Before the war there were private and “old field” public elementary schools, and also private, individual- and church-supported high-schools called academies, seminaries, or institutes. Some even used the word college. Geology and mineralogy were taught in some of the academies, depending upon the availability of teachers; most had the typical classical education of the day.

There were four colleges: Franklin [the University of Georgia], Mercer [Baptist], Oglethorpe [Presbyterian], and Emory [Methodist]. All had geology in the curriculum, either as a distinct one-semester course [combining the present-day physical and historical geology] or as part of a course in natural history. None was a center of great scientific strength, although both Franklin and Oglethorpe had the services of Joseph LeConte for a short while.

Brief biographies of John R. Cotting, James Jackson, Joseph Jones, William L. Jones, Joseph LeConte, Alexander Means, Josiah Meigs, George W. W. Stone, Joseph Willett, and James Woodward are included.

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