450 THE KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



No one would have ch'eamed that the discovery of the constituent ele- • 

 ments of the planets would result from a man blowing soap bubbles and 

 watching the effect of the ra3^s of light passing through them. Yet so it 

 was; but more than that: So utilitarian has science become that at the 

 present day we can make steel rails for our railroads at a less cost than iron 

 could have been produced twenty years ago, because the spectroscope indi- 

 cates precisely the heat necessary to carbonize the mass. JNo one would 

 think that flying a kite, would lead to transmitting messages three or four 

 thousand miles by electric telegraph. Studying the habits of birds, insects 

 and plants will inure to the benefit of the farmer, merchant and mechanic. 

 At the close of the address the professor was warmly congratulated on the 

 ability and practical character of the lecture. 



On Friday morning Prof. Snow called the society to order. 



The first paper read was on the subject : "The Boston Natural History 

 Society," by Prof. M. Y. B, Knox. The writer, not bejng present, the pres- 

 ident read the paper. It gave the history of a society which has become 

 famous for the work it has done towards popularizing the study of natural 

 history. In its early days it had all the drawbacks that usually attend such 

 institutions. All the attendance at some of their early meetings could be 

 comfortably seated on a sofa ; but by slow steps, and after many interrup- 

 tions, donations of money and buildings, as well as books and specimens of 

 natural history, began to flow in, putting it on a sound footing, and now it 

 is doing as thorough and efficient work as any society of the kind in the 

 world. 



Mr. John H. Long, of Olathe, had a paper on a "New Method of deter- 

 mining the Yelocity of the Wind." The author not being present, the paper 

 was also read by Prof. Snow, It explained the ingenious methods employed 

 by Mr. Long for the subject named. The apparatus consists of a post firmly 

 set in the ground, from the top of which four arms extend ; a hollow ball of 

 given size and weight is suspended from one of them, and the amount of 

 deflection of the ball from the perpendicular is watched for fifteen minutes, 

 several times daily, the distance of deflection being determined by the 

 graduation or the arc over which it swings. The velocity of the wind is 

 then determined by calculation. The force required to move a given weight 

 over a given space being known, the velocity of the wind can be easily de- 

 termined. The resiilts showed it to be a much more accurate instrument 

 than the best anemometer now in use. 



Prof. Wm. K. Kedzie read a paper on " Ozone in the atmosphere. " 

 He mentioned the fact that he at a former meeting read a jDaper on thi& 

 subject, giving results of observations as to ozone in the atmosphere of 

 Kansas. His observations, with the aid of others, have still been continued. 

 The object has been to determine facts bearing upon questions of the health- 

 fulness of the Kansas climate. If no demonstration has yet been arrived 

 at. the observations made go in the right direction. Ozone was discovered 

 by Schonbein, of Basle,*in 1840. It is produced in our atmosphere by 



