FF.BRUARy 16, 1SS3.] 



SCIENCE. 



57 



rian, Daniel J. Pratt, Ph.D. ; Correspoudiug secretary, 

 Leonard Kip ; President of first department and one 

 of the vice-presidents of the institute, David Murray, 

 LL.D. ; President of second department and one of 

 the vice-presidents, J. A. Lintner; President of third 

 department and one of the vice-presidents, Henry A. 

 Homes, LL.D. 



— Some oysters have recently been received by 

 Lieut. Winslow of Washington, from Barnegat, N. J., 

 which seem ready to spawn, — an unusual condition 

 of matters, since the spawning season at that latitude 

 is supposed to be at an end in August. 



— The bronze statue of Professor Joseph Henry, 

 by W. W. Story, has arrived in America. The cere- 

 mony of unveiling will take place upon the grounds 

 of the Smithsonian institution in April, during the 

 session of the National academy of sciences. 



— The annual meeting of the regents of the Smith- 

 sonian institution was held in Washington on Jan. 

 17. All the regents were in attendance except Dr. 

 Noah Porter and Mr. Peter Parker. Professor Baird 

 reported upon the state of the finances as follows : 

 receipts for 1882, .$07,435.52; expenditures, $37,798.- 

 07; balance available to July 1, 1882, $29,637.45. At 

 the suggestion of Dr. Maclean, Professor Baird was 

 appointed to collect and publish the scientific writ- 

 ings of Dr. Henry. 



— Dr. Orville Derby, curator of geology in the 

 national museum of Brazil, has recently arrived in 

 Washington. He will complete the arrangements for 

 the publication of the results of the geological survey 

 of Brazil, organized under the late Prof. C. Fred. 

 Hartt. Dr. C. A. White is preparing the report on 

 the cretaceous moUusks and echinoderms. He has al- 

 ready completed the sections of conchifers, gastero- 

 pods, and cephalopods. Twenty-four quarto plates are 

 drawn and finished. Ninety per cent of the species 

 are new. Three new genera of gasteropods have 

 been described. The whole work upon invertebrates 

 will comprise as much matter as has been hitherto 

 published on the same subject for all South America, 

 and will undoubtedly form an epoch in the develop- 

 ment of the invertebrate paleontology of that conti- 

 nent. 



— At the meeting of the Boston society of natural 

 history on Feb. 7, Dr. M. E. Wadsworth gave some 

 instances of atmospheric action on sandstone. Mr. 

 tucien Carr discussed the social and political posi- 

 tion of woman among the Huron-Iroquois tribes, and 

 Mr. John A. Jefiries spoke of the dermal appendages 

 of birds. 



— At the meeting of the Appalachian mountain 

 club Feb. 14, Mr. W. H. Pickering exhibited, with the 

 lantern, photographic views taken during the club's 

 recent excursion to the White Mountains ; and Mr. 

 J. Tatlock, jun., read a paper on the principal co- 

 efficients in the barometric formula of Laplace, as 

 applied to the White-Mountain region. 



— At the thirty-second annual meeting of the 

 Michigan state teachers' association, held at Lansing, 

 Dec. 27-29, papers were read by J. S. Crombie on The 

 need of visible illustration, and the proper use of 

 apparatus; by H. K. Pattengill, on Science in primary 

 schools; and by Prof. V. M. Spalding, on The micro- 

 scope in our public schools. An exhibition of micro- 

 scopic objects and apparatus took place at the evening 

 session the first day. 



— At a meeting of the American philosophical so- 

 ciety, held at Philadelphia on Feb. 1, Prof. J. T. 

 Eothrock read a paper on Some microscopic distinc- 

 tions between good and bad timber of the same species. 



— The American institute of mining engineers will 

 hold its annual meeting in Boston next week. The 

 opening session will be at the Brunswick hotel on 

 Tuesday evening, when addresses of welcome will be 

 given by Mr. Edward Atkinson, and, on behalf of the 

 Boston society of civil engineers, by Mr. Thomas 

 Doane. Papers will be read at this session as well as 

 at the sessions held on Wednesday and Friday at the 

 Massachusetts institute of technology, and on Thurs- 

 day afternoon at Sever hall in Cambridge. Excur- 

 sions will be made on Wednesday, to the Leavitt 

 pumping-engine, the Carson sewer-excavating appa- 

 ratus, and the Norway iron-works ; on Thursday, to 

 the Watertown arsenal to inspect the U. S. testing- 

 machine, and to Harvard university; after the ses- 

 sion, to Lowell and to Worcester to visit the manu- 

 factories and institutions of those cities. The sub- 

 scription dinner is to be at the Brunswick, at eight 

 o'clock on Thursday. 



The following papers have been announced : Gas- 

 producer explosions ; by P. Barnes, Elgin, 111. — 

 Microscopic analysis of the structure of iron and 

 steel ; by J. C. Bayles, N. Y. — Metallurgy of nickel 

 in the U.S.; by W. P. Blake, New Haven. — The 

 mining regions about Prescott, Arizona ; by Jolm F. 

 Blandy, Prescott. — The collection of flue-dust at 

 Ems ; by T. Egleston, N.T. — The eozoic and lower 

 paleozoic in South Wales, and their comparison with 

 their Appalachian analogues ; by Dr. Persifor Frazer, 

 Philadelphia. — Note on the geology of Egypt, with 

 especial reference to the rocks from which the obe- 

 lisks have been taken ; by Dr. Persifor Frazer. — 

 Notes on a protected iron hot-blast stove ; by Frank 

 Firmstone, Easton, Penn. — The shop treatment of 

 structural steels ; by A. P. Hill, N. Y. — A sugges- 

 tive cure for blast-furnace chills ; by H. M. Howe, • 

 Boston. — Coal and iron of Alabama ; by T. Sterry 

 Hunt, Montreal. — Lines of weakness in cylinders; 

 by E. H. Richards, Boston. — The strength of Ameri- 

 can woods; by S. P. Sharpies, Boston. — Determina- 

 tion of manganese in spiegel; by G. C. Stone, 

 Newark, N. J. — History and statistics of the manu- 

 facture of coke ; by J. D. Weeks, Pittsburg, Penn. — 

 Notes on settling-tanks in silver-mills; by Albert 

 Williams, jun., Washington, 



