Our Retrospect. 



memberships. These noted friends and members of our society cer- 

 tainly deserve our especial mention. 



And now, passing lightly as before over the intervening space, I 

 come to our last volume, the eleventh. Again death has been busy, 

 and the list of officers is now almost entirely changed. Of those who 

 appeared in the beginning of the fourth volume, only one remains 

 alive and he living away from us. And once more we find, mingled 

 with the more mature, young men occupying many of our offices; and 

 we feel pleased to note their readiness to come forward for our wel- 

 fare, and feel satisfied that when, with advancing years, they shall 

 have gathered professional honors, they will have so schooled their 

 tastes as not to have lost their interest in the Institute. Of the con- 

 tributors to this volume I must not speak. They are well known to 

 all of us, and since so many of them are now sitting before me, it 

 would be improper not to respect their natural modesty. And yet, 

 as before suggested, I must enter into some short comparison between 

 this last volume and the first, to determine how far we have kept to 

 our original purposes and maintained our reputation ; and in doing so, 

 I must naturally make passing mention of the articles themselves. 



There is "Life in the Arctic," by one who has made such enter- 

 prises his pursuit for years, and there is a somewhat kindred article 

 upon " The Expedition of the Alert to Hudson's Bay/' replete with 

 geographical and ethnological observation. There is a comprehensive 

 study of the question of an " Open Polar Sea ; " and this, to those 

 wishing to review our papers in detail, as one subject suggests an- 

 other, naturally leads to " The Variation of the Needle and the Lo- 

 cation of the Isogonic Lines in Northern New York." Again, and a 

 little suggestive of the others, comes the "Dreamers of the Columbia 

 River Valley in Washington Territory." So much for the geography 

 of our volume. " French Discoveries in New York," " Arendt 

 Van Cuyler, first superintendent of Rensselaerwyck," and "The Cor- 

 respondence of Governor Tompkins " relate to our local annals ; and 

 in " London Stone " we have a surprisingly minute, careful and ex- 

 haustive compilation of many facts and incidents in London history 

 and biography, which, but for the writer of that paper, might have 

 remained altogether unknown to us. " Locutius in Fabrica " treats 

 pleasantly about certain peculiarities in our language ; and " Fertili- 

 zation of Flowers " and « Chemical Analysis of Potable Waters " need 

 no commendation, for they are the work of authors who are experts 

 in their subjects, and know whereof they speak. " Literary Property 

 and International Copyright" relate to our law, and "Gold, Silver 

 and the Coinage of the Silver Dollar " to our finance ; while " Shakes- 



