20 



Dr. F. Bache, on the part of Dr. Wood, read an obituary no- 

 tice of the late Dr. Beasley. 



Dr. Emerson made a verbal communication relative to causes 

 operative in changing the proportions of the sexes at birth. 



He referred to a verbal statement formerly made by him, and no- 

 ticed in the Bullefin (No. 34), upon the predominance of male births, 

 which, in Philadelphia, was usually about 7 per cent, over that of fe- 

 males. Having been recently engaged in researches into the vital 

 statistics of Philadelphia, and adding another decennial period, em- 

 bracing from 18-30 to 1840, he casually observed an interesting fact 

 connected with the physiology of reproduction in the human race, 

 namely, that the prevalence of epidemic cholera had exerted a very 

 strong influence unfavourable to the conception of males. In 1833, 

 the year succeeding that of the first cholera visitation, the ordinary 

 excess of male births (7 per cent.) had been reduced to about one per 

 cent. The amount of the yearly male excess, which was generally 

 some hundreds, had sunk to only 38. An examination of the 

 monthly returns of births in 1833, showed, that in the two which 

 corresponded with the months of conception, when the cholera pre- 

 vailed in 1832, the females greatly predominated over the males. 

 Dr. E. stated, that on referring to the Paris registration of births for 

 1833, the year following the cholera, he found a similar reduction in 

 the male excess. 



Prof. Kendall presented the following table, containing the 

 most recent results of the labours of Mr. Sears C. Walker in 

 regard to the planet Neptune. 



X = 47° 12 6.50 } T 1 iQ^^ 



> m. eq. Jan. 1, 1847. 

 g^ = 130 4 20.81 S 



i = 1 46 58.97 



e = 0.00871946 



1^ = 21".55448 



M = 328° 32' 44".20 m. noon, Green. Jan. 1. 1847. 



T = 164-5^J^o trop. years. 



