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lecture in the Institute course. Tlie subject was "The 

 Canons of the Colorado." The lecturer spoke of his ex- 

 ploring expedition in that wild, uninhal)itable region of 

 the Rocky Mountains, undertaken at the request of the 

 Government, and briefly described the natural features 

 and scenery of the country, which are grand rather than 

 beautiful. The valley of the Rio Colorado is a vast natu- 

 ral bed of rock, mostly bare of vegetation, a mile in thick- 

 ness, and covering as large a surface as the whole of New 

 England and the Middle States combined. He concluded 

 the lecture in narrating the adventures of his party in 

 their peuilous but romantic voyage down the river. This 

 was accomplished through great hardships and without 

 any fatal accident, though they had many narrow escapes 

 with their lives, and three of his men who deserted in tlie 

 face of great danger were captured and killed by the In- 

 dians. The lecture was profusely illustrated with views 

 of the scenery on the Colorado, including its principal 

 canons and cataracts, by the calcium light. 



Monday, January 29, 1877. 

 Prof. Henry Carmichael, of Bowdoin College, fa- 

 vored the Institute Avith an instructiA^e lecture on "Flame," 

 which was fully illustrated by experiments that were sin- 

 gularly successful, though he was removed from the spec- 

 ial facilities of the laborator3^ The more prominent of 

 these were the placing of phosphorus and gunpowder in 

 the interior of the flame, the musical and sensitive flame, 

 the efiect of various chemicals upon the color of a flame, 

 and the monochromatic flame, which gave to everything 

 a ghastly and cadaverous appearance. 



