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Cornell University Library 
 T 1.F83W13 
 
 The Franklin Inslltuteof the state rt 
 
 3 1924 021 837 996 
 
 THE 
 
 FRANKLIN 
 
 INSTITUTB 
 
 1 824- 1 894. 
 
THE 
 
 FRANKLIN INSTITUTE 
 
 OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA FOR THE 
 PROMOTION OF THE MECHANIC ARTS. 
 
 A SKETCH 
 
 OF ITS 
 
 ORGANIZATION AND HISTORY 
 
 COMPILED BY 
 
 WILLIAM H. WAHL 
 
 SECRETARY OF THE INSTITUTE 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE INSTITUTE 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 1895 
 
The objects of the Franklin Institute, which has just **Ji1at„t°^ "'® 
 closed the seventieth year of a useful and honorable career, are 
 defined in the Act of Incorporation (March 30, 1824) to be 
 " the Promotion and Encouragement of Manufactures and 
 the Mechanic and Useful Arts.'?' 
 
 It was the first institution of its class to be established 
 in the United States, and, though embodying in the scheme of 
 its organization, many of the features of the so-called 
 " Mechanics' Institutes," its scope was more broadly gauged, 
 and its working methods constructed on a higher plane, 
 than these. It was, if the comparison be permissible, the 
 result of a compromise. Neither the Mechanics' Institutes, 
 which sprung into existence like mushrooms about the time 
 when the organization of the Franklin Institute was being con- 
 sidered — an d which were devoted almost wholly to the instruc- 
 tion of artisans by means of lectures and classes — nor the 
 exclusive societies of those learned in the sciences and arts, 
 answered to the ideas and needs of the founders. An ^p^cuc^."'* 
 instrumentality was sought through which these two 
 elements, so diverse in character, yet potentially capable of 
 being mutually so helpful, could be brought into fraternal 
 relations — a platform was needed, broad enough and strong 
 enough to accommodate professor and layman, master and 
 workman, side by side, without incommoding either ; in brief, 
 an institution was wanted which should have inscribed on 
 its corner-stone, " Science with Practice ; Practice with 
 Science." 
 
 To give material form to these ideas, our institution v/as 
 founded; and the sentiment, above quoted, has been its 
 animating spirit from the beginning to the present. 
 
How the Frank- The founders chose for it, of all names, the most fitting 
 
 lin Institute ' l. i-V. 
 
 fo™de*d ^" — *^^* °^ ^'^^ illustrious printer, statesman, philosopher — tne 
 synonym of broad utilitarianism. 
 
 The Franklin Institute was organized in the year 1824, 
 chiefly through the personal efforts of Samuel V. Merrick, 
 who had in Prof William H. Keating, a helpful coadjutor. 
 In an autograph letter of Mr. Merrick to the Hon. Fred- 
 erick Fraley, some interesting reminiscences bearing on the 
 subject are, fortunately, preserved. From this letter, it appears 
 that Mr. Merrick, then a young man of twenty-one years, 
 found himself " the owner of a workshop, without a mechani- 
 cal education, with scarcely a mechanical idea." The first 
 step which he took to improve this situation was a disas- 
 trous one. 
 
 He applied for membership in a local association 
 of mechanics, and, lacking the necessary qualification for 
 membership, was black-balled. This apparently trivial cir- 
 cumstance appears to have caused him to take into consider- 
 ation a suggestion made by a friend, Mr. Wm. Kneass, to 
 found an organization patterned after his own ideas. 
 
 After meeting with several discouraging failures in the 
 attempt to interest others in such a scheme, he was induced 
 to visit Prof. Keating, then a young man, who had recently 
 been elected to a professorship of Chemistry applied to 
 Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, in the University of 
 Pennsylvania, and who, it so happened, had also met with 
 discouragement in a recent effort to secure co-operation in 
 establishing an institution of science. 
 
 The immediate outcome of the conference between these 
 young enthusiasts was the issuing of a call for a preliminary 
 meeting of friends of their enterprise, at which plans could 
 be discussed and the needful preparations taken to call a 
 public meeting. This preliminary meeting, as Mr. Fraley 
 records in his interesting historical sketch, presented at the 
 celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Franklin Insti- 
 tute, was accordingly called. The list of those who attended 
 
5 
 and of those who had previously signified their willingness to '^he original 
 
 r J a tj promoters. 
 
 aid the project, includes the names of the following persons, 
 who are entitled to the honorable distinction of being the 
 first promoters of the new society, viz. : Matthias W. Bald- 
 win, Peter A. Browne, Oram Colton, Thomas Fletcher, 
 Robert E. Griffith, Wm. H. Keating, Wm. H. Kneass, David 
 A. Mason, Samuel V. Merridk, James Ronaldson, James 
 Rush, George Washington Smith, M. T. Wickham and 
 Samuel R. Wood. 
 
 At a subsequent meeting of these promoters, a plan of 
 organization, a constitution, etc., were approved, and measures 
 were taken to call a public meeting. To this end, a list was 
 made of the names of some 1,500 citizens selected from the 
 city directory, and to these an invitation was sent for a meet- 
 ing to be held in the County Court-house, at Sixth and organization 
 
 ° ■' ' meeting In the 
 
 Chestnut streets. This meeting was held on the evening of £■„""*'' *'"»'■'- 
 February 5, 1824, and was largely attended. Mr. Merrick, 
 in his letter to Mr. Fraley, states that " the meeting was a 
 perfect success ; and the novel mode of throwing the 
 association open to the world, without the intervention of 
 cliques, made it universally popular." 
 
 No contemporaneous printed record of this meeting 
 exists, but Mr. Merrick records that it " was presided over 
 by James Ronaldson, Esq., and after the purposes of the 
 proposed institution had been fully explained by Col. P. A. 
 Browne and others, an animated discussion took place until 
 the subject was fully understood by a highly intelligent as- 
 sembly, who unanimously accorded their approbation of the 
 purpose in view. After which the constitution was pre- 
 sented, critically discussed, and after amendment was unani- 
 mously adopted and a day fixed for the election of officers 
 from those who should previously enroll their names, and 
 which numbered some three to four hundred. 
 
 " The election having taken place, the Franklin Institute 
 assumed its position among the institutions of the State, and 
 has since attained a gratifying pre-eminence." 
 
Mr. Fraley's sketch gives the following additional infor- 
 mation respecting. this meeting and the proceedings incident 
 thereon, and which resulted in the organization of the new 
 institution : — 
 
 James Ronaldson, then the leading type-founder in the 
 United States, was chosen to preside. Peter A. Browne, 
 Esq., a distinguished member of the bar, stated the plan and 
 purpose of the proposed institution and ably urged its for- 
 mation ; others followed. A letter of approval was read 
 from Nicholas, Biddle, then in the height of his power. 
 The constitution was adopted. Lists of membership were 
 circulated. A committee was appointed to nominate candi- 
 dates for offices and managers, and to take the needed order 
 for holding an election on the i6th of the same month. By 
 the time of holding an election of officers, between four hun- 
 dred and five hundred members were enrolled. Mr. Ronald- 
 son was elected president. A board of managers was chosen, 
 of which, as a matter of course, Mr. Merrick and Prof 
 Keating were members. Standing committees on instruc- 
 officers and tion, on inventions, on premiums and exhibitions, on the 
 
 maiiag:ers ^ 
 
 elected. library, and on models and minerals, were appointed and 
 
 took hold of their duties with zeal and earnestness. Prof. 
 Keating was appointed Professor of Chemistry ; Prof. Robert 
 M. Patterson, of Natural Philosophy and Mechanics, and 
 William Strickland, Esq., of Architecture. 
 
 In the original draft of the constitution of the Institute, 
 and in the charter of 1824, the objects are referred to as 
 " the promotion and encouragement of manufactures, and 
 the mechanic and useful arts," and as the working features of 
 the Institute were gradually evolved within the few years 
 immediately following its organization, the means by which 
 these objects were to be attained eventually crystallized into 
 the following form : — 
 
 " First, by the delivery of lectures on the arts and the 
 application of science to them ; second, by the formation of 
 a library of books relating to science and the useful arts, and 
 
the opening of a reading room ; third, by the examination of i"!*" "^ opera- 
 
 , . , , tion adopted. 
 
 all new inventions and discoveries by a committee of learned 
 and honorable men ; fourth, by the publication of a journal to 
 contain essays on science and art, specifications of English and 
 American patents, etc. ; fifth, by holding exhibitions of Amer- 
 ican manufactures and awarding medals to worthy workmen ; 
 sixth, by building a hall for the meetings of the Institute and 
 the use of the members ; seventh, by collecting machines, 
 minerals, materials, etc., used in the mechanic arts ; eighth, 
 by the establishment of schools in which should be taught 
 architecture and mechanical drawing, chemistry applied to the 
 arts, mechanics, and, if possible, of a high school for giving 
 young men a liberal and practical course of education." 
 
 On March 3, 1824, the Legislature of the State of Penn- 
 sylvania granted the society a charter, under the title "An act Act of inoorpo- 
 to incorporate the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsyl- 
 vania for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts," which was 
 the final act in the work of organization. 
 
 In the following pages the operations of the several 
 branches of the Institute are treated under separate chapter 
 heads, whenever it has been found practicable to separate them. 
 Much information which the writer has thought to be suffi- 
 ciently interesting or important to place on record; is intro- 
 duced incidently, and, it is hoped, will be found interesting to 
 those who, in after years, may glance through these pages. 
 
 Mr. Ronaldson continued to act as president until the Presidents, 
 year 1841, when Samuel V. Merrick succeeded him. Mr. 
 Merrick held the office until 1854, and was followed by John 
 C. Cresson, who in turn served until 1863. 
 
 In 1864, on the accession of William Sellers to the ReorsamzaUon 
 
 ^' In 1864. 
 
 presidency of the Institute, as Mr. Fraley records, " the plan 
 of organization was modified, and a large sum was raised by 
 Mr. Sellers and his friends to reduce the debt, to repair and 
 alter the hall, and to bring the institution into more effectual 
 contact with manufacturers and mechanics." The Secretary 
 was made a salaried resident officer, elected annually, given 
 
Fresidents. 
 
 Secretaries. 
 
 Actuaries. 
 
 Classes of mem- 
 bers. 
 
 executive functions and charged with duties of a scientific 
 and literary nature. 
 
 The changes thus brought about were of a substantial 
 nature, and benefited the Institute in many ways. More 
 interest was interjected into the meetings (held on the third 
 Wednesday of each month, except in July and August), at 
 which papers on important scientific and technical subjects 
 were read and discussed, new inventions were exhibited and 
 described, and a report on current matters of interest in 
 science and the useful arts was presented by the Secretary ; and 
 a general revival of interest and activity in all departments 
 of the Institute took place. 
 
 Mr. Sellers was succeeded in office, in 1868, by J. . 
 Vaughan Merrick, the eldest son of the founder. His suc- 
 cessors, in order of service, have been : Dr. Coleman Sellers 
 (1870-1874), Dr. Robert E. Rogers (1875-1878), Wm. P. 
 Tatham (1879-1885), Col. Chas. H. Banes (1886), Joseph M. 
 Wilson (1887- ). 
 
 Prior to the year 1 864, the office of secretary was an 
 honorary one, and was filled by the following gentlemen, in 
 the order named : Frederick Fraley, Prof Alexander Dallas 
 Bache, Chas. B. Trego, J. B. Garrigues and Prof John F. 
 Frazer. Since reorganization in 1864, the Secretaries have 
 been: Dr. Henry Morton (i 864-1 869), Dr. William H. Wahl 
 (1870-1874), Jacob B. Knight (1875-1878), Dr. Isaac 
 Norris (1878-1881), Dr. William H. Wahl (1882- ). 
 
 The responsible office of actuary, to which are relegated 
 the business affairs of the Institute, has been occupied by 
 William Hamilton (1828-1871), D. Shepard Holman (1871- 
 1885), Herbert L. Heyl (1885- ). 
 
 In the following, are defined the conditions, terms and 
 privileges of membership : — 
 
 The members of the Institute are divided into the fol- 
 lowing classes, viz. : Contributing Members, Stockholders, 
 Life Members, Permanent Members and Non-resident 
 Members. 
 
Any person of legal age, friendly to the mechanic arts, ''"""Ig^J'/^eml 
 is eligible to membership in the Institute. It is necessary, b'rship. 
 however, to be proposed by a member in good standing, and 
 to be elected by the Board of Managers. The candidate 
 may, at his (or her) option decide to become a contributor 
 or a stockholder. Contributing members pay eight dollars 
 each year. The payment of one hundred dollars in any one 
 year secures life membership, with exemption from annual 
 dues. 
 
 Second-class stock, of the par value of ten dollars, is 
 subject to an annual tax of six dollars per share, and entitles 
 the holder of one share to the privileges of membership. 
 
 Each contributing member and adult holder of second- 
 class stock, when not in arrears for dues, is entitled to attend 
 and take part in the meetings of the Institute, to use the library 
 and reading room, to vote at the annual election for officers, 
 to receive tickets to the lectures for himself and lady, and to 
 receive one copy of the Journal free of charge, and addi- 
 tional copies at the rate of three dollars each per year. 
 
 Minor children, wards and apprentices of members not 
 in arrears, by payment of two dollars, have the use of the 
 library and reading room and admission to lectures ; or, 
 admission to the lectures only, for one dollar. 
 
 Minor holders of a share of second-class stock, by paying 
 three dollars per year, have the use of library and reading 
 room, and admission to lectures. 
 
 The Board of Managers has authority to grant to any 
 one who shall in any one year contribute to the Institute the 
 sum of one thousand dollars, a permanent membership, which 
 may be transferred by will or otherwise. 
 
 Newly-elected members, residing permanently at a dis- 
 tance of fifty miles or more from Philadelphia, may be 
 enrolled as non-resident members, and are required to pay 
 an entrance fee of five dollars and two dollars annually. 
 Contributing members, if eligible, on making request there- 
 for, may be transferred to the non-resident class by vote of 
 
lO 
 
 the Board of Managers, and are required to pay two dollars 
 annually. 
 
 Members in good standing have the privilege of intro- 
 ducing strangers to the meetings, and of obtaining a limited 
 number of tickets for lectures for distribution among friends. 
 Non-resident visitors, on proper introduction by a member, 
 are accorded the privileges of the Institute, for a limited 
 period. 
 The old hall. The hall of the Institute, a plain and substantial struc- 
 
 tion of marble, stands on the east side of Seventh street, 
 between Market and Chestnut streets. It was built from 
 plans furnished by John Haviland, architect. The corner- 
 stone, we are told by our venerable historian, was laid " with 
 appropriate Masonic and other ceremonies, on the eighth day 
 of June, 1825, at noon." The funds for the purchase of the 
 lot and the erection of the building were provided by the 
 issue of a building loan, which was freely taken by members 
 and friends of the enterprise, and has since been repaid 
 dollar for dollar. The building was completed, and the 
 Institute took possession of all except the second floor 
 (which was occupied by the United States Courts until 1830), 
 in 1826. Upon the first floor are located the lecture-room 
 (capable of accommoding about 300), and preparation rooms. 
 The second floor is occupied by the library, to which 
 special attention is paid elsewhere. The third floor is given 
 up entirely to the use of the large drawing classes, composed 
 of young men and women pursuing studies in mechanical, 
 architectural and free-hand drawing. 
 
 The rapid growth of the library and schools of the 
 Institute, of late years, has taxed the ingenuity of its officers 
 to the utmost to carry on its work effectively, the accumula- 
 tion of books, models, instruments, etc., having become so 
 great as to make it almost imperative to secure more ample 
 quarters. 
 
 Mr. Fraley's historical sketch makes allusion to the fact 
 that the Institute, sixty years ago, had already begun to feel 
 
1 1 
 
 the need for a more commodious building, as the following 
 quotations will show: — 
 
 " This dear old hall is associated with so many pleasant 
 and useful memories, that whenever removal to a new build- 
 ing has been agitated, it has given rise to strong emotions. 
 
 " But it has so happened that the intention of removal ^f"^ ™\g3|"" 
 has several times been seriously considered. It very nearly 
 culminated in the year 1836, when the Masonic Hall property 
 on Chestnut street, west of Seventh street, was purchased 
 by the Institute for the sum of ^110,500. 
 
 " Plans for a new and enlarged hall were prepared by 
 William Strickland, Esq., architect, aided by a committee of 
 the Institute. A plan for a building loan was adopted, and a 
 part of it subscribed for, which enabled the Institute to pay the 
 first installment of the purchase money. But the great 
 financial crash of May, 1837, struck our project down, and 
 after vainly struggling for several years to carry it out, we 
 had at last to surrender it, and at a fearful loss of many 
 thousands of dollars. At different times since, projects of 
 removal have been started, but, grown wise by the experience 
 of 1837, we have not been again tempted into any uncertain 
 contracts." 
 
 The reference to the failure of the Institute to realize its 
 plan in 1837, might properly have contained the additional 
 information that the financial loss thereby entailed, severely 
 crippled the resources of the Institute for a number of years 
 thereafter. 
 
 In order to promote and encourage, on the part of its ^•"'artmeiits''''' 
 large membership, a more general participation in active 
 scientific and technical work, the Institute lately approved 
 a plan, carefully drawn and matured by the managers, by 
 which the members of the Institute are divided into depart- 
 ments or sections representing various branches of science 
 and the arts, each section having control of its own domes- 
 tic affairs, but all subordinate to the general authority of the 
 Institute, 
 
12 
 
 Under the previously existing order of things it was felt 
 that the direction of the scientific and technical work of the 
 society was left too largely in the hands of the secretary and 
 the Committee on Instruction, with the inevitable result that 
 of the nearly 2,000 persons comprising the membership, a 
 comparatively small proportion only took an active part in 
 its work. The change above referred to, it is anticipated, by 
 affording the members enlarged opportunities for personal 
 action, will supply the needed stimulus to induce many who 
 hitherto have held aloof, from diffidence or want of encour- 
 agement, to take the initiative and engage actively in the 
 cultivation of special branches of pure and applied science. 
 The successful realization of these anticipations will greatly 
 broaden the field of usefulness of the Institute. The Chem- 
 ical Section and the Electrical Section, both useful and active 
 bodies of several years' standing, have already felt the influ- 
 ence of this change by a considerable increase of member- 
 ship. The organization of other sections will proceed as 
 rapidly as circumstances will justify their formation. 
 Creation of a In 1 887, the Institute took the important step of creat- 
 
 Board of ' _ . , , , . 
 
 Trustees, 1887. ing a Board of Trustees, vested with ample authority to 
 receive and hold for the benefit of the society all the real 
 and personal estate of the Institute which should thereafter 
 be acquired by subscription, or devise, bequest, or donation. 
 The property acquired since this action was taken — and 
 which in the aggregate amounts at present to about ;g40,ooo 
 — and all that may hereafter be acquired, save where the 
 donors shall expressly provide to the contrary, passes at 
 once into the custody of the trustees, who are required to 
 hold it in trust for the purposes specifically designated by the 
 donors, or, where there is no specific designation, for the 
 benefit of the Institute. 
 
 The act of the Institute creating the trustees, specifically 
 directs the officers of the Institute forthwith to convey to the 
 Board of Trustees, all property received by them. The act 
 further gives the trustees authority to perpetuate their 
 
t3 
 
 existence, by filling vacancies which may occur in their body. 
 In this procedure, the Board of Managers of the Institute is 
 given the right of selecting the successor of a trustee from 
 three suitable persons nominated for the office by the 
 remaining members of the Board of Trustees. 
 
 By these (and other confirmatory) provisions, it will be ah property ac- 
 
 . , , ,, . , . , . r , quired vested 
 
 perceived that all property acquired since the creation of the in the tmsteeB. 
 trustees, or which may hereafter be acquired, by subscription, 
 bequest or otherwise, becomes forthwith vested in the Board 
 of Trustees, and cannot in any event be liable for any debts 
 which the Institute may possibly contract. Friends of the 
 Franklin Institute, accordingly, who may contemplate making 
 it the beneficiary of their bounty, thus have the fullest assur- 
 ance that the terms of a subscription, or the directions of a 
 bequest, will be literally and faithfully executed in per- 
 petuity. 
 
 No one feature of the Franklin Institute so fully Ademocratsc 
 demonstrates the sincerity of its devotion to the objects for 
 which it was organized — the promotion of manufactures 
 and the mechanic and useful arts — as the democratic char- 
 acter which has always been its distinguishing mark. 
 
 Its membership is open to men and women, with- 
 out regard to distinctions of race, nationality or religion, the 
 only requirements for admission being good character and 
 friendly interest in its work. The artisan and the professor 
 meet within its walls upon an equal footing, animated by the ' 
 single desire to increase the common stock of knowledge by 
 mutual contributions, and to this fortunate blending of 
 " science with practice," which is so pre-eminently exem- 
 plified by the life-work of the illustrious Franklin, much of 
 the usefulness, past and present, of the Institute, should be 
 ascribed. 
 
 This is happily expressed by President Sellers in his 
 address at the fiftieth anniversary celebration of the Institute. 
 After alluding to the organization of great numbers of 
 Mechanics' Institutes in England and Scotland, about the 
 
time when our own Institute was being formed, and to the fact 
 that, with few exceptions, these enterprises enjoyed only a 
 brief period of active usefulness and then languished and 
 died, he gives the explanation in the following words : — 
 
 " Our Frankhn Institute was from the beginning a 
 Mechanics' Institute, in one sense of the word. It taught 
 by lectures and sometimes by classes, but it was always more 
 than was contemplated by the societies abroad. If I may so 
 express myself, it was and is a democratic learned society; 
 Who are eligible it is not exclusivc. No wcll-behaved person is excluded 
 
 as members. *■ 
 
 from its membership. All who desire to reap its benefits 
 or to aid it in its great work of promoting the mechanic arts 
 can join it. This is not so with the so-called learned 
 societies of this and other lands. They select their members 
 from among those who have already distinguished them- 
 selves in the arts or sciences, or are likely so to distinguish 
 themselves : hence, their membership is confined solely to 
 the learned of the land. Now, mark the difference in our 
 case. Learned men join our society, and in its hall come 
 in contact with those* who may be unlearned so far as books 
 are concerned, but better informed in some special art or 
 trade. Theory and practice are brought together, and each 
 I helps the other." 
 
 Those who are most familiar with the Institute will 
 best be able to recognize how truly this explanation explains 
 the very source and origin of its vitality. 
 
 To all who are interested in the progress of the arts 
 and manufactures; in the increase and diffusion of knowl- 
 edge ; in the training, especially of the young, by precept 
 and example, in habits of industry and self-dependence; and in 
 the cultivation of those things which tend to make men and 
 women more useful to themselves and more helpful to 
 others ; the Franklin Institute opens its doors in welcome. 
 
 The roll of membership at the present time includes 
 about two thousand names; but in Philadelphia, the very 
 citadel of American manufactures, and with a population of 
 
15 
 
 over a million, ten times that number should be enrolled tt^ usefainess 
 
 ' restricted for 
 
 on its list. With the moral and substantial aid which half want of means, 
 that number would contribute, it would be enabled to accom- 
 plish in its chosen fields, in education, the promotion of 
 the useful arts, and the encouragement of invention, vastly 
 more and better work. Its opportunities for usefulness are 
 almost unlimited, but it is compelled to restrict its activities 
 in many directions for the want of money to provide the , 
 needful means and facilities. 
 
 Except the meagre income derived from bequests and 
 endowments (and which, in all, amount to some ;^6o,ooo, the 
 greater portion of which sum has only lately been acquired), 
 the revenue upon which the Institute has always been com- 
 pelled to rely for its maintenance has been derived entirely 
 from the annual fees of its members. While its influence, 
 directly and indirectly, in stimulating the progress of the 
 arts and manufactures, during nearly three-quarters of a cen- 
 tury, has gained for it a leading position among the institu- 
 tions of the land, and has benefited the whole country, and 
 while it has again and again responded to the call of the city, 
 the State and the nation, by placing freely at their disposal 
 the services of a trained and skillful body of experts in the 
 arts and trades, the Franklin Institute has never received 
 a dollar of public money for carrying on its own work. 
 
 What it has accomplished in the past has been done with 
 limited financial resources and inadequate facilities. For 
 years it has been hampered for want of room to provide for Hampered for 
 the increase of its library, and for want of modern equipment 
 for its schools, its laboratories and its lecture hall. Its pres- 
 ent building is inadequate in size, antiquated in its appoint- 
 ments, and in a location which is becoming year by year 
 more unsuitable and uninviting. It is in the very midst of unsuitable and 
 
 *^ "^ dangerous lo- 
 
 warehouses and manufacturing establishments, and the con- cation, 
 stant danger of destruction by fire, to which its library and 
 other treasures are exposed, has long been the cause of grave 
 anxiety to its managers and members. 
 
i6 
 
 A larger build- 
 ings needed, 
 fire-prvof and 
 ^rith modern 
 equipment. 
 
