SAFFORD, James Merrill, geologist, born in Putnam (now Zanesville), Ohio, 13 August, 1822. He was graduated at Ohio university in 1844, and spent a year at Yale, where in 1866 the honorary degree of Ph.D. was conferred on him. From 1848 till 1872 he was professor of natural sciences in Cumberland university, Lebanon, Tennessee, and he then accepted the chair of chemistry in the medical department of the University of Nashville, which since 1874 has also been the medical department of Vanderbilt university. These appointments, together with the chair of natural history and geology in Vanderbilt university, which he accepted in 1875, he still (1888) holds. In 1854 he was appointed state geologist of Tennessee, and made a preliminary survey of the state. This place he held until 1860, and he was again made state geologist in 1871 and has since continued in that office. He has also been a member of the Tennessee state board of health since its organization in 1866, and for some time its vice-president. Professor Saf-ford was one of the judges at the World's fair held in Philadelphia in 1876, and his reports made at that time have since been published. The degree of M. D. was conferred upon him by the medical department of the University of Nashville in 1872. Professor Safford is a member of scien-title societies, to whose transactions he has contributed various papers on geology" and he has published "A Geological Reconnoissance of the State of Tennessee" (Nashville, 1856); '"Second Biennial Report" (1857)" and "Geology of Tennessee," with a geological map of the state (1869). He assisted in the preparation of "Introduction to the Resources of Tennessee" (1874), and as special agent of the census of 1880 he made a "Report on the Cotton Production of the State of Tennessee" (Washington, 1884).