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COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY,
AT HARVARD COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, MASS. jFounDeti bn prfbate subscription, fn 1861.
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No. ?/ f /
BULLETIN
ESSEX INSTITUTE,
VOLUME VI.
1874.
SALEM, MASS.
PRINTED AT THE SALEM PRESS.
1875.
C O N T E X T S
Regular Meeting, Monday, January 5, 1874, 1
Adjourned Meeting, Thursday, January 8, 1874, .... 1
Byron Groce, Natural History in the Schools. 3. — F, \V. Putnam. Re- mark- on the same ubject, 8 — J. Robinson, Donation of a Collection of Presidential Medals, and Remarks on them, 10.
Regular Meeting, Monday. January 1'.), 1874, .... 10
F.W. Pntnam, Rare Fishes taken in Salem. Beverly and Marblchead Harbors [Cryptacantkodes inornatus, Liparis lineatus and Plutessa glabra), 11.— A. Peabody, On the Earlv bays of California, 13. — F. W. Putnam, Remai k.* on the same subject. IT. —J. Robinson, On the Condition and Extent of tne Collection of Continental Paper Cur- rency in the Rooms of the Institute. 19.
Regular Meeting. Monday, February 2, 1874, .... 20
J. Robinson, On Donation of Paper Money from W. S.Vaux, of Phila- delphia, 21. —P. W.Putnam, On Black Fish taken in Salem Harbor,22.
Quarterly Meeting, Wednesday, February 11, 1874, ... 25
Regular Meeting, Monday, February 10, 1874, .... 25
Charles Kingsley's Lecture on Westminster Abbey noticed. 25. — His Reception at the R >omsofthe Institute, Addresses by the President, Mayor Cogswell, Mr. King-ley, and other-. •_' i.
Adjourned Meeting, Friday, February 27, 1 s 7 4 , .... 30 Walter Smith's Communication on Art Studies. 31. — Remarks on the subject by the President, Messrs. Putnam and Hagar, 32.
Regular Meeting, Monday, March 2, 1874, 33
James Kimball. Notes from the Diary of William Russell, prior anil chiefly during the Time of his Imprisonment in Mill Prison, Eng- land, during the Revolutionary War, 35.
Regular Meeting, Monday, March 16, 1874, 36
G. M.White, On Copper-plate Engraving, 37 — James Kimball's Commu- nication on the Journal of the Rev. [). Shute in 17.">s. 4.;. — Agassiz Memorial Fund noticed, 43.— J A. Allen. Note- on the Mammals of Portions of Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming and Utah, 43.
Regular Meeting, Monday, April 6, 1874, 67
Regular Meeting, Monday, April 20, 1874 67
E. S. Morse, On the Various Modes of Illustration, 69.— F. W. Putnam,
Notice of a skull from Shell-bed on Hock l-l ind, to. F. W. Putnam, On Teeth of a Large Shark, probably Carcharis ( I'rionodtm) lamia, from near St Peter's Bank, 70.— Notice of the Late Alpheus Crosby. and Resolutions adopted, 73.
Regular Meeting, Monday, May 4. 1874, ..... 75
E. A. Sil»bee. Familiar Talk on Art Matters, 77.
Annual Meeting, Wednesday, May 13. 1874 86
Retrospect of the Year. Member-. B6; Meetings, B9; Lectures and Con- certs,92; Horticultural, 94; Library.9B; Museum, 97; Financial, £8;
Publications, 'J9; Officers i lected, 140.
(ill)
IV CONTRNTS.
Regular Meeting, Monday. May 18, 1874, 102
Charles C. Perkins. Talk upon Art. hi:.
Field Meeting at Ipswich, Wednesday, June 2, 1874, . . . 105
Rumble ;unl Notice. 102.— E.S. Morse. On the Fertilization of Flower.*, 109.— F.W. Putnam. On the Shell Heaps at Eagle Hill; also an account of the Chavliorlua Sloavi. from George's Banks, in. — T. Morong, An Historical Account of the Public Library, 112.
Regular Meeting, Monday, June 15, 1874 115
A < omniittce appointed to report on the Propriety of Taking Suitable Notice of tin' Centennial Anniversary of the Meeting of the Legisla- ture in Salem. Oct. 7, 1774, 115.
Field Meeting at Topsfield, Thursday, June 18. 1874, . . .116
Ramble and Historical Notices, lie — Opening Remarks by the Presi- dent. 119; .1. II. Pitts. Account of Thomas Almanacs, 119; Remarks bv N A. Horton. J. Spofford. S. Tocld, F. W. Putnam. 15. P. Adams, Charles J. Peabody and others. 120.
Adjourned Meeting, Friday, June 111, 1874, 122
Regular Meeting, Monday, July 0, 1874, 123
Committee on the Centennial Anniversary report favorably to the Ob- servance of this Amiiersarv bv an Historical Address", and A. C. Goodell. Jr., Esq., was invited "to deliver the Address. 123.— W. H.
/Dull, Notes on an Examination of Four Species of Chitons, 124.
Field Meeting at West Newbury, Thursday, July 16, 1874, . . 125
The Ramble and Historical Sketches. 12."); Opening Remarks bv the President. 134; G. D. Phippen, on Plants Collected, and especially on "Weeds," 135. — Remarks bv John Robinson, I), li Jfagar, Abner <;. Phipps, J. Spofford, Hayden Brown, S. M. Allen, W. H. II. Marsh and others, 135.
Regular Meeting, Monday, August 3, 1874, 138
Field Meeting at Rockport, Thursday, August 6, 1874, . . 139
The Ramble. 138.— A. Osgood, Notes on the Lead Mine at Rocky Hill, West Newbury, 142. — F. W. Putnam. Notice of the Anderson school of Natural History. 143; Remarks by A. W. Dodge. A. II. 'futile. A. R. Hervey, 144. — J.B. Wardwell, Description of an Indian Relic, 145.
Regular Meeting, Monday, August 17, 1874, .... 147
Regular Meeting, Monday, September 7, 1874, .... 148
E. ( . Bolles, Notice Of Some Relics collected at ( 'he-ter, Fngland, 150. Notice, and Resolutions on the Decease, of J. Wyman, 152.
Regular Meeting, Monday, September 21, 1874 153
Field Meeting at Manchester, Friday, Oct. 2, 1874, . . . 155
The Ramble, 155.— K. S. Morse. Remarks on Glaciers, r>7; John Robin- son, Account of tlie Agassiz Bowlder. l.">s. — E. c. Holies, On the Change of Color in Leaves in Autumn, 169.
Regular Meeting, Monday, October 5, 1874, 100
Commemoration l-t Centennial of the Revolution, 160. — < >de adapted to the Occasion 161 ; A. C. Goodell, Jr., Address, 162.
Regular Meeting, Monday, October 19, 1874 165
K. S. Morse, on the Theory ol Evolution, 167; E. C. Bolles. Account of
the Various Scienti lie in -him bo!" 1 Ion, 168; R Rldgway, Lists
of Birds observed from Sacramento to Sail Lake City, al vaiioua Localities < loutiguous to < leutral Pacific Railroad. 168.
CONTENTS. V
Regular Meeting, Monday, November 2, 1874, .... 175
J. Kimball, Notice of Petition for the Preservation of FishinSti and Ponds In 1728, 176.— E. 8. Morse. On the Habil of Trap Door spiders, 179.
Regular Meeting, .Monday. November 16, 1874, .... 180 Remarks on Uu- Indian Skeletons found at Marblehead, by A. ('.(.nod- ell, Jr.. 182; W. P. Upham, 183; !•.. 8. Atwood, 184 : Caleb Cooke. 185; E.S. Morse, 187, A. II. Johnson, 188; E. C. Bollea, 189.
Special Meeting, Wednesday, November 25, 1874. . . . 190
Notice of James Steele Mackaj e's Lecture on F. l>e] iarte, 190.— I . W. Pntuam, Remarks on a Collection of Living Specimen) ol Pi and Crayfishes from Mammoth Cave, 191.
Regular Meeting, Monday, December 7, 1874, .... 200
H. K. Oliver, On a Recent Donation from the Heirs of Gen. B. F. Ed- mauds, 202; J. Robinson, Familiar Talk on the Mi nufacture of Gbxss, 203.— H. K. Oliver, Remarks on the Transil of V< nu
Regular Meeting, Monday, December 21. 1874, .... 203
V . W. Putnam, Notice of Some Important Discoveries of the Hayden Exploring Expedition. 204; — A.. Osgood and Mr. Knowlton, Remarks on t lie Lead Ore of Weal Newbury, 205.— F. W. Putnam and G. B. Loring, In Relation lo ilie Proposed stale Survey, 205.
Letters Announced, 1, 10. 20, 33, 36, 67, 76, 107, 117, 181, 140, 148 166, 175, 180, 200, 203.
Additions to the Library, 2, 11, 20, 33, 36, 68, 75, 107, 118, 132, 141, 148, 153, 166, 175, 181, 201, 204.
Additions to Museum, 10, 146, 148, 150. 151, 154, 180, 181.
BULLETIN
OF THE
ESSEX! IITSTITTJTE.
Vol. 6. Salem, Mass., Jan., 1874. No. 1.
One Dollar a' Yearjn Advance. 10 Cents a Single Copy.
Regular Meeting, Monday, Jan. 5, 1874.
Meeting this evening at 7.30 o'clock. Adjourned to Thursday, the 8th.
Adjourned Meeting, Thursday, Jan. 8, 1874.
Meeting this evening at 7.30 o'clock, adjourned from Monday, the 5th. The President in the chair. Records read.
The Secretary announced the following correspon- dence : —
From John J. Babson, Gloucester, Dec. 8; Samuel A. Drake. Boston, Dec. 4; G. L. Gleason, Manchester, Dec. 23; J. L. Hawley, Brooklyn, N. Y., Dec. 1; Frank E. Hotchkiss, New Haven, Dec. 4; J. F. LeBaron, Lynn, Dec. 1, 13; H. M. Meek, Dec. 2; J. L. Robinson, Wenham, Dec. 1, 8; A. C. Goodell, Jr., Dec. 9; Sampson, Davenport & Co., Boston, Dec. 5; Wisconsin State Historical Society, Dec. 2; John M. Bradbury, Ipswich, Dec. 20, 2G; Oliver Carlton, Dec. 18; George W.Clark, Newburyport, Dec. 25; X. Cleaveland, Westport, Conn., Dec. 18, 29; Henry Dexter,
Essex Inst. Bulletin. vi 1
Cambridge, Doc. 18; Joseph P. Fessenden, Deo-. 22; Lucian n. Frary, Middleton, Dec. 20; Byron Groce, Peabody, Dec. 28; P. A. Hanaford, New Haven, Conn., Dec. 10; J. C. Holmes, Detroit, Mich., Dec. 20; A. H. Hoyt, Boston, Dec. 9; J. L. LeBaron, Charlestown, Dec. 17; Marshall Pierce, Saco, Maine, Dec. 20; Samp- son, Davenport & Co., Boston, Dec. 31; Augustus D. Small, Dec. 19; J. Wingate Thornton, Boston, Dec. 17; B. Westermann & Co., New York, Dec. 12, 31; Charles K. Whipple, Boston, Dec. 19; William C. Wood, Wenham, Jan. 1; Ashbel Wood- ward, Franklin, Conn., Dec. 19; Buffalo Historical Society, Dec. 18; Cincinnati Public Library, Dec. 21; Davenport Academy of Natural Science, Dec. 27; New England Historic-Genealogical Society, Dec. 17; New York Historical Society, Dec. 17 ; New York Lyceum of Natural History, Dec. 22; Ohio Historical and Phil- osophical Society, Dec. 19, 20; Rhode Island Historical Society, Dec. 19.
The Librarian reported the following additions : —
By Donation.
Adams, C. F., of Boston. Address on the Life, Character and Services of Wm. H. Seward, delivered at Albany, Apr. 18, 1873, by donor.
Almy, James F. Salem Journal of Fashion for Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec, 1873.
Appleton, W. S., of Boston. Description of Medals of Washington in the col- lection of the donor. Boston, 1873.
Barker, John G., of Lynn. Transactions of the New York State Agricultural Society for 1843-18G2 inclusive. 20 vols. Svo. Catalogue of the New York State Cabinet. 1 vol. 8vo.
Brigham, Wm., of Boston. Miscellaneous pamphlets, 10.
Butler, B. F., of U. S. House of Reps. Report of the Commissioners of the Sutro Tunnel, 1872. 1 vol. Svo.
Hotchkiss, F. E., of New Haven, Conn. Report of the Board of Education of Conn, for 1872, 1873. 2 vols. 8vo. New Haven City Year Book for 1871-72, 1872-73. 2 vols. 8vo.
Humphreys, Brig. Gen. A. A., of Washington, D. C. Professional Papers of the Corps of Engineers of U. S. Army, No. 12. 1 vol. Svo. Washington, 1873, Report of the Chief of Engineers for 1873. 1 vol. 8vo. Washington, 1873.
Lee, John C. Commercial Bulletin for Aug. 23, 30, Sept. 3, Nov. 22, 29, Dec. 6, 13, 20, 27, 1873.
Robinson, John. American Naturalist, 18 numbers. The Agriculturist, 23 nos. Miscellaneous pamphlets, 75.
Sampson, Davenport & Co., of Boston. Lynn Directory, 1873. 1 vol. 8vo. Providence and Rhode Island Business Directory and Register, 1873. 1 vol. 8vo. Albany Directory, 1873. 1 vol. 8vo. Manchester Directory, 1873. 1 vol. 8vo. Lawrence Directory, 1873. 1 vol. 8vo. Salem Directory, 1872. 1 vol. Svo. Fall River Directory, 1872-3. 1 vol. Svo. Taunton Directory, 1872. 1 vol. Svo. Chailes- town Directory, 1874. 1vol. Svo. Gloucester and Rockport Directory, 1873. 1vol. 8vo. Newburyport, Amesbury and Salisbury Directory, 1S73. 1 vol. Svo. Boston Directories, 1S72, 1873. 2 vols. 8vo. Troy, West Troy and Cohoes Directory, 1873. 1 vol. 8vo.
Stone, Henry R. Vocabulario De La Lengua Tagala. 1 vol. 8vo. 1835.
U. s. Patent Office. Official Gazette, Nov. 18, 25, Dec. 9, ic, 1873.
Verkiix, A. E., of New Haven, Conn. Eighth Annual Report of the Sheffield Scientillc School of Yale College, 1872-3.
Waters, Henry F. Miscellaneous pamphlets, 35.
By Exchange.
Rihliotiieqee Univeeselle et Revue Seisse. Archives des Sciences physi- ques et naturelles. ^oyi.. Oct., Nov., 1873.
Canadian Institute. The Canadian Journal of Science, Literature and His- tory. Vol.xiv. Nov., 1873.
Conn. Academy of Auts and Sciences. Transactions of. Vol. ii, Pt. II. 1873.
Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio. Col. May's Journey to the Ohio Co . 1788-89. 1 vol. 8vo. Cincinnati. 1S73. Geological Survey of Ohio for 18G9. 1870. 187:5. i vols. 8vo. Maps for 1873.
Literary and Historical Society of Quebec. Transactions of the. Session of 1872-3.
New Jersey Historical Society. Proceedings of the 2d Series. Vol.iii, No. 3, 1873.
PEABODY Institute of Peabody. Twenty-first Annual Report of the Trustees of the Peabody Institute. 1873.
Wisconsin State Historical Society. Private and Local Laws of Wis- consin, 1867, 1808. 1S70. 1871, 1872. 6 vols. 8vo. Senate Journal of Wisconsin, 1867, is s. is.;-), is.70. 1871. 1872. 1S7.!. 7 vols. 8vo. Governor's Message and Accompanying Documents of Wisconsin, 18(56, 1867, 1869, 1870, 1871, 1872. 11 vols. 8vo. Assembly Journal of Wisconsin, 18G7, 1838. 1869, 1870, 1871, 1873. 6 vols. 8vo. Transactions of the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society, 1861-8, 1869, 1870. 1871, 1872-3. 5 vols. 8vo. First Annual Report of the State Board of Charities and Reform of Wis- consin. 1871. 1 vol. 8vo. Laws of Wisconsin, 1867, 1868, 1869, 1870, 1871, 1872, 1873. 7 vols. 8vo. Catalogue of the Wisconsin State Library, 1872. 1 vol. 8vo.
Publishers. Bossange's Catalogue. Forest and Stream. Gardener's Monthly. Gloucester Telegraph. Hardwick's Science Gossip. Haverhill Gazette. Ipswich Chronicle. Lawrence American. Lynn Reporter. Lynn Transcript. Medical and Surgical Reporter. Nation. Nature. Peabody Press. Salem City Post. Salem Observer.
David Coggiu, of Salem, was elected a resident mem- ber.
Mr. Byron Groce, master of Peabody High School, Peabody, Mass., read a communication. Au abstract is here annexed.
NATURAL HISTORY IN THE SCHOOLS.
The speaker stated his purpose to be to speak of the state of thiugs regarding natural history in the schools as it is at present, to tell what he thought it ought to be, and to give some brief sugges- tions as to how the desired end might be brought about.
The present may be described by the brief but fair statement that there is no natural history in our schools, for, while it is true that botany has a place in the printed programme of most of our high
schools, and is accompanied by mineralogy in others, two consider- ations make this fact consistent with the original statement. First, the number of pupils in high schools, as compared with the number in the lower grades, is extremely small. Second, even in high schools, the method of study is such as to indicate the light esteem in which it is held ; and the few good results from the study are not seldom quoted to the discredit of the study itself. As an illustration of "how not to do it," the method of teaching in a college, with which the speaker was familiar, was cited.
A genial, well-informed gentleman of mature years and fine culture occupies the position of instructor in the department of natural science in this well endowed, vigorous and flourishing New England college. During the fifteen or twenty weeks given to botany, with three or four recitations weekly, in one year less than half a dozen plants were examined by the pupils, in the class-room, and, worse than this, the time was spent instead, in committing to memory, ver- batim et literatim, the glossary of technical terms at the end of the book, with the definitions, on the ground that if these were first learned the things corresponding could be easily recognized on occa- sion.
This was the introduction to nature, and this is not a solitary ex- ample. There are hundreds of high schools and academies, as well as colleges, where thus the method curses the subject. This means a great deal. What a plea against such methods was the whole life of Prof. Agassiz !
There are being made well directed efforts, in some of our cities and towns, to have the subject introduced into the common schools, and this fact, with the other fact that the subject is in our high school pro- grammes, permits us to estimate the condition of natural history in the schools to-day. The reason for the present state of things is perhaps unimportant, but it is not because educators for half a cen- tury have not been agreed as to the principles which govern the case. It is curious to observe that in the face of this agreement, and the fact that the statement of the principles has become so frequent in convention as to be almost stale, few in authority have essayed to take the first logical step in the indicated direction.
The speaker prefaced his remarks upon the condition of natural science as it ought to be in the schools, by saying that he was not a prolicient in the subject, and in no sense a specialist, being person- ally more interested in other subjects.
As it was shown to be true on the one hand that natural history is not in the schools, the speaker maintained on the other hand that it ought to be there. First, for the knowledge It offered, which an- swered one aim of education. Second, because the knowledge is
more valuable and practical than much now given. Third, it answers the purpose of a right training of faculties, according to natural and acknowledged laws. This answers a second aim of education ; it answers the demand for a method which shall be in accordance with the natural development of the mind. Attention, observation, per- ception, discrimination, comparison, deduction, induction. Attention is first culled to sensible objects. To train the senses then is impor- tant. What studies do it? Do we not need keen senses? Prof. Chadbourne says, "the material world is the means which God has appointed first to arouse the mind of man to action, and the only foundation for the highest processes of thought in the boundless field of mental speculation. It is only through the senses that this out- ward world can reach the mind, to excite its action or furnish it with materials." Here, then, is the first work of natural history in educa- tion, to educate the senses. Is not the introduction of drawing into our schools a testimony to the demand for educated senses as well as educated tastes ?
Not only do natural history studies educate the senses to observe, but to compare and lead the mind to judge, and in other ways train the highest mental powers. As the matter now stands much of our work is a pyramid set upon its apex; we deal with babes in intellect as with grown men and women. To ring the changes upon percep- tion and observation and then assign abstruse problems in induction is too common. To sharpen razors on a grindstone and wonder they will not shave is no worse. Nature kicks at it, scholars don't like it and rebel, mothers and fathers wonder what's the matter and worry because children are oi-owded so.
A part of the trouble is due as much to bad methods in arithmetic, grammar and geography as to the wrong position of those studies, or the expectation that they will do the work for the young mind that is not suited to them and is suited to natural history.
The speaker disavowed any claim for natural history as a panacea for all the ills the educational flesh is heir to, but thought that fresh air from the natural world was a necessity for healthful lungs and minds, and that this subject put naturally into the primary schools would remedy much of the difficulty in our foundation work.
The movement of education is evidently in the direction more favorable to natural history. Sup't Harris' masterly scheme of study in this department for the St. Louis schools, from lowest to highest, was an early wave, and the recent introduction of books on nature into the Boston schools and into those of other progressive cities and towns is significant.
It will soon be quite the fashion to study natural history. Salem will come to it, and Peabody and Beverly and Wenham and Essex
Will sooner be out of the world than out of the fashion, and we shall all study it.
Look out then that it doesn't swamp us. The book-makers will enter the field, and we shall not lack for book instruction, and since that is so easy to give, the spread of natural history will be rapid as it will be killing, for, mark just here, that it is not arithmetic, nor geography with which we are dealing, — it is Nature, and every unnec- essary remove from herself in the study, is a move toward dulling faculties instead of quickening them, is a move toward death, not life. Nature herself should be the study if it is possible, and it almost always is, even in cities.
The nearest approach to nature in the shape of pictures, models and dried specimens should be the only permitted plan in lieu of the former. To recite from a text-book alone, here, even the interesting glossary, is to kill enthusiasm, dull perception, blind observation, and make an added routine, where it was to be especially avoided. The speaker said that the brief half-hour did not permit an exhaus- tive statement of the reasons for his second proposition, viz., that natural history ought to be in the schools, but trusted that with the following from Mr. Chadbourne he had given some answer to those who asked the educational value of natural history.
u It gives problems for the deepest thought; it has power to make the earth yield her mineral treasures and to bring forth more abun- dantly every desirable form of vegetable and animal life. It is a volume ever open, ever inviting the mind to activity without weari- ness. It. saves from the confinement and wear of other studies, and makes the hours of physical exercise the most profitable in storing the mind. It gives standards of the beautiful, and. by developing a true taste, gives to the student the highest type of mental cultivation and secures to him unfailing sources of enjoyment, so long as sight and hearing remain.
It goes deeper still, and, revealing the divine nature, leads to the sublimest contemplations, elevating the moral nature, thus ennobling the whole man, and strengthening the only sure foundation of all that is truly noble in our natures. Shall such a study be ignored in our systems of education? Shall it be left like a beggar to find here a hearty welcome and there to be driven from the door?"
The final question is, then. What are we going to do about it? The speaker said his answer to this third point would be as brief as his propositions regarding the lirst two. 1. Natural history is not in the public schools. 2. It ought to be there. 3. Put it there. If two bodies or studies cannot occupy the same space at the same time, something must give way, If the school curriculum is full. The speaker was ready to accept the logic of the situation. If primary schools cannot 11ml time for it, those in authority must be shown how
it may be reading, spelling, writing, and almost arithmetic lesson, and these will at once become more agreeable. Some would find time and place in one way, some in another. Prof. Thompson, of Worcester, says there is a chance for it as a substitute for much of present English grammar.
The speaker thought that a good teacher would find the easiest way to prepare a scholar to pass a high school admission examination would be to give him through his earlier years arithmetic, geography, etc., with natural history, rather than without, and that he could be better prepared in this way for his future studies. So the logic of the matter will not abide the objection that it interferes with curric- ulum,— remodel the curriculum is the stern necessity.
The question of time may be partly solved by considering that the routine of daily school work needs frequent breaks and " it is often a gain to lay aside common studies and spend an hour in natural his- tory." Even an hour a week would be of good advantage if the method were in harmony with the topic.
