116 
POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS. 
[August, 1891. 
■with the records of the expeditions at the Club 
Rooms. 
5. Each member shall, on each expedition, 
carry a sling-shot, pebbles, insect-box, and what- 
ever else he may think is necessary. On long 
tramps it will be well lor him to take some food. 
It is best to wear thick boots, old clothes, and 
stout gloves, on long expeditions. 
6. Ball cartridges are prohibited in the Club. 
It will be noticed that fire arms in the shape of 
pistols (which cost 22 cents each) were used by 
some of the members of the C;iub, those whose 
p.arents would allow of it, and again that ball car- 
tridges were prohibited; but this latter clause 
was very easily gotten over by loading the pistols 
with gravel and small pebbles, a much more dan- 
gerous practice, as was illustrated when one mem- 
ber accidentally shot himself in the palm of the 
hand and came near having serious trouble. On 
September 30, 1881, the name of the Club was 
changed to the Cuvier N^atural History Club, and 
the style of the meetings was somewhat altered ; 
the office of chairman was created and combined 
with that of treasurer, and at each meeting all of 
the members read articles from books on Natural 
History. 
CLUB MEETINGS. 
Up to November meetings had been held in the 
Club Kooms on afternoons, but when cold weather 
set in, it was found necessary to repair to the 
houses of the members, and the meetings were 
held in the evening. These evening meetings 
were held regularly up to April 26, 1882, when 
they were discontinued until Feb. 6, 1883, when 
Morse's "First Book of Zoology" was taken up 
as a course of reading. Soon after this it became 
the custom for the members to read short, orig- 
inal papers, called " Lectures," on subjects with 
which they might be familiar. 
A further change was made in the style of the 
meetings November, 1884, when, instead of each 
member writing or reading an article on any sub- 
ject that he chose, certain subjects of a like char- 
acter were given out by the president to the 
members. In the fall of 1885, this ari-angement 
was further changed, and a paper of greater 
length, the subject generally being some genus in 
the animal kingdom, was prepared and read by 
one member. The other members were required 
to take notes on it, and a short resume was read at 
the next meeting. In addition to this, the mem- 
bers wrote short descriptions of specimens in the 
collection; these were called "Observations." 
In May, 1886, a new enterprise was started in 
the shape of a small four-page monthly paper, 
called the " Amateur Collector." This was man- 
aged by a committee of the Club, and for nearly 
three years was successfully published, but re- 
sulted in no financial gain, although we are thank- 
ful to say that there was no loss. The articles 
that .appeared in it were for the most part written 
by the members, and the practice thus gained has 
no doubt been of considerable help to each, since 
that time. The price of subscription was twenty- 
five cents per annum, and at one time there were 
about 400 subscribers. An idea which added con- 
siderable interest to the meetings was started in 
October of 1887, being the reading of papers on 
the lives of distinguished Naturalists. 
ENTERS THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION. 
It was voted to become a chapter of the Agassiz 
Association in April, 1887, and this membership 
has been retained. In October, 1887, it was voted 
that the members should take such subjects for 
their essays as they saw fit, and as a result many 
interesting papers have been read on several 
branches of scientific work. In the following 
year a series of discussions on scientific subjects, 
alternating with the essays, was started and 
found to be very interesting and profitable. It 
being thought desirable, it was unanimously 
agreed that the word " Society " be substituted in 
place of the word " Club," so our organization is 
now known as the " Cuvier Natural History 
Society." At sever.al of our meetings there have 
been present, persons of more or less prominence, 
who have kindly given us informal talks on scien- 
tific su])jects and to whom we are much indebted. 
A considerable portion of the winter of 1889-90 
was taken up hy a discussion on Evolution, which 
proved very interesting, and this was followed by 
a brief course in geology. Some of our meetings 
have comprised practical work, such as the dis- 
section of an anim.al, and many of our papers are 
illustrated by specimens from the collection. 
.THE CLUB MUSEUM. 
One of the first objects of the Society was to 
form collections of Natural History. These were 
not owned in common, but individually, and kept 
in the members' houses. In the summer of 1883, 
having better accommodations in a new club 
house, it was decided to have a collection in com- 
mon', and each member took up a branch of Nat- 
ural History and made a specialty of it. TTiis 
collection was the nucleus of the present one, and 
the plan proving so successful has been carried 
out ever since. At first our entire collection was 
contained in a small case, two by three feet, but 
increased quite rapidly when new cabinets were 
added, also a case containing ten drawers. These 
were for a while sufficient for our purposes. 
