1880.] 411 [Bouvé. 
General Meeting. February 4, 1880. 
The President, Mr. T. T. Bouvé, in the chair. Twenty- 
Seven persons present. 
After the usual opening of the meeting the President said: 
Since we last met the Society has lost one of its oldest 
and most valued members, Dr. Toomas M. Brewer. 
It grieved me as an old personal friend to learn, when in a 
distant State, that the disease, by which as I knew before 
leaving home he was prostrated, had terminated fatally and 
that I should not again receive his pleasant greeting on 
earth, or even have the sad satisfaction of being present at 
the funeral services following his departure. The long inter- 
course between us had always been of the most agreeable 
character, and I feel that I have reason to mourn that it has 
so unexpectedly and sadly terminated. This is not the 
place, however, for me to indulge in the’ expression of 
personal bereavement, but rather to dwell on the great loss the 
Society and the community have met in the death of our 
_ beloved associate. | 
Dr. Brewer was born in Boston, Nov. 21, 1814. He 
graduated at Harvard College in 1835, and in the Medical 
School in 1838. He labored in his profession for several 
years, but his tastes and inclinations were stronger for other 
pursuits. He was fond of literary labor, and, having strong 
political tendencies was early led to write for one of the 
leading Whig papers of the period, the Boston Atlas, and at 
length to. become one of its editors, in which capacity he 
manifested marked ability both as a writer and close observer. 
Subsequently he became interested in the firm of Swan and 
Tileston, a publishing house which afterwards changed its title 
to that of Brewer & Tileston. He retired from business in 
1875 and then visited Europe where he remained two years. 
He had become well known by his ornithological labors and 
