1881.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 483 



teaching all branches of natural history, both b}' lectures, appro- 

 priatel3' illustrated by diagrams and by specimens from the museum 

 as well as by personal, individuallaboratory work under the super- 

 vision of the professors. 



Whatever the result of the experiment in teaching may be, the 

 appliances necessary to study possessed by the Academy, will be 

 always accessible to those who may be gratified to have an 

 opportunity to teach themselves — to be self-taught. 



Although defective and deficient in some respects, there is no 

 conclusive reason to suppose that the Academy is not now 

 realizing the hope of its founders, as well and as surely as in any 

 previous year of its history. That defects will be corrected and 

 deficiencies supplied in the course of time may be confidently 

 conjectured, because the needs of students of natural science, 

 which is daily becoming moi-e fully appreciated than ever before 

 in the world, are better understood. A great library and extensive 

 collections of natural objects, appropriately classified and labeled, 

 are necessary to enable the student to become a master of natural 

 history, and qualify him to be a successful investigator. The cost 

 of such necessary appliances and facilities of study is so great 

 that no one student is able to purchase them for himself alone. 

 He can enjoy their use, therefore, only in common with others, in 

 a society like the Academy, which has acquired them through the 

 generosity of many individuals in the course of years. Every 

 specimen, every book,ever3- dollar given here is a contribution to 

 the repertory of means to facilitate the labors of present and 

 future students of natural science. And every contributor is 

 regarded as a benefactor to them directly, and indirectly as a 

 patron of scientific progress, in greater or less degree. 



Since the Academy was in its embryo state, seventy years ago, 

 public opinion of the character and influence of its pursuits has 

 greatl}^ changed. Then they interested comparatively few, and 

 those few were supposed to be almost, if not entirely, free from the 

 influence of belief in religious principles of any kind. Many pious 

 but prejudiced persons imagined that a naturalist is necessarily 

 an infldel. Those very good, ignorant people then, like multitudes 

 of the same class of the present day, limited their study of animal 

 creation almost exclusively to man and his actions, depicted in 

 endless variety by prose-writers and poets. Assurance that there 

 is equal pleasure and greater mental satisfaction in the study of 



