s 



subjects presented, the intriTsioo of sectarfanistir in re- 

 ligion, and partisanship in politics, has been avoided. 

 No good reaso-n, therefore, could be brougbt forward by 

 any elerg:yman or any iwlitician for not joining the soci- 

 ety. There bave been offered as excuses for not l>elong- 

 ing the sayings —I do not call then> reasons — that "alfi 

 science was irreligious," that "York Institute was irreli- 

 gious ;" but how can any but the most ignorant, foolish, 

 or prejirdiced persons believe such nonsense. Is nofe 

 theology itself a science? Even the parties raaknig sucb 

 declarations must have suspected them to be false, and 

 must have offered them on the ground that "a poor ex- 

 cuse is better than none.'' 



These remarks upon the name of the soeiety, and this, 

 brief glimi^se of its past work hastily sketched in part on- 

 ly, pave the way to a consideration of its present and its 

 future. 



The collections of variegated minerals and beautiful 

 shells ; of rare coins and curious woods ; of ancient and 

 modern news^^apers ; of books and pamphlets received 

 from the Government, public officers and private citi- 

 zens — notably, from the latter, the famous, but too little 

 appreciated, Judge Thatcher Documents, the value of 

 which is inestimable to a society like this ; — the striking 

 mementoes of the different wars in which our nation has 

 engaged, the other thousand and one things gathered from 

 everywhere, and preserved by the society — ^these are here 

 to-night completely surrounding you, to speak for them- 

 selves, and to testify as plainly as inanimate things can, 

 that York Institute has no intention of being anything 

 but a permanent institution. It has come to stay. It is 

 a fixed fact, absolute, sure. Its present is safe enough. 



Established in so old a part of the State there are 

 special reasons why it should never be permitted to Ian- 



