Ixviii THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



Let us now review in a brief manner the work done by our countrymen. Ameri- 

 can zoological science dates only from 1796, when Barton iiublished his memoir On the 

 Fascination attributed to the Rattlesnake, while his Facts, Observations, and Conjectures 

 on the Generation of the Opossum appeared in 1801. These were simply memoirs, 

 but still talented productions and not unworthy to begin the century. Previous to 

 this, John Bartram published a few zoological tracts in the Philosophical Ti-ausactions 

 of the Royal Society of London, the first appearing in 1744. 



American systematic zoology may be said to date from the years 1808-14, when 

 the successive volumes of Wilson's Ornithology were published, though it should be 

 remembered that Wilson was born and bred in Scotland. Thus, with the exception 

 of Bartram's and Barton's works, what we have to say of American zoology (includ- 

 ing animal pliysiology, psychology, and embryology) covers only about three quar- 

 ters of a century. The next work was by Prince Bonaparte, on birds, a volume 

 supplementary to Wilson's great work, and published in this country in 18'2.5-33. 



The first general work by a native-born American was Dr. Richard Harlan's Fauna 

 Americana, published in 1825. This was succeeded by Dr. John D. Godman's work 

 on North American mammals, published in three volumes in 1826-28. Bartram, 

 Barton, and Harlan were born in Philadelphia and taught anatomy there. Godman 

 was born in Annapolis, and lectured on anatomy in three medical colleges, but not in 

 Philadelphia. Thomas Say's American Entomology (1824-28) was of a more special 

 character. On the whole, Amei-ican zoology took its rise and was fostered chiefly in 

 Philadelphia by the professors in the medical schools ; and zoology the world over 

 may be said to have sprung from the study of human anatomy as taught at the ana- 

 tomical centres of Italy, France, England and Germany. 



The last half-century of progress in zoology in America may be divided into three 

 epochs comparable to those enumerated on a preceding page: — 



(1.) The epoch of systematic zoology, during which a few physiological essays ap- 

 peared. To this division of zoology a most decided impulse was given by the 

 Smithsonian Institution, which went into active operation in 1847, while the study of 

 the fossil forms (paleontology) was greatly accelerated by the iniiuence of national 

 and especially state surveys. 



(2.) Tlie epoch of morphological and embryological zoology. This period is due 

 to the arrival of Louis Agassiz in this country, in 1846, resulting in his lectures on 

 comparative embryology and the foundation of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 

 where American students, who were attracted by the fame of Agassiz, were instruct- 

 ed in the methods of Cuvier, Von Baer, Dollinger, and Agassiz himself, and zoology 

 was studied from the side of histology and embryology, while paleontology was 

 wedded to the study of living animals. 



(.3.) The epoch of evolution, or the study of the genetic relationshiii oi animals, 

 based on their mutual relations and their physical environment. This period dates 

 from the publication of Darwin's Origin of Species, in 1859. 



Turning, now, to the first epoch, — that in which American systematic zoology 

 took its rise, — we find that work was done which must necessarily precede more 

 important studies on the embryology, geographical distribution, mutual relations, and 

 psychology of animals ; thus exerting a marked influence on the classification of animals, 

 which nowadays is equivalent to tracing their genetic rel.ationships ; for the time is 

 past when the animal world should be regarded as comprised within separate sub- 

 kingdoms, between which there is no morjDhological or genetic connection. 



