August 16, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



185 



ley, B. Sc, District Inspector of Schools, 

 Brisbane, Queensland, President; Francis 

 Anderson, M. A., Professor of Logic and 

 Mental Philosophy, Sydney University, 

 Secretary. 



Communications and fiapers for the meet- 

 ing, or inquiries, may be addressed to the 

 Permanent Hon. Secretary, The Chemical 

 Laboratory, The University, Sydney, N". 

 S. W. 



THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA. 



The seventh summer meeting of this So- 

 ciety will be held Tuesday and Wednesday, 

 August 27th and 2Sth, in the Art Museum, 

 Springfield, Mass. The Council will meet 

 Monday evening, August 26th, and the So- 

 ciety will be called to order on Tuesday 

 morning at 10 o'clock. The preliminary 

 list issued on July 30th includes papers hy 

 George M. Dawson and E. G. McConnell, 

 C. H. Hitchcock, Warren Upham, H. L. 

 Fairchild, B. K. Emerson, N. H. Darton, 

 Arthur HoUick, George P. Merrill, Wm. 

 H. Hobbs, A. Capen Gill, C. H. Gordon, J. 

 F. Kemp, J. C. Branner, W. M. Davis, 

 C. E. Van Hise. The excursions arranged 

 include one of a week, beginning Tuesday, 

 August 20th, through the crystalline area 

 of western Massachusetts conducted by 

 Professors B. K. Emerson and Wm. H. 

 Hobbs, and three shorter excursions during 

 the week of the meeting : (1 ) To the crys- 

 talline rocks west of the Connecticut Eiver, 

 under the direction of Prof. W. O. Crosbj'. 

 (2) To the Triassic sandstones, including 

 a visit to Mount Tom and Mount Holyoke, 

 under the direction of Professor B. K. Em- 

 erson. (3) To Meriden and Southington, 

 Conn., under the direction of Professors W. 

 M. Davis and William ISTorth Eice. 



THE WOEK OF YALE OBSEEVATOEY. 



In the report for the year 1894-5 pre- 

 sented by the board of managers of Yale 

 University to the President and Fellows, 



Dr. Elkin states that he has continued and 

 brought to what he hopes is a final close 

 the series on the parallaxes of the first mag- 

 nitude stars, and hopes to present the defi- 

 nitive results in the near future. The 

 series on the parallaxes of the large proper 

 motion stars, on which Dr. Chase has been 

 mainly engaged, now comprises 99 stars, all 

 but two of which have been observed at 

 two parallax maximum epochs, in general 

 on three nights. Measures of the Moon's 

 diameter at the total eclipse of March 25th, 

 last, and measures of Mercury referred to 

 the Sun's limb at the transit on ISTovember 

 10th, last, were attempted, but in both cases 

 the state of the sky permitted our obtain- 

 ing only a small amount of results. The 

 reductions of the Coma Berenices triangula- 

 tion have been practically completed, and 

 the work will shortly be ready for the press. 

 The new equatorial mounting constructed 

 by Warner & Swasey for carrying a num- 

 ber of cameras was used on three nights of 

 the August meteor period, but only two 

 meteor trails were found on the plates. 

 The observatory has, however, twelve im- 

 pressions of Perseid trails, and plates show- 

 ing meteor trails have been sent by Pro- 

 fessor Barnard and Professor Pickering, a 

 discussion of which Dr. Elkin will shortly 

 have ready for publication. 



It is hoped that Professor W. M. Davis 

 will give one of the lectures on the 

 part of the American Association com- 

 plimentary to the citizens of Springfield. 

 In this case his lecture would be upon the 

 geographical development of the Connecti- 

 cut Valley and would be illustrated by lan- 

 tern pictures. The other lecture will prob-' 

 ably be by Mr. Cornelius Van Brunt, on 

 the Wild Flowers of the Connecticut Val- 

 ley, illustrated by colored lantern pictures 

 of the flowers and plants. The local com- 

 mittee contemplate offering a room free of 



