deficiency 

he informs me, he had understood, would be 

made up by Government, if so, I should be 

happy to have it included in my accounts, yet 

in the hands of the fourth Auditor for 

Settlement. 

“And now Sir, with the foregoing statements, 

I leave to your consideration the question, 

If I am not in justice, entitled to some compensation, 

so as to enable me to regain an equal 

situation in life, to that I occupied, when the 

appointment from the Department was conferred 

upon me.” 

What reply Eights received I do not know 

but evidently it was the routine one of asking 

for clarification of his precise connections. His 

reply to the latter was addressed to Paulding 

Chapter 15 251

from Albany on 21 November 1838: “Your letter 

of the 26 th ult came duly to hand — I received 

my appointment on the 28th day of December 

1836. — Was put on pay July 4th 1837. — I 

relinguished my employment under the State 

— held myself in readiness to obey all orders 

from the Department — Was occupied most of 

the time in a thousand matters appertaining to 

my labours in the Scientific Corps — Was at 

heavy expences [!] in procuring articles for an 

absence of three years — And, at the sailing of 

the Expedition, found myself thrown out of all 

employment, with all my plans deranged — 

feelings injured, and ambition depressed — I 

set no price on the injuries I have sustained, but 

leave the Department to act in the premisis [?] 

in accordence [!] with its own sense of justice.” 

59 

Thus, the bursting of the Great South Sea 

Bubble for James Eights. His further efforts for 

redress, along with notes on his concurrent 

activities that chart his life in the decade of the 

1840s, will occupy the next chapter. 

NOTES 

1. Benjamin Franklin Butler (1795-1858), who had held 

various county and state offices, was a member of the law 

firm of Martin Van Buren in Albany, as well as a power in 

the coterie of politicians known as the “Albany Regency.” 

He was U.S. Attorney General for five years, beginning in 

1833, and temporarily added to it the duties of Secretary of 

War 1836-1837 — all undertaken with the understanding 

that appointments would not interfere with his law practice 

in New York. See D.S. Muzzey. Eights’s letter is 

National Archives (hereafter NA) microfilm 75, I: 0066-7. 

2. NA microfilm 75, I: 0067-8. Edwin Croswell we 

shall hear from later. Mahlon Dickerson (1770-1853), 

Secretary of the Navy 1834-1838, had a lukewarm love for 

the expedition and, perhaps, for government activities of 

any sort. A former governor of New Jersey, he was one of 

its senators 1817-1833; see C.R. Erdman, Jr. 

3. Accounts of the great exploring expedition are 

many, most of them paying scant attention to an aspiring 

naturalist who was first named to the scientific corps, then 

denied a position when the day of sailing came. A start at 

understanding the aims and accomplishments of the expedition 

may be had in Meisel, Bibliography of American 

History, 2: 660-673. For a more detailed analysis, including 

published results, see: D.C. Haskell, The United States 

Exploring Expedition...and Its Publications 1844-1874. H.H. 

Bartlett, “The reports of the Wilkes Expedition, and the 

work of the specialists in science,” has useful notices of 

biological results of the expedition. He had too tender a 

regard for Secretary Mahlon Dickerson and seemed not to 

care for J.N. Reynolds at all. Part of the trouble is a feeling 

that what happened is what ought to have happened. In 

such a view, unsuccessful candidates for the scientific 

corps are nobodies — or dissidents. K.J. Bertrand’s 

Americans in Antarctica 1775-1948, is the best short account 

for putting the expedition in its geographic setting and 

giving Eights his due; see especially pp. 159-197. Pertinent 

to us are two especially good histories of the expedition: 

Philip I. Mitterling, America in the Antarctic to 1840, pp. 

104-119, 120-ff.; and William Stanton, The Great United 

States Exploring Expedition, pp. 31-72. For a handsomely 

illustrated account of the expedition, see Herman J. Viola 

and Carolyn Margolis, eds., Magnificent Voyagers. 

4. Gerrit Y. Lansing (1783-1862) was an Albany 

Jacksonian politician. NA microfilm 75, I: 0077-8. The 

nature of contents of the package is not clear. 

5. NA microfilm 75, I: 0478. Oddly, the letter is quite 

clearly dated by Beck himself “Nov 2, 1834.” 

6. NA microfilm 75, I: 0495. Edwin Croswell (1797- 

1871) was editor of the Argus, a faithful Jacksonian and 

Printer to the State. 

7. Butler’s letter is NA microfilm 75, I: 0519; the list of 

books is 0516-9. The latter, as well as the supporting letters, 

will be documented separately. 

8. NA microfilm 75, I: 0492-3; bracketed words are 

best guesses of bound-in matter. 

9. NA microfilm 75, I: 0498-9. 

10. NA microfilm 75, I: 0505. Azariah Cutting Flagg 

(1790-1873) was in the New York Assembly, 1823, and was 

N.Y. Secretary of State, 1826-1833, and State Comptroller, 

1834-1839, 1842-1846 (Who Was Who, 1967, p. 252). For 

Croswell of the Argus, see note 6. 

11. NA microfilm 75, 1: 0507. Martin Van Buren (1782- 

1862) became the eighth U.S. president as a result of the 

election of 1836. 

12. NA microfilm 75, I: 0554. After this rousing 

endorsement, one is hardly prepared for Torrey’s letter of 

3 Dec 1836, with its vehement denial of having endorsed 

Eights’s geological competence. Only the most perceptive 

politician would suspect from the first letter that Torrey 

thought Eights not fitted to serve as geologist of the expedition. 

13. NA microfilm 75, I: 0551. Also printed in 

Henry Papers, 3: 122-123, with excellent editorial commentary, 

f.n. 1. 

14. NA microfilm 75, I: 0561, 0562. Boyd was an assistant 

with Eights under Vanuxem, 1836; he was assistant to 

James Hall, 1837; he worked with the Virginia Geological 

Survey, 1838, d. 1840 (I can find no birth year) — see D.W. 

Fisher, “Emmons, Hall, Mather, and Vanuxem,” p. 36. 

15. NA microfilm 75, I: 0565-7. There is a scrawled 

note, partly illegible, by James Eights in a corner of the letter 

to the effect that the Vice President of the Third 

Department (Bloodgood) was out of town for a few days; 

the rest of the note perhaps indicates that the sending of 

the letter would be delayed until his return, for he did 

sign it. There is an annotated printed list of officers of the 

Institute for 1836 attached; Jonathan Eights (“my father”) 

was one of the vice presidents — but did not sign; curator 

Lewis C. Beck had by then joined the Natural History 

Survey; curator T. Romeyn Beck had written previously. 

To account for ambiguity in presidents and vice presidents, 

Eights noted that Institute vice presidents were 

presidents of a department. 

16. NA microfilm 75, I: 0599-0601. This letter is 


eprinted in M. Dickerson, HED Document 147: 201-202 as 

well as in the Henry Papers, 3: 125-128; the latter has valuable 

notes. Dana’s biographer, Gilman (see Note 30), p. 53, 

claimed not to know who had first proposed his candidacy 

but supposed (no doubt correctly) it to be Gray; Dana 

was reluctant to accept, when Reynolds visited New 

Haven and at first suggested it. He shortly afterwards 

declined and only changed his mind when Gray agreed to 

join the expedition. 

17. I have this letter from Dickerson to Eights from 

Char Miller, who had received it from Herman Viola. 

According to Bertrand, Americans in Antarctica, p. 191, note 

14, it is in Miscellaneous Letters Sent (“General Letter 

Book”) by the Secretary of the Navy, Jun 1798-Nov 1886, 

Record Group 45, National Archives, folio Sep 28, 1836- 

Aug 21, 1837, p. 123. 

18. NA microfilm 75, II: 0027. 

19. Dickerson, HED 147: 2-3. Fanning was annoyed at 

Reynolds and thought Reynolds deserved less credit for 

the final favorable turn of events than the latter believed. 

Fanning spelled out his convictions at length again in his 

Voyages (2d ed., 1838, pp. 154-167). 

20. For Torrey-Gray list, see NA microfilm 75, I: 0516- 

ff. Torrey’s letter of 3 Dec is the same, p. 0599-601; also 

Henry Papers, 3: 125-128, with copious notes, and 

Dickerson, HED 147: 210-202. As for Reynolds and 

Jackson, the latter had early fallen under the spell of the 

former. On 9 Jul 1836, the president sent Reynolds along 

to Dickerson with his own hastily written (and somewhat 

ambiguous) letter of appointment: “J.N. Reynolds is 

appointed corresponding secretary to the commander of 

the exploring expediton, with a salary of $2,000; his 

stores to be found by the Government. His duties shall be 

to collect such information as shall be given to his 

charge; and to condense the reports made to the commander 

by the scientific members of the expedition, to be 

transmitted to the head of the Navy Department” 

(Dickerson, HED 147: 14). A.H. Dupree, Asa Gray, pp. 57- 

73, makes it clear that Gray (in every way, one of Torrey’s 

darlings) did not so disapprove of Reynolds. In fact, 

Dupree wonders why so much anti-Reynolds sentiment 

has crept into histories of the Wilkes Expedition. In all 

ways, Dupree sees Reynolds as a prime mover and a useful 

talent scout. In this he is joined by William Stanton, 

The Great United States Exploring Expedition, in tending to 

give Reynolds his due. 

21. Stanton, The Great USEE, pp. 34-46; Bertrand, 

Americans in Antarctica, pp. 161-164; Bartlett, “The reports 

of the Wilkes expedition,” pp. 613-615. 

22. Stanton, The Great USEE, pp. 47-48. Artists were 

hard to find and a civilian astronomer who would take the 

job proved impossible to smoke out of the entire country; 

see Stanton, pp. 48-49. 

23. NA microfilm 75, II: 0300-1; Dickerson, HED 147: 

359. 

24. Dickerson, HED 147: 373; Stanton, The Great USEE, 

p. 52. 

25. NA microfilm 75, II:0323. 

26. When this letter was written, Eights was already 

in Philadelphia. This letter is in “Letters sent by the 

Secretary of the Navy 1798-1886,” folio 1836-1837, p. 478; 

two words are transcribed uncertainly. On 10 Aug 1837, a 

letter from Dickerson to Dana (also already in 

Philadelphia) notified him to repair to Philadelphia; a 

travel allowance of 10 cents per mile was offered; 

Dickerson, HED 147: 403. 

27. NA microfilm, 75, III: 0012-3. Philips’s precise 

sponsor and where he had obtained his expertise are not 

clarified in this letter. 

28. Dickerson, HED 147: 406. 

29. NA microfilm 75, III: 0094-5; Dickerson, HED 147: 

409-410. 

30. Dana to Herrick, Philadelphia, Aug 1837; see: 

Daniel C. Gilman, Life of James Dwight Dana, p. 56. Dana 

can hardly have believed, as his biographer did (p. 407), 

that this was “Dr. Jonathan Eights”! 

31. NA microfilm 75, III: 0127. 

32. The book list covers some 21 pages of NA microfilm, 

75, III: 0188-0202; see printed version, Dickerson, 

HED 147: 429-444. 

33. NA microfilm 75, III: 0212-3. 

34. Dickerson, HED 147: 448-449. 

35. NA microfilm 75, III: 0246 (2 pp.). 

36. Dickerson, HED 147: 428-429. 

37. Dickerson, HED 147: 482-483. Couthouy (pp. 483- 

484) claimed the absence of the gun on the original list 

was an oversight; that it was intended to be one of six 

allotted for the general use of zoologists, each of whom 

was expected to collect for others when they were separated. 

Reynolds was later to claim that the flap over the 

gun was another of Dickerson’s annoying actions: that 

Couthouy had bought a gun for $55 — since Dickerson 

had allowed $60, he denied the legality of the purchase! 

(J.N. Reynolds, Pacific and Indian Oceans, pp. 494-495. 

38. Dickerson, HED 147: 488, 489; NA microfilm 75, 

III: 0364-5. Why the books purchased so far were “chiefly 

for Eights” is not apparent. 

39. Dickerson, HED 147: 494-495; also NA microfilm 

75, III: 0379-80. 

40. Dickerson, HED 147: 505-506; NA microfilm 75, III: 

0430-1. Reynolds, Pacific and Indian Oceans, pp. 514-515. 

41. Dickerson, HED 147: 507-511, plus appendices; 

Stanton, The Great USEE, p. 54, called these “non-sailing 

directions,” believing that Dickerson meant the directive 

to eventuate into another of his delaying ploys. Pessimists 

were right: Scientists were going to eat their Christmas 

dinner not on the high seas but in this country. 

42. NA microfilm 75, IV: 0082-ff. For the troubled 

ending of the Dickerson-Jones years of the expedition, 

see: Bertrand, Americans in Antarctica, 162-164; Stanton, 

The Great USEE, pp. 58-59, note 15, p. 389; Mitterling, 

America in the Antarctic, pp. 124-128. Reynolds’s pamphlet 

was entitled Correspondence between J.N. Reynolds 

and the Hon. Mahlon Dickerson...touching the South Sea 

Surveying and Exploring Expedition...1837-38; Eights gave 

a copy to the Institute, as recorded in its “Catalogue” in 

April 1838; the partisan Jacksonian Argus, Anon., 8 Feb 

1838, duly defended Dickerson and henceforth had no 

good word for Reynolds (although neither name was 

mentioned). 

43. Stanton, The Great USEE, 61-62. Joel Roberts 

Poinsett (1779-1851) was a naturalist of some substance 

and an able — even anxious — administrator. H.H. 

Bartlett, “The Reports of the Wilkes Expedition,” pp. 615- 

617, pays tribute to Poinsett’s useful influence in the final 

launching of the expedition and the larger results of it. 

44. Stanton, The Great USEE, pp. 62-63. 

45. J.E. to C. Ridgley, 10 Feb 1838, APS Library. The 

Chapter 15 253

ook was Gérard Paul Deshayes, Description des Coquilles 

Fossiles des Environs de Paris (Paris, 1824-1837). 

46. Wilkes to Poinsett, 1 May 1838; Poinsett Papers, 

10-100, Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Wilkes’s references 

to this trimming of the corps in his Autobiography is 

slight; there is no reference to Eights; references to 

Reynolds are not very substantial: he tritely accused 

Reynolds of being the dupe of Symmes. He intimated that 

Reynolds was too big for his britches (no doubt a matter of 

importance, in Wilkes’s spit-and-polish image of himself); 

see pp. 322, 323, 358. Peale and Wilkes did not long maintain 

such a unified view of matters! 

47. Reynolds, Pacific and Indian Oceans, pp. 479-483. 

48. NA microfilm 75, IV: 0311. 

49. NA microfilm 75, IV: 0303-4, 0355-6. For Gray’s 

biographer’s account, which I have stinted here, see A.H. 

Dupree, Asa Gray, pp. 66-67. In Wilkes’s letter to Paulding 

(by then Secretary of the Navy), he wrote: “I have the 

honor to request that the following gentlemen conforming 

the Scientific Corps to accompany the Expedition may 

receive orders to Report themselves on board to me prior 

to the 5 th of August. Viz....Pickering, Couthouy, Drayton, 

Peale, Dana, Gray, Agate.” According to Gilman’s biography 

of Dana, much uncertainty reigned as to who was 

going and who was not as late as an otherwise undated 

July 1838 letter to E.C. Herrick (p. 57); Dana “had some 

doubts about myself when I left...New Haven. I have since 

found that Gray, although he has handed in his resignation, 

will consent to go; and as this removes my greatest 

objection I have no reason for further hesitation. Gray held 

out for some time after arrival here, but was at last persuaded 

to be satisfied with the arrangements.” According 

to Dana (Gilman, p. 63), he and Pickering “united in their 

efforts to secure an appointment for [Edward C.] Herrick, 

and it came at last, a few days [ten days, perhaps?] before 

the time appointed for sailing”! He had not time to settle 

his affairs and declined the offer. I have not seen this 

appointment otherwise mentioned: Evidently the makeup 

of the corps was more fluid than Wilkes made it out to be. 

Dana, without further explanation, still went, even though 

his two most valued friends did not. See also A. Gray, 

Letters, 1: 65-67. 

50. NA microfilm 75, V: 0013-4. While NA personnel 

have filed this memorandum near mid-August, it clearly 

belongs to a more formative stage, although it is not likely 

that Wilkes had much changed his mind. 

51. Henry, Papers, 4: 84; British-born Raphael Hoyle 

(1804-1838), a landscape painter, fell ill and died 12 Aug.; 

William Birch McMurtrie (1816-1872), a Philadelphia artist, 

was dropped secretly and at the last moment. 

52. JE to Paulding, NA microfilm 75, IV: 0403. 

53. JE to Torrey, Torrey Correspondence, New York 

Botanical Garden. The publication was John Torrey and 

Asa Gray, Flora of North America, the first fascicule of 

which appeared in July or August 1838; it stopped, short 

of completion, in 1843. See A.H. Dupree, Asa Gray for 

details. 

54. NA microfilm 75, V: 0023-4. 

55. NA microfilm 75, V: 0049, 0054-5, 0056. Mitterling, 

America in the Antarctic, p. 128. The presence of Hale was 

against Wilkes’s inclination but enough political pressure 

had been brought to bear to assure him his place. William 

Dunlop Brackenridge (1810-1893) was a last-minute addition, 

an effort to make up for Gray’s absence and for the 

admitted scientific inadequacies of William Rich. 

56. NA microfilm 75, V: 0045. Although he argued to 

the last in favor of himself and of the integrity of the scientific 

corps, Reynolds gave up well before he was told 13 

Aug that he would not be on the expedition (Stanton, The 

Great USEE, p. 68). According to Stanton (p. 71), Reynolds 

and Asa Gray “went up to Saratoga Springs to think on 

other things for the first time in many years” and did not 

bother to attend the gala celebration in Norfolk of the 

fleet’s eminent departure on 25 Jul. Just when they went 

there and how long they stayed (and whether they went 

together or their visits happened to coincide), I do not 

know. Gray was obviously a footloose young man. He sent 

word of his decision to separate himself from the expedition 

on 10 Jul; on 19 Jul, he left New York City to hear urgings 

that he reconsider. Even if this were a turn around 

trip to Washington, he must have hurried straightaway to 

Saratoga Springs to be there on the 25th. What he and 

Reynolds talked about must have reconfirmed him in his 

decision to give up the expedition, a decision that on 6 

Aug he announced to his father. He was by then in New 

York City, on his way to Michigan. Gray, Letters, 1: 67. 

57. Harvard University, Library of the Gray 

Herbarium. Used by permission. Presumably the “new 

work” was the flora written with Torrey, referred to above, 

but the “new station” was Gray’s appointment to the professorship 

of botany at the formative University of 

Michigan. See Dupree, Asa Gray, pp. 67-73. 

58. NA microfilm 75, V: 0082, 0117-8. 

59. D.B. Tyler, The Wilkes Expedition, p. 29; NA microfilm 

75, V: 0085-6, 0114. In this era, too, Reynolds continued 

his attack upon Poinsett, clubbing him for his role in 

weaseling when confronted by John W. Randall just before 

the fleet sailed and asked whether he was to go. According 

to Reynolds, Randall got only the most evasive replies 

from both Paulding and Poinsett — and refused on principle 

to wait to see Wilkes, to whom they referred him! 


Chapter 16 

REMONSTRANCES, REACTIONS AND THE 1840s 

“GOOD FOR NOTHING CLAIMS...” 

The great exploring expedition was on its 

way. Asa Gray had lately quit the game for 

what promised to be greener pastures. 

Lieutenant Matthew F. Maury at last declined to 

accompany Lt. Charles Wilkes. As for the scientific 

corps, some reputations were enhanced 

(that of Dana, notably), some (that of the 

Sunday-afternoon botanist, Rich) merely confirmed. 

Joseph P. Couthouy, with a head of his 

own and a good one at that, crossed Wilkes and 

was sent home. Titian Ramsay Peale survived 

the journey but Wilkes suppressed and replaced 

his final report with one written by a nonparticipant. 

And, scattered in disarray, most of them 

knowing only by the newspapers that they had 

been left behind, were the members of the corps 

to whom Wilkes had taken a dislike: James 

Eights, Walter R. Johnson, Reynell Coates, J.R. 

Randall, artists Raphael Hoyle and William 

Birch McMurtrie and two assistants — and, of 

course, whatever station one might assign to 

him, Jeremiah N. Reynolds. 

With careers interrupted and much out of 

pocket, what course of action was available to 

those in search of redress? Secretary James K. 

Paulding had little to offer except for them to 

take their cases to Congress, which he referred 

to as “‘the Residuary Legatee of all old good for 

nothing claims.’” 1 

In addition to initial letters cited in the previous 

chapter, James Eights tried his luck again 

on 26 February 1839, when he wrote to 

Secretary Paulding (left margin of letter bound 

in, word-elements supplied by guess): “[Sir] / 

May I be informed, if the Department [has] yet 

taken into consideration the nature [of my] 

application for compensation. — for losses 

[susta]ined, in Consequence of holding an 

appointment [in the] Scientific Corps of the 

Exploring Expedition? [As m]y plans for the 

future must chiefly [depend] upon the determination, 

I necessarily [am] extremely anxious to 

be relieved from the [unple]asant uncertainty in 

which I find [mysel]f so unfortunately placed.” 2 

As might be expected, the mills of Congress 

ground exceedingly slowly. It appears that 

Reynell Coates and Walter R. Johnson were the 

first scientists who actually carried their cases 

to the Congress. In February 1840, the Senate 

Committee on Naval Affairs reported on their 

claims. Along with a lecture on the dangers 

incident to the life of a public servant (“less 

hazard to run, as to compensation...[but] often 

subjected to difficulty from the precarious 

tenure of their offices”), the Committee agreed 

that they ought to be paid for the six months 

between appointment in December 1836 and 

July 1837. They ought further to be indemnified 

for useless outfit and losses on resale of mess 

provisions. Other claims were denied — the 

total awarded to each was $1,790.87. 3 

It would appear that Coates (his first name 

is variously spelled Reynell and Reynall) and 

Johnson appealed their case, for on 25 January 

1842, Mr. Mangum of the Senate Naval Affairs 

Committee agreed with the former Committee 

report (Strange’s) “relative to petitioners, who 

were members of South Sea exploring expedi- 

Chapter 16 255

tion under Commodore Thomas Ap Catesby 

Jones, and who suffered losses through unceremonious 

and unexpected exclusion from service, 

etc.” Which is to say, they were denied compensation 

for additional claimed losses. 4 

Getting no satisfaction from Paulding, 

Eights tried diffidently to go the congressional 

route. He wrote Samuel L. Southard, once 

President Adams’s Secretary of the Navy, now a 

U.S. Senator from New Jersey, 15 December 

1840: “In December last, I perceive it was, that 

through your kindness the memorial of Reynell 

Coates & Walter R. Johnson was presented to 

Congress, praying for pay for services rendered, 

and remuneration for losses sustained in the 

purchase of outfits whilst holding their respective 

stations as Naturalists in the South Sea 

Surveying & Exploring Expedition — . Now Sir, 

as I had the misfortune to receive, at the same 

time the like appointment, and having claims of 

the same nature, would it be taxing your kindness 

too far, to ask of you the favour of presenting 

a like memorial from me? (in case you think 

my name cannot be introduced in the article 

referring to them) — As I have but little knowledge 

with the forms of business in your Hon. 

body could I not likewise obtain through your 

means, a copy of the memorial of those gentlemen?, 

so that I may be enabled to place my 

grievances in due arrangement for publication. 

“Perhaps, Sir, it may not be improper to 

give you a brief statement of my case. I received 

my appointment on the 28 th of December 1836 

— was put on pay July 4 th 1837 — I relinguished 

my employment under the State — 

held myself in readiness to obey orders from 

the Department [—] Was occupied most of the 

time in a thousand matters appertaining to my 

labours in the Scientific Corps — Was at heavy 

expenses in purchasing outfits for an absence of 

three years — declined several invitations to 

take an appointment as geologist in two of the 

U.S. at least, in consequence of holding my situation 

in the Scientific Corps, and, at the sailing 

of the Expedition found myself thrown out of 

all employment, with all my plans deranged — 

feelings injured & ambition depressed —. By 

conferring the favour of your assistance and 

advice in this matter, Sir, you will place me 

under the deepest obligations of gratitude to 

your kindness.” 5 

There is no evidence of a reply, but 

Southard probably was reponsible for having 

Eights’s name attached to a House amendment 

to the Senate finding. On 25 May 1842, the 

House Committee on Claims, Mr. Cowen, chairman, 

in “Report on petition of R. Coates, W.R. 

Johnson, and J. Eights,” argued the cases fully 

and held that the government was making a 

“binding promise.” The Secretary of the Navy 

ought to estimate the claims and act accordingly. 

Just how much better off the claimants 

would be under this view is not clear; it was 

based entirely upon time lapsed after being 

called to duty, without reference to mess 

arrangements. 6 

Whether Eights pursued the matter any further 

is not known. Maybe he got some sort of 

settlement and gave up. Maybe he just gave up. 

Anyway, the next one finds on the matter of 

claims is that of Senator Pearce, 7 March 1844, 

“Report on memorial of R. Coates, W.R. 

Johnson, and W.B. McMurtrie.” “Senator Pearce 

reports adversely to claim for additional salary 

for services on South Sea expedition; 

allowances for loss of outfit recommended.” 

Claimants could request recompense only for 

items made for the definite purposes of the 

expedition, and so on: The Committee estimated 

losses of $400 each to Coates and Johnson, 

$350 to McMurtrie. 7 

The final round (one supposes!) came on 10 

June 1858, when Senator Mallory stared down 

upon Reynall (as spelled here) Coates, the 

remaining memorialist. He tersely decided 

Coates’s renewed request by reciting in full the 

report of Senator Pearce of 1844. He ended: “On 

memorial of Reynall Coates, praying compensation 

for losses sustained and services rendered 

while with the scientific corps of the South Sea 

exploring expedition. Committee report 

adversely.” 8 

OTHER MATTERS 

One has no reason to doubt that James 

Eights was bitterly disappointed in the entire 

matter but what one might call truly personal 


accounts or comments or reactions are virtually 

nil. 

One gathers that he continued to find some 

solace in meetings of the Albany Institute. 

Institute Minutes, Curators’ Reports and the 

like record Eights as donor of specimens and 

books from time to time between 1837 and 1843 

(donations are hardly ever itemized). But the 

Institute was a weak reed in those days, despite 

the regular meetings, election of offices, and the 

welcoming of new members. Perhaps members 

had their hands full staying alive professionally 

or politically. Perhaps it was a sign of the times 

merely: A time when the talent needed to keep 

an organization vitally alive was not so much 

entirely missing as engaged elsewhere. It is possible 

that the organization of the Institute into 

departments served it less than well, especially 

when no towering genius arose to weld their 

efforts together. Money, as always, was a problem: 

At a meeting 23 September 1841, there was 

consideration of money due “the late firm of 

Packard & Van Benthuysen for printing a portion 

of Second Volume of the Transactions... 

incurred in 1833 & 1836”: a total of $354.66. 

Charles Van Benthuysen settled this for a fiveyear 

note for $275, “with interest,” and an honorary 

membership. Whether he got his money 

is unknown. He certainly got little from the 

Institute for his membership. The Institute 

apparently held no meetings between 14 April 

1843 and the reorganizational meeting of 6 

March 1851. 9 

To some extent, too, talent was spread thin. 

Geologists of Albany remained in regular contact, 

due in part to the continued activities, even 

if now somewhat diminished, of the State 

Natural History Survey, in part to the camaraderie 

born of their closeness during the exciting 

days of that Survey. It appears possible that 

Eights participated in some of those friendly 

meetings. 

One or another of the New York geologists 

proposed that a national meeting of geologists 

ought to be organized. And so, at the home of 

Ebenezer Emmons, Sr., 20 November 1838, 

Mather, Emmons, Hall, and Vanuxem, together 

with at least Conrad and young Ebenezer 

Emmons, held what became the founding meeting 

of the American Society of Geologists. The 

presence of James Eights has been both 

affirmed and not affirmed. 10 

I think it clear that Eights made little effort 

to shine in scientific affairs of that day. At a 

time when Albany geologists were actively promoting 

the American Association of Geologists, 

which within two years became the American 

Association of Geologists and Naturalists, then, 

with no break in continuity, the prestigious 

American Association for the Promotion of 

Science (AAAS), Eights kept a low profile. 

Perhaps because he lacked funds, perhaps for 

other reasons, he did not attend the first three 

annual meetings of the Association (1840, 1841, 

1842) — two were held in Philadelphia, the 

third in Boston. 11 

Thanks to the early instituted policy of 

holding annual meetings in various cities, 

Albany’s turn came in 1843. From the local 

committee of the American Association of 

Geologists and Naturalists, we have a notice 

from T. Romeyn Beck, Ebenezer Emmons, Sr., 

and James Hall: “The local committee give 

notice that the next annual meeting of the above 

Association will be held at Albany, on 

Wednesday, the 26th of April next, in the State 

Geological Museum, in State-street.” Certain 

articles of the Association were quoted: “The 

objects of the Association are the advancement 

of Geology, and the collateral branches of natural 

science; and the promotion of intercourse 

between those who cultivate them.” Further: 

“All those persons whose names have already 

been enrolled in the published proceedings of 

the Association, and those who have been invited 

to attend the meetings, shall be considered 

members.” Lastly: “Members of societies having 

in view the same objects...and publishing 

transactions, shall be considered members upon 

subscribing to the constitution and by-laws.” 12 

The “Fourth Annual Meeting of the 

Association of Geologists and Naturalists, 

Albany,” was given top billing by the Albany 

Argus. The first meeting on Wednesday was 

well attended, “many members of the association 

from this and other states being present — 

and a large number of citizens and strangers.” 

It was chaired by Henry D. Rogers. Benjamin 

Chapter 16 257

Silliman, Jr., was secretary. Emmons explained 

the arrangement of geological specimens in the 

Museum, “nearly as possible in the order in 

which they occurred in nature.” Discussion of 

relative merits of classification systems of mineralogical 

and geological specimens by various 

geologists followed. The major paper was read 

by James Dwight Dana, on certain geological 

principles, being the result of observations 

made in the course of the cruise of the 

Exploring Expedition.” 

The following day, the Argus caught its 

breath, merely printing “a list of the members 

of the Association now in attendance at the 

annual meeting in this city, with their residences”: 

a list of great names of the day, 31 in 

number. Albany residents were: Matthew H. 

Webster, James Hall, Ebenezer Emmons (Sr.), 

James Eights, E.N. Horsford, Ebenezer 

Emmons, Jr. 

On 1 May, there was an exceptionally long 

account in the Argus, by a different reporter, 

who recapitulated previous sessions and provided 

a throughly interesting account of the 

meeting with Dana at the rostrum. On 4 May, 

there was another long account, reporting in 

detail on Douglass Houghton’s work on 

Michigan sandstones, Henry D. Rogers’s 

account of black shales; there were comments 

by James Hall; David Dale Owen concluded his 

account of Western shales. On Saturday, Dana 

lectured on the distribution of corals, with 

notice of the work of Charles Darwin. Nowhere 

is there any evidence that James Eights took 

part in discussions. 13 

Thus, the decade of the 1840s got off to a 

slow start. The first real sign of life was Eights’s 

essay on “Origin of guano” (1844) that has been 

noticed in the history of his southern and 

Antarctic cruise. This was published in the 

Albany-based farmers’ monthly, The Cultivator. 

Whatever the arrangement in regard to payment 

for his writings, it was a long-lasting relationship 

and led to use of his articles by the 

weekly Country Gentleman. His work in these 

publications will be noticed in their proper 

places. 14 

There followed what must have been a satisfactory 

relationship (although he was not an 

early contributor) with the American (Quarterly) 

Journal of Agriculture and Science, edited in part 

by Ebenezer Emmons, Sr. The first article was a 

short one “On the elevated temperature of the 

waters of the Gulf Stream,” a not very satisfactory 

accounting for a phenomenon that Eights 

took to be simpler than it was. He was correct 

to say that the equatorial current that ultimately 

gives rise to the Gulf Stream is not warmed by 

the tropical sun; whether the Gulf Stream is 

warm is dubious — therefore, there is no need 

to suppose the warmth due to thermal springs 

of the Caribbean islands. 15 

Eights began a series of “Notes on natural 

history” for the Emmons periodical, number 

one of which consisted of short quotations from 

Sir Henry Thomas De La Beche, followed by 

Eights’s expatiations upon the themes cited. He 

reported on the destructive action of freezing 

water in splitting columns of rock, both along 

the palisades of the lower Hudson and in the 

islands of the Antarctic; he doubted that De La 

Beche was correct to claim that sharks could not 

long survive at great depths, having examined 

those animals when they had been rapidly 

drawn from deep water. He agreed, on the 

other hand, that fishes drawn from a great 

depth tend to have their entrails expand into 

masses that prevent their return to safety. 16 

“On the icebergs of the Ant-Arctic Sea” (July 

1846) has been quoted in the chapter on 

Eights’s visit to the Antarctic. He returned to De 

La Beche and “Notes on natural history,” in 

January 1847, a short essay on nodules of carbonate 

of lime, accounted of secondary origin, 

found in clays. Such argillo-calcareous concretions 

were commonly found by him “in the 

lacustine marly-clay in the vicinity of Albany.” 

He thought their origin due to downward percolation 

of carbonic acid along paths made by 

roots of trees, collecting the lime as it descends. 

It is then deposited in oddly regular nodules 

that appear almost too artificial to be of natural 

origin. 17 

The third installment of “Notes on natural 

history” (May 1847) consisted of his account of 

Patagonian natural history to which attention 

has been paid in the chapter on Eights’s southward 

trip in 1829. 18 


“Notes of a geological examination and survey 

of Mitchell’s Cave, Town of Root, County of 

Montgomery, N.Y.,” consists in part of a real 

survey, in part of a humorous spoof of a 

Sunday lark with friends. Hoping to duplicate 

instances elsewhere where remains of animals 

(swept from the earth’s surface “long e’er the 

period of man’s existence”) were found, they 

undertook exploration of the cavern. Its 

entrance was by way of a vertical fissure, some 

23 feet in depth. This led to large rooms, these 

to other vertical passages, all precisely 

described here, should any serious spelunker 

care to duplicate the adventure today. In passing, 

it might be noted that, unless time or the 

art of man has intervened, adventurers of too 

large diameter need not undertake the cave’s 

exploration. Eights’s group found that “the 

dimensions of the elder of our companions far 

exceeded that of the width of the entrance; consequently 

he was, however contrary to his inclination, 

constrained to remain without.” Their 

search for bones was entirely unsuccessful, 

except for a dead bat. In their three days of 

exploration, they found the length of the cave 

to be 432 feet, about half in a perpendicular 

direction, the rest horizontal. Underestimating 

the power of underground waters to dissolve 

and carry away soluble materials, he wondered 

what could have happened to the vast amount 

of matter that must inevitably have been 

removed to produce the cavern that is now 

found. The temperature at its innermost point 

was 42°F, “in the midst of July.” 19 

In October 1848, Eights turned to a substantial 

contribution on economic entomology, 

“Some of our injurious Coleoptera.” The species 

treated are what he called Scolytus destructor 

(elm bark beetle), Scolytus piri (a similar pest of 

pear trees), Phyllophaga quercina (May beetle, 

etc.), Bruchus pisi (pea weevil), and Lamia titillator 

(one of the long-horned beetles whose larvae 

bore in dead wood). The first two, although 

tiny, commit great depredations among elm and 

pear trees; he had little to suggest as to a remedy, 

aside from removal and burning of infested 

limbs; he feared that the former would, unless 

somehow stopped, utterly destroy fine shade 

trees. May beetles might be somewhat controlled 

by shaking the short-lived adults out of 

trees, where “they quietly drop to the earth in 

great numbers; here they are to be gathered, 

thrown into boiling water, and fed either to 

fowls or swine.” He claimed that the pea weevil 

could be outwitted by keeping seed peas in a 

tightly closed vessel at least two years before 

planting (the beetles would thus die before they 

could emerge and lay eggs) — or by dipping 

seeds in boiling water at planting time. As for 

“the tickler,” Lamia, there have been “so few 

intelligent observers to record their various systems 

of proceeding, in their devastating 

progress, that few remedies have been suggested 

for their destruction.” 20 

With these contributions, Eights’s story has 

gone forward to what was undoubtedly a 

watershed in his life — the death of his father 

in August 1848. However, the story has gone 

too quickly. We have to return to what was his 

major effort to establish himself after the discouragement 

experienced in the matter of the 

exploring expedition. While we know too little 

about the role of Eights in the affair, he was definitely 

concerned in the excitement over copper 

mining in Upper Michigan in the 1840s. The 

episode turned sour, perhaps with doubly disastrous 

consequences, since the unravelling of 

his scheme for getting rich so nearly coincided 

with his father’s death. 

MICHIGAN COPPER IN THE LAKE 

SUPERIOR REGION, 1846 

James Eights’s relationship to the New-York 

and Lake Superior Mining Company in 1846 

remains nearly as mysterious as it was when I 

first learned of his publication entitled Outlines 

of the Geological Structure of Lake Superior Mineral 

Region belonging to the New-York and Lake 

Superior Mining Company. I shall shortly turn to 

his account, written for the company’s officers 

and stockholders. My story is not a history of 

copper mining in Michigan or even of the misfortunes 

of the New-York and Lake Superior 

Mining Company. It sticks closely to the role of 

Eights in the undertaking. Nonetheless, a few 

references will be cited that touch upon broader 

matters. 21 Chapter 16 259

Eights’s report, published in 1846, consists 

of his letters to the Company, dated 14 August 

and 11 October 1845, together with a mineral 

analysis dated 9 February 1846. This report and 

a newspaper letter dated 19 May 1846 constitute 

nearly everything that has come to light on 

Eights’s part in the venture. While a full transcription 

seems unnecessary, selected paragraphs 

will be quoted to show how Eights, as 

“Geological Surveyor,” dealt with his appointment. 

22 

Eights supposed, in his communication 

dated 14 August 1845 from Agate Harbor, that 

he had determined “with some degree of certainty 

the true position of the most profitable 

mineral veins.” He proposed that the reader 

look at a map of the southern shore of Lake 

Superior “from the head of Kaweena 

[Keweenaw] Bay on the east, to a short distance 

beyond the great Montreal river on the west, 

and south to a line formed by a continuation of 

the Porcupine Mountains, and so on to the last 

mentioned Bay.” From the shore you viewed a 

series of hills; he divided them into three portions, 

a nearer, lower range, a middle and a 

higher, third, range. The third range had so far 

not been found to be richly metalliferous. This 

is followed by a more detailed account of the 

geological structure, most of it sufficiently 

vague as to cover all possibilities. “It is chiefly 

where the Trap and Conglomerate come in contact 

that the heaviest deposit of metals have 

been found. This, however, should not be considered 

as being exclusively the case, as some 

fine veins are to be met with at the junction of 

the Conglomerate and Red Sandstone. As far as 

my investigation have extended, I deem myself 

justified in stating, that I consider the second, or 

central one, the true, or most metalliferous range, 

from the circumstance that all veins traversing 

the other rocks have their origin in or proceed 

directly from it. Splendid veins, however have 

been found, and are now worked to some considerable 

extent, along the outer or least extensive 

range.” There is further attention paid the 

second (middle) range; “veins of this 

range...have hitherto produced the most important 

masses of Native Copper and Silver.” From 

it, he thought, Major Campbell recently 

obtained a mass “weighing about sixteen hundred 

pounds.” 23 

He then proceeded to tell about such locations 

(read: claims) that belonged to the 

Company “that have been more particularly 

investigated,” in the order in which they had 

been examined. He began with Agate Harbor, 

“assigned to Mr. Glass,” from which he wrote his 

letter. “This is confined exclusively to the outer 

and middle ranges, and consequently embrace[s] 

all the true Metalliferous veins, as elsewhere in 

every individual instance they have been found 

in them.” Precise boundary lines had not as yet 

been established, making a more particular survey 

impossible, because the southern portion 

was covered by “almost impenetrable swamps 

and forests.” There was evidence of rich veins of 

copper and other materials in the nearer range, 

which could be seen from the water: “...on the 

adjoining location to the east, and but a few feet 

from the divisional line, a vein has recently been 

opened that daily yields masses of Native 

Copper, from the size of half an inch up to some 

weighing from fifty to sixty pounds....It is my 

own opinion, and the general belief here prevails, 

among individuals best qualified to judge, 

that the Agate Harbor location will eventually 

prove one of the richest in the entire Mineral 

District.” 24 

“Mr. Talcott’s location on the Little Montreal 

River, I have not yet personally inspected, but 

should you cast your eye upon the map you 

will at once perceive that it occupies a position 

directly upon the middle, true Metalliferous 

range.” “Some fine specimens of Native Copper 

have been brought in by the reconnoitering 

party, which they state were obtained from 

beneath the overhanging cliffs.... The adjoining 

location near the divisional line has yielded 

some splendid specimens of Native Copper.” 25 

“Mr. Green’s division, on Eagle River, has 

been partially examined by the reconnoitering 

party...Broken fragments of rich veins...are 

every where to be seen scattered over its surface. 

As soon as proper facilities are furnished, 

it is my intention to give it a thorough investigation. 

It can scarcely prove otherwise than 

important, being so closely in contact with the 

rich veins of the Boston Company.” 26 


“The Great Montreal River locations are all 

situated in the central range of Trap...the first or 

outer range being entirely wanting. This whole 

section of country...as far as my observations 

have extended, I think will eventually prove 

one of the most important in the whole mineral 

district of the Lake.” Several locations were 

involved but “Owing to the difficulties to be 

encountered in traversing a dense and almost 

unexplored wilderness, and the want of necessary 

facilities, but one of these locations has 

been examined by our party, that assigned to 

Mr. Hudson, and on this sixteen distinct veins 

were observed...” (he goes on to note that it was 

no more than “an act of justice to acknowledge 

our obligation to Mr. Cameron, who, on our 

first landing at the mouth of Montreal river, 

generously communicated the existence and 

position of these sixteen veins”). 27 

At the end of this first letter, James Eights 

was on the eve of departing for the Little 

Montreal and Dead Rivers, to the southeastward 

of Keweenaw Peninsula. On 11 October 

1845, from Fort Wilkins, Copper Harbor (northern 

side of Keweenaw Peninsula, near eastern 

end), James Eights next reported on these and 

other investigations. “Immediately after the 

date of my last communication we set out with 

our boat’s crew, on a visit to the locations situated 

on the river Des Morts, (Death river,) and 

its vicinity, and after a rough and boisterous 

passage of four days, reached our place of destination 

in safety.” His report continued with a 

superficial geological survey of the coast from 

“point Kaweena” and Manitu (Manitou) Island 

to what St. John called Dead River, thence to 

Chocolate River, a few miles to the southward. 28 

Death River enters Lake Superior on the 

south side of Granite Point and it was here that 

the extensive claim (No. 20) of S.V. Talcott was 

found. Eights found veins of Talcose Slate. 

“These veins when thoroughly explored, with 

all necessary facilities, will no doubt prove 

exceedingly valuable, as scarcely in a single 

instance where researches have been made, that 

the ores of iron, lead, copper and zinc did not 

develope [!] themselves to the sight, either in 

bunches, strings or disseminated masses, and 

once or twice a crystaline mass of a rather doubtful 

appearance, which strikingly resembles 

some of the ores of tin were found, but unfortunately 

the specimens were removed before certainty 

could be obtained by a proper analysis.” 

The peninsula called Granite Point he considered 

interesting but containing hardly “a particle 

of well defined Granite.” A long geological 

account of the area follows and is not quoted 

here. The presence of copper pyrites led Eights 

to agree with “the most intelligent Cornish miners 

in our employ” that the vein would terminate 

in “Sulphuret of Copper alone. If so, this 

will prove one of the most important veins on 

the whole southern shore of the coast.” One of 

the islands he called “Otter Island,” from a family 

of those mammals seen there; at one point, a 

stratum of granite had decayed into a most perfect 

kaolin or porcelain earth. 29 

The adjoining location, to the northwest, No. 

21, belonged to G.V. Denniston; its most prominent 

lakeward feature was “Presque Isle...an elevated, 

bold and rocky peninsula”; it appeared 

to be identical in most features with location 

No. 20. “It may be well to mention that the low 

sandy portions of these locations, abound in 

forests of lofty pines, varying in species, which 

are admirably adapted for ship spars and other 

highly useful purposes.” 

“The alloted time for examining these locations 

having elapsed, we set out on our return 

voyage up the lake, and after touching at several 

places along the coast, reached the 

Government House at Copper Harbor in safety. 

From thence, after depositing our mineral specimens, 

we proceeded to Agate Harbor, and in a 

few hours once more landed at our main 

encampment.” 30 

The rest of Eights’s report was more or less 

general or reported observations that had come 

to his attention since his tour. He had not had 

much opportunity to inspect “the Green location” 

(this is Location No. 31 on his map), on 

Eagle River; but, since “situated upon the very 

crest of the ridge of hills which have been previously 

mention...as belonging to the central, or 

most metallliferous range of Trap,” he anticipated 

the discovery of “some splendid veins of 

metal” ere spring. “The season having at length 

become so far advanced as to render cruising 

Chapter 16 261

on the lake in an open boat a rather hazardous 

affair, the examination of the other locations, 

distantly situated, were necessarily deferred 

until a more convenient opportunity should 

present itself for the purpose.” 31 

The final part of Eights’s work for the New- 

York and Lake Superior Mining Company, so 

far as known, was an analysis, submitted from 

Albany, 9 February 1846; it considered a sample 

of material yielding 79 percent copper; two 

other specimens yielded copper contents of 23 

percent and 19 percent. 32 

Eights was not finished with Michigan copper, 

whatever may have happened ultimately to 

his venture there. Laid into the Library of 

Congress copy of Eights’s report just referred to 

is a newspaper clipping, in the form of a long 

letter addressed to Edwin Croswell. It is entitled 

“Lake Superior mining region.” It is dated 

19 May 1846. Unfortunately, the source of the 

clipping has not been recorded. Croswell was 

editor of the Albany Argus but this letter is not 

in the microfilm of the daily edition of the 

Argus. Perhaps it was published in the semiweekly 

or weekly edition. 33 

The letter follows: 

“Edwin Croswell, esq.: / Dear sir — In compliance 

with your request, I send you a brief 

sketch of the principal portion of the Lake 

Superior mineral region, and trust it may not 

prove altogether unserviceable to some of the 

numerous individuals who may visit that 

region, during the present season, in pursuit of 

locations. A remaining portion, situated in the 

vicinity of the Riviere Des Morts, may be the 

subject of some future communication. 

“The Lake Superior mineral region may be 

said to have its commencement at Chocolate 

river, on the east, and from thence, extending in 

a westerly direction along the southern shore, 

until its arrival at the Great Montreal river near 

the head of the lake. At this place — owing to a 

northern deflection of the coast — it takes an 

inland range, and finally becomes lost beneath 

the surface, at some unexplored distance farther 

to the south-west. Its breadth has not yet been 

positively determined, but for the present purpose, 

its southern limit, may be defined, by a 

direct line from Chocolate river, running due 

west until it crosses the main branch of the 

Montreal; but the principal scene of mining 

operations appears to be, with few exceptions, 

confined to the Keweenaw point. This point 

projects boldly out from the main shore, near 

the centre of the lake, in an incurved, horn-like 

form — it is about sixty miles in extent, and at 

its base has a breadth of about thirty miles, 

gradually tapering away, until its termination in 

an obtuse point near the Manitou island. 

“The geological structure of Keweenaw 

point, when properly investigated, appears 

remarkably simple. It is chiefly formed by a 

central range of trappeau rocks, flanked, and in 

many instances partially covered, by its associated 

conglomerate and red sandstones. 

Commencing at the extremity of the point, at an 

elevation of nearly nine hundred feet, it pursues 

a south-westerly course, and at length becomes 

merged in the lofty altitude of the Porcupine 

mountain range. To the west of this last-mentioned 

range, it reappears, at a point much farther 

to the north, and continues to the Montreal 

river, at which place it approaches until within 

two miles of the lake shore. This I consider the 

true metalliferous range of the district, as the 

most extensive, perfect veins, embracing the 

heaviest amount of the valuable metals, have 

their origin directly from, and likewise traverse 

it. 

“At no very considerable distance to the 

south-east, this trappeau range is accompanied 

throughout its entire course, by one of a more 

irregular form, and in many instances of an 

equal if not of a much greater altitude. These 

hills are chiefly composed of scienitic greenstone, 

gradually passing on the one hand into 

the trap rocks, and on the other into those of 

scienitic granite, with occasional irruptions of 

porphyry. As this is considered altogether 

unimportant in a mineral sense, no further 

notice of it will be necessary. 

“This central trap range rises up at a considerable 

angle from the north-west, until it arrives 

at its greatest elevation; it there terminates by a 

series of mural escarpments, or out-crops, facing 

the south-east, which are covered nearly in 

the centre, or about midway, with talus or disintegratory 

rock. This trap is rudely stratified, 

and consequently its dip must correspond to its 

angle of elevation, so that in estimating its 


thickness, a line should be taken at right angles 

with the dip or inclination. All the mineral 

veins likewise, cross the trap at right angles to 

the course of the range, and have their origin 

from beneath; as they ascend they divide, and 

ramify through the mass, and generally appear 

at the surface in the form of numerous threads 

or strings, with small particles of native copper 

and silver profusely disseminated thro’ the 

matrices and walls. Now it must appear evident, 

that in making investigations, or mining, 

anywhere along the north-western slope or surface 

of the trap, that it will become necessary to 

pass through its entire thickness in order to 

arrive at the strength of the vein. In doing so, 

an immense amount of expenditure must take 

place, both of labor and means; and besides, a 

vast length of time must necessarily elapse 

before the mining operations can possibly yield 

to their respective proprietors a profitable 

return. A great proportion of all this can, in my 

opinion, be avoided, by commencing their 

investigation anywhere along the base of the 

escarpments over the crest of the ridge, or 

south-eastern face. The Pittsburg company has 

done so, and the results are before the public. 

“Skirting the north-western base of this central 

range of trap, &c., and corresponding to it 

in its course, as far as it is visible above the surface 

of the lake, is to be seen one of much less 

elevation and far more uneven in its general 

appearance; this, likewise, has its commencement 

at the extremity of Keweenaw point, and 

has a continuance nearly as far as the mouth of 

Eagle river, and probably in detached masses, a 

short distance farther. It forms an exceedingly 

rough and irregular coast, being everywhere 

deeply indented by numerous beautiful bays, 

furnishing harbors that at all times afford to 

vessels a comfortable shelter from the rude 

storms that so frequently agitate the waters of 

the lake; it also creates in great numbers small, 

rocky, outlying islands, and craggy promontories, 

some of which being bare and desolate, 

yield only a resting place to the wandering seafowl 

that frequent the coast, while others are 

covered with verdure, and are wild and picturesque 

in the extreme. 

“This lower range differs in some degree, in 

its geological features, from the one last mentioned, 

being altogether composed of trap, 

amygdaloid, and trappeau (or baked) sandstone, 

covered by a commingled mass of red 

sandstone[,] shale, and turfaceous [tufaceous] 

conglomerate. The surface presents the appearance 

of having been everywhere broken up into 

innumerable, small knoby [!] ridges, so as to 

render it exceedingly uneven, while occasional 

intervening depressions of some considerable 

magnitude occur, which give origin to the various 

cedar swamps, ponds, and morass[es], 

which are in many places distributed about. 

These ridges seem to increase in elevation as 

they approximate to the central range, and 

assist materially in giving to the slope of the 

entire mountain chain, that graceful sweep, 

which so pleasingly strikes the eye of the traveller, 

on his approach to the coast. 

“The trap belonging to this range, gives origin 

in some places to a prodigious number of 

small ramifying veins which, in passing 

through the associated amygdaloid, and baked 

sandstone, reticulate them in such a manner, as 

to exhibit on their surfaces the aspect of coarsely 

formed net-work; this may be conveniently 

seen at Agate harbor, and a few places elsewhere 

along the coast. These veins, when properly 

examined, are often found to contain native 

copper in minute particles, profusely disseminated 

throughout the Laumonite, — the mineral 

by which they are most generally filled. 

While these veins are confined to the trap, they 

have not, to my knowledge, at any place, been 

profitably worked, but as they concentrate at 

the junction of this overlaying conglomerate, 

and pass through that rock in broad sparry 

lands [=bands?], they are frequently found to 

embrace large quantities of the native metal, 

and the richest of ores. — This has been sufficiently 

proved, by the mining operations at 

Copper Harbor, Agate Harbor, and several 

other locations situated along its course. 

“The principal mining operations of this 

outward range, has been chiefly confined to the 

tufaceous conglomerate along the lake shore, 

and besides the large masses of native copper it 

has already produced, the ores obtained from 

the veins are among the finest in the world. — 

Nevertheless, I feel constrained to add the opinion, 

that in a comparatively short space of time 

Chapter 16 263

they must become perfectly exhausted, or run 

out; not, however, from any deficiency in the 

veins themselves, but from the thinness of the 

stratum that embraces them, and its contiguity 

to the lake shore, unless it should prove practicable 

— which is not altogether unlikely — to 

convey their respective shafts beneath the water 

in conformity with the dip of the rocks. 

“The usual ores found in the veins in connection 

with the native metals, are black and 

red oxides of copper, carbonates of copper, carbonate 

of zinc, and oxide of manganese. 

“I have thus in a brief manner, endeavored 

to sketch out to you the principal features of the 

mineral regions, and pointed out, in a general 

manner, the true geological position, in my 

opinion, where investigations should be made 

with the best prospects of success, and shall 

conclude with the hope that it may in some 

degree prove serviceable. That great quantities 

of copper do exist in that country, we have 

every reason to believe, not only from the comparatively 

low position of the rocks in the geological 

scale, and consequently nearness to the 

seat or origin of all metals, but likewise from 

the detached masses so profusely scattered over 

so vast an area of country. There certainly must 

be, according to my views, some contiguous 

cause; all that it requires is a proper investigation. 

/ Very respectfully, yours, &c., / James 

Eights. / Albany, May 19th, 1846.” 34 

THE END OF THE DECADE 

There is no record that Eights retained any 

interest, financially or scientifically, in Michigan 

copper. It is likely that events at home in the latter 

end of the decade deprived him of motivation 

to work at anything in a sustained manner. 

Why nothing showed up in Albany to claim his 

attention and provide him with income is not 

clear. Maybe he did not try; maybe there were 

few positions available; perhaps his loyalties to 

the wrong people, in the developing storm 

between James Hall and Ebenezer Emmons, Sr. 

(to be treated later), intervened. 

Whether it had much substance or not, the 

efforts of the Regents of the State University to 

find quarters for its Cabinet of Natural History 

and to expand its holdings to contain aboriginal 

artifacts and historical archives in 1847 might 

have been of interest to Eights. There was certainly 

little to cheer about at the Albany 

Institute. Its members had held no regular 

meetings for years and its repute sank so low 

that the Albany Young Men’s Association feared 

the Institute’s dissolution and the dispersal of 

its library. 35 

Eights had always lived with his parents 

(and, for many years, at 60 North Pearl Street). 

That ended with the death of his father 

Jonathan in August 1848, a matter that has been 

dealt with in an early chapter. The family then 

dispersed; even his mother vacated her old 

home. His mother died in May 1849 and the 

last semblance of the settled home life to which 

he was accustomed was at an end. His name 

was not in the Albany Directory in 1849 (its 

reappearance in the 1850s will be noted later). 

If James Eights had confidants in all this, 

they have left no better records than he did. 

Fortunately, a few letters of concern went off to 

his old acquaintance Joseph Henry, by then at 

the Smithsonian Institution, where they were 

saved. 

The first solid information we have is from 

a letter written by his longtime Albany Institute 

colleague Richard Varick DeWitt to Joseph 

Henry, 12 April 1849: 

“My Dear Sir, 

“The call of charity induces me at this present 

time to trouble you with my correspondence, 

seeing I have nothing scientific, gossipping 

or marvellous to communicate as a pretext 

for trespassing on your time which must be 

very fully occupied. 

“Two years ago, after being compelled by 

circumstances for more that [than] five years, 

the prime part of life, to occupy myself for the 

sake of others, in winding up the tangled web 

of our Ithaca affairs — I determined to throw 

overboard the small venture of property I had 

in the voyage of life — & save myself upon the 

scanty wreck of my law learning & tastes & 

practice with the pencil. I opened a Patent 

Agency, & have contrived with the small occupation 

it afforded, and some little jobs in conveyancing 

&c. to pay about half of a scanty 

livelihood for my family, depending upon the 


aid of my children’s relatives to eke out their 

support. So much for myself. 

“When I opened my office, I found Ja s 

Eights without a comfortable home, at least 

place of resort during the day, and feeling that I 

could exercise a salutary influence over him, & 

make his talents serviceable to me if I needed 

their assistance — I invited him to take a chair 

and table in my room. He has been with me in 

that way ever since, & behaved himself with 

exemplary steadiness. In only three or four 

instances and then under peculiar temptations 

has he deviated from sobriety. His father you 

know has recently died: this breaks up the family 

& will after this month, deprive him of a 

lodgement & a home. He is exceedingly anxious 

to find something to do in his way, or 

indeed in any way — and would be content aye 

grateful for $300 a year. 

“It is a shame that those who have had the 

disposal of the posts & emoluments of the Nat 

History of the State, should not have employed 

a man who knew more of the Geology of N 

York, when the present surveying commenced 

operations, than they know now & who in the 

Zodiac & other publications gave evidence of 

his abilities as a naturalist. Had he been taken 

by the hand, & brought under benign influences, 

he would not have been the man he is 

said to be, by those who want an apology for 

neglecting him. However, I do not mean to be 

his apologist, or endorse his hasbeen. My object 

is to try whether I cannot interest some one to 

take him by the hand, & give him a chance to 

do himself credit, & his employers too. 

“Is there nothing connected with your 

Institution which could give him employ at low 

wages, & under friendly auspices? 

“I have not suggested to him, the idea of 

applying to you, & do it without even his suspicion 

of my intention so to do. I am afraid if he 

should once be thrown out upon the world, 

without employment, he would do some rash 

act. He broods over his condition & would go 

any where & do any thing not disgraceful to 

support himself. He has very nice feelings 

about debt. Whilst with me he has earned some 

trifling sums, & with them immediately clothed 

himself, but has gone very shabby a long while 

rather than run in debt. If you can in any way 

help me in finding a place I pray you do so.” 36 

DeWitt’s letter was soon followed by another 

plea from Albany. On 8 June 1849, James 

Eights’s first cousin, Abraham Eights Williams, 

wrote to Joseph Henry: 

“Dr. Joseph Henry 

“Dr Sir 

“I can urge no acquaintance of later years, 

(and only the slight one having been under 

your care many years since while in the Albany 

Academy) as an apology for my present intrusion 

on your attention, nor do I it on my own 

behalf, but that of my cousin Dr. James Eights. 

Mr. R. V. DeWitt mentioned that he had written 

you some weeks since, but receiving no reply 

apprehends that his letter may not have 

reached you; if received you will learn of the 

situation of Dr. E. in some respects. By reason of 

the death of his father last year, & Mrs Eights 

during the past month, the family is somewhat 

broken up, leaving him with no home other 

than such as his own exertions may enable him 

to secure. Of his acquirements & qualifications 

for any particular place your former acquaintance 

with him will enable you to judge. As no 

situation suited to his taste and in fact none for 

which he seems fitted, offers here, Mr. DeWitt 

was induced to apply to you, hoping that if 

something can be secured for him it may prevent 

his falling into the habits from which he 

seems in a measure freed. 

“While I cannot urge this matter, most 

cheerfully would any effort be seconded which 

might enable him to secure by his own exertions 

a moderate competency and at the same 

time bring him under such influences as would 

be the means of preventing his falling into 

habits that must otherwise be the case. 

“Any assistance you may render in securing 

or pointing out a situation will be most gratefully 

received. 

“With much respect / I remain yours truly 

/ Abr’m E. Williams.” 37 

Thus ends a busy — but often discouraging 

— decade. 

Chapter 16 265

NOTES 

1. D.B. Tyler, The Wilkes Expedition, p. 29; various 

accounts of the expedition are pertinent to these initial 

paragraphs. 

2. Eights to Paulding, NA microfilm 75, V: 0267. 

3. Robert Strange, Senate Committee on Naval Affairs, 

U.S. 26th Con., 1st Sess., Sen. Doc. 229, 25 Feb 1840, pp. 1- 

2. 

4. Willie [pronounced “Wylie”] Person Mangum, 

Senate Committee on Naval Affairs, U.S. 27th Con., 2nd 

Sess., Sen. Doc. 67, pp. 1-3, 25 Jan 1842. 

5. Eights to Southard, Southard Papers, Box 65, folder 

13, Princeton University Library. The archivist confirms 

date of 1840 (it has sometimes been read as 1841). 

Southard did not himself present the case of Coates and 

Johnson but passed their pleas to the chairman of the 

proper Senate committee; perhaps he did the same for 

Eights for I find no evidence that he replied directly to 


6. Benjamin Sprague Cowen, U.S. 27th Con., 2nd 

Sess., H.R. No. 832, vol. IV, 25 May 1842. 

7. James Alfred Pearce, U.S. 28th Con., 1st Sess., vol. 

III, Sen. Doc. 167. 

8. Stephen Russell Mallory, U.S. 36th Con., 1st Sess., 

vol. II, Committee Report 318. 

9. Albany Institute records, AIHA archives. 

10. D.W. Fisher, “Emmons, Hall, Mather, and 

Vanuxem,” p. 44. No one thought to keep a detailed record 

of the meeting or even to reconstruct one until over half a 

century had passed. Eights has been mentioned as present 

(by J.M. Clarke, James Hall, p. 101) but he was by then 

biased in keeping Eights’s name in the limelight. In his 

account of the placing of a bronze memorial tablet on the 

Emmons house, at the corner of what was then Hudson 

Avenue and High Street (a location wiped out in the building 

of Empire State Plaza: the house razed, the plaque 

itself apparently destroyed or vandalized) — before he 

cared about Eights — Clarke quoted accounts of that 

meeting by both James Hall (1896) and Ebenezer Emmons, 

Jr. (1900), neither of whom mentioned Eights. See: Clarke, 

“Memorial tablet on the Emmons House, Albany, New 

York”; Anon., 1902, “Memorial tablet”; J.A. Holmes, 

“Proposal for erection of memorial plate on the Emmons 

House”; J.M. Clarke et al., “Committee on the Emmons 

House Memorial.” 

11. C.C. Albritton et al., eds., Reports of the First, 

Second, and Third Meetings of the Association of American 

Geologists and Naturalists (1843) — both Emmons and Hall 

attended the first meeting; J.C. Spencer, “Circular from the 

Committee Appointed by the National Institute for the 

Promotion of Science in June, 1842”; H.L. Fairchild, “The 

History of the American Association for the Advancement 

of Science” (1924) — the AAAS was formally born in 1848, 

p. 385. Sally Gregory Kohlsted, The Formation of the 

American Scientific Community, “Appendix,” has Eights a 

member of AAAS during the years 1848-1851. This confirms 

his lack of interaction 1852-1860 but leaves moot his 

membership or other interest in the parent society, the 

American Society of Geologists, in the years following 

1838. 

12. T.R. Beck, E. Emmons, J. Hall, “American 

Association of Geologists and Naturalists” (1842), copy of 

announcement in AI. 

13. Albany Argus Anon., 1843, 27 April, 29 April (list 

of members, including Eights); 1 May (page 1!), 4 May 

(page 1). 

14. JE, “Origin of guano”; whether JE noticed with 

interest or not, a step toward the modern age was taken in 

1845, when the State of New York passed (10 May) “An act 

to provide for the safe keeping of the Cabinet of Natural 

History” (Argus, Anon., 26 May): a brave if feeble effort 

toward establishment of the State Museum. 

15. JE, “On the elevated temperature of the waters of 

the Gulf Stream.” For conclusions that the Gulf Stream is 

an immensely complex phenomenon and not particularly 

warm, see Henry Stommel, The Gulf Stream, pp. 175-176. 

16. JE, “Notes on natural history,” pp. 219-223. 

17. JE, “Icebergs,” etc., pp. 20-24; “Notes,” pp. 56-57. 

See a later account of clay-stone nodules in JE’s paper on 

Albany clays (1852), p. 345. 

18. See previous chapter; “Notes on natural history” 

(III). 

19. JE, “Notes of a geological examination”; it is not 

clear if this was a contemporary survey or if it may have 

occurred earlier. If the latter, could his portly companion 

have been Amos Eaton (d. 1842)? 

20. JE, “Some of our injurious Coleoptera,” 1848. 

21. An excellent account of copper mining in 

Michigan is: David J. Krause, The Making of a Mining 

District: Keweenaw Peninsula Native Copper 1500-1870. See 

also: Krause, “Testing a tradition / Douglass Houghton 

and the native copper of Lake Superior.” Copper fever 

now and then hit pages of the Argus. The tragic drowning 

in stormy Lake Superior of Douglass Houghton (Anon., 3 

Nov 1845), a popular native son, gave the copper region a 

touch of familiarity to Albany readers. An anonymous 

writer (Argus, 1 Aug 1846) had been to Mackinac as early 

as 1840; on 13 Aug, the Argus held the Michigan copper 

region “The (Mineral) Place to be”! 

22. JE, Outlines of the Geological Structure of Lake 

Superior Mineral Region, 1846. 

23. JE, Outlines, pp. 3-5. More details on Agate Point 

will be given shortly. Eights’s reports were made to Gen. 

Gerrit V. Denniston, Albany. I can find little on him; his 

title came from his association with the New York State 

militia (see Albany Directory, 1830s), where he was listed 

as the governor’s “Judge Advocate General.” 

24. JE, Outlines, pp. 5-6. For a contemporary description 

of Agate Harbor, see John R. St. John (fl. 1846), A True 

Description of the Lake Superior Country; Its Rivers, Coasts, 

Bays, Harbours, Islands, and Commerce, pp. 32-33: It consisted 

internally of two harbors, separated by a long narrow 

spit of land; both “as good harbours as can be wished, 

with clay bottom at five fathoms.” It is about three miles 

long and half a mile wide. “Its name is derived from the 

Agates found there by early visitors, and which are yet 

found in great quantities.” “About one mile back from the 

bay is a beautiful little Lake...called ‘Shoon-e-aw’ or Silver 

Lake, but has never been thoroughly explored for mineral 

or visited by many persons because covered by lease No. 

18 belonging to the New-York and Lake Superior Mining 

Company, who are working on the east end of the peninsula 

of the Harbour, where there are as many veins as they 

are prepared at present to work.” “Upon the reefs in the 

west part of the bay [that is, nearer Lake Superior], the 

Trout and White Fish are easily taken in great abundance 

with the spear and gil-net [!].” 


25. JE, Outlines, p. 6; St. John, True Description, p. 27: 

Little Montreal River has a fall of 40 feet perpendicular 

and enters “a very good harbor from north and westerly 

weather...called Bay [Baye] Bris, or Rolling Pin Bay.” 

26. JE, Outlines, p. 6; St. John, A True Description, pp. 

37; Boston Mining Co., Trustees’ Note, Dr. Charles T. 

Jackson’s Report (1845) — Charles Thomas Jackson (1805- 

1880) was a widely experienced geologist; the company 

was formed early in 1845, based on Lease No. 15, an area 

three miles square, near Agate Harbor; it had from ten to 

fifteen men engaged throughout the season; the largest 

piece of native copper so far found was so large that it was 

broken into two pieces for removal, the larger weighing 

564 pounds; the Boston Mining Company claimed, p. 5, to 

have paid a cash dividend of five dollars per share 1 Nov 

1845; the report of Jackson, who was in the employ of the 

Lake Superior Copper Company, is pp. 6-11; St. John, p. 

37, seems to equate “the Lake Superior Mining Company” 

under the “better known” name of Boston Mining 

Company. So far as I know, the Boston Mining Company 

published no more reports. 


42-43, characterizes the land as excellent, pure water abundant, 

fishes plentiful; Montreal River is well to the west of 

Keweenaw Point and has a fall of about 80 feet near Lake 

Superior. A few miles upstream, it passed through James 

Eights’s claim No. 161, as shown on St. John’s detailed 

map. Interestingly enough, Eights’s claim adjoined but 

was not within his company’s Location No. 22 — Eights 

did not show his claim on his map, although its area 

(along with others) is lined off. 

28. JE, Outlines, pp. 9-10; St. John, A True Description, 

pp. 22, 22-24. St. John noted that the Chocolate River got 

its name from the color of its water. It is 146 miles west 

from St. Mary’s. It is from 80 to 100 feet wide, and of good 

depth, although sands at the mouth prevented boats of 

any size from entering: “This river is the eastern boundary 

of, and from it west is the mineral region.” According to 

St. John, the official name “Dead River” belied its liveliness 

(and danger) — no doubt the term “River of Death” 

used by Eights was more appropriate. 

29. JE, Outlines, pp. 11-14. St. John, A True Description, 

pp. 23-24, described the area of Granite Point, including its 

potential for anchorages, in detail; he alluded to Lease 20, 

“belonging to the ‘New-York and Lake Superior Mining 

Company’”; appropriately, he termed the sheltered bay on 

the north of Granite Point “Talcott Harbour.” St. John (pp. 

82-83) reported that the Dead River location (20) was 

worked by fifteen men and two women: “These are 

English and Irish. The overseer is a Cornish miner, who 

seems to understand his business. They have erected five 

log buildings, including a storehouse and blacksmith’s 

shop, and a root house.” Sebastian Visscher Talcott (b. 

1812), son of George Talcott (1786-1862), was an Albany 

engineer, brigadier-general in the Civil War, and author of 

Genealogical Notes (see F. Munsell, American Ancestry, vol. 

III, p. 50). 

30. JE, Outlines, pp. 15-16; St. John, A True Description, 

p. 28-29 — Copper Harbor was the new name of Fort 

Wilkins, on the north shore of Keewanaw Peninsula’s easternmost 

point. It offered an extensive harbor but the 

entrance was treacherous in some winds. 


37-39, gives considerable space to Eagle River — which, 

“like many other streams of this country, is wonderfully 

magnified by the title of the river. This stream is about 

three rods wide, falling to within a short distance of the 

lake, affording in its mouth a safe place for small boats”; 

lease No. 2, at its mouth, was owned by the Boston Mining 

Company. Eights in no way, in his letter dated 11 October, 

exaggerated the hazards of travel on Lake Superior. Two 

days later, in a violent autumn snowstorm, young Dr. 

Douglass Houghton (1809-1845), Michigan State Geologist, 

drowned near Eagle River (Argus, Anon., 3 Nov 1845). See 

Helen Wallin, Douglass Houghton / Michigan’s First State 

Geologist / 1837-1845 (1970); works by D.J. Krause cited in 

note 21 have useful information on Houghton. 

32. JE, Outlines, p. 21; it ends with a folding map, 

drawn on stone and lithographed by J.H. Hall, Albany, 

that shows claims of the company; for much more information 

on the total extent of claims, with numbers and 

claimants, as far as could be ascertained, see St. John, A 

True Description; his map 1 is the British Admiralty chart 

by Bayfield (it shows the newly established international 

boundary), which gives place names but not claims; this is 

followed by a highly detailed folding “Map of the Mineral 

Regions,” showing the number and place of all locations; a 

list of grantees with the numbers of their locations is to be 

found pp. 101-ff. 

33. David J. Krause (letter 18 Mar 1992) reported that 

the New York and Lake Superior Mining Company did 

not have much luck; perhaps the same applied to Eights. 

Most of the numerous “people who had their fingers in 

the Keweenaw pie during the copper rush...came out of it 

with nothing but lighter pockets to show for their efforts.” 

34. This shows Eights at his best in expository writing. 

I have been unable to find that a Pittsburg (or Pittsburgh) 

Mining Co. published a report in this period of time. 

Possibly this was what Krause, The Making of a Mining 

District, pp. 207-210, calls the Pittsburg and Boston Mining 

Co. 

35. The Argus, Anon., 10 Jul 1847, devoted a good deal 

of space to the regents’ efforts to both expand its holdings 

and find suitable space for curating and exhibiting material. 

While the Cabinet had officially been put under their 

care two years earlier, many specimens intended for the 

collection had been injured or lost. In regard to the 

Institute, see in its archives in McKinney Library, 

DE/563/II/7VV / #48, Anon., letter of 13 Jul 1848 from 

Library Committee of the Albany Young Men’s 

Association to T.R. Beck, suggesting that the Institute 

Library might escape dissolution and be of greater use to 

the community if transferrred to the Y.M.A. Library. 

36. Joseph Henry Papers, Smithsonian Institution 

Archives, Record Unit 7001. I have not quoted the two 

final paragraphs of this sincerely devoted letter, since they 

pertain to DeWitt’s family alone. I thank Marc Rothenberg 

for providing a photocopy so that an intelligent transcription 

of it can be presented. 

37. Henry Papers, Record Unit 7001, Box 9. Abraham 

Eights Williams (1820-1896) was the son of Israel Williams 

and Rachel Eights (sister of Jonathan). 

Chapter 16 267


Chapter 17 

ALBANY IN THE EARLY 1850s ALBANY — 

FROM UPSET TO EQUILIBRIUM 

If we believe faithful Richard V. DeWitt, the 

case of James Eights was sad indeed as the 

decade of the 1850s got underway. Just how 

Eights was enabled to pick up the pieces and 

precisely when it happened are joint mysteries. 

He was not listed in the Albany Directory in 

1850, 1851, and 1852. He reappeared in 1853, as 

“Geologist and Draughtsman, 19 Commercial 

Building.” How much work in either field he did 

that year is unknown but this is evidence that by 

then he had command of his own destiny. We 

can guess in part why he was not resident in 

Albany during the years 1854 through 1859: He 

was busy elsewhere. 

Why he waited 20 years to bring his account 

of the new Antarctic crustacean, Glyptonotus, into 

the light of day can only be guessed. By early in 

1850 (how much earlier, we do not know), he 

had finished a paper on Albany clays. With the 

Albany Institute in a quiescent phase, he sought 

a place of publication elsewhere. He seems to 

have thought Joseph Henry at the Smithsonian 

Institution a kind of last-ditch appeal for that 

paper. Whether he hoped for publication in 

Washington or merely wanted referral to a 

potential publisher is not clear. On 19 February 

1850, Richard V. DeWitt wrote to Henry of his 

need for a reliable patent consultant in 

Washington, adding the note: “By the way Dr 

Eights asked me the other day had I heard from 

you — as neither he nor your Brother had 

learned the fate of the paper & specimens sent to 

you, — he had become anxious lest a miscarriage 

has taken place.” 1 

On 1 July 1850, DeWitt wrote to Henry again, 

this time entirely in regard to Eights, a note of 

urgency evident: “We are making an effort to get 

our unfortunate friend Eights off to some place 

or other, probably the Minesota Country, for if he 

is left here he will soon be in the poorhouse or 

worse place, for he seems to have given himself 

up to despair, at finding that he can get nothing 

to do. He reminded me the other day that he had 

not heard from you since he sent his box & essay 

on the Clays of this region — If anything can 

come of it, to his advantage let it be now, and 

send whatever if anything it be to me or anybody 

but him.” 2 

DeWitt’s next letter to Henry explained more 

clearly the despair into which Eights had fallen: 

“Albany Augt 19 1850 

“Dear Sir, 

“I rec’ d on Saturday evening (17 th ) your letter 

enclosing $50. for Dr. James Eights, which shall 

be delivered to him & his receipt sent you. It 

may be some time before I can do this, as I will 

now explain to you. 

“The Doct r has been relapsing into his old 

ways, so that after repeated frolicks at odd times, 

I am convinced his further stay in this city will 

be certain ruin to him, & he will end his days in 

the poor house or penitentiary as a vagrant. I 

have been obliged to exclude him from my 

office. Two or three of us are now endeavouring 

to raise the means of funding him, where he 

desires to go, to Minesota Territory — & I design 

to reserve your money — to be paid to him at 

Chapter 17 269

Chicago — as a fund to start upon when in new 

regions. I shall therefore not let him know that I 

have such a fund in my hand for him, until he 

reaches that point for if I were to do it he would 

demand & I could not withold it, and he would 

soon dissipate it here. 

“I shall write after he is gone to let you know 

that he is off — If he should change his line of 

conduct when there he may be of some service 

to your Institution as a correspondent — 

“Yours truly, 

R.V. DeWitt 

D r Joseph Henry.” 3 

From DeWitt, finally: 7 September 1850: “I 

enclose you Dr. Eights Receipt for the $50, & I 

believe it is all that now stands between him and 

the Poor House — / I am pressing & mean to 

press the family to do something to get him to 

California or to Minesota, it is all that will save 

him from the worst of fates — / If he could get 

employment, under & in company with some 

person he would respect, & be paid so as to permit 

but little money to find its way into his pockets 

he might be saved — Here he has run out — 

/ Do you mean to publish his memoir?” 4 

It is unfortunate that Eights had not other 

friends (with acquaintances in high places!) 

whose perceptive and thoughtful comments 

might have left us an inkling of what happened 

next. 

It may be that “what happened next” was 

that the Albany Institute began to show vital 

signs. Could that have inspired Eights with new 

life? As has been noted, the first meeting of the 

Institute since 1843 took place 6 Mar 1851. Five 

members of the First Department, eleven of the 

Second Department, and six of the Third 

Department, met. 5 

The reorganizational meeting of Albany 

Institute was pronounced good. “The 

attempt...was eminently successful,” said the 

Argus. “The meeting was well attended, and 

some thirty new members were proposed and 

elected. Another meeting is to be held, this 

evening, at their rooms, in the Albany Academy, 

at 8 o’clock. The citizens should feel much interested 

in the success of this institution.” At the 

meeting, James Dwight Dana, New Haven, was 

elected a Corresponding Member, Louis Agassiz 

was nominated an Honorary Member. 6 

What James Eights was doing at this time is 

not known. Had he mended his ways? Had his 

friend DeWitt simply given up? We do know 

that at a meeting of the Albany Institute 5 June 

1851, Ebenezer Emmons, Sr., was present. It is 

possible that in the presence of Emmons, we can 

trace the beginning of the recovery of James 


Ebenezer Emmons and James Hall were, by 

this time, locked in a battle over what Emmons 

perceived as truth and, whatever his protestations, 

Hall viewed as turf. When turf could be 

defended in the public arena, where media 

freaks like Louis Agassiz were given maximum 

exposure, it is hardly surprising that turf won. 

Maybe, in it, aside from the tragedy that it was 

for Emmons, Eights, as a friend of his, had found 

it difficult to survive in Albany. 7 

Where Eights fitted in is not clear. Perhaps 

the election of Dana a Corresponding Member 

and nomination (and election) of Agassiz an 

Honorary Member were not perceived by him as 

good omens. Maybe the Albany Institute merely 

needed to gain momentum. Perhaps part of the 

momentum for Institute growth came from the 

sixth annual meeting of the American 

Association for the Advancement of Science in 

Albany in 1851 (another sign that James Hall’s 

star was rising). The meeting in Albany had been 

announced the previous autumn and a local 

committee named. On 19 June 1851, R.V. DeWitt 

moved that the “Rooms, Library and Collections 

of the Institute be offered to the American 

Association for the Advancement of Science, 

during its coming sessions in this city”; on 20 

July, the curators of the Second Department were 

notified to make room for the AAAS. In the 

entire episode, there is no hint that Eights was at 

hand or took part in any way. 8 

The next we hear that immediately concerns 

us is that at the meeting of the Albany Institute 5 

February 1852, “ Doct. Eights presented a 

description of a specimen of glyptonotus, accompanied 

by drawings.” While this can be interpreted 

as a personal presentation, I am not sure 

it was. There was no mention of a vote of thanks, 

although in the case of Doctor (Professor) 


Spencer of Geneva College, James Hall did move 

the “thanks of the Society” for reading a paper 

on “Heat or Vitality.” 

On 4 March 1852, Prof. James Hall read a 

paper “on fossils and particularly indications of 

coal,” and “Mr. Brown [A. Heyer Brown, a curator, 

Second Department] presented a paper entitled 

‘Observations on the Geological features of 

the post tertiary formation of the city of Albany 

& its vicinity’ by James Eights” — “which on 

motion was read by its title simply for the present.” 

It was not until 18 March that “”Prof. 

[George H.] Cook read the paper presented at 

the last meeting by James Eights, entitled 

‘Observations on the geological features of the 

post-tertiary formation of the City of Albany and 

its vicinity.’” Cook was Librarian. It would thus 

appear that Eights was not present at either of 

these meetings. At the conclusion of the reading, 

it “was moved and carried that the thanks of the 

Society be presented to Mr Eights for his 

Elaborate and instructive paper.” 9 

With two major Eights papers in hand, the 

Institute moved to finish printing and publication 

of its volume 2, begun so auspiciously by its 

printing of Eights’s paper on Brongniartia and the 

notes on Antarctic natural history in 1833. At the 

meeting on 1 June 1852, President T. Romeyn 

Beck reported that the Institute owed Mr. Deith 

(?) $257.50 for preparing a catalogue of the 

library, of which $72.50 was still owing; on the 

motion of DeWitt, this was ordered paid. “On 

motion it was resolved that the two papers 

heretofore presented by Dr. Eights and the article 

on De Lancey [?] read by D r O’Callaghan form a 

part of the 2d volume of the Transactions and 

that the same be printed and the volume prepared 

for distribution, provided the printing & 

engraving of the plates accompanying D r Eights 

[!] paper on the post tertiary formation &c. can 

be procured to be executed gratuitously, it having 

been intimated that M r Van Benthuysen had 

liberally offered to do the printing and M r [John 

E.] Gavit having offered to do the engraving 

without charge to the Institute. 

“M r [Joel] Munsell proposed to print the 

Catalogue [of the library], the cost of which he 

estimated at $75 and receive payment therefor 

when sufficient funds for that purpose could be 

appropriated by the Institute, and he was therefore 

authorised to print the same.” 10 

Thus, the revived Institute owed much to the 

genius of James Eights. What his reactions were, 

we do not know. His paper on Glyptonotus 

antarctica has been transcribed in the chapter on 

zoological results of the southern and Antarctic 

exploration. It brought considerable renown to 

the Institute. His account of recent clays in the 

vicinity of Albany is transcribed below. 11 

Eights’s account of some of Albany’s most 

striking geology will be of interest to the general 

naturalist and, for that reason, is reproduced 

here. Little effort will be made to examine the 

article critically. Every fan of Pine Bush geology 

will be competent to compare it with relevant 

accounts in Don Rittner’s Pine Bush. 12 

ON THE GEOLOGICAL FEATURES 

OF THE POST-TERTIARY FORMATION 

OF THE CITY OF ALBANY, 

AND ITS VICINITY 

The Helderberg mountains occupy a position 

comprising about one-third part of the 

entire county of Albany. They lie in a southwesterly 

direction from the city, twelve miles distant; 

and may be seen, on a clear day, to form a beautiful 

feature in the landscape scenery from any 

of the public highways. The other portions of 

the county present the appearance of a uniform 

level plain of sand, almost completely covered 

over by a dense growth of pine, with oak, and 

other deciduous trees; but a closer inspection, 

particularly along the courses of the Hudson 

and Mohawk rivers, and most of the minor 

streams that discharge their waters into these 

channels, will at once exhibit the entire base of 

the country to be composed of Hudson river 

sandstones and shales. Over this an ancient drift 

or boulder system sometimes prevails, succeeded 

by a thick deposit of blue and drab-colored 

clays; the latter embracing all over among its 

different strata, innumerable beds of sand and 

gravel, the whole mass belonging evidently to a 

more recent, or post-tertiary period. Above this 

is spread out a continuous stratum of yellow 

ferruginous sand, which forms the surface of the 

Chapter 17 271

Figure 17.1. Sketches by James Eights (original unknown) of rock strata near Albany. Albany Institute Transactions, volume 

2, page 335, 1852. 

plain; and however level may appear to be the 

surface of this plain from a distant point of view, 

a nearer examination will disclose frequent hills 

of sand and depressions of morass, the former 

drifted up by the winds at a period of time long 

before vegetation had scattered a single seed 

upon the soil. 

The general elevation of the surface of this 

plain has been ascertained, by actual measurement, 

to be about two hundred and sixty feet 

above the tidal wave. 

The clays which constitute this formation are 

about one hundred feet in thickness, and are for 

the most part disposed in a horizontal position. 

Its lower portion, where it rests directly upon the 

Hudson river shales and sandstones, is of a firmly 

compact nature, owing no doubt to the heavy 

pressure of the superincumbent mass; but, as we 

ascend in the series, its stratification begins to 

develop itself, at first at distant intervals, but, on 

approaching the surface, these intervals are seen 

gradually to diminish in thickness, until they terminate 

in layers so exceedingly fine as scarcely 

to be discernible. 


Whenever this stratification first makes its 

appearance, the separating material is a remarkably 

fine-grained pulverulent sand of a light silvery 

tinge, closely approximating to white: and 

this is continuous throughout the remaining portions 

of the formation. It is chiefly among some 

of these seams of sand that the indurated calcareous 

concretions, so frequently met with in 

this vicinity, originally derived their existence. 

These seams of sand, as they approach the surface 

of the soil, are sometimes seen to expand to 

such a manner as occasionally to admit a stratum 

of a fine-grained yellowish sandy clay, from 

two to four or more feet in thickness, the lower 

parts of which not unfrequently become interstratified 

with fine layers of the blue variety 

beneath, but most generally it is isolated and 

compact in its texture. 

The general color of these clays is of a deep 

blue or violet, closely approaching a neutral tint; 

but as we ascend in the series, it is seen by 

degrees to lose its fine uniformity in shade, and 

at length to assume a more variegated aspect. 

From the deep stone-blue beneath, this entire 

mass, in its progress upward, exhibits among its 

numerous strata almost all the other hues in 

nature, and in oft repeated alternations; not 

blending imperceptibly one into the other, as is 

so frequently seen, but so arranged in distinct 

bands as to present an appearance not unlike the 

striped ribands on a lady’s dress. 

This display of colors retains its beautiful 

appearance until we approach the surface of the 

clay, where, from long exposure to the influences 

of sunlight and the weather, its whole upper portion, 

whenever revealed to the eye, becomes one 

uniform tint of yellowish drab. 

This upper division, or drab-colored variety of 

the marly clay, is usually separated from the 

horizontal, variously colored and dark-stained 

mass beneath, by a single imbedded deposit of 

fine-grained, deeply tinged yellow sand, 

amounting in many places to some considerable 

degree of thickness. This drab-colored portion 

of the clay constitutes about one-third of the 

entire formation, and it is through its numerous 

layers alone that the disturbing agencies appear 

to have exerted their most powerful energies. 

The heavy primary boulders and other detrital 

materials from the northern section of the State, 

during the violent agitation of the waters which 

drained and left bare so large an extent of our 

tillable lands, have grooved out deep and parallel 

trenches, running in a direction nearly north 

and south, and, after disrupturing the strata 

and giving origin to those many faults and 

slides which everywhere prevail, may now be 

seen piled up in the greatest profusion all along 

the base of the heavy lime and sandstone cliffs 

which form the northern termination of the 

Helderberg mountains. 

This disrupturing agency has, in many 

instances, forced its way between the strata of 

this variety of clay at various elevations; sometimes 

raising the overlying mass so as to cause it 

not unfrequently to assume the regularly archlike 

form, and leaving the intervening spaces 

completely filled with fine-grained gravel or 

beds of sand; at other times it has fairly inverted 

the strata, and thrown them about in every variety 

of confusion, producing at the same time 

those singularly twisted or tangled appearances 

which so often perplex the geologist in his 

endeavors to trace them clearly out. Immediately 

beneath this disturbed portion of the deposit, the 

strata are again seen to resume their usually horizontal 

position. 

In several situations, and always in connection 

with this superincumbent mass, are to be 

observed decided evidences that some partial or 

local currents of water have drifted the fragments 

of these broke-up strata, and quietly 

deposited them over the surface of the yellow 

ferruginous or overlying sands. These fragments 

have their angles but slightly abraded, and consequently 

could not have been brought to their 

present position from any great distance; and 

most commonly they can easily be traced to the 

parent cliff, almost in the immediate vicinity of 

their occurrence. 

When this disruptured mass of clay comes in 

direct contact with the subordinate strata upon 

which it rests, it generally presents the appearance 

of being placed in an unconformable position 

by the disturbing agencies, and would, from 

its absence of color and deranged condition, 

most readily deceive the eye of an inexperienced 

observer, and induce him to believe that it had 

been the result of a distinct and more recent deposition; 

but a closer inspection, however, will 

Chapter 17 273

very soon convince him that they are identically 

of the same age. 

The succeeding portion of this formation 

occupies a central position, amounting to about a 

third part of its entire thickness. It is composed 

of innumerable strata of a remarkably finegrained, 

unctuous, marly clay, separated 

throughout its whole extent by numerous thin 

seams of a silvery white pulverulent sand. These 

strata are, with rare exceptions, arranged in a 

horizontal position, and the numerous layers by 

which they are constructed are each deeply 

tinged with red, yellow, and blue, including all 

the various modifications of tint, presenting to a 

spectator a richly striped and exceedingly beautiful 

appearance when freshly exposed to the open 

light of day. These colors are usually repeated in 

the strata throughout its entire extent, but they 

gradually diminish in thickness as they proceed 

upward. It is in some of the separating seams of 

this division that the leaves and stems of plants 

have been discovered. 

The inferior portion of this deposition of clay, 

where it closely approximates to the supporting 

indurated rocks below, when freshly exposed to 

view, assumes the appearance of a compact 

cohesive mass, the particles of which it is constructed 

being of an exceedingly fine nature; but 

when for a few days it becomes subject to the 

direct influences of the weather, it most generally 

exhibits a tendency to separate vertically into a 

rudely columnar structure, much resembling in 

general aspect many of the granites of our 

Eastern States. 

This formation of clay rests in an unconformable 

position upon the Hudson river sandstones 

and shales beneath; but in some instances 

a more ancient drift or boulder system intervenes, 

the currents of which swept in a southerly 

direction over the principle portion of the State 

of New-York, producing those numerous 

scratches which are so distinctly visible upon the 

surfaces of most of its rocks, and giving evidence 

that a long period of time must have necessarily 

elapsed of tranquil waters reposing over this 

region of country, in order to leave so uniform a 

deposition of clay, amounting to about one hundred 

feet in thickness. It was after the completion 

of this deposit, that the violent action took place 

which tore up and dislocated the upper portion 

of this formation. 

The numerous beds of gravel and brown sand 

which are inclosed within this upper or drab-colored 

variety of the marly clay, — and which, no 

doubt, were the agents employed in the opening 

and upturning of its strata, — are of a different 

nature from the overlying formation of yellow 

ferruginous sand. The materials which characterize 

these deposits are for the most part of a 

greenish brown color, and appear all to have 

been derived from the primary ranges of the 

north; not a single fragment of the extensive lime 

and sandstone formations of the Helderberg 

mountains, twelve miles to the south, has ever 

yet been detected among them. The sands are 

almost completely composed of rounded particles 

of transparent quartz, gneiss, hypersthene, 

hornblende, and augite, disseminated in about 

equal proportions; the latter named minerals giving 

to the entire mass that greenish-brown color 

that it invariably presents whenever it becomes 

exposed to the sight, and which readily distinguishes 

it from the overlying ferruginous sands. 

Their mineral characters and abraded angles also 

denote their transportation by water from some 

far distant region. It is rarely indeed that any 

other mineral ingredients can be discovered 

among their particles, if we except some occasional 

fragments of flesh-colored feldspar and 

oxides of iron. 

Whenever any of these imbedded materials 

are freely exposed to view by the numerous diggings, 

and in the ravines along the shores of the 

various streams that discharge their waters into 

those of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers, they 

invariably present an arrangement of large and 

small particles in a series of waved lines or angular 

markings, as if disturbed or deposited from 

gentle moving or by violently agitated waters. 

This in all probability was the case when the 

drainage took place, and the plain became permanently 

dry. These peculiar characters most 

strikingly resemble in appearance those of a no 

doubt similar nature, which are most generally 

to be met with on the exposed edges of many of 

the more ancient sandstones: a fact strongly 

impressing on our minds the conviction that 

nature is governed at the present day by the 


same laws by which she operated in times far 

remote. 

In many places it would appear, that after 

this brown arenaceous matter had been permanently 

arranged through the clay in the manner 

we now behold it, slight and limited depositions 

of an exceedingly fine-grained, light yellowish 

colored sand took place, which are at present to 

be seen in various situations, protruding as it 

were from the roofs of these excavations, and 

forming a singularly distinct contrast to the dark 

stained material into which they are enclosed. 

From the circumstance that these apparently isolated 

masses of sand never exhibit those undulating 

lines and angles so characteristic of the 

other and associate deposits of the kind, I should 

form the conclusion that they had derived their 

origin from the surface waters, slowly and gradually 

percolated through the numerous thin 

seams or shrinkage fissures in the overlying and 

disruptured clays; for I can conceive of no other 

or more simple process to account for their present 

appearances. 

Sometimes the rounded pebbles which constitute 

the gravel, and which are at all times to be 

found in connection with these imbedded brown 

sands, are cemented firmly together by a copious 

deposit of carbonate of lime, to such a degree as 

to form extensive beds of calcareous conglomerate, 

or pudding-stone, the lime being derived 

from the percolating waters continuing it in solution; 

but this only occurs when the broken up 

strata of drab-colored clay are either in their 

immediate vicinity, or directly above. In other 

instances, the cementing ingredient is the sulphuret 

of iron, which then renders the united 

mass so exceedingly hard as to destroy the tools 

of the workmen employed in its excavation. 

The marly clays of this formation, with their 

imbedded contents, are sometimes subject to frequent 

and extensive slides. They are of common 

occurrence all over the sloping sides of the 

numerous and deeply cleft ravines which open 

from the surface of the plain, down to the shores 

of the different streams. To an individual looking 

from an eminence across one of these ravines to 

the hill-side beyond, it will most generally 

appear to be composed almost entirely of a succession 

of irregularly formed terraces, rising one 

above the other, until their termination at the 

surface of the plain. These slides are of various 

dimensions, some of them extending to a considerable 

magnitude; and when their edges become 

exposed, from excavations for the purpose of 

obtaining the brown sand, or the clays in which 

it is embraced, the facts there developed might 

easily deceive the eye of a spectator, by disclosing 

to his view the appearances of a repetition of 

similar deposits widely separated from each 

other in position, whereas they are in reality a 

part and parcel of the same stratification. 

Most of these slides exhibit evidences of a 

very slow and gradual movement of the mass in 

their progress onward. In many situations, the 

beds of sand and gravel which they contain, and 

the various strata of clay which compose their 

structure, however distorted and disarranged 

they may appear, disclose no further indications 

of any disturbance, either by fracture or otherwise, 

than those produced at the time of their 

original deposition: they perfectly correspond in 

every respect with the same formation in its natural 

position many feet above. In other instances, 

where the movements have evidently been more 

rapid and irregular in their action, the different 

materials of which they were constructed appear 

to have been fractured and tumbled about into 

the utmost degree of confusion. In several other 

situations, where excavations for economical 

applications have been made along the sloping 

sides of these ravines, the peculiar action of the 

slides is well exhibited. In frequent instances, 

most generally after heavy torrents of rain, the 

progress of railroad cars has been seriously 

impeded by prodigious quantities of these materials 

having been suddenly thrown over the 

track, so as to require the constant employment 

of a large number of workmen in their removal. 

