546 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



ment of that wheel subsequently, and the danger thereof, the 

 weight of the train being brought violently on tlie defective 

 place, so that in a recent case, such a wheel burst in pieces, and 

 passing upwards tore a young lady passenger all to pieces. The 

 irregular motion caused by the rests of ends of long rails (18 feet). 

 These things were spoken of by Messrs. Elihu Smith, who also 

 mentioned the necessary rejection of some two hundred wheels by 

 the railroad company on account of their hazardous character. 



Mr. Thomas Godwin — The committee on questions say that 

 they are not ready to report. 



On motion. Resolved, That when they have selected questions 

 they hand them to the Secretary for the second Wednesday of 

 February next. 



Mr. Edwin Smith — The meetings of this club will be held on 

 the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month. 



The Club then adjourned. 



H. MEIGS, Secretary. 



February 13, 1856. 



A meeting of the Mechanics' Club was held this Wednesday, 

 the 13th of Feb., at 7i o'clock. 



Present — Messrs. President Pell, Ayling, Walker, Croft, Hedg- 

 cock. Prentice, Fisher, Disturnell, Mountfort, Barney, Chambers, 

 Creamer, A. D. Frye, E. Smith, Turner, Godwin — 50 members 

 in all. 



Mr. Backus, the chairman, being absent on account of the 

 death of his sister, 



Mr. Pell, tlie President of the Institute, was called to the 

 chair. 



Capt. Hedgcock desires Geo. C. Ayling, Esq., to explain his 

 quadrant. 



Mr. Ayling proceeds to demonstrate by diagrams of globes and 

 the two suns, as they appear in this quadrant. 



Capt. Hedgcock takes his quadrants and explains their actual 

 uses. At our request he determines the latitude and longitude 

 of the repository by one of our gas-lights, 40^ 30", longitude, 74°, 

 Capt. Turner assisting in the observation. 



Extracts by H. Meigs. 



From the Journal of the Society of Arts, London, Sept. 21, 1855. 



The distinguished iron-master, Mushet, says, of great inventors: 

 " It is a truly painful case; we read over and over again, in every 

 kind of publication, for youth or for age, the names of our public 



