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the second, and Mr. De Witt was elected a member, at 

 least as early as 1790, on the recommendation of the 

 latter gentleman. He made one communication to the 

 society, entitled "Observations on the Eclipse of the 

 Sun, June 16, 1806, at Albany." It is published in the 

 6th vol. of their Transactions. 



Philadelphia and Boston alone had philosophical so- 

 cieties, when one was incorporated in this state in 1793, 

 under the name of the "Society for the Promotion of 

 Agriculture, Arts, and Manufactures." Of this, Mr. De 

 Witt was an original member, he served in various offi- 

 ces, and on the death of Chancellor Livingston, its first 

 and only President from 1791 to 1813, he succeeded him 

 in the chair. To this body he communicated several pa- 

 pers: two of them deserve particular notice, since the 

 thoughts contained in them were, as you will observe, 

 matured for practical purposes. I refer to communica- 

 tions "on a plan of a Meteorological Chart, for exhibi- 

 ting a comparative view of the Climates of North Ame- 

 rica, and the progress of Vegetation," and " on the es- 

 tablishment of a Meridian Line on the public square in 

 the city of Albany." Besides these, he read several on 

 Drawing in Perspective, and his observations on this im- 

 portant branch of study, were afterwards enlarged and 

 published in a volume, entitled "The Elements or 

 Perspective." On Agricultural subjects, he communi- 

 cated concerning the extirpation of the Canada Thistle, 

 and a method of procuring new varieties of the Potatoe; 

 while as to the arts and natural science, may be men- 

 tioned his papers on Heating Rooms, on the Forest 

 Trees of this country, and on a remarkable cold Spring 

 at Ithaca. 



In 1799 he delivered the Annual Address before the 

 society. Its subject was the improvement of Agriculture, 

 and he noticed with much earnestness the then compara- 

 tively novel ideas of rotation of crops, and of the intro- 

 duction of various kinds of grain. In the conclusion, 

 be adduces an illustration of the deep hold that agricul- 



