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■»^
' /
BULLETIN
OF THE
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
OF
WASHINGTON.
VOL. IV.- "^11
Containing the Minutes of the Society from the 185th Meeting,
October 9, 1880, to the 202d Meeting, June 11, 1881.
I'lrBMSHED BY THE CO-OPKRATION OF THE SMIT/LSoNlAN I.VSTITl'TIOV.
WASHINGTON
1881.
U
l^ocH^O^.ir
/ns, d^s-- iS-lrCo, U/t^S,
7-.C
JUDD A DETWEILER, PRINTBRS,
WASHINQTOir, D. C.
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Constitatiom of the Philosophical Society of Washington ... 5
Standing Rules of the Society 7
Standing Rules of the General G>mmittee . 11
Rules for the Publication of the Bulletin 13
List of Members of the Society 1 15
Minutes of the 185th Meeting, October 9th, 1880. — Cleveland Abbe on the
Aurora Borealis 21
Minutes of the i86th Meeting, October 25th, 1880. — Resolutions on the
decease of Prof. Benj. Peirce, with remarks thereon by Messrs. Alvord,
Elliott, Hilgard, Abbe, Goodfellow, and Newcomb. Lester F. Ward
on the Animal Population of the Globe 23
Minutes of the 187th Meeting, November 6th, 1880. — Election of Officers
of the Society. Tenth Annual Meeting 29
Minutes of the i88th Meeting, November 20th, 1880. — ^John Jay Knox on
the Distribution of Loans in the Bank of France, the National Banks
of the United States, and the •Imperial Bank of Germany. J. J.
Woodward on Riddell's Binocular Microscope. J. S. Billings on the
Work carried on under the direction of the National Board of Health, 30
Minutes of the 189th Meeting, December 4th, 1880. — Annual Address of
the retiring President, Simon Newcomb, on the Relation of Scientific
Metho<i to Social Progress. J. £. Hilgard on a Model of the Basin of
the Gulf of Mexico ... .. .. 39
Minutes of the 190th Meeting, December i8th, 1880. — Swan M. Burnett on
Color Perception and Color Blindness. E. M. Gallaudet on the Inter-
national Convention of the Teachers of the Deaf and Dumb at Milan, 53
Minutes of the 191st Meeting, January 8th, 1881. — W. F. McK. Ritter on
a Simple Method of Derivmg some Equations used in the Theory of
the Moon and Planets. Edgar Frisby on the Orbit of Swift's Comet. 56
Minutes of the I92d Meeting, January 22d, 1881. — ^J. W. Chickering, Notes
on Roan Mountain, North Carolina. Lester F. Ward, Field and Closet
' Notes on the Flora of Washington and Vicinity . 60
Minutes of the 193d Meeting, February 5th, 1881. — C. E. Dutton on the
Scenery of the Grand Cafion District 120
Minutes of the 194th Meeting, February 19th, 1881. — ^J. E. Todd on the
Quaternary Deposits of Western Iowa and Eastern Nebraska. C. E.
Dutton on the Vermilion Cliffs of Southern Utah 120
Minutes of the 195th Meeting, March 5th, 1 881. —Theodore Gill on Princi-
pies of Morphology. Marcus Baker on the Boundary Line between
Alaskaand Siberia 122
III
IV CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Minutes of the 196th Meeting, March 19th, 1881. — J. W. Poweil on the
Limitations to the use of some Anthro}X)logic Data 134
' Minutes of the 197th Meeting, April 2(1, 1881. — Resolutions Commemora-
' tive of the late Dr. George A. Otis, U. S. A. A. B. Johnson on the
History of the Light- House Establishment of the United States. E.
B. Elliott on A Fixed Legal Ratio of the Values of Gold and Silver. 134
^ Minutes of the 198th Meeting, April i6th, 1881. — Alexander Graham Bell
on the Spectrophone. G. Brown Goode on the Sword Fish and its
Allies 142
Minutes of the 199th Meeting, April 30th, 1881.— W. H. Dall on Reclent
I Discoveries in Alaska north of Behring Strait. J. S. Billings on Mor-
tality Statistics of the Tenth Census 163
Minutes of the 200th Meeting, May 14th, 1881. — S. C. Busey on the Rela-
tion of Meteorological Conditions to the Summer Diarrhceal Diseases. 164
Minutes of the 201st Meeting, May 28th, 1881. — D. P. Todd on the Solar
Parallax as derived from the American Photographs of the Transit of
Venus. G. K. Gilbert on the Origin of the Topographic Features of
Lake Shores 168
Minutes of the 202d Meeting, June nth, 1881. — J. J. Woodward, A Bio-
graphical Sketch of the late Surgeon George A. Otis, U. S. Army,
with a List of his Publications. Alexander Graham Bell on a Modifica-
tion of Wheatstone's Microphone and its Applicability to Radiophonic
Re- searches. J. M. Toner on Earth Tremors at Niagara 170
Index 187
CONSTITUTION
ov
THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
Arliclb I. The name of this Society shall he The Philosophical
Society of Wabhinoton.
Abticls II. The officers of the Society shall he a President, four Vice-
Presidents, a Treasurer, and two Secretaries.
Abticle III. There shall he a General Committee, consisting of the
officers of the Society and nine other memhers.
>
Article IV. The officers of the Society and the other memhers of the
General Committee shall be elected annually by ballot ; they shall hold
office until their successors are elected, and shall have power to fill
trftcancies.
Article V. It shall be the duty of the General Committee to make
rulefl for the government of the Society, and to transact all its business.
Article YI. This constitution shall not be amended except by a three-
fourths vote of those present at an annual meeting for the election of
ofBcers, and after notice of the proposed change shall have been given in
writing; at a stated meeting of the Society at least four weeks previously.
UI
J-CIJ
FOR THK GOYERNMSNT OF THE
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
January, 1881.
1. The Staled Meetings of the Society shall be held at 8 o'clock
p. M. on every alternate Saturday ; the place of meeting to be desig-
nated by the General Committee.
2. Notice of the time and place of meeting shall be sent to each
member by one of the Secretaries.
When necessary, Special Meetings may be called by the Presi-
dent.
3. The Annual Meeting for the election of officers shall be the
last stated meeting in the month of December.
The order of proceedings (which shall be announced by the
Chair) shall be as follows :
First, the reading of the minutes of the last Annual Meeting.
Second, the presentation of the annual reports of the Secreta-
ries, including the announcement of the names of members elected
since the last annual meeting.
Third, the presentation of the annual report of the Treasurer.
Fourth, the announcement of the names of members who having
complied with Section 12 of the Standing Rules, are entitled to vote
on the election of officers.
Fifth, the election of President.
Sixth, the election of four Vice-Presidents.
Seventh, the election of Treasurer.
Eighth, the election of two Secretaries.
Ninth, the election of nine members of the (General Committee.
Tenth, the consideration of Amendments to the Constitution of
(7)
o BULLETIN OF THE
the Society, if any such shall have been proposed in accordance
with Article VI of the Constitution.
Eleventh, the reading of the rough minutes of the meeting.
4. Elections of officers are to be held as follows :
In each case nominations shall be made by means of an informal
ballot, the result of which shall be announced by the Secretary ;
after which the first formal ballot shall be taken.
In the ballot for Vice-Presidents, Secretaries, and Members of the
General Committee, each vot^ shall write on one ballot as many
names as there are officers to be elected, viz., four on the first ballot
for Vice-Presidents, two on the first for Secretaries, and nine on the
first for Members of the Greneral Committee ; and on each subse-
quent ballot as many names as there are persons yet to be elected ;
and those persons who receive a majority of the votes cast shall be
declared elected.
If in any case the informal ballot result in giving a majority for
any one, it may be declared formal by a majority vote.
5. The Stated Meetings, with the exception of the annual meet-
ing, shall be devoted to the consideration and discussion of scientific
subjects.
The Stated Meeting next preceding the Annual Meeting shall be
set apart for the delivery of the President's Annual Address.
6. Sections representing special branches of science may be
formed by the General Committee upon the written recommenda-
tion of twenty members of the Society.
7. Persons interested in science, who are not residents of the Dir*-
trict of Columbia, may be present at any meeting of the Society,
except the annual meeting, upon invitation of a member.
8. Similar invitations to residents of the District of Columbia,
not members of the Society, must be submitted through one of the
Secretaries to the General Committee for approval.
9. Invitations to attend during three months the meetings of the
Society and participate in the discussion of papers, may, by a vote
of nine members of the General Committee, be issued to persons
nominated by two members.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. ^
10. Communications intended for publication under the auspices of
the Society shall be submitted in writing to the Greneral Committee
for approval.
11. New members may be proposed in writing by three members
of the Society for election by the General Committee : but no per-
son shall be admitted to the privileges of membership unless he
signifies his acceptance thereof in writing within two months after
notification of his election.
12. Each member shall pay annually to the Treasurer the sum
of five dollars, and no member whose dues are unpaid shall vote at
the annual meeting for the election of ofiicers, or be entitled to a
copy of the Bulletin.
In the absence of the Treasurer, the Secretary is authorized to
receive the dues of members.
The names of those two years in arrears shall be dropped from
the list of members.
Notice of resignation of membership shall be given in writing
to the General Committee through the President or one of the Sec-
retaries.
13. The fiscal year shall terminate with the Annual Meeting.
14. Members who are absent from the District of Columbia for
more than twelve months may be excused from payment of the
annual assessments, in which case their names shall be dropped
from the list of members. They can, however, resume their mem-
bership by giving notice to the President of their wish to do so.
15. Any member not in arrears may, by the payment of one
hundred dollars at any one time, become a life member, and be
relieved from all further annual dues and other assessments.
All moneys received in payment of life membership shall be
invested as portions of a permanent fund, which shall be directed
solely to the furtherance of such special scientific work as may be
ordered by the Greneral Committee.
OF THE
GENERAL COMMITTEE OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL
SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
January, 1881.
1 . The President, Vice-Presidents, and Secretaries of the Society
shall hold like offices in the Greneral Committee.
2. The President shall have power to call special meetings of the
Committee, and to appoint Sub-Committees.
3. The Sub-Committees shall prepare business for the General
Committee, and perform such other duties as may be entrusted to
them.
4. There shall be two Standing Sub-Committees ; one on Com-
munications for the Stated Meetings of the Society, and another on
Publications.
•
5. The General Committee shall meet at half-past seven o'clock
on the evening of each Stated Meeting, and by adjournment at
other times.
6. For all purposes except for the amendment of the Standing
Rules of the Committee or of the Society, and the election of
members, six members of the Committee shall constitute a quorum.
7. The names of proposed new members recommended in con-
formity with Section 11 of the Standing Rules of the Society, may
be presented at any meeting of the General Committee, but shall
lie over for at least four weeks before final action, and the concur-
(ti)
L^ocH^Ol.ir
r
/K^c. rz.-Tit,)
JUDD k DETWEILER, PRINTEBS.
WASHIKOTOK, D. C.
CONTENTS.
ConstltutioB of the Philosophical Society of Washington 5
Standing Rules of the Society 7
Standing Rules of the General Committee ii
Rules for the Publication of the Bulletin ^ 13
List of Members of the Society 1 15
Minutes of the 185th Meeting, October 9th, 1880. — Cleveland Abbe on the
Aurora Borealis 21
Minutes of the i86th Meeting, October 25th, 1880.— ^Resolutions on the
decease of Prof. Benj. Peirce, with remarks thereon by Messrs. Alvord,
EUiott, Hilgard, Abbe, Goodfellow, and Newcomb. Lester F. Ward
on the Animal Population of the Globe 23
Minutes of the 187th Meeting. November 6th, 1880. — Election of Officers
of the Society. Tenth Annual Meeting 29
Minutes of the i88th Meeting, November 20th, 1880. — ^John Jay Knox on
the Distribution of Loans in the Bank of France, the National Banks
of the United States, and the •Imperial Bank of Germany. J. J.
Woodward on Riddell's Binocular Microscope. J. S. Billings on the
Work carried on under the direction of the National Board of Health, 30
Minutes of the 189th Meeting, December 4th, 1880. — Annual Address of
the retiring President, Simon Newcomb, on the Relation of Scientific
Method to Social Progress. J. £. Hilgard on a Model of the Basin of
the Gulf of Mexico ..« ^ 39
Minutes of the 190th Meeting, December i8th, 1880. — Swan M. Burnett on
Color Perception and Color Blindness. E. M. Gallaudet on the Inter-
national Convention of the Teachers of the Deaf and Dumb at Milan, 53
Minutes of the 191st Meeting, January 8th, 1881.— W. F. McK. Ritter on
a Simple Method of Deriving some Equations used in the Theory of
the Moon and Planets. Edgar Frisby on the Orbit of Swift's Comet- 56
Minutes of the I92d Meeting, January 22d, 1881. — ^J. W. Chickering, Notes
on Roan Mountain, North Carolina. Lester F. Ward, Field and Closet
~ Notes on the Flora of Washington and Vicinity 60
Minutes of the 193d Meeting, February 5th, 1881. — C. E. Dutton on the
Scenery of the Grand Caiion District 120
Minutes of the 194th Meeting, February 19th, 1881. — ^J. E. Todd on the
Quaternary Deposits of Western Iowa and Eastern Nebraska. C. E.
Dutton on the Vermilion Cliffs of Southern Utah 120
Minutes of the i9Sth Meeting, March 5th, 1881. — Theodore Gill on Princi-
ples of Morphology. Marcus Baker on the Boundary Line between
Alaska and Siberia 122
III
IV CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Minutes of the 196th Meeting, March 19th, 1881. — J. W. Powell on the
Limitations to the use of some Anthropologic Data 134
Minutes of the 197th Meeting, April 2cl, 1881. — Resolutions Commemora-
tive of the late Dr. George A. Otis, U. S. A. A. B. Johnson on the
History of the Light-House Establishment of the United States. E.
B. Elliott on A Fixed Legal Ratio of the Values of Gold and Silver. 134
Minutes of the 198th Meeting, April i6th, 1881. — Alexander Graham Bell
on the Spectrophone. G. Brown Goode on the Sword Fish and its
Allies 142
Minutes of the 199th Meeting, April 30th, 1881.— W. H. Dall on Recent
Discoveries in Alaska north of Behring Strait. J. S. Billings on Mor-
tality Statistics of the Tenth Census 163
Minutes of the 200th Meeting, May 14th, 1881. — S. C. Busey on the Rela-
tion of Meteorological Conditions to the Summer Diarrhoeal Diseases. 164
Minutes of the 201st Meeting, May 28th, 1881. — D. P. Todd on the Solar
Parallax as derived from the American Photographs of the Transit of
Venus. G. K. Gilbert on the Origin of the Topographic Features of
Lake Shores 168
Minutes of the 202d Meeting, June iith, 1881. — J. J. Woodward, A Bio-
graphical Sketch of the late Sui^eon George A. Otis, U. S. Army,
with a List of his Publications. Alexander Graham Bell on a Modifica-
tion of Wheatstone's Microphone and its Applicability to Radiophonic
Re- searches. J. M. Toner on Earth Tremors at Niagara 170 *
Index 187
CONSTITUTION
or
THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
Arlicle I. The name of this Society shall be The Philosophical
Society of Wabhinotox.
Article II. The officers of the Society shall be a Presidentj four Vice*
Presidents, a Treasurer, and two Secretaries.
Article III. There shall be a General Committee, consisting of the
officers of the Society and nine other members.
Article IV. The officers of the Society and the other members of the
General Committee shall be elected annually by ballot ; they shall hold
office until their successors are elected, and shall have power to fill
vacancies.
Article V. It shall be the duty of the General Committee to make
rules for the government of the Society, and to transact all its business.
Article VI. This constitution shall not be amended except by a three-
fourths vote of those present at an annual meeting for the election of
officers, and after notice of the proposed change shall have been given in
writing at a stated meeting of the Society at least four weeks previously.
FOR THE QOVERKMENT OF THE
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
January, 1881.
1. The Stated Meetings of the Society shall be held at 8 o'clock
p. M. on every alternate Saturday ; the place of meeting to be desig-
nated by the General Committee.
2. Notice of the time and place of meeting shall be sent to each
member by one of the Secretaries.
When necessary, Special Meetings may be called by the Presi-
dent.
3. The Annual Meeting for the election of officers shall be the
last stated meeting in the month of December.
The order of proceedings (which shall be announced by the
Chair) shall be as follows :
First, the reading of the minutes of the last Annual Meeting.
Second, the presentation of the annual reports of the Secreta-
ries, including the announcement of the names of members elected
since the last annual meeting.
Third, the presentation of the annual report of the Treasurer.
Fourth, the announcement of the names of members who having
complied with Section 12 of the Standing Rules, are entitled to vote
on the election of officers.
Fifth, the election of President.
Sixth, the election of four Vice-Presidents.
Seventh, the election of Treasurer.
Eighth, the election of two Secretaries.
Ninth, the election of nine members of the General Committee.
Tenth, the consideration of Amendments to the Constitution of
(7)
12 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
rcnee of twelve members of the Committee shall be necessary to
election.
The Secretary of the General Committee shall keep a chronologi-
cal register of the elections and acceptances of members.
8. These Standing Bules, and those for the government of the
Society, shall be modified only with the consent of a majority of
the members of the General Committee.
K,TJLEIS
FOR THE
PUBLICATION OF THE BULLETIN
OF THE
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
January, 1881.
1. The President's annual address shall be published in full.
2. The annual reports of the Secretaries and of the Treasurer
shall be published in full.
3. When directed by the General Committee, any communication
may be published in full.
4. Abstracts of papers and remarks on the same will be pub-
lished, when presented to the Secretary by the author in writing
within two weeks of the evening of their delivery, and approved by
the Committee on Publications. Brief abstracts prepared by one
of the Secretaries and approved by the Committee on Publications
may also be published.
5. Communications which have been published elsewhere, so as
to be generally accessible, will appear in the Bulletin by title only,
but with a reference to the place of publication, if made known in
season to the Committee on Publications.
NoTX. 7%« atieniion of members to Hie above ruUs is specially requested,
(13)
LIST OF MEMBERS
or
THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON,
Corrected to July 18M, 1881.
The names of the Founders of the Society, March 18, 1871, are printed
in small capitals ; for other members the dates of election are given.
J indicates a life member by payment of 100 dollars.
* indicates absent from the District of Columbia, and excused
from dues until announcing their return.
♦* indicates resigned.
? indicates dropped for non-payment of dues, or nothing
known of him.
f indicates deceased.
N. B. — It is scarcely possible for the Treasurer to keep a correct record of
those who are absent and excused from paying dues, unless members will
keep him duly notified of their removals.
Thomas Antisbll.
Cleveland Abbe— 1871, October 29.
Benjamin Alvord 1872, March 28.
AsaO. Aldis 1878, March 1.
Sylvanus Thayer Abert 1876, January 80.
Robert Stanton Avery 1879, October 11.
Spcnceb Fullbrtok Baird.
JosKpH K.. Barnbs.
Stephbk Vincbnt BEir^T.
John Shaw Billings.
Orville Elias Baljcock _ 1871, June 9.
Henry Hobart Bates 1871, November 4.
t Theodoras Bailey 1878, March 1.
Thomas W. Bartlcy -.1878, March 29.
Samuel Clagctt Busey 1874. January 17.
(15)
16 LIST OF 3IEMBERS OF THE
Emil Bessels 1875
George Bancroft 1875
* Lester A. Beardslee 1875
* Rogers Birnie -1876
Marcus Baker '._ 1876
Swan Moses Burnett 1879
Alexander Graham Bell 1879
William Birney __ 1879
Horatio Chapin Burchard 1879
January 16.
January 30.
February 27.
March 11.
December 2.
March 29.
March 29.
March 29.
May 10.
Horace Oaprok.
Thomas Lincoln Casey.
t Salmon Portland Chase.
John Huntington Crane Coffin.
f Benjamin Faneuil Cbaio.
Charles Henry Crane.
Richard Dominicus Cutts 1871, April 29.
* Augustus L. Case 1872, November 16.
Robert Craig __ __-1873, January 4.
Elliott Coues 1874, January 17.
Joslah Curtis 1874, March 28.
John White Chickering 1874, April 11.
* Frank Wigglesworth Clarke 1874, April 11.
Edward Clark 1877, February 24.
Frederick Collins _ 1879, October 21.
Thomas Craig _ 1879, November 22.
John Henry Comstock 1880, February 14.
Alexander Smythe Christie 1880, December 4.
"William Healey Ball.
t Alexander B. Dyer.
Clarence Edward Button 1872, January 27.
t Richard Crain Dean 1872, April 28.
Henry Harrison Chase Dunwoody 1873, December 20.
t Charles Henry Davis 1874, January 17.
f Frederic William Dorr 1874, January 17.
Myricb Hascall Doolittle 1876, February 12.
** George Dewey 1879, February 15.
Charles Henry Davis 1880, June 19.
Theodore Lewis DeLand 1880, December 18.
t Amos Beebe Eaton.
EzEKiEL Brown Elliott.
** George H. Elliot.
John Robio Eastman 1871, May 27.
* Stewart Eldredge _ 1871, June 9.
Fredric Miller Endlich 1878, March 1.
? Charles Ewing 1874, January 17.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIBTY OP WASHINGTON. 17
♦Hugh £wing 1874, January 17.
John Eaton 1874, May 8.
♦EuBHA Foots.
William Ferrel 1872, November 16.
Edgar Frisby 1872, November 16.
tJohn Gray Poster 1873, January 18.
Edwmrd T. Fristoe —1878, March 29.
Bobert Fletcher 1873, April 10.
Edward Jeesop Farquhar 1876, February 12.
Trbodobb Nicholas Gill.
* Beyjamin Fraitklik Green.
Henry €hx)dfeUow 1871, November 4.
Grove Karl Gilbert 1878, June 7.
Leonard Bunnell Gale 1874, January 17.
* James Terry Gardner 1874, January 17.
George Brown Goode 1874, January 31.
Henry Gannett 1874, April ^.
* Edward Oziel Graves 1874, April 11.
Edward Miner Gallaudet 1876, February 27.
Francis Vinton Greene 1876, April 10.
Francis Mathews Green 1876, November 9.
Edward Goodfellow 1876, December 18.
Alexander Young P. Garnett 1878, March 16.
* Walter Hayden Graves ___ 1878, May 26.
♦Francis Mackall Gunnell 1879, February 1.
Bernard Richardson Green 1879, February 15.
William Whiting Godding 1879, March 29.
James Howard Gore 1880, March 14.
* Adolphus W.KJreely. 1880, June 19.
Albert Leary Gihon 1880, December 18.
AsAPB Hall.
WiLLLikM HaRKNESS.
FXRDINAKD YaKDKVEER HaTBXN.
t Joseph Hekrt.
Julius Erasmus Hiloard.
Andrew Atkikboit Humphreys.
Henry W. Howgate. 1873, January 18.
•Edward Singleton Holden.^^- —1878, June 21.
flsaiah Hanscom ^ 1878, December 20.
♦Edwin Eugene Howell 1874, January 31.
Henry Wetherbee Henshaw 1874, April 11.
David Lowe Huntingdon ^ 1877, December 21.
George William Hill _ 1879, February 1.
2
18
LIST OF MEMBERS OF THE
*Peter Oonover Hains 1879, February 16.
♦Franklin Benjamin Hough 1879, March 29.
William Henry Holmes.— 1879, March 29.
Ferdinand H. Haasler 1880, May 8.
William B. Hazen 1881.
Thornton Alexandxb Jxnkins.
William Waring Johnston 1878, June 21.
* Henry Arundel Lambe Jackson 1876, January 80.
William Nicolson Jeffers 1877, February 24.
Arnold Burgess Johnson 1878, January 19.
Joseph Taber Johnson 1879, March 29.
Owen James 1880, January 3.
*Reuel Keith— -1871, October 29.
John Jay Knox 1874, May 8.
Albert Freeman Africanus King 1876, January 16.
t Ferdinand Kampf ,..1876, December 18.
♦♦Clarence King 1879, May 10.
Jerome H. Kidder 1880, May 8.
Charles Evans Kilbourne 1880, June 19.
t Jonathan Homer Lank.
Nathan Smith Lincoln 1871, May 27.
♦♦Henry H. Lockwood 1871, October 29.
♦♦Stephen C. Lyford 1878, January 18.
William Lee 1874, January 17.
♦ Edward Phelps Lull 1876, December 4.
Eben Jenks Loomis 1880, February 14.
f Fielding Bradford Meek.
Montgomery Cunningham Meigs.
f Albert J. Mter.
William Myers 1871
fOscar A. Mack _._1872
William Manuel Mew 1873
f Archibald Robertson Marvine 1874
t James William Milner 1874
Oarrick Mallery— _ — 1876
Otis Tufton Mason *— 1875
William McMurtrie 1876
Aniceto Gkibriel Menocal 1877
Martin Ferdinand Morris 1877
♦Montgomery Meigs 1877
♦Joseph Badger Marvin 1878
Fredrick Banders McGuire 1879
? Clay Macauley 1880
June 23.
January 27.
December 20.
January 31.
January 81.
January 80.
January 80.
February 26.
February 24.
February 24.
March 24.
May 26.
February 16.
January 3.