The only method to remedy such an inconvenience 

is, if practicable, to construct the embankment 

from the edge of the road at the same slope 

that nature always adopts in her arrangement of 

particles of earth on the hill-sides, which is at an 

angle something less than forty-five degrees with 

the horizon: it then remains in a quiet state until 

the surface is completely covered over by shrubs 

and herbaceous plants, which are perfectly competent, 

by the ramifying entanglement of their 

Chapter 17 275

ootlets, to secure permanently the banks from 

all further encroachments. Whenever the angle is 

of any greater degree, these slides must invariably 

take place. 

The calcareous concretions embraced in the 

clays of this formation present a very singular 

feature in their construction. They are exceedingly 

common among some of its strata; and from 

the peculiar variability of their forms, it becomes 

very difficult to conceive any method by which 

to communicate a definite idea of their remarkable 

appearances, other than by a reference to 

the specimens themselves. They are always limited 

to the upper portion of the deposit, or that 

part most commonly selected for the manufacturing 

of brick. From the size, color, and their 

geological position amid the clays, they will easily 

admit of a separation into two distinct varieties: 

the first, or smaller of these, are most generally 

of a light yellowish color, about an inch or 

an inch and a half in their diameters, and are 

exclusively confined to the divisional seams of 

sand in the upper or disruptured portion of the 

series. The second and larger variety, as far as 

observation has hitherto extended, appears to be 

restricted to a single stratum of the middle, or 

variegated portion of the clays near to its upper 

termination, and situated about four feet from its 

junction with the overlying or disturbed member 

of the deposit: they are for the most part about 

three or four inches in diameter, with a length 

frequently of more than a yard, and of a deep 

stone-blue color. Both of these varieties sometimes 

present the same peculiarities of form, but 

they differ considerably in their chemical 

analysis. 

By an individual unacquainted with the 

manner in which these concretions have been 

produced, particularly those that assume the 

rounded form, so great is their resemblances, 

they might very easily be mistaken for waterworn 

fragments of some firmly indurated rock; 

and had the material of which they have been 

constructed been somewhat more copious, there 

can be but little doubt but that a solid stratum of 

silicious limestone would have been the result, 

occupying a position in conformity with the strata 

of this heavy mass of ductile clay. 

These clay-stones, as they are most commonly 

called, or calcareous concretions, have frequently 

been the cause of some considerable 

speculation among geologists, in endeavoring to 

account for their production. The manner in 

which they have been formed is distinctly perceptible 

everywhere, among the various and 

extensive diggings which have thrown them 

open to the light of day. The delicate fibres of the 

roots of the different trees of the forest that at 

one time completely covered the surface of the 

soil, have, in innumerable instances, penetrated 

to a very considerable distance beneath. It was 

along these roots that the moisture from the surface 

highly charged with carbonic acid gas, readily 

found its way, collecting the lime and other 

necessary ingredients in its descent, until its 

arrival at one of these seams of sand; here a deposition 

commenced, and the particles gradually 

arranged themselves in a concretionary form 

around a nucleus of ligneous fibre. 

Whenever these concretions have been examined 

in a perfect state, this nucleus, or remnants 

of it, has invariably been found, exhibiting no 

other change in its appearance that that of a 

brownish stain given to it by the oxide of iron. 

Sometimes two or more of them may be seen 

united together; at others, where the deposition 

seems to have been far more copious, the liquid 

mass appears to have spread out to some considerable 

extent, giving origin to those stony plates 

of the same nature which are always to be found 

associated with them. It is also not an unusual 

circumstance for many of them to be marked 

with circular depressions, when, after a short 

exposure to the atmospheric influences, they 

readily disunite, the central portion falling out, 

carrying with it the woody nucleus that they 

contained, and leaving the concretions in that 

regular ring-like form that they so commonly 

assume. In some instances, while undergoing the 

necessary process of induration, the particles 

appear to have shrunk from the centre to the circumference, 

causing those radiating fissures 

which afterwards became filled by segregation 

with calcareous spar; in this case, these concretions 

become perfect septaria. 

When these carbonized waters flow through 

the pulverulent sands which separate the layers 

of clay, and free from the influence of roots of 


neighboring plants, they continue for several feet 

in length to form those indurated plates of concretion 

that are so frequently to be met with, 

strewed all over the surface of the ground, far 

beneath the level of their original deposition. 

The lower, or amorphous portion of this formation, 

not being divided into distinct stratification, 

nor ever having been penetrated by the roots of 

plants, it consequently would rarely if ever contain 

these concretionary forms, which seems to 

be the case; and from the preceding description 

it will be seen that although perfectly embraced 

in the layers of clay to some considerable depth, 

they may with strict propriety be considered as 

belonging to a more recent period, having been 

constructed long after the deposition had 

become complete, and vegetation had for some 

time flourished in the soil upon its surface. 

Minerals, in a distinct form, are of rare occurrence 

in this formation. Besides sulphuret of iron 

in nodular masses with central radiations, — 

which are not unfrequent, — some large and 

beautiful crystals of selenite, or sulphate of lime 

arranged in a stellular manner, are sometimes 

found. This latter mineral no doubt derives its 

origin from the decomposition of iron; the sulphuric 

acid produced, readily uniting with the 

lime contained in the clay, would speedily 

accomplish this effect. In some situations where 

magnesia prevails as an ingredient, epsom salts 

in acicular crystals has been the result, and was 

produced in all probability by the same chemical 

agency. 

In one of those thin seams of fine sand that 

separate the strata of clay, about fifteen feet 

beneath the surface of the soil, is to be found the 

remains of a vegetable much resembling in 

appearance the leaves and stems of the Mitchella 

repens, which now thrives most luxuriantly all 

over the surface of the pine plains in this vicinity. 

These leaves have undergone but a slight degree 

of change in their nature, still retaining all the 

flexibility of the more recent plant. This is the 

only instance of an apparent fossil remain having 

been found connected with this formation in 

the neighborhood of our city; but Professor 

Emmons has procured, from what he considers 

as equivalent to its upper layers, along the 

shores of Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence 

river, many feet above the reach of the tidal 

wave, the fossil remains of marine shells that still 

have an existence along the shores in the neighboring 

seas, together with some few that belong 

to the waters of a more boreal or arctic region. 

The only ready method to account for the paucity 

of fossils in this deposit, extensive as it 

appears in this section of the country, is, to consider 

it as having derived its origin from the 

waves of a deep inland estuary or arm of the sea, 

with numerous streams of fresh water continually 

discharging themselves into its basin; by 

which means the water would soon become too 

brackish for animals from the land, and much 

too fresh for those belonging to the sea. 

Fibrous rootlets of plants, still retaining all 

the characters of a more recent vegetation, are to 

be observed in almost every stratum of the clay, 

to the depth of some fifteen or more feet from 

the surface, ramifying in every direction over the 

vertical faces of the cliffs. In many situations they 

have often been mistaken for ancient fossil 

remains, but a slight inspection will most readily 

disclose their recent origin. They have, in many 

instances, been traced to the stems of still surviving 

trees. 

The clays of this formation have, for a great 

length of time, been extensively made use of 

for the manufacturing of brick. With now and 

then a rare exception, the entire city of Albany 

has been erected from the material upon which 

it stands. In many places, this clay contains 

sand sufficient to constitute an excellent mortar 

for the purpose; but most generally it is 

necessary, particularly in its lowest division, to 

give additional sand to its composition. It is 

likewise capable of affording a fine material 

for tile making; but the demand for such an 

article has been so limited, that no individual, 

until very recently, has considered it of sufficient 

consequence to embark in the enterprise. 

With a little more care in the tempering, I 

should think that this material might easily be 

moulded into elegant ornaments for decorating 

the door ways, windows, and even the 

entire fronts of dwellings, so as to give to the 

structure composed of it a very chaste and 

highly beautiful appearance, and that too at a 

far more reasonable rate than is now employed 

Chapter 17 277

for the sandstones and marbles at present in 

such general use. 

Quite recently, an attempt has been made to 

manufacture fine glass from these clays; but by a 

reference to the table of analysis, it will be seen 

that some of the most important ingredients, if 

there at all, are not in sufficient quantity to produce 

any thing more than a common variety of 

coarse bottle glass, of little or no consideration 

whatever. In conjunction with some of the metallic 

oxides, however, it has produced some very 

beautiful variegated door knobs; but the expense 

attending their manufacture has far exceeded the 

idea of any thing profitable. It is occasionally 

made use of for coarse pottery, and many of the 

poorer class of our citizens make use of it, with a 

solution of glue, for washing the walls of their 

dwellings. 

From the central portion of this formation, 

and from amid the various colored strata, is 

obtained the material so much in value at the 

earthen-ware factories in our neighboring States, 

for the purpose of glazing their numerous productions; 

they pay for it at the rate of one dollar 

the barrel, and it is most admirably adapted to 

the use. All that is necessary, is to dip the article 

to be glazed into a solution of this clay, formed 

with water to the consistency of cream; the lime 

constituting one of the ingredients, readily performing 

the action of a flux to the aluminous 

portion; and when the article is subjected to the 

heat required, it produces all the effects that 

become necessary to accomplish the object. 

This blue clay, in a moist state, is a most 

admirable article for the preservation of the 

seeds and roots of plants, particularly during 

long journeys by land and distant sea voyages. 

All that is necessary, is to cut it into thin slices, 

and deposit the seeds and roots between them, 

at the same time packing the whole mass firmly 

together. In this way, these vegetable productions 

will retain their vitality for a number of 

years, in consequence of the exclusion of air, and 

the retention of a sufficiency of moisture for their 

preservation. 

The finest portions of the imbedded brown 

sands and gravel are much employed, when 

united with lime, in the composition of mortars 

and other plasterings, and they are also used for 

moulding purposes in furnaces; while the boulders 

and other angular masses, are broken up for 

the construction of roads. 

The calcareous concretions have not, to my 

knowledge, been appropriated to any practicable 

purpose; but it has been suggested, from their 

chemical composition, that they might be usefully 

employed as a delicate water cement, when 

properly prepared. 

Over this heavy formation of marly clay, and 

likewise constituting the surface of the extensive 

and elevated plain which forms so conspicuous a 

feature in the scenery between the city of Albany 

and the Mohawk valley, is spread out a thick 

deposit of yellow ferruginous sand. It leaves, however, 

in many places, denuded portions of the 

clay protruding far above the soil; and also, fills 

up those deep grooved trenches, which have 

been torn out by the rushing waters loaded with 

detrital matter from the north, in such a manner 

that it can only be seen to advantage along the 

deep cuttings, and in the banks of the numerous 

streams that discharge their waters into those of 

the principal rivers. 

This yellow sand is chiefly composed of silicious 

particles having an external coating of 

oxide of iron, which gives to it that deep ochreous 

appearance which it everywhere presents, 

when not exposed to the direct influences of 

atmospheric action; small fragments of magnetic 

iron in the form of sand, with feldspar and mica, 

are commonly found disseminated through it, 

and more rarely garnets and pyroxene. 

After heavy showers of rain, the surfaces of 

roads running through this plain are literally 

strewed with small concretions of this brown 

oxide of iron, these, upon being washed into the 

low marshy depressions which are every where 

abundant, unite themselves together by the tendency 

they have to concrete, and give origin to 

those large quantities of bog ore which have 

been hitherto proved so great a source of profit 

to the possessors of the land. In this way, the formation 

of this ore may be considered as of daily 

continuance, and consequently on the increase. 

A few years since, this iron was shipped in large 

quantities to the city of Philadelphia for stove 

castings, and for the purpose its quality most 

admirably adapts it. 


Beds of shell marl, either covered or surrounded 

by margins of peat, are not unfrequently 

to be met with in the marshy depressions of 

this plain; both of which substances, when judiciously 

used as manures, have proved of essential 

service to some of the lands in the vicinity; 

but at other times they have been the source of 

some considerable evil, merely in consequence of 

the absence of a little chemical knowledge of the 

nature of the soils upon which they were 

improperly introduced. 

The rains that descend and percolate these 

yellow sands, are, in many instances, immediately 

thrown off by the sloping surfaces of the 

impervious clays beneath, and again make their 

appearance in the form of copious springs among 

the various depressions scattered over the surface 

of the plain. From these springs, the numerous 

minor streams that ramify the country 

derive their origin. But many of these waters 

find their way into basins or reservoirs at the 

bottom of the torn out trenches and disruptured 

portions of the clay, from whence our farmers 

most generally obtain their supplies; and they 

consider themselves extremely fortunate when, 

in digging their wells, they at the first attempt 

succeed in reaching one of these repositories. In 

these researches for water, they are almost guided 

by chance, and oft times wonder that their 

labors are attended with such ill success. The 

accompanying diagram is taken from an actual 

section at one of the many excavations made in 

the neighborhood of our city, and will in a great 

measure aid in illustrating the theory of springs, 

and readily explain the cause of failure and success 

in these undertakings for water. 

An individual boring for water at A, would 

be sure of obtaining it on passing through the 

yellow sand, and approaching the impervious 

floor of clay; whereas at B, a few yards distant, 

he would find none whatever, because the rains 

which percolate the sand at this place, flow off 

immediately on reaching the sloping surface of 

the clay. Now should he not be satisfied with the 

quantity or quality of the water procured at A, 

and resume his labors through the impervious 

floor, he would, in all probability, on penetrating 

the imbedded sands, lose that which he possessed; 

but on proceeding still further into this 

mass, he will in a short time be enabled to find it 

in the greatest profusion; whilst at B, he might 

proceed through the entire formation, without 

discovering the smallest measure of it. It is from 

this peculiarity of the structure, that the borings 

for water on the ‘Pine plains’are so uncertain, 

and of such a mysterious nature to our farmers, 

and which renders them so liable to the imposition 

of swindlers. 

It would seem natural to suppose that the 

larger the size of the disrupting boulders drifting 

over the surface of this plain, the nearer they 

would be found deposited to the parent rock 

from whence they derived an origin; and the 

smaller the particles, the further they would be 

transported by the action of the moving waters. 

This law is unquestionably correct over an 

extended surface of level country, where the 

water had a comparatively quiet flow; but in this 

particular instance, it would appear to require 

some degree of modification, for the more 

numerous and larger boulders, after having torn 

up and dislocated the upper portion of the clays, 

in their passage along the surface, may now be 

seen in prodigious numbers, and of the greatest 

magnitude, lying up against the elevated range 

of mountains to the south, whilst rare indeed is 

the circumstance to find a solitary fragment of 

any considerable size any where along the intervening 

space. 

The various facts detailed in this communication, 

when attentively considered, would 

appear to favor the hypothesis advanced some 

years since, that by some powerful convulsion of 

nature, the barrier was burst asunder which pent 

up and confined the waters of this inland estuary 

or arm of the sea, and caused an almost 

instantaneous drainage of the land. Such being 

the case, a violent rush or current would be the 

result, sufficiently powerful to sweep along at a 

rapid rate, even the largest boulders in question, 

and by that means easily to disrupture the surface 

of the clay, and produce all the effects that 

we at present behold. But still, an adequate supply 

of water seems to have remained, in order to 

evenly disseminate the yellow sands over the 

irregular and broken up surface long ere the land 

had become permanently dry. 

The following results of analysis have been 

carefully obtained, expressly for this communication, 

by Dr. James H. Salisbury, of this city. 

Chapter 17 279

[See Table, his page 352.] 

“This analysis of the small yellow concretions, 

from the upper portion of the clays, was made in 

the State Laboratory, under the direction of 

Professor Emmons. 

Water 6.28 

Organic matter l.70 

Silica 30.88 

Free alumina and per oxide of iron 9.42 

Carbonate of lime 58.98 

Magnesia 0.22 

Total 99.42 13 

FREE LANCE NATURALIST 

It seems best to put here all general natural 

history articles written by James Eights in the 

1850s. There can be no doubt that income from 

such writing was his bread and butter. It also 

appears that when work took him away, articles 

stopped abruptly. There were three articles for 

the Cultivator in 1852 and two more in 1853. The 

new weekly Country Gentleman (the two papers 

were associated and both were Albany-based) 

began to share his Cultivator articles, then they 

appeared in the former alone. Thirty-eight articles 

appeared in the Country Gentleman in 1853 

— some reprints at least in part, some pot-boilers 

of general interest, some not based upon personal 

experience. 

What he was doing is not clear, but Eights 

was in the eastern Adirondacks (he spells it both 

with and without the final ‘k’) in November 

1851. These mountains, he wrote, “to the lovers 

of the picturesque, afford some of the most sublimely 

wild scenery that our country can anywhere 

present to the eye.” Yet (perhaps a hint 

that he was acting as geologist for mining interests), 

he felt that “the most interesting feature of 

these mountains is, the many and immense size 

of the magnetic iron ore beds, which almost 

everywhere disclose themselves to the sight, 

along the face of the cliffs which form the sides 

of these vallies. These beds of ore are of such 

magnitude, as to prove almost inexhaustible...they 

will be found capable of furnishing 

our country, for ages yet to come, with any 

quantity of the finest iron and steel.” He 

described one of the few iron ore beds that had 

yet been examined in detail, the ”Sandford bed,“ 

and expounded on chemical and physical constitution 

of rocks to be found there. There are 

detailed accounts of serpentine, hypersthene, 

feldspar, labradorite, kaolin, phosphate of lime, 

iron pyrites, and graphite (black lead). 14 

Two papers on entomology complete his initial 

year’s experience with the Cultivator. In the 

first, on “The onion fly — Anthomyia ceparum,” 

he alludes to a visit to Essex County, in the valley 

of the Au Sable River (probably his 

Adirondack trip of the year before). He found 

the onion crop nearly destroyed by the maggot 

of a fly that had proved very difficult to control. 

He thought ignorance of the animal’s life history 

so nearly complete that it would require “some 

intelligent and interested individual, residing on 

the spot” to trace “them through their various 

stages of existence to the perfect fly.” Treating 

seeds with deleterious substances (he suggested 

brine) might prove helpful, if the animal passes 

the winter state there. He thought white onions a 

preferred food (a hint that one might choose a 

resistant variety). Otherwise, suggestions for 

control were primitive: Charcoal seemed to deter 

them (the adults?) but should be thrown over 

only a part of the plot — one part being left with 

plants to which the adults will flock and lay their 

eggs; these plants are then “pulled up and consumed 

with fire.” 

The other paper concerned the “Red-legged 

locust,” which, “in the present season” (he 

wrote 12 October), had been uncommonly 

numerous in some of the northern counties of 

our state. Whether from experience or not, he 

alleged that they had “sometimes appeared in 

such multitudes, that the light of the sun could 

but at intervals be seen, from such positions on 

the earth over which they pursued their flight, 

and when they descended upon a field, left 

scarcely a green thing visible.” He was told that 

after eating all verdure, “they unhesitating lit 

upon the backs of the sheep in the patures, and 

commenced devouring the wool with as much 

apparent relish as if it had been, what we 

should have supposed, their more natural food. 


On many occasions, we witnessed them basking 

in the sunshine, on the denuded surfaces of 

the rocks, to such a degree as fairly to obscure 

them from the eye; and many of the larger 

streams have for some considerable distances 

been entirely covered by their floating carcasses, 

tainting the atmosphere with the odors arising 

from their decomposition, they having been 

drowned in endeavoring to cross from shore to 

shore.” His suggestions for control were few 

and circumstantial. You might mow grass early, 

thus get a crop, even as you starved the young 

insects before they became winged. Four individuals 

might maneuver a large cloth in such a 

way as to take immense numbers of insects: 

which “are to be thrown into boiling water, and 

fed either to the poultry or given to the pigs.” 

Young turkeys could also be pastured profitably 

in infested fields. 15 

The year 1853 began with two articles in the 

Cultivator but his loyalty soon shifted to the 

Country Gentleman. Of the two Cultivator articles, 

one is short and advised a correspondent why it 

was useful to add slaked lime to muck taken 

from swamps as an agricultural fertilizer. The 

other, nearer to his area of competence, was on 

“The pigeon hole borer. — Tremex columba,” 

whose larvae are serious pests of urban shade 

trees. He provided an illustration of this species 

of horntail, described its devastations, accounted 

for its life history and, rather incidentally, offered 

a few hints on control (applications of repellent 

material to the trunk of the tree, destroying the 

female when seen, “thrusting a red hot wire into 

the orifices, and thus causing the larvae to perish”); 

he also noted that the grubs are often 

destroyed by the larvae of its insect enemies. 16 

With the entrance of the weekly Country 

Gentleman on the Albany scene, Eights began a 

busy year in writing. I suspect that it gave him a 

chance to use some writings of a more substantial 

nature that he had not been able to place 

before. Some of the pieces can be dismissed as 

titles, others require some comment, a few 

deserve to be quoted at least in part. If I have 

been overgenerous in the last, it is to make them 

generally available, considering the difficulty 

one has in finding sound copies of the original 

publications. 

In the month of January 1853, Eights contributed 

to three issues. The first items were 

reprintings: “The pigeon hole borer” (under the 

general title of “Entomology”) and “Slaked lime 

and muck as a manure.” The next contribution 

continued his column on “Entomology,” an 

account of “Pimpla lunator. — Fab.” In his 

account of the pigeon hole borer, he mentioned 

Pimpla as one of its insect enemies. Pimpla is an 

ichneumonid wasp; the article includes a handsome 

illustration of one of these “benefactors to 

the human race...instruments ordained by a 

wise Providence to keep within due bounds, 

those otherwise ruinous ravagers of our forest 

trees.” He describes in ample detail the elegant 

searching, hole-boring, and egg-laying behaviors 

of the females that end in the deposition of 

eggs within the bodies of borer larvae deep 

within the wood of infested trees. The final 

piece for the month, entitled “On the study of 

insects,” reprinted, with some additions, his 

introductory essay of that name in The Zodiac; it 

closed with an editorial note that the author 

would answer queries and undertake identification 

of insects. 17 

February brought three articles and a footnote. 

The note was added by the editor to a popular 

account of the “barking wolf,” evidently our 

coyote or, as Eights called it, “prairie wolf.” “Dr. 

Eights of this city has furnished the following 

anecdote of the Prairie Wolf, which came under 

his own observation”: “A few years since, a pair 

of these interesting animals were sent to this city, 

and kept by a friend of ours during the winter, in 

the hay loft attached to his stable.” They became 

quite tame but were unpopular because at night 

they were allowed free range, to the detriment of 

neighbors’ poultry. A change of habitat to the 

country did not change their habits; one was 

shot, the other then placed under close confinement. 

The first article of the month was “Geological 

notice of the coast of Patagonia,” entirely drawn 

from an earlier article that we have already treated. 

The second article was on sheep, of which 

more anon, and the third was another contribution 

to “Entomology,” on the “Bark beetle — 

(Scolytus destructor),” rewritten from his “Some 

of our injurious Coleoptera,” with an illustration 

Chapter 17 281

added; he expanded his coverage but still knew 

no protection from their attacks. 18 

Eights’s account of sheep, ostensibly wild 

sheep, of which he had no knowledge in nature, 

was poorly titled. It started with an illustration 

entitled “The Rocky Mountain Sheep,” and this 

served as the title of the whole article. It was, 

otherwise, a singularly muddled speculation 

about the origin of domestic sheep. While taking 

a perhaps justified aim at the notion that the 

mouflon alone was the sole progenitor of domestic 

breeds, he overstated his case, exaggerated 

the genetic uniqueness of domestic varieties, 

pontificated about loss versus acquisition of 

physical characters (especially the tailed condition) 

and generally showed himself out of his 

element. He lacked understanding that it was 

precisely domestication that made possible the 

proliferation and survival of varieties unlike 

ancestral forms. His suggestions in regard to 

“preserving” wild species made even less sense: 

He urged their domestication as “the means of 

preserving the history of an interesting race of 

animals, which we very much fear will shortly 

disappear”! 

In his articles in the Country Gentleman in 

March, five in number, his name appeared 

directly under the title; no date was given. One 

was “On the origin of honey dew”; 

“Dissemination of the seeds of plants” was in 

three parts; the fifth was “The swift fox. — 

(Vulpes velox. Say.).” 19 

While referring to the incidence of honey 

dew in Albany the previous early summer 

(1852), there was little direct observation in the 

article on this noteworthy phenomenon (where 

tree leaves “exhibit an appearance as if they had 

but recently been washed by some viscous fluid, 

which, upon becoming dry, gave greatly the 

resemblance to a thin covering of varnish”). 

Combining the straw-man approach with the 

supposition that one speculation is as good as 

another, Eights trotted forth theories ranging 

from insects to peculiar aspects of weather as the 

primary causal agent, only to plump himself 

down as promoter of but one. There followed a 

nearly microscopic description of the typical 

aphid: a soft insect with a tubular beak at one 

end, the other end terminating in a pair of tuberculated 

knobs through the orifices of which 

droplets of saccharine fluid are copiously excreted. 

The account is overall interesting and well 

informed. 

“Dissemination of the seeds of plants” is a 

mixed bag. (I do not object to literary devices 

that prepare the way for what must be told, 

although that may be done easily or it may be 

strained; what I object to are totally misleading 

and obfuscating statements that were no truer in 

1853 than now.) Eights could write clearly. How 

he came up with this is beyond me: “It would 

seem to us that unless Nature had provided 

some adequate means for the diffusion of plants 

over the earth’s surface, that the interesting operations 

continually going on in their floral developments, 

for the perfection of the seed, would 

appear almost altogether unnecessary. But that 

such means have an existence in the numerous 

tribes of the vegetable creation, we have every 

reason to believe, and sufficient proof has been 

furnished, in our opinion, by their continuous 

and unerring reproduction.” Anyway, although I 

deny that “the agencies of man are but limited” 

in aiding the dissemination of plant propagules, 

he is right finally: Many plants produce massive 

numbers of seeds (he has figures), some of those 

seeds retain their viability for many years (his 

instances come from Professor Lindley) and 

modifications of seeds and their parts for disemmination 

are manifold and often surprising. 

Winds, rivers, and ocean currents transport seeds 

and spores. Animals assist to an extensive degree 

in the dispersion of seeds (this must be balanced 

by the certainty that in some cases, destruction of 

the seeds as food occurs). Many plants are dispersed 

by human agency. Plants themselves aid 

in dispersal and planting, as by projecting seeds 

in many ways; some seeds and fruits have directional 

hairs that enable them to creep and even 

bury themselves. Mountains, rivers, and oceans 

are “unable to affix barriers to the migration of 

the seeds of plants” but (he says) certain inborn 

characteristics prevent a general mixing of plants 

of tropics and polar regions. Within a single climatic 

zone, there will ultimately prove to be no 

barriers: All plants of that zone will soon be 

found throughout it. That dismal outlook is 

hailed as “one of the richest blessings to be 


derived from the industry and persevering intercourse 

of civilized nations”! 

The article on “The swift fox” is taken entirely 

from other authors. As for its name, he 

thought the animal not particularly swift: People 

who say so are mere copyists; he suggested the 

name “Prairie fox.” 

The month of April by its end brought a 

change, although the first two essays, “On the 

cultivation of cochineal,” were tame enough. It 

was surely a subject known to Eights only second-hand. 

Of more importance, the final essay of 

the month began a phenological series, “Scraps 

from a naturalist’s note book,” reminiscent of 

“The naturalist’s every day book” of another era. 

One can only suppose that the return of spring 

inspired him to start the calendar of a new season. 

Since these articles were factual and the subjects 

claimed to apply to Albany, I shall pay close 

attention to them, although sometimes without 

quoting them in their entirety. 20 

The articles on cochineal need not be reproduced, 

since they are a good story well told that 

he got from other authors. It ends in the 

approved way: When the mature aphids are 

gathered, “the process of extinguishing their 

existence becomes necessary.” They may be 

either exposed to the roasting rays of the sun; 

put in pans in an oven; or “thrown into bags, 

and submerged in boiling water.” “Thus the 

poor little insects are either baked or scalded to 

death to furnish the human race with their most 

magnificent scarlet dyes.” 

His phenological notes in “Scraps from a naturalist’s 

note book” follow. 

“Scraps from a naturalist’s note book,” No. 

1 (18 April 1853). After the usual elaborate introduction, 

there is an account of the half-hidden 

fragrant flowers of trailing arbutus, “a hardy little 

evergreen, which has a geographical range 

from the frozen regions of the north, all the way 

to the extremity of the American continent, at 

Cape Horn.” Another harbinger of spring is liverleaf, 

Hepatica — “but a few years since...this little 

plant was held in high repute as an efficient 

remedy for various descriptions of disease” but 

it has fallen into disuse. With it are found rue 

anemone, spring-beauty, and his Viola ovata. 

Trees in bloom include willows and poplars, 

alder, hazelnut (a plant that deserved cultivation). 

Robins, bluebirds, and pewees were heard 

calling a few days earlier but colder weather 

soon forced them to retire southward. Neither 

insects nor the migratory birds that depend 

mainly upon them for food have yet appeared. 21 

In May 1853, “Scraps,” No. 2-5, appeared 

once a week. 22 


2 (25 April). Robins and song sparrows now sing 

throughout the “light brush wood that covers 

the pine plains.” His characterization of the song 

of the latter is certainly exuberant if not misleading. 

Bank swallows were first seen a few mornings 

ago; chilly weather sometimes reduces clusters 

of them in nest cavities “almost to a perfect 

state of torpor.” In the latter part of May, “the 

piratical carrion crow [a misnomer]...in parties of 

four or five” await emergence of the young swallows. 

A pair of kingfishers was seen a few days 

ago, “on the telegraphic line where for a short 

distance it follows the bank of a small murmuring 

stream.” He alleges “a striking resemblance 

to the common King-fisher of Europe.” His willow 

butterfly (the mourning cloak) overwinters 

as adults; he describes the larvae as sometimes 

abundant enough to denude whole willow, 

poplar, and elm trees, bending the branches 

“downward by the weight of their almost countless 

multitudes.” There were few reptiles and 

amphibians as yet: exceptions being a single 

garter snake and what he calls “the ordinary 

marsh [pickerel] frog, (Rana palustris), heard from 

“stagnant pools”; several were seen “industriously 

employed in attaching their spawn to the 

submerged twigs at the bottom.” (One wonders 

that the spring peeper was not mentioned.) 

Vegetation is as yet not far advanced. An exception 

is skunk cabbage, everywhere piercing the 

dark soil of swampy and moist areas. “This plant 

is remarkable for the exceedingly attenuated and 

nauseating odor which it freely disseminates”; 

yet “it is highly esteemed for its medicinal 

virtues.” Other plants: alder, whose staminate 

catkins produce vast quantities of pollen, contributing 

to the “sulphur showers” of spring; 

bloodroot, of which “double” forms were known 

Chapter 17 283

and might be selected to adorn gardens, its reddish 

sap a good dye (he says), if a proper mordant 

is supplied, its “medicinal qualities...too 

well known to require an enumeration.” 


3 (1 May) Using his introduction to The Zodiac 

contribution for May, Eights then wrote a series 

of short essays, each pretty much on one subject. 

The muskrat or musquash, a common mammal, 

is fond of roots of the calamus and of freshwater 

mussels; their tunneling propensities were sometimes 

detrimental to pond embankments. Barn 

swallows have become common, invariably taking 

their food and drink on the wing. Schools of 

small herrings are seen, “having thus early been 

developed from the spawn.” Ladybird beetles 

are about and ought to be encouraged on any 

plant that may be infested by aphids. Bacon beetles 

(dermestids), dreadful pests of kitchen and 

larder, are seen commonly; great care should be 

taken to prevent their establishing themselves. 

Various plants are mentioned as in bloom: yellow 

dog-tooth “violet,” a handsome plant that 

might be usefully cultivated, although it is “of 

little practical utility, with the exception of the 

roots, which are sometimes made use of as a 

vegetable diet when properly prepared”; two 

species of buttercup, four violets, wild strawberry, 

horsetail (releasing spores), and shad-bush — 

the edible fruit of the last, he claimed, “can, by 

long cultivation, be greatly improved.” A long 

essay on red maple follows; he thought frost had 

little to do with the induction of bright autumn 

coloration; he held that a dry summer, by making 

the leaf cuticle “opake,” dulled leaf colors to 

the eye; he thought the brilliancy of coloration of 

American forests dependent on “the much 

greater transparency of our atmosphere, and 

consequently superior intensity of light”! Red 

maple bark yields a good cinnamon color with 

an aluminous mordant, intense black when prepared 

with sulphate or acetate of iron (Bancroft), 

while Darlington reported that the bark affords a 

“dark, purplish blue dye, and makes a pretty 

good blueish-black ink.” 

“Scraps from a naturalist’s note book, No. 4 

(9 May). He thought the poor daylight vision of 

bats (he uses the species name noveboracensis but 

probably had not examined the species critically) 

exaggerated, since he had witnessed their ready 

escape from places of confinement at that time, 

“exercising an ingenuity and exactness in the 

manner of accomplishing it.” He seems to attribute 

a kind of winter dormancy to red squirrels. 

Purple martins have returned; they are great 

favorites because they drive away birds of prey; 

many people construct “mimic houses” for them. 

Two specimens of great gray owl had been shot 

recently in the Helderbergs; they were being prepared 

for exhibit by James A. Hurst, state taxidermist. 

The American shad has been leisurely 

ascending the Hudson River for the past month; 

they were only recently to be found near Albany; 

on their return from spawning on the upper 

Hudson “about the last of May, they have 

become so much reduced in flesh as scarcely to 

be fit to eat.” Insects had suffered greatly from 

recent cold, sustained rains. Vegetation: slowed 

by inclement weather and not nearly as far along 

as usual for this season; leather-wood is in full 

flower; besides the singular toughness of the 

bark (used as cordage by the Indians), the bark, 

if swallowed in the fresh condition, “immediately 

produces a burning sensation of heat, then a 

severe retching, which terminates in a violent 

vomiting.” 


5 (16 May). The large yellow pond lily seemed 

ahead of schedule in blooming (he used the 

name Nuphar advena but probably referred to N. 

lutea; he ascribed to it eminently edible tubers, 

leaves, and seeds). His glaucous laurel (now 

Kalmia polifolia), was in beautiful flower in a 

sphagnous pond some two miles easterly from 

the city, its only locality in this area; it was there 

accompanied by leather-leaf; both deserved cultivation. 

Spotted cranes-bill, a pretty herbaceous 

plant, commences blooming in early May and 

continues for a long period; a popular garden 

flower, it was highly esteemed among Indians 

for medicinal attributes, “as an efficient remedy 

for most of the diseases by which they were 

afflicted.” He had recently examined a specimen 

of cliff swallow (he uses the specific name fulva 

but this is no longer accepted) shot south of the 


city; he describes “its somewhat curious history” 

in detail — a pair of them appeared at Whitehall 

in 1822; ten years later, they were found in 

southern Albany County. Chimney swallows 

(swifts) are again present, having “taken up their 

usual quarters within the tall, unappropriated 

chimneys attached to our dwellings”; these are 

the earliest birds to stir in the morning, the last 

to go to roost at night; he describes well their 

swirling flocks as they descend slowly into their 

favorite chimney at dusk; he thought that some 

of the flocks were composed largely of male 

birds, while females were scattered more widely 

in their nesting activities. 

In June 1853, Eights contributed three essays, 

the first, undated, pretty much a reprint of previous 

writings; all are in his “Scraps” series. 23 


6 (no date). His accounts of the purple side-saddle 

or pitcher plant and the rose leaf-roller moth 

are similar to essays that he contributed to The 

Zodiac. Both are, naturally, good stories; he 

thought that the leaf-rollers were best killed by 

shaking them off their host plants onto a sheet of 

cloth; they were otherwise extremely tenacious 

of life, neither strong suds nor saline solutions 

killed them effectively. 


7 (14 June). Eights was in a proselytizing mood, 

anxious to persuade his fellow citizens to plant 

and transplant American plants to their gardens. 

He feared that the most beautiful of plants 

bloomed in swamps and marshy places, 

“unfolding their loveliness to eyes that do not 

see,...evolving their fragrance...to senses by 

which they are never appreciated.” In the case of 

his white honeysuckle, Rhododendron viscosum, he 

sensed a reason that its handsome flowers, 

whose perfume could be perceived at a distance 

of half a mile, were not cultivated. Gardeners 

experienced difficulty in cultivating it: Perhaps it 

had been “wisely intended to entice the more 

sedentary inhabitants of our cities to indulge in a 

morning or evening walk in the country, 

and...restore their exhausted energies, without 

resorting, which we fear is too often the case —- 

to the more vulgar influences of drugs, and 

many other remedies of an artificial nature.” His 

common cranberry, Oxycoccus macrocarpus (it is 

now Vaccinium macrocarpon), was in abundant 

bloom; he hoped that it would be cultivated, for 

“rapid improvements in the surrounding neighborhood, 

are gradually obliterating all traces of it 

from the face of nature.” The berries, which may 

easily be kept through the winter, should not be 

picked until fully ripened on the vine. Several 

species of aquatic vertebrates seemed to have 

appeared near Albany through the agencies of 

northern and western canals: small-mouthed 

black bass, which was first noticed in 1830; softshelled 

turtle; “the Proteus of Lake Champlain” 

(now Necturus maculosus). He thought the eventual 

result would be that species will be “found 

freely mingling together, and concentrated in the 

same distinct localities.” His account of the 

nighthawk is instructive; he intimates that to see 

and hear it, one must “stray beyond the 

precincts of our city” (in later times, it was precisely 

the city where it might be observed in 

great numbers, since it used the tarred and graveled 

flat roofs of urban buildings as preferred 

nesting sites); whether males in displays actually 

“throw a quick and complete summer-set in the 

air” may be doubted. 


8 (20 June). Birds, he finds, “have now almost 

discontinued their melody” — oddly, Eights supposed 

they were now so engrossed in incubation 

and rearing their young, that “the insect tribes 

are committing their depredations with the 

greatest impunity”! The chickadee, or “blackcapt 

titmouse,” he recently saw in a small flock 

in the Helderbergs; he alleges that these “hardy 

and vigorous little birds have hitherto been generally 

supposed to withdraw themselves to the 

cold regions of the north, for the purpose of nidification, 

on the earliest approach of the warm 

days of spring” — in contrast, he describes winter 

behavior quite like that of our time. Have 

nesting habits so much changed? His description 

of winter-feeding, mixed flocks of chickadees 

and downy woodpeckers is well done. He 

refused to credit one charge against chickadees 

— that they would attack a sickly comrade and 

pierce its skull and eat the brains: “this species of 

Chapter 17 285

arbarity...would prove perfectly inconsistent 

with all the other habits of its life.” One of the 

most beautiful of native wildflowers, moccasin 

flower, blooms abundantly in “open forests of 

pine”; after a long and windy disquisition proving 

that plants that please the senses do not often 

provide anything useful to man, while those that 

are medicinal or otherwise beneficial are not 

noted for their beauty, he alights upon this 

orchid as a paragon of medicinal virtue. Fireflies, 

he found, were late this year; they are always 

sensitive to any degree of cold. 

At mid-year, the Country Gentleman began its 

second volume. James Eights’s “Scraps” continued 

until early November. There were two contributions 

in July. 24 


9 (27 June). As in his contributions to The Zodiac 

of similar date, he noted the diminution of most 

bird song, while that of whip-poor-wills might 

again be heard. Bats emerge in the evening to 

pursue various insects that are then abroad. His 

long account of the mountain laurel, thriving no 

closer to Albany than the Helderbergs, paralleled 

his former account in The Zodiac, but he added 

claims of Dr. Stabler who found beneficial effects 

from its use in quieting the action of the heart 

and other ailments. Pigeon hole borers now 

make their appearance; he found them to attack 

elms, maples, and sycamores (buttonwoods). 


10 (4 July). Most of this contribution concerns 

two destructive beetles, the rose-chafer (his 

genus Melolontha) and the grapevine-chafer 

(genus Anomala). The former rose pest, he says, 

was not formerly found in this section but had 

become so common that it, “in the space of but a 

few days perfectly succeeds in rendering the 

appearance of these plants alike filthy and 

digusting in the extreme. In such large numbers 

have they presented themselves, that it is not 

unusual to discover as many as fifty, and sometimes 

eighty, committing their depredations 

upon a single flower, consuming the petals and 

devouring the bud in a single hour.” Shades of 

our modern Japanese beetles! Despite the enormous 

numbers that must have been present, he 

confidently recommended the direct killing of 

adults by hand (“by crushing, or shaking them 

into basins of scalding water, and feeding them 

to the fowls”) as offering a sure remedy to their 

depredations. A specimen of a marine fish, the 

New York sole, had been caught in a seine in the 

Hudson near the city; he had helped James A. 

Hurst, State Taxidermist, identify it. 

Four parts of “Scraps” were published in 

August 1853, all of them signed “J.E.,” one of 

them indicated as from Albany. 25 


11 (25 July). Since Eights had in hand the specimen 

of mole that he identified as Scalopus aquaticus, 

one must assume he distinguished correctly 

among the three species of moles found locally. 

The star-nosed and hairy-tailed moles have 

salient features that ought to identify them readily. 

I do not understand his anxiety to prove that, 

contra authority, his species possessed vision. I 

gather that if his specimen had an eye small but 

readily discernible it was not the species he 

named. That a mole “has the power of expanding 

or contracting it [its eye] at pleasure, so as 

readily to adapt it to the gloominess of its subterranean 

abode, or to the brightness of sunshine,” 

is entirely mistaken. He was no doubt correct to 

defend moles as a useful part of the soil fauna. 

His short piece on the peach-tree borer and how 

to combat it was reprinted from an earlier Zodiac 

entry. 


12 (1 August). A long essay on the hackberry tree 

incorporates considerable material from 

unnamed authors. He calls it nettle tree, a name 

that I suppose is accounted for by the shape of 

the leaf; as a berry, it offers much seed and little 

flesh; he supposes its wood similar to its relative 

in Europe, where it is cherished for its hardness 

and density; the bark is used for tanning and a 

yellow dye is extracted from the root. Oddly, he 

thought that the action of nurserymen to transplant 

and cultivate it was required, “thus preventing 

its extinction from the desolating hand 

of modern improvement.” Since birds were 

assumed to disseminate the seeds, he was at a 

loss to explain its rather limited distribution; per- 

286 Janes Eights, 1798–1882, Antaric Explorer

haps it was due to “the circumstance of the 

lower portion of the flowers being almost universally 

in an imperfect state...that the seeds 

themselves cannot become perfectly organized in 

their nature.” Considering the immense number 

of highly successful species of plants with variously 

reduced, unisexual flowers, this is a most 

improbable diagnosis. His account of the pinetree 

borer or tickler was adapted from one part 

of his “Some injurious Coleoptera” (1848). A 

prodigious number of young shad could now be 

seen, the product of the current year’s spawning 

season of this anadromous fish. 


13 (15 August). The essay on the red-legged 

locust was taken from the Cultivator (1852). The 

main part of this number concerns the slippery 

elm. His main object was to draw attention to 

the wanton waste of one of the finest native 

ornamental trees. “By a reference to the ‘annual 

floral calendars,’ kept for the last thirty years, of 

the plants growing spontaneously in this neighborhood 

[mentioned nowhere else by him], we 

find several notices entered of the flowering of 

this species of elm, and numerous localities 

given, in situations where they now no longer 

exist.” He largely blamed those who stripped 

bark “from the trunk, for the purpose of obtaining 

the mucilagenous inner substance for medicinal 

uses.” The original harvesters got a pittance 

for their work and trees were destroyed. He 

described at length the medicinal and food value 

of the inner bark; the wood too had considerable 

usefulness. Since all these uses involve destruction 

of trees, it is not entirely evident how they 

were to be accommodated while preserving trees 

from harm. 


14 (15 August). The account of the nenuphar or 

plum-curculio (or plum-weevil) was a long one. 

In it, the destruction visited upon the plum crop 

is not exaggerated. He felt that authorities were 

incorrect to state that the larvae complete their 

development promptly and emerge as adults; his 

observations led him to think that the larvae 

usually overwintered in that state and became 

adults just before emergence in the spring. (He 

was wrong on both counts.) He was inclined to 

believe allegations that certain warty excrescences 

known as black knot were also caused by 

these insects. His controls were few: The effluvia 

of fermenting manure was said by some to be 

effective; others urged that sheets of white cloth 

be spread, the tree shaken, the fallen insects disposed 

of; Eights seemed to favor the use of 

swine in orchards to eat fallen plums before the 

larvae could escape. Two final essays are 

reworked versions of ones used in The Zodiac. 

His tumble-bugs have at least now become 

“tumble-dung beetles” that construct a pellet of 

dry (he says!) cow dung; otherwise, its habits 

have not changed. Dogbane flowers were still 

considered to be among true insectivorous 

plants. He added to this account reference to the 

splendidly irridescent dogbane beetles so commonly 

found associated with the plants at this 

time of year. 

The month of September 1853 saw five weekly 

productions of Eights’s column, a few of them 

incorporating previously published paragraphs, 

one of them given no date. 26 


15 (21 August). This week’s contribution begins 

and ends with familiar strains — thoughts of 

harvest and the congregations of swallows 

preparatory to migration, both of which signal 

the end of a growing season. Along with the 

familiar are three new, original essays of the sort 

that Eights ought to have been producing right 

along. The first of these must be quoted in its 

entirety: “Muhlenburgh’s [!] tortoise, (Emys 

Muhlenbergii of DeKay) — According to this 

author, in the Zoological Reports of the State of 

New-York, the northern geographical range of 

this rare reptile has been restricted to Rockland 

county, from whence the specimen was obtained 

from which his description was taken. For the 

last thirty years we have been in the habit of 

obtaining them from a small morass in the county 

of Rensselaer, situated about three miles to the 

eastward of our city; and a few days since we 

were enabled to obtain two fine specimens from 

this locality, which happily proved upon inspection, 

both male and female. In its form it is a 

remarkably symmetrical animal, measuring 

Chapter 17 287

about four inches in length, and is furnished on 

each side of the back part of the head, and a portion 

of the neck, with two irregularly formed, 

reddish-orange blotches, which sometimes 

become confluent. It is stated to be decidedly terrestrial 

in its habits, but we have never met with 

it but in the water, or in close approximation to 

it, into which it instantaneously plunged when 

disturbed, and speedily buried itself beneath the 

mud. Its shell is considerably elevated, and from 

some other characteristic points, it is, in our 

opinion, extremely doubtful whether it should 

not be removed from the genus Emys, under 

which it appears to be improperly placed, and 

arranged elsewhere, in a position more strictly 

applicable to its conformation and peculiar 

habits.” 27 

Notice of the balance of “Scraps” No. 15 

follows. The overcup white oak (bur or overcup 

oak) is treated at length, although not from any 

particular seasonal point of view. There is a 

general description and its use in landscape 

plantings is recommended. It has wood of many 

excellent qualities. Its acorns are abundant and 

very large, bearing a conspicuous fringe of long 

threads at the edge of the cup. In another part, 

he describes “The Pure-water Spring” that is to 

be found on the eastern slope of an elevated area 

near the village of Greenbush. The water is 

exceedingly pure: only 0.0715 grains of insoluble 

matter in three gallons (56,000 grains) of fluid, 

and that entirely lacking sulphuric acid, magnesia, 

or iron. Its temperature, year-round, varied 

no more than one degree from 48°F. “It would 

appear from the geological structure of this hill, 

that this water derives its extreme purity and 

even temperature from having been gradually 

filtered through an extensive bed of gravel, 

which rests upon an impervious mass of stratified 

clays, over the sloping surfaces of which it is 

continually descending in a direction towards 

the opening of the spring.” Its abundance, purity, 

and temperature, “we should suppose would 

strongly recommend it to the advocates of the 

cold-water method of cure, for its justly beneficial 

application in all cases of nervous debility, 

and various other diseases where the enfeebled 

constitution requires an acquisition of strength 

and vigor.” His account of swallows and their 

gathering for autumnal migration is adapted 

from an entry in The Zodiac. 


16 (no date given). The main part is a detailed 

account of the white or Weymouth pine, a parallel 

of his recent accounts of bur oak and hackberry. 

This pine had been, he wrote, “gradually 

diminishing in number, until it has at length 

become exceedingly scarce in this vicinity.” A 

number of them could, however, be found in a 

forest southwest of the city. In height, they may 

reach 150 feet, much of the height being a single 

trunk of arrowy straightness, with limbs only 

near the top, due to the overtopping and death 

of lower branches. Roots are shallow, capable of 

anchoring and nourishing the trees in the most 

sterile of soils. Each tree is the center of a stabilized 

area. Sandy soil that would otherwise be 

blown away is kept in place; areas of verdure 

develop and extend their influence “until trees of 

a different character successively take root in the 

soil, and flourish” (a neat hint of successional 

processes in ecology). They are, due to the shallowness 

of the root systems, often wind-thrown, 

with the entire, almost entirely undisturbed root 

system fully exposed. These masses of roots “are 

almost incorruptible,” and are often used to construct 

fences that may last for nearly a century 

without decay. The species was becoming scarce 

and Eights recommended its cultivation. It was a 

tree of rapid growth and the planting of plots at 

annual intervals would soon ensure a perpetual 

supply. The final part of this contribution is on 

the pea-weevil, taken largely from his article of 

1848. 


17 (4 September): Three nonseasonal accounts, 

one on poison sumac, one on a wheat parasite 

known as smut-brand (genus Uredo), and one on 

the ocelot. Poison sumac is a handsome shrub, 

found commonly in the margins of swampy 

grounds. Most people, however, were likely to 

bar its close association in the social landscape, 

because of its extreme toxicity except in the cases 

of a favored few. Its poisonous properties, however, 

were removed by evaporation or boiling 

and it appeared that the sap from this shrub can 


e turned into a substance similar to Japanese 

lacquer. In that state, it has lost its toxic properties. 

I cannot see that Eights had learned any of 

this from experience. 

Wheat smut-brand, a serious fungal disease 

associated with wheat, had been carried to all 

parts of the globe to which wheat seed had gone. 

The parasite’s life history is retold — in that day, 

it appears the only hope a farmer had to grow a 

crop free of it was to wash thoroughly and dry 

seed grain before planting, a remedy for which 

some usefulness was claimed. 

The ocelot (a wild cat of the Southwest and 

Latin America) came to Eights’s attention 

because somebody had one on display in Albany 

and when it died, the State Taxidermist preserved 

it. Eights, delighting in the animal’s 

handsome color and markings, was in favor of 

domesticating it. He hoped to induce it “to forsake 

its wild and uncertain life in the woods, 

and...assume a more certain and regular existence, 

under the mild restraints of civilized life; it 

no doubt, if accomplished, would prove a most 

beautiful addition to the domestic arrangements 

of our dwellings, and quickly supercede our 

ordinary race of degenerated cats.” 

“Scraps from a naturalist’s note book, No. 

18 (12 September). Most entries concern insects, 

a subject brought on in part by Eights’s feeling 

that the time of year had come when insects 

were making preparations for surviving the 

coming winter. His account of the cabbage white 

butterfly is mainly of interest because of his 

observations upon the great number of its insect 

enemies. His scientific name is now hopelessly 

outdated, his identification dubious, and his 

willingness to use imported names such that it is 

best not to pursue the matter. At one point, he 

even suggests that one of his species is a 

European butterfly not introduced into this 

country until about 1860. Of their many highly 

specialized enemies, he remarks: “This insect, in 

all its varying stages of existence, is singularly 

subject to the attacks of those belonging to several 

of the other tribes, and with such a host of 

active enemies, continually on the alert, it 

becomes a matter of some surprise how any of 

these caterpillars should ever escape with life.” 

“Among these parasites which conspicuously 

appear in the light of public benefactors, may be 

enumerated a tiny fly that lays its eggs on the 

eggs of the butterfly”; caterpillars are “punctured” 

by a species of Microgaster whose grubs 

“come forth and form little yellow cocoons, 

which are placed around the body of the 

exhausted larva”; an ichneumon fly, Pimpla, 

whose larva devours the entire contents the 

larva, “with the exception of the vital parts”; and 

a beautiful, tiny chalcid wasp, genus Pteromalus, 

that may be found issuing forth by the thousands 

from a spent caterpillar. Clearly, Eights 

was an early student of the natural control of 

insect pests, however unsystematic his approach 

to the subject. His account of the painted clytus, 

the locust borer (a long-horned beetle) was 

adapted from a previous publication. With the 

parasite of the wheat-midge, a serious agricultural 

pest, he returned to the subject of biotic 

control of pest populations. His example he 

claims to be the genus Platygaster, a tiny wasp to 

which has been “assigned...the peculiar and 

important duty of keeping in proper subjection 

that unrivalled pest of our fields, the Wheatmidge.” 

“We regret that some means have not 

yet been discovered to multiply this interesting 

little insect, and thus effectually preserve our 

wheat fields from the fearful depredations of the 

midge.” His account of the fringed gentian 

(“now finely in flower”) is taken from an earlier 

notice of this beautiful, medicinally useful plant. 


19 (20 September). An autumnal note (reprinted 

from a notice in The Zodiac) introduces a thorough 

essay on the white oak; this is followed by 

a seasonally appropriate but reprinted notice of 

the Pine Plains box turtle. The oak account is 

minutely detailed. He thinks its relative local 

scarcity due to severity of the climate and 

believes it likely to be wind-thrown when 

younger. “It is the only species of our oaks, on 

which a few of the dried leaves remain on the 

branches until the circulation is renewed in the 

ensuing spring” — certainly a notable characteristic 

of it, although not unique to this species. 

Fall coloration of leaves is violet or purple, quite 

in contrast to the colors of maples. He has the 

Chapter 17 289

acorns “extremely sweet to the taste,” perhaps 

an overstatement. He feared that population 

growth and use of products made of this superior 

wood had so outstripped replacement that an 

emergency that called “for a speedy supply of 

this timber, for a naval increase,” would find the 

nation deficient. Along with “some of the reflecting 

portion of our community,” he advocated 

planting white oaks, “particularly over many of 

the vast tracts of land in possession of the government,...which 

have hitherto been considered 

of so little value, and as a barren and an unproductive 

waste.” 

Eights produced three chapters of his 

“Scraps” in October 1853, a couple of which 

require some comment. 28 


20 (6 October). This account consists of essays on 

American holly and the house spider. Eights’s 

account of American holly (there can be no 

doubt about the species he describes) is flawed 

and was clearly taken uncritically from a source 

available to him. This is not a critical matter, 

even if not acknowledged. His other long 

accounts of trees were likely as much from the 

literature and common repute as from experience; 

they are educational nevertheless. My 

objection is to his clear claim that holly is a common 

constituent of the local forest: “With us it 

grows not profusely, but may not unfrequently 

be met with growing on open grounds, in light 

woods, and in dry sandy or stony soils, easily to 

be recognised by its peculiar pyrimidical form, 

its brilliant evergreen foliage and the singular 

appearances of the leaves; and in the fall and 

winter seasons, by the light scarlet color of its 

berries.” If it grew thus in the forest vegetation 

near Albany, the fact has escaped the notice of all 

botanists. 

The account of house spiders tells how they 

are now depositing their eggs and covering them 

with web that protects them until they hatch in 

the spring. He notices that spiders, unlike flies, 

lack suction feet, so must counteract gravity by 

the aid of their webs. A spider crossing a ceiling 

proceeds cautiously from one irregularity to 

another, putting down a safety line of silk at 

intervals, so that a slip of its feet results in its 

falling only a few inches. 

“Scraps from a Naturalist’s Note Book,” No. 

21 (12 October). The first essay requires quotation 

in full. 

“The Wild Pigeon — Ectopistes migratoria — 

Bonaparte. For a few weeks past this fine bird of 

our country has been daily seen, in large numbers, 

congregating in the light woods in the 

vicinity of the Hudson river, particularly in the 

neighborhood of stubble fields. They appear to 

be on a migratory expedition to the south, taking 

the journey, however, very leisurely, remaining 

for some considerable time wherever an abundance 

of food occurs, unless driven away by the 

annoyances of the hunter. This rather is an 

unusual circumstance now with us, although 

their appearance and disappearance are always 

exceedingly irregular every where in the State. 

“This bird breeds in the neighborhood of our 

city, in the white birch and poplar trees; among 

the numerous swamps scattered so profusely 

over the pine plains, and not unfrequently, when 

the beech mast is in abundance, they remain 

with us during the inclemencies of the winter. 

“According to the statement of the late Paul 

Clark of this city, who met with perfect success 

in hatching and rearing the young from the nest, 

these birds have three and sometimes four 

broods between the months of May and 

September, and lay but two eggs at a time in the 

nest, which the female sits upon fifteen days, 

when they become hatched, and the unfledged 

young, in eight days, are completely feathered. 

The same success attended some experiments in 

England, with a number of the birds sent out 

from this country. It is certainly very desirable 

that so prolific an American bird should be 

domesticated, and we ofttimes wonder that 

some unusual pains have not been taken for its 

accomplishment. 

“For the last quarter century, these birds 

have rarely been seen flying in such prodigious 

numbers along the valley of the Hudson river as 

formerly, when, as many of our citizens may yet 

remember, it was no unusual circumstance to 

purchase as many as desired, in the markets, at 

one cent a piece.” 29 

Three short accounts complete this number. 

Bugleweed (water horehound) had been sent by 


a correspondent, who wanted to know its name 

and medical virtues. It grows freely everywhere, 

does not have showy flowers but was previously 

esteemed as a decoction by consumptives “to 

lessen the pulse, and allay the irritation of a 

cough,” and had been considered by some 

authors “a substitute for all narcotics. It has now, 

however, fallen into disuse.” 

A short essay on bedbugs was introduced, 

we are told, so that he could recommend “a simple 

remedy for their destruction” — which was 

“with a brush to wash the furniture that contains 

the insects...with the ordinary ‘burning fluid’ 

[kerosene?] as sold in the shops.” He much 

doubted that the species had first been imported 

into Europe from America, as some had claimed, 

“so that we are fully justified in believing that it 

is one of the many evils that accompanied the 

blessings which commerce has introduced into 

our country from other shores.” 

Flower buds of rosebay (which he calls 

“dwarf” but modern botanists refer to as “great” 

laurel) were, he noted, perfectly formed, “in 

which situation they are to remain until the succeeding 

month of June shall call them into 

bloom.” It is not clear that he saw it in the 

Albany area, citing its northern limits along the 

Hudson as the Catskills (not borne out by modern 

maps, where a more extensive range is suggested). 

Perhaps, in this more northern part of its 

range, it was smaller in stature than in its best 

habitat. A respectable botanist reported it in New 

Hampshire, “though rather diminutive in size.” 

He suggested its cultivation but knew of no use 

to which its wood could be put. 


22 (15 October). Autumn is ushered in (“gradually 

passing into the dreariness of winter”) by fall 

colors of trees. He has the colors about right 

(sugar and red maples, ashes, hickory, dogwood, 

birches, oaks). “This magnificent display of colors 

in our forest and landscape scenery is no 

doubt in some way or other intimately connnected 

with that peculiar condition of our atmosphere 

at this season of the year, which has 

received the appellation of ‘the Indian summer,’ 

but its immediate relation has never yet been 

clearly pointed out. This smoky appearance of 

the atmosphere is no doubt peculiar to Northern 

America...and has been repeatedly and variously 

accounted for.” He still entertained, however, the 

belief that “it is produced by a partial and chemical 

decomposition of the atmosphere immediately 

contiguous to the earth’s surface, owing to an 

acrid matter arising from a decaying state of the 

leaves of some of the trees peculiar to the country, 

most probably to those of the oak, which are 

well known to botanists to be far more numerous 

in species than are to be found growing over 

the entire surface of the globe beside. This, however, 

is not advanced as an explanation, but as a 

mere conjecture thrown out for the consideration 

of physiological geographers.” 

He had recently captured specimens of sexton 

beetles. He described from the literature their 

peculiar habits of burying dead animals and bits 

of carrion. He assumed that the purpose of burial 

must be securing the future of their young, 

not for their own food, although his argument 

was circumstantial only. 

Winterberry (black alder), a deciduous holly, 

“when its branches are profusely covered with 

berries, in the autumn and winter, is one of the 

most beautiful ornaments of our damp woods 

and swamps grounds.” The berries afford food 

for wintering birds. “This plant is a universal 

favorite among the families of many of our farmers, 

who beautifully ornament their rooms during 

the christmas holidays by placing the berried 

stems in tufts of evergreen moss.” 

In the Country Gentleman for November 1853, 

Eights placed two numbers of his “Scraps.” This 

ended another of his seasonal calendars and it 

also ended, for many years, his association with 

that magazine. The last of the columns was 

dated by him as 1 November. Some speculations 

on the precise timing of “what happened next” 

will occupy a concluding paragraph of this 

chapter. 30 


23 (24 October). Two essays only constitute this 

number, one a long account of flowering dogwood. 

His comments on its local distribution 

and growth form seem from his own experience. 

I judge comments on its medicinal value are 

from literature available to him. It blooms early 

Chapter 17 291

in the spring, at what Indians considered the 

time to plant corn. The leaves color well in 

autumn and the abundant handsome red berries, 

although bitter to our taste, are attractive to birds 

such as robins that are present in autumn. The 

wood is close-grained and hard, answering as a 

substitute for boxwood used by wood engravers 

in all but the finest work. It was once used as a 

stimulant and tonic as well as a substitute for 

quinine in the treatment of malaria. The other 

essay, a notice of the golden-crested kinglet, is 

short. At the time of writing, it was to be seen 

about fruit trees, in a brief stay on fall migration. 

They were not common and were seen an equally 

short time in spring. Nothing is said of song 

(in the spring) nor of any behavior, except its 

seeming fearlessness as it searched out insect 

food on the branches of trees. 


24 (1 November). Eights confined himself to two 

topics in his final contribution. His account of 

wild rice makes one wish he had spent more of 

his life systematically gathering specific information 

on the status of the local biota. “This interesting 

plant was formerly not uncommon on 

many of the shoals and low islands interspersed 

along the waters of the Hudson river, and it is 

but a few years since that it was known to grow 

in some profusion on the small island immediately 

in front of the city of Hudson, and likewise 

on the margin of a pond situated but a few miles 

from the city of Schenectady. It was in these 

localities that our botanists at the time, were in 

the habit of procuring them for the purpose of 

supplying their herbariums with specimens.” 

Presumably not from any personal acquaintance, 

he tells how the plant may be found by the 

square mile in the shallow lakes of western states 

and territories. Birds of prey feed upon the 

waterfowl that flock in to feed on the grain. To 

the same table of abundant food, native Indian 

tribes also gather. A canoe is run into the lake, 

workers bend over it the tall heads of grass and 

thresh out the grains into the bottom of the boat. 

“In such profusion does it exist in these regions, 

that from one small lake in Minnesota, eight 

hundred bushels were obtained from its surface, 

by the Indians alone, during the month of 

August of the preceding year.” Indians prefer it 

gathered in the milky condition but it has then to 

be thoroughly dried out before a fire before it 

can be threshed. Botanists, he said, were uncertain 

whether it was annual or perennial: with 

majority opinion favoring the latter (it is 

accounted strictly an annual by modern 

authors). He could not, in any case, understand 

why enterprising farmers had not thought of cultivating 

it. It thrived spontaneously, the labor of 

planting would be small, “the soil required for 

its growth being otherwise useless.” As a fodder, 

too, it ought to be a useful, extremely cheap 

crop. 31 

An account of the white ash concludes this 

number. There is little specific local information 

on it and nothing is said of the striking coloration 

of its leaves in autumn. The winged 

fruits and their function are well described (for 

“seeds...eighteen inches in length” one would 

surely read lines). “The leaves and branches...are 

said to be so offensive, and even poisonous to 

reptiles, that they universally avoid coming in 

contact with them, and the leaf, it is also stated, 

gives immediate relief in cases occurring from 

the bite of the rattlesnake, and it is mentioned by 

Emmerson that ‘a more important property has 

been tested. An ash leaf rubbed upon the 

swellings caused by mosquitoes, removes the 

itching and soreness immediately.’ [His reference 

here is presumably to George Barrell Emerson 

(1797–1881).] The same effect is produced on the 

poison occasioned by the sting of the bee. A 

decoction of the leaves is said to be an antidote 

to the poison of lamb-kill (sheep laurel, Kalmia 

angustifolia,) when taken by lambs.” 

One hears from Eights in all this no reference 

to his own activities nor that of the newly rejuvenated 

Albany Institute. At the Institute, James 

Hall’s star was in the ascendence, the old order 

gradually passed (the death of Lewis C. Beck 

was noticed in the 21 April 1853 meeting of the 

Institute); Ebenezer Emmons, Sr., continued 

bravely to attend meetings when he was in 

Albany but was present only at intervals. It 

appears probable that his absence, in his new 

work with the North Carolina Geological Survey 

had something to do with the unheralded depar- 


ture of James Eights for the gold fields of that 

state. To that subject the next chapter will be 

devoted. 

NOTES 

1. Henry Papers, Smithsonian Archives Record Unit 

7001, Box 10, letter 311, 19 Feb 1850. The nature of “paper 

& specimens” is not further explained. 

2. Henry Papers, as above, letter 103. 

3. Henry Papers, as above, Letter 139. I have found no 

evidence that Eights went to Minnesota or anywhere else 

in the early part of this decade. How long Eights remained 

unwelcome in DeWitt’s office is not clear. It seems quite 

likely that DeWitt, active in the affairs of the renewed 

Albany Institute, was in 1852 instrumental in placing 

Eights’s two important papers (noticed below). In 1856, 

Eights, after his North Carolina adventure, used DeWitt’s 

office at least as his temporary address (see JE’s letter to 

B.J. Lossing, June 1856). 

4. Henry Papers, as above, letter 169. Henry probably 

had no outlet for Eights’s geological paper upon which 

Eights had fixed his hopes but was too polite to say so. 

5. “We are gratified to learn,” said the Argus, Anon., 6 

March 1851, “that an effort is making to revive the old 

‘Albany Institute.’ This institution was for many years one 

of the most flourishing in the country, and corresponded 

with most of the learned societies of Europe. Its collections 

and library are very large and valuable, and its revival 

cannot fail to do good to our city.” See AI Minutes, 6 

March 1851. Argus, Anon., 20 March 1851. AI Minutes, 20 

March. 

7. The story, as a precautionary tale, if nothing more, 

cannot be too often told, of how the elite of the scientific 

world vindictively ganged up on Emmons at Hall’s command. 

The story concerns Emmons’s unfortunate alliance 

with an aspiring school teacher of Greenbush, James T. 

Foster, and his geological chart (whose revised chart 

Emmons endorsed and Hall, it appears, took for a midnight 

ride on a boat from New York and threw into the 

Hudson River); the smug certainty of the nabobs of science 

that they had all the answers for all time; the proof 

that came too late that many of Emmons’s claims in regard 

to the greater age of his “Taconic System” were well 

founded. John Mason Clarke, long an assistant to Hall, 

then his successor, tells the basic story, James Hall, pp. 204- 

216; D.W. Fisher, “Emmons, Hall, Mather, and Vanuxem,” 

pp. 42-43, gives a thumbnail account. For a scholarly history, 

both of the role of Emmons in founding American geology 

and in defense of his “Taconic System,” see: Cecil J. 

Schneer, “Ebenezer Emmons and the foundations of 

American geology” and “The great Taconic controversy.” 

Professor Schneer has contributed valuable biographies of 

Emmons in C.C. Gillispie, Dictionary of Scientific Biography, 

4: 363-356, and C.A. Elliott, Biographical Dictionary of 

American Science, p. 87. Both this history and the work of 

Emmons in North Carolina are reviewed by Markes E. 

Johnson, “The second geological career of Ebenezer 

Emmons...1851-1860”; I am grateful to Professor Johnson 

for biographical material on the Emmons family. For an 

unrepentant defender’s view of Emmons, see testy old 

Jules Marcou’s review “The ‘Taconic System,’ and its position 

in stratigraphic geology” (1885). See also two wonderful 

letters by Marcou to J.M. Clarke, 17 and 24 Nov 1894 

(that is, while Hall was still alive) (N.Y. State Archives, 

A4208-87, Box 5) — in the second, Marcou pointed out 

that he was not criticizing Hall “for mistakes made fifty 

years ago,” but “my letter was on his report of 1892, which 

contains a rare amount of pure lies.”...“Because James Hall 

is an old man; it is no reason not to oppose, all the lies 

which he continue[s] to pile up against his teacher and 

benefactor in geology and paleontology, Dr. Eb. Emmons. 

The first thing to do, is to stop James Hall from lying”! 

That Marcou’s defense of Emmons may have had an effect 

on Clarke, see Clarke’s “Nomenclature of the New York 

geologic formations” (1903), pp. 501-502, as well as the 

account of Hall’s war against Emmons in his biography of 

Hall. Emmons was exploring the possibility of work in 

North Carolina at least as early as 12 Nov 1850 — see his 

letter to General J.G. Bynum (Ebenezer Emmons Papers, 

P.C. 475, NC Division of Archives and History, Raleigh); I 

thank Jesse R. Lankford, Jr., for help in locating this letter. 

James T. Foster, A.M., is difficult to pin down. His work, 

Introduction to the Study of Geology: Together with a Key to 

Foster’s Geological Chart (Albany, 1850, possibly also 1849) 

is rare, the chart little known; his name is often given simply 

“J.T.” and sometimes as “James G.,” but was certainly 

James and probably James T. 

8. See AI Minutes, 10 June, 20 July; Agassiz was elected 

Hon. Mem. on 31 July. The Argus announced “The 

American Scientific Convention” 27 Aug 1850. 

9. AI Minutes, 5 February, 4 March, 18 March 1852; 4 

March 1852 is the date of acceptance printed on Eights’s 

paper. 

10. AI Minutes, 1 June 1852. It appears that total costs 

were apportioned widely. Gavit did not do the “engraving” 

of the geological section — it was done in lithography 

by the Richard H. Pease firm of Albany. Gavit did, evidently, 

provide the plate of Glyptonotus (which must have 

been taken care of by “&c.” in the costs of printing and 

preparation of plates). He did not sign or initial the 

Glyptonotus plate but, in the reprinting of it in 1856, the 

American Journal of Science editor (Dana) thanked him for 

providing it. 

11. Eights, “Description of a new animal belonging to 

the Crustacea, discovered in the Antarctic Seas,” AI 

Transactions, 2: 331-334. (Eights noticed, p. 354, that his 

new species of crustacean published in the earlier number 

of the volume properly belonged to the genus Serolis, not 

Brongniartia.) Without giving year, volume or pages, the 

editor (Dana) of American Journal of Science abstracted the 

Glyptonotus article as “A new genus and species of 

Crustacea.” This was promptly copied into the prestigious 

English Annals & Magazine of Natural History. And, perhaps 

upon receipt of his own copy of the entire bound volume 

(as must have occurred, since he was by then a member), 

Dana saw fit to reprint the entire text and the two 

plates of the Glyptonotus paper. He included his own introductory 

commentary, so that, presumably, no one would 

get the notion he was yielding ground to anybody in his 

own zoological specialty. In addition, he dipped liberally 

into history and appended to this most of the notes on the 

natural history of the South Shetland Islands that Eights 

had published with his Brongniartia paper in 1833. The 

paper on clays, etc., was “Observations on the geological 

Chapter 17 293

features of the Post-tertiary formation of the City of 

Albany and its vicinity,” pp. 335-353, preceded by one 

plate. 

12. See, in Rittner, Pine Bush, R.G. LaFleur, “Glacial 

Lake Albany,” pp. 1-10; R. Dineen, “Surficial geology of 

the Pine Bush,” pp. 11-15; J. Donahue, “Origins and topography 

of the Pine Bush,” pp. 17-22. 

13. James Henry Salisbury (1823–1905) was associated 

with Emmons in his agricultural work in the State Natural 

History Survey. The absence of references to glacial or 

eolian contributions to topography will surprise the modern 

naturalist. 

14. Cultivator, 2nd ser., vol. 9, September 1852. Some 

of the minerals had not been found in place by himself. 

Article is signed “J.E.” but identified in annual index as 

Eights; the style of writing is unquestionably his. 

15. Cultivator, 2nd ser., vol. 9, October and Nov 1852; 

the articles are signed J. Eights and Jas. Eights; both dated 

from Albany. 

16. “Slaked lime and muck as a manure” and “The 

pigeon hole borer,” Cultivator, 3d ser., vol. 1, Jan 1853. The 

lime-muck article is so short that I cannot be sure it is really 

by Eights (it is merely signed “J.E.”). The other article is 

not only clearly his but is signed “James Eights.” A short 

piece preceding the former, entitled “Potatoes in tan, plaster, 

and in ashes,” has been attributed to Eights but with 

no reason. 

17. With the exception of the piece on slaked lime, 

these articles are all signed with his full name; the reprints 

have the original dates, the last piece, the reworked one on 

insect study, was dated Albany, 20 Jan. Country Gentleman 

(henceforth, CG), vol. 1, pp. 11-12, 34, 42-43, 57-58, Jan 

1853. Reprinted articles are not repeated. 

18. CG, 1: 73-74, 74-75, 89-90 (sheep), 104-105, 1853. 

All were signed by James Eights at Albany; all are dated, 

the last specific date, 1 Feb. 

19. CG, 1: 186-187, 152-153, 171, 186, 201-202, 1853. 

20. CG, 1: 234, 250-251, 264-265, 1853. Unlike recent 

articles, “Scraps” articles were signed at the end merely 

“J.E., Albany.” The first was submitted by him on 18 April. 

21. Today’s common names are used for plants and 

animals when there will be no confusion. In case of doubt, 

I use his name (scientific or common). 

22. CG, 1: 282-283, 296-297, 314-315, 328-329, May 

1853. 

23. CG, 1: 377, 393-394, 407. 

24. CG, 2: 13-14, 28-29, July 1853. 

25. CG, 2: 77, 92-93, 108-109, 124-125, August 1853. 

26. CG, 2: 140-141, 156-157, 173, 188-189, 205-206, Sep 

1853. 

27. The common name (now bog turtle) was properly 

spelled “Muhlenberg’s.” The old catch-all genus Emys was 

long ago broken up and today no American turtle bears it. 

The scientific name is now Clemmys muhlenbergii. It is 

strange that, recognizing the rarity of the species, Eights 

did not write more extensively on it. Perhaps strangest of 

all, he claims to have known about it all the while that 

DeKay was preparing his volumes on the Zoology of New 

York — and kept his knowledge hidden until after 

DeKay’s death. This turtle has a peculiarly discontinuous 

range in eastern North America, seeming rarity made precarious 

by the ephemeral nature of its boggy habitats (they 

tend to dry up naturally and, of course, are too frequently 

artificially drained). See thorough reviews in C.H. Ernst 

and R.B. Bury, “Clemmys muhlenbergii” (1977) and Carl 

H. Ernst et al., Turtles of the United States and Canada, pp. 

213-221. 

28. CG, 2: 236, 252-253, 268-269, October 1853. 

29. This is a seriously misleading account, whatever 

Eights had in mind. I trust that his own observations — 

and even references to local occurrences, etc. — are better 

grounded than the material that he uncritically borrowed 

from Paul Clark. A.W. Schorger, the authority on this 

species, found that the usual clutch was one egg, except 

under the rarest circumstance, and, in all probability, there 

was only one brood a year. Schorger supposes that Clark 

reported all this out of “executive courtesy” — because 

Governor DeWitt Clinton had said so! (See The Passenger 

Pigeon, pp. 108-110, 120-127.) 

30. CG, 2: 284-285, 300-301, November 1853. 

31. For an excellent account of wild rice, see: T.A. 

Steeves, “Wild rice — Indian food and a modern delicacy.” 


Chapter 18 

THE 1850s: THE GOLD FIELDS OF NORTH CAROLINA 

Gold in North Carolina? Gold fever is an 

ancient disease. Few fortunes are made, many 

are lost. Aside from starring roles, there are those 

who briefly ride the tide of fortune and are soon 

forgotten. From newspaper columnists to outfitters, 

from technicians to advisors, the army 

moves in, draws its meager pay for an uncertain 

time and then disperses. Records are ill-kept, 

addresses are fluid. But for his publications, the 

loom of James Eights in the history of North 

Carolina gold would be meager indeed. 

There was gold — and rumor of gold — in 

North Carolina. Notices, sometimes short, sometimes 

planted, often provided with shrill headlines, 

periodically peppered newspaper pages. In 

an outbreak of “North Carolina gold fever” in 

1829, not even the sober pages of Silliman’s 

American Journal of Science were free of hyperbole. 

The amount of “Gold Country” in that state 

had been greatly enlarged within the space of six 

years. “So well were those rewarded who 

searched for gold, that in a short time, all the 

common laborers were engaged in digging for it; 

and one dollar’s worth of gold to the hand per 

day, was thought to be only tolerable business.” 

As for success, Henry B.C. Nitze and H.A.J. 

Wilkens say that the first gold from North 

Carolina was minted in 1829. In another wave of 

gold fever in the 1840s, even Albany’s Argus carried 

notices of this or that farm turning up 

lumps of gold. 1 

When James Eights went to North Carolina 

has not been precisely established. It is probable 

that his presence there owed much to the departure 

of his friend Ebenezer Emmons, Sr., from 

Albany, victim of the machinations of James 

Hall. On 12 November 1850, Emmons wrote to 

General J.G. Bynum (evidently in the Senate of 

the state of North Carolina) a private letter outlining 

his willingness to serve as director of a 

renewed geological survey of the state, what he 

would like to accomplish, and what he considered 

his needs. He had, it appeared, already 

been a visitor to North Carolina, where “Mr. 

Davis,” a mutual friend, had urged him to submit 

a proposal to Bynum. He proposed a salary 

for himself of not less than $2,500 per year, over 

a period of two years in the field and six months 

of laboratory work — the analytical work to be 

done in Albany, where his chemicals and apparatus 

were. Two assistants would be required, one 

of whom he hoped might be his son — both 

because he had been with him throughout the 

work of the geological and agricultural surveys 

in New York, except for the first year, and 

because “He is the best draughtsman I have ever 

known.” The Emmons survey lasted until 

Emmons’s death 1 October 1863 and the resignation 

of young Emmons 1 April 1864. Its latter 

end was crippled by the Civil War, and marauding 

Union soldiers in raids on Raleigh 

destroyed most of the collections that had been 

accumulated. 2 

The act authorizing the Emmons Survey 

“was passed during the 1850-1851 session of the 

North Carolina Legislature, and ratified January 

24, 1851. Emmons was appointed October 8, 

1851, and the actual work on the Survey began 

Chapter 18 295

in January, 1852.” By the time the survey began, 

Emmons was already busy. According to a promotional 

work by an author given the name of 

“J.G. Foster, Geologist and Mining Engineer” 

(but who was evidently the James T. Foster who 

prepared the geological chart and booklet that 

caused so much embarrassment to Emmons in 

his strife with James Hall), Emmons toured 

northwestern North Carolina “early in the year 

1851.” Emmons (“at that time a neighbor of the 

writer”) “upon his return...gave such a flattering 

report of the gold mines...that the writer was 

induced to go and make a Geological and 

Minerological [!] examination of the mines in 

Mecklenburg and Rutherford counties, with a 

view of securing some valuable mines for parties 

in New York.” 3 

James T. Foster emerges in one final relationship: 

James Eights’s very first geological report 

in North Carolina was made to “Messrs. Foster 

and Wilson,” of the Fisher Hill and Pucket mines 

in Guilford County, where there are two postscripts: 

one signed by James T. Foster, one by J.T. 

Foster. A generous summary of Eights’s report, 

dated 1 January 1854, follows. If his “Scraps 

from a naturalist’s note book,” no. 24 was properly 

dated 1 November 1853, and he was at that 

time still in Albany, he had less than two months 

in which to have made his way to North 

Carolina and have finished his survey. 4 

A Report Relating to the Fisher Hill and 

Pucket Mines...by James Eights, / Geologist and 

Mineral Surveyor. / 1854. / To Messrs. Foster 

and Wilson. 

GENTLEMEN, 

That portion of Guilford County in which are 

found the extensive mineral deposites [!] belonging 

to you, is situated in a south-westerly direction 

from Greensboro’, and on the public highway 

leading to Ashboro’. 

On approaching your property my attention 

was particularly directed to the general scenery. 

The country is composed of long, gently elevated, 

and gracefully swelling ranges of hills, which 

extend in a north-eastern and south-western 

direction, the intervening spaces being broken 

up into numerous smaller elevations, which terminate 

in slightly impressed ravines. Down 

these ravines small streams pursue their course 

to those of larger volume, which discharge their 

waters into Deep River, one of the principal 

branches of Cape Fear. 

The hills and dales just described are covered 

in part by native forests and in part by plantations, 

which, in combination, present a scene of 

symmetry and repose exceedingly beautiful. The 

trees of these forests are chiefly Hickory, 

Chestnut, Black Walnut, Butternut, Beech, 

Buttonwood, Ash, Maple, Magnolia, the Tulip 

Tree or Whitewood, the smaller Pitch Pine, and 

several species of Oak. The majority of these are 

not much less than ninety feet in height. Many 

trees of smaller growth also abound, such as 

Persimmon, Gum, Dogwood, &c. 

The soil of these lands has been produced 

by a decomposition of the surface of the rock 

formation immediately beneath. This is evident 

from the fact that in every place where excavations 

have been made, the earthy superstructure 

appears to pass gradually into the decomposing 

surface of the rocky base. White quartz is the 

principal matrix of the veins of ores, and not 

being liable to decomposition like the rocks on 

each side, the veins are elevated above the 

ground, and can be traced for miles together. 

The elevations and depressions of the original 

rocks appear to have been formed by an 

oscilating [!] movement of the earth’s crust 

immediately beneath, and rents and fissures in 

the rocks being at the same time produced; they 

were then, or afterwards, filled with metaliferous 

substances from the vast seas of candescent matter 

flowing beneath. 

The basis rock of this whole region has been 

denominated, by the most competent geologists, 

sienite, one of the distinct formations which constitute 

the plutonic, or lowest division of the geological 

scale. 

This sienite is essentially composed of 

quartz, feldspar and hornblende; but it frequently 

contains a proportion of mica, and is then 

denominated sienitic granite. ... 

Besides this variety of rocks there are many 

veins of granite and extensive dikes of 

trap....The dikes of trap are very numerous, 

and may be seen traversing the country for 

many leagues, and frequently assuming a 

thickness which is really immense; but in no 


case do they appear to displace the metalic [!] 

veins. 

In many instances where the trap rock 

approaches the veins of ores, a change takes 

place in its constituent parts by becoming talcose 

or micaceous slate, for the most part in a state of 

decomposition, especially at the outcropping of 

the veins. This peculiar composition and state of 

the rock may be always taken as a strong indication 

of the presence of the ores, especially of 

such as contain gold. 

It is the general impression here, that gold is 

confined chiefly to the upper portion of the 

veins, commonly about the depth of one hundred 

feet, and that below this point, copper and 

iron pyrites are the principal minerals containing 

copper and iron only. But the iron pyrites in 

these is the true matrix of this precious metal. 

This is evident from the fact that when this ore 

has been found decomposed near or at the surface, 

gold is found in its pure metalic state mixed 

with the oxidated ore, the sulphur having been 

converted into sulphuric acid, and the iron into 

an oxide. Gold may therefore be expected in 

greater and greater abundance as the miners 

descend into the veins. 

Having thus presented a general view of this 

interesting region, we proceed to describe, in a 

more particular manner. 

FISHER HILL. — a property in which you are 

especially interested. 

“Fisher Hill” is one of those long ranges of 

hills which constitute a striking features [sic] of 

this portion of North Carolina. It is covered with 

forest with the exception of here and there a 

cleared spot. The mining operations are carried 

on towards its South-eastern termination, about 

five miles from Greensboro’. The veins occupy a 

considerable space, being eight in number, and 

being well defined. Besides these, numerous 

branches proceed from one principal vein to 

another. ... 

OLD FIELD VEIN. The “Old Field Vein”...is 

the most northerly of the “Fisher Hill” system, 

but is rather isolated in position. Its pitch...is 

about two feet in six to the North-west. The veinstone 

is a pure white quartz, often having ferruginous 

incrustations on its surface, and cavities 

within, produced by the oxidation and disappearance 

of some ore originally imbedded in the 

mass. 

This vein of quartz varies in form and thickness. 

... 

These veins are imbedded in a mass of disintegrated 

talcose slate, generally of a greenish tint, 

terminating laterally in rotten granitic material, 

which in turn terminates in whitish feldspar in a 

state of decomposition. ... 

The other veins of this series lie parallel to 

the one just described, and...bear the same inclination, 

and maintain the same width of inclosing 

walls. 

The gangue or vein-stone is quartz rock, 

through which are disseminated iron and copper 

pyrites, and sometimes black and red oxides of 

copper, which occur either incrusting the pyrites, 

or freely diffused through it....Gold is found in 

all these minerals; but the pyrites appears to be 

its principal matrix, through which it is diffused 

in minute particles. ... 

The vast amount of treasure contained in this 

hill can hardly be conceived. The whole range 

appears to be a mass of veins, traversing it in 

every direction. ... 

But gold is not exclusively confined to the 

quartz veins. The partially decomposed rock, 

and the soil on both sides contain considerable 

quantities of it; and from the latter an amount 

has been obtained by washing. The operations 

have been conducted chiefly on individual 

account by laboring men, whose ordinary occupation 

illy prepared them for this employment. 

These inexperienced miners were, however, 

generally successful, and commonly acquired 

means to purchase lands, on which many of 

them are now living in comparative ease. 

The yield of the auriferous soil is not precisely 

known, nor has the average per cent. of the 

veins been ascertained. The heaviest yield at a 

single trial was eighteen hundred penny weights 

from sixty bushels of ore. 

THE PUCKET VEINS. The “Pucket Veins” 

are prolongations of those of Fisher Hill towards 

the South-west, and bear the same general characteristics 

in their geological formation. 

Chapter 18 297

The outcroppings of the quartz veins are 

about two feet in thickness, which gradually 

increase in width as the shafts descend. At one 

point a shaft was sunk about thirty feet, and a 

great quantity of auriferous iron pyrites was 

thrown out. This ore was ground and washed; 

and the average yield was from one to two dollars 

worth of gold to the bushel. 

Since this property has come into your possession, 

this shaft has been worked to the depth 

of seventy-five feet....The miners are now excavating 

a tunnel to the side of the vein, which 

they expect to reach in a few days. I regret that I 

must make my report before I have learned the 

results of this exploration. You have, however, 

good reason for expecting that the ore at this 

depth will be found much richer than it was 

nearer the surface.* [*Footnote: I received a letter 

last evening from Mr. Wilson, the superintendent, 

in which it was stated that the vein had been 

reached, and that it was found to be exceedingly 

rich in gold. J.T. Foster. / February 22, 1854 {this 

is obviously the date that Foster sent the whole 

publication to the printer}.] 

I conclude by expressing the opinion that the 

Pucket veins are not inferior in value to those 

previously described. 

Overman, in speaking of this gold region, 

states...[not quoted here; the reference is probably 

to Frederick Overman (1803?-1852), author of 

numerous works on metallurgy, mineralogy, 

foundry technology, steel and iron manufacturing, 

etc.; there are no titles on North Carolina; 

the work cited may be: Practical Mineralogy, 

Assaying and Mining (1st ed., 1851, 11th ed., 

1882)]. 

I have thus presented a concise description of 

your Fisher Hill and Pucket property, omiting [!] 

many interesting facts which might tell advantageously 

upon its value. ... 

JAMES EIGHTS, / Geologist and Mineral 

Surveyor. 

Fisher Hill, / Guilford County, North Carolina. / 

January 1, 1854. 

P.S. In August last, a bushel and a half of ore 

from Fisher Hill, of an average quality, was subjected 

to trial with Gardner’s Crushing and 

Amalgamating Machine, which yielded thirtythree 

dollars and sixty cents worth of gold. / 

James T. Foster. [N.B.: a map of “Fisher Hill, and 

Pucket Mines” ends the report.] 

In early April 1854, we find Eights reporting 

on another gold mining claim, that of the Ward 

Gold Mine Company. 5 

To A. B. STITH, / President of the Ward 

Gold Mine Company. / Greensboro’, April 9th, 

1854. 

Sir, 

In compliance with your request, I paid a 

visit to the Ward Gold Mine in Davidson County, 

and have to congratulate you and your associates 

on being in possession of so interesting a 

location. The result of my observations you will 

find embodied in the following brief report, 

which I sincerely trust may meet with your 

approbation. 

This mining location is situated in the county 

of Davidson, about twelve miles to the eastward 

of Lexington. It is in the form of an oblongsquare...covering 

an area of about four hundred 

and one acres of land....Nearly this entire surface 

of the ground is everywhere covered with forest, 

consisting of a noble growth of pine, numerous 

species of oak, and many other fine trees, all of 

which are beautifully adapted to the varied and 

useful purposes of life. 

Extensive as this mining area may be, it is for 

the most part completely broken up at the surface 

by a large number of mineral strata and 

veins, and to such an extent has this system been 

carried out that the eye can scarcely rest upon a 

single square yard of its distance that does not, 

in a different degree, disclose evidences of their 

existence. Numerous however as these veins and 

strata appear, they all seem to differ in their 

peculiar characters, though at the same time 

alike prolific in their natures, each one bearing 

its proportion of the precious metal. Scarcely a 

handfull of the surface-earth — I was informed 

— taken promiscuouously from any point of its 

area, but seemed to be capable of yielding small 

portions of fine gold. Such at least were the 

result of several experiments made by Mr. Ward 

in my presence. There appears at this place to be 

a concentration of most of the good qualities of 


many of the other popular veins embraced in 

this interesting section of country. 

The geological basis of the county of 

Davidson is unquestionably the sienitic granite, 

and one of the most favorable positions of its 

developments is...a few miles distant from 

Lexington. Through this formation of rock run 

innumerable dykes of trap and trappean porphyries, 

embracing their layers of well characterised 

granite, with all the other substances 

which constitute the mineral veins and strata 

that essentially compose the great mining region 

in this section of the State. 

The Ward Mine Location...is bounded on 

either side...by ranges of the coarse-grained trappean 

porphyry, which, as it approaches the 

metallic veins and layers...is seen gradually to 

receive a large proportion of serpentine among 

its constituent parts, and at length, to pass 

almost unperceptably into a fine grained phonolite 

or clinkstone....These porphyritic ranges may 

be said to form the side walls of the great mass 

of [metalliferous] veins and strata which are 

found to constitute the Ward Mine. 

This vast mass of mineral material is found 

to be composed chiefly of the following substances: 

— 

QUARTZ, both in a granulated and compact 

condition, and which, in many places, are cellular, 

the cells being...filled with a brownish oxide 

of iron, resulting from the decomposition of the 

sulphuret of that metal; this is always to be considered, 

geologically, as a most favorable indication 

of a gold-bearing vein. 

PHONOLITE or clinkstone. — This is principally 

composed of a compact feldspar. In its 

indurated state it abounds with iron pyrites or 

mundic...everywhere throughout the mass. This 

sulphuret of iron...is considered, mineralogically, 

the home of the gold, which metal is always rendered 

conspicuously visible immediately upon 

roasting, or on its decompositon from atmospheric 

influences. This clinkstone is generally in 

a state of decomposition...and furnishes in large 

quantities the substance from which the gold is 

abstracted at the works. 

TALCOSE SLATES. — These most generally 

accompany the true gold veins...and at this place 

they embrace thin strings of quartz, which not 

unfrequently, in most other locations, yield some 

of the richest deposits of gold. 

CHLORITE SLATES frequently accompany 

the last mentioned rock, and in most of the copper 

mines of the mineral district are generally 

found associated with the richest ores of that 

metal; and small fragments of copper pyrites 

were repeatedly met with contained therein. 

The porphyritic rocks, whenever seen, was 

always found to form a divisional line, separating 

the other portions of the entire mineral mass. 

All these strata are arranged in oft repeated 

alterations, and run in a direction from the 

north-east to the south-west, strictly in accordance 

with those which characterise the great 

mineral vein system of the Southern States, and 

likewise correspond with it in many of its distinguishing 

qualities. 

But the most favorable development at this 

mine is the massive veins of quartz which traverse 

the other strata just described...forming a 

series of cross courses to them. Two of these 

veins are strikingly conspicuous...by the 

immense number of scattered fragments 

strewed along all over the surface of the 

ground, and corrresponding with the direction 

of their courses. It is immediately at this point 

of junction, where the quartz veins meet the 

layers of decomposed feldspathic rocks, that the 

heaviest amount of gold has nearly at all times 

been found, in most of the valuable gold mines 

known. It is in such situations that the precious 

metal is to be found deposited in nests or pockets 

— to use a mining term, — and these depositions 

are seldom if ever small. Those magnificent 

specimens of gold, recently obtained at this 

place, were procured from a position like this, 

immediately where the ground has been broken 

and thrown open to supply the companies’ 

works with the material to keep them in operation. 

Shafts should certainly be sunk at each of 

these points of conjunction, wherever they are 

to be discovered; for we certainly are of the 

opinion that at these points the heaviest amount 

of gold is most likely to be procured. In fact, I 

will state that the appearance of these two 

quartz veins alone, if found on any other location, 

would readily entitle it to a reputation for 

mining operations equal at least to the majority 

Chapter 18 299

of the finest at present developed in the State of 

North Carolina. 

I have thus, in a very concise manner, given 

you the result of my brief examination of the 

Ward Gold Mine, and have only further to add, 

that when these veins and strata become properly 

explored by mining operations...with all that 

judicious system of economy practised in other 

countries, that this mineral location must 

undoubtedly prove one of the most prolific in 

ores and metal, and likewise one of the most 

enduring, that the entire mineral region of the 

Southern States can furnish. 

Respectfully yours, / James Eights, / 

Geologist and Mineral Surveyor. 

Without explaining how he got the specimens, 

at the Albany Institute meeting on 10 

January 1855, “Prof Hall proceeded to explain 

the new views entertained by the best informed 

geologists in regard to the gold bearing rocks — 

suggested by the donation of auriferous ores 

from North Carolina to the Institute’s Cabinet by 

James Eights an old member.” I doubt that this 

implies a visit to Albany from Eights. A likely 

purveyor of specimens was Ebenezer Emmons, 

who was in and out of Albany, perhaps primarily 

in winter, when he analyzed his summer’s 

work. On 31 May 1855, “Prof Emmons presented 

for inspection of Members some new species of 

fossils from the State of North Carolina [among 

which?] he particularized a new species of 

Graptolites & made some remarks upon that 

Genus & the characters that demonstrate their 

affinities [?].” 6 

Eights was in Flat Shoals, North Carolina, in 

June 1855. From there he made A Report on the 

Geological, Mineralogical, and Other Resources of the 

Hiatt Tract of Land, Containing 2000 Acres, and 

Situated in the County of Surry, N.C. 7 His report 

follows. 

This extensive possession of territory belonging 

to Messrs. A. and G. Hiatt, is situated in the 

southern portion of the County of Surry. ... 

Within these boundaries, the Ararat river 

courses along through its northern division, so 

as to separate from the main or principal body, 

about two hundred or more acres of tillable land, 

some of which being in a high state of improvement. 

This is a remarkable [!] fine stream of 

water, which, at this place, is of some considerable 

breadth, rapidly pursuing its way across the 

tract, by a succession of gently elevated falls or 

rapids, arranged in such a manner as to furnish, 

in almost every instance, some of the most desirable 

water privileges that the country can any 

where exhibit, and sufficiently copious to be at 

all times, readily applied to almost every species 

of mechanical purpose. ... 

The surface of the country comprising this 

extensive area of land, is elevated to some considerable 

height above the general level of the 

river, and is principally formed by a regular succession 

of lengthened hills, terminating...in 

rather an abrubt [!] manner toward the bed of 

the stream. ... 

These hills and valley, are...densely covered 

by a fine and luxuriant growth of forest trees and 

shrubs, comprising some of the numerous 

species of oaks, hickory, chestnut, maple, pine, 

and along the principal courses and depressions 

in the land, the tulip-tree or white-wood, buttonwood, 

birch, beach [!], locust, gum-trees, magnolias, 

laurels, holley [!], and many other 

species...together with an ample profusion of 

beautiful flowering and herfaceous [!] plants. 

