44 A NOTICE OF THE 



We may justly expect the congratulations of the public on our 

 academic possessions, the Museum and Library ; and it will detract 

 nothing from their value to permit the credit of these acquisitions 

 to inure to our academic fathers. The Chinese teach that the 

 praiseworthy achievements of children make up the glory, not 

 of themselves, but of their ancestors. 



The facts acquired in science, the improvements achieved in 

 the arts by Americans, as well as their military and naval suc- 

 cess since the days of the Revolution, combine to add lustre to 

 the name of the Father of his country; and to rear an ever- 

 growing monument to his memory, more striking and more dura- 

 ble than the loftiest structure of marble within the power of man 

 to raise. The dignity and power of a nation are commensurate 

 with the intelligence of the people ; and its reputation and re- 

 spectability abroad, will be in proportion to its extent. The in- 

 crease and diffusion of knowledge, especially in a republic, are 

 worthy of the loftiest ambition of the patriot; he who contributes 

 to these ends, assists to spread and perpetuate human liberty 

 throughout the world. 



The Academy of Natural Sciences, owes its origin to the 

 joint labors of a few individuals, somewhat influenced by circum- 

 stances. In the year 1810, the population of Philadelphia was 

 96,664 (the county included), and though it was the principal 

 city of the Union, it contained few places of public amuse- 

 ment. The Chestnut Street Theatre was closed throughout the 

 summer, and in the winter season was open only three evenings 

 in the week ; but it was not always fully encouraged. It had a 

 rival in Ricket's Circus, which was nearly opposite. The Phila- 

 delphia Museum, founded by C. "W. Peale, in 1784, and removed 

 into the State House in 1802, was a place of daily resort. A 

 few public gardens, some taverns, and two or three oyster-cellars, 

 constituted the common attractions of the idle young men of the 

 time. 



At that period, the population of the United States included 

 very few persons devoted to the investigation of natural objects; 

 it may be said, there was not an American naturalist of distinc- 

 tion in the Union. But in Pennsylvania, there were several 

 gentlemen who had acquired reputation in the cultivation of 

 botany, among whom the Bartrams, the Muhlenbergs, and Bartons 

 were conspicuous. Alexander Wilson had commenced the publi- 



