970 
ture room of the State University at Lincoln. 
At this meeting the following programme was 
carried out : 
FRIDAY, DECEMBER IST, 2 P. M. 
Address by the President—The Present Status of 
Meteoric Astronomy, by G. D. Swezey. 
Report on the Initial Work of the State Geological 
Survey, by E. H. Barbour. 
Some Phases of the Dakota Cretaceous in Nebraska, 
by Chas. N. Gould. 
Geology of Saunders, Laneaster and Gage Counties, 
by Cassius A. Fisher. 
On the Origin of Gneiss, by C. H. Gordon. 
Preliminary Survey of the Mammals of Nebraska, 
by R. H. Wolcott. 
Notes on a Bibliography of the Zoology of Nebraska, 
by H. B. Ward. 
A Genus of European Flies hitherto not Reported 
in North America, by W. D. Hunter. 
The Tiger Beetles of Nebraska, by L. Bruner. 
Dayenport’s Statistical Methods, by Ellery W. 
Davis. 
A Rearrangement of the Phycomycetous Fungi, by 
Chas. E. Bessey. 6 
Some Movements of Plants, by Wm. Cleburne. 
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2D, 9 A. M. 
New Fossils from Nebraska and Wyoming, by E. H. 
Barbour. 
Method of Collecting Fossils for the Nebraska State 
Survey, by Carrie A. Barbour. 
A Simple Substitute for the Birge Net, by Charles 
Fordyce. 
Methods of Plankton Measurement and their Com- 
parative Value, by H. B. Ward. 
A Plan for the Codperative Study of the Fresh Water 
Fauna of Nebraska, by H. B. Ward. 
A Few Suggestions concerning Collecting Nets, by 
R. H. Wolcott. 
Pressure and Freezing Tests of the Building Stone 
of Southeastern Nebraska, by W. H. H. Moore. 
A Brief Report on the Growth of Children in Omaha, 
by Wm. W. Hastings. 
A New. Nematode Disease of Strawberries in 
America, by Ernst A. Bessey. 
Cold Waves, by G. A, Loveland. 
Scarcity of Aquatic Life in Nebraska the Past 
Summer, by R. H. Wolcott. 
Glacial Grooves in Cass County, Nebraska, by E. 
H. Barbour. 
The officers elected for the ensuing year 
were: 
President, Dr. H. Gifford, Omaha, Nebr. 
SCIENCE. 
[N.S. Von. X. No. 261. 
Vice-President, Ellery W. Davis, Lincoln, 
Nebr. : 
Secretary and Custodian, Professor L. Bruner, 
Lincoln, Nebr. 
Treasurer, G. A. Loveland, U. S. Weather 
Dept., Lincoln, Nebr. 
Board of Directors: Professor J. H. Powers, of 
Doane College, Crete, Nebr.; Professor Charles 
Fordyce, University Place, Nebr.; Acting Chan- 
cellor C. E. Bessey, Lincoln, Nebr., and Dr. A. 
S. von Mansfelde, Ashland, Nebr. 
On the evening of December Ist the mem- 
bers of the Academy and the public in general 
had the privilege of listening to a very inter- 
esting lecture entitled ‘Observations of a Natur- 
alist in Ecuador,’ by August Rimbach, of the 
Department of Botany, University of Nebraska, 
at the close of which the members of the Acad- 
emy sat down toa banquet, at which a pleasant 
social time was had. 
LAWRENCE BRUNER, 
Secretary. 
WASHINGTON CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 
THE regular meeting was held November 9, 
1899. 
The first paper of the evening was read by Dr. 
H. C. Bolton and was entitled, ‘ Reminiscences 
of Bunsen and the Heidelberg Laboratory, 1863— 
65,’ and was printed in ScIENCE of December 
15th. 
The second paper of the evening was read by 
Dr. H. C. Bolton and was entitled, ‘Chapters 
on the History of the Thermometer, I., The 
Open Air-Thermoscope of Galileo.’ 
The primitive form of the thermometer was 
invented about the year 1595 by Galileo; this 
is proved by extant letters addressed to him by 
his pupil and friend Sagredo. The instrument 
was an open air-thermoscope of the inverted 
type and was early applied to meteorological 
observations, to testing the temperature of fever 
patients and to noting temperatures of freezing 
mixtures. 
The very common statement that the ther- 
mometer was the invention of C. Drebbel, of 
Holland, has no basis of fact, as shown by his 
own publications, copies of which were exhibited 
by the speaker. 
The third paper of the evening was read by 
