UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 4/1.5 



not only for the work of instruction, but also for research and 

 investigation. 



It will be impossible within the scope of this paper to ade- 

 quately describe all the various activities of the university, so 

 I shall confine myself to those departments in which the chief 

 contributions to science have been made. The Department of 

 Arcbpeology and Paleontology, which illustrates the prehistoric 

 antiquities of America, as well as the remains of highly devel- 

 oped Oriental civilizations, has enlisted the services and energies 

 of the ablest scholars. As a result of their labors, the University 

 of Pennsylvania has put the scientific world under lasting obli- 

 gations by placing the slumbering witnesses of nations that have 

 perished at the service of science. The Museum of Archaeology 

 and Paleontology may trace back its humble origin to the spring 

 of 1888, when a few casts and squeezes of Babylonian inscrip- 

 tions, some Etruscan and Roman pottery, a number of Palmyrene 

 tombstones, and other miscellaneous antiquities were gathered 

 together and placed under the care of the Professor of Assyri- 

 ology, Dr. Hermann V. Hilprecht. On October 23, 1880, a little 

 company met at a dinner given by Mr. Francis C. Macauley, at 

 the Philadelphia Club. There were present Dr. William Pepper, 

 then provost of the university ; Dr. Joseph Leidy, President of 

 the Academy of Natural Sciences; Maxwell Sommerville, the col- 

 lector and student of engraved gems ; Dr. Daniel G. Brinton, the 

 Americanist ; Dr. Horace Jayne, dean of the university faculty ; 

 Dr. Charles C. Abbott, the well-known archaeologist ; Henry C. 

 Mercer, Prof. E. D. Cope, and the host, Mr. Macauley, whose en- 

 thusiastic interest in archaeological research had led him to bring 

 together these distinguished men of science for the purpose of 

 stimulating and extending the interest in archasological studies, 

 and to establish a museum of archaeology in the city of Philadel- 

 phia. The project from the first received the cordial support of 

 Provost Pepper, and early in the month following it was an- 

 nounced that the university had established the Museum of 

 Archaeology and Paleontology, for which a staff of ofiicers was 

 appointed and Dr. Charles C. Abbott installed as curator. 



The formation of a museum, however, had only been part of a 

 scheme in which a most important place had been given to the 

 prosecution of original investigation and the arousing of a more 

 general interest in the subject of archaeology. To obtain funds 

 for prosecuting explorations and to enlist the support of people of 

 cultivated taste in the work, a society was formed under the title 

 of the University Archaeological Association. This organization, 

 which now numbers over two hundred members, has largely con- 

 tributed to the results achieved. In 1891, in consequence of the 

 great interest manifested in the museum and the successful ex- 



