208 [May, 1847- 



Thomas Say was also present, and Dr. Gerard Troost was elect- 

 ed first President of this Society. Little did these two gentle- 

 men, and their five colleagues, foresee the results of their unpre- 

 tending enterprise ; for Science, in this country, was then in its 

 infancy, and the number of those who fostered it was few indeed. 



From the acorn springs the oak ; and from the humble efforts 

 and continued self-sacrifices of a few private individuals, has 

 arisen this Institution, now grown to the manhood of science. 



Thirty-five years have elapsed since those seven persons, pri- 

 vate citizens, men without fortune or influence, laid the fouudation 

 of our Society. That their intentions have been ably and zeal- 

 ously sustained, through periods of probation and uncertainty, I 

 can safely aver. Trials are the best incentives to exertion ; and 

 the mind knows not its resources uutil forced to contend with ad- 

 verse circumstances. There were those who resolved in their 

 minds, who vowed in their hearts, that this institution should suc- 

 ceed. Many of them are now in their graves; but their me- 

 mory is inseparably blended with the annals and the honours of 

 science. Maclure, Say, Grodman, Collins, Conrad, Harlan and 

 Keating each has left his name on the tablet of nature ; and 

 could the venerable Maclure now behold the institution which he 

 so ably sustained, and so munificently provided for, how would 

 he rejoice in the consummation of those hopes which he so ar- 

 dently cherished during the last twenty-five years of his life ! 



Among our living members are many to whom I would gladly 

 award the just meed of praise for their signal and successful exer- 

 tions in this our common cause; and there is one among us in 

 the prime of life, and full of zeal in diffusing those great truths 

 which in part illustrate, in part constitute, the laws of Omnipo- 

 tence. He has come to us clothed in the spirit of science. 

 What he has accomplished, every eye can see. An hundred 

 years of ordinary prosperity could not have realized so much. 

 To say less would be unjust. To say more would wound a mind 

 that shrinks from observation and eulogy. 



Let us continue our exertions to make this Institution a practi- 

 cal school of Natural History, by throwing open our doors to all 

 who seek knowledge ; and, supported and encouraged by the flat- 

 tering auspices under which we have now met, let us redouble 

 our zeal to unfold and diffuse the truths of Science. 



DONATIONS TO MUSEUM. 



Dr. Wilson presented a very large and elegant polished slab of 

 Dendritic Limestone, from the vicinity of Bristol, England. 



Dr. William Blanding presented a mounted specimen of 

 Condylura cristata. 



