Editorial Type:
Article Category: Research Article
| Online Publication Date: 05 Nov 2007
Pehr Kalm: A Swedish Naturalist's Geological Observations in North America, 1748-1751
Pehr Kalm: A Swedish Naturalist's Geological Observations in North America, 1748-1751
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Page Range: 141 – 154
Pehr Kalm served as Carolus Linnaeus' eyes and ears in the New World (the American Colonies and French Canada) for three years in the mid 18th Century. Kalm was one of the first of many disciples to serve his mentor in his quest to classify everything animal, vegetable, and mineral for his all-encompassing inventory catalog, Systema Naturae. Kalm reported everything he encountered on his journey (resa) to North America in diary form similar to Linnaeus' accounting for his journeys, and he was every bit as keen an observer. His understanding of natural science (i.e. geology) was limited, but his observations on the subject, among the first in North America, were interesting, concise, and relatively detailed for the time.
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