History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Part 80

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn; Westcott, Thompson, 1820-1888, joint author
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L. H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 992

USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884 > Part 80

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

On the last-mentioned day, Jan. 2, 1769, the united society held its first meeting and its first election. Dr. Benjamin Franklin was chosen president, while Dr. Thomas Cadwalader, Dr. Thomas Bond, and Jo- seph Galloway were elected vice-presidents. From the day of the union active measures were inaugu- rated and prosecuted in the various channels of scien- tific energy. But momentous events were soon to happen, whereby men's thoughts were turned toward more engrossing and more vital concerns than philo- sophical research. Political liberty, national and in- dividual, came to be popular subjects of discussion, and, finally, war's alarms were almost the only sounds which fell upon the ear. From the month of March, 1774, to the same month, 1779, very few meetings were held; there not being a single session for over three years prior to the date last named. But on the 5th day of March, 1779, the society reassembled, never again to be dispersed or to be interrupted in its scientific pursuits.

A plan for incorporating the society was ordered at a meeting held (as usual then) in the university, Dec. 17, 1779, Dr. Smith, Dr. Duffield, and Mr. Biddle being constituted a committee.

It was incorporated by the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, March 15, 1780. The preamble of the act declares the objects for which it is created with considerable detail, and then come the enacting clauses which gave its name and powers.

It is remarkable how fully and clearly the powers are expressed, and the only amendments or additions that have been made to them since are those which enable the society to sell and rent their real estate. It contains one remarkable clause which shows the clear and catholic views that the founders held as to the neutrality of science, for it provides that all cor- respondence or communications to or from the society shall have free transmission, notwithstanding the prevalence of war.

In 1785 the State granted a lot of ground to the society as a site for the erection of a hall. This lot forms a portion of Independence Square, and its di- mensions are seventy hy fifty feet. The building was hegun in 1785, and it was occupied, but not com- pletely finished, in 1789. With but a slight change in the basement story, the building stands to-day in the same shape as originally constructed. By several additional enactments the Legislature authorized the society to rent such parts of the hall as were not

needed for its own purposes, and under these it has always had a considerable income from rents.

An important event in the history of the society was the donation, by John Hyacinth de Magellan, in 1786, of two hundred guineas for establishing pre- miums to be awarded to the authors of discoveries and improvements.

The following memoranda, gathered from the min- utes of the society, will give at least a hint of the variety and scope of the detail work carried on. The period covered embraces the first decade and a half of the present century.

In 1801 the society appointed a committee to collect information respecting the past and present state of this country. It consisted of Thomas Jefferson, pres- ident of the society, and at that time President of the United States; Gen. James Wilkinson, commander of the United States army ; Dr. Caspar Wistar, vice- president of the society ; Dr. Adam Seybert, secretary ; Charles Wilson Peale, and Gen. Jonathan Williams. This committee issued a circular requesting assistance from scholars and citizens, in which they stated that the following were the principal objects concerning which they desired help :

"1. To procure one or more entire skeletone of the mammoth, so called, and of such other unknown enimals as either have been, or hereafter may be discovered in America.

"2. To obtain accurate plene, drawings, and descriptione of whatever is interesting (where the originals cannot be had), and especially of ancient fortifications, tumuli, and other Indian works of art,-ascer- taining the materiel composing them, their contents, the purposes for which they were probably designed, etc.

"To invite researchee into the natural history of the earth,-to the changes it has undergone se to mountains, lakes, rivers, prairies, etc."

The total eclipse of the sun of the 16th of June, 1806, attracted a great deal of attention. It was observed under the auspices of the society at various places, and the descriptive papers were inserted in the Transactions. Andrew Ellicott watched the phe- nomenon at Lancaster, Pa., William Dunhar at the forest near Natchez, Miss., J. J. De Ferrer and J. Garner at Kinderhook, N. Y. A member of the society made his observations at Bowdoin College, Me., and Simeon De Witt, at Albany, N. Y.

