The Wagner Free Institute of Science of Philadelphia. [membership certificate] : Incorporated March 9th 1855. [graphic].

Life membership certificate containing a montage of plants, animals, minerals and fossils to represent different fields of the natural sciences, i.e., natural history, taught at the institute. Iconography encircles an oval containing the certificate text. Includes a bat for "Mammalia"; a human skull for "Anatomy"; an eagle for "Ornithology" perched on a slab with rocks and minerals for "Mineralogy"; a butterfly for "Entomology"; stems of flowers and plants for "Botany"; a thorny fish for "Ichtheology"; pre-historic crustaceans for "Palaeonotolgy"; the skeleton of an elephant for "Comparative Anatomy"; a shell for "Conchology"; a rattlesnake for "Herpetology"; a horseshoe crab for "Crustacea"; and Fossils - "Botany," Entomology," "Crustacea," and "Zoology" showing a fossilized plant, fish, dragon fly and lobster. Filigree adorns the corners. Wagner Free Institute was founded in 1855 by philanthropist and professor William Wagner to provide free public education in the sciences. Wagner donated his large collection of specimens and his science library in addition to monetary support to establish the institution.