PHILOSOPHY OF NATURE 3S) 



sometimes forgets his doctrines and gives expression to medita- 

 tions that conflict with the generahty of his views. 



Philip Marshall Hicks, in tracing the development of the 

 natural history essay in American literature, finds that, in spite 

 of Bartram's numerous predecessors in this field, it was Bartram 

 who was responsible for the introduction into American natural 

 history literature of four elements: "scientific observation, 

 aesthetic appreciation of nature, the belief in the immanence 

 of the creative principle in nature, and the feeling of com- 

 passion for the suffering of the lower orders." * The prede- 

 cessors specifically mentioned are Sir Walter Raleigh, Captain 

 John Smith, William Wood, Thomas Morton, John Josselyn, 

 Jonathan Carver, and Mark Catesby. Remembering the purpose 

 of Raleigh's and Smith's expeditions to America one is not sur- 

 prised, of course, at the absence of these elements from either 

 Raleigh's letters or Smith's Map of Virginia. The writings of 

 Wood, Morton, and Josselyn^ all deal with New England. Only 

 Wood and Josselyn had any scientific interest at all, but their 

 equipment did not always measure up to their aims. Carver's 

 account of his travels attempts, in part, to describe the same 

 territory that Bartram covered some years later, but his book is 

 now generally believed to be mainly a compilation of other 

 men's writings rather than a record of original observations.^" 

 Mark Catesby's work^^ is a different story; it is based on the 

 prolonged studies of a trained naturalist. Bartram's acquaintance 

 with Catesby's volume has been noted, as well as his acquaintance 

 with the work of another English naturalist, George Edwards. 

 To the scientific observations of Catesby and Edwards must be 

 added those of Peter Kalm,^^ a pupil of Linnaeus, and John 



* op. cit., p. 28. 



9 William Wood, New England Prospect, London, 1634; Thomas Morton, 

 The New England Canaan, Amsterdam, 1637; John Josselyn, New England's 

 Rarities, London, 1672. 



^° Jonathan Carver, Travels through the Interior Parts of North America in 

 the Years 1766, 17^7, 1768. London, 1778. For an estimate of the authenticity 

 of Carver's book see Cambridge History of American Literature, I, 192-193. 



^^ Mark Catesby, Natural History of the Carolinas, Florida and the Bahama 

 Islands. London, 1748. 



^^ Pehr Kalm, Travels into North America. English translation by J. R. 

 Forster. London, 1770-1771. 



