snm\ilcn.| ')K)\i I March 15, 



this City, on account of his eminent scientific knowledge 

 and great mechanical skill. He superintended the erection 

 of the Mint building on Seventh street, saw to its equip- 

 ment in machinery, to the perfecting of its organization, 

 and, in 1793, issued the first coinage of the Republic. Little 

 did he dream in that day of small things, that in less than 

 fifty years, the one cumbersome screw press then in use, and 

 capable of executing all the coinage required, at the rate of 

 about ten or fifteen'pieces a minute, would give place to the 

 steam toggle-joint press with a capacity of from eighty to 

 one hundred pieces to the minute, and that in much less than 

 one hundred years, over thirty of those grand coining presses, 

 with largely increased capacity and power, would be kept 

 thundering night and day to execute the coinage demanded 

 by law and by the wants of the people. 



Robert Patterson, the fifth President of this Society, was 

 called to the management of the Mint by President Jeffer- 

 son in 1805. lie had been honorably connected with our 

 Revolutionary struggle, and subsequently was a Professor 

 in the University of Pennsylvania, conspicuous for his learn- 

 ing and thorough administrative ability. 



Robert M. Patterson, elected the eighth President of this 

 Society, was a son of Robert Patterson, to whom I have just 

 referred, and succeeded Dr. Samuel Moore in the Mint. 



He graduated at the University of Pennsylvania, and sub- 

 sequently prosecuted his studies in Europe. On his return 

 to Philadelphia, he was elected Professor in our University, 

 was Vice-Provost, and tilled, successively, the Chairs of 

 Natural Philosophy, Chemistry and Mathematics. In 1828, 

 lie became a Professor in the University of Virginia, from 

 which he was transferred to the Directorship of the Mint in 

 1835 ; in which position he remained, rendering most ac- 



