114 Memorial of George Brown Goodc. 



Of all the expeditions sent out by the Government, none previous to 

 the Wilkes exploring expedition, sent out in 1838, was instructed to 

 bring back collections of natural history. 



In the earliest days of our Republic the cabinet of the American Philo- 

 sophical Society of Philadelphia was doubtless the official museum, and 

 this was enriched by the efforts of the only naturalist President, Thomas 

 Jefferson. 



The first exploring expedition, that of Lewis and Clarke in 1803, was 

 sent out by Jefferson, who twenty-three years before, in 1780, began to 

 agitate the question of exploring the unknown West, and who at that 

 time offered to raise 1,000 guineas for the purpose from private sources, 

 lycwis and Clarke returned in 1806, bringing with them some valuable 

 scientific material, zoological and ethnological. Some of the animals 

 appear to have found their way to Peale's Philadelphia Museum, God- 

 man in his American Natural History mentions a sable which had been 

 obtained from this source and was to be seen there in 1823. I have 

 been told that within a few ^'■ears Indian garments and weapons brought 

 back by this party were to be seen in St. Louis. Pike's expedition, in 

 1805, the second of the exploring enterprises, yielded little in the way of 

 scientific material. Whatever there was went undoubtedly to the Phila- 

 delphia Museum, and in 1808 there were still on exhibition at that place 

 two grizzly bears, which as cubs had been brought by Major Pike from 

 the region of the Rio del Norte and presented by him to President Jeffer- 

 son, who gave them to Mr. Peale for his museum. Other specimens 

 appear to have found shelter in the University of Virginia, where two 

 sets of antlers brought back by Captain Lewis are still preserved. 



In 1820 a third expedition was sent by the General Government to 

 explore the Northwestern Territory, especially the region around the 

 Great Lakes and the sources of the Mississippi. This was under charge 

 of General Lewis Cass, at that time governor of Michigan Territory. 

 Henry R. Schoolcraft accompanied this expedition as mineralogist, and 

 Captain D. B. Douglass, United States Army, as topographical engineer, 

 and both of these sent home considerable collections reported upon by 

 the specialists of the day, most of whom were at that time concentrated 

 in Philadelphia. 



The fourth and fifth expeditions were those under Major Long, in the 

 far West; the first, or Rocky Mountain, exploration in 1819-20; the 

 second, to the sources of the St. Peter's in 1823. In the first expedition 

 Major Long was accompanied by Edwin James as botanist and geologist, 

 who also wrote the narrative published in 1823. The second expedition 

 was accompanied by William H. Keating, professor of mineralogy and 

 chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania, who was its geologist and 

 historiographer. Say was the zoologist of both explorations, and the 

 results of his labors went to the Philadelphia Museum, 



