1862.] 17 



correspond with learned societies as well as individual learned men 

 of any nation or country, upon matters merely belonging to the busi- 

 ness of the Society, such as the mutual communication of their dis- 

 coveries and proceedings in philosophy and science, the procuring 

 books, apparatus, natural curiosities, and such other articles and in- 

 telligence as are usually exchanged between learned bodies for further- 

 ing their common pursuits." This learned Society has always pre- 

 served its high character both at home and abroad, and numbers 

 among its members the most distinguished men of the day. Of the 

 past it enumerates among its Presidents, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas 

 Jefferson, Rittenhouse, Wistar, Patterson, Tilghman, Duponceau. 



On' the 15th April, 1782, the General Assembly transferred the 

 property and moneys of the Silk Society to the Philosophical Society, 

 who were to be accountable, and redeliver the same whenever a ma- 

 jority of the subscribers to the Silk Society shall request it, in order 

 to revive their institution. The Philosophical Society having repre- 

 sented to the Legislature the necessity of their having a Public Hall, 

 Library, and other accommodation, and prayed that they would grant 

 to them a lot of ground suitable and convenient for erecting a hall 

 and other buildings, an Act was passed on the 28th March, 1785, 

 granting to them a lot on Fifth Street, being a part of the State-house 

 square, for that purpose. The third section is in these words : " Pro- 

 vided always, and it is the intention and meaning of this Act, that 

 the said lot of ground shall not he sold, leased or trans/erred, by the 

 said Philosophical Society or their successors, to any other person or 

 persons, or bodies corporate ; nor shall the same be applied by the said 

 Society to any other use or purpose but that of erecting buildings for 

 the accommodation of the said Society, as hereinbefore specified." 

 Upon a further representation from the Society, that the restriction 

 in the preceding Act as to the letting parts of the building was dis- 

 advantageous and unreasonable, the House thought it was founded 

 in reason, and on the 17th IMarch, 1786, passed an Act authorizing 

 the Society to let or lease such vaults or cellars as they may think 

 proper to make under the building by them to be erected on the lot 

 aforesaid, and to let any other parts of said building for such purposes 

 as may have affinity with the design of their institution, and for no 

 other; the issues and profits to be applied to the purposes for which 

 the Society was originally instituted, and to no other. 



By the Act of the 8th April, 1785, the Commissioners of the 

 County of Philadelphia, and the Wardens of the City of Philadelphia, 

 having respectively paid to the Treasurer of the State the sum of 



VOL. IX. — c 