The society was divided originally into six com- mittees or classes, as follows: first, of geography, mathematics, natural philosophy, and astronomy ; second, of medicine and anatomy; third, of natural history and chemistry; fourth, of trade and com- merce; fifth, of mechanics and architecture; sixth, of husbandry and American improvements. To these were added, in 1816, a committee on history (moral and general), science and literature, of which Wil- liam Tilghman was chairman, Peter S. Du Ponceau corresponding secretary, and John Vaughan recording secretary. This committee sent out circulars request- ing communications and assistance in collecting his- torical documents and knowledge of facts. It was fairly successful. President Jefferson sent manuscript documents calculated to throw light on the history of

1193

LIBRARIES AND HISTORICAL AND SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

our country, on the customs, manners, and languages of the Indian nations, and upon various other inter- esting national subjects. He also procured the un- edited manuscript volumes of scientific notes and observations by Messrs. Lewis and Clark, made in the course of their journey to the Pacific Ocean. Dr. George Logan, of Stenton, contributed the original correspondence which was afterwards known as the "Penn and Logan Papers," consisting of letters be- tween William Penn, Hannah Penn, James Logan, and others. These were arranged by Mrs. Deborah Logan. Rev. John Heckewelder, of Bethlehem, Pa., contributed correspondence upon the Indian lan- guages of this country and Zeisberger's grammar of the Lenni Lenape, or Delaware, language. This grammar was translated, under authority of the com- mittee, into English. Heckewelder also undertook to write his observations on the "manners and customs of the Indian nations who once inhabited Pennsyl- vania and the neighboring States."

As early as 1835 the city of Philadelphia, desiring to own the entire block of ground bounded by Chest- nut, Walnut, Fifth, and Sixth Streets (having bought the remainder of the tract embracing Independence Square from the State in 1814), made overtures to the society looking toward the purchase of the hall be- longing to the latter, situated on Fifth Street. A few years afterward conditional arrangements were made for such a purpose, but they were verbal and informal, although intended on both sides to be carried out in good faith.

There was at that time a large building, known as the Museum, situated on Ninth Street south of Chestnut, which contained the large and valuable collections of the Philadelphia Museum, originally founded by Charles Wilson Peale. An arrangement was made by which the society should purchase this building, and lease part of it to the Museum Com- pany, and use the remainder for its own purposes and benefit. It was supposed that what the city would pay for the old hall would enable the society to buy and substantially pay for the Museum property. The society made the purchase, and used all its funds in making the required payments.

These funds it was expected would be replaced by the money to be paid by the city for the old hall. The price of the hall was to be fixed by referees, of which each party was to choose two, and in case they could not agree a fifth referee was to be chosen by the four referees, and his concurrence in an award by any two and himself made the award binding and conclu- sive on both parties. It so happened that when the four referees met three would not concur in any award. The fifth man was chosen, and he would not agree with any two of the other referees, and so the project of a sale fell through.

While these negotiations were in progress the memorable financial troubles of 1837-42 were in full operation, the city declined to carry out the condi-

tional bargain that had been made, and the society was plunged into the depths of financial trouble, which for a long season threatened bankruptcy and even ruin. The sequel of this melancholy story was that the Museum building was sold under a paramount mortgage of comparatively small amount, against which it was supposed the society was protected by a valuable lot on Chestnut Street, adjoining the Museum property, which had to be sold first, and also by collateral security in other forms. But all these protections failed in the day of trial, and even the society's library and collections were at one time levied on by the sheriff. But the members went to work manfully, gathered their resources together, paid their debts, and, as it were, took a new and vig- orous start in corporate life, and in 1884 the society had a fund of sixty thousand dollars, the income from which, in addition to its rents, enabled it to defray all proper expenses, and make liberal appropriations for its publications.

Two very important events in the later history of the society have been the centennial anniversary of its foundation, in 1843, and the centennial celebration of its incorporation, in 1880. The first-named event was in the form of a public assembly at Musical Fund Hall, May 25, 1843, at which Dr. Robert M. Patterson, one of the vice-presidents, delivered a rich and exhaustive discourse upon the history of the society, and further- more, in the form of eight delightful scientific sym- posiums, May 26-30, 1843, at the hall of the society, attended by its members and a large number of dis- tinguished correspondents from other States and from abroad.