 It needs now, and imperatively, a new and more com- 
 modious house, fire-proof, centrally situated, and fully equip- 
 ped with the most approved facilities for its work. These 
 should include a well-lighted and properly-appointed library 
 and reading-room, provided with every convenience for study, 
 consultation and copying; an auditorium capable of seating 
 comfortably 1,500 to 2,000 persons, and furnished with every 
 modern convenience for the proper illustration of scientific 
 lectures ; laboratories for chemical, mechanical and electrical 
 investigations, in which its committees would be able to do 
 their work in the most convenient and effective way ; and 
 well-appointed class rooms for its drawing school and other 
 educational work. 
 
 The endowment of the library, the Journal, and schools, 
 on a basis sufficiently ample to provide for their permanent 
 maintenance on a plane of creditable efficiency, is scarcely 
 less imperatively needed than a new building, and must be 
 provided in the near future. 
 
 The task of providing for these urgent needs of the 
 Institute is now receiving the most serious consideration of the 
 managers, and their plans, which are gradually being matured, 
 it is hoped and believed, will merit the cordial approbation of 
 the members, and command from them and from their public- 
 spirited fellow-citizens in the city and State, in whose behalf 
 the Institute has done so much good work, such substantial 
 evidences of sympathy and support as will insure their early 
 realization. 
 
 Then will this grand old Institute, which for nearly 
 three-quarters of a century has worthily borne, and added 
 lustre to, the honored name of Franklin, rejuvenated and 
 reinvigorated, as a giant refreshed with wine, enter upon a 
 career of renewed and extended usefulness. 
 
 With a word of testimony from others, this chapter may 
 fittingly be brought to a close. 
 
 From the forthcoming volume on " Industrial and Art 
 Education " in the United States, edited by Mr. J. Edwards 
 
t7 
 
 Clarke, published by the United States Bureau of Education, 
 the following generous acknowledgment may appropriately 
 be introduced at this point. ^ 
 
 Referring to the influence exerted by the Franklin Insti- the influence of 
 
 ° ■' the Institute. 
 
 tute, he says : 
 
 " The precedence, in time, of the founding of the 
 Franklin Institute; its example, inciting to the establish- 
 ment of similar organizations in other cities; its important 
 direct and indirect influence upon many phases of national 
 development, as well as upon elementary and technical edu- 
 cation in the city of Philadelphia — witness the relations held 
 by it, through Dr. Jones and his journal, to the national 
 patent system and its history ; the fact that the future archi- 
 tect of the Capitol at Washington received his first upward 
 impulse and elementary technical, training in its schools; and 
 its claim of having been first to suggest the holding the 
 Centennial Exhibition, as already recorded in the extracts 
 from the Ledger article ; all combine to give exceptional 
 interest to the history of this association of mechanics. 
 
 " An Institute, which has counted among its active 
 members men of such recognized eminence as scientists and 
 educators as Dr. Thomas P. Jones, the founder of the 
 Franklin Journal ; Alexander Dallas Bache, who organized 
 the ' Committee on Science,' and who left the Institute only 
 to assume the position of Superintendent of the Coast 
 Survey of the United States ; Prof. John C. Cresson ; Prof. 
 Henry Morton, long Secretary- of the Institute, editor of 
 the Journal, and now president of the Stevens Institute, 
 Hoboken ; Prof. Robert E. Rogers ; and Prof. George F. 
 Barker, of the University of Pennsylvania, who, in 1874, 
 assumed the editorship of the Franklin Journal, is surely 
 entitled to take rank in the United States among the leading 
 institutions for the promotion of science. 
 
 " While a local institution, whose list of presidents 
 contains such names as fill the roll of the Institute, namely, 
 James Ronaldson, Samuel V. Merrick, (the original founder 
 of the Institute), Prof. John C. Cresson, William Sellers, 
 John Vaughan Merrick, Prof. Robert E. Rogers, and 
 Coleman Sellers, needs no better indorsement in the city of 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 " The early opening of the drawing classes of the Insti- 
 tute gives it precedence in the movement for the better 
 
" tif t^'h *^id^b te'^'^ni'^^'' training of mechanics; while the fact that the 
 placid Tefore* ' School of Design for Women' was founded by it as long 
 the country." ^g^ ^g jg^^^ entitles it to consideration in any account of the 
 movement for the training of women in Industrial Art ; these 
 two acts link it to the whole industrial and artistic educa- 
 tional movement which has, in recent years, become such a 
 feature in education, and has given such an impulse to indus- 
 trial and artistic development in many parts of the United 
 States ; while the initiation of the movement which culmi- 
 nated in the success of the Centennial Exhibition is an 
 instance of a direct impulse given by a local institution to 
 the industrial and artistic development of a whole people." 
 
 And the same author elsewhere says, in referring to the 
 public services of the Franklin Institute : " The work you 
 have done seems admirable, and an example that should be 
 placed before the country." 
 
 '^j?ubiic"te'd *er "^^^ PubUc Z^'d'^^r— Conservative and just in all things — 
 
 speaking of the Institute, has this to say: — 
 
 " Its achievements, we believe, have been more 
 thoroughly recognized and appreciated everywhere than here 
 in its own home. This is said to be characteristic of Phila- 
 delphia, that it does not ' exploit ' its own good works. It 
 would be well if our people were of a different habit in this 
 respect, and it would be better if, * * * 
 
 there should be inaugurated a new era of the recognition 
 and appreciation of its merits, its services, its great useful- 
 ness, and its honorable record. If Boston possessed such 
 an Institute, with such a history, its renown would not be 
 allowed to become dim at home by any lack of public pro- 
 clamation of what it is and what it has done." 
 
As part of the original scheme of the Institute contem- 
 plated the education of mechanics and others in the 
 sciences which constitute the foundation of the trades, the 
 first Board of Managers, elected to office February i6, 1824, 
 and which effected the organization, provided for the estab- 
 lishment of a standing Committee on Instruction, charged *'iSXilctfon? 
 with the duty of directing the educational work of the Insti- 
 tute. This committee has been maintained to the present 
 without substantial modification of its duties. 
 
 This committee speedily perfected plans for systematic 
 instruction by means of lectures. Professorships of chem- 
 istry, of natural philosophy and mechanics, apd of archi- 
 tecture, were established and filled by the election of capaible 
 instructors. 
 
 The first course of lectures, as we learn from the invalu- 
 able record preserved to the Institute in the historical sketch 
 of Mr. Fraley, was held in the old Academy Building, on 
 Fourth street near Arch, owned by the University of Penn- 
 sylvania, the use of which for this purpose was granted by 
 the trustees ; and it is also recorded, that the work of the 
 professors was ably supplemented by a corps of volunteer i.ecture courses 
 
 and Drawing 
 
 lecturers from the membership of the Institute. A little school estab- 
 
 * lished. 
 
 later, the Institute rented the lower floor of the old Carpen- 
 ters' Hall for this purpose, and finally, on the completion and 
 occupancy of the hall, the lectures were held in its own 
 lecture room. 
 
 The next step taken in this direction was the formation 
 of a school for the teaching of mechanical and architectural 
 drawing, which was effected in the year 1824. This experiment 
 
26 
 
 Seeitls to have been crowned with complete success ; and, 
 encouraged by the support which their efforts to provide for 
 the educational wants of the city received from their appre- 
 ciative fellow-citizens, the managers proceeded to establish 
 another school, in which should be taught " all the useful 
 branches of English literature and the ancient and modern 
 1 languages." This project was realized in 1826. In 1827, 
 the records show that over three hundred scholars were upon 
 High School es- its roll. It was the model upon which the Central High 
 
 tablished. ^ 
 
 School, shortly afterwards established by the city as part of 
 the public school system, was patterned. With the organiza- 
 tion of the public high school, that of the Institute was 
 abandoned as unnecessary. The drawing school, however, 
 was continued, and has maintained an uninterrupted exist- 
 ence to the present. Its leading feature — that of training 
 pupils for actual work in shop and office — has always been 
 rigorously preserved, and at the present time, as a school 
 for mechanical draughtsmen, it is conceded, by those best 
 qualified to judge) to be the most thorough and practical of 
 any in the country. 
 
 The lectures also, have occupied a prominent place in 
 the scheme of the Institute's work, from the beginning to the 
 present. For many years, they were of the nature of a regular 
 course, or series, on architecture, mechanics, physics and 
 chemistry, varied of course from year to year, but following 
 generally the plan of graded or consecutive instruction, as in 
 schools and colleges. This system, however, though for a 
 long period admirably useful in meeting the needs of the public, 
 was found in time to be gradually outgrowing its usefulness. 
 Lecture courses on scientific themes, which for years had been 
 practically pre-empted by the Franklin Institute, in time, 
 were made attractive features in the schools and colleges, 
 and the popular science lecturer became a conspicuous figure 
 on the public lecture platform. And so it came about, natur- 
 ally, that the Committee on Instruction found it advantageous 
 gradually to modify its plans to adapt them to the changes 
 
21 
 
 of the times. For a number of years, accordingly, the 
 character of the Institute lectures has departed widely from 
 the old-time pattern. The object at present most conspic- 
 uously kept in view in the selection of the lectures, is to give 
 the members of the Institute the advantage of having presented 
 to them the latest advances in the useful arts and the sciences 
 bearing thereon ; and, to this end, the committee's efforts each 
 year are directed to the purpose of securing the services of men 
 of eminence in their respective fields of labor, who are invited 
 to select their own themes. The lecture courses, thus, are 
 greatly varied from year to year, but the quality of the 
 material presented, generally, is of the highest order of 
 excellence. An inspection of the lists of lecturers announced 
 in the programmes of the past ten years will disclose many 
 names famous in the ranks of American science and industry, 
 and the pages of the Journal, during this period have been 
 enriched with a varied collection of material, presenting in a 
 concise and interesting way the progress of all branches of 
 science and the arts, as expounded by their ablest representa- 
 tives. 
 
 Though devoted more especially to the promotion of the 
 mechanic arts, the Institute in numerous ways has shown its 
 sympathy with the efforts of those who have sought to ele- 
 vate the standard of taste among our people by the cultivation 
 of the fine arts as applied to the industries. Thus, the present 
 flourishing "School of Design for Women," was founded by interest shown 
 
 =» ° ' -'in industrial 
 
 the Institute, June 20, 1850, and, for several years was con- »■"'• 
 ducted by a committee assigned to this work, until it had 
 become self-supporting ; and, to another admirable institution 
 — the " Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art," 
 the Institute extended its friendly co-operation, a helping 
 hand, and a sheltering roof, during the period of its infancy. 
 An interesting fragment of history, preserved in the 
 sketch of Mr. Fraley, is worth reproducing at this point, to 
 show the extent of its influence, even at the outset of its 
 career, viz. ; — 
 
22 
 
 "The general interest .created by the existence and 
 
 working of the Institute caused more attention to be paid to 
 
 technology and to science generally, and in the year 1837 
 
 Movement for a gave Hsc to 3. movement for the establishment of a School 
 
 Sf^hnol of Arts, *^ i i • j 
 
 1837. of Arts. The Institute headed this movement and applied 
 
 to the councils of the city for a grant of a large plot of 
 ground in West Philadelphia as a site for the buildings of 
 the proposed school. 
 
 " This was promptly and cheerfully granted, and the 
 legislature was appealed to by memorials from all parts of 
 the State to endow the school by a liberal appropriation." 
 
 The project, as our historian records, failed of success 
 at the time, but has since been fully realized in the plans of 
 the University of Pennsylvania. 
 
The plan of the founders contemplated "the formation ^^LYtoi"^^"" 
 of a library of books relating to science and the useful arts, 
 and the opening of a reading-room ;" and, accordingly, one 
 of the first steps taken in the work of organization, was the 
 appointment of a committee charged with this duty. 
 
 The founding of the Journal, in 1826, by opening the •*j'J,u^*^i*'*® 
 way to the establishment of exchange relations with other 
 societies and with the leading magazines and periodicals 
 devoted to science and the useful arts, proved an invaluable 
 help in promoting its growth, and thus, early, gave to the 
 library the distinctive character which it has since maintained. 
 From the nucleus formed by this useful agency has grown a 
 reference library of scientific literature, in some branches 
 unique, and, in extent and completeness, second to none in 
 the United States, embracing the publications of the principal 
 scientific and technical societies of the world, and the leading 
 periodicals devoted to science and the useful arts. 
 
 In 1887, the Moyamensing Literary Institute, which, up The library a 
 
 . , , , , . , , ,- , • r public deposi- 
 
 to that time had been designated as a public depository 01 tory. 
 the United States government publications, finding-that its 
 facilities were inadequate to meet the requirements imposed 
 by law upon libraries of this class, surrendered its claims in 
 favor of the Franklin Institute, which has since remained 
 the public depository for the congressional district in which 
 it is situated. By this transfer the library also became the 
 custodian of a large number of valuable publications, which 
 had previously been deposited with the institution above 
 named, and which proved of substantial assistance in con- 
 tributing to the completion of sets of the publications of the 
 various scientific and technical bureaus of the government. 
 
24 
 
 Collection of 
 patent records. 
 
 Value as a li- 
 brary of refer- 
 ence. 
 
 Among the publications of this class, of which the 
 library at present possesses sets which are, in most instances, 
 complete, should be named, the coast and harbor charts of the 
 United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, and of the Hydro- 
 graphic Office; the publications of the Engineering Bureaus 
 of the Army and Navy ; those of the United States Geologi- 
 cal Survey ; of the Department of Agriculture ; and of the 
 United States Patent Office. 
 
 The governments of Great Britain, (and her colonies), 
 France and Switzerland, also, have deposited with the library, 
 complete sets of their patent office publications, with the 
 stipulation that they should be kept conveniently accessible 
 to the public for reference. To make the collection of this 
 valuable class of publications — which, collectively, constitutes 
 an epitome of the world's progress in the arts and manufac- 
 tures — as comprehensive as possible, the Committee on 
 Library has lately acquired complete sets of the patent 
 reports of Germany and Austro-Hungary. 
 
 The library is annually enriched, also, by the gift of 
 numerous technical publications of a miscellaneous character 
 from foreign governments, and from States and municipal 
 authorities and corporations. These embrace publications 
 relating to public works ; official reports relating to geology, 
 the mining and metallurgical industries, agriculture, public 
 health, municipal engineering ; reports of railway and other 
 transportation companies, manufacturing corporations, etc. 
 
 For many years it has been the policy of this committee, 
 to increase the value of the collection as a library of reference, 
 and to this end it has devoted systematic effort to the task of 
 completing the files of its important serial publications. In 
 this work, the committee, with the substantial assistance of 
 several liberal contributions of money from generous friends 
 of the Institute, has been notably successful. 
 
 To inventors and manufacturers seeking for information 
 respecting the state of the arts and manufactures, the exten- 
 sive collection pf patent literature which the library places 
 
25 
 
 at their disposal', is simply indispensable, and the library is 
 constantly resorted to by attorneys and their clients for the 
 purpose of consulting these volumes ; while, to the pro- 
 fessional man and the student, the scientific and technical 
 serials in which the library is so rich, are no less indispen- 
 sable as an aid in pursuing their investigations. 
 
 For the acquisition, by purchase, of the standard and 
 current works relating to the arts and sciences, the means 
 which the Institute could place at the service of its Library 
 Committee, for many years, were extremely limited, and the 
 collection of books of this class increased very slowly. 
 Many valuable books were acquired by gift, but, for a long 
 time, the yearly accretions by purchase were inconsiderable. 
 At the close of the fiftieth year of its existence, the Institute 
 had on its shelves only 12,000 volumes. Since then, how- 
 ever, the library has received substantial aid from several 
 sources, and (when compared with its previous history) has 
 increased rapidly. 
 
 In the year 1878, through the liberality of Mrs. Bloom- Endowment of 
 field H. Moore, the Institute received the sum of ^10,000 
 for the endowment of the library as a memorial of her 
 deceased husband, Bloomfield H. Moore, who, for a number 
 of years was greatly interested in the Institute, and espe- 
 cially in the work of its Library Committee, of which body 
 he was long an active member. 
 
 The principal of this fund was increased in the year 
 1888, by a second gift from Mrs. Moore, of ^5,000, making 
 the total amount of this endowment, ^15,000. 
 
 In the year 1874, the library was enriched by the deposit *^uiaUcoiieJtron 
 therein of the valuable personal library of the late John 
 Lenthall, for many years Chief of the Bureau of Construction 
 and Repairs of the United States Navy. This deposit, which, 
 on the death of Mr. Lenthall in 1883, became a gift, consists 
 of nearly 1,000 volumes relating to naval architecture, 
 marine engineering and kindred subjects, included in which 
 are a great number of drawings. This goUegtion, designated 
 
26 
 
 * Memorial Li- 
 brary" of the 
 Klectrical Ex- 
 hibition 
 
 Other benefac- 
 tions. 
 
 the " Lenthall Collection," is used solely for reference, and 
 forms a valuable addition to the literary treasures of the 
 Institute. 
 
 In the year 1884, through the efforts of a special Com- 
 mittee on Bibliography, a valuable collection of literature 
 relating to electricity was made in connection with the 
 " International Electrical Exhibition," held under the direc- 
 tion of the Institute, in the autumn of that year. To this 
 collection, publishers, authors and scientific societies, at home 
 and abroad, made liberal contributions, and the committee's 
 labors resulted in the acquisition of 3,000 volumes, bound 
 and unbound, monographs and pamphlets, relating to elec- 
 tricity and magnetism. This library, properly classified and 
 catalogued, formed an interesting feature of that notable 
 exhibition. At the close of the exhibition, this collection, 
 in accordance with the proposition contained in the invitation 
 accepted by the donors, was deposited in the library of the 
 Institute as the " Memorial Library of the International 
 Electrical Exhibition," to be used for reference only. In 
 addition to the above-named books and pamphlets, this 
 committee received contributions of money amounting 
 to nearly ;^ 1,000, which was invested, and the income of 
 which is now applied to the preservation and increase of the 
 collection. 
 
 In the list of those whose generosity has enriched the 
 library should be mentioned, also, as especially worthy of grate- 
 ful remembrance, the names of Algernon S. Roberts (1869), 
 and Henry Seybert (1878), each of whom contributed a con- 
 siderable sum of money for the purchase of standard refer- 
 ence books ; that of Mrs. Wm. B. Rogers (1885), who made a 
 gift to the library of the large and important collection of 
 works on chemistry owned by the late Dr. Robert E. 
 Rogers, one-time President of the Institute ; and that of Mrs. 
 Frederic Graff (1894-5), who has given the library a consid- 
 erable collection of drawings and engravings of much 
 historical interest, as a memorial of her late husband, Frederic 
 
27 
 
 Graff, for many years a manager and vice-president of the 
 Institute, and a member of the Committee on Library. 
 
 At the present time, the funds annually available for the 
 purchase of new books, consist of the income derived from 
 the " Bloomfield H. Moore Fund" and from the " Memorial 
 Library Fund," amounting together to about ^800, which is 
 expended by the Committee on Library. 
 
 To provide a fund for binding and to meet current 
 incidental expenses, the Board of Managers makes an 
 annual appropriation from the general fund, which varies 
 in amount according to the state of the finances, but which 
 will average about ;^ 1,000. 
 
 It thus appears, that, taking no consideration of the rands avanabie 
 additions made by deposits and gifts from official and ^ooks. 
 private sources, the growth of the library is dependent upon 
 the income derived from the several endowment funds (and 
 which amounts to less than a thousand dollars annually), 
 and upon the exchanges of the Journal. Without the in- 
 valuable aid derived from the last-named source, it is mani- 
 fest that the provision for the library would be lamentably 
 insufficient to meet even a fraction of its annual needs. 
 Even with the aid of this powerful lever, the resources at 
 the committee's disposal are inadequate to keep the library 
 supplied with what is absolutely needful to keep it abreast of 
 the progress of the arts and manufactures. 
 
 What the committee needs for this purpose is an endow- ™do^I^^ti™' *"" 
 ment fund of not less than ^100,000, and, it is earnestly hoped 
 that one of the first thing's accomplished when the Institute 
 has realized its long-cherished plan for a new building, will 
 be the making of such an adequate provision for the main- 
 tenance and growth of this important branch of its work. 
 But, notwithstanding the fact that the committee's resources 
 have always been greatly restricted, the library, thanks to 
 the great benefits which it has continued to receive through 
 the Journal, has suffered less from the ills of chronic poverty 
 with which the Institute is afflicted, than some other 
 
 needed. 
 
28 
 
 departments. At the present time (December 31, 1894), 
 it numbers 41,812 bound and unbound volumes, 27,931 
 pamphlets (of which the greater portion is classified and 
 catalogued), and 4,722 maps, charts, photographs, etc. 
 The library free The entire library is free to the public, for reference, 
 
 ror reference. ^ -^ ^ 
 
 between the hours of 10 A. m and 3 p. m. 
 
 The library has never had the benefit of an adequate force 
 of competent assistants, with the aid of whom much good 
 work might be accomplished, not only in adding materially 
 to the number of publications obtainable by gift, but also in 
 proper classification and cataloguing. It may surprise those 
 who are familiar with the working methods and needs of the 
 modern library, to learn that all the domestic work of the 
 Institute library — which is receiving monthly about 200 new 
 volumes, issuing for reference 6,000 volumes monthly, and 
 which has 150 readers per day — is performed by a single 
 librarian, with the aid of one boy who also acts as messenger. 
 This unfortunate state of things, which is due simply to the 
 lack of funds at the Committee's disposal, greatly restricts 
 the usefulness of the library, and imposes needless drudgery 
 upon an officer whose time should be more profitably 
 employed. 
 Overcrowded In concluding this account of the library, it is prooer that 
 
 aiKi in danger . ° » > I" f 
 
 from fire. attention be called also to its greatly overcrowded condition, 
 
 which seriously interferes with the duties of its custodians and 
 the convenience of those who use it ; and, more serious by far, 
 to the ever-present danger of destruction by fire, to which it 
 is exposed in the present inadequately protected building in 
 which it is housed. The destruction of the library, or of a 
 large part of it, would be a loss well-nigh irreparable, and the 
 fear of a calamity so grave should greatly stimulate the 
 efforts of those members who are urging the project for a 
 new building. 
 
A branch of the Institute's work, which, perhaps, more 
 obviously than any other, illustrates the utilitarian spirit 
 which animated the founders, and which their successors 
 have worthily perpetuated and striven to improve and extend, 
 is that which is now conducted by the Committee on Science 
 and the Arts. 
 
 One of the things that was, apparently, uppermost in ■* committee to 
 
 ^ ' jrjr J * rr examine and 
 
 the thoughts of the founders, was the need — as urgent then vention"" '"" 
 as to-day — felt by inventors and discoverers, of some com- 
 petent, trustworthy and impartial body, to whom they could 
 safely appeal for advice, and on whose judgment they could 
 confidently rely for an opinion, as to the usefulness of their 
 inventioijis and discoveries. 
 
 One of the first acts of the Board of Managers was to 
 make provision for this need. Article VIII of the original 
 by-laws of the board, adopted at the stated meeting held "ilaSI^^ '" 
 February 26, 1824, made provision for the examination of 
 " new machines or inventions which may be offered," and 
 defined the mode of appointing committees for this purpose 
 A year and a half later, this feature^ was permanently 
 engrafted upon the parent- body, by the repeal of this article, 
 and the adoption of a substitute providing for a standing 
 committee, to consist of five members, to be denominated the 
 " Board of Examiners, whose duty it shall be * * * to 
 examine and make report upon all new and useful machines, 
 inventions and discoveries submitted to them." Subsequently 
 the name of the Board of Examiners was changed to the 
 " Committee on Inventions." 
 
 In his interesting address, delivered at the celebration 
 of the fiftieth anniversary of the Institute, Mr. Fraley pays the 
 following tribute to the activity and usefulness of this body: — 
 
30 
 Early activity of "The Committee on Inventions soon became a centre 
 
 the Committee . , t. 
 
 on Inventions, from which radiated the most useful and mteresting results. 
 The late Isaiah Lukens, a distinguished mechanician, was for 
 many years its chairman, and, with the professors of the 
 Institute, and such associates as Alexander Dallas Bache, 
 Benjamin Reeves, Samuel V. Merrick, Rufus Tyler, Matthias 
 W. Baldwin, John Agnew, George Washington Smith, John 
 Wiegand and others, gave wise counsel to inventors, put 
 them in the way of knowing what had previously been 
 accomplished, saved them from the loss of money and of 
 reputation by showing them when their inventions were not 
 new, and, when any matter of real novelty or value was 
 presented, endorsing it most heartily with their approval, and 
 giving that potential aid which would almost certainly secure 
 public recognition and reward." 
 
