that remarkable instrument— the spectroheliograph, deserves 

 the thanks of every astronomer on the globe. And then 

 Barnard and Burnham reached over and slapped Hale on the 

 back amid the heartiest applause of the audience. 



It is this magnificent spirit, this disposition to accord to 

 fellow-workers the praise due to their efforts in solving the 

 mysteries of the Universe, this unselfish co-operation for great 

 and worthy ends, that make the work to which astronomers 

 have devoted their talents and their lives, as beautiful as the 

 star-spangled vault of heaven at night, and as sublime as the 

 truths they are striving to reveal regarding the bright worlds, 

 the vast siderial systems, and those other universes in the 

 infinite depths of space, of which our photo-telescopes give 

 but faint glimpses. 



But more beautiful than the star-gemmed skies, more 

 sublime than the rolling spheres of heaven's infinite deeps, is 

 the divine grasp of the human mind, which, anchored for a 

 few fleeting years on this rushing, whirling ball, the earth, yet 

 boldly reaches out to the utmost bounds of space, reduces the 

 intricate maze of myriad worlds to orderly systems, and 

 deduces the eternal laws of matter and force which govern 

 them, literally unifying all this wonderful phenomena of suns 

 and planets, comets and nebulae, clusters and galaxies, into 

 one grand, well-ordered and harmonious Universe. 



Transactions of the Academy. 



DECEMBER. 



The first meeting of the Academy for the Season of 1910-1911, was 

 held on Monday evening, December 5, 1910 in Symphony Hall. 



The President, Mr. Spalding, reported progress in the erection of 

 the new County Museum Building in Agricultural Park, and, in a view 

 thi-own upon the screen, he pointed out the wing which will be the 

 home of this Academy, and explained the conveniences which will be 

 placed at our disposal. He invited all present to attend the ceremonies 

 of the laying of the Corner Stone on the afternoon of December 17, 1910. 



The lecture of the evening was by Thomas Powell, M.D. upon "The 

 Appropriation of Food and the Energy derived therefrom by Animal 

 Life," which was illustrated by many interesting views. 



The lecture was followed by considerable discussion from members 

 of the different schools of medicine, which disclosed theories widely 

 divergent from the propositions advanced by the lecturer, each claim- 

 ing that his scheme was orthodox and all others heterodox. 



