AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 43 



was not until the 23rd of September that those rules 

 were adopted. It is unnecessary to enter here into 

 many details, it is sufficient to say, that those rules 

 were no longer^ those of a Club for mutual improve- 

 ment, but that they were well adapted to the object 

 for which they were designed. The internal organ- 

 ization of this Society, consisted of a President, 

 Vice-President, two Secretaries, three Curators of 

 Natural History, one for each Kingdom, and a Treas- 

 urer, all to be annually elected. 



On the 4th of November, they elected the following 

 officers : 



President, Benjamin Franklin 



Vice-President, Samuel Powel 



Secretaries, Charles Thomson, Thomas Mifflin 



Curators, Dr. John Morgan, Lewis Nicola, and 

 Isaac Bartram 



Treasurer, Clement Biddle. 



On the same day, they incorporated the Philadel- 

 phia Medical Society into their body. 



While these things were passing, it is probable 

 that negotiations were privately going on between 

 the patriotic members of the two Societies for effect- 

 ing the desired union, for in the minutes of the 

 Philosophical Society, under the date of the 15th of 

 the same month, we find the following entry: 



"This Society having been informed that there is 

 a disposition in the members of the American Society 

 for promoting useful knowledge to unite with us, and 



