INTRODUCTION.
T he objects of Natural History collected by the last Overland
Expedition to the Polar Sea, under the command of Captain Sir
John Franklin, to which I was attached as Surgeon and Naturalist,
being too numerous for a detailed account of them to be comprised
within the ordinary limits of an Appendix to the narrative of thé
proceedings of the journey, I was desirous of making them known
to the world in a separate work. As it was necessary, however, in
order to render such a publication useful, that many of the subjects,
particularly in the Ornithological and Botanical parts, should be illustrated
by figures, the expense would have been an insurmountable
difficulty, had not His Majesty’s Government, actuated by a most
laudable desire of encouraging science, lent a liberal aid to the undertaking.
On an application, which had the approval of the Secretary of
State for Colonial Affairs, the Treasury granted one thousand pounds,
to be applied solely towards defraying the expense of the engravings.
A moiety of that sum has been allotted to the illustration of the
Quadrupeds and Birds, and the remainder to the Fishes, Insects, and
Plants ; and care has been taken, by employing only the first artists,
to render the plates worthy of the high patronage the work has
received; while their number will demonstrate the rigid economy
with which the funds for their execution have been distributed*.
* There are twenty-eight plates in this part; and fifty admirable coloured ones, of birds,
have also been executed. The botanical plates will likewise be numerous, and many of them
are already finished.
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