JOHN AND WILLIAM BARTRAM'S AMERICA

Fifth and latest in the American Naturalist Series, this record of the Pennsylvania father and son, John and William Bartram, clarifies their great contribution to the field of natural history. John, known as the ""Truth Teller"" to the Delaware Indians, lived from 1699 to 1777. He founded the first Botanic Garden in the new world and this book incorporates his descriptions of his travels in search of new plant life. Both father and son sent plant specimens to the leading European botanists of their time. William's accounts of his extensive journeys through Indian country -- south and west- are of livelier interest than his father's pedestrian reportage. Whether the fault lies in the original records- or in the selection made from them, is a moot question. Helen Cruickshank's own Flight Into Sunshine (1948) reveals a gift for sharing enthusiasm for natural history that this material lacks. Nonetheless, it is important source material for scientist and historian and of the early research in the field.