114 



By this timely endowment the means are supplied for the 

 indefinite increase of the library, or the establishment of 

 a natural history collection or for any other literary or 

 scientific object which may be advantageous to the intel- 

 lectual growth of the town. 



Already the benefits of the library are beginning to be 

 manifested, as on the average eight thousand volumes are 

 yearly drawn out and read by the inhabitants. 



Historical documents, and books connected with family 

 and town records, are finding their way into the library; 

 and it is hoped that deposits of this' kind will multiply 

 until all those invaluable treasures, which are in the pos- 

 session of old families and liable to perish, will be placed 

 where they will not only be safe, but accessible to future 

 historians. 



Mr. Morong in the course of his remarks alluded to 

 other funds held in trust for educational purposes, the 

 availability of which is much lessened in consequence 

 of the terms and conditions of the same. 



Dr. WHEATLAND followed Mr. Morong and spoke of 

 the importance of inserting a clause in instruments of 

 trust created either by bequest or otherwise, for public 

 uses, prescribing the terms for modifying the conditions 

 so as to meet the wants of those to whose uses the same 

 may have been established, and cited several instances 

 corroborative of the statement of the previous speaker, 

 on the impaired usefulness of several trust funds for edu- 

 cational purposes. 



The following vote of thanks was offered by Mr. 

 Putnam, and after being seconded by Mr. Kimball, was 

 unanimously adopted : 



Voted, That the thanks of the Essex Institute be ten- 



