16 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE 



$5 for a gentleman and lady, and |2 for each person additional. The subjects proposed 

 and the number of lectures to be devoted to each wei'e as follows : 



Two on a general account of the Mineral Kingdom and Geology, particularly as 

 connected with animal and vegetable remains ; four on Anatomy and Physiology of the 

 Vegetable Kingdom, with general account of the characters, relations, and uses of plants 

 and their distribution ; two on Anatomy and Physiology of the Animal Kingdom, and of 

 the principles upon which its scientific arrangement is founded, etc. ; two on the 

 Mammalia ; two on birds ; one on Reptiles and Fishes ; two on Insects ; one on 

 Invertebrate Animals. 



Subsequently the Committee I'eported that they had decided upon the compensation for 

 the lectures, and fixed it at $20 for each. The persons selected to deliver the lectures, 

 and who accepted the invitations, were Dr. George Hayward, Mr. Thos. Nuttall, Dr. Gam- 

 aliel Bradford, Dr. John Ware, Dr. Walter Channing, Dr. J. V. C. Smith and Dr. D. Hum- 

 phreys Storer. The introductory lecture was free to the public. This course of lectures 

 was commenced on the third Tuesday of October, and they were continued weekly. 

 Where they were delivered, and by whom the introductory one was given, does not appear 

 in the records. 



These lectures yielded a net profit of $174.58. Besides this course, there was another 

 given under the aus^^ices of the Society, before the close of the lecture season, by Mr. 

 Nuttall, on Botany. This yielded |170, $100 of which was paid the lecturer and $5.50 

 for expenses; the balance, $64.50 going into the treasury. 



It will be recollected that in the sketch given of the closing proceedings of the Lin- 

 nasan Society, it was stated that as the Trustees of Harvard College had failed to comply 

 with the conditions binding upon them in accepting the collection of that Society, re- 

 clamation had been made with the purpose of presenting whatever might yet be of value 

 to the Boston Society of Natural History. This had been done at the instance 

 of several members of the latter society who had likewise been membei's of 

 the former, and who reasonably felt aggrieved at the want of care shown for 

 the collection by its possessors. One of these. Dr. Hale, remarked that " he felt it to be his 

 duty as an officer of the Linnasan Society, to express the opinion that something effec- 

 tual should be done ; that he would take the opportunity to again assert that 

 Harvard University had forfeited all her right to the possession of the cabinet of 

 the Linncean Society. The members of that Society were not so faithless to the 

 cause they had espoused as to desert it. When few in numbers and burdened with 

 heavy assessments, they had i-eliuquished their rich collection to the Corporation of said 

 University, that body having passed at a formal meetmg a vote to erect a suitable 

 building to preserve the collection, for the benefit of students in natural history. 

 That agreement had not been complied with, no Imilding had been erected, and 

 the specimens were scarcely to be found. Justice to the members of the Linna^an 

 Society compelled him to make these observations." It seems now but right to give 

 here the remarlvs of one whose statement can be taken as authentic concerning the 

 whole matter, as it furnishes more succinctly than anything else found, a fiUl 

 justification of the course taken in presenting the valuable collections of the Linnajan 

 Society to the College. Provision was made as far as was possible for its preservation, in 



