Here, in 1776, he published his “Elenchus Zoophytorum,” the first of his “great works,” to adopt the expression of M. Eyriès, which, for an author of twenty-five, was a remarkable performance. The “Miscellanea Zoologica,” which was published the same year, still further augmented his reputation. This work (I still borrow the language of the French geographer) threw a new light upon the least known classes of the animal kingdom, those which had hitherto been confounded together under the name of worms. These two publications carried far and wide the name of their author, and several governments sought to monopolize his talents. He would probably have given the preference to that of his own country, had he received from it the least encouragement; but, as too often happens, says M. Cuvier, it was at home that he was least respected. He therefore resolved to desert his country, and accepted a place in the Academy of St. Petersburg, which was offered him by Catherine II. Pallas’s private circumstances are nowhere, so far as I have been able to discover, properly explained. I know not, therefore, whether extreme poverty or vulgar cupidity determined him to take this step; but I cannot, without pain, contemplate men of abilities running about the world in search of wealth, ready to snatch at it from any hand, and no less ready, however base may be the donor, to repay the dishonourable obligation by despicable flattery and adulation. For this reason, in spite of the profound veneration with which I regard every thing like genius, which appears to be a spark of the Divine nature fallen from heaven, I cannot help considering Pallas as a learned and ingenious slave, cringing at the foot of power, and willing to perform all things at its bidding. Catherine, it is well known, was desirous that some of her own barbarians should observe in Siberia the transit of Venus over the sun’s disk in 1769, and not, as in 1763, leave the honour to foreigners. She therefore selected a number of astronomers from the Academy of St. Petersburg, and joined with them several naturalists, whose business it was to examine the nature of the productions and soil in this remote province of the empire. They were, in fact, instructed to make the most exact researches on the nature of the soil; on that of the waters; on the means of cultivating the deserts; on the actual state of agriculture; the diseases which chiefly prevailed among men and beasts; the means of curing or preventing them; the manner of rearing bees, silkworms, and cattle; minerals, and mineral waters; the arts, trades, and other industrious processes of each province; the plants, animals, the interior and the form of mountains; and, in short, on all the objects of natural history. The geography of the country, the manners of its inhabitants, and the traditions and monuments of antiquity were likewise included.