39 



Mr. Gpodell then called upon Eev. Dr. PrK^E, of Eowley, to inform 

 the Institute concerning a certain epitaph said to have existed in 

 Rowley Cemetery, which ran as follows : 



" Oh Rowley, Rowley, thoii hast siBned sore, 



Thou hast lost thy Deacon Jewett and will never see him— again." 



Dr. Pike, in reply, stated that no such epitaph could now he found 

 in the grounds, nor could he find an authentic account of its having 

 existed there. He defended the poetry of Eowley from the slander 

 implied in the ridiculous rendering which some had given, by giving 

 the true rendering of the epitaph as follows : 



" Oh Rowley, Rowley, Rowley, thou hast sinned sore, 

 Thou has lost thy Deacon Jewett and will never see him more." 



Dr. Pike still farther entertained the audience with accounts of 

 some of the early inhabitants of Rowley, and spoke in complimentary 

 terms of the labors of the Institute. 



Hon. Allen "W. Dodge, of Hamilton, raised the question " Cui 

 bono?" What is the use of these studies of the naturalist? This 

 question he answered in part, but he wished it to receive a more com- 

 plete illustration. He would like to know what is the use of learning 

 all about these bugs and the ravages of insects if we were not told 

 how to get rid of them. A general knowledge of natural science, he 

 admitted, was useful to public speakers. Some speakers and authors 

 had been guilty of gross mistakes, in selecting illustrations from nat- 

 ural history, for lack of accurate knowledge of the objects to which 

 they referred. He asked the same question concerning the tracing of 

 one's ancestry. He thought we had much better ask what are we 

 ourselves than who are our ancestors. 



Mr. P. W. Putnam, in reply to Mr. Dodge, remarked that the power 

 of scientific men to arrest the ravages of insects was limited to in- 

 forming the public as to the best method and the best period in the life 

 of the insect for effecting its destruction. But what is needed is the 

 general adoption and carrj'iug out of the suggestions of the naturalist 

 by the farmers. The ftiilure of a few to do their part, keeps alive a 

 sufficient number of breeders to make the efforts of many, to destroy 

 insects injurious to vegetation, futile. To secure the cooperation of 

 the farmers the legislature must enact the necessary laws and appoint 

 agents to enforce tlieir execution. To show the diflicultj^ of obtain- 

 ing such legislation he alluded to the fate of a proposition, made by an 

 entomologist to Congress, to suppress the ravages of the Hessian fly, 

 which had destroyed millions of dollars worth of grain, by importing 

 its parasites. The proposal was ridiculed and rejected as an absurd- 

 ity. On the other hand the French Government had arrested the 



