6 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



which had hitherto been on deposit. No resolutions of thanks 

 were adopted, as Dr. Wilson had upon a previous occasion 

 made it plain that such action was exceedingly painful to him, 

 and if persisted in would compel him to stop his gifts to the 

 institution. 



He has, however, been honored by several ornithologists, who 

 have named birds after him, such as Leptodon wilsoni Cassin, 

 Schlegelia wilsoni Bonaparte, Glaucopis wilsoni Bonaparte, etc. 

 Even this attention apparently offended his modesty, as Cassin 

 never named another specimen in his honor. 



In addition to the immense donations of books and specimens 

 already referred to, Dr. Wilson also bore a large part of the ex- 

 pense of the Academy's publications and rendered financial 

 assistance in other ways, and eventually bequeathed $10,000 for 

 the care of the library. In all, his gifts to the Academy and 

 the Entomological Society amounted to upwards of a quarter of a 

 million dollars — a very large sum for the time in which he lived. 



In 1863, upon the death of Dr. S. G. Morton, Dr. Wilson 

 was induced to assume the presidency, but on June 23d fol- 

 lowing he tendered his resignation, not having presided at a 

 single meeting. His sympathies during the Rebellion were 

 always with the South, and he therefore differed politically 

 with the great majority of his associates at the Academy, which 

 was the chief reason for his resignation. 



He spent all of his time now in study at his home in Newark 

 surrounded by his books, and often continuing his work until 

 well after midnight. 



Early in March, 1865, he was taken ill, his sickness rapidly 

 developing into typhoid fever. Refusing to leave his study in 

 the early stages of his illness, he had a couch moved in upon 

 which he could rest, and here, upon the fifteenth of the month, 

 he passed away literally in the midst of his work. 



The thousands of students who have had occasion to consult 

 the famous library of the Philadelphia Academy, or the ornith- 

 ologists who have studied the magnificent collection of birds 

 which for years placed the institution at the head of the ornith- 

 ological museums of the world, can well appreciate the debt 

 that American science owes to that quiet, unassuming gentle- 

 man, Thomas B. Wilson. 



