110 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [,TAN. 4, 



my lecture to an attempt to compress a biisliel of solid matter 

 into a quart measure. 



I hope, however, tliat I have led you to believe with me that 

 there is nothing of the mysterious left in the laws of dynamic 

 electricity, and that with our thorough knowledge of its laws,, a 

 thousand heads, a thousand hands will miike it transport to us 

 at will heat, light, power, sound, sight, and chemical work. 



January 4, 188G. 

 Eegular Business Meeting. 

 The President, Dr. J. S. Newberry, in the Chair. 

 Thirty-seven persons present. 



The following persons were elected Resident Members: 

 Mr. F. J. H. Merrill, 

 Mr. R. M. Caffall, 

 ^ Oeorge W. Winterburn, M.D., 

 J. W. Bartlett. M.D., 

 3Ir. H. T. Woodman. 



Professor William Lispenard Robb, of Trinity College, 

 Hartford, Conn., and Dii. Giacomo Boni, of Venice, Italy, 

 were elected Corresponding Members. 



Mr. p. H. Dudley read a paper on 



FUNGI INDUCING DECAY IN TIMBER. 



(Illustrated with specimens of the fungi of the decayed wood, 

 and with lantern views of plioto-micrographs.) 



The fungi are leafless, flowerless plants, containing no chloro- 

 phyll, and instead of propagating by visible seeds, have only mi- 

 croscopic spores, which are freely disseminated by the air to 

 resting-places. If proper conditions for germination are present, 

 the spore sends out a delicate mycelium, inducing sooner or later 

 a decomposition of the structure of its host, in order })art]y to 

 build u]) its own; and it is only later, when fructification takes 

 place, that the ])resence of a fungus may be sus{>ected. 



The species of fungi named by writers as causing the so-called 

 ''dry rot" in timber are, nnmely: Merulius lachrymans Fr., 

 PaJj/porns hybridus Fi-., Folyjjorus destruclor, Thelepliora do- 



