New-York tribune., 1905-02-24

well written account of the principal discov-
cries. the laboriously accumulated scientific data
Of the exploration have hitherto been lost TO the
world. DIR. Barton died, and the lack OF nnan-
cial success of the Biddle volumes was scarcely
an encouragement to any one else TO undertake
the task.
Two years later Jefferson collected such Of the
original notebooks and other material as ne
could locate and sent them to the American
Philosophical Society. Of Philadelphia, for sate-
keeping. and with the hope that the society
would publish "in their Transactions or other
wise" digest of the geological. vegetable d
neurological papers & subjects" The society
fled the documents but failed TO oct on the
suggestion. All this priceless, If incomplete, ma
terial lay secure but forgotten in the arcniVes Oh
the society for seventy-five years
In 1902 Dr. Elliot Coues. then engaged in pre-
pairing a new edition of the Bddle volumes
was informed of the existence of these original
papers, after his own work largely in type.
1t too late TO alter the entire plan of his
contemplated publication, and he compromised
by enriching his notes with excerpts from the
journals and in writing an additional chapter
which he inserted into the body of the book as
If it were a part of the Biddle text. Thus awak
ened TO the value of the material in its posses
sion the American Philosophical Society deter
mined at last TO carry out Jeffersons sugges-
tfon. and secured the cooperation Of the present
publishers. who engaged as editor DR.. Reuben
Gold Thwaites. secretary and superintendent Of
the Historical Society OF Wisconsin. and author
and editor of number OF works on American
exploration and discovery. Learning that some
of Clark's journals had not been delivered TO the
society," DR.. Thwaites instituted a search for
them and discovered several of the original
notebooks and other important papers, including
fvtx- data in fba 0@
the explorers heirs. Later he came upon the
journal of Private Whitehouse which. after a
quite romantic history, eventually came into the
possession Of the publishers, and is now the
property of Edward Everett Aver, of Chicago.
The journal of Sergeant Floyd had previously
been discovered QS93) by DR.. Thwaites among
the long neglected papers of the late Dr. Lyman
c. Draper, and had been acquired, through his
efforts, by the State Historical Society Of Wis
consin.
DR.. Thwnites has done notable service to
American history in the manner In which he
has carried out his share of the work. It has
been his plan TO print all the records of the
expedition now known to exist, exactly as they
were originally written. Where later notes and
emendations have been added by Clark, Biddle
and an unknown hand, these have been sys-
tematically indicated by the use of brackets
parentheses and italics. In the case Of the
narrative proper, the editor has generally print
ed the various drafts in the order of their prep
aration even where this method involves oc-
casional repetition of statement. The spelling
in all Its weird variations Especially in the
case OF Clarks notes., the capitalization and the
punctuation have been retained. With regard
to the scientific and statistical data, however,
the best version only has been presented. The
arrangement of chapters arbitrarily follows the
Biddle edition. as affording convenient chrono-
logical and geographical divisions and as hav-
ing acquired a certain historical and biblio-
standing. Praise is due to Mr.. Paltsts
for his characteristically precise photography.
In fact, it is hard to express a full apprecia-
ton of this work without seeming TO in
dulge overmuch IN superlatives. 1t is marked
throughout by the most thorough, reverent, yet
scholarship. and the publishers have
given it appropriate and appreciative setting
of fair white paper. beautifully clear typog-
raphy. generous margins and handsome binding.