Peter Simon Pallas

Originally published in volume 25, Dogs, Part I.

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Juvat integros accedere fontes
Atque haurire, juvatque novos decerpere flores.

Lucret. de Nat. Rer. bib. iv.

Pallas, the illustrious subject of the following Memoir, was probably the most eminent scientific Naturalist whose name adorns the latter half of the eighteenth century.

His discoveries, in almost every department of Natural History, are perhaps more frequently quoted than those of any other author; and hence the interest that is very generally and naturally felt respecting the particulars of his life and history. No detailed and regular account, however, so far as we know, has hitherto enriched the annals of biography; and though the work might be difficult, we cannot entertain a doubt that its accomplishment would amply repay the best exertions of any one competent to the task.

Barron Cuvier says,

When a man devotes his whole life to science; when entirely occupied in making observations and in recording them, the only suspension in his researches being that required for their publication, it will easily be imagined that his life will not exhibit many striking incidents, and will be read accurately only in the analysis of his works. But if, besides, working only for men of science of his own grade, he despises all ornament; if to assist him in the accumulation of facts, he always clothes them in the simplest and most meagre expressions, and leaves to others the humble merit of deducing the results, then this analysis becomes almost impossible; and to make known his works, it is necessary that we should copy them. These remarks apply to Pallas. Removed in youth from his family and country, a third of his life was spent in the desert, and the rest in his study; and in both these situations he made an immense number of observations, and wrote a great many memoirs and volumes. All his writings dry, and not composed with the object of pleasing, are yet filled with important and novel remarks: they have elevated the name of the author to the first rank among naturalists, who peruse them without ceasing, and quote them in every page; they are studied and consulted with pleasure by the historian and the geographer, by those who study the philosophy of language, and the moral condition of the different races of mankind. But it is precisely this multitude of his labours, and their diversity, which compels me to make his Eloge a kind of “table of contents,” for which I must crave the indulgence of my auditory.¹

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This eminent naturalist, Perer Simon Pallas, was born in Berlin, September 22d, in the year 1741. His father, Simon Pallas, a native of Johannisburg in Prussia, was surgeon-major in the regiment of Doenhof, and in 1741 was appointed professor of surgery at Berlin, and chief surgeon of the public hospital of that city. His mother, Susan Leonard, was of French extraction, being born in the colony of French emigrants which had for some time been established in the Prussian metropolis.

Young Pallas received the early part of his education at home from private tutors, and made most satisfactory progress in his studies. His father, who intended him to follow his own profession, entertained the judicious purpose of familiarizing him, when still almost a child, with many languages; and the boy made such proficiency, that he could soon write almost equally well in Latin and French, in English and German. The manifold advantages accruing from this accomplishment, usually so easily acquired in youth, were very apparent in the subsequent history of Pallas; and its great utility to every student of science is so manifest, that it is matter of surprise the example is not more generally, not to say universally, followed. This acquirement was so little troublesome to the learner, that he still kept ahead of his youthful comrades in his other studies; and not content with what was taught by his masters, he employed his leisure hours in the study of natural history; and with such success, that at the age of fifteen, he sketched ingenious classifications of several groups of animals.

It was in his fifteenth year that Pallas entered seriously upon his professional pursuits, and commenced attendance on lectures upon anatomy and physiology, botany and medicine, under Professors Meckel, Sproegel, Rolof, and his father. So apt a scholar was he in these several branches of science, that in the beginning of the year 1758 we find him, according to the account he gave to Mr Coxe, enabled to read a course of public lectures on anatomy.² Yet although thus occupied in his professional labours, he found leisure to prosecute, under the special auspices of one of his preceptors, Martin Schoeling, the study of entomology and other branches of zoology. In the autumn of the same year he repaired to the university of Halle, where he attended the lectures of the celebrated Segner on mathematics and physics, and also improved his acquaintance with mineralogy, in the environs of that city.

In the spring of the year 1759 young Pallas removed to Gottingen; and though prevented by a long and dangerous illness from prosecuting his studies with his wonted ardour, yet he reaped much benefit from the instructions of the physicians Roederer and Vœgel, and improved his general knowledge by diligently availing himself of the many rare books belonging to the library. During his residence at this celebrated university, he made numerous experiments on poisons and the effects of the most potent medicines, applied himself to the dissection of animals, and made many observations on worms. On the last named subject, he at this time composed an ingenious treatise under the title “De infestis Viventibus intra viventia,”³ in which he seems to have taken great pains to discriminate these noxious animals, and to have described many of them with singular accuracy.

In July 1760 Pallas was attracted to the university of Leyden by the fame of its celebrated professors, Albinus, Gaubius, and Muschenbroeck; and by them he was noticed as a young man of promising genius and indefatigable application. In December he took his Doctor’s degree, and distinguished himself by his inaugural dissertation, in which he defended by new experiments, the treatise mentioned above as composed at Gottingen. This Thesis seems to have been his first work, and was published in the nineteenth year of his age. At this epoch, the possession of numerous colonies all over the world, as well as the first and longest established rank in commerce, had accumulated a vast number of rare natural productions in the several museums of Holland, and natural history itself was receiving a new impetus, from the taste and attention bestowed upon it by the gifted mother of the last Stadtholder. We cannot be surprised, therefore, that during’ his stay at Leyden, this science should have become the predominant passion of our enthusiastic student, who employed all the time he could spare from his professional pursuits in visiting the public and private museums, and in carefully noting what was most worthy of attention.

Having visited the principal cities of Holland, Pallas directed his course to London, where he arrived in July 1761; the ostensible objects of his journey to England being to improve his knowledge of medicine and surgery, and to inspect the hospitals. He was now, however, so much absorbed in his contemplations on zoology, that he neglected every other pursuit, and gave himself up entirely to his favourite branch of science. At this juncture his zeal was so ardent, that after having passed the day in curiously examining the various collections of natural history, and perusing the principal works he could procure on the subject, he would frequently employ the greater part of the night, and occasionally even whole nights together, in devouring some new publication, which either awakened his curiosity, or which bore upon his more immediate researches. With the view of extending his information, he took several journeys to the sea-coasts, and more especially into Sussex.

Being at length summoned by his father to return home, the young naturalist quitted London with regret, in the latter end of April 1762, and repaired to Harwich, in order to embark for Holland. Here he was detained by contrary winds; and while most men would have regarded this circumstance as a grievous annoyance, he turned it to profit, and rejoiced in the opportunity it afforded of examining the coasts and shores, and collecting a variety of marine productions. On the 13th of May he landed in Holland, and passing through the Hague, Leyden, and Amsterdam, arrived in Berlin on the 12th of June.

Previous to commencing the practice of his profession, his father sent him to Hanover, for the purpose of procuring the post of surgeon in the allied army; but as peace was soon concluded, he returned to his native city, where he spent a year, employed chiefly in preparing materials for a “Fauna Insectorum” or “A Description of the Insects in the March of Brandenburg.”

Animated by his predilection for natural history, and encouraged by the favour and patronage of the great Gaubius, he at length prevailed with his father to allow him to go and settle in Holland. Thither accordingly he went, and took up his abode at the Hague. His reputation at this time was so well established, that he was the same year, 1764, at the age of 23, elected Fellow of the Royal Society of London, and in the following year, Member of the Academie des Curieux de la Nature, to both of which Societies he had previously sent interesting and ingenious papers.

The intimacy which Pallas now contracted with the celebrated naturalists in Holland, and particularly with those of the Hague, who had commenced the formation of a literary society,—the free access he had to the great museum of the Prince of Orange, and other valuable cabinets,—the systematic catalogues of these collections which he drew up, and several of which he published,—contributed much to advance his knowledge of the productions of nature in the various quarters of the globe, and to the collection of those materials which gave birth to the many works on zoology which have deservedly distinguished their author as the first naturalist of his time. One of the earliest treatises which rendered him conspicuous was his Elinchus Zoophytorum, or “Tabular View of Zoophytes.”

This could not be considered but as an extraordinary production for the time, proceeding from the pen of any one, and was still more remarkable as coming from so young a man. Haller characterizes it as Princeps in hae classe opus, que limites utriusgue regni confundit, and adds, totam classem per sua genera accurate definit, speciesque.⁴ In its composition he availed himself of all that had been done before him, including the labours of Marsigli and Roemphius, of Peysonelli and Trembley, and especially of the more recent discoveries of Linnæus and Ellis. In the volume we find an Elinchus Auctorum ad Historiam Zoophytorum Spectantium. We thence perceive that he consulted no fewer than a hundred treatises on the subject, and in the rich collections of Holland he found treasures more varied and extensive than probably had ever fallen under the examination of any other individual. All these he handled as a master. He divided those he considered as true zoophytes into 15 genera and 250 species; and added three genera which he considered doubtful, genera ambigua, comprehending 22 species. The former included

1. the Hydra;
2. Eschara;
3. Cellularia;
4. Tabularia;
5. Brachionus;
6. Sertularia;
7. Gorgonie;
8. Antipathes;
9. Isis;
10. Millepora;
11. Madrepora;
12. Tubipora;
13. Alcyonium;
14. Pennatula; and
15. Spongia.

