1887] 419 



Special Committee appointed by the Society on May 20, 1887, 

 to examine into the merits of a communication for the Magel- 

 lanic Premium, signed " Magellan,^^ upon " The Physical Phe- 

 nomena of Harbor Entrances; Their Causes and Eemedies; 

 Detects of present Methods of Improvement," and with the 

 same the statement that the Council approved of the recom- 

 mendation that the Magellanic Premium should be awarded 

 therefor. . 



A paper entitled " Notes on the Ethnology of British Co- 

 lumbia," by Dr. F. Boas, was presented through the Secre- 

 taries. 



Dr. Brinton read a paper on " An Ancient Human Foot- 

 print from Nicaragua," of which he exhibited a specimen, and 

 in the discussion that ensued Prof. Heilprin stated that in his 

 opinion the deposit in which it occurred was not of the Eocene 

 period, but was Post-pliocene. 



Prof. E. F. Smith (Springfield, Ohio) presented (through the 

 Secretaries) a paper on "Electrolysis of Lead Solutions." 



Pending nomination No. 1171 and new nomination No. 1172 

 were read. 



Prof. Edwin J. Houston made the following oral communi- 

 cations : 



On a Non-Magnetizable Watch. 



C. A. Paillard, of Geneva, Switzerland, after some fourteen years' ex- 

 perimentation, has succeeded in producing a watcli that is entirely desti- 

 tute of any magnetizable material. 



The rapid growth of electric lighting and electric railways renders the 

 magnetization of watches a matter of frequent occurrence, and the injury 

 to the accuracy of time-pieces occasioned by inadvertently entering the 

 magnetic field of the dynamo-electric machines, or motors producing the 

 current, is well known. 



Heretofore a magnetic shield, consisting essentially of an iron-encasing 

 box, has been employed to protect the works of the watch against the in- 

 fluence of an external magnetic field. Such shields are, for the greater 

 part, clumsy and heavy. 



Mr. Paillard's invention effects the protection of the watch in a much 

 more thorough manner, and does so without rendering it any heavier. 



It will be seen that the problem Mr. Paillard set himself to solve, was 



