57S PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [DeC, 



a commanding hallway which leads directly to the main Museum 

 building, through the space formerly occupied by the old Lecture 

 Hall. 



The stairways in the main Museum building have been removed 

 to the Nineteenth street entrance, from which a new vestibule has 

 been constructed, shut off from the galleries of each floor by fire-walls 

 and automatic fire-doors. 



On the lot situated at Nineteenth and Cherry streets, 50 x 130 feet 

 in size, has been erected a handsome fireproof building, now occupied 

 by the Hall of the Academy, the Library stack and Reading Room. 



The third floor, with the top floor of the main Museum building, 

 have been divided into a number of study rooms and laboratories. 

 All are reached by an electric elevator. 



In the old Museum all the iron columns have been fireproofed and 

 fire escapes provided to comply with the legal requirememts. 



New vaults for the storage of the alcoholic collections have been 

 constructed and the collections transferred to them. 



The increased room and accommodations now provided have long 

 been needed for the protection and accommodation of the invaluable 

 Library and Museum of the Academy and the collections of the Com- 

 monwealth of Pennsylvania and the American Philosophical Society, 

 deposited in its keeping. 



At this year's session of the State Legislature an additional appro- 

 priation of $60,000 was made to the Academy, with which it is proposed 

 to encase the walls of the original greenstone building, which are 

 becoming badly weathered, with brick and terra cotta, and to add 

 such terra cotta facings to the middle wing as will make the entire 

 building uniform in appearance. 



The Museum, which had been closed to the public during the altera- 

 tions, was reopened early in the year, and much of the time of the 

 Museum staff has been devoted to the cleansing and rearrangement 

 of the specimens. 



A radical rearrangement has been effected on the mammal floor 

 and many of the osteological specimens temporarily removed from 

 exhibition. 



All the water birds were removed while the cases were being cleansed 

 and repainted and were then rearranged. 



The immense series of jars containing the alcoholic collections have 

 been thoroughly cleansed before being arranged in the new vaults. 



Notwithstanding this unusual amount of routine work, considerable 

 local field work was done by members of the Museum staff and several 



