368 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [nOY. 8, 



W. Hallock described a Vertical Research Laboratory as re- 

 cently constructed in the Physics building at Columbia Univer- 

 sity. He explained the construction and fixtures of the vertical 

 shaft, and mentioned some of the experiments that would be 

 made in it. He also gave a short account of the condition of 

 the deep well at Reibnik, in Silesia. This well had reached a 

 depth of 2,002.4 meters in 1896, at which depth the work was 

 stopped in order to study the temperature of the hole. The 

 greatest depth reached by the thermometers, however, was 1,959 

 meters, at which point a temperature of 54° R. was recorded. At 

 the surface the temperature was 95° R. The result showed a 

 gradient equivalent to 65 feet for 1° F., the same rate as was 

 found to exist in the well at Schladabach. 



The meeting adjourned at 9:10 p. m. 



J. F. Kemp, R. Gordon, 



Secretary. Secretary of Section. 



Biological Section. 



November 8th, 1897. 



The meeting was called to order by Professor Wilson, the 

 chairman. Twenty-two persons present. After reading the 

 minutes of the previous meeting, the following programme was 

 presented : 



1. A. P. Mathews, " Chemistry of the Spermatozoa." 



2. Bashford Dean, " Further Notes on the Supposed Palaeozoic 

 Lamprey, Palseospondylus gunni.''^ 



3. W. D. Matthew, " Status of the Puerco Fauna." 



4. N. R. Harrington, " Notes on the Copulatory Process in 

 Lumbricus terrestris.^^ 



Mr. Mathews reported on analyses of spermatozoa in Kossel's 

 laboratory, Marburg. Herring, pig and bull were examined. 

 Herring sperm heads were separated by Meischer's method from 

 the tails, and were made free from albumen. They consisted of 



