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unrecorded, they have acquired for the Academy and its students, 

 a world-wide reputation, and, by giving to Philadelphia a definite 

 scientific character and position, have enhanced our national re- 

 spectability abroad. They have shown that our city has its repre- 

 sentatives of mind as well as of wealth, that it is alive to the 

 intellectual as well as the material needs of mankind. 



The beneficial efforts of the Acadern} r have not been confined 

 to the collection of books and specimens and the publication of 

 learned papers. It has, also, as its archives show, aided, both by 

 judicious counsel and pecuniary means, many scientific expedi- 

 tions, whether projected under the patronage of government or 

 conducted by private individuals. In this way it has assisted in 

 developing the topography, meteorology, natural history, and 

 ethnology of many parts of this country, of the islands of the 

 South Sea, of the frozen Polar zone, and the burning African land. 

 By means of a sum of money annually donated by the children 

 of the late Augustus E. Jessup, for many years a member of the 

 Academy, it has supported a number of young men while devoting 

 their time and energies to the acquisition of a practical knowledge 

 of the natural sciences. 



To bring together the appliances necessary for scientific stud}^, 

 to give to the world the important results of its toilsome, pro- 

 tracted, and self-denying labors, to aid in their researches those 

 who have given evidence that they possess the rare ability and 

 the willingness to become the interpreters of nature, to inculcate 

 a taste among the people generally for the natural sciences by 

 exhibiting its rich collections for many years, without charge 

 such has been the work of the Academy, such its noble mission. 



When we reflect that the institution is supported entirely by 

 donations and the annual contributions of its members, very few 

 of whom possess large means ; when we consider that since its 

 formation not more than five hundred citizens of Philadelphia 

 have enrolled themselves in the list of its members ; when we re- 

 call the fact that it possesses no estate yielding revenue, that for 

 many 3 7 ears it struggled under the burden of a heavy mortgage 

 upon its building, and that, until this debt was extinguished in 

 1859, by the generous act of Dr. Wilson, its legitimate income was 

 not more than sufficient to defray its current expenses ; and when 

 we remember that the classing, labelling, and arranging of the 

 specimens have voluntarily been done by a few of the members, 



