ATHENAEUM, LIBRARY, AND MUSEUM. 19 



Astronomical Clock. 



This truly wonderful clock, now the property of 

 Edward E. Folger, Esq., was made by the celebrated 

 Walter Folger (page 107). It is a very curious piece 

 of mechanical ingenuity. It records the day of the 

 year, the rising of the sun and moon, the moon's 

 nodes, and the place of the sun on the ecliptic. The 

 wheel that keeps the year's date moves one notch 

 every ten years, and at the end of a century it has 

 made one complete revolution. 



"William C. Folger, Esq., says: " It was planned by 

 Hon. Walter Folger in 1788 at the age of twenty -three, 

 and finished in 1790 at the age of twenty-five. It was 

 set going July 4, 1790. He made not only the clock, 

 but the case also, I am told." 



Athenaeum, Library, and Museum. 



To the accomplished and genial gentlewoman, who 

 has for many years been the librarian of tire Nan- 

 tucket Athenaeum, the compiler is indebted for the 

 following facts in relation to the Athenaeum, its mu- 

 seum and library. The origin of this institution, as 

 we learn from Macy's " History of Nantucket," was 

 as follows : — 



" This institution was incorporated in 1834. It took 

 its origin from two societies: one, the Mechanics' 

 Association, formed in 1820; the other, the Columbian 

 Library Association, formed in 1823. These were 

 united in 1827 under the name of the United Library 

 Association. In 1833 two of the members, Charles 



