64 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE 



lisher of books in Cambridge, but not long afterwards became an active partner in the 

 firm of Little & Brown, in Boston, a house which soon became well known all over the 

 country for its publications, and for its high character. The business was very successful, 

 and by it Mr. Brown became possessed of considerable wealth, through which he was 

 enabled to gratify his taste, and to contribute much to the welfare of others. He keenly 

 enjoyed the beautiful in Nature, and became much interested in the study of Ornithology, 

 in which department of natural history he possessed a valuable library. 



He bequeathed to the Society this library, or the most valuable part of it, and through 

 this bequest it became the owner of the works most wanted, which could not otherwise 

 perhaps, have been obtained, their cost being probably not less than $2000. Mr. Dil- 

 laway, the librarian, made some remarks when announcing this valuable accession to the 

 library, and of which part are here given. He said, " This is not the first time we have 

 been indebted to the liberality of Mr. Brown. On many occasions his purse and his 

 influence have been freely offered in aid of our efforts for the promotion of natural sci- 

 ence. In the list of our patrons, numbering eighty of the most liberal and public spirited 

 citizens of Boston, his name now stands among the first. As my acquaintance with him 

 has been a long one, commencing at a time when his whole property could not have 

 purchased one of the volumes he has bequeathed to us when industry, integrity and a 

 generous heart were all his capital, and reaching to a period when he was able and willing 

 to give his thousands to the promotion of literary, scientific and charitable objects, I 

 may be permitted to express a belief that Boston has lost a citizen of whom she had good 

 reason to be proud, and our Society a valued friend, whose memory we shall ever hold 

 in honor." 



The Society appointed a committee to prepare resolutions suitable for the occasion, 

 which were presented and adopted at a subsequent meeting. A vote of thanks was also 

 passed to Mrs. Brown, for her generous donation of a portrait of the distinguished Nat- 

 uralist, Thos. Nuttall. 



1856. In February of this year, it was announced that the Society had lost by death, 

 two of its oldest and most highly esteemed members, Dr. Thaddeus W. Harris of Cam- 

 bridge, and the Rev. Zadock Thompson of Burlington, Vt. Their services to the Society 

 and to science generally merit notice in these pages, and this will be given by reporting the 

 action taken at the meetings following the announcement. 



Prof. Jeffries Wyman, in behalf of a Committee appointed to prepare resolutions 

 expressive of the loss the Society had sustained in the death of their late member, 

 Dr. Thaddeus William Harris of Cambridge, offered the following, which were unanimously 

 adopted : 



"Resolved, That the members of the Boston Society of Natural History have learned 

 with deep regret, the death of their late associate, Dr. Thaddeus William Harris. That 

 in his death, the Society has lost one of its earliest and most respected members, science 

 a faithful and zealous student as well as a conscientious observer, the results of whose 

 labors have eminently contributed to the extension of the knowledge of natural history ; 

 and have reflected dignity and honor upon American science. 



"Resolved, That the members of this Society sympathize with his family in the loss they 

 have sustained in his death." 