The scenery about this plantation is exceedingly 

beautiful, affording from many of its eminences, 

some of the finest views of the surrounding 

county, than can any where else be 

obtained, embracing the Pilot and Sauraton 

mountains, which are situated at but a comparatively 

short distance, in a direction to the 

southwest; while far to the north-west, and 

bounding the horizon in that direction the deep 

blue ridges of the Alleghany and Blue ranges of 

mountains, may easily be traced, imprinting 

their sharp and well defined outlines upon the 

bright vapory mists beyond....All 

these...tend...to render it, when in a proper state 

of improvement, one of the most desirable 

places of abode that this section of North 

Carolina can anywhere else furnish. The climate 

is at all times delightful; the soil everywhere of 

the best quality; and the Geological and 

Mineralogical characters of the rock strata of the 


highest interest and importance to its community, 

and which only remains for facilities of 

transportation, in the way of Rail Roads, Plank 

Roads, Canals or River improvements, to render 

this section of the State one of the most 

densely populated and fertile districts that can 

elsewhere be exhibited within its confines. 

This extensive tract is beautifully situated 

and admirably adapted to farming purposes, 

independent of its manifold advantages for manufacturing. 

The soil is much better than that of 

the average quality of the lands in most other 

sections of the State...and with some little care 

and attention...might easily be brought to a high 

state of perfection. ... 

The geological structure of this section of 

country, embracing as it does this entire area of 

land, is exceedingly interesting. It belongs to 

the lower order of rocks, which have been designated, 

the Plutonic, in connection with some 

others which might, with strict propriety, be 

considered as members of the Metamorphic, or 

succeeding order. The strata which support the 

soil and form the base of the country appears to 

occupy an elevated or superior position among 

the Syenitic and Talco-micacious formation 

which may be easily recognized, as forming the 

fundamental structure of the entire State of 

North Carolina, embracing all its numerous 

veins of metal, and ores, and freely disclosing 

them to the eye, whenever they have become 

denuded of the soil, and more recent rocks 

which covered them and approach the open 

light of day. 

This formation...appears to be completely 

made up of interstratified masses of Syenitic, 

coarse-grained Granite, Hornblend slates and 

sand-stones, Talcose Granites and Slates, and 

micaceous Shales...; they likewise contain 

important veins of Copper ore, and extensive 

beds of the Magnetic Oxid of Iron, extending in 

either direction, far beyond the boundaries of 

the place. ... 

These interlaminations of strata, are by no 

means found to present a uniformity of thickness 

throughout their whole extent, but seem to be 

constantly changing in every possible manner. ... 

When these strata disintegrate, the principal 

portion of their constituent parts are either dissolved 

by the rains, or freely commingle and 

become dispersed through the soil. ... 

Among the most important and useful ores 

of the metals, found in this formation of rock are 

those of the iron. They are chiefly in the state of a 

Magnetic Oxyde, and occur in imperfectly formed 

octahedral crystals....They are powerfully attracted 

by the magnet, and in some instances possess 

a high degree of magnetic polarity, so as to render 

them a powerful natural magnet or loadstone 

[!]. These ores in all probability contain 

between seventy and eighty per cent. of pure 

iron. 

The ores at this place do not seem to be confined 

to any individual stratum...but appear at 

times to be disseminated in a profuse manner 

throughout them all, while then again, they are 

so distantly scattered as scarcely to be descernable 

[!] in any; sometimes they occur in such a 

state of aggregation as to become a perfect compact 

mass, or bed of the ore. When in this condition, 

they become properly explored, and 

exposed to view, these beds seldom prove small 

and, are most generally, found to be associated 

together in some considerable number, and not 

unfrequently, separated from each other by irregular 

interlaminations of other strata of the prevailing 

rocks. ... 

At this locality, these beds are in frequent 

alternations, forming a distinct belt or stripe, 

bounded on either side by quite a thick stratum 

of coarse grained granite and granular quartz. 

...The iron is of an excellent quality, and has been 

extensively manufactured by the present proprietors, 

for the purpose of furnishing an abundant 

supply to the surrounding country, and sending 

off the surplus quantity for sale in the neighboring 

counties. For this object, he has erected a 

suitable building on the bank of the stream, containing 

two blast furnaces, which are kept in 

continual operation....These veins are situated 

about three miles distant from the river...and 

about a mile distant farther to the east occurs 

another series of these veins...rather of a better 

quality. ... 

About two miles nearer the stream, the country 

is crossed in the same direction, by evidences 

of a much more important and profitable vein of 

iron, and of a much superior quality. ... 

Chapter 18 301

With these advantages alone, this plantation, 

in any other country, would justly be considered 

an exceedingly valuable tract of land. ... 

Among the ores of iron, none appear to be 

more generally diffused through nature than 

this, and no other is superior to it for the manufacture 

of iron. ... 

Beside this iron there is an extensive vein of 

quartz containing the sulphuret of copper, or 

copper pyrites, associated with that of iron. It has 

been traced for several miles across the plantation, 

and maintains a breadth of six or more feet. 

This copper is of an excellent quality, and exhibits 

evidences of an increase in its descent. ... 

Sulphuret of Lead, or Galena, is frequently 

mentioned, as having been found, in some of the 

strata on this location; although I have not yet 

seen the specimens, I am inclined to consider it 

more than probable. ... 

Several thick masses of beds of steatite, or 

soap stone, have been discovered running 

through the central portion of this tract of land. 

It is of a greyish, green color, and extremely 

unxious to the touch. It bears every appearance 

of being obtained in the largest quantities, and 

some of its useful applications may here be enumerated. 

Owing to the facility with which it can 

be worked, and its highly refractory nature, it 

may easily be sawn into slabs, or turned in a 

lathe, and the products applied, as fire-stones in 

furnaces and stoves; and also jambs for fireplaces. 

It may be bored out to convey water as a 

substitute for leaden pipes. It is used in the manufacturing 

of porcelain, and forms a polishing 

material for serpentine ornaments, for alabaster 

and for glass. It removes spots of grease from 

cloth, and consequently is of use to the Fuller, 

and when ground up, is employed for diminishing 

the friction of machinery; besides these it has 

many other important applications. 

In concluding this Report, permit me here to 

congratulate you, in having in your possession, 

one of the most important, and valuable tracts of 

land that can be found in the northern and western 

portion of the State of North Carolina. 

JAMES EIGHTS, / Geologist and Mineral 

Surveyor. / Flat Shoals, June, 1855. 

With this, except for a single item, James 

Eights’s direct connections with the state of 

North Carolina came to an end. His summary 

views on the geology of North Carolina conclude 

the chapter, but he had probably left the state 

when those articles appeared. 

The exception is a letter to Joseph Henry, 

offering to collect specimens for the Smithsonian 

Institution. The letter is internally undated but it 

probably pertains to the year 1855. 8 

“To Professor Henry Smithson Institute. 

“Dear Sir 

“For the last two years I have been living in 

North Carolina, and during my many wanderings 

over its surface, have been repeatedly astonished 

at the wonderful development of Reptile 

life, more particularly in the western portion of 

its State, and often in my journeyings has the 

question arisen in my mind, Whether the 

Smithson Institute was yet supplied with its interesting 

Fauna? If not I should be highly pleased to 

devote some of my leisure time, in putting up for 

them a collection, provided a reasonable compensation 

would be alowed [!][.] Being as yet but 

partially acquainted with your regulation on the 

subject, I have deemed it propper [!] to address 

you for the necessary information. 

“Besides this, I would inquire, has the institution 

been yet provided with full suits of specimens 

illustrative of the various mines of Gold 

and Copper from this exceedingly interesting 

mineral district? To this also I might devote some 

of my time and attention. I wish you would consult, 

if you please, Spencer F. Baird on the former 

subject, and send me at this place the required 

information. If you can put me in a way to 

obtain his Catalogue of the Smithson Reptiles I 

should be greatly obliged, as I have no works 

with me on the subject. 

“Very Respectfully / Yours &c. / James Eights 

“Greensbor’o / Guilford County / North 

Carolina.” 

As will be seen in the next chapter, it appears 

that Eights did not long tarry in North Carolina, 

although a date of departure has not been established. 

Whether he got a reply from Joseph 

Henry is not known. 


Eights’s final comments on North Carolina 

appeared in a serialized account of his observations 

on its geology and scenery in four parts in 

the Mining Magazine in 1858. 9 

NORTH CAROLINA. — ITS GEOLOGY, MIN- 

ING REGIONS, SCENERY, &c. By James 

Eights, Geologist. 

Should an intelligent traveller take his departure 

from the shore of the sea, and pursue his 

journey in a north-westerly direction across the 

State of North Carolina, he will find...that his 

progress is over an extended surface of a low 

and an exceedingly swampy portion of the land, 

the soil of which being of a deep brown 

color...with a muddy consistence, and extremely 

fertile in its nature, so as to yield...a rich return of 

sea-island cotton, and rice. As he continues to 

proceed into the interior...the surface of the 

ground...begins gradually to ascend, and become 

much more firm in its structure, and far more 

dry in its nature; and that the cypress and the 

swamp-willow, that had hitherto characterized 

the scene, and met his view on every side, in an 

equal degree disappearing, and giving place to a 

much more hardy growth of hickory and the 

oak. He will also...remark, that sugar and tobacco 

are now the most productive marketable 

crops to be derived from the soil, and Indian 

corn the staple material in furnishing an ample 

supply of food for the country. A very slight 

inspection now of the geological features of the 

region...will soon leave the impression...that it 

occupies a conspicuous position among the alluviums 

and post-tertiary formations of the great 

rocky system of our country. 10 

In pursuing his onward course for the distance 

of about twenty miles farther...he will...be 

met with a low escarpment...composed almost 

entirely of yellow sand, the surface of which 

being...principally occupied with an unmingled 

growth of thinly strewed native pines...and but 

partial evidences of culture. The sands composing 

this plain may be geologically considered as 

constituting the tertiary sands of the same great 

system of rocks. 

After having...pursued his way along this 

belt of yellow sand...he will, now, not easily fail 

to have his attention again attracted to...a second 

low escarpment...the surface of which, in every 

direction, presenting the remarkable contrast of a 

wide-spreading, open prairie, with the thin soil 

composing its surface quietly reposing on a portion 

of the cretaceous or secondary rocks 

beneath....The traveller...perceives that the surface 

of this plain is nearly destitute of trees, and 

on every side to be seen waving with a luxuriant 

growth of grass. The soil, also, will be found to 

be uncommonly dry...although, when but slightly 

turned over with the plough, it has...been 

known to yield quite an excellent growth of 

corn; and likewise...has been found fully capable 

of producing...a firm and compact species of 

grain, well known and esteemed in the southern 

markets, as the Georgian wheat. 

Notwithstanding these evidences of its fruitfulness, 

but few corn-fields are to be seen, and 

any attempt at clearing for the purposes of cultivation, 

will...prove comparatively scarce. 

After having passed over this prairie-looking 

surface...he for the first time will have occasion 

to notice that a distinct and remarkable change 

has taken place...around him. A series of hilly 

slopes will now be seen to occur, composed 

almost entirely of exceedingly tenacious clays 

and loams...while here and there...numerous 

rocky protrusions of the rocky base of the country...yields 

a permanent support to the soil. 

Having, at length, accomplished his journey 

thus far into the interior, he has now successively 

arrived at what may be geologically considered 

as a divisionary line, marking the eastern boundary 

or commencement of the great mineral 

region of North Carolina, and which will be 

found to extend in an almost uninterrupted 

manner entirely across the country, until it fairly 

reaches the north and western termination of the 

State. This wide-spreading surface...will be 

found to be exceedingly uneven and hilly...a continued 

succession of a series of gently elevated 

hills, and slightly depressed vales, through the 

latter of which innumerable small streams or 

branches, as they are termed, are seen to pursue 

their thread-like courses....This extensive surface 

of the land, when not under culture, for the most 

part will be observed covered by a dense and 

somewhat luxuriant growth of broad-leaved 

Chapter 18 303

trees, comprised of many genera and 

species....Here, likewise, will he find the commencement 

of a soil...most beautifully adapted 

to the comforts of a white population, and also 

for the purposes of a general husbandry. 

The general geological features of this widely 

extended upland region, on inspection, will 

prove to be of an exceedingly interesting nature, 

being composed of a vast series of rock, belonging 

principally to the great Metamorphic system 

of our land. ... 

In commencing at the lowest development at 

this place...we...observe...parallel layers of some 

considerable thickness, constituted principally of 

feldspar and mica, with sometimes layers of 

associated hornblende and feldspar, so as to 

form a well-characterized diorite or granite. 

Besides these, dikes of trap...are not unfrequently 

to be met with. ... 

Throughout these laminations veins of 

quartz are not unusually found, embracing... 

extensive deposits of...an exceedingly pure carburet 

of iron, or plumbago. ... 

After having passed this rocky band beneath, 

our traveller will have occasion to remark that 

they...are seen to pass into a series of micaceous 

and talcose slates. ... 

Within this shady [shaly?] belt of rocks are 

also frequently to be found continuous veins and 

ramifying branches of quartz, containing large 

quantitites of native gold, freely commingled 

with auriferous iron pyrites or mundic, but this 

latter mineral is not always confined to the veins 

alone, but is not unusually seen profusely disseminated 

throughout the shales, in such a manner 

that when these crystals become exposed to 

the atmospheric influences, they speedily 

decompose, when the gold in all its richness and 

purity becomes revealed to the eye....Silver and 

copper are likewise found in this formation of 

slates. ... 

In traversing these auriferous shales it will 

readily be seen that they occupy a breadth of 

space of nearly thirty miles...and have their terminating 

— though rather imperfectly defined 

line of demarcation — in the immediate vicinity 

of Chapel Hill....But what tends...to render this 

mass of rocky materials so extremely interesting 

and important, is in consequence of the wellascertained 

facts recently developed by the State 

geologist and some others, that convincingly 

prove it to constitute the floor...of the great bituminous 

coal-fields of North Carolina. ... 

These independent coal measures are everywhere 

found to repose in an unconformable 

manner, directly upon the upturned edges of the 

auriferous group beneath. The lowermost stratum...of 

these coal-fields, is found to consist of a 

coarse conglomerate, entirely made up of rounded 

pebbles, originating from some pre-existing 

rock....These pebbles have now become consolidated 

into a firm and solid mass...of such a 

nature...as most admirably to adapt it to the 

manufacturing of mill-stones. A fine-grained 

sandstone...is found resting upon this conglomerate....Interlaminated 

with these strata...we find 

a series of clay-slates....Reposing on these slates, 

we now find a layer of much finer grained sandstone...and 

resting upon this, an indurated bed 

of fire-clay. ... 

Upon these layers of clay, the first beds of 

coal are found to occur. They are five in number, 

and sometimes a sixth. ... 

Fossil plants, peculiar to the coal measures 

elsewhere in our country, are not to be found in 

these shales; but the scales and teeth of sauroid 

fishes, together with their coprolites, as well as 

the bones of extinct animals, are everywhere 

abundant. Fossil plants, however, are found in 

the shales and grits beneath, but they are of a 

nature peculiar to these coal-fields. ... 

Much doubt and uncertainty...has hitherto 

been entertained by geologists, as to the exact 

position in the geological system of our country 

these coal-fields should be placed...but the 

remarkable fossil organic remains of animal 

existence, but recently brought to light by 

Professor Emmons, has, we think, satisfactorily 

set the question forever at rest, for they distinctly 

denote by their peculiarity of structure, 

that they had an existence and exercised the 

functions of life at a period of time intermediate 

or between the deposition of the rocks of 

the Liassic and Triassin [!] ages....[No. 2 follows.] 

Having at length conducted our traveller 

thus far over the formation of shales, that furnish 

a support to the coal measures of the district, we 


must now direct his attention to...the rocky series 

that next successively occur. 

Near Chapel Hill these auriferous shales 

begin gradually to diminish in thickness....As 

these pass away...they...give place to a much 

more solid and coarsely structured rock....This 

series of rocky material is of some considerable 

breadth, extending in a westerly direction...but a 

short distance beyond the farther limit of the 

county of Guilford. This...is the most interesting...geological 

formation...throughout the entire 

State of North Carolina, embracing as it does all 

the most extensive and prolific veins of copper 

and gold. ... 

The entire surface of this interesting portion 

of the country...is...composed of long, gently elevated, 

and gracefully swelling ranges of hills. ... 

These hills and vales are in many places 

extremely fertile, and are, for the most part, 

beautifully diversified by broadly expanded 

masses of native forest trees, and widely extended 

patches of cultivated fields; but no mountain 

eminences can anywhere be seen from these 

hills, which has a direct tendency materially to 

detract from the truly picturesque aspect of the 

scene. ... 

The soil which constitutes these lands, has 

evidently been produced by a decomposition of 

the surface of the rock formations immediately 

upon which it rests. ... 

Beautiful...as the landscape scenery of this 

portion of the State may appear, it becomes far 

excelled in interest by its geological construction. 

... 

Besides these varieties of the rock, there are 

many veins of granite, and extensive dikes of 

trap. ... 

The metallic vein system...is almost universally 

in a direction from the north-east to the 

south-west, parallel with the ranges of the strata....They 

are for the most part entirely composed 

of pure white...quartz....It is these veins of 

quartz, with their associate shales, that contain 

all the metals and ores of this portion of the 

State. ... 

The walls of these veins are found, not at all 

times, to maintain the same breadth throughout 

their whole extent, but converge and expand...to 

form a succession of heavy masses of the matrix, 

which frequently contain considerable sized 

nests, or pockets, of the metals and the ores. ... 

Another peculiarity of these veins is, their 

liability at times to send forth many lateral 

branches....These...have been the cause of much 

perplexity to the miners, and have often led 

them to relinquish the principal vein. ... 

When these metallic veins are to be seen in 

their most perfect condition, there always 

appears to be a...systematic arrangement of the 

ores....In a...well-defined vein...we most generally 

found, that the auriferous sulphuret of 

iron...was most frequently seen to occupy a position 

in the uppermost portion of the quartz; this 

was invariably succeeded by its oxidized 

remains...freely exhibiting the pure metallic fragments 

of gold...then followed the brown iron ore, 

or limonite, and this was again succeeded by the 

copper pyrites. ... 

The most general impression...is, that the 

gold is alone confined to the uppermost portion 

of the veins...and that below this point, the iron 

and copper pyrites usurp its place....But this we 

are greatly inclined to believe one of the popular 

errors of the day, for, in our opinion, the pyriteous 

iron or mundic alone constitutes the 

matrix, or true home of the gold; and that as we 

descend along the vein...there must consequently 

be the like...increase to the same degree. ... 

When this ore of iron is found approximating 

to the surface of the ground, in a decomposed or 

oxidated condition, the precious metal which it 

contains is readily to be seen...in its pure and 

untarnished state; but on descending to a depth 

where the crystals are in an unchanged and 

more perfect form, the gold becomes no more 

visible....This apparent vanishment of the metal 

can be satisfactorily explained....When this sulphuret 

of iron has been...exposed to the action of 

atmospheric influences, the sulphur which it 

contains becomes...converted into sulphuric acid 

. . .; this powerful acid...has a strong tendency 

to...dissolve almost every thing but the silex and 

the gold that it so easily meets with in its 

way...the gold...is speedily revealed to the unaided 

eye. 

By the expansive power of the heated matter 

in the earth’s interior, these rocks have been 

brought into a metamorphic condition, and ele- 

Chapter 18 305

vated, where numerous fissures have been 

formed. In these fissures the various metals and 

ores, in a fluid and gaseous state...have been condensed 

within a matrix composed of the predominating 

material of which the basic rock consists....Where 

the heats have been most intense, 

these mineral ingredients have been promiscuously 

scattered....[No. 3 follows.] 

Having detained our traveller...amid this 

most important mining region of North 

Carolina, we will now endeavor to conduct 

him...in a north-westerly direction towards 

Mount Airy. ... 

After passing the western confines of the 

county of Guilford...he will find, on leaving 

Kernersville, that the entire character of the 

country begins rapidly to undergo a change for 

the better. The roads...pursue their course 

through a region densely clothed with fine forest 

verdure, which is extremely agreeable to the eye, 

and yields a pleasant protection from the more 

intense heats of a summer sun, with an almost 

continuous breeze...blowing...through the trees. 

The numerous ‘old fields,’ which had hitherto 

appeared so bare and desolate to the eye, with 

their densely covered ‘sedge,’ and which so disfigured 

the landscape and unpleasantly affected 

the senses, have, in a great measure, entirely disappeared 

. . .; and the various clearings...assume 

a much more thrifty appearance, and exhibit a 

tidiness within their precincts which always 

speaks well for the good taste and skill of their 

occupants. 

In progressing further along the way, numerous 

openings begin at length to 

appear...disclosing extensive views of the far distant 

country beyond....At other times, the eye is 

enabled to catch a passing glimpse of the 

Sauraton Mountains, which are seen to rise in 

rather an isolated manner from an ocean of verdure....For 

some space of time these are the only 

features that attract the eye of the traveller and 

give interest to the scene, but as the road 

emerges from a noble forest of oak and 

pines...the ‘Pilot Mountain’ suddenly presents 

itself to the sight, bold, lofty, and sublime, rising 

in solitary grandeur far above the surrounding 

surface of the widely extended plain, like a lonely 

isle in the midst of the sea; and far away in the 

distance may faintly be traced a long line of blue 

hills, stretching along the horizon as if to...mark 

the position of the elevated range of the ‘Blue 

Mountain’ ridge. 

This “wonder of nature” — as it has been frequently 

termed — the Pilot Mountain...always 

presents an exceedingly picturesque and highly 

interesting feature in the landscape scenery of 

the place, rising up in an abrupt manner from 

the apparently level surface at its base....Here the 

soil is good, and the scenery magnificent; the 

waters are fine and pure, and the air at all times 

delicious. 

To the admirer of nature in all its truthfulness 

and beauty, nothing, in our opinion, can exceed 

the elevated and delightful sensations occasioned 

by a fine summer morning in this pure 

region of the country, and more especially to 

those, the tenor of whose lives has passed amid 

the noise and bustle of a crowded city. ... 11 

The climate here is certainly delicious. For a 

greater portion of the time there appears to be a 

dreamy stillness in the air...that is productive of 

the most benevolent and happiest of effects; and 

if there is any portion of our country, where the 

unambitious man can settle down, and quietly 

enjoy the repose of life, in that healthful state of 

action so necessary to its perfect accomplishment, 

this we should conceive to be the spot. 

Beautiful and exhilarating as all this may 

appear, it is by no means the only or most 

important object freely offered in this section of 

country to entice the traveller to linger a while 

on his way....We here allude to the somewhat 

recent discovery of important sulphur and chalybeate 

springs, but a few miles distant from this 

scene, and directly along the public highway 

leading to Mount Airy. 

These springs are of so important and interesting 

a nature, that...we may be pardoned...in 

loitering a while at the place....They are situated 

on an extensive and well wooded plantation, 

belonging to Mr. William Hill, who has his residence 

in their vicinity. ... 

The position of these springs we found beautifully 

located, and but a few hours’ ride to either 

Mount Airy or the Pilot Mountain....In connection 

with the grounds in their vicinity, they are 

most admirably adapted for extensive improve- 


ment for the comfortable accommodation of 

summer visitors. ... 

These hills and valleys are most beautifully 

covered over by extensive groves of noble forest 

trees, consisting principally of hickory, oaks of 

various species, maples, gum-trees, tulip trees or 

white wood, lofty pines, and numerous others of 

an equally interesting nature; together with 

many shrubs and under-growth....This fine 

foliage...when but cleared of a small portion of 

its under-brush, may...be elegantly laid out into 

extensive walks...winding gracefully among the 

trees, for the convenience of parties on foot, or 

for equestrians, whose health may necessarily 

require the more active exercise of the horse or 

carriage. 

These mineral springs are several in number...but 

the most considerable of these are the 

two containing the sulphuretted hydrogen gas 

and that which contains the carbonate of iron. ... 

The first and principal spring has a copious 

discharge of water...the latter oozing gently, with 

but little perceptible motion. ... 

The sulphuretted waters of these springs 

have about the same strength...of those which 

have rendered the waters of Avon, and elsewhere 

in the State of New York, celebrated all 

over the Union. ... 

These springs, varying greatly in the qualities 

of their waters, and combining the advantages 

of being in such close contiguity, may justly 

be considered as possessing a decided superiority 

over many other watering places of the 

same kind, where such are found not to be the 

case; and it appears really surprising that some 

enterprising individual has not been found long 

ere this to take advantage of the favorable position 

and varying qualities of these waters, 

and...become successful in making this interesting 

portion of North Carolina a fashionable place 

of resort for the multitudes that throng to the 

more northern States, to disperse their surplus 

wealth. [No. 4 follows.] 

We propose in this number to conclude our 

rambles....After leaving the county of Guilford, 

and proceeding to Mt. Airy, near the borders of 

the state, the rocky structure of the country 

appears rapidly to have undergone some considerable 

change, soon losing their indurated and 

massive characters, and assuming that of a more 

slaty nature; the gold veins too...having now 

almost entirely disappeared, and those of the 

copper are more rarely to be seen. The numerous 

beds of iron, and sometimes those of 

lead...having fairly usurped their places in the 

series. 

The geological features of this division of the 

country...belong to some of the lower order of 

rocks which have been most generally distinguished 

as the metamorphic series. ... 

In this western section of the state, this formation 

appears to be completely made up of 

interstratified masses of Gneissoid, and sienitic 

granites, Hornblende slates and sandstones, talcose 

granite and slates, micaceous shales, and 

trap dikes, together with nodular masses...and 

extended layers of granular quartz....These varieties 

of the rock, together with their contained 

mineral veins, are all arranged in oft-repeated 

alternations. ... 

These frequent interlaminations of strata are 

by no means found to preserve a uniformity of 

thickness throughout their whole extent. ... 

When these strata disintegrate, the principal 

portion of their constituent parts are either dissolved 

by the rains, or freely commingle, and 

become dispersed through the soil in such a 

manner as scarcely to be discernible, while the 

more durable masses of angulated quartz, or 

flint, are left profusely scattered all over the surface 

of the ground. 

Among the most important and useful ores of 

the metals...are those of the iron. They are chiefly 

in the state of a magnetic oxide, and occur in 

imperfectly formed octahedral crystals. ... 

These ores of iron...do not seem to be confined 

to any individual stratum...but appear at 

times to be disseminated in a profuse manner 

throughout them all, while then again, they are 

so distantly scattered as scarcely to be discernible 

in any. ... 

At one of these many iron locations that we 

had occasion to examine with a somewhat special 

degree of attention, we found these beds of 

ore to be arranged in frequent alternations, forming 

distinct belts, or stripes....The iron is of an 

excellent quality, and has been extensively manufactured....For 

this object suitable buildings 

Chapter 18 307

have been erected on the banks of the Ararat 

river, in the county of Surry, which contains several 

blast furnaces. ... 

The valuable ores of iron already developed, 

and the many favorable indications elsewhere 

exhibited within the boundaries of this territory, 

afford satisfactory evidence that this metal may 

be furnished in inexhaustible quantities for generations 

yet to come. ... 

Besides this iron there is an extensive vein of 

quartz containing the sulphuret of copper...associated 

with that of the iron. It has been 

traced for several miles across the country, and 

maintains a breadth of six or more feet. The copper 

is of an excellent quality, and exhibits evidences 

of an increase in its descent....The iron 

pyrites is of the arsenical variety, and possibly 

may contain fine particles of gold. ... 

Sulphuret of lead, or galena, is frequently 

mentioned as having been found in some of the 

strata of this formation. Although we have seen 

only the specimens, we are inclined to the belief 

that it will be eventually found to some considerable 

extent....Several thick beds of steatite, or 

soap-stone, have been found running through 

the central portion of this district.... 

The account ends with a list of 63 minerals 

that have been found in North Carolina. 

With this, all connections of James Eights and 

North Carolina were severed. Had the charm of 

the countryside faded? Did opportunities for further 

employment fail to develop? As with many 

other episodes in his life, we do not know how it 

began and know as little of its ending. 

NOTES 

1. Albany Argus, 30 July, 3 and 19 September 1829. In 

the American Journal of Science, Denison Olmsted’s “On the 

gold mines of North Carolina” soon found its calm conclusions 

inflated by F.D. Reinhardt’s “Gold mines of North 

Carolina.” H.B.C. Nitze and H.A.J. Wilkens, “Gold mining 

in North Carolina,” especially pp. 26-27, provides a technical 

review. The Argus, 28 May, 2 Jul 1844, returned to the 

topic. For history, see: F.M. Green, “Gold mining: a forgotten 

industry of Ante-Bellum North Carolina”; see especially 

pp. 146-147, for the setting just as Eights came upon the 

scene. 

2. Emmons to Bynum, Ebenezer Emmons Papers, 

1850, p. C. 475, N.C. Division of Archives, Raleigh; Meisel, 

Bibliography of American Natural History, 2: 425-426; I can 

find no evidence of any kinship of James Eights and his 

family with that of Alpha Eights, who is listed in the U.S. 

Census of Guilford County, North Carolina, in 1840; oddly, 

the 1850 census for that county lists an Alphia Aytes (but 

no Eights) — I am indebted to Charles A. Walker, Jr., for 

this information. 

3. Meisel, Bibliography, 2: 426; J.G.[?] Foster, A Brief 

Sketch of the Early Discoveries of Gold Mines and Mining in 

North Carolina, Down to the Present Period (1883), p. 4; I 

account the coincidences too many to doubt that this is the 

Greenbush Foster of the famous geological chart. Foster’s 

claim, p. 5, to have been instrumental in 1851 in bringing 

the name of Emmons to the notice of Governor Reid can 

be only partly correct; perhaps he did, however, help convince 

the governor to appoint Emmons to the post. 

Emmons, Foster reported to the governor, “was designated 

and recommended as the most competent scientific 

gentleman available to make such survey.” He continued: 

“The writer having been curator in the Geological 

Department of the State [presumably he means the State of 

New York?] knew him intimately, and could speak confidently 

of his eminent abilities.” “He had also completed 

his last report on the agricultural resources of New York 

and was then ready for a new enterprise.” There is no 

record that any James Foster whatsoever was ever associated 

with the New York Geological Survey, according to 

Robert H. Fakundiny, State Geologist (letter 5 February 

1992). Perhaps Foster gave himself an advance in rank of 

some sort. His claim (p. 5) to have been “invited to assist” 

Emmons “in making the preliminary examination of the 

geological features of the State [of North Carolina]” is also 

undocumented and perhaps deserving of the same comment. 

His work, in any case, has too many names, dates 

and facts straight to be dismissed as entirely spurious. For 

a soberer estimate of North Carolina gold than Foster’s 

self-serving promotional one, and of nearly the same date, 

see H.M. Chance, “The auriferous gravels of North 

Carolina”; I thank Alice R. Cotten for helping locate this. 

4. Eights, A Report Relating to the Fisher Hill and Pucket 

Mines in Guilford County, North Carolina; Foster, A Brief 

Sketch, does not mention Eights. 

5. Eights, “To A.B. Stith, President of the Ward Gold 

Mine Company”; this privately printed report of two 

pages appears to lack a distinguishing cover. F.M. Green, 

“Gold mining,” p. 147, noted that the state in 1852 began 

to encourage investment of capital for mining: “Geologists 

and...engineers published reports which proclaimed anew 

the valuable mineral resources of the State. Gradually the 

industry was renewed: old mines, ruined by wildcat speculation 

of the 1840’s, were re-opened, and under more scientific 

management yielded a profit; and new companies 

were organized. Typical of such undertakings was the 

Ward Gold Mining Company [1854] with a capital stock of 

$1,500,000.” 

6. AI Minutes, 10 January, 31 May 1855; two items in 

which Eights would have been interested: on 25 Jan, a 

motion was passed to set up a committee (composed of 

T.R. Beck, R.V. DeWitt, James Hall and others) to find out 

if a proposed new building for the State Cabinet might not 

usefully include Institute Library and Collections; and, on 

19 Nov 1855, there was notice of the death of Theodric 

Romeyn Beck, president of the Insitute, his funeral to be 

held 21 Nov. 

7. Eights’s Report on the Hiatt Tract is dated no more 


precisely than June 1855; the pamphlet was printed in 

Greensborough. Signed “Geologist and Mineral Surveyor,” 

its emphasis was upon resources other than gold. I have 

shortened the article, tending to retain only material of 

general interest. 

8. Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 305, 

Accession No. 712; although put with Accession Records 

1850, this has no definitive bearing on its date; I thank 

Kathleen W. Dorman, Joseph Henry Papers, for her help 

with this. An archivist has given this letter the date of 

“1851” but that was at most a rough guess. Dorman calls 

attention to a fire in 1865 that destroyed many of the 

Henry letters to that date, so the absence of further letters 

to and from him does not mean there were none. 

9. For the periodical, which lasted from 1853 to 1860, 

see Meisel, Bibliography, 3: 172-184; it was a magazine of 

real substance. Eights’s article appeared in vol. 10(3): 183- 

188, (4): 268-273; (5): 369-373; (6): 423-427; March to June, 

1858. Since the magazine enjoyed a fairly wide distribution 

and is readily available, I have quoted only his more 

natural-history-oriented statements. I have not tried to 

account for every paragraph. 

10. There is something wrong with the inclusion of 

sugar among staple crops. Can the reference have been to 

sorghum molasses, the traditional “long-sweetening” of 

the South? 

11. It is interesting that a beautiful landscape is 

“nature in all its truthfulness”; but a desolate, disfigured 

landscape of exhausted soils, abandoned farms, tough 

residual vegetations of meadow-sedge (a term applied to 

the old-field grass Andropogon virginicus) and its associated 

exhausted human community convey no useful truths! 

Chapter 18 309


Chapter 19 

THE 1850s: JAMES EIGHTS AS ARTIST 

THE TANGLED WEB 

James Eights always accounted himself a 

draftsman. There must hardly have been a time 

when he did not make drawings of one sort or 

another. There is no record that he ever painted 

or drew portraits. Indeed, human figures in his 

reconstructed scenes are rather crude. He 

delighted in coloring maps; his drawings of 

invertebrates were precise and lovely. Several 

statements over the years hint of his antiquarian 

love for old houses and street scenes of the past. 

He probably learned to reconstruct such scenes 

from his competence in surveying (which he 

may have picked up, perhaps in a systematic 

way, from Amos Eaton). Of all his many undertakings, 

his reconstructions of Albany street 

scenes have always been his best-known activity. 

In that field, indeed, he is larger than life. 

Nowadays, any orphan artistic re-creation of 

early Albany street views may find itself credited 

to James Eights. 

As with every other chapter in his life, one 

must grope for its roots, flesh out the main picture, 

and tidy up remains with little or no help 

from the main subject. The present aim is to start 

with Eights’s major break into public consciousness 

in the 1850s — at first as a pirated artist, 

then as an acknowledged painter of antiquarian 

Albany views. Loose ends will be gathered up in 

an overall catalogue of his works in an ensuing 

chapter. 

In the previous chapter, it was found that 

Eights was in North Carolina perhaps at least 

through 1855, perhaps into some part of 1856. 

Using the longest-known calendar of events in 

Eights’s life, we are told that he touched base in 

regard to his Albany street scenes in the autumn 

of 1856, with a pirated version of them appearing 

early in 1857. Actually, it did not happen that 

way. 

While nobody indicates Eights to have participated, 

significant events were occurring at the 

Albany Institute and in the scientific community 

in Albany. On 28 February 1856, “Dr. Ebenezer 

Emmons...made some very interesting statements 

on the Gold Region of North Carolina 

illustrating his communication by diagrams and 

specimens from the locality described.” Perhaps 

Eights was with him; perhaps at least Emmons 

brought news of his whereabouts. At the same 

meeting, “Benson J. Lossing of N.Y. was elected a 

corresponding member of the Institute.” One 

wonders at that name, for Lossing it was, a contributing 

editor for Harper’s Magazine, who 

brought out a bowdlerized and pirated version 

of Eights’s illustrated history of Albany. The 

immediate question a few years ago would have 

been whether Eights learned about Lossing at 

this time. By now, the question is: Did Eights 

introduce Lossing to the Institute? The two men 

had already met. 1 

The pace of life at the Institute was slow. At 

the meeting of 13 March 1856, Alfred B. Street 

was elected a Resident Member of the Institute, 

another name with possible Eights connections. 

Institute President DeWitt and Dr. Ebenezer 

Emmons were proposed to lecture at the next 

Chapter 19 311

meeting. However, on 27 March, “But few of the 

members being present Dr. Emmons was invited 

to lecture on the Coal and Coal formation of 

North Carolina at the next meeting.” On 3 April 

1856, “Dr. Ebenezer Emmons then gave a very 

interesting lecture on the coal and coal formation 

of North Carolina, describing the formation 

peculiar to that state; illustrating his observations 

with diagrams. He exhibited many choice fossils 

from the different Strata; together with several 

splendid Specimens of the Fossil Flora of that 

region, which added a rare charm to the entertainment.” 

For reasons unexplained in the 

Minutes, DeWitt’s resignation was announced. 

The Institute was active in events in late summer, 

too, when the American Association for the 

Advancement of Science held its 10th annual 

meeting. James Hall was elected president of the 

Association and Ebenezer Emmons lectured on 

“Permian and Triassic systems of North 

Carolina.” There was no sign of Eights at the 

prestigious proceedings. Let us see where this 

brings us. 2 

Figure 19.1. Vanderheyden Palace. Drawing by James 

Eights, etched without credit by Benson J. Lossing. One of 

several drawings used by Lossing in an essay in Harper’s 

New Monthly Magazine (volume 14, page 451, 1857) that 

was rewritten without credit, from a work by Eights. See 

comments on versions of this drawing in Chapter 20. 

On the surface, at least, the next footfall was 

the appearance in March 1857 in Harper’s New 

Monthly Magazine of an anonymous article entitled 

“Albany Fifty Years Ago,” illustrated by 14 

wood engravings signed (if attributed at all) by 

“Lossing-Barritt.” While no one would perhaps 

want to claim kin to the sadly rewritten, rather 

overripe prose of the narrative, it was not long 

before everyone acknowledged privately that the 

drawings were engraved without credit from 

paintings of James Eights. One can easily imagine 

the gossip that was in the air in Albany. 3 

Whatever the nature of the fiction promoted 

by Lossing’s narrative, it clearly showed Eights’s 

reconstructions of street scenes in Albany more 

or less as they were at the turn of the century. 

For all its extravagant overwriting, with respect 

to what the drawings purported to show, the text 

honored the subject. Slightly variant notions of 

the reliability of identifications of buildings, and 

so forth, need not concern us here. A transcription 

of the text is not required, since ir is readily 

available and much copied. The scenes shown 

will be, as nearly as possible, matched with 

Eights’s own drawings in the Catalogue of his 

works. At least by 1867, it was noted publicly 

that the engravings were made from originals by 

Eights. In 1860, on the other hand, a work published 

in Albany used the “Lossing-Barritt” 

scenes without comment. 4 

Now, the usual history of the piece in 

Harper’s is one or another variation on the following 

story. In the Albany Institute of History 

and Art archives, there is a typescript of an 

undated newspaper clipping without any attribution 

to the newspaper from which it was copied. 

I have seen the publisher given as the Albany 

Argus; internally, the letter is claimed to have 

been sent to the the Times-Union. The letter itself 

is not dated; it quotes a letter dated 1886 — 

which is sometimes cited as date of publication 

but most certainly was not. The letter and its 

enclosure follow (without external quotation 

marks). 

DEAR OLD ALBANY 

The Changes That Time Has Made 

Unpublished Letter from Dr. Benson J. Lossing. 

Professor Eights the Author of the Article in 

Harper’s Magazine in 1856 [=1857], Entitled 

“Albany, Fifty Years Ago.” 

“Albany, Fifty Years Ago,” was the title of a 

very interesting article which appeared in 

Harper’s Magazine in the 1856-57 volume, pages 

451 to 463. 


The writer’s name was not given, nor that of 

the delieneator [!] of the 14 drawings of scenes in 

Albany at the beginning of this century with 

which it was adorned. 

Nothing has every [!] appeared in Harper’s 

more interesting to old Albanians, and I was 

delighted to find when I met at Vassar college, 

Dr. Benson J. Lossing, the author of “The Field 

Book of the Revolution,” that he also was both 

the writer and delineator of the article on 

“Albany, Fifty Years Ago.” 

He partly promised me that he would at 

some time give me memorandum of how he 

came to write it and whence he obtained the 

material. 

It was in answer to this request that he sent 

me the following letter, and as I think he did it 

with the expectation that it might be published 

after he was gone, I send a copy of it to The 

Times-Union, so many of whose readers are now 

enjoying the literary treats furnished by the 

Albany Art and Historical association. 

Yours sincerely, 

WEST POINT 

Cottage City, Mass. 

“The Ridge,” Dover Plains, N. Y. 

Monday Morning, 5:30 o’clock 

April 12, 1886 

My Dear Friend: On the receipt from you on 

Saturday of a copy each of the Graphic and the 

News-Press[,] I felt a twinge of conscience accusing 

me of seeming neglect of a friend’s request 

made some months ago. 

But I silenced the monitor by offering in 

extentuation the record of memory under the 

head of “labor” where the words “incessant” 

and “exhaustive” occur continually. There is no 

equivalent for the word “leisure.” 

The recollection of Dr. Eights and my first 

meeting and brief social interview with him is 

dimmed by the mists of 30 years, which are 

laden with the obstructing particles of many 

interesting events. 

The meeting and the interview took place in 

the early fall of 1856; my study was then in 

Harper’s new Building. 

One day James Harper, the senior member of 

the old firm, came into my room and introduced 

to me “Professor Eights, a learned gentleman 

from Albany, who has something to show you.” 

This introduction was nothing new to me, as 

it was a frequent occurrence then, the Harpers 

being in the habit of referring to me gentlemen 

offering pictorial and other matter for the magazine 

for consideration. 

As I recall Dr. Eights, he was a rather tall, 

well proportioned man, apparently of middle 

age. I found him a very genial and entertaining 

man. He unrolled a package of drawings and 

manuscript, scrappy descriptions of the pictures 

of buildings and other things which marked 

Albany half a century before. They were mostly 

water colors, drawings of buildings, made, as I 

understand the doctor, by himself. 

“I offer them for the magazine,” he said, 

“free of charge, for I wish to see the record preserved 

in a substantial form. I do not care to 

have my name mentioned in connection with the 

matter. They said you are just the man to decide 

upon the value of the materials and to prepare 

them for the Magazine.” 

We spent several hours together, I making 

descriptive notes, from his lips, in addition to 

those he furnished me in writing. These formed 

the basis of the article. We parted “excellent 

friends,” for I admire[d] my visitor and he 

seemed to like me. 

This in brief is the genesis of the paper on 

“Albany, Fifty Years Ago.” I embel[l]ished the 

plain cast-iron facts of history with a little harmless 

fiction, the perpetration of which has never 

kept me awake o’nights with the pangs of 

remorse. 

I made the most of the drawing of the pictures 

on the wood for the engraver with my own 

hands and received a fair compensation for my 

labor, artistic and literary. 

I presume the illustrated article on the opening 

of the Hudson river is from your pen. I have 

read it with special interest, because I came 

down the river from Albany in that steamer “the 

Swallow” a week or ten days after that latest 

opening, April 13, 1843. 

Please bear the kindest salutations of us all to 

your whole household, and believe me to be 

your sincere friend. 

Benson J. Lossing. 5 

Chapter 19 313

So much for the official story. The truth is 

that Lossing’s memory needed some refurbishing 

by 1886. He was, as he pointed out, referring 

to something that occurred 30 busy, eventful 

years before. I have learned of a letter from 

Eights to Lossing, previously unnoticed, that 

sheds light upon our subject. The letter reads: 

To Benson J Lossing Esqr. New York. 

Albany June 15 th /56 

Dear Sir 

Enclosed I send you an Engraving, made 

from the sepia sketch of the Falls of Tivoli, near 

this City. It is one among the collection I disposed 

of to the Harpers. 

About nine years since I was applied to, by 

Vestes [!] Balch, an eminent engraver of your 

City, for permission to let him exercise his skill 

by engraving it on steel. This, at the time I consented 

to do. Some four years after, the original 

sketch was returned, he being in ill health, was 

obliged to give it up, as I supposed, never to be 

completed. A few days ago, I accidentally met 

him in this City, and he stated to me, that the 

plate had not been quite finished, but, that it 

could be in a few days. I then called upon him 

and obtained the impression I send you. I never 

had any reason to believe that it had been so far 

advanced. Consequently I conceived some explanation 

necessary so that no unpleasant thought 

should arrise [!] should it hereafter meet your 

eye. I can safely assure you that no impressions 

have ever been taken from the plate for any 

other purpose, than the proofs necessarily 

required for the engraver to complete its execution. 

Would it not be desirable for the Harpers to 

purchase this plate for the use of their journal? It 

can be immediately finished, and procured for a 

very moderate sum. Alfred B. Street no doubt 

could easily be induced to furnish the letterpress 

description, either in prose or Poetry. Make 

some offer and I will immediately answer you as 

to the result. 

Your letter a few days since was duly 

received, and the explanations respecting the 

ships quite wholsome [!]. However, as your mining 

companies in Wall Street have neglected to 

arrange their business with me satisfactorily to 

my interests, I am very much fearful that I shall 

be put to a strain in money affairs before I can 

conclude my commissions here. Therefore you 

may immagine [!] how much I would be obliged 

to you, if I could receive some remittance for the 

said sketch as speedily as convenient. The 

amount I leave to yourself. If otherwise[,] you 

may retain them until I see you, or, keep them 

subject to my order. 

The old steam boats mentioned, I have in a 

measure secured. I have also gathered some very 

interesting Old Dutch reminiscences, since here, 

which in due time will be properly developed. 

Very Respectfully / Yours &c / James Eights 

in care of Richard V. Dewitt 

56 State Street Albany. 6 

Several observations are called for here, aside 

from the obvious one that James Eights was 

again in Albany — and in need of cash. I think it 

clear that there had been some monetary considerations 

involved with regard to the Eights 

drawings that appeared in Harper’s. My guess is 

that while the magazine may have used Eights’s 

material without payment to him, the original 

drawings were purchased by Lossing for his private 

collection. This accounts for Eights’s obvious 

concern lest Lossing be offended to see one 

of them copied: just as it also accounts for the 

fact that, as we shall see, these very Eights drawings 

were purchased in our century from the 

Lossing estate by Messrs. Manning and 

Cogswell. 

We also learn from the letter that the outcome 

of his sojourn in North Carolina (note the 

reference to “your mining companies in Wall 

Street”) had been somewhat less than satisfactory. 

He was also enough in Richard V. DeWitt’s 

good graces to use his office as a staging point. It 

would seem that the original of his “Tivoli Falls” 

painting, along with other Albany scenes, went 

to Harper’s/Lossing well previous to June 1856, the 

date of this letter. Therefore, that meeting did not 

take place, as Lossing remembered, in the 

autumn of 1856. How much earlier it may have 

been, I cannot guess. 

Recall that earlier in the year 1856, Lossing 

was made a Corresponding Member of the 

Albany Institute. Is it not likely that Eights had 


already met him by then and offered to introduce 

him to the Albany literati? Note also the 

Resident Membership of Alfred B. Street — 

another name whose significance did not fail to 

impress Eights. And he already knew Vistus 

Balch, an eminent engraver. Eights certainly met 

the right people! 7 

An authoritative calendar for the years in 

which Eights made and promoted his Albany 

scenes has yet to be fashioned. Clearly, their history 

considerably antedates the appearance of 

the Lossing-Barritt copies of early 1857. They 

were certainly likely all done by the time Eights 

returned from North Carolina some time in early 

1856. He did not do them, surely, while in North 

Carolina, beginning in winter 1853. Maybe he 

did work on them during the time of his somewhat 

obscure residence in Albany in the early 

1850s, even as he prepared his popular articles 

on natural history. 

One might suppose that in his period of 

instability, as documented in letters by R.V. 

DeWitt and A.E. Williams, already cited, from 

late 1849 to some time in the early 1850s, he 

would have accomplished little. Could they have 

been either prepared or roughed out by then? Or 

were they in fact worked on at that time as a stabilizing 

therapy? 

Two pieces of his work were dated by Eights 

himself. “North Pearl & State Street — at & near 

the Corner — as it was in 1814” was dated 1848 

on the back. Albany Institute’s “Pearl Street 

From Steuben Street South” was dated 1850. 

William L. Lassiter wrote, with minimal documentation, 

that the “R.H. Pease lithographs...were 

made between 1847 and 1854 from 

General Taylor [=Tayler] Cooper’s collection of 

Eights originals.” Whether anyone can prove 

that lithographs of any Eights works were produced 

as early as 1847, I do not know. 8 

Eights drew up to three versions of the street 

scenes. The Albany Institute has two sets of 

drawings, as well as the collection of 14 drawings 

that Eights conveyed to Lossing from which 

the Harper’s article was illustrated. (Note that 

“The Falls of Tivoli” was not among Eights’s 

drawings copied in the Lossing/Barritt wood 

engraving, perhaps because it did not fit 

Lossing’s notion of “Old Albany.”) It has been 

pointed out that there “are some discrepancies 

between the three versions of the same views. 

Eights sometimes placed windows and doors in 

different locations on the same house.” Lassiter 

correctly noticed that this leads to “an unestimated 

number of original Eights drawings.” 9 

A list of owners of significant collections of 

examples of this “unestimated number of original 

drawings” is not readily come by. Among 

early owners of paintings were Stephen Van 

Rensselaer (not the Patroon of earlier years, who 

died in 1839, but his son) and General J. Tayler 

Cooper, as listed by lithographers’ credits. 

R.W.G. Vail, New York State Librarian, prepared 

an account of the Eights drawings about 1940. 

He found Ledyard Cogswell, Jr., of Albany, to 

have a set of 14. Cogswell’s collection consisted 

of the original Lossing collection, since he and 

James Manning bought them when Lossing’s 

estate was broken up. At Manning’s death, 

Cogswell’s wife secured his portion for her husband’s 

collection. Hall Park McCullough owned 

a set of 12, thought to be duplicates of pictures 

owned by Cogswell, with an additional four not 

in the latter’s collection. (The McCullough collection 

came to the Albany Institute from I.H. 

Vrooman in 1951.) I do not know how to account 

for a collection of eight Eights Albany scenes 

loaned for an exhibition in Albany in 1886 by 

Mrs. Mary Wharton Gibson of New York City. 

(Can they have been from the Lossing holding?) 

The provenance of a collection of originals 

owned by Mrs. William Gorham Rice in 1915 has 

not been recorded. 10 NOTES 

1. AI Minutes, 28 February 1856; Richard Varrick 

DeWitt, President of the Institute was in the chair. 

2. AI Minutes, 13 March, 27 March, 3 April, 5 Jun 

1856. While the 10th annual meeting of the AAAS in 

Albany was marred by unplanned snarls (the opening of 

the State Geological Hall failed to have timely legislative 

funding; the opening of Dudley Observatory suffered 

from delay in arrival of key equipment), it was a gala 

affair. It was given banner coverage by the Albany Argus 

(see 20-28 August), all participants are listed, numerous 

lectures cited (and often quoted). Hall’s presidential 

address appeared on the 21st; Emmons’s paper was 

noticed on the 23d. 

3. Anon., “Albany fifty years ago” (from material supplied 

by JE). The use, without credit, of material pur- 

Chapter 19 315

chased by Harper’s was standard practice at the time, however 

we feel about it now. Benson John Lossing (1813- 

1891) was a contributing editor for Harper’s and, by then, 

an extremely well-known author and wood engraver. 

William Barritt was a wood engraver, b. ca. 1823. He 

worked in New York City from 1845 to 1869 — with 

Lossing after 1847 (Young, A Dictionary of American 

Artists). 

4. Gorham A. Worth (d. 1856), Random Recollections of 

Albany from 1800 to 1808 (3d ed., with notes by the publisher, 

Joel Munsell); see frontispiece and plate opposite p. 

120. In 1867, in his Collections of the History of Albany, Joel 

Munsell reprinted a revised version of the Harper’s article, 

reproducing the plates by electrotype; these engravings, 

Munsell says, were “mostly from drawings by Mr. James 

Eights, who has for a long time given much attention to 

the subject of restoring on canvass [not true: they were all 

watercolor and pen on paper] the appearance of the 

dwellings about the city in the early part of this century; 

copies of which, very skilfully executed by him adorn the 

walls of many houses.” He adds: “A few notes have been 

appended, either further to illustrate subjects, or to give 

what others claim to have existed, differing somewhat 

from the author in the text.” (Munsell did not refer to the 

text as pirated from Eights.) Munsell again used a few of 

the Harper’s engravings (or close copies of them) in “Men 

and things in Albany two centuries ago, and the origin of 

the Dutch and English churches,” an article read before 

the Albany Institute, 18 April 1876, pp. 37, 39, 51, 52. 

5. This typescript is preserved in AI archives. I have 

been unable to find a newspaper clipping that matches it. 

Ledyard Cogswell, Jr. (letter to Alfred LeRoy Becker, an 

Eights relative; in AI archives), 21 February 1945, claimed 

to have found several years before “a newspaper clipping 

of 1886” which contained Lossing’s letter. Since he misdated 

the actual date of publication, it can only be guessed 

whether he saw this typescript or the clipping itself. W.L. 

Lassiter, in “James Eights and his Albany views,” claimed 

— again, incorrectly — that Lossing’s “letter to a 

friend...was published in the Albany Argus, 1886.” There is 

no reason to doubt that “West Point” published the letter 

after Lossing’s death, which occurred 3 June 1891. Since he 

said he had sent it to the Times-Union, that is the logical 

place to look for it. There is, of course, no reason that it 

may not have been reprinted in the Albany Argus. As for 

the former newspaper, it was called the Albany Evening 

Union through 16 November 1891 — there was no evidence 

of such a letter there, from the time of Lossing’s 

death through that date, although a prominent final page 

of each issue was retained for such newsy letters. 

Furthermore, I failed to find the letter in the newly named 

Times-Union through 2 December 1892. (The clipping file at 

the modern Times-Union library goes back only into the 

1930s, so there is no help there, as I am informed by 

Richard Matturro.) I have had no luck finding the name of 

a person who wrote under the name of “West Point.” 

6. Eights to Lossing, 15 June 1856; Lossing Papers, The 

Huntington Library, LS 624. See Guide to American 

Historical Manuscripts in the Huntington Library (1979), p. 

215. The Lossing Papers do not have other Eights letters, 

nor is Lossing’s letter of 1886 to “West Point” among 

them. When I wrote to Professor Ian Higginson of the 

University of Kent in regard to a paper of his that vaguely 

related to Jeremiah N. Reynolds, I noted my primary interest 

in James Eights. He thereupon appended to a letter of 

his (on a quite different matter!) to the Huntington Library 

a note enquiring whether they had anything on Eights — 

with the result that the present letter came to my attention. 

I thank Ian Higginson for his serendipitous help and 

Christine Fagan and John H. Rhodehamel of the 

Huntington for their kind assistance. 

7. Albany Institute has the Eights pencil, ink and wash 

on paper drawing of “Tivoli Falls” (Gift of Henry Bland, 

1944.4); it also has an engraving (perhaps the one that 

Eights conveyed to Lossing in the above letter) of the 

scene by Vistus Balch (source unknown, their U1974.5); see 

W.G. Balla, “James Eights and the Practical Application of 

Knowledge” (1991), p. [17]. I find no evidence that Eights’s 

drawing of his “Falls of Tivoli” was ever used in Harper’s, 

although retrieval clues are hard to visualize. Vistus Balch 

(1799-1884) was an engraver and draftsman who worked 

in various places, from Albany and Utica to New York 

City; about 1825, he drew on stone a portrait of Samuel L. 

Mitchill for Imbert, a pioneer lithographer of New York 

City; see Wm. Young, A Dictionary of American Artists, p. 

25; J.F. Carr, Mantle Fielding’s Dictionary, p. 16, 439. Alfred 

Billings Street (1811-1881), “lawyer, poet, librarian,” was 

another significant friendship of Eights’s of which we 

have no history, other than the reference in the Eights letter; 

see J.I. Wyer, in DAB, and Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of 

American Biography, 5: 718; Street was director of the New 

York State Library from 1848 to 1862 and law librarian 

until 1868; he published widely in a literary vein and was 

a popular speaker and poet. 

8. For the “North Pearl & State Street” painting, see 

notes by Anon., 1984, printed on back of AI reproduction 

in color. Lassiter, “James Eights and his Albany views,” p. 

360. W.G. Balla, “James Eights and the practical application 

of knowledge,” p. [29], accepts these dates. The R.H. 

Pease company operated in Albany from 1838 to 1854; it 

was succeeded by Hoffman, Knickerbocker & Co., a firm 

that, Lassiter notes, brought out lithographs in 1857–1858. 

Note reference to the Sintzenich lithographs in the 

“Catalogue” where a summary account of lithographic 

reproductions of the Eights paintings will be found. 

9. Anon., 1984; Lassiter, “James Eights and his Albany 

views,” p. 360. 

10. R.W.G. Vail, undated letter, AI archives; see catalogue 

of lithographs for information on owners so far as 

known. Gibson’s holding was described in Albany 

Bicentennial Loan Exhibition, pp. 109-111; this collection was 

listed in detail (but not illustrated), along with various lots 

loaned by owners of both Eights originals and prints (pp. 

81, 87, 88, 123) but Eights was not in the “Works by 

Albany Artists,” pp. 126-130. For the Rice collection, see 

Anon., 15 December 1915, a newspaper account of an exhibition 

of Eights material in connection with J.M. Clarke’s 

lecture on Eights. 


Chapter 20 

CATALOGUE OF THE DRAWINGS OF JAMES EIGHTS 

This catalogue, expanded from a list of 

works in the Albany Institute provided by James 

R. Hobin (1978), aims at a list of identifiable 

paintings and drawings by James Eights. Natural 

history and other drawings are included. Some 

effort has been made to establish uniform titles 

and, as far as information allows, each is documented. 

A few scenes will no doubt end up with 

multiple titles, when illustrations have not been 

available to guide me. I include information on 

copies after Eights (or in the style of Eights) and 

a census of early lithographic and other reproductions. 

1 

The Catalogue follows: (1) Individual works. 

(2) Prints, lithographic reproductions, engravings, 

etc. (3) Views on china. (4) Copies after 


INDIVIDUAL WORKS: AT ALBANY 

INSTITUTE UNLESS NOTED 

ALBANY. See: View of the City of Albany 

from across the Hudson. (See notes on “View” in 

Prints.) 

ALBANY, ENTRANCE TO THE CITY. By 

the road from Troy. Water color on paper. 

1954.59.78. Bequest of Ledyard Cogswell, Jr. Not 

in Hobin list. For a woodcut version of this, with 

description, see Prints. 

AQUEDUCT BRIDGE AT LITTLE FALLS. 

Pen, ink and wash on paper. 3-1/8 x 6 in. Done 

in 1823. U1976.4.1. Given by JE to AI Mar 1836. 

One of three vignettes by Eights illustrating folding 

panels of Amos Eaton’s geological section of 

the Erie Canal. The others: 1) a similar view of 

the Aqueduct Bridge at Rochester; and 2) 

Entrance of the Canal into the Hudson. See also: 

Erie Canal, Geological Section. 

AQUEDUCT BRIDGE AT ROCHESTER. 

Water color, pencil, ink on paper. 3-1/8 x 6 in. 

Done in 1823. U1976.4.2. Given by JE to AI, Mar 

1836. 

BROADWAY AND STATE STREET, NORTH. 

Water color. 12-13/16 x 20-9/16 in. Hobin. 

BRONGNIARTIA TRILOBITOIDES. Water 

color on paper. 1836.1.1. AI Gift of JE. See: Prints. 

DECOLOPODA AUSTRALIS. Original 

unknown; see Prints. 

ENGLISH CHURCH, STATE STREET. Water 

color. 10-1/2 x 14 in. Hobin. 

ENTRANCE TO THE CITY OF ALBANY BY 

THE ROAD FROM TROY. 1806. See: Albany, 

Entrance to the City. 

ERIE CANAL, GEOLOGICAL SECTION. 

Done for Amos Eaton’s survey of the Canal, 

1823. Original not now known, although it was 

among properties of SPUA and LNH, as of 1 Jun 

1824, among “Art & Miscellaneous,” “Drawing 

of the Erie Canal. Geological / Jas Eights.” It has 

been variously reproduced as a folding plate. 

FALLS OF TIVOLI. See: Tivoli Falls. 

FORT FREDERICK AT ALBANY. 1765. 

Pencil and water color on paper. Not in Hobin 

list. AI 1954.59.85. Bequest of Ledyard Cogswell, 

Jr. It was built in 1676 to replace Fort Orange; 

located below crest of hill on State Street. See: St. 

Peter’s (or old English Church), for ruins of fort. 

Chapter 20 317

GEOLOGICAL SECTIONS, POST-TERTIARY 

FORMATIONS OF THE CITY OF ALBANY. 

Original unknown. See Prints. 

GLYPTONOTUS ANTARCTICA. Original 

unknown. See: Prints. 

HODGE’S DOCK. An original with this title 

was said to have been exhibited by Mrs. C.C. 

Burton at the Albany Bicentennial Loan 

Exhibition (1886: 123). Present location 

unknown. See: Prints, “View of the City of 

Albany...1836.” 

LITTLE FALLS. See: Aqueduct Bridge at 

Little Falls. 

MARKET STREET, EAST SIDE, FROM 

MAIDEN LANE, SOUTH. Albany in 1805. Water 

color, pen and ink on paper. 12-1/2 x 19-1/4 in. 

Attributed to JE; unsigned. Lot 5, Schwarz 

Philadelphia, Philadelphia Collection XLVII, 

Nov. 1991. From photo, this appears to be an 

artist’s duplicate of a similarly titled one at AI. 

AI has reproduced this in color but has chopped 

off a male figure at right, thus leaving only a tiny 

corner of the Old Dutch Church in distance at 

right. See next entry. 

MARKET STREET, EAST SIDE. (Now 

Broadway between Maiden Lane and State Street 

looking south, as it appeared in 1805.) Same 

scene as previous. Reproduced in color by AI. 

Water color on paper. 12 x 19-1/4 in. Hobin gave 

dimensions as 12 x 20-1/8 in. As noted in previous 

entry, the color reproduction lacks male figure 

at right (cut off, not simply omitted; I have a 

b&w reproduction of the AI original with both 

figures [and more church] showing). This 

appears to be same as “Market Street, with 

Market and Old Dutch Church, Looking South, 

1805,” shown by Mary Wharton Gibson, Albany 

Bicentennial Loan Exhibition, 1886 (p. 110). 

Buildings shown: left-hand side — Leonard 

Gansevoort; dwelling and store of Paul 

Hockstrasser; a building, lower part occupied by 

J. Hill, glover, upper part by G. Fairman, 

engraver; Abram Hun; store, counting house, 

David and John Blackley; David Fonda; in distance, 

store of Fonda and Winne; James and 

Archibald Kane; John Fatin; Jacob and George 

Manchius; Dutch Church; right-hand side — 

John Robinson’s corner, in 1886 the Museum; J. 

& M. Van Schaick; David Walters; Albert Willett; 

William Mulroy; Bank of Albany; John Maley; 

Abraham R. Ten Eyck, bookseller; Douw B. 

Slingerland; Barent G. Staats; Teunis Van 

Vechten. 

MARKET STREET (NOW BROADWAY), 

EAST, FROM MAIDEN LANE TO STATE 

STREET. Water color. 10-9/16 x 19-1/8 in. No figures 

to right; ox-cart center foreground. Hobin. 

MARKET STREET FROM COURT STREET 

LOOKING NORTH, WITH THE OLD DUTCH 

CHURCH AND MARKET, 1805. May duplicate 

another view in Catalogue. Shown by Mary 

Wharton Gibson, Albany Bicentennial Loan 

Exhibition, 1886 (p. 110): right-hand side — 

Thomas P. Gould; dwelling and store, Henry 

Lansing; Richard Dun & Son; James Daniels; lefthand 

side — John Spencer, stones and hardware; 

Stafford & Spencer; John C.P. Dow; James and 

Walter Clark. 

MARKET STREET (NOW BROADWAY), 

WEST SIDE, FROM MAIDEN LANE TO 

STEUBEN STREET, as it was about 1809-1810. 

Water color. 8-1/16 x 17 in. A small color reproduction 

used in Peggy Byrne, “Albany’s first city 

planner,” p. 37, where artist is given as “Erghts.” 

I cannot read all of artist’s caption in lower margin. 

This view was shown by Mary Wharton 

Gibson, Albany Bicentennial Loan Exhibition, 

1886 (p. 110); buildings are: Richard Lush, 

dwelling and store; adjoining north store, John 

Brinckerhoof; Richard Dun; Martin Beckman; 

Talbut, house painter; Barent Bleecker; Gen. John 

H. Wendell; Stephen Lush, dwelling and office; 

Dr. Samuel Stringer, dwelling and office; Andrew 

Brown (house built by Derrick Ten Broeck); 

Dudley Walsh; Sandrum Lansing, celebrated 

cake baker; Chancellor John Lansing. 

OLD DUTCH CHURCH — ROBINSON 

CORNER WITH ALBANY BANK. 

Water color. 10-3/8 x 17-3/4 in. Hobin. This 

seems to be same as: “Market Street, West Side, 

from State Street to Maiden Lane, 1800,” shown 

by Mary Wharton Gibson, Albany Bicentennial 

Loan Exhibition, 1886 (pp. 109-110): Old Dutch 

Church; John Robinson’s corner, now the 

Museum; J. & M. Van Schaick; dwelling and 

store of David Waters, building on south, Hugh 

Orr’s store; Albert Willett; south store, William 

Phillips, north store, David Newland; William 


Mulroy; Bank of Albany; John Maley, merchant. 

Abraham R. Ten Eyck, bookseller; dwelling and 

store of Douw B. Slingerland; dwelling and store 

of Barent G. Staats; Teunis Van Vechten; Market. 

OLD DUTCH CHURCH — ROBINSON 

CORNER (with Albany Bank not showing!). 

Water color, attributed to JE. Pen and ink on 

paper. 11 x 18-1/4 in. Sotheby Auction, Jan 1993, 

Lot 916. Evidently, an artist’s (near) duplicate of 

the previous entry. There are numbers in sky 

above buildings, with #1 being the usual sliver 

of a corner of the Old Dutch Church; the other 

buildings, arrayed across sheet to right, go from 

Robinson’s Corner (#2) to John and Abraham 

Brinkerall (#9). Oddly, Albany Bank (#7) is listed 

in caption but no such building is numbered or 

shown! I was told privately by a Sotheby curator 

that this lot (with three other paintings by 

Eights) was from the estate of Dr. Henry Hand 

Hun (1893-1972), scion of a distinguished Albany 

family. These paintings had been rather badly 

treated: trimmed; glued to backing; in some 

cases, captions seemed separated from main picture 

and vignetted in the mat margin. I am 

informed that, after Dr. Hun’s death, the house 

was hastily razed on a weekend by mean-spirited 

contractors, to fend off a legal order, effective 

the following week, that would have preserved 

it for its historical significance. As to Eights 

paintings held by the Hun family, Ledyard 

Cogswell, Jr., letter 21 Feb 1945 (AI archives) 

wrote: “I did see some years ago in Dr. Hun’s 

house, some [of] which might have come down 

through the family.” The paintings probably 

came to Henry Hand Hun from his distinguished 

ancestor, Dr. Thomas Hun (d. 23 Jun 

1896, aged 86; see A.J. Parker, Landmarks of 

Albany County, pp. 174, 187, 202). 

PEARL STREET, WITH DUTCH CHURCH. 

Albany 1805. Water color. 12 x 20-9/16 in. Hobin. 

PEARL STREET AND MAIDEN LANE. 


PEARL STREET NEAR MAIDEN LANE IN 

ALBANY. (As it appeared in 1805). AI color 

print. From water color on paper, 9-3/4 x 13 in. 

This may be same as another painting in list. It 

shows, according to Lossing’s annotation of his 

view VI, p. 44, the Woodruff House; his office 

(half-door, with figure); house built by William 

Eights of NYC; home of Thompson the cook; the 

spire of “the church” shows behind; the Widow 

Sturtevant; and a tall yellow house belonging to 

Yates. There is a single male figure at left, a 

woman and standing child in right center, and a 

couple at extreme right. 

PEARL STREET FROM STEUBEN STREET 

SOUTH, as it was in 1812. (Dated 1850.) Water 

color. 10-1/4 x 17-5/8 in. Hobin. This seems to be 

the painting shown by Mary Wharton Gibson, in 

Albany Bicentennial Loan Exhibition, 1886 (p. 

109), as “Continuation of Pearl street, from near 

the centre to the corner of Steuben street, 1814.” 

Buildings are: Cornelius Brower’s house; 

Uranian Hall; Dr. William McClellan (afterward 

Dr. William Bay); other buildings in order: John 

L. Bleecker, Peter E. Elmendorf; Gerardus 

Lansing; Writing School; John Andrew; storehouse; 

in distance, mansion of Harmanus 

Bleecker. 

PEARL STREET, NORTH. Water color. 12- 

1/4 x 20-1/4 in. Hobin. 

PEARL STREET, NORTH. Albany, 1800. 


PEARL STREET, NORTH. Pemberton 

Corner. A preliminary sketch by JE. AI; used by 

J.J. McEneny, Albany, Capital City on the Hudson, 

p. 33. House on corner was constructed in 1710 

(date in large numerals at second-story level). 

(Present-day Brewster Building [Albany Business 

College].) 

PEARL STREET, NORTH, FROM THE CEN- 

TER OF STEUBEN STREET TO FOX STREET. 

Water color on paper. AI 1954.59.64. Bequest of 

Ledyard Cogswell, Jr. (Balla, 1991, p. [23]). This 

probably duplicates one of Hobin’s entries. 

PEARL STREET, NORTH — WEST SIDE 

FROM CANAL STREET NORTH. Water color. 

10-1/4 x 18 in. Hobin. 

PEARL STREET, NORTH — WESTERLO 

HOUSE / PRUYN HOUSE. Water color. 12-7/8 x 

18-3/4 in. Hobin. 

PEARL STREET, NORTH, AND STATE 

STREET, as it was in 1814. JE, from his original 

sketches. 11-1/4 x 15-3/8 in. (Hobin); in color 

reproduction, said to be 11-1/8 x 15-1/4 in. On 

back inscribed by artist: “Drawn by Jas Eights in 

1849 from original sketches made by himself.” 

Evidently an artist’s duplicate was offered in 

Chapter 20 319

Sotheby’s Auction, Jan 1993, Lot 915, as: 

Webster’s Corner, Philip Livingston’s Home and 

Other Old Albany Residences. Attrib. to JE. A 

hasty water color over pen, on paper. 13 x 20 in. 

Numbers over buildings, explanations vignetted 

in bottom mat margin. There is no name plate 

above door of Webster building. Oddly, the same 

view, but with a better-drawn tree (the lithographer’s 

art?), and a horseman and several pedestrians, 

entitled “View in Albany — House of the 

First Dutch Governor,” was lithographed by 

Sintzenich and printed by J.H. Hall from an original 

belonging to General Stephen Van 

Rensselaer (d. 1868). The color reproduction by 

AI has valuable notes by Anon., 1984. This view 

was shown by Mary Wharton Gibson in the 

Albany Bicentennial Loan Exhibition in 1886 (p. 

109). 

PEARL STREET, NORTH, AND THE 

NORTH DUTCH CHURCH, FROM THE COR- 

NER OF COLUMBIA STREET LOOKING 

NORTH. Water color. 15-7/16 x 19-1/8 in. 

Hobin. This was shown by Mary Wharton 

Gibson in the Albany Bicentennial Loan 

Exhibition in 1886 (p. 109). The following buildings 

are identified, from left: Catharine Fisher; 

Skerrett, blacksmith; Grocery; School kept by 

James Crabb; Occupant unknown; William 

McGwiky, chocolate manufacturer for James 

Caldwell; James Brown (formerly Cornelius 

Groesbeeck); North Dutch Church; corner opposite 

church, Bockins, baker. 

RICHMAN’S DWELLING. See: State Street, 

South Side, above Pearl Street, 1805. Also called: 

Stevenson and Wendell Houses, q.v. 

ROCHESTER. See: Aqueduct Bridge at 

Rochester. 

ST. PETER’S (OR OLD ENGLISH) 

CHURCH. Near intersection of State and 

Barrack (now Chapel) Streets, Albany, 1800. 

Water color on paper. 8-1/4 x 11-3/8 in. Hobin. 

AI 1954.59.74. Bequest of Ledyard Cogswell, Jr. 

Also, AI color reproduction. The English church, 

erected in middle of upper State Street in 1715, 

was near Fort Frederick (shown in ruins in back 

left). At right is red brick residence of Mayor 

Philip S. Van Rensselaer. I have a b&w picture of 

this that shows artist’s caption at bottom, not 

present in color reproduction. 

ST. PETER’S CHURCH, STATE STREET. 

Water color. 10 x 17-1/2 in. Has newspaper backing 

dated about 1900. Hobin. Presumably an 

artist’s duplicate of previous entry but note different 

dimensions. 

SALAMANDRA TIGRINA. Water color, ca 2- 

3/4 x 4-3/4 in. Museum of Science, Boston. 

Inscribed in front by JE: “Salamandra Tigrina”; 

on back, in his hand: “from the banks of the 

Mohawk River, N.Y. / James / Eights.” I thank 

Carolyn Kirdahy for bringing this drawing to my 

attention. A date of 1833-1835 may be safely 

assigned to this work. 

SCHUYLER HOUSE, PEARL AND STATE 

STREETS. 1798. Water color. 13-1/2 x 10-7/8 in. 

Hobin. 

STATE HOUSE — PEARL AND STATE 

STREETS. Water color. 11 x 12-1/2 in. Hobin. 

STATE STREET IN ALBANY AS IT WAS IN 

1805. Size given as 11-7/8 x 19 in. Also, AI 

Color print. Reproduced by J.J. McEneny, 

Albany Capital City on the Hudson, p. 37. 

Perhaps same as “State and Pearl, 1805”? See 

colored lithograph, “State Street, Albany, 1805.” 

Shown by Mary Wharton Gibson, Albany 

Bicentennial Loan Exhibition, 1886 (pp. 110- 

111), where it was called “State street, looking 

east from the hill, 1805”: Right hand side, from 

edge inward — James Chestney, chair manufacturer; 

carpenter shop; carpenter shop; 

George Merchant; Mr. Green; William Van 

Rensselaer; distant yellow house, Governor 

John Tayler’s mansion; building beyond 

church, George Manchius, druggist and post 

office; left hand side (from left margin) — part 

of St. Peter’s Church; Phillip S. Van Rensselaer, 

Mayor; Charles R. Webster; George Webster; 

C.R. and G. Webster bookstore and printing 

office; Balt. Lydius; William Pitt Beers, dwelling 

and law office; Occupant unknown; Joseph 

Sharp, mulatto barber; State Bank; Whiting and 

Watson (afterwards E.E. Backus); Star and 

Sheldon; wine store; George Pearson; Samuel 

Dexter, druggist, store and dwelling; Tontine 

Coffee House, kept by Matthew Gregory; Webb 

and Drummer; Arant Vedder; Occupant 

unknown; John Barry; Samuel Hill; John 

McGaffin; beyond the church, James and 

Archibald Kane; Old Dutch Church. 


STATE STREET, NORTH SIDE, BELOW 

NORTH PEARL, TO EAST. 1805. Perhaps one of 

the other views here. See illustrations in Wagar 

Coffee House place-mats; J.J. McEneny, Albany 

Capital City on the Hudson, p. 39; and Helen W. 

Reynolds, Dutch Houses, “The North Side of State 

Street,” which she identifies with the “Bogardus- 

Ten Broeck House” (p. 64, plate 13). House at left 

is that of Domine Schaets. The view follows State 

Street to corner east of James Street. At the corner 

of James and State streets, east, was the 

Bogardus-Ten Broeck House. Between these 

extremes was the building of the State Bank of 

Albany, built in 1806. The State Bank was 

designed by Philip Hooker; its facade was salvaged 

for the entrance of the modern bank 

building (now Fleet Bank). 

STATE STREET, NORTH SIDE, FROM 

PEARL STREET TO MARKET STREET. Albany 

in 1806. Water color. 9-5/8 x 13-1/16 in. Hobin. 

STATE STREET, SOUTH, ABOVE PEARL 

STREET, 1805. Also called: Richman’s Dwelling; 

and Stevenson and Wendell Houses, 1849. See: 

AI 1954.59.76 and 1954.59.71. Bequest of Ledyard 

Cogswell, Jr. 

STATE AND COURT STREET. Water color. 

11-3/8 x 18-1/2 in. Hobin. 

STATE AND PEARL STREET. 1805. Water 

color. 12-5/8 x 19-3/4 in. Hobin. 

STATE AND PEARL STREET. 1805. Water 

color. Mat opening, 9 x 12 in. AI 1940X-617.1. 

Hobin. 

STATE AND NORTH PEARL STREET. Water 

color. 11 x 15-1/2 in. Hobin. 

STEVENSON AND WENDELL HOUSES. 

State Street, South Side, Above Pearl Street, 1805. 

Also, “The Richman’s House,” etc. Georgian 

style house built in 1780 by Dr. John Stevenson, 

contrasted with the next-door Dutch-style house 

of Harman Wendell (1716). Both were demolished 

in 1841; J.J. McEneny, Albany Capital City on 

the Hudson, p. 34. They were illustrated in 

Lossing as simply “The Stevenson House,” p. 

454. They were redrawn from an older reproduction 

(not Eights) by Joel Munsell, to show them 

separately, in his reprint of Lossing, 1867, p. 15. 

STATE STREET AND BROADWAY ABOUT 

1805. I cannot place this among others listed. 

Illustrated by Codman Hislop, Albany, Dutch, 

English, and American, p. 268. He used it when it 

was in the private collection of Ledyard 

Cogswell, Jr. There is a prominent view of the 

Old Dutch church at right, with two small 

human figures in left center. 

TIVOLI FALLS. Sepia ink on paper. Title: 

“The Falls of Tivoli near Albany.” Matted, ca 6 x 

8 in. Not signed. Hobin. AI 1944.4. Gift of Henry 

Bland. Tivoli Falls was on the estate of Stephen 

Van Rensselaer. See, in text: JE to Lossing Jun 

1856. 

UNTITLED HOUSE AND CHURCH. Water 

color. 9-5/8 x 14 in. Hobin. 

VANDERHEYDEN PALACE. Water color. 9- 

1/4 x 13-1/4 in. Hobin. A presumed artist’s 

duplicate was offered by Sotheby’s Auction, Jan 

1993, part of Lot 914. Attributed to Eights. Said 

to be from estate of Dr. Hun (see Old Dutch 

Church); called “Jacob Vanderheyden Palace.” 

Water color, pen and ink on paper. Caption, in 

what appears JE’s hand, vignetted into lower 

margin of mat: “Jacob Vanderheyden Palace 

1805. Erected by Johannes Beekman one ov [!] 

the old Dutch settlers of Albany in 1725.” It 

shows a front view of building with three windblown 

Lombardy poplar trees in front. The 

Sotheby offering is a water color, whatever its 

history. Now, Helen W. Reynolds in Dutch 

Houses in the Hudson Valley Before 1776, pp. 63-64, 

plate 12 (p. 129), refers to her plate as reproducing 

a woodcut; but she pretty clearly shows a 

photographic reproduction of a painting very 

similar, if not identical, to the Sotheby water 

color. In addition, both the Lossing and Munsell 

woodcuts showing this frontal view of the building 

display substantial differences from the 

Reynolds reproduction and Sotheby painting. In 

both water colors, there are no figures at right 

while there is one figure at left, peering into the 

street from a Dutch half-door; there is an oval 

object in left foreground that is missing in both 

Lossing and Munsell. Munsell shows no such 

door or figure at left and there are two figures at 

right on the street. Lossing, in contrast, shows a 

scene similar to Munsell but with three figures at 

right. The Wilkinson and Sotheby versions show 

much clearer, finer detail of architecture and 

both street-facing gables (not just the one to the 

right) have weathervanes. Note that Reynolds 

Chapter 20 321

does not specifically credit the picture to Eights. 

In the Sintzenich/Hall lithograph, “View of 

Albany — House of the First Dutch Governor,” 

and the original of “Pearl Street, North, and State 

Street, 1814,” there is, respectively, no tree at all 

and one tree. It is of interest that a variation of 

this three-tree version was reproduced, without 

any credit to Eights, as an engraving by Pease 

(“Pease Sc.”) by Joel Munsell, in Annals of Albany, 

1: 278 and plate opposite, in 1850. (Munsell used 

it, instead of Lossing’s plate, when he reprinted 

the Lossing piracy in 1867, p. 8). But for the 

painting, attributed to JE by Sotheby’s and its 

use by Lossing (where it clearly came from JE), 

one might wonder if it were really an Eights 

work, since Munsell did not restrict his views of 

historic houses entirely to Eights. See Prints. 

VIEW OF THE CITY OF ALBANY, FROM 

THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE HUDSON 

RIVER. Original unknown. See Prints. 

WEBSTER’S CORNER, PHILIP LIV- 

INGSTON’S HOME AND OTHER OLD 

ALBANY RESIDENCES. Sotheby Auction, Jan. 

1993, Lot 915. See: North Pearl and State Street as 

it was in 1814. 

WENDELL AND STEVENSON HOUSES. 

Water color. 7-7/16 x 9-7/8 in. Hobin. See: The 

Rich Man’s House; Stevenson House. 

WIDOW VISSCHER’S HOUSE, COLUMBIA 

AND PEARL STREETS. Water color on paper. 

10-1/8 x 13-3/8 in. Hobin. AI 1954.59.77. Bequest 

of Ledyard Cogswell, Jr. House was at northeast 

corner of Pearl and Columbia. See: Widow 

Visscher’s Lodging House, Sotheby’s Auction, 

Jan 1993, Part of Lot 914. Water color, pen and 

ink on paper. Attributed to JE. 6-1/4 x 10 in. 

Caption vignetted into mat margin: “Widow 

Visscher’s Lodging House / Corner Pearl & 

Columbia St. Albany Built 1710.” No. 1 is house; 

No. 2, Fox Creek (which does not show — to left 

side, behind house?). Joel Munsell (reprinting of 

Lossing, 1867, p. 30) claimed, apparently with 

authority, that this house was in fact that of Col. 

Jacob Lansing, not the Widow Visscher; her 

house was “on the north-west corner of Canal 

and Pearl streets. She afterwards removed to the 

old yellow house in Columbia street, nearly 

opposite James, where she died.” 

PRINTS: LITHOGRAPHS, EARLY 

ENGRAVINGS AND THE LOSSING 

WOOD ENGRAVINGS 

Four firms and publishers have so far been 

credited with producing prints, either black and 

white or tinted, in lithography during Eights’s 

lifetime. All of these require further documentation. 

I do not know when the Webster & Skinner 

and Eugene Sintzenich lithographs were issued 

(see “State and Pearl Streets”; “View in Albany 

— House of First Dutch Governor”; “A View in 

Market Street (now Broad-Way).” The earliest 

known lithographs were done by the firm of 

Richard H. Pease, to which Lassiter gives dates 

beween 1847 and 1854. That firm was succeeded 

by Hoffmann, Knickerbocker & Co., which 

appears in the Albany Directory only during 

1857-1858. (Helen Deák [1976, 1988] spells it both 

Hofmann and Hoffmann, and shows [1976] a 

lithograph that seems actually to spell it 

Hofmann.) What is presumed an Eights drawing 

of the Vanderheyden Palace was used by 

Munsell in 1850 (see notes under that title in 

Catalogue, above, and below). 2 

ALBANY GEOLOGY. GEOLOGICAL SEC- 

TIONS, POST-TERTIARY FORMATIONS OF 

THE CITY OF ALBANY. Original unknown; 

plate used in JE’s essay on Albany clays, 1852. 

Signed “Jas. Eights, Del.”; plate prepared by 

“Lith. of Rich d H. Pease, Albany.” 

ALBANY, NORTHERN ENTRANCE TO, 

1805. Lossing (1857: 463). Edge of Van Rensselaer 

manor-house is shown at left; on right, under 

and beyond a large tree, a store-house used by 

General Stephen Van Rensselaer as office. 

ALBANY, VIEW IN — HOUSE OF THE 

FIRST DUTCH GOVERNOR. Printed by J.H. 

Hall lithographic firm, drawn on stone by 

Eugene Sintzenich, from an original in possession 

of Gen. Stephen Van Rensselaer (1789-1868, 

son of the old Patroon); Sintzenich also published 

it from No. 350 Broad-Way, Albany. I have 

tinted copy. For other versions of this, see 

Catalog, “North Pearl and State Street as It Was 

in 1814” and “Webster’s Corner.” For Lossing’s 

wood engraving (1857), see “North Pearl and 

State Streets.” 


BRONGNIARTIA TRILOBITOIDES. Plate 

prepared by “Pendleton’s Lith.” It illustrated JE’s 

1833 paper. 

CHURCH AND MARKET STREETS. R.H. 

Pease, lithographic firm, no lithographer given. 

AI has two tinted, one b&w. Hobin. I have tinted 

copy, framed. Presumably made from a Pease 

lithograph, Wagar Coffee House published 

place-mat versions of this under title of “Court 

Street (now Broadway) just south of State Street 

about 1805.” The Old Dutch church was build 

1715, torn down 1805-1806. 

CHURCH AND MARKET STREETS. 

Lithograph of Hoffman, Knickerbocker & Co., 

Albany. 11-3/4 x 19 in. AI has one tinted, two 

b&w. Hobin. Stokes and Haskell (American 

Historical Prints, p. 49) assign the date of 1857- 

1858 to this; they give the owner of the Eights 

original as “General O. Taylor Cooper”; his name 

was properly J. Tayler Cooper, according to credits 

on both Pease and Hoffmann and 

Knickerbocker lithographs. He was certainly 

John Tayler Cooper, Brigadier General, Third 

Brigade Horse Artillery, in the State military 

establishment in the early to middle 1830s; he 

commanded the Albany brigade in which Eights 

was Hospital Surgeon (see Albany Directories, 

1831-1836). Gloria Gilda Deák, Picturing America, 

p. 165 (Fig. 249, in color), and American Views, 

pp. 44-45, has original owner as “O. Tayler 

Cooper.” The two-story Dutch building on the 

right was the store of Henry Lansing — he dealt 

in dry goods and teas, selling most of it directly 

from his open half-door, so that customers were 

not allowed inside the store. This work was 

noticed by Harry T. Peters, America On Stone, p. 

170, as published by “Knickerbocker & Co.”; his 

information on Eights in 1931 was skimpy. 

DECOLOPODA AUTRALIS. Original lost. 

JE’s drawing was aquatinted by G.G. Smith (presumably 

in Boston) for his 1835 publication. 

ERIE CANAL, GEOLOGICAL SECTION. 

Used in various publications, all concerned with 

the Canal or with Amos Eaton’s survey of the 

Canal or, finally, with Eaton’s publications on 

geological nomenclature. Original lost; see 

Catalogue, above. Eights’s vignettes of the 

Entrance, the Aqueduct Bridges at Little Falls 

and Rochester are listed as separate works. 

GLYPTONOTUS ANTARCTICA. JE’s paper, 

1852. Plate lacks information on either artist or 

preparator but was engraved by Albany Institute 

member John E. Gavit. 

VIEW IN MARKET STREET (NOW BROAD- 

WAY) ALBANY, A.D. 1805. AI, one tinted, one 

b&w (torn). Hobin. “From an original drawing 

in the possession of Gen l Stephen Van 

Rensselaer” (1789-1868). On stone by E. 

Sintzenich, printed by J.H. Hall, published by 

Sintzenich, No. 350 Broad-Way, Albany. I have 

tinted copy, framed. Presumably, Wagar’s Coffee 

House placemats of this scene were made from 

this lithograph. Much the same scene shows in 

the next entry. 

MARKET STREET. Lossing (1857: 459). East 

side, from State Street to Maiden Lane, looking 

down street to the Old Dutch Church. Buildings 

(from left to center): Paul Hochstrasser; Maiden 

Lane; house and store of General Peter 

Gansevoort; Hill (glover), with Fairman, 

engraver, above; the Rev. Mr. Bassett; Barent and 

John B. Bleecker (partly concealed by Market, in 

center of street); Ford’s carpetstore; then, looming 

over all, the mansion of David Fonda, etc.; 

Old Dutch Church in distance. Munsell (1867, p. 

24) held Bassett at most a temporary resident 

and made other slight changes in names. 

MARKET STREET, FROM COURT STREET. 

(Entitled “Court and Market Streets.”) Lossing 

(1857: 460). We now stand in Court Street, south 

of State Street, and look northward up Market 

Street. There is a near view of Old Dutch Church 

in left rear, a wagonload of hay pulled by two 

horses in seen in foreground. Houses on left: 

John Stafford; Stafford and Spencer; John J.P. 

Douw; the gable-fronted Douw’s Building, occupied 

by James and Walter Clarke; Daniels; 

Richard Deane and Son; Henry Lansing (who 

sold goods from his door); Thomas R. Gould. 

(Munsell, p. 26, along with minor changes, has 

Richard Dunn, not Deane.) 

MARKET STREET, NOW BROADWAY (1). 

Lossing (1857: 461). From the Old Dutch Church, 

northward. Only the slightest corner of the 

Church is shown; State Street; Robinson’s corner; 

Myndert and John Van Schaick; David Waters; 

David Newland; Elbert Willett; Albany Bank 

(inc. 1792); John Maley; Abraham Ten Eyck’s 

Chapter 20 323

ookstore; Douw B. Slingerland; Barent G. 

Staats; small house, Teunis Van Vechten; Maiden 

Lane; Mrs. Douglas (right), John and Abraham 

Brinkerhoff. The next scene continues Market 

Street to north. (Munsell, p. 29, makes it Peter 

Douw, not Douw B. Slingerland.) 

MARKET STREET, NOW BROADWAY (2). 

Lossing (1857: 462). First, the last house mentioned 

in previous view. Then: Peter Annelly; 

two houses with unknown occupants; Barent 

Bleecker; Maj. John H. Wendell; Stephen Lush; a 

three-story house, Dr. Samuel Stringer; Stringer’s 

office; an alley; Andrew Brower; Dudley Walsh; 

at corner of Steuben, Sanders Lansing, celebrated 

for his “Dead Cakes”; Steuben Street; Chancellor 

Lansing (Mayor, 1786-1790). (Along with minor 

changes, Munsell, pp. 29, 30, has not Peter 

Annelly but Lawson Annesley; John H. Wendell 

was a Revolutionary War general.) 

PEARL STREET, NORTH, AND STATE 

STREETS. Lossing (1857: 455). The familiar view 

of Webster’s corner, with spire of church behind, 

the so-called Lydius house (originally built in 

1652 for Domine Gideon Schaets) and house of 

William Pitt Beers at right. See, above, “View in 

Albany — House of First Dutch Governor.” See 

Munsell, p. 17, for a footnote. 

PEARL STREET, NORTH, FROM MAIDEN 

LANE, NORTHWARD. Lossing (1857: 456). 

Woodruff house, office; William Eights; on 

through Uranian Hall, painted lead color (looks 

blue in color reproductions). The street is continued 

in the following illustration. (Munsell, p. 20, 

has a long footnote in regard to the William 

Eights house.) 

PEARL STREET, NORTH. Lossing (1857: 

457). Houses of: William McClellan, John B. 

Romeyn, Nicholas Bleecker, Peter Elmendorf, 

small Schoolhouse, John Andrews. Continued in 

next view. 

PEARL STREET, NORTH. Lossing (1857: 

458). A continuation of west side of North Pearl 

Street, from Fox (now Canal) Street to Patroon 

Street. At left is part of Vandeberg mansion; 

other buildings: John Bantum; Irish schoolmaster 

Crabbe; tool house of church; in distance to left 

rear, country seat of General Tenbroeck; 

Saughler, chocolate manufacturer; sexton of 

church. (Munsell, pp. 22-23, silently corrected 

spellings of Bantam, Ten Broeck and 

McGourghey (chocolate manufacturer). Then, 

the most elegant two-steepled North Dutch 

Reformed Church (1798). Fox Creek formerly 

flowed across the street in the middle of this 

view (it now flows under it). Bocking, cake 

maker, lived and worked across street from 

church. 

SAINT PETER’S CHURCH (“The English 

Church”). Lossing (1857: 453). Erected in 1715 in 

middle of State Street, opposite Barrack (now 

Chapel) Street. Ruins of Fort Frederick in back. 

(Munsell, p. 13, offers a quite different illustration 

(not by JE), showing the church in 1790, 

with Fort in place.) 

STATE STREET, ALBANY. Lithograph. Firm 

of R.H. Pease, 11-7/8 x 19-1/8 in. AI has two 

tinted copies. Hobin. I have colored copy of this 

published by AI. “From original sketches in the 

possession of Gen. J. Tayler Cooper, by Jas. 

Eights.” AI describes the scene as “View looking 

east down State Street. The Old Dutch Church, 

removed in 1806, appears at the foot of the street. 

St. Peter’s, the English church, stood at the top, 

near the cart./The large house at the left is that 

of Philip S. Van Rensselaer, twice Mayor of 

Albany. Below it is Elm Tree Corner where, in 

the former Livingston house, was the shop of 

C.R. and George Webster, printers and publishers.” 

STATE STREET, ALBANY. Lithograph. Firm 

of R.H. Pease. AI has two copies, both b&w. 

Hobin. 

STATE STREET, ALBANY, 1805. Lithograph, 

11-3/4 x 19-1/8 in. Lithograph of Hoffmann, 

Knickerbocker & Co., Albany. AI has one copy 

tinted, one b&w. Hobin. (Hobin listed a damaged 

copy of this title, with lithographer, in some 

manner different from the others.) I have tinted 

original print, framed. This was from an original 

in the possession of J. Tayler Cooper. It was 

reproduced by Stokes and Haskell, American 

Historical Prints, p. 49, Plate 37. 

STATE STREET, LOOKING EAST. Lossing 

(1857: 452). A slight variant on other views 

looking down State Street, with the Old Dutch 

Church in distance, the corner of St. Peter’s 

Church at near left, sawyers of the carpenter 

shop working at right; with a rider and horse in 


left front instead of a loaded haycart. (Munsell, 

p. 12.) 

STATE AND PEARL STREETS, ALBANY. 

Lithograph, 11 x 15-7/8 in. No lithographer’s 

mark. AI has four copies, all b&w. Hobin. 

STATE AND PEARL STREETS. Lithograph, 

11 x 15-7/8 in. Published by Webster & Skinner’s 

Bookstore (lower left). AI has one tinted, one 

b&w. Hobin. 

STEVENSON HOUSE. Lossing (1857: 454). 

Actually shows both Stevenson (“The Rich 

Man’s House”)(1780) and the Dutch-style house 

of Harman Wendell (1716). Both razed 1841. 

(Munsell, p. 15, shows the houses in separate 

cuts, neither by JE.) 

TIVOLI FALLS. “Falls of Tivoli.” Engraved 

by Vistus Balch (1799-1884). AI U1974.5. 

Provenance of this at AI is “unknown,” but see 

letter quoted in text from JE to B.J. Lossing, 1856 

and note on this subject, main Catalogue. 

VANDERHEYDEN PALACE. Evidently from 

a drawing by JE, since it was used in Lossing’s 

pirated views (p. 451), with three wind-blown 

Lombardy poplar trees in front. This view was 

used by Joel Munsell in 1850 (see notes, this title, 

Catalogue), although without attribution. The 

same view was reproduced by Lossing, 1857, p. 

