BOSTON SOCIETY OP NATURAL HISTORY. 155 



The fine physical form, the countenance ever beaming with feeling and intelligence, the 

 expressive utterances, and above all, that subtle influence which came from the whole 

 being of the man, alas ! that these are now only matters of memory. 



But it is not for me to dwell upon the event I have alluded to. For a fit expression of 

 the loss sustained by the Society, we have the privilege of looking to one whose valuable 

 services to it in its earlier days we have not forgotten, and who was one of the first among 

 scientific men to welcome to our shores and our companionship the great naturalist. I 

 need not say I refer to our former President, Mr. George B. Emerson, whom I now have 

 the pleasure to introduce to you. 



Upon the close of the President's remarks, Mr. George B. Emerson gave an interesting 

 address, a large part of which is here presented. 



I thank you, Mr. President, for the great honor you do me by inviting me to say some- 

 thing before, and in behalf of, your Society, in commemoration of the most distinguished 

 naturalist that has appeared among us. You know how reluctantly I consented to speak, 

 and I feel how inadequately I shall be able to represent the Society. Yet I cannot but 

 admit that there is some apparent propriety in your request. I was one of those who 

 formed this Society. All the others who first met, except one, are gone ; Dr. B. D. 

 Greene, Dr. J. Ware, F. C. Gray and the rest. My old friend, Dr. Walter Channing, 

 alone, in whose office most of the first meetings were held, is still living. Moreover, while 

 I was in the seat you now occupy, it was agreed by my associates that it was very proper 

 and desirable that a survey of the State, botanical and zoological, should be made, to 

 complete that begun by Prof. Hitchcock in Geology. At their request I presented to Gov. 

 Everett a memorial suggesting this. 



Our suggestion was graciously received. Gov. Everett brought the subject before the 

 Legislature, in which some friends of natural history in the House of Representatives had 

 already been acting toward the same end ; an appropriation was made, and he was author- 

 ized to appoint a commission for that purpose. On that commission four members of this 

 Society were placed ; the reports of three of whom, Dr. Harris, Dr. Gould and Dr. Storer, 

 have been, and still continue to be, considered of signal and permanent value, and Mr. 

 Agassiz himself regarded them as among the best reports ever made. It has given and 

 still gives me the greatest satisfaction to know that the Society has been continually going 

 forward, and that it is now more prosperous than ever. 



A little more than twenty-seven years ago, as I was sitting in my study, a message 

 came to me that two gentleman desired to see me. They were immediately admitted, and 

 Dr. Gould introduced me to Louis Agassiz. His noble presence, the genial expression of 

 his face, his beaming eye and earnest, natural voice, at once gained me, and I responded 

 cordially to his introduction. He said, " I have come to see you, because Dr. Gould tells 

 me that you know the trees of Massachusetts ; I wish to be made acquainted with the 

 Carya. I have found the leaves and fruit of several species in the Jura Mountains, where 

 they were deposited when those mountains were formed ; but, since that time, none have 

 been found living in Europe. I want to know them as they are now growing." 



I told him that I knew all the species found in New England, and should be glad to 

 show them to him. "But I have," I said, "presently to begin my morning's work. If 

 you will let me call on you immediately after dinner, I shall be glad to take you to them." 



