NATIONAL ACADEMY OP SCIENCES. NAVY OP THE UNITED STATES. 543 



N 





NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIIINCKS. 



Oflicers : 1'ivMilriit, ( Mli ii id ( '. Marsh ; Vice- 1 'res- 

 ident, Francis A. Walker; Foreign Secretary, 



Woleott (Jibbs; Home Srclv I ;| rv. Asilflh IIllll; 



irer. John S. Hillings. During IN'.M two 

 sessions of the Academy were held, the first the 

 I session in Washington on April 21-24. 

 On that occasion the following papers were read 

 by members: " Report on the Human I tones of 

 the ilemei.way Collection in the United States 

 Army Museum, prepared by Dr. Washington 

 Matthews, r. S. A.," by John S. Hillings; "Stel- 

 lar Motion Problems," by Lewis Boss; "Re- 

 searches on the Embryology of Molhisks," by 

 William K. Brooks and' E. G'. Conklin ; " On the 

 Distribution of Colors in Certain North Ameri- 

 can Reptiles," by Edward D. Cope; "On the 

 Taxonomy of the Apodal Pishes," by Theodore 

 Gill; "On Aerodromics,"by Samuel P. Langley ; 

 " Application of Interference Methods toSpectro- 

 scopic Measurements," by Albert A. Michelson ; 

 "Further Studies on the Brain of Limulus Po- 

 lyphemus," bv Alpheus S. Packard ; " Effect of 

 Pressure and Temperature on the Decomposition 

 of Dia/o-Compounds," by Ira Remsen; "On the 

 Yttrium Earths, and a Method of making Pure 

 Yttrium," by Henry A. Rowland; also the fol- 

 lowing papers contributed by scientists not mem- 

 bers of the Academy, but presented by members : 

 ' The Solar Corona, an Instance of the Newto- 

 nian Potential in the Case of Repulsion," by 

 Frank II. Bigelow: " Allotropic Silver; Note on 

 a Paper by M. G. Lippjnan." by M. Carey Lea ; 

 and "The Corona, from Photographs of the 

 Eclipse of Jan. 1, 1889," by II. S. Pritchett. Other 

 business consisted of a report of the Watson trus- 

 tees, who have in charge the consideration of 

 the award of a medal to the person in any coun- 

 t ry who shall make anv astronomical work worthy 

 of special reward and contributing to the prog- 

 ress of astronomy. The Watson medal for 

 1890 was awarded to Prof. Arthur Auwers, of 

 Berlin. There were two vacancies in the Acad- 

 emy, but owing to the large number of names 

 presented for election a choice was impossible 

 and action was deferred for a year. The "Scien- 

 tific Session " was held in New York on Nov. 

 10-13, when the following papers ^ere read : 

 " On Geographical Variation among North Amer- 

 ican Birds, considered in Relation to the Peculiar 

 Intcrgradation of Coloptea Auratus and G'. Ca- 

 /er," by Joel A. Allen ; " The Follicle Cells of 

 Salpa," by William K. Brooks; "On the Varia- 

 tion of Latitude," by Seth C. Chandler; "On 

 Degenerate Types of Scapula and Pelvic Arches 

 in the Laccrtilia," by Edward D. Cope; "A 

 Nomenolator of the Families of Fishes," by 

 Theodore Gill; "Some Aspects of Australian 

 Vegetation " and "The Nomenclature of Vege- 

 table Histology." by George L. Goodale; "On 

 Certain New Methods and Results in Optics." by 

 Charles S. Hastings; "An Exhibition of the 

 New Pendulum Apparatus of the United Slates 

 Coast and Geodetic Survey, with Some Results of 

 its Use" and "On the Use of a Free Pendulum 



as a Timo Standard," by Thomas C. Mc-ndcn- 



hall ; "Measurement of Jupiter's Satellites by 

 Interference,'' by Albert. A. Michel.-on ; " 

 nomical Methods of determining the Curvature 

 of Space." by Charles S. Pciree: "On a Color 

 System," bjrOgden X. Hood; "On the Applica- 

 tion of Spectrum Analysis to the Analvsi.- of the 

 Hare Karths. and a New Method for the. Prepa- 

 ration of Pure Yttrium," by Henry A. Howland; 

 " The Tertiary Rhynehitida ; of I he United S: 

 by Samuel H. Scudder; also the following papers 

 by non-members: "Preliminary Notice of the 

 Reduction of Rutherfurd's I'hotc graphs," by 

 John K. Rees, introduced by Edward C. Picker- 

 ing, and "The Proteids of Albuminoids of the 

 Oat Kernel," by Thomas B. Osborne. introduced 

 by Samuel W. Johnson. Subsequent to the meet- 

 ing held in April, William terrel, Julius E. 

 Hilgard, John Le Conte, and Joseph Leidy died, 

 and, in accordance with the custom of the Acad- 

 emy, Cleveland Abbe, Eugene W. Hilgard, Jo- 

 seph Le Conte, and S. Weir Mitchell were ap- 

 pointed to prepare memorial sketches of the 

 deceased scientists. (Brief notices of their 

 careers also appear, among the OBITUARIES, 

 AMERICAN, in the present volume.) At a busi- 

 ness meeting of the Academy its members 

 accepted in trust the money left to them by 

 their fellow-member Frederick A. P. Barnard, 

 late President of Columbia College, the inter- 

 est of which is to be expended in the procur- 

 ing of a Barnard medal, which will be given 

 once in five years for the best services in physics 

 or astronomical science. The nominations are 

 to be made by the Academy, and it is open to for- 

 eigners. The president's annual report to Con- 

 gress was also submitted to the members at a 

 private business meeting. Receptions to the 

 Academy were given by President Seth Low, of 

 Columbia College, and by Mrs. Henry Draper, 

 where an account of the astronomical and pho- 

 tographic work of the " Henry Draper Memorial 

 fund as conducted at Harvard University was 

 presented by Prof. Edward C. Pickering, director 

 of the observatory there. 



NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. A 

 careful estimate of the armored navies of the 

 world, made one year ago, in which the fighting 

 efficiency of each armor-clad then built or build- 

 ing was considered, established the fact that in 

 1894, so far as armored construction is con- 

 cerned, the United States will rank sixth in na- 

 val power. By that time nearly all the vessels 

 under construction in January, 1891, in our own 

 and other navies will be completed. Unarmored 

 cruisers and thinly plated armor-clads (with less 

 than (i inches of wrought iron or its equivalent 

 in compound or steel) were not considered. But 

 unarmored vessels are possessed by the different 

 powers in nearly the same proportion as armor- 

 clads, and whatever value be assigned them, tho 

 result would not be materially altered. Making 

 some slight corrections for changes in the de- 

 sign of certain ships since the table was prepared, 

 and expressing their strengths in [wrconiages of 