451; when Munsell reprinted the Lossing piracy 

in 1867, p. 18, he reused his own earlier wood 

engraving, although without credit to Pease as 

engraver. Wagar Coffee House placemats reproduce 

one or another drawing of the same view 

of the house; Wagar may have used what Balla 

(1991: [29]) calls a copy painted by an untrained 

artist? 

VIEW OF THE CITY OF ALBANY, FROM 

THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE HUDSON 

RIVER. Wood engraving, a folding plate illustrating 

James Eights’s Reminiscences of the City of 

Albany (1836). Original unknown, unless it was 

“Hodge’s Dock,” “the present steamboat landing,” 

an original painting by Eights (now lost), 

loaned to the Albany Bicentennial Loan 

Exhibition (1886), p. 123 (item 213), by Mrs. C.C. 

Burton. See also a letter of 1903 from William 

Eights Burton in possession of Mrs. Mildred 

Carswell Sharpe: “James Eights painted a picture 

of the old dock on the Hudson River at the foot 

of Broadway with sloops and schooners landing 

their freight.” 3 

WIDOW VISSCHER’S. Lossing (1857: 463). 

Northeast corner of Pearl and Columbia streets. 

See notes with painting, Catalogue. 

EIGHTS VIEWS ON 

STAFFORDSHIRE CHINA 

The chief authority in this field is Ellouise 

Baker Larsen, American Historical Views on 

Staffordshire China (rev. ed., 1950). Several examples 

are known and it is likely that more will 

turn up. In this edition of her work, Larsen credited 

the views to Eights, partly at least because of 

information given her by Ledyard Cogswell, Jr. 

As will be seen, a few pieces of this ware are 

owned by the Albany Institute and others appear 

at auction now and then. Doubtless, many ambiguities 

remain to be threshed out. 

ENTRANCE OF THE ERIE CANAL INTO 

THE HUDSON AT ALBANY. Enoch Wood & 

Sons plates (10, 6 in). Dark blue. Pitchers in 

three sizes (9-1/2, 9, 8-1/4 in) exist with “View 

of the Aqueduct at Little Falls” on reverse. 

Pitchers in two sizes (9, 6-1/4 in) and creamer 

(3-1/2 in) exist with “Aqueduct Bridge at 

Rochester” on reverse. The transfer print on 

china was no doubt made not from the original 

but from the engraving in the Cadwallader D. 

Colden memoir (1825) on the completion of the 

Erie Canal. Larsen describes the scene: right, on 

canal, “one of the famous canal boats, two cabins. 

Center, freight canalboat. Beyond, on bank 

near arches in center, stands warehouse of 

Ebenezer Wilson. Middle Distance: Hudson 

flows across picture right to left, joined by canal 

at center. Background: Right, large manor house 

of Van Rensselaer, torn down about 1890. Small 

house near, called ‘Tea House.’ Left, home of 

Stephen Van Rensselaer, afterward St. Peter’s 

Hospital.” 4 

ENTRANCE OF THE ERIE CANAL INTO 

THE HUDSON AT ALBANY. Unattributed as to 

maker. Pitchers (5-3/4, 5-1/4 in). Pitcher (2)(11 

in), one white with sepia print, one with black 

print. The view is under spout; portraits 

(Jefferson, Lafayette) on side panels. All have 

Chapter 20 325

half-inch maroon band. Albany Institute has a 

pitcher in sepia, brown rim, by R. Stevenson. 5 

VIEW OF THE AQUEDUCT BRIDGE AT 

LITTLE FALLS. Enoch Wood & Sons. Dark blue. 

Plates (9, 8 in). Soup plates (10-1/2, 10 in). 

Washbowls (13, 12 in), view on interior. Pitchers 

(9-1/2, 9, 8-1/4, 7 in); on reverse, “Aqueduct 

Bridge at Rochester.” Pitchers (9-1/2, 9, 8-1/4 in); 

reverse, “Entrance of the Erie Canal into the 

Hudson at Albany.” 6 

VIEW OF THE AQUEDUCT BRIDGE AT 

LITTLE FALLS. Maker unattributed. Pitcher (6- 

1/4 in); white, black print; half-inch maroon 

band; under spout, Washington. 7 

AQUEDUCT BRIDGE AT ROCHESTER. 

Enoch Wood & Sons. Dark blue. Plates, (7-1/2, 5- 

1/2 in). Pitchers (9, 6-1/2 in). Creamer (3-1/2 in). 

Pitchers (9-1/2, 9, 8-1/4, 7 in); reverse, “View of 

the Aqueduct Bridge at Little Falls.” 8 

MARKET STREET, stylized. Wedgwood, 

Etruria, Earthenware plate. Blue. 1904. 9 

MEDALLION PORTRAIT SERIES. Ralph 

Stevenson & Williams plates (sizes given for a lot 

of four, 10-1/4 to 8-1/8 in). One depicts “View of 

Aqueduct Bridge at Little Falls,” with two portrait 

medallions of Jefferson and Governor 

Clinton; one shows “Entrance of the Canal into 

the Hudson at Albany,” with four portrait 

medallions depicting Jefferson, President 

Washington, Lafayette, and Governor Clinton, all 

titled in front. Colors not given. Both medallion 

portraits and Canal scenes are in borders of 

plates; central figure shows something else. 10 

ST. PETER’S ANGLICAN CHURCH. 

Wedgwood, Etruria, earthenware pitcher. ca 

1910. Blue on white. This shows part of the scene 

called in main Catalog, “St. Peter’s (or Old 

English) Church,” near intersection of State and 

Barrack (now Chapel) streets. 11 

COPIES, MIMICS, AND FALSE 

ATTRIBUTIONS 

In this catch-all category, I list works that 

make some effort to duplicate a work by James 

Eights, those that are merely “in the style of” 

Eights, and a few examples actually taken to be 

by Eights when they are not. The last type can be 

examples of either other category. At a time 

when Eights’s scenes were popular and mechanical 

color reproduction was unknown, it is quite 

understandable that some people made careful 

copies of his works, whether for sale or not. 

They certainly need not be accused of falsifying 

the works. In the same way, a bread-and-butter 

artist is not being dishonest if he produces a 

work that shows an Albany scene, purporting to 

be early, with an abundance of Dutch-style houses 

with gabled ends oriented to the street. While 

it is not difficult for the former, if good, to be 

fobbed off on the unwary as originals, it seems 

to me that the latter pose a threat only if purchasers 

show no caution at all. 

COPIES OF EIGHTS ORIGINALS 

OR PRINTS 

UNKNOWN ARTIST. Balla lists a pen, ink 

and water color on paper copy of 

“Vanderheyden Palace” (the front view with 

three Lombardy poplars in front) “by an 

untrained artist.” 12 

PARKHURST, P.A. Listed by Hobin as copier 

of an Eights work (subject not identified) in ink. 

WRIGHTSON, Anna. “Market Street,” and 

“Market Street, North Side of, 1800.” Did she 

copy others? Oil on canvas. The latter, at least, 

about 10 x 16 in. 13 

VIEWS AFTER EIGHTS 

LITHGOW, David. “State Bank of Albany 

and State Street, (north side) as it appeared about 

1806-1810,” mural, State Bank of Albany (now 

Fleet Bank), 1934. Allison P. Bennett, in The 

People’s Choice, incorrectly referred to this as 

“watercolor on paper, 1850, James Eights. 

Courtesy, State Bank of Albany”; she labeled it as 

showing Albany in 1804. 14 

SCHRODT, Paul. Scale models of buildings, 

after James Eights. “West Side of Pearl Street, 

between State and Steuben Streets, about 1800.” 

This series of models, with identification of owners, 

was shown in a photograph by Codman 

Hislop (Albany, Dutch, English, and American, pp. 

230-231). 


NOTES 

1. I am most grateful to librarians and curators at the 

Albany Institute of History and Art for their help. 

Librarian James R. Hobin (letter 17 Feb 1978) kindly set 

me on my way with a substantial list of Eights drawings 

and lithographs. I have added to it what I later learned. 

2. Early reproductions of Eights’s works as wood 

engravings appeared in the pirated article, “Albany fifty 

years ago,” 1857, that consisted of text rewritten by B.J. 

Lossing, art work signed only by Lossing and William 

Barritt); a couple of these engravings, again with no credit 

to JE, were reproduced by G.A. Worth (d. 1856), Random 

Recollections of Albany from 1800 to 1808, frontispiece and 

opp. p. 120; Joel Munsell reproduced the Lossing article 

(with notes and corrections, and some illustrations that 

differ from Lossing’s) in 1867, with a note, p. [9], that 

Lossing derived his “skilfully executed” views “from 

drawings by Mr. James Eights.” A few of these were used 

in Munsell’s “Men and things in Albany two centuries 

ago” (1879), unfortunately without any mention of 

sources, for one would like to know origins of some of the 

figures. W.L. Lassiter, “James Eights and his Albany 

views,” alluded to the contribution of Ledyard Cogswell, 

Jr., as a collector of both prints and original drawings 

(notably, the collection of 14 paintings that Lossing got 

from Eights and used for the 1857 article); there have been 

newspaper articles about the Cogswell collection; see 

Anon., 25 Sep 1927,” Old Albany prints”; and Anon., 5 

Aug 1950, “Birthday gift started Ledyard Cogswell, Jr., private 

collection of prints of early Albany.” Alice Kenney, 

“The transformation of the Albany Patricians, 1778-1860,” 

uses JE’s Albany views, pp. 154, 155, 165. 

3. William Eights Burton was son of William Burton 

(b. 1809), a son of Catharine Eights and John Burton. 

William was a cousin of JE; for portrait, see G.R. Howell 

and J. Tenney, Bi-centennial History of the County of Albany, 

p. 946. I cannot with certainty identify a Mrs. C.C. Burton 

among the Eights branch of the Burtons, unless the name 

was an error for Charles E., youngest son of John and 

Catharine Burton. 

4. E.B. Larsen, American Historical Views on Staffordshire 

China, pp. 24-25, fig. 42, plate. While Larsen thought the 

original water color of the “Entrance” was at the Albany 

Institute, as indeed it once had been, Ledyard Cogswell, 

Jr., could not find it in 1947, nor has it reappeared since; 

originals of the other two Erie Canal views are there. See 

letter of Cogswell to E.B. Larsen, 23 Jan 1947. For examples 

offered for sale, see: Sotheby’s Arcade Auction, Sale 1419, 

Jan 1993. Lot 718 consisted of three Enoch Wood & Sons 

plates (10-1/4 to 7-3/8 in), no color given; one each 

“Aqueduct Bridge at Rochester,” “View of the Aqueduct 

Bridge at Little Falls” and “Entrance of the Erie Canal into 

the Hudson at Albany,” all titled in front. 

5. Larsen, p. 258; AI Purchase 1973.32; see Balla, 1991, 

p. [17].. 

6. Larsen, p. 25, fig. 43, pitcher; soup plates (“bowls”) 

are in AI (gift of C. Otto von Kienbusch, 1975.30.11); see 

Balla, 1991: [17]; illustrated by J.J. McEneny, Albany Capital 

City on the Hudson, p. 38. See note 5, on Sotheby’s auction. 

7. Larsen, p. 272. 

8. Larsen, pp. 25-26, fig. 44, pitcher. AI has plate, 

Source unknown, X1940.708.2, see Balla, 1991: [17]. See 

Sotheby’s auction, note 5. 

9. This is the familiar scene showing the open market 

on Market Street (now Broadway); AI, Gift of Albany 

Chamber of Commerce; commissioned by them for their 

Second Annual Dinner, inscribed on front. x1940.708.2; see 

Balla, 1991: [30]. 

10. Sotheby’s Arcade Auctions, Sale 1419, Jan 1993, 

Lot 727. They suggest a date of about 1815! 

11. AI, Purchase, 1983.6. One of many pieces commissioned 

by the Van Heusen Charles Co.; Balla, 1991: [30]. 

12. Balla, 1991: [29]. Pen, ink and water color on paper 

(9-1/4 x 13-1/4 in). AI. Source unknown. U1977.359. 

13. Balla, 1991: [29]. AI. Purchase. x1940.907.6. The 

second example, presumably the same subject, was titled 

as shown on its frame. It was signed “Jas Eights,” but 

clearly written below that signature was the note: “Copied 

by —-” — the latter initials being, I think, “A.S.W.,” whom 

I take to be Anna Wrightson. It sold (as an Eights original, 

done in 1800!) for $475, plus 10% premium at Jubic’s auction, 

5 Nov 1995. Anna Wrightson (1830-1904) ran, with 

her sister Harriet, a finishing school (a “select school,” per 

Albany Directory) for girls at 76 Chapel Street from 1877 

to 1899. That was also their home address during the period 

the school was maintained. Anna Wrightson was 

buried in Albany Rural Cemetery, whence her life-dates. 

Most of the information on Wrightson comes courtesy of 

Wesley G. Balla, who credits her with copying many of the 

Eights paintings around the turn of the century. I have not 

been able to find out much more. Perhaps she was the 

“Annie” Wrightson who gave an oration before the Young 

Man’s Association in Albany 4 July 1859 (NUC Pre-1956 

Imprints, 675: 552). 

14. “State Bank of Albany and State Street (north side) 

as it appeared in 1804,” says Allison P. Bennett, The People’s 

Choice / A History of Albany County in Art and Architecture, 

p. 60. David Lithgow (born, Glasgow, 1868; died Albany, 

1958) was long a resident of Albany and became well 

known for his historical-allegorial murals and other 

works. He badly needs full biographical coverage. The 

painting (judging from a photographic reproduction) has 

buildings that are drawn with architectural perfection, the 

trees look like trees and human and equine figures are 

done professionally. I was recently presented with a photograph 

of it, done by C.C. Adams (1873-1955), late 

Director of the State Museum. It was given me by his 

daughter Harriet Dyer Adams; she identified the artist as 

David Lithgow, a friend and contemporary of her father. 

For further documentation, see “State Street in 1806-1810 

as pictured by David C. Lithgow” (Knickerbocker Press, 

Sunday, 16 Sep 1934.” For this information and an unpublished 

essay on Lithgow, I am greatly indebted to Wesley 

G. Balla, AI. The unpublished essay was written by 

Charlotte Cramer (1968) and gives major details of 

Lithgow’s long life. Lithgow, with his team of assistants, 

reconstructed the scene using all available documents and 

“discovered that existing prints of the structures in the 

block were based mainly on designs executed in 1806 [!] 

by a draughtsman named James Eights, who was not 

always accurate in his dimensions. The building at the corner 

of James and State Streets [that is, to the right in the 

picture] for instance was much wider, in Eights’ pictures, 

than the State Bank Building, which Hooker, the architect, 

had built in 1803.” Furthermore, Lithgow had little use for 

another of Eights’s inclusions in his pictures: free-ranging 

hogs on Albany streets! “‘But no pigs,’ said artist Lithgow. 

Chapter 20 327

‘You must remember that Albany in this period was more 

than 120 years old and civilized. It had passed the pig-inthe-street 

stage.’” (These statements come from the 

Knickerbocker Press account.) Lithgow may well have been 

right about the carelessness of Eights in drawing his buildings; 

he must have been less accurate about pigs, considering 

that it was not until the early 1830s that Dr. Jonathan 

Eights and others (as has been noticed) persuaded the City 

Council to pass an ordinance forbidding the free running 

of swine in Albany. In fact, Codman Hislop, in Albany, 

Dutch, English, and American, p. 304, has recorded that in 

1854, some 15,000 hogs were, by order of the Common 

Council, captured and held until owners paid fines. For 

additional information on Lithgow, see: C.C. Adams, “The 

World’s Fair historic murals,” 1943. Some notice of Philip 

Hooker’s design of the old State Bank shown here may be 

found in D.C. Bucher et al., A Neat Plain Modern Stile: 

Philip Hooker and his Contemporaries, pp. 84-87. 


Chapter 21 

EIGHTS IN PANAMÁ AND TEXAS? 

THE END OF THE 1850s 

PANAMÁ 

Whatever one says about the decade of the 

1850s in regard to James Eights, it was a crowded 

one. For himself, he traveled from a state of 

dejection to one of animated action. To what has 

already been recited, one must lengthen the list 

of places visited. Characteristically, documentation 

is scanty. Achievements seem to have been 

few and unsystematic. Recall that by mid-1856 at 

latest, as indicated by his letter to Benson John 

Lossing, Eights was in Albany, where he had few 

roots. He was receiving mail at an address not 

his own and — as always — in need of cash. Yet, 

by the end of the decade, we must believe he 

had been in Panamá and, one would presume, 

on a separate trip to the lower Rio Grande. 

As for Panamá, we have Eights’s own word 

for it, in the form of a letter to James Hall: 

“New York Wednesday Feb. 17th / 58 

“Bixbys Hotel, corner of Park-Place, Broadway 

“To Profess. James Hall, 

“Dear Sir 

“You no doubt will consider me strangely 

erratic, when I inform you that, since I saw you 

last, I have made a trip to Aspinwall, and so 

across the Isthmus of Darien to Panama. Here I 

had the pleasure of meeting our mutual friend 

Dr. La Conte [!] on his way from Honduras and 

after a stay of about a week, we returned home 

together. On our arrival at Aspinwall, I came in 

contact with a very singular Geological formation, 

in which, frequent appearances of fossil 

shells were seen, and which I should consider — 

from the very slight inspection that I had an 

opportunity to give it — to be of quite recent 

date. The few specimens that I had barely time 

sufficient to procure, I send you by Express. 

They lithologically so much resemble some specimens 

that I once brought from the Island of 

Hwaffo, on the Pacific side of Patagonia, (off the 

southern part of the Island of Chiloa) that I 

think, on comparison, that you will have no difficulty 

in determining the question, as to their 

sameness, particularly when I mention the fact, 

that those specimens are now in the Albany 

Institute; they were placed in drawers, in the 

south-west corner of the large room, or museum, 

where I have every reason to believe they still 

remain. This Hwaffan formation I think, was 

considered by Darwin, who examined it, and 

likewise by Conrad, who saw the specimens, to 

be the equivalent of the London Clay, (but the 

Aspinwall locations I should think much more 

recent)[.] 

“Now I wish you would compare the specimen[s], 

one with the other, and should any of 

the fossils prove the same, I think an important 

fact will be disclosed, of a 

comparitively [!], very recent Geological formation 

extending thus far. 

“This formation is situated about three (3) 

miles in a northern direction from Aspinwall at a 

placed termed, Monkey Hill. 

“When we meet I will communicate further 

information on this, and other facts that I have 

Chapter 21 329

obtained; for the present permit me to sign 

myself 

“Very Respectfully 

Yours &c 

“Adams’ Express James Eights.” 1 

“Hwaffo” is Eights’s phonetic rendering of 

Isla Guafo, off the southwest coast of the Chilean 

island of Chiloé, which he visited in 1830. 

This might really be the end of the story, 

were it not necessary to wonder at what was 

going on, for nothing has been found to expand 

upon the meager information imparted by this 

letter. In any case, either Hall did not agree with 

Eights’s identification of the fossil shells or did 

not wish to champion Eights’s theory of close 

relationship among the widely separated sites. 

Albany Institute Minutes contain no reference to 

the matter, even though one might have hoped 

for a notice, even if negative. Indeed, a check of 

gifts and accessions by the Cabinet of Natural 

History through the year 1866 does not mention 

any such fossil specimens. 

Several loose ends are evident here. The 

story rings true, yet every effort to substantiate it 

turns to dust. Aspinwall (soon to be officially 

termed Colón) was the place to be in that era of 

uneasy wanderings across the Isthmus of 

Panamá, by people anxious to take the short-cut 

route to California’s gold fields and avoid a long 

seajourney around South America. One would 

think that an American visitor to Aspinwall, 

either upon arriving or when he left, would have 

contacted the U.S. consulate there. There is no 

evidence that Eights did. 2 

Well, it was an era when Americans wandered 

at risk but freely where they pleased. Or, 

perhaps the day that Eights was there, the consul 

slept late. What about “our mutual friend Dr. La 

Conte”? That was surely John Lawrence LeConte 

(1825–1883), a great entomologist of a brilliant 

family of naturalists. I have not, however, been 

able to find any indication of interaction between 

him and Eights, although their paths unquestionably 

could have crossed. 3 

Who might have enlisted the services of 

James Eights in Panamá? Alert to the possibility 

that Joseph Henry had found a position for 

Eights, I have combed lists of U.S. government 

expeditions in that region. The exploration of 

Navy Lt. Isaac G. Strain was precisely the sort of 

expedition that might have used a naturalist 

who had some knowledge of surveying as well 

— but it was too early. For a time, I felt sure that 

I had the answer in Nathaniel Michler’s “Report 

of a survey for an interoceanic ship canal near 

the Isthmus of Darien” (1861). It coincided precisely 

with the time of Eights’s visit; but, unless 

James Eights simply fell through the sieve, the 

answer is entirely in the negative. 4 

Thus, the record is murky. Meantime, it 

appears that nothing pertinent to Eights 

occurred at the Albany Institute. Ebenezer 

Emmons maintained his Resident Membership 

through at least October 1858, despite his professional 

affiliation with the North Carolina 

Geological Survey — and the iron reign of James 

Hall continued both in the area of New York 

geology and at the Institute itself. R.V. DeWitt 

became president of the Institute’s First Division 

in 1857. In October, the Institute library was 

moved into a room of the Albany Academy. In 

January 1858, Joseph Henry was present. After 

being welcomed, he spoke and he and James 

Hall discussed charges being brought against 

Henry in regard to the telegraph by Samuel F.B. 

Morse. 5 

THE RIO GRANDE 

The matter of a trip by James Eights into the 

valley of the Rio Grande is even more of a question 

mark. Here, we do not have even an orphan 

letter from himself as proof of the visit. The 

entire story rests upon Isaac Lea’s new species of 

mollusk, Unio Eightsii, that he named for its discoverer. 

It was, he said, taken in “Texas and 

Sabinas River, New Leon, Mexico, [by] James 

Eights, M.D.” This statement was accompanied 

by a succinct diagnosis in Latin. There the matter 

might have rested, with the vague date of 1860 

to suggest when it was acquired and no certainty 

whether it was actually collected by Eights or 

simply given to him by someone else. 6 

Fortunately, Isaac Lea often repeated himself, 

sometimes expanding upon what he had written 


The thrice-tangled nomenclatural history of 

this taxon can be safely footnoted into oblivion. 

It is now accounted to fly under the title of 

Megalonaias nervosa (Rafinesque 1820), part of a 

much more widespread species than Lea envisioned 

in 1860. 8 

As for Eights in the Rio Grande valley, when 

was he there? “Some years since” is no help. 

What was he doing there? As I reviewed the literature 

on the work done by William H. Emory 

(1811–1887) in his Report on the United States and 

Mexican Boundary Survey, I was optimistic that 

somewhere, somehow, James Eights had found a 

niche in it. It included exploration of the entire 

Rio Grande, including its lower reaches, in the 

years 1851–1857. A vast array of naturalists 

worked on it and reported upon its collections. 

In one episode, Lt. Nathaniel Michler (mentioned 

above) in 1854 went from New York to 

San Diego, via Aspinwall, Panamá, and San 

Francisco. To date, the record is negative for 


JAMES EIGHTS AND 

THE ARMSBY WHALE 

Figure 21.1. Unio eightsii, Issac Lea, 1860, etc. Specimens 

were collected by James Eights, 28 miles east of 

San Antonio and in the Sabinas River, Mexico. It is now 

called Megalonaias nervosa. Photos of type specimen 

#83991, U.S. National Museum of Natural History, by C.W. 

Hart, Jr., curator. 

before. The story still remains scrappy. In one 

such repetition, without saying more about habitat, 

Lea provided a diagnosis in English as well 

as Latin and considerably expanded upon salient 

characteristics. Then: “Several specimens were 

brought by Dr. Eights, of Albany, from the two 

habitats mentioned, and I owe the possession of 

a specimen to him and one to the Smithsonian 

Institution....One of the specimens from twentyeight 

miles east of San Antonio, Texas, has a rich 

pearly nacre, the other from Sabinas River, New 

Leon, has a very white nacre. I name this species 

after Dr. James Eights, who procured the specimens 

some years since when travelling through 

these countries.” 7 

This episode is put here because no date can 

be assigned to it. It is unlikely to have happened 

earlier, perhaps it occurred up to several years 

later. A close biographer of Dr. James H. Armsby 

(1809–1875) can perhaps document the year 

when he disposed of his collection. James 

Eights’s reputation for covering his trail is well 

exemplified in this matter. In the New York State 

Archives, in the correspondence of the Director 

of the State Museum, James Hall, there is an 

undated letter from James Eights to Dr. Armsby: 

“To Dr James H. Armsby 

“Agreeable to promise I saw the Bone at the 

Medical College and determine it to be the skull 

of the extreme Southern Rostrated Whale the 

Rorqualis australis of Naturalists. 

“It was found, washed up on the shore of 

Louisiana and covered over with mud, silted up 

by the waters of the Mexican Gulf. We found it 

exceedingly common in the Antarctic Seas. 

Chapter 21 331

Scarcely a day occurred, that it was not to be 

seen disturbing the surface of the deep, it no 

doubt straggled thus far north from its original 

habitation. 

“James Eights” 

Overleaf and likewise undated is a later note: 

“Dear Mr. Hall 

“This note of Dr Eights was given me soon 

after the Bones were received in the College. 

“Yours truly 

“J H Armsby.” 10 

What nobody says here is that that whale 

skull had a history. Eights did not have to identify 

it: Correctly or not, that had already been 

done. In his final report on the Zoology of New- 

York for the Natural History Survey in 1842, 

James E. DeKay somehow managed to include 

the extra-limital Rorqualis australis. He wrote: “In 

1837, the skull of a large whale was exhibited in 

New-York, under the imposing name of ‘Fossil 

Head of the Sea Serpent.’ It was reported to have 

been dug up near the Balize, Louisiana, and was 

in the condition of a graveyard bone. It had been 

probably stranded, and subsequently covered by 

the rapidly forming sediment of the Mississippi. 

The lower jaw was wanting. The skull, with the 

upper jaw, was perfect, and measured fifteen 

feet. After a careful examination and comparison, 

it was identified with the Rorqualis australis, 

or Balaenoptera of the Cape of Good Hope, 

described and figured by Cuvier (Oss. Foss. Vol. 

5, part 1, p. 370, pl. 26, figs. 1, 2, 3, 4). A reduced 

figure, from a larger one taken on the spot, will 

be found on Plate 33, fig. 4.” 11 

There is no mention in lists of donors to the 

Cabinet of Natural History 1847–1866, inclusive, 

of this Armsby specimen. In the 44th Annual 

Report of the State Museum (for 1890), the only 

whale material mentioned was the lower jaw of 

a sperm whale and the skeleton of a finback 

whale. The Museum’s collection today certainly 

has no such specimen nor are there cards from 

previous times to indicate that this one was ever 

there (oddly, catalogue cards seem to go back 

only to 1920!). 12 

Considerable uncertainty surrounds the 

identification. David J. Schmidly guessed it to be 

a humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae (since 

Rorqualus australis is now considered a synonym 

of that taxon), a species that is, at least today, 

rare in the Gulf of Mexico, although it is an 

extremely widely distributed form. However, I 

am told by Dr. John E. Heyning, that the large 

size (assuming DeKay’s measurements to be correct) 

would exclude anything but the very 

largest humpback; he suggests, rather, one of the 

commoner large balaenopterid species such as 

blue or finback whales, the finback being a common 

Gulf species. Dr. Heyning emphasizes, 

however, that the absence of a specimen makes 

identification impossible, since DeKay’s illustration 

is not taxonomically informative. 13 

Thus, the mystery of Armsby’s whale skull 

ends in mystery — and with it, tenuously and 

hazily, we end the story of James Eights in the 

1850s. 

NOTES 

1. JE to James Hall; New York State Library, 

Manuscripts and Special Collections; James Hall Papers, 

pg. 16478, folder 613. I am grateful to Christine M. 

Beauregard for providing a copy. It will be noted that 

Eights was maintaining himself in New York City — that 

is, he was not staying with his aunt, Phebe (Mrs. James N.) 

Cobb, at 59 Washington Square. 

2. Aspinwall, in the Bay of Limón on the Atlantic 

coast of Panamá, was founded in 1850 and named for 

William H. Aspinwall (1807-1875), one of the builders of 

the Panamá 

railway that spanned the Isthmus of Panamá. The name 

was later changed to Colón, in honor of Columbus, who 

entered that bay in 1502. See: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th 

ed., 6: 714. American activity in the Isthmus was relatively 

intense in that era and there was a U.S consulate there. 

According to W.B. Smith, America’s Diplomats and Consuls, 

1776–1865, Alexander Morrell was the representative there 

in 1857 and Charles J. Fox in 1857-60; according to Joseph 

Dane Hartgrove, Civil Reference Branch, National 

Archives, a search of despatches from the U.S. consulate at 

Aspinwall for 1857 and 1858 revealed no mention of James 


3. John Lawrence LeConte was in Panamá as early as 

December 1849, as shown by his publications on 

Panamanian insects. He visited California in the autumn 

of 1850, explored widely, and after an absence of about a 

year, returned (George H. Horn, “Memoir of John L. 

LeConte, M.D.,” p. 295). Horn claims: “For a few months 

in 1857 he accompanied the Honduras Inter-Oceanic 

Survey, under the command of the late John C. Trautwine, 

publishing his observations in that region in the report of 


the survey. At the same time he visited the Fuente de 

Sangre, publishing his account of that phenomenon in 

Squier’s Nicaragua.” I cannot find any evidence whatsoever 

that John Cresson Trautwine (1810–1883) was author of 

a work on the Honduras interoceanic survey. His was not 

a U.S. government survey. Ephraim George Squier, who 

had ethnological-archaeological interests, was connected 

with such a survey and wrote several books on it, none of 

them mentioning LeConte (actually, they appeared too 

early to cover anything of interest to us). A complete list of 

LeConte’s writings by F.G. Schaupp, in “Obituary / John 

L. Le Conte, M.D.,” nowhere alludes to a publication by 

LeConte for Trautwine. 

4. See “J.” G. Strain (his first name was Isaac), report 

to the Secretary of the Navy, 25 October 1856, on his 

“Exploration of the Isthmus of Darien between Caledonia 

bay on the Carribean [!] Sea, and the Gulf of San Miguel 

on the Pacific,” 1854. See also Isaac Lea, “Descriptions of 

exotic Unionidae,” 1859, which includes many of Strain’s 

mollusks from Panamá not mentioned in Strain’s report. It 

was a real disappointment to find nothing on JE in 

Nathaniel Michler (1827-1881), “Report of a survey,” 1861. 

While one might imagine Eights not showing up in the 

official account (although people of small function do 

appear there), a careful search of archival materials related 

to the Michler survey by Susan W. Glenn of the 

Smithsonian Institution Archives (letter 31 May 1989) also 

brought negative results; outgoing correspondence from 

Baird (who would have coordinated the work of naturalists 

attached to the survey) do not mention Eights; none of 

the correspondence of Joseph Henry to Michler in that era 

has anything of concern to us. 

5. AI, Minutes, 14 January, 8 October 1857; 13 Jan, 25 

May, 19 Oct 1858. One wishes that F.B. Hough’s paper, 

“Wolf hunting frauds of Franklin Co.,” read 19 October, 

had been printed in full. 

6. Isaac Lea, “Descriptions of seven new species of 

Unionidae from the United States,” p. 306, published July 

1860. 

7. Isaac Lea, “New Unionidae of the United States and 

northern Mexico,” 1860, pp. 367-368, plate 64. The type 

specimen, from the Sabinas River, Nuevo León, from 

which the plate was made, is now U.S. Natl. Mus. #83991; 

a photograph of it has been kindly supplied by C.W. Hart, 

Jr., curator of the mollusk collection, U.S. National 

Museum of Natural History. The Río Sabinas is a term 

nowadays applied only to the upper reaches of the Río 

Salado and, as such, it is entirely within the province of 

Coahuila; the latter river then courses through Nuevo 

León and enters the Rio Grande near Guerrero. It is possible 

that in Eights’s day the entire river was called the 

Sabinas. 

8. It was still called Unio eightsi (single “i” at end) by 

Paul Henri Fischer and H. Crosse, in their splendid work 

on Mexican natural history of the ill-fated French-backed 

reign of the Emperor Maximilian in Mexico, Études sur les 

Mollusques Terrestres et Fluviatiles du Mexique et du 

Guatemala; see vol. I, livr. 6, pp. 564, 566, 580, 1878 (vol. II 

was not completed until 1902); they did not expand upon 

its distribution in Mexico. As for the tangled nomenclature, 

C.T. Simpson (1900: 766) synonymized Unio eightsii 

under Unio heros, which he then placed in the genus 

Quadrula. When W.I. Utterback (1915, 4: 123) erected his 

new genus Megalonaias, he used as type species Unio heros 

(thereby bringing eightsii into his new genus). L.S. Frierson 

(1916, Nautilus, 30: 61-64) argued that Unio gigantea was a 

senior synonym of heros — thus, placing eightsii as a synomym 

under that name. D.D. Turgeon et al., 1988 (American 

Fisheries Society Checklist of Mollusks), p. 31, synonymized 

all the above under Megalonaias nervosa (Rafinesque, 1820). 

(Rafinesque, “Monographie des coquilles bivalves” [1820], 

p. 296; English [1832], “A monograph of the fluviatile 

bivalve shells,” pp. 22-23, called it Unio nervosa.) The final 

round, one hopes, was the official conservation of 

Megalonaias by the suppression of a validly proposed (but 

philologically deplored) senior synonym (by the author 

who proposed both!); see Arthur E. Bogan and James D. 

Williams, “Megalonaias Utterback, 1915 . . .” (1986) and 

Opinion 1487, Commission on Zoological Nomenclature 

(1988). I am indebted to Charles Boewe, C.W. Hart, Jr., 

and, very particularly, Arthur E. Bogan for their patient 

help with this tangle. 

9. See: W.H. Emory, Report on the United States and 

Mexican Boundary Survey (1857-1859). For an analysis of its 

many accomplishments, see: Meisel, Bibliography of 

American Natural History, 3: 99-105. I am assured by librarians 

at the National Archives that Eights’s name does not 

enter into the history of the Emory survey (letter 4 Aug 

1989). 

10. N.Y. State Archives, State Museum Director’s 

Correspondence Files, B0561-78A, Box 1, A 248/1 (“Lists of 

collection items, 1850s–1870s”). James H. Armsby was an 

active member of the Albany Institute in the 1850s and 

1860s and did much to put the study of medicine on a scientific 

footing in Albany. For Armsby, see Appleton’s 

Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1: 90-91. I have made a 

blind stab at dating Eight’s letter to Armsby. I suspect the 

note from Armsby to Hall dates from the period when 

Armsby was breaking up an extensive collection of animal 

specimens that he used to illustrate his comparative anatomy 

lectures at Albany Medical College. 

11. J.E. DeKay, Zoology of New-York, or the New-York 

Fauna:...Part I. Mammalia, 131-132, pl. 33, fig. 4. There is no 

doubt that Armsby’s whale skull was the one to which 

DeKay referred. 

12. I have checked accessions from 1847 through 1866; 

the 17th Annual Report, p. 23, recorded the purchase of 

the sperm whale jawbone. The 44th Annual Report for 

1890 (1892), p. 31, has a “Catalogue of the collection of 

mammalian osteology, September 30, 1890”; there is no 

mention of Armsby’s specimen. It may be assumed that, as 

an extralimital specimen of little value for display, it was 

of no interest to Hall. 

13. David J. Schmidly, Marine Mammals of the 

Southeastern United States and the Gulf of Mexico, p. 26, 34 

(unpublished stranding file, U.S. National Museum); finback 

whale, pp. 46-49; humpback, pp. 54-58. For comments 

and further information, I am grateful to Dr. John E. 

Heyning, Marine Mammal Program, Natural History 

Museum of Los Angeles County (letter, 1990). 

Chapter 21 333


Chapter 22 

JAMES EIGHTS IN THE 1860s 

James Eights kept so low a profile as to be 

nearly invisible through the first half of the 

1860s. Beginning with the year 1854, he was 

absent from the Albany Directory and that 

absence continued through 1865. Whether this 

means he roomed with someone who was head 

of household or boarded anonymously is not 

known. At any rate, he was not advertising his 

talent for hire in Albany. Perhaps he resided 

entirely outside the city. He reappeared in 1866 

as “Naturalist, &c., 44 State,” which was also his 

residence. From 1867 through 1869, he was 

“Mining engineer, 56 State.” That was probably 

his office, for in 1871 and 1872 his business 

address was the same but he was said to board 

at 44 State. 

THE 1860s: AN ALBANY INSTITUTE 

RETROSPECT 

Since Eights may have kept a foot in the door 

at meetings of the Albany Institute, a few notes 

on events there are pertinent. On 29 January 

1861, “Prof. Hall” — his old enemy and champion 

of the Taconic System, Ebenezer Emmons, not 

present to defend himself — “gave the Institute 

some account of the dispute among Geologists in 

regard to the Taconic System, especially with reference 

to the position of the Canada Geologists 

upon it.” On 17 April, from Professor Hall there 

came an extended “sketch of the Geology of the 

State, with special reference to the question of 

the Taconic System.” On 28 May, he harped on: 

there was no proof of the existence of such a system, 

citing especially trilobite fossils to clinch the 

point. 1 

In December 1862, there were 51 members: 

Ebenezer Emmons, for the first time in many 

years, was not among them. He died in North 

Carolina, faithful to the last to his calling there, 

in 1863: I find no evidence that his passing was 

noticed at a meeting of the Institute. 2 

At the January meeting in 1864, James Eights 

was certainly present: “Mr. [Joel] Munsell moved 

that a copy of vol. II of the Transactions be presented 

to Dr. James Eights, one of the old members 

and contributors to the Institute, who was 

present, which was agreed to.” But does this 

mean that he was so rarely at meetings that no 

opportunity had occurred to give him a copy 

since the completion (and publication) of volume 

II in 1852? 3 

On 22 March 1864, Prof. C.H. Anthony read a 

paper on Amos Eaton. On 19 April 1864, S.D. 

Willard read a biographical notice of Dr. 

Jonathan Eights. In both cases, long abstracts 

were recorded in the ‘Minutes.’ Dr. William Bay, 

born in the same year as Jonathan Eights, was 

still alive 24 May 1864, in his 91st year, while Dr. 

Eights died in 1848, just short of his 75th birthday. 

4 In January 1865, there were 53 members, 

among them Richard V. DeWitt and James H. 

Armsby. Dr. Willard’s death was noticed 5 March 

1865. On 13 December 1865, Joel Munsell “read a 

paper on the history of theatres and public entertainment 

in Albany.” At the same meeting, there 

Chapter 22 335

was a detailed account by Dr. F.B. Hough of the 

committee appointed to ascertain the cost of 

reprinting volume II of the Transactions. They 

had 125 copies of the letter-press, but of the eight 

plates, they had from zero to 35 impressions; one 

plate was spoiled and one could not be found. It 

was moved and authorized to replace the two 

plates then complete and bind 35 copies; when 

they were gone, 125 copies of the volume should 

be prepared. 5 

In February 1866, curators reported that collections 

had deteriorated badly; zoological specimens 

were moth-eaten, fluid-preserved specimen 

jars needed refilling, the coin collection 

required secure storage, and so on. The committee 

also discovered a large collection of mosses, 

presumed to be a part of the L.C. Beck 

Herbarium that, somehow, had not gone to the 

State Cabinet when it was purchased in the previous 

decade. Later that year, James Hall reported 

on the discovery of the Cohoes mastodon 

skeleton at Harmony Mills. In January 1867, R.V. 

DeWitt was reelected president of the first 

Department; it was his last year of service; on 8 

February 1868, there was a special meeting to 

mourn his death. 6 

In January 1867, James Hall agreed to 

become a curator of the Institute cabinets only if 

“some measures could be adopted to preserve or 

extend the collections.” The curators were directed 

“to report upon the advisibility of abandoning 

or disposing of part of the collections.” In 

February, Hall briefly reported a list of alternatives 

that had been suggested, chief among them 

being that “the Institute should donate the collections 

of Natural History to the State to form 

part of those now in the state Geological 

Rooms.” 7 

GETTING STARTED 

The first article to come from Eights’s pen 

this decade appeared in March 1861. It concerned 

a “New Chinese silk worm” that was 

attracting widespread attention in Europe, especially 

in France, where Félix Édouard Guérin- 

Méneville was feverishly promoting it. It would, 

it was claimed, shortly alleviate France’s costly 

outlay of funds to buy cotton from America, and 

so on. Perhaps best of all, from Eights’s point of 

view, it fed on the leaves of Ailanthus, a weedy 

and undesirable tree that had spread from homestead 

plantings. Eights himself added the notion 

that it seemed likely that at least two very common 

American silk-producing species, the 

cecropia and the promethia moths, might be 

induced to follow the lead of the Chinese moth 

in feeding on Ailanthus leaves, with benefits ecological 

(as we should say today) and economic. 8 

James Eights began to write seriously in mid- 

1864, if he was indeed the “J.E.” who, under the 

banner of “The Naturalist,” wrote on the subject 

of “Our songsters of summer.” The occasional 

paragraph is worthy of reproduction and that 

will be done. Some statements will, likewise, be 

questioned, for there is a certain strained effort at 

effect that brings the writer to attribute unreal 

characteristics to some species. Sometimes, one is 

surprised at a statement, such as that near his 

place of residence, “Robins, Wrens, Blue Birds 

and Thrushes are almost as numerous as 

Sparrows.” What kind of thrushes? More to the 

point, what kind of sparrows? We immediately 

think of the house (or English) sparrow. But had 

that species become by 1864 (after its introduction 

in 1850) so numerous as to be the commonest 

of birds in Albany? 9 

The first installment of “Our songsters of 

summer” sets the stage for later essays. It begins: 

“It is among our many consolations, that we 

dwell within the sound of the church-going bells, 

about three miles distant — as the crow flies — 

from the noise and tumult of our ancient city, 

and that nearly all the minstrels of summer 

revisit our abode, and are to be heard in our garden, 

the meadows, and the woodlands that surround 

us....Here we are annually visited by the 

Brown Thrush, the Wood Thrush, the Hermit 

Thrush, and the Robin; the Blue Bird, the Song 

Sparrow, the Warbling Vireo, and a host of other 

nomadic songsters, equally interesting, but of 

much lesser fame. Every spring it has occurred 

to us that it would be an interesting contribution 

to natural history if we could be furnished with 

descriptive lists of all the birds visiting and nesting 

in the immediate vicinity of our larger villages 

and more populous cities...with special ref- 


erence to the nearness of their haunts to the 

abode of civilized life....Though, during the period 

of many years’ experience in this locality, 

buildings have increased to an extent that would 

be saddening indeed were it not true that men 

are better than trees, and these songsters have 

not only not left the neighborhood, but this year 

they literally abound; and since the commencement 

of the season, we have commonly heard 

four or more of their number at a time singing in 

rivalry among the shrubs and trees which surround 

us...and Robins, Wrens, Blue Birds and 

Thrushes are almost as numerous as Sparrows. 

This, we imagine, is to be attributed in some 

measure to our increasing regard for the protection 

of the smaller birds; people are beginning to 

appreciate birds as proper adjuncts of rural 

scenery.” The “supposed ornithological poverty 

of suburban districts,” he opined, “is mainly 

attributable to the infrequency of a habit of 

observation among the residents.” 

I find unrealistic the picture drawn that 

recounts the large number of birds that, at the 

height of the season of song, sing all night. Let the 

experimenter, he says, “sit up nearly all the 

night, in a room overlooking the woodiest 

prospect they may have about them, and take 

care to keep the window open. We confess we 

have set apart many nights during that period to 

enjoy the perfect stillness of nature, broken only 

by the barking of dogs, the crowing of cocks, and 

the singing of the feathered minstrels; it is like 

adding a year to one’s life, so intense is the 

enjoyment of the coolness of the air, the deep 

greenness of the fields, and the music and the 

whispers of the wind. It is generally from before 

sunset until nearly nine of the night that the concert 

is kept up with unflagging vigor by 

Thrushes, Robins, Wrens, Song Sparrows, and 

Bluebirds, with several others; and the plaintive 

Whip-poor-will is oft times heard adding his 

melancholy notes as a chorus to the scene. We 

have just seen the sun rise after one of these nocturnal 

vigils, and we feel fresh; the dew is wet 

upon our face; we feel elastic, and should like to 

walk up a breezy hill, did not other cares intrude 

upon our time. We have...counted the voices of a 

dozen species of birds between three in the 

morning and the approach of light; after which 

time there was such a general jingling of voices, 

that it was possible only to distinguish the 

Brown Thrush, the Robin, the Purple Martin, 

and the Wren and the Sparrow, whose utterances 

were so distinct as to be at all times unmistakable. 

Far away on the borders of the forest...we 

have at night distinctly heard some of these 

notes of the day repeated during the bright 

moonlight until near the midnight hour.” 

The “Brown Thrush, inferior to none but the 

Mocking-bird in musical talent” is among the 

earliest visitors of spring. They arrive in pairs 

but the male at first “faulters in his song, but 

when his mate commences her cares and labors, 

his notes attain all their vigor and vitality.” “His 

music has the full charm of innate originality; he 

takes no delight in mimickry [not correct!], and 

therefore has no title to the name of mockingbird 

bestowed upon him in various parts of the 

country.” 

The essay ends with paragraphs on cat-bird 

and robin. Of the former: “The notes of different 

individuals vary considerably, so that sometimes 

his song, in sweetness and compass, is 

scarcely inferior to that of the preceding thrush 

[brow thrasher]. A quaintness, however, prevails 

in all his efforts, and his song is frequently 

made up of short and blended imitations of 

other birds, given with great emphasis, melody 

and variety of tone; not unfrequently invading 

the hours of repose, in the late twilight of a 

summer’s evening.” He alleges that its cat-like 

call sometimes became unpleasant enough that 

people were known to kill them because of it. 

Robins, he says, make their appearance in pairs 

(certainly not true today) and, “as the season 

progresses, they, from the trees of the orchard 

or the edge of the neighboring woods, may be 

heard delivering their simple, thrilling lays, in 

all the artless energy of true affection. This 

earnest song recalls to mind the mellow whistle 

of the Thrush [which species is not clear], 

which, in the charming month of May, so sweetly 

rises in warbling echoes from the low copse 

and shady glen.” 

“Songsters of summer — II” continues the 

series and, after an introductory statement, concentrates 

on the Bob-o-link and Wood Thrush. 10 

Chapter 22 337

“We have long entertained the belief that an 

accurate observer of nature, in the days of his 

perfect vision, would easily be enabled to count 

off the months, and sometimes even the weeks, 

by the voices of the birds. True to the almanacs, 

within a few days, from far to near, and in some 

cases, true almost to any hour, the songsters of 

the woods and gardens publish their arrival, and 

their changes of mood, and feeling, and prosperity 

in their calls, carols, and utterances of fear, 

warnings, anger and of love. There is most generally 

a dead pause from the beginning of 

August until the middle of October, when the 

sparrows and a few other songsters have it 

almost all to themselves, to do as they please 

with the hedgerow and woodside echoes. Then 

the concert begins again, with the robin as their 

leader, and a succession of performers follow, 

thrushes, blackbirds, warblers, wrens and finches 

of many species. But all these make little more 

than a confused twittering and harsh clangor, 

from amidst which rises distinct and clear the 

rich though melancholy warble of the robin and 

the loud detached whistling of the oriole and 

thrushes.” A naturalist might question whether 

there is so general a recrudescence of song 

among so many species at this time of year. 

“But the opening of the first flowers of 

spring is the signal for a general outburst. Then 

the loud bob-o-link, with his restricted compass 

and unskillful execution, makes amends for 

poverty of art by lustiness of expression, and 

leads the way, as the robin did before, but to a 

much nobler chorus. All the summer long have 

we heard this omnivorous minstrel thrilling out 

his wild, jingling notes — his cheerfullest 

melodies — in the bright morning sky over our 

suburban meadows; and with every advance of 

the season their energies rapidly increase in volume 

of voice, and in volubility of expression; 

and then there is such a joyous outpouring of 

song that the few notes over which the music 

ranges and its poverty of composition are unnoticed, 

while we yield to the spirit of gladness 

which pervades every utterance.” 

There are brief references to songs of brown 

thrush, blue jay, robins, sparrows (the latter not 

further identified). 

“The solitary Wood-Thrush comes to us early 

in the spring, and is always of a shy and retiring 

disposition, making his appearance generally 

alone, or only in single pairs; and while he willingly 

charms us with his song, he is content and 

even solicitous to remain concealed. At the dawn 

of morning he now announces his presence in 

the woods, and from the top of some tall pine 

rising through the dark and shady forest, he 

pours out his few clear and harmonious notes in 

a pleasing reverie....The prelude to this song 

resembles almost the double tonguing of the 

flute, blended with a tinkling, shrill and solemn 

warble, which re-echoes from his solitary retreat 

like the dirge of some sad recluse, who shuns the 

busy haunts of life. The whole air consists usually 

of four bars or parts, which succeed in deliberate 

time, and finally blend together in impressive 

and soothing harmony, becoming more mellow 

and sweet at every repetition. Rival performers 

seem to challenge each other...vying for the favor 

of their mates with sympathetic responses and 

softer tones. Like the Robin and some few other 

species, in dark and gloomy weather, when other 

birds are sheltered and silent, the clear notes of 

the Wood-Thrush are heard through the dropping 

[!] woods from dawn to dusk, so that the 

sadder the day, the sweeter and more constant is 

his song. His favorite haunts are the low and 

shady glens by the water-courses, so often rendered 

dark with alder bushes, mantled with the 

trailing grapevine.” 

“Songsters of summer — III” emphasizes 

especially Red-eyed Vireo, Song Sparrow, and 

blue-bird. 11 

“Early, about the beginning of May, appears 

to us that indefatigable songster, the Red-eyed 

Viero [Vireo] or Greenlet. It inhabits the shady 

forests or tall trees in the neighborhood of our 

garden, and sometimes the suburbs of villages, 

where its loud, lively, and energetic song, is often 

continued with little intermission for several 

hours at a time, as it darts and pries among the 

thick foliage....From its first arrival until midsummer, 

it is the most distinguished warbler [he 

means singer, not ‘warbler’ in the ornithological 

sense] of the forest, and when almost all the 

other birds have become mute, its notes are to be 

heard with unabated vigor. Even to the com- 


mencement of October, still enlivened by the 

then feeble rays of the sun, he faintly recalls his 

song, and plaintively tunes a farewell to his 

native woods. In moist and dark summer weather, 

his voice seems to be one continued, untiring 

warble, of exquisite sweetness; and even in the 

most populous and noisy streets of our city, his 

shrill and tender lay is sometimes heard from the 

tall elms.” 12 

“With the first appearance of spring, should 

the weather prove mild, our familiar and domestic 

little Song Sparrow, accompanied by the Bluebird 

— two of the earliest, sweetest, and most 

enduring warblers — visit our abode to cheer 

the yet dreary face of nature with their ever welcome, 

well remembered, social songs. The latter 

bird flits restlessly through the orchard or neighboring 

fields; while the sparrow, more social, frequents 

the garden, barn-yard, or road-side, in 

quest of support, and from the top of some humble 

bush, stake or taller bough, tunes forth his 

cheering lay in frequent repetition, for half an 

hour or more at a time. These notes have some 

resemblance to parts of the Canary’s song, and 

are almost uninterruptedly and daily delivered, 

from his coming to the commencement of winter. 

When he first arrives...the strain appears contemplative, 

and often delivered in a peculiarly low 

and tender whisper....At the approach of winter, 

this vocal thrill, sounding like an orphan 

farewell to the scene and season, is still more 

exquisite....Individuals also excel and vary their 

song from time to time with very agreeable 

effect.” 

“The Blue-bird is among the earliest of our 

minstrels of the woods, the garden, and the waysides, 

and continues his music almost uninterruptedly 

from the month of March until late in 

the season of autumn. His song is a soft and 

rather feeble, but delicate and pleasing warble, 

often repeated at various times of the day, but 

most frequently in early spring....All his energy 

is poured out into this simple ditty, and, with an 

ecstatic feeling of delight, he often raises and 

quivers his wings e’er he again descends to his 

favorite perch....Gentle, peaceable and familiar 

when undisturbed, his society is coveted by 

every lover of rural scenery, and it is not uncommon 

for the farmer to furnish the Blue-bird with 

a box as well as the Martin, in return for the 

pleasure of his company, the destruction he 

makes upon injurious insects, and the cheerfulness 

of his song.” 

“Our songsters of summer — IV” considers 

various philosophical matters, then alludes 

specifically to the “Thrush,” Hermit Thrush, 

Warbling Vireo, Red-winged Black-bird, and 

Purple Finch, occasionally leaving one a little 

uncertain where observation ends and fantasy 

begins. 13 

“It has frequently been remarked that birds 

of song generally haunt the dwellings of man. 

This is particularly the case when applied to our 

own country, though it is a sad mistake, also, to 

allege that the birds of the tropical wilderness 

are deficient of musical powers, for in the burning 

regions of our delightful land, the richest 

bird-music is to be heard in districts where man 

is at most but a sojourner, and has never chosen 

a site for a city, a village, or even an encampment....But 

the question has frequently been suggested, 

what do the birds themselves mean by 

these vocal sounds? for these exquisite utterances 

have a meaning, we may be sure, and are 

not far from parallels to the hymns and ballads 

we sing ourselves....When the heart is merry we 

are wont to sing, and while the woods and gardens 

resound with a thousand melodious lays, 

we can discover therein a new cause for thankfulness 

to the Father of all things, not only that 

we are made happy thereby, but that all the 

world brims with joy and speaks aloud in ecstacy, 

in the voices of these timid, fleeting creatures.” 

A disquisition upon the dispute whether bird 

songs are sad or joyous follows: the decision 

being that it depends upon the mood of the listener! 

Some accounts of “Thrush” song follow, it 

being uncertain what species is meant. 

“Early in the spring, and but for a few weeks 

only at a time, are we visited by the Hermit 

Thrush. This species, so much resembling the 

Nightingale of Europe in color, is scarcely inferior 

to that celebrated bird in its powers of song, 

and greatly exceeds the Wood-Thrush in the 

melody and sweetness of its lay, and like it, also, 

it appears to court solitude, and live wholly in 

Chapter 22 339

the woods, frequenting the dark and desolate 

shades of the forest....In manners it strongly 

resembles many of its associate species, but its 

song seems to be unusually lively and varied, 

warbling sometimes like the Yellow-bird, and 

then again chanting its notes like those of the 

Robin.” 

“One of the sweetest and most constant 

songsters of our forest glade, is the Warbling 

Vireo, which visits early in the month of May. Its 

livery...is plain and unadorned, but the sweet 

melody of his voice, surpassing, as far as nature 

usually surpasses art, the tenderest airs of the 

flute, poured out often from the rising dawn of 

day to the approach of evening, and vigorous 

even during the sultry heat of noon....While 

chanting forth his easy, flowing, tender airs, 

aparently without effort, so constrasted with the 

interrupted emphatical song of the Greenlet [redeyed 

vireo], he is seen gliding along the thick 

and leafy branches of our most stately elms and 

tallest trees, busied in quest of his restless insect 

prey. They are seldom seen in the woods; but 

from the tall trees which decorate the streets and 

lanes of our cities and villages, the almost invisible 

musician...is heard to cheer the house and 

cottage with his untiring song. As late as the 

beginning of October, we can still distinguish his 

tuneful voice from amidst the yellow fading 

leaves of the linden, near which he had passed 

away the summer hours.” 

“From the beginning of April until May, 

according to the nature of the season, the Redwinged 

Black-bird visits us from the south in 

scattered parties, flying chiefly in the morning; 

and as they wing their way they seem to relieve 

their mutual toil by friendly chatter, and being 

the harbingers of spring their faults are forgotten...and 

we cannot help greeting them as old 

acquaintances....As the season advances they 

congregate in dense flocks, and move about in 

blackning [!] clouds, rising suddenly at times 

with a noise like thunder....After whirling and 

waving a little distance, they descend as a torrent, 

and darkening the branches of the trees by 

their numbers, they commence a general concert 

that may be heard for more than two miles. 

This music seems to be something between 

chattering and warbling; jingling liquid notes 

like those of the bob-o-link, with their peculiar 

complaining chirps, jars, and sounds like sawfiling, 

or the motion of a sign-board on its rusty 

hinge; the whole constituting a novel and sometimes 

grand chorus of discord and harmony, in 

which the performers seem in good earnest 

indeed.” 

One may be forgiven for being skeptical in 

regard to the breeding in the Albany area that 

appears to be claimed for the purple finch; that it 

is not spoken of as ever resident in winter is also 

to be noted; still, the characterization of the song 

and its comparison with that of the warbling 

vireo are well taken. “The Purple Finch, well 

known to us as the American linnet, re-visits the 

scenes of his former years, about the beginning 

of May, to pass the most important period of his 

existence among us, cheering us with his melodious 

lays, as if for his own gratification as well as 

for ours. Their notes are very similar to those of 

the warbling vireo, but louder and more agreeably 

diversified. From the tops of our lofty and 

wide-spreading elms, or shadowy spruce 

trees...their varied and very cheerful melody is 

often continued for hours....The song of this 

beautiful bird is, indeed, much finer than that of 

the canary; the notes are remarkably clear and 

mellow, and trilling, sweet and various, particularly 

on their first arrival.” 

At this point, we have a problem. In August 

1864, “The Bee-Keeper’s Department” of the 

Country Gentleman carried a two-part article 

signed by “J.E.” entitled “Honey and the honey 

bee.” “J.E.” has proved sometimes to be James 

Eights; at other times, there is certainty that he 

was not the author. Sometimes, one is merely 

uncertain. Here, there is nothing to go on. The 

smooth acquaintance of the author with his version 

of sugar chemistry certainly seems to partake 

little of James Eights. The writing is not his, 

unless he simply copied the bulk of it. Until 

someone proves that Eights wrote this article (or 

was responsible for his name being attached to 

it), I deem the author not James Eights. 14 

“Our songsters of summer — V” concerns 

not song but the songsters and how they come to 

spend a certain part of the year with us, especial- 


ly, as the subtitle informs us, “The migration of 

birds.” 15 

“What a mystery is the migration of birds, 

and how much greater a mystery has it been 

made by a certain class of naturalists who persist 

in treating animals as if they were mere receptacles 

for food and vehicles of fur and feathers. But 

the notions of Linnaeus do discredit to that generally 

broad-minded philosopher, for the great 

master clung to the notion of swallows hybernating 

under the waters of ponds and stagnant 

pools. Stranger still, that an accomplished 

author, most observant of observers, had a secret 

fancy for the hybernating hypothesis, though 

well aware of the fact that the temperature of the 

blood of any of our summer birds is higher than 

that of man, or any other of the most active creatures. 

For a bird to hybernate, especially under 

water, is simply impossible. So energetic is the 

life of these little creatures that while they 

remain with us they scarcely sleep at all. You 

shall see swallows and chimney swifts darting 

about till the last moment of twilight, and you 

shall see them again at three the next morning, 

wheeling aloft and twittering as freshly as if they 

needed no rest; and so with many of the warblers; 

the almost unbroken continuance of their 

song during the twenty-four hours round, is a 

proof of the energy of the circulation and all the 

vital processes. Their bones are hollow, they are 

themselves reservoirs of oxygen, and the flame 

of life burns more fiercely in their breasts than in 

any other class of animated creatures. Two circumstances 

have also been noticed by authors, 

about migratory birds — first, that these 

‘untaught, unthinking creatures,’ should know 

the proper times for their passage, when to come 

and when to go; and also, that some should 

come when others retire. In what revelation do 

we read that they are in either case such utter 

negatives? Surely only in that of human variety. 

Experiments with which every teacher or tamer 

of birds is familiar, prove that their natural songs 

are acquired by the same process as we acquired 

a knowledge of A, B, C at school. As you pass 

along the edge of the copse in July and August 

you will hear hundreds of little birds recording 

the songs they are just learning from their parents, 

and the older ones always sing until their 

young have learned their lesson properly; and 

hence, though the old male usually sings less 

vehemently after he has found a mate, he does 

sing till August if the first brood has met with an 

accident and the parents hatch out a second. 

Take a young bird from the nest before it is old 

enough to have learned from its parents, and it 

will learn any song or no song, just as the circumstances 

influence it; thus a canary has been 

brought up to the song of the nightingale, and 

sings it to perfection[.] Hen birds of almost any 

kind will sing nearly as well as the cocks if well 

trained from the nest, and if singing is so much a 

matter of tuition, why should not flying be? 

Anywhere during the middle and latter part of 

summer you may see the sparrows teaching 

their young to fly, and a pretty sight it is; the 

prettiest of the season. If they are taught to fly 

from a tree to the ground, and from the ground 

to paling, why not over seas and continents in 

such cases as render long flight necessary? 

Instinct gives no account of motives of caution in 

avoiding accidents, as of the almost supernatural 

powers of sight and wing which migratory birds 

possess. A swallow will fly a mile a minute, and 

in the course of a season traverses eight times 

the circumference of the globe, in search of flies, 

within the range of but a few acres of territory. 

“Let those who cling to the unsatisfactory 

solution of instinct, keep carrier pigeons about 

three years, and fly them on scientific principles, 

and they will, at the end of that period, toss the 

idea of ‘untaught, unthinking creatures,’ to its 

proper limbo, among obsolete notions. There are 

three things noticeable in the migration of birds; 

first, that the change of residence is desirable; 

secondly, that they know where to go, and thirdly, 

that they [know] how to go by the safest and 

the shortest route. Mexico and the tropics house 

a vast number of our summer visitants; why, we 

cannot say, except that doubtless the food and 

climate suits [!] them. And what a blessing that 

our woods and flowery leas and gardens, are 

deemed worthy of so long a stay among us, and 

of deep domestic joys, by such happy, confident 

and silvery throated creatures. The puzzle to naturalists 

is that they find their way over lakes, 

rivers, deserts, and seas to the very spot that best 

suits them, and as many of these birds have 

Chapter 22 341

never made this particular flight before, it most 

probably is, that, as they generally go in flocks, 

there are in every flock, a certain number who 

have made the journey before, and can pilot the 

way for all the fledglings. Nor is it such a great 

undertaking when circumstances are considered, 

as it seems they rest on the rigging of ships, on 

headlands and floating sea-weeds when stress of 

weather compels, and as the majority of migratory 

birds are insect eaters, they will probably find 

enough food to support them while on the wing, 

both by sea and land. 

“When we see a sheep leave a parched 

herbage to rejoice in clover, it does not surprise 

us...the flight of a bird to a region adapted to its 

habits when its hitherto home has ceased to be 

attractive, is but a similar process on a grander 

scale....To talk of magnifying the Creator by 

ascribing all those movements to unerring 

instinct, is to reduce Almight wisdom to the cunning 

of an artist who made a toy, and is half 

frantic that it dances when he pulls the strings. 

How much more consistent with the plans and 

operations of nature which He has ordered, to 

believe that these wanderers have had given 

them a sufficient intelligence to rule their lives 

for good and direct their appetites and passions 

for the preservation and increase of each particular 

race.” 

“Our songsters of summer — VI” comments 

on various individual songbirds, specifically 

Indigo Bunting, a “Grassfinch” (presumably vesper 

sparrow) and bob-o-link. 16 

“About the middle of May the very beautiful 

and rather familiar messenger of summer, the 

Indigo bird, after passing his winter in the south, 

again joyfully revisits the scenes of his former 

habitation, clothed in his brilliant azure livery of 

the nuptial season. ... 

“Though naturally shy, active and suspicious...they 

still, at this interesting period of 

procreation, resort chiefly to the precincts of 

habitations, around which they are far more 

common than in the solitary woods...but their 

favorite resort is the garden, where, from the 

topmost bough of some tall tree...the male regularly 

pours out his lively chant....Nor is this 

song confined to the cool and animating dawn 

of morning, but it is renewed and still more vigorous 

during the noon-day heat of summer. 

This lively strain seems composed of a repetition 

of short notes, commencing loud and 

rapid, and then slowly falling, they descend 

almost to a whisper, succeeded by a silent interval 

of about half a minute, when the song is 

again continued as before. The modulated portion 

of the song is usually uttered at the time 

that the female is engaged in the cares of incubation. 

... 

“The plainly adorned Grassfinch chiefly frequents 

our dry pastures and meadows, and is 

often seen perched on the fences and in the 

orchard trees....From the commencement of May 

to the beginning of June, they sing with a clear 

and agreeable note, scarcely inferior to that of 

the canary, though less loud and varied....Their 

song begins at early dawn, and is again peculiarly 

frequent after sunset until dark...when from 

the fence of some elevated pasture-field in the 

cool of the summer evening, when other songsters 

have retired to rest, more than usually 

wakeful, after a silence which has continued 

nearly through the warmer part of the day, pipes 

forth his clear and slender, though now almost 

monotonous song;...and from all the neighboring 

meadows...as the last rays of the sun are reflected 

from the dusky horizon, we hear a constant 

repetition of an echoing and shrill sounding 

voice, with warbling tones blended and varied at 

the beginning and close of this simple, rather 

pensive, but agreeable ditty. ... 

“About the middle of May the meadows in 

this vicinity begin to re-echo the lively ditty of 

the Bob-o-link, the males arriving a little earlier 

than the other sex....Many quarrels occur before 

the mating is settled....The song of the male continues 

with little interruption as long as the 

female is sitting....Often while mounted and hovering 

on the wing at a small height above the 

field, as he passes along from one tree top or 

weed to another, he utters such a jingling medley 

of short variable notes, so confused, rapid and 

continuous that it appears almost like the blending 

song of several different birds. Many of these 

tones are very agreeable, but they are delivered 

with such rapidity that the ear can scarcely separate 

them.” 


We have now to consider a two-part essay 

“On textile vegetable fibre.” Although signed 

“J.E.” at the ends of the installments (the bird 

pieces have uniformly been so signed at the 

beginning), I am convinced that James Eights 

was either not the author or else he was copying 

to a remarkable degree. The accounts are comprehensive 

— almost encyclopedic — and well 

informed. 17 

“Our songsters of summer — VII” is an 

account of the role of birds in human life and 

economy, with a further reference to the song of 

the whip-poor-will. 18 

“Towards the middle of May just at the close 

of day, when the shadows of evening begin to 

fall deeply over the land, we for the first time in 

the season, hear the ever plaintive and melancholy 

strains of the Whip-poor-will, mournfully 

resounding from the deep and hitherto silent 

recesses of the forest. ... 

“With us, the birds of the night do not 

appear in such unaccountable numbers as in the 

more southern portions of our country, but are 

far from being uncommon, and always affect 

sheltered, wild and hilly situations, for which 

they have in general a preference. ... 

“In the evening soon after sunset, it commences 

its singular serenade, and continues it 

with short interruptions for several hours together, 

and towards morning the note is also 

renewed until the opening dawn.” 

“Our songsters of summer — VIII” considers 

baltimore oriole, yellow-bird (the goldfinch, not 

yellow warbler, is meant) and house wren, in 

whose account the author introduces comments 

on blue-bird, and martin. 19 

“The Baltimore Oriole or Golden Robin, visits 

us in the month of May, but does not confine 

his habitation for the season to the suburban districts 

alone; for from amid the fine verdure 

which so beautifully adorns our park and city 

highways, his familiar and flute-like melody 

may oft-times be heard, and his singularly suspended 

pensile nest seen, artfully attached to the 

twigs or minor branches of the gracefully waving 

elms. Here he loves to pour forth his wild 

and plaintive songs, from amid the din of the 

passing crowd and the tumult of incessant and 

noisy occupations. 

“It is here with us, that they pass the most 

interesting period of their lives, and their 

arrival is hailed as the sure harbinger of 

approaching summer....At first the males only 

arrive, but without appearing in flocks; their 

mates are yet behind, and their social delight is 

incomplete....They also now spend much time 

in the apple trees, often sipping honey from the 

white blossoms over which they wander with 

peculiar delight. ... 

“The mellow whistling notes which these 

birds trumpet forth from the high branches of 

our tallest trees, are subject greatly to vary from 

each other in their tones, so that an accustomed 

ear can readily distinguish the familiar sounds of 

the favorite bird that in former seasons reared its 

brood in the adjoining trees; for, if undisturbed, 

they are well known yearly to revisit the same 

spot. The female likewise sings, but less agreeably 

than the male;...her notes are now heard in 

a sort of querulous and plaintive strain, singularly 

pleasing to the ear. 

“Our social little Yellow-bird is found with 

us nearly throughout the varied seasons of the 

year, and being naturally of a vagrant and 

wandering disposition, it continues to live in 

flocks, and hovers about our door, and in the 

orchard and gardens surrounding them — 

unless driven by the pelting of the pitiless 

storms of winter, to seek protection and shelter 

amid the depth of the forest, where its favorite 

food is unencumbered by the snows. As the 

fine weather of spring approaches, they put off 

their humble winter dress, and the males, now 

appearing in their temporary golden livery, are 

heard tuning their lively songs as if it were in 

concert, several sitting on the same tree,... 

vying with each other in the delivery of their 

varied, soft, and cheerful warble. They have 

also the faculty of sinking and raising their 

voices in such a delightful cadence, that their 

music at times seems to float on the distant 

breeze, scarcely louder than the hum of bees; it 

then breaks out...into a gradually increasing 

sound which rings like the loud song of the 

Canary....In cages, to which they soon become 

familiar and reconciled, their song is nearly as 

sonorous and animated as when free in the 

open air. 

Chapter 22 343

“Nor must we...forget the lively, cheerful, 

capricious, and well known little House-Wren, 

although only a warm-seasoned resident of the 

United States, — wintering in the far-off regions 

of the South; and it is often a matter of surprise 

to us, how this and some other species, with 

wings so short and a flight so fluttering, are ever 

capable of arriving and returning from such distant 

countries. At any rate, come from where he 

may, he makes his appearance some time in the 

early part of May....His nest, from preference, is 

near the dwelling, placed beneath the eaves, in 

some remote corner under a shed, outhouse, 

barn, and when provided with the convenience, 

in a wooden box along with the Martins and 

Blue-birds. He will even make his nest in an old 

hat, nailed up and perforated with a hole for 

entrance, or the skull of an ox stuck upon a pole, 

or a gourd suspended from the branches of a 

tree in the garden. ... 

“The song of our familiar little Wren is loud, 

sprightly, and tremulous, uttered with peculiar 

animation, and rapidly repeated; at first the 

voice seems ventriloquial and distant, and then 

bursts forth by efforts into a mellow and echoing 

warble. The trilling, hurried notes seem to reverberate 

from the leafy branches in which the 

musician sits obscured, or is heard from the low 

roof of the vine-mantled cottage, like the shrill 

and unwearied pipe of some sylvan elf. His lively 

and querulous ditty is, however, still accompanied 

by the slower measured, pathetic chant of 

the red-eyed Flycatcher [red-eyed vireo?], the 

meandering, tender warble of the musical Vireo 

[warbling vireo?], or the occasional loud mimickry 

of the Cat-bird....He is rather a bold and insolent 

intruder upon those birds who reside near it, 

or claim the same accommodation. He frequently 

causes the mild Blue-bird or Martin to relinquish 

their hereditary claims to the garden-box, 

and has been accused — and we hope unjustly 

— of sucking their eggs. Nor is he any better 

contented with neighbors of his own fraternity 

who settle near him, keeping up frequent squabbles, 

like the other little busy bodies who are 

never happy but in mischief.” 

“Coal and its origin” is a two-part article 

signed “By J.E.” That it is by James Eights, I very 

much doubt. The writing is not at all like his 

usual prose. More to the point, I think, the views 

expressed are precisely those of the conventional 

authority. Coal is a carbonaceous mineral 

derived from ancient plant growth. While it is 

possible that Eights had finally come to see the 

error of his ways in regard to the genesis of coal 

(as expressed in his account in “Notes of a 

pedestrian” in The Zodiac), a simpler explanation 

is that the essay was written by a popular naturalist 

of the day. A few quotations will suffice to 

demonstrate the trend of the argument. 20 

“What stranger produce can there be, of all 

the treasures that our mother earth has furnished 

us, than coal? What countless years of manipulation 

has it undergone in the mysterious laboratory 

of nature? What centuries of timber-growth, 

what ages of forests have been exhausted in the 

accumulation of its material! How far back in 

time did the Divine Architect foresee the destiny 

of man, and lay up almost inexhaustible stores of 

fuel for his future use? What would man be, 

deprived of fire?...By fire he cooks his food, and 

becomes universal in the geographical distribution 

of his race....And for the supply and maintenance 

of this fire he looks to coal, — to coal, the 

chemical and age-elaborated product of decayed 

and perished ferns, club mosses, equisetacea and 

dicotyledonous trees. ...” 

“On the ‘eland’ cattle as a breed,” signed by 

“J.E.,” appeared as a contribution in the department 

entitled “The Grazier and Breeder.” It was 

a rosily optimistic promotion of the possibility of 

providing “the permanent addition to our meadows 

of an entirely new and distinct species of 

cattle, furnishing a wholesome meat of a novel 

kind to our tables, to vary the eternal round of 

beef, mutton, and pork.” The animal in question, 

a large antelope of Africa, was being subjected to 

experimental breeding in France and, especially, 

England. It was anticipated in England, “that at 

no distant period a regular supply of the delicious 

meat which they furnish will be found in 

their markets....How desirable it would be if 

some of our enterprising cattle-breeders should 

be induced to make the experiment of a trial of 

the Eland in this country, so rich and abundant 

in the grasses.” 21 

From the middle of October 1864 to the middle 

of April 1865, we find nothing attributed to 


author “J.E.,” so dubiously proved to be our 


“The Coleophora or tent-building caterpillar” 

is denoted in its title as in two parts. It is signed 

only at the end of the second part by “J.E.” 

While on an insect species, as so many of 

Eights’s articles have been, this one proves a 

puzzler. The title is misleading, since the tiny larvae 

are case-builders or case-bearers, not tent 

caterpillars at all. Since the name is correctly 

derived in the text, did Eights make such a mistake? 

Overall, the text flows smoothly, the viewpoints 

are sophisticated and varied — characteristics 

hard to equate with the usual writing of 


“On the utility of the maize plant” is on a 

theme — that of frugal use of resources otherwise 

neglected or thrown away — that might be 

thought of interest to Eights. It is signed “J.E.” 

and is not particularly smoothly written. On balance, 

however, I think it is probably not by 

Eights, partly because of its fairly sophisticated 

handling of technical chemistry. 23 

“The Fasciola Hepatica or sheep fluke” is a 

contribution by “J.E.” under the departmental 

title “The Grazier and Breeder.” It is a sophisticated 

pot-boiler by someone who knows (or 

copies from someone who knows) both his sheep 

and his flukes. I label it doubtfully by James 

Eights. 24 

“Italian Mode of Fattening Ortolans,” signed 

by “J.E.,” appears in “The Poulterer’s 

Companion,” under the same date as the preceding 

article. Even if by James Eights, which I 

doubt, it is almost entirely a direct quotation of a 

lecture on the practical physiology of fattening 

caged wild birds in Italy raised for the table. We 

should think of it today as a manipulation of 

photoperiodic responses in the birds, causing 

them to eat oftener in a 24-hour period than they 

would in a normal single light-dark period. It is 

an interesting application (and well documented 

historically) but “J.E.’s” contribution is to add: 

“Cultivators of poultry, and furnishers of game 

birds for the table, we think might possibly 

derive some advantage from pursuing this 

Italian mode of rearing and fattening birds for 

market. The ortolan is likewise a native of this 

country, and may frequently be met with in the 

winter season, in flocks, feeding along the public 

highways leading to the city.” Now, the final 

statement is incorrect, if the writer is American 

and uses the term “ortolan” in any known sense. 

In Europe, it is a sparrow-like bunting; in 

America, the term is nearly exclusively applied 

to the native blackbird commonly called 

bobolink — which is not found in North 

America in flocks in winter, for it winters in 

southern South America. 25 

“Eyes of insects” is in two parts, under the 

general title “The Naturalist.” Both parts are 

signed “J.E.” If it is by James Eights in any way, 

he contributed an introductory paragraph and 

then copied or summarized the rest of the text 

from another author. 26 

“Scraps from my every-day book — I” 

seems a tailor-made title for a piece by Eights. It 

is signed “J.E.” and sounds as if written by 

Eights. It is quoted below. I am surprised that 

he considered the lush herbage of spring and 

summer to furnish a greater proportion of indigestible 

“inorganic” material, stems, and fibers 

than grass grown in a harder time of the year. 

Nor can I perceive any correlation between the 

abundant growth of southern corn plants and 

the tough “sedge grass” that replaced it on 

fields when nutrients were depleted and the 

soil would no longer produce corn: The grass 

would not equal in bulk that of the usual 

expected southern corn crop. I am sure the 

longest-lasting piles of excrement that he 

describes quite well were left by animals that 

had fed on tough, woody food during harsh 

winter months. 27 

“Nothing can exceed the beautiful luxuriance 

of the verdure with which nature has adorned 

our mountains, our valleys, and our fields, at 

this present season. This may be seen in the 

greatest perfection by the intelligent traveller, as 

he musingly pursues his way through the more 

northerly and most mountainous portions of our 

State. On every side he beholds the trees, and 

shrubs, and herbs, most densely clothed with 

foliage, and of the largest growth, and their flowers 

most resplendent with fragrance and beauty 

— joyfully anticipating an abundant harvest 

when the season for gathering in shall have 

arrived. 

Chapter 22 345

“During the past three months my pursuits 

have repeatedly led me through the various portions 

of this sublime and delightful region, and 

each time as I beheld the vegetation rapidly 

advanced, have my enjoyments increased in 

number and perfection; and, as often...has the 

question naturally presented itself to my mind 

— Do the grasses when of such rapid and luxuriant 

a growth, furnish as large a quantity of nutriment 

to the cattle that feed on them as those of a 

slower development and a less fertile appearance? 

In order to obtain a proper solution to this 

inquiry, I was induced to turn my attention to an 

examination of the frequent masses of excrement 

profusely scattered about, and the earliest result 

was the fact that those deposits which had 

longest remained on the fields, freely exposed to 

the decomposing influences of the atmospheric 

agents, still retained their natural size and form, 

and on being broken, invariably presented the 

appearance of being almost completely constructed 

of indigestible, inorganic materials, 

stems and fibres of the plants, nearly an inch in 

length, and composed principally of silex or flint, 

and consequently could be of little or no essential 

benefit to the animals that devoured them in 

the living state. This, to such a degree I have no 

recollection of ever witnessing in less luxuriant 

seasons. 

“It is to be desired that some of your 

numerous practical agriculturists, who have 

ample leisure, would properly determine the 

above question, and furnish an answer. It is a 

well known fact that the white corn — almost 

exclusively cultivated in the southern States — 

frequently grows to the enormous height of 

from 15 to 20 feet, but seldom produces more 

than two or three ears, and sometimes but one; 

whereas our yellow plants of the north, which 

are by no means of so vigorous a growth — 

when properly attended to — yield more than 

double that number. And I may add that the 

many neglected fields of the south are speedily 

being run over with a vigorous growth of 

sedge grass, composed almost completely of 

silicious particles, and on which no animal 

whatever will feed, unless it be when it first 

springs from the soil, and then they but poorly 

thrive. J.E.” 

“Slumber of insects,” signed “J.E.,” is probably 

not by Eights. It lacks the notable characteristics 

of his writing. In any case, much of it is a 

direct quotation and little of the remainder 

appears to be the result of personal observation. 

28 

“Haschisch — Cannabis (Indica) sativa — 

Common Hemp” is a two-part article that is largely 

a direct quotation from an unnamed author. 

This part is entirely ignored here. Whether the 

residuum is by Eights, the reader may decide. I 

incline to think not. 29 

“Under the name of Haschisch is indicated 

the intoxicating preparation made from a species 

of hemp bearing the appelation of Cannabis 

Indica, now fully determined by botanists to be 

identical with the Cannabis sativa, so extensively 

cultivated in this country [that is, for its fiber], as 

well as in many others. The tops of the plants 

when in flower...are employed in its production, 

and the details of the process are not [=now?] 

known. It is prepared in two distinct forms, as an 

extract shaped into slender cylinders more or 

less long, and in thin tablets containing sugar, 

which have an agreeable and peculiar flavor. 

From the extract an alcoholic tincture is obtained, 

also pastilles sucrees, and several other preparations 

in which fatty and aromatic substances 

enter. Sometimes the Haschisch is smoked with 

tobacco, or it is mixed with coffee, tea or other 

drinks. 

“This substance is remarkable for a special 

action upon the human economy, which must 

not be confounded with that occasioned by alcoholic 

fluids, or by opium, and the general run of 

other narcotics. 

“The extraordinary effects of this vegetable 

substance...[gained the attention of] one of the 

most eminent and learned professors of 

England,...in consideration of the interest it 

might prove to the medical profession as a therapeutic 

agent....With this purpose in view he was 

induced to commence a series of experiments, 

and, in the first place, by a trial of its effects 

upon himself, and minutely register the result. 

This he has accomplished in a most graphic 

manner, and we trust the readers of the Co. 

Gent. will be amusingly gratified by the perusal. 

...” 


The results of the professor’s experiments are 

more or less predictable and afficionados of 

intoxicants may wish to check out the story. The 

quite long excerpt ends with the observation: 

“So much for the Professor’s first experiment, 

which was succeeded by two others of a similar 

nature, equally interesting, but far more ridiculous 

in their sensations and conceits; but these I 

shall reserve for some future communication.” 

For the latter, see the second part of the article. 

“In the Professor’s second experiment with 

haschisch...he noticed that every physical and 

mental power seemed strongly intensified. The 

illusions were more agreeable, as well as more 

ridiculous. ...” The account ends with a comparison 

of the effects of hashish and opium, with no 

indication of the source of the information — it 

may be the English professor or it may, in some 

part, be from the author (Eights?) himself. It 

seems likely to be the former. “With the latter 

[opium] the mind and body become alike contented. 

Pain soon ceases after commencing to 

smoke a pipe in which a fragment of opium is 

mixed with the tobacco. On the other hand, 

haschisch causes pain, and many unpleasant 

sensations are mingled with the most delightful 

of the visions it presents. Another distinction is 

that opium always causes some amount of nausea 

when its pleasurable effects are over. 

Haschisch leaves a slight depression, but the 

stomach does not appear to be affected; but this 

might be different if the use of it should become 

habitual. Another distinction is that the mind can 

pursue a train of thought logically while influenced 

by opium, but haschisch causes so many 

alternations of feeling that sequence is 

destroyed.” 

“Mordants and dyes — No. I [II, III]” is a 

three-part essay. It is a sophisticated and technologically 

and chemically informed article, written 

in a style quite removed from Eights’s usual language. 

I feel sure that it is not his, unless he simply 

lifted it bodily from another source. 30 

“How to destroy sheep sorrel” is a short 

essay that shows evidence of being the work of 

James Eights. It is, however, signed merely “J.E.” 

as are the dubious ones. Perhaps he chose things 

suitable for the readership, then from time to 

time contributed one from his own experience. 31 

“In one of your numbers a few weeks past, 

my attention was directed to an article on the 

destruction of the Rumex aceoscella [acetocella] 

or sheep sorrel, and the remedies enumerated to 

accomplish the object. 

“A few days since, while leisurely traveling 

along the beautiful valley through which the 

head waters of the Hudson pursue their ever 

varying course, I was in many instances unpleasantly 

impressed by the abundant appearance of 

this pernicious vegetable product in the meadows 

on either hand. In many extensive tracts of 

land, stretching for miles along the river’s brim, 

entire fields presented a deep reddish-brown 

aspect from its profusion of growth, and among 

which the Oxalis stricta also frequently were 

seen to occur — another extremely acid plant. 

This led me for a time to reflect on the subject, in 

order to assign a probable cause for this profusion 

of growth, and the effects thus produced; 

and soon after — upon a closer inspection of the 

soil — came to the conclusion that it must proceed 

from an extreme acidity of the land upon 

which they grew. Common sense at once suggested 

the simple remedy, an alkaline substance; 

and among the materials, lime alone the article 

sufficiently capable of accomplishing the object 

desired. 

“Lime is not a fertilizer, as is generally supposed, 

but an ameliorator of the soil, neutralizing 

any acidity it may contain, and properly 

preparing it for the reception of the most appropriate 

manures. J.E.” 

“Dessicated milk” is a rather long article, 

signed “J.E.,” in the column called “Science and 

Art.” I suspect it was not, at least in any essential 

part, written by Eights. A short abstract is 

given. 32 

“In this age of inventions we may regard 

those as really beneficial which supply a positive 

want, and do not merely obviate an inconvenience, 

or are only auxilliary or helps to that 

which, after a fashion, is already compassed.” 

Natural milk quickly loses its fresh qualities 

when exposed to the air. There is some discussion 

of milk’s constituents and their use in making 

butter and cheese. On long sea voyages, 

especially, milk used to be available only if a cow 

were kept, but then a process for making water- 

Chapter 22 347

soluble cakes of dried milk was patented in 

England. This had more recently been improved 

by a process that ended with cakes being 

crushed, powdered, and bottled. As a substitute 

for milk, it enjoys some popularity and its price 

is moderate. “If the flavor and effect upon tea 

and coffee are not precisely the same as new 

milk, it detracts nothing from the utility of the 

manufacture, inasmuch as a good substitute for 

the genuine and fresh article is all that can be 

expected; and this it certainly is.” 

“Hydra viridis — (Found in our city waters.)” 

is a two-part article that seems to have been 

written in part by Eights. He probably prepared 

the introductory paragraph, with the bulk of the 

rather long piece having been adapted from the 

literature. 33 

“Should an intelligent individual, at any time 

during the summer months, take a leisurely 

stroll over the pine plains in the neighborhood of 

our city, and bestow some little attention to the 

stagnant pools and ditches by the way-side, he 

will, with but little difficulty, be enabled to find 

such diversion, and no small amount of instruction, 

merely by observing the various habits and 

structure of the many polypenous animals which 

so profusely abound therein; and should he be 

so disposed, to make a collection of the common 

duck-week, or any other of the small aquatic 

plants which are there to be found, and place 

them in a wide-mouthed glass vessel filled with 

some clear, cool water, then allowing them to 

remain there undisturbed for a few hours, he 

will doubtlessly be highly delighted by observing 

the numerous aquatic animals belonging to 

the genus Hydra, that are there to be seen closely 

adhering to the sides of the vessel and along the 

roots and stems of the various plants which it 

contains, but so small in their dimensions as to 

require the aid of a magnifying power to cleverly 

watch their movements. The common species 

appears to be the Hydra viridis, and may frequently 

be met with profusely distributed 

throughout the waters which supply our city.” 

The author then describes the tiny creature, like 

“a bit of green sewing thread about the sixth of 

an inch in length,” and refers to its somersaulting 

method of locomotion, as well as its moving 

along the under side of the water surface film. It 

is a voraciously carnivorus animal and “when 

any wandering animal infringes upon its arms, it 

is immediately arrested, and becomes motionless 

as if benumbed....What power the arms of the 

Hydra possess it is difficult to conjecture; its 

effects are like the sudden shock of electricity, for 

the animal under the influence of its potent 

shock, seems motionless and sinks, to die, or 

only after the lapse of some time recovers itself.” 

There follows a long account of interesting 

observations on Hydra made by an author 

named Trembley. The essay ends: “Such is but a 

small portion of the history of our modern 

Hydra, and though so wonderful, it is not more 

than that of hundreds of other minute animals 

which inhabit the same water that it does; nay, 

every drop in our glass jar is crowded with 

them, as revealed by the microscope.” 

Three articles were signed by “J.E.” in the 

Country Gentleman for the first half of the year 

1866. Of these, only part of one seems definitely 

to be by Eights. 

“On the formation of peat,” in “The 

Naturalist” column, is actually two articles, one 

being the nominate essay, the other entitled 

“Uses and value of peat.” The initials “J.E.” 

appear only at the end of the second piece but 

only the first part seems likely to be Eights’s 

work. 34 

In the first part, “On the formation of peat,” 

the Eightsian account runs as follows. “Being 

requested by a friend, to accompany him on a 

visit to the town of Pawlet, in the county of 

Rutland, Vermont, for the purpose of examining 

an exceedingly interesting, and very extensive 

accumulation, of that highly useful article 

termed peat, contained therein. It was to be seen 

on the well conducted grounds of C.S. Bardwell, 

Esq., situate about one mile to the eastward of 

the station village of Pawlet; and the entire farm 

containing about 400 acres of well cultivated 

land. Nearly through the centre of this valuable 

tract runs the Washington and Rutland Railroad, 

closely bordering on the separating line of the 

States of New-York and Vermont. This peat formation 

is very extensive, spreading over about 

50 or more square miles of marshy ground, and 

lies entirely in the former State. The floor, which 

constitutes this extensive deposit of peat, 


appears to be very irregular, and undulating in 

surface, giving a thickness of well characterised 

material measuring to the depth of from three to 

thirty feet; poles having been sunk in the mass 

for some twenty or more feet without finding 

bottom. This is no doubt a very valuable deposit 

of this useful substance.... 

“Peat bogs of this nature are exceedingly 

common in all our northern state, but seldom of 

so great an extent as that here developed; and 

their origin may, without much difficulty, readily 

be explained. In most cases where clays have 

been profusely spread over gravel or fragmentary 

rocks, and the waters of many floods or 

springs are prevented from escaping, stagnant 

and muddy pools are formed, around the borders 

of which aquatic plants are found to accumulate, 

and, from time to time, gradually to 

creep in towards the deep centre. Mud having 

been now accumulated around these roots and 

stems, a spongy, semi-fluid mass is produced, 

well adapted to the growth of moss, which, 

together with the numerous stems of sphagnum, 

which then so luxuriantly thrive, these 

vegetables readily absorb large quantities of 

water, and continue to shoot out new plants 

above, while the old are rapidly decaying and 

being compressed into a solid mass below. In 

this simple manner the water is replaced by 

vegetable matter, and the marsh filled up; while 

the central or moist portion, growing more rapidly, 

gradually rises above the edges, until the 

entire surface has attained an elevation sufficient 

to discharge the surface-water, and flood 

the adjoining lands. But the extent of these bogs 

depends greatly on the nature of the rock 

below. On a quartz bottom they are generally 

shallow and small; and on a rock which by its 

decomposition yields a clayey material, as is 

here the case — the strata being of an argillaceous 

nature — they are of the greatest depth 

and extent. As the plants which form the turf 

are in different stages of decomposition, the 

aspect and constitution of the bog vary greatly; 

near the surface it is light colored, spongy, and 

contains the vegetable material but little altered; 

at some considerable depth it is brown, denser, 

and in a more advanced state of decomposition; 

while at the base of the bogs, some of which are 

from twenty to forty feet deep, the turf is black, 

nearly as dense as coal, and coming near that 

substance in chemical composition.” 

The second part, “Uses and value of peat,” 

seems pretty much digested directly from an earlier 

author, retaining his syntax and writing 

style. 

“Peat and its mode of working,” although 

signed “J.E.,” seems to me to have originated as 

the second part of the former article did: by 

direct reworking from a previous author. 35 

“Glycerine” is signed “J.E.” and some introductory 

and summary sentences may be by 

Eights; it is mainly an enumeration of the many 

characteristics and useful features of this cheaply 

made and common substance, with its physical 

inertness at high and very low temperatures, its 

lubricating capacities, its solvent properties, and 

its pleasant taste and harmlessness in alimentary 

use. 36 

Except for an account of old Albany’s 

pinkster festivities, there were no more articles of 

interest to us in the two volumes of Country 

Gentleman in 1866. Since the pinkster articles are 

definitely the work of Eights, I have put them 

with his account of a visit to the Pennsylvania 

coal fields very late in 1869 to end the decade of 

the 1860s. The remaining “J.E.” essays, in 1867 

only, are dubiously by James Eights, and are 

treated below. “Glycerine” continues a technical 

commentary on this substance, in reply to the 

desire of a correspondent; despite its being 

signed by “J.E.,” there is nothing to indicate that 

it was really written by Eights. 37 

“Unfermented bread” is in a column entitled 

“Domestic Economy and Cookery.” Part of it, as 

explanation for the need for this chemically risen 

bread, seems straight out of the age of quackery, 

a condition that Eights often deplored in medicine, 

and it ends with recipes drawn from named 

sources. Even if by James Eights, in whole or in 

part, it is of no great moment. 38 

In regard to “unfermented bread,” it is written: 

“As this highly nutritive article of diet is fast 

coming into almost universal use in our large 

cities...a few remarks on some of its advantageous 

qualities, may not prove unacceptable to 

many of your readers, and greatly beneficial to 

all. 

Chapter 22 349

“In the first place, this quality of improved 

bread is easily made, requiring but little labor; 

no kneading becomes necessary, nor time 

required for the dough to rise. It costs but a trifle 

more than the ordinary bread made with yeast, 

and has the superior advantage of keeping for a 

much greater length of time without becoming 

mouldy or sour. ... 

“Its dietetic properties are of the utmost 

importance. Common bread, in weak stomachs, 

is very liable to turn sour, producing heartburn 

and flatulency, and to aggravate cases of dyspepsia; 

but, when manufactured by this improved 

process, it is altogether free from these baneful 

effects. Its daily use...in many cases...corrects that 

morbid condition of the stomach and intestines....It 

is useful in assisting to restore the biliary, 

and especially the renal secretions to a 

healthy condition, as well as in the treatment of 

various cutaneous eruptions originating in disorder 

of the digestive function.” 

Whether by Eights or not, the subject of 

bread, self-rising and other, was in the air. A. 

Babcock, in “Unfermented bread,” objected to 

the use of “soda, ammonia and acid” of the 

“J.E.” article and presented a preferred recipe 

from “Dr. Trall’s ‘Gospel of Health.’” Then, “J.E.” 

himself returned to the subject of bread, this time 

not to its method of rising but to the use of 

whole versus refined flours. In “White and 

brown bread,” it appears possible that Eights 

may have sifted publications for his information 

and then written a covering paragraph. Its main 

argument is the familiar old account of wholewheat 

flour in preference to the refined white 

flours that had so thoroughly gained favor 

among cultivated but, he thought, ill-informed 

tastes. 39 

“Principles of water color painting with practical 

hints,” in “The Fireside Department,” is 

signed by “J.E.” It is the only essay in volume 30 

(second half of 1867) so signed. If it is by Eights 

at all, which I doubt, he simply picked his facts 

from other authors, not from his own experiences. 

So far as I can determine, he himself 

painted no such landscapes as he describes. 40 

These scattered essays, signed merely “J.E.,” 

and mostly dubiously by James Eights, did not 

quite end the decade of the 1860s for him. Two 

works were decidedly from his hand. They make 

up the next chapter. 

NOTES 

1. AI Minutes, 29 January, 17 April, 28 May 1861. Hall 

was, in fact, whistling in the graveyard, for at that time 

some important determinations were being made that, in a 

measure, sustained Emmons’s viewpoint; see J. Marcou on 

the Taconic System, 1885, pp. 190-193, and my notes on 

Emmons in a previous chapter. 

2. However, what got recorded in the AI Minutes and 

what did not requires evaluation. Some notes, called 

Proceedings, were published from time to time and they 

were frequently fuller than the Minutes. 

3. AI Transactions, vol. 6, “Proceedings...1863...1865,” 

pp. 265-266. 

4. AI Minutes, 22 March, 19 April 1864. I find no evidence 

that Charles H. Anthony (d. 1874) ever published 

his memoir of Eaton. Willard wrote widely on Albany 

County doctors, including Jonathan Eights. William Bay, 

born in 1773, died in 1865. 

