liberty of his native land, lias fled from its shores to cast his lot 

 with the dwellers in the New World. 



In this outline picture, thus hastily sketched, behold the men 

 who, with slender pecuniary means, but with admirable prevision 

 and indomitable will, laid broadly and deeply the foundations of 

 the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, on the evening 

 of Saturday, the 25th day of January, 1812. I say broadly and 

 deeply, and I say it advisedly, for, from the scanty memoranda of 

 the early meetings of the Academy which have been preserved, 

 we gather that the founders considered ignorance of the laws of 

 nature to be the prolific parent of many of the evils to which man 

 is subjected, and they, consequently, recognized fully the necessity 

 of improving the condition of mankind by seeking to enlarge the 

 bounds of knowledge, and imparting what they thus acquired to 

 others. 



Furthermore, they clearly perceived, as we learn from the early 

 minutes of the society, that the operations of nature demand un- 

 prejudiced, attentive, and severe scrutiny : and, in order that they 

 might aid each other by a comparison of observations, they also 

 declared that their discussions must be free. 



Freedom of scientific thought and discussion, the cultivation of 

 the natural sciences exclusively, and the diffusion of this kind of 

 knowledge among the people, were the principles which guided 

 Speakman and his associates in their great undertaking. Indeed, 

 the founders of the Academy (under which honorable title must 

 also be included that eminent naturalist, Mr. Thomas Say, who 

 became one of their number a few months after their first meeting) 

 were evidently penetrated with the restless spirit of scientific 

 inquiry which was then so rife in Europe. The fact, moreover, of 

 living, as they did, in that memorable quarter of a century which 

 witnessed the great American and French revolutions, and the 

 famous though short-lived Irish rebellion, could not fail, in the 

 case of such young, enthusiastic, and reflective minds, to impress 

 them strongly with ideas of political freedom and the necessity of 

 establishing this freedom upon the enduring rock of the enlighten- 

 ment of the people. 



Mr. Gilliams was born in the closing year of our revolutionary 

 war, and Mr. Say four years later ; while Dr. Troost, the first 

 President of the Academy, was ushered into the world in the very 

 year made memorable by the declaration of American Independ- 



