i882. 147 Trans. N. V. Ac. Set. 



March 27, 1882. 



Section of Physics. 

 The President, Dr. J. S. Newberry, in the Chair. 



Mr. George F. Kunz showed specimens of marine shells {Fec- 

 iuncuhis, etc.,) from "Aztec" ruins, near Salt River, Arizona, 

 curiously cut or ground into ornamental articles, by the ancient oc- 

 cupants of that region. 



The President read some notes furnished by Dr. J. B. Holder, 

 in reference to the whale on exhibition at the foot of Wall street, 

 recently captured off Montauk. He was disposed to regard it as a 

 specimen of Eubalcetia Siebo/dii, a species belonging to the North 

 Pacific; and, in this case, it would seem that the animal must have 

 reached this coast by making the "northwest passage." 



Mr. Arthur H. Fxlioit reported for the committee appointed 

 to prepare a memorial of the late Dr. Holley; he read the follow- 

 ing paper, which was adopted by the society and ordered to be pub- 

 lished in the transactions : 



llu nDcntorianu 



Alexander Lyman Holley, the widely esteemed fellow of the 

 New York Academy of Sciences, was born at Lakeville, Conn., July 

 20, 1832. His father was once Governor of the State, and still lives at 

 Lakeville, at the age of 77. The son, at an early age, conceived a 

 passion for the profession that was ultimately to make him famous, and 

 learned the trade of a machinist. He was prepared for Yale Col- 

 lege ; but, having a scientific turn, he entered Brown University, and 

 graduated from the scientific department in 1853, at the age of twenty- 

 one. His graduating address, on " Motive Power," shows that he was 

 still true to his first tastes for engineering and its branches. After 

 graduation, he entered the Corliss Works at Providence, R. L, in the 

 double capacity of workman and student ; and afterward became a loco- 

 motive engineer on the Stonington and Providence railroad. From this 

 position, he went to the New York Locomotive Works of Breese, 

 Kneiland & Co., at Jersey City, as draughtsman ; and became a con- 

 tributor to several technical journals. In 1856, he was owner and 

 editor of the Railway Advocate. In 1857, he went to Europe to study 

 railroad practice there; and in 1858, he published, in connection with 

 Zerah Colburn, their celebrated book on European railroads. During 

 this time Mr. Holley was an active professional writer for the New 

 York Times, 2cnA foretold at that day the supersedureof the side-wheel 



