688 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the incompetency of the instructors, for in after-years Say showed an 

 ability and a desire to learn which only the most repressing circum- 

 stances could have checked in his youth. Dr. Benjamin Say, the 

 father, was an apothecary, in moderate circumstances ; and young Say, 

 after leaving school, was placed for a time behind the counter of his 

 father's shop. After he had acquired some knowledge of the drug 

 business, his father established him in trade with John Speakman, 

 who was a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadel- 

 phia. Through Speakman, Say was induced to join the society, and 

 with this act he began a life of science which has left its impress on 

 every branch of natural history. 



Say is considered as one of the founders of the Philadelphia Acad- 

 emy, but this is not exactly so. The academy was founded January 

 12, 1812, while Say was not elected to membership until April of 

 that year, and his first attendance at the meetings was on April 16, 

 1812. What was his surprise, on entering the temple of science, to 

 find the whole collection of specimens consisting of " some half a dozen 

 common insects, a few madrepores and shells, a dried toad-fish, and a 

 stuffed monkey ! a display of objects of science calculated rather to 

 excite merriment than to procure respect." In fact, the academy was 

 a social organization. This is shown by its first constitution, the pre- 

 amble of which runs somewhat as follows (we quote from memory) : 

 " Whereas, we believe that we can obtain the same amount of pleasure 

 and enjoyment, and at a less exj)ense, around a common fireside and a 

 common candle, than we can, each at his own fire and beside his own 

 light," etc. With the advent of Say to membership this was soon 

 changed, and the academy took its place among the scientific bodies of 

 the world, a place which it has since occupied, though at times it has 

 seemed to many of its friends that it was not doing the work which it 

 ought. At present, under the able presidency of Dr. Leidy, it j)rom- 

 ises to take a higher stand than it ever has in the past. 



Long before joining the academy, Say had acquired a familiarity 

 with the forms of beetles and butterflies, but without reducing his 

 knowledge to systematic order. ISTow, on joining a scientific society, 

 he began those investigations on the American fauna which only 

 ceased with his death. His partner, Speakman, fully sympathized 

 with his passion for nature, and willingly did the labor of both in the 

 shop, so that Say might devote all his time and energies to his favorite 

 studies. Soon, however, this comfortable arrangement was brought 

 to an end ; the firm of Speakman and Say, in an evil hour, indorsed for 

 friends, and, as a not unnatural result, came to grief. Say then took 

 up his residence in the rooms of the society, making his bed on the 

 floor, cooking his own food, and living at an expense at times not 

 exceeding seventy-five cents a week. Had he, like Thoreau, given an 

 account of his life at this time, it would have been an interesting 

 chapter. 



