84 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ]jAN". 27, 



markable photographs of the great Muir glacier, in various aspects. 

 Professor Wright also described and exhibited a small image 

 of a human figure, either carved or moulded from hard clay, 

 which is reported with much detail as having been brought up 

 from a depth of many feet of soil, in an artesian well-boring in 

 Ada County, Idaho, This object is about two inches long, per- 

 fect in condition, and spirited in execution; and if the positive 

 assurances and affidavits of the finders are correct, it is probably 

 the earliest, and certainly the most remarkable, prehistoric relic 

 yet discovered in North America. 



A vote of thanks was unanimously passed. 



January 27, 1890. 



Stated Meeting. 

 The President, Dr. Newberry, in the chair. 

 Fifty five persons present. 



An invitation was read from the Trustees of Columbia Col- 

 lege, requesting the Academy to appoint delegates to attend the 

 inauguration exercises of the new president, Hon. Seth Low, 

 to be held on February 3d. 



The invitation was accepted, and it was voted that two del- 

 egates'be appointed by the Chair. 



Vice-President Hubbard and Mr. L. E. Chittenden were 

 selected by the Chair as representatives. 



Mr. Richard G. Moldenke, having removed to Michigan, 

 was transferred to the list of Corresponding Members. 



The first paper of the evening was then read, upon 



the newly-discovered phosphate-beds of FLORIDA. 

 BY DR. ALBERT R. LEDOUX. 



The discovery of widely-distributed beds of phosphates in 

 western Florida has of late produced a local excitement and 

 activity similar to the " gold-fever " of a newly-opened mining 

 region. Prospectors are everywhere, boring into the soil; capi- 

 talists from the North are seeking favorable openings from point 



