198 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VOL. XXXII. 
at Philadelphia the work was being done by Morton, the two Leas, 
Peale, Conrad, Haldemann, Leidy, and Wilson ; and it is a notice- 
able fact that in this catalogue of names all but two — Leidy and 
Wyman — were systematic zoologists pure and simple. This fact 
is but characteristic of the times. It was the day of species describ- 
ing. There was a wealth of undescribed forms, and the recently 
organized state surveys, as well as the government expeditions, were 
daily bringing in new forms to describe, new species to catalogue. 
When we leave these two cities we find the zoological devotees 
scattered here and there throughout the country: Mighels at 
Portland, Wheatland and Cole at Salem, Nichols at Danvers, Tufts 
at Lynn, Dana and Ayres at New Haven, Fitch at Salem, N.Y., 
Bailey at West Point, Dekay at New York, Holbrook, Bachmann, 
Gibbes, and Ravenel at Charleston, Hentz in Florence, Ala., and Kirt- 
land at Cleveland. That curious zoological centre at New Harmony 
had already broken up and its members were scattered or dead. 
The means of publication were few, and the bulk of the zoologi- 
cal papers appeared in the records of the societies of Boston and 
Philadelphia, two in either city. Besides these there were publish- 
ing societies in New York and Salem, while other places, like Hart- 
ford, published one or two numbers and then passed out of the 
scientific world. The only strictly scientific periodical was the 
American Journal of Science and Arts, although now and then a 
magazine like the JVatura/ist of Boston ran a brief course. It 
necessarily followed that many a scientific paper was forced into 
the medical and agricultural journals and buried there almost beyond 
hope of resurrection. There was but one other means of getting 
results into print and that was open to but the few. We refer to 
the State Surveys which came into existence but a short time before, 
the publications of which reached their scientific height in the sur- 
vey of Massachusetts, but were published in the most sumptuous 
form by the state of New York. 
Such in outline was the condition of zoology in America half a 
century ago. It was almost entirely what we now know as system- 
atic zoology and it was all but ignored by the colleges, all of whose 
energies were turned in the direction of the classics, mathematics, 
and metaphysics. The times were ripe for a change. In the records 
of Harvard University is to be found the following minute : 
“At a stated meeting of the President and Fellows of Harvard 
College in Boston, Sept. 25, 1847. Present, President Everett, 
Dr. Walker, Mr. Lowell, Mr. Curtis, Treasurer Eliot. 
