Philadelphia Meeting of Geological Society .— Upha-m. 89 
The sounds attending the discharge of some forms of 
•ascending* fireworks, such as rockets and star showers, though 
they occur in reverse order, seem to the writer to have an 
•origin similar to those accompanying the fall of meteorites. 
There is first a whizzing noise from the motion of a projectile 
through the air at a velocity of about 250 feet per second. 
Then the projectile is seen to burst, and the report of the ex¬ 
plosion follows sometime after the discharge itself. In this 
•case there can be no doubt that the report comes from the 
explosion “proper.” Whatever be the limitations of this anal¬ 
ogy. it may at least be well to point out that observation of 
the flight of sky rockets and other fireworks may afford ex¬ 
cellent practice in determining the position, angular altitude, 
velocity and distance of luminous bodies in motion, so that 
one who has gained skill in noticing these points maybe able, 
to record with accuracy the phenomena which attend the fall 
of a meteorite, whenever it becomes his good fortune to 
witness such an event. 
Field Columbian Museum, Jan. 7, 1896. 
PHILADELPHIA MEETING OF THE GEOLOGICAL 
SOCIETY OF AMERICA. 
By Warren Upham, St. Paul, Minn. 
The eighth winter meeting of the Geological Society of 
America was held in the Art Department rooms of the main 
building of the University of Pennsylvania on Thursday to 
Saturday, December 26th to the 28th, 1895. Sixty fellows 
were in attendance. At the same time six other societies 
held meetings in other rooms of the University, namely, the 
American Society of Naturalists, the American Morphologi¬ 
cal Society, the Association of American Anatomists, the 
American Physiological Society, the American Psychological 
Association, and the American Folklore Society. In all 
two hundred scientists or more participated, coming together 
for comparison of ideas and renewal of old acquaintance from 
widely distant parts of the United States and Canada. 
Prof. N. S. Shaler, president of the Society, presided at its 
meetings, and delivered his retiring address (the seventh in 
the ensuing list of papers) on Friday afternoon. The officers 
elected for 1896 are Joseph LeConte, of Berkeley, Cal., presi- 
