Revolutionary War, accumulated a comfortable fortune, 

 and died in 1801. William gave up all ideas of busi- 

 ness and devoted his life to the study of Nature, inher- 

 iting these tastes from his mother, who was Miss 

 Frances Graham. At the age of nineteen William 

 Cooper united with a number of others and established 

 the Lyceum of Natural History of New York, which 

 became the school of many of our noted scientists. Sen- 

 ator Samuel L. Mitchell, M. D., was the first President, 

 who with Cooper laid the foundation of its magnificent 

 museum. Nathaniel Paulding, the poet, was its first 

 Secretary, and William Cooper was Secretary in 1818 

 when it was incorporated. For many years Dr. John 

 Torrey, who was the educator of many of our noted 

 botanists, was the curator of the museum, and the inti- 

 mate personal friend of Mr. Cooper, and to him Dr. Tor- 

 rey dedicated his first real botanical work, The Botany of 

 the Northern and Middle States. At this time Prof. 

 Eaton was, under the direction of Courtland Van Rens- 

 selaer, making geological surveys. These old records 

 of the Lyceum, which are before us as we write, vividly 

 recall the early struggling days of science in the United 

 States. What a list of scientific workers, do these old 

 files of proceedings recall. Mark the time, 1818 to 1854. 

 In 1821 William Cooper departed for Europe in order 

 to perfect himself in zoology, and was the first American 

 member of the Zoological Society of London. He attend- 

 ed the lectures of Cuvier and those master minds of the 



