riw Ih\!^i/iiiii/i^s of Aiiicricaii Scioice. 43^ 



which was the first miiieralo.^ical cabinet ever seen on this side of the 

 Atlantic. This collection was exhibited for many years in New York 

 (and in 1821 was ii:iven to Princeton College). Howard soon after 

 obtained a select cabinet from Kiirope, and the miLseiim of the American 

 Philosophical Society acquired the Smith collection. In 1802 Mr. B. D. 

 Perkins, a New York bookseller, brought from London a fine collection, 

 which soon passed into the possession of Yale College, and in 1803 Doc- 

 tor Archibald Bruce brought over one equally fine, which was made the 

 basis of lectures when, in 1806, he became professor of mineralogy in 

 Columbia College. George Gibbs, in 1805, imported the magnificent 

 collection which was long in the custody of the American Geological 

 Society. Seybert about the same time brought to Philadelphia the 

 cabinet which, in 1813, was bought by the Academy of Natural Sciences 

 and was lectured upon by Troost in 18 14. 



Much of the early botanical exploration was, however, carried out by 

 European botanists: Andre Michaux [b. near Versailles, 1746; d. Mada- 

 gascar, 1802], a pupil of the Jtissieus and an experienced explorer, was 

 sent by his Government, in 1785, to collect u.seful trees and shrubs for 

 naturalization in France. He remained eleven years, made extensive 

 explorations in the regions then accessible and as far west as the Missis- 

 sippi, sent home immense numbers of living plants; and after his return, 

 in 1796, published his treatise on the American Oaks,' and prepared the 

 materials for his posthumous Flora Boreali-Americanas. 



Francois Andre Michaux [b. near Versailles, 1770; d. at Vaureal, 

 1855] was his father's assistant in these early travels, and in 1802 and 

 1806 himself made botanical explorations in the Mississippi Valley. His 

 botanical works were of great importance," especiall}^ that known in its 

 English translation as the North American Sylva, afterwards com- 

 pleted by Nuttall, and still the only work of the kind, though soon to be 

 supplemented, we hope, by Professor Sargent's projected monographs. 



Frederick Pursh [b. 1774, in Tobolsk, Siberia; d. June 11, 1820, in 

 Montreal, Canada] carried on botanical explorations between 1799 and 

 1 8 19, living from 1802 to 1805 in Philadelphia and from 1807 to 18 10 

 in New York. In 18 14 he pubhshed in London his Flora Americae 

 Septentrionalis. Pursh's Flora was largely based upon the labors of the 

 American botanists Barton, Hosack, Le Conte, Peck, Clayton, Walter, 

 and Lyon, and the botanical collection of Lewis and Clarke, and enu- 

 merated about 3,000 species of plants, while Michaux's, printed eleven 

 years before, had only about half that number. 



A. von Enslen collected plants at this time, in the vSoutli and West, 

 for the Imperial Cabinet in Vienna. C. C. Robin, who traveled from 

 1802 to 1806 in what are now the Gulf States, wrote a botanical appen- 



'Histoire des Chenes de I'Amerique Septentrionale, 1801; 36 plates. 

 2 Voyage a. I'ouest des Monts Alleglianys, etc., octavo, pp. 684. Paris, 1S08. His- 

 toire des Arbres Forestieres de rAiiieriqiie Septeutriouale. 



