BULLETIN 



OF THE 



INSTITUTE. 



VOL. 4. SALEM, MASS., JULY, 1872. No. 7. 



One Dollar a Year in Advance. 10 Cents a Single Copy. 



FIELD MEETING AT MIDDLETON, WEDNESDAY, 

 JUNE 12TH, 1872. 



[ Con tinned.] 

 THE EARLY MEETINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 



MR. S. P. FOWLER, of Danvers, one of the original mem- 

 bers of the Society, gave an interesting retrospect of its 

 early history, and narrated many incidents of its first meet- 

 ings, alluding especially to the one held in Topsfield on 

 Wednesday, the 16th of April, 1834, in furtherance of the 

 object and to complete the organization by the appointment 

 of committees, etc. Specimens in the various branches of 

 Natural History, with apparatus for collecting, were exhib- 

 ited and illustrated, and the modes of preservation of the 

 same, with a view to the formation of a Museum were dis- 

 cussed by William Oakes of Ipswich, Dr. Andrew Nichols 

 of Danvers, and others. These two gentlemen may be 

 justly regarded among the pioneers of science in this com- 

 munity, and the present generation are now reaping the 

 fruits of their labors and their example in this direction ; 



ESSEX INS*. BULLETIN. iv 12 



