46 BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTOIST. 



to occur to any thoughtful American, and was, after all, simply 

 the continuing of a plan as old as the Spanish days of discovery. 

 Jefferson, at all events, was an active promoter of all such enter- 

 prises, and after a quarter of a century's effort the expedition was 

 dispatched, while in 1805 Gen. Z. M. Pike was sent to explore 

 ' the sou'-ces of the Mississippi river and the western parts of 

 " Louisiana," penetrating as far west as " Pike's Peak," a name 

 which still remains as a memento of this enterprise. 



The organization of these early expeditions marked the begin- 

 ning of one of the most important portions of the scientific work 

 of our government — the investigation of the resources and 

 natural history of the public domain. The expeditions of Lewis 

 and Clarke, and of Pike, were the precursors and prototyjDes of 

 the magnificent organization now accomplishing so much for 

 science under the charge of Major J. W. Powell. 



As early as 1806, Jefferson, inspired by Patterson and Hassler, 

 urged the establishment of a national Coast Sui"vey, and in this 

 was earnestly supported by his Secretary of the Treasury, Albert 

 Gallatin, who drew up a learned and elaborate project for its 

 organization, and an act authorizing its establishment was passed 

 in 1807. During his administration, in 1802, the first scientific 

 school in this country was established, the Military Academy at 

 West Point. The Militar}^ Academy .was a favorite project of 

 General Washington, who is said to have justified his anxiety for 

 its establishment by the remark that " an army of asses led by a 

 lion is vastly superior to an army of lions led by an ass." 



Jefferson has been heartily abused for not gratifying Alexander 

 Wilson's request to be appointed naturalist to Pike's expeditions. 

 It is possible that even in those days administrators were ham- 

 pered by lack of financial resources. It must also be remem- 

 bered that in 1S04 Wilson was simply an enthusiastic projector 

 of ornithological undertakings, and had done nothing whatever 

 to establish his reputation as an investigator. 