The three ambiguous genera are Tenia, Volvoces, and Corallina. His definition of sponge is animal ambiguum, crescens, torpidissimum; and he distinctly says that corals are to be referred to the class of vegetables. But we must not enter upon any thing like criticism: Cuvier remarks of the work generally,

that the clearness of his description, and the care with which he refers the synonyms of authors to his species, was quite remarkable for an author of twenty-five years of age, and his “Introduction” was still more so. With regard to corals, he pointed out the errors of the prevailing opinion, as if they had been a mere hive so to speak, to the polypes. He demonstrated that their trunk itself is living; that it is a kind of animal tree, with its branches and heads; a composite animal, the stony portion of which is nothing more than the common skeleton which grows, as do the animals, but is not fabricated by them. Linnæus was the first who energetically supported these bold views, which are now adopted by every one.

Pallas’s ideas concerning true corals excited the attention of our countryman Ellis, who wrote an admirable essay in reply, which silenced, if it did not convince, his able adversary. It is somewhat curious, notwithstanding the advance which has been made in this department,⁵ how truly it might still be remarked concerning these doubtful genera, the sponges and coralines, in the very words of our author, “At verum fabricam eruere, hoc opus, hic labor est.”

The history of our rising zoologist, not to say Zoology itself, was this same year (1766) distinguished by another and scarcely less remarkable production of his pen. In this goodly quarto, of more than two hundred pages, adorned with fourteen plates, as its title Miscellania Zoologica would lead us to infer, a great variety of subjects are brought under review. The author particularly describes several species of vertebral animals new to science, and a number of invertebral, not wholly disregarding either insects or plants. He was engaged, as he states in his preface, for several years in its preparation, and was induced to undertake it from the great attentions and facilities he had experienced in Holland.⁶

Though we must not attempt any thing like an extended analysis, yet we cannot pass by this interesting volume without a few remarks. It contains a minute description of a species of bat, concerning which family Pallas remarks, much was required at the time to perfect the history. From its resemblance to the shrew-mouse, he named it Vespertilio soricinus; it is the Glosophaga soricina of systematists, G. of Pallas of Desmarest. It was not more than two inches in length, but was in many respects remarkable. It had been procured both in Surinam and the West Indies; and yet, he remarks, its natural history was quite a blank. We need scarcely remark, that our author, both with pen and pencil, amply supplied this deficiency. Though many species are now included in the genus, yet no one has received a more detailed description. The next animal of which he gives an account is the great flying-squirrel from the islands of the Indian archipelago, by him denominated Sciurus petaurista, from the enormous leaps it takes by means of its wing-like membranes. It is the Pteromys petaurista of our systems. After briefly alluding to the diminutive species of Northern Asia and America, which had long been known, and mentioning the very little that had been recorded of the animal before us, by Valentyn and in the Lettres Edifiantes, he states, that he drew his description from three specimens in the respective museums of Leyden, the Hague, and the Prince of Orange. These gave the size equal to that of a small rabbit, about eighteen inches long. The description is accompanied by an excellent representation, which is still copied into some of our most popular works. Another animal, concerning which he states that naturalists had preserved the most profound silence, and which he describes at length, supplying good figures, is his Cavia Capensis (Caliai). He is at pains to distinguish it from the water-hog (Hydrochærus), and the Guinea-pig (Cabaya) of South America; he also distinguished it from the agouti and the aperia and paca of Marcgraf, &c. This animal is now arranged as the Hyrax of Hermann, the Duman of Buffon, Desmarest, &c.; it is the Israel of the Arabs of Mount Lebanon, and is generally regarded as the Coney of the Sacred Scriptures. We shall next allude to his Apis Æthiopicus, which. at present stands as the Phasiocherus Africanus of systematists, He says,

I shall now describe a new species of boar which is peculiar to Africa, and possesses a very peculiar form;

a form now generally known, which consists principally in several great excrescences about the snout, and which has procured for it the popular name of the marked or wart-hog. It was by mere inference that he concluded that it was the same as the boar of Madagascar (Sus larvatus). His words are,

I scarcely doubt that the African boar seen by Adanson was this species, and hence we may conclude it is found in the whole warmer regions of Africa, at least as far as the Niger. It is probably, too, an inhabitant of Madagascar, according to the testimony of Flaccourt; hence I conclude I may apply to it the name Aper Æthiopicus. This name is probably unfortunate, as it would appear that the characters of that species described by Ruppel, A. Æliani, as existing in that country, are sufficiently distinct.⁷

Passing by the short paper in which he maintains that the opossum and ant-eaters are not confined to the New World, we shall draw our account of the quadrupeds mentioned in this volume to a close, by stating that there is a minute description first given in this work, not in the Spicilegia Zoologica, as it is frequently stated, of the Grim, or Antilope grimmiæ: this is preceded by a monograph of the antelopes, in which they are divided into three genera and seventeen species.

We must not stay to make any remark on his description of a crane, his Grus crepitans, the golden-breasted trumpeter of Linnæus; neither shall we say a word on the insects he describes, species of Onisci, of a marine Acarus, and of the Cicada; nor shall we dwell upon several zoophytes, actinia, and pennatulæ, which he again introduced to notice; but shall add, that to more than any, or than to the whole of the foregoing, inclusive, he directed his attention to the great class Mollusca, which our readers will remember immediately succeeds the vertebral animals, and precedes insects; and includes shell-fish, worms, &c. We repeat, that more than one half of the Miscellanea is devoted to this most interesting and difficult class; and with a degree of acuteness and success which was scarcely inferior to that which attended his researches regarding zoophytes.

We dwell the longer on this volume, because we conceive that, from a variety of causes, it has not taken that rank in general estimation to which it is fully entitled. One reason of this appears to have been, that the author almost immediately afterwards brought out a second edition, we may call it, of that part of the volume which treated of quadrupeds in his Spicilegia Zoologica, although much is omitted in this latter which appears in the former: and another and equally influential cause is to be found in the difficulty of the investigation connected with the mollusca. As our space does not allow us to dilate, we shall simply state, that he dwells at considerable length on the Anomiæ, Serpulæ, the Nereides and Aphroditæ, the Echiureæ, Lumbrici, and Hydaitids. Instead, however, of passing any opinion of our own, we will here adduce the sentiments of Cuvier:—

What would have excited the liveliest astonishment, if the public at the time had been in a condition to appreciate it, was the sudden light which Pallas threw on those classes of the animal economy which were least known, and which had long been huddled together under the common appellation of worms. Not permitting himself to be imposed upon by the errors of Linnæus, any more than by those of Buffon, he demonstrated that the presence or absence of a shell could not furnish a satisfactory basis for their arrangement, and that the whole analogy of their structure should be regarded; that in this respect the ascidia are properly analogous to bivalve shells, * * *, that the univalves are more nearly connected with snails, and that the Aphroditæ, whose anatomical structure he beautifully elucidated, should be approximated to the nereides, serpule, and other articulated worms, whether they have shells or not. Assuredly, the naturalist whose glance was so piercing, could have dispelled the chaos which enveloped those invertebral animals, if he had continued to prosecute his investigations; but at the time he published his views, they were not quite matured. Those errors which a little trouble would have speedily corrected, probably contributed to delay a necessary revolution of opinion till a subsequent period; and we here see how often progress is arrested by the slightest circumstance. The most astonishing thing of all is, that he himself neglected to procecute these beautiful observations.

To Cuvier’s remarks on this portion of the treatise, we must not omit to add his general estimate of this too much neglected work. He observes,

We cannot behold, without astonishment, so young an author unite the merits of the two great masters who then divided between them the empire of science. He boldly took for his models the great French naturalist and his assistant Daubenton; he charged himself with their double work, and without allowing himself to be dazzled by their authority, he conjoined, with the profound sagacity of the one and the patient accuracy of the other, those precise and methodical views which were too much neglected by them both.

After this brief critique and analysis, both of that part of the work which treats of the mollusca, and of the vertebrata, no one we apprehend can doubt that this was a production of the rarest merit; which, appearing within a few months after the Elinchus Zoophytorum, could not fail most deservedly to raise the character of the author to the very first rank among naturalists.

