THERE have been few expeditions of discovery that have so captured the interest of a whole nation and of scientific men all over the world as has the expedition of Lewis and Clark, the first white men to travel overland from St. Lewis to Puget Sound. Many books have been written about that trip; the journals of the two leaders have been published and reprinted many times; and a few authors have attempted to set down a brief account of the life of the leader of the expedition. Of these Thomas Jefferson has written by far the best account but Mr. Wilson has taken upon himself the task of writing the first formal biography of Merriwether Lewis.

Despite his enthusiasm for the vigorous pioneer life which continually comes to the fore in descriptions such as that of Lewis as a "youthful captain. . . . . straight as a white oak. . . . . and steady of eye and trigger-finger", Mr. Wilson must have soon learned why others had not attempted to write a biography of his chosen hero. Lewis was far from being an outstanding man and except for his leadership of the Expedition of Discovery (whose success may with greater justice be attributed to William Clark, the second in command) which he received through the patronage of Thomas Jefferson, we may be sure that the name of Merriwether Lewis would never have been recorded in history except as a moderately successful army officer beaten down by a morbid sense of solitude.

Lewis was born and brought up within a short distance of Monticello and was so fortunate as to receive the interest and protection of Thomas Jefferson who at that time was the up and coming lawyer of Albemarle, Virginia. Largely through the influence of Jefferson, Lewis joined the army to participate in the Whisky Rebellion and in Mad Anthony's Indian campaign into the land of remorseless scalpings". Lewis escaped being scalped and proved to be so successful a trooper, although he performed no brilliant feats, that he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant.

Continuing in active service in the army until the election of Jefferson to the Presidency, Lewis, now captain, became secretary at the executive offices. Jefferson's thoughts had long turned to Louisiana and even before a treaty had been concluded with Napoleon to sell the territory he secured an appropriation from Congress to explore the whole region and had sent Lewis to Philadelphia to study the natural history in preparation for leading the Expedition of Discovery.

Having followed Lewis so far, Mr. Wilson lapses into straight history interspersed with lyrical descriptions and adulterated by extraneous, pseudo-historical incidents, which although occasionally interesting, are usually irrelevant. For more than 150 pages the reader is carried through a synopsis of the expedition's journal whose principal revelation is that Lewis acted largely as a botanical expert while Clark took active command. The remaining few pages are devoted to an account of Lewis' term as governor of the Louisiana Territory, to which post he had been appointed by Jefferson--an account which would be lamentably brief if it were not that he accomplished little as governor and became so despondent that he committed suicide at the age of 35.

It is unfortunate that Wilson has not seen fit to follow more closely the organization and style of the shorter but more satisfactory account written by Thomas Jefferson in the Biddle edition of the Journals of Lewis and Clark. It is clear that he was acquainted with it because he has quoted passages from it several times although their dignified and flowing style makes the elementary rhetorical devices of Wilson appear to be feeble efforts of a grammar school debater. The reader is apt to find tedious a constant repetition of "and now, by God, he was ready. . . ." "but, by God, he was . . ." and in the same category may well be placed the omnipresent references to the shining eyes and wagging tail of Brewster, the canine mascot of the expedition, as he scampered gaily through the woods.

There is valuable material in this volume, however, if one is interested in the details of history. Wilson has made a thorough study of the material available to him and the result is an extensive knowledge of interesting Indian customs and tid-bits of contemporary life. One of the more interesting of the, for the most part, well chosen passages extracted from the journals is that recording the fact that "We purchased two gallons of Whiskey for our party for which we were obliged to give Eight dollars. . . . an imposition." There are also several references to the Missouri Valley Indians that may make the reader change his views on the general level of morality of our aborigines.

The volume is incoherent, over-expanded, the pictures of contemporary life are a dismal failure and after having finished the book the reader is of the opinion that Mr. Wilson had a great fund of information about an interesting subject but that it has been unfortunately presented in a manner that makes the volume valuable only through a few isolated passages.