36 THE BOTANISTS OF PHILADELPHIA. 



all of them except three being in the basement. Many- 

 cases were stored in the warehouses of several firms in 

 Philadelphia, awaiting a time when they might be opened. 



The exhibits continued in the City Building until Sep- 

 tember, 1895, when they were taken to South Fourth Street, 

 a lease of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company's Buildings, 

 which are admirably adapted to the purposes of the museum, 

 having been made with the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- 

 pany at advantageous terms in August of that year. The 

 buildings now occupied have been leased for five years, 

 and the exhibits will remain in them until the buildings 

 are completed in West Philadelphia. These railroad build- 

 ings are three in number. The principal one is the granite 

 building, fronting on Fourth Street at the corner of Willing's 

 Alley. Adjoining it also on Fourth Street is the Empire 

 Building, three stories in height. Connected with the 

 granite building is the rear of the annex, an enormous 

 structure six stories high. Altogether, the museum occupies 

 128 rooms with a floor space of 200,000 square feet. 



Part of the granite building is devoted to the display of 

 exhibits according to products, without regard to the geogra- 

 phical location of the countries producing them. Here 

 are shown samples from every civilized section of the world, 

 embracing everything of foreign growth used or deemed 

 capable of being used by American manufacturers, or which 

 enter into or are likely to enter into American commerce. 

 The exhibits include thousands of samples of woods, wools, 

 silks, cottons, vegetable fibres, hides, skins, dye-stufis, tanning 

 materials, drugs, herbs, minerals, coff'ees, spices, teas, rubber, 

 etc.* 



* Fhiladelphia Inquirer, Monday, March 2, 1896. 



