342  Memoir  of  Daniel  B.  Smith.  { ju^y'i^Js^"'"* 
unison  with  the  natural  bent  of  his  mind.  His  early  business  life  as 
an  apothecary  was  contemporaneous  with  an  era  of  great  progress  in 
chemistry  and  pharmacy.  The  discovery  by  Humphrey  Davy,  in 
1808,  of  the  metallic  bases  of  the  alkalies  potash  and  soda,  proving 
that  they  were  not  simple  substances,  as  before  supposed,  opened  a 
wide  field  in  chemical  research.  The  discussions  in  1810,  regarding 
the  constitution  of  the  then  termed  oxygenated  muriatic  acid,"  decided 
by  Gay-Lussac  and  Davy  to  be  chlorine;  the  discovery  of  iodine  in 
1811  by  Courtois;  of  bromine  by  Ballard,  in  1826;  the  introduction 
as  therapeutic  agents  of  the  alkaloids  of  opium  and  cinchona  bark,  gave 
a  stimulus  to  both  chemical  and  pharmaceutical  labor. 
In  discoveries  in  organic  chemistry,  the  French  pharmaciens  lield  a 
leading  position,  and  as  the  successive  numbers  of  the  "  Journal  de 
Pharmacie,"  the  "  Annuel  de  Chimie,"  etc.,  arrived,  he  scanned  their 
pages  with  eager  interest,  and  delighted  in  repeating  the  experiments 
and  confirming  the  conclusions  arrived  at  by  the  eminent  scientific 
contributors  to  these  journals,  which  were  then  foremost  in  making 
known  the  results  of  novel  investigations  in  these  directions. 
His  interest  in  them  was  scientific  rather  than  commercial ;  as  soon 
as  the  novelty  had  passed,  he  turned  to  something  more  recent  with 
equal  zest.  If  there  was  anything  new  to  be  learned  in  the  domains 
of  natural  history,  botany,  geology,  or  any  other  branch  of  science — his 
attention  was  always  attracted  toward  it — as  well  as  to  any  notable 
achievement  in  the  field  of  general  literature.  A  plate  by  Audibon — 
an  essay  by  Macauley — a  volume  of  true  poetry — was  equally  interest- 
ing to  him. 
As  an  index  of  the  interest  he  took  in  these  departments,  we  find 
that  he  became  a  member  of  the  Franklin  Institute  at  the  first  meet- 
ing after  its  organization  in  1824,  and  continued  a  member  for  fifty 
years.  In  1829  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  American  Philosophical 
Society.    He  was  also  a  member  of  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences. 
In  December,  1824,  an  adjourned  meeting  was  held  ^^of  gentlemen, 
native  citizens  of  Pennsylvania,  favorable  to  the  formation  of  a  society 
for  the  purpose  of  elucidating  the  history  of  the  State." 
Among  the  names  of  nineteen  desirous  of  joining  this  society  we 
find  the  name  of  D.  B.  Smith,  who,  at  a  meeting  February  28,  1825, 
was  elected  their  first  Corresponding  Secretary.  The  Historical  Society 
was  incorporated  June  2,  1826,  D.  B.  Smith  being  one  of  the  incor- 
porators.   The  society  began  in  an  humble  way,  occupying  for  meet- 