Upon the removal to our present quarters, in 
July, 1887, the increased facilities gave a new im- 
petus to our work and we added largely to our 
collection. A little later severfil collections were 
given us, among the most-valuable of which were 
those of shells, insects, and birds. We also re- 
ceived numerous cases, cabinets, etc. At the 
present time we have collections of shells of 
about 550 species, nearly 150 fossils, 500 minerals, 
875 insects, 40 birds and 150 eggs, 75 specimens of 
woods and a herbarium of 800 plants ; also smaller 
collections of mammals, fishes, reptiles, echino- 
derms, sponges, corals, marbles, gums, fibres, 
etc. The collections, though by no means com- 
plete, may be said to be fairly representative 
in several branches, more especially in the Essex 
County portion. 
FIELD MEETINGS. 
Expeditions were the main object ot the Society 
for the first year or two, and many walks were 
taken for the purpose of collecting in the vicinity 
of Salem. As the members grew older, expedi- 
tions were held to more distant parts, and in this 
way many of the towns of Essex County have 
been visited. 
For a number of years some of us have gone 
camping-out in New Hampshire near the White 
Mountains. While these outings have been mostly 
for pleasure, advantage has been taken of any 
favorable opportunity to make an addition to our 
collection, and in this way our knowledge of 
Natural History has been extended considerably. 
At the present time the members are accustomed 
to make excursions several times a year, either 
taking a long trathp on foot or going by means of 
conveyances. Advantage is generally taken of 
Decoration Day to visit, by horse and steam, 
some of the more distant localities, and in this 
way the woods of Boxford, Ipswich, and Chebacco 
have been explored. 
THE CLUB BUILDS A HOUSE. 
Upon the organization of the Club, a house 
seemed to be a necessity, and, having no funds to 
procure one, we were kindly given the use of 
an abandoned hen-house by Mr. .Tames A. Noble, 
and here the first meetings of the Club were held. 
Later we occupied .another small building, 5 feet 
by 8 feet, in the garden of Mr. William F. Gavet. 
Neither of these contained a stove, so that during 
cold weather, meetings were held in the houses of 
the members. In the spring of 1883, however, we 
received the gift of a Club house, 8 feet by 12 feet, 
from Mr. Raymond L. Newcomb, and Mr. Henry 
M. Brooks ofibring the use of his land for a loca- 
tion, we had it moved there. It was in a rough 
state, but paint and p,aper soon cltanged its 
appearance, and a sra.all stove m.ade it very com- 
fortable during the cold weather. It was not till 
1887 that we felt the need of larger quarters, and 
this time Prof. E. S. Morse gave the use of his 
land for another building. We had $250 in the 
treasury, and it was voted to make this go as far 
as possible in putting up a building in the rough, 
17 by 22 feet. This was done at a cost of .$225, 
and such finishing as clapbo.arding, flooring, etc., 
was done by the members. 
The cliimney, which was found necessary, was 
built for us free of expense. 
SCIENCE IN A HEN-COOP. 
As a society. We have held several entertain- 
ments, most of which were conducted for the 
pecuniary benefit that might be derived from 
them. Our first attempt was an amateur minstrel 
performance given by some of the members of 
the Club, in .Tune, 1881, in a small hen-coop— our 
Club house. The proceeds of this amounted to 
sixty cents, but as the tickets were only two 
cents each, it may readily be imagined th.at the 
full capacity of the house was tested, nds en- 
tertainment was, of course, given in the afternoon, 
but in the spring of 1883, the members then being 
somewhat older, it was decided to hold a course 
of four entertainments. These were given on 
four evenings during the month of March, in the 
parlors of the members" homes, and consisted for 
the first part of a lecture delivered by a member, 
and for the second part .an exhibition of ni.agic 
lantern views. The price of tickets for the course 
was ten cents, and as each of the entertainments 
was quite Largely attended, they netted, what 
.appeared to us, quite a good sized sum. 
Oliver Thayer, 2d, delivered the first lecture, 
his subject being "Insects." The second was 
given by G. A. Webb, on "Birds"; the third by 
L. F. Gavet, on "Plants"; .and the Last by J. (J. 
Morse, on "Japan." Of course these lectures 
were not able discourses, the average time of 
delivery being about ten minutes, and no doubt 
the applause which was heartily given, was in- 
tended more for the effort than for the matter 
that was read. As we grew older we also grew 
wiser, and it was deemed expedient not to expose 
our ignorance further by giving any more lectures 
ourselves. In the fall of 1883, Prof. E. S. Morse 
and Mr. Raymond L. Newcomb kindly gave us 
two parlor lectures, the former's subject being 
" China," and the hitter's " Siberia." The pro- 
ceeds of these, corap.ared with earlier results, 
seemed quite a large amount, the total of the two 
being about .§2iT. This money was used in de- 
fraying the expense of a Club house mentioned in 
another paragraph. Professor Morse gave us 
another parlor lecture in February, 1885, his snl)- 
ject being " Shells." On March 5, 1884, the third 
annivers.ary of the Club, a reception was tendered 
our friends in the Club house in Mr. Brook's 
i 