In the dedication prefixed to this work, the author laid before the Prince of Orange a plan for a voyage to the Cape of Good Hope and to the other Dutch settlements in the East Indies, and which, impelled by his wonted ardour for scientific knowledge, he offered to undertake and superintend. This project was strongly recommended by Gaubius and approved of by the Prince, but was prevented from being carried into execution by the author’s father, who not only refused his consent to his taking such a distant expedition, but even recalled him to Berlin. In obedience to his father’s wish, but with the greatest reluctance, he quitted Holland in November 1766.

On his return to his native city, his only consolation for his separation from his friends in Holland, and in having lost so many opportunities of improving himself, consisted in arranging the vast stock of materials he had collected, and the observations he was unceasingly making, and presenting them to the public. This he did in that work so well known and so often quoted, the Spicilegia Zoologica, which was somewhat on the plan of our modern periodicals, coming out in successive numbers, though not rigorously restricted as to time. It extended to thirty or forty quarto pages letterpress, and was illustrated with excellent engravings, both of the entire animals, and of the parts of their structure which were insisted upon. Four numbers only were at this time brought out under his own eye at Berlin; they appeared, however, in less than six months, thus supplying new proof of the unwearied energy of the author.

As we have already remarked, this volume might be regarded as an improved edition of a part of the Miscellania. The first number is occupied wholly with what we have designated a Monograph of Antelopes. Here the general description is somewhat altered, and sixteen species are enumerated; and to the minute account of the Grim, that of the Cervicapra is added; the second fasciculus contains the Apis Æthiopicus and the coney or cavia, both of which are somewhat further illustrated; the third is wholly occupied with bats, and another new species is added, the Cephalotes of Geoffrey; and the last treats of the crane before mentioned, and the crested and mitred guinea-fowls of Africa.

But the work, together with Pallas’s residence in Berlin, were brought to a sudden close, by his being invited by the Empress Catherine II. to accept of the professorship of natural history in the Imperial Academy of Sciences at St Petersburg; and although in this instance his father and other relatives again refused their assent, yet his own ardent zeal for his favourite science induced him, without a moment’s hesitation, to accede to the invitation, and to hasten his departure for a country where his curiosity was so likely to be amply gratified. He accordingly quitted his native land in June 1767, and arrived in Petersburg on the 10th of August.

His stay, however, was likewise very short in this capital, as his services were almost immediately put in requisition in connexion with an important and extended scientific expedition. The reigning Empress was excited to promote this measure by a somewhat curious circumstance. At the time of the transit of Venus over the sun’s disk in 1763, the French government despatched the Abbé Chappe d’Auteroche to Tobolsk to make the required observations; and he, on his return, published an account of what he had seen, the sarcastic tone of which so irritated the Empress that she took the trouble, it is stated, to refute him herself. On this account, too, she was unwilling that foreigners should again undertake the examination of a similar transit of Venus in 1769, and she therefore appointed astronomers of the Imperial Academy to undertake it, conjoining with them naturalists also, who were to examine and report on the face of the country. To this latter project she was the more excited, from her recently having made a progress down the Volga and through the interior provinces of European Russia. She had then become aware of the great deficiencies of the existing topographical and geographical information, and saw the advantages which would accrue from deputing learned and skilful men to visit the distant provinces of her extensive dominions, with a view to enlarge the boundaries of science and extend a knowledge of the useful arts among the natives. On being made acquainted with these plans, Pallas immediately offered to accompany the expedition, and was eagerly accepted. In consequence of the orders of the sovereign, the Academy amongst others named Messrs Pallas, Lépéchen, Gmelin the nephew, Guldenstreedt, and Georgi as members of the commission, which upon the whole consisted of these five naturalists and seven astronomers and mathematicians, and of a great number of assistants, whose services were to be devoted to the several objects of pursuit. To Pallas was entrusted the preparing the general instructions for the naturalists, and he was gratified with the choice of his more immediate associates: on him too was conferred, at his own request, the conduct of the expedition to the east of the Volga, and towards the extreme parts of Siberia.

Pallas spent the winter previous to his departure in Petersburg; and in the midst of his innumerable preparations, found time for a multitude of scientific labours. He drew up a systematic catalogue of the animals in the museum of the Academy of Sciences; he arranged the celebrated collection of Professor Breyn of Dantzic, which has been lately purchased by Prince Orlof; and prepared for the press six additional numbers of the Spicilegia Zoologica, which were printed at Berlin, during his absence, under the direction of Dr Martin.⁸ The work, however, which produced the liveliest sensations at the time, was a memoir which was read to the Imperial Academy concerning the bones of the great quadrupeds which are so often found in Siberia; among which he recognized those of the elephant, rhinoceros, buffalo, and many others belonging only to intertropical countries, and in quantities which are quite enormous. These statements raised the attention of all the naturalists in Europe to these astonishing appearances, and excited an interest which has since yielded an abundant harvest.⁹

Our Naturalist set off from Petersburg in June 1768, and having passed through Moscow, and crossed the plains of European Russia, spent the winter at Simbirsk on the Volga, in the midst of those Tartars who were originally masters in Russia, but who have since devoted themselves to agriculture. He then moved forwards to Orenburg, which is the great rendezvous for the migratory hordes who wander over the salt deserts on the north of the Caspian, and who conduct the caravans which convey the commerce of India across the deserts. Descending the river Jaik, or Oural, he stopped at Gurief, a small Russian fortress upon the Caspian, and with much care examined that great sea, which formerly, according to him, was much more extensive, and whose ancient shores may still be recognized at a great distance from its present waters towards the north and west. Returning through the province of Orenburg, he spent the second winter at Ufa.

The year 1770 was employed in visiting the two slopes of the Oural mountains, and the numerous iron mines which have been worked among them; and which have supplied to many families, in a few generations, fortunes equal to those of European princes. In December he reached Tobolsk, the capital of Siberia, and there wintered. In 1771 he crossed the Altaïsk mountains, followed the course of the Irtish as far as Kolivan, where he inspected the celebrated silver mines, and finally arrived at Krasnoyarsk, a town upon the Enissey. In spring 1772 he set off for another district which is still richer in mines, and which belongs to the crown, on the northern slope of the Altay mountains, the great chain which extends from east to west, and which, by obstructing the south wind, imposes on Siberia a climate much more rigorous than its latitude indicates. After advancing still farther eastward, he crossed the great lake Baïkal, and traversed that mountainous country known under the name of Daourie, which extends to the frontiers of China. He here experienced so great a cold, that he witnessed the natural freezing of mercury,—which phenomena he minutely described. It was in these regions that he for the first time began to witness a complete difference from every thing seen in Europe: the plants assumed new forms, and the animals, of kinds altogether unknown to us, climbed the rocks, having wandered from the immense deserts of central Asia. After having met with a great many hordes who were half savage, he here at length discovered a civilized nation, but one whose civilization is very different from any thing seen in Europe; and he could not prevent himself from concluding that the Chinese were a race distinct from the others, so far back at least as the last great catastrophe of the globe, and which in its developement had followed a course alike isolated and peculiar.

Retracing his steps, after having passed a second winter at Krasnoyarsk, our traveller returned in 1770 to the Oural and the Caspian, visited Astrakan, and there studied the manners and characters of the Indians, Buchares, and other inhabitants of southern and central Asia who unite in composing the extraordinary population of that city. He then resorted to the Caucasus, the great nursery of the white races of mankind,—as the mountains of Daaurie appear to be of those of a yellow hue. He again passed the winter at the foot of that range which separates the Volga from the Tanaïs, and finally returned to Petersburg on the 30th of July, after an absence of six years. During the time that he himself pursued the principal route, he was in the habit of despatching several of his young associates in different directions to investigate whatever was important, and then carefully availed himself of their observations.

Five goodly quartos, with another of plates,¹⁰ were the immediate result of these travels. We say immediate, because their publication did not wait the return of the author, but, on the contrary, according to the plan prescribed by Count Orlof, president of the Academy, the MSS. were sent every year to Petersburg, and were published as soon as they arrived. In consequence probably of this plan, very different estimates have been made of the character of these “Travels;” and whilst some have conferred on them the highest eulogiums, more perhaps have bestowed only limited praise. As exhibiting the sentiments of the former of these classes, we shall adduce only the testimony of the illustrious De Saussure, a no less competent than an unexceptionable judge. He says,

The accounts of these long and painful journeys comprehend all that can interest the naturalist and the statesman; and they are perhaps the grandest and most beautiful specimen of this kind of work which we possess.

