682 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 383. 



public in our printed Transactions and 

 Proceedings. 



As is doubtless well known to all here 

 present, our Society is not, and never has 

 been limited to one place of activity, or to 

 the promotion of any particular bi-anch of 

 knowledge in preference to another. Its 

 full corporate title, ' The American Philo- 

 sophical Society held at Pliiladelphia for 

 promoting useful knowledge, ' has remained 

 imchanged since the merger with it of the 

 American Society in 1768, the last four 

 Avords having been added on that occasion. 

 Franklin's original circiilar urging its es- 

 tablishment was dated May 14, 1743 (old 

 style), and was entitled 'A proposal for 

 promoting useful knowledge among the 

 British Plantations in America.' After 

 suggesting the need for such a Society and 

 proposing the name of 'The American Phil- 

 osophical Society,' simply, it proceeded to 

 recommend Philadelphia as the ' center of 

 the Society, ' because it was ' the city near- 

 est to the center of the continent colonies, 

 communicating with all of them northward 

 and southward by post, and with all the 

 islands by sea, and having the advantage 

 of a good growing library.' That circular 

 of 1743 now suggests some curious reflec- 

 tions. Though the adjective continental 

 was apparently not yet coined, the text 

 seems to intimate that of all the British 

 possessions in America at that day, the 

 ' islands, ' that is the British West India 

 Islands, were of equal or greater impor- 

 tance to Englishmen at home and abroad, 

 than what it called ' the continent colonies, ' 

 meaning of course those continental settle- 

 ments which had then received political 

 charters of partial autonomy, but which 

 have since grown out of comparison with 

 any ' islands, ' and by mutual association 

 and union have expanded to a great na- 

 tion, second to none in the ancient or mod- 

 ern world. 



The reasons originally assigned for plac- 



ing the Society's 'center' at Philadelphia, 

 though then eminently and perhaps exclu- 

 sively true of that place, seem extremely 

 quaint to us moderns, who have become 

 accustomed to seeing throughout our vast 

 territory hundreds of libraries of greater 

 dimensions and richer endowments than 

 the ' good growing library ' of 1743, and 

 from whom the center of population has 

 removed itself a thousand miles or more 

 to what was then the heart of an unpopu- 

 lated, unvisited and wholly unknown wil- 

 derness. 



And yet, although the mighty changes 

 of a hundred and sixty years have ren- 

 dered no longer applicable Franklin's rea- 

 sons for locating the seat, or as he called 

 it the ' center ' of the Society, it is never- 

 theless from those changes that we derive 

 our chief est compensation. It is true that 

 we no longer find it necessary to enact as 

 our earliest predecessors recommended, 

 that there ' shall always be at Philadelphia 

 at least seven members, viz., a physician, 

 a botanist, a mathematician, a chemist, a 

 mechanician, a geographer and a general 

 natural philosopher, besides a president, 

 treasurer and secretary.' During its long 

 existence the Society has hitherto been able 

 to enjoy such advantages without the con- 

 straint of law. It has been enabled to pro- 

 vide itself with officers— sometimes from 

 an embarrassment of riches, and if our 

 resident scholars should in any future 

 emergency prove unequal to its necessities, 

 we are happy in the assurance that our 

 numerous non-resident members, dwelling 

 in, and illuminating many parts of the 

 world, might be relied on to come to its 

 relief with an aggregate of wisdom and 

 authority not inferior to the resources of 

 the still more venerable Royal Society it- 

 self. Though our city remains in the same 

 place and continues to appreciate and 

 maintain the libraries, museums and insti- 

 tutions of our predecessors, it is no longer 



