1890.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 475 
ecution, will supply that need from which the institution at 
present most suffers. The contemplated new building (of which per¬ 
spective view, ground-plan and section are appended to this re¬ 
port), will, when completed, cover a surface area of approximately 
23,000 square feet. The main structure will be of rectangular 
form, with a frontage on Nineteenth Street of 150 feet, and on 
Cherry Street of 130 feet. Four tiers of galleries, each 32 feet in 
width, will surround an open central hall, to w r hich unbroken illu¬ 
mination will be afforded by an arched glass roof, springing at a 
height of 80 feet above the floor. A two-story building, measuring 
57 by 49 feet, and containing a lecture amphitheatre designed to 
accommodate GOO persons, will connect the new. structure with the 
edifice now occupied by the Academy. Active work on this “con¬ 
necting museum” is now in progress, and it is expected that the 
structure will be ready for occupancy in the beginning of spring. 
With the prospect of early carrying to completion the main build¬ 
ing it has been deemed advisable, even in the absence of the 
funds needed to fully erect the structure, to begin work on it at 
once, and the foundation course has now been laid. 
The plans, in accordance with which the new Academy building 
is to be constructed, were reported from the Board of Trustees of 
the Building Fund and the special Committee on Plans (appointed 
November 5th) at a meeting of the Academy held on November 
26th, 1889, and were definitely approved by the Academy at the 
following meeting, December 3d. They are drawn by Mr. John 
H. Windrim, architect, and contemplate an expenditure in construc¬ 
tion of $239,000. The needs of the Academy make it highly im¬ 
portant that this amount be secured, and it is sincerely hoped that 
the desired funds may be provided at as early a day as possible. 
Delay in the completion of the building must prove seriously hurt¬ 
ful to the institution and to the interests to which it ministers. 
The new edifice will constitute one of the architectural features 
of Philadelphia; and it is not too much to say that it will sur¬ 
pass any other museum building in the country. In evidence of 
this, attention is called to the engraving (elevation on Nineteenth 
Street), in which the comparative dimensions of the present and 
proposed structures are clearly shown. 
The routine work in the museum during the past year has been 
much as in previous years. As heretofore, the Academy has pro¬ 
fited largely through the work of volunteer specialists, and is thus 
