158 QUARTERLY JOURNAL. 



have a less decided law in regard to wind than nearer the equator 

 and get out of the influence of the trade winds. Whenever the 

 winds are registered, the change in the barometers must also be 

 noted. The observations at the surface of the earth are very im- 

 perfect. 



Mr. Redfield said that the War Department ordered, erroneous- 

 ly, that in all observations on clouds, the course of the lower stra- 

 ta of cloud should be noticed. This? was all wrong. 



Prof. Rogers trusted that Messrs. Coffin and Redfield would pre- 

 pare a digested report of the prevalent course of the winds, an( 

 the systematic currents of the earth's atmosphere, on this Conti 

 nent. 



Prof. Olmstead hoped this would be done ; and then the tern 

 " inconstant as the winds" would become obsolete ; and it wouli 

 be seen that the winds obey laws as well as other bodies in natun 



Mr. Redfield hoped the inquiries and reports would be indepen 

 dent of each other. 



Prof. Rogers said that it was well known that committees c 

 one always worked much better than any others : but there was 

 way to make committees of two work twice as well as committee 

 of one — by each making an independent report. 



Mr. Redfield declined, because of other business. 



Finally, Prof. Coffin was appointed to post up all the vagari 

 of the winds on this continent. 



Prof. Bailey made some very interesting reuiarks on that singi 

 lar plant found in mines, which glowed with a phosphoresce] 

 . light, making the mines look like enchanted palaces. It is call 

 Rhizomorpha ; he exhibited some specimens of it, which he hi 

 found in this country, not in mines, but in between the bark k 

 the decayed stumps of old chesnut trees. He said it would 1 

 found by search, in the stumps of any decayed trees. It look< 

 like a lot of small dark brown strings, fibres, or tendrils of decai 

 ed plants, but when taken into a dark room, it exhibited a beaut 

 ful phosphorescent light. It appeared to do this by the absorptit 

 of oxygen and the exhalation of carbonic acid ; a reverse proce 

 from the ordinary combustion of vegetables. Any person cou ^f 

 get this plant out of the fields, and exhibit the phenomenon in 1 

 own parlor. It appeared to be phosphorescent, however, OD 

 whilst growing. 



Prof. FCogers said that the phosphorescence of the glow wo> 

 was also supposed to be owing to the absorption of oxygen, ai j('^ 

 the exhalation of carbonic acid gas, a similar process to the resj 

 ration of animals. 



Dr. Jackson said that common calcareous spar, when placed 

 a hot shovel, becomes one of the most beautifully phosphoresce 

 substances we know of. It glowed fiercely with a golden yellc 

 light. 



fa 



