Mr. WATERSTON here introduced to the meeting Mr. William H. Dall, who gave an interesting account of his explorations, at the head of a scientific corps, among the Rocky Mountains, embracing the "Alaskan Range." He exhibited and presented to the Society a map from a drawing made at the United-States Coast Survey Office, under his direction, from his own surveys, which had been photographed from the drawing.

The thanks of the Society were presented to Mr. Dall for the map and for his interesting remarks.

Mr. PARKMAN exhibited copies from some interesting unpublished maps of the Mississippi, and the Western lakes and rivers, made chiefly by the early Jesuit missionaries, recently procured in Paris.

On motion of Mr. R. FROTHINGHAM, it was

Voted, That Mr. Parkman be requested to prepare a paper on these maps for the Society's "Proceedings."

Mr. PARKMAN stated that he should be quite willing to prepare an account of these maps, with fac-similes of them as suggested; but he was now engaged in publishing a work which would embrace much of this material.

Mr. WATERSTON, as the chairman of a committee from the Natural History Society, called the attention of the members

to the approaching celebration of the Centennial Anniversary of the birth of Alexander von Humboldt, who was at the time of his death an Honorary Member of the Society, and suggested that those who thought of attending should secure seats together at the Music Hall, where the address by Professor Agassiz, was to be delivered.

SEPTEMBER MEETING.

A stated monthly meeting of the Society was held this day, Thursday, September 9, at eleven o'clock, A.M.; Vice-President ASPINWALL in the chair.

The record of the last meeting was read.

The Librarian read the list of donors to the Library for the past month.

The Cabinet-keeper read a list of the donations to the Cabinet for the past month. These included a pair of tongs once owned by the family of Thomas Hutchinson; also a warclub from the Sandwich Islands, brought thence by Captain William Ballard, of Boston; given by his grandson, Mr. William Ballard, of Brooklyn, N.Y., through Mr. John J. May, of Boston.

The Corresponding Secretary read letters of acceptance from M. Thiers, of Paris; and from Mr. William S. Appleton and the Rev. Henry M. Dexter, of Boston.

Mr. DAVIS spoke of the Montcalm letters which had been the subject of a communication from Mr. Parkman at the June meeting, in one of which appeared some remarkable predictions of historical events in this country, of sufficient importance to attract the attention of Mr. Carlyle in his "History of Frederic the Great." Mr. Davis said that Car lyle was mistaken in supposing, as he seemed to do, that

these predictions originated with Montcalm. They undoubtedly represented the common belief of all the French and many of the English statesmen of that day. As early as 1748, according to Bancroft, it was "announced by reasoning men in New York that the conquest of Canada, by relieving the Northern colonies from danger, would hasten their emancipation"; and this opinion was published in Europe by a Swedish traveller who heard it that year in America. Similar opinions were expressed during the negotiations which led to the peace of 1762, by Choiseul and Vergennes, by William Burke, by the anonymous writer of a letter from a gentleman in Guadaloupe, and by many others.

Mr. DEANE presented to the Library, in the name of the author, a book of 323 pages in the Spanish language, entitled "Historia Secreta de la Mision del ciudadano Norte-Amerigano Charles A. Washburn, cerca del Gobierno de la República del Paraguay. Por el Ciudadano Americano, Traductor titular (in partibus) de la misma Mision: Porter Cornelio Bliss, B.A."

Mr. Deane stated some of the circumstances, as communicated to him by Mr. Bliss, under which this fictitious narrative was written by the latter in Paraguay, while in a state of duress from the tyranny of Lopez.

OCTOBER MEETING.

The stated monthly meeting of the Society was held this day, Thursday, October 15, by invitation of our associate, Mr. Lawrence, and with the concurrence of the Standing Committee, at his house in "Longwood"; the President, the Hon. R. C. WINTHROP, in the chair.

The Recording Secretary read the record of the previous meeting.

The Librarian read the list of donors to the Library.

The Corresponding Secretary read a letter of acceptance from the Rev. Barnas Sears, D.D., of Staunton, Va.

Thomas B. Akins, Esq., of Halifax, N.S., and Pierre Margry, of Paris, were elected Corresponding Members.

The President, referring to the death of the Rev. Joseph B. Felt, spoke as follows:

The Rev. Joseph Barlow Felt died at Salem, which was also his birthplace, on the 8th of September last. He had been a member of this Society for nearly forty years, having been elected in 1830, and having become the second, in order of election, on our living Resident roll. During this period, he was a member of the Standing Committee for one year, a member of the Committee of Publication for four successive volumes of our Collections, and Librarian for fourteen years. In all these relations he rendered the Society faithful and valuable services. But his labors as an antiquarian and historian had a wider range. His Annals of Salem, his History of' Ipswich, Hamilton and Essex, his Ecclesiastical History of New England, and his History of Massachusetts Currency, are important contributions to the work in which we are engaged, and evince the greatest industry and the most careful research. As a Commissioner, too, appointed by Governor Everett, for arranging and classifying the ancient State papers, in the archives of the Commonwealth, in which capacity he visited England to procure duplicates or copies of papers, which were missing from the files of the State, he performed a most laborious and important work for illustrating and preserving the history of Massachusetts. His Memoirs of Roger Conant, Hugh Peters, of Francis Higginson, and of William S. Shaw, his Customs of New England, and his Collections for the American Statistical Association, furnish additional testimony to his patient and painstaking pursuit of historical studies. Educated to the ministry, he was for many years a devoted pastor of Congregational Parishes at Sharon, and at Hamilton, in

Massachusetts, and had received the title of Doctor of Divinity. His later years, however, were devoted to historical and literary labors, in recognition of which he received the degree of Doctor of Laws from Dartmouth College, which he had entered as a student in 1809.

Born on the 22d of December, in the year 1789, Dr. Felt had almost completed his eightieth year, and death must have been a welcome release to one whose Christian faith and upright life had given him so good a hope beyond the grave.

With the authority of the Standing Committee, I propose the following Resolution:

Resolved, That the Massachusetts Historical Society desire to enter upon their records their deep sense of the valuable and faithful servíces in the cause of New-England History of their late respected Associate, Dr. Felt; and that the President be requested to appoint one of our number to prepare a memoir of him for our Proceedings.

The Resolution was unanimously adopted, and the Rev. Dr. Dexter was appointed to prepare the customary memoir.

The President also spoke as follows concerning the decease of our Corresponding Member, Mr. William Winthrop, of Malta, which had been announced at the August meeting by Vice-President Aspinwall:

Absence from the State prevented me from being present at either the August or September meetings of the Society. I should otherwise have added a few words to the simple announcement which was made by my friend, Colonel Aspinwall, of the death of one of our Corresponding Members, Mr. William Winthrop, late Consul of the United States at Malta. Mr. Winthrop was a son of the late James Andrews, Esq., of Boston. His mother, whose family name he had adopted, was in lineal descent from John Winthrop, the Massachusetts Governor, by Margaret Tyndal, the saintly wife who followed him to America in 1631. He was a great-nephew of Judge James Winthrop, one of the eight original founders of this Society.