OP ARTS AND SCIENCES. 625 



Statements have also been received from persons to whom recent 

 appropriations have been granted, but prior to May, 1897, as follows: — 



Professor B. O. Peirce, of Harvard University, was granted an appro- 

 priation of $200 in 1892, and a further appropriation of $250 in 

 1895, for researches upon the thermal conductivity of rocks and other 

 poor conductors. A preliminary pajjer has been published in the 

 American Journal of Science, with the consent of the Rumford Commit- 

 tee, and also a table of roots of a Bessel Equation, in the Bulletin of the 

 American Mathematical Society. The cost of the investigation, which has 

 proved to be a very laborious one, has greatly exceeded the amount of the 

 grant. It is expected to publish the final results in the near future.* 



Professor F. A. Laws, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 

 was granted $300 in 1894, to aid in an investigation of the thermal 

 conductivity of metals by a new method proposed by him. The research 

 was delayed for a time, but is now in active progress, and it is probable 

 that numerical results will be secured very soon. The unexpended 

 balance of the appropriation will be applied to the determination of the 

 conductivities of other metals. 



Professor E. L. Nichols, of the Cornell University, received in 1894 a 

 grant of " a sum not exceeding $500 " (on the authorization of the 

 chairman) in aid of a study of the emissive power of carbon at different 

 temperatures. Professor Nichols reports that absence from the country 

 for a year, and various unforeseen difficulties have delayed progress, 

 although much time has been spent on preliminary work. The expenses 

 of the research are only in part met by the appropriation from the Rum- 

 ford Fund, of which about $200 has been expended. 



Professor Edwin II. Ilall, of Harvard University, received a grant of 

 $250 iu 1895, in aid of an investigation on the thermal conductivity 

 of metals. The research thus aided was embodied in part in a paper 

 presented to the Academy on January 8, 1896, on the " Thermal Con- 

 ductivity of Mild Steel." A second paper relating to the thermal con- 

 ductivity of cast iron is likely to be ready for publication during the 

 coming summer. f There is at present an unexpended balance of $120. 



Professor A. G. Webster received a grant of $250 in 1895, for a 

 research on the velocity of electrical waves. Regarding this research 

 Professor Webster says : " A part of the money has been expended par- 

 tially to defray the expense of the construction of a machine for measur- 

 ing the interval between the rupture of two electrical contacts, which is 



* See Proceedings, Vol. XXXIV. No. 1. t Ibid., No. 11. 



vol.. XXXI V. — 40 