 This organization continued in existence until the year 
 
 1834, when, by act of the Institute, it was abolished, and in 
 
 sacceededbythe Jts place there was established the " Committee on Science 
 
 Committee on ^ 
 
 ^denceandthe ^nd the Arts," with enlarged powers and a wider field of 
 labor. As originally constituted, membership in this com- 
 mittee was open to all members of the Institute in good 
 standing who chose to enroll their names, and who, by thus 
 voluntarily associating themselves with the committee, pledged 
 themselves to perform the duties assigned to them. These 
 duties were thus defined : * * * " to examine * * * 
 all inventions that may be submitted, and to make detailed, 
 descriptive reports thereon, giving their opinion with candor 
 and impartiality on the inventions submitted, in the manner 
 now practiced by the Committee on Inventions j * * * 
 to conduct * * * such scientific investigations as may 
 be deemed worthy of consideration, and to publish the 
 results in the Journal of the Institute; * * * to inquire 
 into and report upon the state of the arts generally, or into 
 the state of any branch thereof, when called upon to do so, 
 in order to disseminate useful practical information, or his- 
 torical facts, in relation thereto ; and * * * jn general. 
 
31 
 
 (to assume) the scientific duties which devolve upon the 
 institution, tending to mutual instruction, and to the dis- 
 semination of knowledge, and which are not specially 
 entrusted by the constitution to the officers of the Institute." 
 
 Under this form of organization the committee continued "committee*!"'" 
 for more than fifty years, and its usefulness during this long 
 period is attested by its records, containing the results of the 
 examination of a great number of inventions, and of its 
 investigations of many subjects of importance entrusted to 
 it by the Institute. The Journal, which it has enriched by 
 the fruits of its labors, also bears eloquent testimony to their 
 value, and to the industry and self-sacrifice of the long line 
 of worthies whose names appear on its roll of membership. 
 For many years its destinies were presided over by Alexander 
 Dallas Bache, the great-grandson of Franklin, and whose 
 profound and varied attainments in science, and eminent 
 executive ability, were not unworthy of such distinguished 
 ancestry. He was succeeded in the office of chairman by 
 John C. Cresson, who, for many years, fulfilled the duties of 
 the position with zeal and ability. 
 
 In the year 1 886, the Institute adopted an amendment ''made^^'Viec- 
 to its by-laws, by which this committee was reorganized on l^lyl*"''^*" 
 an elective basis, thus abolishing the plan of voluntary asso- 
 ciation which had heretofore been a distinguishing feature. 
 By thjs amendment the Institute established a Committee on 
 Science and the Arts, to be composed of forty-five members 
 of the Institute, to be chosen at the annual election (fifteen 
 each year), and "who shall pledge themselves by their 
 acceptance of membership to perform such duties as may 
 devolve upon them, and to sustain by their labors the scien- 
 tific character of the Institute." 
 
 Under this form of organization the committee exists at 
 the present time, having substantially the same scope as its 
 immediate predecessor, though, as will presently appear, en- 
 dowed with somewhat enlarged powers. Thus, the Institute 
 has confided to the committee the duty of awarding the 
 
3^ 
 
 Its powers ell- pold medal endowed by the bequest of the late Elliott 
 
 larged. ° r •<-• f 
 
 Cresson, and to be awarded as a mark of recognition lor 
 inventions and discoveries of pre-eminent value. The com- 
 mittee is likewise empowered to grant the silver " Medal of 
 Merit " founded by the bequest of our honored member and 
 ex-vice-president, Edward Longstreth, and a " Certificate 
 of Merit," and " Diploma," in cases which, in its judgment, 
 are deserving of such recognition. 
 
 A substantial proof of the value of this committee's 
 work, and which should be highly gratifying to every member 
 of the Institute, is afforded by the action of the Board of 
 Directors of City Trusts in availing itself of the committee's 
 services in the distribution of the " John Scott Legacy Medal 
 and Premium," to ingenious men and women who make 
 useful inventions. The committee has so carefully guarded 
 its recommendations of this award, which bears on the obverse 
 of the medal the inscription, "Awarded by the City of Phila- 
 delphia," that, thus far, in not a single case, has the Board of 
 City Trusts, to whose hands the city has confided the admin- 
 istration of the trust, failed to approve its judgments. 
 
 In the performance of its duties, the committee has ever 
 been seriously mindful of its responsibility to safeguard the 
 honorable reputation of the Institute, and has ever been actu- 
 ated by the desire to aid and encourage those who apply to 
 it for counsel and judgment. That its counsel should occa- 
 sionally be distasteful, and its judgment the cause of disap- 
 pointment, and that it should occasionally have erred in both, 
 may be assumed as a matter of course, but the really 
 surprising thing about the committee, is the fact that in a 
 history covering nearly three-quarters of a century, it should 
 have made so few mistakes ; and to its lasting credit should 
 be placed another fact, that the tongue of scandal has never 
 uttered a word in derogation of its honesty of purpose. 
 
 Since its organization in 1824, this body, besides mak- 
 ing numerous investigations of special subjects referred to it 
 by the Institute, has examined nearly 2,000 inventions and 
 
33 
 discoveries. To its counsel and aid, many worthy persons its work in- 
 
 ■* •' ^^ creased. 
 
 are indebted for the successful introduction of their inven- 
 tions, and many others are indebted no less for having been 
 dissuaded from wasting time and money upon worthless 
 inventions and impracticable projects. 
 
 Since its reorganization on an elective basis, in 1886, 
 not only has its work increased, but, having profited by the 
 experience of the past, its methods, also, have been systema- 
 tized and thereby improved, and in consequence, the stand- 
 ard of its reports has been raised. Membership in the 
 committee is now regarded as a mark of distinction, which 
 the ablest and most active members of the Institute are proud 
 to gain. The sphere of its labors has expanded, and inventors 
 and discoverers of other lands, attracted by the fame of its 
 impartiality and the thoroughness of its reports, and seeking 
 the honor bf its approbation and rewards, not infrequently 
 ask for its verdict on the merits of their productions. 
 
 It is fitting, in concluding this reference to the honor- 
 able career of an organization that has done so much to 
 sustain the scientific reputation, and to increase the useful- 
 ness, of the Institute, to add the statement that the services its services are 
 
 ' ^ rendered gra- 
 
 of its members are rendered without compensation. When tuitousiy. 
 it is remembered that some of them are men of eminent at- 
 tainments, and of the highest professional repute, and that all 
 of them have been chosen by the Institute because of their 
 special competency as experts in their respective trades or 
 professions, the significance of this statement will be appre- 
 ciated at its true value. It is no exaggeration to claim that 
 there exists nowhere — either at home or abroad — in con- 
 nection with any public institution of kindred character, an 
 organization more directly useful in its aims, and more 
 actively helpful in its work, than this committee ; whose 
 history should entitle it to a higher place in the esteem of 
 good men and women ; or whose mission would have been 
 nearer to the heart of the great utilitarian and philanthropist 
 with whose name, happily, it is associated. 
 
®t7ft^ ^tXixvnnU 
 
 The Journal. The publication of a journal for the diffusion of knowl- 
 
 edge on all subjects connected with the useful arts, was em- 
 braced in the plan of the founders, and was undertaken 
 shortly after the organization had been effected. This pub- 
 lication has been continued without interruption to the present 
 time, and has proved most useful, not only in directly pro- 
 moting the aims and objects of the Institute, but also in 
 extending the sphere of its influence beyond the limits of its 
 local habitation. 
 
 The first step to secure a publication was taken by the 
 Institute as early as 1825, when, by arrangement With C. S. 
 Williams, publisher, a magazine bearing the title TAe American 
 Mechanics' Magazine, and which had been founded by him in 
 New York at the beginning of that year, was acquired by Dr. 
 Thomas P. Jones, who had recently been elected professor of 
 mechanics in the Franklin Institute. At the outset the 
 responsibility of this venture appears to have been assumed 
 by Dr. Jones, after he had received assurances of active 
 co-operation and support from the members of the Institute, 
 who were warmly interested in its success. 
 
 The prospectus of the new publication, which was issued 
 August I, 1825, announced the fact that " shortly will be 
 published 
 
 THE 
 FRANKLIN JOURNAL 
 
 4A AND 
 
 MECHANICS' MAGAZINE, 
 Under the Patronage 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Franklin Institute, of the State of Pennsylvania, for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, 
 Edited by Doctor Thomas P. Jones, Professor of Mechanics in the Institute." 
 
 The object of The Franklin Journal, as defined in the 
 prospectus, was, " to diffuse information on every subject 
 
^5 
 connected with useful arts. In view of their subsequent Prospectns of 
 
 ^ theFrankUn 
 
 hteral verification, the views of the editor, as set forth in his Journal. 
 announcement, are worthy of reproduction here, especially 
 since it is to his connection with the history of the enterprise, 
 extending over a period of twenty-two years, that the Journal 
 owes, in great measure, the attainment of that respected posi- 
 tion at home and abroad as a reliable and useful exponent 
 of the progress of American arts and manufactures, which 
 it has been the constant aim of his successors worthily to 
 maintain. 
 
 " In the accomplishment of this design," to quote from 
 the prospectus, " the editor will freely avail himself of what- 
 ever has' been published elsewhere; but he is determined, at 
 the same time, to give to the work a character truly Ameri- 
 can. With this view, a particular description will be given 
 of the various useful inventions and improvements made in 
 our own country ; and in selecting articles from foreign 
 works, those of course will be preferred which are more 
 immediately applicable to the arts and manufactures of the 
 United States. A list of patented inventions will be given, 
 accompanied with free remarks upon their utility and origi- 
 nality. Inventions either new, or not generally known, will 
 occupy a large portion of the work. It will also contain 
 brief reviews of works, whether foreign or domestic, which 
 treat on any of the useful arts ; descriptions of the productions 
 of mechanical genius, remarkable either for their magnitude 
 or for the skill and patience manifested in their execution ; 
 biographical notices of individuals who have distinguished 
 themselves by the improvement or pursuit of the useful arts; 
 exemplifications of the intimate connection which exists 
 between science and skill in the mechanic arts, and of their 
 dependence upon each other for the attainment of the utmost 
 perfection of either. 
 
 " The transactions of the Franklin Institute and an 
 abstract of the lectures delivered will always receive a dis- 
 tinguished place in its pages. * * * 
 
36 
 
 " In the ejiecution of this plan the Editor will not stand 
 alone ; he will be aided by his colleagues in the Institute, 
 and by a number of other gentlemen distinguished by their 
 zeal and capacity. His own resources are not inconsiderable 
 as he has through life devoted a long portion of time to the 
 attainment of knowledge in the theory and practice of the 
 useful arts ; has associated freely with mechanics and pos- 
 sesses sufficient skill to subject to the test of experience 
 most of the processes which require an acquaintance with 
 operative mechanics or chemistry ; he pledges himself, there- 
 fore, never to mislead his readers on these subjects. 
 
 " The Editor will not be sparing of either time or money 
 to render the work as perfect as possible. He is more 
 anxious to make it useful than profitable, and is aware that 
 if the latter quality is attained it must be through the medium 
 of the former." 
 ^1836^^""* "" '^^^ initial impression of the Franklin Journal was issued 
 
 in January, 1826, and at the annual meeting of the Institute 
 held January 19, 1826, it was "Resolved, That the members 
 view with pleasure the prospect of the Frankhn Journal 
 being issued by so able an editor as the Professor of Me- 
 chanics in the Institute, and recommend it to the support of 
 their fellow-citizens.'' In the report of the same meeting, it 
 is stated that " Dr. Jones has undertaken the publication of 
 the Journal on his own account, with the assistance of the 
 members and under the patronage of the Institute." 
 
 Under this arrangement, and with certain aid from the 
 treasury of the Institute, the Franklin Journal continued its 
 career as a monthly magazine, until the close of the year 
 1827, when the Institute assumed the sole responsibility of 
 its continuance. With the impression of January, 1828, it 
 appeared as the Journal of the Franklin Institute, and thus 
 has continued to the present. 
 
 The value placed by the Institute upon the services of 
 Dr. Jones is evidenced by the fact that he was continued in 
 the position of editor, and by the action taken at the quarterly 
 
37 
 meeting in April, 1828, at which it was announced that he Eminent ser- 
 
 vices of Dr. 
 
 would be compelled to sever his relations with the Institute, Jones, 
 as professor of mechanics, in view of his acceptance of the 
 office of Superintendent of the Patent Office, to which he had 
 been appointed, April 12, 1828, and which required his removal 
 to Washington. At the meeting above named, the Institute 
 testified its appreciation of Dr. Jones' services in a resolution 
 appointing him editor of the Journal during his life. 
 
 Dr. Jones continued his active relations with the Journal 
 as editor until his death in 1848; and in the minutes of the 
 meeting of the Institute held April 20, 1848, there appears 
 a series of resolutions, passed on the announcement of his 
 death, from which the following is condensed, to wit : — 
 
 Resolved, That the services of Dr. Jones, as the founder 
 and able editor of the Journal of the Institute, from the time 
 the publication of it was commenced until his death, * * * 
 will ever be gratefully remembered by all who have partici- 
 pated in the labors and advantages of our Society. 
 
 In the prospectus of the Franklin Journal, above quoted, 
 attention is called to the fact that it was intended to give 
 a list of patented inventions, with remarks upon their utility 
 and originality. This proposition was literally maintained 
 and continued as a prominent feature of the Journal to the 
 close of 1859, save that the " Remarks," which were in many 
 cases of the greatest value to those interested in the progress 
 of the arts and rhanufactures, were discontinued on the death 
 of Dr. Jones. His accession to the position of Superin- 
 tendent of the Patent Office naturally caused him to devote 
 special attention to the preservation of the record of patents 
 in the pages of the Journal. This circumstance has since 
 proved of considerable value to all who have need to refer to 
 the early patents of the United States, as will appear from 
 the following explanation : — 
 
 In the official Patent Office publications, issued by the 
 government prior to the year 1843, the publication of the 
 
38 
 
 Valuable patent 
 record. 
 
 claims was omitted ; while, for a considerable period (1826- 
 1859), the Journal published an abstract of the specifications 
 and the claims in full, except for the patents of the years 
 1826 and 1827, and for those issued between the months of 
 March and October, 1836, during which intervals the publi- 
 cation of the claims, for some unexplained reason, was 
 omitted. The Journal, consequently, is the only source at 
 present available for reference to the specifications and 
 claims of patents issued by the United States, from 1828 to 
 1842, both inclusive, with the trifling omission of the eight 
 months of the year 1836, above noted. The Journal can also 
 be used, in place of the official publications, as a source of 
 reference to the patents granted during the entire period 
 (1826-1859) in which the patent lists were published therein. 
 
 Since the death of its founder, after twenty-two years of 
 service as its editor, the Journal has been conducted succes- 
 sively under the editorial management of Prof Alexander 
 Dallas Bache, Mr. Chas. B. Trego, Prof John F. Frazer, Dr. 
 Henry Morton, Dr. Wm. H. Wahl, Prof George F. Barker, 
 and Mr. Robert Briggs. 
 
 From the year 1878, and down to the present, its super- 
 vision has remained in the hands of the Committee on Pub- 
 lications, under whose direct management the publication is 
 conducted with the editorial assistance of the Secretary of 
 the Institute. 
 
 Of late years, the abandonment of the plan of elementary 
 instruction, and the substitution of lecture courses having in 
 view the presentation of the latest advances in the useful arts, 
 and the expansion of the work of sections in the Institute, 
 have increased so considerably the amount of new and valu- 
 able material emanating directly from the scientific activity 
 of the Institute, as to have wrought a decided change in the 
 character of the Journal. While, formerly, the publica- 
 tion was, to a considerable extent, eclectic in make-up, it has 
 for a number of years been devoted, almost to the exclusion 
 of foreign matter, to the exposition of the actual work of the 
 
Institute. 
 
 39 
 
 Institute ; the papers read at its meetings and before its sec- 
 tions, the lectures, and the work of its committees, affording 
 an ample supply of material, much of it of the highest order 
 of excellence. 
 
 In establishing the Journal, at the outset of the career its value in pro- 
 of their organization, the founders "builded better than they work of the 
 knew." It has proved an invaluable aid in promoting the 
 objects of the ■ Institute. It has served the useful pu-rpose 
 of disseminating the results of the Institute's work, and thus 
 of gaining for it a reputation at home and abroad, which no 
 other instrumentality could have accomplished so effectively. 
 It has placed the Institute on terms of active fellowship with 
 the leading scientific and technical societies of America and 
 Europe, by which it has been enabled to enrich its library 
 with many thousands of volumes received in the form of 
 exchanges. To-day it is one of the oldest publications in 
 America devoted to science and the useful arts, and its pages, 
 in addition to being the record of the useful work of the 
 Institute, contain so many valuable contributions relating 
 to the arts and manufactures in the United States, and to the 
 progress of science and the arts in general, during the nearly 
 three-quarters of a century of its existence, that it has come 
 to be regarded, at home and abroad, as an indispensable work 
 of reference. 
 
 The complete file of the Journal embraces the Franklin 
 Journal, 4 volumes, 1826- 1827 ; the Journal of the Franklin 
 Institute (second series), 26 volumes, 1828- 1840; the Journal 
 of the FrankUn Institute (third series), 109 volumes, 1841 to 
 the present ; or, 139 volumes in all. Since the publication of 
 the general index, in 1890, the "series" designation of the 
 Journal has been abandoned, the whole number being used 
 to indicate the volume. 
 
 In its present form, the Journal is an octavo of 80 pages. It 
 is published monthly, the twelve impressions being divided into 
 two yearly volumes — ^January to June and July to December, 
 each separately paged, and issued with title-page and index. 
 
As a means of promoting the mechanic arts, the holdmg 
 of exhibitions was highly favored by the promoters, and in 
 this field of activity the Institute, for many years, was con- 
 spicuously prominent. It will be of interest here to repro- 
 duce, from the first quarterly report made to the Institute by 
 the managers, in April, 1824, the language used in alluding 
 to the project of holding an exhibition of American manu- 
 factures. This exhibition, it should be remembered to the 
 credit of the Institute, was the firs^ of the kind to be under- 
 The Institute taken in this country. It was held in the month of October, 
 Elhibitioli o" 1824, in the old Carpenters' Hall, and, considering that at 
 
 American ' \ ^ . i-ii 'ju*. 
 
 manufactnres the time it was held, the Institute had been organized but a 
 
 ml8%4. , 1 1 r iU 
 
 few months, the circumstances speaks eloquently tor the 
 energy and enthusiasm of the undertakers. The quarterly 
 report above mentioned refers to this topic in the following 
 words : — 
 
 "An object of equal, if not greater importance * * * 
 is that of public exhibitions to which all the products of 
 national industry may be sent ; the effect and consequence 
 of such exhibitions will necessarily be to extend the reputa- 
 tion of the Institute, to stimulate the zeal of the members, 
 and to excite a proper degree of emulation and of justifiable 
 rivalry among the numberless manufacturers and mechanics 
 of this city. It is confidently believed that when the pro- 
 ducts of our industry are collected from the various workshops 
 now dispersed throughout the city and State and exhibited 
 together, they will form a collection calculated to excite a 
 gratifying sense of pride in the bosom of every well-wisher 
 to the prosperity of our manufacturers, and an encouraging 
 hope that, under proper regulations, we may soon compete 
 with foreigners in the manufacture of all useful articles." 
 
41 
 
 The records which have been preserved of this first ex- 
 hibition, demonstrate that it was looked upon as an event of 
 the first importance. With the view of stimulating the 
 ambition of the enterprising and of encouraging the domesti- 
 cation of new industries, special premiums were offered in 
 advance for exhibits of new products and for such as should 
 show notable improvement in quality. 
 
 One eye-witness of, and participant in, this historic event, influence of the 
 
 ■' ' jr r ' I early £xhibi- 
 
 happily, yet survives, linking with the span of more than *'""»• 
 ninety years, the present with the past — our revered Fraley. 
 In his eloquent address on the occasion of the commemoration 
 of the fiftieth anniversary of the Institute, which is replete 
 with interesting and unique reminiscences, is the following 
 reference to this event : " It was held in Carpenters' Hall in 
 the autumn of 1824, and was crowned with complete suc- 
 cess. It attracted large crowds of people who hitherto had 
 had no conception of the extent and variety of our home 
 productions, and reacted in many curious and unexpected 
 ways to bring producers and consumers together, and to 
 diffuse a knowledge of our domestic skill and resources." 
 
 The success which crowned their pioneer enterprise, 
 gave such encouragement to our managers of early days, 
 that it was followed, at brief intervals, by other exhibitions, 
 during many years. The records of these exhibitions disclose 
 many interesting facts relative to the origin and growth of 
 the manufacturing arts in the United States ; and the lists of 
 premiums offered, afford the historians of our industries 
 the materials for instituting instructive comparisons. 
 
 The solicitude displayed by the managers of these early 
 exhibitions, to gain the confidence of exhibitors by fair \ 
 treatment and by the Conscientious devotion of time and ' 
 skill to the examination of the merits of the exhibits, is I 
 strikingly shown in the published reports of these events, 
 which are among the most highly valued of the Institute's 
 records ; and the conviction has often forced itself upon the 
 writer, in reflecting ' on the subject, that the earnestness of 
 
42 
 
 purpose and devotedness, with which these men of the past 
 generation labored to make the Franklin Institute useful and 
 honored, have left an indelible impress upon the minds of 
 those who have come after them, imbuing them deeply with 
 the sentiment that loyalty to the Institute and jealous regard 
 for its honor, are duties which have become theirs to main- 
 tain by right of inheritance. 
 '^weo^n^auy ?or The exhibitions of the Institute were held yearly or bi- 
 
 many years. gHnially, down to the year 1858. They were held in various 
 places. Many of the earlier events took place in the old 
 Masonic Hall, on Chestnut street, above Seventh, and in a 
 temporary annex thereto ; and the more recent ones in the one- 
 time famous Museum Building, at Ninth and Sansom streets, 
 the destruction of which by fire, in the year 1850, made it 
 necessary for the managers, for several years, to adapt them- 
 selves to less desirable quarters, and finally, to discontinue 
 the exhibitions for a time, for want of a centrally located 
 building suitable for the purpose. 
 
 The great value of these early exhibitions, down to the 
 period above mentioned, was universally recognized through- 
 out the country, and the reports and medals granted by the 
 judges appointed to pass upon the merits of the exhibits 
 were held in high esteem. The premiums and rewards offered 
 to stimulate the ambition of the ingenious and enterprising, 
 exerted the most beneficial influence in those days, when 
 most of the manufacturing arts now flourishing famously 
 in our midst were still in their infancy, or were yet unborn. 
 They contributed, in no small degree, to the fruitful domesti- 
 cation on American soil, of new industries, to the substantial 
 improvement of others already established, and to the develop- 
 ment of the natural resources of the country. 
 
 The historian seeking for traces of the origin, and for evi- 
 dences of the progress, of the industrial arts in the United States, 
 finds in the records of the early exhibitions of the Franklin 
 Institute a valuable fund of information ; and, from this 
 storehouse of facts — unimpeached and unimpeachable — 
 
43 
 many treasures have been brought to light wherewith to Records vaiu- 
 
 . , ° ° able to the hl8- 
 
 enrich the pages of contemporaneous history. One writer on torian. 
 the history of the piano-forte dedicates his work, which is a 
 valuable monograph on the subject, " To the Franklin 
 Institute of Pennsylvania, which has exerted such a potent 
 influence upon the early history of the American piano-forte 
 and the kindred arts." Another, the author of a capital 
 history of American pottery, is indebted for many important 
 data to the information afforded by the records of these 
 exhibitions, and to the reliquice preserved in the museum. 
 No less appreciative of this valuable source of historic facts, 
 is the author of the " History of Iron in All Ages;" and the 
 list could be lengthened were it needful to do so. In brief, so 
 pronounced has been the influence of the early exhibitions upon 
 the growth of our domestic industries, that, as one eminent 
 writer on the subject concisely states the case, " No history 
 of manufactures in the United States would be complete 
 without reference to the work of the Franklin Institute." 
 
