.YORK fa: 



AND 



VOL,. I] 



NEW-YORK, NOVEMBER, 1828. 



[NO. 11. 



ART. 137. — A Notice of the occurrences in Natu- 

 ral History and the Arts and Sciences which have a 

 connection with it for a feio years past, in our Unt- 

 ied Slates of North America. By Sami,. L. Mitch- 

 ell.— [Communicated for the New-York Farmer 

 and Hor. Repository.] 



Sources of the river Mississippi explored. 

 In this enumeration, I feel as if I ought to mention 

 theChevalier Beltrami, an Italian traveller of distinc- 

 tion, who published a book in the French tongue, at 

 New-Orleans, on his travels to the sources of the 

 Mississippi. The famous Bruce claimed the merit 

 of first exploring the head waters of the Nile ; Bel- 

 trami assumed the honour of having been the first 

 man, (not an indigene) who had penetrated to the 

 places where the waters which form, in their course, 

 the father of rivers, issue from their earthy strata, and 

 in the first place feed ponds and lakes. He had the 

 misfortune to quarrel with some of the distinguished 



perienced a remarkable accession. G. W. Feather- 

 stonhaugh, Esqr. on his return from Europe, brought 

 along a rare and instructive collection of organic re- 

 mains, procured with very considerable exertion and 

 cost. This body of articles well arranged and label- 

 led, is deposited in the N. York Lyceum, to whose 

 exhibition, rich and extensive before, it imparts a fine 

 increase of importance. These productions of a 

 former and very different state of being in our planet, 

 are rapidly issuing from their places of sepulture, 

 and affording information concerning the times incal- 

 culably anterior to the date of history. These ' ' me- 

 dals of nature," as they have been called, afford the 

 only evidence extant, concerning the race of extinct 

 vegetables and animals; that is to say, of organized 

 beings which were once inhabitants of this world, but 

 of which not a single individual is at this day, known 

 to be alive. Our own country abounds with such 

 curious productions, which the science and research 



explorers, and other important personages in Louisi- that now predominates, are constantly bringing to 



ana. In consequence, they denounced him and his j light and subjecting to interpretation. 



book. 



I knew the man and have perused his perfor- 

 mance ; though full of self-importance and egotism, 

 I think there are some pages of it that may be read 

 with entertainment and even instruction, by those 

 who are not implicated in the author's disputes and 

 Hostilities. By the verses written in Latin, on the 

 loss of his bark-canoe, he appears to have possessed 

 the taste of a poet and the attainment of a scholar. 

 On his departure for Ravenna, he carried with him 

 extensive collections of minerals, and of the arms, 

 dresses, ornaments and utensils of the native Indians. 

 Valuable Periodical Publications. 



Amc-nf tho periodical publications evincing the iu- 

 rreased desire for natural knowledge, I delight to 

 mention the American Farmer, a work of great merit, 

 established years ago in Baltimore, by Mr. Skinner ; 

 the; New-England Farmer, issued from Boston, by 

 Mr. Fesenden ; and the New- York Farmer and Hor- 

 ticultural Repository, edited by a member of the Hor- 

 ticultural Society, undej very favourable auspices, at 

 New-York. To these I ought to add Professor Sil- 

 liman's Journal of Science. Of this, it would be too 

 little to say, that it is honourable to New-Haven and 

 the compiler, for it is. alike creditable to the country 

 and the age. 



Great Acctssian of Organic. Remains;. 



it is a si.ibje.ct, of gratulation, that GAblogy RaS e\'» 



From these general views, I proceed to some that 

 are more detailed and particular. 



Fossil of the Spermaceti Whale from Louisiana. 



Early in the season of 1828, some uncommon fos- 

 sil bones were found between the city of New Or- 

 leans and the Gulf. The newspapers had abounded 

 with puffing paragraphs concerning their unknown 

 and wonderful nature ; at length, from the bank of 

 tbe Mississippi, they reached N. York. The owner, 

 who travelled with them, for profit, brought me a let- 

 ter of introduction. On examining the fragments of 

 the skeleton, composed chiefly of vertebrae, ribs and 

 one half of a lower jaw, I was enabled to pronounce 

 upon them as belonging to the Spermaceti Whale 3 

 or species of the Physeter. The creature was 

 apparently one of uncommonly large magnitude, 

 and had got aground on a shoal of the river, 

 where he died. The bones were afterwards co-. 

 vered by the alluvion of that vast stream, which is 

 forming a delta below like that of the Nile in Lower 



D 



Egypt. 



The Huge Bone Shark of Ike North Sea^ 

 From Lubeck, a seaport in Maine, was brought, 

 soon after, a stuffed sfcn, in the form of a dried pre- 

 paration of an enormous fislu Capt. John Allen^. 

 the captor, immediately on its arrival at New York, 

 inviTeli me to, see. it. It was in gaod preservation^. 



