208 



The list of outstanding Committees on subjects of science, 

 was read. 



The list of Committees on obituary notices, was read. 



On motion of Mr. Frazer, Dr. Ducatel was excused from the 

 duty assigned him of preparing an obituary notice of Mr. 

 Nicollet. 



On motion of Dr. Dunglison, Col. Abert was appointed to 

 prepare an obituary notice of Mr. Nicollet. 



On motion of Dr. Patterson, Dr. Emerson was excused from 

 the duty assigned him of preparing an obituary notice of Mr. 

 Dunn. 



On motion of Dr. Patterson, Mr. Eckfeldt was excused from 

 the duty of preparing an obituary notice of Mr. Cloud. 



Dr. Dunglison announced the death of the Rev. Dr. Beasley, 

 who died at Elizabethtown, N. J., on Saturday, 1st November, 

 1845, in the 78th year of his age. 



Dr. Bache announced the death of Mr. David B. Warden, at 

 Paris, on the 9th October, 1845. 



Also, the death of Mr. Samuel Harrison Smith, at Washing- 

 ton, on the 1st November, 1845, in his 74th year. 



On motion of Mr. Kane, Dr. Patterson was appointed to pre- 

 pare an obituary notice of Mr. Warden. 



Prof. Henry, of Princeton, communicated the result of a series of 

 experiments on electricity made last winter. They had reference, 

 first, to the discharge of electricity through a long wire, connected 

 with the earth at the farther end: secondly, to the discharge of a jar 

 through a wire: and, thirdly, to an attempt to account for the pheno- 

 mena of dynamic induction. 



Prof. H. first showed, that when a charge of electricity is given to 

 one end of a wire, the different parts of the wire become charged suc- 

 cessively, as though a wave of electricity passed along it. He then 

 showed that the charge passed along the surface of the wire, and not 

 through its whole mass, as was supposed from the analogy of galva- 

 nic conduction. H^ence he inferred that dynamical electricity obeys 

 the same laws as the statical. He then detailed some experiments 

 upon the passage of electricity through plates, and showed that when 

 a charge was transmitted across a plate, the tension was greatest at 

 the edges, the electricity apparently exercising a self-repeUing action, 

 while, if the charge were passed through two pieces of tin-foil, these 

 slips attract each other. 