The objection regarding lack of knowledge on part of teachers was also considered and answered. The speaker said that if the thing was a necessity, all the lions in the way must yield. He thought teachers were more alive to the matter than school committees. In conclusion he offered as an illustration of how something might be done, an account of a plan he had tried, partly on the suggestion of Dr. Ebell, of New York. It had not been tried long enough to per- mit him to speak much of the results, but it at least offered a begin- ning. We find in the "Massachusetts Teacher" for July an account of the plan, which we give in place of an abstract of the speaker's remarks.
"Natural history finds no place in the curriculum of study in our schools (in P.), except in the high school, in the subject of botany. The high school teachers are not specially scientific in their tastes, and natural history furnishes to none of them the attractiveness or congeniality that literature or mathematics would afford.
Yet, moved by many motives which space forbids mentioning, we have organized a society of natural history. It is a voluntary or- ganization. It has its by-laws, drawn up by a committee of members, crude but satisfactory. It admits anybody, in school and out, who will pay ten cents and siljn its rules. Its object is. primarily, to col- lect and preserve specimens of all the plants in the limits of the town. But secondarily, exercise and pleasure are its objects. The observation and collection of minerals, insects, etc., furnishes a fur- ther attraction.
It has a president, vice-president, treasurer, two recording and one corresponding secretary, an executive committee, a cabinet com- mittee and a librarian: and thus far all except the librarian have had employment. It requires an excursion every Wednesday afternoon, for which the executive committee arrange, and in which every mem-
8
ber must unite or present some specimen of real value to the cabinet or pay a small fine. It keeps a careful record of all its doings and excursions, and means to get help wherever it can.
It has not yet attracted many persons of mature years to its ranks, but it has called in members from outside the school, and its influ- ence is just beginning.
All will recognize the difficulties attending such a society, but the result is worth the care. We hire a large team, or use the horse or steam cars, or go on foot, to reach our fields of work. We take bottles, knives, baskets, a hammer, and other implements for collec- tion, botany cases if convenient, a book for pressing, or whatever can be easily obtained, — to be carried by different members, or by each member; rubbers and old clothes for all.
We laugh and talk, and hammer stone walls, and dig roots and search meadows ; we climb hills, struggle through brambles and find rich reward for our search. We hunt for crabs on the beach and chase butterflies in the field, and drink fresh water from the springs. In short, we have a good time, and study natural history. We carry text-books sometimes, we read in the library at others ; what one learns is common property. If the afternoon of Wednesday is rainy, we spend it in the school-room examining and studying specimens. The town gives us a cabinet, and the scientific society in the neigh- boring city loans us a box of representative insects and other speci- mens of interest.
The society has collected but little except in botany. But every- thing is fish that comes to our nets. We have several crabs in alcohol, star-fish, sand-skippers, a lizard, a frog, shells and sea-weeds, butter- flies and insects, minerals, and some last year's bird's nests — we are too pitiful to take the new ones. The cabinet has had some gifts of minerals and curiosities, and it asks and expects more.
Its members get tired and do not feel like listening to lectures after their long tramp, but they hear patiently a few7 words from their president, and ask and answer many questions. But they have rosy cheeks and broadening chests, and they know there is a world to observe, more clearly than they have ever known it before. They all like it; and, although not so scientifically inclined as born natural- ists would be, answer, we think, every reasonable expectation. If they will learn to observe, compare, and classify, we think it may help them to buy sugar and cotton cloth, coffee and ribbons, when they become merchants ; and likewise to keep these things in order. And wlio knows but that one of our uneasy boys, or meek and gentle girls, may find a life path open from among the hills of our excur- sions?
We could write much more of what we have seen and what we see ahead; of what we have done and what we intend to do. We have not tried to make the whole operation clear in these pages, but to us our experiment looks like a success. We do not think it more par- ticularly suited I'm- trial in High than in Grammar, or even Primary Schools. And we are very sure that in the latter something of the sort might be an invigorating auxiliary to the study of the alphabet, which is the alternate horror with folded arms and stiffened necks, in so many of our primary schools."
Mr. F. W. Putnam said that he had listened with
9
great pleasure to the paper by Mr. Groce, and he con- gratulated the Institute that at last a teacher in our public schools had taken the platform of the Iustitute, and de- clared that, though no naturalist himself, he had become convinced that the judicious teaching of natural history in the schools would do more good to the pupils than some of the studies they now pursue. This being the stand that the Institute has taken for years, it has done all it could to bring about such a feeling on the part of the teachers, but with one or two exceptions the teachers themselves would not be taught, and they consequently did not appreciate the value of the study of nature. He felt confident that the day was not far distant when a teacher, before being considered qualified to take charge of a school would have to convince its committee that he at least was acquainted with the general structure of ani- mals and plants, and the leading principles of mineralogy and geology, as well as with the rules of grammar and algebra, and now that natural history was no longer mainly the learning of the names of objects, the old plea that to study it meant simply to commit a list of names to memory would not hold. The study now consisted in reading the great principles and laws of nature, and though a naturalist was all the better able to study them by being familiar with an immense number of forms, which he must classify and have names for in order to make his knowledge easily known to others, yet it was not necessary for the pupils to know more than a few of the leading and common types and to be taught the gen- eral principles of nature, in order to lay a foundation which, as Mr. Groce had so well said, would be one that, throughout all walks of life, would prove of far greater value than much of the routine instruction now given, if, indeed, the word instruction can be used to express that
10
which is forced into the young mind to-day, to be for- gotten, or put aside as useless, on the morrow.
Mr. Putnam hoped that this was only the commence- ment of a series of similar papers to be brought before the Institute by our teachers, and he assured them that all true naturalists would <nve their aid in bringing about so desirable a result as the proper teaching of natural history in our schools.
Vice President, A. C. Goodell, related some of his experiences at school, and said that these had taught him the importance of knowing things rather than terms ; in other words, that scientific education was the only real learning.
The Secretary, Mr. John Robinson, presented a co - lection of presidential medals of 1860, Lincoln, Bell, Douglass, Breckenridge ; of 1864, Lincoln and McClellan ; and many specimens of the tokens of 1837 to 1841. He gave a very interesting historical notice of the several issues, and spoke of the desirableness and importance of making a complete series of these memorials of the dif- ferent presidential campaigns.
Adjourned.
Regular Meeting, Monday, Jan. 19, 1874.
Meeting this evening at 7.30 o'clock. The President in the chair. Records read.
The Secretary announced the following correspon- dence : —
From P. E. HotohkiBS, New Haven, Conn., Jan. '12; V. B. Hough, Lowville, N. Y.. Jan. r>; Charles i>. Smith, Goshen, N. 7., Jan. 8; William c. Wood, Weaham, Jan. 10; w. II. Yoiunan.s, Colombia, Couu., Jan. 5; Belfast Naturalist's Field Club,
11
Oct. 1G; Soci<?te National des Sciences Naturellcs de Cherbourg, Sept.; Societe" d' Agriculture. Sciences et Arts de la Sarthe, Nov. 27; Literary and Philosophical Society Of Liverpool, Dec. 1 ; New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, Jan. 6; Vale College, New Haven, Jan. 11.
The Librarian reported the following additions : —
By Donation.
Bollks, E. C. Miscellaneous pamphlets, c,.
Brooks, Mrs. H. M. Woman's Journal for 1873.
BUTLER, B. F., of U. 8. H. R. Speech in the U. S. H. R., Jan. 7, 1874, by donor. Speech of Eon. R. B. Elliott in the U. S. II. R., Jan. 6, 1874.
Crosby, A. The Commonwealth for 1873.
IIai.l, E. W., of WatervUle, Me. Historical Discourse at the Fiftieth Anniver- sary of Colby University, Aug. 2, 1870, byJ.T. Champlin. Catalogue of the Colby University, 1873-74. Obituary Record, with Supplement, 1S22-73.
Harris, D. L., of Springfield. Mass. Annual Report of the City Library Asso- ciation of Springfield. May 6, 1873.
National Association of Wool Manufacturers. Bulletin, Oct.-Dcc., 1873.
Richardson, W. A., of Washington, D. C. Annual Report on the State of the Finances to the Forty-Third Congress, 1st Session, Dec. 1, 1873. 1 vol. 8vo.
U. S. Patent Office. Official Gazette, Jan. 6, 13. 1874.
Waters. J. L. Miscellaneous pamphlets, 15.
Wilder. M. P., of Boston. Address of donor at the Annual Meeting of the New England Historic-Genealogical Society, Jan. 7, 1874.
Williams, Mrs. C. F. Miscellaneous Log Books, 31.
By Exchange.
Boston Pitslic Librarv. Bulletin, Jan., 1874.
Harvard College. Forty-eighth Annual Report of the President. 1872-73.
Iowa State Historical Society. The Annals of Iowa, Oct., 1S73.
New Yore Genealogical and Biographical Society. Genealogical and Biographical Record, Jan., 1874.
PUBLISHERS. Forest and Stream. Gloncester Telegrapb. Haverhill Gazette. Ipswich Chronicle. Lawrence American. Lynn Reporter. Lynn Transcript. Medical and Surgical Reporter. Nation. Teobody Press. Salem Observer. Salem Post.
Mr. F. W. Putnam exhibited several rare and inter- esting fishes from the harbors of Marblehead, Salem and Beverly, as follows : —
Cryptacanthodes inornatus Gill. The Ghost-fish. A fine specimen of this very rare species was taken in Mar- blehead harbor by Mr. Tucker of that town, while spear- ing for eels through the ice in December last, and pre- sented to the Peabody Academy of Science by Mr. Wm.
12
Goodwin, 4th, of Marblehead. This species was first described by Dr. Gill from a specimen obtained on the coast of Maine by Dr. Stimpson, and now in the collec- tion of the Smithsonian Institution. Two other speci- mens, a male and a female, are also in the Museum of Comparative Zoology ; one was taken on the coast of Maine, and the other at Swampscott, Mass. The only other specimen known is the one now exhibited.
Liparis linealus Kroyer. Sea Snail. One of the most interesting additions to our county collection of fishes was made by Mr. J. H. Sears in October last, when he found adhering to a root of kelp in about six feet of water near Baker's Island, a fine specimen of the striped variety of this fish. While living, the stripes were red, with lighter lines between. This is the first instance of the capture of the striped variety of this species in our New England waters, though several specimens of the brown and mar- bled variety have been obtained. It is therefore a very important addition to our fauna, as it proves that both varieties occur in our waters, as well as in the northern waters of Europe. As there has been some question as to the Liparis Uneatus being the same as L. vulgaris, I will state that from an examination of a number of specimens from European waters, embracing both vari- eties, and several from our own waters, I have been unable to separate the two forms specifically, and even the markings of the varieties, though so distinct in some specimens, run into each other. The name of "sea snail" was given to this fish by the old writers from its sluggish habits and its soft, slimy body. It never attains a size of more than four or five inches, and is allied to the lump- fish of our waters.
JPlalessa glabra Storer. Smooth Flounder. For a long time this fish was known only from the description and
13
figure of the single specimen obtained in Massachusetts Bay by Dr. Storer, but during the last season it was found in numbers on the coast of Maine by the United States Fish Commission under Prof. Baird, and on re- cently looking over the collection of fishes in the Museum of the Academy, I found several specimens, including a very young one, taken in our harbor, which have been pre- sented to the Academy at various times during the past six years by Mr. Walker, the well known fisherman of this city, who has added so many interesting specimens to our collections.
Mr. Alfred Peabody, one of the pioneers in the Cali- fornia enterprise, read a very interesting paper on the early days and rapid growth of California. After a brief review of the acquisition of the territory and the discovery of the gold fields, he proceeded to the narration of his personal experience. Immediately after the announcement of the discovery, and the knowledge that a large immi- gration from the neighborhood had set in, Mr. Peabody applied to John Bertram, Esq., of Salem, who, with his usual energy, engaged in the enterprise. With five others Capt. Bertram fitted out the barque "Eliza," which sailed from Salem for San Francisco, Dec. 23, 1848, under com- mand of Capt. A. Stamford Perkins, with a cargo of provi- sions, clothing, mining tools, lumber, etc., and a scow for dredging. She took as passengers, Messrs. Alfred Pea- body, who was part owner and supercargo, John Beadle, Jr., Dennis Hideout, Geo. R. Butifum, Geo. W. Kenny, and Jona. Nichols, of Salem, and J. H. Parker, of Boston.
The "Eliza" was the first vessel from Massachusetts fitted expressly for California with such a cargo, although Capt. Eagleston had actually cleared the brig "Mary & Ellen" for the Sandwich Islands via California, and sailed Oct. 28, changing his first destination on account of the
14
fever having set in. The circumstances of the sailing of the "Eliza" were vividly narrated, including the singing of the famous California ditty, with the refrain : —
" Oh ! California ! That's the land for me ! I'm going to Sacramento with m}7 wash-bowl on my knee — "
composed by Mr. Jonathan Nichols, well remembered as a humorist of rare poetical and musical talent.
The "Eliza" arrived at San Francisco, June 1, 1849, after a passage of one hundred and sixty days, landing at a wharf forty feet long, the only one in the place. They afterward took the barque up the river to Sacramento, paying a pilotage of one thousand, seven hundred and twenty-five dollars for one hundred and twenty miles, the feat having been successfully performed in six days by the best pilot upon the river. The vessel was for a long time used as a store house, boarding house, wharf, etc. Mr. Peabody traced the gradual rise and growth of the city, the prevalence of lynch law, the custom which had grown up of disregarding the Sabbath, the gambling places, the rough ways, and the disposition of everybody to do something in the way of work to make money, re- gardless of previous social position.
Mr. Peabody gave some very interesting details re- specting the disposal of the cargo and the prices then prevailing. In one instance the sum of eighty-five dol- lars was paid for a bag of onions (two bushels) which passed through his hands.
Mr. Peabody's knowledge of the development and growth of business was of necessity closely connected with his personal experience in the house of Flint , Tea- body & Co., begun Dec. 1, 1850. The trade was pur- sued with energy, and three vessels, sent out by Capt. Bertram, arrived in the spring of that year. Capt. Per- kins sailed for home in .June, 1850, and was the first to
15
verify the song about returning with "a pocket full of rocks."
At about this time the need of quick passages and clipper ships became apparent. In September, 1850, a contract was made with East Boston parties to build a clipper of eleven hundred tons, and she was built, rigged and fitted so as to sail on Jan. 10 following, with a full cargo. She was one of the Glidden & Williams line, and the freight was one dollar per foot. She was named for Capt. John Bertram, who had manifested so much energy and spirit in this new trade. The croakers said the vessel was "thrown together," and would not last long; but she was sold eighteen years ago and has been running ever since. On the 12th of last month she was in New York, and the captain, her present owner, wrote to a gentleman in this city, asking for a portrait of Capt. Bertram to hang In her cabin. This was the first clipper built for the Cal- ifornia trade; but she was soon followed by the "Witch of the Wave " and four others, averaging fifteen hundred tons each.
In 1853, Messrs. Bertram and others, with Flint, Pea- body & Co., established the ice trade ; but afterwards this article was introduced from Sitka (Russia) at lower cost than from Boston, and so this trade was destroyed.
In June, 1851, a great fire occurred, destroying prop- erty to the amount of four million dollars, and burning out Messrs. Flint, Peabody & Co., who lost heavily, having no insurance.
As illustrating the changes which have taken place in the commerce of San Francisco, the San Francisco alma- nac for 1859 gives a statement of the amount paid as freight to, and the number of tons of cargo carried by, and the vessels consigned to, a single house, Messrs. Flint, Peabody, & Co., agents for Messrs. Glidden & Williams' line between Boston and California, commencing with the
16
arrival of the first ship of that line, the J. Bertram. During six years there were two hundred and seven ships, three hundred and forty-five thousand, three hundred and ninety-eight tons of goods — the amount of freight being $5,965,802.14. In one year, four ships arrived in a single month. In 1859 Messrs. Flint, Peabody & Co. received a full cargo of flour from Boston, six thousand, five hundred barrels, which paid a fair freight. In 1869, during the six months from July to December 31. the shipments from San Francisco of wheat and flour were equal to one million, six hundred thousand barrels. The same year the wool clip of California was fifteen million pounds, all of fine quality. The value and destination of treasure shipped from San Francisco in sixteen years, from 1854 to 1869, are as follows : —
|
Eastern ports, |
$462,088,066 |
|
England, |
167,703,292 |
|
China, |
68,050,250 |
|
Pauama, |
9,053,526 |
|
Other ports, |
17,598,824 |
|
§724,493,958 |
The duties on imports in 1859 were $8,339,384.14. The value of mining stocks sold at the broker's board at San Francisco the same year was thirty millions. During the past year only two ships loaded in Boston for San Francisco.
In 1854 the amount of gold mined had been $15,000,- 000 ; sixteen years later, it had increased to nearly $725,000,000.
In 1859, sixty-five hundred barrels of flour were im- ported into San Francisco from Boston; in 1869, wheat and flour equivalent to one million, six hundred thousand barrels were exported from San Francisco, and in 1873 the wheat crop of California was equal to eight million barrels of flour.
BULLETIN
OF THE
ESSEX IITSTITTJTE.
Vol. 6. Salem, Mass., Feb., 1874. No. 2.
One Dollar a Year in Advance. 10 Cents a Single Copy.
Eegular Meeting, Monday, Jan. 19, 1874.
[ Continued. J
Mr. John Robinson, after expressing his pleasure at the reading of the foregoing paper, moved that the thanks of the Institute be presented to Mr. Peabody, and that a copy be requested for printing in the Publications of the Institute — adopted.
Mr. F. W. Putnam followed, and alluded to the sailing of the barque "Eliza" in 1848, and his presence on the wharf on the interesting occasion, he being then a boy and entering iuto all the enthusiasm of the crowd that had there assembled, and said that he had listened with great interest to the paper by Mr. Peabody, from its bearings on archaeological facts. Here was a case illus- trating the sudden rise of numerous and large towns, embracing extensive works, during his own boyhood, and in less than a quarter of a century many of their well
Essex Ixst. Bulletin. vi 2
18
known and thriving towns and settlements had been deserted and left to decay ; the agencies of nature had been at work, and now the sites of many once extensive mining towns could only be made out by researches simi- lar to those by which prehistoric cities were re-discovered. Such facts should certainly teach us to be careful in our deductions regarding the time required for the rise and fall of more ancient cities.
After remarking on the older and prehistoric races of men that had once inhabited our country, he alluded to the probably more recent Indian race found in New Eng- land at the time of its settlement by our forefathers, and passing in review some of the more ancient relics from the graves of the departed race, he exhibited a small col- lection of articles and two human skulls which he consid- ered as possessing great interest in connecting the past with the present, and as illustrating the transition period in this country, when people of the stone age were brought suddenly face to face with the highest civilized race.
The collection referred to consisted of two well pre- served Indian skulls, two fish spears cut out of bone, quite a number of shell beads, or wampum, a pair of iron scissors very much rusted and corroded, and a brass han- dled pocket knife of very old style. These had all been found in a few Indian graves that had been discovered in digging away a gravel hill at Saugus, on the farm of Joseph Ballard, Esq., who presented them to the Insti- tute. The association of the various articles found in the graves shows that the habit of depositing the choice possessions of the departed with the body in the grave was continued after the Indians had come in contact with the whites.
Mr. Putnam then alluded to tho probably universal
19
custom with uncivilized races, of depositing articles of various kinds in the grave with the body, or of making offerings at the grave, a custom that, more than all others, has enabled us to discover so much in the history of what would otherwise be indeed the lost races of the world ; and he thought that our own tender offerings of flowers, at the graves of our loved and gone, were but a civilized method of expressing the same feeling that induced the savage and barbarian to place with the body the articles that had been cherished while living, or to offer sacrifices at the grave. Though with the savage the cause of the act is to provide for the future and unknown life, while with us it is a tribute to the life that has passed.
The Secretary spoke of the good condition and extent of the continental paper currency in the rooms of the Institute, and mentioned that the exchange of specimens which he was arranging with William S. Vaux, Esq., of Philadelphia, if consummated, would add very materially to its interest and value. He moreover solicited contri- butions to this department of our collections while the same may be found in many of our old houses before being irrevocably lost.
Harriet E. Carlton, Frank N. Chapman, Andrew Fitz, Horace S. Perkins, Octavius B. Shreve, John P. Tilton, all of Salem, and Albert S. Rowell, of Lynn, were elected resident members.
20
Regular Meeting, Monday, Feb. 2, 1874.
Meeting this evening at seven and one-half o'clock. The President in the chair. Records read.
The Secretary announced the following correspon- dence : —
From A. A. Agge, Jan. 22; Mary J. Safford Blake, Boston, Jan. 26; E. P. Boon, New York, Jan. 20; Francis N. Chapman, Jan. 28; Andrew Fitz, Jan. 20; G. L. Gleason, Jan. 20, 29; James J. H. Gregory, Marblehead, Jan. 27; Edward W. Hall, Waterville, Maine, Jan. 24; O.B. Shreve, Jan. 21; A. A. Scott. Sangus, Jan. 28; Walter P. Willett, New York, Jan. 19; Boston Society of Natural History. Jan. 22; Buff.ilo Historical Society, Jan. 20; New York Mercantile Library Associa- tion, Jan. 28; New England Historic-Genealogical Society, Jan. 27.
The Librarian reported the following additions : —
By Donation.
Appleton, Francis H., of Boston. Bulletin of the Bussey Institution, 1874.
Busavell, E. W., of Boston. Transactions of the Mass. Horticultural Society for 1873.
Cutter, Abram E., of Charlestown, Mass. Annual Report of the School Com- mittee of Charlestown for 1873.
FlTTS, James H„ of Topsfleld. Manual of the Congregational Church in West Boylston, by donor. Genealogy of the Fitts or Fitz Family in America, by donor.
Hanaford, P. A., of New Haven, Conn. Historical Sketch of the First Univer- salist Church and Society in New Haven. 1873. Constitution, By-laws and Reg- ister of the First Universalist Church in New Haven. 1874.
Holmes, John C, of Detroit, Mich. Second Annual Report of the Michigan State Pomological Society for 1872. 1 vol. 8vo. Lansing. 1S73.
Packard, A. S., Jr. Our Common Insects, by donor. 1 vol. 12mo. Salem, 187'!. Catalogue ol the Phakenidas of California. No. 2. Boston, 1874.
Seventh-Day Adventist tract Society of New England. The Constitu- tional Amendment, a Discussion. 1 vol. 12mo. Battle Creek, Midi. 1873.
Stevens, Caroline. Sermons at Salem on the Death of Gen. Geo. Washington. 1 vol. 8vo.
Ti OKEB, Jona. The Autobiography of an Octogenarian, by D. N. Prime. 1 vol. 12mo.
Upton1, E. W., of Peabody. The Upton Memorial by John A. Vinton. 1 vol. 8vo. Bath, Me. 1871.
Upton, James. The Upton Memorial, by John A. Vinton. 1 vol. 8vo. Bath. Me. 1874.
U.S. Patent Office. Official Gazette for Jan. 20, 27, 1874.
\\ EBBEB, I'll vs. II. Laws of North Carolina. 1797.
Wheatland, S. G. American state Papers. Svols. 8vo. Adjutant General's Report for 1863, 1864. 2vols.8vo. Railroad Returns, 1864. lvol. 8to. .Manual for the General Court, 1861, 1862, 1887. 8vols.l2mo. Twenty-First Annual Report
of the Board of Eduoation. i vol. 8vo. Salem Directory, 1869. l vol. 12mo. Boston Almanac, 1S.">S. 1 vol. l8mo. .Miscellaneous pamphlets, 206.
21
By Exchawjr.
Boston Public Library. Bulletin of the, for Dec, 18G7, Feb., 18G8, Dec, 18G9. Second and Fourth Annual Reports of the, 1854, 185G.
Extomologischen Yereine zr STETTIN. Entomologische Zeitung. Jahrg 34. 1 vol. Svo. 1st;.
Kongliga Vetenskaps-Societetex zu Ufsala. Nova Acta, Vol. viii. Fasc. ii, 1S73. Bulletin Meteorologique Mensuel, Vol. iv, Nos. 1-12, 1871-72. Vol. v, Nos. 1-6, 1872 73.
Koniglichex Akademie GemeixnCtziger Wissexschaften zu Erfurt. Jahrbucher, Neue Folge, Heft. vii. 1873. 1 vol. 8vo.
Literary and Phtlosophicax Society of Liverpool. Proceedings, No. xxvii. 1872-73. 1 vol. Svo. 1873.