5. AI Minutes, 4 January, 5 March, 13 December 1865. 

There is a long abstract of Joel Munsell’s history of theatres 

and public entertainment. Dr. Hough’s report on 

reprinting of volume II is long and detailed. Historians of 

publishing will find the costs instructive. Preparation of a 

new plate, with no plate to engrave from, would cost 

about $7.00 — new impressions would cost two and a half 

cents each. To replace the scratched plate would cost $5.00 

and impressions from it three cents each. 

6. AI Minutes, December 1865; 20 February, 14 

November, 3 December 1866; 7 January 1867; 8 February 

1868. Why no catalogue of the Beck herbarium was delivered 

to James Hall for the State Cabinet is not clear; if one 

was, it is stranger still that the herbarium was not checked 

for completeness. 

7. AI, Minutes, 7 January, 4 February 1867. It was 

pointed out that any collections added to the State Cabinet 

would be simply added to those already present, with 

only a catalogue entry to denote provenance. The state collection 

itself suffered from over-growth, poor curation, 

and lack of staff but perhaps infusion of material from the 

Institute would spur legislative interest in providing more 

financial support. No guarantee, however, could be made 

that the State Cabinet would remain in Albany. The final 

decision was to have James Hall offer the Institute cabinets 

to the state, provided that curatorial services were provided 

and provided that material would revert to the Institute 

if the State Cabinet were removed from Albany. 

8. Eights, under the banner of “The Naturalist” (to 

which various writers contributed), wrote on the “New 

Chinese silk worm” (CG, 17: 194-195, 21 Mar 1861. It was 

signed Jas. Eights. F.É. Guérin-Méneville wrote many technical 

and popular articles on the Chinese silkworm moth 

(then called Saturnia cynthia). According to W.J. Holland’s 

Moth Book, pp. 81, 82, the species was introduced into the 

United States in 1861, so great was the popular interest in 

it. Holland accounted the experiment a failure because no 

satisfactory method for reeling off the silk was found. For 

official interest in the matter, see John G. Morris, “The 

Ailanthus silk-worm of China”; and J.G. Morris, 


“Additional observations on the Ailanthus silk-worm of 

China.” 

9. Signed, as are all in this series, by “J.E.,” “Our songsters 

of summer [I],” appeared in CG, 23: 402, 23 Jun 

(received 13 Jun) 1864. I do not think I am unjustly dubious 

that these pieces were written by James Eights. Note, 

especially, that various people contributed to the column 

called “The Naturalist”; it was not a column invented by 

him. The writing has only a few of his pet words and 

phrases (such as “not unfrequently”). I do not mean to 

claim that it is better writing than Eights at his best. But it 

is different. There is a certain glibness — the right thing is 

said, the poetically correct species is praised. Whether the 

articles were smoothed out by an editor, whether Eights 

polished his delivery, whether he may have silently adapted 

some parts from previous writings, I cannot say. And, 

then, there are those interminable paragraphs, the 

Panglossian glow, that might well be Eights. At the 

moment, I rest my case uncertainly. 

10. CG, 24: 18, 7 July 1864. He speaks specifically of 

the “Wood-thrush,” so presumably had that species in 

mind. Words are poor tools for describing bird songs but 

part of the description seems less than characteristic of the 

wood thrush. 

11. CG, 24: 34, 14 July 1864. In introducing birds, I 

have followed the author in capitalization (or not) and 

hyphenation of species names; in my comments, I tend to 

use approved spellings, without capitals. Nowhere in this 

series, unfortunately, are Linnaean binomials given for 

birds. Even though many would have changed since 1860, 

it would still be possible to document what species an 

informed ornithologist had in mind then. This is quite at 

variance with Eights’s habits in former years, with reference 

to plants and insects. Perhaps their absence was due 

to editorial fiat; perhaps it is additional evidence that the 

articles were not written by Eights. 

12. I leave to the reader to provide a concordance for 

“warble of exquisite sweetness,” and “shrill and tender 

lay.” The song is, in fact, rather prosaic, conversational and 

unmusical; otherwise, the characterization is apt. My 

impression is that the author picked some of his subjects 

from among names that implied song — nowhere more 

than in the case of the song sparrow! 

13. CG, 24: 50, 21 July 1864. Correlations between 

songs of warbling vireos and purple finches show the 

author to be an astute ornithologist, even though I certainly 

do not perceive the song of the vireo as surpassing “the 

tenderest airs of the flute” and I think his account of redwinged 

blackbird song a hodgepodge of blackbird noises 

(rusty, grackle and redwing), not just the redwing’s. 

Considering the charges made by early English travelers 

in America that songbirds were uninformly uncommon, 

one might be surprised by the first statement in the essay. 

He does not otherwise document his claim that tropical 

birds sing abundantly. 

14. J.E., “Honey and the honey bee,” CG, 24: 82-83, 98, 

4 and 11 August 1864; one statement is worthy of notice, 

for one would wish that Eights were its author: “The lamentable 

manner in which so useful an article as honey has 

been adulterated in other countries, has not, we believe, 

yet been put to practice in this our own, and we think it 

would, at present, be highly improper here to mention the 

materials used, and the processes employed, lest we might 

be considered instrumental in favoring the infamous practice 

now so common, and innocently add another to the 

list of impure substances which we are daily in the habit 

of consuming at our tables.” That there was such an interest, 

see Anon., CG, 26: 383, 1865. In the department on 

“Domestic Economy and Cookery,” we have a query in 

regard to “artificial honey”: “Will you or some of your correspondences 

tell me how to make honey? I...shall be very 

much obliged for a recipe.” The reply: “Dissolve seven 

pounds of common brown sugar in one quart of water. 

Mix in it two pounds of good strained honey, and stir in 

the eighth of an ounce of cream tartar. Boil a few minutes 

and skim, and as the editor of the Apiculturist...says — 

‘we presume you will have as good honey as you will 

make by any patent process offered you.’” 

15. CG, 24: 114, 18 August 1864. Here we have a 

detailed account of bird migration as perceived at that 

time — allegedly from a man who in his Zodiac articles 

barely noticed the existence of any birds whatsoever. The 

point is that, whether you hold these views right or 

wrong, they were consonant with the best teachings of the 

day, highly sophisticated and of a piece. In general, a modern 

ornithologist of moderate knowledge will realize that 

the author’s affirmations were without sufficient evidence, 

his speculations sometimes of the wild-eyed variety. I have 

quoted nearly all the article. Whether really by Eights, I 

leave the reader to decide. 

16. CG, 24: 130, 25 August 1864. 

17. CG, 24: 138-139, 154, 1 and 8 September 1864. 

18. CG, 24: 178, 15 September 1864. 

19. CG, 24: 194, 22 September 1864. 

20. CG, 24: 211, 226-227, 29 September and 6 October 

1864. The first part stands alone, the second part appears 

in the section called “The Fireside Department.” 

21. CG, 24: 236, 13 October 1864. 

22. CG, 25: 242, 258, 13 and 20 April 1865. 

23. CG, 25: 266-267, 27 April 1865. This issue is incorrectly 

given the volume number of “17.” I have not been 

able to find any publications by the “Dr. Welsbach” who is 

credited with many elaborate experiments. As long ago as 

1834, the editor of American Journal of Science (26: 193), 

Benjamin Silliman, had noticed corn husks as a potential 

source of material for paper-making. 

24. CG, 25: 300, 11 May 1865. 

25. CG, 25: 301, 11 May 1865. 

26. CG, 25: 386, 402, 15 and 22 June 1865. 

27. CG, 26: 75, 3 August 1865. 

28. CG, 26: 114, 17 August 1865. 

29. CG, 26: 130-131, 162-163, 24 August, 7 September 

1865. I assume the author has simply suppressed the name 

of “one of the most eminent and learned professors of 

England,” whose minute account is quoted — that is, that 

it was not taken from an anonymous article. The second 

part is entitled merely “Haschisch — No. II.” 

30. CG, 26: 146, 178, 210, 31 August and 14 and 28 

September 1865. All parts are signed “J.E.” 

31. CG, 26: 235, 12 October 1865; it also appeared in 

the Cultivator, ser. 3, 13: 351, November 1865. The article is 

quoted in its entirety. 

32. CG, 26: 322, 16 November 1865. 

33. CG, 27: 338, 354, 23 and 30 November 1865. It is 

signed “J.E.” and is in “The Naturalist” column. 

34. CG, 27: 18, 4 January 1866. 

35. CG, 27: 50, 18 January 1866. 

36. CG, 27: 98, 8 February 1866. 

Chapter 22 351

37. CG, 29: 66, 24 January 1867. 

38. CG, 29: 127, 21 February 1867. One of the recipes, 

“by Dr. Smith of Leeds,” contains flour, sesquicarbonate of 

soda, sesquicarbonate of ammonia, salt, water and 

hydrochloric acid; the other, “the recipe of Mr. H. Deane,” 

contains flour, bicarbonate of soda, hydrochloric acid, salt, 

water. One assumes this would produce a kind of soda 

biscuit or “lazy cake” affair — hardly a long-keeping loaf 

and one that would not be accounted edible today except 

straight from the oven. 

39. A. Babcock, “Unfermented bread,” CG, 29: 159, 7 

Mar 1867; J.E., in “The Fireside Department,” CG, 29: 306, 

9 May 1867. 

40. CG, 30: 35, 11 July 1867. It is worth pointing out 

that on pages 173 and 292 of this volume, someone writing 

from Ohio — definitely not James Eights — signed his 

name “J.E.” 


Chapter 23 

PINKSTERFEST, PENNSYLVANIA COAL: 

THE END TO THE 1860s 

I — PINKSTERFEST 

James Eights treasured his memories of 

Albany. It is sad that we have no fuller account 

of them. Whatever notes he consigned to Benson 

J. Lossing in regard to old Albany were shamelessly 

prettified for the article in Harper’s in 1857. 

Fortunately, his story of the folk celebration that 

has become known as Pinksterfest has been preserved. 

Even that account had its adventures, for 

its initial chapter has only recently come to light. 

Eights had, in his memories of Albany a 

decade earlier, alluded briefly to the Pinkster festivities. 

In Lossing’s pirated text, he told of St. 

Peter’s Church, built in 1715, in the middle of 

State Street. The street, “since my recollection, 

passed up the hill on the south side of the church 

and fort, and in the rear of the latter it passed 

over Pinkster Hill, on which the State Capitol 

now stands.” 

“Pinkster Hill! What pleasant memories of 

my boyhood does that name bring up! That hill 

was famous as the gathering-place of all the colored 

people of the city and of the country for 

miles around, during the Pinkster festival in 

May. Then they received their freedom for a 

week. They erected booths, where gingerbread, 

cider, and apple-toddy were freely dispensed. 

On the hill they spent the days and evenings in 

sports, in dancing, and in love-making, to their 

heart’s content. I remember those gatherings 

with delight, when old King Charley, a darkey of 

charcoal blackness, dressed in his gold-laced 

scarlet coat and yellow breeches, used to amuse 

all the people with his antics. I was a light boy; 

and on one occasion Charley took me on his 

shoulders and leaped a bar more than five feet in 

height. He was so generously ‘treated’ because of 

his feat, that he became gloriously drunk an 

hour afterward, and I led him home just at sunset. 

When I look into the State Capitol now when 

the Legislature is in session, and think of 

Congress Hall filled with lobbying politicians, I 

sigh for the innocence of Pinkster Hill in the 

good old days of the Woolly Heads.” 1 

Late in the year 1866, the Cultivator & 

Country Gentleman (which I have called the 

Country Gentleman), in its “Fireside Department,” 

carried a three-part article entitled “Pinkster festivities 

in Albany 60 years since.” Its first installment 

was signed “E.,” as was the second part a 

week later; it was not until the end of the third 

installment that the work was credited to the 

more familiar “J.E.” 2 

That Eights was the author cannot be doubted. 

The writing is vintage Eights. It was a subject 

near to his heart. We also have the word of Joel 

Munsell, editor, member of the Albany Institute, 

author and younger Albany contemporary of 

Eights: “The following account of the Pinkster 

jubilee...was written by Dr. James Eights, as the 

recollections of what he witnessed in his youth, 

when the custom was at its zenith.” 3 

First, the original article is reproduced in full. 

It is followed by explanations and comments on 

historical parallels. 

Chapter 23 353

PINKSTER FESTIVITIES IN ALBANY 

60 YEARS SINCE. 

A long time ago, when the fields were yet 

green, where now stands the most beautiful portion 

of our ancient city, and the old Dutch 

Church bell gave the only sounds which broke 

upon the stillness of a Sabbath morn, and when 

our pious ancestors were to be seen on that then 

venerated day, slow and decorously wending 

their way, with solemn steps, towards that 

sacred edifice — now almost faded from the 

memory of the oldest inhabitant — then it was 

that the humane idea first awoke in their unsophisticated 

minds to give freedom to the slave, 

and also to grant free indulgence to all their frolicsome 

humors for the space of one entire week, 

during each successive year. The time selected 

for this pleasing festival was about the middle of 

May, the early month of birds and flowers, when 

nature is everywhere clothed with its brightest 

vesture of green, and all the air filled with fragrance 

and melody. This jubilant week was to be 

designated as the Pinkster Holidays. From 

whence this euphonic name was derived, we 

never could satisfactorily determine, nor is it 

necessary here to be informed; suffice it to say, it 

no doubt was of pure Dutch origin, or it would 

never have been selected by our erudite forefathers. 

All that we care for at present is to consider 

that it was a time oft to be remembered in joyous 

anticipation by the schoolboy at his task, as 

well as the veriest idler along the streets; and 

well do we remember in those days of childish 

simplicity, after the Christmas carols were passed 

and over, and the remembrance slowly fading 

from our immature minds, the many happy, 

vacant hours we spent in contemplating the various 

pleasures to be enjoyed, on the arrival of the 

oft-wished for and slowly approaching event; 

and how often it became the theme of our 

evening gossip, when in bed, and e’er [= ere] our 

eyes had closed in the slumbers of the night — 

those happy days, when all was joy and sunshine, 

long e’er the hand of care had drawn its 

slightest trace upon the brow, or cast its faintest 

shade over the pure warm feelings of the heart. 

It was thus early, in the progress of our 

renowned city to its present commercial and 

mechanical prosperity and greatness, that the 

Pinkster festival was first instituted by our worthy 

ancestors; and the celebration by the slave 

population was for a long time unremittingly 

kept up, until the final decree was passed which 

forever terminated the barbarous custom of slavery 

in our State. Some few feeble attempts were 

afterwards made to its [that is, the festival’s] 

revival, but the spirits which gave animation to 

the scene had long since departed, and, in the 

natural course of things, it soon perished from 

all memories save those of a numbered few. Our 

first remembrance of these festivities was some 

sixty years since, when we were but a breechless 

lad, short gown and petticoats being the fashion 

of the times for urchins such as we. The ground 

selected for the ceremonies on that occasion was 

where the State Capital now stands, the surface 

of the plain, at the time, being elevated to some 

fifteen or twenty feet above the present level of 

the park, and composed chiefly of blue clay, with 

a thin covering of yellow sand, which, in turn, 

maintained a stunted growth of faded green 

grass. 

The customary ceremonies of these great 

gatherings consisted chiefly of friendly greetings, 

unrestrained sociability, and old wives’ tales 

among the aged; and jovial frolicking, with dancing 

to their hearts’ content, among the young; 

innocent games, and various other simple 

amusements, and sometimes, near the close of 

the week, a goodly display of dotted eyes and 

bloody noses, as a final conclusion to the 

Pinkster festival enjoyments. 

For several days preceding the occurrence of 

one of these great events, the entire household 

population, from the youngest to the elder, were 

then to be seen ‘with their hands full,’ to use 

their popular phrase, eagerly striving, one with 

the other, which should excel in the busy 

employment of preparation. There were the 

dresses to be cut and made, and old garments to 

be renewed, and appropriately adjusted to the 

female portion of their sable dependents. Spruce 

beer to be brewed and bottled, and pastries of all 

kinds to be made, from the characteristic ‘doughnut’ 

and ‘oley-cook,’ through all the varying gradation 

of housewife’s contrivances up to the well 

frosted and lordly plum cake; all these, beside 


many other dainty luxuries, gave ample enjoyment 

to all their leisure hours, until the week 

closed in upon their benevolent labors, with the 

appearance of Saturday night. Nor was the master 

of the domicil alone to remain a quiet spectator 

of the busy scene. He, too, had his portion of 

the duties to perform, which consisted of furnishing 

the materials needed for the construction 

of the booth, or rude tent-like structure, beneath 

which the tables were to groan and labor under 

the weight of the many choice dainties presented 

by the mistress and daughters of the dwelling. 

And this was cheerfully complied with by the 

worthy man, and the duties of erecting the so 

transient buildings were willingly performed by 

the male slaves of the mansion, and by them was 

the master even held in grateful esteem, for the 

kindness shown them on the occasion. 

Nor on this glorious Pinkster jubilee was the 

excitement confined to the city limits alone, but 

from the neighboring towns and farm houses 

around, every tenement sent forth its compliment 

[!] to participate on this happy occasion, 

and which likewise enabled this portion of their 

slave population to visit and hold friendly converse 

with their numerous friends and relatives 

in the city; and, with that good old-fashioned 

hospitality so peculiar to the ’burgers of the time, 

their doors were always open for their reception 

as long as the days of festivity lasted. The last 

few days preceding this grand event, all the public 

highways and by-paths through the woods 

leading cityward, might be seen thronged with 

happy faces, some on loaded wagons, but most 

of them on foot, all dressed in their Sunday best, 

and to the eye of a spectator presenting a scene 

of merriment and enjoyment that seldom or ever 

was seen before. E. [Part II follows.] 

Bright and beautifully broke the morning 

that ushered in the first great day of the Pinkster 

jubilee. The air was filled with melody, and the 

purple hued martins, from their well provided 

shelter against the walls, or from the far-projecting 

eaves of many antiquated mansions, were 

chattering with noisy garrulity, as if in thankfulness 

for having been brought safely through the 

night to witness the light of this new-born day. 

The lilacs in the garden around were everywhere 

redolent with sweet smelling odors, while the 

pink blossomed Azalias [!] from the neighboring 

plains fairly saturated the bright morning air 

with their ever-delicious fragrance. But, within 

doors, all was bustling commotion, nor did the 

overjoyous little ones, with their merry, gleesome 

mirth-ringing music to the ear, contribute greatly 

to quell these conflicting tumults within, and 

bring peace and order to this bewildering scene; 

but at every turn, where’er you went, you would 

be sure to encounter some one or more of these 

juvenile prattlers, frisking about with various 

garments on their arms and sometimes strewing 

them in wild dismay, all over the chamber floor, 

calling lustily for aid to adjust them in their befitting 

position; nor could a frown or even a scolding 

tongue for a moment quiet them in their 

noisy vociferation and frolicsome glee. 

Quiet in some degree was at length restored 

to the household. The younger members of the 

family — both white and colored — had peacefully 

submitted to the process of cleansing, and 

were now tastefully adorned in all their varied 

finery, with numberless small coins merrily jingling 

in their ample pockets, seemingly keeping 

time to their sprightly movements, as well as to 

the silvery music of their mirthful voices. To witness 

this scene of innocent delight was a pleasing 

sight to all, and caused the bright eye of the 

mother to sparkle with pride, and her affectionate 

heart to expand within her bosom. 

Under the careful guidance of a trusty slave, 

forth we were ushered into the densely thronged 

streets, and never shall we forget the scene of 

gayety and merriment that there prevailed — 

joyous groups of children, all under the protecting 

care of some favorite old dame or damsel, 

gayly decorated with ribbons and flowers of 

every description, blithely wending their way 

along the different avenues that led to the farfamed 

Pinkster hill — and long before we 

reached the appointed place of rejoicing, were 

our ears greeted with the murmuring sound of 

many voices, harmoniously intermingled with 

the occasional shout of boisterous mirth, and 

when we arrived on the field we found the green 

sward already darkened by the gathering multitude, 

consisting chiefly of individuals of almost 

every description of feature, form and color, 

from the sable sons of Africa, neatly attired and 

Chapter 23 355

scrupulously clean in all their holiday habiliments, 

to the half clad and blanketed children of 

the forest, accompanied by their squaws, these 

latter being heavily burdened with all their different 

wares, such as baskets, moccasins, birchbark, 

nick-nacks, and many other things much 

too numerous for us even here to mention, and 

boys and girls of every age and condition were 

everywhere seen gliding to and fro amid this 

motley group. 

The Pinkster grounds, where we now found 

ourselves comfortably provided for in a friendly 

booth or tent, securely protected from the pressure 

of the swaying multitude without, gave us a 

most convenient opportunity to inspect the 

place, and witness at our leisure the entire proceedings 

of this tumultuous mass of human 

beings, as they passed in disorderly review 

before our eyes. The grounds were quaintly laid 

out in the form of an oblong square and closely 

hemmed in with the rude buildings on every 

side save one, and this was left free, so as to give 

entrance and freely to admit the crowd. Beyond 

this square, and in the rear of all the tents, were 

to be found the spaces appropriated to the various 

exhibitions, such as of wild animals, rope 

dancing, circus riding, and the playing ground of 

all simple gaming sports. Here might be seen, for 

a moderate pittance, the royal tiger of Bengal, 

and the lordly lion from Africa, with a monkey 

perched over the entrance door, profusely provided 

for by the young and children of the white 

population; and much did these little ones enjoy 

themselves in witnessing the wonderful agility 

with which this dimunitive satire on man caught 

the numerous cakes and good things thrown 

within his reach; and then there was 

Mademoiselle Some-one, with a hard, unpronounceable 

name, to perform amazing wonders 

on the slack rope; and in the next enclosure, was 

Monsieur Gutta Percha, to ride the famous horse 

Selim, and throw a somerset through a blazing 

hoop, attended by the great Rickett, the celebrated 

clown of the day, to display his stock of buffoonery 

on horseback, and break his neck, if necessary, 

to afford the amplest satisfaction to the 

assembled auditors. 

Thus passed the first day of the Festival, 

merry enough, no doubt, but, being considered 

vastly ungenteel for the colored nobility to make 

their appearance on the commencing day, we 

must defer our more minute details of the ceremonies 

until the approaching morrow. 

The morning sun rose again as beautifully 

over the smiling landscape as on the preceding 

day, and cast a cheerful glow of animation over 

everything around; the excited youngsters, too, 

were all awake at the early chirping of the birds, 

and with their silver-toned voices gave a lively 

chorus to the surrounding scene. After the preliminary 

preparation, as on the previous day, 

each was again attired in an appropriate manner 

to re-visit the festal meeting at the usual hour. 

Early again the crowd were assembled, fully prepared 

to enter with pleasurable feelings into all 

the exciting events, as they from time to time 

should transpire; but far more circumspect were 

they, and orderly in their demeanor, as all the 

more respectable members of the community 

were there to witness any discreditable act, and 

ever afterward be sure to reward the transgressors 

with their most severe indignation and contempt. 

The master of ceremonies, on this occasion — 

Beau Brummel of the day — was Adam Blake, 

then body servant to the old Patroon, and a 

young man in all the grace and elegance of manner, 

which so eminently characterized his 

progess through life until his dying day; to him 

was unanimously entrusted the arduous duty of 

reducing to some kind of order this vast mass of 

incongruent material, which his superior ability 

soon enabled him to accomplish with complete 

success. 

The hour of ten having now arrived, and the 

assembled multitude being considered most 

complete, a deputation was then selected to wait 

upon their venerable sovereign King, ‘Charley of 

the Pinkster hill,’ with the intelligence that his 

respectful subjects were congregated, and were 

anxiously desirous to pay all proper homage to 

his majesty, their King. Charles originally came 

from Africa, having, in his infant days, been 

brought from Angola, in the Guinea Gulf; and 

soon after his arrival became the purchased slave 

of one of the most ancient and respectable merchant 

princes of the olden time, then residing on 

the opposite bank of the Hudson. He was tall, 


thin and athletic; and although the frost of nearly 

seventy winters had settled on his brow, its chilling 

influence had not yet extended to his bosom, 

and he still retained all the vigor and agility of 

his younger years. Such were his manly attributes 

at this present time. 

Loud rang the sound of many voices from 

the neighboring street, shoutingly proclaiming 

the arrival of the master of the revels, and soon 

the opening crowd admitted him within their 

presence, and never, if our memory serve us, 

shall we forget the mingled sensations of awe 

and grandeur that were impressed on our youthful 

minds, when first we beheld his stately form 

and dignified aspect, slowly moving before us 

and approaching the centre of the ring. His costume 

on this memorable occasion was graphic 

and unique to the greatest degree, being that 

worn by a British brigadier of the olden time. 

Ample broad-cloth scarlet coat, with wide flaps 

almost reaching to his heels, and gaily ornamented 

everywhere with broad tracings of bright 

golden lace; his small clothes were of yellow 

buckskin, fresh and new, with stockings blue, 

and burnished silver buckles to his well-blacked 

shoe; when we add to these the tri-cornered 

cocked hat, trimmed also with lace of gold, and 

which so gracefully sat upon his noble, globular 

pate, we nearly complete the rude sketch of the 

Pinkster King. E. [Part III follows.] 

The greetings were at length over, and the 

hour of twelve having arrived, peace and tranquility 

had once more been partially restored to 

the multitude; his majesty, the King, was in the 

midst of his assembled friends and subjects, and 

the accomplished master of the ceremonies, with 

his efficient aid[e]s were busily employed in 

making the necessary arrangements to commence 

the festivities with zeal and earnestness; 

partners were then selected and led out upon the 

green, and the dancing was about to commence. 

The dance had its peculiarities, as well as 

everything else connected with this august celebration. 

It consisted chiefly of couples joining in 

the performances at varying times, and continuing 

it with their unmost energy until extreme 

fatigue or weariness compelled them to retire 

and give space to a less exhausted set; and in this 

successive manner was the excitement kept up 

with unabated vigor, until the shades of night 

began to fall slowly over the land, and at length 

deepen into the silent gloom of midnight. 

The music made use of on this occasion, was 

likewise singular in the extreme. The principle 

instrument selected to furnish this important 

portion of the ceremony was a symmetrically 

formed wooden article usually denominated an 

“eel-pot,” with a cleanly dressed sheep skin 

drawn tightly over its wide and open extremity 

— no doubt obtained expressly for the occasion 

from the celebrated “fish-slip” at the foot of the 

Maiden’s Lane. Astride his rude utensil sat 

Jackey Quackenboss, then in his prime of life 

and well known energy, beating lustily with his 

naked hands upon its loudly sounding head, 

successively repeating the ever wild, though 

euphonic cry of Hi-abomba, bomba, bomba, in 

full harmony with the thumping sounds. These 

vocal sounds were readily taken up and as oft 

repeated by the female portion of the spectators 

not otherwise engaged in the exercises of the 

scene, accompanied by the beating of time with 

their ungloved hands, in strict accordance with 

the eel-pot melody. 

Merrily now the dance moved on, and 

briskly twirled the lads and lasses over the well 

trampled green sward; loud and more quickly 

swelled the sounds of music to the ear, as the 

excited movements increased in energy and 

action; rapid and furious became their motions, 

as the manifold stimulating potions, they from 

time to time imbibed, vibrated along their brains, 

and gave a strengthening influence to all their 

nerves and muscular powers; copiously flowed 

the perspiration, in frequent streams, from brow 

to heel, and still the dance went on with all its 

accustomed energy and might; but the eye at 

length, becoming weary in gazing on this wild 

and intricate maze, would oftimes turn and seek 

relief by searching for the King amid the dingy 

mass; and there, enclosed within their midst, 

was his stately form beheld, moving along with 

all the simple grace and elastic action of his 

youthful days, now with a partner here, and 

then with another there, and sometimes displaying 

some of his many amusing antics, to the 

delight and wonderment of the surrounding 

crowd, and which, as frequently, kept the faces 

Chapter 23 357

of his joyous multitude broadly expanded in 

boisterous mirth and jollity. And thus the scene 

continued until the shades of night and morning 

almost mingled together, when the wearied revellers 

slowly retired to their resting places, and 

quickly sought their nightly repose. 

Morning again returned with all its renovating 

influence, when most of the sable throng 

were seen loitering along the streets toward the 

accustomed field of sports; and the bright day 

moved merrily onward to its close, with all the 

happy enjoyments of that which had preceded it; 

and long ere the night had again arrived, the 

upper class of revellers had left the ground to 

seek entertainment elsewhere, or spend the 

evening in tea-party gossip, among their numerous 

friends and visitors. And thus terminated 

the third day of the Pinkster Festival. 

On the succeeding fourth and fifth days, the 

grounds were left to the free enjoyment of the 

humbler classes, and well did they improve the 

time in joyous merriment until near the close of 

the latter, when, instigated by the more potent 

draughts they swallowed, speedily brought on 

wrangling discord, quickly succeeded by rounds 

of fighting, bruised eyes, and bloody noses 

unnumerated, big Jack Van Patten, the city bully, 

being unanimously declared the champion of the 

lists, having successfully overthrown all his 

numerous opponents. 

The last day of the week, and also of the 

Pinkster revels, was chiefly occupied in removing 

the unpurchased materials from the field, 

and also in the distribution of the remaining vestiges 

of the broken meats and pastries to the 

poorer classes of individuals who still lingered 

about the now almost abandoned ground of 

rejoicing. Some few liquoring establishments still 

continued their traffic, being amply patronized 

by the more rude and belligerent number that 

yet remained, as if loth to leave the endearing 

spot as long as a stimulating drop could there be 

procured. 

The following sabbath was literally considered 

by them as really a day of rest, and midday’s 

sun was at its height e’er many awoke 

from their refreshing slumbers, and the succeeding 

day found the numerous visitors joyfully 

journeying toward their respective homes. Our 

ancient city was at length again left to its usual 

quietude, and all things within its confines soon 

became properly restored to its accustomed routine 

of duty and order. And thus ended the 

Pinkster holidays, with all its rollicking festivities. 

J.E. 

Thus, Pinkster Festival, according to James 

Eights. Both commentary and supplement are in 

order. 

“This great festival of the negroes when slavery 

existed in the state, and when every family 

of wealth or distinction possessed one or more 

slaves,” wrote Joel Munsell shortly after Eights’s 

account appeared, “took place usually in May, 

and continued an entire week. It began on the 

Monday following the Whitsunday or Pentecost 

of the Catholic and Episcopal churches, and was 

the carnival of the African race, in which they 

indulged in unrestrained merriment and revelry. 

The excesses which attended these occasions 

were so great that in 1811 the common council 

was forced to prohibit the erection of booths and 

stalls, the parades, dances, gaming and drunkenness, 

with which they were attended, under 

penalty of fine or imprisonment; and being 

thereby deprived of their principal incitements 

and attractions, the anniversary soon fell into 

disuse, and is therefore unknown to the present 

generation.” Eights’s account, says Munsell, 

described it “in his youth, when the custom as at 

its zenith. Pinkster hill, the scene of these celebrations, 

was the site of the Capitol, before the 

hand of man was stretched forth to pull down 

that eminence. Afterwards it was held at various 

places, but on the death of King Charles, it was 

observed with less enthusiasm, and finally sank 

into such a low nuisance as to fall under the ban 

of the authorities.” 4 

Actually, James Eights may have been aware 

of a versified account of the Pinkster Festival 

that was published while he was the merest 

child. It was: A / PINKSTER ODE / FOR THE 

YEAR 1803. / MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICAT- 

ED TO / Carolus Africanus, Rex: / KING CHARLES 

/ Captain-General and Commander in Chief / of THE 

/ PINKSTER BOYS. / BY HIS MAJESTY’S OBE- 

DIENT SERVANT, / ABSALOM AIMWELL, ESQ. 

/ [device] / ALBANY: / Printed Solely for the 

Purchasers and Others. / 1803. It is an exceedingly 


are pamphlet of 12 pages and has been reproduced 

by Geraldine R. Pleat and Agnes N. 

Underwood, who call it “perhaps the earliest 

description of a folk festival in the United 

States.” According to these authors, “On the day 

following Pinkster (Pentecost or Whitsunday) 

the Negroes of Albany held revels on Pinkster 

Hill, the approximate site of the present State 

Capitol. Gradually the celebration extended far 

into the week until in April of 1811 the Common 

Council of Albany passed rules aimed at ‘boisterous 

rioting and drunkenness,’ — rules which 

were the knell of the Pinkster holidays with their 

African folk dances. King Charley, the great 

Negro drummer and master of ceremonies, died 

in 1824, when he was said to be one hundred 

and twenty-five years old....Folklorists and historians 

will be interested also in the other members 

of the crowd which swirled around old Charley, 

but it is to be remembered that those who danced 

on Pinkster Hill were Negroes and nearly all of 

them slaves.” They point out: “Slavery in the 

State was not completely abolished until 1827.” 

“The whites,” they argue, “were spectators.” 5 

One gathers from Absalom Aimwell’s doggerel 

verse that the music may have been more 

varied than Eights recalled: Aimwell mentions 

banjo, drum, pipe and tabor, flute and fife, a 

hundred fiddles, the Jew’s-harp. Racial lines 

were more sharply drawn, national stereotypes 

(French, Dutch, English, German, Yankee, Irish, 

Scots, oddly, even Welsh — surely friend 

Aimwell was Welsh!) bolder than Eights intimated. 

Anti-slavery sentiments were openly 

espoused, politicians held up to ridicule, windy 

tellers of tales allowed only their brief moment 

on the stage. 

And, along with this, there are not-so-subtle 

hints that, however African its roots, Pinksterfest 

was one with the age-old, worldwide spring 

Feast of Beltane. One can imagine the proper 

burgers of Albany being a bit queasy at: 

“Of Pinkster, who presumes to sing, / Must 

homage pay to Charles the King: / For Charles, 

like Israel’s mighty Saul, / Is nobly born, well 

made and tall. / But Charles, like Saul, was 

never found / With naked people on the ground, 

/ Dreaming about his father’s asses; / No, no, 

King Charles dreams of the lasses.” 

And lads and lasses there are, little spared by 

the poet’s sharp eye. 

Nowadays, one might imagine prosaically 

enough that the festival took its name from the 

time of blooming of the local deciduous rhododendron, 

the pinkster (or pinxter) azalea. Eights 

did mention the flower and its pervading fragrance. 

In a similar manner, the early spring 

flowering of the shadblow or Juneberry in New 

England marked the visit of traveling preachers 

to outlying country areas, after the long winter 

when such traffic was difficult. At such a time, it 

is said, mass services were held for all who had 

died during the past months — hence the common 

name of “Service Berry” (so well known 

that it has been dialectically altered into “sarviceberry”). 

However, it seems that although 

American blacks adopted the jubilee as their 

own, it began in seventeenth-century Albany 

with the Dutch in observance of Pentecost, 

Pingsterdag. Perhaps it was an older festival of 

the renewal of spring not very different from 

May Day on the one hand or Mardi Gras on the 

other — the timing depending more on the latitude 

and when spring arrived than on religious 

dates assigned to it at a later time. 6 

In any case, as Munsell wrote, by the middle 

of the century, Pinksterfest was hardly 

even a memory in Albany. The steadying hand 

of the law was evident. To some extent an 

effort had been made to transfer the ancient 

celebration (and its even more ancient social 

mores) to a purely secular observance. For 

example, in 1828, in honor of the first anniversary 

of freedom within New York State for 

“Descendants of Africa,” there was a parade 

and procession in Albany. In 1830, it was 

called the “African celebration,” as it was in 

1831. Over the years (from about 1813), I find 

no reference in the Albany Argus to any such 

thing as Pinksterfest, despite a continued 

notice of these later celebrations of “African” 

freedom and, everywhere, faithful notice of 

every meeting of the Dutch St. Nicholas 

Benevolent Society, the St. Patrick Irish celebrations, 

and the occasional notice of activities 

by the Caledonian (Scottish) Society. 7 

Chapter 23 359

II — PENNSYLVANIA COAL 

The decade of the 1860s ended with “Prof. 

James Eights of the City of Albany” making a 

report to owners of the Sullivan and Erie Coal 

and Railroad Company of Pennsylvania. His 

report exists in an Albany imprint dated 1869 

and as part of a New York imprint of 1870. 

Eights’s report is identical in content in both versions. 

8 

REPORT UPON THE MINES AND RAIL- 

ROAD OWNED BY THE SULLIVAN AND 

ERIE COAL AND RAILROAD COMPANY OF 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

By Prof. James Eights, of the City of Albany. 

/ REPORT. / To E. Evertsen, / Banker, Albany, 

N. Y.: 

Sir — In compliance with your request, I 

accompanied the visiting party, consisting of 

Samuel Moffatt, James Milwain, and William 

Russell, well known residents of this city, to the 

recently developed Coal Fields belonging to the 

company you respectfully represent, situated in 

the town [that is, township?] of Sullivan, in the 

county of the same name; passing through one 

of the most fertile valleys in the Pennsylvania 

State, until our arrival at the thriving village of 

Dushore, five miles from thence, soon brought 

us to the mines. The entire distance from 

Towanda, the contemplated termination of the 

company’s road, being twenty-nine miles, in a 

southwesterly direction. 

In approaching the place, notwithstanding 

the inclemency of the weather, and the depth of 

snow that everywhere lay over the land, no difficulties 

presented themselves to prevent the spectator 

readily to preceive [perceive] the wonderful 

advantages of the location, in facilitating the 

mining operations of the place. The slopes of the 

mountain presenting themselves sufficiently 

abrupt to afford the most favorable opportunities 

for an adit-level entrance, anywhere along the 

circumference of its boundaries, and the finely 

compact and durable sandstone, which forms 

the roof of the mammoth coal bed, with its continuous 

and perfectly horizontal position, 

exhibiting a natural terrace, in such a manner as 

to serve as a reliable guide to the Mining 

Engineer, whenever it becomes necessary to 

make any new opening anywhere upon the 

lands. 

This entire tract of land in possession of the 

company is everywhere densely clothed with 

forest trees of primeval growth, exhibiting but 

little or sparingly scattered undergrowth of 

shrubbery, consequently the maturing action of 

the winds and rain has [‘have’ has been incorrectly 

inserted, probably by the author’s hand] at 

all times had free access to, and circulation 

among the numerous branches, causing the most 

perfect development of forest scenery that the 

eye delights anywhere to witness. Scarcely a 

deformed stem was at all visible in any direction, 

all were of symmetrical form, rearing their 

branching tops, or finely attenuated spires to 

nearly one-hundred feet in height, in a direct 

plumb line to the ground. 

The useful timbers, which constitute the 

extensive forest, embraced in the company’s 

land, are chiefly of the most valuable nature, 

and may be readily applied to any of the economical 

purposes of life, some of these may be 

thus briefly enumerated, viz.: Of Pines, both 

white and red, some of them of sturdy growth, 

usually attaining a diameter of from three to 

four feet at the base; of Hemlock, there are two 

distinct varieties, white and red, both of which 

are capable of yielding large quan[ti]ties of tannic 

acid, which may be used in the manufacturing 

of leather, whenever a demand for the article 

becomes necessary, and which, no doubt, 

will speedily be from the facilities afforded by 

the rapid increase of railroad progress in this 

highly favored district. Maples and Beach 

[beech] are everywhere common; and the white 

and black Birches abouud [abound]; these latter 

afford the finest material for ornamental purposes, 

and particularly for panneling [!], as we 

had an excellent opportunity of witnessing at 

the newly erected Banking establishment at 

Towanda, the materials, with a commendable 

taste, having all been selected from the adjacent 

hills. Cherry of fine growth are quite numerous, 

and Hickory and Black-walnut of the most luxuriant 

dimensions were everywhere visible. 


Besides these there were many other species, 

not necessary here to mention. 9 

The geological structure of the mountain 

mass, which inclose these coal beds are [‘is’ 

inserted] wonderfully simple and distinct; the 

entire formation holding its position in the lower 

portions of the great coal measures of our country. 

This position is strikingly characterized by 

the vast profusion of vegetable organic remains, 

found among the thin seams of clay-slate which 

are seen to be interlaminated at the base of the 

mammoth bed. These fossil remains are all 

embraced in the Lepidodendronous tribe of vegetation. 

The species most conspicuously to be 

seen were the Lepidodendron obovatum, together 

with some few impressions of L. clypeatem. These 

at least were all that we could recognize during 

our brief visit to the place, but they were amply 

sufficient, satisfactorily to determine the true 

position of this coal field, in the great geological 

scale of rocks. 

But our wonderment was in no small degree 

excited on beholding the vast magnitude of this 

development of pure coal, twelve feet and some 

inches in thickness, in one entire mass, without a 

single separation of either sandstone or shale 

anywhere visible, and in a perfectly horizontal 

position, without a single fault or dislocation to 

be seen throughout its entire extent, at least as 

far as could anywhere be discovered in the several 

openings which have revealed it to the 

human eye. 

The roof which covers this magnificent display 

of coal is a firm compact sandstone of a 

light drab or grayish tint, and is particularly visible 

from its strong contrast, both in form and 

color, to the murky blackness of the coal beneath. 

Directly underneath this twelve feet stratum of 

coal, occurs a thin layer of shale, abounding in 

the above mentioned vegetable remains. 

Contiguous to this and immediately beneath, 

appears another stratum of workable coal, from 

three to five feet in thickness, differing in no 

degree from that above, this is succeeded by several 

alternations of the coal and shales. This complete 

formation of sandstone, coal and shale, 

rests in a conformable manner upon the heavy 

mass of coarse conglomerate which constitute 

the well known mill-stone grit of authors, and, 

which everywhere form the foundation, or basis 

rock of the coal measures. This gritty mass was 

not discernible immediately at the adit-level 

openings, but at a distance from thence it was 

distinctly visible, capping the summit of the 

hills, and dipping under the coal beds at a corresponding 

level with their base. 

From a close inspection at the time, I had 

strong inducements to consider this twelve feet 

mass of coal as not properly constituting the 

entire thickness of the bed, but that it should be 

continued, and embrace all the different seams of 

coal beneath; the interlaminated layers of shale 

being too thin and insignificant to be recognized 

separately from the entire mass. This being the 

just consideration, and the facts being perfectly 

consistent, this single mass of coal would expand 

to the wonderful magnitude of nearly twenty 

feet in thickness; much greater than any single 

stratum of the mineral known to exist in our 

country. 

This mass of pure anthracite is simply 

arranged in numerous parallel layers, in perfect 

conformity to the horizontal stratification of the 

rocks into which it is embraced; each of these 

layers are about from three to four inches in 

thickness, and separated from each other by 

divisional seams, most generally consisting of a 

fine pulverulent carbonaceous substance, much 

resembling native charcoal in appearance. These 

stratified layers are again subdivided into innumerable 

lamina, perfectly corresponding with 

the uniform horizontality of the entire mass. 

The appearance of this coal when properly 

ignited, either in stove or grate, presents a most 

pleasing aspect, being free from flame of any 

kind, the entire mass of incandescence, assumes 

a soft, mellow whitish light, every atom of the 

coal becoming luminous throughout its entire 

structure, and exhibits all over its surface a pure, 

white and fine ash, having a near resemblance to 

being spread over with a mantle of silvery 

gauze. The heat emitted is intense, and the soft, 

white ash in insignificant quantities, nor could 

clinkers of any kind be discovered in its midst. 

One of the most striking peculiarities of this 

extensive deposit of carbonaceous material is its 

close resemblance to the semi-bituminous and 

bituminous coal fields of our more western 

Chapter 23 361

states; but according to the strict analysis of Prof. 

Brush, of Yale College, it contains not a particle 

of that material, but burns freely without the 

slightest appearance of a flame of that nature, 

and its freedom from sulphurous fumes denotes 

that no adulteration of sulphuret of iron has ever 

been found in the mass. The ash of Anthracite is 

chiefly composed of silicate of alumina; and any 

coal of this nature containing more than twelve 

per cent of ash is perfectly useless for metallurgical 

operations. This Anthracite is found to contain 

less than one-half that quantity, consequently 

it is most admirably adapted to the purpose. 

The natural advantages that this coal field 

possesses over that of most other mining districts, 

is the wonderful economy with which it 

can be worked in the most successful manner. In 

every direction, the sloping sides of the land 

present a most convenient entrance to a level 

drift all around its confines; and the facility with 

which the coal can be brought by the tram-way 

passage to the railroad cars at the entrance, and 

likewise the freedom of all rubbish in the mine 

and the perfect drainage of all miosture [moisture] 

that may at any time accumulate, are 

advantages that most mining districts would 

most ardently desire, and but very few are found 

to possess. 

It may be as well here to state that this interesting 

deposit of Coal approximates more closely 

to the dividing line of the State of New York than 

that of any other coal fields of our neighboring 

state. 

In conclusion, permit me to congratulate 

your company, as being in possession of one of 

the most valuable tracts of land in the country, as 

well as one of the most perfect coal fields that it 

has been my good fortune ever to have witnessed. 

Respectfully yours, &c., 

JAMES EIGHTS, / Geologist and Mining 

Engineer. 

Albany, Feb 12, 1869 

Note — We, the undersigned, fully concur in 

the facts above stated, and will cheerfully give 

any further information desired. 

SAMUEL MOFFATT, 

JAMES MILWAIN, 

WILLIAM RUSSELL. 

NB: a folding plate, prepared by the lithographic 

firm of G.W. Lewis, 432 Broadway, 

Albany, accompanies the 1869 report. Who drew 

it is not stated. It seems likely it was drawn to 

Eights’s specifications, not by him. For the 1870 

report of the company, it was apparently carefully 

copied by the firm of “E. Hoyt & Cos. Printers 

& Lithographers, 120 Williams St. New York.” 

NOTES 

1. Lossing’s story of “Albany fifty years ago,” p. 453. 

What part is Eights and what part is Lossing may be 

queried. Assuming that Eights refers to a festival held 

after his family moved to Albany in 1810, I find it hard to 

believe that JE was so slight a youth that King Charley 

could jump a five foot barrier with him — at, if Pleat and 

Underwood are correct, an age of about a hundred years! 

When Munsell reprinted Lossing’s account, he left the 

Pinkster account unchanged. Some reference to the Eights 

family as slave holders (see account of Jonathan in chapter 

1) may be pertinent. 

2. CG, 28: 306-307, 322-323, 338-339, 8, 15, 22 

November 1866. 

3. J. Munsell, reprinting of JE’s Pinksterfest account, p. 

323; Munsell missed the first installment of Eights’s 

account, thus misleading a century of later scholars, to 

whom he was better known than Eights. 

4. Munsell, in his reprinting of “Pinkster Festivities in 

Albany Sixty Years Ago,” p. 323. Munsell rather muddled 

his introductory statements. Perhaps Eights witnessed the 

Pinkster Festival before he became a permanent resident of 

Albany in 1810; if not, his description must stem from the 

period immediately before it was banned in 1811. By then, 

of course, he would have been well beyond the age of the 

unisexual dress of small children that is described. On 28 

April 1811, “A law was passed by the Common Council 

prohibiting any person from erecting any tent...within the 

limits of this city, for the purpose of vending any spiritous 

liquors...on the days commonly called pinkster; nor to collect 

in numbers for the purpose of gambling or dancing...or 

to march in parade, with or without any kind of 

music” (Munsell, Annals of Albany, 3: 29). Presumably 

Munsell meant that Pinkster Hill was where the Capitol 

was later built, before “the hand of man was stretched 

forth” to eliminate the open space. He does not indicate 

when “King Charles” died. 

5. I am indebted to AI for a copy of its treasured copy 

of Absalom Aimwell’s classic. The author’s name was 

surely a pseudonym but there is no indication of this for 

our particular Aimwell in the authoritative National Union 

Catalog of Pre-1956 Imprints, 5: 661, which has no entry for 

A Pinkster Ode. Their only Absalom Aimwell is a pseudonymous 

writer well enough but he was Andrew Adgate, d. 

1793, a Philadelphia writer on music theory, education and 

psalmody. There is likewise a Walter Aimwell, Pseud., 

who was William Simonds, 1822-1859. For G.R. Pleat and 

A.N. Underwood, see “Pinkster Ode, Albany, 1803.” I have 

used nearly all their commentary on it. 


6. Constance Vallis Hill, “Pinksterfest displays Dutch, 

African roots.” According to Hill, “James Fenimore Cooper 

called Pinkster day in New York City the great Saturnalia 

of New York blacks.” The argument that the Pinkster 

Festival was an African institution only has been put forth 

(as by Pleat and Underwood, cited above). G.R. Howell 

and Jonathan Tenney, Bi-centennial History of the County of 

Albany, p. 725, also rather make such a claim, although 

apparently upon the authority of an Albany black, John J. 

Williams, said to have been born in 1809. He thought that 

it “was in Africa a religious day, partly pagan and partly 

Christian, like our Christmas day.” The Howell and 

Tenney description of Pinkster Day was mainly from 

James Eights, although they did not say so. They give an 

account of Adam Blake, the “Beau Brummel of the day.” 

7. For early notices of Albany celebration of the end of 

slavery in New York, see Albany Argus, Anon., 3 and 7 

July 1828; 7 July 1830; 6 July 1831. 

8. See my text for full title and text of the 1869 report, 

a pamphlet of seven pages (including title page cover) and 

a plate showing a geological section. I have this in photocopy, 

courtesy of the James Hall Papers, Library of the 

American Museum of Natural History. The version of 1870 

was pp. 26-31, with frontispiece (map) and colored plate, 

in Statement Concerning the Sullivan and Erie Coal and 

Railroad Co. I have a copy of this through the generosity of 

Professor Warder Cadbury. The report of JE in it is identical 

to the 1869 Albany imprint, which consists of his material 

alone. The folding frontispiece map of the company 

report (1870) is unrelated to Eights. 

9. I do not know what is meant by white and red 

hemlocks. Latin names are not given. By today’s nomenclature, 

only one species would have been present. 

Chapter 23 363


Chapter 24 

JAMES EIGHTS: THE DECLINE, 1870–1900 

While not the last chapter in this long history 

of Albany’s James Eights, this one concerns his 

final dozen years of life. Since, however tenuously, 

he shared in the glories and the failures of the 

Albany Institute, it is well to carry the story of 

that institution to the end of the century. By that 

time, few people remembered James Eights and 

the Institute had ceased to exist as the center of 

natural history information storage and sharing 

that Eights had helped to establish. 

First, James Eights. He maintained an 

address in Albany through 1873. In the Albany 

Directory in 1870, he was “Mining engineer, 56 

State [Street]”; in 1871, he was “Mining engineer, 

56 State, boards 44 do.” His entry then did not 

change during 1872 and 1873. He was not listed 

in the Directory 1874 through 1882. John Mason 

Clarke had it that Eights had gone to the home 

of his sister Alida Palmer in Ballston Spa, where 

he died. Eights did die in Ballston Spa but Char 

Miller and Naomi Goldsmith point out that both 

Alida and her husband Daniel Palmer predeceased 

Eights. That leaves Eights’s residence in 

Ballston Spa in his final period of decline somewhat 

mysterious. 

It appears that in his final Albany years, 

Eights paid dues to the Institute, possibly for the 

first time since his initiation in the 1820s. For 

example, on 1 February 1871, he was a resident 

member, “James Eights, M.D., State, corner 

North Pearl,” being one of 196 members. On 1 

January 1872, he was again listed (as above), one 

of 231 members. On 1 April 1873, he was listed 

(as above), one of 207 members. This was his last 

notice in publications of the Albany Institute. 1 

The known ties of Eights to Albany for the 

entire period 1870–1882 are few. Some time in 

1870, the grand resident artist of Albany, Asa W. 

Twitchell, painted an impressive portrait of him, 

surely proof that someone recognized his worth. 2 

The Albany Institute thrived. On 1 February 

1870, members were told of the discovery and 

preservation of various fossils of ancient woody 

plants at Gilboa, Schoharie County. They were 

alerted in April 1870 to the annual meeting of 

The American Association for the Advancement 

of Science in Troy in August. In May, Institute 

members were told they would be joined by 

members of the “Dana Society of Natural 

History...organized about a year since at the 

Albany Female Academy,” for a field trip to the 

Schoharie fossil area. There were four Institute 

field trips in 1870! 3 

In Albany on 13 September 1871, Eights 

acknowledged receipt of $100 “for services rendered 

in examining lands in Town 26 Essex 

County New York.” One presumes the “examination” 

concerned mineral deposits, although it 

may have been a surveyor’s study of a tract. 

Work of this sort was probably Eights’s bread 

and butter, even though by then he would have 

been 72 or 73 years of age. 4 

In May 1872, Institute member Robert P. 

Whitfield attended a meeting, primed to defend 

James Eights against prestigious honorary member 

Louis Agassiz. This has been covered in the 

chapter on the history of Eights’s paper of 1833 

on Brongniartia. Agassiz had pompously 

Chapter 24 365

announced fulfillment of his previous prediction 

that trilobite-like crustaceans would be found in 

deep-sea dredging on his much publicized 

Hassler Expedition. Whitfield pointed out that 

Agassiz’s “new” crustacean was probably similar 

to or identical with the new species 

announced by Eights in 1833 as Brongniartia trilobitoides. 

By the time of the Institute meeting, 

Whitfield’s position had been reinforced by a 

critical article by S.I. Smith in the American 

Journal of Science. Verplanck Colvin, who 

“remarked that Dr. Eights is still residing among 

us, though his health does not permit him to 

attend the Institute meetings, his age being now 

about seventy-four years,” said that Eights 

agreed that the discovery announced by Agassiz 

was nothing more than what he had previously 

reported. 5 

At a meeting of the Institute on 19 November 

1872, with “one corresponding member (Dr. F.B. 

Hough), and thirty resident members” in attendance, 

“Professor James Eights, who was a member 

of the Institute as early as 1823, contributed a 

short paper on the ‘Importance of frictional 

action, as related to light, motion and heat,’ 

which was read by the Recording Secretary. It 

was suggested, in accordance with the views of 

eminent scientists, that so called ‘solar heat’ is 

not produced directly by the sun’s rays, but indirectly, 

through a series of effects wrought upon 

the attenuated forms of matter which exist in all 

space, and which effects are intensified in proportion 

as such matter becomes more dense in 

the vicinity of the earth and other planets. If this 

be so, even Uranus and Neptune may have a 

temperature similar to that of the earth itself.” 6 

Among Institute-related events of note in this 

era: Library space was desperately needed (6 

December 1870). On 3 January 1871, James Hall 

displayed “Crystals from the remarkable collection 

made by the late Dr. Ebenezer Emmons,” 

that collection having been bought from 

Emmons’s widow by Erastus Corning for the 

State Cabinet. Paul B. Du Chaillu “of New York 

City” (a charismatic French explorer) was among 

visitors 6 Feb 1871. At the first field trip on 27 

May 1871, 43 members and over 150 visitors 

attended. The death of Erastus Corning, member 

since 1828, occurred 8 April 1871. There was a 

very popular field trip to Howe’s Cavern in Jul 

1872. 7 

On 15 April 1873, the Institute had over 200 

resident members; field trips during these years 

continued to be enthusiastically attended. 

Despite the depression, income increased from 

$235 in 1863 to $1000 in 1873. The death of 

Professor Agassiz was noticed 16 December 

1873. The Institute, for all its activities, found its 

future insecure. Having asked, in an informal 

way, that the Albany Academy consider granting 

a piece of land for the Institute on which to erect 

permanent quarters, the plea was renewed formally 

on 15 April 1873 by President John V.L. 

Pruyn. He thought it well within the power of 

the trustees of the Academy to grant land to the 

Institute, considering the prestige of the Institute 

in Albany. Academy trustees, however, saw it 

differently and vetoed the idea. 8 

There was an interesting, if wrong-headed, 

short essay on “Darwin’s Speculations” signed 

“J.E.” in the Country Gentleman in 1874. It was 

wildly Platonic on the one hand, faintly 

Lamarckian on another: and totally ignorant of 

Darwin in all ways. “All particles of matter, 

when free to act, have a tendency to aggregate 

into spherical masses....In animal and vegetable 

life, generic types form the centres from whence 

species pass off in ever varying radiations; and 

whenever the most distant extremities of these 

divergent specific rays meet with those from any 

other neighboring genera, varieties result merely 

from the intermingling influences of each. But 

these varieties can never derive an increasive 

strength of action for independent progress (as 

Darwin supposes) beyond the species which 

gave them being. Darwin supposes that...the 

variety thus produced must go on increasing in 

strength until it finally destroys its parental 

types, and assumes the magnitude of an independent 

genus — with no mention of the 

resources from whence it could possibly obtain 

this perpetual-motion kind of power. The fact is, 

all varieties, when left to their own natural selection, 

free from the deforming hand of man, will 

without fail, in one or two generations, revert to 

the parental stock whence they originated — the 

species furnishing the most influential power 

naturally reclaiming its lost offspring.” There is 


nothing here to prove or disprove Eights its 

author. One would, overall, prefer that he had 

not written it. 9 

A certain memory of James Eights cropped 

up in a notice of “Libraries and Herbaria,” in the 

Torrey Botanical Club Bulletin in 1876; it was 

observed that the New York State Herbarium 

had a collection of about 1,600 species of 

phanerogams and about 2,500 cryptogams — 

plus the herbarium of Lewis C. Beck, with its 

more than 3,000 species of phanerogams and 600 

cryptogams. The Beck specimens had “among 

them...the types of several species. Not the least 

interesting specimens are those collected by Dr. 

James Eights in the southern part of South 

America and on the islands of the South Pacific 

Ocean.” 10 

The death of Joseph Henry (13 May 1878) 

was noticed at length. Although there was constant 

worry about space, 48 volumes were added 

to the library in the year 1878 (there had been no 

notice of any additions to the natural history collection 

for many years). Members were edgy 

about free-loaders. A resolution was presented 

that no paper by a nonmember might be read 

unless favored by two-thirds of the membership. 

As at other times, thoughts turned to raising 

money or joining with others to erect a building. 

Money was a sore spot: One treasurer resigned 

when members refused to allow payment of 

printing costs; dues were to be raised, to generate 

a building fund; uncollected dues would be 

turned over to a collector, five percent commission 

to go to him. Joel Munsell died 15 January 

1880. 11 

It can now be said that James Eights, in the 

last decade of his life, moved around as mysteriously 

as he had done in much of the rest of his 

existence. While J.M. Clarke in 1916 had him 

simply reappearing, in 1882, for his demise at 

“the home of a sister living in Ballston,” Char 

Miller and Naomi Goldsmith report correctly 

that Eights outlived both his sister and her husband. 

They were correct to suspect that Eights 

departed Albany about 1874. 

In fact, it was not to the Ballston Spa home of 

the then widowed Daniel Palmer that he went 

(James’s sister Alida Palmer died in 1862), but to 

the Greenfield, Saratoga County, home of his 

unmarried sister, Catharine. There, he appeared 

as a member of her household in 1875: his age 

reported as 76 years, his occupation engraver, his 

place of birth Pennsylvania. 12 

Catharine Eights (1816–2 January 1878) was 

looking out for her brother’s future by at least 15 

October 1873, when she wrote her will. She left 

to him the income from railroad stock, to be 

shared by Celia H. Palmer (no doubt the daughter 

of Alida and Daniel Palmer, who was 16 

years old and living with her aunt Catharine in 

the Greenfield census of 1865). Before her death, 

Catharine realized that James was in no condition 

to fend for himself, even with income from 

her trust. In a codicil to her will, dated 1 

November 1877, she left to Celia H. Lawrence 

(“formerly Celia H. Palmer”) the “full and free 

use of the house and lot upon which I now 

reside, so long as my brother James Eights shall 

live, provided that she shall kindly and properly 

care for the same James Eights.” 

Then, on 1 December 1881, Catharine’s 

executors and Celia H. Lawrence sold the 

Greenfield house and lot. By then, Celia had 

inherited her late father’s property in Ballston 

Spa, Daniel Palmer having died 25 August 1880. 

It was undoubtedly then that James Eights 

became a resident of that village, where he died 

22 June 1882. 

The Ballston Journal (the only newspaper 

known to have carried an obituary) had on 1 

July the laconic notice: “DIED / In Ballston Spa, 

June 22, 1882, Dr. James Eights, aged 85 years.” 

According to his entry at Albany Rural 

Cemetery, where he was buried two days later, 

he died of Bright’s Disease, a degeneration of the 

kidneys. No certificate of death for him is 

known. 13 

There is no record that James Eights left a 

will or an estate that required settlement, nor 

that he ever owned property in Saratoga County. 

Sadly, Eights’s death went unnoticed by the 

Albany Institute. It is true there was no meeting 

between 20 June and 10 October in 1882. One 

might thus insist that Eights simply fell through 

the cracks. However, on 21 November 1882, 

there was a notice of “the recent death of Allen 

B. Durant, Esq., a resident member of the 

Institute.” On 27 February 1883, there were 

Chapter 24 367

egrets at the deaths, at previous times, of a resident 

and a corresponding member. On 5 June 

1883, the death of Mr. John Paterson, “whose 

connections with the Institute has [!] covered a 

period of fifty years,” was recorded. On 2 

October 1883, the death of Dr. Jacob S. Mosher, 

who died during the summer, was memorialized. 

Thus, there were multiple ways in which 

James Eights’s death could have been recorded. 14 

For the rest, this chapter is a history of the 

decline of the Albany Institute. James Eights’s 

guardian angel slumbered for a quarter-century. 

Indeed, the 1879 edition of “Manual of the 

Albany Institute,” with its list of members to 

date, listed him with the founding membership 

of 1823, as “James Eights, M.D.” — the asterisk 

indicated former members who were already 

dead! 

In 1884, the Institute agreed to sell “U.S. 

Congressional and Patent Office publications,” to 

make room in the library. Institute meetings continued 

but membership never more than maintained 

an even keel. By 1888, a decline was evident. 

Attendance of members at meetings fell to 

new lows. Despite the occasional appearance of 

a speaker who had something vital to say, the 

Institute was clearly in trouble. In 1888, there 

was a brief reference to a need to search for new 

rooms for the Institute (which had long been 

accommodated at the Albany Academy). In 

February 1890, the librarian reported that books 

were now doubled on shelves; periodicals were 

stored unbound in a closet. Blackboards had 

been erected by Academy teachers in front of 

some cases, so books could not be reached. Some 

new works were now stored in empty cases in 

the State Library. No books were purchased the 

past year, additions being only those that arrived 

as exchanges and as gifts. 15 

By June 1890, the worm had turned: The 

Dana Natural History Society invited the Albany 

Institute to partake of its field trip. And, essentially 

the death knell: “Mr. E.J. Miller on the part 

of the trustees of the Albany Academy 

announced to the Institute that the trustees 

request that the contents of the Museum of the 

Institute now placed in the schoolroom be 

removed, as the room is now needed by the 

pupils of the school. 

“On motion of Mr. Miller, to appoint a committee 

of three to confer with the trustees [of the 

Academy] with power...to examine the collection 

of the Institute Museum and select what is worth 

preservation and store them until further action 

is taken. 

“Messers. [Verplanck] Colvin, Profs. [James] 

Hall, and [John C.] Smock were appointed on 

this committee.” 16 

At one point, cheerful hopes were expressed 

about sharing expenses with the Albany Young 

Men’s Association in the building of an extension 

to Harmanus Bleecker Hall. Nothing came 

of it, probably because vital leadership and 

member interest were lacking. The report of the 

above committee was accepted, although we 

are not told in the Minutes what was in the 

report. On 2 June 1891, “it was voted that the 

Curators cause the collection of the Institute 

now in Albany Academy building to be 

removed from the rooms in which it now is and 

to pack such portions of it as they deem valuable 

and store the same at an expense not 

exceeding one hundred dollars.” On 20 October 

1891, this was reported as done — but there 

was a bill of $212 that must be paid to the 

Academy to restore the walls of its rooms to the 

condition they were in before Institute shelves 

were installed. “Mr. Viele expressed regret that 

the attendance at the meetings of the Institute 

was so small.” Amid much talk of costly monuments 

to wars and other national disasters, no 

money could be found for the Institute. And at 

four meetings in December 1891 through 2 

February 1892, a quorum could not be mustered. 

Books in the library of the Institute were 

by then being regularly stored at the State 

Library. Oddly, it was not until 2 January 1894, 

that the Minutes recorded what had long since 

been accomplished: “On the call for the report 

of the curators, the chairman being absent, the 

secretary [George R. Howell] remarked that by 

the vote of the Institute in 1891 the collection 

was presented to the State, the only portions of 

any value in it at that time being a few minerals, 

the curiosities or Ethnological portions of it 

remaining were stored in the State Museum.” 

All this seems to have taken place at the will of 

the curators, for I find no evidence in the 


Minutes that a full explanation was offered or 

that a formal vote on the matter was taken. 17 

Since the Institute nearly maintained its 

membership throughout this period, it is evident 

that its low state was due as much to lethargy as 

total lack of funds or potential. The Institute 

itself retained no record of when its natural history 

collection was transferred to the State 

Museum or what materials were transferred. 

Official published records are also sparse as far 

as the State Museum is concerned. In its Report 

for the year 1891, we learn: “The Albany Institute 

has donated to the State Museum its extensive 

collection of minerals, fossils, shells and alcoholic 

specimens. During the next year this material, 

most of which is now stored in boxes, will be 

unpacked and catalogued so far as possible.” 18 

For the zoological material, what information 

reached the public in 1892 was skimpy in the 

extreme. However, one aspect of the Institute 

collections received more timely and much more 

detailed attention, thanks to prompt work by 

John Mason Clarke, acting on behalf of the State 

Geologist, James Hall. On 1 December 1891, 

Clarke provided a “Catalogue of the collection of 

geological and palaeontological specimens, 

donated by the Albany Institute to the State 

Museum.” In it, we have as full an accounting of 

one part of the Institute collections as a responsible 

and thoughtful worker could provide. It illuminates, 

again, the slipshod nature of the transfer 

of material. Clarke reported: “The collection 

of the Albany Institute was received at the State 

Museum in the month of August, and formally 

donated to the institution on the 6th of October, 

1891. [Footnote: The extensive collection of minerals 

donated to the State Museum at the same 

time, together with other collections of natural 

history, have not come under the cognizance or 

control of the State Geologist, and no account of 

them can be given in this connection.] When the 

fossils came into my hands I found them in bad 

condition. Such labels as existed had been gathered 

into piles and boxes by themselves, with the 

exception of the few instances in which they had 

been glued to the specimens. The majority of the 

specimens, however, bore a numerical ticket, 

which had been copied upon the separated 

labels, and by means of this arrangement the 

matching of the few labels with their specimens 

was not difficult. Fortunately, these labeled specimens 

constitute the most important part of the 

collection; they are mostly Trilobites, and 

embrace a number of the original types used by 

Dr. Jacob Green in his ‘Monograph of Trilobites 

of North America,’ with much other interesting 

material of the same class, and in addition are 

several type-specimens of Cephalopods from the 

Black River limestone, described by yourself 

[that is, James Hall] in volume I of the 

Palaeontology of New York. 

“Of this series of labeled specimens a few are 

evidently missing, but perhaps not as many as, 

under the circumstances, one might expect. It 

appears from the labels on the rest of the collection 

that the specimens were divided into 

groups, each with its own form of numerical 

ticket. It is understood that there was a manuscript 

register or catalogue of these specimens, 

but it was not found among the documents pertaining 

to the collection nor delivered with it, 

and subsequent careful search among the 

archives of the Institute has failed to discover it. 

The want of this catalogue has naturally added 

greatly to the task of identifying the specimens. 

On account of the historical value of this collection 

I have taken much pains to locate such 

material as proves to be a genuine contribution 

to the State Museum....For us the value of this 

collection lies almost wholly in its New York 

palaeozoic fossils; the few mesozoic and tertiary 

specimens being from scattered and uncertain 

American and European localities.” There follows 

as complete a list as Clarke could provide, 

some notes being full, some specimens being 

represented only by the notice, “Missing,” or 

present as “Label only.” The trilobites “had been 

carefully labeled by the late Dr. T.R. Beck, and 

though these labels were all displaced, the numbering 

on both labels and specimens has facilitated 

their replacement.” This included some nine 

specimens in “The James Eights collection.” In 

addition, five specimens in other categories had 

been collected by Eights. 19 

For the rest, information is both scanty and 

in bits. The State Museum reported for the year 

1892 as much as was ever published on the 

Albany Institute zoological specimens and their 

Chapter 24 369

transfer to the State Museum. No effort was 

made to credit original collectors, so Eights specimens 

can only here and there be inferred. From 

the Institute, the Museum got specimens of two 

mammals (tusk of walrus, teeth of sperm whale). 

Of Reptiles and Batrachia (amphibians), there 

were nine specimens, the tiger salamander being 

certainly an Eights specimen. There was a pipefish 

from New Jersey. Three species of crustaceans 

were noticed, none of any concern to us 

— a notable matter, for it means that either 

Eights did not leave specimens of his Antarctic 

species to the Institute collection or, if so, they 

did not survive or were not valued enough by 

the State Museum to be accessioned. There was a 

parasitic worm and, as might perhaps be expected, 

a considerable number of shells, since they 

would have survived ill treatment better than 

most museum specimens, especially those preserved 

in alcohol. The mollusks from the 

Institute amounted to some 121 species, a great 

many of which, considering their points of origin, 

were probably collected by James Eights. 

The total number of mollusk specimens amounted 

to many hundreds, including large multiples 

of many of those from the Chilean islands of 

Guafo and Santa Maria, likely Eights collecting 

points. It is worth noting that no shells credited 

to the South Shetland Islands are listed (see 

account of the Antarctic mollusks in a previous 

chapter, especially the genus Nucula, as then 

understood). The absence of collectors’ names is 

particularly unfortunate in the case of specimens 

from Panamá, for one would like to know if any 

of them were collected by Eights during his 

shadowy visit there. 20 

With this, both a chapter and an era end. 

James Eights had long been in his grave; significant 

acknowledgments of his existence ceased 

even earlier. A new chapter will pick up a theme 

adumbrated in an account rooted in Eights’s 

great achievements of the decade of the 1830s — 

when, in his account of his long-ignored tenlegged 

sea-spider, Decolopoda, he providentially 

laid the foundation for his own eventual salvation. 

It is hardly an exaggeration to call the history 

of James Eights in the 20th century a reincarnation, 

perhaps even in ways that John Mason 

Clarke did not envision when he first used that 

term. 

NOTES 

1. See AI, Proceedings, vol. 1, membership list for 1 

February 1871, 1 January 1872, 1 April 1873 (these are separately 

paged inserts) for listing of Eights. It seems pretty 

likely that Eights was paying dues (or that someone was 

paying for him); perhaps he even attended meetings. The 

Institute was increasingly strict in regard to dues. For 

example, 19 January 1869, a rule was passed: “Resolved, 

That the secretary be authorized to prepare a list of all 

members of the Institute, separating those whose dues are 

in arrears for two years, and that these latter be no longer 

considered as active members” (1: 91). And later: by-laws 

were amended to read that an affirmative vote of eightninths 

of the members voting (and at least nine affirmative 

votes) be required for election...“but membership shall not 

be complete until the annual fee for the year shall be paid” 

(Proc., 1: 209). See also J.M. Clarke, “The reincarnation,” p. 

202. 

2. See later chapter. One wonders what led Twitchell 

to consider Eights worthy of a portrait. Can it be that his 

sister Catharine had a hand in it? 

3. AI, Minutes, 5 April, 28 May and elsewhere, 1870; 

38 members attended a meeting in November. The popularity 

of James Dwight Dana in Albany is hard to understand. 

There is even a plaque honoring him on Madison 

Avenue in downtown Albany. Yes, it was an age of heroworship: 

There were numerous societies and publication 

honoring Louis Agassiz, although few were established 

during his lifetime, as was the case in this Dana commemoration. 

Eights never enjoyed any such renown, even in 

his own bailiwick. There is a need for a full history of the 

Dana Natural History Society. It is usually accounted a literary 

or a women’s natural history society, founded 19 

Nov 1868 and sponsored by the Albany Academy for 

Girls. See: Dana Natural History Society, Souvenir of the 

Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Dana Natural History Society 

Reunion (1894). For the Gilboa fossils, see AI, Proc., 1: 129- 

131, 132-134, 18 January; one entire tree, found intact, was 

to be preserved for the State Cabinet. 

4. AI, McKinney Library, 1944.68.14. The handwriting 

of the person who wrote the receipt (different from that of 

Eights, who signed it) is hard to read. The man for whom 

the work was done appears to have been Robert T. 

Sherman or Shurman. 

5. AI, Proc., 1: 322-323, meeting of 7 May 1872; AI, 

Minutes, 7 May 1872, pp. 619-622. Whitfield (1828-1910) 

was James Hall’s sometimes uneasy associate from 1856 to 

1875, an interesting story told by R.L. Batten, “Robert Parr 

Whitfield: Hall’s assistant who stayed too long.” 

6. AI, Proc., 2: 4; AI, Minutes, 19 November 1872, page 

13. There is nothing to indicate that Eights was present at 

the meeting. 

7. AI, Minutes, on dates noted; there is a long account 

of the Emmons collection; a meeting memorializing 

Corning occurred the evening of his death. For the 

Emmons collection, see AI, Proc., 1: 211-213. The Howe’s 

Cavern field trip was reported in a singularly full account, 

pp. 349-357; see also vol. 2: 9, 17 December 1873, for added 

information and a map of the Cavern. 

8. AI, Minutes, 15 Apr, October, 16 December 1873; 3 

February 1874. For Agassiz, see Proc., by James Hall and 

others, 2: 91-93. AI Proc., 2: 22-24, 25, 28-29. 

9. CG, 37: 302, 7 May 1874. 


10. Anon., “Libraries and herbaria. II. (The New York 

State Herbarium),” 1876. 

11. AI, Minutes, 14 May 1878; 10 January, 10 June 16 

December 1879; 20 January, 23 November 1880. The notice 

regarding Munsell (16, 20 Jan 1880) was long, including a 

full list of his publications — see ledger pp. 283-285, 287- 

290. 

12. For this information, I am greatly indebted to 

Lynn E. Calvin and Karen U. Campola, Saratoga County 

History Department, Ballston Spa (letter 8 Jan 1997). The 

date of Celia H. Palmer’s marriage to Henry W. Lawrence 

and the date of his death are not known. Celia later married 

the Rev. Joseph Zweiful (19 September 1850–25 

October 1902). With no indication recorded of his relationship 

to the Eights clan, Zweiful was buried in the Jonathan 

Eights lot at Albany Rural Cemetery; Celia, however, was 

not. Perhaps she was buried beside her first husband (not, 

in any case, in ARC). One other puzzling feature of the 

Eights burial lot is a stone for Ann Bennett (who died, 

according to records at ARC, 23 Alpr 1901); she was a 

member of Catharine Eights’s household in 1865 and she 

was given a bequest in Catharine’s will; she may have 

been a cousin of Celia and thus a niece of Catharine and 

James, although my Eights family genealogy has not 

proved fine-grained enough to identify anyone with the 

surname of Bennett. 

13. Ballston Journal, 1 Jul 1882. There is some mistake 

about his age at death. Even if we assume him to have 

been born in 1798 (as Albany Rural Cemetery and its followers 

claim), he would have been only in his 85th year. 

Balance this against the date of his baptism (1 May 1799) 

and the date of christening of his older brother Abraham. 

In addition, in the 1875 census for Greenfield, he must 

himself have furnished the information that he was 76 

years old, indicating a probable birth year of 1799. 

Whether he really died of Bright’s Disease is anybody’s 

guess. I have been unable to find the original doctor’s burial 

permit, in which alone this information originated. To 

date, no one has cited the existence of a death certificate — 

the uniform reporting of births and deaths in New York 

State being then in its infancy. The Vital Records Section of 

the N.Y. Department of Health (letter 6 Jun 1997) has no 

such record. James Eights was buried on 24 June in Albany 

Rural Cemetery, in the Jonathan Eights plot, Lot No. 53, 

Sec. 56. There are ten burials in this plot: Jonathan and his 

wife Alida Wynkoop; their children James, Catharine, 

Sarah E., Alida Eights Palmer and Daniel, her husband, an 

anomalous “Abram W. Eights” said to have died 1 January 

1822 (which is incorrect; see discussion in the chapter on 

Jonathan Eights) and two burials discussed above: Ann 

Bennett and the Rev. Joseph Zweifel. (For help with certain 

details of Eights genealogy, I am grateful to Mrs Mildred 

Carswell Sharpe [graduate of Albany College for Teachers 

1919], who was 90 years old in 1988 when I had letters 

from her; she married in 1926 Robert Boies Sharpe 

[1897–1982], a great-grandson of Ann Eights Boies.) I do 

not know when monument engravings listing James 

Eights were done; they must have been done by Celia 

Palmer, perhaps upon wishes expressed by the late 

Catharine Eights. Jonathan Eights was the first direct burial 

in his plot (1848). Albany Rural Cemetery was established 

in 1844, so earlier deaths were reburials. For an 

interesting early reference to ARC, see “The Albany 

Cemetery,” Albany Argus, Anon., 3 Jul 1845; a good recent 

“Sunday Supplement” account is Craig Brandon and John 

Carl D’Annibale, “Albany Rural” (Sunday Times Union, 29 

Sep 1991, p. 3). The plot containing graves of Jonathan’s 

father, Abraham (died 1820), established by Abraham’s 

son-in-law James N. Cobb, “for heirs of Abram Eights,” 

was Lot 13, Sec. 52, bought by Cobb 19 May 1848. In it are 

buried Abraham Eights (died 1820) and his wife Catharine 

(died 1829), their children Abraham, Jr. (died 1798), Jane C. 

(died 1828), Mary (died 1848), Rebecca (died 1853), Rachel 

Eights Williams (died 1857) and her husband Isreal 

Williams (died 1840), Elizabeth (died 1857), and grandson 

Abram Eights Williams (died 1896) and his wife Mary 

Gould (died 1893). Cobb himself bought a contiguous plot, 

Lot 12, Sec. 52, on 4 October 1848; in it are buried son 

James Eights Cobb (died 1820, aged five years), his wife 

Phebe Eights (daughter of Abraham, died 1869) and himself 

(died 1872). (From interment documents, ARC, to 

whose registrar, John W. Buszta, I am indebted for many 

favors.) 

14. AI, Minutes, 21 November 1882; 27 February, 24 

April, 5 June, 2 Oct 1883. 

15. AI, Minutes, 1884 to 1890. 

16. AI, Minutes, 17 June 1890. 

17. AI, Minutes, 4 November 1890 (pp. 503-504 of volume 

for “1872-1893”) through 2 January 1894 (p. 550, etc.). 

18. In “Additions to the Museum Collections,” New 

York State Museum, Forty-Fifth Annual Report of the 

Regents for the Year 1891, p. 20. Transmitted 3 Feb 1892. 

19. John Mason Clarke, in New York State Museum / 

Forty-fifth Annual Report of the Regents for the Year 1891, 

pp. 349-350, 352, 353, 354, 355, 356. While Eights received 

some recognition here, the fragmentary nature of the 

report — absence of records of minerals, probable lack of 

interest in fossils from other parts of the world — likely 

deprived him of much credit that was his due. We shall 

never know if a specimen of fossil tree trunk from the 

South Shetland Islands was among material held by the 

Institute and transferred to the State Museum. It is incredible 

that neither Institute nor Museum indicate the presence 

and the transfer of catalogues of specimens. 

Catalogues of specimens originally held by the Institute 

would be valuable! 

20. New York State Museum / Forty-sixth Annual 

Report...for the Year 1892, “Additions to the Zoological 

Collections,” pp. 21, 22, 24-27. See also Anon., 1893, 

“Catalogue of the Families Tritonidae...in the Collections 

of the New York State Museum...” (Report of the Museum 

for 1892), pp. 39, 43, for two possible Eights specimens. 

Chapter 24 371


Chapter 25 

THE ROAD BACK: 1900 TO 1920 

By the last decade of the twentieth century, 

James Eights had become a legend in the history 

of Antarctic science. His shadow is perhaps larger 

than life, so anxious is everyone not to repeat 

our ignoring of his work most of his lifetime and 

for many decades after his death. Yet, in science, 

as in the history of Antarctic exploration and 

American art, by the year 1900, Eights was as 

nearly an unknown quantity as it is possible for 

a modern figure to be. While we have the word 

of John Mason Clarke that James Hall had mentioned 

Eights as a brilliant man, nobody bothered 

to document a knowledge of his achievements 

or record his history. Clarke himself, for 

all his nearness to the center of Eights’s universe, 

knew next to nothing of him when Leon J. Cole 

began to stir the ashes of his history in 1905. 

Even Clarke’s account of 1916, long as near an 

authoritative story as was to be had, had its 

flaws. 1 

I have touched upon Cole’s contribution to 

the revival of Eights in my account of Decolopoda 

australis. Some repetition is justified here. The 

amount of inertia that Cole had to overcome 

must first be described. 

In W.A. Taylor’s valuable history of Antarctic 

discovery (1898), there was no mention of 

Pendleton, Palmer, Reynolds, and Eights, even 

though notice was made of “some discoveries of 

importance...made by sealers and merchant captains.” 

Naturally, the spotlight shone most 

brightly on the recognized stars: Cook, 

Bellingshausen, Weddell, Biscoe, Balleny, 

Dumont d’Urville, and Wilkes. 2 

Eights more narrowly missed being noticed 

in some parts of The Antarctic Manual, edited by 

George Murray, in 1901. For example, Charles 

Darwin’s “Note on a Rock Seen on an Iceberg in 

61° S. Lat.,” was quoted in full, with its reference 

to Cordier’s account of 1837, in which Eights’s 

observations were alluded to. But, as before, 

Eights himself was unnoticed. 3 

For Murray’s book, Hugh Robert Mill compiled 

“A bibliography of Antarctic exploration 

and research” that got a little closer to Eights. He 

was not in the index, although the reprinting of 

his 1852 paper on Glyptonotus by the American 

Journal of Science was listed. In addition, it was 

noted that in “1830?...Edmund Fanning, with the 

American brigs ‘Seraph’ and ‘Annawan,’ visited 

the west coast of Graham Land.” The expedition 

only visited the coast of Graham Land, if that 

includes the South Shetlands; and, of course, 

Fanning did not accompany it. Edmund 

Fanning’s reference (1834) to the 

Pendleton/Palmer exploration was noted. 4 

In The Siege of the South Pole (1905), Hugh R. 

Mills got a little closer to Eights: “The Antarctic 

summer of 1829-30 saw Captain Pendleton in the 

brig Seraph, and Captain Palmer in the brig 

Annawan once more in the South Shetlands and 

cruising to the north and west of Palmer Land. 

On this occasion, they were accompanied by two 

scientific men, Mr. J.N. Reynolds and Mr. 

Watson.” In his “Introduction” to Ernest Henry 

Shackleton’s The Heart of the Antarctic (1909), 

Mills actually retreated a bit, merely noting that 

“An American man of science, Mr. J.N. 

Chapter 25 373

Reynolds, had gone to Palmer Land in the early 

days, and on his return agitated strongly for a 

national exploring expedition.” 5 

Thus, historians of Antarctic exploration 

were even tardier than zoologists in acknowledging 

Eights’s contributions. Edwin Swift Balch 

dug into the sealing archives at Stonington and 

carefully documented his work but was no 

improvement over Mills, the British historian. In 

1902, he got no closer to Eights than a fairly sensible 

statement that: “in 1829-30, Captain B. 

Pendleton and Captain Palmer, in the brigs 

‘Seraph’ and ‘Annawan,’ made a cruise north 

and west of Palmer Land. Some scientists went 

on this expedition, among whom were Messrs. 

John [!] N. Reynolds and Watson.” 6 

In 1904, Balch added some refinements, having 

examined additional documents related to 

the history of Antarctic sealing at Stonington. He 

furnished a fuller biography of Nathaniel Palmer 

and clarified some references to his brother 

Alexander. There was still nothing on Eights. 7 

By 1909, Balch was able to report upon 

“Stonington Antarctic Explorers” in greater 

depth. However, he found as many questions as 

answers, even though he was, for the first time, 

able to bring together several documents on the 

“Voyage of 1829-1831,” which included Eights’s 

incursion in the Antarctic. 8 

Helen S. Wright, in 1918, had not advanced 

any further. “J.N. Reynolds...had accompanied 

Palmer in the latter’s voyage during the years 

1829-30 when the ‘Seraph’ and ‘Annawan’ made 

a cruise northwest of Palmer’s Land. Reynolds 

was accompanied by two other scientists on that 

expedition with Palmer.” 9 

Well before this time, scientists had begun to 

refurbish the image of Eights, although even in 

zoology, the change had not come without some 

substantial authors who preferred the certainties 

of old. The picture is clearest in regard to the 

pycnogonid, Decolopoda australis. In the year 

when new specimens of Eights’s perfectly good 

species came to light, Dr. J.C.C. Loman 

announced from Amsterdam that Eights had 

somehow produced and named “ein irrationelles 

Monstrum.” The French zoologist, E.L. Bouvier, 

actually had a specimen of a ten-legged pycnogonid 

in hand but dismissed it as a species of 

another genus, thinking its possession of the 

unheard-of ten legs “une anomalie sans grand 

valeur,” a freak of nature. 10 

The breakthrough began with Thomas V. 

Hodgson’s description of a new pycnogonid 

found by the “Discovery” Expedition in 

McMurdo Bay. It had five pairs of legs and was 

given the new scientific designation of 

Pentanymphon antarcticum. However, the ferment 

had already been initiated by the studies of an 

American zoologist, Leon J. Cole, who, previous 

to this date, had turned up Eights’s paper and 

was thus prepared quickly to call it to the attention 

of both Hodgson and the rest of the scientific 

community. Cole alerted Hodgson, who was 

almost immediately able to tap resources of the 

“Scotia” Expedition to another section of the 

Antarctic and describe a species that tallied in all 

respects with the species that Eights had 

described long before. All of this information he 

promptly shared with the scientific world — and 

as promptly delivered a stinging rebuke to 

Loman. 11 

It is unknown whom Leon J. Cole contacted 

in Albany in 1904, when he first began to worry 

the long-laid ghost of Eights. Happily, he was 

persistent and early in 1905 he made the 

acquaintance of John Mason Clarke in the New 

Figure 25.1. Recognition comes to James Eights! His 

long-discredited Decolopoda australis, drawn from a specimen 

collected by T.V. Hodgson, and figured in his report, 

Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, volume 

16, plate 3, 1905. 


York State Museum. That was the happiest discovery 

he could have made — doubtless more 

for the rest of us than for immediate enlightenment 

of Cole himself, for Clarke was not immediately 

to help Cole very much. By then, Cole 

had fired off a letter to Hodgson and was himself 

authoritatively reviewing the ten-legged pycnogonids. 

The value of Cole here is that he clearly 

set Clarke thinking about James Eights — 

with the results that we know well. 

Cole’s letters to Clarke are not known. Some 

at least of those written by Clarke in reply 

(because he was a New York State official and 

his correspondence is pertinent to the official 

archives of the State) are available. It appears 

that Cole first wrote on 18 Mar 1905 to Clarke; 

some part of this letter perhaps survived in summarized 

form in Clarke’s biography of Eights in 

1916. Clarke’s replies to that letter are dated 20 

Mar and 29 Mar 1905 and are quoted below. It is 

clear that Clarke knew next to nothing about 

Eights at that time, aside from recognizing his 

name. 12 

Clarke’s first letter to Cole follows: 

“March 20, 1905. 

“Leon J. Cole, Esq., 

“37 Mallen [?] Street, 

“Cambridge, Mass. 

“Dear Sir:- 

“I have before me your letter of the 18th of 

March making inquiry in regard to Dr. James 

Eights and his collection. 

“It is not surprising that the younger generation 

has lost sight of Dr. Eights and his work. In 

his day, however, he was a well known character 

not alone in scientific circles in Albany but 

throughout the country. Dr. Eights must have 

passed off the scene about 1850. I have heard my 

predecessor in office, Professor James Hall, who 

died a few years ago at the age of nearly ninety, 

characterize Eights as being the possessor of the 

keenest scientific mind that Albany had ever 

known. As a young man he was a good deal of 

an artist and his pictures of Albany one hundred 

years ago are now highly prized by their possessors 

and have been often copied. Dr. Eights was 

a doctor of medicine but coming from a family 

of substance he seems to have practiced his profession 

but little. Early in life he got into bad 

habits and on that account it was arranged that 

he should go as zoologist on the Wilkes 

Exploring Expedition. One of his contemporaries 

still living here and formerly a member of our 

staff has told me that he acted so badly on that 

trip that when the expedition reached Patagonia 

he started off to walk home. 

“As to Eights collections, I should think there 

would be some chance of finding trace of them 

in the National Museum. It is quite probable that 

some of his specimens were placed in the collection 

of the Albany Institute. The Institute is still 

alive and vigorous but some years ago it transferred 

its scientific collections to us. Before that 

date, however, much of the material had been 

disordered and I suspect that the zoological 

specimens were destroyed. With regard to these, 

however, I will make some definite inquiry. 

Some of the material that came to us from the 

Institute collections was of extraordinary historic 

value. It seems to me that you could find some 

account of Dr. Eights in some of the biographical 

encyclopedias. What I am writing is simply what 

I can recall from relations to me by a few of his 

contemporaries. I have in my collection two 

miniatures, one made when he was a young 

man and the other not long before his death 

when his countenance had assumed a singularly 

rubicund aspect. If I can ascertain anything further 

in regard to the specimens collected by him 

I will advise you. 

“I recall the fact that when he described the 

crustaceans you refer to it was regarded as a living 

trilobite and you will find some reference to 

it and I think an illustration of it in Amos Eaton’s 

Text-book of Geology. Of this work there were 

several editions and if you have not the reference 

to it convenient I shall be pleased to look it up 

for you. 

“Very truly yours 

[carbon copy unsigned]. 

” 

Note that Clarke was so ill informed about 

Eights at that time that he thought he may have 

died about 1850, that he had been a member of 

the Wilkes Exploring Expedition and that more 

Chapter 25 375

could have been learned about Eights in biographical 

encyclopedias! Presumably, Clarke’s information 

concerning Eights’s early bad behavior 

and how his family got him placed on an exploring 

expedition came from Ebenezer Emmons, Jr., 

although he ought to have known better. 

Clarke’s interest, however, was piqued and he 

quickly came up with an important piece of 

information, as shown by a short letter to Cole 

dated 29 March 1905. “My dear sir: On looking 

up with more care the history of Dr. Eights I find 

that he was naturalist in the scientific corps in 

the American Exploring Expedition, consisting of 

the brigs Seraph and Annawan under the command 

of Captain B. Pendleton and N.B. Palmer, 

sent out in the year 1829 under the direction of 

Captain Edmund Fanning, who was the patron 

of many south sea voyages. The expedition also 

had some measure of government patronage.” 13 

All this adds up to a dismally incomplete 

picture of James Eights in the city of his long residence 

a mere quarter-century after his death. 

There is, however, abundant evidence that 

Clarke did not forget Eights, although no documentation 

of his activities comes to light until 

1915. He had by then stirred up some local interest. 

Henry Sage Dermott, Curator, First 

Presbyterian Church in Albany, reported to an 

Eights relative that he “had been given a photograph 

from a friend’s attic. It was said to be a 

likeness of Dr. Jonathan Eights. Dermott and the 

State Geologist [that is, John Mason Clarke] 

thought it was a likeness of James Eights.” 14 

By late in 1915, John Mason Clarke was 

primed to present his revived — and revised — 

portrait of James Eights, a “Reincarnation,” as he 

called it. The opening salvo came from the 

Albany Argus on 14 December. “One of the most 

remarkable features of the Albany Institute and 

Historical and Art society lecture courses this 

winter will be the lecture on ‘Reincarnation of 

James Eights, artist, Artic [!] explorer, Albanian,’ 

to be given on Thursday evening of this week at 

the Institute building, by Dr. John M. Clarke, 

director of science and the State Museum. Dr. 

Clarke has made a very careful research into the 

life history of this remarkable but little known 

Albanian....Dr. Eights, possessed of extraordinary 

scientific genius, is remembered to-day chiefly as 

the author of well known paintings of this old 

city as it looked during the early days of the 19th 

century. He was a man of other distinctions, 

however....It was said of him by his contemporaries 

that Albany had never produced a man of 

so eminent abilities in science as he.” This was 

accompanied by a reproduction of one of two 

portraits of Eights that Clarke had, showing him 

at the age of 25. 15 

Another Albany newspaper featured the 

upcoming Clarke lecture on Eights on 15 

December. It was illustrated by a reproduction of 

the second portrait in Clarke’s possession, showing 

him at the age of about 40 (although mistakenly 

said to show him at the age of 25). Along 

with a summary of Clarke’s remarks prepared 

for the lecture, it was also announced that “Mrs. 

William Gorham Rice has loaned her collection 

of paintings by James Eights for exhibition in the 

lecture room of the Albany Institute and 

Historical and Art society to-morrow evening.” 16 

In February 1916, John Mason Clarke’s biography 

of Eights, after an incubation period of 

ten years and long the definitive account, 

appeared. Its title, “The reincarnation of James 

Eights, Antarctic explorer,” was apt. It is unfortunate 

that today the main use to which this 

essay must be put is to point out what Clarke 

did not know or got wrong. While Clarke had 

not been idle in the previous decade, we know 

little of the sources of his information and to 

whom we owe the misformation that he incidentally 

promoted. 17 

Clarke made a good bit of early thoughts 

about an Antarctic voyage of “discovery” (of 

new islands rich in seal skins and oil for the 

Yankee sealers, be it said), as early as 1812 — 

spoiled by the Congress that supported the idea 

by its own declaration of war against Great 

Britain. He made the expedition of the Seraph 

and the Annawan of 1829 to be a similar — if 

somewhat low-key — national voyage of discovery, 

overlooking the dismal politics that scuttled 

President Adams’s heroic effort to give a leg-up 

to sealers among his constituents. 

Clarke does not tell us how he determined 

that James Eights was born in 1798 — and certainly, 

he was not “born in Albany...in his father’s 

fine Dutch house, which stood at the corner of 


North Pearl and Columbia streets.” Clarke mistakenly 

supposed that his early years were spent 

among the old Dutch families of Albany and that 

so impressed him that he was then inspired to 

produce the street scenes, alleged to show 

Albany as it was about 1805. Clarke had been 

assured by Albert Lawtenslager (“now a man 

ninety-four years old”) “that these pictures were 

made while Eights was still a lad.” Clarke, to his 

credit, doubted that. 18 

Clarke was on sound ground when he 

exposed the almost total neglect of Eights and 

his expedition in the official records of Antarctic 

exploration to that time; he accounted it particularly 

odd that even American periodicals 

“ignored Eights entirely though steeping their 

pages with the work of other explorers.” He 

quoted at length from Eights’s natural history 

account of 1833, particularly emphasizing the 

many geological observations, where Eights so 

long anticipated other workers. 

Clarke did not realize that Eights was as 

much the pioneer botanist as geologist in 

Antarctica, and that his own museum had several 

of Eights’s plant specimens. He thought that 

Eights’s second paper on Antarctic crustaceans 

(on Glyptonotus) appeared “a year or two later” 

than the initial account of 1833, when in fact it 

was published 20 years later, even though in the 

same volume of the Albany Institute Transactions. 

Then, Clarke recounted how Leon J. Cole 

began reminding the world of its debt to James 

Eights, when new Antarctic research revealed 

additional ten-legged pycnogonids, at first similar 

to, then identical with, Decolopoda australis. 

