Recent Proceedings of Societies. 



Natural science association, Staten Island. 



April 10. — Dr. N. L. Britton said that the construc- 

 tion of the deep cutting for the Staten Island rapid 

 transit railway, at Tompkinsville, has exposed a 

 most interesting section through the glacial drift. 

 This is seen to be truly morainal in its upper por- 

 tion, consisting of large angular bowlders and peb- 

 bles irregularly embedded in unassorted clay and 

 sand. The lower part of the bank is, however, 

 beautifully stratified, and the materials composing it 

 are sorted into bands and layers of different sub- 

 stances, strata of sand of several degrees of coarse- 

 ness, others of clay, and still others of pebbles. Very 

 few bowlders occur in this lower part, and these are 

 in special well-marked bands, and are more rounded 

 than those above. While this exposure is of great 

 interest as illustrating the difference between 

 morainal and stratified drift at a glance, it is of 

 much greater importance as furnishing an accurate 

 measure of the depression of the coast at this point 

 during the glacial epoch ; for the altitude of the 

 upper line of stratification above tide gives us the 

 comparative position of the coast as regards its 

 position in glacial times. This is between twenty- 

 five and thirty feet ; hence we may safely conclude 

 that during the presence of the great ice-sheet the 

 shores of New York harbor stood that amount lower. 



New England meteorological society, Boston. 



April 20. — Prof. S. W. Holman, of the Institute 

 of technology, read a paper on the measurement of 

 temperature and the correction of thermometers. 



Prof. W. Upton, of Brown university, read a 



paper on the storm of Jan. 9 and 10, 1886. 



Professor Holman said that there must be standard 

 points determined for the readings of the scale, for 

 which the freezing and boiling temperatures of water 

 are universally accepted; that intermediate points are 

 best determined by the air-thermometer, in which 

 pressure varies with temperature, but that while this 

 instrument gives results of great accuracy, it is too 

 cumbersome for ordinary use ; that a cause of error, 

 especially visible in old thermometers, arises from a 

 very slow contraction of the glass bulb, giving its 

 readings too high ; that this can be prevented by cool- 

 ing the thermometer from the high temperature at 

 which the glass is blown, with extreme slowness ; 

 that ordinary thermometers, not made in this careful 

 way, may be improved by keeping them for several 

 weeks at a temperature as high as their tube will 

 allow ; that, to determine the error of thermometers, 

 a comparator is employed, containing a considerable 

 quantity of water, in which the thermometer to be 

 tested is placed, along with a standard already tested 

 in ice and steam ; and that the comparator is wrapped 

 with felting to prevent changes of temperature dur- 

 ing the comparison, and a glass window on one side 

 allows a reading of the instruments within. This 

 was followed by a general discussion on questions of 

 temperature. Mr. E. B. Weston, C.E., of Provi- 

 dence, spoke of the importance of well-constructed 

 shelters for thermometers, and hoped that the society 

 would use its influence towards careful placing of in- 

 struments, as it had already so successfully towards 

 the use of accurate instruments : differences of tem- 

 perature caused by location of thermometers on high 



and low land were shown to be very considerable.. 

 A paper sent by Prof. H. A. Hazen of the sig- 

 nal office, Washington, and prepared especially for 

 this meeting, was then read by the secretary. Its 

 chief point was, that, while care should be taken to 

 protect a thermometer from the opposite evils of 

 direct sunshine and insufficient ventilation, the great- 

 est errors will probably arise from the attitude of the 

 thermometer with respect to hill and valley. More- 

 care in the choice of locality is needed than has gen- 

 erally been given. Mr. Clayton, observer at the 

 Blue Hill observatory, confirmed this by recounting 

 his experience at Ann Arbor, Mich., where the dif- 

 ference of hill and valley air at one time and within 



a short distance amounted to thirteen degrees. 



Mr. D. Fitzgerald, C.E., of Brookline, exhibited and 

 explained the self-recording thermograph of Richard- 

 freres, Paris, speaking highly of its regular and ac- 

 curate records ; and Mr. A. L. Rotch of Boston ex- 

 hibited the thermograph invented by Dr. Draper, 

 and made by Black & Pfister of New York ; both 

 these speakers emphasized the value of continuous 

 automatic records, and expressed a hope that self- 

 recording instruments would come into more gen- 

 eral use. In the second formal communication of 



the meeting, Professor Upton described the storm of 

 Jan. 9 and 10, 1886, which will be remembered as 

 giving eastern New England the first heavy snow 

 and severe cold wave of the winter. The changes 

 of temperature of the storm were peculiar in showing 

 a distinct fall of fifteen degrees before the centre 

 passed, and a rise and fall of this amount during its 

 passage. The snow-fall was greatest close along the 

 storm-track. An ingenious 'composite portrait' of 

 the storm was finally presented, in which all observa- 

 tions were charted in their proper positions with 



respect to the storm-centre. Before adjournment 



it was announced that the monthly bulletin of the 

 society was on sale at a dollar a year, and the sum- 

 mer observations of thunder-storms would be begun 

 in June. The third annual meeting will be held next 

 October. 



Calendar of Societies. 



Philosophical society, Washington. 

 April 24. — G. Brown Goode and T. H. Bean, The 

 distribution of fishes in the oceanic abysses and 

 middle strata ; Gilbert Thompson, The physical-geo- 

 graphical divisions of the south-eastern portion of 

 the United States, and their corresponding topo- 

 graphical types. 



Anthropological society, Washington. 



April 6. — Kosmos Mindeleff, The Moqui snake- 

 dance : R. W. Shufeldt, A Navajo artist. 



April 20. — S. V. Proudfit, The lodge dweller; 

 Garrick Mallery, Manners and meals. 



Publications received at Editor's Office, April 19-24. 



Arthur, J. C, Barnes, C. R., and Coulter, J. M. Hand- 

 book of plant dissection. New York, Holt, 1886. 12+256-1-6 p., 

 2 pi., illustr. 12 . $1-50. 



Ballet, G. Le langage interieur et les diverses formes de 

 l'aphasie. Paris, Bailli'ere, 1886. 16+174 P-> illustr. 16°. (New- 

 York, Christern, 90 cents.) 



Baumgarten, P. Jahresbericht liber die fortschritte in der 

 lehre von den pathogenen mikroorganismen umfassend bac- 

 terien, pilze and protozoen. Jahrg. 1. 1885. Braunschweig, Brnhn, 

 1886. 192 p., 1 pi., illustr. 8°. (New York, Stechert.) 



