400 A CENTURY OF SCIENCE 



their colored illustrations in 1859. The first economic 

 treatise is that by Harris on Insects Injurious to Vege- 

 tation; printed in 1841. This has had many editions. 



Zoology in the American Journal of Science, 

 1818-1846. 



The establishment of the Journal gave a further impe- 

 tus to the scientific activities of Americans in furnishing 

 a convenient means for publishing the results of their 

 work. In the first volume of the Journal, for example, 

 are two zoological articles by Say and a dozen short 

 articles on various topics by Rafinesque, the latter being 

 curious combinations of facts and fancy. Most of the 

 zoological papers appearing in its first series of 50 vol- 

 umes are characteristic of an undeveloped science in an 

 undeveloped country. They deal, naturally, with obser- 

 vational studies on the structure and classification of 

 species discovered in a virgin field, with notes on habits 

 and life histories. 



Many of the papers are purely systematic and include 

 the first descriptions of numerous species of our mol- 

 lusks, Crustacea, insects, vertebrates and other groups. 

 Of these, the writings of C. B. Adams, Barnes, A. A. 

 Gould and Totten on mollusks, of J. D. Dana on corals 

 and Crustacea, of Harris on insects, of Harlan on reptiles, 

 and of Jeffries Wyman and D. Humphreys Storer on 

 fishes are representative and important. 



The progress of zoology in America during the first 

 twenty-eight years of the Journal's existence, that is, up 

 to the year 1846, is thus summarized by Professor Silli- 

 man in the preface to vol. 50 (page ix), 1847 : 



"Our zoology has "been more fully investigated than our 

 mineralogy and botany; but neither department is in danger 

 of being exhausted. The interesting travels of Lewis and Clark 

 have recently brought to our knowledge several plants and 

 animals before unknown. Foreign naturalists are frequently 

 visiting our territory ; and, for the most part, convey to Europe 

 the fruits of their researches, while but a small part of our 

 own is examined and described by Americans: certainly this 

 is little to our credit and still less to our advantage. Honorable 

 exceptions to the truth of this remark are furnished by the 



