Record. li 



thanking the members of the Academy for his election and 

 expressing his wish to serve the Academy at all times, to the 

 best of his ability. 



Professor C. R. Sanger made brief mention of the methods 

 used in the determination of atmospheric carbon dioxide. 



Professor Engler indicated a simple graphical method of 

 drawing a normal to a parabola from a point outside the 

 curve. 



On motion, the Council was requested to arrange for a ses- 

 sion of the Academy commemorating the services to science 

 of Dana, Helmholtz, Huxley and Pasteur, all of whom had 

 passed away during the past year. 



Mr. Charles Espenschied exhibited several samples of sisal 

 hemp fiber obtained by him in the island of Nassau, and ex- 

 plained the method of preparing the fiber. The bearing life 

 of each plant was stated to be about six years, after which 

 it flowers and dies. He also exhibited a sample of cordage 

 in several stages of preparation, a hand-braided sieve, a 

 braided whip-lash, and a plaited fruit basket, made from palm 

 fiber in the West Indies. A coil of chew-stick ( Gouania 

 Domingensis?), a saponifying fiber used for cleansing the 

 teeth in Nassau, was exhibited, and also a walking stick made 

 from the arborescent Opuntia of New Mexico. The specimens 

 were given to the Academy. 



The following persons, resident in St. Louis, were elected 

 active members: — Dr. Sidney P. Budgett, Dr. George W. 

 Cale, Jr. 



January 20, 1896. 



President Gray in the chair, twenty -two persons present. 



Mr. C. H. Thompson exhibited specimens of two minute 

 aquatics rare in the United States, — Wolffia gladiata, var. 

 Floridana, and W. Hngulata, both belonging to the subgenus 

 Wolffiella, — and presented the principal results of some 

 recent studies which he had made on thern. For purposes of 

 comparison, other Lemnaceae of the United States were 

 exhibited in a living condition. 



Professor E. A. Engler, in continuation of his remarks at 

 the last meeting, spoke of certain properties of the parabola, 



