104 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 
who explored a great part of northern Mexico and the 
southwestern United States. At the instance of Senator 
Benton, the United States Senate ordered printed five 
thousand copies of his journal, together with the accom- 
panying tables and maps. Dr. Engelmann worked up the 
flora from the specimens collected by Dr. Wislizenus on 
this trip. 
From 1844 to 1860 more than twenty expeditions were 
sent out by the government with the object of determin- 
ing the best route for a railroad to the Pacific coast. The 
information obtained through these expeditions was pub- 
lished by the government in a large series of maps and 
reports.** For the later expeditions under King, Wheeler, 
Powell, Hayden, and others, gotten up for the purpose 
of studying the topography, geology, and natural his- 
tory of the country, St. Louis was no longer the point of 
departure and return, on account of the advent of rail- 
roads west of the Mississippi river. 
From the earliest days the history of science in St. 
Louis has been more or less intimately connected with 
the institutions for higher education in the city. The 
oldest institution of this character is the St. Louis Uni- 
versity,** founded in 1818, three years before Missouri 
was admitted to statehood, when the Right Reverend 
Louis William Du Bourg, Bishop of Louisiana, opened 
the St. Louis Academy, which grew into the St. Louis 
College, and finally developed into the St. Louis Uni- 
versity. The university charter was granted by a special 
act of the legislature in 1832. St. Louis University is 
28 Warren, G. K. Memoir to accompany the map of the territory of 
the United States from the Mississippi river to the Pacific Ocean, giv- 
ing a brief account of the exploring expeditions since A. D. 1800. Re- 
ports of explorations and surveys, to ascertain the most practicable 
and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi river to the 
Pacific Ocean. 11. 1859. 
24 Hill, W. H. Historical sketch of the St. Louis University. 1879. 
Fanning, W. H. W. Historical sketch of the St. Louis University. 
Bull. St. Louis Univ. 4: 4, 1908. 
