PROCEEDINGS OF THE CENTENARY MEETING. xxvii 



is known throughout the world. I was amused, a few years ago, to see in Switzer- 

 land the title of a certain hotel, U Hotel de I 'Universe et de Geneve. The title of 

 this Academy might, from this time forth, be, "The Academy of Natural Sciences 

 of the World and of Philadelphia." 



Some of you who have not been here very frequently have been amazed, I 

 am sure, as I have been, at the transformation that has taken place. Those of 

 you who met in the old library in the days not very far in the past will fail to 

 identify that hall with this bower of blossoms. In truth the Academy has had 

 a new birth within a few years past; or, speaking biologically, I might say that 

 it has undergone a complete metamorphosis. It has passed from the tadpole 

 stage into that of an imago. This metamorphosis has come about through the 

 good management, wise foresight, skilful care, of one man, he who sits on my 

 right, the Commissioner of Health of Pennsylvania, the President of the Academy, 

 Dr. Samuel Gibson Dixon. That for which so many in the Academy have 

 longed and labored has at last come. It came in the form of a good, substan- 

 tial fireproof building. It is said of one of the Emperors of Rome that he found 

 that city brick and left it marble. It can be said that Dr. Dixon found the 

 Academy serpentine and left it reinforced concrete. 



It is not my function, however, to make an address. My duty is a 

 very minor one: I have merely to call on those who shall instruct and entertain 

 you. I do not say that I am to "introduce" those who are to give this pleasure 

 for I should not care to introduce those who are better known than myself. 

 You may have heard the story of how President Stanley Hall, of Clark University, 

 arrived on the evening train at a town, just before the hour at which he was to 

 give a lecture, and was met at the station by one of the committee. He was 

 taken in a carriage to the lecture hall, and at once went on the platform. The 

 man who had brought him from the carriage walked to the front and said, 

 "Ladies and Gentlemen: I have the great pleasure and honor of introducing to 

 you to-night a man whose name is a household word, one who is known from the 

 Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Canadian border to the Gulf of Mexico a 

 man whose name, as I have said, is a household word. I cannot think of the 

 name at this moment, but he is the President of that very well-known university, 

 a university that has been heard of all over the world, not merely in this country, 

 but in Europe, an institution that everybody knows. It is so well known that 

 I need not mention the name. The name of that university is . Well, in 

 truth, ladies and gentlemen, I do not know the name of the university; but, as a 

 matter of fact, on the way from the station up here, I found that this gentleman 

 was a very delightful fellow, and I introduce him." 



Now it is that way frequently, I think, with introductions, so that I shall 

 merely call on those who are to speak. 



During the latter part of last week, I received a telegram from the President 

 of the Academy. It was reported to me over the telephone from the telegraph 

 office, and the message came to me that the President had appointed me Post- 



