144 Notice of British Naturalists. 



or a Dutchman, and Gardener to King Charles I, of England. 

 He travelled over a great part of Europe and Asia Minor, and into 

 Barbary, Greece, and Egypt ; chiefly with a view of improving 

 himself in natural science. He introduced a considerable num- 

 ber of exotic plants into England, and was the first to prove that 

 they might be rendered useful, and made to thrive by due culti- 

 vation. He was followed in his pursuits by his son, John, who 

 inherited the museum, and to which he made considerable addi- 

 tions. On his death it was sold to Mr. Ashmole, " the greatest 

 virtuoso and curioso that vi^as ever known or read of in England." 

 We may form some idea of what it contained from the " Museum 

 Tradescantianmii,''^ a catalogue of it, published in 1656, and 

 which is divided into the following heads : 1. Birds with eggs. 

 2. Four footed Beasts. 3. Fish. 4. Shells. 5. Insects. 6. Min- 

 erals. 7. Fruits, Drugs, &c. 8. Artificial curiosities. 9. Mis- 

 cellaneous curiosities. 10. Warlike Instruments. 11. Habits. 

 12. Utensils and household stuff. 13. Coins. 14. Medals. 

 Isaac Walton likewise makes mention of some of its contents in 

 his Co7nplcte Angler (part I, chap. I). "I know we Islanders 

 are averse to the belief of these wonders ; but there be so many 

 strange creatures to be now seen, many collected by John Trades- 

 cant, and others added by my friend, Elias Ashmole, Esq., who 

 now keeps them carefully and methodically arranged at his house 

 at Lambeth, near London, as may get some belief of some of the 

 wonders I mention. I will tell you some of these wonders that 

 you may now see, and not till then believe, unless you think fit. 

 You may see there the Hog-fish, the Dog-fish, the Dolphin, the 

 Coney-fish, the Parrot-fish, the Sword-fish and not only other in- 

 credible fish, but you may there see the Salamander ; several sorts 

 of Barnacles ; of Solan Geese ; the Bird of Paradise ; such sort of 

 snakes, and such birds' nests, and of so various forms, and so won- 



* Reamur, the celebrated French Naturalist, was the first person who formed an 

 extensive collection of animals in France. He was born in 1683 and died in 1757; 

 so that the era of Museums in that country was nearly the same as in England. The 

 well known Brisson, who was the keeper of his Museum, derived from it the prin- 

 cipal materials for his work on quadrupeds and birds. These last afterwards con- 

 stituted the basis of the Royal Museum at Paris. The earliest considerable Muse- 

 um in this country owes its origin to the late Mr. Peale of Philadelphia. In this 

 museum was first seen a complete skeleton of the mastodon. Many of Wilson's 

 birds, and not a few of the animals procured in the Rocky Mountains, being also 

 there, it has become classical from the frequent reference to these and other speci- 

 mens. 



