The Bco^inniiigs of Aiiicn'caii Science. 431 



which was the first inineralogical cabinet ever seen on this side of the 

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

 (and in 1S21 was j^iven to Princeton College). Howard soon after 

 obtained a select cabinet from Europe, and the museum of the American 

 Philo.sophical vSociety acquired the Smith collection. In 1.802 Mr. B. D. 

 Perkins, a New York bookseller, brought from L,ondon a fine collection, 

 which ."^oon 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 1S06, he became profes.sor of mineralogy in 

 Columl)ia 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 18 13, was bought b>- the Academy of Natiu'al vSciences 

 and was lectured upon by Troost in 1814. 



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

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

 ga.scar, 1802], a pupil of the Jussieus and an experienced explorer, was 

 sent by his Government, in 1785, to collect useful 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 Mi.ssis- 

 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. 



Fran9ois Andre Michaux [b. near Versailles, 1770; d. at \'aureal, 

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

 1806 himself made botanical explorations in the Mis.si.s.sippi \\alley. His 

 botanical works were of great importance," especially 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 Profes.sor Sargent's projected monographs. 



Frederick Pursh [b. 1774, in Tobolsk, vSiberia; 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 1814 he published in London his Flora Americte 

 Septentrionalis. Pursh's Flora was largely l)ased upon the lal)ors of the 

 American botanists Barton, Hosack, Ee Conte, Peck, Cla\ton, Walter, 

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

 merated about 3,000 .species of ])lants, while Michaux's, printed eleven 

 years l^efore, had onl)- about half that number. 



A. von Enslen collected plants at this time, in the South and We.st, 

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

 1802 to 1806 in what are ncnv the Ciulf States, wrote a botanical appen- 



'Histoire des Chenes de I'Amerique Septentrioi.ale, 1801; 36 plaLej. 

 = Voyage a I'ouest de.s Monts Alleghany.s, etc., octavo, pp. 684. Paris, 1808. Hi.s- 

 toire des Arbres Forestieres de TAinerique Septentrioiiale, 



