10 



from time to time upon invitation ot members or citizens, the meet- 

 ings to be of a more social character than the usual monthly meetings. 

 A special meeting was held in the afternoon of Dec. 19, 1876, which, 

 was honored by the presence of E. S. Morse, of Salem, Mass. 

 Prof Morse being requested to favor the Society with some remarks, 

 said : 



REMARKS OF PROP. E. S. MORSE. 



That he was pleased to see the Society in so flourishing a condition 

 as to membership and apparent enthusiasm ; that the usual history of 

 scientific associations was an enthusiastic beginning, a gradual decline 

 and a final extinction, which in most cases arose from a failure, of the 

 meynhers to attend the regular meetings. Members should make it 

 a point of conscience to attend, if only to see that there was no busi- 

 ness and to adjourn. He then gave a short history of a society of 

 which he had been a member which, by the continued persistence of 

 its supporters in all their duties, had attracted public attention to 

 such a degree as to secure legacies from unexpected quarters, and 

 though burned out twice, had arisen from its ashes and become a per- 

 manent and powerful institution. After some interesting general re- 

 marks on the importance and surpassing interest of scientific research, 

 he advised the Society to adopt some special branch of usefulness- 

 and devote its energies to that, rather than to dissipate their efforts in 

 too wide a field. He suggested the importance and necessity of an 

 annual assessment for expenses, and that the usefulness of such au 

 association was by no means dependent upon the size of the town in 

 whicli it was located, but rather upon the enthusiasm and faithfulness 

 of \i'i members. 



A special meeting was also held on the evening of Jan. 3, 1878, to 

 inaugurate the new Society rooms in the Weaver building. Prof. E. ^ 

 S. Morse, being in the city to deliver a public lecture, was invited 

 to be present, and he favored the Society with much interesting in- 

 formation about Japan, in which country he had become a resident. 



pioneers' meeting. 



Agreeably to a resolution of the Society, a committee consisting of 

 Messrs. Young, Boal, Aten, Cabell, Moses and Harriman attended 

 the Pioneer meeting held at Mingo, in May, 1877. The visit was made 

 by invitation of the Pioneer Association of Champaign and Logan Go's, 



