46 SCIENCE ASSOCIATIONS. 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA. 



and vice-presidents are given below, held meet- 

 ings simultaneously in the different buildings 

 of McGill University and in Synod Hall : 



Sir William Thomson presided over the Section de- 

 voted to Mathematical and Physical Science, with 

 Vice-Presidents Prof. J. B. Cherritnan and J. W. L. 

 Glaisher, the aeronautic celebrity ; Prof. Sir H. E. 

 Eoscoe over the Section of Chemical Science, assisted 

 by Prof. Dewar and B. J. Harrington ; Geological 

 Section.W. T. Blanford, and Prof. T. Kupert Jones 

 and A. R. C. Sehvyn assisting: in Biology, Prof. H. 

 N. Moseley, with 'Surgeon-Major G. E. JDobson and 

 Prof. R. G. Lawson assisting ; Geographical Section, 

 Gen. Sir J. II. Lefroy, assisted by Col. Rhodes and 

 P. L. Slater ; Sir Richard Temple presided over the 

 Section devoted to Economic Science and Statistics, 

 assisted by J. B. Martin and Prof. J. Clark Murray ; 

 Mechanical-Science Section, Sir F. J. Bramwell, as- 

 8i>tcd by Prof. II. T. Boveyand W. II. Preece ; the 

 Section of Anthropology, Prof. E. B. Tylor, aided 

 by Profs. W. Boy a Dawkins and Daniel Wilson. 



In addition to the section papers, evening 

 lectures were delivered by different mem- 

 bers. The general order included the read- 

 ing of an address by the president of each sec- 

 tion, followed by papers by other members. It 

 would be useless to attempt to summarize any 

 of the papers. Among the more notable ones 

 maybe mentioned the following: u The Eco- 

 nomic Resources of England," by Sir Richard 

 Temple ; " Complex Inorganic Acids," by Prof. 

 Wolcott Gibbs, of Harvard University ; " Vor- 

 tex and Ring Constitution of Matter," by Sir 

 William Thomson ; " The Geological Work of 

 the Surveys of India, Australia, and South Af- 

 rica," by Prof. W. T. Blanford ; " On the Seat 

 of Electro-motive Force in the Voltaic Cell," 

 by Prof. J. O. Lodge ; " On the Evolution of 

 the North American Continent," by Dr. J. 

 S. Newberry, of Columbia College ; " On the 

 Customs and Language of the Iroquois," by 

 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith. This is the lady 

 who was elected Secretary of Section H of the 

 American Association. Her paper dealt with 

 the superstitions, customs, and languages of 

 the tribe in question. She was received into 

 the tribe of the Tuscaroras some years ago, 

 and adopted as sister by one of the chiefs. 

 She paid a high tribute to the work of the 

 Roman Catholic missionaries. She gave illus- 

 trations of the etymology of the language, and 

 exhibited several curiosities. Her paper, which 

 attracted much attention, was honored by a 

 discussion in which Prof. Dawkins, Mr. Cush- 

 ing, Dr. Wilson, and Prof. Tylor, president of 

 the section, were partakers. The unusual 

 circumstances of her position among the In- 

 dians gave her statements the highest value 

 and interest. Besides these, Prof. Thurston, 

 of the Stevens Institute, Hoboken, N. J., gave 

 a paper on the steam-engine, which was ex- 

 ceedingly well received ; while Prof. Asa Gray, 

 of Harvard College, received an ovation on 

 the production of his paper on " North Ameri- 

 can Vegetation.'] Referring to the reception 

 of American scientists, it may now be said 

 that both Prof. Thurston's and Prof. Gray's 

 papers were among the five lectures recom- 



mended by the Association for printing at 

 full length ; while McGill University conferred 

 upon Prof. Gray and Dr. James Hall, State 

 Geologist of New York, the degree of LL. D. 

 Of the whole number of papers read, about 

 forty, or one eighth, were by Americans. 

 During the progress of the meeting, Lieut. 

 Greely, the Arctic explorer, was present, and 

 took such part as his feeble health allowed. 

 He was accompanied by Lieut. Ray, who spoke 

 upon the result of the recent Arctic expedition. 



At the meeting of the General Committee, a 

 total membership of 1,773 was reported. The 

 committee then adjourned, to meet in Lon- 

 don, Nov. 11. The closing meeting was held 

 in Queen's Hall, Sept. 3, with Lord Rayleigh in 

 the chair, when Sir William Daw son, Princi- 

 pal of McGill University, conferred the degree 

 of LL. D. on nineteen of the members. The 

 Association adjourned, to meet again in Aber- 

 deen, Scotland, in 1885. Three hundred of 

 the members then went to Philadelphia, to at- 

 tend the meeting of the American Association, 

 where they were formally received Sept. 7. 



One of the features of the British Society is 

 its committee-work. Many reports were re- 

 ceived from committees on different subjects, 

 and the sum of 1,525, or $7,500 nearly, was 

 allowed for this class of work, divided among 

 30 committees, while 11 received no allow- 

 ance. Reports of the various papers will be 

 found in the journals, " Nature," published in 

 London, and " Science," published in Boston. 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA AND PROGRESS. 

 Observatories and Instruments. The most im- 

 portant event in the history of observatories in 

 this country during 1884 has been the com- 

 pletion of the Lick Observatory in California. 

 Its meridian circle has been completed by the 

 Repsolds, of Hamburg, and was mounted dur- 

 ing the month of September, 1884, under the 

 direction of Prof. E. S. Holden. This com- 

 pletes the main instrumental outfit, with the 

 exception of the great telescope, which is to be 

 larger and more powerful than any ever before 

 made. A difficulty has been met with in the 

 construction of this instrument which prevents 

 us from fixing a definite time for its completion. 

 The optician, Feil, of Paris, who contracted to 

 supply the rough glass disk, has not yet pro- 

 duced a crown glass of the necessary size, al- 

 though the contract was made with him in 

 1880. The result is, that the instrument can 

 hardly be said to have advanced beyond its 

 first stage, because, until the glass is in the 

 hands of the optician, the exact size and length 

 of the telescope must be a matter of some un- 

 certainty. This delay is the more to be re- 

 gretted from the fact that the fine collection of 

 instruments which the observatory now pos- 

 sesses can not be made fully available for as- 

 tronomical uses until the great telescope is 

 completed. By the terms of Mr. Lick's dona- 

 tion the trustees have no power to employ an 

 astronomer. Their duties are confined to com- 

 pleting the observatory and telescope, and, 