The anniversary of the society's incorporation was in the nature of an elaborate banquet at the St. George Hotel, southwest corner of Broad and Walnut Streets, March 15, 1880, at which the following programme of toasts prevailed, Professor Gray alone being absent and unable to respond :

1. Address by the president, Frederick Fraley, Esq.

" It is not facts which perplex us, but the opinion about those facts." -Epictetus.

2. "The Early Botanists of the Society." Professor As& Gray, Cam- bridge, Ma88.

"E'en when the hoary head is hid in snow The life is in the leaf."-Dryden.

3. "The Alliance of Universities and the Learned Societies." Presi- dent D. C. Gilman, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.

" Die Weltgeschichte sucht aus aproedem Stoffen, Ein reince Bild der Menschheit zu gestalten."-Hebbel.

4. "Our Friends who have passed away." Dr. W. A. Hammond, New York City.

" Plena fuit vobis emni concordia vita;

Et stetit ad finim longa tenaxque fides."

5. " The Study of Languages." President William C. Cattell, Lafay- ette Collage, Easton, Pa.

"Que philosophin fuit, facta philologia est."-Seneca, Ep. J08.

6. " The Society's Name." Dr. Daniel G. Brinton, Philadelphin. " A thing which Adam had heee posed to nama."- Pope.

7. " The Need of an Elevated and Permanent Civil Service." A. London Snowden, Esq., superintendent United States Mint, Philadel- phia.

"Oh, reform it altogether."-Hamlet,

1194

HISTORY OF PHILADELPHIA.

8. "The Tendencies of Scientific Culture." Dr. Joha L. LeConte, Philadelphia

" Reasoning at every step he takes, Man yet mistakes his way ; While meaner things, whom instinct leads, Are rarely known to stray."-Cowper.

9. " Daily and Periodical Literature." W. V. McKeao, Philadelphia. "To aim at learning without books is, with Danáides, to draw water in a sieve."-R. Williams (1639).

10. " The Spirit of a Philosophical Society." Professor J. P. Lesley, Philadelphia.

" Science moves but slowly, slowly creeping on."-Tennyson.

To attempt to outline the achievements of the American Philosophical Society-the oldest scientific institution in the United States-during its one hun- dred and forty years of varied history, or to seek to epitomize the results of the valuable researches of its individual members, would be tasks of incredible magnitude. Among its presidents have been Ben- jamin Franklin, David Rittenhouse, Thomas Jeffer- son, Caspar Wistar, Robert Patterson, and William Tilghman.

Nor is the list of more modern presidents less illus- trious, although composed, perhaps, of men whose reputations are less world-wide. The last eight presi- dents have been Peter S. Du Ponceau, Dr. Nathaniel Chapman, Dr. Robert M. Patterson, Dr. Franklin Bache, Alexander Dallas Bache, Judge John K. Kane, Dr. George B. Wood, and Frederick Fraley.

The society's library is an admirable one. It con- tains about twenty-two thousand volumes, in varions languages, many of which are rare and valuable. The books are arranged on the shelves in numerical order, each volume having its number attached. Folios, quartos, and octavos have their respective systems of numbers. The catalogue of the library is constructed upon an original plan. Eight principal classes carry from the universal to the special, from the abstract to the concrete, from the inorganic to the organic, from matter to mind. Each class begins with the theory of the subject and follows with its practice. Except- ing the first, which represents the abstract conception of knowledge itself with its universal applications, each class advances the theme beyond a point at which the class preceding leaves it. The several classes are : 1. General Science ; 2. The Mathematical Sciences ; 3. The Inorganic Sciences ; 4. The Organic Sciences; 5. The Historical Sciences; 6. The Social Sciences; 7. The Spiritual Sciences; 8. Personal Science.

The Library of the University of Pennsylva- nia .- The history of the University library has been parallel with that of the institution itself. Almost immediately after the beginning of the enterprise, in 1749, a library was collected. Among the earlier contributors was Rev. Richard Peters, who presented many works in old English literature, together with a considerable number of ecclesiastical books. Otber volumes, which still bear Benjamin Franklin's auto- graph, were donated by the latter. Dr. William Smith, the provost of the College of Philadelphia in

1762, visited England with a view to the enlargement of the endowment of the college. While there he obtained by donation and by purchase many valuable works, which were added to the library of the institu- tion.

