154 THE RETROSPECT OF THE YEAR. 



of the people. Poets and philosophers have made pot- 

 tery, and much of its refinement there is due to the 

 company the potters kept. The making of pottery in 

 Japan is more of an art than a business. It is for the most 

 part conducted by families and a large part of it is made to 

 order. Nine millions of dollars are spent every year for 

 foreign pottery by our country, and this might just as 

 well be made at home, if our potters could be educated 

 up to it ; and in this connection the lecturer spoke in praise 

 of the Beverly Pottery. The lecturer said the Japanese 

 displayed artistic taste even in the most common things. 



Monday, Feb. 15, i.95^. — Sidney Perley, Esq., of 

 Salem lectured on "Prehistoric America." Mr. Perley di- 

 vided American history into three periods, commencing 

 •ssi\\\\ the latest. The first covered the years from the time 

 when explorations and attempts at settlement were made by 

 civilized people at about the beginning of the sixteenth 

 century down to the present era. The second covered the 

 time when the Indians flourished here. The third or pre- 

 historic period related to races that preceded the Indians. 

 He spoke of man's existence here before the drift period, 

 when the moraines and many of our knolls were formed 

 by the flood and glacier, burying human beings beneath 

 the gravel deposits, together with their implements of va- 

 rious kinds and their pottery. He mentioned the ruins 

 of Arizona, dwelt upon "mound builders" especially and 

 gave a very interesting sketch of the discoveries in their 

 region principally along the banks of the Mississippi river 

 and its tributaries. The salt mines, mica mines and the 

 ancient copper diggings were spoken of at some length. 

 Mr. Perley thought that the Indians and the "mound build- 

 ers" were probably modern, as compared with the races of 

 man that once existed here. He also said that geologists 



