RECORDS. 311 



SECTION OF ASTRONOMY, PHYSICS AND 

 CHEMISTRY. 



February i, 1904. 



Section met at 8:20 P. M,, Vice-President Poor presiding. 

 The minutes of the last meeting of the Section were read and 

 approved. 



The following program was then offered : 



D. S. Martin, H. Carrington Bolton. 



Charles Lane Poor, Researches as to the Identity of 

 Lexell's Lost Comet of 1770 with the Periodic Comet of 

 1889, 1896 AND 1903. 



George B. Pegram, The Year's Work with Radium. 



Summary of Papers. 



The biographical sketch of the late Dr. H. Carrington Bolton 

 by Dr. Martin was read by Professor Crampton, the recording 

 secretary of the Academy, in the absence of Dr. Martin. The 

 section then passed a resolution, proposed by Mr. G. F, Kunz, 

 to the effect that Dr. Martin's address should be published in 

 the Annals of the Academy, together with a bibliography of Dr. 

 Bolton's papers. 



Professor Poor's paper gave the result of a new investigation 

 of the motion of the periodic comet of 1889, 1896 and 1903 

 (Brooks), dealing especially with the great changes in its orbit 

 caused by the close approach to Jupiter in 1886. The comet 

 has now been seen at three returns to perihelion and the many 

 observations made allow of a most accurate determination of the 

 present orbit on which to base the investigation. Attention was 

 called to the supposed identity of this body with the lost comet 

 of Lexell, 1770, which disappeared after passing close to Jupiter 

 in 1779, and this question was discussed at length. 



Dr. Pegram's paper was the second of the series on "Recent 

 Progress in Physical Science." Dr. Pegram gave a review of 

 the most important experimental and theoretical advances made 

 during the past year in the knowledge of radio-activity, especially 

 the work of Rutherford and Soddy in formulating the atomic 



