764 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [Dec., 
Mr. Sergeant held the Librarianship until December, 1867, 
when the Assistant, who had in the meantime taken a degree from 
the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, under 
the preceptorship of the beloved Leidy, was appointed to the 
office which he has held continuously ever since. If the situation 
be unchanged, therefore, in February of next year, he will have 
had the supervision of the Academy’s Library, in conjunction with 
the Library Committee, as Assistant and Librarian for forty years. 
He begs to be allowed, on this occasion, to put on record his obliga¬ 
tion to his first and only chief, J. Dickinson Sergeant, for the 
kindly forbearance, helpful council and unfailing courtesy and 
encouragement which filled the life of the boy with interest and 
gladness and turned the daily task which, under an unsympathetic 
master, might well have been irksome enough, into a labor of 
love. Dr. Leidy, also, was invariably helpful and encouraging, 
and the Librarian is unceasingly thankful thal early in his life it 
was given to him to know, and in a measure to appreciate, the high 
ideals embodied in those two men. 
A like acknowledgment of obligation is, in a measure, due to 
nearly every one with whom he has been brought into asso¬ 
ciation during his forty years of service in the Academy. Only 
the most cordial associations are called up by the names of Lea, 
Wilson, Bridges, Hays, LeConte, Slack, Cassin, Tryon, Vaux, 
Jeanes, Allen, Horn, Redfield and Meehan, not to mention the 
dear friends who are still met with every day, to all of whom he 
is indebted for kindliness, courtesy, and forbearance. His paths 
have been made by them paths of pleasantness. 
The Librarian hopes that he may be forgiven these personalities. 
It can be safely asserted that he will not have an opportunity, 
after an additional equal term of service, to record his obligation 
to his associates living and dead. 
The statistics presented above show that the Academy possesses, 
including all the books in the building, except duplicates set apart 
for sale, a library of over 50,000 volumes. Their arrangement 
is practically what the present Librarian inherited from his prede¬ 
cessors in 1862. It is far from meeting the requirements of 
modern library classification, but in practice it has been found to 
be not far short of what is wanted by the worker. Books as they 