With this we connect the criticism of the judicious Cuvier:—

It may easily be supposed that thus working in haste, and in these solitudes, without books and every means of reference, the author must necessarily have fallen into some errors, insisted upon familiar matters as if they were unknown, and been guilty of repetition. It must moreover be conceded, that he might have infused more life into his narrative, and given greater prominency to the more interesting objects which he met. It can scarcely be questioned that the long and dry enumeration of mines and forges, and the often repeated catalogues of common plants and birds he encountered, do not supply agreeable reading. He does not carry his readers along with him, nor, like more fortunate authors, pourtray the features of Nature’s grandeur to the eye, nor the singular peculiarities of those who passed under his review. At the same time, however, it must be allowed, that the circumstances in which he wrote were any thing but favourable. Long winters of six months duration, spent in a miserable cabin, with black bread and brandy for his only luxuries, at a temperature which froze mercury, and a summer’s heat almost insupportable the few weeks it lasted; with his time fully occupied in clambering rocks and fording morasses, in pioneering a road through thick forests, amidst myriads of insects which darken the air, and almost devour you, amongst people who bear the stamp of all the miseries of their country, generally disgustingly dirty, often frightfully ugly, and always dreadfully stupid,—all this could not but damp the liveliest imagination.

In encountering these very different estimates of our author’s most voluminous work, it will be well to consider the real aim he had in view. He undertook a journey over regions which were almost wholly unknown to the civilized world; he did so at the country’s expense, and under the most favourable and illustrious auspices; expectation was in the last degree excited, and curiosity was impatient for gratification, so that each volume was published as it was filled. Under these circumstances the work could only be considered as a journal or itinerary, and it should never be regarded in any other light. This was unquestionably the light in which the author himself regarded it, as it was the view taken by his contemporaries, and hence the high mead of praise they so invariably bestowed upon it. As the author himself. remarks,

the encomiums which many learned men have bestowed on this treatise have been most flattering to me; and I can affirm that the only knowledge I have of them is from their works and general reputation. I regard their suffrage as a most ample reward for all my fatigue and suffering, though at the expense of my health; and I am content, because I have fulfilled the wishes of my sovereign and the Academy.

His own apology, and his plan, must we think be satisfactory to every one:

I shall mention only what appears to me the most necessary, and I shall do it as laconically as I can. I have bestowed the most scrupulous care on all my observations; in my estimation, truth is the first requisite of the traveller, and it has been my principal object in my own remarks, and in all the observations of others which I repeat. If I had had time at my disposal, and a library at my back, my work would have been more beautiful and richer. I may possibly have inserted some remarks which will be regarded imperfections by many, but I owe them to a class of readers who find them agreeable: I have only had two months to prepare this great volume, and I therefore anticipate indulgence.

Probably the most satisfactory method of enabling the reader to form his own estimate of the style and merit of this work will be to present him with some extracts; and though these must be necessarily few and short, yet from the pervading uniformity, they may prove sufficient.

This day the ice broke up on the Samara (a tributary of the Volga); on the 9th of April the waters began to rise, and on the 11th the Volga was so far cleared that two-thirds of its bed was free of ice. The north wind which prevailed on the 13th very much hastened the descent of the ice, till the 15th, when it was entirely free. It rarely happens that the opening of the river is later than this date, and sometimes it is accomplished in March. The weather was beautiful and the country was covered with flowers by the middle of April. The willow and hazel-nut began to flower on the 14th; between the 15th and the 17th, all the cleared spots were strewed with patentilla and spring Adonis, and the star of Bethlehem. Violets and anemonies surrounded the shrubs in full blossom. The birch and service now put on their summer garb, as did most other shrubs by the 20th. The almond-tree and the wild cherry, the tulip and scented iris, blue and purple, yellow and white valerians, astragulus, and very many other flowers were in blossom before the 20th of April, and formed an agreeable carpet upon all the hills. The wild apple and the arbutus, which is very common about Samara, were in flower by the end of the month, as well as the fruit-yielding robinia and the prickly cysticus, which generally affects all the moist parts of the moors.

Birds of passage had made their appearance at an earlier date. By the 19th of March we noticed flocks of geese and wild swans; by the 25th, quantities of all sorts of ducks appeared in the free parts of the river; lapwings did not show themselves till the 26th, but before the end of March all the aquatic birds had arrived. I have remarked, that not only in these countries, but generally throughout Europe, those birds of passage come from the west and north-west; whilst it is also true that the bittern and the stork, of which there is a species here quite white, as also cranes and other land-birds, come about the same time from the south. The common and ash-coloured crow appeared about the middle of March, and consequently were the first visitors of that class: the wood-pigeon, the starling, and the alpine lark appeared only towards the end of the month; they come in flocks, and are as common as sparrows Among the latest visitants was the beautiful hoopoe, and it too was in great numbers. Insects appeared at the same time as the flowers. Notwithstanding the extraordinary heat, and the great number of insects, swallows did not arrive before the 16th of April, though they preceded the wasp. This is a proof that swallows are really birds of passage; because, if not, they should have arrived at least at the same time with the insects. The fable of swallows hybernating at the bottom of the streams, is unknown in Russia; although there is not a country in the world where fishing is prosecuted with greater ardour, and where the net is so much employed, both in winter and spring.—T. i. 224–227.

One other specimen we shall supply.

It would be difficult to find a more delightful locality than the neighbourhood of Samara. It is rich in superb forests of birch and aspens, occasionally mixed with firs, and varied by hills and rich meadows. Few countries more deserve to be peopled. It abounds in rich arable land and green valleys, and here are found in great numbers every variety of the elk and deer. These separate during the winter, in the woods and thickets which skirt the rivers and streams, as well as over the moors and mountains. There the elks browse upon the young shoots and bark of the aspen and poplar, which grow in great luxuriance: they here also find excellent shelter in summer, and abundant nourishment upon the mountains and heaths. The roe-buck thrives equally well, as the wind sweeps the snow from the heights, and they feed on the herbs thus exposed. The Cossacks every year kill a great number of these animals. They pursue them chiefly in March: at this period the power of the sun melts the surface of the snow, and the evening cold produces a layer of ice, which enables them to move over it with wooden shoes, whilst the poor animal sinks deep with its hard and sharp hoofs. They track their footsteps into the valleys where the snow is deep, and fire as soon as within gunshot; and the dogs, which can run wonderfully on the snowy crust, so arrest their flight, that the hunters approach and despatch them with their lances. The skins are greatly esteemed, and sell at a high price; they are beautiful, very light, and almost water-proof.—T. i. 304–305.

We mentioned in a former page that Pallas prepared the instructions for the guidance of the zoologists, and they were fully as ample as these documents usually are. And now we may venture to add, that with scarcely an exception, there was not a single subject indicated, on which he did not bestow a most enlightened and unceasing attention, and accomplished all that could be desired, in a way that is alike calculated to excite wonder and admiration. The “Travels” are filled with an infinity of judicious and learned remarks, and present much information of the highest value to history generally, and to that of our race especially. Man, and still more the various tribes he encountered, receive a large share of attention; their natural dispositions and habits; their religions, superstitions, rites, and ceremonies; their diseases, and popular and peculiar remedies; along with their languages, in their various affinities and contrasts; as also the important subject of antiquities, connected with architecture, sepulture, &c.; likewise their employments, whether in agriculture and horticulture, including the rearing of cattle and horses, the management of forests and vineyards, the production of dye-stuffs, drugs, cotton, mulberries, silk-worms, bees, cochineal; or in arts and manufactures, as of leather, pottery, potash, soda, sulphur, vitriol, ardent spirits, wines, &c.; not forgetting their fisheries, so requisite among those observing the superstitions of the Greek church; and their trade and commerce generally;—these, and similar matters, obtain all due regard. Geology and mineralogy are scarcely second in his regards, and we might extract volumes on this subject alone which could not be read but with the deepest interest. He descants largely on salt lakes and mines, on sulphur mines, lakes and rivers, on many of the rarer minerals, and very largely on mining, especially of iron, copper, and silver. Some of our readers may remember that of those extraordinary bodies the metallic stones, one of the most famous has the name of Pallas attached to it, from his being the first who made it generally known. It was isolated on the surface, upon the top of a mountain, far from every appearance of any volcano or mining operation, and weighed 1600 pounds. The metal was quite maleable when cold, was cavernous, and studded with quartz. The Tartars declared it had fallen from heaven, and regarded it as sacred. The famous chemist Berzelivs has lately devoted his attention to the composition of many of these stones, which he divides into two species, and among others to that of Pallas.¹¹ Our author’s minute and very interesting details, we must altogether omit.

