SCIENCE. 



m 



those of us who come from beyond the Hudson can but 

 feel that in entering New England we reach the birthplace 

 of American institutions. To some of us it is the land of 

 our fathers, and we cannot approach the precincts of their 

 departed presence without the sentiment of filial venera- 

 tion. Here they laid, broad and deep, the foundations of 

 American freedom, without which American science would 

 have been an infant in leading strings to-day. 



Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : — With a grateful appre- 

 ciation of the kindness of the people of Boston, the Asso- 

 ciation is now prepared to enter upon the regular work of 

 the session. 





GENERAL BUSINESS. 

 The association then proceeded to routine business. The 

 permanent secretary gave notice that the following mem- 

 bers of the assocation had died since the last meeting, viz.: 



George W. Abbe, of New York, died September 25, 1879. 



E. B. Andrews, Lancaster, Ohio. 

 Homer C. Blake, New York. 



F. A. Cairns, New York. 



Caleb Cook, Salem, Mass., died June 5, 1880. 



Benjamin F. Mudge, Manhattan, Kansas, died November 21, 

 1879. 



Thomas Nicholson, New Orleans, La. 



Louis Francois de Pourtales, Cambridge, Mass., died July 18, 

 1880. 



The financial report, presented by the secretary, showed 

 for the first time since he has been in office a balance in 

 favor of the sssociation. The total receipts during the year 

 were $5430.35, principally from assessments and entrance 

 fees. The disbursements were : Expenses of the Saratoga 

 meeting, $189.82 ; publication of 1250 copies of proceedings 

 of Saratoga meeting, $2142.64; salaries of permanent and 

 assistanf secretaries, $1396. The balance in hand was $148.- 

 24. The life membership fund amounted to $975.77. 



The standing committee was then completed, and in- 

 cludes, besides the officers of the association, the following 

 fellows: N. T. Lupton, F. W. Clarke, E. T. Cox, W. Hark- 

 ness, O. T. Mason and S. A. Lattimore. 



On motion from the floor, a standing commiitee was ap- 

 pointed by the president to prepare a message of greeting 

 to the British Association, to be sent by cable. Professor 

 W. B. Rogers, Asa Gray and N. T. Laptonwere appointed, 

 and sent the following despatch : "The American Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science, in session in Boston, 

 sends cordial greetings to the British Association at Swan- 

 sea, on the occasion of its fiftieth meeting." 



The president was requested to appoint a committee of 

 three to propose suitable resolutions of regret at the death 

 of the late General Albert J. Moyer, of the United States 

 Signal Service. 



Over four hundred ladies and gentlemen were elected 

 members of the association. 



It was voted that, with the exception of Thursday, the 

 morning session begin at ten o'clock and close at one 

 o'clock ; and that the afternoon session begin at 2:30 

 o'clock and close at five o'clock. The general session then 

 adjourned. 



The Sections then organized. Section A was called to 

 order in Huntington Hall. Professors A. W. Wright, A. 

 M. Mayer and John Trowbridge were elected the commit- 

 tee to cooperate with the Vice President and Secretary of 

 the Section, and the Chairmen and Secretaries of the Sub- 

 Sections. F. H. Smith, A. E. Dolbear, J. M. Van Vleck 

 and Thomas Hill were chosen on the nominating commit- 

 tee, which acts with the standing committee in the selec- 

 tion of officers for next year. The Section then adjourned. 

 Alexander Agassiz presided at the meeting of Section B. 

 G. L. Goodale, E. D. Cope and B. G. Wilder were chosen 

 the sectional committee, and C. S. Minot, A. J. Cook, W. 

 G. Farlow and Thomas Mahon, nominating committee. 

 On motion of Dr. Minot, it was voted to form a Permanent 

 Section of Biology. The Section then adjourned to Friday. 

 In the afternoon Mr. Asaph Hall gave the Vice President's 

 address of Section A at half-past two; Professor J. M. Ord- 

 way read the Chairman's address to the Sub-Section of 

 Chemistry at four ; at the same time Major J. W. Powell 

 pronounced the Chairman's address before the Anthropo- 

 logical Section, while the official address in microscopy 



was admitted. The Entomological Club met at five 

 o'clock, Mr. A. R. Grote in the chair. A communication 

 from W. H. Edwards was presented; Mr. McCook con- 

 cluded his comment on the honey ant; Mr. A. J. Cook 

 offered some comment ; Mr. E. P. Austin exhibited plates ; 

 an essay from S. A. Forbes was read, and Dr. G. F. Waters 

 discussed it. In the evening the retiring President pro- 

 nounced his great oration on life as a problem of chemistry 

 and physics. 



