FIFTY YEARS AGO AND TO-DAY. 115 



more intimate knowledge of the life history of those crea- 

 tures which he had only regarded with a curious eye. 



The record of this society is one that may well excite 

 pride, not only for the great work it has accomplished, 

 but for the dignity of its past history. Its first journal 

 was issued nearly fifty years ago, at about the same time 

 with the journal of the Boston Society of Natural History 

 and its publication had only been anticipated by those of the 

 American Philosophical Society, the American Academy 

 of Arts and Sciences, which dates from the latter part of 

 the last century, the Philadelphia Academy and the New 

 York Lyceum of Natural History. Indeed, these socie- 

 ties had issued but few numbers of their publications, 

 when this institution, as represented by the Essex County 

 Natural History Society, published the first number of 

 its journal, and since that time a continuous series of sci- 

 entific papers has issued from its councils. 



Another matter for congratulation is that this society 

 has always kept true to its name. It has been wholly for 

 the benefit and in the interests of the good old county of 

 Essex. Public meetings to the number of over two hun- 

 dred in all, have been held in every corporate town in the 

 county, with but one exception ; and the enthusiasm of its 

 members has often led it beyond the limits of the county 

 and of the state. These excursions have gone into out- 

 of-the-way places, little villages, crossroads and hamlets 

 by the sea. In short, the society has met in sixty-eight 

 localities outside the corporate limits of Salem. 



To these places has the society induced the celebrated 

 naturalists of the country to bring the results of their 

 researches, and the latest and freshest fruits of science. 

 Agassiz, Wyman, Rogers, Jackson, and the younger 

 generation of naturalists, Putnam, Verrill, Hyatt, Pack- 

 ard, Scudder, Allen, Coues, Dall, Gill, Kingsley, Robin- 



