The first American grand opera, “Leonora,” was composed by William H. Fry, a Philadelphian; the words were written by his brother, Joseph R. Fry. It was produced at the Chestnut Street Theatre, June 4, 1845, by Pratt & Wemyss. The first free college for orphan boys in the United States was established in Philadelphia under the will of Stephen Girard. Girard College was opened January 1, 1848, with a class of one hundred boys. The first comic weekly in America was _The John Donkey_, edited by Thomas Dunn English and G. G. Foster. Illustrated by F. O. C. Darley and Henry L. Stephens. Published in Philadelphia by G. B. Zieber & Company, 1848. “The Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania” is the oldest college in the world organized to train women in the medical profession. It was incorporated March 11, 1850. The Spring Garden Institute, the first of the mechanics institutes in the United States, was chartered April 12, 1851. The corner-stone of the building was laid July 8, 1851, and the building was dedicated November 12, 1852. The first English translation of the Hebrew Bible published in America was the result of eighteen years’ work of Rev. Isaac Leeser. It was published in Philadelphia in 1854. The first Republican National Convention met in Musical Fund Hall, June 18, 1856, with Henry S. Lane, of Indiana, as Chairman. John C. Fremont was nominated for president of the United States, and William L. Dayton, of New Jersey, for vice-president. The process of sugar-coating pills was begun in 1856 by William R. Warner & Co., manufacturing chemists of Philadelphia. This was done in a pan suspended by a chain over a charcoal fire. The original pan is still preserved by the firm. The first society in America distinctively devoted to numismatic research was the “Numismatic Society,” organized in Philadelphia, December 27, 1857, by seven men. It received its charter February 19, 1858. On March 23, 1865, the name was changed to “The Numismatic and Antiquarian Society.” The “Zoölogical Society” was incorporated in 1859; and in Fairmount Park, north of the Spring Garden Water Works, began the first zoölogical garden in the United States. They later moved across the river to their present site, and the new buildings and grounds were opened to the public July 1, 1874.