PBESIDENTIA.L ADDRESS. 45 



In 1801 Jefferson began his eight years of presidency. Since he 

 was the only man of science who has ever occupied the chief magis- 

 tracy, he has a right to a high place in the esteem of such a society 

 as ours, and I only regret that, having spoken of him at length 

 a year ago, I cannot now discuss his scientific career in all its 

 aspects. 



I then spoke of the credit which was due to him for beginning 

 so early as 1 780 to agitate the idea of a government exploring 

 expedition to the Pacific, which culminated in the sending out 

 by Congress of the expedition of Lewis and Clarke, in 1803. 

 Captain Lewis [b. 1774, d. 1809], the leader of this expedition, 

 was a young Virginian, the neighbor, and for some years the 

 private secretary, of President Jefferson. He set out in the sum- 

 mer of 1803, accompanied by his associate, Captain Clarke, and 

 twenty-eight men. They entered the Missouri, May 14, 1804, 

 before the middle of the following July had reached the great 

 falls, and by October were upon the western slope, where, em- 

 barking in canoes upon the Kouskousky, a branch of the Colum- 

 bia, they descended to its mouth, where they arrived on the i5th 

 of November, 1805. The following spring they retraced their 

 course, arriving at St. Louis in September.* The results of the 

 expedition were first made known in Jefferson's message to Con- 

 gress, read February 19, 1806. ' 



The statue of Meriwether Lewis is one of those at the base 

 of the Washington Monument in Richmond, Virginia, and is 

 worthy of the man and his career. 



Dr. Asa Gray in a recent letter says : 



" I have reason to think that Michaux suggested to Jefferson 

 the expedition which the latter was active in sending over to the 

 Pacific. I wonder if he put off Michaux for the sake of having 

 it in American hands? "f 



The idea of an expedition to the Pacific was one which was likely 



* See a complete bibliography of the various reports of this expedition, 

 by Elliott Coues, in the Bulletin of the U. S. Geological Survey. 

 t See Amer. Journ. Sci. , xii, No. i. 