Clarke had Eights writing for The Zodiac, “in 

the years from 1835 to 1840” and alluded briefly 

to his geological interests (although he was not 

aware of Eights’s brief official connection with 

the New York Natural History Survey!). He then 

recounted Eights’s disastrous effort to join what 

became known as the Wilkes Exploring 

Expedition. 19 

Clarke was mistaken to observe that Eights’s 

ultimate assignment as paleontologist “of a 

marine expedition seems a reduction to the lowest 

terms,” considering that the entire theory of 

coral reefs and atolls (on which Darwin and 

Dana made themselves famous) was almost 

entirely prehistory. It is by no means clear that 

Reynolds preferred Dana over Eights — or that 

Reynolds was at the end the king-maker of the 

scientific corps, even if he were as antipathetic to 

Eights as Clarke made him to be. Clarke had it 

right that John Torrey had second thoughts 

about Eights when Dana appeared on the scene. 

We have to realize that Dana had the power to 

change men’s minds. Clarke put it well when he 

observed that “Dana...went as ‘mineralogist’ and 

came back as a zoologist of high distinction. 

Perhaps Eights, with his experience and versatility, 

might have done as well.” 20 

For the rest, John Mason Clarke was either 

on insecure ground or chose to hedge his bets. 

After Eights’s failure to go on the Wilkes 

Expedition of 1838, Clarke claimed that he essentially 

vanished. “There are no records of Albany 

that tell of Eights’s activities during the years 

that followed. Only the directories show his 

occasional presence up to 1853 [sic].” Noting 

Eights’s evident interest in Indians, Clarke 

reported “Mr. Lawtenslager has intimated that 

after the sailing of Captain Wilkes, Eights did go 

out among the western tribes, but if under government 

auspices I have found no record of it.” 

It can hardly be correct that there “is no evidence 

among the very full documents in my possession 

relating to the Geological Survey that Eights had 

any official connection with it.” He supposes — 

incorrectly, I am sure — that Eights may have 

been drawing, without status, for the senior 

Ebenezer Emmons, not directly for the State. He 

does note Eights’s 1852 paper, “Observations on 

the geological features of the post tertiary formation 

of the City of Albany.” 21 

Clarke ended his account of Eights by writing 

off the final decades, aside from the account 

of the post-tertiary deposits of Albany, after the 

disappointment in regard to the exploring expedition 

of 1838: “of what remained of his life [that 

is, the second half of it!] little is to be said further, 

or little known, and even that is hardly worth 

the telling.” This means that Clarke knew nothing 

of any of Eights’s various later writings, the 

foray into Michigan’s copper district, his work in 

the Gold Fever Years in North Carolina in the 

1850s, or his visits to Panamá and the Rio 

Grande late in that decade. He quoted 

Chapter 25 377

Lawtenslager (who came to Albany in 1848 and 

with whom Eights roomed “in the 50’s”) to the 

effect that Eights was then penniless and 

dependent upon his charity. Clarke had also 

heard — but declined to share the gossip — of a 

disappointment in love. He claimed that Eights, 

“in his growing feebleness...sought the home of a 

sister living in Ballston,” where he died in 1882. 22 

Let the second decade of the twentieth century 

end with an echo of Clarke’s pioneering effort 

to raise the ghost of James Eights. In 1920, the 

New York State Botanist, Homer D. House, 

wrote an account of Eights for Kelly and 

Burrage’s biographies of American men of medicine, 

alluding to Eights’s supposed status as a 

doctor. A close paraphrasing of Clarke’s biography 

of 1916, House’s report differed in pointing 

out that fragments of Eights’s Antarctic and 

southern research were still in existence. He cited 

Eights’s plants that were in the collection of L.C. 

Beck, in the herbarium of the New York State 

Museum. 23 

With the House biography, we begin the 

decade of the 1920s. It was as silent in regard to 

James Eights as any of the decades of the last 30 

years of the nineteenth century. One would hardly 

have guessed that the tide had already turned 

with the rediscovery of Decolopoda, Leon J. Cole’s 

astute probing, and the preliminary sleuthing by 

John Mason Clarke. Call it a period of gestation, 

for Eights began to blossom in the decade of the 

1930s. One vehicle of Eights’s later recognition 

— the Thacher Park memorial tablet — had its 

roots in the present period but a discussion of it 

properly belongs to the next chapter. 

NOTES 

1. J.M. Clarke, “The reincarnation of James Eights, 

Antarctic explorer,” p. 191, put it well: “I must say here 

that the records of the whole long life of James Eights are 

so particularly fragmentary that a diligent search has 

resulted in a mere matter of shreds and patches.” Still, the 

shreds and patches were mainly the result of Clarke’s diligent 

research — and we must be grateful to him for his 

efforts. Clarke, in his biography of James Hall (died 1898), 

pp. 55-56, wrote: “I have heard Hall characterize [Eights] 

as the best informed man in natural science he ever knew.” 

2. W.A. Taylor (as “the Acting Editor”), “A history of 

Antarctic discovery,” pp. 541-546. 

3. George Murray, ed., The Antarctic Manual for the Use 

of the Expedition of 1901, pp. 346-347. 

4. H.R. Mill, “A bibliography of Antarctic exploration 

and research”; in George Murray’s The Antarctic Manual; 

the fabulous “1830(?)” voyage to Graham land, “with the 

American brigs Seraph and Annawan,” by Edmund 

Fanning, is noticed in Mill’s “Chronological list of 

Antarctic voyages from 1701 to 1900,” p. 519. Still, under 

date of 1830, Mill made no reference to any such American 

expedition and it was not until the year 1834 (p. 533), that 

he listed the first London edition of Fanning’s Voyages 

Round the World, which contained Captain Pendleton’s 

report “of the first American exploring expedition, patronized 

by the United States Government.” Of course, in that 

edition of Fanning, there was no reference to Eights. 

5. H.R. Mill, The Siege of the South Pole, p. 112. He 

alluded to Reynolds’s claim that American sealers had 

“pursued their work on uncharted [Antarctic] coasts,” and 

hoped that research in the sealing archives at Stonington 

would clarify America’s role in Antarctic exploration. (He 

referred to contemporary research by E.S. Balch.) There is 

a reference to the neglected Reynolds in H.R. Mill, “South 

Polar explorations in the last hundred years,” p. xxviii, in 

E.H. Shackleton’s The Heart of the Antarctic. 

6. E.S. Balch, Antarctica, pp. 91-92. American insistence 

on “Palmer Land,” as opposed to the British “Graham 

Land,” clouded matters early on and for many years afterwards, 

even though there was, along the way, some confusion 

whether “Palmer” was Nathaniel (as it ought to have 

been, if “Palmer” at all) or his brother Alexander. 

7. E.S. Balch, “Antarctica addenda,” pp. 85-87. His 

claim that the log of the brig Annawan existed was apparently 

not correct. Claims that Nat Palmer actually saw 

“Palmer Land” were quite circumstantial. 

8. E.S. Balch, “Stonington Antarctic explorers,” see 

especially pp. 486-489. Balch helped to clarify the role of 

Benjamin Pendleton in the 1829–1830 expedition: while 

nominally in command of the expedition, he and his 

Seraph, Balch concluded, had nothing to do with the 

Annawan (and Eights and his work) in the Antarctic. 

Eights was not mentioned. There is a “List of American 

expeditions to the Antarctic”; on pp. 491-492, of the expedition 

of 1829-1831, we hear only of “Scientists John [!] N. 

Reynolds, Watson.” 

9. Helen Saunders (Smith) Wright, The Seventh 

Continent, pp. 78-79. Her statement that Reynolds was “a 

member of the United States Exploring Expedition” incorrectly 

implies that he was connected with the so-called 

Wilkes Expedition. 

10. Jan Cornelis Christiaan Loman, “Decolopoda 

Eights oder Colossendeis Jarz,” 1905, was quite unkind in 

his dismissal of Eights’s discovery. Eugène Louis Bouvier 

in 1905 was unwilling to shake the boat; he put his supposed 

anomalous ten-legged pycnogonid (without any 

discussion of Eights) in the genus Colossendeis, previously 

established for eight-legged forms; see “Observations 

préliminaires sur les pycnogonides recueillis dans la 

région antarctique par la mission du ‘Français,” 1905, p. 

295. By 1906, Bouvier was forced to reconsider his action 

in “Nouvelles observations sur les pycnogonides recueillis 

dans les régions antarctiques au cours de la campagne 

dirigée par M. Jean Charcot,” pp. 16-19; here there was a 

full discussion of Eights and of Hodgson’s and Cole’s 

recent discoveries. 

11. T.V. Hodgson, zoologist on the “Discovery” 

Expedition, “On a new pycnogonid from the South Polar 


egions,” pp. 459-462, pl. xiv (no mention of Eights). Leon 

J. Cole, in a paper dated by himself 12 Jan 1905, “Tenlegged 

pycnogonids, with remarks on the classification of 

the Pycnogonida,” pp. 405-ff., called attention to the first 

Hodgson paper — and pointed out that Eights had long 

preceded him in describing a ten-legged sea-spider. He 

had been unsuccessful (“about a year ago,” therefore in 

1904) in finding out anything about Eights in Albany and 

had, unaccountably, been unable to find the type specimen 

in the collection of the Boston Society of Natural History. 

Hodgson, 1905, “Scotia collections. — On Decalopoda [sic] 

australis, Eights — an old pycnogonid rediscovered,” pp. 

35-42, pl. iii-iv. See: Hodgson, “Decalopoda [sic] and 

Colossendeis,” 1905, pp. 254-256; J.M. Clarke, “The reincarnation,” 

p. 199. 

12. J.M. Clarke, “The reincarnation,” p. 199. Clarke to 

Cole, 20 March, 29 March 1905, NY State Archives BO 561 

Box 11. I have been unable to find any evidence that Cole’s 

side of the correspondence was kept by Clarke and no 

repository of Cole’s papers for this era has been discovered. 

13. John Mason Clarke Papers (as State Geologist), 

N.Y. State Archives, BO 561, Box 11. There must have been 

additional correspondence that has not survived, for in 

1915, he was still exchanging letters with Cole, as indicated 

in Clarke, “The reincarnation,” p. 199. 

14. Letter from Mildred Sharpe, 20 Sep 1988, quoting 

family correspondence. 

15. Albany Argus, 14 December 1915. Clipping in 

Albany Institute. The Institute’s invitation card for 

Clarke’s lecture, to be given Thursday evening, 16 

December, began: “WHO WAS JAMES EIGHTS? / 

Physician, artist, explorer — a man of exceptional talents, 

yet to-day almost forgotten....In connection with the lecture 

there will be an exhibit of Dr. Eights’ paintings and 

other souvenirs of interest.” 

16. An Albany newspaper, clipping in files of Albany 

Institute, 15 December 1915. Information quoted was summarized 

from Clarke’s biography of 1916, by then no 

doubt already in the hands of editors. No details were 

given of which paintings in Mrs. Rice’s collection were 

exhibited. 

17. Clarke, “The reincarnation,” February 1916. This 

essay was evidently pretty much the public lecture that 

Clarke had given in Albany the previous December. 

18. Clarke, “The reincarnation,” pp. 190, 191. Clarke 

assumed that Lossing was the author of the 1857 account 

of old Albany, where Eights’s early street scenes were 

pirated. Since the original manuscript by Eights has been 

lost, we shall never know if he claimed himself to be “an 

Albany Knickerbocker — a Dutchman of the purest Belgic 

stock.” In any case, Eights could claim Dutch affinities, 

even if the matter of his surname is a puzzle. 

Lawtenslager’s innocent fiction as to the age of the paintings 

no doubt paralelled a popular conviction of the time. 

Many later critics and commentators who ought to know 

better, have been unduly literal in accepting the date of 

“1805.” 

19. Clarke, “The reincarnation,” pp. 200-ff. Clarke had 

it partly right, partly wrong, a good bit muddled. The 

great agitator for the expedition, he wrote, was “John N. 

Reynolds.” Clarke claimed, for reasons unknown to me 

(and contrary to fact, I believe), that “Reynolds...did not 

want Eights at all.” Eights was said to have acknowledged 

his appointment “in June, 1837.” Clarke could find no reason 

for the final elimination of Eights from the roster of 

scientists. He did not indicate whether he had evidence of 

remuneration for wasted time, in Eights’s appeal to 

Congress. 

20. Clarke, “The reincarnation,” pp. 200-201. Clarke 

was the first of several highly placed historians to fault 

Reynolds, both for his obvious shortcomings and, in a 

pinch, for whatever went wrong. For example, p. 201, footnote 

7, he characterized Reynolds’s “anonymous letters 

publicly addressed to Secretary Dickerson on the subject 

of the expedition,” as “hardly to be surpassed for personal 

indelicacy, disrespect for high place and rudeness of 

address,” a sentiment made much of later in this century 

by H.H. Bartlett (1940). However much one might not like 

to have been the target of Reynolds’s attacks, what has this 

to do with ultimate truth? And consider “personal indelicacy,...rudeness 

of address” in the public press in our time! 

21. Clarke, “The reincarnation,” p. 202; it is likely that 

more can be found in State Archives and in the papers of 

major participants in regard to the status of Eights’s connection 

with the State Natural History Survey in 1836. As 

for western travel, there is still no evidence of it. Friends, 

as has been noted, urged his removal to the West in the 

early 1850s, but apparently to no avail. 

22. Clarke, “The reincarnation,” p. 202. No one else 

has cited the Lawtenslager connection and it needs further 

evaluation. As has been documented in earlier chapters, 

Clarke muddled nearly all references to Eights’s final 

decade of life. Thus, John Mason Clarke. I must record my 

thanks to a student, Ann Haggerty, who chose to write a 

term paper on Albany’s pioneer naturalist James Eights 

and introduced me to James Eights by way of Clarke’s 

paper. 

23. H.D. House, on Eights, in H.A. Kelly and W.T. 

Burrage, eds., American Medical Biographies, pp. 355-356. 

House did not allude to any other Eights specimens. 

Chapter 25 379


Chapter 26 

TWENTIETH CENTURY: THE 1920s AND EARLY 1930s 

In this period, James Eights pretty much 

relapsed into the obscurity that preceded his 

encouraging rediscovery early in the present century. 

While the world had not forgotten that 

event, not much notice of it was taken either. 

A competent botanist, W.B. Turrill, wrote a 

history of botanical exploration in Chile and 

Argentina in 1920. He did not mention Eights, 

even though he listed some other collectors of 

specimens in W.J. Hooker and G.A.W. Arnott’s 

“Contributions towards a flora of South America 

and the islands of the Pacific.” 1 

In a long and generally sound chapter on the 

Pendleton and Palmer expedition of 1829–1830, 

John Randolph Spears mentioned Eights casually, 

but the account was taken largely from contemporary 

newspapers and Jeremiah N. 

Reynolds (“an energetic young Yankee” — 

Yankee, he was not — he was born in 

Pennsylvania and grew up in Ohio) got most of 

the spotlight. There was no mention of Eights’s 

scientific advances. 2 

John Mason Clarke had not forgotten Eights 

but, in his biography of James Hall and its history 

of early geological work in New York, could 

do little more than allude to his own efforts to 

revive interest in him. 3 

Even on home ground, Eights did not fare 

well. In an anonymous article on the print collection 

of Ledyard W. Cogswell, Jr., in 1927, both 

the life and the works of Eights received a muddled 

treatment. No date of birth was mentioned 

and his drawings of Albany street scenes were 

supposed by the writer to be authentic scenes of 

Albany in 1805. One scene showed the steeple of 

a church not erected until 1814 and it was speculated 

that “a later artist” had added that. 

Jonathan Eights was said to have “administered 

the oath of Hippocrates himself” to young men 

whom he had “trained to study symptoms.” 

James Eights, it was said, “a half century after he 

had trotted the globe and lived for years in 

Philadelphia...returned to Albany where had had 

been born and where he had played as a child.” 

The changes he saw are said to have inspired 

him to recreate the scenes of his childhood. It is 

alleged that he did this when he was 84 years 

old, so that youths of 1857 might know the 

changes that had occurred! 4 

W.L.G. Joerg’s commentary on problems of 

polar research (1928) found no reason to memorialize 


Even though Eights’s Albany street scenes 

remained his strong point, Harry Twyford 

Peters’s work on early American lithographs and 

lithographers (1931) found little on Eights that 

was memorable. His city of residence was 

“Unknown,” and he was merely “Artist of view 

of ‘Church & Market Streets, Albany, 1805,’ published 

by Knickerbocker & Co. Also did some of 

the illustrations for Imbert in Colden’s ‘Canal 

Celebration.’” 6 

In 1933, another aspect of Eights’s life work 

was recognized, if somewhat tangentially. A 

bronze tablet was erected on a cliff-face in John 

Boyd Thacher Park (now a New York State 

park), in Eights’s beloved Helderbergs. It commemorated 

pioneering geologists. The names of 

Chapter 26 381

Figure 26.1. Memorial tablet, installed by the Tawasentha 

Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, in 

1933. The inspiration for including the name of James 

Eights can only have been the work, appearing posthumously, 

of John Mason Clarke (1857-1925). 

the famous are on it in a kind of apostolic succession: 

Amos Eaton, John Gebhard, Senior and 

Junior, James Hall, William W. Mather, Lardner 

Vanuxem, James Eights, Sir Charles Lyell, 

Benjamin Silliman, James D. Dana, Henry D. 

Rogers, William B. Rogers, Ferdinand Roemer, 

Edouard de Verneuil, Louis Agassiz, Edouard 

Desor, Sir William E. Logan. It was, the plaque 

reads, erected “IN MEMORY OF / THOSE PIO- 

NEER GEOLOGISTS / WHOSE RESEARCHES 

IN THE / HELDERBERGS FROM 1819 TO 1850 

/ MADE THIS REGION CLASSIC / 

GROUND.” 

Well and good — but who compiled that list 

of names? Who was responsible for the memorial 

tablet in the first place? Especially, who in 

1933 would have placed James Eights in such 

high company? 

Contemporary accounts of the tablet tell you 

nothing about its original inspiration. The ultimate 

answer must lie hidden in the history (as 

yet, inadequately written) of that distinguished 

geologist, devoted historian of New York geology 

and salvager of the memory of James Eights, 

John Mason Clarke. 

Now, Donald W. Fisher attributes the 

Thacher Park tablet directly to Clarke. That can 

hardly be true, since Clarke died in 1925. I have 

no doubt that Clarke planted the seed for it, even 

as “his winning ways” may have secured the initial 

gift by Emma Treadwell Thacher of 350 acres 

of the Indian Ladder area in 1913, a memorial to 

her husband, the Hon. John Boyd Thacher, as 

Fisher claims. But where is the proof? 7 

The fullest account of the placing of the 

memorial table, with its rather full history of the 

Thachers, the park and the tablet itself, appeared 

in 1935, in Raymond H. Torrey’s “John Boyd 

Thacher Park.” While Torrey’s introduction had 

ample notice of many of the great and near-great 

among geologists who studied in the 

Helderbergs, it did not notice James Eights. By 

his account, the tablet was the entire inspiration 

of the Tawasentha Chapter of the Daughters of 

the American Revolution, a notion that appears 

to have been promoted by that organization in 

all contemporary notices of the matter, both inhouse 

and in the public press. In an address by 

David H. Newland, State Geologist, the name of 

James Eights appears — with James Hall, 

William Mather, and Lardner Vanuxem, he was 

one among “the Albany group of geologists.” 

There is nothing in Newland’s address to hint at 

any origin of the memorial other than as an 

inspiration of the DAR. 8 

None of the contemporary Albany notices of 

the Helderberg memorial to early geologists 

known to me mentioned either James Eights or 

John Mason Clarke. The Albany Evening News on 

25 November1933 merely announced that Mrs. 

Chris A. Hartnagel, of the Tawasentha Chapter, 

had received a congratulatory telegram from the 

President-General of the DAR in recognition “of 

her work in connection with the erection of the 

historic marker to Pioneer Geologists, in Thacher 

Park on Nov. 5.” The Albany County Post, 1 

December 1933, got little beyond that: “When 


members of Tawasentha Chapter, Daughters of 

the American Revolution, met recently with Miss 

Grace Slingerland, they honored Mrs. Chris A. 

Hartnagle [!] for the part she had in securing the 

Memorial to geologists, which Tawasentha chapter 

placed in Thacher Park early this month [that 

is, November]....Mrs. Hartnagel, as Regent, 

presided at the meeting. Reports of officers and 

chairman were given and the final report of the 

retiring committee which had charge of the 

Historic marking to geologists. A beautiful corsage 

bouquet of pink roses was presented Mrs. 

Hartnagle [!] by members of the retiring committee....The 

presentation of the floral token to Mrs. 

Hartnagle [!] followed the passing of a resolution 

by chapter members thanking her for her 

supreme efforts in bringing about the achievement 

of the memorial.” 9 

Archives of the Tawasantha Chapter, D.A.R., 

are even more specific in regard to the role of 

Mrs. Hartnagel in promoting the notion of a 

memorial tablet to early geologists in the 

Helderbergs, with next to nothing being said 

about the contribution of her husband, geologist 

Chris A. Hartnagel. 10 

According to the minutes of the Tawasentha 

Chapter, D.A.R., meeting 16 May 1933, “Mrs. 

Hartnagel announced that following up an idea, 

she had recently inquired of Dr. Flick [A.C. Flick, 

State Historian] whether he would be friendly to 

a project of placing a bronze tablet on the cliffs of 

John Boyd Thatcher [!] Park, to the geologists 

who had pioneered there from 1819 to 1850 in 

Helderberg geology, including such men as 

Amos Eaton of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 

John Gebhards [!], father and son, of Schoharie, 

James Hall, James Dana, Wm. W. Mather, Henry 

D. and Wm. B. Rogers, Sir Thos. [!] Lyell and 

Louis Aggasiz [!]. 

“Dr. Flick rec’d the idea enthusiastically and 

next day visited the park with Mrs. Hartnagel. It 

was their conclusion that a tablet 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 

feet would be appropriate, and Dr. Flick said that 

he would back the project thru the State appropriations 

to the extent of $200. Mrs. Hartnagel 

laid the matter before the members of the 

Chapter for action.” 

The matter was approved. “Mrs. Joslin 

moved that the Regent [that is, Mrs. Hartnagel] 

be Chairman and choose her own Committee to 

prepare for the marking. The motion was seconded 

& carried.” 

On 21 November 1933, the Tawasentha 

Chapter met and summarized matters. “Dr. Flick 

has arranged that the amount paid by the State 

for the Memorial Tablet shall go through our 

Treasury & we shall have 100% credit. The State 

pays $200, and we the rest. Expense to date is 

$270, exclusive of programs. $150 for cast — 50 

Modelling — 25 Empire Granite Works — 45 

Travelling expenses of Cast-bronze etc. If we 

hadn’t gotten our bid in early, the expense 

would have been greater. 

“A congratulatory letter from Mrs. Griemes 

to the Regent was read....At this time the following 

letter of appreciation by the Chapter to the 

Regent was read by Miss [Miriam] Best, 

Madam Regent, 

I believe that the record of this memorable 

event will be incomplete without an acknowledgment 

of the efforts of you and your husband 

to bring it to fruition. It is my recollection that 

the placing of this Marker was first suggested by 

you, to which the Chapter gave its hearty 

approval. The many grave problems which presented 

themselves were most ably handled by 

you and your committee. 

For the design of the marker which perhaps 

has no counterpart in the State of New York, we 

are indebted to the ability and efforts of your 

husband, Mr. Chris A. Hartnagel. 

The program was most appropriate in each 

detail for such an occasion, which will long be 

remembered by all who were present. ...” 

There was a vote of thanks to Mrs. Hartnagel 

and a motion was made and approved that this 

tribute “be spread upon the minutes of this meeting, 

to be left as a lasting record of the Chapter’s 

love and appreciation of their Regent, for the 

work which she did in making the unveiling of 

the tablet at Thatcher [!] Park, possible.” 

With this, we enter upon the years of the 

later 1930s and onwards, a time when the name 

of Eights became a firm part of the history and 

technical literature of Antarctic exploration. 

Chapter 26 383

NOTES 

1. W.B. Turrill, “Botanical exploration in Chile and 

Argentina,” p. 59. 

2. J.R. Spears, Captain Nathaniel Brown Palmer, 1922; 

see Chapter XI, “Another memorable exploring expedition,” 

pp. 111-129. Eights is mentioned on pp. 122, 124; a 

few matters were muddled and it is not clear when the 

Annawan and Seraph returned. 

3. J.M. Clarke, James Hall of Albany, 1923; Eights was 

mentioned pp. 55, 56, 101. On p. 55, Clarke noticed the 

official connection of Eights with the Geological Survey of 

1836, as assistant to Lardner Vanuxem in what was then 

called the Fourth District of New York. In spite of the fact 

that Eights had had “a career of exploration in the 

Antarctic and an experience in many branches of natural 

science far more varied and comprehensive than that of 

any member of the Survey” (p. 56), Clarke found remarkably 

little to say about Eights in the entire near-century of 

New York science that he carefully catalogued. Due to a 

typographical error, Clarke (p. 56, note 2) had Eights die in 

1883. While Clarke, p. 101, reported Eights present in the 

meeting in 1838 in the house of Ebenezer Emmons when 

the Association of American Geologists (later American 

Association for the Advancement of Science) was born, 

this is otherwise undocumented. 

4. Anon., “Old Albany prints,” The Knickerbocker Press 

Sunday Magazine, 25 Sep 1927, pp. 2-3, 18. It is hard to 

understand the boner about Eights’s age in 1857. Eights’s 

supposed Albany boyhood is typical myth; his return after 

a long absence is even more fanciful. It appears that when 

one found a lacuna in the record of a person’s whereabouts, 

he must have been in Philadelphia! 

5. W.L.G. Joerg, ed., Problems of Polar Research, failed to 

mention any of Eights’s contributions, even though papers 

by experts on Antarctic botany, zoology and zoogeography 

were included in the symposium. 

6. H.T. Peters, America on Stone, the Other Printmakers 

to the American People, p. 170. There is no reason to suppose 

that Eights was in any way in the hire of the Imbert 

lithographic firm. 

7. D.W. Fisher, “John Mason Clarke: James Hall’s protégé-successor,” 

p. 117. Actually, I find no contemporary 

account that links Clarke to the origin of the Park. For a 

prime mover, by today’s standards at least, he was 

remarkably self-effacing! For a full early relation of the 

preservation of the Indian Ladder area, see George 

Frederick Kunz, “John Boyd Thacher Park,” 1914, the year 

the land was actually dedicated. Not only was Clarke not 

mentioned in Kunz’s quite long account, but Kunz’s list of 

early geologists differs considerably from the one finally 

used. There are 16 names on the tablet; Kunz’s list (pp. 

349-351) identified 21. Most notably for us, James Eights 

was not among them: nor were the Gebhards, Silliman, 

Roemer, De Verneuil, and Desor. John Mason Clarke was 

modest enough about his role, if any, in the acquisition of 

Thacher Park (“Tenth Report of the Director of the 

Museum,” 1913 [1914], p. 40 ). He noted: “Geologists in 

many parts of the world will be interested in the 

announcement recently made of the gift to the State of 

New York as a public park, of the ‘Indian Ladder’ and its 

adjoining portions of the Helderberg mountains escarpment 

in Albany county, New York....the Helderbergs and 

the Indian Ladder...are really a classic ground in American 

geological science....And over this splendid picture generations 

of geologists have gazed, for the Helderbergs have 

been the Mecca of geologists for well-nigh a century.” But, 

note: no list of names! Geologist Winifred Goldring, in 

“Geology of the Berne Quadrangle,” pp. 47-53, outlined 

the history of the park; she noted (p. 53, f.n. 1) the tablet 

but indicated nothing of its origin. 

8. R.H. Torrey, “John Boyd Thacher Park,” pp. 3-28; 

D.H. Newland’s address is pp. 18-20. It would appear that 

a major accomplishment of John Boyd Thacher (1847- 

1906), while a two-term mayor of Albany, was “making 

State Street a dignified approach to the Capitol by eliminatng 

the use of the street as a market” (biographical 

notice of Thacher, pp. 24-25). There was no notice of any 

role of John Mason Clarke in all this, beyond his presence 

at the formal dedication on 14 Sep 1914 (p. 25). Mrs. Chris 

A. Hartnagel’s name (p. 18) was inadvertently given as 

Mrs. “Charles” Hartnagel. 

9. Anon., 25 Nov 1933, “DAR regent gets tribute for 

marker”; Anon., 1 Dec 1933, “Tawasentha Chapter D.A.R. 

honors Mrs. Hartnagle [!].” 

10. Lona C. Perkins, Regent of the Tawasentha 

Chapter, D.A.R., kindly provided information from both 

the Tawasentha Chapter’s scrapbook of clippings and 

from manuscript minutes (her letters of 10 and 21 Oct 

1988). Additional assistance came from Sally Stevenson, 

Librarian, State University at Albany, and Elva B. 

Crawford, Archivist, Office of the Historian General, 

National D.A.R. Chris Andrew Hartnagel (1874-1962) was 

a geologist with the New York State Museum from 1905 

to1941, its State Geologist from 1941 to1944. His wife, 

always referred to in the local press as Mrs. Chris 

Hartnagel, was Edith J. Munsell Hartnagel. 


Chapter 27 

FAME CLAIMS JAMES EIGHTS, 1933–1960 

Aside from the Thacher Park tablet in 1933, 

that decade got off to a slow start. With the fanfare 

attending Richard E. Byrd’s adventures in 

the Antarctic, however, popular and governmental 

attention turned intermittently toward the Far 

South. Despite the turmoil brought on by World 

War II (and, to some extent, because of it), austral 

regions retained some hold on the public 

interest. While the correction of old injustices 

mattered to some, to others the chief interest was 

to solidfy America’s claim to a share in the poorly 

known Antarctic continent. The rediscovery of 

James Eights did a little of both. It eased somewhat 

the national conscience, for a neglected 

hero emerged. It also helped prove to the world 

that we had long had a claim of some substance 

in the South Polar continent. 1 

Recognition came leisurely. E.M. Sheppard, 

in 1933, concluded authoritatively that Eights’s 

Serolis trilobitoides is a perfectly acceptable 

species. 2 

Eights’s ten-legged pycnogonid, Decolopoda, 

won him further fame. W.T. Calman and Isabella 

Gordon, in 1933, described a twelve-legged seaspider, 

Dodecolopoda mawsoni, and added an 

informed nod to James Eights. Quite obviously 

intrigued by what he had found in regard to 

Eights, Calman then dug into the record and 

produced in 1937 a great tribute to Eights. It 

improved in several ways over Clarke’s account 

of 1916, stood alone for a decade, and is still useful 

for its zoological perspective. 3 

Calman’s account of Eights, “James Eights, a 

Pioneer Antarctic Naturalist,” was given as the 

presidential address to the Linnean Society of 

London in 1937. Because of his own interest in 

pycnogonids, he emphasized that group; but he 

also evaluated Eights’s various Antarctic animals 

(and included Eights’s illustrations of Serolis and 

Decolopoda). He summarized Eights’s life as 

known to him, added a significant amount of 

new material, elucidated the roles of Pendleton 

and Nathaniel and Alexander Palmer, quoted in 

its entirety Eights’s letter to Amos Binney (1834) 

in regard to Decolopoda, and gathered a useful 

preliminary bibliography of 19 Eights publications. 

Eights’s name gained some recognition in 

respectable zoological circles when Robert 

Cushman Murphy (1936) accepted as probably 

correct, his reports of the king penguin in the 

South Shetlands, a notable extension of the current 

range. 4 

Eights still did not fare so well in what may 

be called the received version of the history of 

Antarctic research. In 1940, Harley Harris Bartlett 

barely mentioned him, hardly bothering then to 

distinguish him from Jeremiah N. Reynolds, of 

whom he disapproved. Neither Bartlett nor a fellow 

symposiast, George Smith Bryan, took note 

of Eights’s early nomination to accompany the 

Wilkes Expedition. With them, their business as 

historians was clearly restricted to consideration 

of the final participants. 5 

As late as 1943, the director of the Albany 

Institute of History and Art, J.D. Hatch, Jr., 

expressed doubt to Charles C. Adams, Director, 

New York State Museum, that Dr. James Eights 

Chapter 27 385

the scientist was the artist of the early street 

scenes. Adams quickly put him to rights and 

sent him a copy of John Mason Clarke’s account 

of Eights to prove his point. Hatch was anxious 

to clear up the matter before his staff undertook 

a contemplated exhibition of the street scenes. 6 

Matters took a dramatic turn when 

Lawrence Martin, Chief, Division of Maps, and 

Incumbent, Chair of Geography, Library of 

Congress, presented a rousing account of Eights 

to the Eighth American Scientific Congress in 

Washington in 1940. It was deceptively titled 

“Early explorations and investigations in southern 

South America and adjacent Antarctic 

waters by mariners and scientists from the 

United States of America.” After a brief nod to 

Nathaniel Palmer and Benjamin Pendleton, he 

referred to the “five scientific investigators” 

who accompanied them (Eights, Watson, 

Reynolds, and two unnamed associates) as “the 

first persons from the United States of America 

who carried on scientific investigations” in the 

area indicated. And: “Eights of Albany is the 

great name in the group. He was a trained 

physician and an accomplished naturalist, 

adorning the science of geology, including 

glaciology, and being highly competent in 

botany and zoology as well.” Carrying on from 

the recent sound revisionary treatment of Eights 

by Calman, Martin firmly placed Eights’s name 

in a prominent light, ushering in the modern 

era for James Eights, when hardly a historian of 

Antarctic science fails to notice him. 7 

Martin went into great detail in regard to 

Eights’s explorations. He mentioned “several 

landings” of the Annawan in Patagonia (incorrectly 

dated January 1830). Eights collected at 

Staten Island (plants are listed, taken from 

Joseph Dalton Hooker; evidently, Martin did not 

know that William Jackson Hooker has previously 

used some of Eights’s plants). He was wrong 

to suppose that Eights collected plants and 

marine invertebrates in “extreme southern 

Chile...shortly after January 22, 1830.” (The date 

is incorrect.) Martin incorrectly supposed that 

Eights was on Pendleton’s Seraph while Watson 

and Reynolds were with Nathaniel Palmer on 

the Annawan, during the Antarctic venture. 

(They were all on the Annawan.) 8 

Martin was insistent. Eights’s geological 

studies were detailed and seminal; sea life was 

noticed; geographical advances were made. 

“Eights anticipated Charles Darwin some nine 

years in observing glacial boulders carried in or 

left by floating icebergs and deducing from them 

the geology of unvisited lands poleward from 

the points of observation.” While Eights supposed 

the unvisited lands insular, Martin now 

knew “it was actually a portion of the Antarctic 

mainland west of the Palmer Peninsula, a part of 

the terra incognita which Admiral Richard E. 

Byrd mapped by airplane flights from the ‘Bear’ 

in 1940.” Martin was unaware that Eights 

returned to the United States in 1830, supposing 

(as authorities have mistakenly continued to do) 

that in “southern Chile, where the ‘Seraph’ and 

the ‘Annawan’ operated together in 1830-31, 

Eights presumably continued his geological, 

botanical, and zoological studies, chiefly in the 

lands adjacent to the Chonos Archipelago, the 

Gulfs of Ancud and Corovado, the Island of 

Chiloé, and adjacent islands and waters.” Martin 

concluded: “Eights’s field work in Patagonia and 

Isla de los Estados [Staten Island] in Argentina, 

and near Cape Horn in Chile, is one of the very 

early professional scientific investigations in the 

coastal regions of South America, as well as in 

the South Shetland Islands and South Pacific 

Ocean not far north of Antarctica, by a technically 

qualified scholar from North America.” 9 

Even though his 1940 paper was widely 

reprinted, Martin was not finished with Eights. 

Notice of his final paper, an expansion upon one 

of his early themes, belongs here, even though 

not published until 1949 (manuscript received by 

editor, 28 August 1947). In “James Eights’ pioneer 

observation and interpretation of erratics in 

Antarctic icebergs,” Martin began his account: 

“One of the high points in initial world knowledge 

of glacial geology is the astute interpretation 

by the great English naturalist Charles 

Darwin, in 1839, of glacial erratics in South 

Indian Ocean and South Atlantic Ocean icebergs 

as indications of the nature of bedrock in 

Antarctica. It may now be shown that Darwin 

was anticipated by some 9 years in this discovery. 

His predecessor was the American geologist 

James Eights of Albany, N.Y.” 10 


This matter has been alluded to previously. I 

cover here only the part of the story that pictures 

Eights as the neglected pioneer. Martin recounts 

the Darwin record in detail — all based upon 

astute use of the observations of others. 

However, in Eights’s case, Darwin at first failed 

to learn his name (he hastily overlooked it, in the 

French report where he learned of it). Later, he 

corrected himself to the extent of claiming that 

he had not been able to find an account of the 

American expedition in question. 11 

Again, Martin incorrectly had Eights on the 

Seraph. He quoted Eights’s statement that rounded 

pieces of granite were to be found lying about 

on the islands, whereas the bedrock of the 

islands themselves was not granite. They were, 

Eights thought, “brought...by the ice-bergs from 

their parent hills on some far more southerly 

land.” Martin pointed out that the logbook of the 

schooner Penguin reported: “Landed on one {iceberg} 

& got a specimen of rocks which are not 

found at Shetlands.” Surely, Martin observed, 

“no one except Eights” could have told the logkeeper 

that the boulder was an erratic. Eights, 

Martin noted, expanded upon all this, describing 

boulder-carrying icebergs in detail — in contrast 

to Darwin’s second-hand report of a single boulder. 

12 While Eights was cautious about crediting 

the existence of an Antarctic continent as the 

source of glacial erratics, he was convinced that 

“there were extensive groups or chains of islands 

yet unknown” in that direction. Martin pointed 

out that since no such island chain exists, “it is 

perfectly safe to say that the Albany scientist 

forecast the existence of an important portion of 

the Antarctic coast in 1830.” It therefore seemed 

just to Martin that “In 1943 the United States 

Board on Geographical Names paid the following 

well-deserved tribute to Eights, adopting the 

place-name Eights Peninsula for ‘the peninsula 

between Bellingshausen Sea and Amundsen Sea 

in latitude approximately 71° 20’ S., longitude 

approximately 98° W., named after James Eights, 

scientist on the brig Seraph [!] of Stonington, 

Connecticut, Benjamin Pendleton, Master. Eights, 

while sailing probably within 85 miles of this 

peninsula in 1830, first deduced the existence of 

at least 450 miles of adjacent Antarctic lands.’” 13 

Martin thought it appropriate that Eights 

should be thus memorialized. He pointed out 

that Darwin’s name shows up on maps as 

“Mount Darwin, a peak 6890 feet in height in 

Tiera del Fuego, as well as the 6200-foot Darwin 

Mountains near the coast of Victoria land, the 

Mt. Darwin on the west side of Beardmore 

Glacier, and the Darwin Inlet east of Joinville 

Island, all three in Antarctica.” Darwin, in fact, 

did not get as close to the Antarctic as Eights 

did. 14 

In 1947, Joel W. Hedgpeth published his 

learned monograph on pycnogonids, in it 

recounting the “melancholy story of Dr. James 

Eights (M.D.) and his Antarctic travels.” That 

work led to Hedgpeth’s sustained interest in 

James Eights. He remarked that the conviction 

that led zoologists to ignore Eights’s ten-legged 

sea-spider seemed also to have kept them ready 

to ignore additional ten-legged forms, as shown 

by a specimen of a new species named by 

Hedgpeth that had lain unhonored since its collection 

in 1872. 15 

The decade of the 1950s began with a typically 

muddled newspaper account of James Eights 

the artist. It concerned primarily the collection of 

prints of early Albany gathered by banker 

Ledyard Cogswell, Jr. Eights emerged as “an 

Albany draftsman and scientific man who 

accompanied the Navy’s first expedition into the 

Antarctic.” The story of the appearance of the 

Eights drawings as unacknowledged illustrations 

for Lossing’s Harper’s article was retold, 

with allusion to Lossing’s letter on how the 

paintings had come to him (but giving no 

details). Cogswell described how he and the late 

Col. James H. Manning had bought and shared 

the Eights drawings, the Manning share later 

being acquired by Cogswell. 16 

One of the earliest books on Antarctic adventure 

to make much of James Eights was D.M. 

Henderson’s The Hidden Coasts (1953). While 

Henderson tried to check for local material on 

Eights, he did not get very far and he ended 

making some curious statements. He had the 

U.S. Board on Geographical Names giving 

Eights’s name to a portion of the Antarctic shore, 

“the northern coast of Ellsworth Land — 

observed and charted by him” — which, of 

Chapter 27 387

course, is not correct. Henderson recounted the 

matter of glacial rocks and southern continents 

and the somewhat misplaced credit that Darwin 

received for it. Finally, he reviewed the cancelled 

appointment of Eights to a position on the 

Wilkes expedition, questioning the impartiality 

of selection of men who ultimately went as scientists: 

“Dr. James Eights...appears to have been 

a victim of political intrigue. His experience in 

the Antarctic would have aided Wilkes greatly. 

As it was to happen in the cruise, the head of the 

squadron got into difficulty about his south 

polar landfalls; Eights would surely have helped 

by painstaking observations.” C.R. Roseberry’s 

essay, “Antarctic area named for obscure 

Albanian” (1954), was a well-informed article on 

Eights. It is sad that it did not appear in a more 

lasting form. 17 

In a list of expeditions to the Antarctic 

(including such outlying islands as the South 

Shetlands), Brian Roberts in 1958 included 

known sealing and whaling expeditions, 

whether or not they made new geographical discoveries. 

He had it that B. Pendleton/N.B. 

Palmer/A.S. Palmer (ships Seraph, Annawan, 

Penguin) in 1829–31: “Visited South Shetland 

Islands in January-February 1830; the first government-sponsored 

United States Antarctic 

exploring expedition, accompanied by independent 

investigators (James Eights, J.N. Reynolds 

and A.J. [!] Watson). ‘Annawan’ and ‘Penguin’ 

searched unsuccessfully for mythical ‘Swain’s 

Island.’ ‘Seraph’ penetrated westwards to long. 

101° W., south of lat. 60° S.” 18 

Philip I. Mitterling took a well-researched 

look at America in the Antarctic to 1840 in 1959. 

He was not content merely to revisit established 

heroes. He penetrated masks of primadonnas 

and furnished a generally refreshing and 

informed picture. Considering the size of the 

canvas involved, he treated James Eights most 

generously. In his account of the expedition of 

1829–31, Eights was “an experienced naturalist 

from Albany.” He accounted Eights’s scientific 

papers (some of which he cited) to have given 

him “a modicum of eminence in scientific circles.” 

He might have admitted that such recognition 

was slow in coming to Eights. 19 

Mitterling dug far below the received version 

of history in his story of preparations for what 

was finally called the Wilkes Expedition of 1838. 

In doing so, he unearthed much of the archival 

history of James Eights’s brief involvement. The 

amount of propagandizing, finagling, and 

jostling for advantage that occurred among 

politicians, naval cliques, and would-be explorers 

and naturalists competing for turf is told for 

the first time. No group, of course, behaved with 

entire openness. Propagandists for exploration, 

such as Reynolds, were happy only with continued 

successes. Politicians would rather not act at 

all, or, if forced to act, had partisan or personal 

axes to grind. Private groups would rather government 

paid for advantages that accrued to 

them. Scientists multiplied the numbers of jobs 

that could be created — then, the chosen few 

helped secretly to eliminate “surplus” individuals 

when the going got rough. It is to Mitterling’s 

credit that he saw the reality of all this and 

forged a story that included it and yet told the 

well-known history as well. In his singulay wellhandled 

account of the ultimate sailing of the 

Wilkes fleet, sans Eights and several others, 

Mitterling held that both the architects of the 

expedition and the scientific coterie that dominated 

access to the official ear acted with less 

than candor. While Reynolds was told flatly that 

his services were not wanted, the “unwanted 

members of the scientific corps were not dismissed 

with similar forthrightness.” With, as has 

previously been reported, the connivance of a 

few scientists, politicians eliminated the unwanted. 

What was actually agreed upon by those 

involved in the ultimate decision was epitomized 

by Wilkes: There would be no difficulty, if 

the Navy Department “will only suffer their pay 

to continue until the sailing of the Expedition.” 

All this was on record but no historian of southern 

and Antarctic exploration had, to that date, 

put it so forthrightly. 20 

There remains to be recorded a summary 

notice on actions of geographers to keep the 

name of Eights on maps of the Antarctic. 

The first application of the name of “Eights” 

to a place in Antarctica has been alluded to 

above, with reference to “Eights Peninsula” 

(1943). Since this area, later found to be an 

island, not a peninsula, had been named for 


Thomas R. Thurston by Admiral Byrd in 1940, 

the Eights name was conserved by applying it to 

the coast of the Antarctic just landward from 

Thurston Island. This name of Eights Coast has 

been generally accepted and gradual refinements 

will be noticed as pertinent. Located at 73°30’S, 

96° W, between Cape Waite and Phrogner Point, 

overlooking the Bellingshausen Sea and bisected 

by the Jones Mountains, it was discovered, 

according to John Stewart, “on flights from the 

Bear in Feb. 1940 by members of the USAS [U.S. 

Antarctic Service] 1939-41....It was first explored 

in Feb. 1960 by the Glacier and the Burton Island 

during the USN Bellingshausen Sea 

Expedition.” 21 

The transitory place name of Eights Station, 

on the Antarctic mainland, 75° 14’ S, 77° 10’ W, 

will be treated in the next chapter, on the fortunes 

of James Eights in the decade of the 1960s. 

NOTES 

1. Sufficient background for these views can be found 

in K.J. Bertrand’s Americans in Antarctica 1775-1948. This 

work has been freely cited in earlier chapters. The expeditions 

of Richard Evelyn Byrd (1888-1957), 1928-1935, are 

described pp. 290-361. Byrd was also intimately involved 

in the U.S. Antarctic Service Expedition, 1939-1941, and 

the U.S. Navy Antarctic Developments Project (Operation 

Highjump), 1946-1947 (see pp. 407-513). 

2. E.M. Sheppard, “Isopod Crustacea — Part I. The 

family Serolidae,” pp. 323, 324-326, 326-328, plate XIV, Fig. 

7. This has a synonymy and good illustrations. 

3. W.T. Calman and Isabella Gordon, “A dodecapodous 

pycnogonid,” pp. 107, 110, 113. 

4. R.C. Murphy, Oceanic Birds of South America, 1: 344, 

345. Murphy cited Eights from the quotation of his 1833 

paper by Captain Fanning in 1838 — Fanning was, indeed, 

instrumental in making Eights’s observations better 

known internationally than Eights’s scientific colleagues 

were. While this king penguin record was accepted sceptically 

by Calman (1937: 178), later reporters have been 

more lenient. Brian Roberts cited Eights’s work (again, by 

way of Fanning) in “A bibliography of Antarctic ornithology” 

(1941, p. 341); and Bernard Stonehouse (“The general 

biology and thermal balance of penguins,” p. 140) supposed 

that king penguins had been exterminated in the 

South Shetlands within the last hundred years, a view that 

may well be correct. 

5. H.H. Bartlett, “The reports of the Wilkes expedition, 

and the work of the specialists in science”; Eights was 

mentioned on p. 611, in regard to his work on the 

Pendleton-Palmer Expedition. Bartlett’s main objective 

seems to have been to scalp Reynolds, not to revise the 

entire history of that excursion and so give Eights his due. 

G.S. Bryan, “The purpose, equipment and personnel of the 

Wilkes expedition,” failed to mention Eights. In 1941, 

William Herbert Hobbs, a historian of Antarctic discovery 

anxious to memorialize American exploration, got no further 

in recognizing Eights than to list him by his last name 

only (p. 21), as a “scientist” on the Palmer Expedition. 

6. C.C. Adams, J.D. Hatch, Jr., exchange of letters, 23 

and 26 April 1943, AIHA archives. Hatch thought Clarke 

incorrect to infer that Eights’s scenes were based on “a 

memory or a tradition of houses and streets.” He thought 

them reconstructions “based on exacting knowledge of 

property footages,” a view that may be correct, although 

he did not elaborate. 

7. Lawrence Martin’s “Early explorations and investigations” 

was read 11 May 1940, as noted in his own corrected 

typewritten copy sent to The Mariners’ Museum, 

Newport News, Virginia. (I thank Kathryn B. Braig for a 

photocopy of this.) It appeared in print in full in the 

Proceedings of the Eighth American Scientific Congress, pp. 

43-46, of volume IX, History and Geography (1943). A 

lengthy abstract of it, prepared by Martin, appeared in the 

Congressional Record (vol. 86, Appendix, pp. 3194-3195), as 

an “Extension of remarks” by Congressman James A. 

Shanley (Connecticut) on 23 May. Shanley quoted the full 

title but entered his remarks in the Congressional Record 

under his own title of “Credit for the captains of 

Connecticut’s clipper ships.” Martin’s abstract was again 

published, with shortened and somewhat misleading title, 

in Nature (London), as “Early explorers of southern South 

America from the United States” (17 Aug 1940). 

8. Martin, “Early explorations and investigations,” pp. 

43, 44, 45. Eights could not have collected in “extreme 

southern Chile” until after his visit to the Antarctic. 

9. Martin, “Early explorations and investigations,” pp. 

44, 45. 

10. Martin, “James Eights’ pioneer observation and 

interpretation of erratics in Antarctic icebergs,” p. 177. Of 

course, “9 years” means the time of Eights’s observation 

and the time of publication of Darwin’s statement. Eights’s 

work was not published until 1833, some six years before 

Darwin’s publication. 

11. Martin, “James Eights’ pioneer observation,” p. 

178. Clearly, Darwin had not seen Eights’s 1833 paper on 

Brongniartia, with its notes on the natural history of the 

South Shetland Islands; nor had he read Fanning’s reprinting 

of Eights’s South Shetland natural history in 1838. 

12. Martin, “James Eights’ pioneer observations,” pp. 

179-180. 


180. Martin gave no precise source for the quotation from 

the Board on Geographical Names; it was likely a decision 

reported in a processed memorandum of limited circulation. 

It is, of course, probable that the genesis of the decision 

owed something to Lawrence Martin. The decision 

was summarized for press release 5 Jan 1944 by the U.S. 

Board on Geographical Names: “Eights Peninsula: 

Antarctica. The peninsula between Bellingshausen Sea and 

Amundsen Sea, terminating in approximately 71° 20’ S, 

98° 00’ W. (Not Thurston Peninsula.)” This release further 

reported: “Eights Peninsula is named for James Eights, scientist 

on the United States Brig Seraph [not correct, of 

course] of Stonington, Connecticut, which sailed within 80 

miles of this peninsula in 1830. The scientific records of 

this cruise show that Eights first deduced from observations 

of natural phenomena the existence of some 450 

Chapter 27 389

miles of adjacent Antarctic land.” (I am indebted to 

Raymond E. MacNamara of the U.S. Defense Mapping 

Agency, 28 December 1977, for a copy of this memorandum.) 

Eights Peninsula was later found to be an island. It 

was charted as a peninsula by Admiral Byrd as early as 

1940 and named Thurston Peninsula (later Thurston 

Island) (Stewart, Antarctica, 2: 1015). In 1947, the name of 

Eights Peninsula officially reverted to Byrd’s Thurston 

Peninsula. See: U.S. Board on Geographic Names, “The 

Geographical Names of Antarctica,” 1947, p. 241. (In 1960, 

the name Thurston Island was adopted officially, upon 

realization that it was not a peninsula.) To avoid entanglements 

and to keep the Eights name permanently on maps 

of the Antarctic, the name Eights Coast was coined for a 

stretch of coast extending from about 88° W. to the base of 

the supposed Thurston Peninsula (p. 241). (See also: U.S. 

Board on Geographic Names, Antarctic Gazetteer, 1956, p. 

118; and Stewart, 1: 296.) This matter is further pursued in 

note 21. 


180. Martin was somewhat justified in wondering (p. 181) 

why Darwin had not learned of Eights’s account. 

15. J.W. Hedgpeth, “On the evolutionary significance 

of the Pycnogonida,” pp. 9-10, including especially footnote 

3. The beautifully illustrated account of ten-legged 

forms occupies pp. 9-33. Hedgpeth also reported (footnote 

3, p. 10) the rediscovery of what is no doubt Eights’s original 

specimen, something that Cole had searched for 

unsuccessfully 40-odd years before. 

16. “Birthday gift started Ledyard Cogswell, Jr., private 

collection of prints of early Albany,” Anon., 6 August 

1950. 

17. D. M. Henderson, The Hidden Coasts, a Biography of 

Admiral Charles Wilkes, pp. 31, 41. Ledyard Cogswell, Jr., 

learned that Henderson was “looking into the expedition 

of the U.S. Navy to the Antarctic in the early part of the 

last century.” See Cogswell to Henderson, 24 February 

1950; AIHA Archives. He asked for any further information 

that Henderson found on Eights: He had found only 

that he was born in 1798 “and was a member of the first 

expedition by the Navy. It has been said that because he 

could not go on the second expedition his life was broken.” 

Henderson replied, 26 February 1950 (AIHA), giving 

Cogswell some information that he had found. He considered 

Eights to have been unjustly treated. “When I finish 

my book, I will have sympathetic mention of Eights.” 

Considering that the book was a biography of Wilkes, 

Henderson did well by Eights. C.R. Roseberry, in 

“Antarctic area named for obscure Albanian,” took note of 

such contemporary works as Henderson’s work and had 

digested material thoroughly. It seems unlikely that Eights 

did the Albany street scenes as early as the late 1820s; 

Roseberry was correct to call them reconstructions. I doubt 

his statement that James assisted his father as a doctor in 

the cholera scare in 1832. The article was well illustrated, 

including a reproduction of the Twitchell portrait (uncredited 

in the article). 

18. B. Roberts, “Chronological list of Antarctic expeditions,” 

p. 111. The extent of government support was exaggerated 

(thanks to Fanning’s self-serving claims of 1838) 

and Watson was given yet another set of fore-initials. 

19. P.I. Mitterling, America in the Antarctic to 1840, pp. 

97, 99-100, 101. He was incorrect to say that the Seraph and 

Annawan met off Long Island. 

20. Mitterling, America in the Antarctica to 1840; for the 

propagandizing, see pp. 101-ff. Political maneuvering is 

well handled; friends of exploration were older and wiser 

than when President Adams and Secretary Southard 

attempted to get a miserably unprepared expedition on 

the high seas in 1828-1829, pp. 102-110. For the elimination 

of Reynolds, the nefarious maneuvering of navy personnel 

and politicians, and the efforts of chosen scientists to save 

their skins (and those of certain friends), see p. 127. 

21. Lawrence Martin’s account (1949) of application of 

the Eights name in 1943 has been cited, note 13 above. See: 

J. Stewart, Antarctica, pp. 296, 1015. Reference to the original 

exploration during the U.S. Antarctic Service 

Expedition may be found in K.J. Bertrand, Americans in 

Antarctica, pp. 421-422; see Bertrand’s detailed map, p. 418 

(it incorporated information to about 1970). For further 

details, see U.S. Board on Geographic Names (etc.), 1944; 

1947: 160, 261; 1956: 118, 302; and 1969: 57, 196. A long 

account of Eights Coast may be found in U.S. Board of 

Geographic Names, Geographic Names of Antarctica,” 1956, 

with its detailed list of criteria for applying names, pp. 5-6, 

its list of expeditions, pp. 13-14, and, especially, its description 

of Eights Coast (p. 118): “that portion of the coast of 

Antarctica along the S. shore of Bellingshausen Sea, 

extending from about 88°00’W., to Cape Flying Fish, in 

about 100°50’W. [But note comments in reports of 1969 

and 1995, below.] Named by the US-SCAN [United States 

Special Committee on Antarctic Names, 1943-1947] for 

James Eights of Albany, N.Y., geologist on the Annawan in 

1830, who carried on geologic investigations in the South 

Shetland Is., and who cruised westward on the Annawan, 

in company with the Penguin, to 103°W. Eights, the earliest 

American scientist in the Antarctic, discovered the first 

known fossils in the Antarctic region, a tree section, in the 

South Shetland Islands. As a result of these investigations 

Eights, in 1833, published...what proved to be remarkably 

accurate observations and conclusions on the natural phenomena 

of the region.” For Thurston Peninsula (now 

Thurston Island), see this work, p. 302. The summary in 

the Board’s Antarctic Gazetteer (1969, p. 57) adjusted Eights 

Coast to 73°30’S, 96°00’W; Eights Peninsula had been 

changed to Thurston Island, 72°06’S, 99°00W. F.G. Alberto, 

Geographic Names of the Antarctic, 2nd ed. (1995), p. 214, 

retains the location given in 1969; for Thurston Island, see 

p. 746. 


Chapter 28 

JAMES EIGHTS: THE END OF A SECOND CENTURY 

In the period from 1960 to the present, James 

Eights has frequently appeared in publications 

treating the history of Antarctic exploration. In 

1970, Herman R. Friis referred to Eights as “a 

kind of unsung early U.S. antarctic scientist.” 

Friis’s own efforts, along with those of several 

other writers, have made Eights a well-sung 

investigator. 1 

In 1961, a camp that served as a station for 

carrying on measurements of the earth’s magnetic 

field and the ionosphere was established by 

U.S. Antarctic Research Project Sky-Hi. It was in 

Ellsworth Land, at the base of the Antarctic 

Peninsula, in the Sentinel Mountains, 75°14’S, 

77°10’W. It was selected in November 1961 and 

construction of the camp and airstrip was completed 

in February 1962. It was initially called 

Camp Sky-Hi, housing from 10 to 11 men. “It 

became Eights Station in the summer of 1962-63, 

and housed...5 men for the following 2 winters. 

It was closed in November 1965.” 2 

Some notice of Eights Station appeared in the 

popular press in 1962. The New York Times carried 

a Christchurch, New Zealand, report dated 

2 November: “Nine men aboard a Navy DC-3 

flew into Eights Station today, 850 miles from the 

South Pole and 1,610 miles from McMurdo 

Sound, to establish the first new year-round 

United States scientific station to be built since 

1957.” Eights Station, it continued, is “named for 

James Eights, who in 1830 was the first United 

States scientist to go to Antarctica.” 

Establishment of the station “is one of the major 

objectives of the current program. The base will 

consist of eleven packaged prefabricated buildings. 

Fourteen air drops by Globemasters will be 

required to establish and provision Eights 

Station.” It is “located in Ellsworth Land, near 

the base of Palmer Peninsula....The plane that 

landed today will remain at the station site to 

serve as weather and radio post until the basic 

camp is prepared.” 3 

A Durham, North Carolina, newspaper on 5 

November 1962 reported much the same information: 

“U.S. sailors and airmen, working in 33 

degrees below zero weather, have begun construction 

of an eleven-man upper atmosphere 

physics research station, which will be one of the 

world’s most remote scientific outposts. 

“Five scientists supported by six Navy men 

will staff the Antarctic station 760 miles from the 

South Pole [note difference in distance claimed 

by previous report] and 517 miles from New 

Byrd Station. The new permanent installation 

near the base of Palmer Peninsula will be named 

‘Eights Station’ in honor of James Eights, the first 

American scientist to go to the Antarctic.” 4 

F.W. Reichelderfer pointed out, in his notice 

written for U.S. Weather Bureau upport operations, 

why James Eights, as “the first United 

States Scientist to visit Antarctica...well deserves 

to have his memory continued in both the section 

of coast and the new scientific station that 

now bear his name.” 5 

In a short, condensed paper, Richard O. 

Cummings in 1962 (published 1965) celebrated 

the primacy of James Eights as an American scientist 

in the Antarctic. Notable for its use of 

Chapter 28 391

archival materials, it richly deserved expansion 

into a major narrative of Antarctic science. 6 

Cummings has Eights “a member of the 

teaching staff at Rensselaer Polytechnic 

Institute,” an error. His account of the sponsorship 

and ultimate organization of the ships of the 

expedition is excellent. His unfortunately brief 

quotations from New York Lyceum of Natural 

History Minutes are especially valuable. While 

“a mixture of commercial motives and scientific 

aims caused members to pause,” the Lyceum 

concluded to support the expedition. “Minutes 

of 12th October state that corresponding member, 

James Eights, ‘was willing to accompany the 

expedition provided he was put upon the footing 

of an authorized agent of the Lyceum.’ By a 

unanimous vote, Eights was appointed ‘naturalist 

to the expedition now about to explore the 

southern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.’ Further, a 

subscription of five hundred dollars was proposed 

to defray his expenses.” 7 

Cummings evaluated Eights’s contributions 

to the expedition of 1829–1830, crediting him 

with treating data with scientific caution and 

integrity. He mentioned “substantial” collections 

of data, geological and zoological, giving no 

details. 8 

Taking a leisurely approach, where density of 

data was not the main aim, John West Wells in 

1963 discussed James Eights’s contributions to 

“Early investigations of the Devonian System in 

New York, 1656-1836.” He characterized Eights’s 

“Notes of a pedestrian” as “a most readable 

account of the geology along the front of the 

Catskills southward from Ulster...into the 

Lackawanna Valley. Eights was a keen observer, 

and his descriptions of the various formations 

allow them to be identified with considerable 

certainty.” At one point Wells nodded appreciatively: 

“In spite of this fallacy of the consequent, 

his conclusion was right,” surely as happy a 

description by a modern expert of an amateur, 

loose in a world of utterly strange nomenclature 

and half-baked beliefs of a distant age, as could 

be wanted. 9 

In the 1960s, the name of Eights sometimes 

soared in Antarctic history, sometimes it did not. 

Laurence Patrick Kirwan’s A History of Polar 

Exploration (1962) is a solid work with a British 

bias that did not mention Eights; Kirwan got as 

close to Eights as some notice of Fanning, 

Pendleton and Palmer, and “John R. Reynolds.” 

In 1963, George W. Fowler, U.S. Army, reported: 

“Task Group 43.5 was activated for the purpose 

of transporting heavy equipment and marking a 

safe overland route through the heavily 

crevassed area from Byrd Station in Marie Byrd 

Land, to Eights Station, located at the base of the 

Palmer [now Antarctic] Peninsula.” This was in 

“virgin territory,” a trek of 840 miles, in the most 

adverse weather, with mechanical breakdown 

common, that took 40 days. 10 

In its account of “Antarctic activities 

1964–1965,” the National Science Foundation’s 

U.S. Antarctic Research Program both mapped 

the approximate position of Eights Station and 

provided a description of it. It was located at 

78°18’S, 78°W; 1,500 feet above sea level 1,525 

statute miles air distance from McMurdo. It was 

established in 1962 on inland ice where the mean 

annual temperature was estimated at –12.6°F. 

The mean summer (December–February) temperature 

was 11.2°F. It was supplied by air and 

consisted of 11 air transportable buildings. 11 

In 1964, Kenneth J. Bertrand lectured on 

“American activity in the early history of 

Antarctica”: “In January and February 1830, 3 

American vessels, the ‘Seraph,’ ‘Anawan’ and 

‘Penguin,’ sealed in the South Shetlands and 

then cruised westward to 103° West, in an unsuccessful 

search for the islands reported by 

Captains Swain, Gardiner and Macy. Aboard the 

‘Anawan’ was James Eights, the first American 

scientist and one of the first scientists of any 

nation to visit the Antarctic. His work, published 

in now-obscure American journals of the day, is 

still valid. He discovered an unknown species of 

sea spider and the first fossils found in the 

Antarctic. From glacial erratics at the South 

Shetlands and in icebergs, he inferred the existence 

of a large continent to the south.” 12 

S.W. Greene, in “Plants of the land” (1964), 

recalled Eights’s discovery of the grass now 

called Deschampsia antarctica in “the 1820s” in the 

South Shetlands. 13 

In 1965, the New Zealand Antarctic Society 

Survey, in Antarctica, edited by Trevor Hatherton, 

noticed Eights’s early collections. R.K. Dell, cov- 


ering marine biology, called attention to Eights’s 

bivalve mollusk, Nucula eightsi Couthouy (now 

Yoldia eightsi). George A. Llano, reporting upon 

the Antarctic flora, noted the “grass Deschampsia 

antarctica Desv., first described by [Sir William 

Jackson] Hooker in 1837 [as a species of the 

genus Aira], after a specimen collected by Dr 

James Eights of Albany, New York, on the South 

Shetland Islands during a voyage of 1829-30...the 

first flowering plant reported from the 

Antarctic.” 14 

It remained for E.J. Godley (1965) to provide 

the first thorough review of Eights’s contributions 

to Antarctic and southern botany. While 

Skottsberg (1954) wrote that he could not trace 

the collections at the New York State Museum, 

Godley had been assured that the Eights specimens 

were there. Further, “a duplicate set or a 

portion of the collection had come into the hands 

of Sir William Hooker in England and there has 

been some speculation as to how this came 

about.” Godley also noted that Skottsberg was 

misled by either poor handwriting or an inaccuracy, 

for he credited some of Eights’s specimens 

to a mythical “Rev. Berkeley” — in fact, they 

were inaccurately credited by Hooker to “Dr. 

Beck,” who, as we have seen, as a curator of the 

Albany Institute, had sent Eights’s specimens to 

Hooker. Eights’s plants were received “by Sir 

W.J. Hooker in time for the Compositeae [alone] 

to be included in the last parts of Hooker and 

Arnott’s ‘Contribution towards a flora of South 

America and the islands of the Pacific.’” 

Eighteen species of composites, attributable to 

Eights were listed, five of them considered 

new. 15 

The name of Eights, in some way, became a 

regular part of the history of Antarctic research. 

In A Continent for Science (1965), Richard S. Lewis 

recounted the story of the Pendleton-Palmer 

Expedition. He considered President John 

Quincy Adams to be interested in exploration of 

inland America, while certain “private citizens...were 

interested in the Antarctic.” 

“Nathaniel Palmer joined two other men, an 

imaginative sea captain named Edmund 

Fanning and one Benjamin Pendleton, in promoting 

a voyage, raising funds principally from 

whaling and sealing interests. In 1830 [!] the first 

American Antarctic expedition set sail in a ship 

called the Annawan, which cruised the seas to the 

north of the present Ellsworth Highland. 

Members of the expedition explored the South 

Shetland Islands, but did not sight the mainland.” 

Aboard the Annawan, “was an Albany 

naturalist, James Eights, who was conducting 

research under a five-hundred-dollar grant from 

the New York Lyceum of Natural History.” 

Lewis described Eights’s main contribution as 

his recognition “as evidence of continental land 

to the south the displaced rocks and boulders, 

called erratics, that he found on the beaches of 

the sub-Antarctic islands.” 16 

In 1968, the National Archives hosted a conference 

on U.S. Polar Exploration (published 

1970). In it, Herman R. Friis, of the Center for 

Polar Archives, wondered where one might find 

the published papers of “James Eights, perhaps 

the first U.S. scientist to visit and to do fieldwork 

in the Antarctic.” Herman M. Dater commented 

on the contribution of the sealing industry to our 

knowledge of Antarctica: “During 1829 and 1830 

three sailing vessels carried the first U.S. scientists, 

including James Eights, of Albany, New 

York, to the Antarctic. The papers that Eights 

published after his return contain observations 

and deductions that remain valid.” Kenneth J. 

Bertrand noted that “James Eights of Albany, 

New York, sailing aboard the brig Annawan in 

the combined sealing and exploring expedition 

sent out by Captain Fanning and his associates, 

1829-31, was the first U.S. scientist to visit the 

Antarctic. He made significant contributions to 

scientific knowledge by writing seven papers.” 

Bertrand also referred to the value of the log of 

the Penguin in documenting the whereabouts of 

Eights during that expedition, the log of the 

Annawan having been lost. 17 

In 1968, the American Association for the 

Advancement of Science sponsored a symposium 

on Research in the Antarctic, in which Joel W. 

Hedgpeth drew attention to James Eights and 

his early contributions to Antarctic science. Its 

chief value, other than keeping the name of 

Eights current, lay in its reprinting of some of 

Eights’s papers. Hedgpeth’s bibliography of 

Eights’s papers added somewhat to that offered 

by Calman. His comments on some of Eights’s 

Chapter 28 393

later works on Antarctic and southern parts are 

especially valuable, since they point to rather 

overfree use of Darwin’s material without any 

attempt to offer credit. 18 

A major account of the role of James Eights 

in Antarctic exploration appeared in 1971, with 

publication of Kenneth J. Bertrand’s Americans in 

Antarctica 1775-1948. It was even-handed in its 

credits, sober in its judgments, thorough and 

scholarly in its documentation. Bertrand’s use of 

archival materials (both in Washington and elsewhere) 

was full and carefully cited. This work 

has been alluded to many times and little attention 

need be given it here. 19 

The only points of substance where I differ 

from Bertrand’s conclusions are: his intimation 

that Eights returned on the Annawan in 1831 

(perhaps, indeed, some part of his specimens 

were among materials returned by the Annawan); 

a statement that Eights “gave” his specimens to 

the Albany Institute (he sold them); and a claim 

that crew lists and outward cargo manifests for 

the Annawan are among Port of Stonington 

Custom House Records on file at the Federal 

Records Center, Waltham. 20 

Eights was briefly credited with early collecting 

of plants in D.C. Lindsay’s account of South 

Shetlands vegetation (1971). 21 

While documentation is sometimes not easy 

to follow, there is a gold mine of information on 

Eights in William Stanton’s account of the Wilkes 

Expedition, with its thorough use of material in 

both national and private archives. There is a full 

history of the Pendleton-Palmer Expedition of 

1829–1830, easily the best to appear. In the midst 

of so many machinations, personal, political, and 

social, Eights, of course, looms small. Reynolds 

gets his due, Wilkes is shown to have been in the 

thick of maneuvering as far back as 1828 — and 

to have been as successful in promoting himself 

then as in 1838. The intensity of professional jealousy 

and of political animosity ought to surprise 

nobody. While “it was difficult to ascribe much 

scientific importance to the enterprise,” it did 

bring back some “fifteen chests of specimens to 

the collections of learned societies.” “The sweeps 

of the Annawan and Penguin in their search for 

land were of value in establishing its 

absence....James Eights’ work admittedly was of 

a high order [publications are listed or alluded 

to]....But like Reynolds, who carved only a few 

literary pieces out of his journals...Eights published 

few of his observations and these only 

sporadically in a variety of journals over the next 

two decades. His labors constituted a purely personal 

triumph in a region that would become 

significant only for the opportunities it offered 

science, which he had been the first to seize.” 

Scientists, Stanton wrote, were disappointed that 

the expedition had become merely a scheme to 

catch seals; private investors in the enterprise 

were even less pleased, grumbling “that they 

were out of pocket for having attempted to give 

aid to science.” It is surprising that, at so late a 

date, Stanton had Eights attached to the Seraph. 22 

In Stanton’s long chapter on “Symmes’ 

Hole,” the Expedition of 1829 was but a beginning. 

For Stanton, the Palmer-Pendleton 

Expedition was a step toward a bigger picture. 

The same chapter then ended with the genesis 

and early history of the Expedition of 1838: to 

Stanton, all parts of a continuous drama. His 

next chapter, “A glorious prospect,” considered 

the early organization of the scientific corps of 

the 1838 expedition, much of it the work of 

Reynolds. As we have seen, after brisk nudging 

from many quarters, Secretary of the Navy 

Dickerson finally announced his choices for the 

civilian scientific corps; Eights was to go as 

expert in organic remains. In the long months 

that lay ahead, feelings intensified. “Eights was 

in poverty as usual,” as were most others, as 

they gave up jobs and waited. This story has 

been related in a previous chapter and owes 

much to Stanton’s close-grained scholarship. 23 

In 1975, Henry M. Dater’s essay on 

“Motivations for Antarctic exploration” 

appeared. As might be expected, the work of 

sealers and whalers in opening up the area was 

noticed, as was that of the one U.S. effort to 

combine sealing with scientific investigation: 

“the Pendleton-Palmer expedition of 1829–1831. 

As a business venture it was a failure, but 

James Eights...produced some scientific papers 

of enduring value.” Dater continued, in annotating 

detailed maps, in reference to the 

1829–1831 expedition of Pendleton and Palmer, 

sponsored by “Edmund Fanning, Benjamin 


Pendleton, and public subscription”: “James 

Eights, naturalist aboard the Annawan made 

remarkably accurate observations on the geology 

of the South Shetland Islands and described 

the first fossil recorded from the Antarctic, a 

piece of carbonized wood. Eights also described 

new species of crustaceans found in the coastal 

waters of the South Shetlands. He recorded several 

species of land plants, and described seals 

and dolphins, though he did not know their scientific 

names. His descriptions of birds included 

the King penguin, which is now unknown in 

the South Shetlands. Using observations of 

winds, currents, plant and animal life, and icetransported 

boulders, Eights concluded that an 

extensive land area existed to the south....Eights 

subsequently published several papers on his 

work in the South Shetlands — the first scientific 

work on the Antarctic published by an 

American.” 24 

John F. Splettstoesser thought it appropriate, 

during the U.S. bicentennial year (1976), to honor 

James Eights of Albany, “the first U.S. geologist 

to set foot on land south of the Antarctic 

Convergence.” Eights “described the first fossil 

recorded from the Antarctic, a piece of carbonized 

wood, and made remarkably accurate 

observations on the geology of the South 

Shetland Islands.” 25 

In 1979, Clark A. Elliott, biographer of 

American scientists, accounted James Eights 

worthy of notice. Several mostly minor quibbles 

can be registered but it put Eights firmly among 

deserving early American scientists. 26 

The most significant advance in Eightsian 

scholarship in the 1980s appeared early in the 

decade in work of two enthusiastic historians, 

Char Miller and Naomi Goldsmith. They significantly 

modified and supplemented work done 

earlier in the century by John Mason Clarke, 

W.T. Calman, and Joel Hedgpeth. Their biography 

of Eights presented for the first time a generally 

well-rounded and probing history of the 

man, citing many original documents for the first 

time; and Miller’s bibliography radically revised 

notions of Eights’s contributions to natural history 

over his long life. 27 

Miller and Goldsmith emphasized that 

Eights’s contributions to science and, perhaps 

especially, to the popularization of science had 

been underestimated and misunderstood. Not 

only was he actively publishing long after John 

Mason Clarke had him a disappointed and virtually 

moribund man, but the breadth of his interests 

extended far beyond his Antarctic research, 

which had received all the attention since 

Clarke’s “reincarnation” of him in 1916. His scientific 

work (with Amos Eaton and in promotion 

of the Albany Lyceum of Natural History and 

Albany Institute) had been overlooked. While 

admitting that in original research, Eights did little 

beyond his early work in the Antarctic, they 

found that his contributions to “conservation 

and public policy” kept him active “almost to his 

eighth decade” — “he published nine papers 

before 1838 but fifty-six after that date,” with 

most of the latter papers having never been cited 

by biographers. 28 

Miller and Goldsmith pondered the alleged 

reason for Eights’s underhanded dismissal from 

the Exploring Expedition of 1838, finding nothing 

beyond Wilkes’s statement that Eights’s 

“habits were not of the best,” whatever that may 

have meant. They surmise that it referred to 

excessive drinking, which I suspect to have been 

true, as far as it was a legitimate reason and not 

just a trumped-up excuse. Their querying speculation 

that homosexuality was ever involved is, 

as they thought, ungrounded. Inferences from 

Clarke’s statements that any such thing was ever 

suspected seem to me without basis, since 

Eights’s so-called “association with Albert 

Lawtenslager, an ‘old companion,’” was 

overblown by Clarke and was demonstrably of 

short duration in any event, given the little we 

know of Eights’s life. I consider as entirely 

untenable a notion that Eights had any particular 

knowledge of narcotics and opium 

(“haschisch”), for his allusions to that matter (if 

his at all) were slight, being mere quotations 

from other sources. 29 

Char Miller’s bibliography of the publications 

of James Eights greatly expanded our 

knowledge. In it, besides recapitulating recent 

information on the life of Eights, Miller produced 

an annotated list of writings that more 

than tripled the number of works previously 

attributed to him. 30 Chapter 28 395

William J. Zinsmeister, Antarctic paleontologist, 

in 1988 called attention to the primacy of 

Eights in regard to fossils: “Although the first 

fossils to be described from Antarctica were from 

Seymour Island [1892–1893], the first report of 

fossil remains from Antarctica was nearly 80 

years earlier by James Eights (1833), a member of 

the First American Expedition to Antarctica in 

1830. While visiting one of the islands in the 

South Shetland group near the northwest tip of 

the Antarctic Peninsula, Eights (1833, p. 64) 

reported seeing...a fragment of carbonized wood 

inbedded in the conglomerate....Although Eights 

did not mention which island he landed on, 

recent discoveries of wood and plant fossils on 

King George Island suggest that Eights probably 

found the fossil log there. He made no mention 

of collecting the fossil, and the absence of any 

subsequent description indicates he probably left 

it where he found it.” 31 

Geologist John F. Splettstoesser (1988) also 

called attention to the Eights report of a piece of 

carbonized wood from the South Shetlands. He 

recalled Eights’s “vivid and accurate” geological 

observations, his realization of “the significance 

of erratic boulders found in Antarctic icebergs,” 

an observation that anticipated Darwin by six 

years. “Eights theorized correctly that a major 

continental land mass existed to the south” of 

the track of his expedition. Splettstoesser notes: 

“the seven papers published by Eights on the 

Antarctic represent the first scientific writing on 

the subject by an American.” 32 

Eights was not the only naturalist of his generation 

exploring Austral regions whose work 

was ignored by dunderheaded officialdom. This 

is poignantly illustrated by John Davenport and 

G.E. Fogg’s account of invertebrates collected 

during the Erebus and Terror Antarctic expedition 

(1989). For us, a major point of interest were 

drawings by Joseph Dalton Hooker that did survive 

but were never used, including an apparently 

still undescribed ten-legged pycnogonid. 

The authors opine that entrenched experts 

viewed Hooker’s drawings as they did Eights’s 

report, as a violation of received truth. 33 

Several notices of Eights appeared in R.K. 

Headland’s excellent list of Antarctic expeditions 

(1989). The South Shetland Islands are described 

and mapped. The “United States sealing voyage” 

of Pendleton and the Palmer brothers 

(1829–31) is described; its “independent investigators 

[including James Eights]...made biological 

and geological investigations and collections 

(including fossil wood). Annawan and Penguin 

searched unsuccessfully for the mythical 

‘Swain’s Island’...; Seraph penetrated westwards 

to 101°W, below 69°S.” Various uses of the name 

“Eights” in the Antarctic are noticed. 34 

In the decade of the 1990s, James Eights merited 

occasional notice. Professor G.E. Fogg, especially, 

continued to call attention to Eights 

because, as he writes, “To my mind he was the 

first scientist of the ‘modern’ type to work in the 

Antarctic.” Fogg and David Smith (in The 

Explorations of Antarctica) noted Edmund 

Fanning’s role in organizing “the first United 

States exploring expedition to the Antarctic. This 

was not altogether successful but it did result in 

some excellent studies of the geology and zoology 

of the South Shetlands. These were the work 

of James Eights who emerged from obscurity 

with the half-dozen or so scientific papers he 

wrote on his Antarctic work, only to return to it 

again for the rest of his long life.” They refer to 

Eights’s drawings of Albany street scenes and 

noted his “fine zoological drawings” and his 

appreciation for the beauties of the South 

Shetland scene. 35 

Being convinced that “the history of science 

in Antarctica is worth writing about and that it 

should be attempted by a single author,” Fogg 

set himself the task of doing just that. The result 

was A History of Antarctic Science (1992). Even in 

so enormous a project, Eights is amply noticed. 

The Expedition of 1829–1830 is described fully. 

The portrait of Eights at about the age of 25 is 

reproduced, as is Eights’s drawing of the tenlegged 

pycnogonid. A pretty thorough analysis 

of Eights’s contribution to the natural history of 

the South Shetlands is given, with special reference 

to geology, zoology, and botany. Eights’s 

primacy in regard to the notion of continental 

origin of rocks in icebergs, fossils, vascular 

plants, and frost action are recorded. Four of his 

papers are cited. He is credited with being “an 

acute and accurate observer and a good 

draughtsman.” 36 


Even though not precisely an Eights-related 

item, the bronze tablet honoring early geologists 

in the Helderbergs (of whom Eights was one) in 

John Boyd Thacher State Park was made much 

more readily available to viewers by a new platform 

in 1992. 37 

Slight notice of the Annawan and its captain 

and the scientific staff came from Jorge Berguño 

B. in “Las Shetland del sur: el ciclo lobero” 

(1993). His date of 1829 for the visit to the South 

Shetlands is not quite correct; whether he was 

correct to confer upon Watson the title of “Dr.” is 

not certain but seems unlikely. 38 

NOTES 

1. H.R. Friis, Director, Center for Polar Archives 

(National Archives and Records Service), to Stewart 

Pierson, 15 May 1970 (a copy furnished, along with the list 

of 

publications by and on Eights that Friis supplied, by 

librarians of the Joseph Henry Papers). 

2. J. Stewart, Antarctica, 1: 296. Thus, the name of 

Eights was for a while applied to two places in the 

Antarctic, even though for a time some reporters thought 

it poorly applied to the earlier Eights Coast. In Capt. 

Edwin A. McDonald’s “Exploring Antarctic’s phantom 

coast” (see especially p. 263 and map, pp. 254-255), it was 

claimed that the Eights Coast of previous maps did not 

exist: instead of being the base of “Thurston Peninsula” 

(which became Thurston Island), Eights Coast “was not a 

coast at all. Instead, we had encountered an archipelago of 

small islands.” However, this appears to be needless nitpicking 

and overlooks the final solution: there is nothing 

to prevent a “coast” from including its fringing islands. 

Therefore, Eights Coast need not be one of the broad 

guesses of another era, nor is it the fringing islands finally 

found in that approximate area. Instead it includes them, 

as shown on such later maps as that provided by K.J. 

Bertrand, Americans in Antarctica, p. 418, and others. 

3. New York Times, Anon., 3 November 1962, p. 3. 

4. A Durham newspaper clipping, Anon., 5 November 

1962, supplied by Mildred C. Sharpe, 20 September 1988. 

Note difference in distances from previous entry. 

5. F.W. Reichelderfer’s well-informed remarks appear 

as a short account in Bulletin of the U.S. Antarctic Projects 

Officer, 4(1), p. 20, October 1962. 

6. R.O. Cummings, “The organization of the American 

Antarctic expedition of 1830.” This report has notable 

material on participation of the New York Lyceum of 

Natural History in planning of the expedition. It is sad 

that so little original material is quoted in this telegraphic 

account. 

7. Cummings, “The organization of the American 

Antarctic expedition of 1830,” pp. 1031, 1032. We have 

seen much of this before. Cummings leaves it unclear 

whether Eights collected the $500 from the Lyceum or if 

any of his collection actually went there as a part of the 

bargain, a matter that he might have clarified. Cummings 

does not explain how “Records in the Albany Institute 

indicate the beginning of a careful collection of specimens 

in the Cape Verde Islands”; I have yet to find such records. 

Cummings presumed that the “Annawan had quarters for 

Eights and Reynolds [no mention of the others, who must 

have been similarly accommodated], a technical library 

and a store for scientific intruments,” a more generous 

arrangement than Eights allowed. If, as he says, the Seraph 

met the Annawan at Staten Island, p. 1032, they did not 

proceed together to the Antarctic. Cummings was ambiguous, 

p. 1033, as to how Eights returned to Albany. 

8. Cummings, “The organization of the American 

Antarctic expedition of 1830,” pp. 1033-1034. Previous 

credits to Eights are reconfirmed, little critically new information 

emerges. Cummings joined other historians who 

suppose this largely failed expedition led more or less 

smoothly to the expedition of 1838. 

9. J.W. Wells, “Early Investigations,” pp. 59-61. 

Clearly, Wells considered Eights a well-informed geologist, 

worthy of the honor bestowed upon him by his selection 

to participate in the New York Natural History Survey, 

whose detailed history is beyond the interests of Wells in 

this account. One may wonder what went wrong, that 

upstarts thrived and Eights was given an unenviable junior 

position of which he soon tired. 

10. L.P. Kirwan, A History of Polar Exploration (published 

London, 1959, as The White Road). G.W. Fowler, 

“Eight to Eights,” p. 22. 

11. Anon., 1964-1965, “Antarctic activities,” p. 10, map 

p. 9. 

12. K.J. Bertrand, in Bulletin of the U.S. Antarctic 

Projects Officer, vol. 6, pp. 14, 1964. While it adds nothing 

to the story told in his book of 1971, K.G. Bertrand’s 

“Geographical exploration by the United States” (in the 

Pacific Basin) (1967), pp. 263-264, 412-413, is a sound 

account of the Fanning-Pendelton-Palmer sealing expedition. 

He concluded that Eights was “the only true scientist” 

of the scientific corps. 

13. S.W. Greene, “Plants of the land,” in Antarctic 

Research, ed. by Sir Raymond Priestley et al., p. 247. He 

ably mapped various Antarctic zones, Figs. 1, 7. 

14. R.K. Dell, “Marine biology,” p. 143 (Fig. 37, No. 6); 

no detailed notice of Eights was included. George A. 

Llano, “The flora of Antarctica,” p. 335, gave a useful taxonomic 

history of the grass but failed to cite fully Hooker’s 

original description. 

15. E.J. Godley, “Botany of the southern zone: exploration 

to 1843,” pp. 158-160. Godley hewed to the line that 

the expedition of 1829 “was undertaken with the official 

sanction, but not the financial support, of the United States 

Government.” No doubt, he says, “the main aim was to 

find new localities for fur-sealing.” His claim that Eights 

was on the Annawan, while “J.W. Reynolds” and “J.R. 

Watson” were on the Seraph (second initials of both men 

are incorrect; he does not mention the two assistants), cannot 

be sustained. The two vessels did not proceed to 

Staten Island together nor did they jointly visit the 

Patagonian coast. He was doubly wrong in regard to 

Reynolds and the Seraph, for Reynolds was with Eights in 

the South Shetlands; Godley claimed that Reynolds and 

Watson and the Seraph left the other vessels at Staten 

Island and, “after a fruitless exploration to the westward 

of the Palmer Peninsula, returned north along the Chilean 

Chapter 28 397

coast where Reynolds and Watson explored the 

Auracanian country.” The route by which Eights’s plants 

got to W.J. Hooker, unclear to Godley, is now known. 

Godley’s account of the grass, Hooker’s Aira, is instructive. 

He considered Eights “the third to collect plants on 

the South Shetlands...being preceded by members of 

Bellingshausen’s expedition and by W.H.B. Webster.” 

16. Richard S. Lewis, A Continent for Science, The 

Antarctic Adventure, pp. 14, 15. The account of the role of 

President Adams in initiating the expedition is somewhat 

incorrect. The date of 1830 given it is wrong; that the 

Annawan was apparently the only vessel of the expedition 

is misleading. Whether Eights really got the $500 from the 

Lyceum is doubtful. His primacy in regard to the glacial 

erratics and their continental origin was hardly his only 

contribution to Antarctic science on the expedition. 

17. H.R. Friis and Shelby G. Bale, Jr., eds., United States 

Polar Exploration; Friis, “The Center for Polar Archives,” p. 

5; H.M. Dater, “United States exploration and research in 

Antarctica through 1954,” pp. 44, 45; K.J. Bertrand, 

“Writing and research on United States exploration in 

Antarctica,” pp. 103, 105. 

18. J.W. Hedgpeth, “James Eights of the Antarctic 

(1798-1882),” in Louis O. Quam and H.D. Porter, eds., 

Research in the Antarctic (published 1971), pp. 3-45. Eights 

was not, however, born in Albany; some information on 

how he won a place as naturalist on the Pendleton-Palmer 

Expedition was available even then; it was also clearly evident 

by then that Eights sailed on the Annawan (p. 3). 

Eights worked for the New York Natural History Survey 

before, not after, his denial of a place on the expedition of 

1838; there is, in fact, evidence that Eights was denied that 

post because of “a disagreeable personality,” however 

trumped up the charge may have been; portraits of him 

are known, so we do have some hint of what he looked 

like (p. 4). Eights’s early account of the South Shetlands (in 

his Brongniartia paper) is accounted “a fresh, vivid, and 

significant account by a field naturalist of high ability” (p. 

4); against this must be noted Hedgpeth’s charge that 

much of Eights’s 1847 account of natural history of 

Patagonia was lifted without credit from Darwin (pp. 44- 

45). Hedgpeth (p. 41) misdated the Glyptonotus paper of 

1852 (p. 42). Hedgpeth’s dating of the Decolopoda paper is 

somewhat confusing (p. 42) but his comments on that 

remarkable pycnogonid (pp. 42-43) are pertinent and valuable. 

On p. 44, Hedgpeth continued a barbaric claim that 

Eights wrote a paper on “a singular variety of quarts crystal 

from Palestine” — no paper was ever published; he 

merely presented a specimen to the New York Lyceum of 

Natural History: and it was from the village of Palatine, 

New York. 

19. K.J. Bertrand, Americans in Antarctica; the parts of 

major interest here are: “James Eights and the Palmer- 

Pendleton Expedition of 1829–1831” (pp. 114-158) and 

parts of “The United States Exploring Expedition 1838- 

1842” (pp. 159-197, especially pp. 164, 191). In 1970, H.M. 

Dater, “United States exploration and research in 

Antarctica through 1954,” p. 44, gave the usual short bow 

to the role of sealers and noted that during “1829 and 1830 

three sailing vessels carried the first U.S. scientists, including 

James Eights...to the Antarctic.” 

20. Bertrand, Americans in Antarctica, pp. 151, 155, 156, 

158. With regard to Annawan records at Waltham, I have 

been assured by J.K. Owens (letters, March/April 1992) 

that this is not the case. Indeed, such information would 

have been used by Bertrand to document which ship 

Eights and other members of the scientific corps sailed on 

— a matter that he settled inferentially. 

21. D.C. Lindsay, “Vegetation of the South Shetland 

Islands,” p. 63. Lindsay did not mention W.J. Hooker’s 

naming of Eights’s grass, Aira (now Deschampsia). 

22. William Stanton, The Great United States Exploring 

Expedition; for the expedition of 1828-1830, with references 

to Eights, see “Symmes’ Hole,” pp. 16-28. Specific references 

to Eights are to be found on pp. 26, 27, 386. 

23. Stanton, The Great United States Exploring 

Expedition, see especially pp. 52, 64, 66 and references. 

Stanton’s sardonic but fair handling of men and matter is 

splendid. The irony of Andrew Jackson as champion of a 

national exploring expedition is well told, as is the inept 

and frequently underhanded maneuvering of Mahlon 

Dickerson. Time and chance served some men well, some 

ill: but some of the heroes of the drama have dirty hands, 

as we ought to have known right along but for our antihistorical 

tendency to make myths and then believe them. 

24. H.M. Dater, “Motivations for Antarctic exploration,” 

in “History of Antarctic exploration and scientific 

investigation,” Antarctic Map Folio Series, Folio 19: pp. l-2, 

Sheet 2, Plate 2. The price paid by Antarctic seal herds for 

these small advances in scientific knowledge was incredibly 

high: There were virtually no fur seals to be found by 

the time Eights got there (p. 1). 

25. J.F. Splettstoesser, Ross Ice Shelf Project, the 

University of Nebraska, “First in Antarctica,” letter to 

Geotimes. Nothing new appeared in this letter. As with others, 

Splettstoesser did not note that Eights’s piece of fossil 

wood has apparently not survived. Eights, of course, was 

not in the Antarctic in 1831. 

26. C.A. Elliott, Biographical Dictionary of American 

Science, pp. 83-84. Elliott is correct to put Eights’s Antarctic 

dates as 1829-1830; the expedition was not exactly “Capt. 

Edmund Fanning’s voyage of discovery to South Sea 

Islands.” Eights appeared in the Albany Directory later 

than 1853. Eights was in North Carolina in the 1850s, but 

not during the latter part of the decade. Dates of Zodiac 

articles and of the pycnogonid paper are incorrect. That 

Eights “in 1815 drew sketches of Albany that have been 

extensively reproduced” is unfortunately not the case; 

they would have been more important documents had 

they been based upon first-hand notes. 

27. Char Miller and Naomi Goldsmith, “James Eights, 

Albany naturalist: new evidence” (1980) and Char Miller, 

“The scientific career of James Eights: an annotated bibliography” 

(dated 1980 but published 1982). As I have previously 

indicated, I am greatly indebted to both authors 

for many favors — most especially to Char Miller who 

turned over to me a considerable body of genealogical 

notes on the Eights family in America, as well as many 

transcriptions and photocopies of documents in his possession. 

Even in the 1980s, not everybody recalled Eight’s 

role in Antarctic exploration. Sydney A. Spence, Antarctic 

Miscellany (1980), an annotated bibliography, listed nothing 

by him. 

28. Miller and Goldsmith, “James Eights,” pp. 23, 24. I 

feel it is fairer to Eights to put more emphasis upon original 

research than popularization. My evaluations of 

Eights’s popularizations suggest his popular output to 

have been uneven, seldom incisively perceptive and some- 


times no more than paraphrases of common knowledge. 

Miller and Goldsmith were perhaps too severe on John 

Torrey, who disparagingly dismissed the Pendleton- 

Palmer Expedition as destined “to catch seals,” not contribute 

to science — surely, a conclusion with which Eights 

himself ruefully agreed. They infer (p. 29) that on the 

Annawan Eights claimed to have reached a point “nearer 

the south pole than any previous mortal” — a dubious 

claim, even if he made it; and, of course, the Annawan was 

not, at the time alleged, then “about to sail to New York.” 

When it did sail, a year later, Eights had long since 

returned by other means. 

29. Miller and Goldsmith, “James Eights,” various 

pages. The authors correctly differed from many of John 

Mason Clarke’s conclusions about Eights as regards biographical 

details — and thus, from the generally received 

story of his life up to that time, for most authors had 

depended heavily upon Clarke. 

30. Char Miller, “The scientific career of James 

Eights,” pointed out the pitfalls in establishing a complete 

bibliography of Eights’s works: Most articles were published 

with only the initials “J.E.” to indicate an author; 

sometimes, there was no annual author index to help out. 

(Published indexes of the time were notoriously haphazard; 

even signed articles were often ignored.) This means, 

minimally, that there may have been other articles written 

by him that were not initialled, as well as identifiable articles 

that have been missed by bibliographers. It also 

means, in another dimension, that articles may be incorrectly 

attributed to him, as certainly occurred in a modern 

index to The Zodiac where several articles on a visit to 

Europe were supposed to be works by James Eights. I suspect 

some articles signed “J.E.” were not by him; others 

may well have been items that he identified for the editor 

as likely to be of interest to the readership. In a word, in 

his bibliography as in his biography, James Eights proves 

to be elusive. 

31. W.J. Zinsmeister, “Early geological exploration of 

Seymour Island, Antarctica,” p. 2 (also map, Fig. 2, p. 3). It 

is sad that Eights did not himself tell whether he collected 

the fossil. Eights seems to have kept certain Antarctic specimens 

to himself; their fate is unknown. Certain others 

went as a group to the Albany Institute, from which some 

presumably gravitated to the State Museum. If the large 

and clumsy bit of foreign fossil wood ended up in the 

State Museum, it is problematic whether anyone would 

have bothered to treasure it, however much its existence 

would now be celebrated. 

32. J.F. Splettstoesser, “James Eights (1798–1882), first 

geologist and first U.S. scientist in Antarctica,” abstract of 

a paper read in Denver at the 1988 annual meeting of the 

Geological Society of America. 

33. J. Davenport and G.E. Fogg, “The invertebrate collections 

of the Erebus and Terror,” pp. 325 (Fig. 1), 326. 

34. R.K. Headland, Chronological List of Antarctic 

Expeditions and Related Historical Events, pp. 15, 17 (map), 

40 (map), 137 (account of the 1829–1831 sealing voyage), 

416 (reference to Eights Station, U.S. Antarctic Program, 

1963–64), 424 (Eights Station, etc., 1964–65), 430 (Eights 

Station closed, 15 November 1965), 581 (map). 

35. G.E. Fogg, letter 4 May 1990; G.E. Fogg and David 

Smith, The Explorations of Antarctica the Last Unspoilt 

Continent, pp. 24-25. I know of no evidence for Fogg’s 

notion that a blasted love affair soured Eights on the 

world and ended his scientific work. 

