1880.] 
8 
[Annual Meeting. 
by Mr. Bouve to resign in 1876, but the decided opposition of his 
friends, and the ovation he then received from the Society at large, 
fortunately prevented him from carrying out his intentions. This 
year, however, no action on the part of the Society, no influence 
or arguments which we could use, were of any avail, and we were 
finally forced, much against our wills, to accept his resigna- 
tion. He has served this Society in every capacity for forty 
years, and e'ven now proposes to continue to assist with his advice 
and counsel, though in a position of retirement from responsibility, 
which he feels he has earned by his past services. Since we can- 
not but feel the justice of this decision, we can only deeply regret 
the determination, which has taken him out of a chair which he 
has so efficiently filled for the past ten years. 
The celebration of the anniversary of the fiftieth year in the ex- 
istence of this Society took place on the 28th of April. The Gov- 
ernor of the State, Mr. Long, the President of the Society, Mr. 
Bouve, President Eliot, of Harvard University, Samuel Eliot, Su- 
erintendent of the Public Schools of Boston, Alexander Agassiz, 
Director of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, and the Pev. R 
C. Waterston, were present and addressed the audience. A telegram 
was also read from Professor W. B. Rogers, who was to have been 
the principal speaker, but who was unfortunately detained in 
Washington. The members of the Society and a few invited 
guests and friends assembled in the Main Hall, where seats had 
been provided for them and a temporary platform erected for the 
speakers. The proceedings were described in full in the Boston 
Daily Advertiser of the 29th of April and the speeches reported. 
This paper had also devoted its editorial column of the morning of 
the 28th to a notice of our Society which was both well timed and 
serviceable, and the thanks of the Society are due to the editors for 
their kind efforts to help us in our public work. The tone of the 
various speakers was necessarily more or less eulogistic, but the 
speeches were, nevertheless, more than usually free from the exag- 
geration which so often renders such occasions unsatisfactory to 
those who desire just appreciation rather than praise. It was par- 
ticularly grateful to hear Mr. Agassiz speak warmly in praise of the 
men who founded this Society and of their scientific value in the 
history of science in this country, of the essential value of our pub- 
