Art. XXIII. An Address to the People of the Western Country.
Art. XXIII. An Address to the People of the Western Country.
A number of the citizens of Cincinnati have recently instituted a society for the collection, preservation, exhibition, and illustration of natural and artificial curiosities, particularly those of the western country. The first efforts of the managers will be directed to the establishment of a permanent museum, on a scale so comprehensive as to receive specimens of every thing curious which they may be able to procure. In attempting to form this repository, they must of course solicit the aid of their fellow-citizens in all quarters of the extensive region, whose ancient works and natural history they propose to illustrate. The following are the classes of objects that will especially attract their attention, and to which they are desirous, at an early period, of directing the views of the community:
1. Our metals and minerals generally, including petrifactions.
2. Our indigenous animals, embracing the remains of those which are now extinct.
3. The relics of the unknown people who constructed the ancient works of the western country.
4. The various articles manufactured, for ornament or use, by the present savage tribes.
The subjects of the first class are considered by the Society as extremely interesting. Every citizen of the western country must feel the necessity of a speedy developement of its mineral resources. To find beneath our own soil an adequate supply of the various minerals which are now imported at an enormous expense, must be regarded by all as a matter of the first and greatest importance. The managers are anxious to be instrumental in the advancement of this useful work, and earnestly solicit the co-operation of the public. They will be thankful for specimens of all the rare or curious minerals that may be discovered in this country. To every specimen that may be transmitted, a label should be attached, stating either the kind of rock or stratum to which it belonged, or its precise locality. Whenever it is required, the managers will have a part of any specimen which is sent to them, analyzed, and a correct report made of its nature, thus affording to the discoverer a full opportunity of availing himself of all the pecuniary advantages that may attend the discovery.
As objects of scientific interest, the managers intend, as early as possible, to commence the formation of a cabinet of petrifactions. The rocks of few other countries contain a greater number and variety of these animal remains of the ancient ocean, than the limestone districts of the Ohio and Mississippi. They both astonish and confound most of the travellers through this region; and although objects of familiar examination to ourselves, they have not been collected or described by our citizens. An extensive and well arranged cabinet of these extraneous fossils would afford, both to the zoologist and geologist, an exquisite feast. It is hoped that every specimen sent to the Society will be accompanied by a label, stating the place where it was found.
It is the wish of the Society to obtain and preserve specimens of all the native animals of this country. Most of the larger quadrupeds having receded before the unceasing extension of our settlements, are now so rare as to be unknown to all but our oldest emigrants. Measures will be taken by the managers to procure from the general retreat in the northwest, and exhibit to the people in the Ohio countries, a specimen of every quadruped which lately inhabited them; and while engaged in this enterprise, they hope to import from the same distant wilderness, a variety of the animals which are peculiar to it.
Our native birds have not retreated, like our quadrupeds, and are, therefore, within our reach. The managers hope to see the Society, in due time, in possession of a large collection of these beautiful animals. In the accomplishment of this undertaking, it is easy to perceive that the Society may be powerfully aided by the community: and a sanguine hope is entertained, that no backwardness or indifference will be manifested by those who may fortunately have it in their power to forward specimens.
In collecting the fishes and reptiles of the Ohio, the Mississippi, and the Lakes, the managers will likewise need all the aid which their fellow-citizens may feel disposed to give them. Although not a very interesting department of zoology, no object of the Society offers so great a prospect of novelty as that which embraces these animals. The managers, therefore, flatter themselves that they will not be suffered to proceed unaided in this portion of their labours.
The obscure and neglected race of insects will not be overlooked, and any specimens sufficiently perfect to be introduced into a cabinet of entomology, will be thankfully received.
The western country, from having afforded some of the most gigantic and curious remains of land animals which have yet been discovered, seems entitled to a museum of such relics. A collection of this kind will be one of the earliest objects of the Society. Its funds will be liberally expended for the purpose; and if aided by those who may be so fortunate as to discover any of the great bones which lie buried in our alluvial or bottom lands, the managers hope, at no distant period, to repair, in some degree, the losses which have been repeatedly sustained by exportation of these interesting fossils.
The third class comprises objects of very little utility, but of extraordinary interest. Nothing, indeed, presented by the western country seems to excite in a higher degree the curiosity of strangers, than the relics and vestiges of the extinct and comparatively civilized population with which it abounds.
The managers will make every possible effort to form an extensive collection of these remains.
It is extremely unfortunate for those engaged in researches concerning the objects of this class, that so many of them have been disseminated abroad. To study them successfully, it is necessary that they should be compared, and for this purpose they must be brought together. The managers hope, therefore, that such persons as now hold, or may hereafter possess any of these antiquities, will dispose of them to the Society, instead of sending them out of the country. In this way, and in this only, can a valuable collection of these unique curiosities be formed.
The remaining class comprehends the weapons, utensils, trinkets, and other manufactures of our neighbouring Indians, of which the managers hope, in a short time, to be able to exhibit a great variety.
The curiosities of this country are the primary, but not the exclusive objects of the Society. It proposes in due time to open a gallery of paintings, and thus offer to the lovers and cultivators of the fine arts, a few of those models which are absolutely necessary to the gratification and improvement of their taste.
The managers will be happy, moreover, to receive from such of their eastern brethren as are desirous of contributing to the amelioration and advancement of a new and remote community, any of the productions of foreign countries that may be calculated to promote this object; and will, in return, cheerfully exchange any specimens of the curiosities of this country which they can spare without injury to their collection.
They will, if required, pay a reasonable price for every article which may be deemed worthy of introduction into the museum. They intend to publish, annually, a catalogue of all the more valuable donations which may be made to the museum, with the names of the donors.
| Elijah Slack, |  |
| James Findlay, | |
| William Steele, | Managers. |
| Jesse Embree, | |
| Daniel Drake, |
Cincinnati, Sept. 15, 1818.
Caleb Atwater, Esq. of Circleville, Ohio, is engaged in writing Notes on the State of Ohio, a work which is intended to embrace the most important features and interests of this new and rising State.
To this laudable effort, and to that of the Western Museum Society, whose address is published above, we cordially wish success. From the zeal, talent, and industry of the gentlemen concerned, we have every reason to expect a happy result.
We view, with much satisfaction, the efforts which have been already made, and are rapidly increasing, to bring to light the resources, and to develope the history, of the western States; and it will always give us pleasure, if through the medium of this Journal, or in any other manner, we can contribute to promote them.