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custom with uncivilized races, of depositing articles of 

 various kinds in the grave with the body, or of making 

 offerings at the grave, a custom that, more than all others, 

 has enabled us to discover so much in the history of what 

 would otherwise be indeed the lost races of the world ; 

 and he thought that our own tender offerings of flowers, 

 at the graves of our loved and gone, were but a civilized 

 method of expressing the same feeling that induced the 

 savage and barbarian to place with the. body the articles 

 that had been cherished while living, or to offer sacrifices 

 at the grave. Though with the savage the cause of the 

 act is to provide for the future and unknown life, while 

 with us it is a tribute to the life that has passed. 



The SECRETARY spoke of the good condition and extent 

 of the continental paper currency in the rooms of the 

 Institute, and mentioned that the exchange of specimens 

 which he was arranging with William S. Vaux, Esq., of 

 Philadelphia, if consummated, would add very materially 

 to its interest and value. He moreover solicited contri- 

 butions to this department of our collections while the 

 same may be found in many of our old houses before 

 being irrevocably lost. 



Harriet E. Carlton, Frank N. Chapman, Andrew Fitz, 

 Horace S. Perkins, Octavius B. Shreve, John P. Tilton, 

 all of Salem, and Albert S. Kowell, of Lynn, were elected 

 resident members. 



