The Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania, acting through its Philadelphia Board of Directors of City Trusts shall award the John Scott Legacy Medal and Premium (or) the Institute awards the Chairman of the Committee on Science and the Arts. THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE PRESIDENT'S REPORT AND REPORTS OF THE COMMITTEES OF THE INSTITUTE AND THE COMMITTEES OF ITS BOARD OF MANAGERS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 1914. To the Members of The Franklin Institute: Your Board of Managers, in addition to inviting a close study of the reports of the several committees covering the activities of the Institute during the year ending September 30, 1914, and presented herewith, earnestly call your attention to several matters of the first importance to the Institute, and to that progress in mechanic arts which it is the Institute's function to promote. Previous reports of the Board have kept you concurrently familiar with the continuing satisfactory progress of the general work of the Institute. Our membership has recently been greatly enlarged; the attendance at our lectures frequently taxes the seating capacity of our Hall; through the JOURNAL of the Institute our membership and the scientific world generally are promptly and authoritatively informed of the results of the latest researches in physical science and the most recent achievements of the engineering professions; the year's additions to the Library are more than usual; the work of our Science and Arts Committee has, as always, been marked by devotion and efficiency; the usefulness of our School of Mechanic Arts, notable for nearly ninety years, has never been greater than at present. These facts, while offering gratifying proof of the continuing usefulness of our Institute, should not satisfy us, in view of the opportunities for greater service which, as we believe, the near future offers. As you are aware, the Institute owns a site upon the Parkway, perfectly located, and entirely sufficient for such new building or buildings as will best serve to enable it to meet these opportunities. Four years ago the Institute's income would not have been sufficient to maintain a modern adequate structure and to carry on therein, in the fullest degree, the work formulated in its charter. After this year, however, in the event of the friends of the Institute meeting the conditions of the Wahl bequest, the Institute will possess such an annual income as would justify it in so occupying a modern building as to greatly increase the extent and value of its services in the special field of its efforts. This building, on the south side of Logan Square, at the corner of Nineteenth and Race Streets, when erected, will have for its neighbors, as you know, the Cathedral, the Wills Hospital, the Academy of Natural Sciences, and the great and noble new Public Library. The building thus worthily located will face Logan Square and have a frontage of 110 feet and a depth of 130 feet. The entrance will be on Race Street, and the façade, while simple, will be dignified and in keeping with the purposes of the structure and with its location. The ground floor will be devoted mainly to laboratories, notably a thoroughly-equipped testing laboratory for the use of the Committee on Science and the Arts. On the first floor will be located the main Lecture Hall, fitted with every modern appliance for lecture demonstration and experiment, with a large members' room, apparatus and model rooms, offices and preparation rooms. The second floor will contain well-equipped lecture rooms for the use of such scientific and technical societies as may wish to use them, together with a number of office rooms and a Board room. The third floor will be occupied by the School, and the fourth floor will be devoted entirely to the Library. We have only about one-third of the money necessary for such a building as we desire to erect; we own, however, what we believe to be the building site best located for the purposes of the Institute, and we believe that our annual income within a year or two will warrant the Institute in occupying such a building should the funds necessary for its erection be obtained. We therefore particularly urge, first, that the members and friends of the Institute see to it that the conditions of the Wahl bequest be promptly met: and, second, that the necessary money for the completion of the building fund, approximately half a million dollars, be obtained through private contribution or public grant: all this, that the work of the Institute may result in increased benefit to the citizen and to the State. Recalling that the Institute's success in its efforts to promote the mechanic arts depends upon the degree of intelligence and devotion exercised in the committee rooms and in the office of the Secretary, your attention is again invited to the Board's and Institute's Committee reports and to our latest Year Book, as evidence adequate, though not comprehensive, of the ability of our Institute to-day to call to its service devotion and intelligence of the highest order. Respectfully submitted, FOR THE BOARD OF MANAGERS, WALTON CLARK, President. PHILADELPHIA, January 20, 1915. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON LIBRARY FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 1914. To the President and Members of The Franklin Institute: During the year there were expended $910.26 for the purchase of 306 volumes, I pamphlet, and 3 maps; $1575.92 for subscriptions to periodicals; $750.35 for binding 328 volumes; $4267.86 for salaries and expenses. There were available for meeting these expenditures $6650, appropriated by the Board of Managers, and $1271.10, being the income from the several Library funds. The accessions by gift, exchange, and from the JOURNAL totalled 1192 volumes, 955 pamphlets, 3 maps, and I drawing. The additions include many valuable works. More books have been purchased than in the previous year, and the falling off in the total additions is due only to a decrease in the accessions of pamphlets. Much valuable and interesting material has been secured by continuing the practice of applying to engineering firms and industrial establishments for their publications. Three hundred and eleven pamphlets on mechanical subjects, most of them accessions of the current year, were classified, indexed separately, and bound into thirty-three volumes, and now form a part of the mechanical section. The work of classifying the pamphlets still stored was begun, but the progress is somewhat slow. The electrical and chemical pamphlets are being sorted out for indexing and binding. Library Bulletin No. 3, being the second list of additions to the Library, was compiled and issued in September, and was also published in the JOURNAL. On September 30, 1914, the Library contained 65,437 volumes, 48,955 pamphlets, 2279 maps and charts, and 1336 photographs. The work of recording the status of the current periodical sets has been continued throughout the year and is progressing favorably. As this work proceeds, efforts are made to obtain missing volumes or parts of sets. The purchase of a dozen volumes completed the file of an important chemical journal published in Germany. The subscription list was revised, but it was found that only three publications could well be discontinued. In the binding of books and current periodicals as satisfactory progress has been made as possible, but, as pointed out in previous reports of this Committee, the requirement of a special fund to permit of a greater expansion of this work still exists. The Committee held ten stated meetings during the year, at which many valuable suggestions were made and considered. At a recent meeting attention was called to the desirability of systematically going over each of the various subjects and departments with the view of ascertaining which of these were lacking in completeness, and on which the money available could be most profitably expended by the acquisition of recent works. It is only by the adoption of such a plan that the branches of the Library can each be maintained at its proper standard. By removing about 4500 volumes to the overflow stack in the basement, space for recent acquisitions was secured. There was a very gratifying increase in the attendance, especially on the evenings on which the Library was open until 10.00 P.M. Appended hereto is a detailed statement of the operation of the Library during the year. Respectfully submitted, CLARENCE A. HALL, PHILADELPHIA, January 13, 1915. APPENDIX. The following additions were made to the Library during the twelve months ending September 30, 1914: Gifts of books, pamphlets, and periodicals in large quantities or of special value were received as follows: Mr. H. M. B. Bary, copies of recent trade publications. Booth, Garrett & Blair, volumes and pamphlets on mining and metallurgy. Crocker-Wheeler Company, Philadelphia, Pa., electrical publications. Electric Storage Battery Company, engineering and trade publications. Mr. Guy H. Elmore, pamphlets and copies of society publications. The Engineers' Club, engineering publications and Society Transactions of 1913. Mr. Spencer Fullerton, several lots of pamphlets and magazines on various subjects. Mr. F. Lynwood Garrison, magazines on mining and metallurgy. Mr. J. J. Gibson, historic electrical pamphlets. Mr. Clarence A. Hall, books, pamphlets, and maps on chemistry and metallurgy. Dr. Carl Hering, books, pamphlets, and magazines on electrical and other subjects. Miss Houston, electrical magazines. Mr. Louis E. Levy, publications on photography and printing. Mr. R. Louis Lloyd, set of publications of the Illuminating Engineering Society. Dr. Caspar W. Miller, volumes of magazines on automobiles and horseless vehicles. |