272 



of U. S. by Sea and Land, which had been received from 

 the publishers, Johnson, Fry & Co. 



Mr. Murray also laid before the Institute a communication 

 from the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, announc- 

 ing that the secretary had sent to D. Appleton & Co., N. Y., 

 to the order of the Institute, a copy of the vol of Contribu- 

 tions to Knowledge, which the Institution had just pub- 

 lished. 



Mr. Paterson was prepared to read a paper, but owing to 

 the small attendance, on motion of Dr. Vanderpoel, the In- 

 stitute adjourned. 



May 10, 1859. 

 The president, Hon. J. Y. L. Pruyn, in the chair. 



Dr. Willard presented the Transactions of the N. Y. State 

 Medical Society for 1859. 



Gen. Gansevoort, from the committee appointed at the 

 request of Prof. Hall, reported that they had held several 

 meetings, and had nearly agreed upon a report, which they 

 would be prepared to submit at an early day. 



Prof. Murray then read a paper in review of Hickok's 

 Rational Cosmology. After stating the fundamental prin- 

 ciples of the work, he proceeded to point out the erroneous 

 and inaccurate conclusions to which it arrived, especially 

 in the laws of Physics and Mechanics. He instanced his 

 demonstration of the second law of motion ; his account of 

 falling bodies ; his account of electric and magnetic phe- 

 nomena. He closed his paper by deprecating the employ- 

 ment of the a priori method of investigation in studying the 

 laws of matter ; and called upon its cultivators to show its 

 utility, by discovering some new law heretofore unknown. 



Adjourned. 



May 24, 1859. 



The president, Hon. J. Y. L. Pruyn, occupied .the chair. 



Mr. Paterson, on the request of the president, then read a 

 paper upon the binomial theorem, in which he endeavored 



