PROCEEDINGS 
OF 
THE NATURAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION 
4 
i OF STATEN 
ISLAND. 
VOL. IX, No. 14. 
The regular meeting of the Associ- 
ation was held at the residence of Mr. 
Chas. A, Ingalls, West New Brighton. 
In the absence of the president Mr. 
D. L. Bardwell was elected chairman 
pro tem. 
The Committee on Incorporation re- 
ported that the new act of incorporation 
had been introduced in both branches 
of the State Legislature; that it had 
passed the Senate and was on the cal- 
endar for final disposition in the As- 
sembly. 
The following were elected to active 
membership: 
_ Thos. A. Fulton, New Brighton, and 
Charles Humphrey, New Brighton. 
The following paper was read by Dr. 
Arthur Hollick: 
STATEN ISLAND’S FIRST RESIDENT 
NATURALIST. 
On pages 188-214, of volume ii, Trans- 
actions of the New York State Agricul- 
tural Society, for the year 1842, may be 
found a report, under the heading: 
‘*Agriculture of Richmond County. By 
Samuel Akerly, M. D., Oakland Farm, 
Southfield.’’ Dr. !Akerly was one of 
the original members of the New York 
Lyceum of Natural History, in 1817, 
and was a brother in-law of Dr. Sam- 
uel L. Mitchill, the first president of 
the Lyceum, and granduncle of our 
APRII, 15th, 1905. 
fellow member Mr. William H. Mitchill. 
Dr. Akerly was corresponding secre- 
tary of the Lyceum in 1817 and second 
vice-president in 1819, but his name 
does not appear as that of an author of 
of any paper in any of the volumes of 
the Annals. 
So tar as I have been able to ascer- 
tain Dr. Akerly was the first natural- 
ist to reside on Staten Island, and in 
the report above quoted there is evidence 
that he was interested in agriculture 
not only on its‘economic side but from 
the point of view of the scientific observ- 
er. His report begins with a descrip- 
tion of the boundaries and extent of our 
island and then continues with statis- 
tics relating topopulation, employment, 
and extent and value of farm products. 
From this part of his report it is inter- 
esting to note that the total population 
of the Island was at that time about 
11,000, of which 841 were employed in 
agriculture, 786 in trades and manu- 
factures, 441 in navigating bays and 
rivers, 340 in commerce, 212 in navigat- 
ing the ocean, 90 in “‘the learned pro- 
fessions and as engineers’’ and 35 in 
quarrying stone. About one sixth of 
the male population or about one thir- 
teenth of the total, made a living by 
agriculture and it is stated that ‘“‘of 
bread corn [wheat and rye], barley, 
