EDWARD PALMER 343 



While in Cleveland Edward Palmer made his home with Hon. John 

 W. Taylor, formerly speaker of the House of Representatives, a man 

 of national reputation, who after a long and active life had become a 

 helpless paralytic and was living in that city with a married daughter. 

 Mr. Taylor was visited by many eminent men, and young Palmer was 

 present at many interesting discussions of current events. 



At that time there was much talk of opening Paraguay, the hermit 

 nation of South America, to the outside world. It had not been long 

 since Commodore Perry had knocked at the door of Japan and gained 

 entrance; and the scientific results of the United States Exploring 

 Expedition, which appeared in print from time to time, were frequent 

 topics of conversation. When the United States government decided 

 to send an expedition to Paraguay, young Palmer applied for a position 

 as collector of natural history specimens. A small vessel, the Water 

 Witch, commanded by Thomas Jefferson Page, was fitted out for the 

 purpose, and Edward Palmer's name was entered upon its rolls. 



His duties at sea were to assist the ship's surgeon in caring for the 

 sick and administering medicines. He was placed in charge of the 

 ship's dispensary and was assigned to various stations at drills and 

 quarters. On arriving in South America he was to collect and prepare 

 specimens of birds, reptiles, mammals and plants, as well as objects of 

 ethnological interest. 



The Water Witch left the United States in February, 1853, reached 

 the mouth of the Rio de la Plata without accident, and after a short 

 stay at Buenos Ayres proceeded to Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay. 

 She then steamed up the river beyond into the territory of Brazil, where 

 much interesting information and material were collected. A history 

 of this memorable expedition and of the war with Paraguay which 

 resulted may be found in Captain Page's work on La Plata.^ Dr. 

 Palmer's personal notes contain much of vivid interest, and I regret 

 that there is not space in the present paper to give them in detail. It 

 is sufficient to say that he was called upon not only to superintend the 

 delivery of ammunition from the magazine of the vessel, but also to 

 dress gunshot wounds and to attend to the burial of the dead. 



No account of the scientific results of the expedition was published. 

 There was no one at the time to identify and describe the plants col- 

 lected, which for a time were lost; and we come upon them now and 

 then in the collections of the national herbarium, many of them still 

 unnamed. 



One of the most interesting episodes of the Water Witch Expedition 

 was the meeting of an officer sent from the ship on a reconnaissance 

 with Bonpland, the companion of Humboldt on his travels in America. 



* Page, Thomas JeflFerson, " La Plata, the Argentine Confederation and 

 Paraguay," New York. 1859. 



