126 



The President read the following communication from 

 N. Cleaveland, Esq., in connection with the presentation 

 of the herbarinm thei'cin referred to, and several speci- 

 mens in mineralogy collected near Erzroom in Asia 

 Minor : — 



"The collections and insertions in this herbarium were 

 begun by Oliver Alden Taylor in 1824, he being at 

 that time a student in Union College, Schenectady. It 

 was by the advice of Dr. Yates and for the benetit of his 

 health that he engaged in botanical study and [)in-suits. 

 The taste and habits then formed continued through life, 

 as the entries in this hortus siccus abundantly show. In 

 Andover, where for many years he lived a laborious 

 student-life, in Manchester, ^lass., where his last years 

 were spent in faithful pastoral work, and in every journey 

 that he made, he seems to have kejjt up the practice of 

 observing, collecting and examining plants. 



The book is presented to the Essex Institute, not as 

 containing anything of special interest for scientitic men, 

 but as a curious record of painstaking study and care on 

 the part of one who was always earnestly devoted to 

 other researches, and eminently successful in them. To 

 any who may chance, hereafter, to glance at these dry 

 leaves and stems and flowers, and who may never 

 before have heard ot him who gathered and placed them 

 here, let me say that the Rev. Mr. Ta3dor was not only 

 an amiable and good man, but distinguished, also, for 

 varied learning and great philosophical attainments. In 

 evidence of this it will be sulficient to state that he at one 

 time acted as assistant prot'esscn- of Biblical Literature in 

 the Andover Divinity School, and that the celebrated 

 Edward Robinson, when contemi)lating a long aljsence 

 from his post, for European and Asiatic travel, earnestly 

 requested Mr. Taylor to till his i)lace in the department 

 of l}il)lical and Oriental learnini:: at the Union Theoloijical 

 Seminary of New York. Mr. Taylor died (1851) at 

 Manchester, Mass." — N. C. 



These mineralogical specimens were sent in 1845 from 



