July 7, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



13 



Cash given for pot and pearl ash. 



Trevor and Encell 



dr. g. dawson 

 Family, patent and horse medicine, surgeon 's in- 

 struments, paints of all kinds, spirits of turpen- 

 tine, spices, perfumery, oils, varnish, etc. 



ASHES 



The subscriber will give 25 cents per bushel for 

 any quantity of good oak and hickory ashes, de- 

 livered at his soap and candle manufactory, cor- 

 ner of Ferry and Third Streets. 



Nicholas O'Callaghan 



NITRE 



Warranted in its pure stage, refined by the sub- 

 scriber and for sale at John MeClean's commis- 

 sion warehouse. It may also be had particularly 

 prepared for manufacturing gun powder, by 

 Charles Munns, Gun Powder maker and Salt 

 Petre refiner. 



"Well, to come back to the Chemical and 

 Physiological Society. The advertisements 

 in the papers after the initial meeting were 

 very few. Newspapers were not so liberal 

 with their space as now. A notice appeared 

 in February, 1814, to the effect that there 

 would be a lecture on "the singular prop- 

 erties and effects of nitrous oxide or, as it 

 is sometimes called, the exhilarating gas, 

 Friday evening, February 25, 1814." 



On November 2, 1814, the Mercury car- 

 ried the following advertisement: 



A stated meeting of the Chemical and Physio- 

 logical Society will be held at the usual place, on 

 Thursday evening next, at 7 o'clock. 



The punctual attendance of the members is par- 

 ticularly requested, in order to make the necessary 

 arrangements for the delivery of the annual ora- 

 tion at the succeeding meeting. 



The election of officers will be held on the 10th 

 instant, agreeable to the constitution. 



J. B. Trevor, Secretary 



There is no record as to what was the 

 subject of the annual oration, but there is 

 a record that at the meeting following the 

 election Dr. Troost talked "on oxygen gas 

 accompanied with several interesting ex- 

 periments." 



The Directory for 1815 tells something of 

 the Society and gives a list of officers who 

 were elected at the meeting on Thursday, 

 November 10, 1814, in the following notice : 



THE PITTSBURGH CHEMICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL 

 SOCIETY 



This society was formed in 1813, by a number 

 of scientific gentlemen resident in Pittsburgh, and 

 has since rapidly increased. 



There are at present belonging to the society, 

 a Library, Chemical and Philosophical apparatus, 

 and a valuable cabinet of mineralogy. 



Their meetings are held every two weeks, in a 

 room appropriated for that purpose in the Court 

 House. 



President, Walter Forward. 

 Secretary, Harmar Denny. 

 Treasurer, Samuel Pettigrew. 

 Librarian, Lewis Peterson. 

 Lecturer on Chemistry, Dr. B. Troost. 

 Botany, M. M. Murray. 

 Anatomy, Dr. Joel Lewis. 

 Mineralogy, Dr. F. Aigster. 

 Astronomy and Natural Philos- 

 ophy, Joseph Patterson. 

 Annalist, Aquila II. Bolton. 

 Annual Orator, J. B. Trevor. 



Walter Forward, who is given as the 

 President, was an attorney-at-law, who in 

 1819 became one of the twenty-six incorpo- 

 rators of the Western University of Penn- 

 sylvania, now the University of Pittsburgh. 

 In 1841 -he was appointed by President 

 Harrison to be the controller of the United 

 States and in that same year he was made 

 Secretary of the Treasury of the United 

 States by President Tyler. 



Harmar Denny, who is given as the Sec- 

 retary, was the son of Ebenezer Denny, 

 who, in 1816, became the first Mayor of 

 Pittsburgh. Harmar Denny, when he was 

 elected Secretary, had just been graduated 

 from Dickinson College where he had un- 

 doubtedly studied chemistry under Thomas 

 Cooper who was professor of chemistry at 

 Dickinson College from 1811 to 1814. 



The election notice, signed by Harmar 



