The Academy of Natural Sciences 11 



relinquished the office because of removal from the city and was 

 succeeded by Dr. Samuel George Morton who served until 1829. 



The necessity for increased room becoming yearly more press- 

 ing, a lot at the northwest corner of Broad and Sansom Streets was 

 bought on the twenty-second of April, 1839, for $13,333. On 

 Saturday the twentieth of May, the corner-stone of a new building 

 was laid with the usual ceremonies by Vice- Presidents William 

 Hembel and John Price Wetherill. An eloquent address was made 

 on the occasion by Walter R. Johnson 4 who had been one of the most 

 active members of the society since his election in 1827. He had 

 been a Curator in 1836 and 1837 and subsequently served as Corres- 

 ponding Secretary from 1841 to 1848. The building was forty-five 

 feet front on Broad Street by eighty-five feet deep on Sansom with 

 an elevation of fifty-five feet. It at first consisted of a single saloon 

 with two ranges of galleries, beneath which, in the basement, was a 

 lecture room to accommodate five hundred people. The value of the 

 premises at the corner of Twelfth and Sansom Streets had appre- 

 ciated and the property was sold to William E. Hanson for $10,950. 

 The means for the erection of the new hall were, however, chiefly 

 derived from William Maclure who subscribed toward the object 

 $20,000. The building fund was largely augmented by liberal sub- 

 scriptions from members and others interested in science. 



The transfer of the collections and library was made at a cost of 

 $34, several of the members giving their time and strength to the 

 service so as to lower the expense and save time. One of the most 

 active in this work and in the accumulation of the building fund was 

 William S. Vaux who had been elected a member in 1834. During 

 the rest of his life he gave devoted attention to the economic 

 interests of the Academy, serving continuously as Curator from 1838, 

 and as Vice-President from 1860, with a brief interval, until his 

 death in 1882. He also rendered indispensable service as a member 

 of the Publication Committee from 1840 and as treasurer of the 

 Board of Trustees of the Building Fund from its organization in 

 January, 1867. 



The books and specimens were placed in the saloon on the 

 second floor and here the first meeting was held on the 18th of 

 February, 1840. 



* Nat. Encycl. of Am. Biogr^, xii, 260. Barnard's Am. Journ. Educa- 

 tion, Dec., 1858. 



