Addresses from Sister Societies 217 



HARVARD UNIVERSITY 

 Harvard University 



TO 



The American Philosophical Society. 

 Greeting: 



Harvard University gladly joins the American Philo- 

 sophical Society in celebrating the Bi-Centennial of its 

 illustrious Founder's birth; for in 1753 the University 

 conferred upon Benjamin Franklin his first academic 

 degree, — the honorary degree of Master of Arts, — 

 in recognition of his remarkable experiments in elec- 

 tricity, by which he had enriched human knowledge 

 and won fame throughout the civilized world. 



The establishment of the American Philosophical So- 

 ciety was an expression of Franklin's belief that the 

 advancement of learning was one of the highest concerns 

 of mankind, and that in comparison with it the settling 

 of colonies and the satisfaction of their material wants 

 was, to use his own language, but " drudgery." How 

 closely did this belief resemble that which led, in the 

 preceding century, to the founding of Harvard College, 

 as now recorded on the College walls: 



