SCIENCE. 



FRIDAY, XOVEMBER 



THE NOVEMBER MEET TNG OF THE NA- 

 TIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



Fou the first time in nineteen years, and the 

 second time in its history, the National acad- 

 emy held its mid-j'ear meeting in New Haven, 

 Nov. 13-16. Thirty-three of the ninety-three 

 members were in attendance, and dnring its 

 four daj's' session twenty papers were pre- 

 sented. 



The meeting was conspicuous for the discus- 

 sion which most of the papers called forth, and 

 for the general participation of the members 

 in these discussions. It was interesting, also, 

 for the report of the committee on the solar 

 eclipse of last May, which included the de- 

 tailed reports of the expedition to Caroline 

 Island by the principal participants, Profes- 

 sors Ilolden and Hastings. It will further be 

 remembered by the members from other cities 

 for tlie marked hospitalities thev received at 

 the hands of their confreres of New Haven, 

 and for its many social pleasures, culminating 

 in tlie brilliant public reception given them by 

 the president. Professor Marsh, at his residence. 

 The new buildings reccntlj' finished, or in pro- 

 cess of erection, for the furtherance of scientific 

 researcii and instruction in Yale college, were 

 also examined with interest, together with the 

 treasures of the Peabody museum, where the 

 finely mounted collections of Professors Verrill 

 and E. S. Dana, and the fossil vertebrates of 

 Professor Marsh, called forth much admira- 

 tion. 



The generous discussion to which the papers 

 gave rise was provoked at the very start bj- the 

 paper of Dr. Graham Bell upon the formation 

 of a deaf variety of the human race, wliich had 

 a broad, practical interest, and which consumed 

 the entire morning session of the first da^-. 

 Mr. Bell claimed, that, from purclj- pliilan- 

 thropic motives, we were pursuing a method in 

 the education of ' deaf-mutes ' distinctly tend- 



ing to such a result, supporting his assertions 



by statistics drawn ft'om the published reports 

 of the different institutions in this country de 

 voted to the care of these unfortunates. They 

 arc separated in childhood from association 

 with hearing-children, and taught wliat is prac- 

 tically a foreign language, — a practice which 

 isolates them from the rest of the communitj^ 

 throughout their lives, and encom-ages their 

 intermarriage. Such marriages were increas- 

 ing at an alarming ratio, and with calamitous 

 results. As a remedy for this danger. Dr. 

 Bell would have the children educated in the 

 public schools, thus bringing them into contact 

 with hearing-children in their play, and in in- 

 struction wherever they would not be plai-ed at 

 a ilisadvantage, as in drawing and blackboard 

 exercises. He would also entirely discard 

 the sign-language, and cultivate the use of the 

 vocal organs, and the reading of the lips. 



The report on the solar eclipse covered a 

 variety of topics, and will fill some hundred 

 and fifty printed pages. In presenting it, Prof. 

 E. S. Ilolden merely touched upon the princi- 

 pal points, and gave the leading results, in 

 much the same form as the}' have already been 

 given in this journal. The objects of the expe- 

 dition were successfully carried out ; and Pro- 

 fessor Holden regarded his special work — the 

 search for a possible planet interior to Mercury 

 — as proving the non-existence of the small 

 planets reported by Professors Watson and 

 Swift. 



Dr. C. S. Hastings read in full tlie greater 

 portion of his report upon the spectroscopic 

 work, which concluded with a critical review 

 of the generally received theories of the solar 

 atmosphere, and suggested, instead, that the 

 corona was a subjective phenomenon, largely 

 due to the diffraction of light. 



The presentation of these rei)orts occupied 

 the entire morning session of Wednesday, and 

 their discussion the greater part of the after 

 noon session. 



