130 BOTANY IN ESSEX COUNTY 



dred field meetings, whicli the Institute has held in all 

 parts of the county, caunot even be approximated. Tlie 

 last important work in this direction was the Catalogue of 

 the Flora of Essex County, a volume of two hundred 

 pages, published by the Institute, in 1880. 



Many museums, societies and clubs have sprung up 

 throughout the county, and we frequently see in the local 

 press accounts of the meetings of the "West Newbury Nat- 

 ural History Club," the "Cape Ann Scientific Association,'* 

 the "Boxford Natural History Club," or those of similar 

 organizations in Lynn, Georgetown, Amesbury, Marble- 

 head and elsewhere. Many of these societies, as well as 

 some of our educational institutions, possess valuable 

 herbaria, and in several instances lists of the floras of the 

 tovvns have been published. Of private collections it is 

 impossible to speak. Their nuniber is legion ; many are 

 confined to special groups, astrees, ferns, grasses, mosses, 

 sea-weeds, etc. Some are more general in character, and 

 many are both extensive and valuable. 



We could extend this enumeration to many pages, but 

 the brief outline here given must suffice to indicate these 

 visible results. 



Of the influence exerted upon the people, as a whole, 

 and of the increase of students on these subjects it is 

 more difficult to speak accurately. 



Fifty years ago, William Oakes, searching on hands and 

 knees for half an hour, to obtain a few capsules of a rare 

 moss, was thought, by a worthy country woman who had 

 watched his movements, to be a harmless insane person, 

 and, in simple kindheartedness, she took him a slice of 

 bread and butter. It is doubtful if such a thing could 

 happen now, although it is not unusual for the botanical 

 collector to be curiously questioned as to the commodity 

 he has on sale in the green box, or to be addressed from 