 In the year 1874 occurred the fiftieth anniversary of the The Exhibition 
 Franklin Institute, and a fortunate circumstance enabled the 
 managers to signalize the event by holding an exhibition, 
 which proved from every point of view an eminently suc- 
 cessful one. The circumstance spoken of was the fact jhat 
 the Pennsylvania Railroad Co. placed at the service of the 
 Institute, for exhibition purposes, the old building at Thir- 
 teenth and Market streets, for many years occupied as a freight 
 station. The time, also, was propitious. Sixteen years had 
 passed since an exhibition of the kind had been held in Phila- 
 delphia, and references to the Franklin Institute exhibitions 
 had begun to savor of old-time reminiscences. Also, the 
 near approach of the Centennial Exhibition had thoroughly 
 aroused the interest of all classes of our citizens, who v^ry 
 properly considered the undertaking of the Institute in the 
 hght of a preparation for the great event to follow two years 
 later. And, finally, the Institute was fortunate in having the 
 services of an enthusiastic and industrious Committee on 
 
44 
 
 Exhibitions, under the leadership of a chairman admirably 
 qualified for the position, and who devoted himself wholly, 
 for the time, to the task of carrying the enterprise to a 
 successful termination. 
 
 The principal facts relating to this brilliant exhibition 
 are worthy of introduction in this place. 
 
 The address of President Coleman Sellers, on the 
 occasion of the closing ceremonies, was particularly happy 
 in its historic allusions, and in its references to the evidences, 
 afforded by the exhibition, of the substantial advances that 
 had been made in the character and quality of the exhibits, 
 and especially to the evidences of the growth of a purer 
 taste in design and decoration. 
 
 Some brief extracts from his remarks may appropriately 
 be interpolated, viz. : — 
 
 Cloning address " I would gladly trace the progress in the arts during the past fifty 
 
 of the Presi- years, could it be done in the limited time I dare address you ; but I would 
 "'^"*' be derelict in my duty, were I to fail to do so in one particular instance— 
 
 because, it seems to me, great principles are involved. The machine display 
 in this room is unquestionably very fine, and when one glances over that 
 broad expanse of iron servants of man's will, and peers through the forest 
 of belts that give motion to these machines, one cannot but be struck by the 
 remarkable uniformity in color there shown, and doubtless may think the 
 dark gray tint, the absence of all gay colors, indicative of our quaker tastes 
 and habits. Ladies and gentlemen, there is to the student of a nation's art 
 progress, more in that quiet color than can be traced to any such reason. 
 The lesson it teaches is worth learning. Pardon me, if I repeat to you, the 
 oft-told tale, of how man, in the helpless infancy of the race, with his naked 
 hands alone, given him for defense or offense, fought his way in the great 
 struggle for life, with clubs and stones as his only weapons. Clubs and 
 stones were his only implements in tilling the land and ministering to his 
 wants ; but at all times did he try to beautify his tools or weapons, and a 
 savage taste guided him in his. selection of modes of ornamentation. Century 
 upon century, as the people grew, so did their hands, aided by their growing 
 minds, give tliem better, more efficient implements ; and century by century 
 these aids toman have grown into what we now see before us. These dumb 
 servitors of mankind, with their frames of iron and their sinews of steel, 
 which for life and motion devour the hard rocks of our anthracite, and in 
 living and moving, breathe from their metallic lungs the hot vapors of steam, 
 are doing our work better, ministering to our wants more freely than could 
 thousands upon thousands of slaves. 
 
 " From the stone implements of the savage to what we now consider 
 the highest type of mechanical skill, the desire to ornament, to beautify, has 
 always guided the makers or their users. When machine-making became a 
 trade, man, still seeking to satisfy his innate longing for the beautiful, bor- 
 rowed from other arts, regardless of fitness, forms and colors of acknowl- 
 edged beauty. He called to his aid every type of architecture, and decked 
 his Gothic or Corinthian steam engine with all the gorgeous hues a painter's 
 palette could offer him. As man's taste develops by culture he learns that 
 beauty cannot be separated from fitness ; that the most graceful forms, the 
 
45 
 
 most lovely colors fail to satisfy the eye when transported from their proper 
 sphere or inharmoniously blended. It is an uneducated taste that finds 
 satisfaction in brilliant colors only, or seeks to beautify uncouth forms by 
 gorgeous paints ; while a higher culture fashions forms to suit the purpose for 
 which they are designed, and colors them in subordination to their uses and 
 surroundings. The grotesque architectural machinery of not many years 
 ago is now seldom seen ; conventional forms, beautiful enough for some pur- 
 poses when wrought in wood or stone, have been abandoned, so that, now, 
 looking over this typical collection of machines for so many varied uses, we 
 find that a new order of shapes, founded on the uses to which they are to be 
 applied and the nature of the material of which they are made, have been 
 adopted, and the flaunting colors, the gaudy stripes, and glittering gilding 
 has been replaced by this one tint, the color of the iron upon which it is 
 painted. 
 
 " That sombre tint is no indication of any quakerish objection to bright 
 colors, but indicative of a higher culture and more refined taste. Two years 
 hence, those who hear me now will perhaps think of this question of taste 
 when they look at what other nations will send to our shores, and display, 
 side by side with our work, yonder in our park. Americans, some years 
 ago, had earned for themselves the reputation of a savage liking for gay 
 colors in ornamentation, not common in other and older countries. That a 
 great change has taken place in the right direction in machinery this won- 
 derful exhibition testifies ; how far it has progressed in other trades I do not 
 feel competent to judge, but I do feel very sure that the year 1876 will bring 
 to us, in the greater exhibition — a nation will then hold — many a useful 
 lesson in beauty in form, in humble objects ; in the art of surrounding our- 
 selves and homes with forms of beauty that satisfy aesthetic tastes, and give 
 color and grace to our living." 
 
 And the following allusion to the disposition, at that 
 time, happily, more prevalent than now, to underrate the 
 value of home productions, is worthy of a place in this 
 sketch : — 
 
 "As president of a society that, for half a century, has labored zeal- Pleafoi home 
 ously to promote the mechanic arts, I dare not lose this opportunity of say- productions, 
 ing a few words in the interest of American manufacturers. All observant 
 visitors to this hall must have noticed goods displayed as of home make, 
 which they had believed were always imported. Let me tell you, for I know 
 it, there are prosperous industries in this city making goods of excellent 
 quality, which you, ladies and gentlemen, purchase as of foreign make. 
 The makers of these goods say they would find no purchasers should they 
 mark them as Philadelphia made. Gentlemen, you select at your tailors', 
 cloths that you are assured are the best imported goods. This may be so — 
 in fact, really is in many cases — but the production of this country of looms 
 to weave the finer cloths is a growing trade, and these looms send fine 
 cloths into the markets, which, under fancy names, are sold. Ladies, I have 
 held in my hand the wool — seen it carded on the finest machines, or combed 
 for worsted yarns, ****** spun into yarn and woven on Ameri- 
 can looms into the finest fabrics, you are now wearing — no,^I would rather 
 say that some other ladies are wearing, confident in the belief that they are 
 decked in garments made in France, in England, in India— anywhere but in 
 their own land. I will not say who is to blame for this, whether the manu- 
 facturer who hides his own name, the tradesman who buys the goods and sells 
 them as imported, or we ourselves who think home-made articles not good 
 enough for us. I would not have you purchase poor workmanship, because 
 it is home-made, in preference to good work from abroad ; that will not 
 compel progress in the arts ; but I would have you show a preference for 
 what is well done in your own land. 
 
46 
 
 " franklin, in memory of whose usefulness this Institute was named, 
 discouraged the purchase of foreign finery, when our nation was so poor 
 one hundred years ago. What he saw as a necessity in the light of self-pro- 
 tection then, may be less so now, for a wholesome tariff has shielded our 
 workmen until home competition in well-organized business has enabled us 
 to export what we used to import. The Franklin Institute, which was 
 founded to promote the mechanic arts, asks your aid, your encouragement 
 and preference for all the good work our mechanics can do." 
 
 The report of Mr. W. P. Tatham, the chairman of the 
 committee, showed that, in addition to the members of the 
 Institute, their ladies and children and others, who were ad- 
 mitted on free tickets, there were 267,638 paying visitors. 
 
 Summary of " The number of applications for space was 1,528. The number of 
 
 re.siilts. entries for exhibition, many of them covering numerous items and large 
 
 displays, was 1,251. The number of steam boilers in operation was 9, of 
 316 horse-power in the aggregate, consuming 267 tons of coal. There were 3 
 steam engines driving shafting, 22 driving pumps, and 11 driving particular 
 machines. The whole number of steam engines at work, or in motion, was 
 46. The whole number of machines in motion was 281. 
 
 "Some of the displays were of peculiar excellence. The photographs 
 were particularly good, and would class strictly with the fine arts ; but be- 
 sides these, the variety and beauty of the chemicals displayed, the wonder- 
 working of the sewing machines, the brilliancy of the saws, the splendor of 
 the chandeliers, the rapidity of the printing press, the precision of move- 
 ment of the machine tools, and the truth and finish of the paper cylinders, 
 appealed not only to our appreciation of the usefulness of these exhibits, 
 but in addition lent to them the charms and influences of the fine arts. 
 
 " As a further testimony to the excellence of the exhibition, it appears 
 that although the rule on the subject of premiums, prepared by the proper 
 committee and adopted by the Board of Managers, was more severe than 
 usual, the premiums awarded under it were more numerous than at any 
 previous exhibition ; being 201 silver medals, 228 bronze medals and 222 
 certificates of honorable mention, in all 651, while many subjects were 
 recommended to the Committee on Science and the Arts, for the award of 
 the special medals of the Institute. 
 
 <<* * « •phe results of our efforts prove the readiness of our peo- 
 ple to visit a meritorious exhibition, and should encourage the managers of 
 the great Centennial in hoping for a magnificent success to their under- 
 taking." 
 
 The treasurer's account, finally, gave the further sub- 
 stantial proof of the conspicuous success of the exhibition of 
 1874, by showing a balance in favor of the Institute, after 
 payment of all expenses, of $52,000. 
 
 An interesting item of history, which is referred to in the 
 address of President Sellers, is the fact that the first definite 
 proposition for the holding of an exhibition in commemo- 
 ration of the Centennial Anniversary of the Independence of 
 the American Colonies, originated in a memorial and resolu- 
 tion addressed to the Councils of the City of Philadelphia, 
 
47 
 
 and which were adopted at the stated meeting of the FrankUn 
 Institute in August, 1 869. 
 
 Successful, however, as was the exhibition of 1874, it 
 was eclipsed in brilliancy, and in value from the educational 
 and technical standpoint, by that of 1884, which will ever international 
 be memorable in the annals of the Franklin Institute. This hibition, i884. 
 was the Electrical Exhibition, held in the autumn of that 
 year, under the direction of the Institute, and which by Act 
 of Congress, approved February 26, 1883, was made inter- 
 national in character. Of this exhibition, it has truly been 
 said, that, " measured by its results in stimulating the pro- 
 gress of electrical arts in the United States, it is acknowl- 
 edged by all who are engaged in the electrical industries, to 
 have been by far the most important event of its kind ever 
 undertaken." It was the first exhibition in America devoted 
 exclusively to the electrical arts. Again, the time was 
 propitious. The electrical arts were just beginning to feel the 
 quickening impulse of that prodigious development which 
 has since fallen to their share, and which is the crowning 
 achievement of a century of wonderful scientific progress. 
 The public mind was in the condition of expectancy. 
 Dazzled by the brilliancy of a new-found light, that was to 
 banish darkness forever from our streets and homes, and by 
 other marvels in prospect, the public was ready to believe 
 anything, however extravagant, provided only that the magic 
 word, " Electricity" was uttered by way of explanation. 
 
 Again, the Institute was fortunate in securing, through 
 the friendly co-operation of the Pennsylvania Railroad Co., 
 the use of the large station building at Thirty-second and 
 Market streets, in West Philadelphia, and of the adjoining 
 vacant lot owned by the company, bounded by Thirty-second 
 and Thirty-third streets, and Lancaster avenue and Foster 
 street, on which to erect an exhibition building especially 
 adapted for the purpose. 
 
 Again, the Institute was fortunate in having at its com- 
 mand the services of an able and enthusiastic committee of 
 
plislied. 
 
 4§ 
 
 its members, under the direction of a chairman of rare fitness 
 for the post, possessed of executive ability of the highest 
 order, and animated by an energy which his presence made 
 contagious. 
 whai^it^accom- The result was successful beyond anticipation. It 
 
 attracted the attention of the most eminent men of science in 
 Europe and America, many of whom visited it and as- 
 sumed the duties of judges ; the reports of its experts in the 
 various departments--but especially those in reference to the 
 efficiency and life-duration of incandescent electric lamps, and 
 on the efficiency of dynamo-electric machines — proved a 
 contribution of permanent value to the scientific solution of 
 these important problems ; and its educational value as a great 
 practical object-lesson to the pupils of the public schools of 
 the city and vicinity — ithousands of whom were admitted at 
 a nominal charge, and for whom special facilities for study- 
 ing the exhibition advantageously were provided in the form 
 of elementary lectures and " primers " of electricity — can 
 hardly be overestimated. 
 
 It is fittihg to place on record here a few of the most im- 
 portant events of this great exhibition, gleaned principally 
 from the report of Col. Chas. H. Banes, to whose conspicuous 
 executive ability, as chairman of the Committee on Exhibi- 
 tions, so much of the success of the enterprise is due, viz. : — 
 
 " In 1882 an electrical section of the Institute was established and the 
 annual report of February, 1883, suggests the holding of a special exhibition 
 devoted to electricity and its application to the arts. 
 
 " The suggestion was approved by the Institute and resulted in the 
 decision to hold an International Electrical Exhibition. This was announced 
 to open September 2, 1884, in a suitable building, built for its use, which 
 occupied the block between Thirty-second and Thirty-third streets, on Lan- 
 caster avenue. The main structure was 283 feet in length by 160 feet in 
 width, flanked by a tower 60 feet high at each corner. By a joint resolution 
 of the United States Congress, articles from foreign countries designed for 
 this exhibition were admitted free of duty. 
 
 " From the beginning of the work the exhibition committee had the cor- 
 dial co-operation of the executive and the heads of departments of the gov- 
 ernment. These efforts were restricted, however, by the want of funds. Con- 
 gress, while appropriating large sums of money to exhibitions at New Orleans 
 and other cities, did not see fit to assist the Philadelphia exhibition except by 
 resolutions. This failure rendered it necessary for the Franklin Institute to 
 bear the expense incidental to the transportation and installing of govern- 
 ment exhibits, and no money was spared to have the display made in a 
 
49 
 
 creditable manner. The following departments were represented by inter- 
 esting collections :— 
 
 " Ordnance Department, U. S. Army, in charge of Captain O. E. 
 Michaelis. 
 
 " Ordnance Department, U. S. Navy, in rharge of Lieutenant Bradley 
 A. Fiske. 
 
 "U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, Treasury Department. 
 
 "Smithsonian Institution. 
 
 "U. S. Signal Office, in charge of Sergeant A. Eccard. 
 
 " These exhibits embraced instruments of precision as well as electri- 
 cal apparatus. An attracti,ve feature in the contributions of the U. S. Navy 
 was a search-light of great power. This was mounted upon the northeast 
 tower of the main building, and at night proved an object of great interest 
 and wonder, as its powerful rays of light illumined distant parts of the city. 
 
 " In order that the progress of electrical science might be traced from 
 its earliest history, by visitors and students, it was deemed advisable to 
 prepare a special historical exhibit. In the rooms set apart for this purpose 
 many valuable machines and models, loaned in response to requests of the 
 committee, were arranged and attracted a great deal of attention. The his- 
 torical report will present a list containing almost every invention of value 
 in marking the development of electrical science. The most conspicuous in 
 extent was the exhibit of the United States Patent Office. Over two hun- 
 dred models, many of them of rare interest, were arranged on tables and so 
 labeled as to clearly indicate their title and purpose. A complete list appears 
 in the catalogue, and the committee appreciate the kindness of the Com- 
 missioner of Patents, and of Mr. C. J. Kintner, examiner in electricity, mani- 
 fested in the loan and preparation of this display. Many individuals and 
 firms added interest to the collection by sending machines of value. Promi- 
 nent among the latter was the exhibition of Messrs. Wallace & Sons, Ansonia, 
 Conn. This firm forwarded nine machines, among them the magneto-electric 
 telemachon, for the development of power at a distance from its source, 
 This was used at the Centennial in 1876. The Franklin Institute added to 
 the interest of the collection by depositing some of its original Franklin 
 apparatus. 
 
 " No portion of the vast collection in the electrical exhibition afforded 
 greater interest for the thoughtful than the historical display. So great has 
 been the progress in improvement since the House telegraph patent of 1846, 
 the electric light patents of 1861, and the telephone patents of a still later 
 date, that the famous first message of Prof. Morse has become a fitting legend 
 for electrical progress, " What hath God wrought ! " 
 
 In connection with this exhibition it should also be 
 stated, that Congress in May, 1884, passed an Act, which 
 was duly approved by the President, authorizing the appoint- 
 ment of a scientific commission, 
 
 '"which may, in the name of the United States government, conduct a 
 national conference of electricians in Philadelphia in the autumn of 1884.' 
 By virtue of this bill the ' United States Electrical Commission ' was created 
 for the purposes set forth. Professors Henry A. Rowland, George F. Barker, 
 Simon Newcomb, C. F. Brackett, J. Willard Gibbs, John Trowbridge, F. C. 
 Van Dyck, Charles A. Young, M. B. Snyder, E. J. Houston, Dr. Wm. H. 
 Wahl, and Mr. R. A. Fisk, comprising the board, issued invitations to a 
 large number of scientific gentlemen, both foreign and American, to assemble 
 in conference. There was a large number of acceptances, and the meetings 
 were held in September, first in the lecture hall of the exhibition and after- 
 ward at the building of the Franklin Institute. A perusal of the report of 
 papers read and the discussions consequent thereon confirms the statement 
 of the preamble to the bill creating the commission that 'The International 
 
 Crovemmentand 
 historic exlilb- 
 Itg. 
 
 National Con- 
 ference of 
 !Electri clans. 
 
so 
 
 Electrical Exhibition offers a rare and fitting opportunity for such an official 
 assemblage of electricians.' * » » * 
 
 " In addition to the schools, visiting in a body, a large number of other 
 organizations, industrial and scientific, attended the exhibition during its 
 progress. Among the latter were the United States Electrical Conference, 
 the American Association for Advancement of Science, the British Associa- 
 tion for the Advancement of Science, the Royal Society of Canada, the 
 American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the American Institute of 
 Mining Engineers, the New York Electrical Society, the Agassiz Association 
 and others. 
 
 * * * "Among the foreign visitors to the exhibition were many 
 scientific men of world-wide reputation. Prominent in the lists are recorded 
 Sir Wm. Thomson, Lord Rayleigh, Prof Sylvanus P. Thompson, W. H. 
 Preece, Prof. George Forbes, Lieuts. F. R. DeWolski and Chrisholm Batten, 
 official representatives of Great Britain; Prof. Tchisuke Fujoka, Tokio, 
 Japan; F. N. Gisbourne, Government electrician for Canada; Senor 
 Enriqua A. Mexia, official representative of Mexico ; and others whose 
 names appear among the members of the Electrical Conference." 
 
 With the view of utiHzing to the utmost the unsurpass- 
 able educational facihties offered by this exhibition, a special 
 committee was charged with the duty of arranging with the 
 Board of Public Education of the city, and with the school 
 authorities of neighboring cities and towns, to receive their 
 pupils in a body at a reduced price of admission. The 
 propositions of this committee were favorably received. The 
 outcome is shown in the following extract from the 
 chairman's report: — 
 
 In object lesson "In response to a proposition made to the Board of Education of 
 
 fortlie Schools. Philadelphia, the public schools of the city of the grades of high, normal, 
 grammar, and unclassified, were granted each one day of vacation during 
 the school term to attend the display. As the result of these arrangements, 
 the official record of admissions shows an attendance, as organizations, of 
 97 schools, with 740 teachers and 16,657 students. In addition to these 
 formal visits, there was an attendance at different periods of a number of 
 sections and single classes. 
 
 " To facilitate the work of teachers in making the visits profitable to 
 their pupils, arrangements were effected with professional men, familiar with 
 electrical matters, to act as guides in explaining the uses of the machines, 
 and the theories of electricity to the young visitors and without cost to 
 them. This scheme proved of great value as a series of interesting object- 
 lessons. 
 
 " A special inducement for study and observation of exhibits was 
 offered the scholars of the public schools in the offer of prizes, consisting of 
 a five-dollar gold piece, and an honorable certificate of the Franklin Insti- 
 tute for the best compositions on the suljject, " What 1 saw at the Electrical 
 Exhibition." The number of prizes distributed amounted to eighty, of which 
 sixteen were secured by the High and Normal Schools, and the remainder by 
 the Grammar and Unclassified Schools. In addition to these awards, two 
 special prizes of ten and fifteen dollars were added by the Electrical IVorld, 
 of New York. These were distributed, with appropriate ceremonies, before 
 a large audience assembled at the Normal School building. Thanksgiving 
 night, November 27, 1884. « * » » 
 
51 
 
 " To add still further to the educational attractions, arrangements were 
 made for an excellent course of lectures, under the care of a committee 
 appointed for the purpose. The report of the chairman is annexed, and will 
 be found of interest, as illustrative of the high character of the lectures in 
 their various specialties. For the public schools a special course upon 
 electrical subjects was delivered by Prof Houston. The school lectures 
 were profusely illustrated, and, although necessarily elementary, were 
 exceedingly interesting and profitable." 
 
 The work of the special " Committee on Bibliography," 
 charged with the duty of preparing a collection of books 
 and pamphlets relating to the subjects of electricity and 
 magnetism, also proved highly successful, and the fruits of 
 this labor, in the form of a valuable collection of electrical 
 literature arranged in order, catalogued and dispayed in an 
 apartment specially provided for it, added to the general 
 interest of the exhibition. (The work of this committee is 
 referred to more fully in the chapter devoted to the library.) 
 
 The direct practical results of this interesting undertak- ■^marize™"'" 
 ing are summarized in the following statement from the chair- 
 man's report : — 
 
 "Total number of paid admissions was 282,779. The cash sales of 
 tickets amounted to $98,639.70. * * * 
 
 "The report of the treasurer • shows the exhibition to have been a 
 financial success. The entire expense of erection of buildings, the cost of 
 shafting, steam piping and general preparations, as well as the running ex- 
 penses, were promptly met and a balance of a few thousand dollars left in 
 the treasury. This was accomplished without government aid, or the use 
 of public moneys." 
 
 In the year succeeding this memorable event the 
 Institute held a " Novelties Exhibition," a general exhibi- 
 tion of the arts and manufactures, after the pattern of 
 many that had' preceded it. This was the tw^enty-ninth and 
 latest exhibition held by the Institute. 
 
 The belief is very generally entertained, by those who 
 have been active in past enterprises of this nature, that the 
 great advances that have been made in the arts and manu- 
 factures in the United States, especially within the last two 
 decades — in respect both of magnitude and diversification — 
 have wrought so great a change in the relations sustained 
 toward them by institutions like ours, that the day of gene- 
 ral exhibitions under such patronage has gone by. The 
 
52 
 
 field to be covered is so vast, that to cover it adequately the 
 resources of the State or the nation must be drawn upon. 
 This is now the proper field of the great international dis- 
 plays. Much valuable work, however, may still be accom- 
 plished in the promotion of special branches of the arts and 
 manufactures by the stimulating influence of exhibitions, and 
 in this field of labor, it is hoped that the Institute which 
 organized the first-mechanics' exhibition ever held in the 
 United States, will have many opportunities in the future of 
 demonstrating to the world that it has lost nothing of its 
 interest in the world's progress. 
 
While much information of general interest, relating to special investi- 
 the activity of various departments of the Institute, has been 
 relegated to the chapters specially treating of them, a large 
 and important body of work, which has been accomplished 
 by special committees, or otherwise, cannot conveniently be 
 classified, and is accordingly presented in the following brief 
 summary. This embraces a reference to the more prominent Puwic work, 
 only of the many good works of the Institute, not elsewhere 
 referred to, and which are worthy of placing on record for 
 the information of the curious, and for the guidance of the 
 future historian. That this record is imperfect, and that it 
 does scant justice to an institution that has, throughout its 
 whole career, been unceasingly active in works of utility 
 which do not obtrude themselves upon public notice, none 
 is more conscious than the writer. 
 