36. G.E. Fogg, A History of Antarctic Science, pp. 45-48, 

figs. 2.8, 2.9, 50, 61, 89, 180, 281; the references are cited pp. 

428-429. I do not think there is good reason to credit Eights 

alone with “13 cases of specimens” for the Lyceum; 

whether these really remained with the Lyceum, after their 

delivery there, is unknown. His initial observations on glacial 

erratics as indicative of continental origin might better 

be credited to his 1833 paper, not the derived one of 1845. 

Fogg seems not entirely well grounded to say that “the scientists” 

of the Wilkes Expedition were glad to be rid of 

Reynolds, unless he means the final scientific staff (and 

even some of them signed a letter defensive of Reynolds). 

As to why Eights was dropped from the Wilkes 

Expedition, Fogg claims lack of knowledge, supposing (p. 

48) that “perhaps he was put off by the controversy and 

delay in the starting of the venture” — hardly an apt 

description of what happened. Nor, of course, did he work 

on the New York Natural History Survey after, but before, 

his being tentatively named a member of the Expedition of 

1838 (p. 48). Dates of the two papers in Vol. 2 of the 

Transactions of the Albany Institute are muddled — the 

first-listed (the shorter) was not published until 1852, even 

though the volume began publication in 1833. 

37. Anon., 1992, “Platform award,” a picture story, 

Altamont Enterprise, 4 June, p. 10. Marie Creel, Regent of 

Tawasentha Chapter, New York State Daughters of the 

American Revolution, presented its conservation award to 

Michael Krish, Thacher State Park, who designed the platform. 

In 1933, when the plaque was placed, “a road up 

from the then-substantial hamlet of Meadowdale gave 

access it. But the road has fallen into ruin, and the plaque 

was illegibly high above the trail.” 

38. Jorge Berguño B., “Las Shetland del sur: el ciclo 

lobero,” p. 13, note 17. While not an item of great interest 

to this author, he does mention the combined sealing and 

scientific observation that occurred on the Expedition of 

1829–1830. A major aim of the expedition, he claims, was 

to search for the hypothetical Swain Island. However, 

geologist James Eights made observations; Watson and 

Reynolds explored the Gulf of Arauco. It is not clear that 

of the three investigators Reynolds alone was involved in 

gathering the story of Mocha Dick, later immortalized by 

Herman Melville in Moby Dick, and in stimulating interest 

in further exploration that resulted in the Wilkes 

Expedition. 

Chapter 28 399


Chapter 29 

JAMES EIGHTS AS OTHERS SAW HIM: 

THE PORTRAITS WITH AN APPENDIX 

ON EBENEZER EMMONS, JR. 

Word pictures of a human being do little to tell 

you what he really looked like. Almost nobody 

described James Eights as to general looks, 

height, complexion, or hair color. Benson J. 

Lossing, in a letter to the anonymous writer, 

“West Point,” in 1886, described the visit of 

Eights to the Harper publishing firm in the 

1850s. It was thus a memory of a meeting some 

30 years before. Eights was “a rather tall, well 

proportioned man, apparently of middle age.” 

Lossing found him genial and entertaining. 1 

For James Eights, we have two watercolor 

miniatures and a formal oil portrait, made at 

widely separated times in his life. The miniatures 

have been longest known, having come into the 

possession of John Mason Clarke by 1905. Clarke 

donated them to the Albany Institute in 1915. 

Both had previously belonged to Ebenezer 

Emmons, Jr. 

The earliest portrait of James Eights (one of 

the Clarke miniatures) alleges to show him at 

about the age of 25 — a date of 1823 or 1824 is 

thus implied. There is nothing about the portrait 

to cast doubt upon this conclusion. Called a 

watercolor in the Albany Institute inventory, it 

was once described by Robert G. Wheeler, director 

of the Albany Institute, as “little more than a 

wash drawing.” Indeed, it may have been a 

study for a portrait or, of course, a hasty but 

competent copy of a portrait. It shows a dapper, 

rather Byronesque young man, fashionably 

dressed in a generously lapeled jacket of the 

period, with white neckpiece and lacey shirtfront. 

His hair, worn rather short, falls in windblown 

curls. 2 

I have no doubt this painting of the young 

Eights is more or less correctly dated. It has been 

ambiguously credited to “Ebenezer Emmons.” 

Nothing can now be made of faded writing on 

the back of the drawing; it was probably, in any 

case, an annotation made by John Mason Clarke. 

I am confident it was not drawn by Emmons, Sr., 

for I have seen nothing to indicate that he could 

draw at all. Nor do I believe it to have been done 

by Ebenezer Emmons, Jr., at a later time and 

made to show Eights at an earlier period. The 

younger Emmons could not have done it at the 

time in question, for he was born in 1822. The 

young Eights is dressed in precisely the clothing 

worn at the time, as shown by a surprisingly 

similar contemporary portrait of Richard Varick 

DeWitt in the Albany Institute, a watercolor 

miniature by Henry Inman and dated 1821. 

Indeed, I strongly suspect this orphan portrait of 

James Eights was drawn by Henry Inman or his 

understudy. Eights and DeWitt were promising 

young Albany worthies, near contemporaries 

and lifelong friends. Given the means, it would 

have been natural for both to sit for an Inman 

portrait. 3 

The second miniature portrait of Eights 

alleges to show him in 1840. Information on it is 

limited to a note on the back: “Dr. James Eights 

— Painted by Ebenezer Emmons from whom I 

Chapter 29 401

eceived it. — John Mason Clarke.” Ebenezer 

Emmons, Jr., is the only Emmons from whom 

Clarke could have received anything. I have no 

argument with this. From the portrait, it is evident 

that we are looking at James Eights — and 

that he was some 15 or more years older than in 

his earlier portrait. From its rather clumsily handled 

lines, it is also evident that Ebenezer 

Emmons, Jr., was not the painter of the earlier 

portrait. If indeed this is the work of young 

Emmons, the briefest comparison of it with his 

technical drawings will also show that he was a 

great deal better natural history illustrator than 

portrait painter. It would be incorrect to infer 

that Emmons gave the portrait to Clarke: Clarke 

was too much the gentleman to say so but he 

probably bought them from the ever-impecunious 

Emmons, as a financial favor to a man in 

need. These miniatures of Eights were in the possession 

of Clarke by at least March 1905. Being 

then under the impression that Eights had 

“passed off the scene about 1850,” Clarke 

thought this second portrait showed Eights “not 

long before his death when his countenance had 

assumed a singularly rubicund aspect.” 4 

The third likeness of James Eights is a formal 

portrait in oil by the eminent but now neglected 

Albany artist Asa Weston Twitchell (1820–1904). 

It was first made known publicly in 1944 but it 

was found in a Saratoga Springs second-hand 

store in 1941 and was then purchased by the 

New York State Museum. Its first exhibition, as 

far as I am aware, was at the Albany Institute of 

History and Art in 1991–1992. It is an oil on canvas 

with dimensions of 30 by 25 inches (in a 

frame 34-1/4 by 29-1/4 inches). Painted in 1870, 

it is a frontal view, waist up. The sitter has a serious 

expression and wears wire-rimmed glasses. 

There is considerable crackling in the facial area. 

A curator describes it as showing an almost bald 

man with a ruddy complexion. 5 

Considering the man’s life-dates, it is 

remarkable that no photographic portrait of 

Eights has come to light. Such a picture may be 

hinted at in a letter quoted for me by Eights family 

member Mildred C. Sharpe. She cited a letter 

from Henry Sage Dermott, history curator of the 

First Presbyterian Church in Albany, written 5 

May 1915. Dermott had obviously been alerted 

to the Eights family by John Mason Clarke, then 

researching his biography of James Eights. In his 

letter Dermott “tells of having been given a photograph 

from a friend’s attic, said to be a likeness 

of Dr. Jonathan Eights. Dermott and the State 

Geologist [that is, Clarke] thought it was a likeness 

of James Eights.” The fate of such a photograph 

is unknown. It appears likely that Clarke 

did not acquire it, for he would have given it to 

the Albany Institute. 6 

APPENDIX: A NOTE ON EBENEZER 

EMMONS, JR. 

Ebenezer Emmons, Jr., needs to be considered 

briefly here, even though this is a biography 

of James Eights. Despite disparities in their ages, 

they could not have been unaware of each other. 

Eights was a devoted friend of the elder 

Emmons and the younger Emmons must often 

have seen him in the Emmons Albany home. 

Furthermore, Eights’s work in North Carolina 

surely came to him primarily through the offices 

of the elder Emmons. Again, when young 

Emmons returned to Albany after his father’s 

death (he had been associated with his father in 

the North Carolina work), it is likely that Eights 

and the younger man renewed their acquaintance. 

Albany’s small-town culture cannot but 

have drawn together two such accomplished former 

acquaintances, naturalists and artists. 7 

Ebenezer Emmons, Jr., was born in 1822 and 

died 16 January 1907 at the age of 84 years, 9 

months, and 24 days. Despite his long association 

on the fringes of officialdom in Albany, early 

as an assistant to his father in work with the 

Geological Survey, later with Emmons’s 

Agricultural Survey of the State of New York, 

and still later as sometime associate in the 

Geological Survey in the tenure of James Hall, 

particularly as one of Hall’s finest illustrators, little 

official recognition comes readily to hand. In 

Geological Survey records, he is listed as 

“Geological Assistant,” 1837–1841, “Assistant 

Geologist,” 1836–1841, and “Draftsman,” 1893- 

1894? This does not cover the Agricultural 

Survey (where he may somehow have been paid 

directly by his father) and the last date is particu- 


larly misleading, for he was associated with 

James Hall as illustrator, whether as an official 

state employee or not, for a much longer period. 8 

Despite his certified qualifications as an illustrator, 

subject to ready verification, the junior 

Emmons has fared poorly in standard works on 

American artists. Harry Twyford Peters, in 

America on Stone, gave him merely a line, even 

abbreviating his forename and not distinguishing 

him from his father: “An artist who did 

views and technical illustrations for R.H. Pease, 

Albany.” What the views were is not said. 

Despite efforts by George C. Groce to find out 

more, the entry in Croce and David H. Wallace’s 

The New-York Historical Society’s Dictionary of 

Artists in America, 1564-1860, did little better. It 

spelled his first name but listed him merely as: 

“One of several artists who did views and technical 

illustrations for R.H. Pease, engraver and 

lithographer of Albany (N.Y.), c. 1848-54.” 

Groce’s inability to find whether he or his father 

painted the two portraits of James Eights at the 

Albany Institute was noted. William Young and 

others, in A Dictionary of American Artists, added 

nothing to the record. 9 

Eb Emmons (it seems he was so called by 

James Hall) lived a somewhat less obscure official 

life than all this implies, although information 

is sketchy and scattered and mistakes 

abound. Confusions are added to uncertainties, 

too, since the Emmons family seems to have 

traveled easily between Albany and North 

Carolina during the elder Emmons’s tenure as 

head of the North Carolina Geological Survey, 

beginning in 1852. Eb Emmons first appeared at 

his own residence in Albany in 1848, according 

to the Albany Directory. Possibly he married 

about that time, although the slender evidence I 

have for this is that his wife Helena died at the 

age of 25 in May 1855, presumably in Albany. 

(The purchase of a burying ground at the Albany 

Rural Cemetery by Eb Emmons and Chauncey 

Watson was probably triggered by that tragedy; 

the cemetery deed is dated 6 June 1855.) He may 

have remarried, for the Emmons family history 

gives his wife’s name as Olive Adams; however, 

no such person was buried in the Emmons plot 

at Albany Rural Cemetery, while Eb and Helena 

are there. 10 

That Eb Emmons assisted his father in the 

New York surveys has been noted. Max Meisel 

described him as assisting in the Second 

Geological District (final report, 1842) and also in 

the Agricultural Survey (final report, 1846–1854, 

although it seems likely that Emmons has little 

to do with this after 1851). Ebenezer Emmons, 

Sr., wrote: “In the field, I have been assisted by 

my son, a part of his expenses being defrayed by 

myself.” A great many of the plates in the first 

three volumes of the Agricultural Survey are 

attributed to Emmons, meaning the younger 

man. 11 

As for the eventful years of the North 

Carolina Survey, some notice has been given 

above and in earlier chapters, in connection with 

Eights’s work in that state. As with most aspects 

of Eb Emmons’s life, mysteries abound. George 

Perkins Merrill merely stated that Ebenezer 

Emmons was assisted by his son, presumably 

from the start of the survey in 1852. Work 

ceased in 1860, because of the Civil War. 

Emmons continued as titular head until his 

death 1 October 1863. How long Eb Emmons 

remained after his father’s death is not stated. 

Max Meisel was more specific, basing his statements 

upon official financial records. Although 

the elder Emmons was appointed 8 October 

1851, work did not start until January 1852. 

Meisel agreed that the war closed the survey in 

1860. “Dr. E. Emmons, Jr., was appointed assistant 

geologist” (“Doctor” is a title Eb Emmons 

did not have). Meisel wrote further: “Emmons’ 

assistant during the life of the Survey was his 

son Ebenezer, Jr., who served until 1864...”; “the 

Emmons survey officially terminated upon the 

resignation of E. Emmons, Jr., April 1, 1864.” 

The Emmons family history wrote that Ebenezer 

Emmons (Sr.) “was not permitted to return to 

the northern states” after the outbreak of war, a 

statement that I am not sure can be substantiated. 

Others inclined to think that he remained 

out of loyalty, in the hope that work could again 

begin. The family genealogist also claimed that 

Eb Emmons worked there officially until 1865, 

although no work was being done. The date is 

inconsistent with Meisel’s information and, as 

with all accounts, we do not know when Eb 

Emmons returned to Albany. 12 Chapter 29 403

Jules Marcou, in his biography of Ebenezer 

Emmons, Sr., included some useful dates, 

although he missed a chance to clarify many 

now puzzling matters. He stated that, just as 

Emmons’s views on the Taconic System were 

being substantiated, “Dr. Emmons disappeared 

out of sight and reach in the great civil war. 

Having been state geologist of North Carolina 

since 1851, he left his house at Albany on the 2nd 

of September, 1860, never to return.” Without 

indicating details, he further noted that 

Emmons’s wife “succeeded in reaching him in 

1863.” Marcou hoped that she had taken with 

her copies of favorable papers that he and others 

had produced but had not been able to send to 

Emmons. This presumably means that Mrs 

Emmons did not go with her husband in 1860 

and only went when he was in his final illness. 

Specific dates are unfortunately not given. 

Emmons had written to Marcou that “‘The political 

conditions under which we are living in the 

South is quite oppressive. I cannot but look with 

great fear upon the results of agitation, and it 

unfits me for work.’” “Ill health soon confined 

Dr. Emmons to his plantation, Brunswick county, 

where he died...surrounded by his wife and son. 

His remains were brought home and interred in 

the Albany Rural Cemetery. All his valuable 

papers...left in North Carolina...were lost and are 

probably destroyed.” 13 

Let us now return to Eb Emmons and his 

final Albany years, significant, if we believe 

some commentators, ill-starred, if we accept 

other accounts — and, in any event, ill-documented. 

First, two views, not so much differing 

in their evaluations as simply ignoring each 

other. 

John Mason Clarke wrote: “Ebenezer 

Emmons, Jr., was the gifted son of Doctor 

Emmons, who had all the elements of a versatile 

genius. He was a very superior artist, the illustrator 

for many of the volumes of the Natural 

History and he was not without geological experience. 

During his entire life he was more or less 

directly concerned with the work of the Natural 

History Survey and when I joined it [1886] he 

was assigned to me as draftsman. Some of his 

most faithful and accurate work was done when 

he was past seventy. He died in 1908 at the age 

of eighty-seven years.” This is a tactful portrait 

presented by a gentleman, painted with a broad 

brush; the date of death is incorrect, as is the age 

at death. 14 

The other view also paints with a wide 

brush, without any effort to evaluate achievements 

— it no doubt incorporated in-house gossip 

that had survived from distant days, for no 

documentation was offered. Donald W. Fisher, 

dealing only tangentially with the junior 

Emmons, in an appreciative account of the elder 

Emmons, wrote: “Ironically, his son, with whom 

he had been very close when his son was his 

field assistant, despite his chronic drunkenness 

and money-borrowing, worked for over 40 years 

with the very person — James Hall — who was 

most instrumental in destroying his father’s 

career! Ebenezer Emmons, Jr. died in Albany in 

1912.” 15 

The earliest James Hall–Ebenezer Emmons 

interaction after the Civil War concerned not Eb 

Emmons but his father and dates to December 

1870: Mrs Ebenezer Emmons wrote an acknowledgment 

that has survived: “Received Albany, 

Dec. 30 1870 of Prof. James Hall, Four Hundred 

Dollars, being in full for the collection of minerals 

left by my late Husband Ebenezer Emmons, 

— both these now delivered and whatever may 

subsequently be recovered as belonging to said 

collection. / $400.— / Mrs. Maria A. Emmons.” 16 

As already stated, the first evidence that Eb 

Emmons was working for Hall, perhaps in an 

unofficial way with little formal bookkeeping 

involved, was with Volume 5, part 2, 

Gasteropoda, Pteropoda, and Cephalopoda of 

the Palaeontology of New York (plates all dated 

1879) (note that this was published earlier than 

volumes listed below). It was a work illustrated 

by a novel method of printing called 

Albertyping. A few of the 113 plates are not 

attributed as to artist; Emmons is credited with 

drawing Plates 26, 77-B, 104, 110, 112, 113. 17 

In the 1884 volume of the Palaeontology, volume 

5, part 1, volume 1, on the Lamellibranchiata, 

part I, early plates, some of them 

begun as early as 1873, were by a variety of 

artists other than Emmons. With Plate 81, with 

Chas. Van Benthuysen & Sons, Lith., Albany, 

doing most of the printing, we find credit given 


to “E. Emmons, del.” Similar information is 

found on plates 82, 85 (85 alone has the added 

notation “Ph. Ast, lith.”), 88, 89, 91, 92. When 

these were done is not clear. (Clearly, the volumes 

over-lapped at this time.) 

In volume 5 of the Palaeontology, part 1, volume 

2 (1885), (Lamellibranchiata, II), acknowledgment 

(page x) had it that “six plates of recent 

additions have been drawn by Mr. E. Emmons.” 

Plates signed by Emmons are: 35, 42, 93, 94, 96. 

(It is not clear which is the sixth Emmons plate.) 

In the Palaeontology volume 6, 1887, Corals 

and Bryozoa, there were 67 plates (with some 

confusion in numbering, for the last one is 

labeled 66), all plates were by artists other than 

Emmons, and were probably done in the 1870s. 

In volume 7, 1888, “Trilobites and other 

Crustacea,” Hall was assisted by John Mason 

Clarke. There were 36 plates, supplemented by 

18 plates (114-229) that belonged to volume 5, 

part 2. Of the 36 plates, 27 are by Emmons and 

he did 15 of the supplemental plates. On page x, 

Hall wrote: “All the later drawings have been 

made by Mr. E. Emmons.” 

Hall and Clarke’s Palaeontology, volume 8, 

part 1, “Brachiopoda,” appeared in 1892. This 

was an account of Brachiopoda supplemental to 

what appeared in volume 4 that appeared in 

1867; none of the 1867 plates was by Emmons. 

Of 42 plates in the 1892 part, numbered erratically, 

16 are by Emmons. A note by Hall, page xvi, 

indicates some interruption in Emmons’s service 

had occurred: “the drawing for the later plates 

was begun by Mr. E. Emmons, whose services 

were subsequently supplemented by the skillful 

and beautiful work of Mr. George B. Simpson.” 

Volume 8, part 2, was published in 1894; I cannot 

supply an analysis of its plates. 18 

It is difficult to untangle Emmons’s role in all 

this. That Emmons had been working for some 

years for Hall is clear. There is a photograph in 

New York State Museum archives showing 

Emmons and the newly hired John Mason 

Clarke with Hall in 1886. Hall seems, in all these 

early years, to have paid Emmons from a fund 

for which he was not required to make a detailed 

account. Emmons was essentially a hired man. 

Some of the stress of that relationship can be 

appreciated from a handwritten letter from 

Clarke (already keeping shop for the elderly and 

often ailing Hall) dated 2 January 1889: “I regret 

to hear that you are feeling unwell this morning....I 

wished to see you on Mr. Emmon’s [sic] 

behalf, who wrote me a few days ago to call and 

see him. I found him suffering from a severe 

attack of rheumatic fever which has kept him 

confined to his house and bed for some time. He 

desired me to see you and say that he was 

behind in his rent for two months, to the amount 

of $32 — and had promised his landlord to pay 

on Jan 1 st but had no money to meet his indebtedness 

with. He is very anxious to keep his word 

as, he says, his new lord is inclined to be harsh 

and inconsiderate, and he hopes you will be 

willing to loan him on note in due bill this small 

sum. I saw for myself that they were in need of 

money in the family.” One would gather from 

Clarke’s use of the word “they” that Emmons 

had some sort of family, whether wife or children 

is not clear. 19 

In 1887, Ebenezer Emmons, Jr., contributed a 

specimen of Alcyonaria (horn coral) from the 

West Indies to the State Museum. By the year 

1889–1890, Hall was reporting where state 

money had gone; among items listed, for drawing, 

E. Emmons, a total of $265.75; this amount 

appears also under costs of “Publication.” This 

amount also appears under bills paid 1890–1891, 

except that the one figure becomes $60 instead of 

$54.75. Records seem sporadic (and repetitive, 

since some are estimates, some records of disbursement, 

some accounts of payment) but there 

is a note: “Simpson earns $75 per month / 

Emmons 50” — a year’s total of $600 for 

Emmons. In the same year, Philip Ast, lithographer, 

got $1500. The cost of illustrating volume 

8 of the Palaeontology in two years was $4,320. A 

threatening note on 14 November (apparently, 

1890): “Dewey [Secretary of the Board of 

Regents, Melvil Dewey] agrees to pay, Ast, 

Simpson and Emmons out of the $990.00 balance 

of the pal. [Palaeontology] appropriations. While 

this lasts work can be done on Part II, Vol. 

VIII.” 20 

For the first time, Eb Emmons was listed as 

“Draftsman” among State Museum personnel in 

the report for 1893. This jibes, not so much with 

reality (he had been draftsman, in some part, for 

Chapter 29 405

a good many years), as with official records, for 

R.H. Fakundiny, has Emmons in the official hire 

of the Museum “1893–94?” — with the question 

mark indicating an absence of records. What is 

surprising is that this date comes after the 

episode already cited where Emmons was confined 

to his bed and in need of cash — but, obviously, 

already in the hire of Hall. In what 

appears to be 1892, on 7 January and 5 February 

(the precise chronology of the 5 Feb letter is 

uncertain), Emmons wrote to Clarke, asking that 

he come to see him; and in the second letter, he 

reported that he was confined to his house and 

would like Clarke to visit him again, but was 

hesitant to trespass upon his time. He was anxious 

for news and company, concerned about the 

publication of the Palaeontology. He recovered 

and was able to return to some sort of employment 

with Hall and Clarke. Clarke noted, in the 

report for 1893: “Mr. Ebenezer Emmons was 

engaged early in the year to undertake the sorting 

and distribution of the extensive collection of 

palaeozoic fossils in the State hall.” 21 

By 1895, roadblocks were thrown across the 

track of Ebenezer Emmons. The record is 

sketchy, perhaps accounting for the question 

mark in Fakundiny’s account. In the 49th Annual 

Report of the State Museum, transmitted to the 

Legislature 11 February 1896, in Hall’s report of 

the State Geologist and Paleontologist for 1895, 

he reported: “In order that the Regents might 

have at their disposal the means of furnishing 

academies and schools with collections representing 

the rocks and fossils of New York series 

of formation I continued the services of Mr 

Ebenezer Emmons in assorting the large stores of 

fossils originally collected for the New York 

Paleontology, for the use of the schools of the 

State. He continued his services in this direction 

at the expense of the appropriations for the geological 

department until I received the following 

notice from your office: 

“‘REGENTS’ OFFICE, ALBANY, N.Y., 4 Jan 

1895 / At a legal meeting of the regents of the 

University of the State of New York, held at their 

office in the Capitol in Albany, December 12 

1894, the following action was taken: 

[Extracts]...Duplicates for schools. It was found 

that the State Geologist assigned to the labor 

connected with gifts an amount of time and 

assistance greatly in excess of what similar collections 

could be bought for from dealers. / 

Voted, That no farther requests for specimens 

from the duplicate collection can be granted till 

there is an appropriation for the necessary 

expenses of selecting, labeling and packing....MELVIL 

DEWEY / Secretary [to the Board 

of Regents].’ 

“Under these conditions I felt that I could no 

longer be justified in going on with this work, 

and so notified Mr Emmons. 

“However there was certain work necessary, 

in the opening of boxes and the selection of specimens 

to fill out the geological series in our 

drawers that I continued Mr. Emmons’ services 

until the first of March. 

“The attention of your board is directed to 

the fact that these school collections are still 

uncompleted and that the services of a good 

man, for a few months only, would put them all 

in such condition that you could respond to 

requests from schools for sets of the representative 

fossils of our geological formations.” 

Subsequently, Dewey forwarded the wishes 

of the regents that three schools be allowed to 

make collections from the Museum’s duplicates, 

“the selection to be made subject to the approval 

of the state geologist and all the expenses to be 

borne by the institutions.” Results might have 

been predicted: two of three institutions opted 

not to pay their own way to Albany to select 

specimens, while the third sent a rapacious individual 

who walked away with “a large and fine 

series of fossils, such as the institution has seldom 

given away before, and could not part with 

again without incurring material loss.” 22 

Little else has been found in New York State 

Archives on Ebenezer Emmons, Jr. There is an 

undated note from him to Clarke thanking the 

latter for a “reproduction” [probably a newspaper 

clipping] of the “Tablet,” no doubt the 

memorial tablet placed on the Emmons house, at 

Clarke’s behest, by the American Association for 

the Advancement of Science in 1901. 23 

Aside from the obituary notice and the various 

somewhat oblique notices of his life that 

have since appeared, that ends the story of 

Ebenezer Emmons, Jr. 


NOTES 

1. “West Point,” in a letter published after Lossing’s 

death, quoting Lossing’s letter to him, said to have been 

dated 12 Apr 1886. More details on the encounter may be 

found in the chapter on Eights’s Albany street scenes. 

2. The early miniature is AI Accession Number 

X1940.826.1). It has an image size of 4-1/2 by 3-1/2 inches, 

a frame size of 8-1/4 by 7-1/4 inches. It was a gift of John 

Mason Clarke, 15 May 1915. According to a note in 

Institute records, it “had been given to Dr. Clarke by 

Ebenezer Emmons (Philadelphia artist).” Its attribution 

today to “Ebenezer Emmons” as painter appears to be 

based on a suggestion in Institute files by someone unable 

to distinguish between father and son (Ebenezer, Sr., was 

no artist and could not have given anything to Clarke), but 

that was pure guesswork and, in its description of 

Emmons as a “Philadelphia artist,” not even a wellinformed 

guess. The Wheeler letter was written 22 Oct 

1954, in reply to a query by George C. Groce, biographer 

of American artists, who wanted to know if the AI portraits 

were by Emmons Senior or Junior. 

3. I have an uneasy feeling that I have seen the early 

portrait of James Eights listed as a self-portrait. This may 

go back to a note in AI files: an early researcher who 

scrambled matters and listed it as a portrait of Ebenezer 

Emmons by James Eights! The Inman portrait of R.V. 

DeWitt is AI 1924.17. It was painted by the brilliant young 

Henry Inman (1801-1846). Inman finished his seven-year 

apprenticeship in the early 1820s (sources vary from 1821 

to 1823) and began work on his own, quickly becoming a 

very successful portraitist. Since he portrayed such New 

York State politicians as Martin Van Buren, William H. 

Seward, and DeWitt Clinton, perhaps he spent some time 

in Albany in this period. He and his teacher, John W. 

Jarvis, also traveled widely during his apprenticeship. 

Details of Inman’s life seem not particularly full but see 

William Howe Downes’s essay in Dictionary of American 

Biography for basic information. See also William Dunlap’s 

History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design, 1: 344, 3: 

135-138, and Charles Edward Lester, The Artists of America, 

pp. 33-64. According to Lester, Inman did not like the 

emphasis upon miniatures that he was forced to undertake 

and early gave that work up to an apprentice of his own, 

so portraits such as these probably typify his early years; 

in addition, Lester points out that he removed from his 

early independent studio on Vesey Street in New York 

City in 1825 to the vicinity of Philadelphia. A date early in 

the decade for Albany portraits would be probable. 

4. The 1840 portrait is AI X1940.826.2. Its frame measures 

6-1/2 by 6-1/2 inches (window, 3-7/8 by 3-3/8 inches). 

It is a framed watercolor on paper under glass. It was 

given to AI by J.M. Clarke 15 May 1915. As to date of 

Clarke’s acquisition of the miniatures, see Clarke to L.J. 

Cole, 20 Mar 1905, NY State Archives, BO 561.Box 11. 

5. Twitchell’s portrait of Eights is Acc. No. 41.5.2, New 

York State Museum, Division of Research and Collections. 

It was discovered in the second-hand store of Josephine G. 

Sterns, Saratoga Springs, New York, 2 Nov 1941. I am 

indebted to Ronald J. Burch for information on the painting 

— and to Kenneth Dean for thoughtfully guiding me 

to Burch’s office. See C.C. Adams, “106th annual report of 

the New York State Museum,” 1944, p. 26, Fig. 11 (p. 33); 

for its exhibition, see Wesley G. Balla, “James Eights and 

the Practical Application of Knowledge,” 26 Oct 1991, p. 

[23]. The Twitchell portrait was reproduced in C.R. 

Roseberry’s “Antarctic area named for obscure Albanian” 

(1954), with no comment on date done, painter, or repository. 

Information on Asa Twitchell is, unfortunately, scattered. 

He richly deserves better press. Frederic Fairchild 

Sherman noted, almost anonymously, in Art in America, 23: 

82, 1938, that Twitchell has been “unaccountably overlooked 

by all recent compilers of dictionaries of artists. He 

painted many of the governors of New York State and an 

excellent half-length of Abraham Lincoln. He was an honorary 

member of the National Academy.” An account of 

Twitchell appears in Cuyler Reynolds, Albany Chronicles 

for 1904, p. 780, for 26 April, with the reproduction of a 

photographic portrait opposite p. 778: “...born Swazey, 

N.H., on Jan. 1, 1820, beginning painting of portraits in 

1839, coming to this city in 1843, his studio over Annesley 

& Co.’s art store at No. 57 No. Pearl street, and in the 

country in his home to the east of the road to Slingerlands, 

at Hurstville, near the Normanskill creek, though not bordering.” 

He painted Judge Rufus W. Peckham the elder 

(who was lost at sea), T. Romeyn Beck, Martin L. Deyo, 

and other subjects. See also Reynolds, pages 778-779. His 

portrait of Governor DeWitt Clinton (Conservationist, Nov.- 

Dec. 1977, page [11]), was done after Clinton’s death. 

Notices of Twitchell in modern times are few. He was 

noted occasionally in Albany newspapers; among these 

items: (1) Argus, Anon., 13 May 1846, “one of Albany’s 

best and most promising artists has several of his excellent 

portraits on exhibition at the National Academy, New- 

York”; one critic feeling that “he should allow a little light 

to come into his room from some other place, or to have a 

reflected light upon his litters, which will cause his shadow 

to be less cold and heavy.” (2) Argus, Anon., 21 Dec 

1846, along with others, Twitchell signed a testimonial recommending 

Rembrandt Peale’s “The Court of Death.” (3) 

Argus, Anon., 10 Feb 1848, an original portrait by 

Twitchell, “of this city,” donated to Albany Gallery of the 

Fine Arts by Dr J.H. Armsby — presumably a portrait of 

Armsby. (4) Argus, Anon., 6 Apr 1848, Twitchell was commissioned 

by parishioners to paint a portrait of Pastor 

Duncan Kennedy of the First Dutch Reformed Church. He 

was never listed in Who’s Who. Ralph Emerson Twitchell, 

Genealogy of the Twitchell Family, records his history on pp. 

164, 290; he married Nancy Simonds of Schaighticoke and 

they had nine children; no portrait of our Twitchell is 

reproduced in this family account. He got short shrift in 

George C. Groce and D.H. Wallace’s The New-York 

Historical Society’s Dictionary of Artists, p. 640. Allison P. 

Bennett, The People’s Choice, p. 122, reproduced his selfportrait, 

an oil on canvas of generous proportions, but dismissed 

him airily: He was an artist, “the demand for 

whose services may be apprehended by his two greatest 

claims to fame: a self-portrait and a sort of club he seems 

to have run for other busy artists” (“busy” obviously a 

snide word). Curatorial files of the Albany Institute are 

rich in Twitchell-related materials and the Institute has 

notable examples of his work. 

6. Mildred C. Sharpe, letter 20 Sep 1988. No trace of 

such a photograph has turned up at the Albany Institute 

(W.G. Balla, 8 Aug 1996). I have not been able to find any 

papers left by Henry Sage Dermott. 

7. In his negotations for the position of head of the 

North Carolina Geological Survey, Ebenezer Emmons, Sr., 

Chapter 29 407

asked that he be allowed two assistants, one of whom he 

wished to be his son; he had been with him in most of his 

New York work and his father considered him “the best 

draughtsman I have ever known.” See Ebenezer Emmons 

to J.G. Bynum, 12 Nov 1850. 

8. Emmons’s age is quoted from interment information 

at Albany Rural Cemetery, where his was burial No. 

10 in Lot 46, Section 16. The lot was purchased 6 Jun 1855 

by Ebenezer Emmons, Jr., and Chauncey Watson (husband 

of Emmons’s younger sister Mary), according to the ARC. 

John Mason Clarke, in James Hall of Albany, p. 101, footnote 

3, had him dying in 1908 at the age of 87, both figures 

being incorrect. Information at ARC is reinforced by an 

obituary notice in the Albany Times Union, Anon., 

Thursday, 17 Jan 1907, where, under “The Tomb” (as 

opposed to entries under “The Cradle” and “The Altar”), 

we have: “EMMONS — At rest, Wednesday, January 16, 

1907. Ebenezer Emmons in the 85th year of his age. 

Funeral services private at his late residence No. 15 

Western avenue, on Friday afternoon at 2 o’clock.” Dates 

of official connections with the Geological Survey are from 

Robert H. Fakundiny, “The New York State Museum: 

Child of the Geological Survey that grew to be its 

guardian,” in a list, “Permanent professional professions 

with the New York State Geological Survey,” provided by 

L.V. Rickard. 

9. H.T. Peters, America on Stone, p. 171; G.C. Groce and 

D.H. Wallace, The New-York Historical Society’s Dictionary, 

p. 212; W. Young, et al., A Dictionary of American Artists, p. 

155. These sources do not provide life-dates for the 

younger Emmons. In this respect, they echo the absence of 

information in other printed sources, including E.N. 

Emmons’s The Emmons Family Genealogy, p. 46, where 

Ebenezer Emmons, Jr., and his sisters Amanda (older) and 

Mary (younger) are listed, all without life dates and with 

no information that any of them ever had children. 

10. For the familiar form of his name, see J.M. Clarke, 

James Hall of Albany, pp. 315-316, in “the story of the fatal 

$400” which Hall borrowed from the elder Emmons back 

in Hall’s hard-pressed Rensselaer School days and never 

got around to repaying. Information on burial is from 

Albany Rural Cemetery records; for the matter of a wife 

other than Helena, see E.N. Emmons, The Emmons Family 

Genealogy, p. 46. 

11. Max Meisel, Bibliography of American Natural 

History, 2: 607, 608, 616-617. E. Emmons, Sr., Agriculture of 

New-York, 1, 1846, page vii. Some text cuts are signed 

“Emmons, del,” and of seven plates, all of them scenic 

views, three are similarly signed, three are unattributed 

and may be his; two are credited to two additional artists. 

In none of these is the young man identified by the addition 

of “Jr.” to the name Emmons. In volume 2, 1849, several 

works are credited to “E. Emmons, Jr.” Several of 

these are in color. Some 17 plates are involved here: all of 

them wood sections and various agricultural plants. This 

volume also has some 14 plates of graphs showing weather 

observations for the year 1849; they are signed “Drawn 

by E. Emmons.” Since mere graphs, it is conceivable they 

are the work of the older man. In volume 3, 1851, there is 

no information on who prepared the many simple outline 

woodcuts of fruit sections and profiles in the text; there are 

no plates. 

12. G.P. Merrill, Contributions to a History of American 

State Geological and Natural History Surveys, p. 298. Max 

Meisel, Bibliography of American Natural History, 2: 425, 426. 

Exactly what work the younger Emmons did in North 

Carolina requires documentation. His father reported in 

American Geology, 1855, p. 163, that his son had “discovered 

pottery and implements supposed to be of Indian 

manufacture...in the auriferous quarts grit seven feet 

below the surface” in Burke County. Jules Marcou, in his 

biography of Emmons, Sr., p. 15, wrote that the younger 

Emmons made all the drawings in that 1855 work of his 

father’s, all “well executed, being accurate and far superior 

to all the figures of other fossil plants until then.” See 

also E.N. Emmons, The Emmons Family Genealogy, page 46. 

13. Jules Marcou, “Biographical notice of Ebenezer 

Emmons,” p. 9, 14, 15. It is unfortunate that Marcou gave 

no indication how Mrs. Emmons reached her husband in 

1863, nor precisely when and how his body was returned 

to Albany. He was buried in Albany Rural Cemetery; ARC 

records also fail to give date of interment. Marcou did not 

state when (or how) either Mrs. Emmons or the junior 

Emmons returned. 

14. J.M. Clarke, James Hall of Albany, p. 101, f.n. 3. 

15. D.W. Fisher, “Emmons, Hall, Mather, and 

Vanuxem,” p. 37. The date of death is incorrect. Since Hall 

died in 1898, for young Emmons to have worked for him 

“over 40 years,” the association would have had to begin 

prior to 1858. I cannot find any firm evidence that Eb 

Emmons worked for Hall before he began illustrations for 

Hall’s volume V of the Palaeontology, that appeared in 

1884. Perhaps a date of 1880 is a safe guess. 

16. New York State Archives, B0561-78A, Box 2, folder 

1858-1870. Hall lost no time in crowing over his acquisition 

(AI Minutes, AI Archives AI1857. B4.1.1 F2, etc.): 3 Jan 

1871, at Albany Institute, James Hall displayed “Crystals 

from the remarkable collection made by the late Dr. 

Ebenezer Emmons.” There is a long account, pp. 505-508, 

with particular attention to “calcareous spar (calcite) from 

the lead mine of Rossie, in St Lawrence County, and were 

collected chiefly during the years 1836, 1837 and 1838, — 

the mine having been opened in 1836.” The collection 

included more than 1000 specimens. Hall had been anxious 

to acquire it for the State Cabinet and, when Mrs 

Emmons indicated an interest in selling it, Albany Institute 

member Erastus Corning bought it for the state collection. 

It is perhaps unfair to suggest that this was Hall’s way of 

repaying Emmons that fabled $400 that he borrowed back 

in the days of his impecunious student days at the 

Rensselaer School! If so, he cheated scandalously on interest 

due on it, if not in other ways. 

17. For a discussion of the Albertype process, see Ann 

Shelby Blum, “‘A better style of art,’” p. 81; some references 

to Emmons’s drawings also appear in Blum’s 

account; she referred especially, p. 84, to his later work, 

where “he rendered the fossils to emphasize their monumental 

sculptural qualities.” There is a good account of 

Hall’s project up to this point in the Palaeontology, volume 

5(II), pp. vi-x. 

18. James Hall felt some obligation to fine-tune credit 

for the work of artists for volume 8, for some of the plates 

for part 1 were composite figures produced by different 

artists. In a complex and confusing analysis of credits for 

plates in what Hall called plates I through IV, Emmons was 

credited with original drawings of some 284 separate figures 

(Report of the State Geologist, “Original drawings for 

the Palaeontology of New York, volume VIII [1],” pp. 49-51. 


19. In regard to the photograph, see William A. Oliver, 

Jr., “James Hall and fossil corals,” p. 99. Clarke’s letter is 

New York State Archives, BO 579 box 2, folder 3. I am 

unable to confirm whether Emmons was married at the 

time; recall that the Emmons genealogy reported him to 

have married a woman who is not buried with him and 

his first wife in the Albany Rural Cemetery. There are, 

however, two Emmons men buried there who may have 

been his sons. (He was the only son in his family, so this 

appears a tenable proposition.) They are Edward J. 

Emmons, died 1912 aged 50 years and born about 1852; 

and Grant J. Emmons, died 1942 aged 74 and born 1867 or 

1868. If Grant J. was his son, his mother was, of course, Eb 

Emmons’s second wife. 

20. For the coral, Anon., 1887 (1888), p. [29]. General 

status, New York State Archives, Assistant Director’s 

Correspondence, 1890-1892, Box 1, 1890-92 folder. 

21. Anon., 1893 (1894), pp. [8], 17. R.H. Fakundiny, on 

geological personnel, 1987, p. 127. 

22. Hall, Report of the State Museum, 49th Annual 

Report of the Board of Regents, 1895 (1897), 1: [13]-14. Hall 

pointed out that the regents made no provision for additions 

to the collection and doubly doubted “the wisdom of 

permitting anyone to come into the stores of this department 

and help himself to what he wants.” 

23. New York State Archives, A4208-87, Box 3, in a 

folder entitled “E. Emmons.” It contains two of Eb 

Emmons’s letters, cited above, this note and a couple of 

items relating more to Ebenezer Emmons, Sr., than to his 

son (one is material on Eb Emmons from his father’s 

American Geology of 1855, obviously presented by Eb 

Emmons to Hall to document his abilities at the time he 

secured his job in Albany). The other is an autograph of 

“Ebenezer Emmons,” clipped from a letter in a note 

addressed to Jacob Van De Loo, 24 Dec 1897 (probably a 

signature of his father supplied by Eb Emmons). 

Chapter 29 409


Chapter 30 

JAMES EIGHTS: PUBLISHED AND 

MANUSCRIPT WORKS 

This list is an essay at a complete list of the 

works of James Eights, published and manuscript. 

My debt to previous bibliographers, particularly 

Char Miller, will be evident. Some elements, 

however, are new. I am also unable to 

accept all the titles listed by Miller, notably a 

series of articles published in The Zodiac in 

regard to a European tour; these were misattributed 

by a modern reprinter of that periodical 

and were certainly not written by Eights. As 

hinted in the text, some articles signed only 

“J.E.” in the Country Gentleman seem to me either 

not his or his only by unacknowledged borrowing. 

Perhaps he identified useful information for 

the editor and was rewarded by having his initials 

attached to the resulting contribution. 

Letters are entered by dates, with indication 

of recipient; general subject may be noted, unless 

this is explained further in an annotation. If the 

letter has been published, that fact is noted, reference 

being to works cited in the accompanying 

bibliography of works on James Eights. In the 

case of publications, exact titles are given, 

although excessively long subtitles are sometimes 

abbreviated. If articles have no title, as in 

short editorial notices, one is supplied, sometimes 

within parentheses. Articles unambiguously 

signed (“James Eights,” “Jas. Eights”) are not 

queried; those signed “J.E.” or “E.” are so noted. 

1823. Letter to Amos Eaton, with regard to delivery 

of geological drawing, 22 Jan. Graz 

Collection, Historical Society of 

Pennsylvania. Quoted by E.M. McAllister, 

1941: 536. 

1823. (Maps and some illustrations in Amos 

Eaton’s Geological and Agricultural Survey 

of the...Erie Canal.) He evidently drew and 

colored the geological section and contributed 

views of Little Falls, Rochester and 

the entrance to the Canal at Albany. 

1824? (no secure date). 1st Catalogue of Minerals 

belonging to the Albany Lyceum. By R.V. 

DeWitt, James Eights, M.H. Webster, curators. 

Albany Institute of History and Art 

(AIHA), McKinney Library. Ms ledger of 

389 regular entries, 32 being items ‘on 

deposit’ from James Eights. 

1826. Letter by George W. Clinton and JE to 

Amos Eaton, 6 Jul; on geology of 

‘Helderbergh Mountain.’ New York State 

Library; I have used a transcription by Char 

Miller. 

1825. Reprinting of the Canal views, geological 

section, etc., in William Leete Stone’s memoir 

of the Erie Canal. 

1828. Reprinting of the Canal views, etc., in frontispiece 

of A. Eaton’s geological memoir, 

American Journal of Science, vol. 14. 

1828. Letter to Samuel L. Southard, Secretary of 

the Navy, 18 October; application for position 

with proposed exploring expedition. 

National Archives Record Group 45, Naval 

Records Collection of the Office of Naval 

Records & Library; Entry 21, Secretary of 

the Navy Miscellaneous Letters Received, 

1828. 

Chapter 30 411

1829. (Specimens of a singular variety of quartz 

crystal from Palatine, New York, presented 

by Dr. Eights of Albany.) American Journal of 

Science (Proceedings of the Lyceum of 

Natural History of New-York, Jan.), 16(2): 

355. (Not really a paper by Eights nor is he 

listed in table of contents as an author.) 

1829. A table of thermometrical observations 

made in the South Atlantic Ocean on board 

the Exp Brig ‘Annawan’ Captn N.B. Palmer, 

December, 1829. AIHA, McKinney Library. 

2 sheets. Includes calculations of location 

and wind directions at two-hour intervals; 

thermometers lost on 25 Dec. 1831. Habits 

of the ruffed grouse, or pheasant. (Tetrao 

umbellus.). The Cabinet of Natural History and 

American Rural Sports, 1: 260. 

1832 (ghost). Talk about an animal found in the 

Antatric (sic). Entry, MS. index of AI papers, 

AIHA. Said to be with “Institute Reports, 

etc., combined with Correspondence,” but 

not be located July 1988. Perhaps a preliminary 

version of his paper communicated 

and published in 1833. 

1833. Manuscript of “Description of a new crustaceous 

animal found on the coast of 

Patagonia....” AIHA, Library, DE 563. Read 

June, communicated for publication 10 July 

1833. 

1833. Description of a new crustaceous animal 

found on the shores of the South Shetland 

Islands, with remarks on their natural history. 

Transactions, Albany Institute, vol. 2, art. 

4, pp. 53-69. 2 plates. (On his new crustacean, 

Brongniartia [now Serolis] 

trilobitoides; certain parts were reprinted as 

listed below; there was also a notice of the 

expedition in P.L.A. Cordier, 1837 and several 

writers cited his ‘living trilobite’; 

Audouin and Milne Edwards, 1841, p. 8, 

f.n. 2, gave publication date as October 

1833.) 

1834. (On natural history of the South Shetland 

Islands.) New York Merchantile Advertiser and 

New-York Advocate, late Apr or very early 

May. Source of reprint used by Niles’ Weekly 

Register (next item). (Not seen.) 

1834. The South Exploring Expedition. From The 

Merchantile Advertiser and Advocate. Extract 

from the report of Dr. James Eights, naturalist 

to the late American exploring expedition 

of brigs ‘Seraph’ and ‘Annawan.’ Niles’ 

Register, ser. 4, 10(10) whole vol. 46, no. 

1180, pp. 167-168, 3 May. (A reprinting of 

most of the natural history material from 

his paper on Brongniartia of 1833.) 

1834. From JE to Dr. Amos Binney, Boston 

Society of Natural History, 9 Aug. Used by 

permission, Museum of Comparative 

Zoology Archives, Harvard University. 

Quoted by W.T. Calman, 1937: 181. 

1835. Bulletin scientifique. Zoologie. Sur le 

Brongniartia trilobitoides, nouveau crustacé 

de l’Amérique meridionale. Transmitted by 

M. D’Orbigny. L’Institut, Journal Général des 

[Academies et] Sociétés et Travaux Scientifiques 

de la France et de l’Étranger, vol. 3, no. 105, 13 

May, pp. 158-160. (This reprinted description 

of the new species only, without illustrations.) 

1835. Description of a new animal belonging to 

the Arachnides of Latreille; discovered in 

the sea along the shores of the New South 

Shetland Islands. Boston Society of Natural 

History Journal, vol. 1, no. 2, art. 11, pp. 203- 

206, 1 pl. (His famous ten-legged pycnogonid, 

Decolopoda australis; the date of 1837 

sometimes seen results from citing title 

page of whole volume.) 

1835. Naturalist’s every day book. June, 1835. 

The Zodiac, 1(1): 4-8, Jul. (Unsigned but 

identified as by James Eights in contemporary 

index furnished for volume 1.) 

1835. The naturalist’s every day book. July, 1835. 

The Zodiac, 1(2): 23-25, Aug; (3): 33-35, Sep. 

1835. A synopsis of the rocks of the state of New 

York. The Zodiac, 1(2): 27-28. (Signed by 

Eights; only one part published.) 

1835. The naturalist’s every day book. August, 

1835. The Zodiac, 1(3): 42-44, Sep. 

1835. The naturalist’s every day book. 

September, 1835. The Zodiac, 1(4): 60-63, Oct. 

1836. Notes of a pedestrian. The Zodiac, 1(7): 111- 

112, Jan; (8): 113-116, Feb; (9): 141-143, Mar; 

(10): 146-147, Apr; (12): 177-178, Jun; 2(1): 

10-11, Jul; (2): 28-29, Aug. 

1836. The naturalist’s every day book for May, 

1835. The Zodiac, 1(9): 129-132, Mar. 


1836. Entomology. The Zodiac, 1(12): 178-180, Jun. 

(Signed “E.”; actually on spiders.) 

1836. Reminiscences of the city of Albany, by James 

Eights, M.D. With an engraving, showing a 

view of the city, from the opposite side of 

the Hudson River. Albany: No publisher or 

printer given. Title page + pp. 3-18, with 

folding plate. See text for annotations on 

this and following entry. 

1836. Reminiscences of the city of Albany. With a 

beautiful and correct engraving of the city, 

taken from the opposite side, on the 

Hudson River. 2d ed. Albany: Bready. 12 

pp., plate. 

(1836-1837). As noted elsewhere, five essays by a 

traveler in Europe, said in a recent 

reprinting of The Zodiac to be by Eights are 

not his work; titles of the articles are: 

Description of three eccentric old gentlemen 

(The Zodiac, 2: 36-37); Three days in Lyons in 

1835 (2: 57-58); The “combats des animaux,” 

at Paris (2: 65-66); Military aspect of France: 

Hotel des Invalides (2: 81-84, all 1836); 

Glasgow (2: 110-112, 1837). 

1836-1842. (In) Records of the United States 

exploring expedition under the command 

of Lt. Charles Wilkes, 1836-1842. National 

Archives and Records Service, Microfilm 75, 

RG 45, Naval Records Collection of the 

Office of Naval Records and Library, 27 

rolls. Eights material is to be found scattered 

in the first seven rolls. 

1836. Letter to Benjamin F. Butler, U.S. Attorney 

General, 2 Aug, asking for letter of support 

in his application for a place in the Wilkes 

expedition, citing experience on the 

‘Annawan.’ National Archives, M75, RG 45, 

1: 0066-67. 

1837. JE to Mahlon Dickerson, Secretary of the 

Navy, 10 Jan. National Archives, M75, RG 

45, 2: 0027. 

1837. Vanuxem, Lardner (and JE). First annual 

report on the geological survey of the 

Fourth District of the State of New-York. 

Pp. 187-212, in First Annual Report of the 

Geological Survey of the State. N.Y. State 

Assembly Doc. no. 161. (JE’s name appears 

at the end.) (Reviewed in Am. J. Sci., 32: 186- 

190, Apr 1837.) 

1837. JE to Mahlon Dickerson, 5 Jul. National 

Archives, M75, RG 45, 2: 0300-301. 

1837. Collated list of individual requisitions, 

including JE’s list. Aug. National Archives, 

M75, RG 45, 3: 0202-213. 

1837. JE to Mahlon Dickerson, 4 Sep. National 

Archives, M75, RG 45, 3: 0246. 

1837. JE to Mahlon Dickerson, 21 Oct, on expenses. 

National Archives, M75, RG 45, 3: 037- 

380. See Anon. 1838, House Exec. Doc. 147: 

494-495, for this letter and a list of supplies 

requested. 

1838. A description of the New South Shetland 

Isles, by James Eights, Esq., M.D., naturalist 

in the scientific corps in the American 

exploring expedition of brigs Seraph and 

Annawan under the command of Captain 

B. Pendleton, and N.B. Palmer, sent out to 

the South Seas under the directive agency 

of the author of this work, and the patronage 

of government in the years 1829 and 

1830. Pp. 195-216, in: Edmund Fanning, 

Voyages to the South Seas, Indian and Pacific 

Oceans, China Sea. 2nd ed. New York: 

William H. Vermilye. (A slight modification 

of the natural history part of JE’s publication 

of 1833; note that this did not appear in 

the first edition of Fanning’s book in 1833.) 

1838. JE to Commodore James Ridgley, 10 Feb. 

American Philosophical Society Library. 

1838. JE to James K. Paulding, 8 Aug. National 

Archives, M75, RG 45, 4: 0403. 

1838. JE to John Torrey, 8 Aug. Torrey Papers, 

New York Botanical Garden Library (previously, 

Herbarium, Columbia University). 2 

leaves. 

1838. JE to Asa Gray 17 Sep. Gray Herbarium 

Library, Harvard University. 1 leaf. 

1838. JE to James K. Paulding, 21 Sep. National 

Archives, M75, GR 45, 5: 0085-86. 

1838. JE to James K. Paulding, 21 Nov. National 

Archives, M75, GR 45, 5: 0114. 

1838. JE to James K. Paulding, with carriage 

receipt, 23 Nov. National Archives, M75, GR 

45, 5: 0117-118. 

1839. JE to James K. Paulding, 26 Feb. National 

Archives, M75, GR 45, 5: 0267. 

1840. JE to Senator Samuel Southard, 15 Dec. 

Samuel Southard Papers, Princeton 

Chapter 30 413

University Library, Box 65, folder 13. 2 

sheets. (This has at times been cited as 1841 

but Princeton University gives it as 1840, 

correctly, I think.) 

1842. Description [of Sphaeroma bumastiformis, 

etc.]. Pp. 390-391, 433-434, in: Ebenezer 

Emmons, Geology of New-York. Part II. 

Comprising the Survey of the Second 

Geological District. (Natural History of 

New-York, Divison 4, Geology, vol. 2, pt. 2.) 

(Eights did not describe or illustrate other 

fossils for this volume; consult text for more 

on this supposed new species.) 

1844. Origin of guano. The Cultivator, n.s., 1(12): 

379-380, Dec. 

1846. Outlines of the geological structure of Lake 

Superior mineral region, belonging to the New- 

York and Lake Superior Mining Company. 

Appendix to First Annual Report, New- 

York & Lake Superior Mining Co. Albany: 

Ptd. by Evening Atlas. 21 pp. + map. 

1846. Lake Superior mining region (letter to 

Edwin Croswell, 19 May). Clipping from 

unknown paper, laid in Library of Congress 

copy of Eights’s report, previous entry. 

(Croswell was a proprietor and the editor of 

the Albany Argus newspapers but this letter 

was not printed in the Daily Albany Argus 

[which SUNY-A Library has on microfilm]; 

it may, however, have been in either the 

Albany Argus [semi-weekly] or the Weekly 

Argus, neither of which is available to me.) 

1846. Notes on natural history. American 

Quarterly Journal of Agriculture and Science, 

3(2) 219-223, April. 

1846. On the icebergs of the Ant-arctic Sea. 

American Quarterly Journal of Agriculture and 

Science, 4(1): 20-24, Jul. 

1846. On the elevated temperature of the waters 

of the Gulf Stream. American Quarterly 

Journal of Agriculture and Science, 4(2): 210- 

211, Oct. 



5(1) 56-57, Jan. 



(5): 246-259, May. 

1848. Notes of a geological examination and survey 

of Mitchell’s Cave, Town of Root, 

County of Montgomery, N.Y. American 


7(1): 21-27, Jan. 

1848. Some of our injurious Coleoptera. American 


7(10): 438-443, Oct. 

(1850-1870?). Undated letter from James Eights 

to Dr. James H. Armsby in regard to bone 

(skull) of a whale. N.Y. State Archives, 

papers of State Museum Director’s files 

(etc.), B0561-78A, Box 1, “Lists of collection 

items, 1850s-1870s,” A 248/1. Unfortunately, 

this undated letter is in reply to Armsby’s 

undated query. There is no evidence that 

this specimen went, with other Armsby 

items, to the State Cabinet. 

(1851? — doubtful; 1854 or 1855?). Letter to 

Joseph Henry from Greensboro’, Guilford 

County, North Carolina. Smithsonian 

Institution Archives. Record Unit 305, U.S. 

National Museum Registrar, 1834-1958. 

Accession Records 1850/Eights, James. 

Accession no. 712. 2 sheets. (The letter is not 

dated; its disposition by a later classifier as 

1851 was arbitrary.) 

1852. Description of a new animal belonging to 

the Crustacea, discovered in the Antarctic 

seas, by the author. Albany Institute 

Transactions, vol. 2, art. 16, pp. 331-334, 2 pl. 

(On Glyptonotus antarctica.) 

1852. Observations on the geological features of 

the Post-Tertiary formation of the city of 

Albany, and its vicinity. Albany Institute 

Transactions, vol. 2, art. 17, pp. 335-353, 1 pl. 

1852. Explanation to Article IV. this volume. 

Albany Institute Transactions, 2: 354. (In this 

note he agreed that his genus Brongniartia of 

1833 was properly the older genus Serolis.) 

1852. The Adirondack Mountains. Cultivator, n.s., 

9: 302-303, Sep. (Signed “J.E.” but listed in 

annual index as work of James Eights.) 

1852. The onion fly. Cultivator, n.s., 9: 334-335, 

Oct. 

1852. The red-legged locust. Cultivator, n.s., 9: 

367-368, Nov. 

1853. [Notice of] A new genus and species of 

Crustacea; by James Eights. American 

Journal of Science, 2nd ser., 15: 135. (Not by 


JE; an anonymous notice by the editor, 

James Dwight Dana, of Glyptonotus; he did 

not give volume or page numbers of the 

original.) 

1853. A new genus and species of Crustacea. 

Annals and Magazine of Natural History, ser. 

2, 11: 339-340. (Not by JE; it credits Albany 

Institute Transactions, 1852, but is actually a 

reprinting of the notice in American Journal 

of Science.) 

1853. Slaked lime and muck as a manure. 

Cultivator, ser. 3, 1: 10, Jan. (Signed “J.E.” — 

there is no evidence that “J.E.” wrote an 

adjoining article, “Potatoes in Tan, plaster, 

and in ashes,” sometimes attributed to 

him.) 

1853. The pigeon hole borer: Tremex columba. 

Country Gentleman, 1(1): 11-12, illust., 6 Jan. 

(Same as next.) 

1853. The pigeon hole borer: Tremex columba. 

Cultivator, ser. 3, 3: 18-19, Jan. (Same as previous.) 

1853. Slaked lime and muck as a manure. 

Country Gentleman, 1(3): 34, 20 Jan. (“J.E.”; 

same as previous article of same name.) 

1853. Entomology: Pimpla lunator. — Fab. 

Country Gentleman, 1(3): 42-43, three illusts., 

20 Jan. 

1853. On the study of insects. Country Gentleman, 

1(4): 57-58, 27 Jan. (“Jas. Eights”; some parts 

same as “Entomology” in Zodiac.) 

1853. Geological notice of the coast of Patagonia. 

Country Gentleman, 1(4): 74-75, 27 Jan. 

(Signed “Jas. Eights”; same as Am. J. Ag. & 

Sc., 5[5], 1847.) 

1853. (Account of captive prairie or barking wolf 

in Albany.) Country Gentleman, 1(5): 73-74, 3 

Feb. (Part of an otherwise anonymous article 

on “The barking wolf.”) 

1853. The Rocky Mountain sheep. (Ovis montana 

— Desm.) Country Gentleman, 1(6): 89-90, 10 

Feb. (No evidence that this was based upon 

personal experience.) 

1853. Entomology. The bark beetle — (Scolytus 

destructor.) Country Gentleman, 1(7): 104-105, 

one illust., 17 Feb. (As in “Some of our injurious 

Coleoptera,” 1848, in part.) 

1853. On the origin of honey dew. Country 

Gentleman, 1(9): 136-137, 3 Mar. 

1853. Dissemination of the seeds of plants (. . . 

No. 2;...No. 3). Country Gentleman, 1(10): 

152-153; (11): 171; (12): 186; 10, 17, 24 Mar. 

1853. The swift fox. — (Vulpes Velox. Say.). 

Country Gentleman, 1(13): 201-202, 31 Mar. 

1853. On the cultivation of cochineal (...No. 2). 

Country Gentleman, 1(15): 234; (16): 250-251; 

14, 21 Apr. 

1853. Scraps from a naturalist’s note book (nos. 

1-24). Country Gentleman, 1(17): 264-265, 28 

Apr; (18-21): 282-283, 296-297, 314-315, 328- 

329, 5, 12, 19, 26 May; (24-26): 337, 393-394, 

407, 16, 23, 30 Jun; (27-28): 2(27-28): 13-14, 

28-29, 7, 14 Jul; (31-34): 77, 92-93, 108-109, 

124-125, 4, 11, 18, 25 Aug; (35-39): 140-141, 

156-157, 173, 188-189, 205-206, 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 

Sep; (41-43): 236, 252-253, 268-269, 13, 20, 27 

Oct; (44-45): 284-285, 300-301, 3, 10 Nov. (All 

signed “J.E., Albany”; the last one was 

dated by him as submitted on 1 Nov: there 

is no doubt Eights was author of the series 

and that he was resident in Albany until 

that time and had not yet departed for 

North Carolina.) 

1854. A report relating to the Fisher Hill and Puckett 

mines in Guilford County, North Carolina. No 

place: no publisher. Written from Fisher 

Hill. 7 pp. + map. 

1854. To A.B. Stith, president of the Ward Gold Mine 

Company. Greensboro: no publisher. 2 pp. 

1855. A report on the geological, mineralogical and 

other resources of the Hiatt tract of land, containing 

2000 acres and situated in the county of 

Surry, N.C. Greensborough: Ptd. at the 

“Patriot” Office. 8 pp. 

1856. Description of an isopod crustacean from 

the Antarctic seas, with observations on the 

New South Shetlands. American Journal of 

Science, ser. 2, 22: 391-397, 2 pl. (With editorial 

comment by James Dwight Dana, this 

reprinted JE’s 1852 paper on Glyptonotus, 

previously noticed in abstract in AJS, as 

well as most of the natural history part of 

JE’s 1833 paper on Brongniartia, thus in part 

correcting a long-standing injustice to JE.) 

1856. Letter to Benson J. Lossing, 15 Jun. The 

Huntington Library, LS 624. 2 pp. (In regard 

to a drawing but also clarifying certain 

aspects of Lossing’s ownership of JE’s original 

drawings of Albany street scenes.) 

Chapter 30 415

1857. Albany fifty years ago. Harper’s New 

Monthly Magazine, 14(82): 451-463, Mar. (An 

unsigned essay, written by contributing editor 

Benson John Lossing from notes given 

him by JE; illustrations were made up, 

without credit, from original reconstructions 

of Albany street scenes by JE.) 

1858. Letter to James Hall, 17 Feb. N.Y. State 

Library, James Hall Papers, PG16478, folder 

613; 2 pp. (Report of an otherwise unknown 

trip by JE to Panamá.) 

1858. North Carolina. — its geology, mining 

regions, scenery, &c. No. 1(-4). Mining 

Magazine and Journal of Geology, 10(3): 183- 

188, (4): 268-273, (5): 369-373, (6): 423-427, 

Mar-Jun. (All signed “James Eights, 

Geologist.”) 

1861. New Chinese silk worm. Country 

Gentleman, 17(428): 194-195, 21 Mar. (Signed 

“Jas. Eights.”) 

1864. Our songsters of summer. Country 

Gentleman, 23(597): 402, 23 Jun; 24(599-601): 

18, 34, 50, 7, 14, 21 Jul; (605-606): 114, 130, 

18, 25 Aug; (609-610): 178, 194, 15, 22 Sep. 

(Eight articles signed “J.E.”) 

1864. Honey and the honey bee. Country 

Gentleman, 24(603): 82-83, 4 Aug; (604): 98, 

11 Aug. (Signed “J.E.”) 

1864. On textile vegetable fibre. Country 

Gentleman, 24(607): 138-139, 1 Sep; (608): 

254, 8 Sep. (Signed “J.E.”) 

1864. Coal and its origins. Country Gentleman, 

24(611): 211, 29 Sep; (612): 226-227, 6 Oct. 

(Signed “J.E.”) 

1864. On the ‘eland’ cattle as a breed. Country 

Gentleman, 24(613): 236, 13 Oct. (Signed 

“J.E.”) 

1865. The Coleophora or tent-building caterpillar. 

Country Gentleman, 25(639): 242, 13 Apr; 

(640): 258, 20 Apr. (Signed “J.E.”) 

1865. On the utility of the maize plants. Country 

Gentleman, 25(641): 266-267, 27 Apr. (Signed 

“J.E.”) 

1865. The Fasciola or sheep fluke. Country 

Gentleman, 25(643): 300, 11 May. (Signed 

“J.E.”) 

1865. Italian mode of fattening ortolans. Country 


“J.E.”) 

1865. Eyes of insects. Country Gentleman, 25(648): 

386, 15 Jun; (649): 402, 22 Jun. 

(Signed “J.E.”; second part is entitled 

“Vision of insects.—No. 2.”) 

1865. Scraps from my every-day book. — 1. 

Country Gentleman, 26(655): 75, 3 Aug. 

(Signed “J.E.”; an encouraging title but no 

other parts appeared.) 

1865. Slumber of insects. Country Gentleman, 

26(657): 114, 17 Aug. (Signed “J.E.”) 

1865. Haschisch — Cannabis (indica) sativa — 

common hemp. Country Gentleman, 26(658): 

130-131, 24 Aug; (660): 162-163, 7 Sep. 


1865. Mordants and dyes. Country Gentleman, 

26(659): 146, 31 Aug; (661): 178, 14 Sep; 

(663): 210, 28 Sep. (Signed “J.E.”) 

1865. How to destroy sheep sorrel. Country 

Gentleman, 26(665): 235, 9 Nov. (Signed 

“J.E.”; same as next.) 

1865. How to destroy sheep sorrel. Cultivator, ser. 

3, 13: 351, Nov. (Signed “J.E.”; same as previous.) 

1865. Dessicated milk. Country Gentleman, 

26(670): 322, 16 Nov. (Signed “J.E.”) 

1865. Hydra viridis: found in our city waters. 

Country Gentleman, 26(671): 338, 23 Nov; 

(672): 354, 30 Nov. (Signed “J.E.”) 

1866. On the formation of peat. Cultivator & 

Country Gentleman, 27(677): 18, 4 Jan. 


1866. Peat and its mode of working. Cultivator & 

Country Gentleman, 27(679): 50, 18 Jan. 


1866. Glycerine. Cultivator & Country Gentleman, 

27(682): 98, 8 Feb. (Signed “J.E.”; actually a 

two-parted article: see 24 Jan 1867.) 

1866. Pinkster festivities in Albany sixty years 

ago. Cultivator & Country Gentleman, 

28(721): 306-307, (722): 323-324, (723): 338- 

339; 8, 15, 23 Nov. (Signed “E.” on first two, 

“J.E.” on third; all clearly by Eights.) 

1867. Pinkster festivities in Albany sixty years 

ago. In Joel Munsell’s Collections on the 

History of Albany, 2: 323-327. (A reprinting of 

parts two and three of previous, with no 

mention of part one; there was a brief introduction 

by Munsell.) 


1867. Glycerine. Cultivator & Country Gentleman, 

29(732): 66, 24 Jan. (Signed “J.E.”; see 8 Feb 

1866.) 

1867. Unfermented bread. Cultivator & Country 

Gentleman, 29(736): 127, 21 Feb. (Signed 

“J.E.”) 

1867. White and brown bread. Cultivator & 

Country Gentleman, 29(747: 306, 9 May. 


1867. Principles of water color painting with 

practical hints. Cultivator & Country 

Gentleman, 30(756): 35, 11 Jul. (Signed “J.E.”) 

1869. Report upon the mines and railroad owned by 

the Sullivan and Erie Coal and Railroad 

Company of Pennsylvania. Albany: Weed, 

Parsons and Co., printers. 7 pp. + fold. pl. 

of geological strata. (Author on title page is: 

“Prof. James Eights, of the City of Albany”; 

copy in James Hall Papers, American 

Museum of Natural History Library, which 

has supplied photocopy; see next item.) 

1870. Geological report of Professor James 

Eights. Pp. 26-31, in: Statement concerning the 

Sullivan and Erie Coal & Railroad Company of 

Pennyslvania, geological report of Prof. Jas. 

Eights....New York, February, 1870. New 

York: E. Hoyt & Co., Book and Job Printers. 

31 pp. + map (frontispiece) and colored 

folding plate of geological strata. (I have 

copy courtesy of Professor Warder H. 

Cadbury.) 

1871. Receipt for money received, signed by JE. 

Albany Institute of History and Art Library, 

Acc. No. 1066. D.S. 1 p. (Receipt for $100 

received from Robert Shurman in payment 

for services as surveyor of land in Essex 

County, N.Y.) 

1872 (1878). Importance of frictional action, as 

related to light, motion, and heat. Albany 

Institute, Proceedings, 2(1): 4, for 19 Nov. 

(This is actually a summary notice of the 

paper, which was read by the Recording 

Secretary, Daniel J. Pratt; it is not clear 

whether Eights was present; see also AI 

Minutes,’ 19 Nov 1872; AI Archives, B4.1.1., 

ledger p. 13.) 

1872 (1873). Defense by members of Albany 

Institute, particularly Robert P. Whitfield, of 

JE’s priority in regard to trilobite-like crustaceans, 

against recent claims of Louis 

Agassiz. Albany Institute, Proceedings, for 7 

May, 1: 322-324. See also AI ‘Minutes’ for 

that date: AI Archives, B4.1.1, ledger pp. 

619-622. (Not a paper by JE, of course.) 

1874. Darwin’s speculations. Cultivator & Country 


“J.E.”) 

Chapter 30 417


Chapter 31 

JAMES EIGHTS, A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CITED 

AND CONSULTED WORKS 

While works are attributed to author or editor 

when such is known, truly anonymous articles 

are listed, strictly by date, under 

Anonymous, then alphabetically by title. 

References to dictionaries and encyclopedias are 

by title. When possible, I have credited authors 

with their works, as in initialed (or signed) 

entries in biographical encyclopedias 

If articles are untitled, I generally supply one, 

sometimes within parentheses; explanations, if 

called for, are added at the end of an entry, within 

parentheses; books are generally listed by 

short-titles, unless something significant appears 

in the subtitle. Great care has gone into identification 

of various editions only when there is 

need to determine when an item first appeared 

in a string of editions. 

Dates are supplied, when known. Reprint 

editions, with dates, are usually given in an 

addendum to the main entry, since they have 

often been used by me. Facsimile means a work 

whose main body is page for page as in the original. 

Articles in periodicals may, in a few cases, 

be given two dates, one of which is the conventional 

date (the year for which the publication 

was issued), the second (within parentheses) 

being the date of actual publication. 

Periodical and book titles are set in italics. 

Book titles have all substantive words capitalized; 

periodical and pamphlet articles, with the 

occasional exception, have only initial and proper 

words capitalized. 

I have made no attempt to list all cities in 

which a publisher may have operated. In some 

cases, there may be need to refer to American 

and foreign editions of a work. Citation of periodical 

publications may be simplified; volume 

part, article number and the like may or may not 

be cited but volume number and full pagination 

will be given; months and days are always supplied 

for periodicals when issues are paged separately. 

Newspapers are commonly cited by name 

or catch-title and day (in old newspapers, pages 

were often not numbered); little attention is 

given to volumes, numbers, and so on. 

Pagination of books has been simplified and 

there is no attempt to give a full description in 

the bibliographical sense. Pertinent peculiarities 

in pagination will be noted when known. In a 

multivolume work, pages are usually not given 

for individual volumes. 

Author entries are arranged chronologically 

when dates are known. Items appearing in the 

same year, if not dated more specifically, are 

arranged alphabetically within the period. 

Obituary notices may be listed either under the 

person’s name or under “Anon.,” with a crossreference. 

Chapter 31 419

ABBOTT, R. Tucker, and M.E. YOUNG, eds. 

1973-1974. American Malacologists; a National 

Register of Professional and Amateur 

Malacologists and Private Shell Collectors and 

Biographies of early American Mollusk Workers 

Born between 1618 and 1900. Falls Church: 

American Malacologists. iv + 494 pp. 

ADAMS, Charles C. 1943. The World’s Fair historic 

murals (by David C. Lithgow). N.Y. 

State Museum Bull., 333: 27-35 (including 

figs. 3-6). 

ADAMS, Charles C. 1944. (Acquisition of portrait 

of JE by Asa W. Twitchell.) N.Y. State 

Museum Bull., 335: 26, pl. 11 on p. 33. 

ADAMS, Charles C., and J.D. HATCH, Jr. 1943. 

Exchange of letters on authenticity of JE as 

artist of the ‘Eights views of Albany.’ 

Albany Institute of History and Art (AIHA), 

Library. Letters of 23 and 26 Apr. 

ADAMS, Charles C. et al. 1937. A chronological 

sketch of the history of the New York State 

Museum. N.Y. State Museum Bull., 313: 85- 

121. 

ADAMS, John Quincy. 1875. Memoirs. Ed. by 

Charles Francis Adams. Philadelphia: 

Lippincott. 12 vols. Reprint, Freeport: Books 

for Libraries Press, 1969. 

AGASSIZ, Louis. 1872. The Hassler Expedition. 

Letter from Prof. Agassiz. Another fulfillment 

of his prophecy — Discovery of a new 

crustacean. New-York Tribune, 31(9666): 5, 28 

Mar. (See editorial reference to the letters, p. 

4.) 

AGASSIZ, Louis (and H.E. STRICKLAND). 1854. 

Bibliographia Zoologiae et Geologiae. A General 

Catalogue of all Books, Tracts, and Memoirs on 

Zoology and Geology. London: The Ray 

Society. 4 vols. Reprinted, New York: 

Johnson Reprint Corp., 1968. 

AIMWELL, Absalom (pseud.?). 1803. A Pinkster 

Ode for the Year 1803. Albany. 12 pp. 

ALBANY ACADEMY. 1913. Historical and 

Financial Survey of the Albany Academy, 1813- 

1913. Appendix to Centennial Catalogue. 

Albany: Brandorn Ptg. Co. for Albany 

Academy. 140 pp. 

ALBANY ACADEMY. 1914. The Celebration of the 

Centennial Anniversary of the Founding of the 

Albany Academy, May 24, 1913. Albany: The 

Academy. 132 pp. 

ALBANY ARGUS (title varies). 1813-1920. 

Microfilm. Many items cited separately. 

ALBANY (City) BICENTENNIAL LOAN EXHI- 

BITION. 1886. Catalogue of Albany’s 

Bicentennial Loan Exhibition. Albany: Weed, 

Parsons & Co. xxii + 5-155 pp. 

ALBANY COUNTY POST. See Anon. 1933, 1 

Dec. 

ALBANY DIRECTORY. Various publishers 

brought out annual directories, beginning 

with Joel Munsell’s Directory for 1813, with 

some 2,000 names. I have checked volumes 

through the year 1882. 

ALBANY EVENING JOURNAL. 1880. “The 

Rhyme of Sturgeonopolis. A Cooperative 

Poem,” by the Carriers of the Albany 

Evening Journal...January 1st, A.D. 1880. 

Albany: Journal Print, 8 pp. 

ALBANY INSTITUTE (etc.). 1824-1838. The collections 

of SPUA and ALNH. See especially 

“Catalogue of the Property of the Albany 

Institute; since its formation May 5th 1824.” 

(Reference is to Society for the Promotion of 

Useful Arts and Albany Lyceum of Natural 

History.) McKinney Library, AIHA. 

ALBANY INSTITUTE. 1824-1857; 1857-1872. 

Minutes. 2 bound ledgers. McKinney 

Library, AIHA. 

ALBANY INSTITUTE. 1832 (1833). Report of 

curators on funds, 1832. McKinney Library, 

AIHA. 3 sheets. Dated “Feby 1833.” 

(Includes information on purchase of JE’s 

Antarctic specimens.) 

ALBANY INSTITUTE. 1870. Proceedings of the 

Albany Institute, Dec. 2, 1863-Feb. 27, 1865. 

Transactions, Albany Institute, 6: 259-298. 

ALBANY INSTITUTE. 1873, 1878. Proceedings. 

Vols. 1-2. (13 Mar 1865-30 Sep 1872; Oct 

1872-Dec 1877.) 

ALBANY INSTITUTE. 1879. Manual of the Albany 

Institute (including a list of all members since 

its organization). Transactions, Albany 

Institute, 9: 319-345. (See also D. Pratt, 

1870.) 

ALBANY MICROSCOPE, The. See: W.E. Rowley, 

1990. 

ALBANY RURAL CEMETERY. See Anon., 3 Jul 

1845. 


ALBANY RURAL CEMETERY. 1846. Albany 

Rural Cemetery Association: Its Rules, 

Regulations, &c., with an Appendix. Albany: 

C. Van Benthuysen. 5-64 pp. 

ALBANY RURAL CEMETERY. 1902. Numerical 

Catalogue of Proprietors of the Albany Rural 

Cemetery, January 1, 1902. No place, no publisher. 

List of officers in front of t.p. 362 pp. 

(many pages blank). (Other editions exist.) 

ALBERTS, Fred G., ed. 1995. Geographic Names of 

the Antarctic. U.S. National Science 

Foundation, Publ. no. 95-157. xxiv + 834 pp. 

ALBRITTON, Claude C. et al. 1843. Reports of the 

First, Second, and Third Meetings of the 

Association of American Geologists and 

Naturalists (1840, 1841, 1842). Boston: 

Gould, Kendall & Lincoln. 544 pp., 20 pl. 

(Reprint, New York: Arno, 1978.) 

ALDRICH, Michele L., and Alan E. LEVITON. 

1987. James Hall and the New York Survey. 

Pp. 24-33, in R.H. Fakundiny and E.L. 

Yochelson, Earth Science History, 6(1). 

ALLAN, Mea. 1967. The Hookers of Kew, 1785- 

1911. London: Michael Joseph. 273 pp., 

illusts. 

ALMY, Robert F. 1937. J.N. Reynolds: a brief biography 

with particular reference to Poe and 

Symmes. Colophon, n.s., 2: 227-245, winter. 

AMICUS. 1823. Letter to Stephen Van Rensselaer, 

Member of Congress, 15 Feb. AIHA 

Archives Colln/ALNH Record Group, DE 

563/I/2WW. 1 folded sheet. 

ANDOW, D.A., R.J. BAKER, and C.P. LANE, 

eds. 1994. Karner Blue Butterfly: A Symbol of a 

Vanishing Landscape. St. Paul: Minnesota 

Agricultural Experiment Station, University 

of Minnesota. 222 pp., illust. 

ANNAWAN, Brig. See Survey of Federal 

Archives, 1940: 15-16. 

ANON. No date. (Brief biography of JE.) Library, 

AIHA, 1 p. (Obviously based largely upon 

J.M. Clarke, 1916; by the time deposited, the 

Cogswell’s JE drawings had been put in the 

AIHA collections.) 

ANON. 1817. (Death of Abraham Eights, Jun., 

eldest son of Dr Eights of Albany, aged 21 

years.) Albany Argus, Fri., 12 Dec. (Died 6 

Dec.) 

ANON. 1822. Unparalleled munificence (the Van 

Rensselaer/Eaton survey of the Erie Canal). 

The Plough Boy, 4(15): 115. (From the Albany 

Daily Advertiser.) 

ANON. 1823. (Snide remark about plan to incorporate 

Albany Lyceum of Natural History.) 

The Albany Microscope, Albany, 2 (whole no. 

103): 171, 1 Mar. 

ANON. 1824. Rensselaer School. Albany Argus, 

Fri., 10 Dec. (From the New York Statesman.) 

ANON. 1825. (Advertisement for) The La 

Fayette, etc. The Albany Microscope, 5 (whole 

no. 213?): 40. (Whole no. looks like “218” to 

me.) 

ANON. 1826. (The Erie Canal trip of Amos 

Eaton, JE, et al.) Albany Argus carried 

accounts as follows: “Rensselaer School....” 

25 Apr; “Canal Arrival” (at Utica), 13 May; 

“Professor Eaton...,” 29 May; “From the 

Syracuse Gazette. Geological Expedition,” 13 

Jun. 

ANON. 1828, 1830, 1831. (Notices on celebration 

of end of slavery in the State of New York.) 

Albany Argus, 3 & 7 Jul 1828; 7 Jul 1830; 6 

Jul 1831. 

ANON. 1829. Abstracts of the proceedings of the 

Lyceum of Natural History of New York. 

American Journal of Science, 16: 353-360. 

ANON. 1829. Expedition to the South Seas. New 

Bedford Mercury, 18 Sep. See Argus, 25 Sep. 

ANON. 1829. (Preparations by J.N. Reynolds 

and N.B. Palmer in New Bedford; arrival in 

New York imminent.) Morning Courier and 

New-York Enquirer, 5(741): 1, 23 Sep. 

ANON. 1929. Expedition to the South Seas. From 

New Bedford Mercury, via New York 

Gazette. Albany Argus, 25 Sep. 

ANON. 1829. (Call for loan of instruments, 

charts and books for the South Sea 

Exploring Expedition.) Morning Courier and 

New-York Enquirer, 5(743): 2, 25 Sep. (The 

same was inserted 24 Sep.) 

ANON. 1829. (Polar expedition, etc.) Niles Weekly 

(National) Register, 37(942): 86, 3 Oct. 

ANON. 1829. (Arrival of ‘Annawan’ yesterday; 

to leave tomorrow; Eights accompanies 

Reynolds.) Morning Courier and New-York 

Enquirer, 5(762): 2, 17 Oct. 

ANON. 1829. Antarctic expedition. Morning 

Courier and New-York Enquirer, 5(764): 2, 20 

Oct. 

Chapter 31 421

ANON. 1829. The South Sea Expedition. Niles’ 

Weekly (National) Register, 37(945): 132, 24 

Oct. (From N.Y. Enquirer.) 

ANON. 1829. The South Sea expedition. Albany 

Argus, 27 Oct. (From N.Y. Courier.) 

ANON. 1829. (Departure of brig ‘Seraph,’ Capt. 

Pendleton, from Stonington for Block Island 

to join ‘Annawan.’) New Bedford Mercury, 

30 Oct. (Quoted in full in R.F. Almy, 1937: 

240, note 32.) 

ANON. 1830. History of the Institute, with an 

abstract of its Proceedings. Transactions, 

Albany Institute, 1(2), Appendix, pp. 1-74. 

(Includes copy of Charter, Catalogue of 

Library, Members.) 

ANON. 1830. (Mr. Reynolds and ‘Annawan’ 

arrive in Cape Verde Islands, 14 Nov 1829.) 

Albany Argus, 30 Mar. (See next entry.) 

ANON. 1830. South Sea expedition. New 

Bedford Mercury, 2 Apr. (This is Reynolds’s 

letter from Bonavista, 14 Nov 1829; see previous 

entry.) 

ANON. 1830. (A January report of the American 

discovery brigs ‘Seraph’ and ‘Annawan’ at 

Cape Horn.) Albany Argus, 14 May. 

ANON. 1830. Exploring expedition (letter of J.N. 

Reynolds, Staten Island, 13 Jan 1830). 

Morning Courier and New-York Enquirer, 7 

(949): 2, 2 June. 

ANON. 1830. From Valparaiso. Courier and New- 

York Enquirer, 7(1027): 2, Wed., 1 Sep. 

(Arrival at Stonington 29 Aug of the brig 

‘Bogota’; return there of “Dr. Eyting [= 

Eights!], of the ‘Anawan.’”) 

ANON. 1830. (Return of JE to Albany from 

Antarctic.) Albany Evening Journal, 1(141): 2, 

Tues, 2 Sep. 

ANON. 1830. (MS Registers of vessels arriving at 

the port of New York from foreign ports 

1789-1919.) National Archives Microfilm 

M1066, Roll 3. (Two different entries have 

the brig ‘Bogota, master Swanton, from 

“South Seas” on 2 Sep. 

ANON. 1830. The Exploring expedition. Albany 

Argus, 24 Dec. 

ANON. 1831. (Arrival of ‘Annawan,’ Capt. 

Palmer, with seal skins for E. Fanning.) 

Morning Courier and New-York Enquirer (city 

edition), 7(1311): 2, 5 Aug. 

ANON. 1831, 1832, 1834. (The Jonathan Eights 

Hog Law.) Albany Argus, 7 Sep 1831; 20 Jun 

1832; 13 Mar 1834. 

ANON. 1832. Scenes in Paris. Daily Albany 

Argus, 18 Sep. 

ANON. 1833. Albany Institute. (Abstract from 

the Minutes, continued, Feb 21.) Daily 

Albany Argus, 9 Apr. (Note on acquisition of 

JE’s South American specimens.) 

ANON. 1833. (Donations to AI, Nov 1833). Daily 

Albany Argus, 22 Nov. (Long list of specimens 

from JE, including a locust, geological 

specimens, trilobites.) 

ANON. 1833. South Sea exploring expedition. 

Daily Albany Argus, 29 Nov. (JE mentioned 

in passing, with reference to his relation of 

natural history matters in recent New York 

Mercantile Advertiser & Advocate; two letters, 

signed “Observer” and “Cyclopaedia,” 

from a recent Philadelphia paper.) 

Anon. 1834. A Committee of Vigilance to promote 

the election of the Republican candidates 

in this ward. Albany Argus, 6 May. 

(For “Republican,” read Jacksonian, Anti- 

Whig, Anti-Federalist, today’s Democratic 

Party; for results, see Argus, 7 May.) 

ANON. 1834. Albany Institute (list of accessions 

and contributions; disposal of Eights’s 

Antarctic shells). Albany Argus, 10 Jun. 

ANON. Modern trilobites of New South 

Shetland. American Journal of Science, 27: 395. 

(Editor was unable to give more particular 

notice because he had lost his copy of 

Albany Instute Transactions which contained 

JE’s paper on Brongniartia.) 

ANON. 1836. (Manuscript list of plant specimens 

collected by JE, sent to W.J. Hooker 

and named by him in his Companion to the 

Botanical Magazine.) AIHA, Library. 1 p. 

(Listed in AIHA index as dated 1830 but 

this is an error in transcription.) 

ANON. 1836. (Death of Abraham C.W. Eights, 

son of Jonathan Eights on 5 Nov.) Albany 

Argus, 7 Nov. 

ANON. 1836. List of books required in the 

Botanical Department of the South Sea 

Expidition [!]. National Archives, M75, RG 

45, 1: 0516-518. Seems to be filed with a letter 

by B.F. Butler to M. Dickerson, 11 Nov 


ut it may simply be misallocated; it was 

too early to have anything to do with JE; an 

early list prepared by Asa Gray. 

ANON. 1837. (Notice of appointment of Doct. 

James Eights to the South Sea Surveying 

and Exploring Expedition.) Albany Argus, 

10 Jan. 

ANON. 1837. Geological Survey. Albany Argus, 

19 Apr. (Taken from review of Vanuxem 

and JE’s report in Am. J. Sci., 32: 186-190.) 

ANON. 1837. List of books procured for the U.S. 

Exploring Expedition, and of those recommended 

by the portion of the Scientific 

Corps assembled at Phil’y — August — 

1837. National Archives, M75, RG 45, 3: 

0188-202. Includes titles pertaining to JE. 

(This was printed in House Exec. Doc. 147, 

1838, pp. 429-448.) 

ANON. 1837. (Donations of specimens from 

Chile, South Shetland Islands, etc., Jul and 

Oct 1834, by J.N. Reynolds.) Boston 

Museum of Natural History Journal, 1: 521, 

522. 

ANON. 1837. (Various bills submitted for supplies 

for JE.) National Archives M75, RG 45, 

3:0450-353. 

ANON. 1837. The Exploring expedition. Albany 

Argus, 26 Oct. (A full list of men appointed, 

including “J. Eights, esq., Albany, N.Y.” — 

from the Daily Advertiser of New York.) 

ANON. 1838. (Defense of Secretary of the Navy 

in his battle with J.N. Reynolds, in regard to 

latter’s published ‘Correspondence’ 

between the two.) Albany Argus, 8 Feb. 

(Taken from the Washington Globe; mentions 

neither Dickerson nor Reynolds by 

name.) 

ANON. 1838. (Death notice of Elizabeth Hilton, 

“relict of Peter W. Hilton of Guilderland, 

sister of the late Abraham Eights, aged 90.”) 

Albany Argus, 3 Apr. (Death occurred 31 

Mar.) 

ANON. 1838. Report on the South Sea Exploring 

Expedition. U.S. 25 Cong., 2d Sess., House 

Exec. Docs. 147. See: M. Dickerson, 1838. 

ANON. 1842. (Accounts of aurora borealis, 

Albany, Nov 1841.) N.Y. State Board of 

Regents, 55th Ann. Rept., N.Y. Senate Doc. 

55: 229-230. (From Albany Evening Journal, 

19 Nov; Albany Daily Advertiser, same date; 

in reference to aurora of 18 Nov.) 

ANON. 1843. (Various reports on Fourth Annual 

Meeting of the Association of American 

Geologists and Naturalists.) Albany Argus, 

27 and 29 Apr; 1 and 4 May. (Quite full coverage 

for this newspaper; generally interesting; 

only item related to JE is his name in 

list of members, 29 Apr.) 

ANON. 1845. Laws of New-York....An act to provide 

for the safe keeping of the Cabinet of 

Natural History...Passed May 10, 1845. 

Albany Argus, 26 May. 

ANON. 1845. The Albany Cemetery. Daily 

Albany Argus, 3 Jul. 

ANON. 1845. (Death of Douglass Houghton, 

drowned in Lake Superior 13 Oct.) Albany 

Argus, 3 Nov. (Body recovered following 

spring.) 

ANON. 1846. Amos W. Twitchell exhibits at 

National Academy, New York. Daily Albany 

Argus, 18 May. 

ANON. 1846. (A.W. Twitchell and others sign 

testimonial for painting by Rembrandt 

Peale.) Daily Albany Argus, 21 Dec. (Peale’s 

The Court of Death highly commended; 

Albany Gallery of the Fine Arts.) 

ANON. 1847. State Cabinet of Natural History. 

Albany Argus, 10 Jul. (A long editorial inviting 

readers to take notice of a meeting of 

the Board of Regents at which the condition 

of the Cabinet was discussed at length.) 

ANON. 1848. (An original portrait by A.W. 

Twitchell given to the Albany Gallery of the 

Fine Arts by Dr. J.W. Armsby.) Daily Albany 

Argus, 10 Feb. (Presumably the portrait was 

of Armsby.) 

ANON. 1848. A beautiful and valuable gift. Daily 

Albany Argus, 6 Apr. (A.W. Twitchell’s portrait 

of the Rev. Duncan Kennedy, First 

Dutch Reformed Church of Albany, commissioned 

by parishioners; laudatory editorial 

comment on AWT.) 

ANON. 1848. (Death on 8th June of Col. Edward 

Clarke, formerly of Ulster, in Brooklyn, 

aged 65 years.) Ulster Telegraph, June. 

(Quoted on p. 86, Audrey M. Klinkenberg’s 

index to the Telegraph, 1994.) 

Chapter 31 423

ANON. 1848. (Letter, 13 July, to T.R. Beck, 

Albany Institute, from Albany Young Men’s 

Association, in regard to possible future of 

library of the Albany Institute.) AIHA, 

Library, Archives DE 563/II/7vv. 

ANON. 1848. (Notice of death of Jonathan 

Eights.) Daily Albany Argus, 12 Aug. (Died 

10 Aug.) 

ANON. 1848. (Notice by Albany County Medical 

Society of death of Jonathan Eights.) Daily 

Albany Argus, 12 Aug. 

ANON. 1849. (Obituary notice of Alida 

Wynkoop Eights.) Albany Evening Journal, 

20(5794): 2, 16 May. 

ANON. 1850. The American Scientific 

Convention. Daily Albany Argus, 27 Aug. 

(Announcement of meeting of the AAAS in 

Albany, Aug 1851.) 

ANON. 1851. (Editorial note on plans to revive 

the Albany Institute.) Daily Albany Argus, 5 

Mar. 

ANON. 1851. Albany Institute. Daily Albany 

Argus, 20 Mar. 

ANON. 1865. Artificial honey. Country 

Gentleman, 26: 383. 

ANON. 1876. Libraries and herbaria. II. (The 

New York State Herbarium.) Torrey Botanical 

Club Bull., 6: 129-130. (Reference to JE’s 

specimens in L.C. Beck herbarium.) 

ANON. 1880. The Rhyme of Sturgeonopolis. See 

Albany Evening Journal, 1880. 

ANON. 1881. The Ulster White Lead Co. 

Saugerties Telegraph, 1 Dec., page 1. 

ANON. 1882. (Death of Dr. James Eights, aged 

85 years, in Ballston Spa on June 22.) 

Ballston Journal (a weekly newspaper), 1 Jul. 

(This is the only notice of death that I have 

found; it cannot be said who furnished the 

incorrect information that he was 85 years 

old.) 

ANON. 1887 (1888). (Donation of fossil by E. 

Emmons, Jr.) Forty-first Annual Report of 

the Trustees of the State Museum of Natural 

History for the Year 1887. P. [29]. 

ANON. 1891 (1892). (Additions to the Museum 

collection; donation of specimens from 

Albany Institute.) Annual Report of the 

New York State Museum, in 45th Annual 

Report of the Board of Regents for the Year 

1891, p. 20. (No details given.) 

ANON. 1892 (1893). Additions to the zoological 

collections. Annual Report of the New York 

State Museum, 46th Annual Report of the 

Boad of Regents for the Year 1892. Pp. 21- 

27. (Various vertebrates and invertebrates 

from AI listed; none of JE’s Antarctic 

Crustacea is included.) 

ANON. 1892 (1893). Catalogue of the [molllusk] 

families Tritonidae, Fusidae, Buccinidae, 

Nassidae, Turbinellidae, Volutidae, and 

Mitridae, in the collections of the New York 

State Museum. Annual Report of the State 

Museum, 46th Annual Report of the Board 

of Regents for the Year 1892, pp. [37]-61. 

(Several specimens are possibly JE’s but the 

matter is not clarified in this report.) 

ANON. 1893 (1894). Annual Report of the State 

Museum. 47th Annual Report of the 

Regents for the Year 1893, pp. [vii] and 17. 

(E. Emmons [Jr.] listed as Draftsman; note 

by J.M. Clarke on Emmons’s duties.) 

ANON. 1907. The tomb...Emmons (obit. of 

Ebenezer Emmons, Jr.). Times-Union, 17 Jan. 

ANON. 1915. Clarke to lecture upon James 

Eights. Albany Argus, 14 Dec. (Portrait of JE 

at about age of 25.) 

ANON. 1915. Dr. Eights historical pictures to be 

seen. Unknown Albany newspaper, 15 Dec. 

(Exhibit of JE paintings owned by Mrs. 

William G. Rice; lecture by J.M. Clarke; clipping, 

Library, AIHA; uses the portrait of JE 

at about age of 40, although here originally 

said to show him at 25.) 

ANON. 1915. Albanian was first in Antarctic. 

Albany Argus, 17 Dec. 

