118 
was obliged to procure, with much trouble, specimens ap- 
proaching this precise stage of gestation, and to watch them 
almost incessantly; and if any circumstance interrupted his 
sustained attention, the young would be sure, upon his re- 
newal of his watch, to be found duly attached in place: he 
would then be obliged to commence the same research 
with another specimen, procured with similar difficulty. 
When Sir John Richardson reported the occurrence of the 
common eastern mole beyond the Rocky Mountains, he took 
great pains to obtain specimens from that then remote region, 
and successfully proved that the two species are distinct. 
All these extended observations he subsequently gave to the 
world in his work on “ The Quadrupeds of North America,” 
the text of which was exclusively his own, while the elegant 
plates which accompanied it were the work of his two sons-in- 
law, the younger Audubons. 
His treatise on the ‘‘ Unity of the Human Race,” contains 
the conclusions upon this subject derived from his extended 
study of the organic world, and is a volume of high interest. 
He was the first to give any general and trustworthy account 
of the origin of animal varieties; and his work, though sub- 
sequently thrown into the shade by the more elaborate 
treatises of Darwin, is yet a most valuable repository of 
accurately-observed facts, and illustrates some important 
laws nowhere else so distinctly stated. 
This publication, in which he controverted the views which 
had recently been set forth by Agassiz, was entirely success- 
ful in its aim, and compelled a complete change of ground by 
his distinguished antagonist in regard to the definition of a 
species. 
Of the Christian earnestness of his life and character, as 
well as of his religious labors, which were very assiduous and 
important, this is not the place to speak; we can only refer 
to his scientific attainments. In this respect we must regard 
him as an observer of great research and accuracy, and at the 
same time of great candor and fairness, who has enlarged our 
knowledge and extended our views, and to whom the 
scientists of the future will owe a permanent debt of obliga- 
tion. 
Some further tributes of respect to Dr. Bachman were 
given by members present ; after which,— 
THE PRESIDENT called attention to the interest and impor- 
tance of the recent researches of Dr. Schliemann among the 
ruins of Troy. 
