34 



Northend, James A. Gillis, and the chair, were appointed 

 on the above committee. 



Rev. Richard M. Hodges, of Cambridge, was elected a 

 corresponding member. 



Vice President F. W. PUTNAM occupied the evening 

 with an extended discourse 



ON THE ANCIENT PERUVIANS. 



He stated that he had been led to a special study of the 

 arts and culture of this prehistoric race by the very im- 

 portant and large collection of articles from the ancient 

 graves, tombs and ruins in Peru which had recently come 

 under his charge at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology 

 and Ethnology in Cambridge. This most valuable addi- 

 tion to the Museum was collected by Mr. Alexander 

 Agassiz and his assistant, Mr. S. W. Garman, and pre- 

 sented to the Museum by Mr. Agassiz. In the 'same 

 Museum are many vases and other articles from Peru, 

 presented by the late Professor Louis Agassiz, and ob- 

 tained during the Hassler Expedition. The Peabody 

 Museum thus, contains the most important collection of 

 Peruvian antiquities in this country, and furnishes the 

 means of comparison, not only between the nations of 

 Peru and those of other countries, but also between the 

 ancient peoples of different parts of Peru. For this 

 purpose the large collection of human remains in the 

 Museum, consisting of several hundred skulls and a num- 

 ber of perfect bodies, or "mummies," collected by Mr. 

 Squier and Professor and Mr. Agassiz, is of the greatest 

 importance, and from the study of these remains from 

 different localities, and a comparison of the works of art 

 from the corresponding places, it is evident that there 

 were two contemporaneous tribes or peoples who differed 

 in many respects, and it is also very probable that these 



