286 
PAL 
burg. Animated by his predile&ion for natural hiftory, 
and encouraged by the favour and patronage of Gaubius, 
he at length prevailed upon his father to let him go and 
fettle in Holland. Thither accordingly he went, and re¬ 
dded at the Hague. 
His reputation as a man of fcience was by this time 
fo well eftablilhed, that he was, the lame year, elefted 
fellow of the Royal Society of London ; and in the fol¬ 
lowing year member of the Academie des Curieux de la 
Nature; to both of which focieties he had previously 
fent very intereiling and ingenious papers. The intima¬ 
cy he now contraffed with the moll celebrated naturalifts 
in Holland, and particularly with thofe of the Hague, 
who had juft begun to form a literary Society; the free 
accefs which he had to the mufeum of the prince of 
Orange, and other curious cabinets ; the fyftematic cata¬ 
logues of thofe collections that he drew up, and Several 
of which he gave to the public; contributed to advance 
liis knowledge of the productions of nature in the various 
parts of the globe, and tocolleCl fuch materials as gave 
birth to thofe accurate compositions on zoology, which 
have defervedly diftinguilhed him as the firft zoologift of 
Europe. One of his earlieit works in this branch of fci¬ 
ence, which rendered him eminently confpicuous, was 
his “ Elenchus Zoophytorum.” In this work, after hav¬ 
ing treated on the nature of thefe ambiguous kinds of ani¬ 
mals in a general method, and ftated the various opinions 
of authors relating to the plaoe they ought to hold in the 
fyftem of nature, he defcribes from his own infpeClion 
more than 270 Species of thofe worms and animalcules, 
known under the Several generical appellations of polypes, 
corals, madrepores, corallines, Sea-pens, tcenia or tape¬ 
worms, Sponges, Sea-fans, &c. The free accefs which he 
had to the mufeum of the prince of Orange, and other 
curious collections in Holland, enabled him to enrich his 
work with the description of a great variety of thefe pro¬ 
ductions, brought from both the Indies. He has de¬ 
scribed each Species at large, and given it a new name, 
charaCteriftic of its real difcrepances; and, what espe¬ 
cially increafes the merit of his work, he has, with won¬ 
derful induftry, extricated, as far as poftible, the Syno¬ 
nyms of former authors, both ancient and modern; thus 
rendering his book highly uleful to fuch as are inquilitive 
in this branch of natural hiftory. 
In a dedication prefixed to his “ Mifcellanea Zoolo- 
gica,” publilhed in the Same year, the author lays before 
the prince of Orange a plan for a voyage to the Cape of 
Good Hope, and to the other Dutch lettlements in the 
Eaft Indies, and which, impelled by his wonted ardour 
for Scientific knowledge, he offered to undertake and Su¬ 
perintend. This projeCt was ftrongly recommended by 
Gaubius, and approved by the prince ; but was prevented 
from being carried into execution by the author’s father; 
who not only refufed his confent to his taking Such a dis¬ 
tant expedition, but even recalled him to Berlin : in obe¬ 
dience to his father’s willies, but with great reluCtance, 
lie quitted Holland in November 1766. 
On his return to Berlin (continues Mr. Coxe, from 
whofe ingenious Travels thefe particulars are extracted), 
his only confolation in being Separated from his friends in 
Holland, and in having loft fo many opportunities of im¬ 
proving himfelf in natural hiftory, confifted in putting 
into order the numerous materials he had collected, and 
the observations he was incefl'antly making, and in giving 
them to the public. He had however Scarcely begun 
to publifh his “ Spiciiegia Zoologica,” before he was in¬ 
vited by the emprefs Catharine II. to accept of the pro- 
feflorlhip of natural hiftory in the Imperial Academy of 
Sciences at St. Petersburg. Although in this inftance his 
father and relations again refufed their aflent, yet the 
author’s ardent zeal for his favourite fcience, joined to 
an irrefiftible defire to vifit regions So little explored, in¬ 
duced him, without a moment’s hefitation, to accede to 
the invitation, and to haften his departure for a country 
where his curiofity was So likely to be amply gratified. 
LAS, 
He accordingly quitted Berlin in June 1767, and arrived 
at Peterfbnrg on the 10th of Auguft. 
