PRESTDETSTTIAL ADDRESS. 59 



The Linnsean Society of New England, established in Boston 

 about this time, was the precursor of the Boston Society of 

 Natural Science. 



The publication of an American edition of Rees's Cyclopaedia, 

 In Philadelphia, was begun in 1810, and the 47th volume com- 

 pleted in 1824. This was an event in the history of American 

 science, for it furnished employment and thus fostered the inves- 

 tigations of several eminent naturalists, among whom wei'e Alex- 

 ander Wilson, Thomas Say, and Ord ; while, at the same time, it 

 fostered a taste for science in the United States and gave currency 

 to several rather epoch-making articles, such as Say's upon 

 Conchology and Entomology. 



Mr. Bradbury, the publisher of this Cyclopaedia, was the first 

 of a goodly company of liberal and far-seeing publishers who 

 have done much for science in this country by their patronage of 

 important scientific publications. 



In 1817 Josiah Meigs, Commissioner of the Land Ofiice, issued 

 a circular to the several Registers of the Land Offices of the 

 United States requiring them to keep daily meteorological obser- 

 vations, and also to report upon such phenomena as the times of 

 the unfolding of leaves of plants and the dates of flowering, the 

 migrations of birds and fishes, the dates of spawning of fishes, 

 the hibernation of animals, the history of locusts and other in- 

 sects in large numbers, the falling of stones and other bodies from 

 the atmosphere, the direction of meteors, and discoveries rela- 

 tive to the antiquities of the country. 



It does not appear that anything ever resulted from this step, 

 but it is referred to as an indication that, seventy years ago, our 

 Government was willing to use its civil service officials in the 

 interest of science. A few years later the same idea was carried 

 into effect by the Smithsonian Institution. 



In those early days each of the principal cities had public mu- 

 seums founded and supported by private enterprise. Their pio- 



