X 



6 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



length upon the general geographical features of New Eng- 

 land, showing the influence they had exerted in fixing the 

 successive settlements of this part of the country. He pro- 

 posed to treat the subject more fully in a Memoir to be laid 

 before the Academy. 



Four Iiuudred and forty-tlilrd meeting. 



October 13, 1857. — Monthly Meeting. 



The President in the chair. 



The Corresponding Secretary read the following letters, 

 viz. : — From the Academic Royale des Sciences, &c. de 

 Belgique, January 15, 1856, and February 7, 1857, the 

 Academy of Science of St. Louis, August 24, 1857, and the 

 American Philosophical Society, September 10, 1857, ac- 

 knowledging the receipt of the Academy's publications ; from 

 the Academy of Natural Sciences, July 7, 1857, acknowledg- 

 ing the same, and asking that missing numbers may be sup- 

 plied ; and from the Academic Royale des Sciences, Turin, 

 May 15, 1857, acknowledging the same, and presenting its 

 own publications. 



Professor Lovering said, that, at a former meeting, — in 

 making some remarks on the question, whether the Mississippi 

 River flows up hill, — he alluded to a criticism of President 

 Horace Mann (published in the Common School Journal) 

 upon those who attributed the direction of the flow of this 

 river to centrifugal force. Mr. Lovering had since learned 

 from INIr. Mann that he recalled his opinion in the same Jour- 

 nal two years afterward. If Mr. Lovering had known this 

 fact at the time he should not have alluded to the unsound 

 criticism ; and he wished now to give Mr. Mann the benefit 

 of having recanted most fully his former error, before he him- 

 self took notice of the subject. 



Dr. Wcinland gave an account of a recent visit to the 

 island of Hayti. He mentioned many interesting facts 

 concerning the influence of the prevailing winds upon the 



