352 
THE AM ERIC AN-SC AN DIN A VI AN REVIEW 
1751, for Europe, regretting that his work was yet unfinished. He 
saw America for the last time on February 18; came in sight of 
England March 23; was the victim of an accident on the Thames 
soon after so that he was forced to proceed to London by land; but 
eventually arrived in Stockholm June 3, having been absent almost 
four years. His official account of the trip appeared in three volumes 
in Stockholm, 1753-1761. 
Large indeed is the scope of subjects that attract Kalm’s atten¬ 
tion, and striking the simplicity, straightforwardness, poise, and con¬ 
scientiousness with which he makes the heterogeneous entries of his 
observations in his diary. The construction and operation of the cider 
press or a new type of fence gets the same space as the description and 
classification of a flower, rare shrub, lumber tree, cereal plant, or 
medicinal herb. Kalm is as much interested in the preserving of mush¬ 
rooms and in the preparation of delicate dishes of food as in the 
character and distribution of diseases in America. All receive proper 
attention. Minerals and ore deposits are perhaps more valuable to 
him, but hardly so fascinating as birch canoes. Geography, topog¬ 
raphy, American history and antiquity were treated by our diarist; 
and domesticated animals are not forgotten. Architecture and build¬ 
ing materials; servants’ wages, the medium of exchange, and the mone¬ 
tary system; windmills, fortresses, and beaver dams; word formation 
in the Algonquin Indian dialect; Roman Catholicism in Canada; the 
probable reason for the prevalence of poor teeth among Americans— 
these and dozens of other topics, connected chronologically, are thrown 
together, as it were, and yet discussed with lucidity, forming an excep- 
tionably readable report. Kalm sees the thoughtless exploitation of 
the virgin soil in America leading to carelessness in agriculture, and 
listens to the frequent complaints about the disappearance of fish and 
game because of ruthless deforestation. He deprecates the number 
of destructive insects that abound in our continent, and soon becomes 
aware of the changeableness of the climate in eastern America and its 
dangers to public health. Though coming from the frigid North, 
Kalm himself suffered not a little during the rather severe winters 
spent here. 
Pure science and practical usefulness ever go hand in hand with 
Kalm. But he is perhaps most of all interested in some of our distinctly 
American animals. The bull-frog’s vocal organs and the intensity of 
his croaking, the twilight call of the whip-poor-will, the singular devel¬ 
opment of the seventeen-year locust, the poisonous sting of the New 
Jersey mosquito compared with that of the European species, and the 
habits of the blacksnake, are treated with solicitous fullness. 
A few quotations selected and translated from the original will 
serve to illustrate the variety, style, and naive honesty of the published 
fifteen-hundred page report. 
