PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 99 



volume, in which the article " Conchology," consisting of fifteen 

 pages and illustrated by four plates, was prepared by Say, and has 

 the honor of being the first paper on American Conchology by 

 an American which appeared in this country. It contained a 

 general statement of the principles of the science as then under 

 stood, followed by descriptions of American land and fresh-water 

 shells to the number of thirty-one species. The article was 

 issued separately, with a title page, as " Descriptions of Land 

 and Fresh-water Shells of the United States." The second edi 

 tion, issued the following year, contained some improvements, 

 and the third edition (1819) had the article considerably en 

 larged, as it forms twenty pages of the fourth volume of the 

 series.* 



The readiness with which Say responded to the requests of 

 others, his liberality in communicating his knowledge to those 

 who sought it, and his agreeable social qualities were the cause 

 of so many interruptions that he was led to devote to study the 

 hours which he should have given to repose, and often worked 

 all night. This injudicious course resulted in serious derange 

 ment of the digestive organs, and weakened his constitution. 

 These causes, together with habits of rigid austerity in diet, were 

 probably instrumental in bringing about his premature decease. 



In 1818, Say, Ord, Maclure, and Peale made an expedition to 

 the sea islands of Georgia and the country east of Florida, then 

 under Spanish rule. Later, Say was appointed chief zoologist to 

 the two expeditions to the headwaters of the Mississippi, etc., 

 commanded by Major Long. The same modesty which led him 

 to decline a professorship in an institution of learning on the 

 ground of inadequate scholarship led him to decline the position of 



*The first edition is very rare. A copy is said to exist in the library of 

 the U. S. Naval Academy. The second edition occurs in the library of the 

 Boston Athena3um and the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia. The 

 original manuscript is in the archives of the Academy of Natural Sciences 

 of Philadelphia. 



