466 TRAXS. ST. LOUIS ACAD. SCIENCE. 



He was one of the few regular attendants at the meetings of the 

 Western Academy of Science, and efficiently aided his friend, 

 Dr. Engelmann, in all his eflbrts in behalf of the new institution. 

 Among the projects in which they were interested, and which 

 failed like others of their premature undertakings, was the esta- 

 blishment of a Botanic Garden. The minutes of the Western 

 Academy bear witness to the difficulties encoinitered 



Dr. Wislizenus soon g-ained a lucrative practice, and was loved 

 and respected as a physician. But, no sooner did a good oppor- 

 tunity present itself, than he was again in the saddle. Well 

 equipped with instruments for observation and facilities for col- 

 lecting, he joined a trading expedition to Mexico, which was 

 thoroughly organized and afforded him all the advantages he had 

 so sorely missed on his first trip. In Santa Fe the travellers first 

 heard of the war which had broken out between Mexico and the 

 United States ; but Wislizenus managed to secure passes and 

 pushed on to Chihuahua, where he (with other Americans) was 

 seized and imprisoned. Wislizenus was sent to a distant moun- 

 tain village, where he remained a prisoner during the winter, 

 with ample leisure to studv the surrounding country and arrange 

 his notes and collections. The prisoners were finally liberated 

 by the arrival of Col. Doniphan's troops in Chihuahua, in the 

 spring of 1847? '^^^^ ^^^^ doctor remained with them in a profes- 

 sional capacity until they were disbanded at New Orleans in the 

 summer of 18471 when he returned to St. Louis. 



It was due to the efforts of Senator Thomas H. Benton, who 

 had become acquainted with the enthusiastic }oung student, that 

 Wislizenus was summoned to Washington and requested, by 

 vote of Congress, to publish the results of his investigations. The 

 "Memoir of a Tour to Northern Mexico in 1846 and 1S47, by 

 A. Wislizenus, M.D., Washington, i8^S," corrected many erro- 

 neous views of the Western country, afforded a fairly accurate 

 knowledge of an entirely new territory along the Rio Grande, 

 and was deemed of such importance that the Senate ordered 

 5,000 copies for distribution. In this memoir we find the first 

 notes of the country between Santa Fe and the mouth of the Rio 

 Grande, an excellent map of the entire route, as well as a geo- 

 logical sketch and a profile chart of altitudes. The meteorologi- 



