Sharswood.l 260 [October. 



ceived from Professor A. D. Bache, inclosing a photograph 



of the Chevalier Lombai'dini, and a request for No. of 



the Proceedings. 



Donations for the Library were received from the Essex In- 

 stitute, the Royal Observatory, Brussels, the Royal Academy, 

 Belgium, Prof. A. Quetelet, Prof. A. D. Bache, Messrs. Silli- 

 man and Dana, E.. and F. N. Spon, Samuel Breck, Assistant 

 Adjutant-General, United States, and from the City Council. 



Donations to the Album were received of the photographs 

 of the Chevalier Lombardini, from Gen. A. A. Humphreys, 

 and of Mr. C. N. Bancker. 



The committee on Mr. Chase's paper, entitled " On the 

 Mathematical Probability of Accidental Linguistic Resem- 

 blances," reported in favor of its publication in the Transac- 

 tions, which, on motion, was so ordered. 



An obituary notice of the late member, Charles J. Inger- 

 soll, was read by Judge Sharswood. 



A complete biography of Charles Jared Tngersoll, would re- 

 quire to a considerable extent, a political history of the period during 

 which he lived. His earnest action and patriotic spirit led him to 

 take a part, and his ability and eloquence made that a prominent 

 part, in all the events which were transpiring around him. But such 

 is not the purpose of the obituary notices ordered by the American 

 Philosophical Society of its deceased members. It is not an eulogium 

 nor an extended memoir which they require, but a brief sketch, to be 

 preserved in their archives, of the prominent facts of the life of the 

 subject, and of the most striking traits of his character. 



Mr. Ingersoll was born, on the .3d of October, 1782, in the city of 

 Philadelphia. His father was one of the most distinguished of the 

 leaders of the Old Bar of Pliiladelphia — a bar to be a member of 

 which was itself a high distinction. He was also a delegate from 

 the State of Pennsylvania to the Federal Convention of 1787, which 

 formed the Constitution of the United States. His mother was the 

 daughter of Charles Pettit, a member of Congress under the Articles 

 of Confederation, and Commissary-General of Purchases to the Con- 

 tinental Army during the war of Independence. 



Having completed his studies in preparation for the bar, under 

 the direction of his father, he went abroad attached to the American 

 Legation at the Court of St. James, and part of the family of Rufus 



