677 



[Lesley. 



lier years. All these curious features of our minute books have been sedu- 

 lously retained in making the copy. 



All annotations are placed in brackets. 



Side notes, corrections and blanks are noted. 



Thirty or forty blank pages have been left, in different parts of the mass 

 of copy, to be filled by a literal copy of the original MS. in such cases as 

 the letters of Jefferson, or long resolutions, every word of which should be 

 retained. This filling-ia can be done by a careful copyist at any time 

 previous to the publication of the copy, or while it is going through the 

 press. 



For nearly fifty years the records of the earlier years of our Society have 

 stood exposed to destruction, especially by fire ; and it is surprising that a 

 copy of them has never been made before now. The present copy is pre- 

 served by the President in the fire-proof vault of the "Western Saving Fund 

 Society, Walnut and Tenth streets, to be forthcoming at the order of the 

 Society. 



Its publication would not only secure it against destruction, but would 

 no doubt give lively satisfaction to the members of the Society, who would 

 then for the first time be able to gratify a natural and affectionate curiosity 

 respecting the origin, growth, struggles and labors of the venerable institu- 

 tion to which they belong. Most of the names of noted Philadelphians ap- 

 pear in these minutes, and many famous men of other States, and of foreign 

 countries. 



Not the least important feature of the record is its representation of the 

 first appearance of potent ideas ; the first efforts for the improvement of 

 the mechanic arts ; the first steps taken in scientific paths ; early explora- 

 tions of the New World ; with a pronounced eagerness to import the facul- 

 ties of the Old World into it. It is not so much a record of the growth of 

 an American Society, as a record of the growth of society in America, and 

 in this sense alone it possesses an extraordinary historical value. 



If printed, it will make a volume of about 400 pages, and can be cursorily 

 read through at two or three sittings. The reader will probably feel 

 what the biologist feels while spending some hours in watching, through 

 his microscope, the metamorphoses of one of the protozoa. 



The printing will be cheap, as it is all plain copy, and will require little 

 or no correction. 



It should be printed as one of our set of Proceedings ; and entitled "The 

 Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. I, Part I, from 

 1744 to 1838," or simply Vol. I, 1744 to 1848. It will then be placed by cor- 

 responding societies and libraries in its proper place at the beginning of 

 the row of our Proceedings, the present Vol. I, will be recognized (even 

 without reprinting its title page) as Vol. I, Part II. But it would be well 

 for the Society to print an extra title page, to go out with it, and be pasted 

 by our correspondents over the old title page of Vol. I, designating that as 

 Parts. 



The principal use of this volume, loell indexed, will be for referring to the 



