"Horridus, Horridus: Name-Calling in the Wilderness"

As Lewis and Clark prepared for their westward journey, their pal Thomas Jefferson predicted they would encounter living mammoths. Needless to say, they didn't, but can you imagine the wonder they must have experienced upon seeing so many animals previously unknown to New Worlders? For First Friday this month, the American Philosophical Society has arranged a mock lecture that will spread that awe to today's audience. The society's current exhibit of pioneer-gathered relics -- including a mastodon's teeth, rattlesnake tails and stuffed bats -- will serve as a starting point for the speech. Actor Brett Keyser will take on the persona of Professor Adam Walker Schell, an imagined, very enthusiastic scientific contemporary of Jefferson, in a lecture that should prove more humorous than most museum tours, as it gives insight into early attitudes about scientific discovery. Keyser attributes this entertainment-based approach to what Charles Willson Peale, whose museum once inhabited the Philosophical Society space, called "rational amusement." This, Keyser says, revolves around the idea that ìin order to have an audience, there has to be entertainment value." The name of the lecture itself, "Horridus, Horridus: Name-Calling in the Wilderness," serves as a form of "rational amusement." Even if it makes you chuckle, it also makes you wonder: What on earth is this about?

"Horridus, Horridus: Name-Calling in the Wilderness," Fri., Nov. 7, 6 and 7 p.m., free, Philosophical Hall, 104 S. Fifth St., 215-440-3427.

—Keegan O'Connor

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