634 
REPORT OF THE AUTUMN MEETING 
That Mr. Theodore WilHam Richards had been elected to succeed Mr. 
Ira Remsen as a member of the Directors of the Wolcott Gibbs Fund. 
That the ad interim appointments of Acting Chairmen of the Sections of 
the Academy were as follows: 
Mathematics: E. H. Moore, Acting Chairman. 
Astronomy: G. C. Comstock, Acting Chairman. 
Physics and Engineering: R. S. Woodward, Acting Chairman. 
Chemistry: A. A. Noyes, Acting Chairman. 
Geology and Paleontology: Arnold Hague, Acting Chairman. 
Botany: J. M. Coulter, Chairman, 1915-1918. 
Zoology and Animal Morphology: E. G. Conklin, Acting Chairman. 
Physiology and Pathology: R. H. Chittenden, Acting Chairman. 
Anthropology and Psychology: W. H. Holmes, Acting Chairman. 
That the following members were appointed an Auditing Committee to 
audit the accounts of the Treasurer in accordance with Rule V. 5. 
Arthur L. Day William H, Dall, Chairman F. W. Clarke 
That the division of the members of the Board of Editors of the Proceed- 
ings into three groups, one-third of them retiring annually, in accordance 
with Rule V. 1, was approved as follows: 
Dec. 1, 1916 Dec. 1, 1917 Dec. 1, 1918 
W. B. Caiwon E. G. Conklin J. J. Abel 
J. McK. Cattell C. B. Davenport J. M. Clarke 
J. M. Coulter E. B. Frost J. P. Iddings 
Simon Flexner W. H. Holmes R. A. Milltkan 
R. G. Harrison E. H. Moore Alexander Smith 
The Committee on the Henry Draper Fund recommended to the Academy 
that the following appropriations be made from available income: Four 
hundred dollars to Doctor Frank Schlesinger, Director of the Allegheny 
Observatory, to be applied toward the construction of a machine for measur- 
ing astronomical photographs; three hundred dollars to Doctor Joel Stebbins, 
Director of the University of Illinois Observatory, to be used in the further 
developnfent of the photo-electric photometer and its application to the study 
of variable stars; two hundred dollars, to be applied toward the expense of 
publishing the Proceedings of the National Academy. 
SCIENTIFIC SESSIONS 
A pubHc lecture was given on November 15 by Michael I. Pupin,of Columbia 
University, on Problems of Aerial Transmission. 
Three public scientific sessions were held on November 16 and 17 at which 
the following papers were presented : 
1. Edwin G. Conklin: Nature of cell polarity. 
2. W. E. Castle: Is selection or mutation the more important agency in evolution? 
3. A. E. Verrill: Inheritance of clubbed feet through five known generations; inheri- 
tance of abnormal or defective thumbs through four known generations. 