Thursday, August 27TH. 



The second day of the meeting was spent by the Ameri- 

 can Association in Cambridge. At eleven o'clock an au- 

 dience of nine hundred assembled in the Sanders Theatre 

 to listen to the eulogy by Professor Alfred M. Mayer upon 

 the late Joseph Henry, and to the annual address by Pro- 

 fessor A. Agassiz before the natural history section. The 

 audience included nearly all the members of the Association 

 registered this year, with the addition of a large number 

 from Cambridge. The Harvard professors are usually 

 absent during the summer vacation, but on this occasion 

 nearly the entire scientific faculty were present to receive 

 and honor their friends and guests. At the short business 

 meeting of the general session twenty new members were 

 admitted to the^Association, and the following resolution, 

 offered by Dr. L. C. Le Conte, referred to a standing com- 

 mittee : " Resolved, that the constitution and by-laws be so 

 amended as to establish a Section C of biology, with an or- 

 ganization similar to that of the two existing sections." 

 After the addresses at the theatre dinner was served in 

 Memorial hall, Mr. Martin Brimmer presiding, but made 

 no remarks and gave no toasts. After dinner the ladies 

 and gentlemen visited the scientific collections, especially 

 the two museums, the mineralogical cabinet, the physical 

 laboratory, the library and the historic points of Cambridge. 

 At four o'clock the visitors gathered in about equal num- 

 bers at the botanic garden, the observatory and the house 

 of Mrs. T. P. James. At the garden Professor Asa Gray 

 spoke on the characteristics and distribution of the Rocky 

 Mountain vegetation. Professor E. C. Pickering, the di- 

 rector, offered an opportunity for inspecting the observa- 

 tory, while Mrs. James entertained those interested in 

 keramics. In the evening there was a reception at Mr. 

 and Mrs. A. Graham Bell's residence. 



Friday, August 2 8th. 



Little routine was required to be transacted, and the sections and 

 sub-sections settled down to steady work. It was announced that 

 so far nine hundred ladies and gentlemen had entered their names 

 for membership, and that the attendance was a hundred-fold more 

 than was usually present on former occasions. 



Among the more important papers read were : 



" Determination of the routine time of Jupiter, from observa- 

 tions of the red spot in 1879-80 ; together with the physical char- 

 acter and changes of the spot," by H. S. Pritchett. 



" Determination of the comparative dimensions of the ultimate 

 molecules, and deduction of the specific properties of substances," 

 W. N. Norton. 



" Friction of lubricating oils,'' C. J. Woodbury. 



" Steady and vortex motions in vis-cous incompressible fluids," 

 Thomas Craig. 



" Spectroscopic notes," C. A. Young. 



" Discussion of the phenomena observed in comparing the spec- 

 trum of the light from the limbs with that from the centre of the 

 solar disk," C. S. Hastings. 



" Maxima and minima tide predicting machine," W. Ferrel. 



" Methods in use at the Observatory at Yale for the verification 

 of thermometers and testingof time pieces," Leonard Waldo. 



" Heat produced by magneiizing and demagnetizing iron and 

 steel," John Trowbridge. 



" Lecture experiments for the direct determination of the veloc- 

 ity of sound," W. A. Anthony. 



" On the refractive index of metallic silver," Arthur W. Wright. 



"On a form of vacuum tube for spectroscopic works," Arthur 

 W. Wright. 



" Progress made at the Observatory of Harvard College in the 

 determination of the absolute coordinates of 109 fundumental 

 stars;" "A simple and expeditious method of investigating all 

 the division errors of a meridian circle ;" " The systematic errors 

 of the Greenwich right ascensions of southern stars observed be- 

 tween 1816 and 1831 ; " Prehminany determination of the equation 

 between the British imperial standard yard and the metre of the 

 archives;" " The probable error of a single observation at sea, 