Shortly after the Revolution the library was en- riched by a very generous donation of works, chiefly of French anthorship, from Louis XVI., which had been sent at the suggestion of the Marquis de La Fayette. This munificent gift comprised works on the natural sciences, history, travels, etc., together with the Paris edition of the Byzantine historians. This donation grew out of the very great interest in the University which the French general manifested when in America.

For three-fourths of a century the growth of the library was not marked. No very extensive gifts were made, and no large sums of money were ex- pended in the purchase of books. Such additions as were made were chiefly in the form of individual donations from publishers, authors, and various friends of the college. The period in question covers the time in which the University's latent energies and forces were shut up within the limited quarters on Ninth Street, so long occupied by the faculty. When, however, the celebration of the nation's centennial anniversary found the University occupying its pres- ent magnificent quarters in West Philadelphia, many evidences of a renewed and vigorous enterprise in every channel of effort on the part of the institution were noticeable. Among other branches to take on new life and to grow with vigor was the library.

The first great addition after removing to West Philadelphia was the donation of the splendid collec- tion of works on social science and political economy belonging to the late Stephen Colwell. This collec- tion, which embraced some eight thousand volumes, was unique. It included almost every important book or pamphlet, or edition of either, on the sub- jects mentioned that appeared down to Mr. Colwell's death, in 1869, in English, French, or Italian, besides many in German and Spanish. The collection of pamphlets on the theory of money and the practice of banking was particularly full, and many of them are not to be had at any price, or to be found in any other collection in this country.

Soon after the University acquired the above-men- tioned collection of valuable books it also became possessed, by the joint act of the trustees and the alumni, of the rich library of Professor Allen. This contained, primarily, a full and judiciously selected body of authors in the department of classical, es- pecially Greek philology, among which were the great Bibliotheca of Didot, and the fine Paris edition of the Thesaurus of Stephanus. Among other fea- tures of the magnificent Allen library may be men- tioned the following : the modern Latinists, including especially the Italian and Dutch poets, with some of the patriotic and medieval writers; a collection of

1195

LIBRARIES AND HISTORICAL AND SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

bibliographical works, catalogues, and manuals, in- cluding nearly complete collections of the works of Peignot and Nodier, and fine subscription copies of Brunet and Graesse; a fine Shakespeare library, in- cluding all the best editions and annotated transla- tions (Delius, Schlegel, and Tieck, the Malone vario- rum edition, etc.), with the best English and foreign commentaries (including Ulrici, Gervinus, and the " Jahrbücher der Deutschen Shakespeare Gesell- schaft"), together with works on general English philology ; and a collection of English, French, and German works upon military subjects.

Another valuable accession to the library occurred when a portion of the excellent law library of the late Judge Bouvier, the noted jurist and lexicographer, was presented to the University by Dr. Richardson, the son-in law of Judge Bouvier. This collection embraced many works on English, Scotch, French, and ancient Roman law, including English reports, the French jurisconsults, the French code, the Pan- dects, etc.

Among other valuable donations to the library was the gift by the family of the late Tobias Wagner of property yielding an income of five hundred or six hundred dollars, for the establishment of a Wagner fund for the purchase and binding of books. Among the purchases made from this fund is the magnificent series of photographs of antiquities in the British Museum.

Among other contributions, furthermore, should be mentioned Professor Alfred Stillé's gift of a number of very valuable historical works, chiefly French and Italian. They are mainly on the history of various phases of art.

Perhaps the most noteworthy of recent donations to the library has been Professor Fairman Rogers' generous gift of works upon engineering, presented as a memorial of Professor Rogers' father, Evan Rogers. It consists of some five thousand volumes upon this single topic, many of them elaborately illustrated, and nearly all of them valuable works. It can safely be said of. some that there are no duplicates in America.

The library has made such rapid and such material advancements within the past quarter of a century that it has become an honor both to the University and to the city. It contained about twenty-five thou- sand substantial volumes in 1884.

