George Perkins Merrill

Auburn’s renowned geologist

by James Nalley

In the 1860s, it became necessary for a young Auburn-born man to do his part towards supporting the family, as one of seven children of Nathaniel Merrill, a local carpenter. In this regard, he performed chores for the neighbors, worked as a farmhand, and even found employment in shoe factories. As he stated, his early education was “necessarily scrappy.” However, with determination, he worked his way to earn multiple degrees at the University of Maine and by chance, became the Head Curator of the Department of Geology at the Smithsonian’s U.S. National Museum (now the Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.). He was also one of the country’s earliest petrographers (i.e., one who focuses on detailed descriptions of rocks, including their mineral contents and textural relationships).

George Perkins Merrill was born in Auburn on May 31, 1854. At the age of 22, Merrill had finally earned enough to enter the Maine State College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts (currently, the University of Maine), where he supported himself, majored in chemistry, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1879. He eventually received his master’s and doctorate from the same institution in 1883 and 1889, respectively.

After earning his undergraduate de- gree, Merrill became a laboratory assistant (working on the chemistry of foods) at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. There, he met G. Brown Goode, former curator of Wesleyan’s museum collections and the then current head of the U.S. National Museum. Goode subsequently appointed Merrill to the staff of the survey of fisheries for the 10th Census in 1880 and then as the aid to George Hawes in 1881. Hawes had just become curator of the geological collections at the museum.

Meeting these two men apparently changed the entire direction of Merrill’s career and influenced him to study mineralogy and geology. For example, according to the Merrill’s biographical memoir by Waldemar Lindgren (1935), “Under Hawes, he began petrographic studies and learned the preparation of thin sections of rocks. As one of the earliest petrographers in the United States, he later worked with George Williams at Johns Hopkins University.” In a sudden turn of events, Hawes died in 1882, after which Merrill was put in charge of petrology and physical geology. In 1897, he became the Head Curator of the Department of Geology at the U.S. National Museum, a position that he held until his death.

Interestingly, as stated by Lindgren, “Although Merrill was not primarily a field geologist, his experience was quite extensive.” For instance, in 1887 and 1888, he assisted in the mapping of the “Three Forks Folio” in Montana. He also attended the Geological Congress of 1897 in St. Petersburg (Russia), visited the Ural Mountains, and examined the collections of numerous museums in Europe. Moreover, in 1905, he traveled throughout Baja California to investigate onyx deposits and the United States to study meteorites.

Overall, Merrill made major scientific contributions in five distinct areas.

First, as a museum administrator, he built up the Department of Geology and made it one of the greatest (and best-organized) geological collections in the world. Second, introduced by Hawes to the then new technique of microscopic study of thin sections of rocks, he applied the same procedure to the large collection of stones in the 10th Census. According to Lindgren, “This not only led to the publication of his most widely read book Stones for Building and Decoration (1891), but it also established such a reputation for him that he was influential in the selection of stones for many governmental buildings, most notably the Lincoln Memorial. Third, these studies shifted Merrill’s attention to the processes of rock weathering (i.e., the breaking down or dissolving of rocks and minerals on the Earth’s surface). In this regard, his Treatise on Rocks, Rock Weathering, and Soils (1897) was hailed by both European (cont. on page 38)

(cont. from page 37) and American geologists, which “led to his recognition in the agricultural field as the outstanding authority of his time.” Fourth, Merrill was one of the first to recognize meteorites as “world matter” and correctly identified and supported Daniel Barringer’s discovery of Meteor Crater, Arizona, as an impact crater. In this case, Merrill analyzed two new varieties of sandstone at the site, and proved that the force that created the crater could not have come from below. Finally, his three works on the history of geological science (1906, 1920, and 1924) are indispensable to the field.

On August 15, 1929, Merrill, died from a heart attack in Auburn. He was 75 years of age. He was subsequently buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Auburn. Always the scientist, his grave marker includes the following inscription: “The search for truth is the noblest occupation of man. Its publication a duty.”

by Charles Francis

Twenty-mile Falls on the Androscoggin offers one of the most spectacular sights in Maine each Spring as water from snowmelt roars over its massive ledges. In late March and early April, sightseers come to North Bridge and West Pitch to take in the spectacle of the rapids at what the Indians called Amitigonpontook.

Since the days when Native Americans camped here to fish for salmon, the falls have played a prominent role in the history and development of the Androscoggin Valley. Legend has it that a war party from the Indian village above the falls intent on attacking the settlers at Brunswick were lured to their doom by the lights of woodsmen