OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 149 



take that has been made in this direction. I have recently been mak- 

 ing some observations and experiments with low angles on certain well- 

 known structures, and have in several instances been struck with a 

 blank astonishment at the utterly false, though apparently reliable, 

 results obtained. It happens, too, that the physical and optical char- 

 acters of those tissues which, oftener than any others, are the subjects 

 of your study, are precisely such as will lead to the most frequent 

 errors ; and if you do not find that many a blunder has been made in 

 their study, heretofore, I shall be greatly surprised.' " 



February 8, 1859. — Adjourned Stated Meeting. 



The Academy met at the house of Hon. Josiah Quincy. 



The President in the chair. 



The Corresponding Secretary read the following letters, 

 viz. : from Der Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, 

 Copenhagen, July 1, 1858 ; K. K. Geologische Reichsanstalt, 

 Vienna, November 30, 1857 ; and the Zoologisch-Botanischer 

 Verein, Vienna, March 15, 1858, acknowledging the receipt 

 of the publications of the Academy ; — from Der Kongelige 

 Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, July 1, 1858 ; Societe Im- 

 periale des Naturalistes de Moscou, June 17, 1858 ; Die Ko- 

 niglich Siichsische Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, Leipzig, 

 April 28 and July 18, 1858 ; and Die K. K. Geologische 

 Reichsanstalt, Vienna, January 10, 1857, presenting their 

 various publications. 



The recent decease of a distinguished Fellow, William 

 H. Prescott, the historian, was noticed in the following 

 remarks. 



Rev. George E. Ellis said : — 



" I rise, Mr. President, at your request, to engage the attention of 

 the Academy for a few moments in one of those sad but grateful offices 

 of respectful commemoration, which something better than mere usage 

 exacts of the living, when they miss from their pleasant fellowship an 

 honored associate. The late Mr. William Hickling Prescott was a 



