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Besolved, That a copy of these resolutions be entered upon tlie Rec- 

 ords of the Essex Institute at Salem, Mass., and that they be also 

 transmitted to Mrs. Clara B. Walker of Lynn, the only surviving rela- 

 tive of Mr. Bicknell. 



Prof. E. S. Morse and Eev. Mr. Bolles spoke of the 

 late Mr. Bicknell and of his untiring devotion to sci- 

 ence, and the resolutions were unanimously adopted. 



Vice President F. W. Putnam offered remarks on 

 " The Development of the Ceramic Art and Ornamentation 

 among the American Nations." 



By means of blackboard drawings, specimens of pot- 

 tery, and numerous photographs, Mr. Putnam illustrated 

 the several lines of development of pottery and its orna- 

 mentation, from the earliest times to a comparatively 

 modern period in North, Central and South America. 

 Several early styles of ornamentation, showing similarity 

 of design, were traced through corresponding periods of 

 different nations, not only of America but of other parts 

 of the world as well. He also particularly showed how 

 the development of the "key" or "fret," which is a com- 

 mon pattern of ornamentation in the later period of bar- 

 barism in Central and South America, was evidently a 

 development of the earlier "coil" pattern of South Amer- 

 ica, and not, as has been generally stated, an early form 

 of the "curved" and "wave" pattern. He showed how 

 much easier it was to make the coil pattern in several of 

 its forms than the straight lines of the fret, and exhibited 

 specimens to prove that his statement was true to the 

 fact. 



He also called attention to the interesting fact of the 

 owl being often copied on South American and Missis- 

 sippi valley pottery, as it was on that of the Old World, 

 especially on old pottery from Etruria, and from the ex- 

 cavations at Hissarlik, as shown in the work of Schlie- 



