IS 15.] Br. Rillenhouse. IG/ 



of Pennsylvania against the excise laws. Mr. Barton has endea- 

 voured to vindicate Mr. Rittenhouse for his connection with this 

 Society ; but his vindication is far from satisfactory. He did not 

 attend their meetings ; but as he retained the place of President, 

 this must be considered as a direct avowal that he approved of their 

 proceedings ; for had he disapproved of them, it is quite obvious 

 that he was bound as an honest man to throw up tlie office. Now 

 as Mr. Barton does not say that any resignation took place, it is 

 pretty clear that he retained his situation to the last. How far his 

 being President of the democratic society of Philadelphia can be 

 considered as approving of the enormities committed in France, 

 and the desperate spirit of immorality displa3'cd by the successive 

 demagogues of that unhappy country, I cannot say ; because I do 

 not know the peculiar creed which was maintained and propagated 

 by tlie democratic society of Philadelphia. That a republican 

 should view tiie French Revolution with a favourable eye, in spite 

 of the enormities which disgraced it, I can easily conceive ; but 

 that a philosopher, and a disciple of Newton, should view with 

 complacency the unblushing propagation of atheism and immo- 

 rality, is wliat I cannot bring myself to believe ; nor that a 

 Christian, and a man of virtue, like Mr. Rittenhouse, should 

 rejoice at the destruction of the Christian religion, and all the 

 institutions for education in one of the finest countries of Europe. 



Dr. Rittenhouse was elected a foreign member of the Royal 

 Society on the 16th of April, 17*^5 3 but he enjoyed this honour 

 only a sliort time. His constitution was worn out, though he had 

 not attained any extraordinary age ; and he died on the 26'th of 

 June, aged 6"4 years. The account of his death by his nephew, 

 Dr. Smith Barton, who attended |n"m in his last illness, is so simple 

 and interesting that I cannot avoid laying it before my readers : — 



" The last visit I ever received from Mr. Rittenliouse was about 

 the middle of June, \']dG. He called at my humble habitation in 

 Fifth -street, to inquire about my health, and to learzi from me the 

 result of the experiments and inquiries in which he knew I was at 

 that time engaged, concerning the mode of generation and gesta- 

 tion of our opossum, an animal to whose economy and manners he 

 had himself paid some attention, and whose history he justly con- 

 sidered as one of the most interesting in the whole range of 

 zoology. 



" It was on this occasion that our excellent friend first informed 

 me that he had received a diploma from the Royal Society. He 

 ol)>crve(I, with a tone of voice, and with a certain expression of 

 countenance, which were not calculated to afford me any pleasure, 

 that a few years ago such a mark of respect from that illustrious 

 iKxIy would have been received by him with pleasure and with 

 pride. 



" In fact, Mr. Rittenhouse, now and for some months past, was 

 -strongly imj^rfSNcd with the idea that his career of usefulness and 

 *irtuc was nearly at an end. He had several times during the pre- 



