

Memoir of William Maclure. 9 



sons, deceived by a plausible theory, went forth to join the Utopi- 

 an colony; and Mr. Maclure himself, willing to test the validity 

 of a system which seemed to promise something for human ad- 

 vantage, resolved to establish, in the same locality, his proposed 

 agricultural school. He did not, at the same time, adopt all the 

 peculiar views of this fugitive community, to many of which, in 

 fact, he was decidedly opposed ; but he consented to compromise 

 some of his opinions in order to accomplish, in his own phrase, 

 "the greatest good for the greatest number." For this purpose 

 he forwarded to New Harmony his private library, philosophical 

 instruments and collections in natural history, designing, by these 

 and other means, to make that locality the centre of education in 

 the West. That the Social scheme was speedily and entirely 

 abortive, is a fact familiar to every one ; but Mr. Maclure having 

 purchased extensive tracts of land in the town and vicinity of New 

 Harmony, continued to reside there for several years, in the hope 

 of bringing his school into practical operation. 



In leaving Philadelphia for New Harmony, Mr. Maclure in- 

 duced several distinguished naturalists to bear him company, as 

 coadjutors in his educational designs; and among them were Mr. 

 Say, Mr. Lesueur, Dr. Troost, and a few others, who had already 

 earned an enviable scientific reputation. 



For various reasons, which need not be discussed in this place, 

 the school did not fulfill the expectations of its founder, who was 

 a t length constrained to relinquish it ; and the less reluctantly, 

 as the approach of age and the increasing delicacy of his consti- 

 tution admonished him of the necessity of seeking a more genial 

 climate. We accordingly find him, in the autumn of 1S27, em- 

 barking for Mexico in company with his friend Mr. Say. They 

 Passed the winter in that delightful country, and employed their 

 time in observing and recording the various new facts in science 

 w hich there presented themselves; and on the approach of sum- 

 mer they returned to the United States. 



Mr. Maclure was so pleased with the climate of Mexico, and 

 50 solicitous to study the social and political institutions of that 

 country, that he determined to return the same year ; and with 

 this intent he visited Philadelphia, proceeded thence to New Ha- 

 ven, and presided for the last time at a meeting of the American 

 Geological Society in that city on the 17th of November, 1828. 

 Of this institution he had also long been President, and took an 



V <>1- xlyii, No. 1.— April-June, 1844. 2 



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