502 
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 
Upon inquiry by Mr. Gilbert Thompson, Mr. Hill said that he had 
made careful observations of the fall lines of the rivers in this portion of 
Arkansas and Texas, and that Dr. Branner was having topographic maps 
made that would give valuable data upon this question. 
A paper by Mr. Romyn Hitchcock—Notes on Eclipse-Pho¬ 
tography in Japan—was read by the Secretary in the absence of 
the author. 
Mr. Gilbert made a communication on the Flat Rock 
Channel. 
313th Meeting. February 4, 1888. 
The President in the chair. 
Fifty members and guests present. 
Announcement was made of the death, on January 10, 1888, 
of Peter Parker, a founder of the Society. 
Announcement was also made of the election to membership 
of Robert Thaxter Edes and Otto Hilgard Tittmann. 
Mr. C. F. Marvin described A New Self-recording Rain- 
Gauge, and developed the formula for its various adjustments 
or corrections. [Abstract, Science, vol. 11, p. 97, Feb. 24, 1888.] 
Mr. J. S. Billings exhibited a form of Galton’s Apparatus for 
Testing Muscular Sense. 
The President announced the presence of Dr. George M. 
Dawson, Assistant Director of the Geological Survey of Canada, 
and requested him to favor the Society with an account of his 
explorations in the extreme northern part of British Columbia 
and the head-waters of the Yukon river. 
Following is an abstract of Dr. Dawson’s remarks : 
[Abstract.] 
The route followed was by the Stikine river to the head o*f navigation 
at Telegraph creek, and thence overland to Dease lake, the center of the 
Cassiar gold mining district of British Columbia. Here boats were built, 
and the Dease, Liard, and Frances rivers followed to the head of the last 
named in Frances lake. At Frances lake the boats were abandoned, and 
a difficult portage of about fifty miles made across the height of land 
between Frances and Liard rivers and the Pelly branch of the Yukon. 
This route had been used many years ago by the Hudson Bay Co., but 
