764 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [DcC, 



Mr. Sergeant held the Librarianship until December, 1867, 

 when the Assistant, who had in the meantime taken a degree from 

 the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, under 

 the preceptorship of the" beloved Leidy, was appointed to the 

 ofBce which he has held continuously ever since. If the situation 

 be unchanged, therefore, in February of next year, he will have 

 had the supervision of the Academy's Library, in conjunction with 

 the Library Committee, as Assistant and Librarian for forty years. 

 He begs to be allowed,' on this occasion, to put on record his obliga- 

 tion to his first and only chief, J. Dickinson Sergeant, for the 

 kindly forbearance, helpful council and unfailing courtesy and 

 encouragement which filled the life of the boy with interest and 

 gladness and turned the daily task which, under an unsympathetic 

 master, might well have been irksome enough, into a labor of 

 love. Dr. Leidy, also, was invariably helpful and encouragiug, 

 and the Librarian is unceasingly thankful thai early in his life it 

 was given to him to know, and in a measure to appreciate, the high 

 ideals embodied in those two men. 



A like acknowledgment of obligation is, in a measure, due to 

 nearly every one with whom he has been brought into asso- 

 ciation during his forty years of service in the Academy. Only 

 the most cordial associations are called up by the names of Lea, 

 Wilson, Bridges, Hays, LeConte, Slack, Cassin, Tryon, Vaux, 

 Jeanes, Allen, Horn, Redfield and Meehan, not to mention the 

 dear friends who are still met with every day, to all of whom he 

 is indebted for kindliness, courtesy, and forbearance. His paths 

 have been made by them paths of pleasantness. 



The Librarian hopes that he may be forgiven these personalities. 

 It can be safely asserted that he will not have an opportunity, 

 after an additional equal term of service, to record his obligation 

 to his associates living and dead. 



The statistics presented above show that the Academy possesses, 

 including all the books in the building, except duplicates set apart 

 for sale, a library of over 50,000 volumes. Their arrangement 

 is practically what the present Librarian inherited from his prede- 

 cessors in 1862. It is far from meeting the requirements of 

 modern library classification, but in practice it has been found to 

 be not far short of what is wanted by the worker. Books as they 



