90 ROSENGARTEN— FRENCH MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY. [April 18, 



and president of the French Constituent Assembly, and while his 

 sons established in this country the business still carried on by their 

 descendants, several of them became members too, — he returned to 

 France and filled important posts. He wrote at the suggestion of 

 Jefferson, an essay on Education in the United States, in which 

 he presented a plan for primary, secondary and higher schools, 

 colleges and universities. 



With the nineteenth century began the election of many 

 leaders of science in France, — Roume, Delambre, Destutt de Tracy, 

 Lasteyrie, Michaux, Vauquelin, Deleuze, Pougens, Remusat. 

 Money was subscribed by the Society toward the expenses of 

 Michaux's western explorations, and later for a statue of Cuvier in 

 Paris. Wm. Maclure, formerly a merchant of Philadelphia, after 

 a long residence abroad, returned, bringing with him a corps of 

 naturalists, to help him in a plan for a geological survey of the 

 United States, — one of them, Le Sueur was elected a member in 1817 ; 

 trained in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, he contributed many 

 papers to the scientific societies abroad and here, — joined Maclure 

 in founding the Academy of Natural Sciences and was active in 

 both bodies. Later he went with Maclure to New Harmony, Indi- 

 ana, and continued his scientific studies in the then far west, and 

 returning to Philadelphia, taught drawing, was a frequent attend- 

 ant at the meetings of this Society, and at last returned to France, 

 to take charge of the Natural History Museum of Havre, where he 

 died in 1846. 



In 1803 the National Institute of France promised, as successors 

 of the French Academy of Sciences, to resume correspondence and 

 exchanges, established by Franklin during his long stay in Paris. 

 Franklin left by will of this Society, 91 volumes of the History 

 and Transactions of the Royal Academy of Sciences of France, 

 and after his death, it bought from his library many French scien- 

 tific books, and by Hassler's aid, completed many of the serial publi- 

 cations of French scientific societies, which now form an important 

 part of its large and growing collection of works of that kind. 



At a later time at a meeting at which Joseph and Charles 

 Bonaparte attended, they and Le Sueur and Du Ponceau spoke of the 

 earlier days of frequent attendance of French members and visi- 