 For many interesting facts bearing on the early activities 
 of the Institute, the writer is indebted to the interesting 
 historical address of the Hon. Frederick Fraley, delivered at 
 the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Institute in 
 February, 1874. For those of the more recent period he 
 speaks from personal knowledge. They are accordingly 
 arranged in their chronological order, as the most natura' 
 and the most convenient mode of reference. 
 
 The first work of general public importance undertaken Beport^on water 
 by the Institute, was the investigation of the various 
 forms of water-wheels for giving economical value to 
 water-power. " On this subject," to quote our venerable 
 historian, " experiments in great number, and on almost 
 every form of water-motor then known, were made:, and the 
 
54 
 
 results tabulated and commented on in such an exhaustive 
 manner that this report continues to this day to be a most 
 valuable text-book on water-power. 
 Explosion of " Following this, and in the same line of practical 
 
 steam boilers. & » ^ a 
 
 usefulness, a committee was formed to investigate the cause 
 of the explosion of steam boilers ; and in this investigation 
 the committee succeeded in getting the co-operation of the 
 government of the United States, an appropriation for 
 defraying the cost of the experiments being made by Con- 
 gress, but no part of the money so appropriated was paid as 
 compensation to the experimenters. These were all volun- 
 teers, devoting many months of valuable time to the investi- 
 gation, and ascertaining most valuable facts, which have since 
 been utilized for the benefit and safety of the public." 
 strength of ma- Closcly conncctcd With these experiments, and naturally 
 
 growing out of them as the investigation progressed, was an 
 inquiry into the strength of materials used in construction. 
 " For this purpose, " our historian says, " the committee 
 devised testing apparatus of various forms, and applied them 
 in the most extensive and crucial way to the metals and 
 materials of all kinds used in machines, steam boilers, 
 buildings and other branches of the useful arts." 
 
 The.se investigations, the results of which were published 
 in extenso in the Journal, formed a contribution of the utmost 
 value to manufacturers of steam machinery, architects and 
 builders. These publications were widely quoted abroad, and 
 for many years were regarded as the most authoritative 
 source of information on the subjects to which they 
 relate. 
 
 At the instance of the government, the Institute made 
 an elaborate investigation and report on the subject of the 
 suitability of various building stones, with especial reference 
 to the selection of the stone best adapted to be used in the 
 construction of the Delaware Breakwater. 
 
 At the request of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, the 
 Institute examined and reported on our system of weights 
 
55 
 and measures. Our historian records, that " a special com- weights and 
 
 ^ measures. 
 
 mittee was called " for this purpose, " which thoroughly went 
 through the work, and upon its report, the law was enacted 
 which is now in force for the commonwealth." 
 
 The public interest awakened in the subject of meteor- rirst weather 
 
 '^ ■' Bureau, 1S43. 
 
 ology by the lectures and essays of Prof. James P. Espy, and 
 by the active discussion of the rival theories of storms, 
 advanced and defended, respectively,^ by Espy and^^edfield, " ^ - 
 
 caused the Institute, in the year 1843, to^appljTto the Legis- 
 lature of Pennsylvania for a grant of money to be devoted 
 to the purchase of instruments for the equipment of stations 
 throughout the State for the systematic observation and 
 collection of meteorological facts. This application was 
 successful, and an appropriation of ;?4,ooo was made for the 
 purpose, the expenditure of which was left in the hands of 
 the Institute. 
 
 This circumstance seems to have special interest, inas- 
 much as it is the earliest instance on record, of which the , .] /: 
 writer is aware, of the appropriation, in any country, of public m V, l^^a/H ^ 
 funds for the collection of facts relating to th"e weather. / t '^^ 
 
 With the aid of this appropriation, the Committee on 
 Meteorology of the Institute, in conjunction with a similar 
 committee appointed by the American Philosophical Society, 
 purchased instruments of precision, organized a corps of 
 observers, and for a number of years conducted a system of 
 simultaneous meteorological observations for the intelligent 
 study of weather phenomena. This work was gradually 
 extended, and at length was carried on with the assistance 
 of voluntary observers in all parts of the United States. 
 The data were tabulated and published, together with the 
 results derived from their study and discussion. For 
 many years after this committee had abandoned the active 
 prosecution of this work, the collection of weather data by 
 some of these observers was continued, and the monthly 
 summary of their observations was a conspicuous feature in 
 the Journal. 
 
56 
 
 One of the valuable results of this early meteorological 
 work was the formulation of a theory of storms, which is 
 substantially the same as that at present accepted as the 
 correct one. This work, accomplished before the day of the 
 telegraph, may be regarded as the first step towards the 
 creation of the present highly elaborate system of weather 
 presentstate bureaus of this and other countries, and which have proved 
 
 Weather Ser- i • l 
 
 vice organized of such inestimable benefit to commerce and agriculture. 
 
 1887. 
 
 In 1887, the Legislature of Pennsylvania, at the suggestion 
 of the Franklin Institute, provided the means for the estab- 
 lishment of a State Weather Service for Pennsylvania, which 
 was organized by the Institute, with the co-operation of the 
 United States Weather Bureau, and is to-day in a creditable 
 state of efficiency. Weather stations, equipped with apparatus, 
 have now been established in almost every county of the 
 State, and a highly-trained corps of volunteer observers is 
 engaged in the collection of weather data. These data are 
 duly tabulated and published, under the direction of the 
 Committee on Meteorology of the Institute, in the form of 
 monthly bulletins, weather maps, weekly crop bulletins, 
 etc., and afford the material for a complete study of the 
 climatology of the State. 
 standard screw- In 1 864, the Franklin Institute made an inquiry into the 
 
 subject of the shape and proportions of screw-threads used 
 in machine construction. This inquiry was made by a 
 special committee appointed for the purpose, and its report, 
 which was adopted at the meeting of the Institute held in 
 March, 1865, recommended for adoption by machine builders 
 throughout the United States, a uniform and simplified system 
 of screw-threads, which, within a few years thereafter, was 
 officially adopted by the government, and, under the designa- 
 tion of the " United States or Franklin Institute Standard 
 Thread," is now in universal use throughout the country. 
 
 The Associated Engineering Societies of Germany, 
 after diligent inquiry into the merits of the systems in vogue 
 in all countries reported, in 1 887, in favor of the adoption. 
 
57 
 
 for the German Empire, of a system of threads having 
 the distinctive form of the Franklin Institute thread, but 
 adapted, as to proportions, to the requirements of the metric 
 system. 
 
 In 1875, the Councils of the City of Philadelphia appro- '^^wiadSpwi?' 
 priated the sum of ^1,000 for the expenses of an expert 
 commission to be nominated by the Franklin Institute, and, 
 with the approval of the Mayor, to act in conjunction with 
 the Chief Engineer of the Water Department, to which com- 
 mission was referred the subject of the present and the future 
 water supply of Philadelphia. This boby performed its 
 allotted task, and the results of its labors appear in an 
 elaborate report to the Councils, of which an abstract was 
 published in the Journal for November, 1875. 
 
 In another field the Institute also did valuable pioneer Bynamo-eiectric 
 work ; namely, in the investigation, by special committee, of 
 the efficiency of the dynamo-electric machine for arc-light- 
 ing. This investigation, which appears to have been the 
 earliest intelligent inquiry into the relative merits of the 
 several types of these machines, was made in the year 1878, 
 and the results of the committee's work appear in the 
 Journal for May and June of that year. The report of this 
 committee attracted at the time widespread attention, and 
 was quoted, with many flattering comments, in the scientific 
 publications of the world. 
 
 In 1884, the Institute supplemented its earlier work in incandescent 
 this field by a more elaborate report on the same subject, and 
 on the " Life-Duration and Efficiency of Incandescent Elec- 
 tric I^amps," in connection with the International Electrical 
 Exhibition, held under its patronage in that year, and to which 
 an extended reference will be found elsewhere. Closely- 
 allied to these investigations is its report on " The Con- 
 ditions of Safety in Electric Lighting," published in the 
 Journal for December, 1881, and which formulated for the 
 first time a number of the " conditions " to be observed 
 in the wiring of buildings and the running of circuits, which 
 
58 
 
 have since become incorporated in the regulations of the 
 Fire Underwriters' Associations. 
 
 It would easily be possible greatly to extend the pre- 
 ceding list, but, as stated at the outset of this section, it has 
 been the writer's purpose to designate only the more promi- 
 nent events in the long and honorable career of the Institute, 
 and which could not conveniently be brought under other 
 chapter heads. 
 
 Incomplete though this summary undoubtedly is, it will 
 nevertheless suffice to give the reader, who may be interested 
 in the history of the Franklin Institute, a fair impression of 
 its continued activity in works of public utility. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
ORGANIZATION. 
 
 Officers and Managers of the Franklin Institute. 
 
 President Joseph M. Wilson. 
 
 First Vice-President Charles Bullock. 
 
 Second Vice-President.. .. .\<!\i.\,\Pi.iii P. Tatham. 
 
 Third Vice-President Henry R. Heyl. 
 
 Secretary William H. Wahl. 
 
 Treasurer Samuel Sartain. 
 
 Auditors W. O. Griggs, Samuel H. Needles, Francis Leclere. 
 
 Actuary, Librarian, 
 
 H. L. Heyl. Alfred Rigling. 
 
 Board of Manae;ers, 
 
 Joseph M. Wilson, ex off.. Chairman. 
 
 Chas. H. Banes, Edward Longstreth, ex off., 
 
 Arthur Beardsley, M. R. Muckle, Jr., 
 
 Henry Bower, Isaac Norris, Jr., 
 
 Charles Bullock, ex off., Lawrence T. Paul, 
 
 Thos. p. Conard, Henry Pemberton, Jr., 
 
 Chas. H. Cramp, Horace Pettit, 
 
 George V. Cresson, Theorore D. Rand, 
 
 Chas. G. Darrach, Stacy Reeves, 
 
 F. Lynwood Garrison, Sam'l P. Sadtler, 
 
 Alfred C. Harrison, Samuel Sartain, ex off., 
 
 Henry R. Heyl, Coleman Sellers, 
 
 Edwin J. Houston, William P. Tatham, ex off., 
 
 H. W. Jayne, William H. Thorne, 
 
 Washington Jones, J. C Trautwine, Jr., 
 William H. Wahl, ex off. 
 
 Curators, 
 Stacy Reeves, Washington Jones. 
 
 Professors, 
 Coleman Sellers, E. D., Professor of Mechanics. 
 Edwin J. Houston, Ph. D., Professor of Physics. 
 Sam'l P. Sadtler, Ph. D., Professor of Chemistry. 
 F. Lynwood Garrison, Professor of Economic Geology, 
 Mining and Metallurgy. 
 
 Board of Trustees, 
 Joseph M. Wilson, President. 
 Enoch Lewis, John T. Morris, 
 
 J. Vaughan Merrick, William Sellers, 
 
 Samuel Sartain. 
 
CHARTER AND BY-LAWS OF THE FRANKLIN 
 INSTITUTE 
 
 OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA FOR THE PROMOTION OF THE 
 MECHANIC ARTS. 
 
 An Act to amend and alter the Act incorporating the Franklin 
 Institute of the State of Pennsylvania for the promotion of the 
 Mechanic Arts. 
 
 Wheras : The Act approved March thirtieth, one thousand eight 
 hundred and twenty-four, incorporating the Franlclin Institute of the 
 State of Pennsylvania, for the promotion of the Mechanic Arts, has 
 been found insufficient and inconvenient for accomplishing the objects 
 of said corporation, and the said corporation has applied for alteration 
 and amendment thereof 
 
 Section i . Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Represen- 
 tatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly 
 met, and it is hereby- enacted by the authority of the same. That the 
 present members of said corporation, and all such person as may here- 
 after-become members thereof, shall be, and are hereby created a body 
 politic and corporate by the name of the " Franklin Institute of 
 THE State of Pennsylvania for the Promotion of the Mechanic 
 Arts," and shall have perpetual succession, be able to sue and be 
 sued, to plead and be impleaded, to have and use a common seal, and 
 the same to break, alter, and renew at pleasure, and shall be able to 
 take, hold, purchase, and enjoy such real and other estates of any 
 nature or kind whatsoever as they may obtain by purchase, devise, 
 bequest or gift, and the same at their pleasure to sell, lease, mort- 
 gage, pledge, encumber, or dispose of as they may deem proper or 
 convenient for promoting the objects of the said corporation ; and the 
 said corporation shall have the like power over any real or other 
 estates now owned or held by them ; provided, that the clear yearly 
 value of the real estate at any time held by them shall not exceed ten 
 thousand dollars. 
 
 Sect. 2. That it shall be lawful for the said corporation to raise 
 funds for the payment of its present indebtedness, and for all other 
 
63 
 
 purposes of the said corporation, to create and sell such number of 
 shares of stock, at ten dollars each, as maybe deemed proper to repre- 
 sent the estates of the said corporation, and the certificates of such 
 stock shall be in such form, be transferable in such manner, subject to 
 such payments, and entitle the holder thereof to such privileges, as the 
 said corporation may, by its by-laws in reference to such stock, grant 
 and direct. 
 
 Sect. 3. The object of the said corporation shall be the promo- 
 tion and encouragement of manufactures and the mechanical and 
 useful arts, by the establishment of lectures on the sciences connected 
 with them, by the formation of cabinets of models, minerals, machines, 
 materials and products, by exhibitions and premiums, by a library 
 and by all such measures as they may judge expedient. 
 
 Sect. 4. The members of the said corporation shall consist of 
 manufacturers, mechanics, artisans, and persons friendly to the me- 
 chanic arts, and of such stockholders in said corporation as may, by 
 the by-laws, be entitled to the privileges of members ; and every mem- 
 ber shall pay such sum for an annual or life subscription as the by- 
 laws of said corporation may require ; and honorary and correspond- 
 ing members may be elected at such times, and in such a way, and 
 with such privileges as said corporation may deem expedient. 
 
 Sect. 5. The said corporation shall be managed in such way, and 
 by such number of officers, managers and other persons as the by-laws 
 may prescribe ; and the powers and functions of such officers, man- 
 agers and other persons, the rights and duties of members, the manner 
 of their election, and the causes which may justify their expulsion or 
 suspension, and all other concerns of the said corporation, shall be 
 fixed and regulated by its by-laws, which by-laws shall be adopted by 
 said corporation at the first monthly meeting after the acceptance of 
 this amended Charter, and said by-laws shall be altered and amended 
 only in the manner provided in said by-laws as then adopted. 
 
 Sect. 6. So much of the Act to which this is a supplement as is 
 inconsistent herewith is repealed. 
 
 Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth 
 OF Pennsylvania, April 25,- 1864. 
 
 I certify that the foregoing bill passed both branches of the Legis- 
 lature, and received the signature of the Governor on this day. As 
 witness my hand the day and year above written. 
 
 (Signed) Eli Sliffer, 
 
 Secretary of the Commonwealth. 
 
64 
 
 BY-LAWS. 
 
 Article I. — Trustees. 
 Section i. All Real and Personal Estate of the Institute which 
 may hereafter be acquired by voluntary subscription or devise, bequest, 
 donation, or in any way other than through its own earnings or by 
 investment of its own funds, saving where the donors shall expressly 
 provide to the contrary, shall be taken as acquired upon the condition 
 that the same shall be vested in a Board of Trustees who shall be 
 appointed in the manner hereinafter indicated. Unless the title to such 
 property shall be directly vested in said Board of Trustees by the 
 donors, the Institute, by deed attested by the President and Secretary, 
 which they are hereby authorized to execute and deliver, shall forthwith 
 convey the same to said Trustees, who shall hold it in trust for the 
 purposes specifically designated by the donors ; or, if there shall be no 
 specific designation, for the benefit of the Institute in the way and 
 manner hereinafter provided, so that the same shall not, in any event, 
 be liable for the debts of the Institute. 
 
 Sect. 2. Said Board of Trustees shall be composed of seven (7) 
 members, who shall be elected as follows : — 
 
 They shall be nominated at a stated meeting of the Board of 
 Managers, at least one (i) month prior to the election. They shall be 
 elected by a vote of two-thirds (J^) of the members present. 
 
 In case of a vacancy occurring in the Board of Trustees, it shall be 
 filled as follows : — 
 
 The Board of Trustees shall nominate to the Board of Managers 
 three (3) suitable persons, and the Board of Managers shall elect one 
 (i) of the three (3) to fill the vacancy. 
 
 The remaining members of the Board of Trustees, whenever at 
 any time it shall be deemed necessary so to do, shall have power to 
 assign and convey the property held by them, so as to vest the title 
 thereto in themselves and their successors. 
 
 Sect. 3. Said Trustees shall have full power and authority, from 
 time to time, to assign, sell and dispose of any property, real and 
 personal, by them held, unless there shall be some direction by the 
 donors to the contrary, and shall have power to convey the same with- 
 out purchasers being obliged to see to the application of the purchase 
 moneys, when authorized so to do by a vote of two-thirds (5^) of the 
 members present at any regular or special meeting of the Board of 
 Managers, provided, that they shall not be obliged to sell or convey 
 unless a majority of their own Board shall also approve. 
 
65 
 
 Sect. 4. Said Trustees shall not be confined to legal investments, 
 but shall have full power to invest in any real property, improvements 
 and alterations, and in any securities, other than shares of stock, or 
 unusual personal obligations, which to them may seem advisable. 
 They shall take such care and control of the property as is usual and 
 proper. 
 
 Sect. 5. Said Trustees shall have power to appoint agents to act 
 for them, and for the acts of such agents they shall not be personally 
 responsible where they have exercised ordinary prudence in selecting 
 them. 
 
 Sect. 6. Said Trustees shall have power to carry into effect any 
 special trusts upon which any property may be held by them. They 
 shall pay out all necessary and proper costs, charges and expenses, 
 and from time to time shall pay over the net income, unless otherwise 
 directed by the donors, to the Board of Managers, to be applied by 
 them, under the instructions of said Trustees, to the general uses of 
 the Institute. The same, however, not to be liable to the debts thereof, 
 but so that the continuance and efficiency of the Institute shall be 
 preserved. 
 
 Sect. 7. At the annual meeting of the Board of Managers in each 
 year, said Board of Trustees shall present a report of their proceedings 
 and a detailed statement of their receipts and expenditures for the 
 year. An approval of such account shall be final and conclusive, 
 and shall bar any right to demand any other or further accounting. 
 
 Sect. 8. The Board of Trustees, at a meeting of the members of 
 the Institute, called after three (3) months' special notice, at which 
 the holders of nine-tenths (^) of the whole outstanding shares of stock 
 shall vote affirmatively, may convey all property, real and personal, 
 in them vested, to the Institute, free and clear of all trusts ; provided, 
 that there be no specific trusts violated by such conveyance, and that 
 all the members of said Board, as the same shall then be constituted, 
 shall approve of such conveyance. 
 
 Article II. — Stock. 
 
 Section i. The Real and Personal Estates of the Institute as 
 held upon the First Day of January, One Thousand Eight Hundred 
 and Eighty-one, shall be valued at One Hundred Thousand Dollars, 
 and shall be represented by Ten Thousand Shares of Stock of the par 
 value of Ten Dollars each. Said shares shall be divided into two 
 classes, viz. : — 
 
 First Class. — Shares not registered for use : on which no a,nnual 
 payment shall be charged or collected, and the holders thereof shall 
 not have the privileges of members of the Institute, but may, if of 
 
66 
 
 legal ag6, vole at any annual election for officers, rtiattageirs and 
 auditors, upon the payment of One Dollar upon each share of stock 
 on which they may desire to vote ; provided, however, such shares 
 have been held by the same person at least three months before such 
 election. 
 
 Shares of the First Class may be converted into shares of the 
 Second Class, at the pleasure of the owners, provided the transfer be 
 approved by the Board of Managers ; but, when once so converted, 
 they shall always continue in the Second Class. 
 
 Second Class.— Shares registered for use : on which Six Dollars 
 per annum shall be due and payable in advance on the first day of 
 October in each year, except as hereinafter provided. 
 
 All subscriptions to stock shall be approved by the Board of 
 Managers before the certificate can be issued. 
 
 Sect. 2. The holders of Second Class stock shall be entitled to 
 the use of the library, lectures and reading-room ; and, if of legal age, 
 to all other privileges of membership in the Institute, so long as they 
 make the annual payment in advance ; and shall, on the payment of 
 One Dollar therefor, be entitled to a Certificate of Membership. 
 
 Sect. 3. If the annual dues for two successive years remain unpaid 
 at the expiration of two and a half years on any share of stock of the 
 Second Class, such share shall then become forfeited to the Institute ; 
 but such forfeiture may be remitted by a unanimous vote of the Board 
 of Managers. 
 
 Sect. 4. Certificates for the First Class stock may be issued for 
 any number of shares in a single certificate ; but every certificate for 
 the Second Class shall be for one share only. 
 
 Sect. 5. All certificates of stock shall be signed by the President 
 and Secretary ; shall be issued by the Actuary, and shall be transfer- 
 able only on the books of the Institute by the owner, or his legal repre- 
 sentative, on the surrender of the old certificate, and on the payment 
 of the Stamp Tax, and of a fee of twenty-five cents for each certificate. 
 
 Sect. 6. No share of stock in the Second Class shall be transferred 
 until all arrearages and fines are paid, and all books and tickets 
 returned, and the transfer approved by the Board of Managers. 
 
 Sect. 7. The shares of stock obtained by the Institute by legacies, 
 donations or forfeiture, shall at once be canceled. 
 
 Article 111. — Members. 
 
 Section i. The members of the Institute shall consist of manu- 
 facturers, mechanics, artisans, and persons friendly to the mechanic 
 
6; 
 
 arts, and they may be either annual contributors, life members, perma- 
 nent members, holders of Second Class Stock, hoporary or corres- 
 ponding members. 
 
 Sect. 2. The name, occupation and place of business or residence 
 of any persons, other than a holder of Second Class stock, desirous of 
 becoming a member, shall be entered in a book (kept for the purpose 
 in the Hall of the Institute, always open for inspection)'byany member 
 of the Institute, who shall enter his own name at fhe same time with 
 that of the candidate whom he proposes. These names so proposed 
 shall be acted upon by the Board of Managers from time to time. 
 
 Sect. 3. The privileges of membership in the Institute shall extend 
 only to persons of legal age who are not in arrears and who shall have 
 signed the charter and by-laws. 
 
 Sect. 4. Honorary and corresponding members shall be nomi- 
 nated by the Board of Managers, and shall require for their election 
 four-fifths of the votes of the members present at any meeting at which 
 their nomination may be acted upon. 
 
 Sect. 5. Members shall be entitled to a Certificate of Membership 
 on payment of One Dollar. 
 
 Sect. 6. Resignations of membership shall be made to the Board 
 of Managers in writing, but shall not be accepted until all dues, fines, 
 and arrears of dues at the rate of seventy-five cents a month, subse- 
 quent to the first of October and up to the date of resignation, shall 
 have been paid, and books and tickets returned. 
 
 Sect. 7. Members whose yearly dues are in arrears for more than 
 three years shall be considered as having resigned, and the Actuary is 
 directed to strike their names from the list of members. 
 
 Article IV. — Payments. 
 
 Section i. The annual dues of contributing members shall be 
 eight dollars ; a life membership (not transferable) may be acquired by 
 the payment of one hundred dollars within any one year ; and a per- 
 manent membership may be granted to any one who shall, within any 
 one year, contribute to the Institute the sum of one thousand dollars, 
 which membership may be transferred by will or otherwise. 
 
 Sect. 2. Holders of Second Class stock and contributing members 
 enrolled as non-resident members shall pay upon election to member- 
 ship an entrance fee of five dollars and an annual fee of two dollars. 
 
 Sect. 3. Stock of the Second Class may be held in trust for per- 
 sons not of legal age, and shall be liable to the payment of only one- 
 half the annual fees due upon stock of Second Class held by persons 
 
68 
 
 of legal age ; provided, that when such minors arrive at legal age, new 
 certificates, • subject to the full annual contribution, shall issue on 
 payment of the customary fee. 
 
 Sect. 4. The annual payment of fees for membership shall be due 
 and payable on the ist of October in each year, in advance; but all 
 members elected after the 31st of January in each year shall pay, in 
 advance, at the rate of seventy-five cents a month to the ist of October 
 next ensuing. 
 
 Sect. 5. The annual dues from contributing members may be 
 applied-to the current expenses of the Institute, but all moneys received 
 from life and permanent membership shall be vested in the Board of 
 Trustees, the income therefrom only to be applied to the maintenance 
 fund. 
 
 Article V. — Officers. 
 
