No traveler of modern times had thrown himself upon the success of his scientific observations, and I was hailed, by the scientific public, as the first one who had ever brought a collection of the mineral productions of the Mississippi Valley.

My collection, which was large and splendid, was the means of introducing me to men of science at New York and elsewhere.

Dr.
Samuel L.Mitchell and Dr.D.Hosack, who were then in the zenith of their fame, cordially received me.

The natural sciences were then chiefly in the hands of physicians, and there was scarcely a man of note in these departments of inquiry who was not soon numbered among my acquaintances.

Dr.John Torrey was then a young man, who had just published his first botanical work.