Wislizenus’ service as a physician during the Mexican-American War, 
when he joined the invading American army as a surgeon and concur- 
rently made scientific observations and collected a vast quantity of 
previously unknown specimens. 
The invasion of Mexico and other grasping behavior was sanc- 
tioned by numerous factions, including powerful commercial interests. 
The recent opening of China excited American traders and shipowners, 
who saw the harbors of San Diego, San Francisco, and Puget Sound 
as necessary waystations on the route to the Far East. St. Louisans such 
as Senator Thomas Hart Benton and Academy member Henry King were 
determined to see that their town also served as a stopover for such 
commerce via an overland route. Consequently, they promoted a trans- 
continental railroad that would connect the East with the Pacific Ocean 
by way of St. Louis. 
America’s future independence was believed to rely not only on 
commerce, transportation systems, and the exploitation of western 
mineral wealth. Another key element was the westward expansion of 
American agriculture. The extension of cotton culture into Texas was 
a natural outgrowth of the expansionist philosophy as was the settle- 
ment of Oregon by American farmers. The Western Academy promoted 
immigration beyond the Mississippi and encouraged agriculture. George 
Engelmann was especially active in both areas. He worked directly to 
bring Germans to Missouri, for instance, and admonished them to adopt 
American ways. Also, he hoped to stimulate the region’s agrarian econ- 
omy by learning about its climate, geology, and indigenous plant life. 14 
Despite the laudable individual efforts of some of its members and 
its clear ties to the powerful concept of manifest destiny, the Western 
Academy of Natural Sciences of St. Louis as an organization made only 
minor contributions to scientific knowledge. Although it did help enhance 
the collections of some science groups in the East and in Europe through 
the exchange of specimens, its failure to publish anything on its own 
relegated the Western Academy to almost complete obscurity. 
The most significant contribution the Western Academy made, in 
fact, was that it served as a pilot organization for a more successful 
and productive society for the advancement of science in St. Louis. This 
new society, founded thirteen years after the Western Academy’s demise, 
fell heir to both the older organization’s philosophical outlook and its 
collections of specimens and books. It also inherited the experience and 
expertise of some former Western Academy members, including George 
Engelmann and Friedreich Wislizenus. These Stalwart amateurs, along 
with other ‘‘men of science’? in the community, carried on the work 
and continued to prosper. 
10 
