SHOUT ON WKSTEKN BOTANY. 105 



It Is much to be regretted, however, for the cause of Nat- 

 ural Science, that the wisdom of President Jefferson had not 

 perceived the necessity of attaching to this expedition some 

 thoroughly competent naturalist; for whatever may have been 

 the tact and discernment in observation, possessed bv Capt. 

 Lewis, he was not prepared by previous education for making 

 thoseaccurateand minuteobservations, collections, and reports, 

 on the Botany, Mineralogy, and Zoology of those unknown 

 regions, which would have proved most interesting and useful 

 to his own country, and to the world at large. For makinf 

 these, facilities and opportunities were enjoyed by this ex- 

 pedition which have not been possessed by any subsequent 

 party. Nor were they entirely unimproved by our travellers ; 

 for a large collection of plants was made during their slow 

 and tedious ascent of the Missouri, which, however, was most 

 unfortunately lost by being deposited among other things at 

 the foot of the Rocky mountains. A much smaller, but still 

 highly interesting collection, made during tl)e rapid return of 

 the expedition, was placed in the hands of Pursh, a distin- 

 guished botanist, of whom we shall presently speak, for the 

 purpose of figuring and describing such as might be new. Of 

 this parcel, Pursh thus speaks: — " The loss of the first collec- 

 tion is the more to be regretted when I consider that the small 

 collection communicated to me, consisting of about one hun- 

 dred and fifty specimens, contained not above a dozen plants 

 Well known to be natives of North America; the rest being 

 either entirely new or but little known, and among them at 

 least six distinct and new genera. This may give an idea of 

 the discerning eye of their collector, who had but little prac- 

 tical knowledge of the Flora of North America, as also of the 

 richness of those extensive regions in new and interesting 

 plants and other natural productions." What then might not 

 have been the acquisitions made to the Flora of Western 

 America, had this expedition been provided with competent 

 naturalists ! 



At the same time that Capts, Lewis and Clarke were per- 

 forming their arduous and important services in exploring the 



Vol. IlL_No. 18, V 



