447 



1886.] ^" ' 



late Dr. George Hamilton, of this city, formerly the property 

 of Dr. Chapman, sometime the President of the Society, to 

 whom it had been given by Joseph Bonaparte, ex-King of 

 Spain, from his resideDce at Bordentown, N. J. 



A letter accompanied the gift from Mr. J. McClure Hamil- 

 ton, the son of the donor, to whom the thanks of the Society 

 were voted. 



Letters accepting membership were read from Prof. F. A. 

 Genth, Jr. (Philad'a, March 15th, 1886); Ensign Louis Duncan, 

 (U. S. S. S. Juniata, New York Navy Yard, March 15th, 

 1886). 



A letter of envoy was read from the Statistical Society of 

 London, and also asking for certain of the Society's publica- 

 tions, which was referred to the Secretaries with power to act. 



A letter was read from the Institute Canadien-Francaise re- 

 questing exchanges, which was similarly referred. 



A letter was read from Dr. Clemens Winkler, Freiberg in 

 Sachsen, announcing the discovery by himself of a new non- 

 metallic element to which he had given the name of Germa- 

 nium. 



The death of Dr. Austin Flint was announced as having 

 taken place at New York on the 13th day of March, 1886, in 

 the 74th year of his age. 



The Lackawanna Institute of Science at Scranton, Pa., was 

 ordered to receive the Catalogue of the Library of the Society 

 and the Proceedings, to begin with No. 117. 



Secretary Brinton presented two papers by Dr. W. J. Hoff- 

 man, one on the Selish Language and another on the "Wait- 

 shumni Dialect. 



Dr. Horn explained the process among the Piutes of sweet- 

 ening acorn meal by percolation with water so as to render the 

 product edible. 



Lieut. Wyckoff made a verbal communication on the action 

 of heavy vegetable or fish oils in reducing heavy combing 

 waves to long swells that would not injure a vessel. A discus- 

 sion upon the subject ensued which was participated in by 

 Messrs. Brinton, Dudley, Horn, Holland, Ingham and Oliver. 



