SPRINGFIELD LIBRARY ASSOCIATION.-The Report for 1884-85.

STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF IOWA.-Their Fifteenth Biennial Report. STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN.-The Catalogue of their Library, Vol. 6; and Annual Reports, 1883–85.

TRAVELER'S INSURANCE COMPANY.-Their Record, as issued.

UNITED STATES BUREAU OF EDUCATION.-The Circulars of Information, as issued.

UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION.-Their Second Annual Report. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR.-Twenty-four volumes of the Forty-Seventh Congress; three volumes of the Congressional Globe; eight volumes of reports; and the Official Gazette of the Patent Office, in continuation.

UNITED STATES TREASURY DEPARTMENT.-Report of the United States Life Saving Service for 1883-84.

UNITED STATES WAR DEPARTMENT.-The Index-Catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon-General's Office, U. S. Army, Vol. VI.

VIRGINIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY.-The Official Letters of Governor Spotswood, Volume Two; and the James River Tourist, 1885.

WESTERN RESERVE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.-Their "Partial List of Manuscripts, Field Notes and Maps."

WORCESTER COUNTY LAW LIBRARY ASSOCIATION.-Bowen's Picture of Boston.

WORCESTER COUNTY MECHANICS ASSOCIATION.-Seventeen files of newspapers, in continuation.

WORCESTER FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY.-Forty-seven books; thirty volumes of the Congressional Record; one hundred and forty-four pamphlets; and sixty-two files of newspapers.

WORCESTER NATIONAL BANK.-New York Evening Post, in continuation. WORCESTER SOCIETY OF ANTIQUITY.-Their Proceedings for 1884; and an account of the Doings at their Tenth Anniversary.

WYOMING HISTORICAL AND GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.-Their Proceedings and Collections, Volume II., Part I.

YOUNG MEN'S ASSOCIATION OF BUFFALO.-Their Forty-ninth Annual Report.

PROCEEDINGS.

SEMI-ANNUAL MEETING, APRIL 28, 1886, AT THE HALL OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES, BOSTON.

THE following members were present (the names being arranged in order of seniority of membership): Edward E. Hale, Andrew P. Peabody, Nathaniel Paine, Joseph Sargent, Stephen Salisbury, Samuel A. Green, Francis Parkman, George S. Paine, Edward L. Davis, James F. Hunnewell, John D. Washburn, Thomas W. Higginson, Albert H. Hoyt, Charles C. Smith, Hamilton B. Staples, Edmund M. Barton, Lucius R. Paige, John J. Bell, Joseph B. Walker, Samuel S. Green, Edward I. Thomas, Frederick W. Putnam, Solomon Lincoln, J. Evarts Greene, Henry S. Nourse, William B. Weeden, Reuben Colton, Robert N. Toppan, Henry H. Edes, Grindall Reynolds.

The second Vice-President, STEPHEN SALISBURY, A.M., was in the chair.

The Recording Secretary read the records of the last meeting which were approved.

The same officer communicated the recommendation of the Council that the gentlemen named below be elected to membership in the Society, each of whom was chosen by a separate ballot on his name :

FREDERICK JOHN KINGSBURY, A.M., of Waterbury,

Conn.

GEORGE EBENEZER FRANCIS, M.D., of Worcester, Mass. SAMUEL S. GREEN, A.M., read a report which had been prepared by him and adopted by the Council as a part of their report to the Society.

NATHANIEL PAINE, Esq., Treasurer, and EDMUND M. BARTON, Esq., Librarian, read their semi-annual reports. These reports, as together constituting the report of the Council, were on motion of FRANCIS PARKMAN, LL.D., seconded by Rev. ANDREW P. PEABODY, D.D., accepted and referred to the Committee of Publication.

Rev. Dr. PEABODY and Rev. EDWARD E. HALE, D.D., made a few remarks suggested by certain portions of Mr. GREEN's report.

Mr. FREDERICK W. PUTNAM exhibited a collection of celts, axes and ornaments made of various stones known under the general term of jade. Some of these were from the ancient pile-dwellings of the Swiss lakes; one large celt was from New Zealand; another, with a cutting edge at each end, from a mound in Michigan, and twelve other specimens were from Nicaragua and Costa Rica. The latter consisted of a large four-sided celt; a half of a celt of a peculiar light color for jadeite; while all the others, ten in number, were ornaments made by cutting celts into halves, quarters or thirds. A portion of the cutting edge of the celt remains on each of these pieces. Each piece is perforated by one or two drilled holes, and three are more or less elaborately carved. Two of the specimens fit together to make half a celt, which had been perforated in the centre of the upper end. When this half-celt was again cut a portion of the original perforation was left on each piece.

The questions proposed were: Where did these specimens come from? Why were such important implements as axes and chisels first made of this hard material and afterwards cut up for ornaments?

In answer, he stated that up to this time, jadeite, varying from almost a milk-white color with a slight shade of green to that of a beautiful emerald-green had not been found in situ in America. So far as known, all such varieties of jadeite had come from Asia. Had this material been

obtained from any locality within immediate reach of the ancient people of Central America (from whose burial mounds these specimens had been taken, principally by Dr. Earl Flint while exploring for the Peabody Museum), it would not have been considered so valuable; and these people would not have spent so much time and labor in cutting up these useful and highly polished implements if they could have obtained the stone in the rough. Such labor, it seemed to him, was evidence of the scarcity of the stone, and of the regard in which it was held, probably as a stone no longer to be obtained. Is it not, therefore, reasonable to believe that the stone was brought from Asia in the form of implements by the early migrants to this country, and that as the supply was not kept up, and most likely even its source became unknown, the pieces among the people were cut and re-cut and preserved as sacred relics of the past, to be, one after the other, finally buried with their owners?

Is it not one of the most important facts yet known tending to show that the original possessors of the implements brought them from Asia, and that at least one portion of America was settled by people from that continent?

On motion of the Rev. LUCIUS R. PAIGE, D.D., the thanks of the Society were voted to Mr. PUTNAM, and he was requested to furnish his remarks to the Committee of Publication.

In reply Mr. PUTNAM stated that he was still at work on the subject in all its bearings, and that it would be some time yet before he would be ready to publish all the evidence he had to offer, showing that these specimens indicate a migration from Asia. Much remained to be done in comparing the specimens from Central America with specimens of jadeite from known localities in Asia, and for this purpose microscopical sections and chemical analyses were yet to be made. In due time he hoped to offer a paper in complete form. At present, he brought the subject forward