The Library of the Pennsylvania Hospital .- The fine medical library belonging to the Pennsylvania Hospital was founded in 1763. The first medical book owned by the institution, which formed the nucleus of the present splendid collection, appears to have been a gift from Dr. John Fothergill, who was an early and generous friend of the hospital. This volume was " An Experimental History of Materia Medica," by William Lewis, F.R.S., London, 1761, and was presented, in 1762, " for the benefit," as the record says, " of the young students in physic, who

may attend under the direction of the physicians." The idea of establishing a medical library in connec- tion with the institution having been thus probably suggested to the officers of the hospital, it was carried into effect the next year. As the number of students attracted to the hospital by its fame as a practical school for clinical medicine and surgery was consid- erable, the board of managers resolved to exact a fee from each student for the privilege of attending the wards of the house.

The faculty, composed of Drs. Thomas Bond, Thomas Cadwalader, Phineas Bond, and Cadwalader Evans, advised that the revenue so derived be applied to the foundation of a medical library for the institu- tion. A number of donations from friends of the hospital soon formed a substantial nucleus for the proposed collection of medical works. In January, 1767, the executors of the will of Dr. Lloyd Zachary, with the approbation of the residuary legatees, do- nated from Dr. Zachary's library forty-three volumes of works upon various medical subjects ; and in the same year the hospital library received a valuable acquisition in the presentation by Deborah Morris of the medical books of her late brother, Dr. Benjamin Morris, consisting of fifty-five volumes, principally standard works collected by Dr. Morris during his residence in the University of Leyden. Another donation of books, to the value of one hundred pounds, was received in the year 1774, from William Strahan, of London.

The collection of books thus gained was steadily increased by judicious purchases of works out of the library fund, the only interruption occurring during the time of the Revolution, when the lowness of the means of the institution made important additions to the library impracticable.

The first catalogue was published in the year 1790, and contained twenty-one folio volumes, seventy- seven quarto, three hundred and forty-one octavo, and eighty-nine duodecimo,-total, five hundred and twenty-eight volumes. In the same year the managers opened a correspondence with the celebrated Dr. Lettsom, requesting him to make such selections of books for the library as he thought proper. This re- quest was complied with, and Dr. Lettsom continued a firm friend of the institution during his life.

A valuable present of books was received in the year 1800 from Sarah Zane, a wealthy maiden lady, who inherited an extensive and valuable library, the medical portion of which she bestowed upon the hos- pital. Her donation comprised twenty-three folios, ninety-one quartos, six octavos, and twenty-two duo- decimos; in all one hundred and forty-two volumes, some of them very rare, at least in this country.

The increasing number of the students who at- tended the practice of the hospital now afforded an ample fund for the steady increase of the library ; how faithfully it was applied may be seen by a com- parison of the catalogue published in 1806 with its

1196

HISTORY OF PHILADELPHIA.

predecessor of 1790, and the additional part printed in 1793. The prosperity of the library fund contin- ued uninterrupted many years, during which a sur- plus accumulated, and large sums were occasionally grauted from it for the general purposes of the charity, or such particular objects as appeared to require a special appropriation.

The principal object of the gentlemen who have administered the concerns of the library has always been the acquisition of books strictly medical, yet as the different branches of natural history assume the rank of collateral science, treatises upon them have never been considered foreign to the design of the foundation. Ou the decease of Dr. Benjamin S. Bar- ton, late professor of Materia Medica and Botany in the University of Pennsylvania, his extensive and rare collection of works on natural history was pur- chased of his widow at the price of $2770.

Shortly after this important accession a supple- ment, or second part of the catalogue, was published, comprising all the works added to the library from 1806 to 1818.

To the year 1829 the library had grown to such a degree that another edition of the catalogue was con- sidered necessary. This was compiled by William G. Malin, then librarian of the institution, and embodied all the former catalogues. Eight years afterward, in 1837, a supplement to the same was published, the library consisting then of seven thousand three hun- dred volumes.

In 1857 was prepared an entirely new catalogue, and upon an enlarged basis. This Catalogue Raisonné was modeled after that of the library of the Medical Society of Edinburgh, the arrangement of which was followed out so far as some difference in the compass and character of the two libraries would permit. A supplement to this catalogue was issued in 1867.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Part 80

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn; Westcott, Thompson, 1820-1888, joint author Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L. H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 992

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn; Westcott, Thompson, 1820-1888, joint author
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L. H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 992