214 TRANSACTIONS OF SCIENTIFIC SECTION. 



MAY 5, 1885— ADJOURNED SESSION OF THE THIRTY-EIGHTH 

 STATED MEETING. 



Prof. W. B. Dwight, chairman, presiding ; nine mem- 

 bers present. 



The chairman presented the following Annual Report : 



Members of the Scientific Section, Vassar Brothers 

 Institute: During the session of 1884-85, now at its 

 close, nothing has occurred to interrupt the course of 

 our regular meetings. The evenings of November 5 and 

 19, and of December 3, 1884, were occupied by Dr. C. B. 

 Warring in presenting before the society the results of 

 much original study of the gyroscope and kindred 

 instruments, under the titles, "The Gyroscope : what it 

 does, and the reason for its peculiarities," and "The 

 Top, Gyrostat, Gyrocycle, and Bohnenbergher Machine : 

 their rationale." These papers were fully illustrated by 

 various forms of apparatus, ingeniously devised, and 

 were listened to with much interest. 



On December 17, Dr. J. M. DeGarmo read a paper 

 entitled " Scraps from a Worker's Note-book," setting 

 forth, in a way both interesting and instructive, various 

 methods, incidents, and experiences of zoological re- 

 search. 



The session of January 14, 1885, was devoted to micro- 

 scopic work. Dr. H. F. Parker explained some of the 

 most approved methods of the section-cutting of tissues, 

 and illustrated the subject by preparing such sections in 

 the presence of the members. Various objects of in- 

 terest were brought forward by different members and 

 examined in the microscope. 



On January 28, in place of the paper expected from 

 Prof. Maria Mitchell, who was unable to attend, the 

 evening was filled profitably by miscellaneous contribu- 

 tions and discussions of items of scientific intelligence. 

 Among these was a description, by Prof. L. C. Cooley, 

 of the "Jolly Specific Gravity Balance," and the values 



198 



