268 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 398. 



The form of the mass is extremely irregu- 

 lar, and though measures have been taken 

 around the mass at many different points, 

 its cubic contents cannot be calculated with 

 more than an approximation to accuracy. 

 The five largest meteorites known to sci- 

 ence to-day are : 



Bemdego (Brazil) 51/3 tons. 



Sari Gregoria (Mexico) 11 14 " 



Chupaderos (Mexico) 15% " 



Anighito (Greenland) 50 " 



Bacubirito (Mexico) 50 " 



The first three are . weights proven on 

 scales: the last two are thus far simple 

 estimates. 



"Wbiehever meteorite shall, after accu- 

 rate calculation, prove to be the heavier, it 

 will ever remain of interest that the two 

 largest meteorites known to our earth have 

 fallen on the North American continent- 

 one far toward its northern end, the other 

 toward its southern. 



Paleontological Notes: (a) Notes on Gas- 

 tropods, (h) Spirifer mucronatus and its 

 Derivatives : A. W. Grabau. (Read by 

 title.) 

 The following papers were read under 



the auspices of the National Geographical 



Society : 



Scientific Results of the Recent Eruptions 

 in the West Indies: R. T. Hill. 



The Magnetic Disturbances during the 

 Time of the Recent Volcanic Eruptions 

 in Martinique: L. A. Bauer. 



Atmospheric Phenomena in Connection 

 with the Recent Eruptions in the West 

 Indies: A. J. Henry. (Read by G. H. 

 Grosvenor. ) 



P. P. Gulliver, 

 Secretary, Section E. 



DR. J. G. COOPER. 



News has been received of the death at 

 Hayward, Alameda County, California, of 

 Dr. James G. Cooper, at the age of seventy- 

 two years, July 19, 1902. Dr. Cooper's 

 services to science have been such (coupled 

 with the singular omission of his name and 

 his father's from the chief records of 

 American biography) as to render some 

 statement of them desirable for a genera- 

 tion to whom he was little known. 



James Cooper, an English merchant, set- 

 tled in New York shortly after the Revolu- 

 tion, accumulated a competency and died 

 in 1801, leaving a son, William Cooper, 

 born in 1798. At an early age the latter, 

 who had inlierited the love of nature from 

 his mother, Frances Graham, determined 

 to devote himself to the study of Natural 

 History. At the age of eighteen young 

 Cooper became one of the founders of the 

 Lyceum of Natural History, now the New 

 York Academy of Sciences, under the lead 

 of Dr. S. L. Mitchill, John Torrey, Daniel 

 Barnes and others, and soon became a gen- 

 erous contributor to its library and one of 

 its officers. In 1821 William Cooper sailed 

 for Europe to continue his studies in zool- 

 ogy and was elected the first American 

 member of the Zoological Society of Lon- 

 don. He attended the lectures of Cuvier 

 at Paris, and on his return devoted himself 

 to ornithology and paleontology. He was 

 a friend of Schoolcraft, a correspondent 

 and eolaborer of Lucien Bonaparte, who 

 dedicated to him the well-known Falco 

 Cooperi. His son, James G. Cooper, was 

 born June 19, 1830, and in 1851 graduated 

 from the College of Physicians and Sur- 

 geons, New York, following it by a two 

 years ' course in the city hospitals. In 1853 

 he was appointed surgeon to the northern 

 division of the Pacific Railroad Survey, at 

 the suggestion of Professor S. F. Baird, 

 and spent some time at the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution, preparing himself for the duties 



