662 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



Gvev four hundred years old, while another is repoj-ted to have yielded 

 fifteen hogsheads of perry (pear cider) in a sing-le season. There are some 

 remarkable trees' in our own country. One tree in Illinois is ten feet in 

 circumference one foot from the ground, and said to have yielded one 

 hundred and eighty-four bushels, of fruit in one season. A noted tree, the 

 Stuyvesant pear tree in this city, was planted two hundred and fifty years 

 ago. 



In looking back to the old sorts of Bon Cretien, Martin, Jean, &c., and 

 comparing them with Beurre Hardy, Henkel and other modern sorts, we 

 are led to inquire whether the subject has been exhausted, or whether wo 

 may not expect equal progress in the next twenty-five years. 



Adjourned John W. Chambers, Secretary. 



November 29, 1864 



Mr. Benjamin C. Townsend, President, in the chair. 



Messrs. Carpenter and Mead, from the special committee appointed at 

 the last meeting, reported that they had called upon several prominent 

 speakers who had agreed to speak before the Association They suggest- 

 ed that the committee have power to prepare a programme and print the 

 same. 



On motion of Prof. Tillman, the committee were requested to prepare a 

 programme of the lectures and have them printed for circulation among 

 the members. 



On motion of Mr. P. B. Mead, the regular business of the evening was sus- 

 pended in order to hear Dr. Campbell's lecture on botany. 



The chairman then introduced to the Association the Rev. Dr. Campbell, 



Botany. 



By the Rev. Dr. James K. Campbell. 



I propose to address you this evening on that branch of Natural History 

 termed Botany. It derives its name from a Greek word which signifies 

 an herb or grass. It is' a branch of science every way fitted most amply 

 to reward the careful student. It opens up sources of enjoyment which 

 cannot be explored without rewarding the explorer with the purest satis- 

 faction. The whole field of scientific pursuits is covered with objects of 

 highest interest to intelligent beings. The light of science reveals to the 

 eye of man objects which have lain in concealment, and, without it, much 

 that is at once beautiful and useful would have remained unknown to the 

 human family. The great author of nature has made nothing in vain; and 

 it is equally true that it is the interest and duty of his intelligent creatures 

 to search out his purposes of mercy and goodness, that are inscribed on 

 every object which his hands have made. The pleasure with which the 

 person engaged in scientific studies pursues his delightful course, can 

 never be fully set before the mind by anytliing like a mere description. 

 We may descant on the amazing and prodigiously important discoveries of 

 the chemist, which have at once gratified the taste and wonderfully light- 

 ened the labors of man, but can never convey an idea of the thrilling emo- 