 The Officers shall be a President, three Vice-Presidents, a Secre- 
 tary, a Treasurer, twenty-four Managers, and three Auditors. Two- 
 thirds of the Managers shall be manufacturers or mechanics. 
 
 Article VI. — Election of Officers. 
 
 Section i. An election for officers shall be held on the third 
 Wednesday in January in each year. At this election the President, 
 the Secretary and the Treasurer shall be elected to serve one year, 
 and one Vice-President, eight Managers, and one Auditor shall be 
 elected to serve for three years ; provided, that the officers now elected, 
 or who may hereafter be elected, Shall continue to serve until their 
 successors be elected. No person shall be allowed to vote unless all 
 his arrears are paid. 
 
 Sect. 2. All elections for officers of the Institute shall be by 
 ballot, and no vote shall be cast by proxy. 
 
 Sect. 3. The President shall, at the stated meeting in December, 
 annually, appoint seven members of the Institute to conduct the 
 election for officers to be held on the third Wednesday in January, and 
 to act as judges of said election. They shall meet at the Hall of the 
 Institute at 4 o'clock p. m. on the day of the election, then and there 
 open the polls for said election, keeping the polls open until 8 o'clock 
 p. M., and making a record of the name of each voter. On the closing 
 of the polls they shall forthwith count the votes and report the result to 
 the President. 
 
 In case any one or more judges of said election shall fail to attend, 
 the judges present on the day of the election shall have power to fill 
 the vacancies. 
 
69 
 
 Article VII. — President. 
 
 It shall be the duty of the President, or, in his absence, of one of 
 the Vice-Presidents, in order of seniority of election, or, in their 
 absence, of a President to be chosen pi'o femporS, to preside at all 
 meetings of the Institute and of the Board of Managers, preserve order 
 therein, put all questions, and announce all decisions. 
 
 Article VIII. — Secretary. 
 
 Section i. The Secretary of the Institute shall be a person of 
 scientific and literary attainments, and shall receive such annual 
 compensation for his services as may be fixed by the Board of 
 Managers. 
 
 Sect. 2. His duties shall be to receive members and strangers 
 visiting the Institute ; to take charge of the library, cabinets, and 
 other property of the Institute under the direction of the various Com- 
 mittees and Curators ; to present and read at each meeting of the 
 Institute a statement of such scientific discoveries, mechanical improve- 
 ments, or novelties in the arts or engineering, as he may deem of 
 interest to the members ; and to perform such other duties as he may 
 deem advisable to promote the objects of the Institute, or such as may 
 from time to time be designated by the Institute. He shall also answer 
 all letters addressed to the Institute except those relating to stock, 
 finance, or of a business character ; open and maintain such corre- 
 spondence as may promote its interest ; notify honorary and correspond- 
 ing members of their election, and Committees of the Institute of their 
 appointment, and acknowledge all donations to the library or cabinets 
 in the Journal, and to the donors thereof at his discretion. He shall 
 report, or cause to be reported, the proceedings of the Institute, and 
 shall deliver the report thereof, or an abstract of it, to the editor for 
 publication. 
 
 Sect. 3. In case of the absence or sickness of the Secretary, it shall 
 be the duty of the President to appoint a person to perform the duties 
 of the position pro tempore. 
 
 Sect. 4. A suitable person shall be appointed by the Secretary, 
 with the sanction of the Board, to act as Librarian. 
 
 Article IX. — Treasurer. 
 
 It shall be the duty of the Treasurer to receive from the Board of 
 Trustees all funds, which they may pay over to the Board of Managers 
 in accordance with Section 6 of Article I. He shall also receive all 
 moneys collected for the Institute by the Actuary. He shall deposit all 
 
moneys received, in the name of the corporation, in such institution as 
 the Board of Managers may direct. He shall make no payments with- 
 out written vouchers from the Board of Managers. He shall keep 
 accurate accounts of the income and disbursements of the Institute, 
 exhibit an accurate statement of his receipts and payments at each 
 stated meeting of the Board of Managers, and of the condition of the 
 finances of the Institute whenever called on by them, and shall make 
 an annual statement thereof at the annual meeting of the Institute. He 
 shall give bonds to an amount fixed by the Board of Managers for the 
 faithful performance of his trust. In case of a vacancy in the office of 
 Treasurer, it shall be the duty of the Board of Managers to appoint a 
 person to perform the duties of the position pro tempore. 
 
 Article X. — Auditors. 
 
 The Auditors shall examine the Treasurer's accounts and compare 
 them with the orders of the Board of Managers, and report to the Board 
 as to their correctness. They shall also examine the accounts of the 
 Trustees, and report the results to the Board of Managers. 
 
 Article XI. — Organization and Government of Sections. 
 
 Section i. For the promotion and encouragement of manu- 
 factures and the mechanic arts, as well as of the sciences connected 
 with them, members of the Franklin Institute may form sections and 
 hold meetings in the Hall, or such other rooms as may be provided for 
 them by the Board of Managers. These sections shall be constituted 
 as hereinafter provided, and shall have precedence in the order of 
 their formation. 
 
 Sect. 2. Any number of members, not less than twelve, may 
 constitute a section. 
 
 Sect. 3. Members desiring to form a section shall make written 
 application to that effect to the Committee on Sectional Arrangements, 
 which committee shall report such applications, from time to time, to 
 the Board of Managers at one of its stated meetings, with such 
 recommendations as the Committee may deem it expedient to make in 
 each case. 
 
 An application for the formation of a section shall be made in the 
 following form ; — 
 
 " The undersigned, members of the Franklin Institute, request 
 
 that they may be cppglityte^ th? Section pf the Franklin 
 
 Institute," 
 
71 
 
 This application, when submitted by the Committee on Sectional 
 Arrangements, shall be considered by the Board of Managers, and, if 
 approved by the Board, the section shall be established and the names 
 of the petitioners shall be recorded on the minutes as the founders of 
 that section, and shall be reported by the Board of Managers to the 
 Institute at its next meeting. Whenever the petitioners have organized, 
 they shall report such organizEltion, with the names of their officers, to 
 the Committee on Sectional Arrangements. But if they shall fail to 
 organize such section within six months after the date of said approval, 
 or if an established section shall fail to make a report of its proceed- 
 ings to the Committee during any period of twelve months, it shall be 
 the duty of the Committee on Sectional Arrangements to inform the 
 Board of Managers, which may thereupon declare that such section is 
 extinct. 
 
 Sect. 4. All members of the Institute shall have the privilege of 
 enrolling themselves, without payment of additional fees, as members 
 of any of the sections which are now, or which may hereafter be, 
 established in conformity with these by-laws, and such enrollments 
 shall be reported from month to month to the secretaries of the sections 
 designated ; but no person shall be entitled to any of the privileges of 
 any of the sections who has not complied with the conditions of 
 Section 3 of Article III of these by-laws. 
 
 Sect. 5. Each section shall submit to the Committee on Sectional 
 Arrangements prior to the stated meeting of the Board of Managers 
 in December of each year, an estimate of moneys it will require for 
 the ensuing year, and such estimate the Committee on Sectional 
 Arrangements shall transmit, with its recommendation, to the Board at 
 its stated meeting in December. 
 
 Sect. 6. Each section shall elect its own officers and make its own 
 by-laws, not inconsistent with the charter and by-laws of the 
 Franklin Institute. The Institute shall not be responsible for bills con- 
 tracted by any section except in conformity with the conditions pre- 
 scribed in Section 4 of Article XII of the by-laws relating to com- 
 mittees, nor in any event for a sum greater in any one year than the 
 amount appropriated by the Board of Managers for the service of the 
 section for that year. 
 
 Sect. 7. All requisitions for supplies shall be made by order upon 
 the Actuary of the Institute. 
 
 Sect. 8. The books, papers, apparatus, specimens, models, and 
 all other collections of each section, shall be the property of the Insti- 
 tute, held for the use of that section. Donations of objects or books 
 
72 
 
 to or for any section, shall be received and reported to the Committee 
 on Sectional Arrangements, and by this Committee to the Board of 
 Managers, as donations to the Institute for the use of that section. 
 
 Sect. 9. At the first meeting of each section it shall determine, 
 subject to the approval of the Board of Managers, the times of its 
 stated meetings. 
 
 Sect. 10. Papers read and lectures delivered before any section 
 and approved by the same, shall be referred to the Committee on 
 PubUcations of the Institute, and, if accepted by them, shall be 
 published in the Journal of the Institute. 
 
 Sect. ii. Societies now existing, or which may hereafter be 
 founded, for the consideration of any subjects clearly within the scope 
 of the Franklin Institute, and which societies may desire to unite with 
 the Franklin Institute as sections, shall furnish a list of such of their 
 members as have declared their willingness to become members of the 
 Institute, to the Committee on Sectional Arrangements, which com- 
 mittee shall transmit the same, with its recommendation, to the Board 
 of Managers. 
 
 Sect. 12. Ort all points not herein provided for, each section shall 
 be governed by the charter, by-laws and usages of the Institute. 
 
 Article XII. — Of Committees. 
 
 Section i. There shall be the following Standing Committees, 
 each to consist of ten members, to be appointed by the President, at 
 the first meeting after the annual election, who may be aided in his 
 choice by nominations made at the annual meeting. All members 
 notified of their appointment to any Committees, if they do not decline 
 before the next stated meeting, shall be considered members thereof: — 
 
 1. On the Library. 
 
 2. On the Cabinet of Models. 
 
 3. On the Cabinet of Minerals and Geological Specimens. 
 
 4. On the Cabinet of Arts and Manufactures. 
 
 5. On Meteorology. 
 
 6. On Meetings. 
 
 Sect. 2. There shall be a Committee on Science and the Arts, 
 which shall consist of forty-five (45) members of the Institute, to be 
 elected as hereinafter prescribed, who shall pledge themselves by 
 their acceptance of tnembership, tp perform sugh dytJes as may 
 
75 
 
 devolve upon them and to sustain by their labors the scientific char- 
 acter of the Institute. 
 
 The Committee shall.within one month after the annual election 
 of the Institute in each year, hold a meeting, at which they shall elect a 
 Chairman. They may adopt rules for their government not inconsist- 
 ent with the charter and by-laws of the Institute. 
 
 Special Committees to examine any subject shall be appointed by 
 the Chairman, and shall make their reports in writing signed by the 
 members thereof. A quorum for final action upon a report shall con- 
 sist of not less than fifteen (15) members, and when such report is 
 adopted it shall be accepted as the decision of the Institute. 
 
 It shall be the duty of the Chairman of the Committee to submit 
 at the stated meetings of the Institute such action of the Committee as 
 he may deem of interest to the Institute. 
 
 Applications for the examination of any subject shall be made to 
 the Chairman of the Committee, either by the Institute or by the 
 Secretary, who shall receive such application from inventors and others. 
 
 The members of the Committee shall be nominated at the stated 
 meeting of the Institute in .December, and shall be elected for three 
 (3) years at the annual election — each year' fifteen (15)— except that at 
 the annual election in 1887 there shall be elected forty-five (45), who 
 shall draw lots for terms of one (i), two (2) and three (3) years 
 respectively. 
 
 The Committee shall report all vacancies occurring in their body, 
 whether by neglect of duty or otherwise, to the stated meeting of the 
 Institute n^xt ensuing, at which such vacancies shall be filled. 
 
 The meetings of the Committee shall be open to all members of 
 the Institute. 
 
 Sect. 3. Each of the Committees named in the first section shall 
 choose, at their first meeting after their appointment, a Chairman. 
 
 The Committee on the Library, on Meetings, and on Science and 
 Arts, shall meet at least once in each month, except in July and 
 August ; the other Committees at the call of their Chairman. 
 
 Records of their proceedings shall be kept by the Secretary. 
 
 They shall report to the Institute, and shall be governed by such 
 rules, not inconsistent with these by-laws, as may be adopted by them 
 respectively. All Special Committees must report to the Institute in 
 writing, at the next stated meeting succeeding their appointment, 
 otherwise they may be considered discharged. 
 
 Sect. 4. No bills for expenses incurred by Committees shall be 
 paid unless certified to by such Committee at a regular meeting, 
 examined by the Auditors, and authorized by the Board of Managers, 
 
74 
 
 Article XlU.~-Mee/mg-s. 
 
 Section i. The Institute shall hold stated meetings on the third 
 Wednesday of each month, excepting in July and August. That on 
 the third Wednesday in January of each year shall be styled the annual 
 meeting. 
 
 Sect. 2. Special meetings shall be called by order of the President, 
 upon request of the Board of Managers , or the written application of 
 twelve members of the Institute. Fifteen members shall constitute a 
 quorum. 
 
 Article XIV. — Order of Business. 
 
 Section i. The stated meetings of the Institute shall be held at 
 the hour of 8 o'clock, p. m. 
 
 Sect. 2. The order shall be as follows : — 
 
 1. Reading of the Minutes. 
 
 2. Reports from the Board of Managers. 
 
 3. Reports from Standing Committees, etc. 
 (i) On the Library. 
 
 (2) On the Cabinet of Minerals, etc. 
 
 (3) On the Cabinet of Models. 
 
 (4) On the Cabinet of Arts and Manufactures. 
 
 (5) On Meteorology. 
 
 (6) On Meetings. 
 
 (7) On Science and the Arts. 
 
 (8) The Curatprs. 
 
 4. Reports from Special Committees. 
 
 5. The paper announced for the evening. 
 
 6. The Secretary's report. 
 
 7. Deferred business. 
 
 8. Consideration of new business. 
 
 Sect. 3. At the annual meetings the reception of the report of the 
 judges of the election shall always be in order. 
 
 Sect. 4. The order of business may be altered for any meeting by 
 a vote of two-thirds of the members present thereat. 
 
 Article XV.— 7?«/<?j. 
 
 The Institute, at its meetings, shall be governed by the following 
 rules : — 
 
 First. — All resolutions must be presented in writing, signed by the 
 mover, and must be seconded and announced by the Chair before 
 consideration. 
 
75 
 
 Second. — Any member rising to speak shall be announced by the 
 Chair before proceeding. 
 
 Third. — The name of the mover of any resolution announced by 
 the Chair shall be entered in the minutes. 
 
 Fourth. — No member shall be allowed to speak more than twice 
 on any resolution, unless by special permission granted by the meet- 
 ing, except he be the mover thereof, or the Chairman of the Committee 
 reporting it, who shall have the privilege of closing the debate. 
 
 Fifth. — The yeas and nays shall be called at the request of five 
 members. Each member attending any meeting of the Institute, shall, 
 as he enters the Hal], report his name to the janitor, to be recorded in 
 a book to be kept for the purpose. 
 
 Sixth. — The Chair shall decide whether any resolution does or does 
 not pertain to the objects of the Institute ; and in the latter case, shall 
 decide it out of order, and from this decision there shall be no appeal. 
 
 Seventh. — Nominations for officers to be voted for at the annual 
 meeting shall be made at the stated meeting in December, and the 
 names of the nominees not declining shall be published, by posting in 
 the Hall, thereafter until the election. 
 
 Eighth. — The first four rules hereinbefore stated, or either of them, 
 may, by a vote of two-thirds of the members present at any meeting, 
 be suspended for that meeting. 
 
 Article XVI. — Board of Managers. 
 
 Section i. All the officers of the Institute, except the Auditors 
 and Trustees, shall be, ex-officio, members of the Board of Managers, 
 which shall have entire control of the current receipts and expenditures 
 of the Institute. To the Board of Managers shall be confided all the 
 business affairs of the Institute, not specially reserved to the Board of 
 Trustees. The Board of Managers shall have authority to devise and 
 execute all measures, not incompatible with the rights and duties of 
 the Board of Trustees, which may, in their judgment, advance the 
 interests of the Institute. 
 
 They shall have authority, by exchange, sale or otherwise, to add to 
 or subtract from the collections of books, furniture and apparatus, in such 
 manner, however, that the aggregate value of the same to the Institu- 
 tion, at any time, may not be impaired. 
 
 They shall have authority to elect members of the Institute, except 
 Honorary and Corresponding Members, who shall be elected by the 
 Institute. 
 
76 
 
 Sect. 2. The Board of Managers shall keep regular minutes of their 
 proceedings, which shall be open at all times to inspection by members 
 of the Institute. 
 
 Sect. 3. The Board of Managers shall, at the annual meeting of 
 the Institute, present a report of their proceedings and of the condition 
 of the affairs of the Institute. 
 
 Sect. 4. They shall hold stated meetings once in each month. 
 They shall select their own officers, except the Chairman, who shall be 
 the President of the Institute, and in his absence, as provided for in 
 Article VII, and shall be at liberty to make by-laws for their own regu- 
 lation, not inconsistent with the charter, or with the by-laws of the 
 Institute. Seven of their members shall constitute a quorum. 
 
 Sect. 5. All vacancies in the Board of Managers shall be filled at 
 the next meeting of the Institute. 
 
 Article XVII. — Amendments. 
 
 Amendments to these by-laws, to be proposed at any stated 
 meeting, shall be posted upon the notice-board by the first of the 
 month. Such proposition, when presented to the meeting, may be 
 considered, amended, referred, postponed, or rejected, or ordered to be 
 published weekly in two or more daily papers published in the city of 
 Philadelphia, by a majority vote. 
 
 At a subsequent stated meeting, after such publication, the amend- 
 ment may be adopted by a vote of two-thirds of the members present, 
 except in the case of Article II, relating to capital stock, which cannot 
 be altered unless by a vote of a majority of the stock represented. 
 
•77 
 
 BY-LAWS OF THE BOARD OF MANAGERS. 
 
 Section i. Officers.— I^i^ President of the Institute, or, in his 
 absence, the Vice-President, in order of seniority of election, or in the 
 absence of both, a member elected pro tempore, shall preside at all 
 meetings of the Board. Records of its proceedings shall be kept by 
 the Actuary. 
 
 Sect. 2. Meetings.— 1)1^ Board shall hold a meeting for the pur- 
 pose of organizing, appointing an Actuary, Standing Committees, etc., 
 on the fourth Wednesday in January, and regular meetings on the 
 second Wednesday of each month, at one o'clock, p. m. 
 
 Sect. 3. Special meetings may be called by the President when- 
 ever he shall deem the same necessary. In case of his absence or refusal 
 to call a special meeting on the written request of five members of the 
 Board of Managers, such special meeting shall be called by the 
 Actuary. 
 
 Sect. 4. Actuary. — An Actuary shall be appointed by the Board 
 at their first meeting after the annual election. He shall keep a correct 
 record of their proceedings ; keep a roll of the members, and note their 
 attendance thereon ; give notice of all meetings of the Board, and of 
 committees, by circulairs, delivered at least two days prior to the day of 
 meeting ; act as Secretary of all Standing Committees of the Board ; 
 notify all committees of the Board of their appointment, and transmit 
 to the Chairman of each all papers or documents relating to the subject 
 to be considered or acted upon. He shall collect and receive all 
 moneys due to the Institute, and hand them over to the Treasurer ; 
 shall act as agent of .the Journal oi the Institute, and shall transact 
 such other business of the Institute as the Board shall direct. In all 
 matters he shall be subject to the direction and control of the Board, 
 and he shall be entitled to receive such yearly compensation as they 
 may determ.ine. 
 
 Sect. 5. Resignations. — All resignations ofmembership of the Board, 
 after acceptance thereof, shall be reported to the Institute at its next 
 stated meeting. 
 
 Members who have not attended six regular meetings prior to the 
 stated meetings of the Institute in December, shall be reported thereat 
 as having resigned, unless it be unanimously voted by the Board, at its 
 stated meeting in December, that such member has been absent for 
 sufficient reason. 
 
Sect. 6. Standing Committees.— '^\xe. following Standing Commit- 
 tees, consisting of five members each, shall be appointed by the Presi- 
 dent and approved by the Board : — 
 
 I. On Instruction. 2. On Election and Resignation of Members. 
 3. On Stocks and Finance. 4. On Publications. 5. On Exhibitions. 
 6. On Sectional Arrangements. 
 
 It shall be the duty of these committees to keep regular minutes of 
 their proceedings, and report them monthly to the Board, and to report 
 to the stated meeting of the Board in December an estimate of moneys 
 they require for the service of the ensuing year. 
 
 Sect. 7. Curators. — Two members of the Board shall be selected 
 at their first meeting after the annual election, to serve as curators for 
 the ensuing year and until their successors shall be appointed. They 
 shall have charge of all the property of the Institute, except such 
 records, papers and books as may be assigned to the officers. They 
 shall keep regular minutes of their proceedings, and report the same to 
 the Board at its regular meetings. 
 
 Sect. 8. Professorships. — There shall be Professors of Chemistry, 
 Natural Philosophy, Mechanics, and other departments, as the Board of 
 Managers may direct, to be elected by the Board annually for a term 
 of one year, at its first meeting after the annual election, and to receive 
 such compensation as the Board may, from time to time, determine. 
 The professors shall be, ex-officio, members of the Committee on 
 Instruction, in addition to the five members named in Section 6. 
 
 Sect. 9. Order of Business. — The order at the stated meetings 
 shall be as follows : — 
 
 1. Calling the roll. 
 
 2. Reading the minutes and action thereon. 
 
 3. Report from Treasurer, and action on bills. 
 
 4. Reports from Standing Committees and action thereon, 
 (a.) On Instruction. 
 
 (iJ.) On Election and Resignation of Members. 
 ((T.) On Stocks and Finance. 
 (</.) On Publications, 
 (f.) On Exhibitions. 
 (/.) On Sectional Arrangements. 
 J. Reports from Special Committees and action thereon. 
 
 6. Reading correspondence. 
 
 7. Donations. 
 
 8. Deferred business. 
 
 9. New business. 
 
 10. Excuses for non-attendance and action thereon. 
 
 II. Calling the roll. 
 
?9 
 
 Sect. io. Amendments. — These by-laws may be altered at ahy 
 stated meeting of the Board, provided the alteration be approved by 
 two -thirds of the members present. 
 
 Sect. ii. A suitable person shall be appointed by the Secretary 
 to act as janitor, with the approval of the Board, who may be dis- 
 charged.by the Secretary for misconduct. 
 
8o 
 
 REGULATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE ON 
 SCIENCE AND THE ARTS 
 
 Approved by the Institute at the stated vteeting held June 21, i8gs, and 
 adopted at the stated meeting of the Committee on Science and the 
 Arts, held September 6, i8gj. 
 
 MEETINGS. 
 
 1. The Committee shall hold stated meetings at 8 o'clock p. m. on 
 the first Wednesday of each month, excepting July and August. Special 
 meetings may be called by the Chairman, and shall be called by him 
 upon the written request of five members of the Committee. 
 
 2. At all meetings of the Committee nine members shall constitute 
 a quorum, except that a quorum for final action upon a report shall 
 consist of not less than fifteen members. 
 
 CHAIRMAN. 
 
 1. Nominations for Chairman to serve for one year shall be made 
 at the stated meeting of the Committee in February, and the election 
 shall be by ballot at the same meeting, and the person receiving the 
 highest number of votes shall be declared elected. The Chairman shall 
 hold his office until his successor shall be installed. He shall not be 
 eligible for election for two successive terms. 
 
 2. He shall take the chair at the hour appointed, preserve order 
 and decorum in debate, suppress all personal reflections, and confine 
 the remarks of members to the question under discussion. When two 
 or more members rise at the same time, he shall designate the one 
 entitled to the floor, 
 
 3. He shall decide all questions of order. An appeal from his 
 decision to the Committee cannot be made by less than two members. 
 He may, however, submit questions of order to the Committee for their 
 decision. 
 
 4. On questions of order, there shall be no debate, except on an 
 appeal from the decision of the Chairman, or on a reference of a ques- 
 tion by him to the Committee. On questions of order, no member shall 
 speak more than once, unless by leave of the Committee ; on other 
 questions, a member may speak twice, but not oftener, without leave. 
 
5- The Chaifman shall appoint the members of all sub-committees, 
 unless otherwise ordered, but shall not serve on any such sub-com- 
 mittee ; and whenever he shall ascertain that any member of a sub- 
 committee is absent, or fails to discharge the duties assigned to him/he 
 is empowered to substitute another. 
 
 ORDER OF BUSINESS. 
 
 1. Calling the roll. 
 
 2. Reading of the minutes of the preceding meeting. 
 
 3. Reading of correspondence. 
 
 4. Reports on applications, and consideration thereof. 
 
 5. Consideration of reports for final action. 
 
 6. Reports of sub-committees, first reading. 
 
 7. Deferred business. 
 
 8. New business. 
 
 9. Calling the roll. 
 10. Adjournment. 
 
 INVESTIGATIONS. 
 
