1892.] TRANSACTIONS. 25 



blossom as in the olden days before the Fall ; ere yet the 

 Tempter had left his trail in River, Early Harvest, or Astra- 

 chan ! 



Does common acceptance throughout the centuries go for 

 nothing? Where does Satan come in, with Mr. Green for in- 

 terpreter? Grant that " the serpent was more subtil than aliy 

 beast of the field." Does that establish his identity with 

 Lucifer, — Son of the Morning ? Yet, — who doubts it ! 



Does not etymology throw a clear light upon this whole con- 

 tention? You have heard of malum 'prohibitum^ — the ancient 

 synonym for rum or lager. But malum is also Latin for 

 Apple. In Doric it was waXov. Now if you will cut the 

 leaves of your Paradise Lost, you will discover that the poet 

 of that earliest secession attunes the march of the Satanic 

 levies, 



•' In perfect phalanx, to the Dorian mood 

 Of flutes and soft recorders." 



If then the origin of the Doric is so remote, what can be 

 more manifest than that ojdhr^ escaped from Babel and, in the 

 confusion of tongues, became transmuted into malum — the 

 Latin name indiscriminately of Evil, or of the noblest of fruits. 



Must not our associate, from the stores of learning that he 

 has garnered, and with which he is in such constant, close com- 

 munion, devise a more plausible exegesis than the one of nega- 

 tion simply that has deluded him these many years ! 



If this Society intends to be represented at the Columbian 

 Exposition, in Chicago, this meeting should authorize the Trus- 

 tees to take the preliminary steps in preparation. It would be 

 wise, perhaps, should you see fit to approve such action, to 

 appoint a committee which may determine in what manner and 

 to what extent you will put in your appearance. The lessons 

 of former experience are not without valuable instruction. 

 A. D. 1876, it was thought best to challenge a special competi- 

 tion in the choicer varieties of Apples and Pears ; the plate of 

 each variety adjudged superior to become the property of the 

 Society, by gift or purchase, and thereafter to be entered at 



