PROCEEDINGS. 
461 
463d Meeting. February 6, 1897. 
President Baker in the chair. 
Forty-three members and guests present. 
Mr. Cyrus Adler presented a communication on The Jewish 
calendar. 
It was discussed by Messrs. Newcomb, Baker, and the author. 
Mr. J. R. Eastman read a paper on The relations of science 
and the scientific citizen to the general government. [Published 
in Science, 1897, April 2, new series, vol. v, no. 118, pp. 525-531.] 
Mr. Marcus Baker made a communication on The Philo¬ 
sophical Society. [Not published.] 
These papers were discussed by Messrs. Walcott, Gore, Stern¬ 
berg, Eastman, Dall, Ward, Adler, and Bigelow. 
464t,h Meeting. February 20, 1897. 
Vice-President Bigelow in the chair. 
Twenty-seven members and guests present. 
Mr. E. D. Preston read a paper on The transcontinental arc 
from Cape May to San Francisco. [Published in this volume, 
pp. 205-222.] 
It was discussed by Messrs. Green, Kummell, Bigelow, and 
the author. 
Mr. William Eimbeck read a paper on The new primary base 
apparatus of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. [Published 
in Coast and Geodetic Surve} r Report for 1897, Appendices 11 
and 12, pp. 737-774.] 
It was illustrated by an exhibition of a five-meter bar, and 
discussed by Messrs. Preston, Tittmann, Birnie, Bigelow, Kum¬ 
mell, and the author. 
Mr. Charles Richards Dodge read a paper on The systematic 
classification of textile and other useful fibers of the world, 
