385 



purposes, had not the older and more experienced heads and 

 hands of the Institute lent him timely countenance and sup- 

 port on previous occasions. Let us, then, always keep watch 

 for any earnest but perhaps half discouraged student of na- 

 ture who may come in our way, and never stint the kind 

 word or the a])i)roving look, or timely explanation that may, 

 perhaps, prove the golden clue by which he may lead him- 

 self up to ultimate reputation and success. 



The Chair followed the remarks of Mr. Tracy with some 

 statements as to the usefulness of the small local associations 

 now and then found in the community and devoted to the 

 pursuit of the natural sciences, instancing the Exploring Cir- 

 cle in Lynn and a Botanical Class in Danvers, as affording good 

 examples of this species of effort. He also spoke of a small 

 work on the botany of the County lately published by Mr. 

 Tracy as a convenient assistant in such studies, particularly 

 in the vicinity of Lynn and the other southerly towns of 

 Essex County, for which it is particularly adapted. 



B. F. Mudge of Lynn offered some remarks on the geolog- 

 ical matters brought to light during the day. Middleton (said 

 he,) is not a locality of special richness in geological or min- 

 eralogical things, yet here, as everywhere, there is something 

 which the mind of the geologist may grasp in its broad coin- 

 pass, as tending to illustrate the general truths of this sub- 

 lime science. The drift formation, that ever-abiding riddle 

 of students is well exemplified here in the tall hill over 

 which the party labored to-day in the hot sun for the fine 

 view obtained from its top, and in the valley behind it which 

 holds the calm waters of Middleton Pond. The rock here- 

 about is various in character. A specimen of true mica- 

 ceous granite had been handed in to day, very dififerent from 

 the ordinary sienite lised in building and known as granite ; 

 and probably the whole of the township rests on several 

 kinds of rock much intermingled, as in other cases within 



ESSEX INST. PROCEED. VOL. ii. 49. 



