During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the American Philosophical Society regularly received letters, and occasionally full blown manuscripts, from members of the public regarding their ideas on science or technology. In 1829, Edward Mulhern of Philadelphia submitted a manuscript on terrestrial magnetism that he felt had implications for navigation. Little is known about Mulhern other than that he died before 1833. Mulhern's "Dissertation on the doctrine and principles of magnetism &" is an attempt to work through some fundamental issues in terrestrial magnetism, including the relative orientation and positions of the geographic and magnetic poles, with an eye toward their impact on navigation. The APS Minutes for April 15, 1833, read: "An application from Alex Mulhern to have returned to him a paper on the 'doctrine of Magnetism' laid before the society by his deceased father, was received and the Librarian was directed to return the same.'"

This essay discusses Priestley's experiments concerning phlogiston, also called "the principle of inflammability," which was once thought to be a volatile substance that was part of all combustible matter and was released as flame in combustion.

This work was translated by Peter S. Du Ponceau from Vater's "Untersuchungen über Amerikas Bevölkerung aus dem alten Kontinente" (Leipzig, 1810). It was Du Ponceau's opinion that Vater was moved to write this book by Benjamin Smith Barton's "New Views of the Origin of the Tribes and Nations of America," which Vater often quoted. Contains bibliographical notes.

This volume was copied by Philip Holbrook Nicklin, a Philadelphia author and bookseller, from portions of the "London Quarterly Journal of Science Literature and the Arts" and partly from a translation of the original, to which is prefixed a short conchological introduction, containing descriptions of the Linnean genera, & of those species, from which Lamarck has formed most of his genera.

This volume includes prescriptions for various complaints, such as epilepsy, hemorrhoids, and ringworm.

John Benbow, Jr., of Cowley Hall Mills, Middlesex, England, was an avid amateur beekeeper in the 1840s and 1850s. His "Bee Book" is a small (16mo) copiously illustrated treatise and journal of beekeeping. Divided into three parts -- "Other people's experiments," "Our own experiments," and an annual log (1846-1854) -- the book includes information on hive construction, seasonal management, the cleaning of hives, and other miscellaneous information culled both from printed sources and personal "experiments." The 44 pen and ink drawings include technical drawings of hives and beekeeping apparatus, along with humorous sketches of the activities of an "amateur apiarian."

This essay is accompanied by another, written two years earlier, entitled, "Consideration of the means by which the present highly advanced state of learning and civilisation in Europe can be most effectually communicated to the rest of the world and to our Indian empire in particular; Kotah, May 21,1830."

Six editorial corrections to Heckewelder, "Account of the history, manners, and customs of the Indian nations, who once inhabited Pennsylvania and the neighboring states, Transactions of the Historical and Literary Committee of the APS (1819) 1: 1-348; with page references, "in case a new Edition ever is made. Concerns religion, warfare, marriage and family life, childbirth, swimming, and fears. Never printed. Prepared for John Vaughan, but should be compared with Heckewelder's suggestions for revision in his correspondence with Du Ponceau.

A brief discussion of location and the language, with list similar to that in James, A narrative of the captivity and adventure of John Tanner (1830), of Menomonee and Ojibway.

One of three manuscript copies in Hawkins' hand, the other two being in the Georgia Department of Archives and History. A listing of towns and villages of Muskhogee and especially Creek Indians together with a discussion of customs, the Busketau, and answers to queries proposed to an old Creek Indian. Addenda on war parties, 1813 and treaties, 1773-1796.

In the hand of an unknown author, this is a history of the Natchez Indians written at Natchez in November 1840.

Prepared for the Académie des sciences, belles-lettres et arts de Lyon. See also Mandrillon to APS; July 12, 1783. Cf. Minutes, Feb. 6, 1784,p.122.

Letter to "Rev'd Sir," Lonehead, January 6, 1777, concerning the religious aspects of following the King's command for a fast day: does this constitute prayers against the American troops?

The memoir was written by Charles Jones Wistar, the son of Charles J. Wistar. He was an artist and a writer, who was interested in the affairs of Germantown, and active as President of the Site and Relic Society and President of the Germantown Academy until his death in 1910.

This is an extract from a manuscript and is divided into three parts. This volume puts forth the theory that the visible geological formations of the earth were formed in the depths of the ocean; it offers opinions that support this system; and then predicts the natural consequences of the loss of all living beings from the waters of the ocean.

This volume is the fifth part of a life of Jesus from Passion Week to Ascension, compiled from Gospel sources and translated from the German into the Delaware Indian language by Roth, who was a Moravian missionary at Sheshequim on the Susquehanna River. The manuscript was discovered in the house of Roth's son, Rev. John Rhodes, in 1831. Fly-leaf title: "Ein versuch, etc. The History of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ from Passion Week to his Ascension to Heaven. Translated into the Unami Dialect of the Delaware Language in the years 1770 and 1772 at Tschektschequamink on the Susquehannah ... Translated by Mr. Rhodes."

Jacob Frederico Torlade Pereira de Azambuja was the Portuguese chargé d'affaires in the United States from 1829-1834. His essay on the monetary system of Portugal was presented to the American Philosophical Society in October 1833, and was read at the meeting of Oct. 18. Written in Portuguese, the essay deals with one of the burning issues of the Jacksonian era, the money system, by examining the history of coinage and the money system in Portgual from the earliest times.