AN ACT 
TO INCORPORATE THE 
EPVEEUW OF NATURAL HISTORY 
IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 
Passed April 20, 1818. 
1. WHEREAS the members of the Lyceum of Natural History have peti- 
tioned for an act of incorporation, and the Legislature, impressed with the im- 
portance of the study of Natural History, as connected with the wants, the 
comforts, and the happiness of mankind, and conceiving it their duty to encour- 
age all laudable attempts to promote the progress of science in this State— 
therefore, 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of New York, represented tn Senate 
and Assembly, That Samuel L. Mitchill, Casper W. Eddy, Frederick C. 
Schaeffer, Nathaniel Paulding, William Cooper, Benjamin P. Kissam, John 
Torrey, William Cumberland, D. Jurco V. Knevels, James Clements, and 
James Pierce, and such other persons as now are, and may from time to time 
become members, shall be, and hereby are constituted a body corporate and 
politic, by the name of Lyceum or NATURAL HISTORY IN THE CITY OF NEW 
York, and that by that name they shall have perpetual succession, and shall be 
persons capable of suing and being sued, pleading and being impleaded, answer- 
ing and being answered unto, defending and being defended, in all courts and 
places whatsoever ; and may have a common seal, with power to alter the same 
from time to time; and shall be capable of purchasing, taking, holding, and 
enjoying, to them and their successors, any real estate in fee simple or other- 
wise, and any goods, chattels, and personal estate, and of selling, leasing, or other- 
wise disposing of the said real or personal estate, or any part thereof, at their 
will and pleasure: Provided always, that the clear annual value or income of 
such real or personal estate shall not exceed the sum of five thousand dollars : 
Provided, however, that the funds of the said corporation shall be used and 
appropriated to the promotion of the objects stated in the preamble to this Act, 
and those only. 
