40 PROCEEDINGS OP THE ACADEMY OP 



Special Meeting, March \Q>th. 

 The President, Dr. Bridges, in the Chair. 



Twentv-one members present. 



The President announced the death of Dr. Thomas B. Wilson, aged 

 59 years, at Newark, Del., on the 15th inst., at 7 J o'clock, A. M., of 

 typhus fever. A Committee having been appointed to draught a series 

 of resolutions in reference to the sad event, the following were pre- 

 sented and adopted : 



Whereas, The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia having sustained 

 a most serious loss in the death of its late distinguished President, Thomas B. 

 Wilson, M. D., 



Resolved, That our late fellow member, Dr. Thomas B. Wilson, is eminently 

 entitled to be regarded as the most judicious and liberal patron of the zoolo- 

 gical sciences that our country has yet produced, and that we have heard his 

 death announced with sentiments of the most profound sorrow. 



Resolved, That in his great abilities and vast scientific acquirements, as well 

 as in all the relations of private life, we recognize in Dr. Wilson the character 

 of a true man of genius, a thorough, earnest and most conscientious cultivator 

 and friend of the sciences, and a most valuable and patriotic citizen. 



Resolved, That in the infancy of the study of the natural sciences in the 

 United States, the gratuitous and ready aid afforded by Dr. Wilson con- 

 tributed largely to that development of those sciences which now places this 

 Academy in rank with similar institutions of the old world. 



Resolved, That the liberality of Dr. Wilson to this Academy, and the large 

 facilities thereby provided for study and research, do fully entitle him to the 

 unqualified gratitude, not only of our members, but of all students of the 

 natural sciences in this country, and that we are justified in regarding and 

 we sincerely recommend our successors as members of this Academy to regard, 

 his munificent and unparalleled contributions to our library, and especially 

 to our museum, (nearly the whole of which, in several departments, we owe 

 to his liberality), as an honorable and perpetual monument to his zeal in 

 behalf of the natural sciences. 



Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be presented to each of the bro- 

 thers and sisters of Dr. Wilson, and that they be published in the public 

 journals of this city and in the scientific journals of the United States. 



On resolution of the Academy, the President appointed Mr. Cassin 

 to prepare a memoir of Dr. Wilson, to be published in the Proceed- 

 ings : 



On motion, it was resolved to adjourn to meet in the Hall of the 

 Academy on Saturday, 18th inst., at 2\ o'clock, P. M., to attend the 

 funeral of Dr. Wilson. 



[Mar. 



