58 A NOTICE OF THE 



one of the commissioners to settle the claims of American citizens 

 on the Government of France, for spoliations committed during 

 the revolution in that country. 



On his return, he made a geological survey of the United States, 

 a description of which was published in the Transactions of the 

 American Philosophical Society. This work, which proves Mr. 

 Maclure to have been the pioneer of American Geology, is dated 

 January 20, 1809. 



On the 6th June, 1812, he became a member of the Academy 

 of Natural Sciences, and on the 30th December, 1817, he was 

 elected President, "to which office of confidence and honor he 

 was annually re-elected up to the time of his death, a period of 

 more than twenty-two years."* 



Mr. Maclure was eminently philanthropic and benevolent, and 

 expended very largely of his vast possessions for the general bene- 

 fit of mankind. He believed that knowledge and intelligence are 

 the true sources of human happiness and well-being ; and, acting 

 on this creed, he was ever ready to encourage and foster institutions 

 for the diffusion of knowledge. He entertained the idea of setting 

 up a great school or university, in which every branch of natural 

 science was to have been taught. With this view, he selected New 

 Harmony, Indiana, as the centre of his labors, and, in 1825, in- 

 duced Dr. Troost, and Messrs. Say and Lesueur to join him in 

 the enterprise.! The scheme failed, and in 1827, Mr. Maclure, 

 in pursuit of health and science, visited Mexico, and subsequently 

 returned there, and died on his way home. 



It has been remarked that Mr. Maclure's philanthropy induced 

 him to visit countries while in a state of political revolution, that 

 he might be near to extend assistance to the poor and suffering. 



With this motive, and also to take advantage of any circum- 

 stances which might occur favorable to the advancement of his 

 peculiar object, which was to educate all mankind, he visited, at 

 different periods of his life, France, Spain, and Mexico, when 

 those states were in a condition of political convulsion. He loved 

 the Academy of Natural Sciences because its objects are in har- 

 lony with his views of benevolence and the universal diffusion of 



&c gil ilUam Maclure > Es( l-> b y Samuel George Morton, M. D. f 



T IadUre ma ^ 6 ^ ex P eriment firs * by establishing a school on 

 Lane, near Germantown. 



