1869. J PEABODY ACADEMY OP SCIENCES. 315 



INAUGURATION OF THE PEABODY ACADEMY OP 

 SCIENCES AT SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS. 



" The various alterations and improvements in the East India 

 Marine Hall at Salem, which were necessary to accommodate the 

 large and valuable collections intrusted to the care of thePeabody 

 Academy of Science by the Essex Institute and the East India 

 Marine Society, having been completed, the occasion of the visit 

 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science was 

 taken advantage of to dedicate the Academy to the uses for 

 which it was designed by its founder.'' 



The inauguration took place on the morning of the 18th of 

 August, 1869.^i= 



It will be probably remembered that Mr. George Peabody, 

 in the year 1867, established a trust, and liberally endowed 

 it with the sum of $140,000, for, to use his own words, " the 

 promotion among the inhabitants of my native county" (Essex 

 Co., Mass.) "of the study and knowledge of the natural and 

 physical sciences, and their application to the useful arts." The 

 following extract from the address of Mr. W. C. Endicott at 

 the dedication of the building will give some idea of the way 

 in which the trustees have endeavoured to carry out the wishes 

 of the far-seeing and enlightened founder of the institution: — 



" It would be impossible, and by no means desirable, to 

 recite what the museum contains, or the particulars of its ar- 

 rangement. • Three general objects were steadily kept in view. 



First. The formation of a complete collection of the fauna, 

 flora, geology and mineralogy of the county of Essex, so that all 

 can have the means of becoming acquainted with the various 

 objects of nature to be found on every hand. Great progress had 

 already been made in this direction by the Essex Institution, 

 and the western gallery is now devoted to all the specimens now 

 in possession of the academy founded in the county of Essex. 



Second, To complete, as far as practicable, the noble begin- 

 ning already made by the East India Marine Society, of a 

 collection illustrative of the habits and customs of the various 



The greater part of this article is taken from the columns of the 

 Boston Daily Advertiser. 



