266 
REPORT OF THE ANNUAL MEETING 
Cash on hand, December 31, 1917 
Balance in Corn Exchange Bank $149.90 
Cash 1.45 
Balance in Washington Savings Bank 75.29 
. $226.64 
Condensed Statement 
Total funds received. $1,403 . 50 
Total expenditures to December 31, 1917 $1,176.86 
Balance 226.64 1,403.50 
Respectfully yours, 
C. C. Trowbridge. 
No. 6, S. A. Mitchell, University of Virginia, University, Virginia, received in 1915 a 
grant of $500 to aid in securing observations of paths and radiants of meteors, and in com- 
puting orbits when the observations are sufficient; further grants of $300 were made in 
1916 and 1917. The war lessened the number of observations secured, during 1917, but 
this lessened number amounted to 4,231, making the whole number of observations about 
19,000. An abstract of results for 1917 has been published by Dr. Olivier in a recent number 
of Popular Astronomy. 
No. 7, George P. Merrill, United States National Museum, received last November a 
grant of $400 to aid in further study of certain elements in meteorites. Of this grant he has 
spent $185, and there remains to his credit $215. 
A report was received from the Directors of the Wolcott Gibbs Fund, signed 
by C. L. Jackson (Chairman), stating that during the past year no application 
was received for a grant from the Fund, and owing to the disorganization of 
chemical research by the war, it was not thought worth while to try to get 
applications; that the unexpended income of the Fund amounts to $360.87; 
and that holders of grants have reported as follows: 
Nos. 2 and 5, M. E. Holmes, of Connecticut College, finds that the exacting duties of her 
new position will prevent her from continuing her research, and has returned the unex- 
pended balance of the two grants amounting to $86.32. 
No. 6, G. P. Baxter, Harvard University, has spent $194.31 for material and apparatus 
since the last report. No platinum was bought, as the war had rendered it too expensive. The 
three researches described in the last report have been finished, and accounts of the results 
will be published soon. These were (a) Electrolytic Deposition in a Mercury Cathode, and 
the Atomic Weight of Cadmium, with C. H. Wilson. A slight loss was discovered, and cor- 
rected experimentally, after which eight determinations gave the atomic weight of cadmium 
as 112.40. (b) Impurities in Silver and Iodine, with L. W. Parsons. In 1 gram of the sil- 
ver used for atomic weight determinations 0.004 mgm. of gas were found; in the iodine, 0.002 
mgm. of gas. Most exacting spectroscopic tests showed no impurities in the silver. These 
results dispose of the criticisms of P. A. Guye on the Harvard atomic weight determinations, 
(c) The ratio of Arsenic Trioxide to Iodine, with L. A. Youtz. The atomic weight, 74.96, 
was found for arsenic. In addition a fourth research has been started. (d) The Atomic 
Weight of Mercury, with Matsusuke Kobayashi. All these res8arches but the last have been 
stopped by the enlistment of the graduate students in war service. 
Nos. 4 and 7, W. D. Harkins, University of Chicago, has bought a vacuum pump for 
$55.00, and is about to buy one still more efficient. He has studied the "Secondary Valence 
