Library Academy of Natural Sciences

CATALOGUE OF THE LIBRARY ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES PHILADELPHIA. PHILADELPHIA: J. DOBSON, CHESNUT STREET. 1S37. REPORT Of the Committee of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phi ladelphia, appointed to prepare a Catalogue of the Library of the Institution. The Committee to whom was referred the duty of pre paring a Catalogue of the Academy's Library, respectfully REPORT: That after several months' attention to the object of their appointment, they have now the pleasure to announce its completion. A glance at the following pages will show that the Library of the Academy is not confined to Natural His tory, but that it embraces works in almost every department of useful knowledge—Literature, Science and Art. These have been arranged according to subjects, in a manner that will prove eminently useful for the purpose of reference, with out the necessity of numbering the volumes—a labour which your Committee think may be omitted, at least for the pre sent, without disadvantage. As a general rule, it has not been considered necessary to give the specific titles of pam phlets, excepting of such only as relate to natural and phy sical science, including Anatomy and Physiology: the others have been merely collated into volumes, with reference to the subjects of which they treat. A striking exception, how ever, will be noticed in the section of Historical Documents, iv REPORT. which seemed to require, both on account of their extent and value, some further specification. This has been done by abridged titles, and a careful regard to subjects and dates. Works which have been deposited in the Library are embraced in the Catalogue, because a large proportion of them will be presented to the Academy, whenever some fur ther restrictions can be made with respect to the loan of Looks, of which more will be said in another part of this report. Deposits are designated by the following mark—t. In accordance with the recently revised By-laws, all works marked with an Asterisk may be borrowed from the Library under certain established regulations: works not so marked, cannot be loaned out under any consideration.* Works which have been presented to the Society, are acknowledged by afiixing the name of the donor to the title in the Catalogue. The number of volumes embraced in the following Cata- * CHAPTER VII.—LIBRARY. ART. I. All works in the Library must be classed according to their subjects. ART. II. The Librarian shall keep a correct catalogue of all books belonging to the Society, which shall always be open to the inspection of members. ART. 111. There shall be two sets of keys to the cases containing the books, one of which shall be kept by the Librarian, and the other by the Chairman of the Library Committee. ART. IV. Members may borrow books, from the Librarian, on signing a pro missory note for fifty dollars, which shall become void on the book being returned. ART. V. But no works shall be loaned from the Hall, on any account whatever, except those marked with an asterisk (thus *) in the Catalogue. ART. VI. And whenever the Librarian may deem it necessary to withhold the loan of books, permission must be obtained from the Society, two-thirds of the members present agreeing thereto. ART. VII. Every book must be returned on the evening of business next sue- ceeding the time at which it was borrowed, under a penalty of twenty-five cents, for each week it shall be detained beyond such time. ART. VIII. No member shall be allowed to renew the loan of a book if any 'Other member shall be desirous of obtaining it. ART. IX. The Librarian and Library Committee shall be responsible for all works committed to their charge.—By-Laws, 1836. REPORT. V logue, exclusive of separate tracts, is 6890, which may be classed, according to size, in the following manner: Folio, 674 Quarto, 1595 Octavo, 3723 Duodecimo, &c,, 898 6890 Beside these are 435 separate Maps and Charts. From this enumeration, however, the Committee have excluded the duplicate sets of Historical documents, amount ing to 442 octavo volumes, at the same time that these have been entered in the Catalogue. It is with no ordinary pleasure and gratitude that the Committee take this occasion to record the fact, that of the above volumes no less than 5232 have been derived from the munificence of a single individual, William Maclure, Esq., President of our Institution, viz: Folio, 612 Quarto, 1131 Octavo, 2699 Duodecimo, &c., 790 5232 To these are to be added nearly all the separate Maps and Charts. A considerable proportion of these books was presented between the years IS 16 and 1S20; but the larger, and per haps more valuable part, was received from New Harmony, in Indiana, towards the close of the past year. It has been justly observed, in reference to the liberality of Mr. Maclure, that the Academy "derived from this source a prosperity VI REPORT. and permanence which, under other circumstances, must necessarily have been extremely slow and uncertain; while Science, at the same time, received an impulse which has never faltered, and which has been subsequently imparted to every section of our country."