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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXX. No. 760 



aging, warmly appreciative of merit or good in- 

 tent, but he was, nevertheless, quick to detect and 

 to comment upon faults in logic or on errors of 

 any sort. Such criticisms were always without 

 rancor and were delivered with a touch of humor 

 and with so delicate a tact, that, while they en- 

 livened debate, they rarely or never gave offense. 

 As a councillor, his advice was highly valued, 

 because he looked to the end, being not easily 

 diverted from the main objective nor disposed to 

 waste time over side-issues or trifles, and because 

 he neither underestimated the adverse view nor 

 overstated his own. 



In his various capacities, as adjunct professor 

 at Washington University, as a resourceful and 

 able technologist, and as a close student of certain 

 strictly scientific applications of the theory of 

 thermodynamics. Dr. Hunicke enjoyed in full 

 measure the respect of those who were in a posi- 

 tion to judge his work, and so achieved his repu- 

 tation; but in the minds of his colleagues of the 

 university and of the academy, his truest claim 

 to distinction lies in the exceptional qualities of 

 heart and character, which endeared him to his 

 friends, which were a constant inspiration to all 

 who came within the sphere of his influence and 

 of which the memory constitutes a living monu- 

 ment in his honor. 



The Academy of Science of St. Louis places this 

 record in its archives as a brief token of respect 

 and as an expression of its sense of the severe 

 loss which the academy and the world have sus- 

 tained in his death. 



Launcelot W. Andrews, 

 Chas. D. Stevens, 

 H. A. Wheeler 



The academy met at the academy building, 

 3817 Olive St., Monday, June 7, 1909. 



Professor W. E. McCourt, of Washington Uni- 

 versity, exhibited a number of photographs taken 

 in Onondago Cave, near Leesburg, Mo., and de- 

 scribed the formations found there. 



Professor F. E. Nipher, of Washington Univer- 

 sity, gave a verbal account of some of his recent 

 work on electric discharge, stating that his paper 

 on the subject has not yet been completed. 



He has recently obtained what have the appear- 

 ance of shadow images of glass fibers laid across 

 the film of a photographic plate enclosed in a 

 hard-rubber holder, although the fibers were not 

 present. They had been laid across the film of 

 another plate previously exposed in the same 

 holder. When the fibers were present they gave 



black focal lines on the negative. The after 

 images formed on the next plate were white 

 shadow images. The electrons which came from 

 a highly charged line wire from the negative ter- 

 minal of a plate glass machine were on the second 

 plate deflected away from the lines upon which 

 they had been converged in the first plate. This 

 indicates that the effect is due to electrons and 

 not to ether waves or ultra-violet light. 



Experiments of the same kind with X-rays have 

 given negative results. Previous exposures of 

 plate holders to electrical radiations do not ap- 

 pear to affect X-ray images, although this matter 

 is still under examination. 



Later experiments to determine momentum ef- 

 fects around an angle in a wire have been made 

 by placing the angle flat upon a sheet of glass. 

 It is held in place by means of a fine silk thread 

 doubled around the wire at the angle and attached 

 to a helical spring. A photographic plate may be 

 slipped under the wire at the angle. A sheet of 

 black paper is inserted between the film and the 

 wire, and a larger sheet is laid down upon the 

 glass plate. These sheets of paper cut off lumin- 

 ous effects due to the discharge. If these sheets 

 of paper are used a second time during the day, 

 images of the wire due to previous exposures are 

 formed on the plate. The momentum effects pre- 

 viously observed and reported are less marked by 

 this method, and can only be obtained by placing 

 a grounded and laminated condenser plate below 

 the sheet of glass upon which the plate is sup- 

 ported. This defiects the negative particles down- 

 ward upon the film. 



It has also been found that the smooth alu- 

 minum wire lying flat upon the sheet of black 

 paper in contact with the film, produces under 

 some conditions an image which shows a sharp 

 system of wave forms. The breadth of the image 

 is about 3 or 4 mm. at the widest part and inap- 

 preciably small at the nodal points. The wave- 

 length and position seem to be affected by the 

 angle in the wire and the local geometry of the 

 circuit around the angle. The wave-length is 

 about 2 X 3.75 cm. The wave forms reverse their 

 positions in a symmetrical way when the direction 

 of the discharge is reversed. It is suspected that 

 the tension on the wire has something to do with 

 tnese wave forms. When the tension is small they 

 are not observed. There is, however, much re- 

 maining to be done in the study of these phe- 

 nomena. 



W. E. McCouBT, 

 Recording Secretary 



