ACADEMY OF NATUKAL SCIENCES. 61 



1799. He became a member of the Academy in April, 1820, 

 and very soon after went to Europe. He returned in 1826, and 

 from that time, until within a few days of his death, he labored 

 industriously and continuously in the halls of the Academy, to 

 acquire* facts and to publish them to the world. In December, 

 1849, he was unanimously elected President of the Institution ; 

 but in the very height of his usefulness and fame, death sud- 

 denly removed him from among us, on the 15th of May, 1851, 

 in the 52d year of his age. 



The eloquent eulogy pronounced upon him by a fellow-member, 

 Dr. Meigs, is fresh in the memories of all;* it renders this brief 

 allusion to the most distinguished of our deceased Presidents 

 sufficient to complete the notice of all who have served the 

 Academy up to this time, in the highest office within its gift. 



The second period of the history of the Academy now claims 

 attention. 



Soon after the Museum was arranged in the new hall in Gil- 

 Hams Court, Arch Street, Mr. John Shinn delivered a course of 

 popular lectures on chemistry, under the auspices of the Society ; 

 Dr. Waterhouse lectured on ichthyology, and Dr. Troost on 

 mineralogy, before the Academy. During the year 1816, a 

 constitution was adopted, and in December Messrs. Mathias 

 Morris, Zaccheus Collins, and Dr. R. M. Patterson were ap- 

 pointed a committee to apply to the Legislature of Pennsyl- 

 vania for an act to incorporate the Society, which was obtained, 

 and is dated March 24, 1817. This committee received consi- 

 derable aid from Benjamin R. Morgan, Esq., John Reed, Esq., 

 and John M. Scott, Esq., in procuring the act of incorporation ; 

 and the Society acknowledged their services in a series of reso- 

 lutions adopted on the 15th of July. 



At the instance of Mr. Maclure, a committee was appointed on 

 the 4th February, 1817, to inquire into the expediency of pub- 

 lishing a periodical journal of the transactions of the Society. 

 This committee consisted of Mr. Maclure (chairman) and Messrs. 

 Z. Collins, T. Say, R. Haines, and S. Hazard ; they reported in 

 favor of publication, on the 4th of March, but the report was 

 not adopted until the llth. It was feared that a periodical 



* A Memoir of Samuel George Morton, M. D., Late President of the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. By Charles D. Meigs, M. D. 

 Read November 6, 1851, and published by direction of the Academy. 

 Philadelphia : T. K. & P. G. Collins, Printers, 1851, pp. 48. 



