04 



After the conclusion of this singularly eiitertaiuiug commu- 

 nication, and of experiments, a conversation ensued, participa- 

 ted in, by Messrs. H. J. Cross, Charles W. Felt, and others. 



G. L. Streeter oiFered the following, which, being put, was 



unanimously carried : 



Voted, That the thanks of the Essex Institute be tendered 

 to Mr. Endicott, for the action he has proposed relative to the 

 preservation of old records and the interesting remarks with 

 -which it has been introduced : and to Mr. Farmer, for his in- 

 teresting exhibition of an instrument, which so apparently, as 

 it were, sets at defiance the most familiar laws of Nature. 



Adjourned. 



Friday, January 9, 1857. 



Evening meeting at half past seven o'clock. Rev. John L. 

 llussell, Vice President, in the chair. 



Records of last meeting read, also letters from Austin Bacon 

 of Natick, James H. Dwight, William Beal of Murphy, N. C, 

 Smithsonian Institution, American Antiquarian Society, I. J. 

 Patch. 



Donations to the Library w^ere announced from American 

 Academy of Arts and Science, American Antiquarian Society, 

 Henry M. Brooks, Mrs. N. D. Cole, L. A. H. Latour of Mon- 

 treal, C. E., Wm. Sutton. 



The chair proceeded to announce, with suitable remarks, sev- 

 eral donations to the Historical Department, from Mrs. N. D. 

 Cole, Chas. W. Upham jr., and E. P. Sargent; — among which 

 were two Chinese paintings, emblematical of the popular reli- 

 gious creed of China. He explained the occurrence of the leaf 

 and stem of the sacred lotos [Nehimbiiim speciosiim) in the 

 designs, and showed the object of its use as of a hieroglyphical 

 character. These paintings were of the form of paper hang- 

 ings, and one of them was richly painted in crimson and gold. 

 They w^ere, together with other articles from China, the gift of 

 E. P. Sargent. 



The chair also occupied the attention of the Institute with a 

 rapid review of a scarce and curious book, loaned him for in- 



