102 



The paper used by W. H. Prescott in the printing of the first 

 edition of his liistory of Ferdinand and Isabella was made expressly 

 for the work at this place, and was considered a very superior article. 

 Here, as elsewhere in this county, on the old homesteads and cultivat- 

 ing the ancestral acres, reside several of the descendants of the origi- 

 nal grantees, though many have migrated at successive periods and 

 became identified with the places of their adoption as persons of in- 

 fiuence and distinction in their respective occupations. 



The raised turf and the simple slab which we noticed frequently 

 in this section indicate the place where 



" The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep." 



Mr. E. S. Morse, being called, mentioned that he devoted some time 

 during the forenoon in examining the machinery in the mill (though 

 at present owing to repairs not in operation), and pi-esumiug that 

 some allusion to the process of manufacture might be appropriate, 

 gave an account of the manufacture of paper, illustrating b}' black- 

 board drawings the various operations through which rags or other 

 materials pass. The various machines employed in this manufacture 

 were also drawn and their operations explained. He said that fre- 

 quently documents of great value had been found in the paper sent to 

 the mills to be ground up, and sometimes coins and paper money had 

 been found in the pockets of old gaj-ments in the "paper rags." 

 Our own people often destroy old cloths which might be of use in the 

 paper manufactory', and hence the beggars of the old world were 

 brought in to supply the deficiency. Italy did a large export business 

 in this department. It not unfrequently happened that these im- 

 ported rags were infected by disease ; small pox had been thus com- 

 municated, and the operatives were obliged to use the greatest pre- 

 caution. 



Mr. F. W. PuTXAM announced that since the last meeting about 

 twenty additions had been made to the Museum of the Institute, 

 among which was a collection of African snakes from Sierra Leone, 

 presented by Lieut. John B. Upton. He then gave a brief description 

 of several fishes and other common specimens in zoology collected 

 during the forenoon, explaining the distinguishing characteristics of 

 the scaly and the smooth reptiles, the former retaining the same form 

 from birth to old age, and the latter going through a series of trans- 

 formations ; the batrachians breathing by means of gills in their 

 earlier stages. Frogs and toads have their tongues attached forward 

 and reaching back, this construction being speciallj^ adapted to catch- 

 ing files and insects for food. The Eattlesnake is the only poisonous 

 reptile found in this county, and has poisonous fangs in the rear of the 

 upper teeth, which if removed will form anew, hence some semi- 

 domesticated rattlesnakes had become dangerous after the fangs had 



