468 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



James Clerk Maxwell, of Cambridge, to be a Foreign Hon- 

 orary Member in Class I., Section 3, in place of the late 

 P. A. Hansen, of Seeberg. 



Professor T. H. Safford presented a communication on the 

 " Motion of the Solar System in Space." 



Mr. S. H. Scudder presented, by title, a " Historical Sketch 

 of the Generic Names proposed for Butterflies." 



Professor Josiah P. Cooke spoke of the large amount of 

 lead and copper present in commercial tartaric acid and cream 

 of tartar. 



Six hundred and seventy-fourtli Meeting. 



December 8, 1874. — Monthly Meeting. 



The President in the chair. 



The Corresponding Secretary read letters from Messrs. 

 Hammond, Hilgard, McCosh, Trowbridge, Trumbull, and 

 McCrady, acknowledging their election into the Academy. 



Mr. W. A. Rogers described the unequal effects he ob- 

 tained in ruling a glass plate with a diamond point, when the 

 lines were drawn in different directions ; and these variations 

 he attributed to the grain of the glass. 



The President read a report of the Committee to whom 

 was referred the paper of Professor Benjamin Peirce on 

 Ocean Steamship Lanes : — 



The Committee of the Academy, to Avhom was referred a paper 

 submitted to the meeting of the Fellows held on the 12th of May 

 last, by Professor B. Peirce, relating to the course of navigation over 

 the Atlantic Ocean by steamships passing daily between America and 

 Europe, have considered that subject, and ask leave to report : — 



That this is a matter deserving the attention of the society from its 

 growing importance to the safety of multitudes of Imman beings con- 

 stantly passing and repassing between the two continents. If tie 

 development of this line of navigation for the future is to be measured 

 by its progress during the thirty-five years since it commenced, then it 

 unavoidably follows that without the adoption of some form of syste- 

 matic precaution there will be a steadily growing danger of serious 