PUIL080PHICAL SOCISTT OF WASHINGTON. 19
Simon Newcomb.
Walter Lamb Nicholson.
♦Charles Henry Nichols 1872, May 4.
Charles Nordhoff. 1879, Hay 10.
fOsoBOE Alexander Otis.
John Walter Osborne 1878, December 7.
John Grubb Parks.
Peter Parker.
♦Titian Rausat Pealb.
t Benjamin Pierce.
Charles Christopher Parry 1871, May 18.
♦♦Carlisle P. Patterson 1871, November 17.
♦Charles Sanders Pierce — 1878, March 1.
Orlando Metcalf Poe 1878, October 4.
John Wesley Powell — 1874, January 17.
♦♦ David Dixon Porter 1874, April 11.
♦Albert Charles Peale -1874, April 11.
Robert Lawrence Packard 1876, February 27.
Henry MartynPaul. 1877, May 19.
♦Henry Smith Pritchett 1879, March 29.
Daniel Webster Prentiss 1880, January 3.
♦Christopher Raymond Perry Rodgers 1872, March 9.
♦Joseph Addison Rogers - 1872, March 9.
John Rodgers 1872, November 16.
♦Henry Reed Ratbbone -—1874, January 17.
♦Robert Ridgway 1874, January 81.
t John Campbell Riley 1877, May 19.
Charles Valentine Riley 1878, November 0.
William Francis McKnight Ritter 1879, October 21.
Benjamin Franklin Sands.
f Oeoroe Christian Schaeeeer.
Charles Anthony Sghott.
William Tucumseh Sherman.
James Hamilton Saville 1871, April 29.
Ainsworth Rand Spofford 1872, January 27.
7 Frederic Adolphus Sawyer 1873, October 4.
John Sherman 1874, January 17.
•John Stearns 1874, March 28.
♦Ormond Stone 1874, March 28.
7 Aaron Nicholas Skinner 1876, February 27.
Samuel Shellabarger 1876, April 10.
David Smith 1876, December 2.
Edwin Smith 1880, October 28.
20 LIST OF MEMBERS.
♦Montgomery Sicard 1877, February 24.
Henry Robinson Searle 1877, December 21.
Charles Dwight Sigsbee 1879, March 1.
John Patten Story 1880, June 19.
William Bowkr Taylor.
William Calvin Tilden 1871, April 29.
? George Taylor 1873, March 1.
Joseph Meredith Toner 1878, June 7.
Almon Harris Thompson 1875, April 10.
William J. Twining 1878, November 28.
David P. Todd 1878, November 28.
** Jacob Kendrick Upton 1878, February 2.
Winslow Upton 1880, December 4,
George Vasey 1876, June 6.
♦Junius B. Wheeler.
Joseph Janvier Woodward.
William Maxwell Wood 1871, December 2.
Francis Amasa Walker 1872, January 27.
James Clarke Welling—. 1872, November 16.
James Ormond Wilson 1878, March 1.
♦George M. Wheeler... 1873, June 7.
♦John Maynnrd Woodworth 1874, January 31.
Allen D. Wilson 1874, April 11.
?Charles Warren -.; ...1874, May 8.
♦Joseph Wood 1875, January 16.
♦Christopher Columbus Woloott ..1875, February 27.
Lester Frank Ward 1876, November 18.
Charles Abiathar White ..1876, December 16.
Zebulon L. White ...1880, June 19.
Willium Crawford Winlock 1880, December 4.
t Mordecai Yarnall ,— 1871, April 29.
Henry Crissey Yarrow - 1874, January 81.
Anton Zumbrock 1875, January 80.
BULLETIN
OF THE
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
185th Meetiko. October 9, 1880.
The President in the Chair.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and adopted.
The President notified the meeting of the decease of Prof. Peirce'
whereupon
Mr. Ellxott moved the appointment of a committee of three, to
be appointed by the Chair, to draft resolutions in accordance with
the notice just given and submit the same at the next meeting.
The Chair appointed as Committee : J. E. Hilgabd, J. H. C.
Coffin, and Wm. Ferrell.
The treasurer notified the meeting that Vol. 3 of the Bulletin
had been published, and that a copy would be forwarded to all
members not in arrears.
Mr. C. Abbe communicated the first part of a paper on the
Aurora Borealis, referring to studies made by him on the appear-
auce of the aurora of April 4, 1874. He spoke of the difficulty
which beset the consideration of the explanation of the appearance
of the aurora, and especially of obtaining the altitude of the arch.
The present modes of measuring the height yield only negative
results, as shown by the experiments of Bravais and Martin, using
the trigonometrical method. The second mode employs the varying
amount of dip at separate localities, using it according to Galles'
method, which assumes the dip of the needle to be of the same
amount in the upper regions of the air as at the earth's surface,
which has not been proved. Mr. Abbe also referred to Gauss'
formula for calculating the direction and intensity of magnetism for
all localities, and the defects in Galles' method of calculating the
(21)
22 BULLETIN OF THE
heights of auroras, and concluded that we should look with doubt
upon all results obtained.
Mr. Abbe then alluded to a third method which has been used
by Prof. Newton : this method is based on the assumption that the
Aurora describes an arc running round the earth in a circle parallel
to the region of greatest frequency of the aurora ; this method in-
volves too many assumptions to justify its adoption. It seems im-
possible to obtain harmonious results from observations at one
locality compared with another ; nor can the results be made to
harmonize with the three methods.
Mr. Elliott alluded to a generally accepted belief that auroras
exist at variable heights in the atmosphere, and synchronous with
its existence disturbance of the magnetic needle occurs and great
electric disturbance, shown by the irregular working of telegraphic
apparatus. In the high regions of the air the currents encounter
much less resistance than at the earth level.
Mr. Osborne made remarks on observations made by him on
auroras at Melbourne, and on the appearances of the magnetic
light in the southern hemisphere.
Mr. Powell considered that auroras could occasionally appear
in the lower strata of the atmosphere, and referred to an observa-
tion of his own in which the arch was placed between the observer
and a mountain.
Mr. Fabquhar called attention to the frequent accounts given
of the occurence of the aurora at low levels in high latitudes (as
in Norway ;) and as regards the direction of the flashing of the
rays as proceeding from below upwards or vice versa, this might
be an error of observation, similar to observations on the direction
of currents or direction of electric light or of magnetism.
The President remarked in closing the discussion that more care-
ful and systematic observations were necessary to determine the
height and position of the auroral streamers, and to substantiate
the conclusion that the same streamers could not be seen by observ-
ers a few miles apart. He cited the general fact of auroras being
seen in the north and not in the south over wide stretches of lati*
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 23
tud^ as one which seems to him difficult to explain on any theory
that the aurora was a local phenomenon.
The meeting then adjourned.
186th Meetino. October 23, 1880.
The President in the Chair.
The minutes of last meeting were read and adopted.
The President notified the meeting of the decease of General A.
J. Mteb, one of the members of the Society.
Dr. Toner moved the appointment of a committee to draft reso-
lutions suitable to the occasion.
Committee appointed : Messrs. J. C. Welling, Cleveland Abbe*
Gabrick Mallery.
The committee appointed at the last meeting of the Society, to
report a resolution commemorative of the decease of Prof. Peirce,
reported as follows :
BeaovUd, That the Philosophical Society of Washington put on
record their appreciation of tl^ eminent services to science rendered
by the late rrof. Benjamin Peirce, of Harvard University, some
time since Superintendent of the United States Coast Survey, and
during that time a member of this Society. His introduction of
the new modes of condensed mathematical thought into celestial
mechanics, and his development of new algebraic methods to their
uttermost limit, will ever mark him as one of the most powerful
mathematicians of our age.
Mr. Alyord said he had a warm sympathy with this just and
appropriate tribute to the memory of Benjamin Peirce. Though
he could say much in admiration of his genius and of his works,
he would now only make an allusion to a mathematical discussion
in which Prof. Peirce referred to his friend Agassiz, for whom he
alwajTS expressed a warm regard.
In the spring of 1865 Prof. Peirce invited the speaker to attend
the meeting, at Northampton, in August of that year, of the
National Academy of Science, at which he expected to read a
paper. On reaching the room was found arranged around the
walls about a dozen large drawings to illustrate the " Paih of the
SUng/* which was his topic. He had obtained an equation of this
24 BULLETIN OF THE
path. The curve exhibiting this path was very simple in hia^first
drawings and very complicated in the last, according to the changes
made in the constants entering into the equation, but the law on
the equation of the curve remained the same. The last drawings
disclosed highly complex and involved curves not unlike the
epicycloids. '
Prof. Peirce said that these drawings had greatly interested Prof.
Agassiz, then absent in his voyage around Cape Horn. It was a
striking example of the great varieties and possibilities in nature,
buried in the same law. These curves, however apparently differ-
ent, were traced by the use of the same identical equation, and
between the examples exhibited by Prof. Peirce of course myriads
of intermediate curves existed. It is obvious that the attraction of
all this to Agassiz was the anolagy to organisms in botany and in
zoology where groups and species obey some common generalization.
A son of Prof. Peirce has stated that this discussion was never
printed, and it is feared that a large share of his brilliant original
conception will never be published.
Mr. Elliott referred in warm terms to the genial disposition of
Prof. Pierce, and to the encouragement always given by him to
young investigators, a characteristic by which he was marked.
Mr. Elliott mentioned that he was the fortunate possessor of a
presentation copy of the *' Linear Associative Algebra " referred to
by Prof. Hilgard, a work which could not fail to impress the in-
vestigator with respect and admiration for the great genius of the
author.
Prof. HiLQARD said he would supplement his first characteriza-
tion of the ideal algebra, and would call that work the exhaustive
treatment of a given mode of investigation, a method of research
carried to its uttermost limit and completely exhausted.
Mr. Alvord stated that Prof. Peirce undoubtedly did a good
deal to further the cause of astronomical science by obtaining appro-
priations to test the value of heights on the Union Pacific Railroad
for astronomical observations. In August, 1868, at Chicago, the
American Association for the Advancement of Science recommended
the establishment of an observatory in that region. Prof. Peirce,
as Superintendent of the Coast and Greodetic Survey, had observa-
PHILOSOPHICAL 80GIETT OF WASHINGTON. 25
tions made at Sherman Station by Prof. C. A. Young, and on the
Sierra Nevada by Prof. Davidson. All this paved the way for the
endowment and establishment of the Lick Observatory. These
experiments led to the conclusion that the atmosphere of Califomia
was most &vorable to such observations. The more recent tentative
observations of Mr. Bumham at Mount Hamilton confirm these
views, and give promise of great success at the Lick Observatory.
Prof. Abbe said that while the scientific and public works of
Fh>f. Peirce would always be spoken of with admiration, his social
characteristics were equally interesting. Prof. Abbe could never
forget the first time he shook hands with the venerable mathe-
matician in 1860, when he felt that there was a bond of union and
sympathy between them. Almost the first words he ever heard
him utter gave a glimpse of the man himself. He had heard Prof
Peirce say that die true poet — he who writes the most elevated
poetry — ^is the pure mathematician.
Remarks by Mr. Edward Goodfellow.
It was my privilege, more than a quarter of a century ago to be
ordered to duty under Prof. Peirce's direction, to aid him in cer-
tun investigations he was making in behalf of the Coast Survey,
with the object of ascertaining the most probable value to be as-
dgned to observations of moon culminations in the determination
of dififerences of longitude.
He was then in the prime of life and upon ihe threshold of that
great £ame which his works brought to him but a few years later*
He impressed me as a man of thorough kindliness of heart. I
came to Cambridge an entire stranger ; he interested himself per-
sonally in obtaining for me home-like lodgings, and not unfrequently
would come to my room to explain in detail, or to write out at length,
formulsB which in his own very concise forms had been to me an en-
tire puzzle.
Among the Harvard students he was very popular; his text-
books though were less liked than himself. It was a common say.
ing among the collegians, that Prof. Peirce took for granted, in his
books, that every one had as clear an insight into mathematics as
he himself had.
I was on duty at West Hills, one of the Coast Survey stations on
Long Island, in 1865, when Prof. Peirce came to see Mr. Bache,
then just returned from Europe, but not with improved health.
26 BULLETIN OF THE
Two years later, the death of Prof. Bache created a great va*
cancy. At that time the character and qualifications of the man
who should succeed him in that high office were thoroughly under*
stood. A recognized pre-eminence among scientific men, an ability
to form an independent judgment respecting the problems of geo»
desy involved in the work — these were essentials. It is enough to
say of Prof. Peirce that his appointment amply fulfilled these re*
quirements. Foremost among the geometers of his own land, and
regarded as in the front rank of foreign mathematicians, Prof.
Peirce, during the first years of his superintendency, developed an
administrative ability, which^ in the methods of its exercise, won
for him the friendly regard and respect of both the older and
younger officers of the survey. Recognizing, with a fine tact and
courtesy, the conditions entailed upon officers engaged in field
work — much physical hardship, small pay, and slow promotion —
he established a system of gradual increase of pay at certain in*
tervals, and according to merit
With Government officials, members of Congress, and all whom
it was necessary to consult in obtaining appropriations for the sur*
vey. Prof. Peirce was never at fault ; he knew how to use the legiti*
mate methods of success ; and he will long be remembered, not
only as a great mathematician, but as the able director of an im*
portant national work.
President Newoomb said, as one who had known Prof. Peirce
only a little less than a quarter of a century, it might not be in-
appropriate for him to say a few words, although much that he
would have said had been anticipated by those who had already
addressed the Society.
One of the most interesting points in Prof. Peirce's character
was the fact that he was anything but a mathematician, as conven*
tionally understood — cold, unsympathizing, living in an atmosphere
above the rest of the world. Prof. Newcomb had never known any
one who had a better heart
Several members had spoken of the encouragement given by
Prof. Peirce to those who first entered upon their life career. The
speaker's first interview with that distinguished mathematician had
been indelibly impressed upon his mind. What struck him most
forcibly about Prof. Peirce at that time was the perfectly unsophis-
ticated way in which he put one at ease, and the total freedom
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 27
from anything like dignity or pretentiousness which one might sup-
pose would be seen in so great a man. An interesting trait in Prof.
Peiree's intellectual character was his disposition to look at the
philosophical side of things. Altogether, his mathematical works
were as much treatises on formal logic as they were on formal
mathematics. The paper on multiple algebra, referred to by Prof.
Hilgard, had very much of that character.
Prof. Peirce's method of judging men was peculiar. Among his
students he recognized only two classes — those who knew and those
who did not know. Owing to the general vivacity of his character
he invested the driest subjects with interest. Those who listened to
his elocution almost fancied that they understood the highest things
he talked about.
Mr. Lester F. Ward made a communication on the
ANIMAL POPULATION OF THE GLOBE.
He stated that he had recently had occasion to compile, chiefly
from official sources, the statistics of live stock in the various
countries of the globe from which any data could be obtained, and
thought that some of the general results arrived at might possess
sufficient scientific interest to warrant laying them before the
Society.
The whole number of countries from which information of this
character had been collated was twenty-seven, embracing all the
countries of Europe except European Turkey, the several British
Colonies in Australasia, the Island of Ceylon, Cape Colony and
Natal in South Africa, Mauritius, the Dominion of Canada, New-
foundland, Jamaica, the Argentine Republic, Uruguay, Chili, and
the United States. The species of animals of which cognizance
was alone taken were : horses, mules, asses, horned cattle, sheep,
goats, hogs, buffaloes, and reindeer. The reports were very incom-
plete except with respect to the four leading species, viz : horses,
cattle, sheep, and hogs.
The total number of each species actually reported upon was as
follows :
Horses 47,181,384
Mules 3,474,391
Asses 2,217,166
Mules and asses, not distinguished - 11,849
28 BULLETIN OF THE
Homed catUe - - . - 157,598,521
Sheep 382,763,015
GoatB 16,704,911
Hoga 81,691,331
Buffaloes 89,281
Reindeer 96,567
690,828,416
The only species for which an estimate had been made of the
total number in the world was the sheep. Mr. Robert P. Porter
had made such an estimate, which, though varying from the official
data in many of the above countries, afforded a basis for extend-
ing the figures already obtained to the remaining portions of the
globe, and according to which the ovine population of the earth
would reach 577,763,015. Using this result as a basis, a very
rough estimate of the number of each of the remaining species
in regions not already covered by actual enumerations would
place the aggregate number of all the species named throughout
the world at a little upward of one billion head and their distri-
bution would then be about as follows :
Horses 70,770,597
Cattle 236,397,781
Sheep 577,763,015
Hogs 100,000,000
All other animals - - - - 32,391,247
1,017,322,640
Reasons were, however, given for regarding this estimate con-
siderably too low, both as to the number of sheep, upon which it
is based, and also in the aggregate, and the speaker thought that
the latter would probably reach nearly a billion and a half.
Comparisons were then made with the human population. Ac-
cording to a recent work by Baron Kolb the population of the 27
countries, from which reports were obtained, amounted, in 1878, to
366,100,000. This would give, upon an average, in all these coun-
tries, 130 horses, 430 cattle, 1,046 sheep, 224 hogs, and 29 of all
the remaining animals taken together, to each 1,000 human beings,
and for all these species combined, 1,887 animals to each 1,000 of
population.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 29
The latest issue of Behm & Wagner's Bevolkerung der Erde,
(No. 6,) gives the present population of the earth at 1,456,000,000.
If the above estimates of the number of each of these classes of
animals in the entire world could be relied upon, they would show,
for each 1,000 of human population, 50 horses, 166 cattle, 407
sheep, 70 hogs, and 23 of the other species taken together, or 716
of all the kinds enumerated. But, as above stated, these figures
are probably far too low, and, if the truth could be known, it would
probably be found that the animal population within these limits
would not fall &r below the human population.
The paper was concluded with some general observations on the
moral bearings of the question of animal domestication. It was
held that these facts constituted a sufficient justification of man's
general treatment of the brute creation ; that a larger amount of
animal life exists under man's influence than could exist without
it ; that he creates more life than he destroys ; that his methods of
destruction are less painful than those of Nature ; that it is to his
interest to treat animals well, to supply them with abundant food,
and relieve them from those constant fears, both of enemies and of
want, which characterize their condition in a wild state ; and that
when life is taken, it is done quickly and as painlessly as possible ;
that the reverse of all this is the case in Nature, and hence a
great amount of human sympathy is wasted on the creatures under
man's control in consequence of ignorance of a few facts and prin-
ciples.
Observations on the foregoing paper were made by Messrs.
Elliott and Gill.
The meeting then adjourned.
187th Meeting. 10th Annual Meeting, Novembek ©ph, 1880.
Vice-President Hilgard in the Chair.
Thirty-nine members present.
Meeting c^led to order by the Chair.
The Secretary read proceedings of the last annual meeting (168th
meeting) held Novomber 16th, 1879.
The names of members elected sihce the last annual meeting were
announces.
80 BULLETIN OF THE
Preliminary to voting, the list of paid up members was read.
The election of officers for the ensuing year was conducted in
accordance with the rules of the Society, with the following re-
sults : —
President, Joseph Janvier Woodward.
Vice-PreHdenU, W. B. Taylor, J. C. Welling,
J. E. HiLOARD, J. E. Barnes,
Trecuurer, Cleveland Abbe.
Secretaries, T. N. Gill, C. E. Dutton.
members of the general committee.
John W. Powell, Simon Newcomb,
William Harkness, E. B. Elliott,
Garrick Mallery, Chas. a. Shott,
John B. Eastman, Thomas Antibell,
Jos. M. Toner.
It was moved by Mr. Coffin —
That the consideration of the subject of annual reports to be
made by the officers of the Society, be referred to the Greneral
Committee, for such action as they may deem desirable.
Adopted.
It was also moved by Mr. Coffin —
That the General Committee be requested to provide some means
for obtaining an annual address from the retiring President and
report the same to the Society.
Adopted.
Society then adjourned.
188th Meeting. Nqvember 20, 1880.
The President, Mr. J. J. Woodward, in the Chair, and 58 mem-
bers present.
The newly-elected President addressed a few remarks to the So-
ciety, expressive of his high appreciation of the honor ^nf%red
upon him by his election as President of the Society, and conveying
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON. 81
assurance of his desire and earnest efforts to fill the office accept-
ably, and to aid in rendering its meetings interesting and in-
structive.
The Chair announced the appointment of a Committee on Com-
munications, viz : Mr. C. E. Dutton and Mr. Garrick Mallert.
Mr. J. C. Welling then presented, pursuant to a resolution of
the Society passed at its 186th meeting, the following preamble and
resolution relative to the decease of an honored fellow member,
viz., the late General Albert J. Myer :
Whereas in the death of Brigadier General Albert J. Mter,
late Chief Signal Officer of the Army, this Society has been called
upon to mourn the loss of one of its founders as well as one of its
most distinguished members, therefore, be it
Resolved, That in testifying our deep regret at the sudden termi-
nation of the useful life of General Myer, while as vet he was ap-
parently in the mid-career of his activity, we, at the same time,
would record our admiration of those energetic qualities which he
brought to every sphere of duty he was called to fill, and by virtue
of wnich he was able, on the one hand, to organize a system of
military signaling highly valuable to the Government in the late
war, and, on the other hand, to develop a wide field of usefulness
by directing the whole energy of the signal service to the study and
the practical applications of the science of meteorology, in both
which provinces he displayed a remarkable talent for control and
great liberality of public spirit.
Resolved, That these proceedings be entered upon the minutes of
the Society.
The first communication of the evening was by Mr. John Jay
ELkox, entitled
the distribution of loans in the bank of FRANCE, THE
NATIONAL BANKS OF THE UNITED STATES, AND THE IMPERIAL
BANK OF GERMANY.
Mr. Knox first gave a brief outline of the operations of the
Bank of France during and since the late Franco-Prussian war.
While it appears that the bank deals in very large amounts of
money, particular attention was drawn to the fact that it also dis-
tributes among the people smaller amounts than the smallest banks
in this country, and, in its annual reports of its transactions, prides
itself upon the fact that it has rendered services to so many of the
humblest citizens. After reciting the amount of commercial paper
discounted, the amount of advances on collateral securities, and
32 BULLETIN OF THE
the amount of securities of the French Government held by it, he
proceeded to quote from the bank reports of 1879 the classification
of the Paris bills received at the bank :
Bills of 10 fr., or $2 each, and under - - 7,842
Bills of 11 fr. to 50 fr. each, or $2.20 to $10, 392,845
Bills of 51 fr. to 100 fr. each, or $10.20 to $20, 623,232
Bills- of above 100 fr. each, or $20 - - 2,878,294
Total 3,902,213
The average value of the bills thus discounted at Paris, in 1879,
was 859 francs or $171.80. At the branches of the bank, of which
there are ninety, the average amount of the bills discounted was
992 francs or $198.40. Similarly in the year 1878, this average
value was, at Paris, 892 francs or $178.40, and in the branches of
the bank 992 francs or 198.40. The averages for both the bank
and its branches were for 1878, 944 francs or $188.80, and for
1879, 900 francs or $180.00.
The bank of France receives these bills from bankers who keep
accounts with it as it discounts only for its depositors. These
bankers in turn discount them for small brokers who receive them
for this purpose from the working classes. The bills are presented
at the bank with accompanying schedules. The rate of interest is
the same on small bills as on larg^ ones, and no charge is made
beyond this ordinary discount or interest The greater part of
these small bills are promissory notes and issued from small manu-
facturers, and also from workmen on their own account, known as
makers of the Articles de Paris. The annual exports of such
articles amount it is said to twenty-five millions of dollars, and
they consist of nic-nacs, toys, dolls, cheap bronze jewelry, and simi-
lar products.
Mr. Knox also gave a classification of the notes and .bills dis-
counted and held by the National Banks of the United States on
Oct(i>er> 2. 1879, when the total amount of loans was $875,013,107.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCtETT OF WASHINGTON.
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34 BULLETIN OF THE
The number of pieces of paper discounted, as will be seen, was
808,269, and the average of each discount, $1,082,59. If the aver-
rage time of these bills was sixty days, and the banks held continu-
ally the same amount, the number of discounts made during the
year would be nearly five millions (4,849,614), the total discounts
more than five thousand millions (5,250,000,000), which would be
eqoal to a discount of $700 annually for each voter, or $500 for
each family in the country. The number of notes and bills of $100
each or less at* the date named was 251, 34G, or nearly one-third of
the whole ; the number of bills of less than $500 each was 547,385,
or considerably more than two-thirds of the whole ; while the num-
ber of bills of less than $1,000 each was 642,765. which is more
than three-fourths of the whole number.
Among the States having the smallest average loans were the
following : New York, exclusive of the cities of New York and
Albany, $499 ; Pennsylvania, exclusive of Philadelphia and Pitts-
burgh, $566 ; Maryland, exclusive of Baltimore, $505 ; Kansas, in
which the average was $353 ; Iowa, with an average of $375 ; West
Virginia, of $350 ; Delaware, $556 ; New Jersey, $566 ; Minnesota,
$621 ; Vermont, $645 ; North Carolina, $667 ; Tennessee. $651 ;
Maine, $740 ; Indiana, $711 ; New Hampshire, $815 ; South Caro-
lina, $846 ; Georgia, $882.
The Imperial Bank of Germany has a capital of $30,000,000,
and is located in the city of Berlin.
