THE KETK08PECT OF THE YEAR. 15 



Yet, notwithstanding the unstinted efforts which have 

 been made to keep up the standard of our publications and 

 to luring" their merits to the notice of appreciative readers 

 — notwithstanding the frequent expressions of pride and 

 satisfaction in the work which prevail about us, — the fact 

 remains that no appeal to the people of Essex County, 

 be they members or non-meml)ers of the Essex Institute, 

 to sustain these publications has any effect ; that no 

 considerable portion of the cost of production can be met 

 by sales, and that their remunerative value to the Insti- 

 tute lies in their availability in exchange. 



As Ijooks of reference in the libraries of the country, 

 they are used l^y persons pursuing genealogy, local his- 

 tory and natural science. We have had occasion within 

 a year to refer an English investigator to a copy of our 

 Historical Collections which is on the shelves of the Brit- 

 ish Museum. As a purchasing medium, they bring us 

 large accessions of books from outside sources in the way 

 of exchange. As a ready source of information which 

 could not be reached without them, except through pro- 

 tracted research, they are drawn on by newsmen and 

 genealogists and antiquarians and historical students, as 

 unconsciously as the air they breathe, and, for the most 

 part, with as little sense of dependency or obligation as 

 the bird feels towards the atmosphere in which it floats. 

 Perhai)s this is as it should be ; clearly it is beyond our 

 power to change the fact, and we have either to support 

 the publications on these terms or suspend them altogether. 



Besides parts four, five and six of volume twenty-six 

 — the current volume — of the Bulletin, comprising valua- 

 ble contributions from Mr. Sears and the annual reports, 

 and besides the second half of volume thirty of the 

 Historical Collections, wholly given up to the memorial 

 tribute to Doctor Wheatland, and the first half of volume 



