TRANSACTIONS 



OF THE 



NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



October 3, 18S1. 

 Regular Business Meeting. 



Vice-President, Dr. B. N. Martin, in the chair. 



Twenty-five members present. 



After the transaction of business the members were invited, in 

 accordance with the usual custom at the first meeting of the season, 

 to present notes and observations recorded during the summer, and 

 responses were made by Mrs. E. A. Smith, Prof. C. A. Seeley, 

 and others. 



Mr. W. L. Chamberlain referred to the gold deposits recently 

 opened in Fulton and Saratoga counties, N. Y. The ore consists of 

 auriferous pyrites and is contained in the gneiss of the foothills of the 

 Adirondacks. 



Remarks were made by a member, on a visit to the sandstone quar- 

 ries at Portland, Conn.; by Mr. TODD, on a peculiar atmospheric phe- 

 nomenon, a vaporous band stretching across the sky, apparently not 

 auroral, observed in the Adirondacks; and by Dr. Martin, on a remark- 

 able atmospheric coloration, luminous brilliance of the clouds, etc., 

 observed last month at Saratoga, in the early morning, attributing it 

 to an abundance of a smoky fog produced by the recent forest fires, 

 and calling attention to the fact that ihis phenomenon has been noticed 

 only in the territory east of the meridian of Saratoga. 



Mrs. P. Hanaford described the same appearances as seen during 

 the "Yellow Day," Sept. 6, near Boston, and also on Nantucket; an- 

 other member, as seen in the Genesee valley, explaining that the 

 strong west and northwest winds prevailing at the time had wafted 

 high in the air vast volumes of smoke derived from the abundant forest 

 fires throughout Western N. Y.; Messrs. TODD, Chamberlain, and 

 others, describing the eleciric brilliance of the gas-lights, the strange 

 modification of the green color of foliage, the absence of smoky odor, 

 etc., as observed at Great Harrington, Mass., and in less degree in New 

 York city; Mr. N. L. Britton, on the same facts as observed several 



