﻿" True it is, Nature hides 

 Her treasurers less and less. Man now presides 

 In power where once he trembled in his weakness; 

 Science advances with gigantic strides." — Wordsworth. 



The advancement of useful knowledge is undoubtedly the leading spirit 

 of the age ; and as the principle of association is one of power, success, and • 

 utility, Societies have been formed in most of the large cities of the civil- 

 ized world for this object, and their efforts have been crowned with the 

 most flattering success. 



" The genuine lovers of science, every where, have one faith, one hope, 

 one aim, and the truest friendship and sympathy with each other. The 

 love of nature and nature's laws, the laws of the great First Cause, sinks 

 the selfish passions, elevates the mind, and cements the friends of know- 

 ledge and truth in every land. They are like the tallest monuments in a 

 country, the first to receive and reflect the light on the masses below."* 



Among the pioneers for the advancement of science and literature, and 

 especially of Natural History in North America, the most prominent were 

 Charlestonians ; the names of Garden, Elliott, Ramsay, Grimke, and others 

 have thereby become the common property of the world. 



Influenced by these considerations, and with a view not only to the 

 improvement of ourselves, but also to unite our feeble individual efforts, 

 more effectually to extend the knowledge we may acquire thereby, We, 

 whose signatures are hereunto annexed, do pledge ourselves individually 

 to observe the following Rules and Regulations for the government of an 

 Association hereby formed, for developing the Natural History of our 

 Country, and especially of our own State, and for cultivating and promo- 

 ting the study of this science. 



* Dr. B. Dowler. 



