87 



a discovery ; and since spectral analysis has shown the unity of ele- 

 ments in celestial bodies, the finding of animal remains would com- 

 plete the wonderful discoveries, proving the absolute unity in space. 



He had never seen sandstone meteorites, but supposed their com- 

 position must be due to the disintegration of rocks by water, and their 

 redeposition in beds by sedimentary deposit. 



Mr. Benjamin A. Stevens, of De Sota, Wisconsin, exhibited an 

 Indian scalping-knife ploughed up on his farm situated about two miles 

 from the Mississippi River. He said that many Indian Mounds were 

 to be found near his residence, and gave a very interesting account of 

 them. He frequently found many of the rude implements of the In- 

 dians, and also their skeletons. This subject, also, gave rise to an 

 interesting conversational discussion relating to the probable origin 

 of the mounds. Allusion was made to the opening of several mounds 

 in Ohio, by Prof. Marsh, of Yale College, who found in some of the 

 mounds charred human bones in such a position and condition as to 

 pretty conclusively show, that some of the mounds must have been in- 

 tended for sacrificial purposes. 



This subject will receive a fresh impetus in consequence of the 

 recent endowment, by George Peabody, Esq., of a trust fund for the 

 foundation and support of a Museum and Professorship of Archaeol- 

 ogy, in connection with Harvard University. It is well that this sub- 

 ject should receive early attention, before, by the rapid and progres- 

 sive strides of civilization, all vestige of these mounds shall disappear 

 and their contents be lost forever. 



Among the donations announced, was a large collection of cones 

 of the various pine and spruce trees of California, several specimens 

 of the silver and copper ores of Colorado, and many shells, both fossil 

 and recent, from the Pacific coast, presented by R. E. C. Stearns, 

 President of the California Academy of Science, San Francisco. These 

 specimens called forth remarks from various members, and the thanks 

 of the Institute were voted to Mr. Stearns for his valuable donation. 

 After the transaction of business, the meeting adjourned. 



MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1866. Social meeting at Hamilton Hall. 

 GEORGE D. PHIPPEN, Esq., in the Chair. 



The second social meeting of the Institute was held this evening, 

 and was attended by nearly three hundred persons, including about 

 twenty gentlemen and ladies from other cities interested in micro- 

 scopical science. 



The object of the meeting, like that of the former one held on 



