57 



day, and might as well have been written thirty years ago as 

 now. Prof. Agassiz proceeded to notice in detail many defects 

 in the system of classitication, pronouncing it a woi'k entirely 

 unworthy of confidence as scientific authority, and quite incon- 

 sistent with the reputation of its author. 



Dr. Henry W. Williams was elected a Resident Mem- 

 ber. 



October 15, 1856. 



The President in the Chair. 



Dr. C. T. Jackson stated that at the meeting of April 

 2d, a communication was received from Mr. Edward 

 Daniels of Illinois, upon a supposed conversion of human 

 bones into phosphorus. Since that time the supposed 

 bones had been shown to be the phosphorus of com- 

 merce ; but they resembled the long bones of a child, 

 having an enlarged extremity not unlike a condyle, and a 

 central canal, which is not uncommon in stick phospho- 

 rus, resembling the medullary canal. 



Dr. Weinland made the following remarks upon the 

 Corrosion of the Shells of Freshwater Clams : 



It is generally believed and stated in the books, that the coi*- 

 rosion of the shells of freshwater clams, which is observed upon 

 the beak, and which frequently extends over the whole surface 

 of the shell, as in Unio complanatus, Anodonta implicata, and 

 Lampsilis radiata, for instance, is effected by the dissolving prop- 

 erties of fresh water when irapi-egnated with carbonic acid. It 

 is supposed that the carbonate of lime is converted into the 

 bicarbonate, and in this state dissolved by the water. This pro- 

 cess may sometimes take place, but it does not seem to be the 

 commencement of the corrosion. In all the specimens of Ano- 

 donta implicata which he had recently collected at Fresh Pond, 



