Annual Meeting.} 256 [May 7, 
Jackson Dawson, Mr. Watson and Mr. Greenleaf were of 
great assistance to Professor Goodale in the procuring of the 
vast number of live plants and the great amount of other 
nd 
material required for his lessons. Mr. Charless W. Spurr, 522 — 
Harrison Avenue, Boston, prepared, for the purpose of illus- 
trating the subject of wood sections, 500 packages of excel- — 
lent specimens of the following woods: Tulip-tree or White- 
wood, Rosewood, Ash, Oak, Pine, Mahogany, Walnut, But- 
ternut, Maple, Cedar, Birch, Cherry, Elm and Holly. Many 
_ of these were in duplicate, exhibiting both plain and figured 
texture. The specimens, more than ten thousand in all, were 
gratuitously presented to the class by Mr. Spurr. 
The Custodian followed with twelve lessons on Zoology, 
which will be completed on the 10th of this month, and Mr. 
Burbank is to continue with five on Mineralogy. The average 
attendance, on fair days, so far, has been about five hundred. 
. The course was supplemented by the publication of a se- 
ries of small pamphlets, under the general title of Science 
Guides, which were intended to assist the teachers in the 
application of the knowledge imparted by the lectures. ‘These 
are described in the Report of the Secretary. 
Perhaps the most gratifying and encouraging facts are de- 
rived from an examination of the statistics of the past seven 
years. Thns out of the 616 applicants of this winter, there 
are 155 who had attended at least one previous course,! 119 
who had attended two more previous courses, and 44 who 
had attended all of the courses. Some of these last, I may 
add, are masters of Public Schools. 
There is.a general impression that the Society derives ma- 
terial benefits from such undertakings. Many people also 
have the impression that we are rich, because we have large 
expenses and support a building upon the Back Bay lands, 
and have a Museum open to the public. We have indeed 
learned how to keep out of debt, and how to make some 
1 It must be remembered that the highest number of attendants at lessons reached 
in previous years was 166. 