The total number of bills of all kinds discounted during the year
1879 was 2,374,394, amounting to $852,175,650; the average
amount of each bill being $358.90. The bills are classified as fol-
lows : There were 533,564 town bills, amounting to $263,663,280—
average $494.15 each ; the number of bills on places in Germany
was 1,834,351, amounting to $578,693,335, and averaging $315.47
each ; and the number of foreign bills was 6,479, in amount
$9,819,035, and averaging $1,515.52 each. The average amount
of loans and discounts for the year was $82,073,500.
Mr. E. B. Elliott inquired whether it is desiiable that bills of
such small amounts as those discounted by the Bank of France
should be discounted in this country ; if so, what plan could be
suggested ?
Mr. Knox replied that the savings banks, which receive deposits
from all classes and in small amounts, might make small loans.
PHIL080PHI0AL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 85
The laws restrict their investments to the best classes of securities. If
there is any class oppressed by the want of loans it is poor people.
They have a little money or negotiable property laid aside, upon
which they frequently want to borrow, but they find nobody willing
to loan upon it. Their only resource is to go to the note shavers
and curbstone brokers, who charge them an exorbitant interest.
Their wants, in his opinion, could be met by the savings banks. *
Mr. J. J. Woodward read a communication entitled
RIDDELL's binocular microscopes. — ^AN HISTORICAL NOTICE,
which is printed in full in the American Monthly Microscopical
Journal for December, 1880.
[Abstract.]
Mr. Woodward exhibited a large binocular microscope, which
he stated had been made for the late Dr. J. L. Riddell, then Pro-
fessor of Chemistry in the University of Louisiana, during the
winter of 1853-4 by the Qrunow Brothers, of New Haven, Con-
necticut, and presented to the Army Medical Museum in April,
1879, by Dr. Riddell's widow.
He said that, although the proper merit of Riddell as a discoverer
in this connection had been duly acknowledged by such high con-
cental authorities as Harting and Frey, and even by some English
writers, it had been strangely ignored by others, and that even so
fair and usually so accurate an author as Dr. Wm. B. Carpenter
had fallen into the error of asserting that " the first really satisfactory
solution of the problem was that worked out by M. Nachet ;" an
error the more remarkable in view of the manner in which Riddell's
discovery was published and discussed in England, and of the
manner in which it had been used by the opticians of that country.
Mr. Woodward then ofiered evidence to show that Riddell was
the first to discover and publish the optical principle on which all
the really satisfactory binocular microscopes made prior to the pres-
ent year depend, as well as the inventor of two efficient and still
much employed methods of applying that principle ; one suitable
for the simple or dissecting microscope, the other for the compound
microscope.
SiddelPs discovery was, briefly, that the cone of rays proceeding
from a single objective may be so divided by means of reflecting
prisms, placed as close behind the posterior combination of theob-
36 BULLETIN OF THB
jective as possible, that orthoscopic binocular vision can be obtained
both with the simple and the compound microscope. This discov.
®i'7» together with an account of one method of carrying it out, and
a suggestion of the feasibility of other methods, was published by
Riddell in the New Orleans Monthly Medical Register for October,
1852, p. 4, and subsequently in the American Journal of Science
and Arts, for January, 1853, p. 68. This article was reprinted in
London, in the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science for
April 1853. (Vol. 1, 1853, p. 236.)
The contrivance described in this first paper was found by Riddell
to give orthoscopic binocular vision when used without eye-pieces>
but when ordinary eye-pieces were employed a pseudoscopic effect
was obtained. This he obviated by the use of erecting eye-pieces ;
but, soon after his first paper was published, Riddell devised a
second plan, which gave orthoscopic binocular vision with ordinary
eye-pieces, and which he subsequently always used for the com-
pound microscope, reserving his first plan for the dissecting (simple)
microscope.
A brief notice, containing, however, a correct description of
RiddelPs second plan, was published in the New Orleans Monthly
Medical Register for April, 1853, (p. 78,) and reprinted in London
in the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, Vol. I, 1853,
(p. 304.) Subsequently, July 30, 1853, Riddell exhibited a dissect-
ing (simple) microscope on his old plan and a compound micro-
scope on his new plan to the American Association for the Advance-
ment of Science, and read a paper describing those instruments,
and pretty fully discussing the principles involved. This paper
was published in the Proceedings of the Association, Vol. VII, for
1853, (p. 16,) and in the New Orleans Medical and Surgical Jour-
nal for November, 1853, (p. 321.) It was reprinted in London iu
the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science for January, 1854,
Vol. II, (p. 18.)
Mr. Woodward then related the manner in which Riddell's dis-
covery was discussed at the time, in England, by Messrs. Wheat-
stone and Wenham, and on the continent by M. M. Harting and
Nachet. He showed that Nachet's modification of the compound
microscope was suggested by Riddell's first instrument, and that
Nachet's excellent binocular dissecting (simple) microscope is, in
its optical parts, a literal copy of the binocular dissecting (simple)
microscope exhibited by RiddeU at the Cleveland meeting in July,.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 37
1863. This ib also true of the binocular dissecting microscopes
made of late years by Beck, of Loudon, while the highly lauded
erecting binocular microscope of Mr. J. W. Stephenson, F. R. M.
S., (1870-72,) is, in its optical parts, a copy of the binocular com-
pound microscope exhibited by Riddell at the Cleveland meeting.
The latter instrument, as then exhibited, although optically efficient,
was roughly put together by Biddell's own hands. The instru-
ment exhibited by Mr. Woodward was ordered by Riddell of the
Grunow Brothers, in August, 1853, and delivered to him by them
in March following. In its optical parts it is a copy of the model
exhibited at the Cleveland meeting, but some improvements were
made in the mechanical details of its construction.
J. S. BiLUNGB then made some remarks upon
THE SCIENTIFIC WORK CARRIED ON UNDER THE DIRECTION OP
THE NATIONAL BOARD OF HEALTH.
Prof. Ira Remsen, of the Johns Hopkins University, has made
for the Board an investigation on the organic matter in the air.
By the use of tubes, filled with prepared pumice stone, all the
nitrogenous matter in the air to be examined, was removed, and its
quantity determined by the usual tests for free and albuminoid am-
monia.
Air contaminated by being drawn through water containing de-
caying meat does not yield more than the usual quantity of albumi-
noid ammonia.
Air contaminated by being drawn over comparatively dry de-
caying organic matter yields more than the usual quantity of albu-
minoid ammonia.
Air contaminated by respiration yields more than the usual quan-
tity of albuminoid ammonia.
The simple statement of fact that a given sample of air yields an
abnormally large quantity of albuminoid ammonia is not sufficient
to enable us to draw a conclusion with reference to the purity of the
air. We must know at what season of the year the air was col-
lected, and whether in the city or country ; in fact, we should know
everything possible concerning the air, and then let the conclusion
finally drawn be a resultant of all the facts. It is probable, how-
ever, from what is now known, that the determination of the amount
of albuminoid ammonia yielded by air may, under many circum-
88 BULLETIN OF THE
stances, furnish us with important information concerning the
quality of the air, but great caution is necessary in dealing with
this principle of examination.
A series of investigations upon the effects of various soils upon
ordinary sewage has been carried on under the direction of Prof.
Pumpelly, of the United States Greological Survey, assisted by Prof.
Smythe. The preliminary experiments related to the removal of
living organisms from air and fluids by passing these through filters
of various kinds, and then testing their effects upon solutions con-
taining organic matter and susceptible of fermentative or putre-
factive changes. A very large number of such solutions have been
prepared and preserved under various conditions, and in no case
has anything like fermentation or the development of the lower or-
ganisms been observed, unless under circumstances where the lower
organisms could be introduced from without, thus giving strong
negative evidence against the theory of spontaneous generation.
The filtration of air from such germs was found to be a compara-
tively easy matter. Passing it through an inch of fine sand de-
prived it of the power of producing fermentative changes. On the
other hand, the removal of bacteroidal organisms from water was
much more difficult, filtration through many feet of fine sand being
insufficient to effect it. The results reported by Wernich are con-
firmed, viz., that air passing over putrefying fluids or moist putre-
fying surfaises does not take up organisms therefrom, nor does it
become contaminated by passing over dried bacteria films on smooth
compact surfaces such as glass or iron. From woven stu£&, how-
ever, it is readily contaminated, and wherever there is dust there is
danger.
The results obtained by Dr. Bigelow in attempting to destroy the
vitality of dried bacteria films by means of gaseous disinfectants
were then mentioned. It is found that time is an important element
in the matter, and that long exposures are necessary to secure com-
plete destruction of vitality of such organisms. This may explain
the failures to disinfect the Plymouth and the Excelsior by gaseous
disinfectants.
Drs. H. C. Wood and H. F. Fremont have made a number of
experiments on the inoculation of diphtheria on the lower animals
with negative results. The theory of Oertel that this disease is due
to specific bacteria is not confirmed by their observations. They
state that their results seem to indicate that the contageous material
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIBTY OF WASHINGTON. 39
of diphtheria is of the nature of a septic poison which is locally very
irritating to the mucous membrane, and that the disease may be
often a purely local affection to be treated by local remedies.
Dr. G. M. Sternberg has been repeating the experiments of E^lebs
and Tommasi-Crudelli on the bacillus malarisB. He finds in the mal-
arious swamps around New Orleans, organisms not distinguishable
from those figured by the authors referred to, and on cultivating
them in gelatin solutions obtains a similar bacillus. He has not
however obtained any specific effects by injecting these organisms
into the blood of animals and is unable to confirm the conclusions
announced by Klebs.
Dr. Chas. Smart, U. S. A., has been engaged on water analysis, and
for the last seven months on the adulterations of food. From an
analysis of over six hundred samples he concludes that while there
is a considerable amount of adulteration in such articles as ground
coffee and spices there is not much that is dangerous to health — in
the words of the last British Parliamentary Commission we are
cheated l>ut not poisoned. Poisonoud colors derived from lead and
antimony are found in some candies.
The educational work of the Board was then referred to, and
more especially its efforts to secure a uniform and satisfactory mode
of reporting mortality statistics.
■
At the conclusion of Mr. Billings' remarks the society adjourned.
189th Meeting December 4, 1880.
The President in the chair.
Forty-eight members present.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and adopted.
The Chair announced to the Society the election and acceptance
of the following new members : Alexander Smythe Christie,
William Crawford Winlock, and Winslow Upton.
The Chair also announced the appointment of Mr. William
Harkness as an additional member of the Standing Committee on
Communications.
40 BULLETIN OF THE
The Society theo listened to the address of the retiring President,
Mr. Simon Newcomb, on
THE RELATION OF SCIENTIFIC METHOD TO SOgIaL PROGRESS.
Among those subjects which are not always correctly appre-
hended, even by educated men, we may place that of the true
significance of scientific method, and the relations of such method
to practical affairs. This is especially apt to be the case in a
country like our own, where the points of contact between the
scientific world on the one hand, and the industrial and political
world on the other, are fewer than in other civilized countries.
The form which this misapprehension usually takes \b that of a
fieiilure to appreciate the character of scientific method, and es-
pecially its analogy to the methods of practical life. In the judg-
ment of the ordinary idtelligent man there is a wide distinction
between theoretical and practical science. The latter he considers
as that science directly applicable to the building of railroads, the
construction of engines, the invention of new machinery, the con-
struction of maps, and other useful objects. The former he con-
siders analogous to those philosophic speculations in which men
have indulged in all ages without leading to any result which he
considers practical. That oul* knowledge of nature is increased
by its prosecution is a fact of which he is quite conscious, but
he considers it as terminating with a mere increase of knowledge,
and not as having in its method anything which a person devoted
to material interests can be expected to appreciate.
This view is strengthened by the spirit with which he sees
scientific investigation prosecuted. It is well understood on all
sides that when such investigations are pursued in a spirit really
recognized as scientific, no merely utilitarian object is had in view.
•Indeed it is easy to see how the very fact of pursuing such an
object would detract from that thoroughness of examination which
is the first condition of a real advance. True science demands in
its every research a completeness far beyond what is apparently
necessary for its practical applications. The precision with which
the astronomer seeks to measure the heavens, and the chemist to
determine the relations of the ultimate molecules of matter has
no limit, except that set by the imperfections of the instruments of
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 41
research. There is do such division recognized as that of useful
and useless knowledge. The ultimate aim is nothing less than that
of bringing all the phenomena of nature under laws as exact as
those which govern the planetary motions.
Now the pursuit of any high object in this spirit commands from
men of wide views that respect which is felt towards all exertion
having in view more elevated objects than the pursuit of gain.
Accordingly it is very natural to classify scientists, and philos-
ophers with the men who in all ages have sought after learning
instead of utility. But there is another aspect of the question
which will show the relations of scientific advance to the practical
affairs of life in a different light. I make bold to say that the
greatest want of the day, from a purely practical point of view, is
the more general introduction of the scientific method and the
scientific spirit into the discussion of those political and social pro*
blems which we encounter on our road to a higher plane of public
weU being. Far from using methods too refined for practical pur-
poses, what most distinguishes scientific from other thought is the
introduction of the methods of practical life into the discussion of
abstract general problems. A single instance will illustrate the
lesson I wish to enforce.
The question of the tariff is, from a practical point of view, one
of the most important with which our legislators will have to deal
during the next few years. The widest diversity of opinion exists
as to the best policy to be pursued in collecting a revenue from
imports. Opposing interests contend against each other without
any common basis of fact or principle on which a conclusion can
be reached. The opinions of intelligent men differ almost as widely
as those of the men who are immediately interested. But all will
admit that public action in this direction should be dictated by
ooe guiding principle — that the greatest good of the community is
to be sought after. That policy is the best which will most pro-
mote this good. Nor is there any serious difference of opinion as
to the nature of the good to be had in view ; it is in a word the
increase of the national wealth and prosperity. The question on
which opinions fundamentally differ is that of the effects of a higher
or lower rate of duty upon the interests of the public. If it were
possible to foresee, with an approach to certainty, what effect a given
tariff would have upon the producers and consumers of an article
taxed, and, indirectly, upon each member of the community in any
42 BULLETIN OF THE
way interested in the article, we should then have an exact datum
which .we do not now possess for reaching a conclusion. If some
superhuman authority, speaking with the voice of infallibility,
could give us this information, it is evident that a great national
want would be supplied. No question in practical life is more im-
portant than this : How can this desirable knowledge of the econo-
mic effects of a tariff* be obtained ?
The answer to this question is clear and simple. The subject
must be studied in the same spirit, and, to a certain extent, by
the same methods which have been so successful in advancing our
knowledge of nature. Every one knows that, within the last two
centuries, a method of studying the course of nature has been in-
troduced which has been so successful in enabling us to trace the
sequence of cause and effect as almost to revolutionize society. The
very fact that scientific method has been so successful here leads to
the belief that it might be equally successful in other departments
of inquiry.
The same remarks will apply to the questions connected with
banking and currency; the standard of value; and, indeed, all
subjects which have a financial bearing. On every such question
we see wide differences of opinion without any common basis to rest
upon.
It may be said, in reply, that in these cases there are really no
grounds for forming an opinion, and that the contests which arise
over them are merely those between conflicting interests. But this
claim is not at all consonant with the form which we see the discus-
sion assume. Nearly every one has a decided opinion on these
several subjects ; whereas, if there were no data for forming an
opinion, it would be unreasonable to maintain any whatever. In-
deed, it is evident that there must be truth somewhere, and the
only question that can be open is that of the mode of discovering
it. No man imbued with a scientific spirit can claim that such
truth is beyond the power of the human intellect. He may doubt
his own ability to grasp it, but cannot doubt that by pursuing the
proper method and adopting the best means the problem can be
solved. It is, in fact, difficult to show why some exact results could
not be as certainly reached in economic questions as in those of
physical science. It is true that if we pursue the inquiry far
enough we shall find more complex conditions to encounter, because
the future course of demand and supply enters as an uncertain
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 48
element. But a remarkable fact to be coDsidered is that the differ-
ence of opinion to which we allude does not depend upon different
estimates of the future, but upon different views of the most element-
ary and general principles of the subject. It is as if men were not
agreed whether air were elastic or whether the earth turns on its
axis. Why is it that while in all subjects of physical science we
find a general agreement through a wide range of subjects, and doubt
commences only where certainty is not attained, yet when we turn
to economic subjects we do not find the beginning of an agreement?
No two answers can be given. It is because the two classes of
subjects are investigated by different instruments and in a different
spirit. The physicist has an exact nomenclature ; uses methods of
research well adapted to the objects he has in view ; pursues his in-
Testigations without being attacked by those who wish for different
results ; and, above all, pursues them only for the purpose of dis-
covering the truth. In economical questions the case is entirely
different Only in rare cases are they studied without at least the
suspicion that the student has a preconceived theory to support. If
results are attained which oppose any powerful interest, this interest
can hire a competing investigator to briug out a different result.
So &r as the public can see, one man's result is as good as another's,
and thus the object is as far off as ever. We may be sure that until
there is an intelligent and rational public, able to distinguish be*
tween the speculations of the charlatan and the researches of the
investigator, the present state of things will continue. What we
want is so wide a diffusion of scientific ideas that there shall be a
class of men engaged in studying economical problems for their own
sake, and an intelligent public able to judge what they are doing.
There must be an improvement in the objects at which they aim in
education, and it is now worth while to inquire what that improve-
ment is.
It is not mere instruction in any branch of technical science that
is wanted. No knowledge of chemistry, physics, or biology, how-
ever extensive, can give the learner much aid in forming a cor-
rect opinion of such a question as that of the currency. If we
should claim that political economy ought to be more extensively
studied, we would be met by the question, which of several conflict-
ing systems shall we teach ? What is wanted is not to teach this
system or that, but to give such a training that the student shall be
able to decide for himself which system is right
44 BULLETIN OF THE
It seems to me that the true educational want is ignored both by
those who advocate a classical and those who advocate a scientific
education. What is really wanted is to train the intellectual pow-
ers, and the question ought to be, what is the best method of doing
this? Perhaps it might be found that both of the conflicting
methods could be improved upon. The really distinctive features,
which we should desire to see introduced, are two in number : the
one the scientific spirit; the other the scientific discipline. Al-
though many details may be classified under each of these heads,
yet there is one of pre-eminent importance on which we should
insist.
The one feature of the scientific spirit which outweighs all others
in importance is the love of knowledge for its own sake. If by our
system of education we can inculcate this sentiment we shall do
what is, from a public point of view, worth more than any amount
of technical knowledge, because we shall lay the foundation of all
knowledge. So long as men study only what they think is going
to be useful their knowledge will be partial and insufficient. I
think it is to the constant inculcation of this fact by experience,
rather than to any reasoning, that is due the continued apprecia-
tion of a liberal education. Every business man knows that a
business-college training is of very little account in enabling one to
fight the battle of life, and that college bred men have a great ad-
vantage even in fields where mere education is a secondary matter.
We are accustomed to seeing ridicule thrown upon the questions
sometimes asked of candidates for the civil service because the
questions refer to subjects of which a knowledge is not essential.
The reply to all criticisms of this kipd is that there is no one
quality which more certainly assures a man's usefulness to society
than the propensity to acquire useless knowledge. Most of our
citizens take a wide interest in public affairs, else our form of gov-
ernment would be a failure. But it is desirable that their study of
public measures should be more critical and take a wider range.
It is especially desirable that the conclusions to which they are led
should be unaffected by partisan sympathies. The more strongly
the love of mere truth is inculcated in their nature the better this
end will be attained.
The scientific discipline to which I ask mainly to call your atten-
tion consists in training the scholar to the scientific use of language.
Although whole volumes may be written on the logic of science
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 45
there is one general feature of its method which is of fundamental
significance. It is that every term which it uses and every propo-
dtion which it enunciates has a precise meaning which can be
made evident by proper definitions. This general principle of
scientific language is much more easily inculcated by example than
subject to exact description ; but I shall ask leave to add one to
several attempts I have made to define it. If I should say that
when a statement is made in the language of science the speaker
knows what he means, and the hearer dther knows it or can be
made to know it by proper definitions, and that this community of
understanding is frequently not reached in other departments of
thought, I might be understood as casting a slur on whole depart-
ments of inquiry. Without intending any such slur, I may still
say that language and statements are worthy of the name scientific
as they approach this standard ; and, moreover, that a great deal
18 said and written which does not fulfill the requirement. The
fact that words lose their meaning when removed from the connec-
tions in which that meaning has been acquired and put to higher
uses, is one which, I think, is rarely recognized. There is nothing
in the history of philosophical inquiry more curious than the fre-
quency of interminable disputes on subjects where no agreement
can be reached because the opposing parties do not use words in
the same sense. That the history of science is not free from this
reproach is shown by the fact of the long dispute whether the
ferce of a moving body was proportional to the simple velocity
or to its square. Neither of the parties to the dispute thought it
worth while to define what they meant by the word ** force," and it
was at length found that if a definition was agreed upon the seem-
ing difference of opinion would vanish. Perhaps the most striking
feature of the case, and one peculiar to a scientific dispute, was that
the opposing parties did not differ in their solution of a single
mechanical problem. I say this is curious, because the very fact
of their agreeing upon every concrete question which could have
been presented, ought to have made it clear that some fallacy was
lacking in the discussion as to the measure of force. The good
effect of a scientific spirit is shown by the fact that this discussion
IS almost unique in the history of science during the past two centu-
ries, and that scientific men themselves were able to see the fallacy
involved, and thus to bring the matter to a conclusion.
If we now turn to the discussions of philosophers, we shall find at
46 BULLETIN OF THE
least one yet more striking example of the same kind. The ques-
tion of the freedom of the human will has, I believe, raged for cen-
turies. It cannot jet be said that any conclusion has been reached.
Indeed I have heard it admitted by men of high intellectual attain-
ments that the question was insoluble. Now a curious feature of
this dispute is that none of the combatants, at least on the affirma-
tive side, have made any serious attempt to define what should be
meant by the phrase freedom of the will, except by using such terms
as require definition equally with the word freedom itself. It can»
I conceive, be made quite clear that the assertion, " The will is
free," is one without meaning, until we analyze more fully the difier-
ent meanings to be attached to the word free. Now this word has
a perfectly well-defined signification in every day life. We say that
anything is free when it is not subject to external constraint. We
also know exactly what we mean when we say that a man is free to
do a certain act. We mean that if he chooses to do it there is no ex-
ternal constraint acting to prevent him. In all cases a relation of
two things is implied in the word, some active agent or power, and
the presence or absence of another constraining agent. Now, when
we inquire whether the will itself is free, irrespective of external
constraints, the word free no longer has aoneaning, because one of
the elements implied in it is ignored.
To inquire whether the will itself is free is like inquiring whether
fire itself is consumed by the burning, or whether clothing is itself
clad. It is not, therefore, at all surprising that both parties have
been able to dispute without end, but it is a most astonishing
phenomenon of the human intellect that the dispute should go on
generation after generation without the parties finding out whether
there was really any difierenceof opinion between them on the
subject. I venture to say that if there is any such difference, neither
party has ever analyzed the meaning of the words used sufficiently
far to show it. The daily experience of every man, from hb cradle
to his grave, shows that human acts are as much the subject of ex-
ternal causal influences as are the phenomena of nature. To dis-
pute this would be little short of the ludicrous. All that the oppo-
nents of freedom, as a class, have ever claimed, is the assertion of .a
causal connection between the acts of the will, and influences inde-
pendent of the wilL True, propositions of this sort can be expressed
in a variety of ways connoting an endless number of more or less
objectionable ideas, but this is the substance of the matter.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIBTT OF WASHINGTON. 47
To suppose that the advocates on the other side meant to take
issue on this proposition would be to assume that they did not know
what they were saying. The conclusion forced upon us is that
though men spend their whole lives in the study of the most ele-
vated department of human thought it does not guard them against
the danger of using words without meaning. It would be a mark
of ignorance, rather than of penetration, to hastily denounce propo-
sitions on subjects we are not well acquainted with because we do
not understand their meaning. I do not mean to intimate that
philosophy itself is subject to this reproach. When we see a philo-
sophical proposition, couched in terms we do not understand, the
most modest and charitable view b to assume that this arises from
our lack of knowledge. Nothing is easier than for the ignorant to
ridicule the propositions of the learned. And yet, with every re-
serve, I cannot but feel that the disputes to which I have alluded
prove the necessity of bringing scientific precision of language into
every demand of thought. If the discussion had been confined to
a few, and other philosophers had analyzed the subject, and showed
the fictitious character of the discussion, or had pointed out where
opinions really might differ, there would be nothing derogatory to
philosophers. But the most suggestive circumstan ce is that although
a large proportion of the philosophic writers in recent times have
devoted more or less attention to the subject, few, or none, have made
even this modest contribution. I speak with some little confidence
on this subject, because several years ago I wrote to one of the most
acute thinkers of the country, asking if he could find in philoso-
phical literature any terms or definitions expressive of the three*
different senses in which not only the word freedom, but nearly all
words implying freedom were used. B[is search was in vain.
