This  work  now  remains  the  authority  on  the  subject  of  which  it  treats,  and  was  one
of  the  most  valuable  reports  ever  made  to  Congress.  At  the  meeting  of  the  Amer-
ican Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  which  met  in  Cincinnati  in  1851,
Agassiz  rose  at  the  close  of  the  communication,  and  declared  it  to  be  one  of  the
grandest  generalizations  ever  made  in  American  geology.  In  1854  Mr.  Foster  was
prominent  in  Massachusetts  politics.  To  him  more  than  to  any  one  man  did  Governor
Gardner  owe  his  election.  He  was  elected  by  the  Legislature  one  of  the  Governor's
Executive  Council,  and  was  recognized  as  the  power  behind  the  throne.  Had  his
tastes  inclined  toward  a  political  life,  he  would  have  attained  high  public  position,
but  he  forsook  politics  for  more  congenial  pursuits,  and  gave  himself  unreservedly
to  science  and  literature.  In  1858  he  made  Chicago  his  home,  where  for  a  ti.-ne  he
was  Commissioner  of  the  Land  Department  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  and
held  a  similar  position  on  the  Chicago  &  Alton,  but  the  pursuit  of  knowledge  was
the  ambition  of  his  life,  and  he  soon  gave  up  all  else  and  once  more  turned  his
undivided  attention  to  science,  where  his  heart  had  always  led  him.
He  served  as  professor  of  Natural  History  in  the  University  of  Chicago,  which
honored  itself  by  honoring  him  with  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws.
