Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 9).djvu/62

 The American Philosophical Society meets frequently, and is well attended. When I visited the institution, three of the foreign ministers were {31} present. Professor Cooper[23] read very interesting papers on the bilious fever, on a new mordant to be used in dyeing, and on a new test for detecting arsenic where administered as a poison. There is still zeal and talent in the association once distinguished by a Franklin and a Rittenhouse.[24]

The Franklean library contains about 24,000 volumes; almost every scientific work of merit may be seen. Strangers are allowed to read and even to write in the great hall. On leaving a small deposit they may carry books out of the library. The building belongs to the institution, and has a herculean bust of the founder over the entrance; and the following lines, by Alexander Wilson[25] the ornithologist, hang in a frame in the great room.