8 
good and the solid reputation of our city. Wo one can reason¬ 
ably doubt now the sincerity of our design, or the fixedness of 
our purpose to establish in Philadelphia a home of the natural 
sciences, reputable to the city and worthy of the history of 
the Academy, in spite of the rivalry of similar institutions 
which are springing up and growing with marvellous rapidity 
in several parts of our vast country. Boston, Portland, 
New Haven, Albany, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, 
New York, have each at least one institution devoted to the 
cultivation of natural science. Though many of them are 
younger than ours, they are approaching and in some particu¬ 
lars surpassing it The nation is to be congratulated that work¬ 
shops and workmen in this vast field of research are increasing 
in numbers and excellence. 
It is surely not to be set down to our discredit that, seeing 
such progress around us, we are reluctant to be seen by the 
world now, or in 1876, lagging in the rear. This reluctance 
is our apology, should our fellow-citizens find us importunate 
in soliciting them to aid our enterprise. Our conviction 
that it looks to no selfish end, but is seeking an advantage 
common to all the inhabitants of our city and commonwealth, 
enables us to be persistent solicitors, asking help for science 
and for young scientists who are not able to help themselves 
to a scientific abode. Neither drums nor trumpets can be 
used to encourage our steps or stir the spirit of the public 
in our behalf. We can merely invite attention to the solid 
benefits to society generally, which have resulted exclusively 
from the labors of scientists, such as Galvani, Volta, Galileo, 
Newton, Humboldt, Liebig, Humphry Davy, Benjamin Thomp¬ 
son (alias Count Bumford), Faraday, Linnaeus, Cuvier, De- 
Candolle, Agassiz, and others of the class, whose works had 
their origin in great museums and laboratories, without which 
many of their labors could not have been pursued. In their 
influence on the progress of civilization and human thought, 
their work might be contrasted advantageously to our cause 
with that of the great artists, painters, and sculptors, work 
which we all admire and praise, and carefully foster. Yet the 
