452 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 115. 



have been derived may be read in these char- 

 acters. 



The second jjaper by Mr. A. A. Tyler, on 

 ' The Nature and Origin of Stipules,' presented 

 conclusions derived from studies extending 

 through several years. The subject was treated 

 at length in the light of geological, morpholog- 

 ical, anatomical and developmental evidence. 

 Discussing Mr. Tyler's paper, which will shortly 

 be published in full. Dr. Britton remarked that 

 "the outcome of this very important paper is 

 most interesting ; it emphasizes the significance 

 of basal scales and those of buds and rootstocks ; 

 and it is the more convincing from the nicety 

 with which it accords with the seemingly hap- 

 hazard distribution of stipules widely but irregu- 

 larly here and there through the vegetable 

 kingdom." 



Mrs. Britton discussed the paper further, re- 

 ferring to the different phases presented in 

 Fissidens. 



Of the remaining papers, that by Mr. Nash 

 was read by title and will appear in the Bulle- 

 tin ; and that by Dr. Small was, on account of 

 the lateness of the hour, deferred till the next 

 meeting. 



Edward S. Buegess, 



Secretary. 



NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES^SECTION OF 

 ASTRONOMY AND PHYSICS, MARCH 1, 1897. 



F. L. TuFFTS presented an abstract of work 

 recently done by him in further testing the cor- 

 rectness of the results obtained with the origi- 

 nal form of the Rood flicker photometer. By 

 a very elaborate series of tests by various 

 methods, he found that the true ' flicker,' which 

 appears when the speed is just suflicient to give 

 a uniform background, is independent of color 

 and depends only upon differences of lumi- 

 nosity. 



The paper was discussed by R. S. Woodward 

 and W. Hallock. W. Hallock described sev- 

 eral forms of maximum thermometers used in 

 subterranean temperature work, and described 

 a new form which It is believed will obviate 

 some of the difficulties of the U. S. signal ser- 

 vice form, which has been used so successfully. 



Mr. Hallock also reported upon recent work 

 on subterranean temperatures referring espe- 



cially to the Sperenberg well, near Berlin, 4,300 

 feet; the Wheeling, W. Va., well, 4,500 feet; 

 the new Pittsburg well, 5,386 feet; the Schlade- 

 bach well, near Leipzig, 5,740 feet, and the in- 

 complete well at Paruschowitch, near Reibnik, 

 which two years ago was 6,600 feet deep and 

 was planned to go 2,700 meters (8,800 feet). 

 The well at Pittsburg gave results practically 

 identical with those obtained in the Wheeling 

 well, which is forty miles distant but in prac- 

 tically the same geological strata. The observa- 

 tions at Pittsburg were preliminary, and it is 

 hoped that a very complete and satisfactory 

 series of temperatures will be obtained, owing 

 to the generous public spirit of the Forest Oil 

 Co., who have practically placed the well at the 

 service of science. It is planned to drill it 

 much deeper. 



W. Hallock, 

 Secretary of Section. 



THE academy of SCIENCE OF ST. LOUIS. 



At the meeting of the Academy of Science of 

 St. Louis, of March 1, 1897, Mr. William H. 

 Rush presented a demonstration of the forma- 

 tion of carbon dioxide and alcohol as a result 

 of the intramolecular'respiration of seeds and 

 other vegetable structures in an atmosphere con- 

 taining no free oxygen. The theory of the dis- 

 solution and reconstruction of the living nitrog- 

 enous molecules was explained in connection 

 with the experiments, and the different beha- 

 vior of these molecules when supplied with or 

 deprived of free oxygen was indicated. 



Mr. H. von Schrenk briefly described certain 

 (Edematous enlargements which he had ob- 

 served at the beginning of the present winter, 

 near the root tips of specimens of Salix nigra, 

 growing along the edge of a body of water. 

 The speaker compared these with the oedemata 

 of tomato leaves and apple twigs which were 

 studied some years since at Cornell University. 



Professor J. H. Kinealy exhibited a glass 

 model illustrating the mode of action of the 

 Pohle air-lift pump, the efficiency of which he 

 had discussed at the preceding meeting. 



One name was proposed for active member- 

 ship. 



William Trelease, 

 Recording Secretary. 



