50 



Let us resolve, henceforth, that we will not pause in 

 our efforts until this so desirable an object shall have 

 been successfully accomplished. Thus, supplementing 

 the scientific collections in the hall now owned by the 

 trustees of the Peabody Academy of Science, Salem will 

 be well provided with materials for the promotion of gen- 

 eral culture and education among her citizens. 



A brief allusion to the tablets on the railing, containing 

 the names of the several ex-presidents, may not be inap- 

 propriate at this time. 



The first in chronological order, EDWARD AUGUSTUS 

 HOLYOKE, M. D., LL. D., President of Essex Historical 

 Society, 1821-1829, graduate of Harvard in the class 

 of 1746, came to Salem in 1749. The first medical 

 charge in his books bears date July 6, 1749 ; the last 

 Feb. 17, 1829 ; covering a period of nearly eighty years 

 in the profession at Salem ; an active member of the 

 Social Library in 1761 ; of the Philosophical Library in 

 1781 ; and at the time of his death, March 31, 1829, he 

 was President of the Salem Athenaeum, and of the Essex 

 Historical Society ; thus interested in the literary and sci- 

 entific societies in Salem for sixty-eight years. He was an 

 original member of the American Academy of Arts and 

 Sciences, and also of the Massachusetts Medical Society ; 

 of both of these societies he had been elected President, 

 of the latter institution the first. 



BENJAMIN PJCKMAN, President of Essex Historical 

 Society 1829-35, a graduate of Harvard, class of 1784; 

 member of the two houses of our State Legislature, and 

 one term a member of Congress ; a merchant, and a lib- 

 eral friend to our public institutions. He died in 1843. 



ICHABOD TUCKER, President of Essex Historical Soci- 

 ety, 1835 to 1837 ; born in Leicester ; graduate of Har- 

 vard in 1791; commenced the practice of the law in 



