2i6 PIONEERS OF SCIENCE IN AMERICA. 



the instruction there provided, and acquired nothing but a 

 most intense dislike for his teachers and for all ordinary 

 branches of study. We are justified in ascribing this antipathy 

 on his part to the incompetency of the instructors, for in 

 after years Say showed an ability and a desire to learn which 

 only the most repressing circumstances could have checked in 

 his youth. As he had no predilection for any of the learned 

 professions, young Say, after leaving school, was placed for a 

 time behind the counter of his father's shop. After he had 

 acquired some knowledge of the drug business, his father 

 established him in trade with John Speakman. Through 

 Speakman, who was a member of the Academy of Natural Sci- 

 ences of Philadelphia, Say was induced to join the society, and 

 with this act he began a life of science which has left its im- 

 press on every branch of natural history. 



The academy was founded early in 1812, and Say, who was 

 elected to membership in April of that year, was enrolled as 

 one of the founders by a vote of the society. His first at- 

 tendance at a meeting was on April i6th. What was his sur- 

 prise, on entering the temple of science, to find the whole col- 

 lection of specimens consisting of " some half a dozen common 

 insects, a few madrepores and shells, a dried toadfish, and a 

 stuffed monkey ! a display of objects of science calculated 

 rather to excite merriment than to procure respect." In fact, 

 the academy was largely a social organization. This is shown 

 by its first constitution, the preamble of which recites that, " con- 

 sidering that the expense of obtaining and preserving in a 

 suitable place and conveniently for perusal and use the many 

 important periodical publications and scientific papers of the 

 lettered world, with the requisite collections and apparatus for 

 repeating notable experiences and following up in due series 

 experiments for the elucidation of remarkable physical truths, 

 an expense that esocietarily might demand the fortune of a 

 prince, but which in a society where gratuitously many are 

 capable of rendering to the general interest without injury to 

 their professional distribution of time essential services, and 

 many competent to fill indispensable offices without detriment 

 to their private concerns, may be defrayed by a most trifling 

 pecuniary contribution," they had determined to establish this 

 society. With the advent of Say to membership this was 

 soon changed, and the academy took its place among the 



