SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 29 
ef the sense organs and the structure and functions of the brain. 
Prof. Leslie went very minutely into the various phases of brain 
activity, and especially of disordered functions; demonstrating the im- 
portance of great care in the early life of a child to detect and correct 
any failure of correct functioning. The lecture was protusely illustrated 
by stereopticon views, showing the structure of the brain in great detail 
and the peculiarity of the nerves leading to and from it. Prof. Leslie’s 
talk was but an exposition of the work he and his assistants are attempt- 
ing to accomplish among the thousands of children attending the pub- 
lic schools of the city. 
The several sections of the Academy reported their organization for 
the coming year, as follows:— 
Astronomical Section, Wm. H. Knight, chairman; H. O. Collins, see- 
retary. Biological Section, Dr. C. A. Whiting, chairman; Dr. C. H. 
Phinney, secretary. Geological Section, W. H. Storms, chairman; G. 
Major Taber, secretary. The Chairman announced that Carbon would 
be the subject for consideration at the November meeting. 
At the meeting of the Board of Directors, in November, eleven persons 
were elected to membership in the Academy. 
In the absence of President Baumgardt, Vice-President Knight again 
presided, and announced that at the December meeting the subject of 
City Parks and Street Ornamentation would be under consideration. 
Preliminary to the main topic of the evening, Mr. Wm. A. Spalding 
was introduced, and read a most interesting and instructive communieéa- 
tion from Father Gangoiti, Superintendent of the Weather Observatory, 
at Havana, Cuba. My. Spalding read an introductory note from Mr. 
H. O. Collins, giving a brief sketch of the work of Father Gangoiti, 
emphasizing the remarkable accuracy that has characterized his pre- 
dictions of weather conditions, especially in connection with the de- 
structive Galveston storm and others of unusual violence. 
Mr. Spalding followed the reading of the observer’s communication 
with a brief discussion of its contents, illustrating his ideas by diagrams 
on the board. 
A vote of thanks was heartily and. unanimously extended to Father 
Gangoiti for his very valuable contribution to the Academy. The Chair- 
man then introduced Prof. W. L. Watts, for the discussion of the subjeet 
of Carbon from the standpoint of a mineralogist. The speaker, with 
the aid of charts showing the difference between the atom and the 
molecule, and also the various chemical compounds of carbon, proceeded 
to treat the characteristics of this most interesting and all pervading 
element under the several heads of diamond, graphite, coal, charcoal, 
petroleum, and carbonic acid gas. In these widely divergent forms he 
traced the identity of carbon as the chief element in each and the 
sole component of some, giving a clear exposition of the chemical attrib- 
utes and a striking demonstration of the practical value of carbon. 