It is not because the author has given an inferior attention in these Travels to natural history that we notice it last, but for the very opposite reason: this was certainly to have been expected, and in all its departments there are never ending acute and most interesting statements. In addition to all the information in the body of the work, he subjoins at the end three supplements in Latin which contain a classical description of three hundred and ninety-five quadrupeds, birds, reptiles, fishes, insects, worms, and plants which he had examined with care, and many of which were new, or previously imperfectly described.

It was here was supplied the first description of an extinct rhinoceros which was found in December 1771, in the Vilui, a branch of the Lena, where was found the somewhat similar fossil elephant in 1801. It was considerably advanced towards decay, imbedded in a sandy bank, six feet above the water. It measured about eleven feet in length and ten and a half in height. The carcase of the animal, in all its bulk, was still covered with skin; but it was so far gone that only the head and feet could be removed. Pallas says,

I saw the parts, at Irkutsk, and at the first glance perceived they belonged to a rhinoceros fully grown; the head especially was easily distinguished, since it was covered with the hide, which had preserved its organization, many short hairs remaining upon it. The country watered by the Vilui is mountainous, and the strata horizontal: they consist of sandy and calcareous schists, and beds of clay mixed with great quantities of pyrites. * * * Near the spot and close to the river there is a little hillock of about ninety feet elevation, and which, though sandy, contains beds of grind or mill-stone. The body of the rhinoceros was buried in a coarse sandy gravel, near this hillock; and the nature of the soil, which is always frozen, must have preserved it. The ground is never thawed to any great depth near the river. In the valleys, where the soil is half sand and half clay, it. is still frozen, at the close of summer, two feet below the surface. Had it not been for these circumstances, the skin and other soft parts could not have been so long preserved. This creature could not have been transported from the torrid zone to these frozen regions, except at the time of the deluge; the ancient chronologies being silent concerning any later change, to which might be attributed these remains of the rhinoceros, mammoth, &c. every where found throughout Siberia.—T. iv. 130.

It is in this work likewise that we find the first detailed account of the Dziggtar or wild horse of Tartary, which the natives assert is the swiftest of animals, the fleetest of horses not being able to approach it. Its whole natural history is most fully dwelt upon (T. iv. 306), but must here be omitted, as must also many notices we had marked about domestic cattle, sheep, goats, seals, ermines, hares, &c.

And as with these mammalia, so must it be with birds. His notice concerning the golden eagle (Chrysetos) is very curious, and we think new. He remarks,

There is another singular branch of commerce: the Russians sell many golden eagles in barter to the Tartars. These birds are very much in request by the Kirguis, who train them to chase the wolf, the fox, and the gazelle. According to certain markings and movements, these people judge of the bird’s excellence and its capability of being trained. A Kirguis will often give a first-rate horse for an eagle of good breed, whilst he will not give a sheep, or a halfpenny, for one in which he does not discover the requisite qualities. I have sometimes seen them seated for hours over an eagle, examining its merits and defects. (T. i. 36–38 362.)

Some of his statements respecting the pelican are also singular:—

They congregate in troops of twenty on the banks of the rivers and bays; and on commencing their fishing in concert, they arrange themselves in an extended line, and altogether beat the watch with their wings, to attract the fish, which they then seize upon. They seek their food principally before day-break and about mid-day, and they entirely clear of fish every lake they visit. When they do not find either lakes or ponds, which they prefer, they resort to the Oural. They are of a prodigious size, measuring five feet from beak to tail and eight feet and a half across the wings, and weighing from eighteen to twenty-five pounds. (Ib. 589.)

With a curious remark concerning the starling, we shall dismiss his notices on ornithology.

The river-starling, so common in Russia and Siberia, and so rare elsewhere, frequents the territories of the Oural in great numbers. We may affirm with great certainty, that this bird dives, without wetting itself, into the deepest streams, to catch the water-snails and other worms which are found in the bed of the river. When shot, but not killed on the frozen edges of the stream, they immediately dive, and do not reappear on the surface till they are dead. We are not, however, to conclude that this bird swims, since it has not the necessary instruments; but it flies, so to speak, in the water; and it has probably the power of hooking itself to the bottom of the river whilst searching for its prey. (Ib. 146.)

We must now bring these extracts to a close, and must altogether deny ourself and readers the pleasure which might be derived from his numerous notices on ichthyology, and the various modes in which the fisheries are conducted; as also on entomology, including so many of the attractive wonders of the insect world; and so likewise, finally, must we omit the whole wide field of botany, not one specimen of which ever seems to have escaped his piercing and scrutinizing glance.

But the many objects which during these six years of travel Pallas had witnessed, and which were alluded to in the work on which we have been dwelling, had taken too strong a hold on his imagination to permit him to be content with the somewhat hasty sketches he supplied in this journal; he had extensively and deeply studied man and animals, the crust of the earth, and whatever is found upon it; and meditating on his remarks, they became the subjects of so many distinct treatises, to which he devoted all his powers. He now published “The History of the more remarkable Animals of Siberia, including the Musk Ox, the Glutton, the Sable, the White Bear, &c.;” histories which are so full and admirably given, that, according to Cuvier, no animal, even the commonest among ourselves, are so well known. He also introduced to notice a new species of wild cat (Nov. Com. Pet. ann. 1781), and supplied information on the wild ass of the desert (Act. Petr. i.); also concerning the small buffalo or yak, and regarding those small yellow foxes (Canis corsac) of northern India which some believe to be the pretended golden ants of Herodotus. (Neve Nordische Beytrage, 1. 29.) Cuvier remarks,

It is a pity that Buffon did not acquaint himself with these invaluable memoirs, the simple translation of which would have made an admirable addition to his work.

The Lepus and Mus genera alone, including hares, rats, and mice, supplied materiais for a quarto of two hundred and sixty pages (Nov. Spe. Quadrup. e. Glirium Ordine) with many beautifully illustrative engravings; a striking warrant and example for our present work, and for those monographs we are making it our business to supply. There are thirty-two engravings of the genus Mus alone, frequently illustrative not only of their general appearance, but of their habits, layers, food, and capture. The following is Cuvier’s estimate of this work:—

The history and anatomy of these animals are unfolded with that rich amplification of which Buffon and Daubenton alone had previously set the example; and although, from modesty, the author has not established new genera, yet his descriptions are so precise, that any intelligent systematist may easily extract the generic characters from them.

In 1781, he began a work which he meant particularly to dedicate to the insects of Russia (Icones Insectorum, &c.), although only two numbers appeared. But it is quite impossible here to enumerate in detail the numerous quadrupeds, birds, reptiles, fishes, mollusca, worms, and zoophytes, of which he at this time published the original description. The simple enumeration of the memoirs which he sent to the various. academies to which he belonged, would occupy much room. He was not even alarmed at the prodigious project of a general history of the animals and plants of the Russian empire; and he had really made great progress in its execution, although the labour must have presented innumerable difficulties.

Pallas’s circumstances, perhaps, still more than his tastes, contributed to make him a devoted botanist. Having in 1781 published “A Catalogue of the Plants in Mr Demidof’s Garden at Moscow,” (Enumeration Plant., &c.), the Empress, whose love of the magnificent was flattered with the idea of a “Flora Russica,” [vol. 1, vol. 2] directed all the herbaria which had been collected by previous travellers to be sent him, and engaged him to undertake the work, she becoming responsible for the expense. Pallas himself had made very considerable collections, and the work promised to extend widely our knowledge of the vegetable kingdom. Two volumes only, however, appeared, which contain principally trees and shrubs; and this because in Russia, as in most other kingdoms, a change of ministry puts a stop to those most important publications, when the new government has no immediate interest in them. Our author endeavoured subsequently to exhibit part at least of his botanical discoveries, in less magnificent works, and by foreign assistance. These volumes of the Empress truly merit the appellation of magnificent; so much so, that they are almost beyond the attainment of private individuals. They are of imperial folio size, and the coloured plates amounting, if we remember right, to nearly a hundred, of large dimensions and high finish, are truly beautiful and_ satisfactory. Each plant is exhibited in its different stages of growth, on different branches,—the bud, leaf, flower, and fruit. The last plate is a finely coloured representation of specimens of most of the native woods which are used for economic purposes, amounting, we think, to about twenty-five varieties. His next work on botany was the history of the Astraguli; then another on the Halophytes, and others on Absinthes and the Armoises; but the progress of the last was arrested by the miseries of the German war.

