e Library, and the residue, after
paying for the site, was to be invested as a fund for its maintenance
and increase. In September, 1848, the trustees selected the site for the
edifice. It is convenient for all public purposes, and affords the
comparative quietude and retirement which are desirable for an
institution of constant resort for study and for the consultation of
authorities. In October, Dr. Cogswell was authorized to go to Europe and
purchase at his discretion books to the value of twenty thousand
dollars. The object of the trustees in sending him abroad at that
particular time was to avail themselves of the opportunity, afforded by
the distracted political condition of Europe and the reduction of prices
consequent upon it, to purchase books at very low rates; and the
purchases were made at prices greatly below the ordinary standard, and
the execution of his trust in all respects amply vindicated the high
opinion entertained of Dr. Cogswell's fitness for his position.

The plans for the edifice submitted by Mr. Saeltzer having been adopted,
the work was commenced and has been vigorously prosecuted until the
present time, when the front and nearly all the exterior are completed.
The Library is of brown stone, and in the Byzantine style, or rather in
that of the palaces of Florence, and is one hundred and twenty feet
long, sixty-five feet wide, and sixty-seven feet high. Scarcely a
particle of wood enters into its composition. No building in the United
States, of this character, is formed to so large an extent of iron. Its
uses, too, are altogether novel, at least in this country, and
ingenious. For instance, the truss beams, supporting the principal
weight of the roof, are constructed of cast iron pipes, in a parabolic
form, on the same plan as the iron bridges in France and other parts of
Europe, with a view to secure lightness and strength. The Library Hall,
which occupies the second floor, is one hundred feet high, and sixty
wide, in the clear. The ascent from the front is by a single line of
thirty-eight Italian marble steps, decorated on either side, at the
entrance, by a stone sphinx. Upon nearing the summit of these steps, the
visitor finds himself near the centre of this immense alcove, surrounded
by fourteen brick piers, plastered and finished in imitation of marble,
and supporting iron galleries, midway between the floor and the ceiling.
The side walls form one continuous shelving, of a capacity suffi