He made his appearance among the Ruffians at a criti¬ 
cal period. The emprefs had already ordered the Aca¬ 
demy of Sciences to Send aftronomers into various parts of 
the Ruffian empire, to obferve the tranfit of Venus over 
the fun’s difk in 1769. Being juft returned from a voy¬ 
age down the Volga, and from vifiting the interior pro¬ 
vinces of European Ruffia, the enlightened Sovereign had 
perceived the deficiencies of the topographical and geo¬ 
graphical accounts, and anticipated the advantage of de¬ 
puting learned and Skilful men to vifit the diftant pro¬ 
vinces of her extenfive dominions ; with a view to en¬ 
large the bounds of fcience, and extend the knowledge 
of ufeful arts among the natives. For this purpofe, Ca¬ 
tharine had direfted the academy to Send, in company 
with the aftronomers, the moll able naturalifts and phi¬ 
losophers. Pallas inftantiy offered to accompany this ex¬ 
pedition ; and was as eagerly accepted. He was immedi¬ 
ately charged with drawing out general inftrudtions for 
the naturalifts, and was gratified with the choice of his 
aflociates. To him was Submitted, at his own requeft, the 
conduct of the expedition to the eaft of the Volga, and 
towards the extreme parts of Siberia; and he was the 
moft calculated for that expedition, as the elder Gmelin, 
who had been his precurfor in thofe regions, had almoft 
entirely negletted the zoology of thofe remote diftri&s. 
Pallas employed the winter previous to his departure-in 
forming a fyftematic catalogue of the animals in the ca¬ 
binet of the Academy of Sciences; in putting into or¬ 
der the celebrated colledtion of profefior Breyn ofDant- 
zic, lately purchafed by prince Orlof; in preparing for 
the prefs fix numbers of his “Spiciiegia Zoologica,” 
which were printed during his abfence, under the direc¬ 
tion of Dr. Martin ; and in forming the neceflary arrange¬ 
ments and notices for his intended expedition. 
At length, in June 176-8, he quitted Peterfburg, in 
company with Meflrs. Falk, Lepechin, and Guldenitadf, 
as his aflociates ; palled through Mofcow, Vlodimer, Ka- 
fimof, Murom, Arfamas, to Kafan ; and, having exa¬ 
mined great part of that province, wintered at Simbirlk. 
From thence he departed, in March of the following 
year, and penetrated through Samara and Orenburg, as 
far as Gurief, a Small Ruffian fortrefs fituated at the mouth 
of the river Yaik or Ural. There he examined the con¬ 
fines of ICalmuc Tartary, and the neighbouring (hores 
of the Calpian ; and, returning through the province of 
Orenburg, palled the Second winter at Ufa. After Seve¬ 
ral expeditions in the adjacent parts of that province, he 
left Ufa on the 16th of May, 1770 ; profecuted his route 
through the Uralian mountains to Catharinenburgh ; vi- 
fited the mines of that diftridft ; proceeded to Tchelia- 
binlk, a Small fortrefs in the government of Orenburg; 
and in December made an excurfion as far as Tobollk. 
The next year he was employed in traverfing the Altaic 
mountains, and in tracing the courfe of the Irtilh up to 
Omlk and Kolyvan ; where, having infpe£ted the cele¬ 
brated filver-mines, he made for Tomlk, and finilhed 
that year’s expedition.it Krufnoyarlk, a town upon the 
YeniSei. In that place, Situated only in 5& 0 north lati¬ 
tude, the cold was So intenSe, that the learned profeiSor 
was witneSs to the natural freezing of quickfilver, which 
curious phenomenon he has minutely defcribed. Front 
Krafnoyarlk he iffued on the 7th of March, 1772; and 
proceeded by Irkutlk, and acrofs the lake Baikal, to 
Udinlk, Selenginlk, and Kiakta, where the trade be¬ 
tween Ruffia and China is principally carried on. Having 
penetrated into that part of Dauria which is Situated in 
the fouth-eafternmoft part of Siberia, he journeyed be¬ 
tween the rivers Ingoda and Argoon, at no great diftance 
from the Amoor; thence, tracing the lines which Sepa¬ 
rate the Ruffian empire from the Mongul hordes depen¬ 
dent upon China, he returned to Selinginlk, and again 
wintered at Krafnoyarlk. In the Summer of 1773 he vi- 
lited Tara, Yaitlk, and Aftracan, and concluded his route 
