TRANSACTIONS 
OF THE 
NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 
October 3, 1881. 
REGULAR BUSINESS MEETING. 
Vice-President, Dr. B. N. Martin, in the chair. 
Twenty-five members present. 
After the transaction of business the members were invited, in 
accordance with the usual custom at the first meeting of the season, 
to present notes and observations recorded during the summer, and 
responses were made by Mrs. E. A. Smiru, Prof. C. A. SEELEY, 
and others. 
Mr. W. L. CHAMBERLAIN referred to the gold deposits recently 
opened in Fulton and Saratoga counties, N. Y. The ore consists of 
uriferous pyrites and is contained in the gneiss of the foothills of the 
Adirondacks. 
Remarks were made by a member, on a visit to the sandstone quar- 
ries at Portland, Conn.; by Mr. TODD, on a peculiar atmospheric phe- 
nomenon, a vaporous band stretching across the sky, apparently not 
auroral, observed in the Adirondacks; and by Dr. MARTIN, on a remark- 
able atmospheric coloration, luminous brilliance of the clouds, etc., 
observed last month at Saratoga, in the early morning, attributing it 
to an abundance of a smoky fog produced by the recent forest fires, 
and calling attention to the fact that this phenomenon has been noticed 
only in the territory east of the meridian of Saratoga. 
Mrs. P. HANAFORD described the same appearances as seen during 
the “ Yellow Day,” Sept. 6, near Boston, and also on Nantucket; an- 
other member, as seen in the Genesee valley, explaining that the 
strong west and northwest winds prevailing at the time had wafted 
high in the air vast volumes of smoke derived from the abundant forest 
fires throughout Western N. Y.; Messrs. Topp, CHAMBERLAIN, and 
others, describing the electric brilliance of the gas-lights, the strange 
modification of the green color of foliage, the absence of smoky odor, 
etc., as observed at Great Barrington, Mass., and in less degree in New 
York city; Mr. N. L. BRITTON, on the same facts as observed several 
