$5,500.00 per year, are inadequate for the useful work that the Library Committee might accomplish in the purchase of books and the binding of volumes and pamphlets. For the present we must content ourselves with an annual expenditure approximating the above amount. As in previous years, we have to record that while our library attendance is small, due in part to the location of our building, it is to be noted that a large proportion of the people who come to the library come to consult many books and often spend days in such consultation. Such, in brief, is the history of the Institute's activities during the year ending September 30, last. In some respects the record is unique. Notable among its features is the precedent established by the visit of Dr. Aston, above referred to. Your Board confidently anticipates that the precedent so brilliantly established will be maintained and that in the future from year to year we will be able to present to the scientists of America, courses of lectures upon scientific matters of interest by the leading scientists of the world. We anticipate that Prof. J. J. Thomson will visit the Institute the coming spring for the delivery of a series of lectures upon "The Electron in Chemistry." We are enabled to arrange this through the generosity of friends in the electrical industry who give this additional evidence of their intelligent interest in scientific matters and in The Franklin Institute. The success of the Institute in carrying out its plans in this respect, bringing to the Institute some of the most inspiring personalities of the world of science, must result in a notable stimulation of the scientific life of America. Members of The Franklin Institute: Our institution is about to enter on the last year of its first century of life. Through one hundred years, unaided by National, State or municipal support, the Institute has given efficient service in the promotion of physical science-in time of peace knowing no national boundaries, its only recognized frontier being the advanced line of scientific endeavor-in time of war bending every energy to the aid of the nation in arms. This is the example set for us by four generations of men. It becomes us in these latter months of the Institute's first century of existence to resolve to so continue its work during the fraction of its life under our influence that men in the expiring hours of other centuries, seeing our accomplishment in perspective, shall judge us to have been not unworthy custodians of the life and traditions of The Franklin Institute. In our time there must be no break in the line of honorable tradition. Membership in our institution has its responsibilities as well as its privileges. A part of your responsibility as members is to make sure that the men you entrust with official position are men of such capacity and good intent as insures the maintaining of our century old standards. Not otherwise than by recognizing and meeting this responsibility can you justify your membership in this venerable and honorable institution. The Franklin Institute is worthy of the best. It is for you to see that it has the best. As of today its destinies are in your hands. Respectfully submitted, PHILADELPHIA, January 17, 1923. WALTON CLARK, REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON LIBRARY For the Fiscal Year Ending September 30, 1922. To the President and Members of The Franklin Institute: The Committee on Library respectfully submits the following statement of activities in the library during the year ending September 30, 1922. The additions to the library were as follows: An increase of forty-two titles over the preceding year. The Committee had at its disposal $3,250 appropriated by the Board of Managers and $2,278.42, the income from the various trust funds. The expenditures for the year were $1,251.05 for binding, $3,468.41 for books and subscriptions to magazines and other periodical publications and $211.20 for general expenses. Gifts of books, pamphlets, and magazines in large quantities or of special interest were received from Messrs. H. A. Freeman, F. A. Shelton, John C. Trautwine, Jr., Henry W. Wilson, The U. S. Metallic Packing Company, Mrs. George R. Henderson, Professor Lewis M. Haupt and the Engineers' Club of Philadelphia. Mr. Shelton's gift consisted of a unique collection of books and pamphlets on windmills including treatises on the subject in German and Dutch printed in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, also two volumes in manuscript prepared by Mr. Shelton and a book containing 400 views of windmills in all parts of the world. Mr. Shelton also presented a number of volumes on gas and gas manufacture. The contents of the library on September 30, 1922 were: During the year the following work was done by the binders: Recent volumes of periodicals bound 1134 pamphlets bound Recent volumes of foreign chemical periodicals bound Old volumes, bound and rebound Magazines and Other Periodical Publications: .... 319 6550 copies of the JOURNAL were used for exchange purposes. Twenty-seven exchanges were added to the mailing list and one hundred and fifty-four were discontinued. The total number of exchanges on September 30th was 459. The subscriptions totaled 172 and the number of gift subscriptions was 74, making the total number of periodical publications received, 705. Evening Hours: The library was open on twenty-eight meeting nights until ten o'clock, with a total attendance after six o'clock of 47 members. Respectfully submitted, CLARENCE A. HALL, Chairman. PHILADELPHIA, January 10, 1923. