Trans. N. Y. Ac. Sci. 60 Feb. 11, 
Resolved, That, though he has gone from among us, we should 
be grateful that we were so long permitted to enjoy his society and 
receive the benefit of his co-operation ; and we have the satisfac- 
tion of knowing that the good work he has done and the shining 
example he has left will be enduring and will constitute a noble 
and imperishable monument. 
Resolved, That, as a permanent record of our sorrow at his death, 
and as an expression of our esteem and affection, these Resolu- 
tions be included in the minutes of the ACADEMY, and published 
in the Transactions. 
These Resolutions were then unanimously adopted. 
A paper was then read by Prof. JoHN K. REEs, on 
THEORIES IN REGARD TO THE CAUSES OF THE RECENT RED 
SKIES. 
DISCUSSION. 
Prof. J. P. TROWBRIDGE remarked that the theory of volcanic dust 
appeared to him to be the most rational of all proposed. 
As to the possibility of the distribution of the volcanic dust of the 
eruption of Krakatoa over so vast a district, he would recall some 
analogous phenomena. He remembered, some years ago, seeing a 
few trees on fire in Michigan. Within a few days afterward the forest 
was in flames over a large territory, and shortly after that there was 
alarm at Newport, R. I., and other places on the eastern coast, be- 
cause the atmosphere was rendered so dark by smoke that artificial 
light was required during the daytime. The smoke had evidently 
been floated over the intervening area, in some upper stratum of the 
atmosphere, and descended in certain places. 
The spread of the volcanic dust was probably due to the high pre- 
vailing atmospheric currents, apparently in great atmospheric curves, 
which would account for the course of these currents. 
He could not assent to the theory of cosmic dust. In that view, 
the phenomena should have been simultaneous, and not locally differ- 
ent in time. 
As to the descent of the volcanic dust, its rapidity would depend 
upon the diameter and weight of the particles, as well as the force of 
the upward and downward currents. Thus, in the deposit of the silt 
of the Mississippi, the upward and downward currents within the 
