1851.] 203 



20th, 1851, acknowledging the receipt of the Proceedings Nos. 3 to 5, 

 Vol. 5. 



Also a letter from the Asiatic Society of Beno;al, dated Feb. 21st, 

 1851, acknowledging the receipt of the Journal Vols. 1 to 8, old series, 

 Part 1, Vol. 1, new series, and Proceedings, Vols. 1, 2, 3, and Nos. 

 1_5, of Vol. 4. 



On motion of Dr. Zantzinger, the thanks of the Society were pre- 

 sented to Mr. George Ord for the portrait received this evening. 



May I6th, 

 Vice-President Wetherill in the Chair. 



Upon taking the chair, Mr. Wetherill announced the decease of the 

 President of the Society, Dr. Samuel George Morton, which took place 

 at his residence in Arch Street yesterday morning, after an illness of 

 only lour days. The present meeting had been convened for the pur- 

 pose of expressing the feelings of the members on this melancholy oc- 

 casion. 



Dr. Bridges in some very appropriate remarks on the character of 

 the deceased, adverted to his long connexion with the institution, al- 

 most from its origin ; his close adherence to its interests under the 

 varied and trying circumstances through which it had passed ; having 

 successively tilled its different offices, he had become the ornament of 

 its prosperity, and died at last its President. 



Dr. Charles D. Meigs expressed his deep and sincere regret for the 

 loss of Dr. Morton, and bore testimony to his great private worth, his 

 eminent scientific and professional abilities, and offered the following 

 Preamble and Resolutions. 



The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia being called upon 

 to deplore the loss of its late respected and beloved President, Dr. 

 Samuel George Morton, and considering that event as of deep interest 

 to the whole Republic of Letters ; feeling that the eminent attainments 

 of their late Chief in the various departments of Literature and Science, 

 entitled him to the respect and admiration of all the friends of learn- 

 ing ; that his consistent course of virtue, his liberality and urbanity, 

 adorned and illustrated the Academy over which he presided, and re- 

 flected honor upon its name, are deeply impressed by the irreparable 

 loss they, in common with all the friends of the Natural Sciences, have 

 sustained by his death: Therefore, 



Resolved, That this Academy esteem the life of their late President 

 to be for all men a shining example of earnest and successful zeal in the 

 pursuit and promotion of learning, in the cultivation of wisdom and 

 virtue, and the practice of the highest liberality and benevolence. 



Resolved, That the Academy do cherish and revere the memory of 

 their deceased illustrious President, and that in order to commemorate 



