208 



see here, material enough to repay the study and discussioa 

 of hours, nay, days, uninterrupted by anything, on other 

 topics. He further explained a few specimens, and spoke 

 of the constitution of the soil here, as connecting the min- 

 eral and vegetable worlds, and showing, as everywhere, the. 

 influence of the rock on the plants it sustains. 



George D. Phippen of Salem, on being called upon, 

 stated that he had greatly enjoyed the day's ramble, and 

 appreciated the attention and skill of the guides who well 

 understood the chief points of scientific interest of this re- 

 markable place : but that which most engrossed his mind 

 was the grand expanse of the Atlantic, here spread out to 

 the view, — the same broad old ocean over whose ever-heav- 

 ing weaves our father's first came to these shores, and which 

 with its everlasting rocky fringe must appear to our eyes 

 to-day, almost precisely as it did to theirs two centuries ago. 

 In answer to some inquiries as to parasitical plants, Mr. 

 P. said that we had only one true parasite in this region, 

 to wit, the Dodder. This is a very elegant as well as 

 curious plant, and will reward any one for their study of 

 it. He formerly tried the cultivation of it with very grati- 

 fying success. 



Mr. xV. E. Vebrill of Cambridge, at the request of the 

 chair, gave a short acount of the few marine animals on the 

 table ; after which he presented a sketch of the classification 

 of Birds, as adopted by most of the leading ornithologists of 

 the day. Though naturalists have always agreed as to the 

 limits of the class, they have differed widely as to the way 

 in which it should be subdivided into minor groups. Thus 

 the number of orders admitted among birds by different 

 naturalists, varies from two to twenty-eight. 