Naturhistoriscuer Yerein per preussisciie.v Kheixlaxde und West- PHALexs in Bonk. Verhandlungeu, Jahrg, 29,30. 3d Folge, ix and x. Bd., 1872-73. 2 vols. Svo.
Naturwissexsciiaftlichen Gesellschaft zu Chemnitz. Vierter Bericht, 1871-72.
New England Historic-Genealogical Society. Proceedings of the, at the Annual Meeting, Jan. 7, 1874.
New York Lyceum of Natural History. Annals, Nos. 6, 7, 8, 9. 1872-1873.
PlIYSIKALISCH-MEDICINISCHE GESELLSCHAFT IN WUKZBURG. VerhandllingeD.
Neue Folge, Bd. iv, Heft. 2-4. 1873. Bd. v, Heft 1, 2, 3, 1873.
Public Library of Indianapolis. Catalogue of the, for 1873. 1 vol. Svo.
Senckenbergischer naturforschende Gesellschaft zu Frankfuri a M. Bericht, 1872-73. 1 vol. Svo.
Societe de Physique etd' Histoire Naturelle, Geneve. M^moires, Tome xxiii. 1 vol. 4to.
Publishers. American Journal of Science. American Naturalist. Forest and Stream. Gardener's Monthly. Gloucester Telegraph. Hardwicke's Science Gossip. Haverhill Gazette. Historical Magazine. Ipswich Chronicle. Lawrence American. Lynn Reporter. Lynn Transcript. Medical and Surgical Reporter. Nation. Nature. Peabody Press. Sailor's Magazine and Seaman's Friend. Salem Post. Salem Observer.
John E. Lyon, of Salem, was elected a resident mem- ber.
Richard A. Proctor, of London, England, was elected a corresponding member.
The Secretary, Mr. John Robinson, stated that the donation of paper money from W. S. Vaux, Esq., of Philadelphia, had been arranged in the collection of the Institute.
He gave a very interesting account of the continental
22
paper currency, and alluded especially to the recent very valuable addition of some one hundred and fifty speci- mens of the currency of the colonies of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, and also of the United States issue. Many of these specimens are very rare and interesting.
Mr. F. W. Putnam gave an account of the Blackfish shot in Salem harbor in October last by Capt. Charles Osgood, and now on exhibition. He also exhibited a stereoscopic view of the animal, and stated that a large photograph was to be taken.
Unless this species proves on comparison to be the European Globiocephalus melas, it will be known under the name of G. intermedins , given it by Dr. Harlan,* who first described the American animal from a specimen cap- tured in our harbor in September, 1823. Dr. Harlan's specimen was sixteen and one-half feet in length, and his description applies to the present specimen, though the figure which he gives is very poor and would mislead in several particulars.
Mr. Putnam then gave an account of the several fam- ilies of cetaceans and the general structure of the order, and stated that while the blackfish was more closely united to the grampus and dolphins than to the large and true whales, yet, in the general acceptance of the term, the blackfish was a whale. He then gave the following notes, taken soon after the specimen was captured.
Head very blunt. A slight protuberance of the upper jaw beyond a line dropped from the top of head, which is slightly rounded. Line of back to the dorsal fin, straight ; posterior to the fin the outline is slightly descending to
♦Journal Academy Nutunil Sciences of Philadelphia, vol. vi, part i, p. 51, pi. 1, 3 (1820).
23
near the tail fin, where it drops suddenly to the base of the fin. The abdominal outline is flat from tip of under jaw to the pectorals, thence slightly bulging for the length of the pectorals, thence ascending to the tail fin. Body rounded ; sides of head and tail compressed. Jaws nearly straight. The teeth in front of jaws had been dropped, leaving but ten teeth on one side of upper jaw and nine on the other, while the under jaw had ten on one side and eight on the other. The teeth small and bluntly pointed. Upper jaw fourteen inches in length ; under thirteen inches. Pectoral fins long, narrow and pointed. Blow hole in centre of top of the head, directly over the eye ; width of the opening three and three- fourths inches.
Eye three and one-half inches distant from angle of mouth, small, one and one-quarter inches long and one- half an inch in transverse diameter. Height of head from tip of upper jaw to top of forehead, one foot. Dis- tance from forehead to blow hole, one foot, seven inches ; from blow hole to base of dorsal fin, two feet, nine and one-half inches ; length of dorsal fin, three feet, one inch ; distance from anterior base of dorsal to its point, meas- ured along the curve of the edge of the fin, two feet, eleven inches ; distance between the same points measured across the fin, two feet, eight inches ; from the point of the fin to its posterior base, measured along its back edge, one foot, four inches, and on a vertical line, one foot. Distance from anterior base of dorsal to base of tail fin, nine feet ; to tip of flukes, eight inches more. Expanse of flukes, three feet, four inches. Distance from tip of under jaw to anterior base of pectoral fin, two feet, two inches ; width of pectoral at base, eleven inches ; at about its anterior third, eleven inches ; length of pectoral, four feet. Distance from tip of under jaw to base of penis,
24
seven feet, six inches ; to anus, nine feet, one inch ; to centre of flukes, fourteen feet, two and one-half inches. Total length measured over the surface of the body, four- teen feet, five inches. Penis slender, six inches long, enclosed in a sheath. Greatest circumference of body at anterior base of dorsal, six feet, eleven inches. Circum- ference at penis five feet, ten inches ; at anus, four feet, eight inches. Distance between pectorals, one foot, two and one-half inches.
Color lustrous black above, lighter on sides, under parts with a broad white band, heart-shaped forwards on the throat, extending backwards, gradually narrowing to the anus.
The stomach contained a number of bones of codfishes and several large pieces of kelp. The intestine meas- ured one hundred and eighty-nine feet in length.
Mr. C. H. Higbee, of the curators on the Arts, reported that arrangements had been made with Prof. Walter Smith, principal of the State Normal Art School in Boston, to deliver a lecture on " Art Studies " at the next meeting of the Institute, arid that several persons had expressed great interest in this object and would aid in sustaining meetings for the discussion of subjects on art matters and contribute to occasional exhibitions of paintings, draw- ings and other specialties in this department, that may be held under the auspices of the Institute.
25
Quarterly Meeting, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 1874.
Meeting this afternoon at three o'elock. The Presi- dent in the chair.
William S. Vaux, of Philadelphia, was elected a corres- ponding member.
After the transaction of the ordinary business of the meeting, adjourned.
Regular Meeting, Monday, Feb. 16, 1874.
The meeting was devoted to a lecture by the Rev. Charles Kingsley, the distinguished canon of Westmin- ster, which was followed by a reception. This was the introductory lecture of the supplementary course of en- tertainments under the auspices of the Institute, and was Mr. Kingsley's first public lecture in America. He was introduced to the audience by Vice President D. B. Hagar, who said : —
Ladies and Gentlemen :
I am sure that it is with no common pleasure that we welcome to our platform, to-night, the distinguished lec- turer. We welcome him not only as one whose works have been read by us with delight, but as our personal friend ; for surely he is a friend to us who has contributed so much to us, and we, from admiring gratitude, certainly are friends of his. I have the honor of introducing to you Charles Kingsley, Canon of Westminster, and Chap- lain in ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen.
Mr. Kingsley, after a few prefatory remarks, pro- ceeded to discourse of Westminster Abbey, from what he
26
termed a puritan and international standpoint. His pres- entation of the subject was masterly, and one soon for- got the peculiar style of delivery in the great thoughts, the glowing periods, and the inspiring earnestness of the speaker.
THE RECEPTION.
At the close of the lecture a reception was given in the rooms of the Institute, where many ladies and gentlemen were assembled to greet and welcome the lecturer. After a period of social intercourse the company were invited to partake of refreshments which were provided in Cas- sell's usual style ; a profusion of flowers from the green- houses of Francis Putnam being conspicuous ornaments gracing the tables. The divine blessing was invoked by Eev. E. S. Atwood, and at the conclusion of the feast, the President of the Institute, Henry Wheatland, ad- dressed the company as follows : —
Ladies and Gentlemen :
We are assembled to welcome the distinguished gentle- man, whose eloquent lecture we have listened to with such pleasure this evening. And it is highly fitting, sir, that Salem should extend to you a cordial welcome — the oldest municipality in the colony of Massachusetts ; set- tled in 1626 by Koger Conant and his companions; the sites of several of their dwellings are passed in going from this place to the railroad stations ; many of their descend- ants are daily in our streets, and some are with us this evening. Several of the sons of Salem have, in the past, as well as recently, had peculiar relations with the mother country. Two instances may bo cited : In 1638 Emman- uel Downing of the Inner Temple, London, came to Salem, and had his residence on this spot ; his son George, a lad of fourteen summers, was fitting, under the
27
tuition of the Rev. John Fisk, for the college, where he graduated in 1642, and is the first on the roll of the Salem alumni of Harvard. Afterwards, he went to Eng- land, entered the service of Cromwell, became his Min- ister to the Hague, which office he retained after the restoration, and, from Charles II, received a baronetcy. Marrying Frances, sister of the first Earl of Carlisle, he became united with "the blood of all the Howards," and consequently took a high position amo'ng the leading fam- ilies of the realm. Two centuries pass ; another son of old Salem, born in that part now within the township of Peabody, goes to London, eugages in business, is emi- nently successful, distributes his money by millions in founding a noble charity in London and institutions in this country for the promotion of education and general information among the people, and has tendered to him by the Queen a baronetcy, which he respectfully declines, preferring to remain an American citizen. After his death, two nations, by their representatives, two state governments, several municipalities and various literary and scientific societies and other institutions, united in doing honor to his memory. A parallel probably cannot be found on the pages of history. His remains for a short time were deposited in your Westminster Abbey, but now rest in yonder cemetery, within the limits of this city, and in the immediate proximity to the place of his birth and all the associations of his, early life.
Notwithstanding, sir, this building and the portraits, books and various relics therein deposited have each a history, and many of the incidents connected therewith have an important historical value, yet the site on which it is erected is not devoid of interest, and is noted not only as the place where Downing lived in early life, but where Prescott first saw the light of day ; and in the
28
immediate vicinity, a few rods in one direction, is the birthplace of Bowditch, and about the same distance in another that of Hawthorne — three brilliant constellations in the fields of history, science and letters.
Aside from these considerations there is one, which cannot be passed over in silence, that should induce us on this occasion to tender to you our most grateful ac- knowledgment, and to express to you the pleasure we all feel in having you as our guest, this evening. The nucleus of the Institute, around which cluster the various departments, as now constituted, was the Natural History Society, organized some forty years since by a few per- sons, some scarcely out of their teens, devoted and humble workers in the cause of natural history, and de- sirous that a taste for its study should be diffused throughout the community, and that a complete record of all the natural productions of this section of our state should be made and printed. Many of these early pio- neers have now passed to the better land ; a few remain — a connecting link between those daj^s of small things and the present. Your writings, having contributed so much to the promotion of those objects which we have so long been striving to accomplish, will always make us your debtor, and for which we cannot cease to extend grateful acknowledgments.
Dr. Wheatland next called up Mayor Cogswell, who said : —
It gives me great pleasure, Mr. President, to unite with you in doing honor to the distinguished guest of this occasion, and in behalf of the inhabitants, and in their name, to bid him welcome to the city of Salem, where he comes not as a stranger, but only to find that here as else-
29
where his fame had long since preceded him. Whether he comes as the peerless divine, the vigorous, gifted and sympathetic author, or, better still, as the man of broad and generous sympathies with all struggling for a higher, better level of humanity, he is alike welcome to our hos- pitality and good cheer. That he has chosen this city in which first to present himself in person to the American public is a matter of congratulation for us, and I feelthat I can assure him a cordial welcome wherever he may go ; and that his experiences in this country may be as agree- able and useful as his recital of them hereafter will be frank and honest is the best wish I can express for him or for you who have come to know him. Again, sir, I bid him welcome to Salem.
Mr. Kingsley replied as follows : —
I thank you and the gentlemen who have just sat down for all your kindness. I will not trespass on you with a long speech. I think you have heard enough of my voice this evening, but I cannot sit down without expressing the conviction which has already ripened, that my stay in America is to be, by the blessing of God, a very pleasant one. I have met with nothing but kindness ever since I touched the shore of this land. My highest desire is to be able to interest such Americans as may listen to what I have to say, and that at some time upon the other side of the water I may meet some of those who have been my kind hosts here, and try to repay in my humble way the obligation under which they have laid me. I do feel it an honor to me that Salem should have been the point at which I made my debut in this new world, and I shall always cherish most grateful recollections of that which has to-night brought me to feel that this is one of the great little spots of the earth. Ladies and gentlemen of
30
Salem, I thank you most heartily for your hospitality, and I wish your city may prosper for many years to come as it has prospered already.
The President of the Massachusetts Senate, Hon. George B. Loring, was next called upon, and made an eloquent response, concluding with the sentiment : —
Hawthorne and Kingsley, the two men of thought, culture and feeling whose duty and privilege it has been to teach Englishmen and Americans that they are of one nationality.
Other interesting addresses were delivered by Vice President F. W. Putnam, Rev. E. C. Bolles, Vice Pres- ident A. C. Goodell, Jr., and Rev. E. S. Atwood, who were successively called upon, and the company separated at a seasonable hour, after an evening of great intellectual and social enjoyment.
After the reception the meeting was adjourned to Fri- day evening, Feb. 27, at 7.30 o'clock.
Adjourned Meeting, Friday, Feb. 27, 1874.
Meeting was held this evening, according to adjourn- ment, at 7.30 o'clock. The President in the chair. Records read.
Henry J. Pratt, Abraham Towle, Nathan P. Cutler, Anna C. Cutler, all of Salem, were elected resident members.
Stephen M. Allen, of Boston, was elected a corres- ponding member.
31
Prof. Walter Smith, of the State Normal Art School, of Boston, occupied the hour of the meeting with some interesting remarks on "Art Studies." The subject was treated under four heads. First, art museums. In this connection he explained their advantages in any city, giving as it would an opportunity to those who have ar- tistic ability to display their own productions, or grati- fying the people by exhibiting the art treasures of the favored few. He advocated the collection of antiquities, as a great desire was expressed by many people to know what had been going on in past ages in that particular line of enquiry. A museum of antiquities not only aided this interest, but enabled one to see the progress of man- ufacture. A picture gallery in connection was of course a most valuable adjunct. Secondly, occasional exhibi- tions of specialties aided very much in awakening a gen- eral interest in this object. Thirdly, a studio, with the requisite facilities, where members can pursue their work under the most favorable advantages. Fourth, lectures and discussions.
Mr. Smith, in the course of his instructive lecture, gave an account of some of the art schools in England, especially of that at South Kensington. He showed the important and intimate connection which exists between art and the great industries of a country, illustrating the subject by a reference to the advance made, of late years, in England, in various departments of labor.
Mr. Smith also alluded to the subject of drawing as a common school study. " He strongly favored the teaching of drawing, as affording a useful preparation for many industrial arts, and as being, therefore, of great practical use.
The lecture afforded much valuable instruction, and was highly appreciated.
32
The President expressed his pleasure in listening to the communication of Mr. Smith, and suggested some plans by which the objects proposed could be accom- plished ere long ; it would require, however, the untiring industry and perseverance of some two or three interested and zealous persons, to produce the desired results. He mentioned that the adjoining estate of the late Col. F. Peabody was for sale, and spoke of the desirableness to obtain the same ; this, in connection with the Plummer Hall estate, would afford a fine site for the erection of suitable buildings for scientific and art museums, libraries, reading and lecture rooms, and for other purposes.
Vice President F. W. Putnam followed, and expressed his interest in this movement. He alluded to the success that had attended the department of Natural History, and considered that a like success would undoubtedly attend the art department if the same labor should be given to the furtherance of that object.
Vice President D. B. Hagar, after some preliminary remarks, moved that the thanks of the Institute be ten- dered to Prof. Smith for the interesting and valuable sug- gestions which he had presented to our consideration this evening on the subject of art studies.
Unanimously adopted.
Mr. Hagar also moved that the subject that had been introduced this evening be continued at the meeting of the Institute on Monday evening, March 16.
Adjourned.
BULLETIN
OK THE
ESSEX UsTSTITUTE.
Vol. 6. Salem, Mass., March, 1874. No. 3.
One Dollar a Year in Advance. 10 Cents a Single Copy.
Regular Meeting, Monday, March 2, 1874.
Meeting this evening at seven and one-half o'clock. The President in the chair. Records read.
The Secretary announced the following correspon- dence : —
From Charles II. Bell, Exeter, N. II., March 2; John Batehelder, Lynn. Feb. 10 Phillips Brooks. Boston, Feb. 16; Charles T. Brooks, Newport. 11. I.. Fob. 14; I) P. Corey, Boston. Feb. 27; W. C. Endicott, Feb. 10; J. II. Fitta, Topsfield, Feb. 5 ( . i- >i-Lre L. Gleason* Manchester, Feb, 2, 7, 9. 2:!; William Graves, Newbnryport Feb. 7; Byron Groce, Peabody, Feb. 19,24; J. C Holmes, Detroit, Mich., Feb. 6 M. L. Huntley, South Lancaster, Feb. 12; Robert Manning, Feb.; J. Munsell Albany, N". Y., Feb. 10; Daniel A. Rogers, Chicago, 111., Feb. 28; N. A. Very, Feb 16; Rose S. Whiting, Boston. Highlands, Feb. (5, 10. 20; Naturforschende Gesell schafl in Emden, Oct. 15; Societe de Physique et D' Histoire Naturelle de Geneve Sept. 15; Society of Antiquaries of London, Feb. 3; Societe des Sciences Natu relies <le Xeuchatel, Oct. 2; New York State Library, Feb. 9; New York Genea logical and Biographical Society, Feb. 14; New York Historical Society, Jan. 20 Societe Royale des Sciences a Upsal, Nov.
The Librarian reported the following additions
History of Lewis County, by F. B. Hough, of the State of New York, by F. B. Hough.
Essex Inst. Bulletin. vi
1 vol. Svo. Albany, 18C0. Gazetteer 1 vol. Svo. 1872. Memories of the 3
34
Death of Washington. 2 vols. 8vo. Siege of Charlestown, 1780. 1 vol. Svo. Siege of Savannah, 1779. 1 vol. Svo. History of the Bills of Credit, by J. II. Hitchcock. 870 pamph.
By Donation.
Appleton, W. S., of Boston. A Rough Sketch of the Appleton Genealogy. 1873
Buswell, E. W., of Boston. Schedule of Prizes offered by the Mass. Horticul tural Society for 1874.
Green, S. A., of Boston. Miscellaneous pamphlets, 15.
Hawkins, Dexter A. Report on Compulsory Education, Dec. 30, 1873.
Hough, F. B., of Lowville, N. Y. Meteorology of Ne-.v York, 1850-18G3. 1 vol. 4to. Transactions of the American Institute, 1853. 1867. 2 vols. Svo. Transac- tions of the New York State Agricultural Society, 1866, 1867. 3 vols. 8vo. Assem- bly Documents, 1843-41. 2 vols. 8vo. Digest of Claims, 1810-1858. 1 vol. 8vo. William's Register, 1834, 1835, 1843. 3 vols. 12mo. Manual for the Legislature of New York, 1854, 1858, 1871. 3 vols. 12mo. Report of the Secretary of State on the Criminal Statistics of New York, 1854, 1857. 2 vols. 8vo. Report of the Canal Commissioners of New York, 1860. 1 vol. Svo. Buffalo City Directory, 1855. 1 vol. 8vo. Miscellaneous pamphlets, 32.
Lee, John C. Commercial Bulletin for Dec. 30, 1873. Jan. 3, 10, 17, 1874.
Northend, W. D. British and American Register for 1774. 1 vol. 16mo.
Perkins, Henry VV. Report of the Commissioners on the Great Fire in Boston. 1 vol. Svo. Boston. 1873.
U. S. Patent Office. Official Gazette for Dec. 23, 30, 1873.
By Exchange.
American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Proceedings of the. Vol. iii. May, 1868-May, 1873. Boston, 1873.
Belfast Naturalist's Field Club. Tenth Annual Report of the, 1872-1873.
Crosse et Fischer. Journal de Conchyliologie, tome xiii. Oct. 1873.
Institut Historique in PARIS. L' In vestigateur 39 An nee. Mai-Juin. 1873.
L' Institut Royal Grand-Duchal de Luxembourg. Publications, tome xiii. 1873. 8vo.
Naturwissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft zu Chemnitz. Bericht, 1871-1872.
New England Historic-Gene ALOGICAL Society. The Historical and Genea- logical Register, Jan.-Mch., 1874.
Societe d' Acclimation in Paris. Bulletin Mensuel, tome x, 2me series, Nos. 6, 7, 8, 9, 1873.
Societe d' Anthropologie in Paris. Bulletins., tomes vii, viii, 1872-73. 2 vols. 8vo.
Societe Nationale des Sciences Naturelles in Cherbourg. Memoires, tome vii, 1873. 1 vol. 8vo. Catalogue de la Bibliotheqne. Dec. 31, 1878.
Pi BLI8HER8. American Naturalist. Forest and Stream, (iardener's Monthly. Gloucester Telegraph. Hardwick's Science Gossip. Haverhill Gazette. Histori- cal Magazine. I pswich Chronicle. Lawrence American. Lynn Reporter. Lynn Transcript. Medical and Surgical Reporter. Nation. Nature. lValmdy Press. Salem Post. Salem Observer. Silliman's Journal. The Commonwealth.
Adelaide M. Putnam, S. Elizabeth Hunt and Mary E. West, all of Salem, were duly elected resident members.
35
The Secretary, Mr. John Robinson, exhibited two finely grown plants from Mr. David M. Balch, the Ama- ryllis venusta, having ten flowers on three flower stalks from one bulb ; and the Imantqphyllum miniatum twelve flowers on one stalk ; also a forced Trillium grandiflorum which had flowered twice from each bulb.
The paper of the evening was communicated by Hon. James Kimball, consisting of notes from the diary of his grandfather, William Russell, prior to and chiefly during the time he was confined in Mill Prison, England, in the war of the Revolution. The extracts read were very interesting, and embodied a vast amount of infor- mation relative to the character and condition of the prison, the treatment of the prisoners, when and where captured, their places of residence, previous occupation, etc.
After the reading, remarks were made by several per- sons, a vote of thanks passed, and a copy was requested for the publications of the Institute.
The paper is a valuable contribution to the history of the period of the revolution, and will be printed in the twelfth volume of the "Historical Collections of the In- stitute."
Adjourned.
36
Regular Meeting, Monday, Maech 16, 1874.
Meeting this evening at 7.30 o'clock. The President in the chair. Records read.
The Secretary announced the following correspon- dence : —
From Stephen M. Allen, Boston, March 3; Edwin Bicknell, Cambridge, March 2; E. P. Boon, New York, March 5; Nehemiah Cleaveland, Westport, Conn., March 9; A. C. Goodell, Jr., March 5; Daniel A.Rogers, Chicago, 111.. March 7; J. Sabin & Sons, New York, March; Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society, Feb. 26.
The Librarian reported the following additions : —
By Donation.
Baker, Dr. H. B., of Lansing, Mich. First, Second, Third and Fourth Regis- tration Report of Michigan, 1867-8, 18G9, 1S70. 3 vols. 12nio.
Cross, H. J. Genealogy of the Wells Family, of Wells, Me. Milwaukee. 1874.
Cutter, Abram E., of Charlestown, Mass. Annual Report of the School Com- mittee for 1873. Address of Jona. Stone to the City Council, Jan. G, 187.!. Fare- well Sermon by Charles E. Grinnell, Dec. 28, 1873.
Forbes, It. B. Lifeboats, Projectiles, and other Means for Saving Life. By donor. 1872.
George, W. S., of Lansing, Mich. Directory of Lansing for 1873. 1 vol. 8vo. Directory of Saginaw Valley for 1874. 1 vol. 8vo. Journal of the Proceedings of the Convention of Delegates of the .Stale of Michigan. Sept. 26, 183G.
Green, S. A., of Boston. Miscellaneous pamphlets, 28.
Kimball, James. Journal and Documents of the Valuation Committee, 1860. 1 vol. 8vo. Annual Report of the Board of State Charities, 18G5. 1 vol. 8vo. Agriculture of Massachusetts, 1856. 1 vol. 8vo. Miscellaneous pamphlets, 7.
Mack, Esther C. Dwight's Journal of Music. 4to. 20 volumes in 10. Boston.
