SCIENCE 



FRIDAY, APRIL 27, li 



The National Academy of Sciences, which held its annual 

 meeting in Washington last week, is the most learned of all Amer- 

 ican scientific societies. Incorporated by the government of the 

 United States, its expenses are paid out of the national treasury, 

 although its members serve without compensation. Made by law 

 the official scientific adviser of the government, it is required, at 

 government expense, to enter upon any scientific investigation which 

 may be asked for by the head of either of the departments, and its 

 conclusions are accepted as those of a competent and disinterested 

 tribunal. For instance : the consolidation of the various Western 

 surveys that were being prosecuted at government expense into the 

 present admirably organized National Geological Survey was the 

 result of a report by a distinguished committee of the National 

 Academy of Sciences, to whom the subject had been officially re- 

 ferred. Another important report was one on the work and dis- 

 coveries of Dr. Peter Collier, formerly chemist of the Agricultural 

 Department, in relation to sorghum ; and more recently a special 

 committee has been engaged, at the request of the secretary of the 

 treasury, in an investigation in regard to the value of the polariscope 

 test in determining grades of sugar. In addition to this official 

 work, the National Academy of Sciences holds two meetings a year, 

 at which business connected with its organization and work is trans- 

 acted, new members chosen, and papers announcing new dis- 

 coveries in science, or describing lines of original investigation, are 

 read by members or by other persons presented by members. The 

 meeting this year has been an. important one. A larger number 

 ■of papers than usual were presented ; and, although no remarkable 

 ■discoveries were announced, there was evidence of great activity, in 

 many of them, along all the lines of original scientific investigation. 

 The law limits the number of new members to be elected at each 

 annual meeting to five. Only three were chosen this year, — Profs. 

 G. Brown Goode, Albert Michelson, and S. C. Chandler ; but the 

 great scientific attainments of each are an ample guaranty of the 

 purpose of the National Academy to maintain the high standard 

 that has placed it at the head of all our scientific associations, and 

 made membership in it so much coveted by scientific men. 



Nothing in connection with the annual meeting of the 

 National Academy of Sciences in Washington last week was likely 

 to impress an attendant at its public sessions more than the ardent 

 ■enthusiasm of its members in the work in which they are engaged. 

 A few of them are young men, and more of those not members in- 

 troduced to read papers had not yet reached middle age ; but even 

 they were no more absorbed in their labors, or more proud of their 

 successes, than the wearers of snowy locks and gray beards. Even 

 the venerable Dr. C. H. F. Peters, the distinguished astronomer, 

 seemed as much elated at his success in proving that Tycho Brahe, 

 in 1572, with a rude quadrant constructed by himself, determined 

 the position of Nova with an accuracy that would be creditable to 

 a modern astronomer with his wonderfully exact instruments, as 

 was the youngest investigator at being able to add something to 

 the sum of scientific knowledge. 



representative an assemblage of men had never before gathered at 

 the bier of anyone man in this city, and it was because of the many- 

 sided character of Dr. Agnew's activity. Himself a physician and 

 specialist of the very first rank, he chose the broader field of educa- 

 tion for his most powerful efforts. As a trustee of the College of 

 Physicians and Surgeons, as a trustee of Columbia College, and as 

 a founder of the School of Mines, his influence in the cause of 

 higher education can only be appreciated by those who felt it, and 

 by those who worked with him. The friends of Columbia College 

 looked instinctively to him to control and guide that university de- 

 velopment which is now beginning its course. From all of these 

 boards and from many others his wise and kindly counsel will be 

 sorely missed, and his place cannot be easily filled, if ever. Dr. 

 Agnew's personal contributions to medical science were principally 

 made in the departments of ophthalmic and aural surgery. He was 

 a prominent member of the Sanitary Commission during the Rebel- 

 lion, and afterwards one of the founders of the Union League Club. 



MEETING OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY 

 SCIENCES. 



OF 



In the lamented death of Dr. Cornelius R. Agnew, whose 

 funeral services took place on Saturday last. New York City lost 

 one of its foremost citizens, and science and education a powerful 

 advocate and friend. It was remarked on Saturday last, that so 



A Successful Meeting ; New Members and Councillors ; Medals and 

 Obituary Memoirs ; Receptions and Dinners ; List of Papers. — 

 Is There Such a Thing as Potential Energy ? — Serpent-Mound, — 

 A Ne-w Method for the Biological Examination of the Air. — An 

 Interesting Parasite on the Beaver. — The Orbits of Aerolites. — 

 Improvements in Spectrum Photography ; Carbon in the Sun. — 

 Vertebrate Fauna of ihe Puerco Series. 

 The meeting of the National Academy of Sciences, held at 

 Washington last week, was in every respect a successful one. 

 About forty members attended ; the number of papers offered was 

 greater than usual, nearly all of which were read m extejiso, leav- 

 ing very few to be read by title ; and the attendance at the public 

 meetings was good. While very little of the business transacted 

 by the academy and by the council is disclosed to the public, it is 

 known that the annual reports were satisfactory, although there 

 was nothing in them of an unusual character. No great scientific 

 discoveries were announced, but several of the papers read showed 

 important progress in special lines of original investigation. With- 

 out disparity to others, three may be mentioned as of special impor- 

 tance. They were, ' The Orbits of Aerolites,' by Prof. H. A. New- 

 ton ; ' Preliminary Notice of the Object, Methods, and Results of a 

 Systematic Study of the Action of Definitely Related Chemical 

 Compounds upon Animals,' by Profs. Wolcott Gibbs and Hobart 

 Amory Hare ; and ' Report of Progress in Spectrum Photography,' 

 and ' Note on the Spectrum of Carbon and its Existence in the 

 Sun,' by Prof. H. A. Rowland. 



The new members of the academy this year are Prof. G. Brown 

 Goode of Washington, assistant secretary of the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution, in charge of the National Museum, and a distinguished 

 naturalist ; Prof. Albert Michelson, the physicist, of Cleveland, O. 

 He is the gentleman who, when he was in the navy, undertook and 

 carried out at Annapolis novel experiments to determine the velocity 

 of light. He becomes the youngest member of the academy. The 

 third new member is Prof. S. C. Chandler, the distinguished as- 

 tronomer, of Cambridge, Mass. The six additional members of the 

 council chosen at this meeting were Messrs. Brush, Langley, Meigs, 

 Pickering, Remsen, and Gould. 



On Wednesday evening the room at the National Museum in 

 which the meetings of the academy were held was filled by an au- 

 dience that was gathered to witness the presentation of two gold 

 medals. One, the Lawrence Smith gold medal, was awarded to 

 Prof. H. A. Newton of Yale University, for the study of meteors ; 

 and the other, the Henry Draper gold medal, to Prof. E. C. Picker- 