Nothing of this sort occurs in the practical affairs of life. All
terms used in business, however general or abstract, have that well-
defined meaning which is the first requisite of the scientific lan-
guage. Now one important lesson which I wish to inculcate is that
the language of science in this respect corresponds to that of busi-
ness ; in that each and every term that is employed has a meaning
as well defined as the subject of discussion can admit of. It will be
an instructive exercise to inquire what this peculiarity of scientific
and business language is. It can be shown that a certain re-
quirement should be fulfilled by all language intended for the
discovery of truth, which is fulfilled only by the two classes of
48 BULLETIN OF THE
language which I have described. It ie one of the most common
errors of discourse to assume that any common expression which
we may use always conveys an idea, no matter what the subject of
discourse. The true state of the case can, perhaps, best be seen by
b^inning at the foundation of things, and examining under what
conditions language can really convey ideas.
Suppose thrown among us a person of well-developed intellect,
but unacquainted with a single language or word that we use. It
is absolutely useless to talk to him, because nothing that we say
conveys any meaning to his mind. We can supply him no dic-
tionary, because by hypothesis he knows no language to which we
have access. How shall we proceed to communicate our ideas to
him? Clearly there is but one possible way, namely, through his
five senses. Outside of this means of bringing him in contact with
us we can have no communication with him. We, therefore, begin
by showing him sensible objects, and letting him understand that
certain words which we use correspond to those objects. After he
has thus acquired a small vocabulary, we make him understand
that other terms refer to relations between objects which he can per-
ceive by his senses. Next he learns, by induction, that there are
terms which apply not to special objects, but to whole classes of
objects. Continuing the same process, he learns that there are cer-
tain attributes of objects made known by the manner in which they
affect his senses, to which abstract terms are applied. Having
learned all this, we can teach him new words by combining words
without exhibiting objects already known. Using these words we
can proceed yet further, building up, as it were, a complete lan-
guage. But there is one limit at every step. Every term which
we make known to him must depend ultimately upon terms the
meaning of which he has learned from their connection with special
objects of sense.
To communicate to him a knowledge of words expressive of
mental states it is necessary to assume that his own mind is subject
to these states as well as our own, and that we can in some way in-
dicate them by our acts. That the former hypothesis is sufficiently
well established can be made evident so long as a consistency of
different words and ideas is maintained. If no such consistency of
meaning on his part were evident, it might indicate that the opera-
tions of his mind were so different from ours that no such commu-
nication of ideas was possible. Uncertainty in this respect must
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 49
arise as soon as we go beyond those mental states which communi-
cate themselves to the senses of others.
We now see that in order to communicate to our foreigner a
knowledge of language, we must follow rules similar to those ne-
cessary for the stability of a building. The foundation of the build-
ing must be well laid upon objects knowable by his five senses. Of
course the mind, as well as the external object, may be a factor in
determining the ideas which the words are intended to express ; but
this does not in any manner invalidate the conditions which we im-
pose. Whatever theory we may adopt of the relative part played
by the knowing subject, and the external object in the acquirement
of knowledge, it remains none the less true that no knowledge of
the meaning of a word can be acquired except through the senses,
and that the meaning is, therefore, limited by the senses. If we
transgress the rule of founding each meaning upon meanings below
it, and having the whole ultimately resting upon a sensuous founda-
tion, we at once branch off into sound without sense. We may
teach him the use of an extended vocabulary, to the terms of which
he may apply ideas of his own, more or less vague, but there will
be no way of deciding that he attaches the same meaning to these
terms that we do.
What we have shown true of an intelligent foreigner is neces-
sarily true of the growing man. We come into the world with-
out a knowledge of the meaning of words, and can acquire such
knowledge only by a process which we have found applicable to
the intelligent foreigner. But to confine ourselves within these
limits in the use of language requires a course of severe mental dis-
cipline. The transgression of the rule will naturally seem to the
undisciplined mind a mark of intellectual vigor rather than the re-
verse. In our system of education every temptation is held out to
the learner to transgress the rule by the fluent use of language to
which it is doubtful if he himself attaches clear notions, and which
he can never be certain suggests to his hearer the ideas which he
intends. Indeed, we not infrequently see, even among practical
educators, expressions of positive antipathy to scientific precision of
language so obviously opposed to good sense that they can be
attributed only to a failure to comprehend the meaning of the lan-
guage which they criticise.
Perhaps the most injurious effect in this direction arises from
the natural tendency of the mind, when not subject to a scientific
50 BULLETIN OF THE
discipline, to think of words expressing sensible objects and their
relations as connoting certain supersensuous attributes. This is fre-
quently seen in the repugnance of the metaphysical mind to receive
a scientific statement about a matter of fact simply &s a matter of
fact. This repugnance does not generally arise in respect to the
every day matters of life. When we say that the earth is round
we state a truth which every one is willing to receive as final. If
without denying that the earth was round, one should criticise the
statement on the ground that it was not necessarily round but
might be of some other form, we should simply smile at this use of
language. But when we take a more general statement and assert
that the laws of nature are inexorable, and that all phenomena,
so far as we can show, occur in obedience to their requirements, we
are met with a sort of criticism with which all of us are familiar,
and which I am unable adequately to describe. "No one denies
that as a matter of fact, and as far as his experience extends, these
laws do appear to be inexorable. I have never heard of any one
professing, during the present generation, to describe a natural
phenomenon, with the avowed belief that it was not a product of
natural law ; yet we constantly hear the scientific view criticised on
the ground that events may occur without being subject to natural
law. The word " may," in this connection, is one to which we can
attach no meaning expressive of a sensuous relation.
This is, however, not the most frequent misuse of the word may.
In fact, the unscientific use of language to which I refer, is most
strongly sljown in disquisitions on the freedom of the will. When
I say that it is perfectly certain that I will to-morrow perform a
certain act unleps some cause external to my mind which I do not
now foresee occurs to prevent me, I make a statement which is final
so far as scientific ideas are concerned. But it will sometimes be
maintained that however certain it may be that I shall perform
this act, nevertheless I may act otherwise. All I can say to this is
that I do not understand the meaning of the statement.
The analogous conflict between the scientific use of language and
the use made by some philosophers, is found in connection with
the idea of causation. Fundamentally the word cause is used
in scientific language in the same sense as in the language of com-
mon life. When we discuss with our neighbors the cause of a fit
of illness, of a fire, or of cold weather, not the slightest ambiguity
att&ches to the use of the word, because whatever meaning may
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON. 51
be given to it is fouDded only on an accurate analysis of the ideas
involved in it from daily use. No philosopher objects to the com-
mon meaning of the word, yet we frequently find men of eminence
in tbe intellectual world who will not tolerate the scientific man
in using the word in this way. In every explanation which he
can give to its use they detect ambiguity. They insist that in
any proper use of the term the idea of power must be connoted.
But what meaning is here attached to the word power, and how
shall we first reduce it to a sensible form, and then apply its mean-
ing to tbe operations of nature? That this can be done, I by no
means deny. All I maintain is that if we shall do it, we must pass
without the domain of scientific statement.
Perhaps the greatest advantage in the use of symbolic and other
mathematical language in scientific investigation is that it cannot pos-
sibly be made to connote anything except what the speaker means.
It adheres to the subject matter of discourse with a tenacity which
no criticism can overcome. In consequence, whenever a science
is reduced to a mathematical form its conclusions are no longer
the subject of philosophical attack. To secure the same desirable
quality in all other scientific language it is necessary to give it, so
&r as possible, the same simplicity of signification which attaches
to mathematical symbols. This is not easy, because we are obliged
to use words of ordinary language, and it is impossible to divest
them of whatever they may connote to ordinary hearers.
I have thus sought to make it clear that the language of science
corresponds to that of ordinary life, and especially of business life,
in confining its meaning to phenomena. An analogous statement
may be made of the method and objects of scientific investigation.
I think Professor Clifibrd was very happy in defining science as
organized common sense. The foundation of its widest general
creations is laid, not in any artificial theories, but in the natural
beliefi and tendencies of the human mind. Its position against
those who deny these generalizations is quite analogous to that taken
by the Scottbh school of philosophy against the skepticism of
Hume.
It may be asked, if the methods and language of science corres-
pond to those of practical life, — why is not the every day discipline
of that life as good as the discipline of science? The answer is,
that the power of transferring the modes of thought of common
life to subjects of a higher order of generality is a rare faculty
52 BULLETIN OF THE
which can be acquired only by scientific discipline. What we want
is that in public affairs men shall reason about questions of finance,
trade, national wealth, legislation and administration with the same
consciousness of the practical side that they reason about their own
interests. When this habit is once acquired and appreciated, the
scientific method will naturally be applied to the study of questions
of social policy. When a scientific interest is taken in such ques-
tions, their boundaries will be extended beyond the utilities imme-
diately involved, and then the last condition of unceasing progress
will be complied with.
At the conclusion of Mr. Newcomb's address it was moved by Mr.
Hilgard that the thanks of the Society are due to Mr. Newcomb
for his weighty, insti'uctive, and interesting address.
The motion was carried.
Mr. J. E. Hilgard then made a communication on the subject
of
A MODEL OF THE BASIN OF THE QULF OF MEXICO.
He exhibited to the Society a model of the Gulf of Mexico
recently constructed under the direction of the Coast Survey Office
upon data obtained by a very great number of soundings. Of these
many thousands have been made, and the model is believed to be
very correct. As constructed, the vertical scale is thirty times as
great as the horizontal in order to emphasiase and render easily in-
telligible the most notable features.
The soundings of the waters in the Gulf of Mexico began with
the extension thither of the work of the Coast Survey, but they
were at first only littoral and tributary to the topographic and
hydrographic work of the Bureau. They were interrupted by the
civil war, but were resumed at its close. Soundings had also been
made off the east coast of Florida to ascertain the nature and di-
mensions of the outlet of the Gulf stream. This outlet was found
to be relatively quite small. Soundings and temperatures had been
taken from Florida to Cuba and to Yucatan. Within a few years
the work of exploring the general configuration of the Gulf of
Mexico has been commenced by Commander Sigsbee, of the Navy,
on duty in the Coast and Geodetic Survey. This officer made great
improvements in deep-sea soundiftg apparatus, and, prosecuting the
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 53
exploration with great energy and ingenuity, has brought the work
to a speedy conclusion.
As a result of these investigations, it is found that the continental
profiles which descend from every direction beneath the water of
the gulfy have, at first, a very gradual slope of a few feet to the
mile — until the 100 fathom depth, or thereabout, is reached. They
then descend much more rapidly, and, in some places, with singular
abruptness to depths exceeding 2,000 fathoms. All around the gulf
shores is a marginal belt of varying width and of comparatively
shallow water. Within this marginal belt is an area of similar
shape to that of the gulf itself, and nearly concentric with its coast,
where the depth is comparable to that of mid-ocean. The extent of
the deeper area is about 50,000 square miles. It also appears that
the continental or peninsular mass of Florida is of much greater area
thab that portion which exposes its surface above the water, and the
same is true of Yucatan. An examination of the portions in the
vicinity of the Mississippi river, shows that the delta has very nearly
reached the position where the profile begins to drop rapidly down
into deep water, and the apprehensions of those who fear that the
jetties lately constructed may cause the accumulation of deposits
further out may therefore be dispelled or greatly mitigated.
Turning to the channel of the Gulf stream, Mr. Hilgard remarked
that its transverse section between Florida and the Bahama Banks,
did not exceed twelve square miles. With an average current
velocity of only 2} miles per hour, it appears quite incredible that
enough water can be dischaged through this passage to occasion the
mild climate of western Europe. The main mass of the great
oceanic drift which warms these shores, he thought must be derived
from the Caribbean 8ea, passing out between the greater Antilles,
where the passes are far wider and deeper. Of this greater oceanic
drift the efflux through the Florida straits forms but a small part.
Remarks upon this communication were made by Messrs. Alvord,
DuTTON, Gill, Habkness and White.
The Society then adjourned.
190th Meeting. December 18, 1880.
The President in the Chair.
Forty-two members present.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and adopted.
54 BULLETIN OF THE
A communication was then read by Mr. Swan M. Burnett, en-
titled
COLOR PERCEPTION AND COLOR BLINDNESS.
The speaker first gave the Young-Helmholtz theory, which con-
sists in the assumption of three fibres in the retina corresponding
to the so-called fundamental colors, red, green and violet, stating
the objections that have been brought against this theory by Mauth-
ner and others, when viewed from the standpoint of colorblindness.
He then explained in brief the theory of Prof. Hering, of Prague,
according to which there are supposed to be in the retina three
chemical substances, which are called the black-whitef the red-green^
and the bltte-yellow. These are acted on by light, by assimilation, and
by dissimilation. Dissimilation (D) of the black-white substance
produces white, its assimilation (A) black. The D-aetion on the
red-green produces red, the A-action green. The D-action on the
blue-yellow substance produces blue, the A-action yellow. When
one of the substances is lacking there is an inability to properly
perceive the pair of colors peculiar to it. There is therefore red-
green blindness, and blue-yellow blindness. The objections to this
theory as advanced by Prof. Donders and others were then brought
forward.
There are two strong objections to both these theories aside from
those mentioned, first, their want of simplicity, and second, the
necessity of inventing new tissues and novel reactions of tissues to
the affecting agent.
The true theory of colors, when found, we have every right to
expect will be simple, and the laws governing it will be in keeping
with the action of light on simple substances, and in the opinion of
the speaker, they would be found to lie in the direction of the recent
discoveries of the action of light on the molecular structure of
homogeneous substances, and he accepted as the foundation of his
speculations that variation in sensation would have its basis, not in
complexity of tissue, but in the varying action of the affecting agent,
A theory on this basis would have the retina a substance whose
molecular structure would be such as to allow it to respond promptly
to each of those undulations of the ether corresponding to the prin-
cipal colors. The wave length corresponding to red, for example,
would produce a molecular change (most probably simply vibratory)
which would be carried to the brain centre of vision by the optic nerve,
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 55
and there transformed into a distinct sensation. The same would
hold good probably for the orange, yellow, green, blue and violet.
We have an analogy for such reaction in the molecular change pro-
duced by light in the metal selenium when in a crystallized state,
and in some other substances. The photophone depends for its
existence upon this delicate reaction of the molecular structure of
selenium to the influence of light. Which are the primary and
which the secondary colors — that is those arising from mixed sen-
sations—would have to be determined by experiment.
The speaker would divide color blindness into two classes, peri-
pheral and centred. In the former the retina and optic nerve would be
the agents affected, in the latter the cerebral centre of vision. The
latter he considered to be the most common form of congenital color
blindness, and it was due in his opinion to the fact that this centre
had not yet developed the power of properly differentiating the
closely allied impressions sent to it. In such cases, the spectrum
was not shortened, but was seen dichromic, the line of demarca-
tion being usually at the blue.
As r^ards the retinal form one broad general principle might be
laid down, that where there was a lacking color the molecular
changes in the retina were such as to incapacitate it from respond-
ing promptly to the wave lengths which physically represent that
color.
Believing that education had much to do with the development of
the color-^ense, the speaker had devised a plan for the " systematic
education of the color-sense in children," which, if followed out
closely, would, he believed, in the course of generations, make color-
blindness as rare in the male sex as it now is among females. This
plan is published in full in the Archives of Ophthalmology. (G.
P. Putnam's Sons, New York, October, 1879.)
The next communication was by Mr. E. M. Gallaudet, en-
titled—
THB IXTERNATIOKAli CONVENTION OP THE TEACHERS OF THE
DEAF AND DUMB, AT MILAN.
Mr. Gallaudet recited first certain resolutions adopted at that
convention, which were as follows :
''The convention, considering the incontestable superiority of
speech over signs, 1st. for restoring deaf-mutes to social life, 2d,
for giving them greater facility of language, declares that the
56 BULLETIN OF TUE
method of articulation should have the preference over that of
signs in the instruction and education of the deaf and dumb.
" Considering that the simultaneous use of signs and speech has
the disadvantage of injuring speech and lip reading and precision
of ideas, the convention declares that the pure oral method ought
to be preferred."
Apropos to these resolutions, Mr. Gallaudet quoted the com-
ments of the London Times, which journal remarks that —
" No more representative body could have been collected than
that which at Milan has declared for oral teaching for the deaf and
dumb, and for nothing but oral teaching," and also speaks of the
action of the convention as expressing a '' virtual unanimity of
preference for oral teaching, which might seem to overbear all
possibility of opposition."
Mr. Gallaudet then proceeded to explain the composition of the
convention, which, he stated, consisted of 164 members, of whom
eighty-seven were Italians and fifty-six French, these two nation*
alities composing seven-eighths of its representation. There were
from America five members, while the city of Milan alone furnished
forty-six. The president and secretary, both oralists, were from
Milan, and seven out of eight other ofiicers were also oralists. The
Paris convention, in 1878, had been organized by the Pereire So-
ciety, an active propaganda in favor of the exclusive oral method ;
and the organization of the Milan convention was of a similar
nature, and cannot be regarded as representative of the general
body of instructors of the deaf and dumb throughout the world, as
the preceding statement of its composition must indicate. The
American delegates voted in favor of the combined method of
teaching, both orally and by signs.
He expressed, in closing, the conviction that teachers of this
country are working in the right direction, and that, in due time,
the relative importance as well as the proper sphere of the two
methods will be fully recognized in the combined system.
1918T Meeting. January 8, 1881.
Vice-President Taylor in the Chair.
Twenty-seven members present.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and adopted.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 57
A communication by Mr. W. F. McK. Ritter was then read,
entitled —
ON A SIMPLE METHOD OF DERIVING SOME EQUATIONS USED IN
THE THEORY OP THE MOON AND OP THE PLANETS.
The rectangular and polar co-ordinates of a heavenly body are
functions of the elements of the orbit and of the time. When the
elements are pure constants, as in the case of undisturbed motion,
these co-ordinates vary only with the time ; but when the effect of
the disturbing force is considered, we have variation or perturba-
tion of the elements, and hence, also, the co-ordinates vary both
with the time and the elements.
Since the co-ordinates are functions of the elements, as long as
the variations of the elements are unknown, the corresponding cor-
rections to the co-ordinates, due to these variations, must be re-
garded as zero. Hence, in the differentiation, the differentials of
the co-ordinates with respect to the elements, alone considered as
variable, must be put equal to zero. Hence, also, the velocities of
the rectangular and polar co-ordinates are zero, and thus we are
furnished with equations of condition, which greatly facilitate the
solution of the problem of determining the perturbations of the
elements.
In £nding what are called the special perturbations, we resolve
the disturbing force into three components.
For this purpose, call
R, the component in the direction of the radius-vector,
S, the component perpendicular to the radius-vector, parallel
to the plane of the orbit, and positive in the direction of the
motion, and
Z, the component perpendicular to the plane of the orbit.
The values of these components, in the form we wish to employ,
are
B=: A:«(l + w)
13
dr '
8 = *«(l + m)l^^,
Z = *« (1 + m) ^.
Here (2 is the disturbing function, r and v are polar co-ordinates,
X the oo-oidinate perpendicular to the plane of the orbit, ib* the
58 BULLETIN OF THE
Gaussian constant, and vi the relation of the mass of the disturbed
body to that of the sun.
By putting the first differential co-efficients of the co-ordinates
with respect to the time equal to zero, we derive, with great ease,
the expressions for the variations of the elements. This is for the
case of special perturbations. These expressions will contain the
components R, S, and Z.
If we now substitute the values of these components, wherever
they appear, and perform the necessary reductions, we get expres-
sions for the variations of the elements, where, instead of the com-
ponents of the disturbing force, the force itself appears.
In the case of the mean anomaly, another method has been fol-
lowed. Itb variation can best be found by means of the relation
where M represents the mean anomaly, fi the mean daily motion,
and T the time of perihelion-passage.
I have thus derived, among others, the equations :
From these, by slight changes, we get the equations used by
Delaunay in his theory of the moon's motion. Thus by putting
Aj' (1 + m) Q = R, and writing /, ^, A, for M, «», Ji, respectively,
we have
c£L dB,
dt dr
dl dB.
dt " dh'
dQ dB,
dff dB
dt dg'
dt d G'
dB. dB,
dt ~~ dh'
dh dB
dt (TE'
In these equations, according to the notation of Delaunay, L =
l/'ajtj /x being the sum of the masses of the earth and moon, G =
L 1/1 — «*, H = G cos t ; o, e, and t being the semi-major axis,
eccentricity, and inclination respectively; / designates the mean
anomaly, g the angular distance of the ascending node from the
perigee, and h the longitude of the ascending node.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 59
The equations which Le Verrier uses in his theories of the planets
are not as simple in form as those of Delaunay ; but there is no
difficulty attending their derivation by this method. The method
Le Verrier uses in deriving them is long and cumbrous. Delaunay
does not stop to derive the equations he uses, but refers, on this
head, to a memoir by Ben^t.
By the method given above I have derived all the fundamental
equations used by these authors, and by those who have considered
the subject of perturbations from the same standpoint.
I think I have here given enough of the process to enable any
one to understand the method. I may add that the method occurred
to me seven or eight years ago.
The next communication was by Mr. Edoar Frisby
ON THE ORBIT OF SWIFT's COMET.
This comet was first observed by Prof. Swift of Rochester, Oc-
tober 10, 1880, and was reported by him as moving directly towards
the earth. It was observed by Prof. Eastman with the transit cir-
cle of the U. 8. Naval Observatory on the evenings of October 25,
November 7, and November 20, and from the data so obtained the
following elements were computed by Prof. Frisby :
Epoch of perihelion passage 7^.775675 Washington mean time
a-
296*>
48' 19/'9
IT
42*»
69' 16. "8
^ =
42^ 26' 48/^6
%
5*>
80' 85. "9
logar=
0.517002
log/* —
2.774604
- Mean Equinox 1880.0.
From these elements it will be inferred that it was moving very
nearly towards the earth at the time of discovery, October 10. On
November 8, it came very near the earth's orbit, its distance from it
then being about 0.069 of the earth's mean distance from the sun.
The aphelion lies just beyond Jupiter's orbit so that its perturbations
are liable at any time to become immense. The periodic time from
the elements is about 2,178 days, or a little less than six years,
hat Jupiter's position in his orbit is now such that it is not likely
to come near the comet for a long period. For a time after the
discovery of the comet it was doubtful whether the period was 11
or 5i years. The latter is undoubtedly the true one, the slight
60 BULLETIN OF THE
discrepancy being due to insufficient data. It i^ould probably be
impossible to see it at every return, for assuming its period to be
approximately di years, the earth would at each alternate return be
at the opposite side of its orbit, and the sun would then intervene
between the earth and the comet. It passed nearest to the earth
about the 18th of November.
The logarithms of the radii vectors and distance from the earth
on the dates given are :
log. r log. A
October 25, 0.086828 9.221510
November 7, 0.029018 9.141698
November 20, 0.084557 9.119295
No theory about any periodic time was assumed in these calcu-
lations.
At the conclusion of Mr. Frisby's paper the Society adjourned.
192u Meeting. January 22, 1881.
The President in the Chair.
Thirty-seven members present.
The following communication was read by Mr. J. W. Chicker-
ING, entitled —
NOTES ON ROAN MOUNTAIN, NORTH CAROLINA.
The great Appalachian chain, with its undulating line of 1,300
miles, from the promontory of Gaspd, on the Gulf of St. Lawrence,
to Georgia and Alabama, beginning as a series of simple folds of
moderate height, increases in complexity as in altitude from north
to south, attaining its greatest elevation in a veritable mountain
knot in the Black range. Following it from its commencement to
the Hudson, we find the single chain of the Green Mountains, rising
to its extreme height in Mount Mansfield, 4,430 feet, with, on the
east, the outlying clusters of the White Mountains in New Hamp-
shire, with Mount Washington reaching 6,288 feet, and others ex-
ceeding 5,000 feet, and Mount Katahdin in Maine, 100 miles away,
about 5,200 feet, and on the west the Adirondack group, rising to
5,379 feet, and the Catskills considerably lower.
From the Hudson to the New River in Virginia, 450 miles^
through the States of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, it
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 61
gradually gains in both width and altitude, consisting of many
parallel ranges, with fertile valleys between, of which the great
valley of Virginia is the largest and best known. In Pennsylvania
the summits vary from 800 to 2,500 feet. Toward the south the
chains become more numerous and in Virginia the Peaks of Otter
reach 4,000 feet The extreme eastern range is called the Blue
Ridge, the extreme western the Cumberland Mountains, or, more
properly, Plateaus, while the high range or ranges between are, in
general, called the Alleghanies.
From the New River south the system becomes much more
complex. The main chain, hitherto called the Blue Ridge, is
deflected to the west, and for 250 to 300 miles, in a circuitous chain*
under the names of Iron, Stone, Bald, Great Smoky, and Unaka
Mountains, forms the boundary line between North Carolina and
Tennessee, rising frequently to heights exceeding 6,000 feet ; while
the more easterly range, retaining the name of Blue Ridge, and
finding its southern terminus at Caesar's Head, in South Carolina,
where it turns abruptly to the northwest, reaches even loftier alti-
todes, Mitchell's high peak being accredited with 6,717 feet.
In North Carolina these two ranges are more than 50 miles apart,
are partially connected by transverse ranges, and, for more than
100 miles, constitute a great central plateau, like that of Colorado
on a small scale.