Osgood, Alfred, of Newburyport, Mass. Annual Report of the School Com- mittee of Newburyport for 1873. Eighteenth Annual Report of the Directors of the Public Library of Newburyport. 1873. The Mayor's Address and the Treas- urer's Annual Report, etc. 1873.
IT i nam, GEO. G. American Almanac for 18:50, 1S32. 2 vols.l2mo.
Smith, Nath'l, Pembroke. Annual Report of the School Committee of the Town of Pembroke for 1873-74.
STONE, E. M., of Providence, R. I. Thirty-Second Annual Report of the Min- istry at Large. Feb. 1, ls71.
Stone, Mart O. The Nation. 52nos.
si i ion, \V\, 1'eabody. Records of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in New England, 1784-1792. l vol. 8vo.
Tutiiill, P. EL, Kalamazoo, Mich. History and Directory of Kalamazoo for 1889-70. 2 vols. 8vo.
37
U. S. NAVAL OBBEBVATORT ok Washington, D. C. Astronomical and Meteor- ological Observations for 1971. l vol. 4to. Washington, 1873.
U. S. PA i in i < »kfice of Washington. D. C. Official Gazette for Feb. 17, 1874.
WH3TIHG, U.S., Boston. Memoir of Rev. Samuel Whiting, D.D. ByW.G. Whiting. lvol.Svo. Boston, 1873.
By Exchange.
American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia. Proceedings of, June- Dec 1>7:;. No. m. 8vopamph.
l'i BLI8HERS. American Naturalist. Forest and Stream. Gardener's Montlily. Gloucester Telegraph. Haverhill Gazette. Ipswich Chronicle. Lawrence Amer- ican. Lynn Reporter. Lynn Transcript. Medical and Surgical Reporter. Nation. Nature. Feabody Press. Salem Observer. Salem City Post. Silli- man's Journal.
William W. Kellett of Peabody was duly elected a res- ident member.
Agreeably to the suggestion offered at the meeting on Feb. 27th, the evening was devoted to the discussion of subjects relating to art.
Mr. George M. White gave a description of the trious follows
various modes of engraving — an abstract of his remarks
COPPER-PLATE ENGRAVING.
The art of engraving on copper and taking impressions from the engraved plates, is ascribed to a native of Flor- ence, named Finiguerra, who flourished in the fifteenth century. He was a successful workman in an art then largely practised, namely, the engraving of church orna- ments, vases, sword-blades, and other articles, and tilling the engraved lines with a black composition of silver and lead. This was called working in niello, and had a very fine effect. One day Finiguerra wished to try the effect of an engraving he had been working upon, and for that purpose cast some melted sulphur into the hollows of the lines ; on removing the sulphur he noticed that some dust and charcoal which had gathered in the engraved portion
38
of the plate gave an impression of his design. After this he tried the effect of moistened paper pressed down on the engraving with a roller, and met with complete suc- cess. For some time he used the discovery to make copies of his designs. Finally other engravers and gold- smiths penetrated his secret, and soon the important dis- covery was widely diffused.
Copper and steel-plate engraving, as now practised, is subdivided into five branches, viz., line, stipple, mezzo- tint, aquatint and etching. Pure line engraving is one of the most difficult and tedious methods used for the pur- pose of illustration, and has given place, of late years, to more expeditious and less costly modes of work. A plate of copper or steel, the latter metal being preferred on account of its greater durability, comes from the man- ufacturer ready for the engraver's use. The plates are prepared with a perfectly sound texture and even grain throughout, and the surface is perfectly smooth and very highly polished. For copper plates the price asked is about twenty-five cents per square inch, so that the first cost of the plate alone is sometimes a considerable amount. The engraver, having received the plate ready for use, must trausfer to it a careful outline of the picture he proposes to engrave. To this end, the plate is first heated until it attains a sufficient uniform heat to melt white wax, a piece of which is rubbed over it, and allowed to spread in a thin layer till the whole surface is equally covered, after which the plate is left in a horizontal posi- tion, until the wax is cold. In the interval a careful tracing of the original design is made with black load pencil upon thin tracing paper, and this is afterwards spread over the surface of the waxed plate, with the lead lines in contact with it, and of course reversed. The tracing being secured in this position, heavy pressure is
39
applied, which transfers the lead lines from the paper to the wax. The engraver now takes a fine steel point, and (the tracing paper being removed) goes over the subject lightly, so as to penetrate the wax, and touch the steel- plate. By this means a perfect and delicate outline is drawn upon the plate, and, the wax being melted off, the subject is ready to be proceeded with, and finished. The instrument used in line engraving is called the (/raver, or burin, and is made of highly tempered steel, ending in an unequal sized pyramidal point. This instrument is held in the hand at a small inclination to the plane of the copper, and is pushed forward in the direction required to cut the lines on the plate. As the burin cuts the line it raises on each side a ridge of metal, technically known as the bur. To remove this, the engraver has recourse to the scraper, a triangular instrument of steel about six inches long, and having the angles ground down to sharp cutting edires. After removing the bur he uses a third instrument, also of steel, called the burnisher, to soften down the lines, and remove accidental scratches from the plate. There are few mechanical inventions used in line engraving, for the engraver depends upon the burin only for his effects, and by the different depths, lengths, or widths of line he produces all the various lights or shades of the original picture. There are inventions, however, to lighten the labor of the line engraver, and where a series of parallel lines are wanted, in architec- tural subjects, or in skies, a ruling machine is substituted. Those engravers who work for reputation seldom employ these artificial helps, and the older engravers never used them, for they were not then invented.
Next to line engraving comes engraving in stipple, which is nearly as difficult as the first named art. It is used in representing the flesh in portraits, for delicate
40
transitions of light and shade, and for drapery, or in textile fabrics, such as silk, satin, or laces. In stipple engraving the effect is produced by the cutting of small dots, the shadows being made by increasing the number and size of the dots. This process is often combined with line engraving. Sometimes a small mallet is used to strike lightly upon the plate, and beat down the im- pressions to the right depth, producing the same effect as the use of the burnisher in line engraving.
Mezzotint engraving is a more recent invention than line, and the process is entirely different. A mezzotint plate prepared for a design presents a surface entirely roughened by minute indentations in the metal, and by a bur raised by the tool with which they are made. To lay a mezzotint ground the engraver uses an instrument called the cradle, a piece of properly tempered steel, with a spherical face cut into sharp points, and fitted to a handle, by which the pointed face is worked over the sur- face of the plate until the needed bur is obtained. A proof taken from the plate in this state would present an intensely black tint ; if the slightest portion of the ground be scraped off it would be marked in the proof by a lighter tint, a pure white only being obtained by entirely removing the ground and burnishing the metal. The work of the artist, therefore, consists in availing himself of the nature of the ground to scrape out his picture from black to white, which is effeeted by lancet-shaped scrapers and burnishers of various forms and sizes. To prevent accidental encroachment upon portions of the ground desired to be kept black, the engraver touches such parts with a brush tilled with asphaltum or india ink, removing it again when the work is sufficiently advanced to allow of it.
A plate for aquatint engraving is prepared by pouring
41
a solution of Burgundy pitch, or mastic made in alcohol, over the plate; the solution, when evaporated, leaves a granulated ground. A proof from a plate so prepared and subjected to the action of acid, would present under a lens the appearance of an elaborate network of lines. As the plate may have been more or less subjected to the action of the acid, these lines will be more or less deep and broad, and producing tints, in printing, from the faintest stain or wash of india ink, to black. To arrest the action of the acid at the proper moment, so as to secure certain gradations of tint by means of "stopping out" with an acid resisting varnish, and at the same time to give these tints their proper form, comprises the motive and effective application of aquatint.
Etching is peculiarly a painter's art, requiring less technical knowledge and more artistic capacity in the practioner than any other branch of engraving. A plate is prepared for etching by rubbing the burnished surface with willow charcoal and water. The charcoal leaves an infinite number of tine lines' or scratches in the plate, which show the same appearance in the proof as a deli- cate wash of india ink, and serve to tone down the obtru- sive whiteness of the paper. After using charcoal the plate is heated to a temperature sufficient to melt a com- position of white wax, Burgundy pitch and asphaltum, technically called the etching ground, which is rubbed over the plate in a thin, even coat and allowed to harden. The ground is then smoked to a dull, deep black, over the flame of a wax taper. The artist now prepares his design on thin paper, tracing the outline with soft red chalk ; he then places the design face to the smoked surface of the plate, and again traces the outline of the subject with a sharp point of ivory or wood, and on removing the paper the chalk lines are transferred to the wax ground, re-
42
versed. An instrument is now used called the etching needle, to score the lines through the wax and lay bare the surface of the copper. The pressure used is just sufficient to remove the etching ground and slightly scratch the surface of the metal beneath. The artist works stroke by stroke, much the same as when drawing with a pen, only in this case every mark shows white on a black ground, just the reverse of pen drawing, and the deepest shades show as patches of white. After the draw- ing is completed the back of the plate is covered with a varnish and immersed in a bath composed of equal parts of nitric acid and water, the copper is attacked in those parts laid bare by the etching needle, and after a sufficient depth of line is obtained for the lightest parts, those portions are stopped out with varnish, and the plate is ajrain bitten until the darkest shades are obtained.
To print well from copper or steel plates requires great care. The press used consists of two great rollers, between which travels a solid flat plate, called the bed, on which rests the plate. The copper-plate is first heated until it is as hot as the hand can bear, then it is inked all over with a clabber and some force is used to drive the ink well into the lines ; next the whole of the superfluous ink is removed with a coarse muslin rag, and the palm of the hand, and the copper margin of the plate cleansed very carefully with whitening ; having marked the place of the plate on a sheet of zinc, the printer lays it on the zinc in its measured place, and over it spreads a sheet of damp paper ; over this he places a number of thicknesses of cloth, and the whole is forced between the rollers of the press ; the pressure forces the paper into the lines of the engraving, and, removing the ink, produces the pic- ture. Usually the first hundred impressions of a choice engraving are printed upon india paper, and are some-
43
times signed with the name of the artist ; in this case they are called "autograph proofs," and are much more costly than an ordinary impression. After the artist proofs are printed it is customary to cut the artist's name in the right hand lower corner of the plate, while the engraver's name occupies the left hand portion, bringing them, of course, in just the opposite position in the printed proof; then another series of proofs are struck off, and called "proofs before the letter." Finally the title of the plate is engraved, and then the ordinary series of the plate is printed.
Mr. James Kimball communicated a paper on the "Journal of Eev. Daniel Shute, D.D., chaplain in the expedition to Canada in 1758."
Referred to the committee on publications.
Vice President F. W. Putnam spoke of the Agassiz Memorial Fund, and urged the necessity of aiding, even if in a small way, the promotion of its objects.
The subject was referred to the curators of the Depart- ment of Natural History.
Vice President Putnam presented the following paper :
NOTES ON THE MAMMALS OF PORTIONS OF KANSAS, COLORADO, WYOMING AND UTAH.
BY J. A. ALLEN.
The following incomplete lists of the mammals of four quite widely separated localities in the Middle Province of North America are based on observations made by the writer while on a recent collecting tour to the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, for the Cambridge Museum of Comparative Zoology. Meeting everywhere with intel- ligent hunters, some of whom had spent many ye^rs in the vicinity of the localities I visited, I was able to obtain from them much val-
44
uable information in respect to the occurrence and relative abundance of the larger species, testing of course the accuracy of their accounts by the independent observations and reports of different observers, and by my own experience and general knowledge of the subject. Respecting some of the smaller rodents, and the insect Lvores gener- ally, I could obtain no satisfactory information, and they are conse- quently omitted from the lists.
Every naturalist is of course aware of the difficulties that one meets with in seeking to learn something of the mammalian fauna of a locality, and how inadequate a few weeks' reconnoissance is for its satisfactory exploration. Owing to the nocturnal habits of some species and the reclusiveness of others, only a comparatively small proportion of the whole are readily observed or obtained, patience and strategy and much time being requisite for the discovery and cap- ture of the others. While a few weeks of diligent collecting may be sufficient to afford one a tolerable idea of the character and variety of the bird life occurring at a particular season at a given locality, many months are necessary to give one an equal familiarity with its mam- malian life. On the other hand, one can learn at second hand much more respecting mammals than birds, the species of the former being so much fewer and in the main so diverse with each other, but more especially because all the larger mammals are objects of special in- terest to the hunter and trapper, either for their furs, their flesh, or as enemies, and whose pursuit is attractive and meritorious in pro- portion to its dangers and difficulties. Hence not only is the travel- ling naturalist compelled to consult those skilled in woodcraft for much information he has not time himself otherwise to obtain, but he can do so with a certainty of results attainable in respect to scarcely any other class of animals.
The collection of mammals obtained on this expedition contains much valuable material for special investigation, including, as it does, large series of skeletons of nearly all the ruminants and of sev- eral of the rodents and carnivores. As the results obtained by the examination of this and other collections of the mammals of the West arc reserved for a series of special papers already in preparation (in- cluding monographic revisions of the families Leporida and Sciuridce), it has not, been deemed advisable to make the following lists in any degree revisionary, the nomenclature adopted being essentially that of the author's previous papers.
45
TAUT I.
On the Mammals of Middle and Western Kansas.
The observations which serve as the basis of the following list were made chiefly in the vicinity of Fort Hays. Kansas, in the summer of 1871, supplemented, however, by others made during two weeks spent in the field in northwestern Kansas during the following win- ter. All the larger and more common species are probably duly chronicled, while not a few of the rarer or more obscure species es- caped notice, as I am unable to include in the list a single insectivore. The general character of the locality has been already indicated.*
Feiidh,
1. li.yiox rsifais. " Wild Cat." Bay Lynx. Rather frequent. Occasionally met with on the prairies remote from timber.
2. Canis lugms. Gray Wolf. "Buffalo Wolf." Formerly very abundant, but during the last few years their numbers have greatly diminished, thousands having been killed for their skins every winter by means of strychnine. Comparatively few now remain.
3. Canis S*af rails. Prairie Wolf. "Coyote." Still quite common, but far less so than they were a few years ago. While their dismal cries are still familiar sounds on the plains of the western part of the state, especially in winter, hunters with their destructive poisons have reduced their numbers till comparatively few remain.
4-. Vilifies vclox. Kit Fox. " Swift." These graceful little animals are still moi*e or less abundant.
ISassariiia:.
». ISassaris astnta. Texas Civet Cat. Of occasional oc- currence. Although I did not meet with it, an animal was described to me by different persons that so accurately agrees with the Texas civet cat that I have no doubt of its being this species. It is appar- ently rather rare, however, as none of my informants had seen more than two or three individuals in the region under consideration. The northern boundary of Kansas probably forms its ordinary northern limit of distribution on the plains.
*See Bull. Mob. Com. Zool., vol. iii, pp. 122, 123. July, 1S72.
46
O. MepIlitiS mepllitica. Common Skunk. Abundant. One of the most common of the smaller mammalia. The few speci- mens I had an opportunity of examining presented the usual wide differences of color seen in those from other parts of the country.
7. IiUtra Canadensis. American Otter. Occasional along the streams.
8. Taxidea Americana. Badger. Not frequent. Other species of this family that probably occur here are Putorius
ermineus, P. pusillus, P. hdrcolus and Mephitis bicolor.
lTBSID,K.
©. Ursus arctos, var. Aiuciicanus. Black Bear. Said to be more or less common along the streams. We observed its tracks in June along the Saliue.
I^JlOCYOUriOvE.
1©. Procyon lotor. Raccoon. Common along the streams, where we frequently observed its tracks.
BOTIDJI.
11. Bison Auierieanus. American Bison. "Buffalo."
Abundant.
The great '"buffalo country" of the United States is now mainly restrie'ed to Western Kansas and Eastern Colorado, between the Arkansas and Platte Rivers, — a region extendiug about two hundred miles in a north and south direction and nearly three hundred miles in an easterly and westerly direction, over much of which territory they still range in countless hordes. They are, however, partially migratory, moving eastward in summer and westward in winter. In the northern part of the state their summer range, in 1871, extended eastward from the western boundary of the state to the vicinity of Fort Harker. In winter their eastern limit scarcely extended east of Ellis, on the Kansas Pacific Railway, while they ranged westward into Eastern Colorado. These movements of the buffalo are evidently in- fluenced by the climate, the prairies of Kansas west of Ellis being rarely long covered by snow, while to the eastward of this point the snow is much more constant, and the country hence much less favor- able for the existence of the buffalo there in winter than it is more to the uesi ward. Every year, however, their range is becoming more cir- cumscribed, owing to the rapid reduction of their numbers by hunters, and, in consequence also of constant persecution, their movements are
47
much more uncertain than formerly. Although the number of buffalo to be met with in this portion of Kansas is still almost beyond con- ception, the country sometimes seeming alive with them as far as the eye can reach, their diminution is rapid, and at the present rate of destruction a few years will suffice to exterminate them wholly. Since the completion of the Kansas Pacific Railway, some four years since, this line of communication with the east lias not only opened up an unlimited demand for the products of the buffalo, but has af- forded to the hunters a most convenient base from which to carry on their operations. The result is already apparent in the diminished and demoralized state of the herds in northwestern Kansas, which already so much affects the success of the hunters that they have of late in great part abandoned this portion of the country for the more promising field newly opened up to them along the line of the Atchisou, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad.
Aside from the tens of thousands killed in winter for shipment in a frozen state to the eastern markets, other thousands are killed merely for their hides, which scarcely repay the labor of gathering, their car- casses being left to decay on the ground where they are killed. Hun- dreds, and probably thousands, are also killed in mere wantonness, or to gratify the ambition of eastern sportsmen and tourists. The buffalos are thus perpetually harassed, and driven from place to place throughout the year. All ages are alike destroyed, those too old to be of any value for their flesh being slaughtered for their hides, and the younger animals for their "saddles." The younger animals, and par- ticularly the young cows, are especially sought for their meat. The latter being mostly with young, two animals are thus destroyed instead of one, which, with the destruction of yearlings and two- and three- year-olds, greatly checks the natural increase of the herds, and greatly hastens their extermination. Unless vigorous government interfer- ence shall put a check upon this wholesale, shortsighted slaughter, much of which is really heedless, the buffalo will soon be known here only as a thing of the past, as it now is in the vast region east of the Mississippi, where this animal once lived in countless numbers.
Respecting the whole number now annually killed in Kansas, it is almost impossible to obtain reliable statistics. Through the kindness of Mr. W. T. Bowcu, General Superintendent of the Kansas Pacific Railway, I have learned that the meat and hides shipped to eastern cities over this road during the year 1871 represented about twenty thousand individuals. In the fall of 1872 forty-three thousand hides are reported to have been shipped from Fort Dodge alone, besides about a million and a half pounds of meat. The grand total killed in the season of 1872-3, in the immediate vicinity of Fort Dodge, is stated to be not less than one hundred thousand!
48
AXTIEOCAMIIDJE.
13. Antiloc<l2>rsi Asuericiaim. Pronghorn. "Antelope.* Common in summer as far east as the middle of the state, and for- merly ranged much further eastward. Not observed in winter much to the eastward of the Colorado boundary, at this season they mostly abandoning this portion of the state for the milder portions of the country to the southward and westward. We observed them in June about Fort Hays in small parties of six to a dozen. They were, how- ever, exceedingly wary and difficult to approach. Fawns a few days old were frequently brought in to the Post during the first two weeks of June, but they usually soon died, even under the most careful treatment. The fawns, even when but a few days old, were often more wary and even fleeter than their dams, frequently taking flight first and leading the herd.
The fawns, when lakeu very young and without injury, are easily reared, and become thoroughly domesticated, making very graceful and interesting pets. The Indian method of capturing them by creep- ing up to them stealthily when they are asleep and throwing a blan- ket over them is the most successful, as they are then taken without experiencing an excessive shock of fright or bodily injury. When run down with horses, the common way of taking them, they gener- ally die in three or four weeks, from the effects of the chase and the fright, not more than one in eight or ten, it is said, surviving.
Although tolerably frequent in northwestern Kansas in summer, they are far less numerous here than in eastern Colorado, or on the plains of southern Wyoming. .
CJE It V !!>.«.
13. C^rvus C»il««l«'iiMis. Elk. More or less common near the streams, especially on Paradise Creek, and occurs as tar east at least as Fort Harker.
11. Cerviis miicrotis. Mule Deer. "Blacktail." More or less common along the wooded portions of the streams, especially on the Smoky and the Paradise.
Venp i: h t t i.io> ■ i» /E.
Bats were frequently observed Hying about at Fort Hays, but as none were obtained the species were not determined.
.73 I II* II» K.
15. 7IilA iiliiK«'lilu*. Common Mouse. Common in the houses at Hays City.
49
1©. 7Ius lleoiliiiailllK. Brown Rat. Abundant, and a great pest about the governmenl storehouses at Fort Hays.
IT. 11omi»i>i*«imj'M fli'iaeoim*, var. MeiKOi'ionsis (Coues MS). Whitefooted Mouse. A single specimen was picked up dead in the yard at our quarters at Fort Hays. Probably more or less common. (Also obtained at Cheyenne.)
IS. Xeotonia Cinerea. Wood Rat. Apparently common along the timbered portions of the streams. A complete skeleton was found on the banks of Big Creek, near Fort Hays.
lO. Mber zibetliicus. Muskrat Occasional along the streams.
CrEOKITIDJ!.
2©. Oeoiiiys f A gopher (some species of Geomys or Thom- omys) was more or less common in the moist bottom lands near the streams, but none were captured.
Castohukx.
21. Castor filler. Beaver. Still quite frequent along the timbered portions of the streams.
22. Scilll'US ciliefl'OUS, var. !K,ii<loviciailliS. Western Fox Squirrel. Said to be common on some of the wooded streams, but we did not meet with it.
2:*. fts»ca*moi>»iliis tridecem-lineatus. Striped Prai- rie Squirrel. More or less common generally, but most numerous near the streams and damp hollows.
2-4. Cynoniys laMlovifiaims. Prairie Dog. Exceedingly abundant, their villages frequently covering areas of several square miles in extent, and embracing hundreds of families. Occasionally a few pairs of burrowing owls (Speotyto cunicularia, var. hypogoea) in- habited the "dog-towns." 'Rattlesnakes are occasional, and in one or two instances were seen in holes about the mouths of which were fresh tracks of the dogs. The theory that these three animals, the dogs, the snakes and the owls, inhabit the same hole at the same time, receives little credit among people thoroughly conversant with their habits, and the idea that they live harmoniously together as " happy families " finds still fewer supporters. The owls appear to occupy only the abandoned holes, and probably never habitually live in the same holes with the dogs. The owls are far from abundant, as often several large villages may be passed in a day's ride without meet- ing with a single owl. The owls may, to some extent, prey upon the
Essex Inst. Bulletin. vi 4
50
young dogs, but the stomachs of those dissected were almost invari- ably filled with grasshoppers, and the debris found about their holes indicated that these and other insects, with a large kind of crawfish, constitute at this season of the year their chief food. That the rattle- snakes prey upon the dogs is sufficiently established by the frequent capture of the snakes with young dogs in their stomachs. I have my- self taken three young dogs from the stomach of a single snake. The entrances to most of the holes in which the snakes were seen were worn smooth by the friction of the snake's body in passing in and out, they apparently appropriating certain holes which they occupy permanently; but they doubtless enter holes occupied by the dogs. When this occurs the dogs not only immediately abandon the holes, but are said to fill them up, and thus fasten the snake in. It certaiuly happens that the dogs do thus frequently abandon and solidly fill the entrances to their burrows, as I have myself observed, and I do not doubt that what the old "plainsmen" thus affirm is correct.
