26 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



the elephant, having similarly narrow and contracted anterior 

 lobes, and having the transverse diameter of the encephalon ex- 

 ceeding the longitudinal. Besides in elephants and mastodons, 

 this last condition exists only in Cetaceans. Dr. Wyman re- 

 marked upon the transition from the genus mastodon to that of 

 the elephant, as shown by the teeth in the different species 

 discovered by Falconer and Coutley in Asia, and upon the sim- 

 ilarity in the forms of the brains, as showing a much closer 

 aifinity between the two genera than had generally been sup- 

 posed to exist. 



Three Iiundred and seventy-tliird meeting. 



January 4, 1853. — Monthly Meeting. 



The President in the chair. 



Dr. Walter Channing made some remarks on meteorological 

 phenomena noticed by him in a recent voyage to Europe ; 

 among others, on the remarkable brilliancy of the nights in 

 Russia compared with those of more southern latitudes. 



Dr. W. F. Channing gave an account of the experiments on 

 the velocity of sound, recently made in this vicinity by Cap- 

 tain Wilkes. The discharge of a cannon was made to break 

 the circuit in a telegraph wire, thus marking exactly the time 

 of discharge and the observance of the sound, and avoiding 

 the personal errors of watching for the flash and recording the 

 exact time. He described an instrument of his invention for 

 recording the first vibration of air from the cannon's discharge. 

 The results are not yet fully compared, so as to show the 

 differences arising from the dryness or dampness of the air, 

 change of elevation, intervening hills, &c. 



The Treasurer announced a donation from the Hon. Jona- 

 than Phillips, of one thousand, dollars, to the general fund of 

 the Academy. 



Whereupon, it was unanimously 



" Voted, That the thanks of the Academy be presented to the Hon. 

 Jonathan Phillips, for the generous contribution of one thousand dol- 

 lars to its funds, for the purpose of promoting the progress of science." 



