PE ALE'S MUSEUM 227 



later was presented on the Baron's return to France to the National 

 Museum. 4 



With the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, Peale had more inter- 

 course than with any other institution in Europe. This began when 

 the museum in Philadelphia was very young, by the arrival in Phila- 

 delphia of the naturalist, Baron Palisot de Beauvois, a refugee from 

 the terrible massacre at St. Domingo. For the short time that he was 

 in Philadelphia, Beauvois aided Peale in many ways. Not only did he 

 help Peale in identifying the specimens, 5 but he also wrote the French 

 edition of the catalogue; and Peale in turn aided him by furnishing 

 him with many letters of introduction whenever he went on collecting 

 trips into other states. A personal friendship sprang up which lasted 

 till Beauvois' death in 1820, and it is in Peale's letters to Beauvois 

 after the latter's return to France that one finds the best account of 

 what was going on in Philadelphia. With respect to the museum, Peale 

 was in correspondence with Geffroy St. Hilaire and with Cuvier, also 

 receiving letters from Lamarck. With all these connections joining the 

 museum to France it was not strange that the French influence was 

 strong. 



The Mastodon 



The feat which was Peale's greatest achievement in connection 

 with the museum was the recovery and reconstruction of the skeleton 

 of a mastodon. In the spring of 1801, receiving information from a 

 scientific correspondent in the state of New York that the bones of a 

 mammoth had been found in digging a marl pit near Newburg, Peale 

 hastened to the spot; and, after bargaining with Mr. Masten, who 

 owned the farm on which the bones were found, he finally paid $300 

 for those bones that had already been procured and the right to drain 

 and excavate the morass to recover if possible the rest of the skeleton. 

 On Mr. Masten showing Peale the spot where the bones were found, 

 which was a spacious hole filled with water, he wrote in his auto- 

 biography : 



The pleasure which I felt at seeing the place, where I supposed my great 

 treasure lay, almost tempted me to strip off my clothes and dive to the bottom 

 and try to feel for bones. The hope, however, of returning soon with the means 

 of emptying the pond satisfied me. 



He went at once to New York. Through President Jefferson he was 

 able to borrow pumps from the Navy Department and other things 

 from the War Office. The Philosophical Society advanced 'him $500 

 without interest, with his house in Philadelphia as security. He then 

 Teturned to the scene of operation with his son Eembrandt. After 



* Hamy, E. T., " Alexandre de Humboldt et le Museum D'Histoire Nat- 

 urelle," Nou. Achhis. Du Mus., 4e series, Vol. VIII., p. 10. 



8 Cuvier, " Eloge de M. de Beauvois," Mem. Paris Acad. Sci., IV., 1819-20, 

 p. 318. 



