THE RETROSPECT OF THE YEAR. 123 



Mr. Sears said the island was covered with bass, cedar, 

 red oak, ash and white oak. On Eastern Point the trees 

 are vigorous and hardy, some are large and lofty, red ma- 

 ple, oak, ash and hickory. He thought the growth could 

 be recovered by liberally re-seeding, and instanced success- 

 ful experiments which had been made at Rockport where 

 he himself had planted a peck of acorns. 



The meeting adjourned in season to take the steamer 

 for Ipswich, at which place the party took the cars for Sa- 

 lem, at 5.59 P.M. 



REGULAR MEETINGS were held on the first and third 

 Monday evenings of each month. At some of these and 

 also occasionally on intermediate Monday evenings, the fol- 

 lowing lectures were delivered. 



Monday, Nov. 18, 1889. Mr. William Cranston Law- 

 ton, of Cambridge, secretary of the Delphi committee of 

 the Archaeological Institute of America, lectured on the 

 " Proposed excavations of Delphi in ancient Greece." 

 The Gazette says, the lecturer "spoke enthusiastically of 

 the importance of studying the ruins of the past, where, 

 in art, three great qualities were always foremost : simplic- 

 ity, truth and beauty. The American school in Athens, 

 now seven years old and wholly supported by subscrip- 

 tions, was described and the importance of its work in lit- 

 erature and art fully shown, the enthusiasm of the students 

 being such that many have voluntarily and at their own 

 expense carried on the excavations of ancient Delphi, long 

 the religious centre of the Greek world famous for its or- 

 acle and temple, and a power political and intellectual ; 

 there remains simply the outlines of its terraces, while a 

 straggling village occupies the site of the temple. A long 

 section of the foundation wall has already been uncovered 

 revealing more than seven hundred inscriptions cut in the 



ESSEX INST. BULLETIN, VOL. XXH 8* 