The interruption to the Professor’s Flora Russica did not prevent him from undertaking, as we before hinted, a work equally extensive on the animals (Fauna Asiat. Russica) of the empire, a region which nourishes nearly all those of Europe, the greater part of those of Asia, and which possesses a great number that are peculiar to itself. One volume of this work was printed at Petersburg; but for several years at least it was not published. (Eloge, 135.) Pallas laboured at it till his last days, and had completed the manuscript, including all the vertebrate animals; and M. Rudolphi, who had seen the work, states that it described many new species and contained many interesting views.

Nor was Pallas engrossed only with his own publications, but with much kindness and praiseworthy zeal he exerted himself to do justice to the memories of his less fortunate associates. Though during his travels and afterwards, much annoyed with ophthalmia, one of his most distressing but not most dangerous complaints, yet he had fared better than most of the others, few of whom lived to publish the relation of their adventures. Both Gmelin and Guldenstredt had fallen victims in the service, and Pallas, in 1784, undertook the task of publishing their papers, and executed it with great diligence and accuracy; though we believe that these works, like several more peculiarly his own, but very partially saw the light. It was about this time that our naturalist was distinguished by a peculiar mark of imperial favour, in being appointed member of the Board of Mines, with a salary of £200 a-year, and honoured with the order of Vlodimir. The Empress likewise purchased his ample collection of natural history, in a manner highly flattering to the owner and honourable to herself. Being informed that he was desirous of disposing of the collection, the Empress informed him that the country could not be deprived of so excellent a museum; that she would become the purchaser, at the same time desiring him to make out the catalogue and fix the price. He accordingly named fifteen thousand rubles. Having examined the catalogue, she subjoined, with her own hand,

Mr Pallas understands natural history much better than figures: he ought to have charged twenty thousand instead of fifteen thousand rubles, for so many valuable articles. The Empress, however, takes upon herself to correct the mistake, and hereby orders her treasurer to pay twenty thousand. At the same time, Mr Pallas shall not be deprived of his collection, which shall still continue in his own possession during his life, as he so well understands how to render it most useful to mankind.

It has been acutely observed, that it rarely happens that men who are very assiduously occupied in such multifarious enterprises have the requisite opportunities and powers for originating those master ideas which effect great changes in the sciences; but Pallas was an exception to this rule. It has already been noticed that he all but changed the face of zoology; and it has been stated upon high authority, that he was really the instrument of effecting a revolution in geology, concerning what has been called the theory of the earth. An attentive examination of the two great mountain ranges of Siberia, led him to the recognition of this general rule, which has since been universally verified, that there is a regular succession in the three primitive orders of mountain rocks, viz. that there is a granite in the middle, then schists lying upon it, and, lastly, limestone strata the most external. Cuvier says,

It may be stated that this great fact, clearly expressed in 1777, in a memoir read to the Petersburg Academy (Act. Petro. 1778 1777) in the presence of Gustavus III. King of Sweden, gave birth to a new view of geology; and that Saussure, Deluc, and Werner, starting from this observation, arrived at a correct knowledge of the true structure of the earth, very different indeed from the absurd ideas of previous writers.

All the writings on which we have hitherto dwelt, more especially belong to the department of natural history im the more extended signification of the term; this, however, is not the case with regard to our author’s history of the Mongolian nations.¹² A work which must interest every well educated man, for it is perhaps the most classical treatise on the varieties of our race that exists in any language.

The name of Mongul might be extended to all those tribes of the north and east of Asia, whose oblique eyes, yellow complexion, black and lank hair, slender beard, and projecting cheek bones, make them appear so frightful to us; and one tribe of which ravaged Europe, under Attila, in the fifth century. At the same time the name belongs more especially to another tribe, which, under Gengis-Khan, in the eleventh century, established the basis of the most formidable dominion which the world has ever seen. China, India, Persia, and the whole of Tartary, were necessarily subjected to its sway; Russia, too, was rendered tributary, and irruptions were made into Poland and Hungary. In a very few ages, however, the fortunes of these invaders became changed: they were driven from China and Persia; they were extirpated in India, subjugated by the Russians in the western part of their ancient conquests, and by the Chinese in the country of their origin; and since that time they have been able to preserve only a few independent establishments in some districts to the west of the Caspian, where they follow a pastoral life, a great number wandering, as did their ancestors, over the immense deserts of central Asia, expecting that the discord or the decay of neighbouring empires may permit some enterprising adventurer again to summon them to new conquests. It is this desire that Russia and China seek to thwart, by sowing dissension among them, by reducing their number, and by sometimes transplanting them to enormous distances, when they have a pretext after a meeting or rebellion. And, nevertheless, in this persecuted state, these unfortunate men maintain all the pride of rank and nobility; they preserve their long genealogies, and their princes cabal against each other, and intrigue at the court of their chief for the augmentation of authority. The grand Lama, too, who rules over their consciences through the agency of a religious corps, confers, by his patents, what is esteemed a sacred character on this authority; and thereby subjects himself to much trouble and vexation. We cannot convey a better idea of those constant agitations, than by reciting an event narrated in detail by Pallas, and which gives an idea of those famous migrations which formerly constituted a remarkable epoch in the history of Europe. An entire people, who, after the conquest of Kien-Long, lately emperor of China, had fled for refuge to the Russian territory, and who had been established since the year 1758, in the rural district of Astrakan, having become dissatisfied, and, moreover, influenced by the intrigues of their chief Lama, resolved twelve years afterwards to return to the country which had been subjugated by China. Their preparations continued for many months without their secret being divulged; and, finally, on an appointed day in the commencement of 1771, the whole nation, men, women, and children, to the amount of more than 60,000 families, marched off in three divisions, with their tents, their flocks, their baggage, and all they could pick up in their route either of men or wealth. Thus did they travel 1500 miles without being arrested by the troops which pursued them, nor by opposing rivers, nor by the intermediate hostile tribes, nor by the mortality which prevailed among them and their cattle. We believe that no other event of the sort, to the same extent, had previously occurred, since the flight of the Israelites from the land of Egypt.

Pallas does not treat only of the origin and physical characters of these people, nor of their manners and government, but devotes a large portion of his work to an account of their religion, which is truly shocking and singular in its essence and history. It is not a little astonishing that this work has not been translated either into French or English, whilst every day increases the number of travels which are of infinitely less value. Mr Tooke says in his Russia Illustrata,

This is a work that will enrich the stock of human knowledge with discoveries, the greatest part entirely new, and which no person but Professor Pallas is able to communicate.

A most important part of the history of nations, and one which enables us to penetrate farther into the antiquity of their history than all written documents, is the knowledge of their language. It is by it we can judge of their origin, and can better follow their genealogy than by all their traditions; and there is no government which can more promote this important study than that of Russia, whose subjects speak sixty different languages. Catherine II. conceived the ingenious idea of making a digest of the vocabularies of all the tribes which yielded obedience to her sceptre: she actually commenced this work herself, and then charged Professor Pallas, who was the individual who had seen most of these hordes, and was best acquainted with their language, to collect together all the Asiatic vocabularies, at the same time restricting him to a list of words which she had drawn up. Hence the two quartos under the title “Linguarum totius Orbis Vocabularia Comparatica.” It is not matter of astonishment that a woman and a sovereign did not happen to make the best possible selection, nor act with as correct views as a scholar would have done; but it is difficult to conceive how those she engaged to co-operate with her, did not venture to point out to her the imperfection of her plan, seeing it is very clear that a dry vocabulary could never supply an idea of the mechanism and genius of a language. But notwithstanding all this, the treatise before us is a truly valuable work, and has been useful in promoting the researches of other learned men.

The Empress seemed never to weary in giving her favourite Naturalist fresh proofs of her partiality and confidence. He was appointed a member of the commission which was selected in 1777 to prepare a new topography of the empire; he was also elected historiographer to the admiralty, an office which obliged him to give attention to many scientific questions connected with the navy; and the Grand Duke Alexander, lately Emperor, and his brother, the present Grand Duke Constantine, received his instructions on the subjects of natural history and physics.

Thus employed in so truly an honourable manner by government, distinguished by titles corresponding to his employments, and esteemed by all the learned men in Europe, Pallas enjoyed at Petersburg all the consideration which could be paid to him in his two-fold character of a foreigner and a literary man; but it would likewise appear that his long habit of travelling, like that of a savage life, made him impatient of a stated residence in a city.

Equally tired of a sedentary life and of the influx of the fashionable world, whether foreign or native, for which the mansion of so celebrated a man was the natural rendezvous, he eagerly seized the opportunity which the conquest of the Crimea afforded of visiting new countries, and spent the years 1793 and 1794 in travelling, at his own expense, over the southern provinces of the empire. He was accompanied by an able draftsman and other professional assistants, who afforded him all possible facilities for improving his opportunities; and hence his published work is literally crowded with sketches of all sorts, with views, maps, &c.

