EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND LIBRARIES. At the close of 1902 there were in the city six higher school., including a high school for boys, conferring degrees of A.B. and B.S., and a school of pedagogy; a high school. a commercial high school, and a normal school for girls; and two manual training schools. There were also one school of industrial art, one elemen tary manual training school, one observation and practice school, five special schools for backward children and truants (under the com pulsory education law). twelve cooking schools, and grammar. primary, and kindergarten schools, the total of city institutions 420, with 229 male and 3537 female teaehers, and an attendance of 155.473, of which 5500 were in the higher schools. The general course of study falls under no classification. hut is the result of de velopment. Foreign lammages are taught only in the higher schools. There is some special and experimental manual training for seventh and eighth grade boys, and cooking and sewing instruction for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade girls. Through private bequest and mu nicipal legislation there are available 355 free scholarships in the University of Pennsylvania, Bryn Mawr. Lehigh l'uiversity, and various medical, art, and scientific colleges. Night and summer vacation schools are conducted.
At the head of the higher educational insti tutions is the University of Pennsylvania (q.v.). Philadelphia is a centre of medical its prominent medical colleges being that of the University of Pennsylvania. Jefferson. Hahne mann, \Iedic•o.('hivurgical. Polyclinic, and Woman's (founded in 1 M50 ) , the first char tered medical college for women in the world to confer the degree of M.D. The Pennsylvania and Philadelphia dental colleges ( the oldest and the best of their kind) and the Philadelphia Col lege of Pharmacy are largely attended. The art schools of the Pennsylvania Academy also are the oldest in the country. The School of Indus trial Art and the School of Desimt for Women are well known. Bryn Mawr College (q.v.). near Philadelphia, is one of the foremost women's institutions of the United States. The Drexel Institute, founded and endowed with $2.000.000 by A. J. Drexel. offers at a small cost courses in art. sciences. and industrial training. other leading institution. are the Franklin and Spring Garden Temple College, Episcopal Academy. the seminaries of the Protestant Epis copal. Lutheran. and Roman Catholic churches, La Salle and Saint Joseph's Colleges. and the
Roman Catholic High School, the Methodist Episcopal Collegiate Institute for Girls. numer ous schools of the Society of Friends, including the William Penn Charter (1701). the first chartered school in the country. the Cheltenham Military Academy. and the Germantown Academy (1760). The Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades. established under a be quest of by the late I. V. Williamson. offers complete trade course- and support, students free of cost. Philadelphia is noted for its associations and institution- for the promo Lion and diffusion of science and learning. and the encouragement of art. Among these are the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences (q.v.). the Franklin Institute (q.v.), the Ameri can Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Political and Social Science, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Zoillogical Society. the 'Numismatic and Antiquarian Society. the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art-. and the Wagner Institute.
The Free Library. now in temporary founded in 1591. on bequests of George S. Pepper and others, is maintained by appropriations made by City Councils. In the central and 14 branch libraries are over 250.000 volumes. A gift by Andrew 0arnegie of •50.000 for each of thirty additional branches with halls for public gather ings (conditional upon their maintenance by the city), and an appropriation of :::1.000.000 for a permanent building. provided by a loan approved by popular vote. are awaiting expendi ture. 'flu' Library Company's collection. begun in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin and his associates of the 'junto.' formed the first subscription li brary in America. Its volumes include many of extreme rarity. The Ridgway Branch. an excellent example of pure Greek architecture. contains one of the most valuable reference lists in the United Other important libraries of the 100 in the city are the Mercantile (1821), general circulation and reference; Carpenters' Company (1736), architecture and building; Friends' (1742) ; American Philosophical So eietv (1i13); Academy of Natural Sciences; Institute, scientific: Hurst, law; Col lege of Physicians; University of Pennsyivania.
A pprent ices', Pennsylvania I'resbyteria11, and itaptist Historical societies; Drexel Institute; and the II. Josephine Widener Branch of the Free Library, with a valuable collection of refer ence works.