Prof. Gage, from the Board of Curators, represented the cabi- 

 net to be in a very unsatisfactory condition. 



February 7, 1876. 



C. V. Riley, President, in the chair. 



Six members present. 



The Corresponding Secretary made his usual report, calling 

 attention to the last monograph of the late Jeffries Wyman " On 

 the Shell Mounds of the .St. John's River in Florida." 



A communication in regard to a proposed mound excavation 

 in East St. Louis, was referred to the committee on mound ex- 

 ploration. 



The Academy voted to endorse the action of the Boston Civil 

 Engineers' Club, asking Congress to set a day when the metric 

 system shall go into effect. 



Dr. Geo. Engelmann read a paper " On the Meteorologv of 

 the Month of January," as follows : 



The unusual meteorological conditions of December last, of which I 

 gave an account a month ago, have continued through January. The last 

 month of last year was the warmest December we have had in forty vears. 

 The past January was one of the five warmest Januaries in the same period. 

 The mean temperature was 39.4 , while the usual mean for that month is 

 31. 5 . January, 1S48, had the same temperature, and was followed by a 

 February and a March warmer than usual. January, 1S42, was warmer, 

 and the following four months were warmer than the average. Januarv, 

 1845, and 1858, had a mean temperature of 40. 5 . In 1S45 the three suc- 

 ceeding months had a temperature above the average, but the mild Janu- 

 ary of 1S5S was preceded by an equally warm December, and followed by 

 a bitter cold February with a mean temperature of 27. 2°— over 13 lower. 

 Thus, in the four years mentioned, three times a warm January was fol- 

 lowed by a warm February and March, and once the reverse was true. 



But what of the unusual quantity of rain which fell last month: It is 

 commonly thought that mild winters, in which of course southerly winds 

 prevail, are also wet winters; but what are the facts? Three of the above 

 mentioned mild Januaries ('42, '45 and '48) had, the first less than 1 inch, 

 the others less than 2 inches of rain, all three less than the average 2.13 

 inches, and only the January of that year ('58) which was followed by a 

 very cold February, and the January just past, have had more than the 

 average amount of rain, the former 3.42 and the latter 4.44 inches : and 



