xlix 



yanuary 19, 1880. 



The President in the chair. Thirteen members present. 



The Corresponding Secretary read letters from C. V. Riley 

 and Chas. Rau, acknowledging their election to corresponding 

 membership. 



The Corresponding Secretary presented a paper from J. Coch- 

 rane, of Lewiston, Pa., on the " Coal Formations of America," 

 which was referred to the Committee on Publication. 



Dr. Engelmann made the following remarks on the tempera- 

 ture of the month : 



Last October was the warmest October in 45 years, November was 

 warmer than the average, and December a little colder than the mean for 

 the month ; but now we have a January which thus far exceeds in mild 

 temperature any we have had in this long period. The mean temperature 

 for January here in St. Louis is a little less than 32 degrees, but thus far, 

 in the first 19 dajs of the month, we have had a mean temperature of 

 nearly 48 degrees, and n successive days (from the 2d to the 12th) without 

 any frost. Previously the warmest Januarys had only 5 and 7 successive 

 days without frost. The warmest Januarys I have ever observed here were 

 those of 1845 and 185S, both with 40°. 5. The next 12 days of this month 

 may depress the mean temperature yet, but it is likely that it will still be 

 much higher than the highest mean ever observed by me. 



You will recollect the prediction of a cold winter with which we were 

 treated a few months ago. The warm October would surely be followed 

 by an unusually cold winter, and Indians and wild beasts— and, I believe, 

 plants also — were hauled up to confirm the prediction; but, then, the win- 

 ter is not yet over, and we do not know, cannot know, cannot predict, what 

 the next four or six weeks may yet bring us. 



I can tell you, however, that the warmest Januarys I have experienced 

 here were followed in 1S45 by a still warmer February; but that of 1858 

 was succeeded by a very cold February, the mean of January. 40°. 5, falling 

 to the mean of February, 27°. 2, more than 13 degrees. And though on 

 an average February is 3^ degrees warmer than January, we have not 

 rarely seen it S to 12 degs., and in 1S38 even 14 degs. colder than January. 



The remarkable cold weather experienced in Europe, especially in the 

 the west and south of Europe, while northeastward, in Northern Germany 

 and in Russia it has been rather mild, is a phenomenon which, in con- 

 nection with our mild winter, must stimulate meteorological research and 

 speculation. But as to prediction, does not this abnormrl winter prove 

 that, thus far, prediction has as signally failed as the so-called spiritual 

 revelations.? What precautions would not have been taken in European 

 countries if that disastrous summer climate with its cold rains and mis- 

 erable harvests, and if that cold winter with its ice and snow and its 



