Back in July, Franklin Facts visited the American Philosophical Society, America's first learned society founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1743.

The APS is housed in two buildings: a main executive wing and a library across the street. Though the APS isn't a museum, the library does have exhibits on display, but there hasn't been one in the main building for almost 200 years. That has now changed, with an exhibit called "From the Laboratory to the Parlor: Scientific Instruments in Philadelphia, 1750-1875." This exhibit highlights the significance of scientific instruments in the development of the American republic. Among the nearly 100 objects on display are surveying instruments used to draw the Mason-Dixon Line, a weather diary kept by James Madison, and a home-made astronomical clock that belonged to David Rittenhouse.

The exhibit is at the APS through March 2003, and is free and open to the public Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 1 to 5 pm.