The Society was called to order by the President, Hon. Frederick Fraley, LL.D., who delivered the following address of welcome:

United Brethren (for so I think I can appropriately address you), it gives me great pleasure to welcome this goodly company which has come to us from abroad to the State of Pennsylvania and the city of Philadelphia, and to the ancient edifice in which we are now assembled.

I esteem it the crowning glory of a long life to be permitted to look upon this day. I have been a sojourner on earth for nearly ninety years, and I have looked upon this goodly world for the last seventy-five years with a full appreciation of what it contains and how much good it is possessed of to benefit mankind. Among those benefits I recognize the existence of our scientific institutions, which have gradually grown to be numerous in our territory, to be the correspondents of the older institutions abroad; and to have the opportunities occasionally of mingling in such assemblies as this for the promotion of the common objects they have at heart, for the general promotion of useful knowledge.

I hope that the occasion in which we have come to take part will be blessed, as our previous celebrations have been, with a unity of purpose, with the beginning of friendships that shall endure through life, with stimulus for the creation of new institutions of similar

character, so that, as the years roll on, the circle of science will be completed and extended, and the benefits arising from a diffusion of useful knowledge will become more and more a blessing to the world at large.

It is difficult for me to find words with which I can pour out the fullness of my heart to you, my brethren, who are here around me, and I trust from the greetings which I have witnessed this evening, in the gratulations and friendships which have saluted my ears, that this occasion will be memorable in the history of our scientific life ; and that if we have the advantages which seem to me to be promised to us from this gathering, when we shall separate at the close of the week there will be not only a union of hearts and a union of hands, but a union of common purposes and pursuits. Our country is so large, our population is so great, our resources of all kinds are so abundant, that everything which can stimulate the human intellect to labor, for the increase of knowledge and for the increase of happiness, lies all around us.

While you are here you will, I hope, accept and participate in those social enjoyments that will be tendered to you outside of the mere exercises of our meeting, and that you will visit our ancient University, the Girard College for orphans, the Drexel Institute, the United States Mint at Philadelphia, and, among others, those two hives of industry which bear testimony to the great improvements in the extension and perfection of steam machinery, in its application to naval purposes and to land transportation, the workshops of the Cramps and the "Baldwin's."

These opportunities are freely tendered to you, and our Committee of Arrangements will divide themselves into squads and take charge of you, so far as your individual preferences may choose, for visiting these different institutions.

Again renewing the cordial welcome that I have given you, I bid you now, gentlemen, Godspeed in the enterprises in which you may engage for the coming three days of this week, so that when the time comes for drawing upon us the curtain of separation, we will disperse with the conviction that we have added to our knowledge and to our friendships, and that we have done something for the benefit of our country and for the world at large.

It will be a great gratification to me personally, and I know that it will gratify our friends who are here assembled, if some of our

guests will say a few words of congratulation to us, I may ask, and also give the views that they may take of such a celebration as we propose to hold.

Mayor Stuart, having been introduced by President Fraley, addressed the Society, as follows:

Mr. President, Guests and Members of the American Philosophical Society-I had no idea when I came into the room to-night that I was to say anything in the way of welcoming the guests of this Society to Philadelphia. My good friend, Mr. Fraley, whom every Philadelphian loves and respects, has said far more to you in the few moments he has spoken than I could say if I were to speak for half an hour; but I have been requested, on behalf of the Committee, to say a few words of welcome to the distinguished guests who have honored our city to-day and this week by their presence, and in the name of the people of Philadelphia, who cherish the highest regard and respect for this ancient and useful Society, I extend to you a most heartfelt welcome, hoping that your visit among us will be as pleasant and agreeable to you all as I know your presence will be to us.

President Fraley next introduced Hon. Louis Vossion, Consul of France at Philadelphia, who presented the greetings of the University of Paris to the Society, as follows:

A LA SOCIÉTÉ DE PHILSOPHIE DE PHILADELPHIE-L'UNIVERSITÉ DE PARIS.

Messieurs-L'Université de Paris est heureuse de saluer votre Société qui cultive, avec tant de succès, les Sciences philosophiques dans un pays que l'Europe considère trop souvent comme exclusivement occupé d'affaires industrielles et commerciales.

Il appartenait à l'État qui a compté parmi ses citoyens un philosophe pratique tel que Franklin de tenir haut et ferme le drapeau de la philosophie dans les États-Unis d'Amérique.

La France n'oublie pas que la Pensylvanie lui a envoyé ce grand patriote qui a noué entre votre jeune nation et la vieille France des relations d'affection et que c'est aux environs de Philadelphie que PROC. AMER. PHILOS. SOC. XXXII. 143. B. PRINTED NOV. 21, 1893.