 1. It shall be competent for the Committee at all times, by vote of 
 a majority of the members present, to investigate by sub-committee 
 any subject which shall be presented on the motion of a member, and 
 to remit the usual charge for investigation. 
 
 2. Every inventor or other person who may submit a subject to the 
 Committee for investigation, shall be furnished by the Secretary with a 
 copy of the rules and regulations of the Committee governing investi- 
 gations. 
 
 3. The party desiring investigation of any subject shall make a 
 written request addressed to the Committee, and upon receiving notice 
 from the Secretary that his application has been accepted, he shall 
 deposit with the Secretary the sum of five dollars to cover the ordinary 
 cost of investigation and report. 
 
 4. All applications for investigations addressed to the Committee 
 shall first be referred to a special committee to be appointed by the 
 Chairman, styled the " Committee on Preliminary Examination," the 
 membership of which shall be known only .to the Chairman and 
 Secretary. It shall be the duty of the Committee on Preliminary 
 Examination to pass judgment on the character of applications 
 referred to them, and, at each stated meeting, to submit a report of 
 their work, recommending as worthy of investigation such applications 
 as in their judgment are meritorious, and as unworthy such as they may 
 judge to be unimportant. 
 
8i 
 
 5. f^o fjefsoii shall be a member of a sub-conlmittee 0^ inveStigd- 
 tion who is or has been interested in the issue, either pecuniarily or as 
 counsel for the applicant. 
 
 6. All members of a sub- committee making a report, whether 
 members of the general Committee or not, shall receive notice of any 
 meetings at which said report will be considered, and shall have the 
 right to the floor in the discussion thereof, and the Secretary shall state 
 this fact on the notices of appointment of members of sub-committees. 
 
 7. A quorum for the transaction of business at any meeting of a 
 sub-committee properly called, shall consist of the member or members 
 present, irrespective of numbers. 
 
 8. No inventor or other person interested in the issue of an inves- 
 tigation shall be present at a meeting of a sub-committee or of the 
 general Committee, when the merits of a subject or invention in which 
 he is interested shall be under discussion, except at the invitation of the 
 sub-committee charged with the investigation ; but after the report of 
 the sub-committee has passed first reading, he may examine it, on 
 application to the Secretary, and may make any explanations or 
 objections, in writing, addressed to the Chairman of the general 
 Committee ; provided, that such explanations or objections shall be 
 submitted not latter than the next stated meeting of the general 
 Committee. 
 
 9. No subject, or invention, can be withdrawn after it has been 
 assigned to a sub-committee for investigation without the consent of 
 the general Committee. 
 
 10. Sub-committees in preparing their reports shall accompany 
 them with drawings or diagrams, whenever these will serve to illustrate 
 the subject of their reports ; and they shall be authorized, whenever 
 they shall think it necessary, to require inventors, or other persons 
 interested in the investigations, to furnish such drawings or diagrams 
 as a condition of their making such investigations and reports. 
 
 Reports on all subjects must be signed by a majority of those 
 members of the sub-committee who have participated in the investiga- 
 tions. Minority reports may be received and considered by a vote of 
 the majority of the members present. When a report is issued, it shall 
 have attached to it the names of the Chairman and Secretary. 
 
 11. When any sub-committee deems the subject upon which it 
 reports worthy of an award of the Certificate of Merit, the Edward 
 Longstreth Medal of Merit, the John Scott Legacy Premium and Medal, 
 or the Elliott Cresson Medal, it shall append to its report a recom- 
 mendation to that effect, and such recommendation shall not be 
 
§3 
 
 changed by ttie general Cofflmittee, except by a Vote of two-tliirds ot 
 the members present. 
 
 It shall not be competent for any member of the Committee on 
 Science and the Arts to be a competitor for any of the medals or other 
 awards in the gift or subject to the recommendation of the said Com- 
 mittee, unless the subject for award be referred to the Committee for 
 examination by a vote of the Institute. 
 
 12. The reports of all sub-committees may be discussed at the 
 meeting of the general Committee at which they are first presented, but 
 shall be laid over for second reading and final action until the next 
 meeting, except that, by unanimous vote of the members present, they 
 may be taken up for second reading and finally disposed of. 
 
 13. It shall be the duty of the Secretary to certify to the applicant 
 the action of the Committee, and to furnish one copy of its report 
 within ten days after the same shall l^ave been finally adopted, except 
 in cases where the Committee has made or recommended an award, 
 when the copy shall be withheld from the applicant and from publica- 
 tion during the time in which proper objections to such award, or 
 motion for reconsideration, may be made. In default of such motion 
 or objections, the previous action upon a report and award shall be 
 final. 
 
 14. After a report has been finally acted on it shall not be recon- 
 sidered, except by a vote of two-thirds of the members present. A 
 motion for reconsideration must be made not later than the next stated 
 meeting after the adoption of the report which it is proposed to recon- 
 sider, and may be acted on at the next following stated meeting. After 
 a report has been finally acted on a second investigation of the same 
 subject-matter shall not be ordered, except on a vote of two-thirds of 
 the members present. 
 
 15. After the second roll-call at each meeting the Secretary shall 
 report the name of every member who has been absent from three 
 successive stated meetings, and has not during that time attended a 
 meeting of a sub-committee, and unless otherwise severally ordered by 
 a vote of a majority of the members present, each such member shall 
 be considered as having resigned. 
 
 16. These regulations may be altered in the following manner : 
 Propositions for amendment shall be made at a stated meeting in 
 writing. They may be considered when presented, but shall not be 
 acted on until the next stated meeting, and shall be considered 
 adopted when agreed to by two-thirds of the members present. In all 
 cases, notice of proposed amendments shall be given by publication 
 on card notices. 
 
CERTIFICATE OF MERIT. 
 
 The following is published for information (Extract irom the 
 minutes of the stated meeting of the Franklin Institute, held Wednes- 
 day, June 21, 1882) :— 
 
 At the stated meeting of the Institute, held on the above date, the 
 following resolutions were adopted : — 
 
 " Beso/ved, That the Committee on Science and the Arts of the 
 Franklin Institute is hereby authorized to award, and issue to persons 
 by said Committee adjudged worthy, a Certificate of Merit for their 
 inventions, discoveries or productions, which Certificate shall read as 
 follows : — 
 
 " The Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania for the 
 
 promotion of the Mechanic Arts, awards to this Certificate of 
 
 Merit. This award is made pursuant to the recommendation of the 
 Committee on Science and the Arts. 
 
 "Report No. Approved, 18 — 
 
 " Chairman Committee Science and the Arts. 
 
 " President. 
 
 [seal.] ^ " Secretary. 
 
 " Resolved, That all such Certificates of Merit so awarded shall be 
 signed by the President and Secretary of the Franklin Institute and 
 he Chairman of the Committee on Science and the Arts, and attested 
 by the seal of the Institute, and be transmitted to the person named 
 therein by the Secretary." 
 
 The Committee on Science and the Arts has adopted general 
 regulations on investigations, which govern the award of the Certificate 
 of Merit ; see Regulations Nos. 11, 13 and 14. 
 
 (An award of the Certificate of Merit requires no advertisement.) 
 
 The following resolutions were adopted at the stated meeting of 
 the Institute, held January 16, 1895 : — 
 
 "Resolved, That the Institute issue diplomas to applicants in cases 
 where awards of medals have been made to inventors, and where the 
 applicants have failed to receive recognition for their share in the devel- 
 opment of an invention. 
 
 "Resolved, That in order to further increase the value of awards, 
 as well as to give greater publicity to the work of the Committee on 
 Science and the Arts, each such award or recommendation shall be 
 accompanied by an engraved certificate of the fact suitable for 
 framing." 
 
8s 
 
 THE EDWARD LONGSTRETH MEDAL OF MERIT. 
 
 The following is a brief history of this endowment ; — 
 
 In the month of May, 1890, Edward Longstreth, machinist, and 
 retired member of the Baldwin Locomotive Works of the city of 
 Philadelphia, deposited with the Franklin Institute, in trust, a registered 
 bond of the Baltimore Traction Co. for the sum of one thousand 
 dollars, for the founding and perpetuation of the Edward Longstreth 
 Silver Medal ; the interest accruing from said principal sum to be used 
 in procuring and awarding said medals for the encouragement of 
 invention, and in recognition of meritorious work in science and the 
 industrial arts ; the said awards to be made by the Franklin Institute 
 through its Committee on Science and the Arts, under such rules as 
 said Committee may adopt. 
 
 This donor further presented to the Franklin Institute twelve 
 silver medals and the dies therefor designed and executed under the 
 direction of a Committee of the Institute with the approval of the 
 donor. 
 
 The observe of the medal bears the effigy of the donor, and is 
 inscribed around the margin, " The Edward Longstreth Medal of Merit, 
 founded 1890." On the reverse is inscribed around the margin, 
 '■ Awarded by the Franklin Institute," the centre to be filled by the 
 engraved name of the recipient, with the object of award and date. 
 
 On May 14, 1890, the Board of Managers of the Franklin Institute, 
 by resolution, accepted on behalf of the Institute the gifts of the donor, 
 and on September 17, 1890, the Institute, by the resolution following, 
 confirmed the acceptance : — 
 
 " Resolved, That the Institute hereby confirms the action of the 
 Board of Managers in accepting the gift of foundation of the Edward 
 Longstreth Medal of Merit, and in expressing its grateful acknowl- 
 edgments for the gift. 
 
 " Resolved, That the grant of the Edward Longstreth Medal, in 
 accordance with the wishes of the donor, be entrusted to the Committee 
 on Science and the Arts, subject to such conditions as the said Com- 
 mittee, with the approval of the Institute, may propose." 
 
 In conformity with the foregoing instructions, the Committee 
 on Science and the Arts has established the following rules to be 
 observed in awarding the Edward Longstreth Medal of Merit : — 
 
 " I. This medal may be awarded for useful invention, important 
 discovery, and meritorious work in, or contributions to, science, or the 
 industrial arts. 
 
 "2. In all cases where the subject of investigation shall be judged 
 worthy of the award of the Edward Longstreth Medal of Merit, the 
 
86 
 
 adoption of the report containing such an award by the Committee on 
 Science and the Arts shall be conclusive without advertisement as 
 required in the case of other awards by the Committee. 
 
 " 3. In the event of an accumulation of the fund for medals 
 beyond the sum of one hundred dollars, it shall be competent for the 
 Committee on Science and the Arts to offer from such surplus a money 
 premium for some special work on any mechanical or scientific subject 
 that said Committee may consider of sufficient importance." 
 
 At the stated meeting of the Franklin Institute, held Wednesday, 
 January 21, 1 89 1, the Secretary, by direction of the Committee on 
 Science and the Arts, presented the report of this Committee in refer- 
 ence to the regulations for the grant of the Edward Longstreth Medal 
 of Merit. On motion, the Committee's action was confirmed, and the 
 regulations proposed in the report were approved. 
 
 The Committee on Science and the Arts has adopted general regu- 
 lations on investigations which govern the award of the Edward 
 Longstreth Medal of Merit; see Regulations Nos. 11, 13 and 14. 
 
 (An award of the Edward Longstreth Medal requires no advertise- 
 ment.) 
 
 THE JOHN SCOTT LEGACY PREMIUM AND MEDAL. 
 
 The following particulars are published for the information of the 
 ingenious : — 
 
 John Scott, chemist, late of Edinburgh, by his will, made in the 
 year 1816, bequeathed the sum of four thousand dollars in the funded 
 three per cent, stock of the United States, to the corporation of the 
 city of Philadelphia, directing that the interest and dividend to be- 
 come receivable thereon should be laid out in premiums, to be distrib- 
 uted among ingenious men and women who make useful inventions, 
 but no such premium to exceed twenty dollars, and that therewith 
 shall be given a copper medal with this inscription : "To the most 
 deserving." 
 
 The Select and Common Councils of the city of Philadelphia, by 
 an ordinance passed February 27, 1834, vested the award of the afore- 
 said premiums and medals in the Franklin Institute of the State of 
 Pennsylvania for the promotion of the Mechanic Arts. 
 
 The Legislature of the State of Pennsylvania, by an act passed 
 and approved June 30, 1869, created a " Board of Directors of City 
 Trusts," to whom was referred the charge or administration of all 
 estates dedicated to charitable uses. 
 
 The control of the John Scott Legacy Premium and Medal was 
 (by the Act of 1869) transferred to the Board of Directors of City Trusts. 
 
87 
 
 This Board, by a resolution passed April 12, 1882, referred the 
 matter, with instructions, to their Committee on Wills' Hospital and 
 Minor Trusts. 
 
 The Committee on Wills' Hospital and Minor Trusts, by a 
 resolution passed April 12, 1882, resolved that "they will favorably 
 receive the names of any persons whom the Franklin Institute may 
 from time to time report to the Committee on Minor Trusts as worthy 
 of receiving the John Scott Legacy Medal and Premium." 
 
 The Franklin Institute, by a resolution passed June 21, 1882, 
 accepted the above, and referred the duty of making examinations, 
 etc., to the Committee on Science and the Arts. 
 
 That Committee has adopted the following rules in regard to 
 recommendations of the award of the John Scott Legacy Premium 
 and Medal :— 
 
 1. A recommendation for an award of the premium and medal 
 shall only be made by the Committee on Science and the Arts, on a 
 report of a sub-committee, which shall have been appointed to 
 examine such invention. 
 
 2. The invention or improvement to be examined shall be accom- 
 panied by a clear description and drawings of the same, together with 
 a model, if required, and also a statement of the particulars of the 
 inventor's claim to originality. 
 
 3. When the invention is a composition of matter, specimens of 
 the ingredients and of the compound sufficient for the purpose of 
 experiments, and to preserve in the cabinet of the Franklin Institute, 
 shall be furnished by the inventor. 
 
 4. Upon the adoption by the Committee on Science and the Arts 
 of a report setting forth that an invention or improvement is worthy 
 of an award of the premium and medal, publication shall be made three 
 times in the Journal of the Franklin Institute, stating that at the expira- 
 tion of three months from the date of the first publication, the Committee 
 on Science and the Arts will recommend to the Committee on Minor 
 Trusts of the Board of City Trusts, the award of the said premium 
 and medal to the inventor, unless within that time satisfactory evidence 
 shall have been submitted to the Committee on Science and the Arts 
 of the want of originality of the supposed invention and improvement. 
 In case no objections to the final award of the premium and medal 
 shall have been made, the Secretary shall certify the recommendation 
 of the award to the Committee on Minor Trusts of the Board of City 
 Trusts. 
 
 5. All appUcations for the John Scott Legacy Premium and Medal 
 must be made to the Secretary of the Institute, by whom the appUca- 
 tions and accompanying descriptions, drawings, etc., shall be laid 
 
before the Committee on Science and the Arts, and by whom all publi- 
 cations ordered by said Committee, in relation to said premiums and 
 medals, shall be made. 
 
 THE ELLIOTT CRESSON MEDAL. 
 
 [abstract of the deed of trust.] 
 
 Under date of February i8, 1848, Elliott Ciesson, Esq., of Phila- 
 delphia, Pennsylvania, conveyed to Trustees, for the Franklin Institute, 
 one thousand dollars of the six per cent, convertible loan of the Presi- 
 dent, Managers and Company of the Schuylkill Navigation Company 
 — to hold the said sum and the interest to accrue thereon, for the 
 following use and purposes : — 
 
 1 . The Trustees to keep the principal invested as it now is until it 
 is reimbursed by the said Company, and immediately after such 
 reimbursement to reinvest the said principal of one thousand dollars 
 in such securities, bearing interest, as may by law be designated for 
 the investment of trust funds. And from time to time, as the said 
 principal sum may be reimbursed, reinvest the same in like manner. 
 
 2. To cause suitable dies to be prepared for striking the gold 
 medal out of the first sufficient moneys received for interest on the said 
 sum of one thousand dollars. The dies to bear the following devices 
 and inscriptions : The obverse — a medallion likeness of the said 
 Elliott Cresson, with inscription around the margin, "Elliott Cresson 
 Medal, A. D. 1848." Reverse — around the margin, "Awarded by the 
 Franklin Institute of Pennsylvania." The centre to be filled by engrav- 
 ing the name of the party to whom awarded and the year in which the 
 award may be made. ' 
 
 3. After the said dies have been prepared, and paid for out of the 
 money received for interest, the said Trustees to cause to be struck from 
 time to time such number of gold medals as the interest received will 
 pay for, and deliver the same to the Treasurer of the Franklin Insti- 
 tute, to be by him delivered to such persons or parties as the said 
 Franklin Institute, by any rule or regulation they may adopt, may have 
 awarded the same. The said awards, however, to be in all instances 
 made either for some discovery in the arts and sciences, or for the 
 invention or improvement of some useful machine, or for some new 
 process or combination of materials in manufactures, or for ingenuity, 
 skill or perfection in workmanship. 
 
 At the stated meeting of the Institute held May 17, 1849— On 
 motion, it was 
 
 Resolved, That the Committee on Science and the Arts be authorized 
 to award the Elliott Cr?sson M?dal to such inventions and manufactures 
 
as shall, in their opinion, deserve it, subject to the rules which now 
 govern the award of the John Scott Legacy Premium and Medal. 
 (Repealed at the stated meeting held September 20, 1893.) 
 
 At the stated meeting held September 20, 1893, the following reso- 
 lution was adopted : — 
 
 Resolved, That the Committee on Science and the Arts be author- 
 ized to award the Elliott Cresson Medal for such discoveries, inventions 
 or manufactures as shall, in their opinion, deserve it, subject to the 
 general regulations on investigations and the following special rules : — 
 
 1. Upon the adoption, by the Committee on Science and the Arts, 
 of a report setting forth that an invention or improvement is worthy of 
 an award of the Elliott Cresson Medal, publication shall be made three 
 times in the Journal of the Franklin Institute, stating that at the expi- 
 ration of three months from the date of the first publication, the appli- 
 cant will be entitled to receive the award of the said medal, unless 
 within that time satisfactory evidence shall have been submitted to the 
 Committee on Science and the Arts of the want of originality of the 
 supposed discovery, invention or improvement. 
 
 2. All applications for the Elliott Cresson Medal must be made 
 to the Secretary of the Institute, by whom the applications and accom- 
 panying descriptions, drawings, etc., shall be laid before the Committee 
 on Science and the Arts, and by whom all publications ordered by said 
 Committee, in relation to said medal, shall be made. 
 
90 
 
 DRAWING SCHOOL. 
 
 The sessions of the Drawing School are divided into two courses, 
 viz. : — 
 
 A Winter Term of fifteen weeks, beginning about the middle of 
 September and ending in the second week of January. 
 
 A Spring Term of fifteen weeks, beginning about the middle of 
 January and ending about the close of April. 
 
 Thorough instruction, based upon the most modern and approved 
 practice, is given in Mechanical, Architectural and Free-hand Drawing. 
 Admittance to the lectures of the Institute is free to the scholars on 
 Friday evenings. 
 
 The class rooms open at 7 p. m. on Tuesday and Thursday even- 
 ings. Instruction commences at 7.15 and ends at 9.15 p. m. 
 
 The school is divided into the following classes : — 
 
 Junior Class, in which drawing tools and their proper manipu- 
 lation, lines, surfaces, and single solids with plain surfaces are treated. 
 
 All students are advised to go through these classes, in order 
 thoroughly to understand the principles of drawing, before entering 
 the senior or architectural class. 
 
 Intermediate Class, in which solids with curved surfaces, the 
 intersections of solids, and the development of their surfaces are 
 treated. 
 
 Senior Class, in which the methods, technicalities, and style of 
 drawing and designing engineering work are treated. 
 
 Architectural Class, in which designs, plans, elevations, and 
 details of buildings, and of interior and ornamental work are treated. 
 
 Free-hand Class, in which free-hand drawing with pencil and 
 crayon from the flat and from casts, designing and oil painting, are 
 treated. 
 
 That more efficient and rapid progress may be made, the Director 
 has prepared text-books on Mechanical Drawing, with plates, which 
 can be purchased at the class rooms, together with all necessary 
 tools and materials. 
 
 Each student is required to provide himself with tools and ma- 
 terials. 
 
 The full course comprises four terms, at the end of which certifi 
 cates are awarded to those students who have shown sufficient atten- 
 tion, industry and progress. 
 
 Annual announcement is made of the times of opening and closing 
 the school terms, price of tuition, etc., copies of which may be obtained 
 at the office of the Actuary. 
 
91 
 
 SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS, ETC. 
 
 First Wednesday of each month (except July and August), 8 p. m., 
 
 Committee on Science and the Arts. 
 Second Wednesday of each month, i p. m., 
 
 Board of Managers. 
 Third Tuesday of each month (except July and August), 8 P. m.. 
 
 Chemical Section. 
 Third Wednesday of each month (except July and August), 8 p. m.. 
 
 Institute. 
 Fourth Tuesday of each month (except July and August), 8 p. m., 
 
 Electrical Section. 
 Friday Evenings (8 o'clock) of the months of November to March, 
 inclusive Lectures. 
 
 Membership tickets admit to all stated meetings and lectures. 
 Visitors invited or accompanied by members have the privilege of 
 attending the stated meetings of thelnstitute. 
 
92 
 
 HISTORICAL RELICS— MODELS, ETC 
 
 Among the acquisitions of the Institute, valuable or interesting for 
 their historic associations, the following may be named : — 
 
 The dress sword of Dr. Franklin, worn by him while representing 
 the United States at the Court of France. This interesting relic was 
 presented to the Institute by R. Meade Bache. It is deposited with the 
 Historical Society of Pennsylvania. 
 
 A cylinder electrical machine, once the property of Dr. Franklin. 
 Presented by Dr. John Redman Coxe, of Philadelphia. 
 
 Machine for dressing type, formerly the property of Dr. Franklin. 
 Presented by Prof. Franklin Bache. 
 
 Several pieces of electrical apparatus, believed to have been owned 
 by Dr. Franklin. Presented by Dr. W. Ruschenberger, of Philadelphia. 
 
 Odometre, formerly belonging to Dr. Franklin, and, later, to 
 Thomas Jefferson. Presented by Wm. McFarland, Richmond, Va. 
 
 Portrait of Dr. Franklin, painted by Thomas Sully. Presented by 
 him. 
 
 Medallion of Dr. Franklin, executed in France, dated 1777. Pre- 
 sented by Dr. J. L. Sharpless, of Philadelphia. 
 
 Copy of Reaumur's L'Art de Convertir le Fer Forge en Acier, 1772, 
 bearing Franklin's autograph. 
 
 Portfolio of prints of metal house-furnishing goods, formerly 
 belonging to Dr. Franklin. Presented by J. D. 'Sergeant, Philadelphia. 
 
 A considerable collection of letters, memorandum and note- 
 books, of Oliver Evans. Deposited by Oliver Eva;ns Wood, of Phila- 
 delphia, 1894. 
 
 Model of Oliver Evans' " Columbian " high-pressure steam engine. 
 Made by Rush & Muhlenberg. Presented by S. J. Robbins, July 18, 
 1833- 
 
 Magneto-electric machine. Made by Joseph Saxton. Exhibited 
 at the meeting of the British Association in 1833. 
 
 Model of the Redheffer "perpetual motion." Made and pre- 
 sented by Isaiah Lukens. (This model possesses special interest. It 
 was built for the purpose of exposing the fraudulent nature of the 
 claim of Chas. H. Redheffer to have discovered a self-acting machine ; 
 for the investigation of which the Legislature of Pennsylvania, in 
 1812, appointed a commission of experts). 
 
&3 
 
 Autograph o^ (ieorge Stephenson, with drawing in his own hand 
 of the first locomotive tender devised by him. Presented by James 
 B. Winslow, on behalf of the Boston and Lowell Railroad Company, 
 1872, 
 
 Model of George Stephenson's "No. i" locomotive, built for 
 the Stockton and Darlington Railroad. Brought from England by 
 Wm. Strickland in 1826, and by him presented. 
 
 Portrait of Daguerre, painted by Abraham Whiteside. Presented 
 by Mrs. F. O. Willard, of Philadelphia. 
 
 Godfrey's quadrant, original model. Made by James Ham, Jr., 
 Philadelphia, September 10, 1781. Deposited by Dr. Chas. M. 
 Wetherlll, May 4, 1852. 
 
 Unfinished bust of Henry Clay (wood carving), by Wm. Rush. 
 Presented by Samuel Richards. 
 
 Early Morse printer. Deposited by James Swaini, of Philadelphia. 
 
 Autograph sketch of a " break detecter," by Prof. Morse (bearing 
 his signature). Presented on behalf of The New York Electrical 
 Society, by James D. Reld, December i, 1887. 
 