* In the year 1834, a principal part of the Library of the late Mr. Thomas Say was received by verbal bequest through his lady. It embraces all his books on Entomology, (his favourite science,) together with a considerable number on other branches of Natural History, amounting, in all, to up wards of one hundred volumes. As in accordance with our plan, specific acknowledgments have been made throughout the following pages, to all indi viduals and institutions from whom books have been re ceived, we shall merely add, in this place, that the splendid work of Mr. Audubon on the Birds of America, has been presented by a club of members. (Page 41.) The Committee cannot close this report without submit ting a few remarks on the future prospects of the Library, and a plan for extending its utility. The restrictions on the loan of books already adopted by the Academy, and specified in the following Catalogue, are in accordance with the wishes of our worthy President; who, in a lettert to one of the Committee, observes—that he "much approves of the precaution of not allowing the large and valuable works being lent out of the library; for, although the mass of the members are careful, and may with safety be trusted, yet one careless, negligent member might hurt the utility of the collection." In a subsequent letter, Mr. Maclure expresses himself * Notice of the Academy, 3d edit. I January 10, 1836. REPORT. VU emphatically in favour of converting the library into a Read ing-room, with all possible facilities for those persons who wish to consult the books; and your Committee are decidedly of the opinion, that this Library will never fulfil all the use fulness of which it is capable, until the use of the books shall be restricted within the walls of the Library itself. We are well aware that this plan will never become feasible, until the Society can remunerate their Librarian for his attend ance during certain hours daily: such an arrangement is at present impracticable; but we call the attention of our fellow members to this important desideratum, as one calculated to render the books much less liable to loss and injury, and at the same time more available for the purposes of reference, than they now are. The restrictions at present adopted are designed to embrace all large and costly works, and those which are in many volumes: also periodical Journals, Maps and Charts, and all Tracts on Natural History. The latter having been arranged with great care, and bound into volumes, should be always in the Library for reference. Another highly important object is the establishment of "a Library Fund, the annual proceeds of which should be e.vpended in the purchase of books. The want of such a provision has been greatly felt for many years past, and its importance must be obvious to every one. No exertions should be spared in establishing the nucleus of this fund, which, once commenced, we have no doubt would, in a few years, receive such additions as would make it subserve all the reasonable wiints of the Society."* ^ aluable as this library is in certain branches of know ledge, it will be observed that in others it is very deficient: o * Nolii'c of tht Acailcmy, p. 15. Viii REPORT. and in order to extend its resources and thereby its useful ness, we earnestly solicit the continued co-operation of our fellow members, and others interested in the cause of science, in fostering this most important department of our institution. The present is the first attempt that has been made to print a complete Catalogue of the Academy's Library: but a manuscript Catalogue, though upon a different arrange ment from the present, was made out many years ago under the auspices of the then Library Committee, but chiefly by Dr. Hays, to whom the Library of our Institution is indebted for many important services. SAMUEL GEORGE MORTON, CHARLES PICKERING, THOS. M'EUEN, WALTER R. JOHNSON, ROBERT BRIDGES, JOSEPH CARSON. HALL OF THE ACADEMY, October 25, 1836. CONTENTS. Pago Mineralogy and Geology, - - - - 1 Botany, ...... 19 Mammalogy, ...... 38 Ornithology, ...... 41 Herpetology, ...-.-- 45 Ichthyology, ...... 47 Entomology, ------- 49 Conchology and Helminthology, - - - 59 General Natural History, ----- 63 Anatomy and Physiology, - - - - - 71 Medicine, ...... 75 Chemistry, ...... gl Physical Science, ------ 86 Mathematics, ...... 92 Agriculture, - - - . 94 Useful Arts, ...... 99 Dictionaries of Arts and Sciences, .... 104 Journals of Arts and Sciences, ...

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