Page:A Short History of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (1909).djvu/14

8 Geology and Mineralogy in the University of Nashville, retaining the position until his death August 17, 1850. During his incumbency he served as State Geologist of Tennessee until the office was abolished in 1849.

The first Recording Secretary, Dr. Camillus Macmahon Mann, was born in Ireland. He was "out" in the rebellion of 1798. After a stay in France he sought refuge in the United States, living for a time in Philadelphia, and later edited a paper in Baltimore. The date of his death is uncertain.

The presence of Thomas Say at a meeting is first recorded on Thursday, April 16, 1812. Henceforth, except when away from the city, he was rarely absent from a session of the society. It may be claimed that the continued existence of the Academy was in great measure due to his devotion and the dignity he was able to give the proceedings by the high character of his scientific work. After the failure of the firm of Speakman and Say he resided for a time in the hall of the Academy, accommodating himself heroically to his exceedingly cramped means. In 1825 he accompanied Mr. Maclure to New Harmony. The communistic experiment in which they were engaged having proved a failure he accompanied Mr. Maclure to Mexico. He remained there for twelve months and was then compelled by business engagements to return to New Harmony where he died October 10, 1834, in his forty-seventh year. Much the greater part of his work was completed before he left Philadelphia for the West. In his new home, however, his business engagements evidently did not take up all his time for he issued there six numbers of the American Conchology and several papers, including two in the Annals of the Maclurean Lyceum.

Say was a born naturalist. He troubled himself but little about relationships and classification, confining himself almost entirely to the determination of specific distinctions of which he had an unusually acute perception. His reports of original researches were the first to replace the reading of extracts from encyclopædias or journals, which formed the attraction at the earlier meetings.