The dogs usually select a level tract for the site of their towns, and seem to a great extent to avoid the ridges and the more broken parts of the country. In regard to their habits, or voice, there is little or nothing to suggest the name of "dog," as of course there is nothing in their structure to imply such affinities as the name "Prairie Dog" might be supposed to indicate. They are simply large ground squirrels or marmots, and their voice is quite like the so-called bark- ing of various kinds of Sciurus, varied at times with a shrill whistle, not unlike that of some of the true marmots. We found them gen- erally exceedingly shy, retreating to their holes almost invariably long before the intruder gets within sure rifle range, whether ou foot, mounted, or in a wagon. They behaved differently, however, on dif- ferent days and at different localities, sometimes permitting a near approach. They usually scamper to their holes at the first approach of danger, but as soon as they reach them they seem conscious of safety. From the entrance of their burrows they will salute the object of their alarm, at times almost incessantly, with their Imperti- nent, squirrel-like bark, either seated upright on their haunches, or stretched at full length across the opening. Their combined air of Confidence and impudence is at such times often highly amusing; and, thus sure of a hasty retreat from danger, they will often allow a person to approach within a few yards of them, but if approached too closely suddenly drop Into their holes, from which their subdued, twittering, half whistling bark can be faintly heard after they have disappeared. Being excessively tenacious of life, they are difficult to procure, because even if mortally wounded they almost invariably fall into their holes. If shot through the head, or through the heart, unless knocked backwards away from their holes (which not often hap-
51
pens) they are then rarely obtainable, and even when thus knocked over by the force of the missile, they will often wriggle into their holes before they can be secured. Their holes usually descending nearly vertically for several feet, they commonly slip down out of reach, though killed instantly. Occasionally, however, the holes slope sufficiently to allow them to lodge a few feet from the entrance, when they may be reached by means of a common gun-rod, and drawn out by twisting the wormer of the rod into their tough hides. In this way .Mr. Bennett and myself one day secured seven in the space of a couple of hours at Fort Hays, though we had been many times assured it would be impossible to get them by shooting them. But this was unusual success, as ordinarily not more than one in six of those killed could be secured.
The prairie dogs are easily tamed, and make amusing, though at times rather mischievous, pets. A variety of food seems to please their palates, and whenever they can get at some delicacy in the pantry or storehouse they are sure to carry away large quantities. They also have a propensity to carry away articles for which they have no use. The mode of capturing them is usually to "drown them out"' by filling their holes with water. This method is always labo- rious, requiring often many barrels of water, which has to be trans- ported with teams, and is not always successful, owing to the exten- sive ramifications or intercommunication of their burrows. Occa- sionally advantage is taken of temporary pools of water left standing after heavy rains, the water being conducted into the holes by means of trenches. A more effective and ingenious way, however, has of late been adopted. This consists in placing a barrel, from which both heads have been removed, over the entrance of an inhabited burrow, and partially filling it with straw. When the animal comes out he burrows up through the straw, which he unwittingly presses so compactly behind him that he cannot descend through it, and thus remains a prisoner in the barrel above the straw.
A gentleman whom we met at Cheyenne, by carefully studying the habits of the prairie-dog, had discovered a method of capturing these animals alive by the use of water with comparatively little trouble. Their burrows usually have two entrances, one of which descends almost vertically and the other by a considerable slope. Often a single bucket of water poured suddenly into the vertical end of the hole, causes the animal to rush out in great surprise at the other entrance, where it is captured in a bag held over the hole. When the railroad first reached Cheyenne, and for some time after, these animals were in great demand by the passengers as objects of curi- osity, and sold readily for ten dollars a pair. The prairie dogs being very numerous on the plains about Cheyenne, the gentleman in qucs-
52
tion soon realized quite a large sum from the sale of these little animals, which he captured in the manner above described.
Many of the burrows of prairie dogs have a raised, funnel-shaped entrance, varying in height from a few inches to a foot or more. These have been called their "forts," and the dog sitting in the en- trance defiantly barking has been compared to a sentinel on guard. The object, however, of these raised entrances is sufficiently obvi- ous, these embankments being formed to keep out the water, which in violent rains soon covers the whole surface of the ground. Often the holes are situated in very slight depressions, and would hence be filled by the drainage into them, were they not thus protected; and under these circumstances the embankments are generally higher than when the holes are in this respect more favorably situated. They are formed of earth scraped up from the surface outside the hole, and are symmetrical in shape, very hard and smooth. These embankments, or "forts," are seen in greatest perfection when the site of the " vil- lage" is on low or very flat land; they are always kept in excellent re- pair as long as the burrows are inhabited. In the excavation of their holes the earth is all disposed of without bringing it to the surface.
In winter, during fine weather, the prairie dog villages present as active and populous an appearance as in summer, the do^s only retir- ing for a few days at a time during the continuance of the severest weather.
Htstricidd.
25. EretlBBZWii (loj'.tatus, var. 4>l»izantlD3is. Porcupine. A few are reported still to occur on the Paradise. Formerly more or less frequent ou all the wooded streams.
XjEPORIDJE.
52<». JLoimi* N.TlvifitacitKi. Gray Rabbit. Abundant, not only near the streams but quite distant from timber. Many were seen about the military post at Fort Hays, making their homes in the piles of wood in the woodyard at the post.
2?. JLejUIS <*«UBI]><kNtri!ti. Prairie Hare. A few seen in sum- mer on the plains north of Fort Hays, and in winter from the western border of the state as far east as Bunker Hill station. They were quite often met witli ill December and January near the northwestern border of the state. About half of those obtained during these months still retained their summer color.
2!>*. lLeptuM t'iilllcn'ii*. Jackass Rabbit. We obtained this species at Cheyenne, and 1 have good authority for its occurrence In Eastern Colorado and the western part of Kansas.
[ To '"' continued. ]
BULLETIN
ESSEX INSTITUTE.
Vol. 6. Salem, Mass., ArRiL, 1874. No. 4.
One Dollar a Year in Advance. 10 Cents a Single Copy.
Eegular Meeting, Monday, Maech 16, 1874.
NOTES ON THE MAMMALS OF PORTIONS OF KANSAS, COL- ORADO, WYOMING AND UTAH.— By J. A. Allen.
[ Continued.]
PART II.
On the Mammals of Park County, Colorado.
The following notes are based on observations and inquiries made during four weeks spent in and about South Park, Colorado, in the summer of 1871. They refer not only to the Park itself, but also em- brace a part of the Snowy Range. A week was spent in the vicinity of Montgomery, near the timber line, from which point excursions were made to the snow region. A few facts were also obtained from miners and hunters.
Felidj:.
1. Felis concolor. Panther. Not uncommon. Well known under the name of Mountain Lion. Its cry was once heard near our camp at Montgomery.
'£. I.tiix <r»tm<l<'ii*i«>. Represented as common. Saw skins of this species in the possession of hunters, taken in the vicinity of Mount Lincoln.
3. lynx nifiis. "WildCat." Not uncommon.
Essex Inst. Bulletin. vi 5
54
4. €ani$ Dupus. Gray Wolf. Formerly abundant, but now
comparatively scarce.
5. Cailis En friars*. Prairie Wolf. Formerly exceedingly numerous, but now greatly reduced in numbers, though still more or less troublesome.
4>. Vailpes vniHgrsii'is, var. fulvus. Common Fox. Common. The color is generally grayer than in the eastern form, and the "black" and "cross" varieties are more frequent. In a series of some thirty-five or forty skins, taken in the winter at Montgomery, which I had an opportunity of examining, none were as brightly col- ored as the red fox of the Eastern States. One was entirely black, and nearly half of the others were more or less well-marked "cross" foxes, some of them typically so, but they graded almost insensibly into the ordinary type. The V. macrourus seems to represent only a common phase of the "cross" fox, a type so much more common in the western and elevated parts of the continent than at the eastward.
MrsiELiD.i:.
7. Musfcla nisirtcs. Marten. Common.
8. Mustela Pesinailti. Fisher. Said to be more or less common.
S>. Piltoi'ins ermineus. Ermine Weasel. Common. 1©. Putorius lutreoHiis, var. vison. Mink. Common along the streams up to about ten thousand feet, above which I could not obtain evidence of its occurrence.
II. ti~*iilo flnsj'«is. Wolverene. Said to be not uncommon. Saw the skin of one taken near Montgomery.
IS. Mephitis nit'pliifica. Common Skunk. Common, ranging to above timber line.
III. Taxidea AiBJU'H'ieaiia. Badger. Common In South Park.
iKSIID.E.
11. TU raus arctos, var. Bear. Common. Roth the black and cinnamon varieties occur in about equal numbers. The cinnamon vari- ety is represented as averaging the larger, and as being the more dan- gerous to encounter. Both vary greatly in color and size, and appear evidently to intergrade. The cinnamon is often quite gray, when it often passes for the grizzly, though not generally regarded as the •' true" grizzly.
ItOVI B».K. 15. EB5S1H1 JLmerlOanilS. American Bison. A few still remain in the southern portion of South Park, chiefly near Buffalo Springs. A small baud came up the valley of the Platte from the
55
eastward into the Park in June, 1S71. They moved rapidly, and a calf accompanying the herd becoming fatigued and lagging behind
was captured. This I saw in the following August, at a ranch fifte< n miles below Fairplay. It was apparently some ten or twelve wicks old, and had already begun to turn dark colored. As recently as I8G2 the buffalo are said to have been abundant throughout South Park, where their skulls and other bones are still everywhere frequently met. with, as well as thence eastward throughout the smaller parks and mountain valleys. It seems also to have wandered in summer to above timber line on the Snowy Range, to feed on the grassy slopes that occur above the limit of trees. We found its bleached skulls in the Valley of the Platte, up to the extremest sources of the stream, and Mr. Bennett met with them on Mt. Lincoln, far above timber line.
The buffalo of the Parks and mountain valleys is said to differ from the buffalo of the plains, and is hence generally distinguished as the "Bison," or "Mountain Bison." Although this opinion is widely entertained, the reports respecting the differences that distinguish these two varieties are extremely varied and conflicting. Persons claiming familiarity with both hold opposite opinions as to their diversity, some failing to perceive any essential differences, while others maintain that they differ so widely that they must be different species. I found, however, that those whose experience with both seemed to render them the most competent to judge were those who placed the lowest estimate on their differences, while those who mag- nified them most belonged to a class more or less prone to exaggera- tion in matters of even trivial importance. The alleged differences varied with almost every individual whose opinion in the matter was consulted. The mountain buffalo is, however, generally regarded as smaller than the buffalo of the plains, slenderer behind, but provided with a larger hump, and with darker, finer and more abundant wool. I found, however, that the skulls met with in South Park, and in the valley of the South Plalte above Fairplay, averaged larger, by actual measurement, than those of the plains, with stouter and considerably longer and more spreading horns. The "mountain bison" is said never to mix with the "buffalo" of the plains, the former being con- fined exclusively to the mountains, and the latter to the plains. One of my informants assured me that the mountain bison occurs in New Mexico, and that the Mexicans and Indians recognize it as different from the buffalo of the plains, with which they are also familiar, and that they call it by a different name.
lO. <JM is monfama. Rocky Mountain Sheen. Occasional, but found chiefly on or near the Snowy Range, retiring in summer to the most inaccessible parts of the mountains. Fresh "signs" were
56
noticed by Mr. Bennett on one of the spurs of Mt. Lincoln, while here and there a weathered skull attested their former greater fre- quency.
iXIIIOCAFRIDi:.
1.7. Aiitiflocapra Americana. Pronghorn. "Antelope." Not uncommon in South Park.
Cervio.e.
18. Cervus Canadensis. Elk. Becoming rare ; formerly common. In summer keeps near the upper limit of timber, descend- ing occasionally into tbe valleys in winter.
J.©. Cervus roiacrotis. Mule Deer. More or less common, but in summer is said to be most frequent near the timber line, though occurring more or less generally throughout the mountains.
Vesfibtilioxidj;.
2©. Xiasiwrus ? A small bat was a few times seen flying about camp soon after sunset, which was probably Lasiurus Noveboracensis.
MUIIEI>JE.
551. HJeotoma cinei'CUS. Wood Eat. Common. It freely enters houses and storerooms in quest of food, and is sometimes ex- tremely troublesome.
22. Hesperomys fleucopiis, var. sonoriensis (Coues Ms.). White-footed Mouse. A species of Hesperomys, probably II. leucopus, var. sonoriensis is quite common.
23. Arvicola ? Field Mouse. An undetermined species
of short-tailed field mouse, undoubtedly an Arvicola, is said to be more or less frequent.
2-4. Fiber zibetliicus. Muskrat. More or less common at favorable localities.
GlOKTIDJI.
2;>. Tliomoniys i'iifescen§. Fort Union Gopher. Com- mon almost everywhere, in moderately dry soil. Observed their burrows on the Snowy Range, nearly up to the limit of vegetation.
CAST01tI»JE.
2©. Castor fiber. Beaver. Quite common on the South Platte and its tributaries. Saw their last dam on the Platte a few miles below Montgomery, above which point they are said not to occur.
57
ftCICRIDJE.
27. Sciurus Hudsoiiius, var. Fremonti. Fremont's Squirrel. Not abundant.
28. Tamiu* lateralis. Say's Striped Squirrel. Common. Ranges up to timber line.
'29. Taniias quadrivittatus. Missouri Striped Squirrel. Abundant from about seven thousand feet up to the extreme limit of vegetation.
3©. ttpcrmopliilus tridcccm-lineatus. Striped Prai- rie Squirrel. Everywhere common, especially in South Park.
31. Crnomys 4* liilllisoni. Gunnison's Prairie Dog. Com- mon in South Park, and thence eastward to the plains, where it is immediately replaced by Cynomys Ludovicianus.
32. Arctomys flaviventer. Yellow-footed Marmot. Abun- dant about Montgomery, ranging from the valley of the Platte up to the limit of vegetation. Most numerous at and above the timber-line, where often quite a number were visible at the same moment, basking on the rocks. Specimens entirely black are of frequent occurrence. Their sharp call, in character somewhat between a clear whistle and a short, sharp bark, well entitle them to the name of "whistling marmot." They seem to be almost restricted to the alpine district, none being met with below ten thousand feet.
II VSTRH II) j:.
33. Ererliizon dorsatus, var. epizantlius. Porcu- pine. Common, ranging from the foot-hills upward to the timber line.
LACiOMTIDi).
3-4. Lagroniys princepg. Little Chief Hare. "Cony." Very abundant on the Suowy Range about the sources of the Platte. Are first met with but a few hundred feet below the timber line, rang- ing thence upward to the limit of vegetation. Mr. Bennett observed them on the top of Mt. Lincoln, and we often found them above timber line, in places almost entirely destitute of vegetation. Their favorite haunts are taluses, and are seen almost exclusively among the bare loose rocks that cover so much of the higher slopes. They are very unsuspicious, allowing a near approach. When seated among the rocks, or when running about among them, they make known their presence by the frequent utterance of their feeble call note, which may sometimes be heard from a dozen individuals at once. They were often very abundant where there was scarcely any vegeta-
Essex Inst. Bulletin. vi 6
58
tion within a hundred yards. In other instances their warrens were met with in the upper edge of the timber, where grass and small plants were abundant, of which they had carried large quantities into the rocks, in some places filling almost every crevice for many yards around. As they crept slowly about over and among the loose stones, they looked like large, tailless rats. Their note is a feeble squeak, and very deceptive as to distances, seeming to be far away, when really but a few feet distant.
lEPOBIDJ!.
35. Lepus campestris. Prairie Hare. Common in the parks.
3G. lepus sylvaticus, var. artemisia. Sage Rabbit. Common.
37. liepus Bairdii. Another species, said to be white in winter and confined to the timber, is also mentioned as common; doubtless the Lepus Bairdii, the common alpine form of our L. Amer- icanus of the east.
PART III.
On the Mammals of Carbon Co., Wyoming Territory.
The following list is based on observations made and information obtained during a residence of about two months in the vicinity of Percy, a station on the Union Pacific Railroad, about six miles north of the old Fort Halleck, in southwestern Wyoming. My constant in- tercourse with hunters of long experience in this section of the country enabled me to gather much information I could not otherwise have obtained without a long residence here. Specimens of nearly all the species mentioned below were either obtained by ourselves or purchased in a fresh state of the hunters. The area to which this list refers embraces a portion of the Medicine Bow range of moun- tains, Elk Mountain being one of the prominent landmarks of the locality, as well as the adjoining " sage plains " which form so promi- nent a feature of this section of the country.
1. IV! i* concolor. Panther. " Mountain Lion." More or less common in the timber of the Medicine Bow Range, as it is also throughout the timbered portions of the Rocky Mountains.
2. Lynx Canadensis. Canada Lynx. Frequent in the mountains, and occasionally met with on the plains.
3. lynx rufits. Bay Lynx. Not common.
59
1. Canis lupus. Gray Wolf. The "Mountain Wolf" and "Timber Wolf" of the hunters. Abundant in the timber.
5. Canis latrans. Prairie Wolf. "Coyote." Abundant on the plains and prairies.
©. Vulpes vulgraris, var. fulvus ct niacrourus. Fox. Common.
MlSTEtlUD.
7. Mustela martes. Marten. Not common.
8. Putorius ermincus. Ermine Weasel. Abundant. O. Piitorius lutreolus, var. visoil. Mink. Common.
10. Gulo luscus. Wolverene. "Carcajou." Rather com- mon, and reported to be quite numerous at particular localities.
11. 71epliitis niephitica. Common Skunk. Abundant.
12. Taxidea Americana. Badger. Common.
The Fisher (Mustela Pennanti) does not appear to occur in this immediate region.
13. UrstlS arctOS, var. Bear. The black, brown and cinna- mon varieties are all frequent. The hunters not only recognize them as distinct and permanent varieties, but in addition to these, some of the more observant of them distinguish subvarieties, based on the shape of the head, the general form, size or color. Some of those with whom I conversed made three varieties each of the brown and cin- namon bears, as the " large," the "small," and the "real" brown or cinnamon bear, respectively. The black form is represented as being similarly variable in size. From the reports of hunters, there seem to be endless varieties, especially in respect to size and color, with- out a very sharp demarcation of either varieties or races.
The Raccoon (Procyon lotor) was unknown to the hunters as an inhabitant of this region.
BOTIDJE.
The Buffalo (Biso7i Americanus) existed here abundantly not many years since, but is not now found south of the Black Hills, or nearer than sixty to eighty miles. But their skulls and skeletons, partially decomposed, are still common.
11. Ovis moiltana. Rocky Mountain Sheep. "Big Horn." Small herds are still more or less frequent in the mountains, but they are materially decreasing in numbers every year. They now occur only at distant points and in the most inaccessible places, and the professional hunters start in pursuit of them with far less confidence
GO
of success each year. Although very wary and difficult to approach, the " professional," through au intimate knowledge of their habits and the skilful use of breechloading rifles, often succeeds in destroy- ing a whole baud when once he has satisfactorily chosen his point of attack. Our hunters brought us in thirteen obtained on a single ex- cursion for them, and killed from a band of fifteen. The other two were killed, but could not be got at.
Amtilocaprid.e.
15. Antilocapra Americana. Pronghorn. Antelope. Abundant. Found everywhere on the plains in large herds. Their extermination, however, seems to be rapidly approaching, from the rate at which they are at present slaughtered. Thousands are killed within the radius of a few miles, every year, for the eastern and western markets, a large proportion of those killed here being sent to Utah, Nevada and California. The best of the antelope season occurs in October and November, the elk and deer being the more profit- able game later in the season. The hunters select the most favor- able points along the railroad for their headquarters, and for weeks together the more successful of them take from five to eight or ten saddles each per day, for which they find ready sale. One party whose camp I visited averaged over fifteen dollars a day each, during the best of the season, from the sale of their antelope saddles. Prob- ably the antelopes occur at present in no greater numbers anywhere than in southern, and especially in southwestern, Wyoming, where bauds of hundreds are often visible, and the smaller herds are innu- merable. They arc, however, already perceptibly decreasing in numbers in consequence of this wholesale slaughter.
Cerviue.
1©. Cervus Canadensis. Elk. Abundant, particularly about Elk Mountain, and neighboring portions of the Medicine Bow liange.
17. Cervus niacrotis. Mule Deer. Abundant.
IS. Cervus Beucurus. White-tailed Deer. Not common, and appears not to associate generally with the C. macrotis, which is here far more numerously represented. We obtained a single speci- men from our hunters, who reported it to be the only example they had met with for many mouths.
Jacvlise.
lO. Jaeulus lludsonius. Jumping Mouse. Said to be common.
01
JIiniDX
20. Willis nilisculus. House Mouse. Abundant in the houses, from which it drives the native vesper mice.
21. Hesporom;* » loucopiis, var. sonoriensis Coues' MS. White-footed Mouse. Abu .dant.
22. Scotoma cincrca. Wood Rat. "Mountain Rat." Common.
23. Fiber zibctUicus. Muskrat. Common.
Geo»yid.e.
2-4. Tliomoniys rufc§cens. Fort Union Gopher. Com- mon.
Castobidje.
25. Castor fiber. Beaver. Abundant.
SC'IURIDJE.
SO. Taniias lateralis. (Spermophilus lateralis Baird.) Say's Striped Squirrel: Said to be common.
JM. Tamias qiiadi'STittatus. Missouri Striped Squirrel. Abundant.
28. S2»ernioi»nilus Richardsoni. Tawny Gopher.
Hystricidje,
20. Hrethizon dorsatus, var. ei»izantlius. Porcu- pine. Common in the timber.
Lepokidje. 3t>. Kiepus cailll>est ris. Prairie Hare. More or less com- mon everywhere, but exceedingly abundant at certain localities.
31. Xepias solvations, var. arfcniisia. Sage Rabbit. Very numerous everywhere.
32. Lepus Ameilcanus, var. Ruirdii. A rabbit which is white in winter occurs in the timber in considerable abundance, and is doubtless the Lepits Bairdii Ilayden.
PART IV.
On the Mammals of Great Salt Lake Valley, Utah.
The following notes are based mainly on information kindly commu- nicated to me by Mr. E. 1) Mectiam, of Ogden, Utah. Mr. Mecham was formerly an agent of the American Fur Company, and has spent twenty years as a trapper, hunter and guide in the Rocky Mountains. His expeditions have extended from the Saskatchewan on the north
62
to Texas and Mexico on the south, and from the Missouri River to the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Not only are most of the notes respecting the relative abundance of the species of the following list given on his authority, but I have thought it worth while to incorporate also some general facts relative to their range, which he has had the kindness to communicate to me. The list proper refers more directly to the northern portion of the Great Salt Lake Basin, and more especially to the immediate vicinity of Ogdeu. The notes hence refer in part to the neighboring portions of the Wahsatch Range as well as to the valley itself.
Felidc
1. JFeliS COllCOlor. Not common, but quite generally dis- tributed.
3. Lynx Canadensis. Canada Lynx. "Bull Cat." Com- mon in the mountains as far south as Southern Utah.
3. Lynx rilf US. Bay Lynx. Common, but chiefly confined to the mountains.
Canxdje.
4. Canis lupus. Gray Wolf. Common.
Respecting the color varieties of the Gray Wolf and their distribu- tion, Mr. Mecham's observations are as follows : The gray wolves occur everywhere. The black variety he had never met with south of the Salmon River, nor had he seen any skins obtained south of that point, but to the northward this is the most prevalent color. The red wolf he had met with only in Texas and the adjoining plains. The white wolf he had not found south of northern Utah, except to the eastward of the main chain of the Rocky Mountains, where it occurs as far south as Texas. The white wolves he considered the largest, the black the next in size, the gray being generally a little smaller.
5. Canis latrans. Prairie Wolf. More or less common throughout the plains and deserts of the interior.
O. Vulpcs vulgaris, var. marroura. Fox. Common, running into the usual varieties. The red fox, according to Mr. Mecham, is much less plentiful now than formerly. The "silver- gray," "cross," and " black " varieties prevail to the northward, but are rarely met with in the Great Salt Lake Valley. These are rather larger than the ordinary red fox, and their fur is liner and more plentiful. Among these varieties is of course included the so-called V. macroura.
MrsTriinK.
'7. Putoi'ius ermincus. Ermine Weasel. Common. H. PiltoriilN lutroolu*. var. visoil. Mink. Common in Salt Lake Valley, and in the adjoining mountains along all the
63
streams. Has not been met with by Mr. Mechara south of the Ar- kansas. Respecting the fur, he says it is not more than one-third as thick at the south as it is far north, where it is also nearly jet black in color, while at the extreme south it is nearly roan.
O. 4«iilo lnscns. Wolverene. Not common. Obtained from Mr. Mecham a specimen killed by him near Ogden, in June, 1871.
1 0. tiiitra Canadensis. Otter. More or less frequent in Salt Lake Valley, and in the adjoining mountains.
11. Mephitis niephitica. Common Skunk. Common in Salt Lake Valley and throughout the plains and mountains generally.
12. Mephitis hicolor. Striped Skunk. Mr. Mecham gives its northern limit as about one hundred miles south of Ogden.
13. Ta.videa Americana. Badger. Of common occur- rence everywhere, as well in the mountains as on the plains.
J»it<>« * o\iii i;.
