10 



tinued in existence, so many people derived both 

 amusement and instruction in natural history. I recol- 

 lect when the cages which contained the animals that 

 composed the modest menagerie which he possessed 

 were located along the wall on Fifth street ; and 

 in my boyhood I used to go to look at what were then 

 the wonders of natural history to me ; and then, 

 straying with my parents or friends into the old 

 Museum which was then in Independence Hall, trying 

 to gather amusement and instruction from the good 

 collection that he had established there. 



The Transactions and Proceedings of the Society 

 contain the eulogies and other biographical notices of 

 the members that have passed away, and I must refer 

 my associates and friends to those Proceedings in 

 order that they may read in those eulogies and biogra- 

 phies the character and works of the men who were 

 members of this Society, and who ornamented and 

 instructed the world by their labors in the various 

 departments of useful knowledge, of applied science, 

 of intellectual research in all, indeed, that contributes 

 to make the perfect man and to illustrate through him 

 the great works of the Creator, and which enable men 

 to penetrate into those secrets that are buried in the 

 earth, exist in the air and in the waters, and which are 

 so full, not only of instruction but admonition, too, to 

 the thoughtful heart, to realize what is in the world 

 and what the .world seems to have been made for. 



My intimate acquaintance and personal friendship 

 with the prominent members of this Society resident 

 in Pennsylvania began about the year 1825, when the 

 Franklin Institute of Philadelphia was founded a 

 great institution intended for the promotion of the 



