BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 25 



had been disappointed in every way, and had not been able to obtain a single lecturer. 

 At a subsequent meeting, Dr. Gould expressed his unwillingness that the lectures should 

 be entirely omitted, and offered himself to give a course on Botany in the Spring. The 

 offer was accepted and a committee appointed to make the necessary arrangements. 



1836. In April of this year, considerable discussion took place relative to the means of 

 paying the debts of the Society, and it was unanimously voted at a Council Meeting to 

 expend the money received from the State towards this end. 



At a meeting this month it was announced that no one had accepted an invitation to 

 deliver the annual address, and it was therefore voted to omit it and have the report of 

 the Curators substituted. 



The Annual Meeting was held May 4, the Rev. F. W. P. Greenwood in the chair. 



From the Treasurer's report at this time, the liabilities of the Society were shown to be 

 $1476.76 with a cash balance of only $56.69 in his hands, and but $227 due it from 

 members, much of which might not be realized. The Courtis Fund was stated to be 

 intact and amounting to $2057, invested in Fulton and Granite Bank stocks. 



The officers of the previous year were re-elected, with the following exceptions : Rev. 

 F. W. P. Greenwood was chosen first Vice President, in place of Dr. John Ware, re- 

 signed ; Dr. Walter Channing, second Vice President, in place of Rev. F. W. P. Green- 

 wood ; Dr. Martin Gay, Recording Secretary, in place of Dr. D. Humphreys Storer ; 

 Dr. D. Humphreys Storer, Curator, in place of Dr. "Martin Gay. The thanks of the 

 Society were presented to Dr. Storer, the late Secretary, for the great zeal, accuracy 

 and fidelity which he had manifested in its behalf since the establishment of the insti- 

 tution. 



The Cabinet of the Society had been enriched by the addition of the skeleton of an 

 elephant that had died in a menagerie. The bones were stored and bleached in the house 

 of Mr. James Blake, and a vote of thanks was passed to him for his great kindness in 

 allowing this, and for the care shown by him in their preservation. To the skill and labor 

 of Dr. Shurtleff the Society was indebted for putting them together and forming the 

 perfect skeleton. 



The Committee on lectures reported in August that it was not expedient to have a 

 course of lectures during the coming season. 



At a meeting held Dec. 7, Mr. Epes S. Dixwell resigned the office of Treasurer, and 

 Mr. Ezra Weston was elected to fill the vacancy thus created. 



1837. The Legislature of the State was invited to visit the rooms of the Society. 



In February of this year, a letter having been written to the Legislature recommending 

 a re-survey of the State, and that a collection of the plants and animals should be made 

 under the charge of the Boston Society of Natural History, a Committee was appointed 

 by the Society to meet a Committee of the House, to whose consideration the subject had 

 been given. 



In April, the Legislature authorised the Geological Survey by Prof. Hitchcock, and 

 the following persons were commissioned subsequently to report upon the Botany and 

 Zoology of the State : George B. Emerson, President Boston Society of Natural History 

 Chester Dewey, Professor of Botany in the Berkshire Medical Institute; Ebenezer Emmons, 

 M. D., Professor of Natural History in Williams College ; Rev. William B. 0. Peabody, of 



