SCIENCE. 



FRIDAY, MAY 1, 1885. 



THE APRIL MEETING OF THE NATION- 

 AL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



The spring meeting of the national academy 

 always secures a larger attendance of members 

 than that held in the autumn, because the 

 business of this stated session, including the 

 election of new members, is more important. 

 Last week, however, the attendance was not 

 so good as usual, only thirty-seven members 

 being registered. Of these, seventeen were 

 from Washington, and the remainder prin- 

 cipally from Philadelphia, Baltimore, New 

 Haven, and Cambridge. Though lacking in 

 special incident, the meeting was an interesting 

 one ; both scientific and business sessions ex- 

 tending over four clays, and the papers elicit- 

 ing a good share of discussion. Public and 

 private receptions were not wanting, and the 

 mid-da}' recess gave excellent opportunities for 

 social intercourse. Though man}' questions 

 affecting the policy and the development of 

 the acadenvy were discussed with great freedom 

 at the business-meeting, these discussions were 

 not marred bj' a single note of discord. 



The trust funds of the academy having been 

 increased during the year by the gift of eight 

 thousand dollars from the widow of the late 

 Professor Lawrence Smith, and in his memory, 

 to encourage the study of meteoric bodies, 

 Messrs. Wolcott Gibbs, Brush, Asaph Hall, 

 Pumpelly, and Rutherford were appointed a 

 permanent committee to administer the trust ; 

 and they were also charged with the duty of 

 conveying to Mrs. Smith the thanks of the 

 academy, and its appreciation of her generosit}\ 

 The award of the Draper medal, made for the 

 first time, was most appropriately bestowed on 

 Prof. S. P. Langley of Allegheny, now absent 

 in England, for his researches and discoveries 

 in solar radiation. 



The academy was strengthened by the elec- 



No.117 1885. 



tion of five new members : Prof. E. S. Hold en, 

 director of Washburne observatory, Madison, 

 Wis., the chief of the recent Caroline Island 

 eclipse expedition ; Professor Heniy Mitchell 

 of the U. S. coast-survey, whose knowledge of 

 the hydrograph} 7 of our eastern coast is un- 

 surpassed ; Mr. F. W. Putnam, the curator 

 of the Peabody museum of American archae- 

 ology at Cambridge ; Prof. W. A. Rogers of 

 the Harvard observatory ; and Mr. Arnold 

 Hague of the U. S. geological survey, whose 

 work has lain chiefly in our western territories. 

 As the number of home members is now ninety- 

 eight, it is probable that by another year it 

 will reach a hundred, be}'ond which it will be 

 difficult to pass, on account of the more strin- 

 gent rules of admission which will then come 

 into force. 



We have only space to mention a portion of 

 the papers, a complete list of which will be 

 found in our notes. Jupiter was the subject 

 of two astronomical papers. Prof. C. A. 

 Young called attention to some changes in the 

 constitution of the ' great red spot,' and to 

 the belt of white spots in the southern hemi- 

 sphere. The period of one of the latter, the 

 upper of a lozenge- shaped series of four, he 

 had found to be 9 h. 55 m. 12.74 s., and that of 

 an equatorial white spot 9 h. 50 m. 9-1 2 s. , while 

 that of the great red spot was now 9h. 55 m. 

 13.4 s. Mr. G. W. Hill discussed the two in- 

 equalities in the moon's motion due to the 

 action of Jupiter, the theoretical discovery 

 of which is due to Mr. Neison, finding the 

 coefficients for these inequalities smaller than 

 given by Neison ; the former's values being 

 -1.163" and +2. 200", while Mr. Hill obtained 

 - 0.903" and +0.209". In a paper on the 

 cause of the progressive movement of areas 

 of low pressure, Prof. E. Loomis concluded, 

 that, although in middle latitudes these areas 

 usually follow the course of the winds, the 

 general drift of atmospheric movement could 

 not be looked upon as the cause. Their 



