THE KANSAS CITY ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 67S- 



THE WIGGINS STORM OF MARCH pra TO iith, 1883. 



The President has received the following communication from Prof. E.- 

 Stone Wiggins, LL. D., Astronomer of the Canadian Finance Department, under 

 date of Ottawa, November 25th: 



On the 23rd of September last, I announced through the Canadian press 

 that a great storm would occur in March next; that it would first be felt in the 

 Northern Pacific; would appear in the Gulf of Mexico on the night of the 9th, 

 and, being reflected by the Rocky Mountains, would cross this meridian from 

 the west at noon, Sunday, March 11, 2883. No vessel, whatever her dimensions, 

 will be safe out of the harbor, and none of small tonnage can hope to survive the 

 tidal wave and fury of this tempest. As the wind will blow from the southeast, 

 the planetary force will be sufficient to submerge the low lands of the American 

 coast, especially those bordering on the Gulf of Mexico and washed by the Gulf 

 Stream, where the air currents for several hundred miles along the east side of 

 the Rocky Mountain Range, owing to great atmospheric pressure in those re- 

 gions, will spread universal destruction. The New England States will also suf- 

 fer severely from wind and floods. No point outside the harbor in the whole 

 area of the Atlantic, especially north of the Equator, will be a place of safety. 

 For this will be pre-eminently the greatest storm that has visited this continent 

 since the days of your illustrious first President. In view of this event, there- 

 fore, I take the great liberty of representing to your Excellency the advisability of 

 ordering all United States ships into safe harbors not later than the 5th of March,^ 

 till this storm be passed. 



THE KANSAS CITY ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



About seven years ago the Kansas City Academy of Science was organized 

 and has maintained a healthy and prosperous growth ever since. For nine 

 months in each year, i. e. from September to May, it has monthly public meet- 

 ings at which scientific papers by its members, usually of a popular character, 

 are read and discussed. In addition to these entertainments, it has had several 

 courses of public lectures, at which our citizens have been addressed by such 

 eminent thinkers and speakers from a distance as Professors R. A. Proctor, W. 

 I. Marshall, B. F. Mudge, Laws, Marvin, Swallow, Snow, Nipher, Lovewell, 

 Broadhead and Robins; Doctors E. R. and I. D. Heath; Reverends Alexander 

 Proctor, Richard Cordley and C. L. Thompson. 



It has made an exploration of the Ancient Mounds of Clay County, as well 

 as the interesting geological deposits of the carboniferous strata and the loess of 

 this immediate vicinity. The Proceedings of this body when collected into vol- 

 umes will be a valuable contribution to western science. 



The Academy Library comprises about 300 volumes, principally U. S. Geo- 