He again visited Astrakan, and travelled over the frontiers of Circassia,—that mountainous region, which supports some of the finest races of the species. This country is also remarkable for the great number of tribes, differing in language and appearance, which it maintains in its ravines,—the small remnants of those nations which traversed it at the time of the vast migrations of mankind,—the Huns, the Allans, the Bulgarians, and those many other barbarians, whose very names were almost as terrible as their cruelty, and who left colonies amid the precipices of the Caucasus; and hence it has been remarked, that we may here find mankind in samples. An account of these travels appeared in German in 1799, in French in 1801 1805, and in English in 1802. The plan pursued, and the style of these volumes, are very similar to those of his earlier “Travels,” already dwelt upon. As this is the only work of our author, which we have seen, to which the English reader can have access, we shall quote a paragraph which may help him to form his own estimate both of the original and the translation, which, upon the whole, is excellent:—

The Asiatic method of rearing silk-worms is preferable to the Russian. The Persian rears his mulberry trees to about six feet high, which they attain in four or five years. He then begins to lop their tops and branches, which are given to the insects, as soon as they have sufficient strength, by placing them gently on their beds. By this means the shoots remain fresh and succulent, and the worms devour them even to the woody fibres, so that no part of the nutritive foliage is wasted. As these insects are every day supplied with food, the leafless branches gradually form a kind of wicker-work, through which the impurities pass; so that the cheerful worms preserve the requisite cleanliness without trouble to the cultivator, and speedily attain a vigorous state. In this manner they are continually supplied with leaves till they prepare to spin, when small dry brushwood is placed in all directions over the leafless branches, and on this the worms spin their silk.—(Vol. i. p. 190.)

But Pallas did not wish to incur risk by remaining among a people who are no less dangerous than they are interesting. He ere long, then, proceeded to the Crimea or ancient Taurica, that singular peninsula, which is flat and arid on the side next the continent, and bristled on the opposite side with mountains which enclose many a smiling valley. It Was in ancient times occupied by Grecian colonies, then during the middle ages by the Genoese, and afterwards inhabited by the Tartars, who speedily acquired peaceable dispositions, and, finally, it had lately fallen under the power of the Russians. It is matter of history, in what more than regal splendor Potemkin conducted his imperial mistress into this new conquered region, and by what profligacy of expense and despotism this favourite converted, for, some days, the sterile desert into the guise of a fertile and flourishing country. It has been said that Pallas partook of the delusion of his sovereign; or perhaps the contrast between the dreary plains of the north, and those agreeable valleys, with their southern exposure, delightful sea view, and rich vines and flowers, overcame him. He sketched a most enchanting picture of Taurida (Tableau Physique, &c. de la Tarida); and the proof that his genuine sentiments were therein expressed, is found in his desire to retreat thither himself.

It is likewise, however, true, that repose, of which he had long been deprived, was now become highly necessary for him. In his latter travels, whilst wishing to examine the banks of a river which was frozen over, the ice gave way, and he was precipitated into the water. At a distance from every convenience, he was transported many miles exposed to great cold, with very insufficient covering. This accident produced pains, which he hoped the mild climate to which he was resorting would abate; but, on the contrary, change of residence, far from assuaging, only added to his physical ailments more insupportable sufferings, disappointments, and anxieties.

The Empress, on being informed of Pallas’s desire to take up his abode in the Crimea, with much kindness gave him a grant of two villages which were situated in the richest district of the peninsula, along with a large mansion in the town of Symperopol, at that time chief city of the district, along with a considerable sum of money for his settlement. He resorted to this “scene of delights” at the end of the year 1795; but the climate, which had appeared so delightful during a short journey, eventually proved damp and variable; extensive marshes rendered the beautiful valleys pestilential in autumn; the winters also proved tempestuous, so that the inconveniences of both a northern and southern climate were experienced. Besides, the property which was conferred somewhat unceremoniously, found other claimants, which occasioned its new lord vexatious disputes and lawsuits. Finally, and more than all, Pallas had not sufficiently contemplated the void he would experience when removed from well educated men, and placed in a position where he could not enjoy the interchange of thought. Accordingly, he was now undeceived regarding his terrestrial paradise, and in the preface of the second volume of his “Travels,” he thus, in the year 1801, expresses his disappointment:—

Were this the proper place to inform my readers of the disquietude and hardships which oppress me in my present residence, and embitter my declining days, I could easily apologise for the late appearance of this volume.

But notwithstanding these feelings, he remained nine years longer in this country, occupied with the continuation of his works, and labouring also to accomplish a project which was very important for Russia, the improved culture of the vine, quantities of which he had planted in the valley of Sondac, the ancient Saldaca of the Genoese. He had satisfied himself that this country was the more suitable for its growth, because he supposed he had found the vine in its wild state, although probably it was nothing more than the degenerated stock of the ancient Grecian vineyards.

It was, when thus engaged, that he was visited by our countryman, Dr Clarke, whose account is interesting. He remarks:—

This city will long be celebrated as the residence of Professor Pallas, so well known to the literary world. His fame would have been sufficiently established, if he had published no other work than that began by him under such favourable auspices, the “Flora Rossica;” yet the barbarity of the people, with whom he is compelled to live, is such, that they will not allow him to complete the undertaking. The drawings are all finished, and almost all the text. To the hospitality and humane attentions of this excellent man we were indebted for comforts, equal, if not superior, to those of our own country, and for every literary communication it was in his power to supply. When we delivered our letters of recommendation to him, he received us rather as a parent than a stranger to whose protection we had been consigned. We refused to intrude by occupying apartments in his house: this had more the appearance of a palace than the residence of a private gentleman; but one day when we were absent upon an excursion, he caused all our things to be moved, and upon our return we found a suite of rooms prepared for our reception, with every convenience for study and repose. I consider myself indebted to him even for my life. The fatigue of travelling, added to the effect of bad air and unwholesome food, rendered a quartan fever so habitual to me, that, had it not been for his care and skill, I should not have lived to make this grateful acknowledgment. He prescribed for me; administered every medicine with his own hands; carefully guarded my diet; and, after nursing me as his own son, at last restored me to health. When I recovered, he ransacked his museum for drawings, charts, maps, books, antiquities, minerals, and whatever else might gratify our curiosity, or promote the object of our travels; he accompanied us upon the most wearisome excursions, in search not only of the insects and plants of the country, but also of every document likely to illustrate either its ancient or its modern history. His decline of life had been embittered by a variety of afflictions, which he bore with stoical philosophy. We used every endeavour to prevail upon him to quit the country and accompany us to England; but the advanced period of his life, added to the certainty of losing all his property in Russia, prevented his acquiescence. Our entreaties were to no effect; and perhaps before this meets the public eye, our friend and benefactor will be no more.¹³

These gloomy anticipations of Dr Clarke’s were fortunately disappointed. But time and circumstances, instead of reconciling Pallas to his lot, only agoravated all the privations and annoyances to which he felt himself subjected, and he could not be reconciled to his mode of life. All the marks of esteem, likewise, which he received from Europe, only increased his chagrin, and recalled to his vivid recollection the interests he had left behind. At length, therefore, having made up his mind to remove, he sold his property for a very inadequate price, bid a final adieu to Russia, and, after an absence of forty-two years, returned to his native land, with the intention of there terminating his days.

This change, to a man who had lived fifteen years in Little Tartary, was almost a return to another world. Some old friends, too, whom he rejoined, seemed almost to renew his youth; and he was always excited to warmth and eloquence when he listened to the account of the advance of science, the intelligence of which had penetrated most imperfectly into his solitude: his calmed mind now revived prodigiously under all these gratifications and delights.

The young Naturalists who had been created by his works, impressed with the admiration of his genius, though he had been to them an invisible oracle, listened to him as a superior being who was come to make his estimate of their acquirements; for his long absence had multiplied time, and interposed many generations between them and him. In the frank and ready approbation he bestowed on all new discoveries, they recognised, in this excellent old man, a mind above the common prepossessions of his years; and he always treated his new scholars, not as a churl, but as a father. It is true that he had never been disposed severely to criticise, and that in all his works he freely gave to his contemporaries their due praise; a practice which was not less meritorious as bestowed upon his pupils. It is likewise true, that he is, perhaps, of all naturalists of the eighteenth century, the one who has least been criticised by others. He has sometimes, indeed, been accused of a certain ardour in amassing from all quarters, and almost of monopolizing the observations and subjects of study selected by others; a conduct which is calculated to displease those whose, limited labours may readily be lost in the blaze of glory which legitimately belongs to the man who has conceived a vast plan, and without which an immensity of facts, which become useful chiefly from their approximation, would have been lost to science. Besides, he had never borrowed from others without rendering them explicit justice.

