BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 149 



" Resolved, That in the death of Mr. Swan the Society recognizes the loss of not only-a 

 highly efficient officer and member, but of an associate greatly respected for his attain- 

 ments as a scholar, admired for his noble qualities as a gentleman, and loved for his many 

 virtues as a man and a Christian." 



Before the close of the year it had become so evidently necessary to have cases of 

 better construction for the birds than those in use, and in furtherance of the plan of 

 reorganization adopted, the Council voted that the entire income from the Bulfinch Street 

 fund for one year, be expended in fitting up cases in the upper gallery for that purpose. 



1872. -In February, Mr. Edward Burgess was elected Recording Secretary and 

 Librarian of the Society in place of Eev. J. A. Swan, deceased. 



The necessity for the presence of police officers on public exhibition days to preserve 

 order and to see that the specimens of the Society suffered no harm, was now so apparent 

 that at the meeting on March 6th, the President was authorized to petition the City Gov- 

 ernment to appoint such officers. 



At a meeting of the Section of Entomology, on the 27th of March, the death of an 

 active member of that section, Mr. William Hales Dale, was feelingly referred to, and 

 the following resolution unanimously passed : 



" Resolved, That in the death of our late associate, William Hales Dale, we mourn the 

 loss of one whose many graces had endeared him to us, and whose researches in natural 

 science, now abruptly arrested by this inscrutable dispensation, commanded our highest 

 respect." 



This gentleman bequeathed to the Section of Entomology his cabinet of insects, and 

 five hundred dollars. 



The annual meeting of the Society was held on May 1st. From the report of the 

 Treasurer it appeared that the receipts, including donations amounting to $1249.26, and 

 a bequest of $500, exceeded the expenditures $3649.89. 



The Custodian's report for the year embraced much matter of importance, but nothing 

 more gratifying that what he expressed relative to the Teachers' School of Science, by 

 which name he designated the school formed through the liberality of Mr. John Cum- 

 mings. It will be recollected that this gentleman in the early part of the previous year 

 presented to the Society $500 to be applied for educational lectures to teachers, to be 

 given during the succeeding winter. This sum he afterwards increased to cover all 

 expenses occurred in carrying out his design, so that instead of $500 he really paid $950 

 to the Society. The remarks upon the result are here given. 



" The Teachers' School of Science was conceived and has been carried into successful 

 operation during the past winter, under the patronage of Mr. John Cummings, a well 

 known member of the Society. Under the direction of the Committee in charge, courses 

 of lessons have been given in Physical Geography, by Prof W. H. Niles ; on Mineralogy, 

 by W. C. Greenough ; on Zoology, by the Custodian ; and one is now in progress by 

 Dr. W. G. Farlow, of Cambridge, on Botany. 



" Prof Niles delivered the first six. He undertook to give the more general features of 

 the earth's surface, and then to apply these general principles to the explanation of the 

 physical characteristics of Massachusetts. The success of this course may be judged by 

 the averao-e attendance, which was about six hundred teachers of all grades, and by the 