As says Prof. Guyot, *'Here then through an extent of more
than 150 miles the mean height of the valley from which the
mountains rise is more than 2,000 feet. The mountains which reach
6,000 feet are counted by scores, and the loftiest peaks exceed 6,700
feet, while at the north, in the group of the White Mountains, the
base is scarcely 1,000 feet, the gaps 2,000 feet, and Mount Wash-
ington, the only one which rises above 6,000 feet, is still 400 feet
below the Black Dome of the Black Mountains. Here then, in all
respects, is the culminating region of the vast Appalachian system."
The eastern chain, or Blue Ridge is still the watershed, and, on
the Atlantic slope, gives birth to the Roanoke, Catawba, Broad,
Saluda, and Savannah rivers ; while on the other side this area pf
mountains and plateaus is separated by transverse chains into many
deep basins, at the bottom of each one of which runs one of those
mountain streams, which are compelled to cut their way to the
Tennessee through gaps, gorges, and defiles in the very heart of
this mighty chain, giving us some of the most picturesque scenery
62 BULLBTIK OF THE
to be found on the continent. Among these, the New, Watauga
Nolichucky, and French Broad are the best known.
In the midst of this region, with all three ranges in sight, stands
Roan Mountain, Laurentian in age, the State line crossing it at an
altitude of 6,391 feet, as determined by the mean of my baromet-
i-ical observations — and on and about this mountain it was my good
fortune to stay from June 25th to August 30th.
Notes upon some of the peculiarities of the region, as contrasted
with the northern Appalachian, will be my apology for asking
your attention.
J. The Uniformity of ElevcUion,
Standing on the summit of Roan, we look into seven different
States, and command a horizon of 30 to 80 miles. On the north
and west the eye catches the Cumberland range in the horizon,
beyond the great Tennessee plateau,, which is traversed by the
Clinch and a score of other ranges, but all as level as if designed
for railroad embankments.
On the south and east there is a wilderness of mountains. Guyot
gives 50 to 60 with altitudes exceeding 6,000 feet, and yet the
highest is only 6,717 feet, and perhaps 40 of them fall between
6,000 and 6,500, while hundreds of others are above 5,000. The
valleys rarely go below 3,000 feet. The railroad after leaving
Lynchburg reaches 1,000 feet in a few miles, and from that point for
nearly 300 miles never goes below 1,500 feet, its highest summit
being at 2,550 feet.
«
IL Uniformity of Temperature,
During nine weeks the mercury once indicated 75^, seven times
70° +, once 45°, three times 50°, the general daily variation being
between 55° and 65°. The spring, a few rods rods from the hotel,
has a temperature of 45°. Equally remarkable was the uniformity
of atmospheric pressure the highest barometer being 24.19, and tlie
lowest 23.87, or a difference of only 0.32 inches. No wind ho J a
velocity of more than twenty miles an hour, and seldom did it
reach ten.
III. Fertility of the Summit,
Instead of the upper 1,000 feet being, as in most of the northern
Appalachian peaks reaching an altitude of over 5,000 feet, a pile
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 63
of barren rocks, with lichens their only vegetation, the summit of
RoaD, and many other peaks, is a smooth, grassy slope, of the most
mid green, dotted with clumps of Alnu8 viridiSf and Rhododendron
caiawbienae, the soil one or two feet in depth, rich and black. How
this amount of humus was accumulated on these summits, and what
cause destroyed the forests which its existence would seem to indicate
as formerly existing, are questions not easily answered.
The valleys are very fertile, and adapted to almost any crop.
At an elevation of 3,000 to 4,000 feet occurs a belt of the most
magnificent forest trees I have ever seen — hundreds of chestnuts,
sugar maples, lindens, tulip trees, yellow birches, buck-eyes — some
from 4 to 7 feet in diameter, and rising 70 to 80 feet without a limb.
One chestnut measured 24 feet in circumference, and one black
cherry measured 19 feet. Thorn bushes are as large as old apple
trees with dwarf buck-eyes and yellow birches, looked like old
orchards of vast extent.
IV. Flora.
Ascending the mountain, the vegetation takes on a northern aspect.
Hemlocks abound till near the summit, where they are replaced by
Alnes Fraseri, the characteristic species of these summits.
Anemone nemoroia^ Ozalis cbcetosella, Rubua odoratus, Ribes Icumstre
and prodrcUum, Aster acuminaiua^ Habenaria ariiculaia^ Veratrum
xiridey Lyecpodium luddulum, and similar species, remicd one of the
woods of Maine or New Hampshire.
The peculiar flora of the upper 1,000 feet, greatly, resembles in
habit that of the White Mountains, but very few species are the
same. Paronychia argyrocoma, Lyeopodium selago and Alnua viridis,
are almost the only plants that occur to me as identical in the two
localities, and these in the White Mountains are found in Crawford
Notch, while in Roan they are near the summit. Arenaria gnxnlan-
dlea is replaced by A. glabra^ Solidago thyrsoidea by S. glomerata ;
Oewn radiaium of the North is a variety of that found here ; the
tvo dwarf Nabali of White Mountains are represented by a new
species, N. roanenns, Rhododendron lapponicum (four inches high)
by magnificent R. eatavMense, covering the summit with its domes
of inflorescence six to eight feet in diameter, Caetilleia pallida by
C toecifiea.
So that, in general, the species peculiar to these mountains are
hardly sub-alpine, and thus continuous with similar species further
64 BULLETIN OF THE
north, but are rather apparent instances of local variation, many
species being confined to very limited localities.
On Mount Washington, a few rods will often give the same plant
in bud, flower, and fruit, as a north or south exposure, a precipice,
or a snow-drift may retard or accelerate growth; but on these
southern mountains no such difference obtains any more than in
the valleys below.
On this communication Mr. J. W. Powell remarked that the uui-
formity in the altitudes of the peaks is a feature resulting from the
fact that the general mass out of which they have been carved by
erosion possesses a plateau structure. The elevation of that region
was distributed in its effects with an approach to uniformity over a
wide extent of country, and was unaccompanied by those sharp flex-
ings or the protrusions of abrupt mountain cores, which are en-
countered in some portions of the Appalachians and other moun-
tainous regions. The individual masses and ranges in the Cumber-
land region are the work of erosion — the general process of land
sculpture acting upon a broad platform, excavating broad valleys
and narrow gorges, and leaving the peaks and ridges as cameos —
mere remnants left in the general degradation of the whole region.
Prof. Powell exemplified the process by citing the Uinta Moun-
tains as a broad platform similarly carved by an extensive erosion.
The following paper was read by Lester F. Ward, entitled —
FIELD AND CLOSET NOTES ON THE FLORA OF WASHINGTON
AND VICINITY.
[Abstract.*]
Introductory Reniarhs,
This paper has resulted from a suggestion made to the writer in
the spring of 1880, by a member of the Committee on Publications
of this Society, relative to the need that exists for some special
* Mr. Ward's communication presented to the Society only a brief notice
of the principal points of a monograph which he had prepared upon the
flora of the District of Columbia. In view of the local character of his
subject, and of the thorough and commendable manner in which it had
been elaborated, the Committee on Communications recommended, and the
General Committee authorized, the printing of a very full and copious
abstract of the paper, which is given herewith.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 65
treatiBe on the flora of this vicinity, and for a new and revised cat-
alogue of the plants. While there now exists a provisional cata*
logue containing most of the species which have been collected or
observed by botanists during the past six or seven years, it consists
of so many small annual accretions, due to constant new discoveries,
and contains withal so many blemishes and imperfections, incident
to its h&sty compilation and irregular growth, that it has ceased, in
great part, to meet the demands of the present time. The elabora-
tion of a systematic catalogue of the local flora was not, however,
at the outset at all contemplated, but merely the presentation of
certain notes and special observations on particular species, which
had been made in the course of some nine years of pretty close at-
tention to the vegetation, and somewhat varied and exhaustive field
studies in this locality.
The flowering-time of most species here is much earlier than
that given in the manuals, and is, moreover, in many cases, very
peculiar and anomalous, rendering it important to collectors as well
as interesting to botanists to have it definitely stated for a large
proportion of the plants. It being thus necessary to extend the
enumeration so far, it was thought that the remainder might as well
be added, thus rendering it a complete catalogue of all the vascular
plants known to occur here at the present time. To these has been
appended the list of mueci and hepaiiccR prepared by the late Mr.
Rudolph Oldberg for the Flora OoluMiana, which has been left un-
changed except in so far as was required to make it conform strictly
to 8ullivant's work which has long been the standard for this
country. Dr. £. Foreman has also furnished the names of a few
of the CharaceoR collected by himself, and named by Prof Farlow,
of Cambridge, which, in the present unsettled state of the classifi-
cation of the cryptogams, have, for convenience, been placed at the
foot of the series.
In undertaking this compilation I have endeavored to resist the
usual temptation of catalogue makers to expand their lists beyond
the proportions which are strictly warranted by the concrete facts
as revealed by specimens actually collected or species authentically
observed ; but have been content to set down only such as I can
either personally vouch for, ur as are vouched for by others who
have something more substantial than memory to rely upon ; pre-
ferring that a few species actually occuring but not yet seen should
be omitted and afterwards supplied, rather than that others, sup-
66 BULLETIN OP THE
posed to exist, but which cannot be found, should stand in the cat-
alogue to be apologized for to those who would be glad to obtain
them. A few species, however, which are positively known to have
once occured within our limits, but which have been obliterated
within the recollection of persons now living, have been retained,
as well as several of which only a single specimen has been found ;
but in all such cases the facts are fully stated in the notes accompany-
ing each plant.
Range *of the Local Flora.
The extent of territory which has of late years been tacitly recog-
nized by botanists here as constituting the area of what has been called
the Flora Columbiana is limited on the north by the Great Falls of
the Potomac, and on the south by the Mount Vernon estate in Vir-
ginia, and Marshall's just opposite this on the Maryland side of the
river, while it may reach back from the river as far as the divide
to the east, and as far westward as the foot of the Blue Ridge, so as
not to embrace any of the peculiarly mountain forms. Practically,
however, the east and west range is much more restricted and only
extends a few miles in either direction.
Comparison of the Flora of 1830 vdth thai of 1880.
Washington and its vicinity has long been a field of botanical
research. The year 1825 witnessed the dissolution of the Wcuhingtan
Botanical Society, which had for many years cultivated the science,
and the same year also saw the formation of the Botanic Club, which
continued the work, and in one respect, at least, excelled the former
in usefulness, since it has handed down to us of the present gen-
eration a valuable record in the form of a catalogue of the plants
then known to exist in this locality. This catalogue, which was
fittingly entitled Florcs ColumManxB Prodromus, and claimed to
exhibit '' a list of all the plants which have as yet been collected,"
though now rare, and long out of print, is still to be found in a few
botanical libraries.
I have succeeded in securing a copy of this work, and have been
deeply interested in comparing the results then reached with those
which we are now able to present. A few of these comparisons are
well worth reproducing.
It should be premised that the Prodromus is arranged on the
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 67
artificial system of Linnaeus, so that before the plants could be
placed in juxtaposition they required to be re-arranged. This, how-
ever, was not the principal difficulty. Such extensive changes have
taken place in the names of plants during the fifty years which have
elapsed since that work appeared, (1830,) that it is only with the
greatest difficulty that they can be identified. After much labor, T
have succeeded in identifying the greater part of them, and in thus
ascertaining about to what extent the two lists are in unison. This
also reveals the extent to which each overlaps the other, and
thus afilbrds a sort of rude index to the changes which our flora has
undergone in half a century. There are, however, as will be seen,
many qualifying considerations which greatly influence these con-
clusions and diminish the value of the data compared.
The whole number of distinct names (species and varieties) enu-
merated in the Prodromua is 919. Of these 59 are mere synonyms
or duplicate names for the same plant, leaving 860 distinct plants.
I have succeeded in identifying 708 of these with certainty as among
those now found, and six others, not yet clearly identified, should
probably be placed in this class. This leaves 146 enumerated in
the old catalogue which have not been found in recent investigations.
[A classified list of these plants was presented and commented upon
somewhat in detail.]
With regard to these 146 species, it must not be hastily concluded
that they represent the disappearance from our flora of that num.
ber of plants. While they doubtless indicate such a movement
to a certain extent, there are ample evidences that many of them
can be accounted for in other ways. After careful consideration, I
have been able to divide them into four principal classes arising
out of—
1st. Grrors on the part of those early botanists in assigning to
them the wrong names.
2d. The introduction into the catalogue of adventitious and even
of mere cultivated species, never belonging to the flora of the place.
3d. The undue extension by those collectors of the range of the
local flora so as to make it embrace a portion of the maritime vege-
tation of the Lower Potomac or the Chesapeake Bay, and also the
mountain flora of the Blue Ridge.
4th. The actual extermination and disappearance of indigenous
plants during the fifty years that have intervened since they made
their researches.
68 BULLETIN OF THE
The assignment which I have made of each species to its appro-
priate class has been of course in great part conjectural and may
be incorrect in many cases, while another botanist might have
differed considerably in regard to special plants ; yet it is not based
on a general judgment drawn from my acquaintance with the preseut
flora, but upon several kinds of special evidence, which in numerous
instances has reversed my prima fade decision.
In the first place, I have carefully compared the range of each
species as given in the text books to determine the probabilities for
or against its being found here, and in the second place I have
compared this list with the corresponding one of the species now
found but not enumerated in the Prodromus, I have also endeav-
ored to make due allowance on the one hand for the tendency above
referred to to swell catalogues beyond their proper limits, and on the
other for the well known fact that every flora is at all times under-
going changes.
It mu8t not be forgotten, either, that half a century ago the sur-
face of the entire country here must have presented a very different
appearance from that which it presents now. The population of
the District of Columbia in 1830, when it included a portion of
Virginia, was only 39,834. It is now, exclusive of the Virginian
part receded to that State, 177,638. To render the comparison
more exact we may add to the latter number the present population
of Alexandria county, amounting to 17,545, and we have in the
place of 39,834 a population on substantially the same area of
195,183, or about five times as large. The population of Maryland
in 1830 was 447,040 ; in 1880 it was 934,632, or considerably more
than twice as large. That of Virginia in 1830 was 1,211,405. Vir-
ginia and West Virginia, embracing the same territory, now number
2,131,249 the population not having quite doubled : the retardation,
however, as compared with Maryland, is doubtless due entirely to
influences affecting the southern counties. There were doubtless
large areas of primeval forest then within our limits which are now
under cultivation, and a much greater variety of soil and woodland
was then open to the researches of the botanist. As a consequence
we ought to expect that it would sustain a much richer flora.
The general result at which I arrive by the process adopted may
be summed up as follows :
1st. That 43 of these names, or 29 per cent, of them, belong to
the first class and constitute errors in naming.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 69
2d. That 12 of these plants, or 8 per cent., belong to the second
class, or were simply cultivated species, and never belonged to this
flora.
3d. That 10 of them, or 7 per cent., belong to the third class and
were collected beyond the reasonable limits of our local flora.
4th. The remaining 81, or 56 per cent., belong to the fourth class,
and represent bona fide discoveries in 1830 of species which either
do not now occur or are so rare as to have escaped the investigations
of the present generation of botanists.
With regard to the first of these classes, the large number of errors
in naming cannot be considered any derogation from the ability or
fidelity of the compilers of the Prodromua or their immediate pre-
decessors, when we remember the very unsettled state that American
botany was in at that time. Both names and authorities were badly
confused, and errors were committed even by the most experienced
botanists. For example, their Corydalis glauca as probably also
their C aiirea, meant C.flavula which is now abundant, but omitted
by them. Their Arabia strida might have been A, hirnUa or A.
paiena, which are both now rare, though it was more probably a
form of A. laevigata, as they seemed to be specially fond of drawing
nice distinctions and expressing them by synonyms. Varieties,
however, were scarcely recognized by them, the trinomial theory
bdng then in its infiincy. I might thus proceed to discuss all their
supposed errors, but this is not necessary.
The second and third classes, amounting together to 16 per cent,
of the alleged excess over the present flora, consist also of errors,
but errors which it is much less easy to palliate. It is natural to
wish to make as large a showing as possible, and the temptation to
insert into a catalogue everything which by any construction can
be claimed to belong there is rarely resisted. To show that this
propensity still exists, it may be remarked that of the 1054 species
enumerated in the preliminary catalogue of plants of this vicinity,
published by the Potomac Side Naturalist's Club in 1870, 89, or
about 8i per cent, are now admitted by all not to have been seen
here at that time, and have never been found by any one since, al-
though nearly three hundred other species have since been added
to the flora. This is certainly not a scientific method to proceed
upon, and as already remarked, the present efifort aims to eliminate
to a great extent this source of error.
The 81 species constituting the fourth class remain, therefore, the
70 BULLETIN OF THE
only ones to which any special interest attaches and for the determ-
ination of which the present somewhat laborious analysis of this
ancient document has been undertaken. For these, the botanists of
our times should make diligent search and perchance a few of them
may still be found. Assuming that they no longer exist, they do
not represent the whole number of plants that have disappeared
from our flora during the interval of fifty years. This could be
only on the assumption that the Prodromus was a complete record
of the flora at the time. This it certainly is not. The aggregate
number, exclusive of synonyms or duplicated names, which it con-
tained was, as we saw, 860, which includes one cellular plant, viz :
Achara. We now identify, counting as was then done, species and
varieties, 1249 distinct vascular plants. While no doubt many of
these have been freshly appearing while others have been disappear-
ing, still, from the considerations above sec forth, it is highly prob-
able that the indigenous flora of 1830 was considerably larger than
that of 1880, and may have reached 1400 or 1500 vascular plants.
It would appear, therefore, that only a little over half the plants
actually existing were discovered by the botanists of that day, and
enumerated in their catalogue. If the proportion of disappearances
could be assumed to be the same for species not discovered as for
those discovered by them, this would raise the aggregate number to
considerably above one hundred, and perhaps to one hundred and
twenty-five.
The great number of present known species not enumerated in
the Prodromus, some of them among our commonest plants and a-
mounting in the aggregate to 535 species, is another point of interest,
since, after due allowance has been made for mistakes in naming
them, it remains clear on the one hand that these researches must
have been, compared with recent ones, very superficial ; and on the
other, that, not to speak of fresh introductions, many plants now
common must have then been very rare, otherwise they would have
proved too obtrusive to be thus overlooked.
Localities of Special Interest to the Botanist.
The flora of a wild region is always more uniform than that of
one long subjected to human influences. The diversity in the former
is a natural consequence of the corresponding diversity in the sur-
face and other physical features. In the latter it is due to condi-
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 71
tioos arbitrarily imposed by man. A primeval flora is usually
more rich in indigenous species, but the artificial changes caused
by cultivation often offiet this to a great extent by the introduc-
tion of foreign ones. This, however, greatly reduces its botanical
interest.
In many respects the botanist looks at the world irom a point of
view precisely the reverse of that of other people. Bich fields of
com are to him waste lands ; cities are his abhorrence, and great
areas under high cultivation he calls " poor country;" while on the
other hand the impenetrable forest delights his gaze, the rocky cliff
charms him, thin-soiled barrens, boggy fens, and unreclaimable
swamps and morasses are for him the finest lands in a State. He
takes no delight in the " march of civilization ;" the ax and the
plow are to him symbols of barbarism, and the reclaiming of waste
lands and opening up of his favorite haunts to cultivation he in-
stinctively denounces as acts of vandalism. In him more than in
any other class of mankind the poet's injunction —
" Woodman, spare that tree,"
tenches a responsive cord. While all this may seem as absurd to
8ome as does the withholding from tillage of great pleasure grounds
in the form of hunting parks for the landed sporting gentry of
Northern and Western Europe, still, when these parts of the world
are compared with the artificially made deserts of Southeastern
Europe and Western Asia, caused by the absence of such senti-
ments, there may, perhaps, be dimly recognized a " soul of good
in things evil," if not a soul of wisdom in things ridiculous.
After the protracted subjection of a country to the conditions of
civilization it gradually comes about that while the greater part of
the surface falls under cultivation, more or less thorough, and the
botanist is ultimately excluded from it, there will remain a few
&vored spots, which, from one cause or another, will escape and
continue to form his favorite haunts. In the vicinity of large
rivers, giving greater variety to the surface, or of rugged hills or
mountains, this will be especially the case. As a country grows
old large estates in the vicinity of cities fall into the possession of
heirs who are engaged in mercantile or professional business, and
neglect them, or they come into litigation lasting for years, and are
thus happily abandoned to nature. These and other causes have
operated in an especial manner in the surroundings of Washington,
72 BULLETIN OF THE
and there thus exist a large number of these green oases, as it were,
interspersed over the otherwise botanical desert.
In consequence of this fact it requires experience in order to
improve the facilities which the place affords. A botanist unac-
quainted with the proper localities for successful collection might
spend a month almost in vain, and depart with the conviction that
there was nothing here to be found. It may not be wholly pecu-
liar, but these favored localities are here often of very limited ex-
tent, and in situations which from a distance afford no attraction
to the collector. Civilization is, however, very perceptibly encroach-
ing upon many of them, and it is feared that in another half cen-
tury little will be left but a few bare rocks or inaccessible marshes.
In naming localities the principal authorities relied upon are :
1. A recent AUcls of fifteen miles around Washington, including the
County of Montgomery, Md., Compiled, Drawn, and Published from
Actual Surveys, by O. M. Hopkins, C, E : Philadelphia, 1879 ; and,
2, a military map of Northeastern Virginia, published in the work
of Greneral J. G. Barnard, on the Defences of Washington, 1821.
From the former the names of many roads, streams, estates, &c.,
have been obtained, while from the latter those of forts, batteries,
&c., are often employed as more convenient. In this respect, how-
ever, much remains to be desired. While the military map is
antiquated, the other is frequently defective in omitting what is
required and incorrect in erroneously locating streams and other
objects well known to the writer. In his extensive rambles he has
learned many local names not found on the map, and in a few
cases of special botanical interest, where names are wholly wanting,
he has long been in the habit of designating the localities by names
of his own christening, and for which he offers no apology.
The following are a few of the principal places of botanical in-
terest which will be found to recur most frequently in the notes,
and for this reason brief descriptions of them are appended.
1. The Rock Creek Region, — Rock Creek which forms the bound-
ary line between Washington and Georgetown (West Washington),
has escaped to a remarkable degree the inroads of agriculture and
population. For the greater part of its length within the District
of Columbia its banks are still finely wooded for some distance
back, and afford a rich and varied field for botanical exploration.
The character of the surface along Rock Creek is most beautiful
and picturesque, often rocky and hilly with frequent deep ravines
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON. 73
coming down into the usually narrow bottom through which the
creek flows. The stream itself is full of the most charming curves
and the whole region is an ideal park. No one can see it without
thinkiug how admirably it is adapted for a National Park. Such
a park might be made to extend from Oak Hill Cemetery to the
Military Road opposite Brightwood, having a width of a mile or
a mile and a half. Not only every botanist but every lover of Art
and Nature must sigh at the prospect, now not far distant » of
beholding this region devastated by the ax and the plow. The
citizens of Washington should speedily unite and strenuously urge
upon Congress the importance of early rescuiug this ready-made
National Park from such on unfortunate fate.*
The Rock Creek Region is divided, so far as the designation of
localities is concerned, into six sections. The first embracing the
aeries of groves from Georgetown to Woodley Park on the right
bank of the creek, is called Woodley. This section embraces sev-
eral interesting ravines and in it are found many plants rare else-
where, such as QMmcB liriumy Carolirdanum, Oypripedium pube8cens»
Eetperia maJtronalis and Liparia LcRselii. In it is also a grove of
the Hercules club (Aralia apinosa,) On the left bank of the creek
lie the E^alorama Heights and some open woodland.
The Woodley Park section extends to the ravine which comes
down opposite the old brick mill-ruin known as the Adams Mill.
The timber here has been thinned out recently by the proprietors
but not cleared off, and the vegetation has undergone a marked
change. Several interesting plants have been found in Woodley
Park, including the rare Obolaria Virginicaf and the beautiful Spir-
oea aruneus. Above this the timber is heaviest on the left bank
and some very fine ravines occur, at the head of one of which is a
niagnolia and sphagnum swamp where Veratrum viride and Sym-
phoarpu8 fodidua keep company with Oonolibus obliquus and Pyrus
* It 18 remarkable that when committees of Congress have been appointed,
ss has several times been done, to consider a site for a National Park, they
have usually looked in other directions and have seemed to ignore the ex-
istence of this region, which is certainly the only one that possesses any
natural claims. A mere carriage ride through such parts as are traversed
by roads is wholly insufficient to afford an adequate idea of its merits from
this point of vfew. For the greater part of the distance mentioned above
Ibis region is accessible only to footmen.
74 BULLETIN OF THE
arbviifolia. Here, too, though well up towards the ford, has been
found Polemonium reptans^ not seen elsewhere.
This third section terminates at Piney Branch, and from here to
Pierce's mill, and as far above as the mouth of Brood Branch, the
fourth section extends. This section is well wooded on both sides
and includes the enchanting Cascade run which leaps down over
the most romantic rocks. Near Pierce's mill are many trees and
shrubs, planted there years before, but now well naturalized.
Among these are Aralia spinosa, Xanthoxylum Americanum, Aaer
sacckarinum, Pinus strobus, and Carya alba. Below the mill on the
creek bottom is a long-abandoned nursery of Populua alba and
Acer dasyearpum, from which many of the trees of the city may
have been supplied.
