No. 1. — Proceedings of the Annual Meeting , May 3, 1899. 
Report of the Curator, Alpiieus IIyatt. 
The death of Mr. John Cummings of Woburn removes a member 
to whom this Society is indebted for valuable time freely given for 
many years in its Council and for much actual work done in its 
Museum, especially in the botanical department. While his pecun¬ 
iary means were ample, he was as generous in giving aid with 
them as with his brain and hands. For a long time he carried on 
the botanical department, working in it himself and paying the 
salary of an assistant; he also maintained another assistant in the 
Museum, and at the same time supported the Teachers’ school of 
science. His services in the botanical department were described in 
detail in my report for 1898 on the occasion of his retirement from 
that department which he had sustained from 1873 to 1898 and 
which he had succeeded in placing in excellent condition. Another 
monument to Mr. Cummings’s generosity is the collection of European 
fossils filling Room H. This is the Eser collection, which is entirely 
his gift, and is one of the most famous of the older and smaller 
European collections. This collection is a great prize for any 
museum since it possesses very rare and valuable specimens and is 
especially suitable for the purposes of our educational series. The 
Teachers’ school of science owes its foundation to Mr. Cummings 
and arose in the Council in consequence of his offer to support a 
series of lectures for teachers. The Curator immediately accepted 
this offer, and the school began in the following autumn. These 
are only his principal claims to our remembrance and gratitude,' 
since it is impossible to take notice of the thousand and one ser¬ 
vices to the cause of science which he gave so generously and with¬ 
out expectation of credit or reward. 
In his last annual report the Curator called attention to the 
necessity of doing something to perpetuate the office of Guide to 
the Museum. This has been held by Mr. Grabau and has become 
really a free lectureship, that has not only made our collections 
more instructive to the public but also interested a number of 
persons in the study of natural history and led to the giving of 
