Klem — The History of Science in St. Louis. 97 



was presented by Mr. Harrison's widow to the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, where it now is as the George Catlin 

 Indian Gallery of the United States National Museum. 



In the early part of the nineteenth century the chief 

 object of every ambitious and thoughtful explorer was to 

 secure for the world as complete a catalog of its plants 

 and animals as possible. The still unknown regions of 

 the New World, particularly those of the trans-Missis- 

 sippi country with their primitive races, which had not 

 yet been contaminated by civilization, their beasts of 

 prey, brilliantly plumed birds and unkonwn plants, of- 

 fered a splendid field for research. Even persons of 

 royal lineage heard this call of the new world. Alex- 

 ander Philip Maximilian, 15 Prince of Wied-Neu-Wied, 

 visited North America in 1833, making a scientific ex- 

 ploration of the trans-Mississippi region. He was ac- 

 companied by a young Swiss artist, Charles Bodmer, who 

 painted primitive landscapes and portraits of the aborig- 

 ines. 



Tarrying briefly in Boston, New York and Phila- 

 delphia, he visited the Moravians at Bethlehem and spent 

 the winter of 1832-33 on the banks of the Wabash, in the 

 communistic settlement of Bobert Owen, where he found 

 a good library of Americana and of natural history. 

 Early in 1833 he made the journey to the mouth of the 

 Ohio and up the Mississippi, arriving in St. Louis before 

 the departure of the usual spring caravans of the western 

 fur traders. 



While in St. Louis Maximilian was invited by General 

 Clark to accompany a deputation of Sauk and Fox In- 

 dians, headed by Keokuk, on a visit to the imprisoned 

 chief, Black Hawk, at Jefferson Barracks. He was partic- 

 ularly interested in the many species of birds and butter- 



is Thwaites, R. G. Travels in the interior of North America. By 

 Maximilian, Prince of Wied. 1843. Early Western Travels 1748-1846. 

 22-24. 1904. 



Spaulding, Perley. A biographical history of botany at St. Louis, 

 Missouri. Pop. Sci. Month. 1909: 50-52. 



