OF ARTS AND SCIENCES ; NOVEMBER 12, 1862. 81 



Mr. Agassiz made a communication intended to show : — 



That the principle generally received by geologists, that difference of 

 fossils indicates difference of age, and that identity of fossils is essen- 

 tial to synchronism of deposits, is erroneous ; for different areas of the 

 same geological epoch would exist under different external condi- 

 tions, and would therefore contain very different fossils, — just as the 

 faunae of the present day differ widely from each other in different 

 parts of the earth ; also that the so-called tertiary age is made up of at 

 least ten distinct ages, with faunte specifically distinct from each other. 

 If the principle thus far advocated has led to correct results, it is 

 chiefly because the researches upon this subject have been carried on 

 within one and the same zone in Europe and America. With the ex- 

 tension of our comparisons over wider areas of the earth's surface, it 

 becomes evident that the faunae of past ages, even when contemporary, 

 may differ, according to their geographical relations, in a way similar 

 to the differences existing among the fauna? of the present period. 



Five liunclred and fourteenth meeting. 



November 12, 1862. — Statute Meeting. 



The President in the chair. 



The Recording Secretary read letters received since the pre- 

 vious meeting. 



Cyrus M. Warren, of Boston, was elected a Fellow, in Class 

 I., Section 3 ; 



Alexander E. R. Agassiz, of Cambridge, in Class II., Sec- 

 tion 3 ; 



W'^illiam P. G. Bartlett, of Cambridge, in Class I., Section 1 ; 



George Searle, of Brooklinc, in Class I., Section 1. 



Dr. C. T. Jackson presented a paper on the extraction of 

 the cobalt oxide from the iron pyrites of Brockville, Canada 

 West, by Thomas Macfarlane. He also enforced the great im- 

 portance of a careful examination of the pyrites of this coun- 

 try for nickel, on account of the value of this metal at the 

 present time as an element in the currency. 



Dr. B. A. Gould presented some copies of his paper recently 

 published by the Coast Survey, and entitled, " Standard Mean 



