REGULAR MEETING, MONDAY, JANUARY 17, 1876. 



MEETING this evening. The PRESIDENT in the chair. 

 Eecords read. 



Mr. JOHN ROBINSON brought to the notice of the meet- 

 ing the finding of the willow (/Salix discolor} in blossom, 

 stating that this was rarely the case in midwinter. 



Mr. GEORGE M. WHITE, of Salem, read a paper on 

 "Pottery," illustrating the same by some beautifully col- 

 ored cartoons, prepared by himself, of some of the most 

 celebrated specimens of pottery on record. He com- 

 menced by giving a brief sketch of the art in the earliest 

 period of its history when the clay was made sufficiently 

 hard for the simple wants of the people by exposure to 

 the sun. The baking of the clay, so as to produce an 

 indestructible tenacity was an immense stride, a rough 

 and rude ornamentation was at that time adopted. An- 

 other step in the process was in rendering the vessels 

 less porous and better fitted to hold liquids by covering 

 them with an impervious glaze. Then followed the use 

 of copper to obtain the brilliant blue enamel ; other ma- 

 terials and processes were afterwards gradually intro- 

 duced for the various kinds of ornamentation which was 

 carried to so high a degree of perfection as to require the 

 talents and skill of the most noted artists, and have be- 

 come an almost inexhaustible source for illustrating the 

 mythology, the history and the customs of the people. 



A communication was read from Mr. JOHN J. HUTCH- 

 INSON, executor of the will of the late Miss ABBY W. 

 DITMORE, in relation to the bequest therein noted. 