From Broad branch to the Military road is the fifth and per-
haps most interesting section of the Bock Creek Region. On the
left bank lie the once noted Crystal Springs, and though the build-
ings are removed, the springs remain unchanged. Here have been
found Ophioglossum viUgatum, Anychia dichotoma, and Perilla od-
moides, as well as Tipvlaria discolor. On the right bank and above
Blagden's mill is a bold bluff in a short bend of the creek forming
a sort of promontory upon which there grows OatUtheria proeum-
bena, the winter-green or checkerberry, this being its only known
locality within our limits. Half a mile farther up and back upon
the wooded slope is the spot on which stand a dozen or more fine
trees of the Table Mountain Pine, (P. pungent.) Here also was
first found Pycnanthenum Torreyi.
To these there must be added a sixth section extending from the
Brightwood road to the north comer of the District of Columbia
which lies near Rock Creek. For the first mile there is little of
interest, the cultivated land approaching the creek and the low hills
near its banks being covered with a short second growth of scrub
pine and black-jack. But above the Claggett estate on the right
bank, and to some extent on both sides, lies the largest forest within
our limits. This wood belongs, I learn, to the Carroll estate and is
so designated in this catalogue. In it have been found very many
most interesting plants. It was the first extensive tract found for
the crowfoot (Jjycopodium complanaitm) and still constitutes the
most reliable and abundant source known of this plant. Its present
fame, however, rests upon its hybrid oaks, of which some most in-
teresting forms have been found there. [See Field and Forest,
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 75
October and November, 1875; Botanical Gazette, October, 1880,
p. 123.] Here also grows very sparingly Microstylia ophioglossoidea,
and quite abundantly Pyrola elHptica and P. secunda. It is also a
rich locality for many other species rare elsewhere.
2. The Upper Potomac Region. — ^The flora of the left bank of
the Potomac is, in many respects, very unlike that of any other
locality within our limits. A mile above Georgetown, and com-
mencing from the recently constructed outlet lock of the Chesa-
peake and Ohio canal, there exists a broad and low strip of coun-
try formerly known by the name of Carberry Meadows, lying be-
tween the canal and the river, and extending to the feeder of the
canal, a distance of about three and a half miles. This interval is
relieved by two convenient landmarks, viz., one mile above the
outlet lock, a grist-mill and guano factory, popularly known as
Eads' mill ; and a mile further, the celebrated Chain Bridge. Little
Falls, proper, begin a hundred yards above the bridge, and extend
half a mile or more. The region above the bridge will, therefore,
be designated as Little Falls. The flats terminate in a remarkable
knoll or small hillock of very regular outline and abrupt sides,
which, from the combined effects of the feeder on one side, and large
overflows from it below, becomes practically an island, and is well
known to all as High Island. These river flats are, in most places,
covered with large boulders of the characteristic gneiss rock of the
country. In some parts the surface is very rough, and numerous
pools or small ponds of water occur. Overflows and leakages from
the canal cause large sloughs and quagmires, while annual ice-
gorges crush down the aspiring fruticose vegetation. All these
circumstances lend variety to the locality, and, as might be ex-
pected, the flora partakes largely of this characteristic. It would
prolong this sketch unduly to enumerate all the rare and interest-
ing plants which this region has contributed to our vegetable treas-
ures, but conspicuous among them are Polygonum amphibium, var.
terreitre, laanthua ecBrtUeuSy Herpestis nigrescens, Brasenia peUata,
Cypents virens, and Nescea verticUlata, all of which recur below
Ead's mill ; Ammannia humUis, a remarkable variety of Salix
nigra, (& nigra var. Wardi, Bebb,) Salix cordata, and S, longifolia;
as also Spiranthea latifoliaj and Samohu valerandi var. Americanue,
Ftfw vulpina and Panicum pauciflorum, which may be found be-
tween this point and the bridge, while at the Little Falls we are
&vored with Paronychia dickotoma, (Enothera frvticoea, var. lineare
76 BULLETIN OP THE
(very distinct from the type) and Ceonothus ovatua : also Ranun-
cuius pusilhu and Utricularia gibba. But rich and varied as are
these lower flats, they are excelled by High Island, the flora of
which is by far the most exuberant of all within the knowledge of
botanists. Here we find Jeffersonia diphylla^ Caulophyllum thcUie-
troideSy Erigenia bulbom, Silene nivea, Valeriana paiudflora, Ery-
thronium cUbidum, Iris cristaia, And a great number of others of our
most highly prized plants, many of which are found nowhere else.
Above the feeder is a series of islands in the river lying for the
most part near the Maryland shore, and to which the maps, so far
as I can learn, assign no names. The first of these lies well out in
the river, and has been made to form a part of the feeder-dam. It
is low and frequently overflowed, and has not, as yet, furnished
many rare plants, though here Arabis dentata and some others have .
been found. It has been designated Feeder-dam Island, The
second is half or thr^e-quarters of a mile above, lies higher, and iis
covered with a very dense and luxuriant herbaceous vegetation and
fine trees, chiefly of Box Elder, Negundo a^roides, from which cir-
cumstance and the peculiar impression which the long gracefully
pendent staminatc flower of these trees produced on the occasion of
its first discovery by a botanical party it received the name of Box
Elder Island. The third island is a short distance above the last,
has a more elevated central portion and a similar vegetation.
Here was found, on our first visit, and also on subsequent ones,
Delphinium iricome^ and for this contribution to the Flora Colum-
biana it was christened Larkspur Island. The fourth of these
islands is, in many respects, similar to the two last described, and
upon it stands the only indigenous specimen of Acer saccharinum
yet found here. It has, therefore, been appropriately named Sugar-
maple Island. Erythranium albidum, Trillium sessile, Jeffersonia
diphylla and similar species abound on all these islands, while on
the Larkspur Island, besides the Delphinium, has also been found
Phacelia Purshii. The beauty of these natural flower-gardens in
the months of April and May is unequaled in my experience. The
light and rich alluvial soil causes the vegetation to shoot up with
magic rapidity at the first genial rays of the vernal sun, and often
the harbinger of spring, Erigenia bulbosa, true to its name, will
greet the delighted rambler in late February or early March.
The opposite, or Virginia side of the Upper Potomac, consbts
entirely of bold blufi^, interrupted by deep ravines, often contain-
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 77
ing wild torrents and dashing cascades. Here the flora, though
less rich and varied, is also characteristic and interesting, and em-
braces, among other rare things. Rhododendron maximum, Iris
eredaia, Scutellaria aaxatilis, Pyenanthemum Torreyi, Solidago rapes-
iris and S. virga-aurea, var. humilis. On the Maryland side and a
mile above the uppermost point thus far mentioned, is the C/abin
John run, which the botanist celebrates more for its walking ferp
{Camptowrus rhizophyUus) than for the world-renowned arch that
spans it.
The next most prolific source of interesting plants is the region
of the Great Falls. The collecting grounds begin a mile or more
below at Broad Water. On both sides of the canal the country is
excellent, rocky and wooded, with stagnant pools and sandy hillocks.
On these rocks grow Sedum telephoides and near Sandy Landing
are found Vitis vulpina, Arabis patens, A, hirsuta and Triosteum an'
gtutifolium. In the pools have been found Carex decomposita^ Pot-
amogeion hyhridus and P. paudflorus, while on a rocky headland a
large "water-pocket" has yielded my only specimen of the white
water lily (Nymphcsa odorata). Oratcegus parvifolia, Rumex veHicU-
lotus Sleironema lanceolaium, and last but not least,. Nasturiuvi la-
eustre, have also rewarded my researches in this singular and rather
weird region.
On the opposite side of the river the site of the ancient canal
around the Falls has proved very fertile in botanical trophies.
Pdygala amhigua is found near the boat landing, while by climb-
ing the cliffs below this point the native of more northern climes
may gaze once more upon his familiar Hemlock Spruce, Tsuga
Qmadensis. Difficult Bun, a mile farther down, though indeed
difficult of approach, repays the effort with Pododemon ceraJtophyl-
lu8, Smilacina stellaia, Potamogeton Claytonii, and numerous other
herbal treasures.
3. The Lower Potomac Region.
Passing next to the lower Potomac, the localities of special in-
terest are, 1. Custis Spring, opposite the Arlington estate, with the
extensive marsh below, where SagiUaria pusilla, Discopleura capil-
Uuea, Oyperus erythrorhizus, and other rare species are alone known
to grow. 2. The point and bay below Jackson City, known as
Boach's run, where are found, among others, Scrophularia nodosa.
78 BULLETIN OF THE
Tripaacum dadylaides and Pycnanihemum lanceolaium, 3. Four
Mile run, half way tx) Alexandria, not yet sufficiently explored, in-
cluding the vicinity of Fort Scott to the northwest, where (Xematia
ochroleuGa and Aselepias quadrifolia may be collected ; and, 4.
Hunting creek, a large estuary below Alexandria, including Ca-
meron run, the stream which debouches into it, with its tributaries.
Back Lick run and Holmes run, which unite to form it. Here
have been found, at various points, Clemaiia ochroleuea, Ghmolobus
hirsutus, Itea Virginicat Oeranium coluinbinum, MierantJiemum
Nuttallii, Habenaria virescens, Quercus maerocarpa, Oarex gracU-
lima, Oeum strictum, CkUium cutpreUum, and very many other rare
plants.
On the left bank of the lower Potomac the chief locality of in-
terest is a large wooded area below the Oovemment Hospital for
the Insane. This has proved a rich hunting ground for the botanist,
and has yielded Carex paUeacens, Carex Woodii, Ghnolohus hiravJtuSy
same armeria, Parietariu Penfisylvanica, Myosotis arvenm, Scutel-
laria nervosa, &c., &c. Aaplenium angustifolium is known only at
Marshall Hall, where it has been reported by Mr. O. M. Bryan,
while opposite Fort Foote Mr. Zumbrock has found Myriophyllum
spicatum, and opposite Alexandria Professor Gomstock and Miss
Willets have discovered Plantago eordata.
4. The Terra CoUa Region,
This embraces some low grounds and undulating barrens near
the terra cotta works, at Terra Cotta Station, on the Metropolitan
Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, three miles from the
city, and also a small swamp a quarter of a mile beyond, and to
the eastward. Here on the dry ground have been found Onosmo-
dium Virginianum, Lespedeza Stuvei, Clitorla Mariana, and Habe-
naria kicera ; and in the swamp Aster osstivus, Solida strieta,
Woodwardia Virginica, Asdepias ruhra, Poterium Canadense, and
numerous other plants rare or absent in other localities.
6. The Reform School Region.
This locality is very limited in extent, but has proved one of the
most fertile in botanical rarities. Its nucleus consists of a little
swampy spot a short distance to the south of the National .Reform
School, in which is located a beautiful spring; but the woody
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 79
tract of country surrounding this and stretching southward and
eastward some distance has also proved very fruitful. In the dif-
ferent portions of this region have been discovered Phlox maculata,
MelajUhium Virginicum, Bartonia tenella, Lespedeza Stuvei, Desmo-
dium MarUandicum and Z>. dlarey Buchnera Americana, Fimbri-
ityiU eapillariSf Quercua prinoidea, Carex hvMata, and Oentiana
cSiroUuca, most of which do not occur at all elsewhere.
6. The Molmead Swamp Region.
Like the last, this locality is quite circumscribed in area, but
like it, too, it is rich in interesting plants. It occupies a ravine
leading to Piney Branch from the east at the point where the con-
tinaation of Fourteenth street crosses that stream. The road con-
necting the last named with the Rock Creek Church road, and
which is called Spring street, follows this valley. The collecting
grounds are on the south side of this road and in the springy
meadow along the rill. The timber has long been cut off, but the
boggy character of the ground has thus far protected it from culti-
vation. The pasturing of animals on it during a portion of the
year has latterly become a serious detriment to the growth of plants.
Mr. Holmead, who owns it and lives near by, has kindly permitted
botanists to investigate it for their purposes. Here have been found
Ludwigia hirauta, Drosera rotundifolia Aaclepias rubra, XyrisfleX'
uosa, Fuirena sqtiarrosa, Rhinchospora o^a, Coreopm diacoidea and
the beautiful Calopogon puUHieUus the most showy of our orchids.
In addition to these specially fertile tracts there are many other
localities of great interest where valuable accessions to our flora
have been made, and which will be particularly designated under
the names of these species. It will suffice here to mention a wet
meadow between the National Driving Park and Bladensburg,
where, in a very diminutive spot, Sarracenia purpurea, Viola lanceo-
l^ita, and Carex buUata, the two first wholly unknown elsewhere,
have been discovered ; a marsh a mile from Bladensburg, near the
millrace, where only the majestic Stenanthium rolmgtum has been seen ;
a little swamp near the Bligo creek, between the Riggs and Blair
roads, where the Hartford fern (Lygodium palmatum) grows spar-
ingly ; and another between Bladensburg and the Maryland Agri-
caltural Collie, where Solidago elliptica, Ascyrum stand, and Lyco-
podium eomplanatum, var. Sabincefolium, have been found. The
80 BULLETIN OF THB
Eastern branch region is not specially rich in floral treasures, but
on its banks and marshes some good things appear. HabeTiaria
virescenSf Steironema laceokUum, Eleockaria quadrangxdata, Scirpua
fluviatilis, Ranunculus antigens, and Salix RusseUiana are among
these, though some of them are found elsewhere.
Flowering time of Plants. *
It has already been remarked that most species flower at Wash-
ington much earlier than at points farther north or the dates given
in the manuals. In consequence of this, a botanist unacquainted
with this fact, and accustomed to those climates and to relying upon
the books, would be likely to be behind the season throughout the
year, and fail to get the greater part of the plants he desired. With
all my efforts to make allowance for this fact, I have frequently
been sorely disappointed and was at last driven to making a care-
ful record, preserving and correcting it from year to year, of the
flowering time of plants in this locality. The notes on this subject
appended to nearly every species enumerated in the list embody the
general results of these observations and may in the main be relied
upon. The expressions used are not loose conjectures, but are in
the nature of compilations from recorded data. In most cases an
allowance of two weeks may be made for the difference in seasons
though rarely more and often less. Certain plants, as for example,
Tipularia discolor, flower at almost exactly the same time every
year. Occasionally, however, one will vary a month or more in a
quite unaccountable way. But any one who has watched the peri-
odical changes of the general vegetation for a series of years and
recorded his observations, will more and more realize the exactness
even of these complex biological phenomena which depend so abso-
lutely upon uniform astronomical events.
From this point of view the season which presents the greatest
variation and also, for this and other reasons, the greatest interest
is the spring. There are a few plants which may sometimes be
found in flower here in January, such as SteUaria m^ia, Ta/raxacum
dens'leonis or Acer dasycarpum (collected Jan. 17, 1876, in the
city) in favored places, but these will bloom at any time when a
few days of mild weather with sunshine can come to revive them.
There are, however, several strictly vernal species which bloom quite
regularly in the latter part of February, such as Symplocarpus /ce-
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 81
tidu8j Qiryaosplenium Americanunif and often Anemone hepatica.
The namber regularly found in flower in March is quite large and
in special years very large. It was of course impossible to make
observations every day of tcnj year, but taking a number of years
my observations cover nearly every day of the spring season. As
showing the number of these early vernal species and also how
widely the seasons may differ, the following facts are presented :
In the year 1878 seventeen species had actually been seen in
flower and noted up to March 24th. I did not go out again that
year until April 7, when I enumerated forty-six additional species,
making sixty-three in all up to that date. This was an exception-
ally early season. The next spring, that of 1879, was a backward
one, as is shown by the fact that while I had visited the same
localities, and taken notes with equal care only thirty-three species
had been seen in flower up to April 13th : twenty -nine species which
had been seen in flower on April 7th, 1878, were not yet in flower in
the same localities on April 13th, 1879. There appeared to be about
three week's difference in these two seasons. The lost season, 1880,
was again an early one, though less so than 1878. It was, however,
near enough to the average to render the facts observed of great value.
The following are a few of them: On February 29th, seven species
were seen in flower in the Rock Creek region. On April 4th, thi^rty
were enumerated on the Virginia side of the Potomac, above the
Aqueduct Bridge. On April 11th, eleven were seen in addition to
those previously enumerated in the Eastern Branch region : and on
the 18th of April, High Island was visited, and twenty-nine added
to all previously recorded, three of which were then in fruit The
total to this date was therefore seventy Tpecies. This season I con-
claded was a week or ten days later than that of 1878, and as much
earlier than that of 1879.*
* Since the above was written the present season (i88i) has passed its vemal
period. It has proved still more bac)<ward than 1879 and the latest spring thus
far observed. On April 3d, I made my first excursion and visited the Virginia
•adc of the Potomac above Rosslyn. Only 7 species were seen in flower including
A/hus serrulata which doubtless can be obtained much earlier in ordinary years,
^«t has been overlooked. Besides Draba vema, a January species, and Anemone
h^paticOf a February one, the only herbaceous flower found was Sanguinaria
Canadensis. On April loth, High Island was visited, but only 8 species could be
aJdcd to the above 7, and several of these, as Jeffersonia diphyllat Dicentra cu-
tulUria^ Saxifraga Virginiensis, Erythronium Americanum^ and Stellaria pu^
6
82 BULLETIN OF THE
We may now inquire what some of these early plants are. The
following have been observed in flower in February :
Chrysosplenium Americanumy February 17, 1878.
Anemone Hepatica, February 20, 1876.
Salix Babylonica, February 22, 1874.
Populus alba, February 22, 1874.
Draba verna, February 24, 1878.
Acer dasycarpum, February 24, 1878,
Stellaria media, February 29, 1880.
Cerastium viscosum, February 29, 1880.
Claytonia Virginica, February 29, 1880.
Acer rubrum, February 29, 1880.
Symplocarpus fa^tidus, February 29, 1880.
To these should, perhaps, be added Equiaetum hyemale, which was
found February 17, 1878, near the receiving reservoir with the
spikes well advanced, quite contrary to the books which make it
fruit in summer.
In addition to the above, which may often also be seen later, the
the following have been noted flowering in March :
Populus alba, March 3, 1874,
Viola pedata, March 6, 1876.
Houstonia coerulea, March 5, 1876.
Obolaria Virginica, March 5, 1876.
Dentaria heterophylla, March 8, 1874.
Poa brevifolia. March 8, 1874.
Capsella Bursa-pastoris, March 10, 1878.
Lamium amplexicaule, March 10, 1878.
Lindera Benzoin, March 10, 1878.
Epigaea repens, March 15, 1874.
Ulmus fulva, March 15, 1874.
Luzula campestris, March 15, 1874.
Saxifraga Virginiensis, March 16, 1879.
Sanguinaria Canadensis, March 17, 1878.
Sisymbrium Thaliana, March 17, 1878.
dera, were very sparingly out. Cold weather continued to the end of the third
week in April, and on April 24th, when High Island was again visited and a
thorough canvas made, only 22 additional plants could be found there, and the
whole number seen to that date was 46. The conclusion was that up to that
time the season was about three weeks later than that of 1880.
PUILOSOPHIOAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 83
Salix tristis, March 17, 1877.
Populus grandidentata, March 21, 1880.
Corydalis flavula, March 22, 1874.
Thalictrum anemonoides, March 24, 1878.
Deotaria laciniata, March 24, 1878.
Antennaria plantaginifolia, March 24, 1878.
Erodium cicutarium, March 27, 1874.
Erigenia bulbosa, March 28, 1875.
Cardamine hirsuta, March 30, 1879.
It is about the first of April, especially in early years, that the
vegetation seems to receive the greatest impetus. This is well shown
by the following list of species seen in flower during the first week
in April :
Ulmus Americana, April 1, 1873.
Jeffersonia diphylla, April 2, 1876.
Cardamine rhomboidea, April 2, 1876.
Stellaria pubera, April 2, 1876.
Thaspium aureum, April 2, 1876.
Euphorbia commutata, April 2, 1876.
Alnus serrulata, April 3, 1881.
Ranunculus abortivus, April 4, 1880.
Dicentra Cucullaria, April 4, 1880.
Arabia laevigata, April 4, 1880.
Viola tricolor, var. arvensis, April 4, 1880.
Vicia Caroliniana, April 4, 1880.
Amelanchier Canadensis, April 4, 1880.
Kepeta Glechoma, April 4, 1880.
Sa^afras officinale, April 4, 1880.
Carpinus Americana, April A, 1880.
Ostrya Virginica, April 4, 1880.
Erythroncum Americanum, April 4, 1880.
Barbarea vulgaris, April 5, 1874.
Pedicularis Canadensis, April 5, 1874.
Mertensia Virginica, April 5, 1874.
Ranunculus abortivus, var. micranthus, April 7, 1878.
Ranunculus repens, Apiil 7, 1878.
Asimina triloba, April 7, 1878.
Caulophyllum thalictroides, April 7, 1878.
Arabis dentata, April 7, 1878.
84 BULLETIN OF THE
Barbarea praecox, April 7, 1874.
Sisymbriam Alliaria, April 7, 1878.
Viola cucullata, April 7, 1878.
Viola striata, April 7, 1878.
Viola glabella, April 7, 1878.
looidium concolor, April 7, 1878.
Silene, Pennsylvanica, April 7, 1878.
Cerastium vulgatum, April 7, 1878.
Cerastium gblongifolium, April 7, 1878.
Geranium, maculatum, April 7, 1878.
Oxalis corniculata, April 7, 1878.
Cercib Canadensis, April 7, 1878.
Potentilla Canadensis, April 7, 1878.
Thaspium trifoliatum, April 7, 1878.
Cornus florida, April 7, 1878.
Chrysogonum, Virginianum, April 7, 1878.
Senecio aureus, April 7, 1878.
Fraxinus viridis, April 7, 1878.
Phlox divarieata, April 7, 1878.
Lithospermum arvense, April ", 1878.
Betula nigra, April 7. 1878.
Populus monilifera, April 7, 1878.
Arisaema triphyllum, April 7, 1878.
Erythronium albidum, April 7, 1878.
Trillium sessile, April 7, 1878.
My special observations on the vernal flowering time of plants
extend about two weeks later or to the end of the third week in
April, after which the great number of plants in bloom, including
the amentaceous trees, render it difficult to pursue the investigation,
while at the same time the facts become less valuable. The results
for the second and third weeks of April, always excluding all pre-
viously enumerated, are as follows :
Arabis lyrata, April 9, 1876.
Fraxinus pubescens, April 11, 1880.
Salix cordata, April 11, 1880.
Salix purpurea, April 11, 1880.
Vaccinium corymbosum, April 12, 1880.
Carex platyphylla, April 12, 1880.
Poa annua, April 12, 1874.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 85
Thalictrum dioicum, April 14, 1876.
RhoB aromatica, April 14, 1878.
Phlox 8ubulata, April 14, 1878.
ArabiB patens, April 18, 1880.
Gardamine hirsuta, var sylvatica, April 18, 1880.
Negundo aceroides, April 18, 1880.
Erigeron bellidifolius, April 18, 1880.
Erigia Virginica, April 18, 1880.
Sisyrinchium Bermudiaua, April 18, 1880.
Ckrex laxiflora, AprO 18, 1880.
Carex Emmonsii, April 18, 1880.
Melica mutica, April 18, 1880.
Anemone nemorosa, April 19, 1874.
Viola cucullata, var. cordata, April 19, 1874.
Dirca palustris, April 19, 1874.
Garez Pennsylvanica, April 19, 1874.
Lathynu venoBus, April 21, 1878.
Ribes rotundifolia, April 21, 1878.
Salix nigra, var. Wardi, April 21, 1878.
We thus see that a single collector has in the course of eight year's
operations actually observed and noted eleven species in bloom in
February, 24 more in March, 51 additional in the first week of
April, and 26 others during the second and third weeks of April or
112 up to April 21.
It should be remarked that there is no doubt that if the same lo-
calities in which the large numbers were observed on April 2 1876,
April 4, 1880, and April 7, 1878 had been visited in the last days of
March of those years quite a number of these plants would have
been found sufficiently advanced to demand a place in the lists, and
thus the month of March would have been credited with so many
here set down for the first week in April. Probably, all things
considered, not less than fifty species in certain favored seasons
either reach or pass by their flowering-time by the end of March.
In arranging the above lists the order of dates has of course
taken precedence, but where several are enumerated under one date
the natural order is followed.
It is scarcely necessary to suggest a caution to collectors against
relying upon these dates in making collections. They represent
the earliest observations and not the average. In most cases an
allowance of at least one week should be made for the full bloom-
86 BULLETIN OF THB
ing of all the individuals of any given species. In all cases, bow-
ever, one or more individuals were actually seen in flower and suf-
ficiently advanced for collection, otherwise no note was taken. The
Carices of course had not advanced to developed perigynia, and
many plants whose inflorescence is centrifugal or centripetal, or
which develop fruit while retaining their flowers, should be looked
for at a later stage.
Autumnal Flowering.
One of the most interesting peculiarities of the flora of this vicin-
ity is that of the second-blooming of vernal species, which in most
cases takes place quite late in the fall. [See Field and ForeBt,
April-June, 1878, Vol. Ill, p. 172.] In addition to the seven species
observed and published in 1878, 1 have noted more than as many
others manifesting this habit, and it is probable that still others will
yet be added. The following is a list of those thus far recorded
with the dates at which they were observed and which may be cofu-
pared with those of their regular vernal period :
Ranunculus abortivus, var. micranthus, November 28, 1875.
