1894.] ^^'5 



of Agriculture, Anthropological Society, U. S. Fish Commis- 

 sion, Census Office, Washington, D. C; Lick Observatory, 

 Mt. Hamilton, Cal. ; Iowa Masonic Library, Cedar Rapids ; 

 Geological Survey, Des Moines, la. ; Deutsche Wissenschafb- 

 liche Verein, Santiago de Chile ; Sociedad de Ingenieros, 

 Puebla, Mex. 



Mr. Henry Carey Baird, in the following letter, presented 

 to the Society, on behalf of the contributors, a handsome por- 

 trait of George Ord, a former Vice-President of the Society : 



To THE President of the Amektcan Philosophical Society : 



Mr. President : — The pleasant duty has devolved on me, on behalf of a 

 number of members of the Society, subscribers, of presenting to the So- 

 ciety a portrait of the late George Ord. 



This portrait has been copied by Mr. T. Henry Smith from the original 

 by John Nagle, painted in 1839, the property of the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences, to the courtesy of the officers of which institution we are in- 

 debted for permission to make this copy. 



Mr. Ord was an eminent Philadelphian, having been born here in 1781, 

 and died here January 24, 1866. He was elected a member of this Society 

 October 17, 1817, was Secretary 1820-1827 and also in 1829, Vice-Presi- 

 dent 1832-1835, Librarian 1842-1848, Treasurer 1842-1847, Councilor 

 1836. From 1851 to 1858 he was President of the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences. He was also a fellow of the Linnean Society of London. 



He was an intimate friend of the naturalist Alexander Wilson, and was 

 his companion in many of his ornithological expeditions. After Wilson's 

 death, in 1813, Mr. Ord completed the eighth volume of Wilson's Ornith- 

 ology (Philadelphia, 1814). In 1825 he prepared a new edition of the 

 last three volumes, and in 1828 published his Life of Wilson. In 1834 he 

 wrote the Memoirs of Thomas Say, and in 1849 a Memoir of Charles A. 

 Lesueur. While his special department w^as that of natural history and 

 especially ornithology, his labors as a lexicographer were important, hav- 

 ing aided in editing Johnson's Dictionary, and having contributed valu- 

 able matter to the dictionary of Noah Webster. 



It seems eminently fitting that a portrait of this distinguished member 

 of the Society should adorn the walls of its hall, and it is hoped that this 

 faithful reproduction of Nagle's admirable picture may be thought worthy 

 of the subject. 



Philadelphia, May 4, 1894. Henry Carey Baird. 



The letter was ordered spread on the minutes with the list 

 of donors. 



PROC. AMER. PHILOS. SOC. XXXIII. 145. 2 G. PRINTED .JUNE 15, 1894 



