HILGARU
HILGAKD
if^^<^^ayt^
chemistry in the National Medical college in
Washington, 1857-8 ; state geologist of Missis-
sippi, 18jS-66 ; professor of chemistry in the
University of Mississippi, and state geologist,
1866-73 ; professor of mineralogy, geology, zoo-
logy and botany in
the University of
Michigan, 1873-75 ;
and professor of ag-
ricultural chemistry
in the University of
California, and direc-
tor of the state agri-
cultural experiment
station after 1875.
He conducted the ag-
ricultural division of
the northern trans-
continental survey,
1881-83, and made a
specialty of the study
of soils of the south-
western states, and of the Pacific slope, in
their relation to geology, to their chemical
and pliysical composition, to their native flora
and to their agricultural qualities. He vi-as
elected a member of the National Academy of
Sciences in 1873, a fellow of the American Asso-
ciation for the Advancement of Science in 1874,
and a member of many other scientific societies.
He received the degree of LL.D. from the Uni-
versity of Mississippi in 1882, from the University
of Michigan in 1886, and from Columbia in 1887.
He publislied : Report on the Agriculture and
Geology of Missisftipjn (1860) ; On the Geologij of
Louisiana and the Rock-Salt Deposits of Petite
Anse Island (1869) : Reports on the Experimental
Work of the College of Agriculture, University of
California (1877-98) ; Report on the Arid Re-
gions of the Pacific Coast (1887) ; and mono-
graphs on Mississippi, Louisiana, and California
in the Report on Cotton Production of the U.S.
census of 1880, which lie edited. He prepared
for the U.S. weather bureau in 1893 a discu.ssion
of the Relations of Climate to Soils, which was
translated into several European languages and
gained for the author from the Royal Bavarian
Academy of Sciences the " Liebeg medal for im-
portant advances in agricultural science," in
1894. He is also the anthf)r of numerous papers
on chemical, geological and agricultural subjects
publislied in government reports, and inscientific
jom-iials bfttli in tlio Uniterl States and in Europe.
HILQARD, Julius Erasmus, scientist, was
born at Zweibnuken, Rlienish Bavaria, Jan. 7,
1825 ; son of Theodore Erasmus and Margaretta
(Pauli) Hilgard. His father (b. 1787, d. 1873),
jurist, publicist and poet, emigrated in 1835, and
settled on a farm near Belleville, 111., where he
produced the first grape wine made in the state.
Julius was educated by his father, and by self-
study became proficient in mathematics and en-
gineering. After a short sojourn in Philadel-
phia, engaged in professional work (1843-44), dur-
ing which he es-
tablished important
scientific and social
connections, he was
appointed in 1844, by
Prof. Alexander Dal-
las Bache, then su-
perintendent of the
U.S. coast survey, to
a subordinate position
in that work. He
rapidly rose to the
l)osition of assistant
in charge of import-
ant field work on the
southern Atlantic and ^^'^' /•^■Cj^'^^ ^ — Gulf coasts ; then in
1855, took charge of the publications, and sub- sequently of the chief office of the survey at AVashington. During the civil war he was in full charge of the entire work, performing the duties of superintendent at that critical period, owing to the disability of Professor Bache. From political causes he was twice passed over in the subsequent appointment of superintendents, but received that aiipointment in 1881, at a time when his health had already been impaired by prolonged overwork. This, togetlier with re- cuiTing political antagonisms, led first to his temporary suspension from office, followed by his resignation in July, 1885. It is worthy of note that several noted men of science, among them Alexander Agassiz, declined to serve as his successor on account of the injustice done to Hilgard as a man of high scientific standing. He was a delegate to the Intei-national metric commission at Paris, 1872, and a member of the executive committee of the International Bu- reau of Weights and Measures, of which bureau, with headquarters at Paris, he declined to be- come director upon its oi'ganization. He ex- ecuted a telegraphic determination of the longi- tude between Paris and Greenwich on the one hand, and Harvard and AVasliington on the other, which corrected the value by nearly half a second of time. He directe<l the magnetic survey of the United States under direction of the National Academy of Sciences at the expense of the Bache fund, partly in conjunction with his brother. Dr. Theodore Charles Hilgard. He was a charter member of the National Academy of Sciences, and for many years its home secretary. He was president of the American Association for the Ad- vancement of Science, 1874, of which he had been
