Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 73.djvu/496

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492
POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

the river, progress was slow, thus affording opportunity for a considerable amount of collecting to be done. During the ascent of the river quite an extensive collection of plants was made, but this had to be left behind when the Rocky Mountains were crossed, and was consequently lost. During the much more hurried return of the expedition another collection was made, but it was much smaller than the first, and comparatively few species seem to have been collected about St. Louis. While this expedition did but little for St. Louis botany directly, it turned the public attention to this section, and finally led to careful botanical exploration by a number of capable botanists a few years later.

Captain Meriwether Lewis[1] was born near the town of Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 18, 1774. His family was one of the most

Fig. 1. Captain Meriwether Lewis; from Analectic Magazine and Naval Chronicle, Vol. 7, 1816.

distinguished of that state. Several of bis uncles were very prominent in their time, one of them having married a sister of George Washing-

  1. Jefferson, Thomas, '"Biography of Capt. Lewis in Analectic Magazine and Naval Chronicle," 7: 329-333, 1816.

    Allen, Paul, "History of the Expedition under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark," etc., 1814, reprint by New Amsterdam Book Company.