In Salisbury, a town of around 500 people on Maryland's Eastern Shore, a fire broke out in a building on the main street.  Despite the efforts at fire fighting, the blaze quickly spread until almost the entire town had been burned to the ground.  More than forty buildings, all the town records, the Episcopal church, and even the town's fire engine, were completely destroyed.  No deaths or serious injuries were reported, however.  (By John Osborne)

The fourteenth annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science convened in the upper rooms of the Rhode Island State House on August 1, 1860.   Publisher and scientist Isaac Lea chaired the gathering as it heard scores of scientific papers over the six days.  The 1861 meeting was planned for Nashville, Tennessee and F.A.P Barnard of the University of Mississippi named as its organizer but this was later "postponed."  (By John Osborne)