PALLAS, PETER SIMON, a celebrated naturalist, was born at Berlin on the 22d September, 1741. His father was professor of surgery in the university, and young Pal las, having resolved to pursue the same studies, entered upon them with zeal ; and so early as 1758, in the 17th year of his age, he was able to read a course of public lec tures on anatomy. Having acquired a taste for natural history from one of his preceptors, Martin Schoeling, he pursued this inviting study at the university of Halle, where he entered in 1758. In the year 1759 he went to Gottingen, where he composed an ingenious treatise, en titled De infestis viventibus intra viventia. He took his doctor's degree at Leyden in 1760, and he added greatly to his knowledge of natural history, by the examination of the public and private cabinets in that city.
With the view of prosecuting his medical studies, he repaired to London in 1761 ; but natural science engross ed all his attention, and he spent much time in examining the marine productions on the coast of Sussex. He left London in April, 1761, and when he arrived at Berlin, he began to prepare the materials for a Fauna Insectorum Marchica. With the permission of his father he went to reside at the Hague ; and such was his scientific reputa tion, that he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of London on the 7th June, 1764.
The first work which gained him distinction as a natu ralist, was his Elenchus Zoophytorum. He afterwards published the Miscellanea Zoologica ; and having return ed to Berlin by the command of his father, and begun to publish his Spicilegia Zoologica, (a work which was conti nued in fasciculi till 1780,) he received an invitation from the Empress Catharine to become professor of natural his tory to the Imperial Russian Academy. Contrary to the advice of his friends, he accepted of this offer, and arrived at St. Petersburgh on the 10th of August, 1767.
No sooner had he reached that capital, than he was charged with the management of the scientific expedition to the east of the Volga, and to the remote parts of Sibe ria. Before his departure, however, he drew up a systema tic catalogue of the zoological cabinet of the Academy ; arranged the collection of Professor Breyn, recently pur chased by Prince Orloff; and prepared for the press six numbers of his Spicilegia Zoologica.
In June, 1768, he set out on the expedition, accompa nied by Messrs. Falk, Lepekin, and Guldenstaedt, and, after an absence of six years, he returned to St. Peters burgh on the 30th July, 1774, where he published, in five volumes 410. an account of this most extensive and inte resting journey.
In the year 1776, lie published his collections relative to the political. physical, and civil history of the Mongol tribes In 1777, he read at the Academy a Memoir on the formation of mountains, and on the revolutions of the globe, which was published by Mr. Tooke in his Russia Illustrata. In 1778, he brought out his Nova Species
Quadrupedum e glirium ordine. In 1781, he published his .Enumeratio Plantarum qua in horto Procopii a Demi dof Moscua vigent ; and in the same year appeared his New Northern Collections, on various subjects in geogra phy, natural history, and agriculture ; two fasciculi of his 'cones Insectarum presertim Pussies Siberiaque peculiari um, and the first No. of the Flora Russica, executed at the expense of the Empress, appeared in 1784.
Pallas was about this time appointed a member of the Board of Mines, with an additional salary of 200/. per an num, and was decorated with the order of St. Vladimir. He had some time before intimated his design of dispos ing of his collection of natural history ; and no sooner had the Empress heard of his intentions, than she informed him that she would be the purchaser, and desired him to make out the catalogue, and fix the price. He accord ingly mentioned 15,000 rubles, and, when the catalogue was presented to her Majesty, she subjoined with her own hand the following paragraph : "Mr. Pallas understands natural history much better than figures. He ought to have charged 20,000 instead of 15,000 rubles for so many valuable articles. The Empress, however, takes upon herself to correct the mistake, and hereby orders her treasurer to pay 20,000 rubles. At the same time, Mr. Pallas shall not be deprived of his collec tion, which shall still continue in his own possession dur ing his life, as he so well understands how to render it most useful to mankind." In the year 1794, Pallas travelled to the Crimea, and after his return, he published his Physical and Topogra phical Picture of Taurida, in which he describes that in teresting peninsula. His health had now begun to decline, and he felt the necessity of recovering it under a warm climate. For this purpose the Empress granted him an estate in the Crimea, and a present of 10,000 rubles to form an establishment. He accordingly removed to the Crimea, where, on his estate of Akmetchet, and in a resi dence more like a palace than that of a private gentleman, he spent the greatest part of his later years. Actuated by a strong desire to see his brother and his native city, he made a journey to Berlin, where he died on the 8th Sep tember, 1811, in the 71st year of his age. Besides the works which we have mentioned, Pallas communicated three papers to the Royal Society of London, which are published in the Philosophical Transactions, 1763, p. 52; 1766, p. 186; 1776, p. 5.!3. He was also the author of various Memoirs, published among those of the Imperial Russian Academy.
For farther information respecting this eminent natural ist, see Coxe's Travels, vol. iii. p. 203; Tooke's View of the Russian Empire ; and Dr. Clarke's Travels, vol. i. p. 458, 572, 578, 579. See also our articles BOTANY, ENTO MOLOGY, and METEORITE.