Cardamine hirsuta, October 3, 1880.
Viola pedata, var. bicolor, September 22, and December 8, 1878
Viola striata, September 10, 1876.
Fragaria Virginiana, September 22, 1878.
Rubus villosus, September 22, and October 27, 1878.
Lonicera Japonica, October 13, 1878.
Houstonia purpurea, October 13, 1878.
Houston ia purpurea, var. angustifolia, September 12, 1880.
Houstonia csBrulea, September 7, 1879.
Vaccinium stamineum, October 13, 1878.
Rhododendron nudiflorum, October 13, 1878.
Sabbatia angularis, October 27, 1878.
Phlox divaricata, October 16, 1873.
Echium vulgare, October 8, 1880.
Veronica officinalis, October 8, 1873.
Agrostis scabra, November 12, 1876.
To this list of seventeen should perhaps be added Stellaria pubera^
which instead of a vernal and autumnal period, has two vernal
periods as described under that species in the systematic notes.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 87
SaUx longifoHa has this year (1881,) flowered twice ; once in April
and again in June.
Autumnal blooming, in so far as it is peculiar to this climate,
may be chiefly attributed to the tolerably regular occurrence here
of a hot and dry season in midsummer. This usually begins
towards the end of June and ends about the middle of August.
Daring this period, in some seasons, the ground and vegetation
become parched and dried up, so that vegetal processes in many
plants cease almost as completely as in the opposite season of cold.
From this dormant state, the warm and often copious rains of the
latter part of August revive them, as do the showers of spring, and
they begin anew their regular course of changes. The frosts of
October usually cut their career short before maturity is reached,
but in some cases two crops of seed are produced. In addition to
this, there frequently also occurs a very warm term in November,
often extending far into December, and of this certain species take
advantage and push forth their buds and flowers.
Albinos.
Well defined albinos have been collected of the following species
Desmodium nudiflorum.
Liatris graminifolia.
Rhododendron nudiflorum.
Vinca minor.
Mertensia Virginica.
Sabbatia angularis.
Pontederia cordata.
The green flowered variety of Trillium sessile is also common,
and 0<molobus obliquus exhibits on High Island this same anom-
alous feature. Carex ientaculata having the spikes perfectly white,
as if etiolated, was found June 14 of this year, (1881,) on the East-
em Branch marsh. This last phenomenon was certainly due
neither to maturity or disease, but was a mere lusiis ncUura.
Double Floioers, &c.
Thalietrum anemonoides, Ranunculus bulhsus, Claytonia Virgin-
ica, and Subrus Canadensis, have been found with the flowers much
doubled as in cultivation.
88 BULLETIN OP THE
Hydrangea arborescena occasionally has the outer circle of petals
expanded as in cultivation.
Rudbeckia fulgida has been found with all its rays tubular but of
the usual length.
Statistical View of the Flora,
In order to present a clear view of the general character of the
vegetation of the District of Columbia and the adjacent country,
I have made a somewhat careful analysis of the large groups and
families, and comparison of them not only with each other, but with
the same groups and families in larger areas and other local floras.
The general results are presented below.
It is important to remark that in all enumerations, it is not
simply the number of species, as at present recognized, but the
number of different plants, (species and varieties,) that is employed.
The reason for doing this is that in very many cases, well marked
varieties are eventually made species, and if two plants really difier
there is little probability that they will ever be merged into one
species without that difference being indicated by some difference of
name. The aim has therefore been to take account of the number
of plants without regard to the manner in which they are named-
The whole number of vascular plants now known to this flora,
as catalogued in the list appended to this paper, is 1249, and these
belong to 527 different genera, or about 2i species to each genus-
These are distributed among the several systematic series, classes,
and divisions, as follows :
Groups. Genera. Species and
varieties.
Polyptelac 174 356
Gamopetalae - 169 389
Total Dichlamydeae 343 745
Monochlamydese (Apetalre) 47 124
Total Dicotyledons 390 ^ 869
Monocotyledons 112 331
Gymnospcrmae (Coniferae) 4 7
^ Total Phaenogamia 506 1,207
Ciyptogamia 21 42
Total vascular plants 527 1,249
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 89
The percentages of the total are as follows :
Polypetake 33 29
Gamopetalac 32 31
Total Dichlamydese 65 60
Monochlainydex (Apctalae) 9 10
Total Dicotyledons 74 70
Monocotyledons 21 26
Gymnospennse (Conifene) i i
Total Phsenogamia 96 97
Cryptogamia 4 3
Large Orders,
The sixteen largest orders arranged according to the number of
impedes, are as follows :
^ Species and
Genera. '^ . ^.
varieties.
1. G>mposit£e 53 149
2. Graminese 43 no
3. Cyperaceae .- 10 108
4. Lcguxninosae 24 57
5. Rosaces 15 46
6. Labiata: 23 42
7. Cracifcrse 16 33
8. Scrophulariaceae 15 32
9. Filices 16 30
10. Ranunculaceae 7 27
11. Ericaceae n 26
12. Cupuliferae _ 7 26
13. Orchidaccn? 12 24
14. Liliaceae , : .— 18 24
15. Polygonacetc 3 23
16. Umbellifcrae ._ 17 22
The whole number of systematic orders represented in our Dis-
trict is 116, of which sixteen, or 14 per cent, furnish 55 per cent.
of the genera and 62 per cont. of the species.
90 BULLETIN OF THE
Large Oenera,
The fifteen large genera arranged according to the number of
plants are the following :
Species and varieties.
1. Carex '. 70
2. Aster 21
3. Panicum 19
4. Solidago 18
5. Quercus 18
6. Polygonum 16
7. Desmodium 14
8. Salix _ 14
9. Juncus 14
10. Viola 13
11. Q'perus 12
12. Ranunculus 11
13. Eupatorium 11
14. Helianthus 10
15. Asclepias 10
Thus fifteen, or less than three per cent., of the genera furnish
271, or nearly 22 per cent, of the species.
Introduced Species,
The whole number of introduced plants enumerated in the sub-
joined catalogue is 193, of which 15 are supposed or known to be
indigenous to other parts of the United States.'*' These are dis-
tributed through the several larger groups as follows:
These are the following :
Xanthoxylum Americanum. Symphoricaq^us racemosus.
Trifolium repens. Symphoricarpus vulgaris.
Prunus Cliicasa. Catalpa bignonioides.
Rosa setigera. Madura aurantiaca.
.Philadelphus inodorus. Populus grandidentata.
Ribcs rotundifolium. Poa annua.
Ribes rubrum. Pinus Strobus.
Passiflora incarnata.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 91
Old World. United States. Total.
Polypetalous 65 8 73
Gamopetaloas 54 3 57
Apetalous 28 2 30
Monocotyledonous 31 i 32
Coniferx 11
Total 178 15 193
It will be seen that the introduced plants amount to 15.5 per cent,
of the total flora.
The several orders to which these belong, are shown in the sum-
mary.
Shrubby Species.
Of the 342 "Forest Trees" enumerated in Sargent's preliminary
catalogue of 18M0, this flora embraces 85, or 24.8 per cent., of
which 65 are large enough to have the dignity of timber trees.
Of these 85, 25 are in the Polypetalous Division, but only 12 of
this latter number are large; 9 are in the Monopetalous Division,
. all but 2 of which are large; 44 are in the Apetalous Division, 39
of which are large ; and the remaining 7 are Coniferous, all iull-
fiixed trees.
The whole number of species which are shrubby or woody above
ground is 194, which is 15.5 per cent of the whole; they are dis-
tributed as follows :
Polypetalous 83
Gamopetalous v 36
Apetalous (Monochlamydeous) - 64
Monocotyledonous (Endogenous) i._ 4
Gymnospermous (Coniferous) 7
Total _ 194
For further particulars the reader can consult the Summary at
the end of the catalogue.
Comparisons with other Floras.
While these facts are of great interest in afibrding a clear con-
ception of the character of our flora, they do not aid us in determ-
inmg in what respects it is peculiar or marks a departure from
92
BULLETIN OF THE
those of Other portions of the country, or from that of the country
at large. To institute comparisons with other local floras would of
course carry me much too far for the general purpose of this paper,
but it is both more interesting and more practicable to confront a
few of the above results with similar ones, drawn from a considera-
tion of a large part of the United States. For this purpose, as not
only most convenient but as least liable to embrace facts calculated
to vitiate the comparisons, I have chosen that portion of the United
States situated east of the Mississippi river, and for the most part
well covered by Ghray^a Manual of Botany for the Northern portion
and Chapman's Flora of the Southern States for the Southern. The
plants described in these works are conveniently collected into one
series by the second edition of Mann's Catalogue, published under
the supervision of the authorities at Cambridge, in 1872. Many
changes have since been made in the names, &c., and a few new
species added, but these are not sufficient to affect the general con-
clusions to be drawn from the following comparative tables.
Comparison of Species and Varieties,
The number of species and varieties of vascular plants enumer-
ated in the work above referred to is 4,034, of which the 1,249 ot
the flora of Washington, by groups, is as follows:
Polypetalse
Gamopetalae
Total Dichlamy dcae
Monochlamydeae (Apetabe)
Total Dicotyledons
Monocotyledons (Endogens)
GymnosperaiK
Total Phsenogamia
Cryptogamia
Total vascular plants
Species and varieties
in the
Eastern | Flora
U. S. I Columbiana.
1,115
2^29
349
2,778
1,034
28
3.840
194
4.034
356
389
32
30
745
124
3"
36
869
331
7
31
32
25
1.207
42
3>
22
i»249
3"
Per
Cent.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
98
Comparison of Oenera.
The whole number of genera in the flora of the Eastern United
States is 1065. That of the Flora CJolumbiana, as already stated
is 527. This is over 49 per cent., a much larger proportion than
was shown bj a comparison of the species. A comparison of the
genera by classes, gives the following results :
Polypetalae ..
Gaaiopetabe
Total Dichlamydeae
Monochlamydeae (ApeUbe).
Total Dicotyledons.
Monocotyledons
Gymnospenns
Genera represented
in the
Eastern
U. S.
340
379
Flora
Columbiana.
Total Phxnogamia
Cryptogamia
Total vascular plants
719
97
816
198
12
1,026
39
1,065
174
169
343
47
390
112
4
506
21
527
Per
Cent.
5"
45
48
48
48
57
33
49
54
49
The percentages here range from 33 in the Gymnosperms to 57 in
the Monocotyledons, averaging between 49 and 50, whereas in the
similar comparisons for species they ranged from 22 in the Crypto-
gsms to 3G in the MonoMamydew. This result was to be expected
Bmce as the groups increase, the number represented in any local
flora should be proportionally larger. For example, 116 orders out
of the 156 are represented here, which is upwards of 74 per cent.
Comparison of Large Orders,
It will be interesting to compare in a manner similar to the fore-
going, the number of species in several of the largest orders. For
this purpose we may use the same orders mentioned a few pages
back as the richest in species of any belonging to this flora. The
comparison may then be shown as follows :
94 BULLETIN OF THE
Orders. Eastern U. S. Flora Col, Per Cent.
1. Compositae 497 149 30
2. Gramineae 297 no 37
3. Cyperaceae 357 108 30
4. Leguminosse 208 57 27
5. Rosacese . . 104 46 44
6. Labiatae 121 42 35
7. Cruciferae 76 33 43
8. Scrophulariacese 97 32 - 33
9. Filices 134 30 22
10. Ranunculacese 80 27 34
11. Ericaceae 89 26 29
12. Cupuliferae 45 26 $8
13. Orchidaceae 71 24 34
14. Liliaceae 82 24 29
15. Polygonaceae 56 23 41
16. Umbellifene 63 22 35
This table exhibits better perhaps than any other the special
eharateristics of the flora. The normal percentage being about 31,
we see that in all but five of these sixteen largest orders our flora
is in excess of that standard, while it is richest proportionally in
the OuptUifercB, Rosace(B, and OruciferoB, and poorest in the FUicea,
and LeguminoscB,
Comparison of Large Oenera, »
In like manner we may compare the fifteen large genera given
in a preceding table.
Genera. Eastern U. S. Flora Col. Per Cent.
1. Carex 180 70 39
2. Aster 63 21 33
3. Panicum 36 19 53
4. Solidago 61 18 30
5. Quercus 38 18 47
6. Polygonum 27 16 59
7. Desmodium 24 14 58
8. Salix 23 14 61
9. Juncus 38 14 37
10. Viola 24 13 54
11. Cyperus.- 41 12 29
12. Ranunculus 27 1 1 41
13. Eupatorium... 24 11 46
14. Helianthus 27 10 37
15. Asclcpias.. 22 10 45
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
95
This table shows that in all the large genera except Solidago and
CTperos, the District of Columbia has more than its full propor-
tion. The genus Salix is the one proportionally best represented,
while Polygonum, Desmodium, Panicum and VioUiy each exceed 50
per cent. Quercua^ Eupaiorium and Aaclepicu are also well filled
out.
As already remarked, it would carry us too far to undertake the
aystematic comparison of our flora with those of other special local-
ities, even were the data at hand. Few local catalogues are con-
densed and summarized for this purpose and the labor of doing
this is very great. The recently published Flora of Essex County
MasMehusetis, prepared by Mr. John Robinson, however, forms
something of an exception to this, and we may directly compare
the larger classes and also the orders. The following tables will
give an idea of the differences between that flora and our own :
Number of
Orders.
Number of
Genera.
Number of Species
and Varieties.
Series, Classes, and Divisions.
•
a
J
X
•
1
1
1
45
27
•
c
G
d
X
. 158
•
0
1
1
174
169
•
a
3
X
V
in
tf)
M
360
358
•
B
1
Polypetalae
<jimopetalx ,
42
25
356
389
Total Dichlamydeae
Monochlamydese -«-_— -
67
18
72
19
3>3
44
343
47
390
112
4
7x8
*32
745
124
^
TuUl Dicotyledons
Monocotyledons
85
17
I
91
20
I
357
120
7
850
392
17
869
331
7
<'>'nmo8penna' (Coniferse)
Total Phseenogamia..
Cnrptoffimia
103
5
112
4
484
20
506
21
1.259
65
1,207
42
Total vascular plants
108
116
504
527
1.324
1,249
96
BULLETIN OF THE
The sixteen large orders enumerated on page 89 may also be
compared with profit :
Large Orders.
1. Compositae
2. Graminea;
3. Cyperacea
4. Leguminosae
5. Rosace?e
6. Labiatse
7. Cruciferae
8. Scrophulariacese _
9. Filices
I o. Ranuncul acese
11. Ericacese
12. Cupuliferse .,
13. Orchidaceoe
14. Liliacese
15. Polygonacene
1 6. Umbellifenc
Number of
Genera.
a
6
X
V
(A
Number of Species
and Varietie55.
43
50
9
17
12
22
14
14
«3
9
18
6
J3
18
3
16
•
>s
a
C
0
9
(3
ja
M
3
w
^
&3
53
136
43
128
10
120
24
39
'5
55
23
35
16
29
15
29
16
40
7
30
• II
37
7
16
12
32
18
27
3
27
17
20
c
o
149
no
108
57
46
42
32
30
27
26
26
24
24
23
22
In the flora of Essex County, the orders UmhellifercB (20) and
CuptUiferce (16) fall below the lowest of the sixteen for the flora of
Washington, ( Umhelliferce 22,) while on the other hand the Oary-
phyllacem (27,) Salicaceas (23,) and NaiadacecB (28,) not in the list^
rise above that number. These orders in the flora of Washington
are represented respectively by 19, 19, and 9 species and varieties.
With reference to the last named of these orders, however, it may
be remarked that the genus Potamogeton, which constitutes the
greater part of it, has been imperfectly studied here, and will cer-
tainly be largely increased when thoroughly known.
The orders in which this flora falls below that of Essex county
are: the Gramhiece, OyperaceWf RoaacecPj Filices^ RanunGuIacefZy
Ericacece, Liliacece, Orc/iidacecHf and Polygonacece, nine in all. In
the remaining seven orders there is a greater number of species here
than there. It is noteworthy that our flora exceeds that of Essex
county most in the CompontcBy LegitminoscTf atid Cupuliferm^ and
PHILOSOPHICAL SOOIBTT OF WASHINGTON.
97
Dezt to these in the SerophulariaeefB, LabiaUB and Oruciferce. Our
comparatiTely poorest orders are the Oyperaeecd, Bo$ace(d, Ericacem
and FiUees, Comparing in like manner the fifteen large genera
enumerated on page 90 we are able to see still more definitely
wherein the two floras differ.
Number of Species
and Varieties.
Large Genera.
1. Carex
2. Aster
3. Panicum _.
4« Solidago
5. Quercus
6. Polygonum
7. Desmodiom
8. Salix
9. Jancus
ID. Viola
11. Cyperus
12. Ranunculus
13. Eupatorium
14. Helianthus.
15. Asclepias
The total number of species and varieties represented by these
fifteen genera is thus considerably larger in the Washington flora
(271,) than in that of Essex county, (253 ;) but whereas they are
absolutely the largest genera here' this is not the case there. The
genus PatamogeUm numbers 23 in Mr. Robinson's Catalogue, and
the genus Scirpus 14, while several others probably exceed ten.
Those in the above list falling below ten, the lowest on the Wash-
ington list, are Dwmodium (7,) Eupaiarium (7,) Asclqnaa (7,) and
Helianihus (5.) Those in which the Essex flora exceeds the Wash-
ington flora are Carex, Aster, Solidago, Polygonum, Salix and Rati-
uneuluB^ though Carex, Solidago and Oifperua may be regarded as
equal in the two floras, and Juneua is exactly equal. In QuereuSf
Detmodium, EupaUmum^ HeUatdhuB and AscUpiae, the Essex flora
7
98 BULLETIN OF THE
IB poor, only amounting in the second and fourth named, to half
the numher found here.
Relative to the above comparisons in general, it may be remarked
first, that the flora of Essex county, Massachusetts, is much more
thoroughly and exhaustively elaborated than that of the District
of Columbia, lying as it does in the immediate center of botanical
activity in this country. This alone is probably sufficient to account
for all the difference in the number of species in the t^vo localities,
and it will probably be ultimately found that the two floras are very
nearly equal. In the second place, if it should be thought that
from its intermediate location between the southern and the nor-
thern sections of the country, our flora should naturally be the more
rich in species, it may be satisfactorily urged on the other hand,
that while we have only an inland territory, Essex county has both
an inland and a maritime territory. Could our range be extended
to embrace even a small extent of sea coast, the number would
thereby be very largely increased.
As a final statbtical exhibit, more comprehensive in its scope,
and from a different point of view, I give below a table in which
our local flora is compared not ouly with the floras above named,
but with several others in America. As these several floras not
only overlap to a considerable extent, but also differ widely in the
total number of plants embraced by each, it is evident a numerical
comparison would convey a very imperfect idea of the variety in
their essential characteristics. It is therefore necessary to reduce
them to a common standard of comparison, which has been done by
disregarding the actual numbers and employing only the percentage
which each group compared bears to the total for each respective
flora. The relations of the several groups to the total vegetation
of each flora is thus brought out, and a comparison of the percent-
ages of the same group in the different areas displays in the clearest
manner possible the predominance or scantiness of the groups in
each flora. Upon this must depend, in so far as botanical statistics
can indicate it, the fades of each flora, its peculiarities and char-
acteristics. As in previous comparisons, the table is restricted to
Phenogamous and vascular Cryptogamous plants, and the same
groups are employed, except that the large genera are omitted,
while the number of orders is increased to the 23 largest of this
flora, which is taken as the basis of comparison, and they are ar-
ranged in the order of rank with reference to it.
PHILOSOPHICAL 80CIBTT OF WASHINGTON. 99
The geveral floras compared with the total number of plants em-
braced in each, are as follows :
1. Flora of Washington and vicinity. ».. it249
2. Flora of Essex county, Massachusetts 1*324
3. Flora of the State of Illinois 1,542
4. Flora of Northeastern United States -«^ *»36S
5. Flora of Southeastern United States 2,696
6. Flora of Eastern United States (= 4 + 5) 4,034
7. Plants collected by the Fortieth Parallel Survey 1*254
8. Plants collected by Lieut. Wheelei'*s Survey 1,535
For the flora of Illinois, (No. 3,) and also for that of the Nor-
thern United States, east of the Mississippi, (No. 4,) I have used,
without verification, the figures of the OatcUogue of the Plants of
lUinoiSf 1876, prepared by Mr. Harry N. Patterson, as summarized
in the preface. In the former case, the introduced species are in-
cluded, but the varieties seem to be excluded. In the latter case, as
stated by Mr. Patterson, the introduced species are excluded, as are
also doubtless the varieties,
For the flora of the Southern United States, east of Mississippi,
(No. 5,) which I have compiled from Dr. Chapman's Fhra of tt^e
SouOiem States, indigenous species are alone taken, in order to. make
it conform as nearly as possible to the flora of the Northeastern
United States, (No. 4.)
The plants collected by the Fortieth Parallel Survey, (No. 7,)
and those collected on Lieut. Wheeler's Survey, (No. 8,) are intro-
duced rather as a means of contrasting the Eastern with the
Western portions of the continent, than as a proper part of the
comparative botanical statistics of this vicinity. The former of
these collections was very thoroughly and carefully made by an
energetic and experienced botanist, Mr. Sereno Watson, and derives
its chief value from this fact. It embraces, however, a territory
having a somewhat special character from a botanical point of view,
viz : in general terms, the Great Basin between the Rocky Mount-
ains and the Sierra Nevada, and the High Plateaus and mountains
immediately adjacent, (Wasatch, Uintas, Sierras,) with a restricted
range north and south. The data are taken from the summary of
the work prepared by Mr. Watson, and found on page XIV of the
Report. The collections embraced in the Report of Lieut. Wheeler's
Survey, on the other hand, were made by numerous collectors, some
of them amateurs, and were scattered over a very vnde extent of
100 BULLETIN OF THE
weeterD territory, including Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona
and Nevada, and continued throngh five years of exploration.
They may be taken therefore to represent, with some correctnesB,
the general character of our Western Flora, exclusive of the
Pacific Coast. The facts given are derived from the "Table of
Orders" on page 379. Id both cases varieties are excluded.
For the remaining floras compared in the table, (Nos. 1, 2, and
6,) to avoid re-compilation, the data previously used are repeated,
species and varieties, including also introduced plants, being em-
ployed. As already intimated, however, this difierence in the basis
of compilation of different floras, applying as it does to the several
groups and to the aggregate alike, cannot materially afi^t the per-
centages as computed.
The following is the Table of Percentages :
1
i
S
g
t
i
GKmps.
i
L
1
■s
0,2
1
3 s
It
i
C
L
u-
A.
Polypeial^
i8.,
26.8
28.g
"7.6
35-'
3'-9
Gamrpeute
';
3S.I
3i.t
34-7
3".«
36.0
35-8
Tolal Dichlamydea..
60.7
61.6
60.2
71.1
67.7
)
«-7
9-8
Total Dicotyledons
70. s
}
72.4
M.fl
80.9
78.3
Monocotyledons
I'i.'i
»4-l
25.6
ib.4
"sr
0.7
)
0.7
0-7
1.2
"■3
Tolal PbziK^oniia
«.6
<>6.7
*.
98. s
Cryplogamia
3-4
4-9
3-3
3«
4.8
1-5
4-7
lOO-O
,00.0
"«■<■
.00.0
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINOTON.
101
Orders.
1. Compositae
2. Gnunineae
3. Cyperacee
4« Legpitninosse
5. Rosaces
6. Labiatae
7. Cnicifene
8. Scrophulariaceae
9. Filices
10. RanuDculaceae
H. Ericaceae
12. Capuliferae*
13. Liliaceae
H- Orchidaceae
15. Polygonaceae
16. UmbcUiferae.-.-
17. Caryophyllaceae.
18. Salicace^e
19. Onagracesc
30. Saxifcagacex
21. Qieno^xliaceae -
22. Naiadacese
23. Polemoniaceae
■3
s
s
c
s
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e of Illi-
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Southern
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inity.
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10.3
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E .
E
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E
II. 9
13.0
12.2
13-7
12.3
16.5
8.9
9.7
7.8
7.5
7.2
7.4
5-4
8.6
9.1
8.5
10.5
8.0
8.9
4.4
4.6
2.9
4.7
4.3
6.1
S.2
7.2
3-7
4.2
3.2
3.0
2.2
2.6
3-4
3-4
2.6
2.8
2.2
2.8
3.0
0.9
2.6
2.2
2.1
2.0
1.4
"•9
4.4
2.6
2.2
2.7
2.3
2.5
2.4
4.5
2.4
30
2.3
2.4
2.1
Z'Z
1.0
2.2
2.3
2.7
2.3
1.9
2.0
30
2.1
2.8
0.9
2.9
2.0
2.2
»-3
2.1
1.8
1.4
1.5
1-3
1.4
0.4
».9
2.0
2.1
2.4
2.1
2.0
3-0
1-9
2.4
1.8
2.4
1.9
1.7
0.6
1.8
2.0
"9
I.I
1.5
1.4
4.0
1.8
1.5
1.8
1.7
1.6
1.6
2.4
1.5
2.0
1.4
1.5
IS
1.5
2.2
>.5
1.7
1.2
0.8
0.3
0.7
0.9
0.9
I.I
1.2
1.2
'•3
I.I
2.3
0.7
I.O
0.8
1.5
0.9
I.I
2.1
0.7
1.3
0.7
0.5
05
0.6
2.1
0.7
2.1
1.2
1.2
0.4
1.0
0.7
0.5
O.I
0.5
0.3
0.5
0.4
3-3
O ft)
E
16.6
7.8
3.8
8.2
2.9
2.2
2.8
4.8
4.3
2.3
0.9
0.9
1.5
o.S
3.2
1.2
1.6
0.8
2.4
X.4
1.5
0.3
1.8
* Including the BetulaoesD.
