xxxvi Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



The Secretary stated that he had received, too late for the 

 information of the nominating committee, a letter from Dr. 

 Smith, asking that his name be not placed in nomination for 

 office, and that, believing Dr. Smith to really desire to be 

 excused, he wished to place in nomination for the office of 

 First-Vice-President Dr. M. H. Post. 



A paper by K. K. Mackenzie and B. F. Bush, entitled The 

 Lespedezas of Missouri, was presented and read by title. 



Professor F. L. Soldan delivered an interesting address on 

 The advance made in education during the nineteenth century, 

 stating that the most characteristic feature of the century's 

 progress la} r in the epoch of expansion and organization which 

 it marked. The influence of Pestalozzi, Froebel, Horace 

 Mann, William T. Harris and other distinguished educators 

 was traced, the marked change in opinion concerning the 

 commercial value of education brought out by the Centennial 

 Exposition of 1876 was indicated, and the establishment of a 

 true university grade in this country with the opening of the 

 Johns Hopkins University, the year following, was commented 

 on. 



Professor F. E. Nipher stated that he had continued his 

 experiments on the production of ether disturbances by ex- 

 plosions, and by the motion of masses of matter. He had 

 apparently succeeded in eliminating the effects of the shock of 

 the air-wave upon the magnet needle. The needle is adjusted 

 to a condition approaching maximum sensitiveness. There is 

 no iron about the apparatus except what is contained in the 

 needle and in the compensating magnets. The latter are 

 clamped in place so that the structure on which they are 

 mounted may be pounded by a mallet without disturbing the 

 needle. Rowland effects due to convection of electrified 

 particles have also been eliminated. There remains a marked 

 deflection of the needle, seeming to indicate that an ether 

 distortion or wave originates in a sharp and violent explosion. 

 This result is so amazing that it is announced with the state- 

 ment that the whole subject is yet under the most searching 

 examination. The coherer and the receiver of the telephone 

 are to be used in two wholly different plans of experiment, in 

 one of which the effects along the entire track of a leaden 



