In 1883 the Henry Seybert Library of Spiritualism and cognate subjects was established, which since that time has been steadily increased out of the fund specially bequeathed for the investigation of Spiritualism. The collection now numbers about 1,000 volumes.

In 1887, upon the death of Rev. Charles P. Krauth, D. D., vice-provost and professor of intellectual and moral philosophy at the University, the Society of the Alumni of the College Department presented a Krauth memorial fund for the purchase of books on philosophy.

The same year brought to the university a collection, presented by D. B. McCartee, M. D., of Chinese and Japanese literature to the number of about 1,000 volumes, as well as several hundred European publications concerning the history and literature of China and Japan. Still another collection of a miscellaneous character was presented the same year by Maj. Gen. Samuel Wylie Crawford, who has since then made further additions to the library.

In 1887 the philological library of the late Prof. F. A. Pott, of Halle, was secured through the efforts of the late Prof. J. G. R. McElroy. It contains about 4,000 works and is rich in works of general philology, the study and history of language, the alphabet, comparative grammars and dictionaries, treatises on a large number of languages and dialects, as well as publications of the learned societies of Germany, France, Austria, and Russia.

In the same year the collection of the Semitic library was begun by the purchase of an Assyriological collection, supplemented the following year by a large Arabic collection, and of a collection on Semitic epigraphy, besides portions of a library on the Hebrew language and on Old Testament criticism.

In 1888 Mrs. Hayden presented the library of her husband, the late Prof. F. V. Hayden, M. D., consisting of works on geology, paleontology, zoology, and botany.

The same year Mr. George W. Biddle and family founded, in memory of the late George Biddle, the Biddle Law Library. Its chief feature is the collection of the late Benjamin Harris Brewster, which, with its noted collection of American, English, Scotch, and Irish reports, numbers over 5,000 volumes. The foundation also provides for the permanent increase of the library.

In 1889 the classical library of the late Prof. Ernst von Leutsch, of Göttingen, consisting of about 20,000 volumes, was purchased. Among its features may be mentioned the 18 sets of the leading philological journals of Europe, and the more than 4,000 pamphlets, embodying the graduating theses of German university students and the annual Programmschriften, published by the universities and gymnasia of Germany during the past fifty years. These publications, which Prof. Leutsch received in his capacity as editor of the Philologus, have for the most part disappeared from the book market, and form a collection that is probably unique on this side of the Atlantic. Spe

cial mention might also be made of the numerous works on the history of German universities, as well as the memorial publications issued by the latter on special occasions.

During this year also was begun the collection of Congressional and State documents, as well as general works and pamphlets for the newly-formed School of American History and Institutions at the University. The school, which is the first of the kind established in this country, already possesses, in consequence of energetic efforts on the part of its promoters, a library of more than 13,000 volumes. Among the features of the collection are a complete set of Congressional documents, the only one of the kind outside of the British Museum, records of State legislatures, complete for many of the States, reports of State agricultural and other commissions, American state papers, collections of periodicals, besides general and special works on American history.

At this time Provost William Pepper presented the medical library of the late Prof. William Pepper, very largely augmented by himself, together with an endowment of $7,500 for its perpetual increase, as a memorial of his distinguished father whose name it bears.

In 1890 Frederick Prime, jr., presented a valuable collection of works on mining engineering and electricity.

The library also received by gift a considerable addition to its department of German philology and literature; and the same year the geological library of the late Dr. Charles A. Ashburner was presented by his widow.

In 1891 was added the scientific library of the eminent Joseph Leidy; also, besides gifts of smaller collections, a choice library of Chinese and Oriental literature collected by Richard Ashhurst Bowie, and presented by his son, Richard Henry Bayard Bowie; and, lastly, the Thomas H. Powers library of chemistry was endowed by his widow and daughter, the J. B. Lippincott Library of English Literature was founded by Mrs. Lippincott, the George H. Harrison alcove endowed by members of his family, and the Isaac Norris Library by Mrs. Cochran, in memory of the citizens whose names they bear.

During the year 1892 large additions were made to the library of psychology, and among other gifts received that of a valuable miscellaneous collection from Joseph S. Harris. The choice library of the late Dr. Philip Syng Physick was presented by members of his family; besides the medical library of the late Dr. Physick the collection included an interesting series of works on the institution and history of slavery collected by his grandson, Dr. Philip Physick Randolph.

Such is a survey embodying the essential features of the special collections added to the library during the third period of its existence." Resuming the thread of its history, it but remains to mention before passing on to the fourth and latest period that in 1884 Prof. Thompson was succeeded by Mr. James G. Barnwell as librarian, who held the

office until his election as librarian of the Philadelphia Library in 1887, when his successor, the present librarian, Mr. Gregory B. Keen, was chosen.

In 1888 Dr. Morris Jastrow, jr., was elected assistant librarian. In 1887 the prospect of erecting a suitable and special building for the library, which had long since outgrown its totally inadequate quarters, was seriously undertaken; so that with Mr. Keen's entrance upon his duties a new era in the history of the library may properly be reckoned. The following year saw the corner stone laid with the rites of the Masonic order, and on February 7, 1891, the building was formally dedicated in the presence of a large and distinguished assemblage, Dr. Horace Howard Furness, as chairman of the building committee, handing over the building to the provost, Dr. William Pepper, who in receiving it on behalf of the University made the important announcement of the intention to open the library to the public in general. The library thus safely launched upon a career of widened usefulness may be taken as an index of the general plane reached by the University. As in the past its fortunes have ever been closely bound up with the growth of the various departments of the University, so it may fairly be expected that in the future it will keep pace with the rapid unfolding of numerous projects that are tending to produce a new ideal of the University, commensurate with the changed conditions of intellectual life.

It will be appropriate to close this sketch with a description of the new library building which in many of its features is unique and represents in the adaptation of means to ends the accumulated experience of the past.

The new library of the University of Pennsylvania, which was formally opened on February 7, is an imposing structure of red brick and stone, the effect of which is heightened by its advantageous position in the complex of university buildings at the intersection of Woodland avenue and Thirty-fourth street. The architects are Messrs. Furness, Evans & Co., of Philadelphia.'

The building may be divided into two parts: the tower 95 feet high, with the extension in amphitheatrical form, in all 140 by 80 feet on the one side; and the glass-covered stack 32 by 110 feet, on the other. Passing through the handsome entrance at the center we come into the spacious hall, to the right of which is the wardrobe, while to the left the space under the imposing staircase has been temporarily fitted up as a museum for Egyptian antiquities. Crossing the hall we enter the main reading room, again divided into two sections, the one 40 by 42 feet is an uninterrupted space to the roof, a height of about 60 feet; the other an extension in semicircular form, 40 by 54 feet, terminating in six alcoves 12 by 18 feet. In addition to these, there is a larger alcove at

This description is reprinted (with slight modifications), through kind permission of Messrs. Harper & Bro., from an article prepared by the writer for Harper's Weekly of February 14, 1891.