840 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



a work on Diseases of Cliildren. He was Medical Director of the 

 Centennial Exposition in 1876, and for his services he received 

 from tlie King of Sweden the decoration of Knight Commander of 

 the Order of St. Olaf. 



Dr. Pepper showed an unbounded interest in behalf of any 

 movement that would benefit the community in general. He was 

 one of the first to realize the advantage that would accrue to Phila- 

 delphia should she become a museum center. The Philadelphia 

 Commercial Museum was established in October, 1893, with Dr. 

 Pepper as president of the board of trustees. The old offices of 

 the Pennsylvania Eailroad Company were leased, and exhibits were 

 secured from the Latin-American countries, Africa, Australia, 

 Japan, and India, forming the largest permanent collection of raw 

 products in existence. Referring to the great value of the mu- 

 seum. Dr. Pepper spoke as follows in his address of welcome at 

 the first annual meeting of the advisory board: 



" It would seem clear, however, that no method of studying in- 

 dustries and commerce can be scientific and complete which does 

 not include the museum idea as now comprehended. The museum 

 aims to teach by object lesson the story of the world, past and 

 present. The Biological Museum presents the objects of human 

 and comparative anatomy, arranged scientifically and labeled so 

 fully as to constitute the best text-book for the study of those sub- 

 jects. The Museum of Natural History does the same in its field. 

 The Museum of Archaeology shows the progress of the race from 

 the most archaic times, the different tj^ies of human beings, their 

 mode of living, their forms of worship, their games, their weapons, 

 their inplements, the natural products which they used for sub- 

 sistence, in their industries, and in their arts, the objects of manu- 

 facture or of art which they produced, and the manner in which 

 they disposed of their dead. 



" The natural products and manufactured articles, which consti- 

 tute the material of commerce, come necessarily into such a scheme, 

 and the long-looked-for opportunity of establishing a commercial 

 museum upon a truly scientific basis presented itself when, at the 

 close of the Columbian Exposition at Chicago, it was possible, 

 through the enlightened liberality of the municipal authorities of 

 Philadelphia and the invaluable services of Prof. W. P. Wilson, 

 to secure vast collections of commercial material, which was so 

 liberally donated to the Philadelphia museums by nearly all the 

 foreign countries of the globe." 



It was Dr. Pepper's idea to have the University Museum and 

 the Commercial Museum situated near each other, on the plan 

 of the South Kensington Museum. To this end the City Councils, 



