ABSTRACT
Philadelphia made its first contributions to the creative life of the world in the natural sciences. The old "natural philosophy" was in the final stages of its evolution into "the sciences" as the modern world knows them. The first specialists in fields like botany and geology were emerging, chiefly in continental Europe. British science was somewhat laggard, but the formation of the Royal Society of London marked the beginning of serious British contributions in a systematic and organized way. The Royal Society immediately formed a Committee for Foreign Correspondence and Americans were present in significant numbers, fifty-three names appeared on the list between 1663 and 1783, many of whom had genuine scientific interests. Over this period the American contribution was to collect new data, classify it, and give it proper nomenclature. For most contributors the emphasis was on flora and fauna, with only passing attention to other areas.
