March 6, 1876. 



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



Ten members present. 



The Corresponding Secretary laid upon the table several vol- 

 umes of the Royal Irish Academy. 



G. C. Broadhead read a paper on the meteor of December 9, 

 1875, which was seen at 9 o'clock p. m. over Southern Iowa and 

 Northern Missouri. The duration of visibility was variously esti- 

 mated at from three to sixty seconds. The majority of observers 

 fix the time between three and ten seconds. At Kansas City, St. 

 Joseph, Savannah, Oregon, Mound City, Graham, and Maryville, 

 an explosion was also heard, which was violent enough in many 

 places to rattle windows. 



Mr. Broadhead also remarked that P. Sterry Hunt has decided 

 that the porphyritic rocks of S.E. Missouri are Huronian. This 

 opinion is based upon an examination of the mineralogical and 

 lithological characters of the rock. 



Dr. Geo. Engelmann made the following report upon the tem- 

 perature of the past winter : 



After reporting at the time about the unusually warm weather during 

 every month of this winter, I can now, at the end of three months, Decem- 

 ber, January and February, which constitute meteorologically the winter 

 reason, state that the past winter was, together with that of 1844-45 (thirty- 

 one years ago), the warmest in forty years, namely, a little over 40 degrees 

 in mean temperature. 



The coldest winters were those of 1855-56 and 1872-73, both about 14 

 degrees colder than the last, while the average winter temperature in St. 

 Louis is nearly 33^ degrees. 



Judge Holmes made the following remarks on 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



For a long time he had been impressed with the general similarity of 

 the stone sculptures and pyramidal buildings of Palenque, Copan and Ux- 

 mal, in Central America, with like remains in the island of Java and other 

 parts of Southeastern Asia— a general resemblance in respect of the stage 

 of art and grade of civilization, rather than in the particular details or 

 stvle. A like general resemblance with the earlier Egyptian monuments 

 is also apparent, but much less striking in respect of the stage of progress, 

 while in point of style and form in detail the difference is so great that 

 no inference of a common derivation could be thought of. 



