8 



tensively on both sides of the Athmtic; both devoted all their time and 

 large pecuniary fortunes to the welfare of the human family; both 

 made the advancement of science the chief subject of their conversa- 

 tion, and the constant employment of their thoughts; and both lived 

 unmarried lives. 



Chiefly under the auspices of ^laclure the Academy in 1817 com- 

 menced a publication of its new discoveries, called the Journal. It 

 was in octavo form and its continuation in later years has been called 

 the Proceedings. A considerable portion of the firsfvolume was printed 

 in an apartment in his own house, and with types and a printing press 

 furnished by himself. Chiefly through the influence of Dr. Wilson 

 the Academy commenced, in 1847. in addition to the Proceedings, 

 another publication also called the Journal, but in folio size, and in 

 handsome form. This has been regularly sustained. 



Maclure, at difibrent periods before his death in 1839, presented to 

 the Library of the Academy 5,232 volumes. About a thou.sand of 

 these were folios and quartos, many being very rare and costly. •• The 

 value of these acquisitions was greatly enhanced by the fact that they 

 were possessed by no other institution on this side of the Atlantic." 

 At that date the entire number of volumes in the library was less than 

 7,000. The whole number of donations to the library by Dr. Wilson, 

 as recorded on the library books, is more than 12,000. But as some 

 of these are pamphlets, or rather separate series, deliveries of the same 

 volume, the number of entire volumes when bound may be about 

 11,000. The donations to the same library by his brother Edward 

 Wilson have been 3,662. The number of volumes in the Library is 

 about 25,000, showing that it is chiefly the gift of Maclure and the 

 brothers Wilson. But the number of volumes gives only a faint idea 

 of the value of the gift; generally the volumes are rare, richly orna- 

 mented with plates and very costly. 



Maclure in 1837 and 18o8 gave $20,000 for the erection of the pre- 

 sent building of the Academy, which was completed early in 1840. 

 He had previously contributed at a single donation $5,(IU0 for liqui- 

 dating a debt on the old building first occupied by the Academy in 

 1820, on the south-east corner of Sansom and Twelfth streets. One 

 of the motives which led him to the erection of a new building was 

 that the very valuable collection of books presented by him, might be 

 preserved in a fire-proof edifice. Actuated by a similar motive, the 

 necessity of space to hold his own vast donations to the Museum and 

 Library, Dr. Wilson enlarged the building to more than double its for- 



