RECORDS OF MEETINGS. 531 



The following communications were presented: — 

 "Cretan Chronology." By President VV. W. Goodwin. 

 " The Polariscope and the Weather." By Dr. Louis Bell. 

 The following paper was read by title: — 

 " A Simple Method of Measuring the Intensity of Sound." 

 By George VV. Pierce. 



Nine hundred seventy-ninth Meeting. 



February 12, 1908. 



The Corresponding Secretary ^:>rfl tempore in the chair. 



There were present twenty-four Fellows. 



Letters were read from the Sub-director of the Museo Nacio- 

 nal, ^lexico, felicitating the Academy on the New Year; from 

 the Committee of the Fourth International Conorress of Mathe- 

 maticians to be held at Rome, April 6-11, 1908. 



The death of Edward H. Strobel, Resident Fellow in Class III, 

 Section 1, was announced. 



The following report of the House Committee was read and 

 accepted : — 



" At the meeting of the Academy held on the elevemth of Decem- 

 ber, the House Committee were instructed to consider and report 

 whether it would be advisable for the Academy to provide a light re- 

 past, consisting of crackers, ale, and cheese, at the conclusion of the 

 meetings. 



" We find that the expense involved would be about twenty-five 

 dollars for tables and dishes, and an annual outlay of about twenty- 

 five dollars. After consulting the Treasurer, we recommend that these 

 sums be expended, the initial outlay being paid by the appropriation 

 for House expenses, and the current expense charged to the appropria- 

 tion for the expense of meetings. 



" The Committee have, as has been announced, provided a ventilator 

 in the meeting-room, with an air-shaft reaching above the roof, which 

 it is hoped will prove effective. If not, it can be made more so by 

 putting an electric fan into the air-shaft, 



"Meanwhile it has been urged upon them that the present meeting- 

 room shall be given up, and a larger and pleasanter one be constructed 

 in the front of the house in the third story. A room could be made 

 covering about six hundred and fifteen square feet, about a third more 



