1890.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 475 



ecution, will supply that need from which the institution at 

 present most suffers. The contemplated new building (of which per- 

 spective view, ground-plan and section are appended to this re- 

 port), will, when completed, cover a surface area of approximately 

 23,000 square feet. The main structure will be of rectangular 

 form, with a frontage on Nineteenth Street of 150 feet, and on 

 Cherry Street of 130 feet. Four tiers of galleries, each 32 feet in 

 width, will surround an open central hall, to which unbroken illu- 

 mination will be afforded by an arched glass roof, springing at a 

 height of 80 feet above the floor. A two-story building, measuring 

 . 57 by 49 feet, and containing a lecture amphitheatre designed to 

 accommodate 000 persons, will connect the new structure with the 

 edifice now occupied by the Academy. Active work on this " con- 

 necting museum" is now in progress, and it is expected that the 

 ■ structure will be ready for occupancy in the beginning of spring. 

 AV^ith the prospect of early carrying to completion the main build- 

 ing it has been deemed advisable, even in the absence of the 

 funds needed to fully erect the structure, to begin work on it at 

 once, and the foundation course has now been laid. 



The plans, in accordance with which the new Academy building 

 is to be constructed, were reported from the Board of Trustees of 

 the Building Fund and the special Committee on Plans (appointed 

 November 5th) at a meeting of the Academy held on November 

 26th, 1889, and were definitely approved by the Academy at the 

 following meeting, December 3d. They are drawn by Mr. John 

 H. Windrim, architect, and contemplate an expenditure in construc- 

 tion of S239,000. The needs of the Academy make it highly im- 

 portant that this amount be secured, and it is sincerely hoped that 

 the desired funds may be provided at as early a day as possible. 

 Delay in the completion of the building must prove seriously hurt- 

 ful to the institution and to the interests to which it ministers. 



The new. edifice will constitute one of the architectural features 

 of Philadelphia ; and it is not too much to say that it will sur- 

 pass any other museum building in the country. In evidence of 

 this, attention is called to the engraving (elevation on Nineteenth 

 Street), in which the comparative dimensions of the present and 

 proposed structures are clearly shown. 



The routine work in the museum during the past year has been 

 much as in previous years. As heretofore, the Academy has pro- 

 fited largely through the w'ork of volunteer specialists, and is thus 



