CXXXI 



stration in connection with other bodies, the Institute, 

 grateful for the polite invitation, deem it unadvisable to 

 take any prominent position ; at the same time they will 

 cheerfully render such assistance in their power, consistent 

 with their regulations, as may contribute to the interest of 

 the occasion. 



The President, as chairman of the committee on the 

 "First Church," presented a final report of the doings of the 

 committee. The frame of the Church has been removed 

 and placed in the rear of Plummer Hall, encased in an ex- 

 ternal structure of suitable strength to which it is bolted 

 and is seen projecting from the plastering on the inside of 

 the building. The Committee, in giving the key of the 

 building to the Institute, do so, with the sincere wish, that 

 the Holy House may be preserved to those who come 

 after us, and handed down, from generation to generation, 

 as a valued trust. 



Rev. G. D. Wildes, after some appropriate remarks, 

 moved that the report be accepted and that the thanks of 

 the Institute be tendered to the committee, for the faithful 

 and successful performance of their duty, which was 

 unanimously adopted. [The report of the Committee will 

 be published in full in the Historical Collections.] 



R. S. Rantoul read a memoir of Major Thompson Max- 

 well, a soldier in the old French war, the Revolution, and 

 the war of 1812. 



On motion of Mr. Putnam, the memoir read by Mr. Ran- 

 toul was referred to the publication committee, for publi- 

 cation in the Historical Collections. 



The thanks of the Institute were voted to Colonel E. 

 F. Miller for the presentation of the original documents, 

 from which the memoir of Major Maxwell had been com- 

 piled. 



Mr. Putnam communicated, by title, a .paper by E. S. 

 Morse, on the "Classification of the Mollusca on the Princi- 



