EARLY AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETIES. 821 



desirous of cultivating cliemical science and promoting tlie state 

 of philosophical inquiry." 



The principal officers elected at the first meeting were as 

 follows : Patron, Hon. Thomas Jefferson, Esq. ; president, Prof. 

 James Cutbush ; vice presidents, George F. Lehman, Franklin 

 Bache. 



Thomas Jefferson's commanding position in the world of sci- 

 ence and arts, as well as his literary attainments, well qualified 

 him for the office of patron ; he was at that time living at his 

 country seat in Virginia, having already served his country for 

 eight years as chief magistrate. 



The president of the society, Dr. James Cutbush, was Pro- 

 fessor of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and Mineralogy at St. 

 John's College ; in 1814 he held the position of assistant apothe- 

 cary general in the army, and he afterward became Professor of 

 Chemistry and Mineralogy at the United States Military Acad- 

 emy, West Point, where he died in 1823. Dr. Cutbush published 

 several books, the best known being A System of Pyrotechny 

 (Philadelphia, 1825), an elaborate work of six hundred pages. 



Franklin Bache, the second vice-president, was at that date a 

 youth of only twenty years, who had graduated the year before 

 at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a grandson of Ben- 

 jamin Franklin and a member of the distinguished Bache family 

 which numbered so many eminent men of science. He afterward 

 became Professor of Chemistry at the Jefferson Medical College, 

 a position which he held until his death in 18G4. 



The constitution adopted by the founders of the society, be- 

 sides the usual business rules, contained some unusual features. 

 The officers included an orator, whose duty it was to deliver an 

 oration on some chemical subject once every year. Since the 

 Society's Memoirs contain no " oration," it is to be feared that the 

 incumbent's efforts were not satisfactory. The constitution un- 

 dertook to control the members' actions by a series of fines : twelve 

 and a half cents for absence each roll, and one dollar for refusing 

 to accept an office or declining to read an original chemical essay 

 jvhen appointed to do so. To insure against members withdraw- 

 ing early from a dull meeting, the secretary was directed to call 

 the roll at the opening and close of each meeting, and to fine 

 absentees twelve and a half cents. Candidates for membership 

 were required to read an original essay on some chemical subject 

 to be discussed by the members, and a two-thirds vote was re- 

 quired to insure election. It seems to have been easier to be put 

 out of the society than to get into it, for " any member behaving 

 in a disorderly manner shall be expelled by consent of two thirds 

 of the members present." 



There were two classes of members : " junior," thirteen in num- 



