To express an opinion as to the truth or fallacy of this theory would in this place be presumptuous, but it is sufficient to say that the hypothesis has not only been well received by the press and scholars, but has been the means of turning the attention of men of science to a closer consideration of the subject, and the discoveries that may follow may far exceed the most sanguine expectations of its author.

Upon his retirement from political life Mr. Scribner

accepted the ofiice of vice-president of the Belt Railroad (so-called) of New York, and retained that position until 1880, when he was chosen pi-esidcnt, a position which he still holds. He is also connected with many associations of asocial and charitable nature, being a member of the Union League Club, president of the Skin and Cancer Hospital of New York, an institution which has done much to relieve human suffering; a member of both the British and the American Associations for the Advancement of Science, and trustee of St. John's Hospital in Yonkers.

He married Sarah Woodbury, daughter of Hon. James Osgood Pettengill of Rochester, who, as a legislator, and as an officer and patron of the Rochester Theological Seminary and other institutions of learning, is well known in Western New York. His father. Captain James Pettengill, came from Salisbury, N. H., and settled at Ogden, Monroe ^County, in the early part of the present century. The ancestors of the various families of this name were four brothers, Matthew, David, Andrew and Benjamin, who came from Yorkshire, England, in 1640, and settled in Newburyport, Mass., whence they removed to Salisbury. The mother of Mrs. Scribner was Emeline, daughter of Manlius G. Woodbury, who was an early settler and was made alderman in the first charter election in the city of Rochester.