SKETCH OF GERARD TROOST. 259 



then made his way to la Rochelle. He took passage from a 

 northern port, beyond French jurisdiction, in an American ves- 

 sel, for New York, whence he hoped to reach the East Indies 

 under the protection of our flag. This vessel was captured by a 

 French privateer and carried to Dunkirk, where Troost was kept 

 a prisoner till the French became aware of his true name and 

 character, when he was released. He went at once to Paris. In 

 March, 1810, he was elected a correspondent of the Museum of 

 Natural History of Paris. A few days afterward he was 

 allowed to embark again on an American vessel for Philadel- 

 phia. The turn of political events in Europe, among which 

 was the abdication of Louis Napoleon as King of Holland and 

 the surrender of Java to England, caused him to abandon his 

 contemplated visit to the East Indies and to remain in the United 

 States. 



In 1812 Dr. Troost participated in the foundation of the Acad- 

 emy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia and became its first 

 president. Of the origin of this society. Dr. W. S. W. Ruschen- 

 berger, from whose account we derive much of the material of 

 this sketch, says there were some young persons in Philadelphia 

 disposed to study the laws of creation. Occupied with their 

 business during the day, they were accustomed to converse con- 

 cerning natural phenomena when they met in the evening, with- 

 out appointment, at the ordinary places of resort. They very 

 often met at the apothecary's shop of John Speakman, of whom 

 Thomas Say was subsequently the business partner, at the corner 

 of Market and Second Streets. At one of these meetings Mr. 

 Speakman suggested that if the young men could be induced to 

 meet at stated times, where they would be secure from interrup- 

 tion, to communicate to one another what they might learn about 

 the phenomena of Nature, they would derive more pleasure and 

 profit than from desultory and irregular conversation. The sug- 

 gestion was seconded by Jacob Gilliams, and a meeting was 

 appointed for the next Saturday evening at Mr. Speakman's 

 house, for the young men and such of their friends as might be 

 interested in the matter : Six persons were present at the meet- 

 ing, January 25, 1812 ; Dr. Gerard Troost, Dr. Camillus Mac- 

 mahon Mann, Jacob Gilliams, John Shinn, Jr., Nicholas Parmen- 

 tier, and John Speakman, host. The meeting was described in 

 the minutes as " a meeting of gentlemen, friends of science, and 

 of rational disposal of leisure moments " ; and it was agreed that 

 the exclusive object of the society should be the cultivation of 

 natural science. For the furtherance of this purpose all matters 

 of politics and religion were rigorously excluded, even allusions 

 to them being forbidden. It was perhaps from this determina- 

 tion. Dr. Ruschenberger suggests, that " the erroneous notion 



