TRAlSrSACTIOI^S. 



The Kaiisas Academy of Science met in its twentieth annual session, at Topeka, in 

 Representative Hall, on the afternoon of the 26th, and continued in session through 

 the 27th and 28th of October, 1887. The following extracts from the proceedings are 

 deemed of public interest. 



Section 3 of the Constitution of the Academy was amended by the addition, to 

 the sentence relating to the annual memberships, of the following: "but the Secre- 

 tary and Treasurer of the Academy shall be exempt from the payment of dues dur- 

 ing the years of their service. " 



The announcement by the Smithsonian Institution of the death of Professor 

 Spencer Fullerton Baird, late Secretary of that Institution, was read, and in con- 

 nection therewith the following resolution was adopted: 



"tVhereas, OiBcial iuformation has been received of the death of Spencer Fullerton Baird, LL.D., 

 the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and Director of the National Jluseum: 



"Resolved, That we, the officers and members of the Kansas Academy of Science, hereby express 

 our sense of the great loss sustained by the Nation in the death of this eminent naturalist. We grate- 

 fully acknowledge the great value of his personal achievements in scientific pursuits, and the still 

 greater value of the stimulus afforded by him to thousands of younger students of nature io all parts 

 of the land. His untiring and unselfish energy will ever command the admiration and increase the 

 activity of the members of this Academy. 



"Resolved, That the Secretary of this Academy be instructed to forward a copy of these resolutions 

 to Professor S. P. Langley, Acting Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution." 



A committee, appointed at a previous meeting to collect for preservation in the 

 library of the Academy the photographic portraits of members, exhibited twenty- 

 nine portraits, mostly of older members, some of whom are now dead, or removed 

 from the State. 



Officers for the ensuing year were elected as follows: President, J. R. Mead; Vice 

 Presidents, E. H. S. Bailey, and T. H. Dinsmore, Jr.; Secretary, E. A. Pojienoe; Treas- 

 urer, I. D. Graham; Librarian, B. B. Smyth; Curators, A. H. Thompson, N. S. Goss, 

 H. W. Birchmore, Robert Hay, and E. A. Kilian. The names of seventeen persons 

 were added to the roll of active members, and two persons resigned their member- 

 ship. 



The evening sessions were occupied: the tirst, by the address of the retiring Pres- 

 ident, Rev. John D. Parker, U.S.A., upon "Progress in Astronomy;" the second, by 

 the lecture of Professor Lucien I. Blake, of the University of Kansas, upon "Prac- 

 tical Electricity and the Laws of Energy;" and the third, by the address of Chan- 

 cellor H. W. Everest, of Garfield University, upon "The Utilization of Mental Power." 

 At other sessions were presented among others the following papers: 



HORIZON OF THE DACOTAH LIGNITE. 



BY PROF. ROBERT HAY, JTJNCTIOlSr CITY. 



In various parts of middle Kansas a poor quality of coal has been in use for many 

 years. It has been found at its outcrop, and worked by tunnels or drifts. It has 

 also been worked by shafts in several districts. These shafts are nowhere very 



