Subtitle; The role played by the scientific societies; scientific journals; natural history museums and botanic gardens; state geological and natural history surveys; federal exploring expeditions in the rise and progress of American botany, geology, mineralogy, palentology and zoology.

Daniel Drake was a pioneering American physician and prolific writer. Born in New Jersey, his family moved to Kentucky, and by 1800 Drake was in Cincinnati, Ohio, studying to be a physician. He received the first medical diploma granted west of the Allegheny Mountains, and finished his studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He settled in Cincinnati, and was one of the founding organizers of the Medical College of Ohio, as well as an asylum, a church, a medical journal, and the Ohio State Medical Society. Drake wrote on medical matters, but was also interested in geology, botany, zoology, and climate. Dr. Drake was continually trying to improve his city, his profession, medical education, and scientific research generally. He addresses these subjects and more in his writings.