Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Adams, Charles Baker

ADAMS, Charles Baker, geologist, b. in Dorchester, Mass., 11 Jan., 1814; d. in St. Thomas, W. I., 19 Jan., 1853. He was graduated at Amherst college in 1834, and studied for two years at Andover theological seminary. Later he was associated with Prof. Edward Hitchcock in a geological survey of New York. In 1837 he became tutor in Amherst college, and in 1838 was made professor of chemistry and natural history in Middlebury college, Vt. From 1845 to 1848 he was state geologist of Vermont, and published annual reports of his work. In 1847 he was chosen professor of astronomy and zoology in Amherst college. Between 1844 and 1851 he made journeys to Panama and the West Indies for scientific purposes. He was the author of eleven numbers of “Contributions to Conchology,” monographs of “Stoastoma” and “Vitrinella,” “Catalogue of Shells Collected in Panama” (New York, 1852), and, with Alonzo Gray, “Elements of Geology” (1852).