1862.] 23 



Philadelphia: Provided, however, that the proceeds of any such 

 sale shall be applied to the purchase of convenient ground and 

 buildings for the accommodation of the Society, so far as may be 

 necessary to the furtherance of the objects for which the Society 

 was instituted. 3. They were permitted to lease or let such portions 

 of their building as may not be required for their immediate use ; 

 such rents to be used by them zoMy for promotincj the objects for 

 which the Society icas incorporated. 



It is clear, then, that the Society could not charge this lot by any 

 recognizance, mortgage, judgment, debt, obligation, or responsibility, 

 nor could they create any lien upon it ; because it could not be sold 

 by any form of execution, and this being the case, no taxes could be 

 a lien upon it, and no form of proceeding to recover the same could 

 create a lien upon this lot, because it could not be sold under any 

 such judgment. It seems stronger in the case of taxes levied under 

 the authority of the very Government that has expressly prohibited 

 any sale of it, except in the cases specially pointed out, and by the 

 character of its public uses as expressly declared. The uses for 

 which it was given are public, and can neither be affected nor de- 

 stroyed by the adverse action and process of a court of law. The 

 court below were therefore right, and their judgment must be 

 affirmed. 



This Society numbers amongst its members many distinguished 

 foreigners of great scientific eminence, and it corresponds with public 

 bodies and private individuals devoted to the pursuit of science in 

 every country in Europe ; one of its latest correspondents being a 

 Hungarian Society, whose Transactions are published in their native 

 language. It has a most valuable library of about 27,000 volumes, 

 of which a complete catalogue is now preparing at a very heavy ex- 

 pense, including a great many manuscript letters and papers of a 

 most valuable and rare character, relating to the early history of this 

 province and country. K large number of the works in the library 

 are of a scarce and rare kind, and are not to be found on this side of 

 the Atlantic, including a complete set of the Transactions of the 

 Royal Society of London, commencing two centuries ago. The first 

 President of this Society was the originator of the first fire company, 

 the first public library, the first hospital, and the first academy, now 

 the University of Pennsylvania, a signer of the Declaration of Inde- 

 pendence, minister to France, one of our ministers plenipotentiary 

 who signed the provisional articles and the definitive treaty of peace 



