118 THE RETROSPECT OF THE YEAR. 



the treaty and how it was accomplished and gave statistics 

 of area, increase of population, wheat, corn, etc., com- 

 paring that territory with countries of Europe, proving how 

 valuable the acquisition was to us. 



In closing, he spoke of the great national problem and 

 stated that though he was not pessimistic he realized there 

 was a great deal to do. 



Monday, April 13, 1891. — Rev. James F. Brodie lec- 

 tured on "The Scotch Influence in the American Nation." 

 The lecturer said that to trace the Scottish element in the 

 American nation is very difficult because it so closely re- 

 sembles the original English base ; so far as that base was 

 Puritan it had been subject to Scottish influence before 

 leaving the mother country. Recently published manu- 

 scripts show that the actual beginning of Puritanism in 

 the English church was John Knox. The Scotch element 

 has not been so much a fertilizing 1 as a vitalizing force in 

 American national life ; the Yankee is so much more a 

 Yankee for all of the Scotchman that enters into his make- 

 up. The part taken by the Scotch in American history 

 was considered ; in at least nine out of the thirteen original 

 states there were Scotch settlements of considerable ex- 

 tent. In 1657 the Scottish Charitable Society was organ- 

 ized in Boston and to-day is probably the oldest corporate 

 body in the country with the single exception of Harvard 

 College. This was the first American Charity. 



Monday, April 20, 1891.— Prof. Ernest F. Fenollosa 

 delivered a lecture on " Some Lessons in Japanese Art." 

 The lecturer said that Japan and the Japanese have been 

 more talked about in the last fifteen years than anything ex- 

 cept money making ; yet little of value has been said or 

 written. A superficial mocking view has for the most part 



