8o The Founders of Geology LECT. 



explorers were of the most exhaustive kind. Accurate 

 observations were to be made in the geography and 

 meteorology of each region visited, the positions of the 

 principal places were to be astronomically determined, the 

 nature of the soils, the character of the waters, and the 

 best means of reclaiming the waste places were to be 

 accurately observed. The travellers were to inquire into 

 the rocks and minerals, and to attend to the outer forms 

 and internal composition of the mountains. They were 

 further to carry on careful researches among the plants and 

 animals of each territory, and, in short, to obtain as much 

 accurate information as possible in every department of 

 natural history. Nor were the social problems of life for- 

 gotten. The expedition was further instructed to pay 

 special attention to the various races of mankind met with 

 in the journeys, and to report on their manners, customs, 

 religions, forms of worship, languages, traditions, monu- 

 ments and antiquities. They were likewise enjoined to 

 take note of the condition of agriculture, of the maladies 

 that affected man and beast, and the best remedies for 

 them, of the cultivation of bees and silk-worms, the breed- 

 ing of cattle and sheep, and generally of the occupations, 

 arts, and industries of each province. 



A survey of this complete nature, carried over so vast a 

 region as the Eussian Empire, demanded much skill, labour 

 and time. It was fortunately entrusted to a man in every 

 way qualified for the task Pierre Simon Pallas (1 741-1811). 

 The whole expedition comprised seven astronomers and 

 geometers, five naturalists and several assistants. Start- 

 ing from St. Petersburg in June 1768, they traversed the 

 vast empire to its remotest bounds, making many journeys 