14. Procyon lotor. Raccoon. Mr. Mecham gives it as rare in the mountains bordering the valley, but was not aware of its oc- currence in the valley itself.
Ursii>je.
15. Ursns arctos. Bear. Common in the mountains every- where, in its principal varieties, as the black, brown, cinnamon and grizzly. In common with most hunters, he regards these forms as distinct species. The cinnamon bear he gives as the smallest, with an average weight of one hundred to one hundred and flfty pounds. The brown bear is next in size, the black third in size, and the grizzly the largest. Has killed grizzlies weighing fourteen hundred pounds. Black bears sometimes weigh four hundred pounds, but their more common weight ranges from two hundred to three hundred. At a menagerie in Salt Lake City I had an opportunity of observing alive and side by side specimens of the black, brown and cinnamon vari- eties. The only essential difference seemed that of color, and this is slight between the so-called brown and cinnamon varieties. The maximum differences in physiognomy and proportions were between two specimens of the "brown" bears, in which the length of the nose and the facial expression generally was markedly different.
BOVID.E.
The buffalo (Bison Americanus) appears to have been abundant at some remote time in the Great Salt Lake Valley. Fragments of their skulls are still here and there visible, but unless partially buried in the marshes they have crumbled and nearly disappeared. I met with
64
several well preserved skulls on the marshes just north of Salt Lake City, which had been exposed in throwing up the earth for the railroad bed. It is stated that as late as 183G, large numbers of buffalo existed in this valley, but that a winter of remarkable severity immediately following, when the snow is said to have fallen to an average depth of ten feet, nearly exterminated them, and that the few that survived soon after disappeared. They seem also to have formerly extended much to the westward of the Great Salt Lake Valley, Mr. Mecham assuring me that he has not only seen their skulls bleaching on the plains to the westward, but also on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, on the so-called Hastings trail. I have also re- ceived substantially the same report from others, these accounts being wholly independent and from persons unknown to each other. They have, however, scarcely been seen west of the Green River for thirty years.
Mr. Mecham, alluding to his experience with the buffalo, says he saw "millions "of them on the Laramie Plains in 1846. When the emigrants began to cross these plains they slaughtered the buffalo recklessly, killing thousands for which they had no use. This whole- sale butchery alarmed the Indians for the fate of these, to them, in- dispensable animals, and to save them from destruction and perhaps to annoy the whites, they drove them away from the regular emigrant trail, endeavoring to keep them as much as possible out of the reach of the emigrants. But this precaution seems to have availed little, as they continued to decrease rapidly in numbers. A few still straggle to the northern edge of these plains, from their range farther north, but over vast areas in Wyoming and Nebraska, where twenty to twenty-five years ago they existed in abundance, they have now be- come wholly extinct.
lO. Oris moiltana. Rocky Mountain Sheep. Found here and there in the Wahsatch Range, but are rapidly decreasing in numbers.
The Rocky Mountain Goat (Aplocerus montanus) occurs about two hundred miles north of Ogden, whence specimens have been received at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, collected by Mr. Mecham. This is the most southerly point of their occurrence known to Mr. Mecham.
Amikm 4 1-1111(1.
12. 4 ntilocapra Americana. Pronghorn. "Antelope." Occurs about forty miles west of Ogden, and was formerly more or less numerous throughout the Valley. Captain Stansbury, in his Ex- pedition to the Great Salt Lake, speaks of finding them on Antelope and Stansbury Islands, during his survey of the lake in 1850.
65
Cervid.e.
18. Cervus Canadensis. Elk. More or less common in the mountains bordering the valley. Mr. Medium has seen them as far south as the Mexican boundary, and speaks of having met with droves of two thousand individuals in southern New Mexico.
lO. Cervus inacrotis. Mule Deer. Common at favorable localities.
2©. Cervus leueurus. White-tailed Deer. Found in the valleys, but less plentiful thau the preceding.
Jacflid.h.
21. JTaculus Hudsonius. Common.
IflVRID.i:.
22. 7Ius niusculus. House Mouse. Common. Lives chiefty in the houses, but also frequents the fields. It arrived here many years since, but neither M. rattus nor M. decumanus seems to have yet appeared.
23. Hesperoniys leucouus, var. sonoriensis. White- footed Mouse. Abundant.
2-4. Xeotoma einerea. Wood Rat. Common.
Another wood rat {X. Mexicana?), with the tail hairy only at the base, is said by Mr. Mecham to occur two or three hundred miles farther south.
2». Arvieola ? A large dark-colored Arvicola, of the size
of A. riparius, is represented as common.
20. Fiber zibetliicus. Musk rat. Common in the Great Salt Lake Valley and ranges five or six hundred miles farther south.
CcEOBtYIDJE.
27. Tiiomomys rufescens ? The mounds of a species of Thomomys are common, but I had no opportunity of examining speci- mens of the animal.
Castohide.
28. Castor liber. Beaver. Common at favorable localities.
ICIURIDJ!.
20. Seiurus Hudsonius, var. Fremonti. Fremont's Squirrel. Common everywhere in the pineries. Said to be the exact counterpart of the eastern red squirrel in notes and habits. I could learn of the occurrence of no other species of Sciurus in this region.
66
30. Sciuropterus vollicella. Flying Squirrel. Common.
31. Tamias lateralis. Say's Striped Squirrel. Common. 3*4. Tuiuias quadrivittatus. Missouri Striped Squirrel.
Common.
33. Sperniophilug Ilarrisi. Harris's Striped Squirrel. Abundant.
3-4. Spermopliilus g raiimiiia rus. A second and larger species of Spermophilus is also represented as abundant. This is un- doubtedly S. grammurus, specimens of which, collected in this vicin- ity have been brought in by Dr. Ilayden's parties.
35. Cynomys Columbiamis. (C. Gunnisoni Baird.) Short-tailed Prairie Dog. According to Mr. Mecham, this animal is found as far west as the Sierra Nevada Mountains, but is not of common occurrence in Salt Lake Valley. Smaller than C. Ludovici- anus, and unfit for food; the other is regarded as excellent eating. The C. Columbianus lives in more desert regions and feeds so much upon the different species of Artemisia as to be thoroughly impreg- nated with their peculiar flavor.
30. Arctomys flavi venter. Yellow-footed Marmot. Com- mon in the higher parts of the mountains, living among the rocks.
Ilvstitin ini:.
37. Eretliizon dorsatus, var. epizaiitlms. Porcu- pine. Not common. Ranges southward to the headwaters of the Arkansas, Red, Gila and Del Norte rivers. Much smaller and lighter colored southward.
LAGoniiDi:.
38. liagromys princeps. Little Chief Hare. Under the name of "Mountain Rat," this species is well known to Mr. Mecham, who has often met with it, both to the northward and southward, near the tops of the higher snow-capped peaks of the Rocky Moun- tain Ranges. He described to me the animal and its habits so accu- rately as to leave its identity beyond question.
KlPOBIDJBi
3©. XrepiiS callotis. Jackass Rabbit. Common.
40. liepus campestris. Prairie Hare. Common.
41. Ei«'i»ii* sylvatieus, var. artemisia. Common.
42. liepns 1 merieailtiM, var. llairdii? In addition to the three .species of Lepus above named, of which we obtained speci- mens, a fourth was described to me as Inhabiting the higher parts of the mountains. It is probably the L. Bairdii Ilaydeu and is said (per- haps erroneously) to remain white the whole year.
G7
Eegular Meeting, Monday, April 6, 1874.
Meeting this evening at 7.30 o'clock. The Presi- dent in the chair. Records read.
Henry C. Hewitt, George A. Bates and Olney "W. Brooking, all of Salem, were duly elected resident mem- bers.
The reading of the paper assigned for this evening was postponed.
Adjourned.
Eegular Meeting, Monday, April 20, 1874.
Meeting this evening at 7.30 o'clock. The Presi- dent in the chair. Records read.
In the absence of the Secretary, Mr. Maurice H. Rich- ardson was elected Secretary pro tern.
The Secretary announced the following correspon- dence : —
C. D. Bradley, Boston, March 30; E. W. Buswell, Boston, March 9; J. W. Chad- wick, Brooklyn, New York, March 30; N. Cleaveland, Westport, Conn., March 16; Henry B. Dawson, Morrisania, New York, Nov. 21, Jan. 1G; S. G. Drake, Boston, April 7; J. A. Gillis, Salem, Oct. 13; George L. Gleason, Feb. 25, March 2G; A. Gray, Cambridge, April 14; S.A.Greene, Boston, Feb. 20; John P. Minkler, Albany, New York, March 21; N. Paine, Worcester, April 14, 16; Daniel A. Rogers, Chi- cago, 111., March 16; J. L. Sibley, Cambridge, Feb. 17; A. S. Tiffany, Davenport, Iowa, March 19; S. V. Summers, New Orleans, La., March 26; American Sweden- borg Printing and Publishing Society, New York, March 19; Naturforschende Ges- ellscliaft in Basel. Feb. 13; Die Naturforschende Gesellschaft in Bern, May, 1873; Boston Public Library, Feb. 20, March 27; Naturwissenschaft Verein zu Bremen, Jan. 6; Buffalo Historical Society, March 23, April 15; Geological Survey of India, Calcutta, Dec. 1 ; Die K. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Gottingen, Jan. 21 ; Lit- erary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool, Feb. 23; Die K. Bayerischen Akad- emie der Wissenschaften, Munchen, Dec; New England Historic-Genealogical Society, April 16; New Jersey Historical Society, March 23; New York Historical Society, March 24, April 15; New York Lyceum of Natural History, March 23; Ohio Historical and Philosophical Society, March 24; Rhode Island Historical Society, March 23; Societe Eutomologique de Russie, Sept 8.
G8
The Librarian reported the following additions : —
By Donation.
Boardman, Samuel L., of Augusta, Maine. The Wealth and Industry of Maine for 1873, by W. E. S. Whitmore.
Book, E. P., of New York, N. Y. The Corwin Genealogy, by E. T. Corwin. 1 vol. 8vo. New York, 1872.
Bradlee, Rev. C. D., of Boston, Mass. " Death and the Resurrection," a Ser- mon preached Sunday, March 15, 1874, by donor.
City of Boston. City Documents for 1873. 4 vols. 8vo.
Cutter, Abram E., of Charlestown, Mass. Annual Reports of the Trustees of Charlestown Free Schools. 1874.
Devereux, Geo. II. Key to North American Birds, by E. Coues. 1 vol. 8vo Salem, 1872.
Emerton, James. Salem Directory for 1872. 1 vol. 8vo.
Foote, Rev. H. W., of Boston. Sermon at King's Chapel in Memory of Charles Sumner, March 22, 1874, and Services at the Funeral, March 10, 1874.
Green, S. A., of Boston. Miscellaneous pamphlets, 27.
Hill, Wm. M. Manual of the Common Council for 1874.
Holden, N. J. The Commonwealth for 1873.
James, Mrs. Thomas P., of Cambridge. The Potts Memorial, by donor. 1 vol. small 4to. Cambridge, 1874.
Mack, E. C. The Daguerrotype and Foreign Miscellany. 3G numbers. The Radical. 30 numbers.
Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Miscellaneous pamphlets, 50.
Mouse, E. S. Miscellaneous pamphlets, 31.
Nutting, Miss M. O., of South Hadley, Mass. Catalogue of the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. 1873-4.
Phillips, W. P. Annual Report of the Mass. Charitable Eye and Ear Infirm- ary, 1874.
Putnam, F. W. Manual of Instruction and Check List of the Birds of North America, by E. Coues. 1 vol. 8vo.
Silsbee, Mrs. B. II. Miscellaneous pamphlets, 200.
State Board of Health of Mass. Fifth Annual Report, Jan., 1874.
Stephens, W. II., of Lowville, New York. Memorial of Dr. J. M. Sturtevant. 1 vol. 8vo. New York, 1874.
Sticknkv, M. A. Christian Observer, 1815, 181G. 2 vols. 8vo.
U. S. Patent Office. Official Gazette for Feb. 24, March 3, 10. 17, 24, 1.^71.
Whitaker, A. E., of San Francisco, Cal. Annual Report of the President, Treasurer and Librarian of the Mercantile Library Association of San Francisco. 1873.
Williams, II. L. The Fiji Gazette, Oct. 11, 1873.
By Exchange.
Aucniv per Anthuopologie. Braunschweig. Band vi. Ilcft S, 1873.
BlBLIOTHEQUE Universellf. bt REVUE Suisse. Archives des Sciences Physi- ques et Naturelles. No. 192. Dec, 1873. Genfcve.
Botamsk Tidssickiit in K.iohemi a vs Tidsskrift, Anden R:okke, A inlet and Tredje Binds, Fredje and Forste Baefte, 1872-78. 2 pamphlets 8\-o.
Geological Survey of Im>ia. Memoirs of the, Palwontologia India. Vol.1, pt. l, Vol. iv, pts.8, 4, is?.;. :; pamphlets, «o. Records of the, Vol. vi. pts. 1.2,3, 4, 1873. 4 pamphlets, 8vo. Memoirs of the. Vol. x, pt. 1, 1873. 8vo pamphlet.
GO
Gesellsciiaft Naturforschender Freunde in Berlix. Festschrift zur Feier dea llundertjiihrigen Bestehena der Gesellschaft. 1 vol. 4to. Berlin, 1873. Institdt Historique in Paris. L' Investigateur, 39 Annce Juillet-Dec, 1873.
2 pamphlets, 8vo.
Issittit National GENEVOIS. Bulletin, tome xviii. 1S73. 1 vol 8vo. KONIGLICHE GESELLSCHAFT DER Wissensciiaften Gottingen. Nachrich- ten, 1873. 1 vol. l2mo.
KONIGLISCH BAYERISCHEN AKADEMIE DER Wl-SENSCHAFTEN IN MUNCIIEN*.
Sitzangsborichte, der Philoa. Claese. Heft iv, v, 1872, Heft i, ii, iii. iv, 1873. 6 pamphlets, 8vo. sitzungsberiehte, der Math. C'lasse, Heft iii, 187-2, Heft i, ii, 1873.
3 pamphlets, 8vo.
Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab in Kjobentiavn. Oversigt, No. i, is? '..
Minnesota Historical Society. Annual Report of. 1873.
Natural History Society of Montreal. The Canadian Naturalist, Vol. vii. No. iv. 1-71.
New Hampshire Historical Society. Proceedings of the. 1872-73, including the Semi-Centenni.il Exercises, May 22, 1873.
Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. Proceedings of the. Pt. iii, Oct., Nov., Dec, 1873.
Societe d' Accli.matation. Bulletin Mcnsucl, 2me series, tome x, No. x, xi, Oct., Nov., 1873. 2 pamphlets, Svo.
SOCIETE I)' AGRICULTURE, SCIENCES ET ARTS DE LA SARTHE. LE MANS. Bul- letin, tome xxi, 4e Trim, 1871-72, tome xxii, ler, 2e and 3e Trim, 1873-74. 2 pamph- lets, 8vo.
Societe LntomologiQUE de Russie in St. Petersbourg. Horae Societatis Entomologies Russicae, tome viii, Nos. iii, iv, 1871-72, tome ix, Nos. i, ii, 1872. 2 pamphlets, 8vo.
state Historical Society of IOWA. The Annals of Iowa for Jan.. 1-71.
Publishers. American Justifier. Forest and stream. Gloucester Telegraph. Haverhill Gazette. Ipswich Chronicle. Lawrence American. Lynn Reporter. Lynn Transcript. Medical and Surgical Reporter. Nation. Nature. Salem Observer. Salem Post. Peabody Press.
Daniel A. Varney, of Salem, was elected a resident member.
A committee, consisting of Messrs. James Kimball, W. P. Upham, John Robinson, Caleb Cooke and William Neilson, was appointed to nominate a list of officers to be presented for election at the animal meeting.
Prof. E. S. Morse, of Salem, presented some inter- esting and highly instructive remarks on the various modes of illustration, with brief historical sketches of the same. He first alluded to some of the earlier forms known to have been used, and specified several books
70
printed at that period, with appropriate and apt illustra- tions.
He then spoke of wood engraving, the kind of wood used, the manner of preparing the same, the peculiar tools, etc. ; also the process of electrotyping, which is now so universally adopted. Copper plate and steel engraving were next described ; then the process of litho- graphy ; and he alluded briefly in conclusion to the heli- otype, albertype and woodburytype. Mr. Morse stated that he would like to speak more fully at some future meeting on the last named processes of illustration. He exhibited several striking specimens of the various styles, and illustrated his remarks by sketches on the black- board.
Vice President F. W. Putnam thought that perhaps the printing by uncivilized races, by the use of hand stamps for the impression of designs in color upon various materials, especially the several kinds of "cloth" made from wood-tibre, really involved all the principles of the arts of engraving and printing, and, like many other things common in our daily life, proved that the prin- ciples involved were discovered or gradually developed under various circumstances and in various ways by the wants and desires of man, showing a uniform working of the human intellect, though of course modified by sur- rounding conditions.
A brief discussion followed, participated in by Messrs. G. A. Perkins, F. W. Putnam, E. S. Morse and others.
Mr. F. W. Putnam exhibited a photograph of a skull received from the Davenport Academy of Natural Sci- ences, as that of a Moundbuilder. The description
71
printed on the back of the photograph reads, "Skull of 'a Mound Builder' from shell-bed on Rock Island." Mr. Tiffany, in his letter accompanying the photograph, states that there were six other skulls found in the "shell-bed," and also a plate of mica and several other articles. The following description of the locality in which the skull was found accompanied the photograph : —
"The skull known as the shell-bed skull was discov- ered by A. S. Tiffany in Nov., 1871, and contributed by him to the Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences, with description.
On the Rock Island Arsenal grounds, near the western extremity of the island, there had been an excavation about three hundred feet long and eight feet deep. Three feet from the top there was a deposit of shells, mostly species of Unio, Melania subsolida, and two or more species of Helix. The shell-bed at this place varies from six to sixteen inches thick.
In this shell-bed the skull and bones belonging to one individual were found ; all the covering above the bones was an aqueous deposit ; above the shells, as well as with them, there were water-worn pebbles and sand, the mate- rial becoming finer towards the top, the last foot being fine alluvium and vegetable mould ; the sedimentary lines were perfect and unbroken. The excavations had made the means of observing all that could be desired.
The place was visited by many members of the Society and by Prof. Alexander Winchell, while some of the bones were in place, and all agree that the soil covering this prehistoric man was a sedimentary deposit.
Accurate levelling proves the top of this deposit to be eighteen feet above the highest water known in the Mis- sissippi since Fort Armstrong was established on the island."
Mr. Putnam thought that the indications were that the relics were those of the ancient Indians rather than Moundbuilders. He did not know of any shell-beds
72
formed by the Moundbuildcrs, though common as Indian refuse heaps, and the fact that large pieces of mica had been found in Indian graves here in Massachusetts proved that the Indians as Avell as the Moundbuilders placed a special value on that substance.
Mr. Putnam also exhibited a large tooth of a shark, presented by Rev. D. P. Noyes of Pigeon Cove, who ob- tained it from Mr. Andrew Johnson, one of two men who, while in a dory deeply laden with fish, near St. Peter's Bank, had been fiercely attacked by a large shark, which bit at the dory, leaving the marks of one jaw on the bottom of the boat and of the other on the side. The boat was tipped by the shark to such an extent as to spill part of the fish and take in water, and was kept afloat only by vigorous bailing. The fragments of several teeth were found in the wood. The perfect specimen was from the front of the under jaw, and was 1*8 inches in length from the centre of its root to its point, and from the extreme end of its root, 2-1. Its extreme width at base, across the root, was 1*5 inches. On com- parison with specimens of large sharks in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, made by Mr. Garman, it was esti- mated that a tooth of this size would indicate a total length for the animal of more than thirteen feet. Judg- ing from the single tooth, the shark was probably a speci- men of the Carcharias (Prionodon) lamia, or a closely allied species, and is a very interesting addition to the fauna of our eastern coast.
^v V2y
BULLETIN
ESSEX INSTITUTE.
Vol. 6. Salem, Mass., Mat, 1874. No. 5.
One Dollar a Year in Advance. 10 Cents a Single Copy.
Eegular Meeting, Monday, Apeil 20, 1874.
[ Continued. }
Previous to the adjournment the President alluded to the recent death of Prof. Alpheus Crosby, who during his residence in Salem had been an interested member, held several offices, and taken an active part in some of the operations of the Institute. He had also been Presi- dent of the Salem Athenaeum, and from 1858 to 18G4 Principal of the State Normal School in Salem.
Dr. George A. Perkins, after some appropriate re- marks, introduced the following resolutions : —
Whereas, in the providence of God, the earthly life of our associate and friend, Professor Alpheus Crosby, has reached its close :
Resolved, That, with profound sorrow at the loss we sustain in his lamented death, we place on record our sin- cere testimony to his eminent talents and -exalted worth.
Essex Inst. Bulletin. vi 7
74
Resolved, That, with honorable pride and reverent re- gard, we shall remember our departed friend as a distin- guished Scholar, whose works were a blessing to the stu- dent and an honor to his country ; as an Educator, whose zeal inspired all that came within the broad circle of his influence, and whose wisdom guided many in the paths of true knowledge; as a Philanthropist, who kindly, but fearlessly, labored for the relief of the suffering and the oppressed of every race ; as a Citizen who was always ready to perform the duties which every man owes soci- ety ; and as a Neighbor and Friend, whose genial spirit, tender sympathies and kindly acts will long be cherished in grateful memories.
Resolved, That, while we proffer our heartfelt sympathy to the family of our friend, we rejoice with them in the full assurance that his death is but his entrance into im- mortal life.
Mr. F. W. Putnam seconded the resolutions, and in his remarks alluded to the interest Prof. Crosby had always taken in the Natural History Department of the Institute, and his appreciation of Science. He also spoke of the formation of the Cabinet of Natural History at the State Normal School in this city as clue to Prof. Crosby, who, while principal of the school, had greatly encouraged the study of the Natural Sciences and commenced the museum. At that time and for many years after he took an active interest in the encouragement of the study, and it was most fitting that the Institute should do honor to his memory, and thus acknowledge his great scholarship, his sympathy in its work and his worth as a valued mem- ber.
The resolutions were then adopted, and the Secretary
was requested to enter them upon the records and to Bend a copy to the family of the deceased. Adjourned.
75
Regular Meeting, Monday, May 4, 1874.
Meeting this evening at 7.30 o'clock. The Presi- dent in the chair. Records read.
In the absence of the Secretary, Maurice H. Rich- aim »o.\ was requested to act.
The Secretary announced the following correspon- dence : —
From George H. Allen. May 1 ; Samuel Dawson, Montreal, April 23; R. R. Endi- cott, Beverly, April 29; Oscai Faulbaber, Haverhill, May 2; II. W. Lowry, Lane Seminary, Walnut Hills. Ohio, April 2; Robert Manning, April 21; George H. Preble, Boston, April 23; E. A.Silsbee, Boston, May 2; William II. Yeomans, Columbia, Conn.; Buffalo Historical Society. April 27; Iowa stale Historical Society, April 1G, 23; Minnesota Historical Society, April 20; New Jersey Histori- cal Society. April 2ii; New York Lyceum of Natural History, April 27; Ohio His- torical and Philosophical Society, April 17; U. S. Department of Interior. April 29; Smithsonian Institution, April 18,21.
The Librarian reported the following additions : —
By Donation.
Atpletox, Francis H., of Peabody. Bulletin of the Bussey Institution. P. II. L874.
DAWSON, Sameel, of Montreal, Ca. The Canadian Naturalist and Geologist, Vol. v. Vol. iii, i). s.. No. 4. Jan., 1808. Vol. vi, n. s.. No. 2. 1871.