 Minute-book and seal of the first telegraph company. Deposited 
 by Joseph Sailer, Jr., Philadelphia, 1885. 
 
^4 
 
 COMPLETE SETS OF SERIALS. 
 
 The folowing partial list of complete sets, selected with the view of 
 embracing the greatest variety of subjects, will give a fair idea of the 
 extent and condition of this class of reference literature in the library : — 
 
 (AMERICAN). 
 
 American Agriculturist. 
 American Architect and Building News. 
 
 American Association for the Advancement of Science, Proceed- 
 ings. 
 American Chemical Journal. 
 American Chemical Society, Journal. 
 American Exchange and Review. 
 American Gas Light Journal. 
 
 American Institute of Electrical Engineers, Transactions. 
 American Institute of Mining Engineers, Transactions. 
 American Journal of Pharmacy. 
 American Journal of Mathematics. 
 American Journal of Science. 
 American Naturalist. 
 
 American Pharmaceutical Association, Proceedings. 
 American Society of Civil Engineers, Proceedings and Transac- 
 tions. 
 American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Transactions. 
 Electrical Engineer. 
 Electrical World. 
 Encyclopedias. — American, and Annuals. 
 
 Britannica (American edition). 
 
 Chambers' (American edition). 
 
 Johnson's. 
 
 Rees'. 
 Engineering Magazine. 
 Engineering News. 
 Franklin Institute, Journal. 
 Manufacturer and Builder. 
 Mathematical Monthly. 
 
 Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office. 
 Poor's Manual of Railroads. 
 Popular Science Monthly. 
 
kailroad (Gazette. 
 Sanitarian. 
 
 Scientific American (Architects' and Builders' edition). 
 Scientific American, Supplement. 
 
 Smithsonian Institution. Contributions to Knowledge, Miscella- 
 neous Collection, Special Reports. 
 Specifications and Drawings of Patents. United States. 
 Textile Colorist. 
 
 United States Coast Survey Charts. 
 United States Hydrographic Office Charts. 
 United States Naval Institute, Proceedings. 
 
 (BRITISH). 
 
 Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, Reports. 
 
 British Association for the Advancement of Science, Reports. 
 
 Builder. 
 
 Chemical News. 
 
 Chemical Society, Journal. 
 
 Electrical Review (Telegraphic Journal). 
 
 Engineer. 
 
 Engineering. 
 
 Geological Society of London, Quarterly Journal. 
 ■ Illustrated Official Journal. (Patents). 
 
 Institution of Civil Engineers, Proceedings. 
 
 Institution of Electrical Engineers, Journal. 
 
 Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Proceedings. 
 
 Institution of Naval Architects, Transactions. 
 
 Iron and Steel Institute, Journal. 
 
 Journal of Gas Lighting. 
 
 Journal of Science. (Quarterly.) 
 
 London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine, (inclu- 
 ding Nicholson, Tilloch, Thompson, Jamieson, Brewster). 
 
 Mechanics' Magazine, (including Iron, Industries and Industries 
 and Iron). 
 
 Nature. 
 
 Photographic News. 
 
 Repertory of Arts and Sciences. (Newton's). 
 
 Royal Society. Catalogue of Scientific Papers, Proceedings, 
 Transactions. 
 
 Society of Arts, Journal. 
 
 Society of Chemical Industry, Journal. 
 
 Specifications of Inventions. (British Patent Reports). 
 
^6 
 
 (PREhfCH). 
 
 Academie des Sciences, Comptes Rendus. 
 Annales des Mines. 
 
 " " Fonts at Chaus6es. 
 
 " " Travaux Publics. 
 
 " Industrielles. 
 Association Fran^aise pour I'Avancement des Sciences, Comptes 
 
 Rendus. 
 Brevets d'Invention. 
 
 Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, Annales. 
 £lectricien. 
 
 La Lumiere :6lectrique. 
 La Nature. 
 
 Nouvelles Annales de la Construction. 
 Portefeuille Economique des Machines. 
 Publication Industrielle, Armengaud. 
 Revue General- de I'Architecture. 
 Revue General de Chemin de Fer. 
 Societe d'Encouragement pour I'lndustrie Nationale, Bulletin. 
 
 (GERMAN). 
 
 Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie (Liebig et at). 
 
 Annalen der Physik und Chemie (Wiedemann). 
 
 Chemiker Zeitung. 
 
 Deutsche Chemische Gesellschaft, Berichte. 
 
 Dingler's Polytechnisches Journal. 
 
 Elektrotechnische Bibliothek. 
 
 Elektrotechnische Zeitschrift. 
 
 Jahresberichte : Berzelius, Liebig und Kopp u. A., Stadel, Wagner, 
 
 Fischer. 
 Journal fiir Gasbeleuchtung. 
 Journal fiir Praktische Chemie. 
 Patent Blatt. 
 
 Repertorium der Analytischen Chemie. 
 Societe Industrielle de Mulhouse, Bulletin. 
 Stahl und Eisen. 
 
 Verein Deutscher Ingenieure, Zeitschrift. 
 Verein zur Befbrderung des Gewerbefleisses, Zeitschrift. 
 Zeitschrift fiir Analytische Chemie. 
 Zeitschrift fiir Berg-Huetten-und Salinen-Wesen im Preussischen 
 
 Staate. 
 
&; 
 
 MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF MANAGERS. 
 
 I 824- I 895. 
 
 With Term of Service. 
 
 Abbot, William. 1824-1826. 
 Agnew, John. 1 831-1863. 
 Addicks, John E. 1845-1850. 
 Allen, James. 1845. 
 Archer, Ellis S. 1858-1859. 
 Allison, William C. 1863. 
 Adamson, William. 1864. 
 
 Browne, Peter A. 1 824-1 827. 
 Beck, Jr., Paul. 1824-1827. 
 Biddle, Clement C. 1824. 
 Beale, Joseph. 1827. 
 Bolton, James M. 1830. 
 Bache, Alexander Dallas. 1830- 
 
 1844. 
 Bulkley, James H, 1 830-1 841. 
 Betts, WiUiam C. 1844. 
 Burtis, Aaron H. 1845. 
 Birkinbine, Henry P. M. 1851- 
 
 1856. 
 Baldwin, Matthias W. 1827-1863. 
 Barras, Joseph J. 1851-1860. 
 Baugh, Harman. 1855. 
 Bryson, James H. 1857-1863. 
 Bartol, Barnabas H. 1863-1865. 
 Briggs, Robert. 1864, and 1867- 
 
 1873- 
 Bement, William B. 1 866-1 870. 
 Bement, Clarence S. 1871. 
 Bullock, Charles. 1868 to present 
 
 time. 
 Birkbeck, John. 1 869-1 871. 
 Bartol, Henry W. 1870-1878. 
 Bergner, Theodore. 1870-1875. 
 Barker, George F. 1874-1875. 
 Banes, Charles H. 1877 to present 
 
 time. 
 Burnham, George. 1878. 
 Bilgram, Hugo. 1 885-1 890. 
 
 Bower, Henry. 1891 to present 
 
 time. 
 Beardsley, Arthur. 1894 to present 
 
 time. 
 
 Carey, Mathew. 1824-1828. 
 
 Clarke, James. 1 824-1 826. 
 
 Cloud Joseph. 1824. 
 
 Collins, Isaac. 1828. 
 
 Ci-esson, John C. 1835-1863. 
 
 Carr, William Hart. 1837-1845. 
 
 Cresson, William P, 1848-1849. 
 
 Copper, John C. 1851. 
 
 Conarroe, George W. 1851-1863. 
 
 Cornelius, Robert. 1855-1863. 
 
 Cramp, Charles H. 1864-1867 and 
 1875 ^nd 1895 to present time. 
 
 Chase, Pliny E. 1864-1886. 
 
 Close, Charles S. 1865-1879. 
 
 Cartwright, Henry. 1865-1 881. 
 
 Cornelius, Robert C. 1866-1868. 
 
 Cooper, John H. 1870-1873. 
 
 Chambers, Jr., Cyrus. 1876-1890. 
 
 Chabot, Cyprien. 1877. 
 
 Cresson, George V. 1886 to present 
 time. 
 
 Codman, John E. 1892-1894. 
 
 Conard, Thomas P. 1894 to pres- 
 ent time. 
 
 Donaldson, Joseph. 1825. 
 Draper, Edmund. 1847-1850. 
 Dougherty, James. 1858-1861. 
 Drown, WiUiain A. 1861-1863. 
 Dreer, Ferdinand J. 1862. 
 Divine, William. 1864. 
 Durfee, William F. 1872-1873. 
 DuBois, WiUiam L. 1880-1882. 
 Darrach, Charles G. 1894 to 
 present time. 
 
98 
 
 Eisenhut, John D. 1824-1825. 
 Emerson, G. 1828. 
 Eastwick, Andrew M. 1836-1844. 
 Evans, Owen. 1844-1857. 
 Ellis, James P. 1848-1851. 
 Eckert, Geo. M. 1852-1854. 
 Erety, George. 1854-1866. 
 Eastwick, Edward P. 1859-1860. 
 Eldridge, G. Morgan. 1885-1890. 
 
 Fletcher, Thomas. 1824-1850. 
 Fry, William. 1825. 
 Fox, George. 1828-1830. 
 Fraley, Frederick. 1829-1863 and 
 
 1865-1882. 
 Ferguson, Alexander. 1831-1841. 
 Fling, William B. 1842.- 
 Frazer, John F. 1844-1866. 
 Farr, George W. 1851. 
 Frazer, Persifor. 1880-1891. 
 
 Gilpin, Thomas. 1824. 
 Groves, Daniel. 1824-1827. 
 Garrigues, Isaac B. 1825-1863. 
 Griffith, Robert E. 1827. 
 Gobrecht, Christian. 1828-1830. 
 Gilder, John. 1838-1841. 
 Greble, Edwin. 1841-1863. 
 Graff, Frederick. 1852-1S54 and 
 
 1858-1865 and 1880-1890. 
 Gries, John M. 1858-1862. 
 Gardiner, John., Jr. 1864. 
 Griffith R. Egglesfield. 1870-1871. 
 Garrison, F. Lynwood. 1890 to 
 
 present time. 
 Gibson, J. Howard. 1893-1894. 
 
 Harrison, John. 1824-1829. 
 Horn, Henry. 1B24. 
 Haviland, John. 1824-1826. 
 Harper, James. 1824-1826. 
 Humphreys, Samuel. 1826. 
 Hansen, William S. 1827. 
 Hays, Isaac. (M. D.) 1828-1841. 
 Harker, Joshua G. i83i-I?36. 
 Hufty, Samuel. 1834-1850. 
 Hutchison, James. 1841-1842. 
 Hand, James C. 1845-1846. 
 Herse, George P.. 1851. 
 Harrison, Jos., Jr. 1854 and 1856- 
 
 1859. 
 Howard, George C. 1955-1858. 
 Harris, William. 1860-1863. 
 
 Hutchinson, Joseph. 1860-1863. 
 
 Harding, George. 1864-1865. 
 
 Hunter, James. 1864. 
 
 Horstman, William J. 1865-1868. 
 
 Hart, Samuel. 1865-1870. 
 
 Helme, William. 1869-1888. 
 
 Houston, Edwin, J. 1874 to pres- 
 time. 
 
 Heller, Charles S. 1879-1880. 
 
 Heyl, Henry R. 1879 to present 
 time. 
 
 Hutchinson, Charles H. 1888-1890. 
 
 Harrison, Alfred C. 1895 to pres- 
 ent time. 
 
 Jones, Thomas P. 1826-1828. 
 
 Johnson, Lawrence. 1855-1859. 
 
 Jones, Washington. 1859 to pres- 
 ent time. 
 
 Jayne, Harry W. 1891 to present 
 time. 
 
 Keating, William H. 1824-1826 
 
 and 1830-1840. 
 Katez, I. 1824. 
 Kneass, William. 1825. 
 Kirk, Charles H. 1830. 
 Knight, Daniel R. 1845. 
 King, Robert P. 1850. 
 Kelly, Henry H. 1851. 
 Knight, Jacob B. 1875-1879. 
 
 Lukens, Isaiah. 1824-1825 and 
 
 1828-1846. 
 Lewis, Harvey. 1824-1827. 
 Lewis, Mordecai D. 1828-1836. 
 Loud, Thomas. 1829-1831. 
 Lindsay, Robert. 1834-1836. - 
 Linnard, James M. 1836-1838. 
 Lindsay, John. 1843. 
 Love, William H. 1859. 
 LeVan, W. Barnet. 1864-1876. 
 Longstreth, Edward. 1868-1870 
 
 and 1887 to present time. 
 Lewis, Enoch. 1868-1894. 
 Linville, J. Hayes. 1868. 
 Lucas, John. 1888-1894. 
 
 Merrick, Samuel V. 1824-1863. 
 Mason, David H. 1824. 
 Miller, Abraham. 1824-1858. 
 McAlpin, James, 1825-1828. 
 Mifflin, Lloyd. 1825-1826. 
 
99 
 
 McEuen, Thomas. (M. D.) 1829. 
 McClurg, Alexander. 1833-1839. 
 Morris, Isaac P. 1836-1843. 
 Morris, EUwood. 1844-1847. 
 Morris, William E. 1847-1851. 
 McClure, John. 1853-1856. 
 Megargee, Charles. 1858. 
 Moore, Joseph W. 1860-1861. 
 Mason, James S. 1861. 
 Merrick, J. Vaughan. 1 864-1 884. 
 Mitchell, William A. 1 864-1 865. 
 Moore, Bloomfield H. 1864-1876. 
 Morris, Henry G. 1864-1879. 
 Morton, Henry. 1865-1870. 
 Miles, Frederick B. 1874. 
 Mitchell, J. E. 1874 and 1876- 
 
 1887. 
 McCambridge, Richard. 1876. 
 Marshall, Samuel R. 1887-1883. 
 McKean, William V. 1879-1883. 
 Marks, William D. 1881-1884. 
 Muckle, M. Richards, Jr. 1894 to 
 
 present time. 
 
 Newhall, Paul W. 1843-1844. 
 Naylor, Jacob. 1863 and 1865- 
 
 1872. 
 Neafie, Jacob G. 1868. 
 Norris, Isaac. (M. D.) 1870-1881 
 
 and 1882 to present time. 
 Nystrom, John W. 1873-1875. 
 
 O'Neill, John. 1827-1832. 
 Ogden, John M. 1833. 
 Ogle, Williams. 1 845-1 850. 
 Orr, Hector. 1 871-1887. 
 Outerbridge, Alex. E., Jr. 1881- 
 1886. 
 
 Patterson, Robert. 1824. 
 Patterson, Robert M. 1825-1827. 
 Perot, William S. 1 833-1 834. 
 Parrish, William D. 1838 and 1852- 
 
 1854. 
 Palmer, B. Franklin. 1862. 
 Parrv, Charles T. 1864. 
 Purv'es, Alexander. 1875-1876. 
 Pemberton, Henry, Jr. 1891 to 
 
 present time. 
 Pettit, Horace. 1894 to present 
 
 time. 
 Paul, Lawrence T. 189S to present 
 
 time. 
 
 Ronaldson, James. 1824-1841. 
 
 Ramage, Adam. 1824-1832. 
 
 Rust, James I. 1824. 
 
 Richardson, John. 1825. 
 
 Rush, William. 1825. 
 
 Ralston, Ashbel G. 1825-1830. 
 
 Riehle, Henry J. 1826-1827. 
 
 Robbins, Samuel J. 1827-1833. 
 
 Rowland, William. 1828. 
 
 Roberts, Algernon S. 1828-1829. 
 
 Rowland, Jr., James. 1829-1830. 
 
 Reeves, Benjamin. 1829-1837. 
 
 Richards, Mark. 1831. 
 
 Reed, WiUiam B. 1832-1836. 
 
 Rogers, Henry D. 1838-1843. 
 
 Roberts, Solomon W. 1842-1853. 
 
 Rogers, Evans. 1854-1863. 
 
 Rogers, Fairman. 1864-1866. 
 
 Roberts, Percival. 1864-1868. 
 
 Reeves, Samuel J. 1864. 
 
 Rice, John. 1866-1867. 
 
 Rogers, Robert E. 1867-1878. 
 
 Rand, Theodore D. 1874 to pres- 
 ent time. 
 
 Ronaldson, Charles E. 1885-1893. 
 
 Reeves, Stacy. 1889 to present 
 time. 
 
 Strickland, William. 1824-1826- 
 
 1828. 
 Seiper, Thomas. 1824. 
 Struthers, John. 1827-1849. 
 Schreiner, Joseph H. 1827-1832. 
 Souder, Jacob. 1828. 
 Stevenson, William, Jr. 1828. 
 Scattergood, Thomas. 1829-1834. 
 Say, Benjamin. 1832-1833. 
 Shinn, Earle. 1836-1837. 
 Stewart, Thomas S. 1842-1850 and 
 
 1852-1863. 
 Saxton, Joseph. 1842-1844. 
 Savery, Peleg B. 1851-1852. 
 Smith, Charles E. 1852-1855. 
 Sellers, William. 1857-1861 and 
 
 1864-1892. 
 Sellers, Coleman. 1 862 to present 
 
 time. 
 Sloan, Samuel. 1864. 
 Sartain, Samuel. 1865 to present 
 
 time. 
 Sartain, John. 1877-1879. 
 Shain, Charles J. 1884-1887. 
 
lOO 
 
 Sadtler, Samuel P. 1888 to present 
 
 time. 
 Spangler, Jlenry W. 1891-1893. 
 
 Tyler, Rufus. 1826-1837. 
 
 Toppan, Charles. 1831-1832. 
 
 Tryon, George W. 1831-1833. 
 
 Trevor, John B. 1832. 
 
 Trautwine, John C. i834-i836and 
 1844 and 1852-1857. 
 
 Trego, Charles B. 1837-1847. 
 
 Troth, Henry. 1837-1841. 
 
 Thompson, Ambrose W. 1839- 
 1843. 
 
 Taber, George. 1 839-1 842. 
 
 Towne, John H. 1840-1845 and 
 1846-1857 and 1866-1869. 
 
 Thornley, John. 1851. 
 
 Tracy, Eliashib. 185 1. 
 
 Townsend, Edward Y. 1866-1867. 
 
 Tatham, William P. 1870 to pres- 
 ent time. 
 
 Tilghman, Benj^C. 1871-1875. 
 
 Thomson, Elihu. 1878-1881. 
 
 Thome, William H. 1881 to pres- 
 ent time. 
 
 Trautwine, John C, Jr. 1891 to 
 present time. 
 
 Wood, Samuel R. 1824-1825. 
 Wetherill, John P. 1824-1825. 
 Wickham, M. T.- 1824. 
 Warder, William S. 1825-1827. 
 White, Charles H. 1828-1835, 
 
 Walter, Thomas U. 1829-1831 
 
 and 1840-1851. 
 Wiegand, John. 1831-1853. 
 Wetherill, William. 1832. 
 Walter, Joseph, S., Jr. 1834-1837. 
 Wetherill, Charles. 1835. 
 Warner, John S. 1837-1843. 
 Wolborn, Corneliu A. 1 844-1 850. 
 Wood, Alan. 1845-1863. 
 Whitney, Asa. 1 846-1 850. 
 Williams, Isaac S. i846-i85oand 
 
 1852-1863. 
 Weygandt, Thomas J. 1851-1863. 
 Whitaker, George P. 1851-1852. 
 Weaver, Jacob. 1856-1857. 
 Whitney, George. 1858-1860. 
 Wootten, John E. 1 860-1 862. 
 Whitney, John R. 1861. 
 Weightman, William. 1862-1863. 
 Whitney, James S. 1 862-1 863 and 
 
 1 865-1 869. 
 White, Samuel S. 1864-1867. 
 Wiegand, S. Lloyd. 1864 and 
 
 1890-1893. 
 Wilson, O. Howard. 1864-1869. 
 Wilson , Joseph M . 1 869 to present 
 
 time. 
 Wahl, William H. 1 870-1 874 and 
 
 1882 to present time. 
 Williams, Edward H. 1871-1872. 
 Wharton, William, Jr. 1871. 
 Weaver, John J. 1880-1891. 
 
 Young, Andrew. 1828-1830. 
 Yardley, Wilham, Jr. 1829. 
 Yeager, Joseph. 1842, 
 
lOI 
 
 LIST OF BENEFACTORS. 
 
 A list of the benefactors of the Institute would be a long one 
 indeed, were it made to include all who are justly entitled to be so con- 
 sidered. Instead, we have confined it to the enumeration of those who 
 have contributed, by bequest or otherwise, substantial sums of money, 
 or made gifts' of substantial value, for the furtherance of its work. So 
 far as has been ascertained by the writer, they embrace the following : — 
 
 James Ronaldson — a legacy of ^500. 
 
 A. Miller — a legacy of jS 1,8 19.77. 
 
 Algernon S. Roberts — a gift of J!8oo for the purchase of books. 
 
 Barnabas H. Bartol — a gift of jji ,000 for the endowment of Scholar- 
 ships in the Drawing School; also a bequest of $5,000 to the building 
 fund. 
 
 Elliott Cresson — a gift of $1,000 for the endowment of a Gold Medal 
 to be awarded for discoveries and inventions of pre-eminent value. 
 
 Henry Seybert — a gift of $500 for the purchase of books ; also a 
 legacy of $2,000 for the building fund. 
 
 Evans Rogers — a legacy of $5,000. 
 
 Asa Whitney — a legacy of $500. 
 
 Mrs. Bloomfield H. Moore — two gifts aggregating $15,000, consti- 
 tuting the "Bloomfield H. Moore Fund," for the endowment of the 
 library. 
 
 Uriah A. Boyden — a gift of $1,000 as a prize for the solution of an 
 important problem in physical science (not yet awarded). 
 
 John Lenthall — the gift of his valuable personal library of books 
 and drawings relating to naval architecture and marine engineering. 
 
 Joseph Neumann — the bequest of a residuary interest in his estate, 
 value at present not estimated. 
 
 John Turner — a bequest, consisting of a percentage of the income 
 of his residuary estate, valued at $50 annually. 
 
 Mrs. Wm. B. Rogers — the gift of the valuable library of chemical 
 works belonging to the late Dr. Robt. E. Rogers. 
 
 Edward Longstrelh — a gift of $1,000 for the endowment of a Silver 
 Medal for inventions and works of a meritorious character. 
 
 George S. Pepper — a legacy of 25,000, and an additional interest 
 in his residuary estate, for the endowment fund. (This benefaction has 
 amounted thus far to $34,437.50). 
 
 Mrs. Frederic Graff— the gift of a valuable collection of drawings 
 and engravings, belonging to her late husband. 
 
 Eugen? Nugent— a legacy of ^i.ogo to the endowment fund, 
 
I02 
 
 FORMS OF SUBSCRIPTION AND BEQUEST. 
 
 I hereby subscribe to the Endowment Fund of the Franklin Insti- 
 tute OF THE State of Pennsylvania for the Promotion of the 
 Mechanic Arts, the sum of One Hundred Dollars as a Life Member- 
 ship Fee in said Institute. 
 
 Signed, 
 
 Date, Address, 
 
 I hereby subscribe to the Endowment Fund of the Franklin Insti- 
 tute of the State of Pennsylvania for the Promotion of the 
 Mechanic Arts, the sum of One Thousand Dollars as a Permanent 
 Membership Fee in said Institute transferable by will or otherwise. 
 
 Signed, 
 
 Date, Address, 
 
 I hereby subscribe to the Franklin Institute of the State of 
 Pennsylvania for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, the sum 
 of. Dollars, to be applied to the 
 
 Endowment Fund of the \ tIJ^^/ \ of said Institute. 
 
 Signed, 
 
 Date, Address, 
 
 / hereby give and bequeath to the Franklin Institute of the 
 State of Pennsylvania for the Promotion of the Mechanic 
 
 Arts, the sum of Dollars, to be applied to the 
 
 Endowment Fund of said Institute. 
 
103 
 
 By the several Sections of Article I, of the by-laws of the Insti- 
 tute, it is directed that all real and personal property of the Institute, 
 which may be acquired by voluntary subscription or devise, bequest or 
 donation, unless the donors shall expressly provide to the contrary, 
 shall be taken as acquired upon the condition that the same shall be 
 vested in a Board of Trustees, who shall hold the same in trust for the 
 purposes designated by the donors, and who are required to keep the 
 principal of these subscriptions, bequests, etc., safely invested, and, 
 from tlhie to time, to pay over the net income derived therefrom to the 
 Board of Managers, to be applied by the Board to the specific purposes 
 named by the donors, or to the general uses of the Institute.