Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 37.djvu/130

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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

viduality in the formative period of the country." This book abounds with evidence of Mr. Schoolcraft's scientific and literary activity, as well as of his efficiency in work in whatever field. As early as 1820 we find a letter from Amos Eaton, asking him for information for the second edition of his Index to Geology, respecting the secondary and alluvial formations and the strata of the Rocky Mountains. Dr. Samuel Mitchell writes him, in 1821, about the shells and other specimens he has sent, including a "sandy fungus," and inviting specimens for the cabinet of the Emperor of Austria. Profs. Silliman and Hall acknowledge the value of his examination of the mining regions of Missouri; Prof. Silliman asks for articles for his journal; and Sir Humphry Davy thinks his book would sell well in England. Prof. Cleaveland writes him, in 1827, that he is about preparing a new edition of his work on mineralogy, and solicits the communication of new localities. In the same year Mr. Schoolcraft himself writes that the collection he made in Missouri, etc., in 1819, appears to have had an effect on the prevalent taste for those subjects, "and at least it has fixed the eyes of naturalists on my position on the frontiers." Mr. Peter S. Duponceau addresses him, in 1834, on the structure of the Indian languages, "in terms which are very complimentary, coming, as they do, as a voluntary tribute from a person whom I never saw, and who has taken the lead in investigations on this abstruse topic in America." He pronounces Mr. Schoolcraft's book on the Chippewa languages one of the most philosophical works on the Indian languages which he has ever read. In another letter Mr. Duponceau acknowledges having used Mr. Schoolcraft's grammar, giving due credit, in preparing a prize essay for the Institute of France, on the grammatical structure of Indian languages. Dr. Thomas H. Webb, of Providence, in 1835, notifies him of his election as an honorary member of the Rhode Island Historical Society, and asks about aboriginal inscriptions on rocks. The Massachusetts Historical Society, in 1836, asks him to proceed with his work on the Ojibway language, complete it, and let the society publish it. John J. Audubon asks for aid in preparing his work on American quadrupeds. There are numerous notices of specimens that have been sent to Mr. Schoolcraft to pass upon, and solicitations from persons representing the principal magazines, to contribute of the results of his researches.

A new disposition of official posts having been made, Mr. Schoolcraft transferred his residence in 1837 to Michilimackinac or Mackinaw. Thence he removed, in 1841, to New York, where he expected to find the surroundings more favorable to the collation and publication of the results of his observations on the red race, whom he "had found in many traits a subject of deep