MINUTES OF THE INSTITUTE. 



August 5, 1909. — Regular monthly meeting, President 

 T. Chalkley Palmer in the chair. Reports of committees, 

 Curators, etc. The committee on naming and labeling the 

 trees in the Court House Square, Media, a work which is 

 being done under the direction of the Institute, reported pro- 

 gress. The following additions to the library were announced : 

 Report of the Commissioner of Education for 1908 ; Desert 

 Watering Places in Colorado and Nevada ; Water Supply 

 Investigations in Yukon ; Disinfection of Sewage and Sewage 

 Filter Effluents ; Surface Water Supply of Nebraska ; Geol- 

 ogy and Water Resources of Oregon ; Mineral Resources of 

 Alaska ; Briquetting Tests at the United States Fuel Testing 

 Plant, Norfolk ; Forty Mile Quadrangle, Yukon ; The Fire 

 Resistive Qualities of Building Materials ; Contributions to 

 Economic Geology. Two specimens of drinking water, one 

 from the Media reservoir and the other from the stand pipe, 

 both containing a greenish sediment, the nature of which was 

 undetermined, were placed on exhibition. This greenish sed- 

 iment had developed after the samples had remained corked 

 up several weeks. The matter was submitted to T. Chalkley 

 Palmer for further examination. On behalf of Peter Ober, of 

 Media, an Indian battle axe with two grooves around it, 

 found near Spring City, Chester County, in 1908, was pre- 

 sented to the museum. Alfred S. Barker made some interest- 

 ing remarks concerning the fresh water Hydra and snail eggs. 

 In one instance mentioned the Hydra had placed its pad 

 against an ^%% and the pad was then observed to flatten and 

 cover a considerable portion of the surface. The fact that 

 after a short time the Hydra suddenly let go, combined with 

 the fact that the ^^^ retained its shape, seemed to indicate 

 that the creature had sucked the ^g-g. President Palmer 

 reported having observed a rotifer extracting the contents of a 

 Closteriiun in a manner comparable to a man drinking from a 

 bottle, but failed to find any aperture through which the pro- 



