586 BALCH— SOME FORMER MEMBERS. [April i8, 



Ponceau's mental horizon was wide, and he wrote on many and 

 various subjects. In the year 1815 he took an important part in the 

 organization of an historical committee of this society. He first 

 proposed such a committee in 181 1. And it was as a result of this 

 committee probably that the Historical Society of Pennsylvania 

 was formed. ^^ Among the members of this committee was William 

 Thomas, the founder in 1812 of the American Antiquarian Society 

 of Worcester, Massachusetts, the Abbe Correa da Sarra, David 

 Rawle, subsequently the first president of the Historical Society of 

 Pennsylvania,^- Thomas JefTerson, Alexander James Dallas, Isaiah 



commonly under the name of the Law of Nations." Thus Bentham trans- 

 lated Zouche's term Jus Inter Gentes into modern English from which has 

 come the equivalents such as Droit International, Diritto Internasionale, 

 Derecho Internacional, etc., of other languages. See Dr. Holland's edition of 

 Zouche's " Jus Inter Gentes " in the " Classics of International Law," edited 

 by James Brown Scott, Washington, 191 1. 



" " Early proceedings of the American Philosophical Society for the 

 Promoting of Useful Knowledge, i744 to 1838," Philadelphia, 1884, page 429. 



" 1811-June 21. (Patterson; and eight others.) 



" Historical Committee : 



"'Resolved, On the motion of Mr. Du Ponceau, that a committee be 

 appointed to report and devise a plan for organizing a committee or branch 

 of this Society for making researches into and collecting materials for the 

 History of the United States and of Pennsylvania in particular or any other 

 plan for accomplishing the same object. 



" ' Resolved. That the Board of Officers be the Committee ... to report 

 in one month.' " 



^ Transaction of the Historical and Literary Committee of the American 

 Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, 1819, Vol. I., pages v-viii : " At a meeting 

 of the American Philosophical Society held at Philadelphia for promoting 

 useful knowledge, March 17, 1815. 



" Resolved, that a seventh committee be added to the six already estab- 

 lished by the twelfth fundamental law, to be denominated 'The Committee of 

 History, Moral Science, and General Literature.' " 



The other six committees were : 



1. Geography, Mathematics, Natural Philosophy and Astronomy. 



2. Of Medicine and Anatomy. 



3. Natural History and Chemistry. 



4. Of Trade and Commerce. 



5. Of Mechanics and Architecture. 



6. Of Husbandry and American Improvements. 



In 1843 the Historical and Literary Committee published its third volume. 



