15th.  Dr. L.D.  Gale, of New York, writes me that the American Lyceum has resolved to enlarge the scope of its objects.  “We have, therefore,” he remarks, “as we now stand, 1.  The department of education. 2.  The department of physical science. 3.  Moral and political science. 4.  Literature and the arts.  The influence of the society has been very much enlarged since its last meeting, and it now enrolls amongst its active members many, indeed I may say a large share of the most valuable men of science of the United States.  The chief object of the physical science department is to obtain, as far as possible, a report of the recent history and progress, and, in some cases, the future prospects of the different departments.  So that we may be enabled to form a volume of transactions that shall embrace all that is new or recent in the departments, posted up to the present time.

“The subject of the antiquities of the western countries of the United States, and especially the remains of towns and fortifications, which appear to have been built by a civilized population, has been frequently agitated this side of the Alleghanies, and it was thought by the executive committee that justice would be done to the subject in your hands.  They have, accordingly, requested that you would consent to give them a paper on the subject.  They presumed that you were in possession of much interesting and valuable matter that has never yet come to the eyes of the world.”

26th.  I have been often written to, by persons at a distance wishing for information on the Indian tribes, or their languages, or antiquities, and uniformly responded favorably to such applications, sending a little where it was not practicable to do more.  It has ever appeared to me, that the giving of information was just one of those points which rendered me not a whit more ignorant myself, and might add something to the knowledge, as it certainly would to the gratifications of others.  The only good objection is, that time and attention is required for every such effort.  But cannot this be easily redeemed from waste hours, when the object is to add to the moral gratifications of others?

A letter was addressed to me, this day, from a Mr. H. Newcomb, Alleghany, near Pittsburg, which certainly seems a little onerous in the tax it imposes on my time; as the writer announces his intention of publishing two or three volumes, on the subject of the Indians, and presents a formidable array of subjects respecting which he is to treat.  In only one respect it strikes me as singular, namely, that any writer west of the Alleghanies should set down to write a work on such a subject, without personal observation.  In older areas, where the Indian has disappeared, books must alone be relied on; but in the West, there should be something fresh, something distinctive and personal, to give vitality to such a work.  The writer observes, “I have not yet been able to obtain materials for the first two volumes satisfactory to myself.”