o0+ 
whose action divided the primitive rock into a 
lower basic and an upper acidic portion. The 
author distinguishes this by the name of the 
crinitic hypothesis. 
In continuation of the series of researches - 
which he has been making upon solar and ter- 
restrial radiation, Professor Langley presented 
a short paper on the character of the heat radi- 
ated from the soil. It is a commonly accepted 
opinion, that the atmosphere is less trans- 
parent to the invisible heat-rays of the sun 
than to the visible light-rays, and that the heat 
stored in the atmosphere is due to this cause. 
His researches had, however, shown, that, so 
far as solar radiation is concerned, this view 
was ill founded, since the solar rays of longest 
wave-length pass as freely through the atmos- 
phere as the visible red rays. But, when the 
radiation from a metallic surface heated to the 
temperature of boiling water was measured, 
rays were found of a wave-length far exceed- 
ing any that had been measured in the solar 
spectrum. As it could not be considered prob- 
able that such rays were really wanting in the 
heat emitted by the sun, he reached the conclu- 
sion that they were absorbed by the atmosphere, 
which should therefore be regarded as opaque 
to such rays. ‘This being the case, all or nearly 
all the heat radiated by the soil would be inter- 
cepted by the atmosphere; and thus we have 
the heat-storing effect to which the tempera- 
ture of our globe is to be attributed. Inci- 
dentally Professor Langley expressed his entire 
dissent from the conclusion of Herschel and 
Ross respecting the heat radiated by the moon. 
The latter had attempted to differentiate the 
heat reflected by the moon from that radiated, 
and to determine the latter, and thus reach a 
conclusion respecting the temperature of the 
lunar surface. The conclusion of Professor 
Langley’s researches was, that the heat radi- 
ated by the moon could no more penetrate our 
atmosphere, so as to be absorbed on the earth’s 
surface, than it could penetrate the armor of a 
ship of war, and that its supposed measure 
must therefore be illusory. He also expressed 
the opinion, that the temperature of the moon 
-under the influence of the full radiation of the 
sun, instead of being several hundred degrees 
Fahrenheit, as Herschel had supposed, was 
more likely very far below the lowest known 
on our globe. 
Dr. Hilgard made a communication on the 
depth of the western part of the Atlantic Ocean 
and Gulf of Mexico with respect to the Gulf 
Stream. His remarks were illustrated by a 
model in relief, showing the configuration of the 
whole country east of the Mississippi River, and 
SCIENCE. 
[Vou. IIL, No. 64. 
of the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of — 
Mexico. The very slow rate at which the depth 
of the ocean diminished until the Gulf Stream 
was reached, and the rapidity with which it 
then shelved off, were very strikingly shown by 
the model. Dr. Hilgard also gave an account 
of the progress of the work of the coast-survey 
in connecting the Atlantic and Pacific coasts 
and the Gulf of Mexico by precise levellings. 
The work has been in charge of a single assist- 
ant, and has been carried 1,784 kilometres from 
New York, past St. Louis. The datum-point 
at St. Louis has been determined to be 126.91 
metres above mean sea-level at Sandy Hook, 
with a probable error of 48 millimetres. By 
three sets of levellings, which have been made 
by different parties in the Mississippi valley, 
from St. Louis to the Gulf, and which are, in 
part, of unknown value, it would appear that 
the mean sea-level of the Gulf at New Orleans 
was one metre higher than that of the Atlantic 
Ocean at Sandy Hook, —a difference deemed 
probably greater than fact. 
Mr. H. M. Paul of the naval observatory 
read a short paper on the Krakatoa atmospheric 
waves. He had made a copy of the curves of 
atmospheric pressure on the days in question, 
as registered at the signal-office in Washington, 
and reached conclusions similar to those of Gen. 
Strachey and others. He also showed that 
waves of the same kind had been recorded at 
other times on the register. 
Several of the papers presented on the bio- 
logical side were the direct result of the ex- 
plorations of the U.S. fish-commission steamer 
Albatross. One of more than usual general 
interest was that of Prof. A. E. Verrill, who 
gave an account of some of the zodlogical 
results of the deep-sea dredgings between Cape 
Hatteras and Nova Scotia, using the model 
exhibited by Dr. Hilgard to illustrate his re- 
marks. ‘The number of additions to our fauna 
was surprising, including many new family and 
generic types in fishes, crustaceans, mollusks, 
echinoderms, and other of the lower inverte- 
brates, and many whose nearest allies were 
inhabitants of distant seas. The dredgings 
were from two thousand to three thousand 
fathoms. 
Dr. Gill and Mr. Ryder’s paper on the 
Lyomeri exposed the characters of an extraor- 
dinary type of deep-sea teleost fishes, having, 
among other characteristics, no branchiostegal 
and pharyngeal, and only rudimentary branchial 
arches ; an imperfectly ossified cranium; only 
two cephalic arches, —a maxillary and a sus- 
pensorial; no palatopterygoid and an imper- 
fect scapular arch. The remarkable deviations 