Department oe the Interior, Washington, B. C Report of the Com- mittee, 2d Session, 42 d Congress, 1871-72. 3 vols. 8vo. British Counter Case and Papers. Arbitration at Geneva, 2d Session, 42d Congress, I s 7 1 - 7-2 . 1 vol. 8vo. House Journal, 2d Session, 42d Congress, 1871-72. 1 vol. 8vo. Treatise and Con- ventions since July 4, 1776, 3d Session, 41st Congress, 1870-71. lvol. 8vo. British ' lase and Papers Arbitration at Geneva. 2d Session, 42 Congress. 1S71-7-J. ;; vols. 8vo. Patent Office Reports, 2d Session, 41st Congress. 1 809-70. 3vols.8vo. Ex- ecutive Document.-, lsi Session, 42d Congress, 1871. 2vols.8vo. House Miscel- laneous, 1st Session, 42d Congress, 1871. 1 vol. 8vo. House Journal. 1st Session 42d Congress, 1S71. 1 vol. 8vo. Senate Reports, 1st Session, 42d Congress. 1871, lVOl. 8VO. Senate Documents, 1st Sc.--i.ui. I2d Congress. 1871. 1 vol. 8vo. Senate Journal, 1st Session, ,42d Congress, 1871. 1 vol. 8vo. Senate Miscellany, 161 Ses- sion, I2d Congress, 1871. l vol. 8vo. Senate Journal. 2d Session. (2d Congress, ls7i-7-i. i rol.8vo. Senate Documents, 2d Session, (2d Congress, L871-72. 2 vols. 8vo. Senate Miscellaneous, 2d Session, I2d Congress, 1871-72. ivol.8vo. Senate Reports, 2d Session, 12 Congress. 1*71-72. 5 vols. 8vo. Executive Document-, 2d Session. 42d Congress, 1871-72. 7 vols. 8vo. Report of the Secretary of 'War, 2d in, I2d Congress, 1871-72. 2 vol-. 8vo. Report of the Secretary of the Inte- rior, 2d Session, i_M Congress, 1871-72. 2 vols. svo. Report of the Comptroller of the Currency and Commissioners of Internal Revenue, 2d ses.-ion.42d Congress, 1871-72. 1 vol. 8vo. Affairs in the late Insurrectionary States. 2d Session. (2d Congress. 13 vols. Svo. Camp Mohave, Commerce and Navigation Customs Tariff
76
Legislation, 2d Session, 42d Congress, 1871-7-2. 1 vol. 8vo. Explorations and Surveys for a Ship-Canal Isthmus of Tehuantepec, 2d Session, 42d Congress. 1871- 72. 1 vol. 4to. Report of the Department of Agriculture, 2d Session, 42d Congress, 1871-72. 1 vol. Svo. Message and Reports of Department, Foreign Relations of the United States, 2d Session, 42d Congress, 1871-72. 1 vol. svo. Annual Reports Secretary of the Treasury, Postmaster General, Secretary of the Navy, '2d Ses- sion, 42d Congress, 1871-72. 1 vol. 8vo.
Hodges, Maky O. The Boston Fire, by T.E.Frothingham. lvol.l2mo. Plan of Greenwood Cemetery.
Lee, John C. Commercial Bulletin for March, April. 1874.
Mekkitt, LUCINDA F. The Shanghai Budget, Dec. 31, 1873, Jan. S, 15, 22, 29, Feb. 5, 12, IS), 1874.
MORSE, E. S. Forty-fourth Annual Report of the Common Schools of Cincin- nati, 1874.
PALFRAY, C. W. The American Law Register, 14 numbers. The Mining Mag- azine, (i numbers. The Republic, 4 numbers. Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. 8 numbers. Miscellaneous Reviews, 1(3 numbers. Miscellaneous pamphlets, 25.
POOLE, W., Wenham. Annual Report of the School Committee of Wenham. March, 1874. Annual Report of the Selectmen of Wenham. Feb., 1S71.
Wai.i.is, Mrs. C. A. The Naval Gazetteer. 1 vol. 8vo. London, 1871. Massa- chusetts Register and Military Record, 1862. 1 vol. 8vo. Public Documents for 1838, 1839, 1846. 4 vols. Svo. A Treatise on the Plague and Yellow Fever. 1 vol. 8vo. 1799. The Hierophant. 1 vol. Svo. United States Weekly Telegraph, 1831, 2 vols. Svo. Patent Ohice Report, 1848, 1850-51, 1852-53, 1857. 4 vols. Svo. Twent] third Annual Report of the Board of Education, 1SG0. 1 vol. Svo. Political Woi ks of Thomas Paine. 1 vol. Svo. Mitchell's United States. 1 vol. svo. Illustrations of the Divine Government. 1 vol. Svo. Sermons by O. Dewy. 2 vols. 12mo. Tri- umph, by Rev. Samuel Hutchinson, l vol. Kimo. History of Charles the Twelfth. 1 vol. I2iuo. 1833. Dictionary oi Thomas Sheridan. 1 vol. IGnio. 1796. Names and Titles of Jesus, l vol. Svo. The Principles of Grammar. 1 vol. 12mo. A Geological Reconnoissance of the State of Tennessee. lvol.8vo. 18D6. Memoir of Philip LindsJey. 1 vol. 8vo. 1859. Life of Bonaparte, l vol. 12mo. Inquiry, by W.Balfour. 1 vol. 12mo. Memoirs of Lafayette. I vol. 12mo. Messages of General Andrew Jackson. 1 vol. 12mo. Election Sermon by W. E3. ('banning. 1 vol. svo. American Almanacs, 1831, 1833. 2 vols. 12mo. Public and Private Economy. 1 vol. l2ino. Capital Punishment. 1 vol. svo. The Heavenly Union, by W. H. Porter. lvol.l2mo. The Constitution of the Fifteen Stales, l vol. l2mo. Memoir of Rev. E. Payson. i vol. 16mo. ( hesterneld's Letters to his Son. :; vols. 16mo. Manual for the General Court for 1857, 1858. 2 vols. 12mo. Mrs. Chapone's Letters. 1 vol. 18mo.
\Y ati:i;s, ,J. L. Arnold's First Greek Book. 1 vol. 12mo. Adjutanl General's Report of Illinois, 1861-62. 1 vol. Svo. Report of the Committee on Accounts, 1871. i vol. svo. Report on Insanity and Idiocy in Mass. lvol. 8vo. Commerce and Navigation, 1854. lvol.Svo. Transactions of the Illinois state Agricultural Society, 1867-8. I vol. svo. Miscellaneous pamphlets, 37.
Un.i.son, E. B. Record of Unitarian Worthies for April, l>7i. 8vo pamph.
By Exchange.
American Antiquarian Soi iety. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting, Oct. 21. is;;. Boe TON Pi blic i.ii:i; \v.\ . Bulletin for April, 1874. Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences. Bulletin of. Vol. i, No. 4. 1873-74.
77
( w \m w I-.- 1 1 1 1 1 1 or Toronto. The Canadian Jonrnal for April, 1874.
New Km. i \mi Historic-Gen] \ ical Soci: \\ . Hi torical and Gi
for A pril- I iiiii-. 1874. Ni.w Fore Genealogu m. a.nd Biographical Society. Record of the. Vol. v. No. J. April. 1874.
Pi blishers. American Naturalist. Forest and Stream. Gloucester Tele- graph. Haverhill Gazette, tpswich Chronicle. Lawrence American. Lynn Reporter. Lynn Transcript. Medical and Surgical Reporter. Nation. Nature, idy Press. Sa rver. Salem Post. Silliinan's Journal.
Edward Thompson, of Salem, was elected a resident member.
Edw. A. Silsbee, nt' Salem, gave a familiar talk on art matters. The following is an abstract of his remarks : —
We must go to Europe to see art in its greatness and extent. Driven through a hundred galleries, we come to know something at last. One day we wake and find ourselves connoisseurs. We grow confident. We go alone. But time is needful to mature taste. It grows by lying fallow, and is a constant revision of previous judg- ments. It is an induction like science, and should he wide as the subject.
Art is a double sense, an eye behind the natural eye. Artists look upon nature with subtler vision. They inter- pret it for us. We must look with their eyes to enter into their work. They multiply our senses and give us enjoyments undreamt of before. Poets do the same. "Without being artists or poets we can get from them their key of vision, as families and friends grow alike by nat- ural imbuing and like atmosphere. Thus we have the genius of the world at command, and live on the top of all the ages. Goethe went-far to realize this. It is culture in its ideality and entirety. Emerson would do it with more artistic temperament. Artistic sense differs from the poetic. The one is general, emotional; the other professional. They should play into each other. Artist should be poetic: poet artistic.
78
Poetiy, painting, music, sculpture, architecture, are varying phases of one sense of the beautiful. Criticism is interchangeable in these arts. Feeling, execution, we speak of in either. Feeling is genius; execution, talent. The comprehension of feeling is a great way in art.
American art is scenic, external, no quick sympathy with nature in her every-day mood. It must fty to moun- tains, Niagaras, icebergs, as if the miracle of nature were not lying around us every day, to hold us with wonder or thrill us with enthusiasm ; the ineffable significance in common things, complexity in simplicity, simplicity in complexity ; the infinite as conspicuous in a weed as in a world. Zoologists might as well only study elephants, botanists trees, or geologists mountains. Church, Bier- stadt, do the whole of nature at a blow. Snow moun- tains, middle distance, foreground, waterfalls, Indians, encampments, — enough for a dozen pictures in one. They seem to say, "walk up, gentlemen, so much for your money." One cannot take in so much at a time. You might as well put tragedy, comedy, elegy, pastoral in one poem. Turner is open to the same criticism ; but he had an epic genius, sympathy, imaginative power, great ar- tistic sensibility and expression. He is florid in taste, not simple — Byronic, the same unquiet impulses and arti- ficial associations in subject, tourmentie — surfeited with, embarras de richesse.
The French school is simple, does not attempt rashly tin: sublime, nor do too much in one composition. They paint the nearness and intimacy of nature, her every-day. Nothing sensational, belittling, conventional or hackneyed comes into their work. Nature is endless, and they know it and cling to it. We, when we are not grandiose, are pretty, never subtle. They arc sincere, meet nature face to face, need nothing local, romantic, trite or obvious to
79
inspire them. Nature is revealed to them. You -walk into their pictures as into a garden or a field, every minute part is felt and well given. Our art is thin, dis- tant objects are faint, not far ; modelling, linear perspec- tives, relations of tint, tone, texture, color ; sense of form, reflected lights, aerial perspectives ; are ignored or not known. The whole is flat. These relations are "values," an inestimable word. The French level spaces, shrubs, trees and ground, shy pools and furtive grasses or weeds, carefully rendered as they are, are worth legions of rocky mountains and hearts of the Andes done in this shallow, conventional way. With its blended outline, French art gives us what we feel when we see, not what we see without reeling, which is our key, and that with half an eye. Our landscape is optical, theirs mental.
Japanese art has the same integrity, never opens its ej^es but it sees a picture ; more through a window pane indeed than another can see in a whole life ; for art is not the seeing, the physical sense, but the significance every object bears to the artistic eye. The Belgians, Dutch, are where the French are, one with nature as she is with- out adornment. Constable, an Englishman, originated the school but left no following in England. The English are painstaking but unideal ; metallic, positive, over bril- liant in color. No subtle harmony, or subdued feeling, or gray tones. Wordsworth is yet to be grown up to in art there. German art is stilted when not influenced by the French school. Like English or American painting, it is lost without a subject, a factitious element or motive in the composition other than nature. • It must have inci- dent or association, as if nature were not enough. Art in these countries is where poetry was in the last century, artificial or uninspired. It studied form, we study feeling.
In visiting galleries we must watch the mood, not have
80
our eye full of the flaring colors of the street, be patient and wait for the object to glide into our mind, which one day it will do. It cannot be forced, and art is too deli- cate a thing to be captured coup de main. Our knowledge shifts, and taste winnows. It is a step, a gradation. Judgment at last becomes secure, and perception rapid. Coleridge said, "every great artist creates the taste by which he is appreciated." He brings something new into the world, his genius. He must instruct us, not we him. He can teach us to see what we did not see before.
The Greek mind drew all nature into itself, distilled it in the alembic of its imagination, and gave it forth sim- ply as form. Hence the perfection of that form. The northern, Christian, and later mind, feels nature mysti- cally, sympathetically, and does not attempt to embody, personify, reduce to form. Gothic architecture is the greatest fruit of this feeling. It represents the infinite, strives after it, is tilled with it. It is unending, flexible, emotional, spiritual. It is a life and literature in stone. For three centuries all that men felt and knew went to it. It created the grotesque. A gray mist of stone, it grows into marvellous life under our eye. It is peopled with Calibans and Midsummer Night's Dreams. It suggests something beyond itself. The Greek did what he felt, the Goth felt what he could not do. The Greek is one intense concentration, tired with the beauty of the world, drawn from all experience, the genius of nature made manifest. The Roman arch expresses dominion, security, serenity, beauty. The Gothic emotion, restless but as- piring, ever pointing upward. The Roman arch, law, the Gothic, religion. Hence the sublime impulse of the
northern churches.
St. Peter's fails of effect from this cause. It is prosaic, though huge. You have to accustom yourself to it to
81
feel it. Then it is like a new world by itself, it has en- closed so much of space. It should have been a Greek cross. In that form all mass contributes to unity and impressiveness of effect. Now the facade fritters the dome. One should enter it by the short arm of the cross, then outside and in are one, and we get the grand impres- sion at once.
The great expressions of northern art are Gothic, Michael Angelo, Shakespeare, and, as Herbert Spencer added, Beethoven. Dante was one with Gothic, and not to be separated from it.
The great artists in modern times are Michael Angelo, who created types, and pried into the unknown ; Raphael the great musical genius, endless in invention, composi- tion, symphonious and ever graceful, feeling form as a Greek almost, and making it sensuous as Titian did color ; Leonardo, who did the inscrutable ; Correggio, who played with flame and softness, archness and grace, sweet as a child ; Velasquez, who needed nothing but the fact to inspire him, who dignified realism by power and artistic apprehension into ideality; Titian, the great poet, in- tense in romantic depth of color, who brought back sen- suousness without license into the world ; Rubens and Rembrandt in the north, and Albert Durer. All other men are to be ranked below these.
Titian includes the Venetians, a noble company. He has. almost alone among moderns, the serenity of the Greek. His pose is unique. lie is the Phidias of portrait painting. Tintoret with his fiery power is less than his depth. The "Sacred and Profane Love" is as if dropped out of the sky, and is without effort. As mere painting, it is the greatest picture in the world. Paul Veronese was frank and healthful; a subtile, ingenuous, delightful master, but more external than Titian. Vandyke comes
82
after Rubens and Rembrandt. Rembrandt was a main- eian, and discovered the poetry in light and shade. Rubens was robustious, splendid, healthful, restored enjoyment of life to men, painted up to nature more than any man, and could do so, and had the largest scope and facility. His st}de is not searching, or classical, but romantic and perfectly unconfiued. Albert Durer was mystical, Gothic, natural, and felt the significance of things. Murillo, more of a poet, must be placed below Velasquez for power.
In sculpture there are few transcendent things, but these are superhuman, and would be incredible if they were not seen. The relics of the Parthenon, the Venus of Milo, a few other Greek fragments — these are heroic. They look as if they had grown, not been made. As in the old Italian pictures the company have happened there, not been placed, Gothic has grown not been built. It is an organic thing, a thing of nature. The Greek temple is the crystallization of all the influences for beauty of the world distilled in one form and object. Even the Belvidere torso, the Laocoon, the Apollo do not attain to this sublime repose, they are tourmentees in the compar- ison.
English art has but few names, but these are unequalled in their kind. Hogarth, Reynolds, Gainsborough, Flax- man, Stotherd, Wilkie, Turner, Constable, Morland, Leslie and Newton, "Old Crome," Blake, a prehistoric man, an artistic mystic, and a few others. The English mind expresses itself in poetry.
Kaulbach, who has just died, had a stilted, academic manner. Grandiose and imposing, full of talent, but like all the Germans, a bad colorist, he was not a genius. They are schoolmasters in art, excogitated, pedantic. If their claim were allowed according to the amount they have done, the old Italians would be dwarfed. Kaulbach's
83
illustrations are obvious, line-y in style, poseedt\ lack mystery, imagination, suggestiveness.
Three things make sculpture, feeling for form, feeling for life, feeling for character. The Greeks are unap- proached in the first two. If the moderns have done any thing it is in the last. Sculpture should take apart like literature, and every fragment should show mastery, vitality, organism. A line of Shakespeare, a passage of Milton, a square foot of Rubens, Veronese, Velasquez proves the master. Modern sculpture will not bear this test.
American organization is finer for art perhaps than the English but lacks robustness. Hunt is the best exempli fication of this, and does things not equalled there for artistic sensibility, or indeed on the continent. Puri- tanism was not an artistic cast of mind or character. We need temperament. The Irish will give us this, and Germans intellectual industry. Puritanism chilled the blood which needs enrichment. Hawthorne, a subtle im- aginative genius, was morbid, not enough flesh and blood in him. Emerson, a great teacher, is not creative. We are forty millions in a continent. Nature s'.bdues man here, and makes him a mercantile animal. It will be so for a century or more, till the continent fills in. Meantime best forces, the outcome of forty millions, do not keep each other in countenance, are too scattered. No capital exists, school of art, literature, manners.- New York is a mart, Washington a galvanized capital for six months in the year.
Wo lack passion in poetry. We describe nature, are not near to her. The only sensibility we know of is in Jones Yery's sonnets, and Emerson's early essays. The sonnets are Hebraic in their siugle-mindedness and eleva- tion. They are like voices of nature, purling of brooks
or robins* notes: innocent and carolling, study no
form, but have the best, and are Saxon and monosyllabic in style and structure.
e community does not reflect its intelligence in criti- It is the merest commonplace. Lit- erature, the drama, m iticised liscriminatii ig . impatient of criticism in painti _. ad think their asg I as a -. This is an art that requires and delicate judgment as the other arts.
. ation of painting, the reason of its being _:ive what we feel. Otherwise photography would be the greatest artist, and dispense with all other. ^ce knows. Art feels. It is the interchange of the soul with th' b affectii _ :her, that makes
art. Goethe said art iter than nature,
the t j the greir
and summons nature to its throne and makes use of it. it living art. No gi I picture has been paii. and red year-.
.* two or three L presses itself in
or painting, or architecture, and - -
_ - ive works
been explained. At any rate it seems we b
ind have had
: try since. A - 'a. No new
magi li ng.
Ci judge of art more fairly than . for
ituted to feel on
2 inst other kinds of i The
crit! impartial and universal it he has
tion, and _ live. What not not univ art
-: render itself to the world and not .-or
mysl
It cannot be too much insisted on, art does not depend upon subject. Rembrandt saw subjecl . and
transmuted the dust to gold. W getting near
nature in all things, lite, literature, law. art, mar/ ligion, sloughing off the - f centuries.
is lending a powerful hand. ican loves adornment, which is a kind of art. and is wil
-tend tor it. American s* ins ss -
conspicuous while the E re clumsy at it. Our
houses are more neatly constructed than in the Provio 3.
Allston was the greatest artist we have produced, a man cast in the mould of the old masters but miss _ ^.is time. leridge as he was potentially great. Land-
seer, the greatest English artist of our generation, and the only one of genius, - si - in in pri 5J ing is chalky and thin. _ -'.. live among animals
and should do them well as the Gi - I the human form which they constantly saw. and the Venetians } inspired by the .round ti. . I the vicinity
intercourse of the East.
The aesthetic is horn in man as early as the religi or intellectual. The savage 1 - er begins to beat his neighbor's brains out but he can 3 - lub. lie p his own body tor beauty or terror, but it requires a new birth to know beauty intimately as Wordsworth,
:e, knew it. We must go behind the conventional, ver the "innoeeney of the eye." *strip the wil of familiarity from things." Artists interpret, poets make us know it. But among poets and artists there are supersensuous, and the describers mere have insight and ideality, and spiritual imagination, and those who never get at the heart, the core, the soul of
84
or robins' notes; innocent and carolling, they study no form, but have the best, and are Saxon and monosyllabic in style and structure.
The community does not reflect its intelligence in criti- cism of painting. It is the merest commonplace. Lit- erature, the drama, music, arc criticised discriminatingly. People are impatient of criticism in painting, and think their eye as good as another's. This is an art that requires study and delicate judgment as the other arts.
The justification of painting, the reason of its being is, that we give what we feel. Otherwise photography would be the greatest artist, and dispense with all other. Science knows. Art feels. It is the interchange of the soul with the object, each affecting the other, that makes art. Goethe said art was greater than nature, because, of the two factors, soul is the greatest and most important, and summons nature to its throne and makes use of it. Music is the great living art. No great picture has been painted for two hundred years. WI13' genius rises in tides every two or three hundred years, and expresses itself in poetry, or painting, or architecture, and leaves the suc- ceeding ages barren of great creative works, has never been explained. At any rate it seems we have not ex- hausted the dispensation of fifty years ago and have had no hurst of poetry since. All is an after-math. No new phase of imaginative feeling.
Critics may judge of art more fairly than artists, for artists arc constituted to feel one thing intensely. This prejudices them against other kinds of excellence. Tin' critic may be more impartial and universal it he has sensibility, not being swayed by any predisposition, and not himself gifted with any originating power. He should be sympathetic and interpretative. What he can- not discover must be (eclinique and not universal, for art
85
must render itself to the world and not be of a caste or mystery.
It cannot be too much insisted on, art docs not depend upon subject. Rembrandl saw subject everywhere, and transmuted the dust to gold. We arc getting nearer to nature in all things, life, literature, law, art, manners, re- ligion, sloughing off the accretions of centuries. Science is lending a powerful hand. The age is her's. The Amer- ican loves adornment, which is a kind of art. and is willing to spend for it. American ladies' instinct for dress is conspicuous while the English are clumsy at it. Our houses are more neatly constructed than in the Provinces.
Allston was the greatest artist we have produced, a man cast in the mould of the old masters but missing his time. Like Coleridge as poet, he was potentially great. Land- seer, the -greatest English artist of our generation, and the only one of genius, is best seen in prints for his paint- ing is chalky and thin. The English live among animals and should do them well as the Greeks did the human form which they constantly saw, and the Venetians were inspired by the lagune around them, and the vicinity and intercourse of the East.
The aesthetic is born in man as early as the religious or intellectual. The savage no sooner begins to beat his neighbor's brains out but he carves his club. lie paints his own body for beauty or terror, but it requires a new birth to know beauty intimately as Wordsworth, Shelley, Blake, knew it. We must go behind the conventional, recover the "innocency of the eye," "strip the veil of familiarity from things." Artists interpret, poets make us know it. But among poets and artists there are the supersensuous, and the describers merely. Those who have insight and ideality, and spiritual imagination, and those who never get at the heart, the core, the soul of
8G
things : the imaginative significance of the universe, but dwell in the superficies. That it is the province of all art to discover and give. In measure of the revelation of it is it great.
Annual Meeting, Wednesday, May 13, 1874.
According to the notification, the meeting was held at 3 p.m. The President in the chair. Records read.
The annual reports of the officers and of the curators were read and accepted, and from them the accompanying
RETROSPECT OF THE YEAR
has been compiled. The placing before large and inter- ested assemblages a series of superior entertainments, consisting of instructive lectures and essays, brilliant concerts and exhibitions of flowers, fruit and vegetables, of a high order, has been attended with eminent success. In other directions a like degree of vigor and zeal has been noticeable : thus the library and museum have been largely increased, by purchase, donations, and by ex- change ; the field, evening and other meetings have been well attended and at these meetings many valuable com- munications were presented and referred to the appro- priate committee for publication.
Members. — Changes occur in the list of our associates, by the addition of new names, and the withdrawal of some by resignation, removal from the county or vicinity, or by death. In this connection, notices of six of the resident members who -have deceased within tin1 year are inserted.
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1. William Oliver Thayer. Son of Oliver and Rachel (Bancroft) Thayer, of Salem. He had from his youth been an interested member, although his business avoca- tions prevented him from taking an active part in the meetings ; he was engaged in the lumber business with his father. Died June 9, 1873, aged thirty-nine.
2. Iilchard Saltonstall Rogers, well known to those of a past generation as an active merchant in the firm of X. L. Rogers & Brothers, who were pioneers and founders, in the United States, of the Zanzibar and New Holland trades ; for many years previous to 1842 were actively engaged in foreign commerce, mainly with the East Indies, and were among the most distinguished merchants of Salem. Died June 11, 1873, aged eighty-three years.
3. Benjamin F. Browne, known as a druggist and apothecary for many years in this city, and latterly for his interest and zeal in the study of our local history. The results of many of his investigations and researches have been printed in the first volumes of the "Historical Collections" of the Institute, contributing largely to the importance and historical value of this publication. He was the son of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Andrew) Browne of Salem, and was born July 14, 1793. Died November 23, 1873, aged eighty years and four months.
