12 



ungrateful? Can we not see that by 

 the patient, thorough, cumulative study 

 of natural history in all its branches, we 

 shall by slow degrees arrive at a knowl- 

 edge of plants and animals, and of the 

 favorable and unfavorable conditions of 

 life for all living things, which will give 

 us control over many evils that we now 

 find wholly mysterious and irresistible? 



Consider what great strides have been 

 made in medicine and surgery, and in the 

 knowledge of the human frame. Any 

 physician \W11 tell you to-day that the 

 means and methods of observation, diagno- 

 sis and treatment have wonderfully im- 

 proved in a generation; and that many 

 operations are successfully performed 

 which were formerly thought to be im- 

 possible; and the whole plan of preventive 

 medicine and public hygiene has been de- 

 veloped in a comparatively brief period; 

 and the scientific stud}^ of heredity is now 

 engaging the attention of scholars and 

 philanthropists everywhere. The morbid 

 anatomist is no longer satisfied with the 

 gross external appearances, but looks for 

 abnormal cellular changes w^hich are the 

 symptoms of disease. The physiologist 

 studies the birth, growth and functions 

 of living animals. The embryologist seeks 

 to know those slight changes in the egg 

 which have such a diversity of meaning 

 in the progress of life. Earth and air 

 have been explored, and we are daily 

 informed of the weather of to-morrow. 

 Even the ocean depths are forced to reveal 

 their mysteries, and their fauna, their cur- 



rents, their geological formation are now 

 made know^n. The more we study nature, 

 and the more we become acquainted with 

 her endless foi-ms of life and growth and 

 beauty, the more we shall realize that 

 this earth was not made for man alone. 



This idea that the earth was made that 

 man alone might live will not long sar- 

 vive our acquaintance with the vast soli- 

 tudes of earth and ocean and their inhab- 

 itants. Let us then accustom ourselves to 

 look out and not in; to look up and not 

 down, and we shall soon learn that we are 

 but one, though a noble one, among count- 

 less races of beings which people or have 

 peopled the earth, and that our welfare is 

 not the sole end and aim of creation, or 

 the one sole idea of our Creator. 



I wish now to extend to Mr. Braman 

 my sense of obligation for the generous 

 interest he manifests in the welfare of 

 the Society, and for the ready and intel- 

 ligent assistance he has given on all oc- 

 casions. 



To Miss Dewhurst I am also under ob- 

 ligation for the careful, considerate and 

 industrious devotion to her duties. Both 

 Mr. Braman and Miss Dewhurst have per- 

 formed all their duties with rare fidelity. 



The house, grounds and property of the 

 Society, under the care of Mr. and Mrs. 

 Coburn, suffer no waste or depreciation 

 from their faithful and economical care 

 and attention. 



MERRICK BEMIS, 

 President 



