ell, Torrey, Guyot and Cooke; such learned divines as Doc. tors McCosh, Hitchcock, Storrs and Buddington, and such defenders of the liberties of the people as Phillips, Sumner, Garrison, Emerson, Everett, Curtis, King, Bellows, Chapin, and Beecher.

During this brilliant period of its history (1843-1867) the Institute received from Mr. Graham two very important donations. On July 4, 1848, the building, which had been heavily mortgaged, he presented to the Trustees free from all encumbrance, and through his will, made known to the Board of Directors on November 28, 1851, shortly after his decease, he bequeathed to the Institute the sum of $27,000 as a permanent endowment fund. The will directs that the interest of $10,000 of this sum shall be used in the support of lectures on scientific subjects and in the purchase of apparatus and collections illustrating the sciences; that the interest of $12,000 shall be used in the support of Sunday evening lectures on "The Power, Wisdom and Goodness of God as Manifested in His Works," and that the balance of $5,000 shall be used in the support of a School of Design and in forming a Gallery of Fine Arts.

For several years, however, prior to 1867, owing to the erection of the Academy of Music and other public buildings, the Institute building was regarded as behind the times. The income from the rental of portions of the building was dwindling to a low figure, and the financial support of the free library was becoming inadequate. Under these circumstances the Directors remodeled the building in 1867, at an expense of about $30,000, a part of which was raised by Life Membership Subscriptions of $50 and $100, and the balance by a mortgage on the building. For twenty years (1867-87) this indebtedness necessitated the application of a portion of the income from the rent of the building and from the Graham Endowment Fund to the payment of the interest and the principal of the debt. Final payment on the mortgage was made early in 1887.

The cause of the partial inactivity of the Institute during the twenty years (1867-87) is, therefore, apparent. The most that it was able to do was to circulate its library, to keep up its classes in drawing, and to provide for the annual addresses on the 22d of February. Freed from debt in 1887 the Institute was enabled once more to use the whole income from its funds and building for educational purposes, and to become once more an important agent in the work of education in the city.

The property of the Institute in 1887 consisted of the Institute building and land, valued at $80,000, a library of 12,000 volumes, a collection of paintings valued at $10,000, and Endowment Funds of $46,000. These last comprise the $27,000 bequeathed by Mr. Graham, the William H. Cary Fund of $10,000 for the support of the library, and an increment of $9,000 realized through premiums on the sale of bonds.

1887-8.

During the year 1887-8 a new era in the history of the Institute was inaugurated. The Board of Trustees determined to make the property of the Institute the nucleus of a broad and comprehensive institution for the advancement of science and art, and its membership a large and active association, laboring not only for the advancement of knowledge, but also for the education of the people through lectures and collections in art and science. It was observed that, while Boston has the Lowell Institute, a Society of Natural History and an Art Museum; while Philadelphia has the Franklin Institute, an Academy of Sciences and a Gallery of Fine Arts, and New York has the Metropolitan Museum and the American Museum, Brooklyn had nothing corresponding to these institutions. It was felt that Brooklyn should have an Institute of Arts and Sciences worthy of her wealth, her position, her culture and her people; that it was her duty to do more than she was then doing for the education and enjoyment of her people, and that some step should

be taken looking towards the future growth and needs of the city in matters of art and science.

Accordingly, a form of organization was adopted which contemplated the formation of a large association of members, and a continual increase of the Endowment Funds and the Collections of the Institute. Provision was made for a subdivision of the membership into departments, representing various branches of Art and Science, each department forming a society by itself and yet enjoying all the privileges of the general association. A general invitation was extended to citizens specially interested in Science and Art to become members of the Institute. Courses of lectures on Science and Art were provided. The Directors' Room of

the Institute was enlarged to accommodate the meetings of some of the departments contemplated, and a large Lecture Room on the third floor of the Institute Building was fitted up at an expense of $2,600 for the occupancy of those departments that would make use of apparatus and collections at their meetings.

1888-9.

During the first fifteen months after the organization of the Institute a membership of three hundred and fifty persons was recorded. The Brooklyn Microscopical Society joined the Institute in a body with sixty-four members, and became the Department of Microscopy. The American Astronomical Society, whose members resided mostly in New York and Brooklyn, became the Department of Astronomy, with thirty-two members. The Brooklyn Entomological Society united with the Institute, and became the Entomological Department, with forty-one members. The Linden Camera Club of Brooklyn became the Department of Photography, with twenty-six members. Departments of Physics, Chemistry, Botany, Mineralogy, Geology, Zoölogy, and Archæology were successively formed. Each of the above twelve Departments began to hold monthly meetings. The permanent funds and property of the Institute were

increased by $3,000. Additions were made to the Library, and its circulation was increased from 12,000 to 36,000 volumes per year, and a general citizens' movement to secure a Museum of Arts and Sciences for Brooklyn was inaugurated.

1889-90.

The progress of the Institute during the year 1889-90 was even greater than in the preceding fifteen months. The membership of the twelve Departments organized the previous year was somewhat more than doubled. Eight new and strong Departments, viz., Architecture, Electricity, Geography, Mathematics, Painting, Philology, Political Science, and Psychology, were formed successively. The membership was increased from three hundred and fifty to eleven hundred. To the collections of the Institute were made very large additions. The Library was reorganized and its circulation increased from the rate of 36,000 volumes to 55,000 per year, and 1,500 new books were placed in the Library for the benefit of the Departments and their members. The number of lectures, exhibits and meetings of Departments was increased from about ninety in the previous year to two hundred and thirty. The attendance on the Department meetings was nearly doubled. The number of members taking an active part in the meetings and in the work of the Institute was quadrupled. The quality of the lectures and addresses was an improvement over that of the previous year; and out of the abundance of active and increasing interest in the Arts and Sciences awakened by the old Brooklyn Institute the new BROOKLYN INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES was born, destined to absorb the old Institute, to command the attention, the admiration, the love and the support of every resident of the city, to foster the interests of other educational institutions, and to become a means for the education, the refinement and the uplifting of all,