28 THE RETROSPECT OF THE YEAR. 



"Behring." He then spoke of the seal islands, discov- 

 ered by a Russian named Publlof in 1786. Two of the 

 group he named St. Peter and St. Paul. The Rus- 

 sians occupied the islands until they were sold with 

 Alaska to the United States, in 1867, for $7,200,000. 

 Professor Mendenhall said, that from these islands have 

 already been reaped more money than was paid for the 

 entire area of Alaska. The year after the U. S. bought it, 

 over 250,000 seals were killed by poachers from all over 

 the world. In 1871, a law was passed protecting seals, 

 but the poachers took to killing them in the open sea, 

 and before long their numbers became greatly diminished 

 and an effort was made by the government to stop this, 

 which eventually resulted in the "Bering Sea Contro- 

 versy." The lecturer described his trip to the islands 

 on a commission to obtain an estimate of the actual loss 

 of seal life. Pictures were shown of seal life and of the 

 natives of the islands. The lecturer stated that the seal 

 would be extinct in a few years, unless in the near future 

 some new and better plan than the arbitration provided, 

 should be made for its protection. 



Regular Meeting, Monday Evening, Jan. 21, 1895, 

 at the Library room. — Mr. Herbert E. Valentine, a Salem 

 boy, but now of Somerville, read an historical sketch of 

 Company F, 23d Massachusetts Volunteers, organized in 

 the fall of 1861, from the " Union Drill Club " of Salem. In 

 introducing the speaker, Mr. Willson said it was appro- 

 priate that this paper should be read at a meeting of the 

 Institute, as all the officers of the company and several 

 of the members were more or less prominently connected 

 with the Institute: Henry F. Waters, Dr. James A. 

 Emmerton, F. H. Lee; and the commander of the corps, 

 G. M. Whipple, was for years secretary of the Institute. 