4. John Jewell, for many years established in the cabi- net making business, and later a partner in the firm of Prime, Kenney & Co. Son of John and Elizabeth (Hodgkins) Jewett, born at Ipswich, Dec. 24, 1795, came to Salem a young man and has since that time been a resident of this city. He was an enterprising and use- ful citizen ; for many years a director in the Commercial (now First National) Bank, a member of the city govern- ment, representative to the legislature, and served effi- ciently in other local capacities. He died Feb. 28, 187 1 .
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5. Robert Peele, son of Robert and Elizabeth (Smith) Peele ; had during a long life been engaged in the hard- ware business until a few years since, when he retired. He was always much interested in antiquarian lore and in collecting materials for our local history. He died April 7, 1874, aged eighty years.
6. Alpheus Crosby. Widely known as a distinguished scholar and educator ; died at his residence in this city, April 17, 1874. He was son of Dr. Asa Croslvy, and was born in Sandwich, N". H., Oct. 13, 1810, a graduate of Dartmouth in the class of 1827, and for many years a tutor and professor in that institution. In October, l<s.">7, he became principal of the State Normal School at Salem and continued in that office until July, 1865, and since that time has resided in this city engaged in literary pur- suits. Prof. Crosby was one of the most accurate and thorough Greek scholars that our country has produced. He has published several Greek text books that are held in high repute, besides other valuable educational works, and his exhaustive labors upon a new Greek dictionary which he was preparing probably induced the disease of which he died.
Prof. Crosby had always been a valuable citizen. For ten years he had been president of the Salem Athenaeum, and had been one of the officers of the Institute, in whose welfare he took a deep interest and whose cause he has advanced by his donations and efforts in other ways.
Two of our corresponding members have deceased, Prof. L. Agassiz at Cambridge, Dee. 1."), L873, and Col. J, W. Foster al Chicago, Illinois, June 29, 1873. Also Prof. 'I. />• Russell, an early member of the Natural Ilis- tory Society, June 7, L873. At special meetings held for
the purp086 resolutions of respect were passed. 1 To be continued.]
BULLETIN
ESSEX UsTSTITTJTE.
Vol. 6. Salem, Mass., June, 1874. No. 6.
One Dollar a Year in Advance. 10 Cents a Single Copy.
Annual Meeting, Wednesday, May 13, 1874. retrospect op the year.
[ Continued. J
Meetings. — During the summer and early autumn Field Meetings and Horticultural Exhibitions occupied the attention of the Institute. The meetings were four in number, first at Amesbury, on Thursday, June 19, 1873, by invitation of the Amesbury and Salisbury Natural History Club, who were very courteous and attentive during the visit. At the meeting in the Uuiversalist Church the recent decease of Messrs. ^R. S. Rogers, J. L. Russell and W. O. Thayer was noticed. Mr. Allen W. Dodge, after a few general remarks, alluded to some of the habits and customs of our ancestors gleaned from the records in the registers of probate and of deeds. Mr. F. W. Putnam alluded to some Indian relics belomrinf to the museum of the Natural History Club, particularly specifying an interesting carved stone rudely representing a porpoise, or better still, a white whale or Beluga. Essex Inst. Bulletin. vi 8
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Among the other speakers were Messrs. James H. Emerton, of Salem, Homer B. Crane, William C. Binney, Rev. Messrs. Eaton and Dinsmore of Amesbury.
The second meeting was at Lynnfield, Wednesday, July 30, 1873. The principal points of interest were vis- ited during the forenoon. At the afternoon meeting in the church the recent decease of Col. Foster at Chicago was noticed. Mr. F. W. Putnam, Rev. E. C. Bolles, John Robinson, Rev. S. H. Taft, of Humboldt College, Gen. Josiah Newhall, of Lynnfield, and others, reported on the findings of the day, and made such observations as were suggested thereby.
The third field meeting was at Chebacco Pond, Tues- day, Aug. 12, 1873, by the kind invitation of Messrs. J. Whipple & Sons. The meeting was held on the platform in the grove, and was very largely attended, several dis- tinguished persons being in the vicinity were present, and among the speakers were Hon. A. W. Dodge of Hamil- ton, George D. Phippen of Salem, Prof. Asa Gray and Prof. George L. Goodalc of Cambridge, J. J. H. Gregory, Esq., of Marblehead, Mr. F. W. Putnam and others.
The fourth meeting was at Danvers Centre, formerly Salem Village, the seat of the witchcraft delusion in 1692. The afternoon session was held in the church. Messrs. F. W. Putnam, John Robinson, E. C. Bolles, C. B. Rice, David Stiles, Jeremiah Spoftbrd, Augustus Mudge, W. P. Upham, George Tapley and others ad- dressed the meeting. A communication was presented from Philip P. Carpenter, of Montreal, "On the Generic Affinities of the New England Chitons." (See Bulletin, Vol. v, p. 152.)
Evening meetings have been held at the rooms usually on the first and third Monday evenings of each month.
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At these meetings an increasing interest was manifested, and several valuable communications were presented, abstracts of which have been printed in the Bulletin or reserved for the "Historical Collections." The fol- lowing may be specified: — "On the Mechanism of the Flight of Birds," by C. J. Maynard, "Notes on the Bird Fauna of the Salt Lake Valley and the Adjacent Portions of the Wahsatch Mountains," by Robert Ridg- way, "The Birds of Colorado," by Robert Ridgway ; "On Some New Forms of American Birds," by Spencer F. Baird and Robert Ridgway; "Natural History in the Schools," by Byron Groce ; "Notices of Several Rare and Interesting Fishes from the Harbors of Marblehead, Salem and Beverly," by F. W. Putnam ; "On the Early Days and Rapid Growth of California," by Alfred Pea- body ; "Notice of the Black Fish shot in Salem Harbor, October, 1873," by F. W. Putnam; "On Art Studies," by Walter Smith ; "Notes from the Diary of Wm. Rus- sell, prior to and chiefly during the Time of his Confine- ment in Mill Prison during the War of the Revolution," communicated by James Kimball; "On Copperplate en- graving," by Geo. M. White ; "Journal of Rev. Daniel Shute, D. D., Chaplain of the Expedition to Canada in 1758," by James Kimball; "Notes on the Mammals of Portions of Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming and Utah," by J. A. Allen ; "On Various Modes of Illustration," by E. S. Morse; "Description of a Skull of a Mound-builder, from Shell Bed on Rock Island," by A. S. Tiffany ; "A Familiar Talk on Art Matters," by Edward A. Silsbee. A special meeting was held on Thursday evening, in the Whitfield church, Newburyport, for the reading of the memorial address upon the late Henry Coit Perkins, M. D., an esteemed member of the Institute, by Rev. Samuel J. Spalding, D.D. A special meeting was also
92
held on Tuesday evening, Dec. 16, 1873, to celebrate the destruction of the tea in Boston Harbor, Dec. 1G, 1773. On this occasion a paper was read by James Kimball. On Monday evening, Feb. 16, 1874, a reception was given to Rev. Charles Kingsley, the distinguished Canon of Westminster.
Lectures. — The series of lectures alluded to in the last annual report,* in course of delivery, by Rev. E. C. Bolles, at Danvers, "On the Microscope and its Teach- ings, and at the rooms of the Institute "On the Micro- scope," were delivered according to agreement. During the latter part of the autumn and early winter a course of six lectures was delivered in Wenham, two by Rev. E. C. Bolles, two by Mr. F. W. Putnam and one each by Rev. E. S. Atwood and Rev. J. Coit. Also a course of eight lectures at Ipswich, three by Mr. Bolles, two by Mr. Putnam, and one each by Messrs. Atwood and Coit and C. M. Tracy of Lynn. Mr. Bolles has also delivered two lectures each at Gloucester and Manchester and one at Peabody. Richard A. Proctor of London, Hon. Sec'y of Roy. Astron. Soc, gave three lectures at the rooms of the Institute in November, "On Planets," "On Comets and Meteors," and "On the Moon and Stars." Rev. E. C. Bolles gave four lectures on the microscope in the rooms of the Institute on Wednesday evenings, March 25, April 1, 8 and 15 of the present year.
Lectures and Concerts under the direction of the curators of the department of arts. A scries of eight entertainments, with an extra and a supplementary course of three were given in the Mechanic Hall to large and appreciative audiences. 1st, Mon., Oct. 27, Richard A.
* Sec Bulletin of Essex Institute, Vol. .0, p. 45.
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Proctor, of London, Hon. Sec. Roy. Astron. Soc, sub- ject, "The Sun." 2d, Wed., Nov. 12, concert by the English Glee Club, of New York City. 3d, Mon., Dec. 1, Readings by Prof. George W. Blish. 4th, Mon., Dec. 8, Rev. Newman Hall, of Surrey Chapel, London, sub- ject, "Reminiscences of Mountain Rambles." 5th, Mon., Dec. 22, Prof. W. H. Niles, of Cambridge, subject, "The High Alps." 6th, Mon., Jan. 5, Charles Bradlaugh, M.P., of England, subject, "Republicanism in England." 7th, Wed., Jan. 14, concert by Mr. B. J. Lang, of Boston, with assistants, and the Essex Institute Chorus. 8th, Mon., Jan. 2G, concert by Harvard Glee Club of Cam- bridge. Extra, Fri., Jan. 30, Wilkie Collins of London, reading of "The Dream Woman." Supplementary course, 1st, Mon., Feb. 16, Charles Kingsley, Canon of West- minster, subject, " Westminster Abbey," his first lecture in America. 2d, Wed., March 18, concert by Adelaide Phillips. 3d, Mon., March 30, a concert by the Essex Institute Chorus.
Horticultural. — The operations of this department have been very successfully conducted during the past season. Six exhibitions have been held, three devoted to the show of special flowers, the others more general in their character. 1st, on Friday evening, June 13, for the exhibition of several magnificent specimens of Cereus grandijiora, Lilium auratum, Philocactus crenatus (white cactus) and other species of cacti. 2d, Monday and Tuesday, June 23 and 24, the rose show, one of marked excellence. The conservatories also contributed many choice plants. 3d, Monday, July 28, special exhibition, a tine plant of EucJtaris grandiflora, also Gloxinias, Lilium auratum, night blooming ccrcus and other plants. 4th, Thursday, Aug. 14, continued on Friday on account of
94
the weather, Caladium argyrites from D. M. Balch, white oleander from F. Putnam, varieties of Coleus and ferns from Mrs. C. Hoffman. 5th, Wednesday, Sept. 3, a very large and beautiful display of German and French asters from the garden of John Robinson, and a flower of the AntJieoliza prealla from the Cape of Good Hope, by Alfred Peabody. 6th, the annual, from Tuesday, Sept. 16th to Friday, the 19th, was decidedly fine in every respect, and fruit, flowers and vegetables were exhibited from all parts of the county, though by far the largest portion from Salem and its vicinity. The main hall and the two anterooms on the first floor were used, and all the tables were filled to overflowing. The hall was tastefully ar- ranged and the bright tints of the beautiful flowers and the bold broad or pinnated points of the tropical palms placed at the entrance and down the centre of the hall, produced a highly pleasing effect, which was materially aided by the gentle stream of water from a miniature fountain rippling over a bed of shells and stones, among which were growing ferns and several aquatic plants. This exhibition was, in many respects, the finest ever attempted in this city or its vicinity, and for the beauty of the articles shown it was superior to, and in the attend- ance it exceeded, any before held under the direction of the Institute.
There have been in some previous years larger displays of fruit, but rarely a show which combined so much that was interesting and attractive, and never one where there had been gathered so fine a collection and variety of plants. The fruit exhibited, especially of pears, was characterized by general and uniform excellence of qual- ity and appearance rather than by mammoth growth or other exceptional peculiarities. Some very fine speci- mens of the St. Michael pear suggested the possibility of
95
:i revival of this variety, the pride of the Salem gardens a half century ago. The show of vegetables was also quite extensive.
The following prizes and gratuities were awarded : —
FLOWERS.
Pot-plants.— First, D. M. Balch; second, Hugh Wilson.
Coleus •' Chameleon."— Kernwood.
Hanging Basket.— First, W. II. Gardner; second, John Meiklejohn.
Stand, growing plants.— W. H. Gardner.
Basket cut flowers.— First. W. II. Gardner; second. Miss Alice Beckford.
Gladioli.— First, Francis Putnam; second, D. M. Balch.
Bouquets. — \V. II. Gardner.
Floral Design.— John Meiklejohn.
Gratuity.— Mrs. Horner, Georgetown, native plants; Hugh Wilson, and Mrs. J- D. Hammond, garden stands; J. H. Hill, Amesbury, collections; John Meikle- john, well grown plants.
FRUIT.
Collection pears.— First, Wm. Maloon ; second, Charles A. Ropes.
Best plate.— Seckel, T. P. Symonds; Bartlett, G. P. Rust; Beurre Hardy, B. R. Symonds; Duchesse and Louise Bonne, A. H. Hubbard; Flemish Beauty, James Donaldson.
Collection apples.— First, A. B. Woodis, Ropes Farm; second, D. P. Carpenter.
Single Dish.— Baldwin, Charles E. Symonds.
Native Grapes. — First, D. M. Balch; second, C. Higbee.
Best Rogers, Xo. 15, W. P. Locke: Hartford Prolific, Edwin Verry; Delaware, T. P. Symonds; Foreign (single dish) Chas. R. Waters.
Collection peaches.— First, Geo. Bowker; second, C. M. Richardson.
Single Dish. — Fred. Lamson.
Gratuity. — Peaches, to Mrs. G. W. Downing; Figs, Aaron Smith; collection, H. F. Skerry.
VEGETABLES.
Collection.— First, David Wentzell; second, Geo. W. Rogers; third, City of Salem (farm).
Early Rose potato.— C. S. Emmerton ; other varieties of potato, C. S. Emmcrton ; marrow squash, E. C. Larrabee ; tomato (best 12) trophy, E. C. Larrabee ; cabbage, F. W. Lyford; tomato (sort not trophy), Plummer Farm School; Beets, A. B. Woodis; Beets (mangels), A. B. Woodis; water melons, Plummer Farm School; Mammoth squash (102 lbs.), David Wentzell, who had two on one vine weighing together 174 pounds, and a fourth S7 pounds.
The prizes awarded on the first day for " cut flowers " were, first, Francis Put- nam; second, John Meiklejohn ; third, Charles A. Beckford; gratuity to Miss Alice Glover for ''tasteful arrangement of flowers."
The contributors were as follows : —
Flowers, Pot Plants. Ferks, Baskets, etc.— D. M. Balch, Hugh Wilson, Francis Putnam, George W. Rogers, John Robinson, John Meiklejohn, C. A. Beck- ford, John Doig, Mabel Emery (Lynn), J. Henry Hill (Amesbury), John Webster, Mrs. Horner (Georgetown), Miss Annie Bancroft, Mrs. J. B. Osborne, Mrs. Jamea
96
O. Safford, Mrs. W. F. Gardner, Miss C. A. Neal, Miss Grace A. Glover, Mrs. Mil- ler, Miss Alice Beckford, Henry D. Johnson, Miss S. W. Chandler, Mrs. S. II- Smith. William II. Gardner, Mrs. It. Winn, William P. Parker, B. D. Hill (Peabody), Miss MaryT. Ropes, Mrs. Clough. Mrs. David Pingrce, C. A. Ropes, Clifford Burnes, C. n. Pulsifer, S. Killani, Dr. G. A. Perkins, Mrs. J. D. Hammond, E. S. Atwood, Mrs. E. D. Kimball.
Peaks, Peaches, Apples, Plums, Grapes, etc.— A. J. Hubbard (Peabody) Mrs. John Goldsmith, W. II. Nichols, Mrs. Walter Leavitt, S. P. Fowler, Mrs. F. L. Ward, V. C. Stowc, J. B. Osgood, Miss Richardson. C. M. Richardson, B. Ballard, J. W. Goldthwait, D. P. Carpenter, George D. Glover. Charles E. Symonds, Sirs. Kimball, R. C. Manning, G. P. Rust, Wm. Maloon, Jona. Davis, George Merrill, Mrs. Edward Eamson, A. P. Weare, Jno. Daniels, Miss H. Short, Thorp Fisher, E. Emmerton, C. R. Waters, Alfred Peabody, Mrs. E. Moore, W. H. Rice, Benjamin Edwards, S. P. Walcott, C. Higbee, Alfred Whalen. L. D. Pettin- gell, S. W. Bancroft, N. A. Horton, B. R. Symonds, K. Babbage, Mrs. P. English, George A. Newhall, Geo. Bowker, W. B. Aiken, Charles Creesy, T. P. Symonds, Frederick Lamson, J. P. Cooke, James Donaldson, C. H. Buxton, H. F. Skerry. J. Margati, J. R. Chase, C. Harrington, C. A. Ropes, S. G. Jones, Samuel Newman (Peabody), Wm. Hill, J. F. Dodge, M. P. Locke, Aug. Very, G. F. Putnam, F. L. Ward, Thomas Symonds, B. H. Silsbee, D. M. Batch, Mrs. George Downing. Mrs. Henry Webb, C. H.Webber, Mrs. J. Pierce, Mrs. G. A. Newhall, J. Goldsmith, Mrs. Wilkinson, E. H. Dodge, Aaron Smith.
Vegetables.— David Wentzell, George W. Rogers, City of Salem, Plummer Farm School, H. W. Lyford, C. S. Emmerton, E. C. Larrabee, L. D. Pettingill, A. B. Woodis, Mrs. Ward, Alfred Ware, W. S. Messervy, B. H. Silsbee, George A. Newhall, John Meiklejohn.
Honev.— George D. Glover, B. R. Symonds.
Library. — The additions during the year now closed are as follows : —
Donations.
Folios, 1 Pamphlets and Serials, . . . 4,511
Quartos, 2!) Almanacs, 39
Octavos, 333
Duodecimos, 110 Total, 4.r>.">0
Scxdecimos, G7 Total of bound volumes, . . 540
Total 510 Total of douations, 5,0C0
Exchanges.
Quartos, 3 Pamphlets and Serials, . . . 807
Octavos, 110 Total of bound volumes, . . . 115
Duodecimos, 2
— Total ot Exchanges 1,012
Total 115 Total of Donations 5.0D0
Total, C,102
Of the total number of pamphlets and serials, 1,324 were pamphlets and 4,084 serials.
The donations to the Library for the year have been
07
received from one hundred and fifteen individuals and seven societies and public bodies.
The exchanges have been received from ninety-nine societies and incorporate bodies, of which sixty-nine are foreign.
From the editors of the "American Naturalist" fifty- one serial publications.
In this connection the Librarian would state that there is a box or shelf catalogue of the books in the upper hall ; an accession catalogue, being a full list of the additions to the library, chronologically arranged, and an alpha- betical catalogue of a large portion of the library. A full alphabetical catalogue of all the books and pamphlets would be a great desideratum and would facilitate very much the duties of the students and all others who may have occasion to consult the library. The early attention of the Institute is particularly requested to the consider- ation of this subject.
The arrangement of the manuscripts has been com- pleted during the past year. All the manuscript papers are now carefully assorted and placed either in bound volumes or in packages, labelled on the back so that any one can ascertain whether any desired manuscript is among them without removing them from the shelves. It would be a great advantage if this arrangement could be kept up with all manuscript papers as they are brought in, for nothing seems more useless than to keep them packed away in closed drawers and in obscure corners out of sight. Our manuscripts are now often consulted by gene- alogists and others, and much gratification has been ex- pressed at the manner in which a portion of them have thus been made available.
Museum. — Many valuable specimens in Natural His-
98
tory have been given during the year and are on deposit with the Trustees of the Peabody Academy of Science, in accordance with previous arrangements. Several of these specimens have been mentioned at our meetings as con- tributing to the knowledge of the natural history of this county. All have been duly acknowledged to the several donors. In addition to the above several interesting speci- mens of an historical character have been deposited in the rooms of the Institute, and contribute very much to the interest and value now attached to the antiquarian and historical portion of the museum.
Several paintings of considerable merit and other works of art have been presented. These, in addition to those previously in the room of the Institute, will form a nucleus around which ere long it is hoped that a museum of fine arts will be formed, and that the requisite addi- tional accommodations will be furnished by the friends of culture and of art, to enable the Institute thus to accom- plish in a fitting manner this long cherished object, or at least to make good progress in this direction.
Financial. — The Treasurer's Report shows an increase in the annual income ; yet additional means are requisite to perform in a fitting manner the various duties which the community may reasonably expect.
DEBITS.
General Account.
Athenaeum for rent and Librarian, $ 350 00
Salaries, $813 04; Coal, $178 00; Gas, 110.86, 1402 60
Lectures and concerts, . . - 4,0!)7 45
Publications, 1,816 93
Express, $54.88; Postage, $18.58, 73 46
Insurance, $10; Gas Fixtures, $68.50, 108 50
Stationery, $20.04; Printing, $13.92; Collecting, $4.05, 38 Gl
Sundries, 13 52
Cash to balance 182 68
Amount carried forward, • • • $7,183 04
99
Amount brought forward, $7,183 C4
Historical.
Books, $41.50; Binding. $GG, 107 50
Natural ffistory and Horticulture.
Binding, $50; Horticultural exhibitions, $295.47, 345 47
$7,036 Gl CREDITS.
General Account.
Dividends Webster Bank $35 00
Assessments, $1,275; Publications^ $447.22, 1,722 22
Miscellaneous, $35.70; Life Memberships, $60, 95 76
Athena:um, proportion of coal, and janitor, 1G4 CO
Lectures and concerts, 4,594 74
Cash at beginning of year, 202 43
Historical. Dividends Naumkeag Bank, 20 00
Natural History and Horticulture.
Div. Port., Saco and Ports. R.K., $20; Lowell Bleachery, $72, .... 9200 Horticultural Exhibitions, 330 47
Davis Fund.
Coupons Burlington and Missouri River R. R. Bonds, 140 00
Coupons Dixon, Peoria and Hannibal R. R. Bonds, 240 00
$7,630 61
Publications. — The Bulletin has been continued in monthly numbers, giving full reports of the doings of the Institute and abstracts of the papers read at the meet- ings ; this makes an annual volume of from one hundred and seventy-five to two hundred pnges. Vol. xii, Nos. 1 and 2 of the "Historical Collections" have been printed; it is expected that Nos. 3 and 4, completing the volume, will be issued during the present year, 1874.
During the year two schools from one of the townsr of the county have visited the city for the purpose of ena- bling the scholars to see the valuable and instructive col- lections that our cabinets contain. This certainly carries out one of the first objects of the society, the dissemi-
100
nation of scientific and useful knowledge in the county of Essex, and it is desirable that this method be continued. Hastily running over the year's work, we find the soci- ety in as prosperous a condition as ever before, and a decided success has attended the duties of each of the departments, divided among more persons and giving each the opportunity to do their part greater justice. But diverse as are the departments of the society, it must not be forgotten that there is underlying a grand object to be consummated by the operations, that besides working to make any department a success, or to form a great library or collection, we arc to do our share towards keeping up the standard that is expected of every New England city, morally, socially and scientifically.
OFFICERS ELECTED
for the year ensuing and until others shall be chosen in their stead : —
President. II E N E Y W II EATLAND.
Vice Presidents. Of History— A. C. Goodell, Jr. Of Horticulture — William Sutton. Of the Arts—T). B. Hagar. Of Natural History— F. W. Putnam.
Recording and Home Secretary. John Robinson.
Foreign Secretary. A. S. Packard, Jr.
Treasurer. Henry Wheatland.
Librarian. William P. Utiiam.
Superintendent of the Museum. Calicb Cooke.
101
Curators of Ilistorical Department.
W. P. I'pham, M. A. Stickuey, Jolni Robinson.
Curators of Natural History Department.
II. F. King, G. A. Perkins, William Neilson.
Curators of Horticultural Department.
Caleb Cooke, D. M. Ealch, W. P. Andrews.
Curators of Department of the Arts.
C. H. Iligbee, James A. Gillis, George M. Whipple.
Lecture Committee.
James Kimball, George Perkins, William Northey, E. C. Bolles,
A. H. Johnson.
Finance Committee.
John C. Lee, Jas. Upton, Geo. D. Phippcn, Jas. 0. Safford.
Field Meeting Committee.
A. W. Dodge, E. N. Walton, Caleb Cooke, N. A. Horton,
Alfred Osgood.
Library Committee.
J. G. Waters, E.