IlECORDS OF 31EETINGS. 



Nine hundred and fiftieth Meeting. 



June 8, 1904. 



The Academy met at the house of Edward Atkinson, 

 Brookline. 



The President in the chair. 



On the motion of the Recording Secretary, it was 



Voted, That the Committee appointed on June 17, 1903, 

 consisting- of the President, Treasurer, Librarian, and Recording 

 Secretary, be reappointed to ascertain if more suitable accommo- 

 dations for the Academy can be obtained. 



Dr. Atkinson gave a communication on the following sub- 

 jects : — I. " Peat, and its Manufacture," illustrated by an 

 apparatus in operation. He exhibited in this connection various 

 kinds of briquettes and of coke made from moss peat ,and 

 from grass peat in this country and in Europe. He also 

 showed the operation of generating illuminating gas from 

 peat. H. "The Diffusion of Light shown by its Transmission 

 through Various Types of Glass." IH. "The Process of Cooking 

 in the Aladdin Oven, with S[)ecimens of Food cooked therein." 

 IV. " Uralite." He called attention to specimens of Uralite, an 

 artificial semi-flexible stone made by a combination of asbestos 

 with silicate of soda, the silicate being subjected to what may 

 be called a double reaction under heat and pressure which 

 renders it insoluble. This mateiial was invented in Russia, 

 where its merits have been tested on a large scale, and is 

 now used for tiie inside finish of important buildings in England, 



VOL. XL. — 47 



