A CENTURY OF ZOOLOGY IN AMERICA 395 



about the middle of the century zoology was taught in all 

 the larger colleges. The science thereby developed into 

 a profession. 



For some years the studies remained largely of a sys- 

 tematic nature, and embraced all groups of animals, but 

 long before the close of the century the attention of the 

 majority of the ever increasing group of zoologists was 

 directed into more promising channels for research and 

 there came the development of the sciences of compara- 

 tive anatomy, physiology, embryology, experimental 

 zoology, cytology, genetics, and the like, while the sys- 

 tematists became specialists in the various animal groups. 



But the work in systematic zoology remains incomplete 

 and many native species are still undescribed or imper- 

 fectly classified. It is perhaps fortunate that a few 

 faithful systematists remain at their tasks and tend to 

 keep the experimentalists from the disaster which might 

 otherwise result from the confusion of the species under 

 investigation. 



Period of Descriptive Natural History. Previous to 184:7 



Of the few American naturalists whose writings were 

 published toward the end of the eighteenth century and 

 at the beginning of the nineteenth the names of William 

 Bartram (1739-1823), Benjamin Barton (1766-1815), 

 Samuel Mitchill (1764-1831), William Peck (1763-1822), 

 and Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), require special men- 

 tion. Bartram 's entertaining volume describing his 

 travels through the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida, pub- 

 lished in 1793, contains a most interesting account of the 

 birds and other animals which he found. 



Barton wrote many charming essays on the natural 

 history of animals, but was more particularly interested 

 in botany. MitchilPs most important works include a 

 history of the fishes of New York (1814), and additions to 

 an edition of Bewick's General History of Quadrupeds. 

 The latter, published in 1804, contains descriptions and 

 figures of some American species and is the first Ameri- 

 can work on mammals. 



Peck has the distinction of writing the first paper on 

 systematic zoology published in America. This was^a 

 description of new species of fishes and was printed in 