Thus restored to the country of his nativity, and to a circle of admiring friends, and more especially enjoying the society of a brother in whom long separation had only caused the natural affection more ardently to glow, and watched over by an only daughter who loved him with the utmost tenderness, Pallas looked forward to years of happiness. He read with the deepest interest all new works on natural history, and projected a visit to the towns of France and Italy which were richest in museums; and anticipated no small happiness in making the acquaintance of the eminent men he would necessarily have met with; whilst he would collect new materials which would enable him to put the last finish to his own labours. The germs, however, of those maladies which he had contracted during his travels and his sojourn in the Crimea, developed themselves with a severity and rapidity he had little expected. They seemed soon to be beyond the reach of medicine; and, as he had ever been employed, his closing days were spent in making arrangements for the continuation of those works which he left incomplete, in a way which promised the greatest utility and advantage.

He died on the 8th of September, 1811, having almost attained the limit of seventy years.

He was twice married, and left behind him a daughter, to whom we have just alluded. She became the wife, and afterwards the widow, of Baron Wimpfen, lieutenant-general in the Russian service, who died at Lunéville in consequence of wounds received at the battle of Austerlitz.

In the review of Pallas’s history, it is impossible not to recognise great sagacity, and the most devoted enthusiasm in his pursuits. The peace in which he lived with his competitors, very decidedly proclaims amiability, for it is difficult to attribute it only to prudence; and though nothing so much disposes to the exercise of benevolence as the experiencing it, yet it does not always happen that where a man is not assailed he does not attack others. Those who were personally acquainted with him commend the evenness and sprightliness of his disposition. He had no objection to pleasure as a relaxation, but would never allow it to interfere with his usefulness or repose. He was all his life greatly engrossed with his scientific pursuits, and experienced in them his chief and most satisfactory delights.

Appendix

Chronological List of some of the works of Pallas

The reader will please to remember, that we do not give the following as a complete list of our author’s Works; but, having experienced the want of such a catalogue our-selves, we have been at some pains, even partially, to supply the deficiency for the use of others. We trust it may be useful, so far as it goes, and may lead to a more perfect enumeration, which would be esteemed by all Naturalists.

• 1760. De Infestis Viventibus intra Viventia. Lugd. Bat. This is his Thesis, on becoming M. D.
• 1763. Fauna Insectorum Marchica. “A Description of the Insects in the March of Brandenburg.” So quoted in Rees.
• 1764. Pallas was this year elected Fellow of the Royal Society of London. He had previously presented a paper; and we have seen it noted that he sent three. The only one we have met is on the Siæna jaculatrix. Thomson’s Hist. Royal Society. He also sent Memoirs to the Acad. Caser. Nat. Curiosorum. But we cannot supply a list of them.
• 1766
  • Elinchus Zoophytorum, Sistens generum ad umbrationes generaliores et specierum cognitarum succinctas descriptiones. 8vo. Hagee-Comitum.
  • Miscellania Zoologica, quibus nove imprimis atque obscuree animalium species describuntur. Hage.
• 1767. Spicileyia Zoologica (Fascic. 4). 4to. Berlini.
• 1768–70. Spicilegia Zoologica (Fascic. 6). 4to. Berl.
• 1768. Descriptio tubulariæ fungionæ prope Wolodemerum mense Julio 1768, Observate. Nov. Com. Acad. Sc. Imp. Petro. 1768 1766–1767.
• 1769. De Ossibus Siberie fossilibus Crantis presertim rhinocerotum et buffalotorum Observationes (c. Tab.). Nov. Com. Petro., t. xiii.
• 1769. Descriptio Leporis pusilli (c. Tab.). Nov. Com. Petro., 1769.
• 1771–6
  • Voyages of Pallas (in German) in different Provinces of the Russian Empire , 3 vols. published respectively in 1772, 1773, and 1776, with many plates and maps. There are two editions of a very good French translation, by M. Gauthier de la Peyronée, one in 5 vols. 4to. with one of plates, with Notes on the Natural History by the Count Lacépède, 1788; and the other in 8 vols. 8vo. and one of plates, with Notes by Lamarck and Longles, in 1793.
  • An Account of the Rhinoceros found on the Banks of the Vilui in 1771. We cannot refer either to the exact date or work in which this memoir may be found.
  • Leporis minuti Descriptio, &c. “Dissert. de ’Acad. Imp. des Sciences de Petersburg,” (Cuv. Eloge).
  • Mustellæ Sarmatiæ Descriptio. “Nouv. Com. de Petro.,” t. xiv. p. 441.
  • Equus Hemionus. The Dzhiggtai or Wild Siberian Horse described. Nov. Com. Petro., t. xix. (Eloge).
• 1773–80
  • Some remarkable Quadrupeds of Siberia. (Four Nos.) Probably additional Nos. of Spicilegia Zoologica, quoted as under.
  • Spicilegia Zoologica, 14 Nos. 4to. Berlin, 1767–80.
• 1766 and 1801. Collection (in German) of Documents on the Political, Physical, and Civil History of the Mongul Tribes.
• 1777
  • Observations sur la Formation des Montagnes. Act. Petro., Part I. Published separately at Petersburg, and reprinted at Paris in 1779 and 1782. Mr Tooke has given a translation in his “Russia Illustrata.”
  • Obs. de dentibus molaribus fossilibus ignoti Animalis Canadensibus analogis, etiam ad Vralense jugum reperitis. Part II.
  • Obs. circa Myrmecophagum Afric. et Didelphidis novam speciem orientalem. Part II.
  • Description du Buffle a queue de Cheval, et Observations generales sur les espéces sauvage des gros Betail. Ib.
  • Obs. sur l’Ane dans son état sauvage, et sur le veritable Onagre des Anciens. Ib.; also in his
  • Neue Nordische Beyträge, t. ii. p. 22, pl. i.
  • Description of the small yellow Fox of northern India, in Neue Nordische Beyträge.
• 1778. Novæ Species Quadrupedum ex Glirium Ordine. 4to. Erlang.
• 1779
  • Descriptiones Plantarum Siberia peculiarium. Act. Petro.
  • Capra Caucasiea e Schedis A. J. Güldenstädt.
  • “Second Memoir on the Fossile Bones of the great Animals found in Siberia.” (Eloge).
  • Distinct Memoir on the Aerolite found in Siberia, (Cuv. Eloge).
• 1780
  • Mem. on the Degeneration of Animals. Act. Petro., Part II. (Eloge).
  • Galeopithicus volans Camellii descriptus. Act. Petro., Part I.
  • Sur les anciens travaux de Mines qu’on trouve en Siberie, et sur leurs rapports avec ceux de Hongrie. Act. Petro.
  • Descriptio Didelphis brachyuræ. Part II.
• 1781
  • Enumeratio Plantarum quæ in horto Procopii à demidof Moscua vigent. Act. Petro.
  • Felis Manul nova Species Asiatica. Act. Petr.
  • Sorices Aliquot illustrati. Sorex moschalus et S. myosurus c. Tabulis. Act. Petr.
  • New Northern Collection (in German) on various Subjects in Geography, Nat. History, and Agriculture, to which were afterwards added two more volumes (apud Rees).
• 1781–2. Icones Insectorum præsertim Russiæ Siberique peculiarium. 4to. Erlang.
• 1784–88. Flora Rossica, seu Stirpium imperii Rossii per Europeum et Asiam indigenarum descriptiones et icones [vol. 1, vol. 2], in fol. Petr. tom. ii.
• 1786–9. Linguarum totius Orbis Vocabularia Comparativa augustissime Cure Collecta, t. ii. in 4to. Petro.
• 1784 1787–91. Güldenstädt’s Remains, containing his Journal and Description of the Caucasus. (Rees.)
• 1799 1797Tableau physique et topographique de la Tauride, in Nov. Act. Petro., reprinted in Paris in 1800.
• 1799. Travels through the Southern Provinces of the Russian Empire, in the Years 1793–4, 2 vols. 4to. with many coloured plates. Published in German in 1799; in French, 1801 1805; in English in 1802.
• 1800. Species Astragalarum descripiew et iconibus coloratis instructæ illustratae. In folio, Leipsic.
• 1803. Illustrationes Plantarum imperfecte vel nondum Cognitarum. In folio, Leipsic.
• 1811–12. Zoographia Rosso-Asiatica, 3 tom. 4to. Petersburg.