THE MUSEUM. 



345 



paintings, ancient armor and costly 

 implements of warfare of many na- 

 tions, an attraction of which Spring- 

 field is justly proud. Mr. and Mrs. 

 Smith, and the artist, Mr. T. W. 

 Wood, of New York were present and 

 assisted in receiving and entertaining 

 the hundreds of guests. 



After President Brinton's annual ad- 

 dress on Thursday evening, read in his 

 absence by the general secretary, an- 

 other fine reception was given in City 

 Hall by the Ladies' Reception Com- 

 mittee. The preparations were ela- 

 borate and the fioral decorations and 

 music were charming. The hojj^rs 

 were spent altogether socially, in re- 

 newing old friendships and making 

 new ones. 



The General Sessions of the A. A. 

 A. S. began on Thursday morning, 

 August 29. A letter from the retiring 

 president, Dr. Brinton, stated that he 

 was detained in Europe on account of 

 Mrs. Brinton's health. In his absence 

 the duty devolved on Professor W. H. 

 Brewer, of Yale University, to intro- 

 duce the president-elect. Professor E. 

 W. Morley, of Cleveland, Ohio, which 

 he did with some complimentary re- 

 marks on the eminent services render- 

 ed by the latter to science. He was 

 formerly an assistant to the famous 

 Bunsen, in Heidelberg. He was one 

 of the two men who solved Sir Wil- 

 liam Thomson's problem that excited 

 so much attention at the time. He 

 also won fame by determining the 

 atomic weight of oxygen. He is now 

 the professor of chemistry in the 

 Western Reserve University, of Cleve- 

 land. 



After thanking the association for 

 the honor conferred on him, the pres- 

 ident called on Rev. Bradley Oilman 



to offer prayer. Mr. William H- 

 Haile was then introduced, who made 

 a happy address of welcome, in which 

 he was followed by Mayor Long, who 

 briefly recounted the victories won by 

 science since the association had last 

 met in Springfield. President Morley 

 made a reply in which he paid a tri- 

 bute to the famous men of Western 

 Massachusetts past and present. He 

 also stated in brief the aims of the or- 

 ganization now convened, and in clos- 

 ing said: "We study the apple tree 

 and also the lily, the latter because of 

 its ministrations to the intelligence and 

 to the aesthetic side of life. We are 

 not warmer nor richer for knowing the 

 distance of the sun but some of us are 

 happier for knowing it. So we, who 

 are fascinated with sciene, ask you to 

 receive us, not as engineers promising 

 new structures of flying ships, or new 

 conveniences with which to ornament 

 our homes; nor as ethical teachers, 

 but as men who can bring out the sub- 

 tile influence of the lily, and apprec- 

 iate the hidden beauty and meaning of 

 what may seem to be abstract and al- 

 most unknowable things. "^ — Scientific 

 American. 



Meteorites. 



Meteors, Meteoric Stones, Fire- 

 balls, Shooting Stones, etc., are now 

 all classed together as being main- 

 ly varieties of the same phenomena. 

 They are, however, divided for con- 

 venience into three classes: First, 

 Siderites, those composed mainly of 

 Meteoric iron; second, Siderolites, 

 being composed mainly of masses 

 of iron and stone; and third, 

 Aerolites, being composed almost en- 

 tirely of stones. We shall only men- 

 tion the first kind in this paper. 



