398 



A CENTURY OF SCIENCE 



ably be in possession of a system, very nearly complete, 

 in a few years." How different is the attitude of the 

 zoologist of to-day who sees the goal much further away 

 after a century's progress through the industry of hun- 

 dreds of investigators. 



During the period of Say's most active work he is 

 reported to have " slept in the hall of the Philadelphia 

 Academy of Natural Sciences, where he made his bed 

 beneath the skeleton of a horse and fed himself on bread 

 and milk." 



Next to Say, the most active zoologist of the early part 

 of the century was Charles Alexander Lesueur, who 

 described and beautifully illustrated many new species of 

 fishes, reptiles, and marine invertebrates. A memoir by 

 George Ord, published in this Journal (8, 189, 1849), 

 gives a full list of Lesueur 's papers. 



One of the most prolific writers of the period was Con- 

 stantine Rafinesque, a man of great brilliancy but one 

 whose imagination so often dominated his observations 

 that many of his descriptions of plants and animals are 

 wholly unreliable. 



United States Exploring Expedition. In 1838 a fortu- 

 nate circumstance occurred which eventually brought 

 American systematic zoology into the front ranks of the 

 science. This opportunity was offered by the United 

 States Exploring Expedition under the command of 

 Admiral Wilkes. With James D. Dana as naturalist, the 

 expedition visited Madeira, Cape Verde Islands, eastern 

 and western coasts of South America, Polynesia, Samoa, 

 Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaiian Islands, west 

 coast of United States, Philippines, Singapore, Cape of 

 Good Hope, etc. 



Of the extensive collections made on this four-years' 

 cruise, Dana had devoted particular attention to the 

 study of the corals and allied animals (Zoophytes) and to 

 the Crustacea. In 1846 the report on the Zoophytes was 

 published in elegant folio form with colored plates. 

 Six years later the first volume of the report on Crus- 

 tacea appeared, with a second volume after two 

 additional years (1854). These reports describe and 

 beautifully illustrate hundreds of new species^ and 

 include the first comprehensive studies of the animals 



