30 BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



" General History of Quadrupeds," published in New York in 

 1804, with notes and additions, and some figures of American 

 animals, was the earliest American work of the kind. He was the 

 first in America to lecture upon geology, and published several 

 papers upon this science. His " Mineralogical Exploration of 

 the banks of the Hudson River" in 1796, under the " Society 

 for the Promotion of Agriculture, Manufactures, and Useful 

 Arts," founded by himself, was our earliest attempt at this 

 kind of research, and in 1794 he published an essay on the 

 "Nomenclature of the New Chemistry," the first American 

 paper on chemical philosophy, and engaged in a controversy 

 with Priestley, in defence of the nomenclature of Lavoisier, 

 which he was the first American to adopt. 



His discourse on " The Botanical History of North and South 

 America" was also a pioneer effort. He was an early leader 

 in ethnological inquiries and a vigorous writer on political topics. 

 His " Life of Tammany, the Indian Chief" (New York, 1795), 

 is a classic, and he was well known to our grandfathers as the 

 author of " An Address to the Fredes or People of the United 

 States," in which he proposed that " Fredonia" should be adopted 

 as the name of the nation. 



Dr. Mitchill was a poet,* and a humorist, and a member of the 

 literary circles of his day. In "The Croakers" Rodman Drake 

 thus addressed him as " The Surgeon General of New York :" 



" It matters not how high or low it is 

 Thou knowest each hill and vale of knowledge, 

 Fellow of forty-nine societies 

 And lecturer in Hosack's College." 



Fitz-Greene Halleck also paid his compliments in the following 

 terms : 



"Time was when Dr. Mitchill's word was law, 

 When Monkeys, Monsters, Whales and Esquimaux, 

 Asked but a letter from his ready hand, 

 To be the theme and wonder of the land." 



* Examples of his verses may be found in Duyckinck's Cyclopedia of 

 American Literature. 



