Academy of Arts.
It is to Franklin that the city is indebted for its great library, which now numbers about thirty-five thousand volumes. It was incorporated in 1742, and in 1790, the present neat edifice was erected on the east side of Fifth street, opposite the state house square. The Athenæum is a valuable institution, established in 1814; it has a collection of about five thousand five hundred volumes, and more than seventy newspapers and periodical journals are regularly received in its reading room. The Philosophical society has a collection of six thousand, and the Academy of Natural Sciences a collection of five thousand volumes. The University of Pennsylvania is distinguished for its medical school, which is attended by a class of from four to five hundred. The United States Mint was established in 1791, and by successive acts of congress has been continued at Philadelphia. In 1829, a new building for the mint was commenced in Chesnut street; it has but recently been completed.It is of the Ionic order, and modelled after a celebrated Grecian temple.[66]
Franklin Institute.
Of the public works of Philadelphia, there is none of which its inhabitants are most justly proud than those at Fair Mount, by which the city is supplied with water of the best quality, in the greatest plenty. Fair Mount is in the rear of the city upon the bank of the Schuylkill. The reservoirs are situated on the top of a hill rising from the river, a part of it perpendicular rock, upwards of one hundred feet. They contain upwards of twelve millions of gallons, supplying the city through between fifteen and twenty miles of pipes. The water was formerly forced to the reservoirs by steam, which is no longer used; it is now raised by machinery propelled by the Schuylkill. The machinery is simple, and is turned bylarge water wheels, whose speed may be graduated to any required number of revolutions per minute; if all are in motion, they will raise seven millions of gallons in twenty-four hours. To turn them, the Schuylkill has been dammed its whole breadth, by which the water is thrown back into a reservoir lock, whence it is admitted as required to operate upon the wheels, and is discharged into the river below the dam. The whole expense of these works, including estimated cost of works abandoned, was one million seven hundred and eighty-three thousand. The quantity of water which they disseminate through the city, is not only sufficient for every family, but is used to wash the streets. It is of immense service in case of fire, as it is only necessary to screw the hose to hydrants, which are placed at convenient distances, to secure a constant stream of sufficient force to reach an ordinary height.
Fair Mount Water-Works.
There are three prisons in Philadelphia, one in Walnut street, a second in Arch street, and the Eastern Penitentiary. The latter is situated on high ground near the city, and is designed to carry the principle of solitary confinement into effect. The system pursued here will be fully explained in a different portion of the volume. Ten acres are occupied by the establishment, inclosed by massive walls of granite, thirty-five feet high, with towers and battlements.