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON MUSEUM FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 1922. To the President and Members of The Franklin Institute: The following models, apparatus and specimens have been added to the Institute's collection since the date of the last report: Working model done to scale of the original Van Depocle tram-car, one of the earliest electrical lines to run in New England in the vicinity of Ansonia and Derby. It was capable of carrying twenty-five tons of freight. Presented by Mr. L. S. Storrs, President, The Connecticut Company, New Haven, Connecticut. A full description of this model appears in the Proceedings of the Stated Meeting of the Institute held November 16, 1921, (J. F. I., Vol. 192, page 819). The first blanket of camels wool taken from the first loom erected in the mill at Tien-Tsin, China, in February, 1900. Difenderfer of Elkins Park, Pennsylvania. Presented by Mr. R. A. A specimen each of American white pine and American white oak being portions of the original timber used in the cons.ruction of the Trenton Bridge of the Delaware River, placed there in 1803 and removed in 1875 after seventy-two years of constant service. Presented by Mr. Henry W. Wilson, member of the Institute. Seventeen samples of copals and gums used in the manufacture of varnish. Presented by Mr. Joseph R. Stulb, C. Schrack and Company, Philadelphia. A 6-A economy gas cabinet stove made about 1885 by the American Meter Company of New York and Philadelphia. Presented by the Borden Stove Company of Philadelphia. Five wooden clock movements, early 19th century. B. F. Schmauk, Philadelphia. Presented by Mr. Twenty-two sheets of manuscript with original drawings of road-making and agricultural machinery, sailing vessels and apparatus for coast defense formerly the property of Dr. Thomas Ruston, a friend of General Washington. Presented by John F. Lewis, Esquire, Philadelphia. Photograph of painting of Henry Morton by A. D. Turner. Original in the possession of the Stevens Institute of Technology. Presented by Dr. Alex. C. Humphreys. (Dr. Morton was the first Resident Secretary of The Franklin Institute, having served from 1865 to 1870.) Mrs. George R. Henderson presented to the Institute the following apparatus formerly belonging to her husband, a member of the Institute's Board of Managers from 1915 to 1921: One four inch telescope, One spectroscope made by John Brashear, One case of direct reading hydrometers and thermometers, Two boxes of graduated scales, One Beck microscope with attachments, One set of drawing instruments, One micrometer (Brown and Sharpe), One draftsman's steel protractor, One hand level (Keuffel and Esser Company), One astronomical globe made by Mr. Henderson. PHILADELPHIA, January 10, 1923 ALEX. E. OUTERBRIDGE, JR., Chairman. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON MEETINGS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 1922. To the President and Members of The Franklin Institute: Eight stated meetings were held during the year ending September 30, 1922. These were held on the third Wednesday of each month, from October to May inclusive, at the hour of eight o'clock, with the exception of that of May 17 which was held at three-thirty o'clock in the afternoon. The following is a list of dates and speakers with titles and synopses of their communications: October 19, 1921: Ralph Modjeski, D. Eng., Chief Engineer, Delaware River Bridge Joint Commission, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, member of the Institute presented a paper on "The Delaware River Bridge between Philadelphia and Camden." The speaker gave an account of the comparative study and considerations which led to the adoption of the suspension type of bridge and described the salient features and characteristics of the design. The subject was illustrated by lantern slides from the engineers' drawings and views of the bridge as it will appear when completed. The paper was printed in full in the January, 1922 issue of the JOURNAL. At this meeting the Elliott Cresson Medal was presented to Dr. Byron E. Eldred of New York City for his invention of "Low Expansion Leading-in Wire for Incandescent Electric Lamps." The Howard N. Potts Medal was presented to Mr. Alfred O. Tate, of Cranston, Rhode Island, for his process of water-proofing fabrics. November 16, 1921: Heber D. Curtis, Ph.D., Director of the Allegheny Observatory, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, presented a paper on "The Spiral Nebulae and their Interpretation." The speaker pointed out that of all known classes of celestial objects, the spirals are perhaps the most difficult to fit into any coherent scheme of stellar evolution, either as a point of origin as an evolutionary product. In form, in distribution, and in space velocity, they stand apart from all other objects observed in the Milky Way. Much modern observational evidence supports the belief that these beautiful objects are separate galaxies of stars, or "island universes," comparable with our own galaxy in size and in number of component suns. Evidence for aut against the island universe theory of the spirals was presented. The subject was illustrated by lantern slides. At this meeting Mr. L. S. Storrs presented to the Institute a beautifully constructed working model, done to scale, of the original Van Depoele motor. The Edward Longstreth Medal was presented to His Excellency, James Hartness, Governor of Vermont, the inventor of the Hartness Screw Thread Comparator. The Edward Longstreth Medal was also presented to Mr. Thomas Willing Hicks for his "Once-over" Tiller. December 21, 1921: P. H. Bates, A.B., B.S., Chief, Structural and Miscellaneous Materials Division, Bureau of Standards, Washington, District of Columbia, presented a paper on "The Application of the Fundamental knowledge of Portland Cement to Its Manufacture and Use." The results of various attempts to determine the mineral constituents of Portland cement, culminating in the successful attempt of Rankin, were viewed The work of the Bureau of Standards in determining the physical properties of the different constituents was described. The relative amounts of these occurring in cement of normal manufacture, and the possibility and |