610 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIV. No. 879 



of the tripod with vegetation, for, if the reader 

 ■will transpose, 



"A primrose by the river's brim 

 A yellow primrose was to him, 

 And it was nothing more." 



Trancis H. Herrick 



Travels in the Confederation (178S-178Jt). 

 From the German of Johann David Schoepf . 

 Translated and edited by Alfred J. Morri- 

 son. Philadelphia, "William J. Campbell. 

 1911. 2 vols. $6.00. 



Few, if any, of the early travelers through 

 America showed a wider mental grasp on mat- 

 ters falling under their observation than did 

 Dr. Johann David Schoepf, a surgeon to the 

 Bavarian troops employed by the British gov- 

 ernment in their vain attempts at subduing 

 the unruly Americans during the war of the 

 Revolution, and who subsequent to the decla- 

 ration of peace made, for that period, exten- 

 sive journeys through the eastern and south- 

 eastern United States. Schoepf was no mere 

 specialist. His training had been broad and 

 he lived at a time when it was possible for 

 one mind to grasp and perhaps master the es- 

 sentials in all branches of science. That he 

 was a man of more than ordinary powers of 

 observation and scientific acumen is evident 

 from his published writings, which cover a 

 wide range in ethnology, meteorology, biology, 

 botany and geology. He was, according to 

 Goode, the author of the first special ichthyo- 

 logical paper ever written in America or con- 

 cerning American species, while his " Bey- 

 trage zur mineralogischen Kenntniss des 

 ostlichen Theils von Nord Amerika" (1787) 

 was the best systematic record of the geology 

 of the eastern United States that had appeared 

 up to date. The breadth of the man, how- 

 ever, is nowhere shown to better advantage 

 than in the work now under review. " I will- 

 ingly admit," he wrote, " that these notes are 

 neither so complete nor of such importance 

 as I could wish, but ... to be candid, the 

 motive of my journey was curiosity." 



Whatever the motive, it is difficult to con- 

 ceive of his getting into readable form and in 

 a limited space a greater amount of informa- 

 tion on a variety of subjects than here, and a 



hearty vote of thanks is due Dr. Morrison for 

 thus bringing to life, resurrecting, as one 

 may say, a story of travel which might 

 otherwise remain inaccessible to most read- 

 ers and hence be forgotten. 



After seven years of garrison duty Schoepf 

 began his Reise in July, 1783, by boarding a 

 flat -bottomed water craft known as a " petty 

 augur" bound for Elizabethtown, New Jer- 

 sey; thence by various modes of conveyance 

 he proceeded through the state into Pennsyl- 

 vania as far west as Pittsburgh and south- 

 ward into Maryland, across the Potomac 

 into Virginia, the Carolinas and from Charles- 

 ton by boat to Florida, returning by way of 

 the Bermudas to Europe. His narrative is in 

 form of an itinerary and is really extraordi- 

 nary in its detail. No object or item was too 

 small for his consideration, or apparently too 

 large for his comprehension. He noted the 

 general physical features of the country passed 

 over, its climate, mineral productions, soil, 

 vegetation, animal life and the cities and 

 towns and their manner of government. The 

 character of the people and their personal 

 idiosyncrasies are discussed in a way com- 

 parable only with the later writings of 

 Featherstonhaugh in his " Journey through 

 the Slave States " (1839), though from a less 

 cynical standpoint. He seemed not favorably 

 impressed by the German farmers of Pennsyl- 

 vania. " They give their children no educa- 

 tion." " Their conversation is neither inter- 

 esting nor pleasing." With the people of Vir- 

 ginia he is likewise disposed to be critical, but 

 considers their objectionable characteristics 

 as in part due to the debasing influence of 

 slavery. The Assembly he did not find impres- 

 sive. " A mong the orators here is a certain 

 Mr. Henry." (Presumably Patrick — he of 

 " Give me liberty or give me death " fame.) 

 " He has a high-flown and bold delivery, deals 

 more in words than reasons, etc." Charleston, 

 South Carolina, in spite of a climate which 

 he states makes it in spring a paradise, in 

 summer a hell, and in autumn a hospital, is 

 described as one of the finest of American 

 cities, and, Philadelphia excepted, inferior to 



