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of its early history. He referred to a recent field meeting held at 

 Stockbridge, under the auspices of the Natural History Section of the 

 Pittsfield Young Men's Association, and stated that comparing the 

 earliest dates of that town and of Wenham, he noticed that in former 

 days it required something like a century for civilization to travel 

 inland a distance of about a hundred and fifty miles ; while now it re- 

 quires only about a week to traverse a thousand miles. 



Mr. E. S. MORSE spoke principally of the Glacier system as illus- 

 trated by the various boulders found in the vicinity, and the marks 

 and scatches upon our rocks. 



Mr. F. W. PUTNAM spoke on the classification of the several varie- 

 ties of fresh-water fishes in the ponds, and pointed out the various 

 methods that have been adopted by different naturalists. He called 

 attention to the meeting of the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science, to be held at Salem during the next month. 



Mr. WILLIAM H. DALL, who was recently attached to the Kussian 

 Telegraph Company through Alaska, gave an interesting account of 

 the resources of that section, and said that the generally received im- 

 pression of the severity of the climate there, was entirely erroneous ; 

 that at Sitka the climate was no 'more rigid than in this vicinity. In 

 reply to a question by Mr. A. W. Dodge, he said, he considered the ac- 

 count of that territory given by Mr. Sumner, as unquestionably the 

 most accurate that had been published. 



Hon. A. W. DODGE of Hamilton, made some remarks on the power 

 imparted by knowledge, and said he was looking for rapid scientific 

 progress in the future. 



Mr. NATHANIEL PAINE, President of the Worcester Lyceum and 

 Natural History Society, expressed his gratification at being present 

 at an Essex Institute .Field Meeting, which he had highly enjoyed, and 

 he hoped to meet representatives of the Essex Society at some of the 

 meetings of the Worcester organization. 



Mr. WILLIAM B. TRASK of Dorchester, and Kev. Mr. JOYSLIN also 

 made interesting remarks of an historical character. 



Some valuable donations of ancient documents were made to the 

 Institute collections by Mr. SAMUEL PORTER, Chairman of the Select- 

 men. A handsomely mounted cane was exhibited, which bears the 

 inscription, " J. Perkins, 1652," and which has remained in- the Per- 

 kins family, located in the western part of Wenham. 



The following resolution was unanimously adopted : 



Resolved, That the thanks of the Essex Institute be presented to 

 the Selectmen of the town of Wenham, for the use of the Town Hall 

 to hold this meeting; also to Messrs. James Bartlett, William B. Mor- 

 gan, Samuel Porter, Kufus A. Dodge, Wellington Poole, Nathaniel 

 Gould and others of Wenham ; Mr. Taylor of Boston ; Mr. Henry W. 

 Peabody of Salem; Messrs. Robinson, Whitman and Burbeckof Wen- 

 ham, for kind attentions during the day. 



