MEMOIR OF THOMAS SAY. Sill. 



the most beautiful publication of the kind which has ever 

 been issued from the American press. It is illustrated with 

 well executed plates, coloured from nature ; which plates, in 

 conjunction with the descriptions, leave nothing to be de- 

 sired on the score of certainty as regards species. The 

 publisher of this work, at whose request it was undertaken, 

 Mr. Samuel Augustus Mitchell, was resolved that no exer- 

 tion should be spared, on his part, to render the book as ac- 

 ceptable to the lovers of the fine arts, as useful to the student 

 of nature ; and that he fully succeeded will not admit of a 

 doubt. The author, delighted that his labours should be 

 presented to the public in so attractive a garb, felt himself 

 stimulated to extraordinary exertions ; hence, the American 

 Entomology may be considered as a fair specimen of Mr. 

 Say's talents as a writer and as a naturalist. This work, 

 published in Philadelphia, was advanced no farther than the 

 second volume, at the time of the author's departure for 

 Indiana. One more volume, three years afterwards, ap- 

 peared, and the publication was stopped. Whether this 

 termination arose from the difficulty of conferring with the 

 author, in matters which required his presence and frequent 

 communication, or from the want of the patronage of the 

 public, I am unable to determine ; but I am induced to be- 

 lieve that both these causes conspired to frustrate the com- 

 pletion of a work, which may be advantageously compared 

 with those of a similar nature which have been produced in 

 other countries. 



His " American Conchology," only six numbers of which 

 had been issued at the date of his death, was printed and 

 published at New Harmony. From the knowledge and 

 skill of Mr. Say's intelligent wife, in natural history draw- 

 ing, he derived no small advantage, as all the illustrations 

 were the product of her pencil ; we, consequently, are in- 

 debted to her taste for the only attraction which the work 

 possesses — the plates ; for I am sorry to be compelled to 

 add, that the paper and letter-press are a disgrace to the 

 arts of our country. A book possessing such repulsive cha- 



