THE 



AMERICAN 



JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, &c 



Art. I. — A Memoir of William Maclure, Esq., late President 

 of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia ; by 

 Samuel George Morton, M. D., one of the Vice Presidents 

 of the Institution * [Read before the Academy, July 1, 1841.] 



TO 



ALEXANDER 



THIS MEMOIR OF THEIR ILLUSTRIOUS BROTHER 



IS MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED 



BY 



THE AUTHOR. 



The most pleasing province of biography is that which com- 

 memorates the sway of the affections. These, however variously 

 expressed, tend to the diffusion of religion, of virtue and of know- 

 ledge, and consequently of happiness. He who feeds the hun- 

 gry, or soothes the sorrowful, or encourages merit, or disseminates 

 truth, justly claims the respect and gratitude of the age in which 

 he lives, and consecrates his name in the bosom of posterity. 

 -The benefactions of a liberal mind not only do good of them- 

 selves, but incite the same spirit in others ; for who can behold 

 the happy results of useful and benevolent enterprise, and not feel 

 the godlike impulse to participate in and extend them ? 



We ought long since to have laid this memoir before our readers, only a small 

 pan of whom probably have ever seen it. Mr. Maclure may be considered as the 

 d er of American geology, and was a most efficient patron of all other branches 



•cience.— Eds. * 



V °I. xlvii, No. 1.— April-June, 1844. 1 