ANON. 1927. Old Albany prints. The Ledyard 

Cogswell, Jr., collection constantly grows in 

interest and importance; now forms authentic 

record of 125 years of Albany history. 

Knickerbocker Press Sunday Magazine, 25 Sep., 

3 pp. 

ANON. 1933. Memorial to pioneer geologists in John 

Boyd Thacher Park. Tawasentha Chapter, 

Daughters of the American Revolution, and 

the State of New York, Nov. 5, 1933. Pp. [4]. 

(Pamphlet.) 

ANON. 1933. DAR regent gets tribute for marker. 

Albany Evening News, 25 Nov. 


ANON. 1933. Tawasentha Chapter D.A.R. honors 

Mrs. Hartnagle [=Hartnagel]. Albany 

County Post, Fri., 1 Dec. 

ANON. 1934. State Street in 1806-1810 as pictured 

by David C. Lithgow. Knickerbocker 

Press, Sun., 16 Sep. (Illustration and text.) 

ANON. 1950. Birthday gift started Ledyard 

Cogswell, Jr., private collection of prints of 

early Albany. Albany Times-Union, Sun., 6 

Aug. (Some of his prints illustrated.) 

ANON. 1962. A new U.S. station begun in 

Antarctic. New York Times, 3 Nov., p. A-3. 

(Brief reference to JE, for whom the first 

year-round research station, Eights Station, 

was named.) 

ANON. 1962. U.S. Research Station going up in 

Antarctic. UPI dispatch, in Durham, North 

Carolina, newspaper, 5 Nov. (Much same as 

previous entry.) 

ANON. 1964-1965. Antarctic activities 1964-1965, 

National Science Foundation, United States 

Antarctic Research Program. Bull., U.S. 

Antarctic Projects Officer, pp. 9-10. (Map, 

description of Eights Station.) 

ANON. 1984. North Pearl & State Street — & 

near the corner — as it was in 1814. AIHA 

color print, size of the original water color 

with long, uncredited commentary printed 

on back. 

ANON. 1992. Platform award. Altamont 

Enterprise, Thur., 4 Jun, p. 10. (Photograph 

with essay caption in regard to a new viewing 

platform for the D.A.R. memorial tablet 

to early geologists in Thacher Park.) 

ANON. 1993. (Account of Anthony Duane and 

others, with reference to Dirck Benson and 

the Eights family.) Sotheby Auction, Fine 

Americana, Sale 392, 28-31 Jan.; item 131. 

APPLETON’S CYCLOPAEDIA OF AMERICAN 

BIOGRAPHY. 1887. ACAB, James Grant 

Wilson and John Fiske, eds. New York: 

Appleton. 6 vols (and supplements). 

ARMSBY, James H. (1850-1870?) Undated letter 

from Armsby to James Hall, State Museum, 

in regard to JE’s identification of a whale 

skeletal part. Letter, James Hall Papers, N.Y. 

State Archives. (See JE, this date, for further 

details.) 

AUDOUIN, Jean Victor, and Henri MILNE- 

EDWARDS. 1841. Description des crustacés 

nouveaux ou peu connus. Muséum 

d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, Archives, 2: 5-34, 

illusts. 

BAATZ, Simon. 1990. Knowledge, culture, and 

science in the Metropolis: The New York 

Academy of Sciences, 1817-1970. Annals, 

New York Academy of Sciences, vol. 584, ix 

+ 269 pp. 

BABCOCK, A. 1867. Unfermented bread. 

Cultivator and Country Gentleman, 29: 127. 

BALCH, Edwin Swift. 1902. Antarctica. 

Philadelphia: Allen, Lane & Scott. 230 pp., 

maps. (Enl. & rev. from Journal of the 

Franklin Institute, vols. 151-152.) 

BALCH, Edwin Swift. 1904. Antarctic addenda. 

Journal of the Franklin Institute, 157(2): 81-88. 

BALCH, Edwin Swift. 1909. Stonington Antarctic 

explorers. Bull. American Geographical 

Society, 41: 473-492. 

BALCH, Edwin Swift. 1925. The first sighting of 

West Antarctica. Geographical Review, 15: 

650-653, map. 

BALLA, Wesley G. 1991. James Eights and the 

practical application of knowledge / 

Exhibition script. AIHA, 26 Oct 1991. 31 

unnumbered pp. 

BARNES, Jeffrey K. 1988. Asa Fitch and the 

emergence of American entomology. With 

an entomological bibliography and a catalog 

of taxonomic names and type specimens. 

N.Y. State Museum Bull., no. 461. viii 

+ 120 pp., illusts. 

BARNSLEY, Barbara. 1982. Frankeniaceae. Pp. 

112-146, in: Australian Bureau of Flora and 

Fauna, Canberra, Flora of Australia, vol. 8, 

Lecythidales to Batales. 

BARTLETT, Harley Harris. 1940. The reports of 

the Wilkes expedition, and the work of the 

specialists in science. Proceedings, American 

Philosophical Society, 82(5): 601-705. 

BARTON, Benjamin Smith. 1803. Memorandum 

concerning a new vegetable muscipula. 

Transactions, American Philosophical 

Society, 5(1): 79-82. 

BATTEN, Roger L. 1987. Robert Parr Whitfield: 

Hall’s assistant who stayed too long. Earth 

Sciences History, 5(1): 61-71. 

Chapter 31 425

BAY, William. 1847. Jubilee dinner to Doct. Wm. 

Bay. Daily Albany Argus, 6 Apr. (Several letters 

and toasts; notably, a long letter from 

Jonathan Eights dated 27 Mar.) 

BECK, Lewis Caleb. 1858. (Mrs. L.C. Beck on 2 

Feb 1857 was paid $400 for herbarium of 

the late Dr. Lewis C. Beck.) N.Y. State 

Cabinet of Natural History, Annual Report, 

11: 10. (Assembly Doc. no. 163.) 

BECK, Theodric (Theodoric) Romeyn. 1822. 

Letter to Amos Eaton, 10 Sep, urging 

employment of James Eights in the Canal 

survey. New York Public Library, T.R. Beck 

Papers. 2 sheets. 

BECK, T.R. 1828. Letter to S.L. Southard, 

Secretary of the Navy, 18 Oct, recommending 

JE for Antarctic expedition, etc. National 

Archives Rec. Group 45. Naval Records 

Collection of the Office of Naval Records 

and Library, Misc. Letters Received, 1828. 1 

p. 

BECK, T.R. 1836. Letter to B.F. Butler, 2 Nov; in 

regard to JE’s application. National 

Archives, Microfilm 75, RG 45, 1: 0478. 

BECK, T.R., and Lewis C. BECK. 1834. 

Memorandum on transmission of a complete 

set of JE’s Antarctic botanical specimens 

to Dr. W.J. Hooker. AIHA, Library. 1 

sheet. (Dated April.) 

BECK, T.R., Ebenezer EMMONS, and James 

HAll. 1842. American Association of 

Geologists and Naturalists...Albany, on 

Wednesday, the 26th of April next. Albany: 

Local Committee, the Association. 1 p. 

(Printed announcement, McKinney Library, 

AIHA.) 

BECKER, Alfred LeRoy. 1945-1948. Letters to 

Ledyard Cogswell, Jr., in regard to JE. 

McKinney Library, AIHA. (Dated 7 and 24 

Feb 1945; 13 May 1948.) 

BEDDARD, Frank Evers. 1884. Report on the 

Isopoda...The genus Serolis. Voyage of H.M.S. 

‘Challenger,’ Zoology, Pt. I. Vol. 11, part 33, 85 

pp., illust. 

BEERS, F.W., & Co. 1878. History of Montgomery 

and Fulton Counties, N.Y. New York: Ptd. by 

Geo. Macnamara for F.W. Beers & Co. 252 

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BEETLE, Alan A. 1943. Phytogeography of 

Patagonia. Botanical Review, 9: 667-679. 

BENNETT, Allison P. 1980. The People’s Choice. A 

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de las islas Shetland del sur. Boletín 

Antártico Chileno, 9(2): 10-30. 

BERGUÑO BARNES, Jorge. 1993. Las Shetland 

del sur: el ciclo lobero. Boletín Antáctico 

Chileno, 12(1): 5-15, (2): 2-9. 

BERTRAND, Kenneth J. 1964. American activity 

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14, Dec. 

BERTRAND, Kenneth J. 1967. Geographical 

exploration by the United States. Pp. 256- 

291, 407-428, in: Herman R. Friis, ed., The 

Pacific Basin, a History of its Geographical 

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BERTRAND, Kenneth J. 1970. Writing and 

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and Shelby G. Bale, Jr., eds., United States 

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BERTRAND, Kenneth J. 1971. Americans in 

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no. 39. xvi + 554 pp., maps, illusts. 

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BIRKENMAJER, K., and E. ZASTAWNIAK. 

1989. Late Cretaceous-early Tertiary floras 

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Biota. London: Geological Society Special 

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BISHOP, Sherman C. 1941. The salamanders of 

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A General Dictionary of Geography. Glasgow: 

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BLAYNEY, John McClusky. 1877. History of the 

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BLUM, Ann Shelby. 1987. “A better style of art”: 

the illustrations of the Paleontology of New 

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BOGAN, Arthur E., and James D. WILLIAMS. 

1986. Megalonaias Utterback, 1915 (Mollusca, 

Bivalvia): Proposed conservation by the 

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273-276. See decision to conserve, BZN, 

45(2): 159, 1988. 

BOLTON, Theodore, and Irwin F. CORTELYOU. 

1955. Ezra Ames of Albany, Portrait Painter, 

Craftsman, Royal Arch Mason, Banker, 1768- 

1836;...and a Catalogue of His Works. New 

York: New-York Historical Society. xx + 398 

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paper). Literary Gazette & Journal of 

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BONE, Thomas Maine. 1946. Edward 

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BORROR, Donald J., and Richard E. WHITE. 

1970. A Field Guide to the Insects of North 

America North of Mexico. Boston: Houghton 

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BOSTON MINING CO. 1845. Trustees’ note, Dr. 

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BOUVIER, Eugène Louis. 1905. Observations 

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BOUVIER, Eugène Louis. 1906. Nouvelles observations 

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BRONGNIART, Alexandre. 1822. Histoire 

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BUCHER, Douglas G., W. Richard WHEELER, et 

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BURTON, William Eights. 1903. Letter to Mrs. 

Louise Sharpe, on Abraham, Jonathan and 

James Eights. Letter in possession of Mrs. 

Mildred Carswell Sharpe; quoted for me 20 

Chapter 31 427

Sep 1988. (Burton lived in Waterford at that 

time; son of Harriet Gibson; great-grandson 

of Abraham E.; second cousin of JE.) 

BUTLER, Benjamin Franklin. 1836. Letter to 

Mahlon Dickerson, 11 Nov. National 

Archives, M75, RG 45, 1: 0519. (Setting up 

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Navy.) 

BYRNE, Peggy. 1977. Albany’s first city planner. 

The Conservationist (Albany), 31(4): 35-37, 

Jan.-Feb. 

CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY AND AMER- 

ICAN RURAL SPORTS. Ed. by John and 

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Partial reprint, ed. by Gail Stewart, Imprint 

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Sterling, Arno Press, 1978. 

CALLOW, James T. MS. Sketch Club Project. See 

also his letter to C.T. Robinson, AIHA, 25 

Jan 1985, in regard (in part) to the Sketch 

Club meeting in 1829 when JE was in attendance. 

CALLOW, James T. 1967. Kindred Spirits. 

Knickerbocker Writers and American Artists, 

1807-1855. Chapel Hill: University of North 

Carolina Press. xxii + 287 pp., illusts. 

CALMAN, William Thomas. 1937. James Eights, 

a pioneer Antarctic naturalist. Proceedings, 

Linnean Society of London, 149(4): 171-184. 

CALMAN, William Thomas, and Isabella GOR- 

DON. 1933. A dodecopodous pycnogonid. 

Proceedings, Royal Society of London, B, 113: 

107-115, 1 fig. 

CARPENTER, Warwick Stevens. 1914. The 

Summer Paradise in History. Albany; 

Delaware & Hudson Co., General 

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CARR, Archie. 1952. Handbook of Turtles; the 

Turtles of the United States, Canada, and Baja 

California. Ithaca: Comstock Publishing 

Associates, Cornell University Press. xv + 

542 pp., illusts. 

CARR, James F. 1965. Mantle Field’s Dictionary of 

American Painters, Sculptors and Engravers, 

with an Addendum. New York: J.F. Carr. vi + 

529 pp. 

CARROLL, Anna Ella. 1857. Star of the West. 3d 

ed. New York: Miller, Orton & Co. xii + 13- 

561 pp., 13 ports. (With this ed., she began 

to include a chapter on the Wilkes expedition 

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Reynolds.) 

CARROLL (“Carrell” in index; article not 

signed), Anna Ella. 1871. The first American 

exploring expedition. Harper’s New Monthly 

Magazine, 44: 60-64, Dec. 

CHANCE, Henry Martyn. 1881. Auriferous gravels 

of North Carolina. Proceedings, American 

Philosophical Society, 1881, pp. 477-481. 

CHAUNCEY, Isaac (Navy Commissioners 

Office). 1837. Letter to John Thomas, 

Baltimore, for “not less than fifty barrels” of 

high-proof whiskey, “required for the 

exploring expedition,” 30 Sep. House Doc. 

147, 1838, pp. 428-429. 

CLARK, Alonzo Howard. 1887. The Antarctic 

fur-seal and sea-elephant industry. Pp. 400- 

467, in: George B. Goode, The fisheries and 

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CLARKE, John Mason. 1889. Letter to James 

Hall, 2 Jan; in regard to finances and health 

of E. Emmons, Jr. N.Y. State Archives, BO 

579, box 2, folder 3. 

CLARKE, John Mason. 1892. Catalogue of the 

collection of geological and palaeontological 

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CLARKE, John Mason. 1902. Memorial tablet on 

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CLARKE, John Mason. 1903. Nomenclature of 

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CLARKE, John Mason. 1905. Letter to Leon J. 

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CLARKE, John Mason. 1905. Letter to Leon J. 

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CLARKE, John Mason. 1913 (1914). Tenth report 

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Ellouise Baker Larsen, in regard to 

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COGSWELL, Ledyard, Jr. 1950. Letter to Daniel 

M. Henderson, 24 Feb. AIHA, Library. 1 p. 

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CORDIER, Pierre Louis Antoine. 1837. 

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COUTHOUY, Joseph P. 1838. Letter to James K. 

Paulding, 13 Aug. National Archives, M75, 

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COUTHOUY, Joseph P. 1838. Letter to James K. 

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59, Claude C. Albritton, Jr. et al., eds., 1843. 

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COUTHOUY, Joseph P. See: R.I. Johnson, 1946. 

COWEN, Benjamin Sprague. 1842. Report on 

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Chapter 31 429

CUMMINGS, Richard O. 1965. The organization 

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Herrick, Aug; in regard to apportioning of 

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DANA NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Albany. 

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DARWIN, Charles. 1839. Narrative of the 

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DARWIN, Charles. 1839. Note on a rock seen on 

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529. (See also: George Murray, pp. 346-347, 

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Chapter. 1933. (1) Minutes, 16 May; Mrs. 

Chris A. Hartnagel proposes bronze tablet; 

motion carried. (2) Minutes, 21 Nov; Mrs. 

Hartnagel, Regent, honored for success of 

the bronze tablet honoring early geologists; 

details of cost. Courtesy of Lona C. Perkins, 

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DEÁK, Gloria-Gilda. 1976. American Views, 

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Albany: Ptd. by W. & A. White & J. 

Visscher. 13 + 2 + 146 pp., 76 figs. on 33 pls. 


the New-York Fauna...Part V. Mollusca. 

Albany: Carroll & Cook, Printers to the 

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the New-York Fauna...Part VI. Crustacea. 

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54 figs. 

DE KAY, James E. et al. 1836. Endorsement sent 

by Albany scientists to M. Dickerson, 22 

Nov; signed by James E. De Kay, Lardner 

Vanuxem, Timothy A. Conrad, Lewis C. 

Beck, Ebenezer Emmons (Sr.), G.W. Boyd, 

W.W. Mather, and James Hall. National 

Archives, M75, RG 45, 1: 0561. 1 sheet, both 

sides; the men were identified on separate 

sheet, shown on 1: 0562. 


DE KAY, James E. et al. 1838. Letter of various 

members of the Lyceum of Natural History 

of the City of New York, 2 Oct; to M. 

Dickerson. U.S. Congress, House Doc. 147: 

108-109. (Preliminary list of topics to be covered 

in scientific corps; together with a few 

initial nominations of likely scientists; no 

mention of either JE or of Palaeontology or 

Organic Remains at that time.) 

DE LA BECHE, Sir Henry Thomas. 1831. A 

Geological Manual. London: Treuttel & 

Würtz. 564 pp. First American ed., 

Philadelphia: Carey & Lea, viii + 535 pp., 

1832; 2nd ed., London, 1833, Philadelphia, 

1835. 

DELAFIELD, Joseph. 1828. Letter to Samuel L. 

Southard, Secretary of the Navy, 28 Jun. 

National Archives, RG 45, Naval Records 

Collection, Office of Naval Records and 

Library, Misc. Letters Rec., 3 pp. (On possible 

U.S.-sponsored Antarctic research, no 

mention of JE.) 

DELAFIELD, Joseph. 1828. Letter to Samuel L. 

Southard, Secretary of the Navy, 14 Jul. See 

previous entry. 2 pp. 

DELL, R.K. 1963. The identity of Yoldia 

(Aequiyoldia) eightsi (Couthouy, in Jay, 1839). 

Proceedings, Malacological Society of 

London, 35: 247-249, illusts. 

DELL, R.K. 1964. Antarctic and Subantarctic 

Mollusca: Amphineura, Scaphopoda and 

Bivalvia. “Discovery” Reports, 33: 93-250, 

illusts. 

DELL, R.K. 1965. Marine biology. Pp. 129-152, in: 

T. Hatherton, ed., Antarctica. New York: 

Praeger. 

DERMOTT, Henry Sage. 1915. Letter to Mrs. 

Louise Sharpe on Eights family and James 

Eights, 24 Apr. Some part quoted by 

Mildred Carswell Sharpe, 20 Sep 1988. (Has 

the account of JE claiming to have been 

closer to South Pole than any other person.) 

DESHAYES, Gérard Paul. 1824-1837. Description 

des Coquilles Fossiles des Environs de Paris. 

Paris: Author, chez Béchet Jeune (etc.). 2 

vols., in parts. 

DEWITT, Richard Varick. 1849. Letter to Joseph 

Henry, 12 Apr; on JE. Joseph Henry Papers, 

Smithsonian Institution Archives, RU 7001, 

43a. 


Henry, 19 Feb; on JE. Henry Papers, 


Box 10. 


Henry, 1 Jul; on JE. Henry Papers, 


Box 10. 


Henry, 19 Aug; on JE. Henry Papers, 


Box 10. 


Henry, 7 Sep; on JE. Henry Papers, 


Box 10. 

DICKERSON, Mahlon. 1836. Letter to president 

of the Geological Society, New Haven, in 

regard to topics of natural history and possible 

scientists for proposed exploring expedition, 

1 Aug. House Doc. 147, 1838, pp. 38- 

39. A similar letter, p. 61, sent to U.S. Naval 

Lyceum president, 31 Aug. 

DICKERSON, Mahlon. 1836. Letter to Joseph 

Delafield, Lyceum of Natural History of 

New York, 6 Oct. House Doc. 147, 1838, pp. 

113-114. (Make-up of group; how many; a 

few chief appointments mentioned; nothing 

on JE.) 

DICKERSON, Mahlon. 1836. Letter to JE, 

appointing him to Scientific Corps, 

Exploring Expedition, 28 Dec. In: 

Miscellaneous Letters Sent (‘General Letter 

Book’) by the Secretary of the Navy, June 

1798-November 1886, RG 45, National 

Archives, folio September 28, 1836-August 

21, 1837, p. 123. 

DICKERSON, Mahlon. 1837. Letter to JE, 11 Jul; 

in regard to pay schedule. House Doc. 147, 

1838, p. 373. 

DICKERSON, Mahlon. 1837. Letter to JE, 2 Aug; 

call to order, compensation, etc. As in MD, 

1836, 28 Dec 1836; p. 473. 

DICKERSON, Mahlon. 1837. Letter to Thomas 

Ap Catesby Jones, 11 Aug; with reference to 

members of the Scientific Corps of the 

Chapter 31 431

Exploring Expedition. House Doc. 147, 

1838, p. 406. (JE listed; no indication of his 

duties.) 

DICKERSON, Mahlon. 1837. Letter to Robert M. 

Patterson, 4 Oct; status of scientific corps; 

no expansion of numbers at that time. 

House Doc. 147, 1838, p. 482. 

DICKERSON, Mahlon. 1837. Letter to J.P. 

Couthouy, 6 Oct; on expenses (including 

JE’s). House Doc. 147, 1838, pp. 482-483. 

DICKERSON, Mahlon. 1837. Letter of instructions 

to Commodore Jones for scientific 

corps, 9 Nov. House Doc. 147, 1838, pp. 507- 

511. (JE included.) 

DICKERSON, Mahlon. 1837. Letter to J.K. 

Paulding, 11 Nov, requesting that a bill from 

JE for instruments be paid. House Doc. 147, 

1838, p. 558. 

DICKERSON, Mahlon. 1837. Letter to James 

Glynn, 18 Nov; JE, among others, is to assist 

in geographical and hydrographical surveys. 

House Doc. 147, 1838, p. 571. 

DICKERSON, Mahlon. 1838. Report on the South 

Sea Exploring Expedition. U.S. 25th Cong., 

2nd Sess., House Exec. Doc. 147. Vol. VII, 

ser. 327. 11 + 630 pp. 

DINEEN, R. 1976. Surficial geology of the Pine 

Bush. Pp. 11-15, in: D. Rittner, Pine Bush. 

DIRIG, Robert. 1976. Karner’s famous blue butterfly. 

Pp. 192-210, in: D. Rittner, Pine Bush. 

DIX, John A. 1836. Letter to Mahlon Dickerson, 8 

Nov. National Archives, M75, RG 45, 1: 

0505. 1 p. (Recommendation of JE.) 

DONAHUE, J. 1976. Origins and topography of 

the Pine Bush. Pp. 17-22, in: D. Rittner, Pine 

Bush. 

DOWNES, William Howe. 1933 (etc.). Inman, 

Henry. Dictionary of American Biography, 

5(1): 481-482 (original vol. 9). 

DUANE, Anthony. See: Anon., 28-31 Jan 1993. 

DUDLEY, Paul. 1970. (Notes from) Account of 

the locusts of New England. Pp. 468-471, in: 

Raymond Phineas Stearns, Science in the 

British Colonies of America. Urbana: 

University of Illinois Press. (Little-known 

early account of the 17-year periodicity of 

an American cicada.) 

DUNLAP, William. 1965. History of the Rise and 

Progress of the Arts of Design in the United 

States. New York: Blom. 3 vols. (New ed.; 

first published, 1834.) 

DUPONCEAU, Peter S., and R.M. PATTERSON 

et al. 1837. Letter and lists sent to M. 

Dickerson by American Philosophical 

Society committee, 2 Sep; lists of books, 

supplies. House Doc. 147, 1838, pp. 429-449. 

(Includes JE’s books and, p. 444, his special 

supplies.) 

DUPREE, A. Hunter. 1959. Asa Gray, 1810-1888. 

Cambridge: Belknap Press, Harvard 

University. x + 505 pp., illusts. 

DUSÉN, Per Carl Hjalmar. 1900. Die 

Gefässpflanzen der Magellansländer nebst 

einem Beitrage zur Flora der Ostküste von 

Patagonien: Svenska Expeditionen till 

Magellansländerna Bd 3(5). Stockholm: 

Kungl. Boktryckereit, P.A. Norstedt & 

Söner. Pp. 77-266, pls. iv-xiv. 

DYBAS, Henry S., and D.D. DAVIS. 1952. A population 

census of seventeen-year periodical 

cicadas. Ecology, 43: 432-444. 

EATON, Amos. 1824. A Geological and 

Agricultural Survey of the District Adjoining 

the Erie Canal in the State of New York; Taken 

Under the Direction of the Hon. Stephen 

Van Rensselaer. Albany: Ptd. by Packard & 

Van Benthuysen. [1] + 163 pp., diagram, 2 

pls. (Folding geological section, with JE’s 

Canal vignettes accompanied.) 

EATON, Amos. 1828. Geological nomenclature, 

classes of rocks, &c. American Journal of 

Science, 14: 145-159, 359-368. (Frontispiece of 

vol. 14, no. 1, is the folded geological section 

of the Erie Canal, Eaton, 1824.) 

EATON, Amos. 1828. Letter to Benjamin 

Silliman, Sr., 26 Feb; with reference to active 

work by JE and others with Eaton on geological 

work. Joseph Henry Papers, 1: 205- 

206. (Excerpts only.) 

EATON, Amos. 1828. Letter to Secretary of the 

Navy Samuel L. Southard, 18 Oct; recommending 

JE as naturalist for the proposed 

exploring expedition. National Archives, 

Misc. Letters Received and Sent by the 

Secretary of the Navy, Navy Branch, RG 45, 

1828, 2 pp. 

EATON, Amos. 1832. Geological Text-book, for 

Aiding the Study of North American Geology. 


2nd ed. Albany: Websters and Skinners 

(etc.); ptd. by N. Tuttle. 134 pp., illusts. 

EATON, Amos. 1832. Trilobites. American Journal 

of Science, 22: 165-166. 

EIGHTS, Abraham. 1820. Death notice; previous 

day. Albany Argus, 11 Jan. (JE’s grandfather.) 

EIGHTS, Abraham, “Jun.” 1817. See: Anon., 12 

Dec 1817. (JE’s older brother.) 

EIGHTS, Abraham C.W. See: Anon., 7 Nov 1837. 

(JE’s younger brother.) 

EIGHTS, Alida Wynkoop. See: Anon., 16 May 

1849. (JE’s mother.) 

EIGHTS, Catharine. 1829. Death, 9 Jun. Albany 

Argus, 11 Jun. (Wife of Abraham; grandmother 

of JE.) 

EIGHTS, Catharine. 1873, etc. Will of Catharine 

Eights, 15 Oct 1873. Codicil, 1 Nov 1877. 

Saratoga County Will Book, 25, pp. 175-ff. 

(JE’s sister, d. 2 Jan 1878.) 

EIGHTS, Elizabeth. See: Anon., 3 Apr 1838. 

(Elizabeth Eights Hilton, sister of Abraham 

Eights.) 

EIGHTS, Jane C. 1828. Death, 29 Feb. Albany 

Argus, 1 Mar. (JE’s aunt.) 

EIGHTS, Jonathan. 1799. (The matter of his certification 

as fit to practice medicine and surgery.) 

See: Hunloke Woodruff, 1799. 

EIGHTS, Jonathan. 1830. Letter to T.R. Beck, on 

climatic records at Albany, 12 Nov. 

Theodoric Romeyn Beck Papers, New York 

Public Library. 2 pp. 

EIGHTS, Jonathan. 1843. Letter on autora borealis, 

29 Apr 1842. New York State Board of 

Regents, 56th Annual Report, N.Y. Sen. Doc. 

57: 271-272. 

EIGHTS, Jonathan. 1847. Letter to committee 

honoring Dr. William Bay, 27 Mar. See: W. 

Bay, 1847. 

EIGHTS, Jonathan. 1848. Death notices. Daily 

Albany Argus, 12 and 17 Aug. (Death 

occurred 10 Aug; the second account here is 

memorial by Masonic Lodge.) 

EIGHTS, Jonathan. 1848. Will of Jonathan Eights, 

1846. Albany County Surrogate Court, vol. 

13, p. 343. (Written 26 Aug 1846; probated 

13 Sep 1848.) 

EIGHTS, Rachel. 1814. Marriage to Israel 

Williams. Albany Argus, 27 May. (JE’s aunt.) 

EIGHTS, Rebecca. 1852. Died 14 Dec. Daily 

Albany Argus, 15 Dec. (JE’s sister; same, 

Albany Evening Journal, 15 Dec.) 

EIGHTS, Sarah Elizabeth. 1827. Death on 7 Oct; 

aged 15 years. Albany Argus, 9 Oct. (JE’s sister.) 

ELLIOTT, Clark A. 1979. Eights, James. Pp. 83-84, 

in: Biographical Dictionary of American 

Science. 

ELLIS, Mary. 1903. Index to publications of the 

New York State Natural History Survey and 

New York State Museum 1837-1902, also 

including other New York publications on 

related subjects. N.Y. State Museum Bull., 

66: 1-653. (No notice of his attachment to 

the Natural History Survey; lists three 

papers in Transactions, Albany Institute, 

only one of which was on a N.Y. subject.) 

EMMONS, Ebenezer (Sr.). 1842. Natural History 

of New-York. Geology of New-York, Part 2: 

Comprising the Survey of the Second 

Geological District. Albany: State Printer. 10 

+ 437 pp., 15 pls., 55 figs., 3 maps. 

(References to JE’s Sphaeroma bumastiformis, 

etc., pp. 390-391, 433-434.) 

EMMONS, E., Sr. 1846-1854. Agriculture of New- 

York; Comprising an Account of the 

Classification, Composition and 

Distribution of the Soils and Rocks, and the 

Natural Waters of the Different Geological 

Formations; Together with a Condensed 

View of the Climate and the Agricultural 

Production of the State. Albany: State 

Printer. The Natural History Survey of New- 

York, Division 5, Agriculture. 5 vols., the last 

of which was only nominally by Emmons. 

EMMONS, E., Sr. 1847. No coal in the New York 

rocks. American Quarterly Journal of 

Agriculture and Science, 6(9): 125-129. (Cites 

JE’s observations.) 

EMMONS, E., Sr. 1850. Letter to Senator John 

Gray Bynum, 12 Nov; application for position 

as head of North Carolina Geological 

Survey. Private Manuscript Collection, 

North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh. 2 

pp. 

EMMONS, E., Sr. 1855-1857. American Geology. 

Albany: Sprague & Co. 2 pts., paged separately. 

(Republished, Albany: Joel Munsell, 

Chapter 31 433

1875, with additions; this added portion is 

not in Arno Press reprint, 1974.) 

EMMONS, Ebenezer, Jr. See: Anon., 1907. 

EMMONS, Edward Neville. 1905. The Emmons 

Family Genealogy; a Record of the Emigrant 

Thomas Emmons, of Newport, Rhode Island, 

with Many of the Descendants, from 1639 to 

1905. Syracuse: Lyman Bros., Printers. x + 

222 + xi-lv pp. Ports. 

EMORY, William H. 1857-1859. Report on the 

United States and Mexican Boundary Survey. 

U.S. Department of the Interior, 2 vols. in 3. 

ENCINA, Francisco A. 1969. Resumen de la 

Historia de Chile. Ed. by Leopoldo Castedo. 

7th ed. Santiago de Chile: Emprensa Editora 

Zig-Zag. 3 vols + portfolio of pls. First ed., 

1954. 

ERDMAN, Charles R., Jr. 1930. Dickerson, 

Mahlon. Dictionary of American Biography, 5: 

289-290. 

ERICHSEN-BROWN, Charlotte. 1979. Medicinal 

and Other Uses of North American Plants. Don 

Mills: General Publishing Co. xx + 512 pp. 

(Facs. reprint, New York: Dover, 1989.) 

ERNST, Carl H., and R. Bruce BURY. 1977. 

Clemmys muhlenbergi. Catalogue of American 

Amphibians and Reptiles, ed. by W.J. Riemer 

et al., 1963-ff. American Society of 

Ichthyologists & Herpetologists. Species 

account no. 204, 2 pp. 

ERNST, Carl H., Roger W. BARBOUR and Jeffrey 

E. LOVICH. 1994. Turtles of the United States 

and Canada. Washington: Smithsonian 

Institution Press. xxxviii + 578 pp., illusts. 

FAIRCHILD, Herman Le Roy. 1887. A History of 

the New York Academy of Sciences, Formerly 

the Lyceum of Natural History. New York: 

The Author. xii + 190 pp., illusts., ports. 

FAIRCHILD, Herman Le Roy. 1924. The history 

of the American Association for the 

Advancement of Science. Science, n.s., 59: 

365-369, 385-390, 410-415. 

FAKUNDINY, Robert H., and Ellis L. YOCHEL- 

SON, eds. 1987. Special James Hall issue. 

Earth Sciences History, 6(1): 1-133. 

FANNING, Edmund. 1833. Voyages Round the 

World; with Selected Sketches of Voyages to the 

South Seas, North and South Pacific Oceans, 

China...Together with the Report of the 

Commander of the First American Exploring 

Expedition, Patronised by the United States 

Government, in the Brigs Seraph and 

Annawan, to the Southern Hemisphere. New 

York: Collins & Hannay. xii + [13]-499 pp., 

illusts. Also: London: Obadiah Rich, 1834. 

(It is to be particularly noted that “Report of 

the first American exploring expedition, 

patronised by the United States government” 

contained nothing by or about James 

Eights; it is primarily the report of Captain 

Benjamin Pendleton, with emphasis upon 

the futility of private undertakings of this 

kind and upon the Chilean explorations of 

J.N. Reynolds and J.F. Watson; for the 2nd 

ed. of more interest to us, see Fanning, 

1838.) 

FANNING, Edmund. 1836. Letter to Mahlon 

Dickerson, 19 Jun. House Doc. 147, 1838, 

pp. 2-3. (Includes complimentary remarks 

regarding JE.) 

FANNING, Edmund. 1838. Voyages to the South 

Seas, Indian and Pacific Oceans, China Sea, 

Northwest Coast, Feejee Islands, South 

Shetlands, &c.&c. New York: W.H. Vermilye. 

xii + [13]-324 pp., front., no index. Facsimile 

reprint, Fairfield, Wash.: Ye Galleon Press, 

1970, with unpaged preface by E.W. 

Giesecke and index at end. (The second edition, 

although the original title page does 

not so identify it; the 1970 reprint shows an 

original t.p. with such indication: There 

may have been variant printings.) 

FANNING, Edmund. 1924. Voyages & Discoveries 

in the South Seas, 1792-1832. Salem: Marine 

Research Society, Publ. no. 6. xvi + 1 + 335 

pp., illusts. (A worthless reprint of the first 

ed., less the final three chapters, one of 

which covered Pendleton’s report on the 

expedition to the South Shetlands.) 

FANNING, Edmund, and Benjamin PENDLE- 

TON. 1831 (1832). Memorial of Edmund 

Fanning and Benjamin Pendleton. U.S. 22nd 

Cong., 1st Sess., House Ex. Doc. 61, serial 

217. 10 pp. (House Committee on Naval 

Affairs, 21 Dec 1831; Committee on 

Commerce, 5 Jan 1832; printed 18 Jan 1832.) 

FANNING, Edmund (and Benjamin PENDLE- 

TON). 1833. Memorial of Edmund Fanning 


to illustrate the views in a petition presented 

to Congress, praying that a national discovery 

and exploring expedition be sent out 

to South Seas, &c. U.S. 23d Cong., 1st Sess., 

Sen. Doc. 10, serial 238, 15 pp. (Except for 

an initial letter by Fanning, dated 7 Dec 

1833, this is same as previous entry by 

Fanning and Pendleton.) 

FENTON, Carroll Lane, and M.A. FENTON. 

1952. Giants of Geology. Garden City: 

Doubleday. 333 pp., illusts. (A revised ed. of 

The Story of the Great Geologists, 1945.) 

FERNALD, Merritt Lyndon. 1950. Gray’s Manual 

of Botany. 8th ed. New York: American Book 

Co. lxiv + 1632 pp. 

FERNOW, Berthold. 1896. Calendar of Wills on File 

and Recorded in the Offices of the Clerk of the 

Court of Appeals, of the County Clerk at 

Albany, and of the Secretary of State, 1626- 

1836. New York: Knickerbocker Press. xv + 

657 pp. 

FISCHER, Paul Henri, and H. CROSSE. 1870- 

1902. Mission Scientifique au Mexique et dans 

l’Amérique Centrale...Recherches 

Zoologiques...Pt. 7, vols. 1-2. Études sur les 

Mollusques Terrestres et Fluviatiles du Mexique 

et du Guatemala. Paris: Imprimerie 

Imperiale. 2 vols. + pls. 

FISHER, Donald W. 1978. Amos Eaton — passionate 

peddler of science. The 

Conservationist, Albany, 32(4): 36-39, Jan.- 

Feb., illusts. 

FISHER, Donald W. 1981. Emmons, Hall, Mather, 

and Vanuxem — the four “horsemen” of 

the New York State Geological Survey 

(1836-1841). Northeastern Geology, 3: 29-46, 

Jan. 

FISHER, Donald W. 1987. John Mason Clarke: 

James Hall’s protégé-successor. Earth 

Sciences History, 5(1): 114-118. 

FISHER, Raymond H. 1977. Bering’s Voyages: 

Whither and Why. Seattle: University of 

Washington Press. xiii + 217 pp. 

FOGG, Gordon Elliott. 1992. A History of 

Antarctic Science. Cambridge: Cambridge 

University Press. xxi + 483 pp., illusts. 

FOGG, Gordon Elliott, and David SMITH. 1990. 

Explorations of Antarctica: The Last Unspoilt 

Continent. London: Cassell. 224 pp., ilusts. 

FORD, Brian J. 1992. Browian movement in 

Clarkia pollen: a reprise of the first observation. 

The Microscopist, 40(4): 235-242. 

FOSTER, Henry. See: Gordon Goodwin. 

FOSTER, James T., A.M. 1850. Introduction to the 

Study of Geology: Together with a Key to 

Foster’s Geological Chart. Albany: Joel 

Munsell. 144 pp. (Chart does not accompany 

book.) Note: on p. 108, the article on 

“California” breaks off in mid-sentence at 

bottom of page; p. [109] begins quite a new 

topic and chapter. (There appears to have 

been an edition printed in Albany in 1849 

but details are not known; see NUC Pre- 

1956 Imprints, 179: 14.) 

FOSTER, J.G. (This is no doubt James T.) 1883. A 

Brief Sketch of the Early Discoveries of Gold 

Mines and Mining in North Carolina, Down to 

the Present Period. Greensboro: J.S. Hampton 

& Co., 13 pp. 

FOWLER, George W. 1963. Eight to Eights. 

Bulletin of the (U.S.) Antarctic Projects Officer, 

5(1): 22-25, Sep. (The supplying of Eights 

Station.) 

FRENCH, John Homer. 1860. Gazetteer of the State 

of New York. Syracuse: R.P. Smith. 739 pp., 


FRIERSON, L.S. 1916. Observations on Unio 

giganteus Barnes. Nautilus, 30(6): 61-64. (This 

is related to taxonomy of Unio eightsii.) 

FRIIS, Herman R., and Shelby G. BALE, Jr., eds. 

1970. United States Polar Exploration. Athens: 

Ohio University Press. xvii + 199 pp. 

FROTHINGHAM, Washington. 1892. History of 

Montgomery County...rev. ed. Syracuse: D. 

Mason & Co. 450 + 349 pp. 

GERRISH, Margaret. 1835. The Asclepias Syriaca 

or milk weed a substitute for flax, &c. 

American Journal of Science, 27(2): 384. 

(Editorial comment by B. Silliman accompanies.) 

GIDDINGS, Edward D. 1973. Coeymans and the 

Past. Tri-Centennial Committee of the Town 

of Coeymans; ptd. by Hamilton Ptg. Co., 

Rensselaer. 135 pp.; typed index prepared 

by N.Y. State Library, 51 pp. 

GILLISPIE, Charles Coulston. 1971. Dictionary of 

Scientific Biography. New York: Charles 

Scribner’s Sons. Ebenezer Emmons, Sr., 4: 

363-365. 

Chapter 31 435

GILMAN, Daniel Coit. 1899. The Life of James 

Dwight Dana. New York: Harper. xii + 409 

pp., ports. 

GODLEY, E.J. 1965. Botany of the southern zone: 

exploration to 1843. Tuatara, 13: 140-181. 

GOLDRING, Winifred. 1935. Geology of the 

Berne Quadrangle. N.Y. State Museum Bull., 

303: 1-258, illusts., fold. map. 

GOODE, George Brown. 1901. The beginnings of 

American science. The third century. U.S. 

National Museum, Report for 1897, pt. II, pp. 

409-466, illusts. (Reprinted in Contributions 

to the History of American Natural History, 

New York: Arno Press, 1974.) 

GOODWIN, Gordon. Nodate. Foster, Henry 

(1796-1831). Dictionary of National Biography, 

7: 492-494. See: W.H.B. Webster. 

GOULD, Rubert Thomas. 1941. The charting of 

the South Shetlands, 1819-28. Mariner’s 

Mirror, 27(3): 206-242. 

GRAUSTEIN, Jeannette E. 1964. Early scientists 

in the White Mountains. Appalachia, n.s., 30: 

44-61. 

GRAY, Asa. 1854-1856. Botany. Phanaerogamia. 

Vol. I. New York: George P. Putnam. Being 

vol. XV of the U.S. Exploring Expedition 

During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841. 

Under the Command of Charles Wilkes, 

U.S.N. 777 pp. + folio atlas of 4 pp + 100 pll. 

(No more published). 

GRAY, Asa. 1894. Letters of Asa Gray. Ed. by Jane 

Lorine Gray. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & 

Co. 2 vols., paged continuously. 

GREAT BRITAIN. HYDROGRAPHIC OFFICE. 

1945. South America Pilot. Part I. Comprising 

North-eastern and Eastern Coasts of South 

America, from Cabo Orange to Cabo Vírgines, 

including Falkland Islands. 9th ed. London: 

H.M. Stationary Office. Hydrographic 

Department, Admiralty. xxiv + 623 pp. 

GREAT BRITAIN. HYDROGRAPHIC OFFICE. 

1942. South America Pilot. Part II. Comprising 

the Southern and Western Coasts of South 

America from Cabo Vírgenes to Cape Raper. 

13th ed. London: H.M. Stationery Office. 

Hydrographic Department, Admiralty. xxxii 

+ 348 pp. 

GREEN, Dorothy M., and Anne HOLTOM. 1971. 

Studies in Colobanthus quitensis (Kunth) 

Bartl. and Deschampsia antarctica Desv.: III. 

Distribution, habitats and performance in 

the Antarctic botanical zone. British 

Antarctic Survey Bull., 26: 1-29. 

GREEN, Fletcher Melvin. 1937. Gold mining: a 

forgotten industry of Antebellum North 

Carolina. North Carolina Historical Review, 

14: 1-19, 135-155. 

GREEN, Jacob. 1832. Letter to T.R. Beck, 19 Jun; 

regarding fossil trilobites, etc., including references 

to JE’s “living trilobites.” New York 

Public Library, T.R. Beck Papers, 2 pp. 

GREEN, Jacob. 1830. Anecdote of a pheasant. 

Cabinet of Natural History and American Rural 

Sports, 1: 96. 

GREEN, Jacob. 1832. A Monograph of the Trilobites 

of America. Philadelphia: J. Brano. 93 + [1] 

pp. Supplement, 1835. 24 pp., incomplete. 

GREENE, Stanley W. 1964. Plants of the land. Pp. 

240-253, in: Sir Raymond Priestley et al., 

eds., Antarctic Research. London: 

Butterworths. xi + 360 pp., illusts. 

GREENE, Stanley W. 1970. Studies in Colobanthus 

quitensis (Kunth) Bartl. and Deschampsia 

antarctica Desv.: I. Introduction. British 

Antarctic Survey Bull., 23: 19-24. 

GREENE, Stanley W., and D.M. GREENE. 1963. 

Check list of the Sub-Antarctic and 

Antarctic vascular flora. Polar Record, 11(73): 

411-418. 

GROCE, George Cuthbert, and D.H. WALLACE. 

1957. The New-York Historical Society’s 

Dictionary of Artists in America, 1564-1860. 

New Haven: Yale University Press. xxvii + 

759 pp. 

GRONDAHL, Paul. 1993. Dispatches from the 

‘Crystal Desert.’ Albany Times-Union, 11 

Jan., sect. C, pp. 1, 4. 

GRONDAHL, Paul. 1993. Even at the Earth’s 

bottom, man leaves an indelible mark on 

nature. Albany Times-Union, 18 Feb., sect. A, 

p. 6. 

GROSS, Samuel David, ed. 1861. Lives of Eminent 

American Physicians and Surgeons of the 

Nineteenth Century. Philadelphia: Lindsay & 

Blakiston. 836 pp. 

HALL, James. 1848. Letter on Lardner Vanuxem. 

Proceedings, American Association for the 

Advancement of Science, 1: 91-92. 


HALL, James. 1856 (1857). Statement of James 

Hall, incoming president, in regard to 

founding of Association of American 

Geologists. Proceedings, American 

Association for the Advancement of 

Science, 20: 230-232. 

HALL, James. 1847-1894. Palaeontology of New 

York. Albany. 7 vols. in 13. (For full list of 

vols., see Meisel, 2: 617-618.) 

HALL, James. 1879. History of Museum activities, 

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HALL, James. 1883. The New York Geological 

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HALL, James. 1892. Original drawings for the 

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HANLEY, Sylvanus Charles Thorp. 1860 (etc.). 

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HATHERTON, Trevor, ed. 1965. Antarctica. New 

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HAYNE, Robert Y. 1829. South Sea exploring 

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35°S Latitude. New York: American 

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HEDGPETH, Joel W. 1971. James Eights of the 

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HENDERSON, Daniel M. 1950. Letter, 26 Feb; to 

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HENDERSON, Daniel MacIntyre. 1953. The 

Hidden Coasts. A Biography of Admiral Charles 

Wilkes. New York: Sloane. 306 pp., port., 

maps. 

HENRY, Joseph. 1834. Letter to his brother 

James, 27 Oct; brief reference to JE. Henry 

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HENRY, Joseph. 1836. Letter to Mahlon 

Dickerson, 17 Nov; in regard to JE’s application. 

National Archives, M75, RG 45, 1: 

0551. Also in Joseph Henry Papers, 3: 122- 

123. 

HENRY, Joseph. 1972-ff. The Papers of Joseph 

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HEPPER, F.N., and Fiona NEATE. 1971. Plant 

collectors in West-Africa. Regnum Vegetabile, 

74. xvi + 96 pp. (Negative for JE in Cape 

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HEYNING, John E. 1990. Letter, July, in regard to 

identification of the whale specimen identified 

by JE as ‘Rorqualus australis’ in 1850- 

1870. 

HIGGINSON, Ian N. 1994. The first Antarctic 

voyage of Edgar Allan Poe. Polar Record, 

30(175): 287-298. 

HILDRETH, Samuel Prescott. 1835. Observations 

on the bituminous coal deposits of the valley 

of the Ohio, and the accompanying rock 

strata; with notices of the fossil organic 

remains and the relics of vegetables and 

animal bodies. American Journal of Science 

and Arts, 29(1): 1-154, 36 pls. 

HILL, Constance Valis. 1991. Pinksterfest displays 

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HILTON, Elizabeth (Eights). See: Anon. 3 Apr 

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HISLOP, Codman. 1936. Albany: Dutch, English 

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pp., illusts. 

HOBBINS, James M. 1976. Shaping a provincial 

learned society: the early history of the 

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HOBBS, William Herbert. 1941. Explorers of the 

Antarctic. New York: House of Field. 334 

pp., illusts. 

HODGSON, Thomas V. 1904. On a new pycnogonid 

from the south polar regions. Annals 

and Magazine of Natural History, 7th series, 

14: 458-462, pl. XIV. 

HODGSON, Thomas V. 1905. Scotia collections. 

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42, pls. III & IV. (Cited also as Royal 

Physical Society for the Promotion of 

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HODGSON, Thomas V. 1905. Decalopoda and 

Colossendeis. Zoologischer Anzeiger, 29: 254- 

256. 

HOEK, Paulus Peronius Cato. 1881. Report on 

the Pycnogonida, dredged by H.M.S. 

‘Challenger’ during the years 1873-76. The 

Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. ‘Challenger,’ 

3(10): 1-167, 21 pls. 

HOGAN, Michael. 1830. The exploring expedition. 

(Letter from Hogan to Navy Secretary 

John, Branch 12 Sep 1830.) Albany Argus, 24 

Dec. (Hogan was U.S. Consul at Valparaiso; 

one of J.N. Reynolds’s contacts.) 

HOLLAND, W.J. 1903. The Moth Book. New York: 

Doubleday, Page. Reprinted, Dover 

Publications, 1968. xxiv + 479 pp., illusts. 

HOLMES, J.A. Formation of committee to prepare 

memorial to Albany geologists who 

founded forerunner of AAAS. Proceedings, 

American Association for the Advancement 

of Science, 49: 383-384. 

HOOKER, Joseph Dalton. 1844-1847. The Botany 

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Ships Erebus and Terror, 1839-1841, Captain 

Sir James Clark Ross. Part I. Flora Antarctica. 

London: Reeve Bros. 2 vols., pls. 


HOOKER, William Jackson. 1834. Letter to JE, 

care of Dr [L.C.] Beck, 9 [?] Dec. McKinney 

Library, AIHA, 3 pp. 

HOOKER, William Jackson. 1837. Aira antarctica. 

Icones Plantarum, 2, pl. 150 + text. 

HOOKER, William Jackson. 1840. Frankenia 

cymbifolia. Icones Plantarum, 3, pl. 265, with 

text. This plate actually showed Wilsonia 

humilis Br[own]. This is proved by a variant 

undated text page distributed with some 

copies of the volume, even though the 

index to that volume lists the plate as 

Frankenia! See also his Icones Plantarum, 5, 

plate and text 410, 1842. 

HOOKER, William Jackson, and George A.W. 

Arnott. 1833-1836. Contributions towards a 

flora of South America and the islands of 

the Pacific. Hooker’s Botanical Miscellany, 3: 

129-211, 302-367, 1833; Hooker’s Journal of 

Botany, 1: 276-296, 1834; 3: 19-47, 310-348, 

1835; Companion to the Botanical Magazine, 1: 

29-38, 102-111, 234-244, 1835; 2: 41-52, 250- 

254, 1836. (NB: dates are those of scheduled 

subscriptions not of actual publication; the 

last item, p. 254, says: “To be continued”; I 

can find no evidence that there was a continuation.) 

HORN, George H. 1883. Memoir of John L. 

LeConte, M.D. Proceedings, American 

Philosophical Society, 21: 294-299. 

HOUGH, Franklin Benjamin. 1885. Historical and 

Statistical Record of the University of New 

York, During the Century from 1784 to 1884. 

By authority of the State Legislature. 

Albany: Weed, Parsons & Co. viii + [5]-867 

pp. 

HOUSE, Homer D. 1920. Eights, James (1798- 

1882). Pp. 355-356, in: H.A. Kelly and W.L. 

Burrage, eds., American Medical Biographies, 

2nd ed. Baltimore: Norman, Remington Co. 

HOWE, Henry. 1904. Historical Collections of Ohio. 

Cincinnati: Published for the State by C.J. 

Krehbiel & Co. 2 vols. 

HOWELL, George Rogers, and Jonathan TEN- 

NEY. 1886. Bi-centennial History of the County 

of Albany, N.Y., from 1609 to 1886. Albany: 

Munsell. xxx + 997 pp., ports., maps. 

HOWELL, John Thomas. 1941. Hugh Cuming’s 

visit to the Galapagos Islands. Lloydia, 4(4): 

291-292. 

HOWELL, Robert. 1855. Some observations on 

the cliff swallow (Hirundo fulva), its habits 

and first appearance at Nichols, Tioga 

County, N.Y. N.Y. State Cabinet of Natural 

History, 8: 18. (N.Y. Senate no. 40.) 

HUN, Henry Hand. See: National Cyclopedia of 

American History, 57: 508-509, port., 1977. 

HUNTINGTON LIBRARY. 1979. Guide to 

American Historical Manuscripts in the 

Huntington Library. San Marino: The 

Huntington Library. 

HUTCHINSON, George Evelyn. 1950. The biogeochemistry 

of vertebrate excretion. 

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INDEX KEWENSIS. 1895. Index Kewensis. An 

Enumeration of the Genera and Species of 

Flowering Plants from the Time of 

Linnaeus...compiled by B. Daydon Jackson 

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Press. 2 vols. Supplements, 1-, 1901-. 

INMAN, Henry. See R.V. DeWitt, portrait, 1821; 

C.E. Lester, 1970. 

JACKSON, Andrew. 1837. Message on the 

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Jackson, Feb. 6, 1837. U.S. 24th Cong., 2nd 

Sess., Ex. Doc. no. 138. Vol. 3, 15 pp. 

JACKSON, Benjamin Daydon. 1901. A list of collectors 

whose plants are in the herbarium of 

the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Kew Bull., 

1901: 1-80. 

JACKSON, Charles T. See: Boston Mining Co., 

1845. 

JACKSON, Joseph. 1930 (etc.). Biography of John 

Fanning Watson. Dictionary of American 

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JAY, John Clarkson. 1835. Catalogue of Recent 

Shells in the Cabinet of John C. Jay. (1st ed.) 

New York: Ptd. by Fanshaw. 55 pp. 

JAY, John Clarkson. 1836. A Catalogue of Recent 

Shells with Descriptions of New or Rare Species 

in the Collection of John C. Jay. (2nd ed.) New 

York: Ptd. by D. Fanshaw. 82 pp., 4 col. pls. 

(N.B.: it appears that notice of a “3rd edition” 

in 1836 is in error; 3rd ed. was properly 

dated 1839.) 

JAY, John Clarkson. 1839. A Catalogue of the Shells, 

Arranged According to the Lamarckian System; 

Together with Descriptions of New or Rare 

Species, Contained in the Collection of John C. 

Chapter 31 439

Jay, MD. (3rd ed.) New York: Wiley & 

Putnam. 125 pp., 10 col. pls. 

JAY, John Clarkson. 1850. A Catalogue..., 4th ed. 

New York: Ptd. by R. Craighead. [iii] + [i] + 

459 + [1] pp. Includes index to synonyms 

and genera (species are in alphabetical 

order in text). (JE’s Nucula [p. 53] was mistakenly 

referred to the Sandwich Islands [= 

Hawaii].) 

JOERG, Wolfgang, ed. 1928. Problems of Polar 

Research. A Series of Papers. New York: 

American Geographical Society, Spec. Publ. 

no. 7. vi + 479 pp. 

JOHNSON, Alfred, ed. 1925. Ships and Shipping; a 

Collection of Pictures Including Many 

American Vessels Painted by Antoine Roux and 

his sons. Salem: Marine Research Society, 

Publ. no. 9. ix + 270 pp., illusts. (Book was 

first published under authorship of Antoine 

Roux.) 

JOHNSON, Markes E. 1982. The second geological 

career of Evenezer Emmons: success and 

failure in the Southern States, 1851-1860. Pp. 

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JOHNSON, Richard I. 1946. Joseph Pitty 

Couthouy — a bibliography and catalogue 

of his species. Occasional Papers on Mollusks, 

Department of Mollusks, Museum of 

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JOHNSON, Walter R. See: S.R. Mallory, 1858; J.A. 

Pearce, 1844; Robert Strange, 1840. 

JOHNSON, Walter R. et al. 1837. Letter to M. 

Dickerson, 3 Aug; in regard to hiring 

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JONES, A.G.E. 1974. Dr W.H.B. Webster, 1793- 

1875: Antarctic scientist. Polar Research, 17: 

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JONES, A.G.E. 1986. Ships Employed in the South 

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Society Publ. no. 36. xviii + 276 + 104 pp. 

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JONES, Thomas Ap Catesby. 1837. List of the scientific 

corps, 6 Nov. National Archives, 

M75, RG 45, 3: 0430-31. 1 p. (Not signed; 

but in his hand. Credited to Jones, House 

Doc. 147, 1838, pp. 505-506. JE is included.) 

KARNER BLUE BUTTERFLY. See: D.A. Andow 

et al., eds., 1994. R. Dirig, 1976. 

KAY, Joseph Henry, Midshipman. Unpublished. A 

private journal kept during the voyage of 

H.M.S. Chanticleer in 1828, 29, 30 — and 

part of 31. Scott Polar Research Institute, 

Cambridge, MS. 894. 110 sheets. 

KENDALL, Lt. Edward N., 1800-1845, R.N., 

Surveyor with ‘Chanticleer,’ 1828-1831; surveyed 

Deception Island, 1829; visited South 

Shetlands. See: J. Stewart, 1: 522. (Some of 

King’s shells came from him; thus, it it is 

impossible to be sure that otherwise 

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Shetlands are from JE.) 

KENNEY, Alice. 1987. The transformation of the 

Albany Patricians, 1778-1860. New York 

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views. 

KING, P.E. 1973. Pycnogonids. London: 

Hutchinson. 144 pp. (No mention of JE or of 

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KING, Captain Phillip Parker. 1832. Some observations 

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during the late survey of those coasts in His 

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April and 9 May 1831. Royal Geographical 

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KING, Phillip Parker. 1832-1834. Description of 

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Adventure and Beagle employed between 

the years 1826 and 1830 in surveying the 

southern coasts of South America, including 

the Straits of Magalhaens and the coast of 

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KING-HELE, Desmond. 1968. The Essential 

Writings of Erasmus Darwin. London: 

MacGibbon & Kee. 223 pp. 

KIRWAN, Laurence Patrick. 1962. A History of 

Polar Exploration. New York: W.W. Norton. 

374 pp. (Published as The White Road, 

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KNUTH, Paul. 1909. Handbook of Flower 

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KRAUSE, David J. 1989. Testing a tradition: 

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KUNZ, George Frederick. 1914. John Boyd 

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American Scenic and Historic Preservation 

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LAFLEUR, R.G. 1976. Glacial Lake Albany. Pp. 1- 

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LANGE, Ulrich, and Jan NAUMANN. 1990. 

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Südwesten von King George Island 

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LANSING, Gerritt Yates. 1836. Letter to John 

Boyle, U.S. Navy, 8 Aug. National Archives, 

M75, RG 45, 1: 077-78. 

LANSING, Gerritt Yates. 1836. Letter to M. 

Dickerson, 8 Nov. National Archives, M75, 

RG 45, 1: 0498-499. 

LARSEN, Ellouise Baker. 1939. American 

Historical Views on Staffordshire China. New 

York: Doubleday, Doran. xxx + 25-270 pp., 

illusts. 

LARSEN, Ellouise Baker. 1950. American 

Historical Views on Staffordshire China, new 

and enl. ed. Garden City: Doubleday. xxx + 

(2) + 317 pp., col. and other illusts. 

LASSITER, William L. 1948. James Eights and his 

Albany views. Antiques, 53: 360-361, illusts. 

LEA, Isaac. 1829. Description of a new genus of 

the family Naïades, including eight species . 

. .; the description of eleven new species of 

the genus Unio. Transactions, American 

Philosophical Society, n.s., 3(13): 403-457, 

pls. vii-xiv, col. (Published as separate, 1829; 

see Symphynota compressa, pp. 450-451, pl. 

xii, fig. 22.) 

LEA, Isaac. 1843. (Changes of several specific 

names of Melaniae, because of preoccupation.) 

Proceedings, American Philosophical 

Society, 2: 237. (S. compressa changed to Unio 

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LEA, Isaac. 1859. Descriptions of exotic 

Unionidae. Journal of the Academy of Natural 

Sciences of Philadelphia, 2nd ser., 4(3): 235- 

274, 13 pls. (Rec. 20 Dec 1859.) 

LEA, Isaac. 1860. Descriptions of seven new 

species of Unionidae from the United 

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Sciences of Philadelphia, 12: 306-307. 

LEA, Isaac. 1860. New Unionidae of the United 

States and northern Mexico. Journal of the 

Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 

2nd ser., 4(1858-1860): 327-374, 16 pls. (Unio 

Eightsii is p. 367, pl. 14, fig. 192; type specimen 

is U.S. Natl. Mus. no. 83991.) 

LEACH, William Elford. 1818. (Article on 

Cymothoadae, in part.) Dictionnaire des 

Sciences Naturelles. Strasbourg, Paris (etc.): 

F.G. Levrault. vol. 12, pp. 338-347. (Leach 

was contributor on crustaceans; see his 

Sphérome grand [Sphaeroma gigas], p. 346, 

the genus to which JE allocated his supposed 

new species in 1842; S. gigas later 

became Stebbing’s type for a new genus, 

Exosphaeroma; Leach’s account of the genus 

Serolis, pp. 338-340 is also pertinent, as the 

genus to which JE’s species Brongniartia 

trilobitoides was ultimately consigned.) 

LEOPOLD, Aldo, and Sara Elizabeth JONES. 

1947. A phenological record for Sauk and 

Dane counties, Wisconsin, 1935-45. 

Ecological Monographs, 17: 81-122. 

LESTER, Charles Edwards. 1970. The Artists of 

America; a Series of Biographical Sketches. 

New York: Kennedy Galleries. vi + 257 pp., 

ports. (Reprint of an ed. of 1846 published 

by Baker & Scribner; note particularly the 

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LEWIS, Richard S. 1965. A Continent for Science. 

The Antarctic Adventure. New York: Viking 

Press. xx + 300 pp., illusts. 

LINCKLAEN, Ledyard. 1861. Guide to the geology 

of New York, and to the State 

Geological Cabinet. N.Y. State Cabinet of 

Natural History, Annual Report, 14: 17-87 + 

Chapter 31 441

29 pls. + unnumbered caption pp. 

(Assembly Doc. no. 136.) 

LINDSAY, D.C. 1971. Vegetation of the South 

Shetland Islands. British Antarctic Survey 

Bull., 25: 59-83. 

LINTNER, Joseph Albert. 1892. (Accounts of 

cicadas.) Report of the Curator of 

Entomology, 44th Annual Report, N.Y. State 

Museum, for 1890, pp. 296-301. 

LITHGOW, David Cunningham. See: Anon. 

1934. State Street in 1806-1810 as pictured 

by David C. Lithgow / Mural of State 

Street, 1806, finished by David Lithgow. 

Knickerbocker Press, Sunday, 16 Sep. 

LITHGOW, David Cunningham. See: Charlotte 

Cramer, 1968. 

LLANO, George A. 1965. “The flora of 

Antarctica.” Pp. 331-350, in: T. Hatherton, 

ed., Antarctica. (Cites Calman, 1937, on JE; 

see pp. 335-336, for Deschampsia antarctica.) 

LOMEN, Jan Cornelis Christiaan. 1905. 

Decolopoda Eights oder Colossendeis Jarz. 

Zoologischer Anzeiger, 28: 722-723. 

LOSSING, Benson John. 1857. Albany fifty years 

ago. Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, 14(82): 

451-463, Mar. (Not signed here; actually an 

article, rewritten without credit by Lossing 

from notes supplied by JE; JE’s Albany 

views were engraved, entirely without credit 

of any kind to him.) 

LOSSING, Benson John. 1867. Albany fifty years 

ago. Joel Munsell’s Collections on the History 

of Albany, 2: 8-31. (A version of the 1857 

piece, with additions and corrections by 

Munsell, who recognized JE’s work as 

source of illustrations.) 

LOSSING, Benson John. Date unknown. A letter 

from Lossing to “West Point,” dated 12 Apr 

1886, explaining how he came in possession 

of JE’s account and views of “Old Albany.” 

The letter was published some time after 

Lossing’s death 3 Jun 1891 in an as yet 

unidentified newspaper. 

LUDWIG, Friedrich. 1880. Über die 

Bestäubungsvorrichtung und die 

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androsaemifolium. Kosmos, 8: 182-185. 

LUDWIG, Friedrich. 1881. Zur Biologie der 

Apocyneen. Botanisches Centralblatt (Kassel), 

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LYCEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY OF NEW 

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YORK. 1829. Specimen of quartz presented 

by JE. American Journal of Science, 16: 355. 

(Lyceum proceedings, January meeting.) 


YORK. 1829. “Drs. Eights, of Albany, and H. 

Gates, of Whitesborough, were elected 

Corresponding...Members.” American 

Journal of Science, 16: 355. (Lyceum proceedings.) 

MC ALLISTER, Ethel M. 1941. Amos Eaton, 

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MC ATEE, Waldo Lee. 1945. Nomina Abitera. 

Chicago: Author. i + 50 pp., 1 pl. 

MC DONALD, Captain Edwin A. 1962. 

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MC ENENY, John J. 1981. Albany, Capital City on 

the Hudson. Woodland Hills: Windsor 

Publications; sponsored by AIHA. 247 pp., 

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MC KELVEY, Susan Delano. 1955. Botanical 

Exploration of the Trans-Mississippi West 1790- 

1850. Jamaica Plain: Arnold Arboretum of 

Harvard University. xl + 1144 pp. 

MC MURTRIE, W.B. See: J.A. Pearse, 1844. 

MC NAB, James. 1835. Account of some of the 

rarer plants observed during an excursion 

in the United States and the Canadas in 

1834. Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, 19: 

56-64. 

MC NAB, John. 1901. Extract from the log of the 

schooner ‘Eliza Scott,’ Captain John Balleny, 

while S. of 55° S. latitude, 1839, kept by 

John McNab, Second Mate. Pp. 348-359, in: 

George Murray, ed., The Antarctic Manual. 

MALLORY, Stephen Russell. 1858. 

Report...memorial of Reynall Coates, praying 

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Sea Exploring Expedition. U.S. 35th Cong., 


1st Sess., Senate Repts., vol. 2, no. 318, 10 

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MANGUM, Willie Person. 1842. Report on 

memorial of Reynall Coates and W.R. 

Johnson. U.S. 27th Cong., 2nd Sess., Senate 

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MARCOU, Jules. 1885. The ‘Taconic System,‘ and 

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MARCOU, Jules. 1891. Biographical notice of 

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MARCOU, Jules. 1894. Letter to John Mason 

Clarke, 17 Nov. N.Y. State Archives, A4208- 

87, Box 5. 

MARCOU, Jules. 1894. Letter to John Mason 

Clarke, 24 Nov. N.Y. State Archives, A4208- 

87, Box 5. (Very critical of James Hall; 

claimed that a review of an Ebenezer 

Emmons, Sr., work in 1855, signed “X,” was 

dictated by Hall to its author, Thomas 

Sterry-Hunt.) 

MARCOU, Jules. 1978. Jules Marcou on the Taconic 

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Skinner. New York: Arno Press. (Several 

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MARCY, William L. 1836. Letter to Mahlon 

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MARKOWITZ, Harvey, ed. 1995. American 

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MARSHALL, William B. 1895. Geographical distribution 

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99. 

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and investigations in southern South 

America and adjacent Antarctic waters by 

mariners and scientists from the United 

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86, appendix, pp. 3194-3195. A pre-print of 

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MARTIN, Lawrence. 1943. Early explorations 

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MARTIN, Lawrence. 1949. James Eights’ pioneer 

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Antarctic icebergs. Geological Society of 

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MATON, William George, and Thomas RACK- 

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MERRILL, George Perkins. 1924. The First 

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MESSER [MERCER], D. 1831. Returned on 

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Chapter 31 443

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575. Map, opp. p. 568, was based on work 

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NEW YORK STATE CABINET OF NATURAL 

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NEW YORK FLORA ASSOCIATION. 1990. 

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NITZE, Henry Benjamin Charles, and Henry A.J. 

WILKENS. 1897. Gold mining in North 

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new species of marine gasteropodae inhab- 

Chapter 31 445

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1952. Pinkster ode, Albany, 1803. New York 

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Church record. Unpublished bound volume; 

251 sheets are numbered on front 

sides only (that is, pp. 1, 3, 5 . . .), of which 

the last 23 sheets are also independently 

numbered and cover Coeymans Reformed 

Church (mostly baptismal) records. The first 

three children of Jonathan and Alida Eights, 

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sheet 237. The whole volume is titled on 

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RAFINESQUE, Constantine Samuel. 1831. Letter 

to John Torrey, 6 March. Duke University 

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RAFINESQUE, Constantine Samuel. 1820. 

Monographie des coquilles bivalves fluviatiles 

de la rivière Ohio, contenant douze 

genres et soixante-huit, espéces. Annales 

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RAFINESQUE, Constantine Samuel. 1832. A 

monograph of the fluviatile bivalve shells of the 

River Ohio, containing twelve genera & sixtyeight 

species. Translated from the French...by 

C.A. Poulson. Philadelphia: J. Dobson. v + 

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RAFINESQUE, Constantine Samuel. 1833-1834. 

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RAFINESQUE, Constantine Samuel. 1836. A Life 

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RAFINESQUE, Constantine Samuel. 1987. Précis 

ou Abrégé des Voyages, Travaux, et 

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Travels.) Ed. by Charles Boewe, G. Renaud 

and B. Seaton. Amsterdam: North-Holland, 

Elsevier Science Publishers, for Royal 

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REICHELDERFER, F.W. 1962. James Eights. U.S. 

Antarctic Projects Officer Bull., 4(1): 20, Oct. 

REINHARDT, F.D. 1829. Gold mines of North 

Carolina (letter to Denison Olmsted). 

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REYNOLDS, Cuyler. 1906. Albany Chronicles. 

Albany: J.B. Lyon Co. [xxv] + 817 pp., many 

illusts. 

REYNOLDS, Helen Wilkinson. 1929. Dutch 

Houses in the Hudson Valley Before 1776. New 

York: Payson & Clarke, for the Holland 

Society of New York. 467 pp., illusts. 

Reprinted: New York: Dover, 1965. 

REYNOLDS, Jeremiah N. 1827. Remarks on a 

Review of Symmes’ Theory, Which Appeared in 

the American Quarterly Review, by a “Citizen 

of the United States.” Washington: Ptd. by 

Gales & Seaton. 75 pp. 

REYNOLDS, Jeremiah N. Letter relative to an 

Antarctic expedition. U.S. 20th Cong., 1st 

Sess., House Ex. Docs., No. 88, vol. III. 3 pp. 

(Poore, p. 197, calls him “Rep.” J.N. 

Reynolds! — this was reprinted as part of 

U.S. 23d Cong., 2nd Sess., House Docs. 94 

and 105, 1835, which see.) 

REYNOLDS, Jeremiah N. 1829. Exploring expedition. 

Albany Argus, 10 Jan. 

REYNOLDS, Jeremiah N. 1830. Letter from J.N. 

Reynolds, Bona Vista (Cape Verd Islands,) 

Nov. 14 [1829]. Morning Courier and New- 

York Enquirer (for the Country), 5(361): 1, 30 

Mar. (Signed J.A. Reynolds! — note that this 

is not the City edition.) 

REYNOLDS, Jeremiah N. 1830. South Sea 

Expedition (etc.). New Bedford Mercury, 2 

Apr. (This is reprinting, with editorial comment 

and correct middle initial, of the 

Morning Courier letter of 30 Mar.) 

REYNOLDS, Jeremiah N. 1831. South America. 

— Mr. Reynolds’ letter. Castilio de Antuco, 

Oct. 1830. Morning Courier and New-York 

Enquirer, 6(516), 5 Aug. (Letter addressed to 

Michael Hogan, U.S. Consul at Valparaiso.) 

REYNOLDS, Jeremiah H. 1834. Voyage of the 

United States Frigate Potomac...During the 

Circumnavigation of the Globe, in the Years 

1831, 1832, 1833, and 1834. New York: 

Harper & Bros. xii + 13-25 pp. (NB: This 

was merely introduction and first chapter of 

next entry.) 

REYNOLDS, Jeremiah N. 1835. Voyage of the 

United States Frigate Potomac, Under the 

Command of Commodore John Downes, 

During...1831...1834. New York: Harper & 

Bros. x + x + 11-560 pp. 

REYNOLDS, Jeremiah N. 1835. A Life of George 

Washington, in Latin prose, by Francis Glass, 

1790-1824, ed. by Jeremiah N. Reynolds. 

New York: Harper & Bros., no pag. given. 

REYNOLDS, Jeremiah N. (in part). 1835. Report 

on memorials on exploring expedition. U.S. 

23d Cong., 2nd Sess., House Commerce 

Comm., Reports of Committees, no. 94, vol. 

I, 43 pp. (A part of this is entitled: Islands, 

Reefs, and Shoals in the Pacific Ocean; see 

next entry.) 

REYNOLDS, Jeremiah N. 1835. Pacific Ocean 

and South Seas. Letter from the Secretary of 

the Navy, transmitting a report of J.N. 

Reynolds, in relation to islands, reefs, and 

shoals in the Pacific Ocean, &c., Jan. 27, 

1835. U.S. 23d Cong., 2nd Sess., House, 

Navy Dept., Doc. no. 105. 28 pp. (Poore, p. 

288, says 24 Jan.) 

REYNOLDS, Jeremiah N. 1836. Address, On the 

Subject of a Surveying and Exploring 

Expedition to the Pacific Ocean and South Seas. 

Delivered in the Hall of the Representatives 

on...April 3, 1836....With correspondence 

and Documents. New York: Harper & Bros., 

300 pp. 

Chapter 31 447

REYNOLDS, Jeremiah N. (in part). 1836. Report 

on exploring expedition. Naval Committee. 

U.S. 24th Cong., 1st Sess., Senate Docs., vol. 

III, no. 262, 87 pp. 

REYNOLDS, Jeremiah N. 1837-1838 (1838?). 

Exploring Expedition. Correspondence 

Between J.N. Reynolds and the Hon. 

Mahlon Dickerson, Under the Respective 

Signatures of “Citizen” and “Friend to the 

Navy”, Touching the South Sea Surveying 

and Exploring Expedition. New York: 

Privately printed by JNR. 151 pp. (Variant 

titles, probably spine catch titles, exist; first 

printed in the New York Times of July-Sep 

1837 and New York Courier and Enquirer, 

Dec-Jan 1837-1838.) 

REYNOLDS, Jeremiah N. 1838. Leaves from an 

unpublished journal. New York Mirror, 

15(43): 340-341, 21 Apr. 

REYNOLDS, Jeremiah N. 1839. A leaf from an 

unpublished manuscript. Visit to the 

Volcano of Antuco in 37° South latitude...Return 

to Los Angeles. Southern 

Literary Messenger, 5: 408-413, Jun. (12-23 

Nov; year not given but was 1830?) 

REYNOLDS, Jeremiah N. 1839. Bearding a sea 

lion in his den. Albany Argus, 8 Jul. (From 

the Knickerbocker.) 

REYNOLDS, Jeremiah N. 1839. Documents pertaining 

to the history of the South Sea expedition. 

Southern Literary Messenger, 5: 413- 

415. 

REYNOLDS, Jeremiah N. 1839. Mocha Dick: or 

the white whale of the Pacific or a leaf from 

a manuscript journal. The Knickerbocker, or 

New York Monthly Magazine, 13(5): 377-392, 

May. (This was several times reprinted, 

including: Essex Register, Salem, Mass., 16 

May, 1839; London & Glasgow: Cameron & 

Ferguson, 18—? (maybe more than once); a 

separate of the Knickerbocker version, 1839; 

finally: Mocha Dick; or, The White Whale of the 

Pacific...by Lowell LeRoy Balcom, New 

York: Scribner’s, 90 pp., illusts., 1932. 

REYNOLDS, Jeremiah N. 1841. Pacific and Indian 

Oceans: or, the South Sea Surveying and 

Exploring Expedition: Its Inception, Progress, 

and Objects. New York: Harpers. 516 pp. 

Variant titles exist. Includes reprints previously 

published: JNR’s Address on the 

Subject...1836, and Correspondence between 

JNR and M. Dickerson, 1837-1838. The latter 

has also been printed as a separate, pp. 299- 

516, 1841. 

REYNOLDS, Jeremiah N. 1843. Rough notes of 

rough adventure. Southern Literary 

Messenger, 9(12) 705-715. (More on his 

Araucanian adventure; he claimed by then 

to have been seven months in that land.) 

REYNOLDS, Jeremiah N. 1852. Terremoto de 1746. 

Destruction total del Callao y parte de Lima. 

Excrito en inglés...y traducido para el 

Playero. Callao. 

REYNOLDS, Jeremiah N. 1860. Historia de la 

ruina de Lima & el Callao en el año 1746..., 2nd 

ed. Callao: Impr. de E. Dañino. 16 pp. 

REYNOLDS, Jeremiah N. See: R.F. Almy, 1937; 

Anna Ella Carroll, 1857, 1871; Mrs. R.B. 

Harlan, 1882; I.N. Higginson, 1994; H. 

Howe, 1904; J.W. Peck, 1909; A. Starke, 1939. 

REYNOLDS, John. 1995. Land of ice and fire. 

Geographical Magazine, 67(11): 38-39, Nov. 

(On Deception Island.) 

REZNECK, Samuel. 1959. A traveling school of 

science on the Erie Canal in 1826. New York 

History, 40(3): 255-269. 

REZNECK, Samuel. 1965. Amos Eaton: a pioneer 

teacher of science in early America. Journal 

of Geological Education, 13: 131-134. 

REZNECK, Samuel. 1969. Joseph Henry learns 

geology on the Erie Canal. New York History, 

50: 29-42. 

RICHARDS, Margaret Crozier, and William E. 

OLDS, Jr. 1969. A catalogue of molluscan 

type specimens in the Department of Living 

Invertebrates, the American Museum of 

Natural History. New York: The Museum, 

May, processed. 

RITTNER, Don, compiler and editor. 1976. Pine 

Bush, Albany’s Last Frontier. Albany: Pine 

Bush Historic Preservation Project. xx + 263 

+ unnumbered pages, illusts. 

RITTNER, Don. 1976. Flora of the Pine Bush. Pp. 

103-166, in his Pine Bush. 

RITTNER, Don. See: The Zodiac, 1980. 

ROBERTS, Brian. 1941. A bibliography of 

Antarctic ornithology. London: British 

Museum (Natural History). British Graham 


Land Expedition 1934-37. Scientific Reports, 

1(9): 337-367. 

ROBERTS, Brian. 1958. Chronological list of 

Antarctic expeditions. Polar Record, 9: 97- 

134, 191-239. 

ROSEBERRY, C.R. 1954. Antarctic area named 

for obscure Albanian. Albany Times Union, 

Sunday, 21 Feb, E-1, E-2, illusts. 

ROWELL, Margery. 1973. Early Russian botanical 

exploration in the North Pacific. 

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ROWLEY, William E. 1990. The Albany 

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New York History, 72(2): 173-206. 

ST. JOHN, Harold. 1940. Itinerary of Hugh 

Cuming in Polynesia. Occasional Papers of 

Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, 16(4): 

81-90, port. 

ST. JOHN, John R. 1846. A True Description of the 

Lake Superior Country...with Bayfield’s Chart. 

New York: William H. Graham. 118 pp., 2 

fold. maps. (Facs. reprint, Grand Rapids: 

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SANDERSON, Dorothy Hurlbut. 1965. The 

Delaware & Hudson Canalway / Carrying 

Coals to Roundout. Ellenville: Rondout 

Valley Publishing Co. vi + 60 pp., illusts. 

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SCHAUPP, F.G. 1883. Obituary. John L. LeConte, 

M.D. Bulletin, Brooklyn Entomological 

Society, 6: i-ix, port., Dec. 

SCHMIDLY, David J. 1981. Marine Mammals of 

the Southeastern United States Coast and the 

Gulf of Mexico. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 

FWS/OBS-80/41. viii + [x] + 165 pp., 


SCHNEER, Cecil J. 1969. Ebenezer Emmons and 

the foundations of American geology. Isis, 

60: 439-450. 

SCHNEER, Cecil J. 1978. The great Taconic controversy. 

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SCHORGER, Arlie W. 1955. The Passenger Pigeon: 

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(Reprint, Norman: University of Oklahoma 

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SCHWARZ GALLERY. 1991. American 

Watercolors and Pastels. Philadelphia: 

Schwarz Philadelphia Collections, XLVII, Nov. 

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SCUDDER, Samuel H. 1886. Memoir of John 

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2: 261-293, port. 

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SHARPE, Mildred Carswell (Mrs. Robert Boice 

Sharpe). No date. Eights family name. 

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SHEAR, Cornelius Lott, and Neil Everett 

STEVENS, eds. 1921. The correspondence of 

Schweinitz and Torrey. Torrey Botanical Club 

Memoirs, 16 (1915-1921): 119-300. 

SHEPARD, Charles U. 1824. Letter to JE regarding 

exchange of minerals, 18 Jun. McKinney 

Library, AIHA, 1 p. 

SHEPPARD, Miss E.M. 1933. Isopod Crustacea. 

— Part I. The family Serolidae. “Discovery” 

Reports, Cambridge, 7: 253-361, pl. 14, 22 

text figs. 

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23: 82. 

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cols. 1214-1218. 

SHERRATT, Richard. 1952. Richard Sherratt’s 

chart of the South Shetland Islands, 1821. 

Brian Roberts, ed. Polar Record, 6(43): 363- 

365, fold. map. 

SILLIMAN, Benjamin, ed. 1834. Materials for 

paper. American Journal of Science, 26(1): 193. 

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1044, illusts. 

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plants. Botanisk Tidsskrift, 51: 330-338. 

Chapter 31 449

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and Consuls of 1766-1865: a Geographic 

Directory. U.S. Department of State, Center 

for the Study of Foreign Affairs, Foreign 

Service Institute, Occasional Paper 2. ix + 

366 pp. 

SOTHEBY’S ARCADE AUCTIONS. 1993. Sale 

1419. Silver, decorations, etc. New York: 

Sotheby’s, Wed., Jan. 27 & 28. (JE’s views on 

china offered.) 

SOTHEBY’S AUCTION HOUSE. 1993. Fine 

Americana. Auction sale 6392. New York: 

Sotheby’s, Jan 28, 29, 30, 31. (JE’s watercolor 

views of Albany streets offered.) 

SOWERBY, George Brettingham (Sr.). 1834. New 

species of shells contained in the collection 

formed by Mr. Cuming on the western 

coast of South America. Proceedings, 

Zoological Society of London, 1834, ii, pp. 

87-89. (A shell from New South Shetlands 

but not collected by JE.) 

SPEARS, John Randolph. 1922. Captain Nathaniel 

Brown Palmer. An Old-time Sailor of the Sea. 

New York: Macmillan. xii + 252 pp., illusts. 

SPEGAZZINI, Carolo (Carlos). 1897. Plantae 

patagoniae australis. Revista de la Facultad de 

Agronomía y Veterinaria, Publicación Mensual, 

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SPENCE, Sydney A. 1980. Antarctic Miscellany: 

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ed. London: J.H.H. & J.I. Simper. 220 pp. 

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SPLETTSTOESSER, John F. 1988. James Eights 

(1798-1882), first geologist and first U.S. scientist 

in Antarctica. (Abstract.) Geological 

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Celebration, Abstracts with Programs, 

Denver, Oct 31 to Nov 3, abstract no. 5214, 

p. A153. 

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STANSBURY, Arthur Joseph. 1820. Mourning for 

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STANTON, William. 1975. The Great United States 

Exploring Expedition of 1838-1842. Berkeley: 

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STARKE, Aubrey. 1939. Poe’s friend Reynolds. 

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xvii + 466 pp., illusts. 

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25: 185-189. 

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+ 623 pp. 

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STOKES, I.N. Phelps, and Daniel C. Haskell. 

1933. American Historical Prints: Early Views 

of American Cities. New York: New York 

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xxiii + 248 pp., illusts. 

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festivties observed in honor of the completion 

of the grand Erie Canal. Pp. 289-408, in: 

C.D. Colden, Memoir...at the Celebration of the 


New York Canals. New York: Corporation 

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STONEHOUSE, Bernard. 1967. The general biology 

and thermal balance of penguins. Vol. 

4, pp. 131-196, in: J.B. Cragg, ed., Advances 

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xxxix pp. Reprinted, Baltimore: 


TAYLOR, W.A. (editor). 1898. A history of 

Antarctic discovery. Scottish Geographical 

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TOMLAN, Mary Raddant, ed. 1993. A Neat Plain 

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45, 1: 0554. 

TORREY, John. 1836. Letter to M. Dickerson, 3 

Dec. National Archives, M75, RG 45, 1: 599- 

601, 3 pp. Published, House Doc. 174, 1838, 

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128. 

TORREY, John. 1838. Letter to Joseph Henry, 2 

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TORREY, John. 1840. Report of Dr. Torrey, on the 

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TORREY, John. 1843. A Flora of the State of New- 

York, Comprising Full Descriptions of All the 

Indigenous and Naturalized Plants Hitherto 

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vols., illusts. 

TORREY, John, and Asa Gray. 1838-1843. A Flora 

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MEIGS. 1823. Report of the botanical committee 

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Chapter 31 451

TUCKER, Gideon J. 1860. Names of Persons for 

Whom Marriage Licenses were issued by the 

Secretary of the Province of New York, Previous 

to 1784. Albany: Weed & Parsons. ix + 480 

pp. Additions and corrections, comp. by 

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TWITCHELL, Ralph Emerson, ed. 1929. 

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86. 253 pp., Supplements, 1949, 1951. 


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Alberts, rev. ed. [2] + ii + 332 pp. 


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174. viii + 486 pp., maps. 

U.S. NATIONAL ARCHIVES. 1836-1839. Letters 

received by the Secretary of the Navy relative 

to the U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1836- 

1842, Microfilm Records 75, RG 45, 1: 0066- 

67, 3: 0246, 5: 0085-86, 5: 0114, 5: 267. JE’s 

letters to B.F. Butler, 2 Aug 1836; JE to M. 

Dickerson, 4 Sep 1837; JE to J.K. Paulding, 

21 Sep and 21 Nov 1838, 26 Feb 1839. (See: 

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UTLEY, George B. 1935. Obadiah Rich. Dictionary 

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reprint). 

UTTERBACK, William I. 1915. The naiades of 

Missouri. American Midland Naturalist, 4: 41- 

53, 97-152, 181-204, 244-273, 311-327, 339- 

354, 387-400, 432-464. (P. 123, notices allocation 

of Unio nervosa Rafinesque 1820 to a 

new genus, Megalonaias.) 

VAIL, Robert William G. No date. Untitled memorandum 

by RWGV, State Librarian, on various 

Eights matters. Library, AIHA, 1 sheet. 

VAN BUREN, Martin. 1836. Letter to M. 

Dickerson, 8 Nov. National Archives, M75, 

RG 45, 1: 0507. 

VAN RENSSELAER, John S. 1848. Tribute to 

“The late Dr. Eights.” Daily Albany Argus, 

17 Aug. 

VAN RENSSELAER, Stephen. 1828. Letter to S.L. 

Southard, Secretary of the Navy, 15 Oct; recommending 

JE for position of naturalist, 

proposed Antarctic expedition. National 

Archives, RG 45, Naval Records Collection 


of the Office of Naval Research and Library, 

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VAN RENSSELAER, Stephen et al. 1836. SVR 

and other officers of Albany Institute, to M. 

Dickerson, 24 Nov; in support of JE. 

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VANUXEM, Lardner. 1836. Letter to Gov. W.L. 

Marcy, 5 Sep; in regard to JE. Chamberlain 

Papers, Rare Book Room, Boston Public 

Library. 

VANUXEM, Lardner (and James EIGHTS). 1837. 

First annual report on the Geological 

Survey of the Fourth District of the State of 

New-York. Albany: N.Y. State Assembly, 

Doc. 161, pp. 189-214. 

VERRILL, A.E. 1926. Sidney Irving Smith. 

Science, n.s., 64: 57-58, 16 Jul. 

VIOLA, Herman J., and Carolyn MARGOLIS, 

eds. 1985. Magnificent Voyagers: The U.S. 

Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842. Washington: 

Smithsonian Press. 250 pp., illusts. 

WAGAR’S COFFEE SHOP. No date. Historic 

print series. Albany: no publisher, 8 prints, 

numbered, with sinuate edges. 

WAGAR’S COFFEE SHOP. No date. The Wagar 

series of historic prints of old Albany. 

Albany: Argus Press. 12 prints; two are 

credited to JE, some others are evidently 

his. 

WAINWRIGHT, Nicholas B. 1958. Philadelphia in 

the Romantic Age of Lithography. 

Philadelphia: Historical Society of 

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WALCOTT, Charles D. 1881. The trilobite: new 

and old evidence relating to its organization. 

Bull. of the Museum of Comparative 

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WALKER, Bryant. 1918-1919. Notes on North 

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WALLIN, Helen. 1970. Douglass Houghton, 

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WALSH, Alex[ander]. 1831. A record of the leafing 

and blossoming of fruit, ornamental 

and culinary plants, in the month April and 

part of May 1831, in the garden of Alex 

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WATSON, George Elder. 1975. Birds of the 

Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic. Washington: 

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WATSON, John. 1831. Report on claim (of John 

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2nd Sess., House Reports no. 112, 2 pp., 2 

Mar. 

WEBSTER, William Henry Bayley. 1834. 

Narrative of a Voyage to the Southern Atlantic 

Ocean. London: R. Bentley, 2 vols., illusts. 

Reprint, Folkestone & London: Dawsons of 

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WEBSTER, W.H.B. See: A.G.E. Jones, 1974. 

WEISE, Arthur James. 1884. History of the City of 

Albany. Albany: Bender. 520 pp., illusts. 

WEISE, Harry B., and Grace M. ZIEGLER. 1931. 

Thomas Say Early American Naturalist. 

Springfield: C.C. Thomas. xiv + 260 pp., 

illusts. 

WELLS, John West. 1963. Early investigations of 

the Devonian system in New York, 1656- 

1836. Geological Society of America, Special 

Paper 74. 74 pp. 

“WEST POINT.” Date unknown (1891?). “Dear 

Old Albany.” (Brief note covering a letter 

written by B.J. Lossing 12 Apr 1886.) Said to 

have been written for Albany Times-Union. 

(I have seen only as a typescript, which 

some writers have said originated as a clipping 

from Albany Argus; evidently published 

after Lossing’s death, Jun 1891.) 

WHITFIELD, Robert Parr. 1873. Whitfield and 

others defend JE’s priority in regard to 

Brongniartia (or Serolis) as a trilobite-like animal, 

against claims of Louis Agassiz. 

Proceedings, Albany Institute, 1: 322-324, session 

of 7 May 1872. (See also AI Minutes for 

7 May.) 

WESTWOOD, John Obadiah. 1840. Articulated 

animals...The second family of the trachean 

Arachnida, — The Pycnogonides. Pp. 467- 

Chapter 31 453

468, in: E. Blyth et al., eds., Cuvier’s Animal 

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WHALEN, Molly Ann. 1987. Systematics of 

Frankenia (Frankeniaceae) in North and 

South America. Systematic Botany 

Monographs, 17: 1-93. 

WHITE, Campbell P. 1830. On claim for expenses 

incurred on account of the South Sea 

Exploring Expedition. U.S. 21st Cong., 1st 

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29 May. Reprinted: American State Papers, 

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Benjamin Pendleton, brig ‘Seraph.’) 

WHITE, George W. 1977. Essays on History of 

Geology. New York: Arno Press. Articles 

paged separately. 

WILKES, Charles. 1838. Letter to Joel R. Poinsett, 

1 May. Poinsett Papers, Historical Society of 

Pennsylvania. 

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Exploring Expedition, including scientific 

corps, 10 Jul. National Archives, M75, RG 

45, 4: 0311. 

WILKES, Charles. 1838. Letter to James K. 

Paulding, 24 (26?) Jul. National Archives, 

M75, RG 45, 4: 0355-356. 

WILKES, Charles. 1838. Memorandum on 

Scientific Corps, about mid-August; with 

comments by J.R. Poinsett. National 

Archives, M75, RG 45, 5: 0013-14. 

WILKES, Charles. 1978. Autobiography of Rear 

Admiral Charles Wilkes, U.S. Navy, 1798-1877. 

Ed. by W.J. Morgan, D.B. Tyler, J.L. 

Leonhart, and M.F Loughlin. Washington: 

Natural History Division, U.S. Department 

of the Navy. xxii + 944 pp., illusts. 

WILLARD, Sylvester David. 1857. Historical 

address delivered before the Medical Society of 

the County of Albny, in the State of New York. 

November 11, 1856, being its semi-centennial 

anniversary meeting. Albany: Ptd. by C. Van 

Benthuysen. 28 pp., port. 

WILLARD, Sylvester David. 1864. Annals of the 

Medical Society of the County of Albany, 1806- 

1851, with Biographical Sketches of Deceased 

Members. Albany: Joel Munsell. iv + 368 pp., 

ports. 

WILLIAMS, Abraham Eights. 1849. Letter to 

Joseph Henry, 8 Jun 1849. Joseph Henry 

Collection, Smithsonian Institution 

Archives, Record Unit 7001, Box 9. (First 

cousin of JE.) 

WILLIAMS, Israel. 1840. Death announced, 26 

Mar; at age of 55. Albany Argus, 28 Apr. 

(Father of Abraham Eights Williams.) 

WINSOR, Mary P. 1991. Reading the Shape of 

Nature; Comparative Zoology at the Agassiz 

Museum. Chicago: University of Chicago 

Press. xviii + 324 pp., illusts. 

WOODRUFF, Dr. Hunloke et al. 1799. License of 

Jonathan Eights to Practice as a physician & 

surgeon — filed March 27, 1799. Letters 

signed by Dr. Hunloke Woodruff and John 

Lansing; the name of Dr. Wilhelmus 

Mancius invoked. In Albany County Hall of 

Records. (It appears that there may have 

been letters, signed by one or both doctors, 

as early as 1795; John Lansing, Jr., was 

Justice of the State Supreme Court.) 

WOODSON, R.E., Jr. 1930. The dogbane: roadside 

weed and future staple. Missouri 

Botanical Garden Bull., 18(5): 87-104, illusts. 

WORTH, Gorham A. 1849. Random Recollections 

of Albany from 1800 to 1808. By “Ignatius 

Jones.” Albany: C. Van Benthuysen. 57 pp. 

2nd ed., same, 1850, 90 pp.; 3d ed., with 

notes by the publisher, 1860 (Albany: Joel 

Munsell; vi + 17-144 pp., illusts. (3d ed. 

used Lossing’s engravings of JE’s views.) 

WRIGHT, Helen Saunders (Smith). 1918. The 

Seventh Continent. A History of the Discovery 

and Explorations of Antarctica. Boston: R.G. 

Badger. 387 pp., illusts. 

WYER, James Ingersoll. 1935 (etc.). Street, Alfred 

Billings. Dictionary of American Biography, 18: 

134-135 (later ed., vol. 9, pt. 2). 

WYNKOOP, family. See: J. Munsell, Annals of 

Albany, 6: 198; Jacobus Wynkoop, d. 4 May 

1795, aged 74 yrs; “Alida, wife of Mr. Jacob 

Wynkoop, who departed this life Oct 16, 

1794, aged 58 years and 5 days.” (From 

Reformed Protestant Dutch burial ground 

inscriptions; possibly parents of Alida 

Wynkoop, wife of Jonathan Eights?) 

YOUNG, Adam. 1821. Notice of the voyage of 

Edward Barnsfield [= Bransfield], master of 

His Majesty’s Ship Andromache, to New 

South Shetland. Edinburgh Philosophical 

Journal, 4: 345-348. 


YOUNG, William et al., eds. 1968. A Dictionary of 

American Artists, Sculptors and Engravers 

from the Beginning through the Turn of the 

Twentieth Century. Cambridge: William 

Young & Co. 515 pp. 

ZINSMEISTER, William J. 1988. Early geological 

exploration of Seymour Island, Antarctica. 

Geological Society of America, Memoir, 169: 1- 

16, illusts. 

ZODIAC, The, Albany. 1835-1837, vols. 1-2(7). 

Facs. reprint, ed. by Don Rittner, American 

Pine Barrens Publishing Co., 1980. My notes 

were taken from a microfilm of original. 

ZOMLEFER, Wendy B. 1994. Guide to Flowering 

Plant Families. Chapel Hill: University of 

North Carolina Press. xiv + 430 pp., illusts. 

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