a3 
geon. I owe a great deal to some merely popular lectures of this 
kind which I have heard in my earlier days. In a city which has 
a notable Medical College and a Medical Society of high reputa- 
tion, the deeper problems of disease and remedy will naturally 
find an appreciative hearing, but there are those of great interest 
which less trained minds can hear and enjoy. My predecessor 
in office has a high reputation in his line and we have listened to 
him with profit and pleasure. Whatever his surgery may be his 
remarks are not cutting, and I hope for a West India lecture on 
his return, as genial and delightful as his own nature. 
Folk lore now takes rank as a science, and is a pursuit well 
adapted to many. The collection of old tales, proverbs and signs, 
is not necessarily a vain employment. I have done something in 
Indian lore, not without value, but there is a wide field open to 
many in such work here. Our many nationalities, religious 
beliefs, our life in city and country, give great opportunities here 
for research of this kind. What are our weather signs? On 
what foundation do they rest? Does the full moon affect vegeta- 
tion, or fishing, or the pork in the barrel? Do weather signs 
have a real value? Old probability says yes, and so do many 
good observers. In mere superstitions you will find many curi- 
ous things. Those connected with funerals have sometimes caused 
me inconvenience, but some had a good reason at their origin. 
It is a large subject which I can only mention now. 
I am no profound scientist; perhaps more a forager than a 
cultivator, but I have greatly enjoyed much desultory work. To 
give needed attention to one, I have now to lay them aside except 
in a holiday sort of way. My archaeological work seems a little 
apart from the objects of this society, but it is a study of fossil 
men as distinguished from corals and shells. In this study of ear- 
ly American life we have gained vastly in a score of years, and a 
comparison of facts is continually correcting our errors and en- 
larging our vision. So it is in everything. No one man and no 
orie age will master all knowledge. Columbus-like, we look ahead 
on undiscovered seas, leading the way and making charts for 
those who come later. 
If we labor, let us also hope that all will not be in vain, but 
that other men will enter into the fruits of our labors. 