Comparisons have already been made of our local flora with that
of Essex county, Massachusetts, which contains so nearly the same
number of plants. In examining the percentages in the above
table, these distinctions are equally manfest. In both divisions of
the DidUamydeiz, and also in the Dicotyledons, and the total
Phdtnogamia, our flora is richer than that of Essex county, while
in the MonochloanydeWf the Monocotyledons, the Oymnosperms, and
the Cryptogams, it falls below. In the CompodUSf Le^minoscB,
l^iata, Onidfercs, ScrophularicecSf OupuHfercSf and a few other
orders it is in excess, while in the Qraminec&y OyperacetR, Rowicecd,
FiUoa, Ac, the Essex flora leads.
In the comparison with the flora of the State of Illinois, one is
struck by the marked similarity in the position of the groups, not-
102 BULLETIN OP THE
withstanding the well known differences in the actual species. In
the OamapetalcRf and total DuMamydeas, as also in the Monochlor
mydecs the difference is very slight, while in the Polypetalx it disap-
pears entirely. The Dicotyledons are therefore nearly the same,
and we find this true also of the Monocotyledons, and the Gymno-
sperms. Whatever slight variations occur in the above named
groups, they are so adjusted as nearly to balance each other, so that
when we reach the total PJuEnogomia, we again have substantial
unison, which of course is maintained in the Oryptogamia,
This harmony is less pronounced in the larger orders, the C6m-
poeitoR being richer, and the Oraminece poorer there than here.
In the OypercuiecR, Leguminosce, Scrophulario/cece, and Filices, the dif-
ference is not great, but in the Bosacece, LabkUcs, Crucifercef and
Oupulifercd, the Washington flora is decidedly in advance, and in
the EricacecB it is of course in very marked contrast. In the Orchi-
dacecBf PolygonacecB, UmbeUiferod, OaryophyUacew, and PolemoniftcecEy
there is substantial, or exact identity. In the Eanunculacece, Onor
grcuiece, Naiadacece, and LUiaceoBy besides the Composike already
mentioned, the Illinois flora leads that of Washington. On the
whole there is a remarkable similarity in the facies of these two
floras, which may be due to their inland situation, with fluriatile
areas, and similar position as to latitude. Considering, however,
the marked specific peculiarities of the flora of the flat prairies of
the West, we would have naturally looked for a corresponding dis-
tinctness in the larger groups and orders.
The comparisons of our flora, from this point of view, with those
of the Northern and Southern States, east of the Mississippi river,
and with these two combined, as represented in the next three
columns, proves of the highest interest, and will repay somewhat
close inspection. It has often been asked, to what extent the flora
of Washington is affected by influences of a peculiarly southern
character, and while it has generally been conceded that it belongs
clearly to the northern section of the country, many facts, such as
those previously set forth, relative to autumnal flowering and early
flowering, as well as to the number of species, which exhibit more
or less green foliage throughout the winter, combine to give it a
decidedly southern aspect. In so far as the method of testing such
questions which has been here adopted can be relied upon, this
southern leaning on the part of the Washington flora is clearly
exhibited in this table. In letting the eye follow columns four and
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 103
five, the differences are well marked Jn nearly all the groups, and
in most of the large orders. These are what express statistically
the essential characteristics of the northern as contrasted with the
southern flora. It is also obvious thlEit the figures in column six
will, in most cases, express the mean between these two extremes.
To obtain the true position of our flora, it is necessary to observe
toward which of these extremes it most nearly approaches, and
whether it falls on the northern or southern side of the mean estab-
lished by column six. In instituting this comparison, we perceive
at the outlet, that in the Polypetalous division, it falls so far on the
southern side as to come within four tenths of one per cent, of being
identical with the flora of the Southern States. In the GamapetalcBj
however, it agrees quite closely with the flora of Northern States,
so that in the Dichlamydea as a whole, it coincides very well with the
mean for both sections. The MonochlamydecB agree better with
those of the Southern States and the total Dicotyledons &11 largely
on the southern side of the mean. The Monocotyledons also fall
somewhat on the southern side, while the Oymnosperms are below
the mean which here corresponds with the southern flora. This
leaves the total Phaenogams, occupying an intermediate position.
The Cryptogams are also very nearly intermediate, though ap-
proaching the northern side.
Considering next the relations of the large orders, we find that
b the C(mqxmt4B our flora is northern in aspect. In the Oraminem
it is very exceptionally rich, surpassing all the larger areas and
approaching that of Essex county, Massachusetts. In the Cyper-
ocecE, which are peculiarly typical for the purpose, on account of
being indigenous in all the floras, it does not correspond at all,
either with the northern section or with the average of both sec-
tions, but does agree very closely with the exceptionally meager
representation of the southern flora. The LegumrnoscR are here
northern in aspect, the Rosacea, like the OraminecR, exceptionally
rich, far exceeding either section, as is also the case with the
LaJtwdx and the Orudfent. The ferns are northern in their degree
of representation, as are the RanwiculacecB while the ErioacecR and
8cro[Jiulariace(B are southern. The OupulifercB again are anomal-
ous and tower above all other floras. The LUiaoecB are southern, as
ire also the Orchidacece, The Polygoncuxm are in excess, and in so
far southern in aspect, while the Umhdliferm, also in excess, denote
a northern inclination. The Caryophyllaceai are remarkable for
104 BULLETIN OF THE
showing the same percentage in all of the four floras now under
comparison. The Salicacece are largely in excess of every flora
compared in the table, except that of Essex county, Massachusetts,
while OnagracecB and Saxifragacecs both fall below the normal, the
latter, however, showing a southern tendency. The Naiadaeece are
southern, as are also the PolemoniaceoB, while the ChenopodiaeecR are
slightly in excess in their degree of representation.
Now, as this locality has been classed as northern, we should not
expect to find it occupying an intermediate position, which would
place it on the boundary line between the northern and the southern
flora, but we should expect to find it agreeing closely with the
northern flora, or at least lying midway statistically, as it does
geographically, between the dividing line or medium, represented
by the total eastern flora and the northern flora. So far is this from
being the case, however, that we actually find it occupying a position
considerably below the medium line, and between this and the line
of the southern flora; a position which would be geographically
represented by the latitude of Nashville or Raleigh, or even by
Memphis or Chattanooga.
This result is very remarkable, and while the proofs from statis-
tics are, perhaps, not alone to be relied upon, it serves to confirm
many facts recorded which have puzzled the observers of the
phenomena of the vegetable kingdom in this locality.
The results of the careful comparison of the two remaining
columns need not be here summed up, as the reader will readily
perceive their general import, and he will not be likely to stop with
considering the relations of the local flora with those of the far
West, but will probably seek for more general laws governing the
vegetation of the eastern and western sections, as we have already
done to some extent for the northern and southern sections.
Abundant Species.
It was Humboldt who remarked that of the three great Kingdoms
of Nature, the Mineral, the Vegetable, and the Animal, it is the
Vegetable which contributes most to give character to a landscape.
This is very true, and it is also true, that botanists rarely take ac-
count of this fact. The latter are always interested in the relative
numbers of species belonging to difierent Glasses, Families, and
Genera, rather than to the mere superficial aspect of the vege-
PHILOSOPHICAL SOGIBTY OF WASHINGTON. 105
tadoo. It 18, however, not the number of speciee, but individuals
which give any particular flora its distinguishing characteristics
to all but systematic botanists, and it is upon this, that in the main
depends the commercial and industrial value of the plant-life of
every region of the globe. It is often the omnipresence of a few,
or even of a single, abundant species that stamps its peculiar char-
acter upon the landscape of a locality. This is to a far greater
extent true of many other regions, especially in the far West, than
it is of this ; the v^etation of the rural surroundings of Wash-
ington is of a highly varied character, as much so perhaps as that
of any part of the United States. And yet there are comparatively
few species, which from their abundance chiefly lend character to
the landscape, and really constitute the great bulk of the vegeta^
tioD. The most prominent, if not actually the most numerous of
these, are of course, certain trees and notably several species of
oak. Probably the most abundant tree here, as in nearly all
parts of the country, is Qu&reu8 alba, the white oak; but
Q. prumut the chestnut oak, Q. cocdnea, the scarlet oak, Q, pahu-
trU, the swamp oak, and Q. falcata, the Spanish oak, are exceed-
iogly common. The most abundant hickory is Oarya tumentasaf
the mockemut. . Liriodendron tulipifera, the tulip-tree, often im-
properly called white poplar, besides being one of the commonest
trees, is the true monarch of our forests, often attaining immense
size. It Is a truly beautiful tree whose ample foliage well war-
rants the recent apparently successful experiments in introducing
it as a shade tree for the streets of the city. Among other common
trees may be mentioned the chestnut, (Oastanea vulgaris, Lam, var-
Americana, A. D. C, the beech, {Fag\i8 ferruginea,) the red maple,
{Acer rubrutn,) the sycamore, (Plaianua ocddentalis,) the red or river
birch, (Betula nigra,) the white elm, ( Ulmus Americana,) the sour
gum, (Nysaa mvUiflora,) the sweet gum, {Liquid-amber Shfraeijiua,)
the scrub pine, {Plnus inaps,) the pitch pine, (P. rigida,) and the
yellow pine, (P. mitts,)
Of the smaller trees, CbmtM flarida, the flowering dogwood and
Cerds Oanadenns, the red-bud or Judas tree are very abundant,
and chiefly conspicuous in the spring from the profusion of their
showy blossoms ; all three species of sumac are common. jHam-
omeHi Vvrginica, the witch-hazel, and Virburnum prunifolium the
black haw abound ; Sassafras officinale, sassafras, Castania pumila.
106 BULLETIN OF THE
the chinquapin and Juniperus Virginiana, the red cedar also belong
to this class.
Of the smaller shrubby vegetation, we may safely claim as abun-
dant Camus sericea, and C. aUemifolia, the silky, and the alternate'
leaved normal Viburnum acerifolium, V. denJtatum, and F. nudum^
arrow-woods, Oaylussacia reainosa, the high-bush huckleberry, Vac-
dnium stamineum, the deer berry, F. vadllans and F. eorymbo»um
the blueberries, IJeueothoe racemosa, Andromeda Mariana^ the stagger
bush, KcUmia kUifolia, the American laurel, or calico-bush, Rhodo^
dendran nvdiflorumy the purple azalea flower, Lindera Benzoin, the
spice bush.
Of vines besides three species of grape which are abundant, we
have Ampelopm Virginiana, the Virginian creeper or American
woodbine, Rhus toxicodendron, the poison ivy, and Tecoma rod-
leans, the trumpet vine, which give great beauty and variety to
the scenery.
The most richly represented herbaceous species may be enumer.
ated somewhat in their systematic order. Of PolifpetakB, may be
mentioned Ranunculus repens, Oimicifuga racemosa, DeirJtarla ladn-
iota, Viola cucuUata, Viola pedaJta, var. bicolor, and F. tricolor, var.
arvensis ; SteUaria pubera, Cerastium oblongifolium. Geranium
maeulatum, Impatiens pallida, and J. fulva ; Desmodium nudiflorum,
D, acuminatum, and D. Dillenii ; Vicia Caroliniana, Potentilla Oana-
densiSf Oeum album, Saxifraga Virginiens^is, Oenothera fruticosa, and
Thaspium barbinode. In the ChmopetaJUz before Compositw, we have
Galium aparine, MitchelUi repens, Houstonia purpurea, and -ff.
ccRnUea. In the OomposiUB, the most conspicuous are; Vemonia
Noveboracenae, Eupatorium purpureum, Liatris graminifolia. Aster
patens. A, ericoides, A. simplex and A. miser, Solidago nemaralis, S,
Canadensis, 8. aUissvma, and S. ulmifolia; Chrysopm Mariana, Afn-
brosia trifida, and A. artemisicefolia, (these behaving like introduced
weeds ;) Hdianthus divaricatus, Actinomeris squarrosa, Rudbeckia
kunniata, and R, fulgida ; Coreopsis verticillata, Bidens cemua^ Ver-
besina SiegesbeMa, Gnaphalium polycephalum, Antennaria planta-
ginifolia, Hieradum venosum, and H. Gronovii ; Nabalus aUms, and
N, Traseri, Lactuca Canadensis.
The remaining GamopetaUe furnish as abundant species : Lobelia
gpuxUa, ChiTnaphila vmbdlata, and C macuUda ; Veronica officinalis,
and F Virginica, Gerardia flava. Verbena hastata, and F urticifolia ;
Pyenanthemvm incanum, and P. linifolium, CoUinsonia Canadensis,
PHILOSOPHIGAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 107
S(Ma lyraia, Manarda fistulom, and M. punctata; Neptia gleohoma,
Bmnella vulgaris, Mertenda Virginica, Flox paniculata, and P, di-
varioaia; Solatium Carolinense, and Aaclepias corrmti.
Of herbaceous Monochlamydeoe nmy be named Polygonum Virgin-
ianwn, P, sagUtatum, and P. dumetorum; Laportea Canadensis,
Pilea pwnila, and Bcemehria cylvndriea.
The Mcmoeotyledans give us AriscBina tripkyllum, the Indian
taroip, Sagittaria variabilis, Aplectrum hyem^Ue, Erythronium Amer-
toaniim^ Lueula eampestris, Juncus effusus, Juncus marginaius, and
Juneus tenuis, Pontederia cordata.
Of the Cyperi, C. phymatodes, C, strigosus and C. ovtUaris are the
most common. Eleocharis obtvsa and E. palustris ; Sdrpus pungens,
S. atrovirens, S. polyphyllus, and S. enophorum, are very conspitTuous.
Of Oariees, C. crinata, C. intumescens, the various forms of C. kudr
jhra, C. platyphylla, C. rosea, C. scoparia, C. sqwirrosa, C. straminea,
C. striata, C. tervtaculata, C. virescens and C. viUpinoides, are the
moBt obtrusive. In the GraminecB, those which most uniformly
strike the eye are Agroslis scabra, Muhlenbergia Mexieana, and M.
$iflwtiea, Tricuspis seslerioides, Eatonia Pennsylvanica, Poa praiensis,
Poa sylvestris, and P. breinfolia,; Eragrostis pedenacea, Festuca
nutans, Bromus ciliaius, Elymus Virginicus, Danthonia spicaJta, An-
ikimsanihwn odoratum, Panicum virgatum, P. latifolium, P. dichotomum,
(with a multitude of forms,) and P. depauperatum ; Andropogon
Virginicus, and A. seoparius.
Of ferns Polypodium vulgare, Pteris aquUina, Adiardvm pedatum,
AspUmum ebeneum, and A» Filix-fiemina ; Phegopteris hexagonoptera,
Aspidiwn aerostiehoides, A, marginale and A, Noveboracense ; Os-
mtnda regalis, 0. Qaytoniana, and 0. dnnamonea, are the most con-
stantly met with.
Lyoopodium lucidulum is quite common, and L. eomplanatum is
very abundant in certain localities.
Besides the above, which are all indigenous to our flora, there
tre many introduced species in the vicinity of the city, and of cul-
tiration everywhere which manifest here as elsewhere, their charac-
teristic tendency to crowd out other plants and monopolize the
soil.
Such are the most general features which the traveler accustomed
to observe the vegetable characteristics of localities visited, may
expect to see when he pays his respects to the Potomac valley. To
108 BULLETIN OF THE
some even this imperfect description might furnish a &ir idea of
our vegetable scenery without actually seeing it.
ClamJicaMon Adapted.
In endeavoring to conform to the latest authoritative decisions
relative to the most natural system of classification, I have followed,
with one exception, the arrangement of the Chnera PlarUarum of
Bentham and Hooker so far as this goes, and the accepted authori-
ties of Europe and America for the remainder. For the OamopetaliB
afler OomposiUB, however, covered by Prof. Qray's Synoptical Flora
of N&rth America, I have followed that work which is substantially
in harmony with the Oenera Plantarum. In the arrangement of
the orders, too, for the PolypetaloB, Mr. Sereno Watson's Botanical
Index has in all cases been conformed to, as also not materially
deviating from the order adopted by Bentham and Hooker. In the
genera there are numerous discrepancies between the works last
named, and in the majority of these cases the American authorities
have been followed. For example, Bentham and Hooker have
thrown Deniaria into Cardamine, Elodes into Hypericum, and Am*
pelopsis into Vitis, and Pastinaca and Archemora into Peucedanvm,
The change of Spergvlaria to Lepigonum is adopted, as well as a
few alterations in orthography where the etymology seemed to
demand them, as Pyrus to Pirus and Zanthoxylum to Xanthoxylum.
I have also declined to follow Bentham and Hooker in the changes
which they have made in the terminations of many ordinal names.
The termination aeeoR is doubtless quite arbitrary in many cases,
and, perhaps, cannot be defended on etymological grounds but as
a strictly ordinal ending it has done good service in placing botanical
nomenclature on a more scientific footing. It is also true that the
old system does not always employ it, as in some of the largest
orders, e. g, Omunferw, Leguminoaos, Compodtce, LcJnatcR; but what-
ever changes are made should rather be in the direction of making
it universal than less general. Bentham and Hooker do not adopt
a universal termination, neither do they abolish the prevailing one,
and they retain it in the majority of cases ; but in certain cases, for
which they doubtless have special reasons, they substitute a dif-
ferent one, and one which is often far less euphonious. The follow-
ing are the orders represented in this catalogue in which the ter-
L
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIBTT OF WASHINGTON.
109
minadon aeex is retained by American and altered by English
aothorities.
American.
Berberidaceae.
Qstacese.
Violaceae.
Polygalaceae.
Caiyophyllacese.
Portulacaceae.
H3rpericaceae.
Cdastraceae.
Vitacese.
Saxiliagacese.
Hamamelaceae.
Lythraceae.
Onagraceae.
Passifloraceae.
Cactacese.
Valerianacese.
Asclepiadaceae.
Gentianacese.
Borraginaceae.
Scrophulariaceae.
Lentibulaceae.
Flantaginaceae.
Nyctaginacese.
Lauracese.
Jnglandacese.
Salicaceae.
Ceratophyllacese.
English,
Berberideae.
Cistinex.
Violariese.
Polygaleae.
Caryophylleae.
Portulaceae.
Hypericineae.
Celastrineae.
Ampelideae.
Saxifrageae.
Hamamelideaei
Lythrarieae.
Onagrahae.
Passiflorex.
Casteae.
Valerianeae.
Asclepiadeae.
Gentianeae.
Borragineae.
Scrophularineae.
Lentibulariceae.
Plantagineae.
Nyctagineae.
Laurineae.
Juglandeae.
Salicineae.
Ceratophylleae.
On the other hand, the British authorities are followed in uniting
the SauruTOcem with the PtperacetB, and also in placing the Parony-
Mea, reduced to a sub-order under the JRlecebracew ; but from the
certain relationship of this order with the CaryophyllacecBj it is
deemed unnatural to separate these two orders by putting the former
into the Monochlamydeous division. [See American Naturalist,
November, 1878, p. 726.] On the same ground of apparently
doee relationship, I have followed Bentham and Hooker in abolish-
ing the CallUrichacece, and placing Callitriche in the Haloragem,
On the other hand I have followed Gray in retaining the Lobeliacecd,
u also in keeping the Ericacea intact, and not slicing off the
yoainiobotx from one end, and the ManotropeoR from the other, as is
done in the Oenera Plantarum.
110 BULLETIN OF THE
In the Oamopetalcd, before and including CompasUas, in the Motuh
ehlamydecB, and throughout the MonocotyledonSf serious difficulties
occur in consequence of a want of recent systematic works from
the American point of view. In nearly all cases the names as well
as the arrangement of Gray's Manual, 5th edition, have here been
adopted. I have, however, been able to avail myself of a number
of recent revisions of genera made by Gray, Watson, and Engel-
man* and published in various forms, chiefly in the Proceedings
of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. I have also
derived many useful hints from the Flora of OaMforniay from the
botanical reports of the various Western Surveys, from Sargent's
Catalogue of the Forest Trees of North America, and from the
Flora of Essex county, Massachusetts.
Mr. M. S. Bebb, of Rockford, Illinois, has shown great kindness
not only in determining all the uncertain Salicea, but in generously
drawing up a list of them in the order of their nearest natural
relationship, which is followed implicitly in the catalogue.
For the Ferns, the magnificent work of Prof. Eaton has furnished
everything that could be desired, and is unswervingly adhered to.
The following genera in the ComposiUB have been changed by
Bentham and Hooker, but the new names cannot be adopted until
the species have been worked up by American botanists. The old
ones are therefore retained with a simple indication of the recent
disposition.
Maruta has been made Anthemis.
Leucanthemum has been made Chrysanthemum.
Cacalia has been made Senecio.
Lappa has been made Arctium.
Cynthia has been made Krigia.
Mulgedium has been made Lactuca,
Nabalus has been made Prenanthes.
* Wbile I have gladly adopted the arrangement of tlie species of Qiurcus decided
upon by Dr. Engelman after so careful a study, I cannot do so without recording
a gentle protest against the position to which he assigns Q, palustris. viz : be-
tween Q. falcata^ and Q. nigra^ and far removed from Q. rubra. Not only the
shallow, finely scaled cup, but especially its light colored buds and thin early
leaves, as also a special y^a>x belonging to its amenta and foliage ally this species
with Q, mbray and distinguish these two species as a group from all others found
in this flora.
PHILOSOPHICAL BOOIETY OF WASHINGTON. Ill
Several of these cases are a return to the older names, and
vhether they will be adopted by American authorities it is impos-
sible to say.
It remains to consider the one deviation above referred to from
the prevailing system of botanical classification, which it has been
thought proper to make in the subjoined Ibt of plants. This con-
sists in placing the Gh/mtwspenM, here represented only by the single
order Oontfercs, after the Monocotyledons and next to the Orypto-
gams.
It is not the proper place here to state the already well known
grounds upon which this position of the Gymnosperms has been
defended. [See American Naturalist, June, 1878, pp. 359 to 378.]
It is sufficient to point out that the correctness of this arrangement
was recognized by Adrien de Jussieu, and has been repeatedly
maintained by later botanists of eminence. The object in adopt-
ing it here, however, is not simply because it seems fully justified
bj the present known characters of plants, for consistently to do
this would also require that the PolypetaUz be placed before the Mo-n-
odUamydeop (in the descending series,) and that numerous other
changes be made. 8o wide a departure from the existing system
would seriously detract from the convenience of the work as a prac^
tical aid to the local botanist, and aside from the labyrinth of nice
and critical points into which it must inevitably lead, it would not
be advisable id the present state of botanical literature. But as
the position of the Oymnosperms is the most glaringly inconsistent
»f all the defects of the present so-called Natural System, and as
the Conifera are represented here by only four genera and seven
species, it is evident that no serious objection could arise on the
ground of inconvenience, while at the same time it may serve some
Qseful purpose in directing the minds of botanists who may look
over the work to the obvious rationality of this classification, and
contribute its mite towards awakening them to the recognition of
a truth which, I cannot doubt, must sooner or later find expression
in all accepted versions of the true order of nature with respect to
the vegetable kingdom.
Common Names.
I am well aware that in recent times it has become more and
more the practice among botanists to eschew all common or popular
mtmes of plants. This sentiment I share to a great extent and will
112 BULLETIN OF THB
therefore remi^rk at the outset that the best common name for a
plant is always its systematic name, and this should be made a sub-
stitute for other popular names wherever and whenever it can be
done. In most cases the names of the genera can be employed
with entire convenience and safety ; and in many cases they are to
be defended on the ground of euphony. How much better, for
example, the name Brunella sounds than either Self-heal, or Heal-
all, both of which latter, so far as their meaning goes, express an
utter falsehood. Some works professing to give common names
frequently repeat the generic name, as such. This has seemed to
me both unnecessary and calculated to mislead. It is not done
where other accepted common names exist, and thus the implication
is that in such cases it is incorrect to use the Latin name. Again
it is only done for the commoner species, leaving it to be inferred
that there is no popular way of designating the rarer ones. The
plan here followed is to regard the genus as the best name to use in
all cases, and as ex officio the proper common name of every plant,
and, therefore, not in need of being repeated in different type as
such in any case. But in addition it has been deemed best to
give such appropriate or well established common names as can be
found. Some scientific men seem disposed to forget that it is the
things rather than the names that constitute the objec^ts of scientific
study. There is a vast amount of true scientific observation made
by mere school-girls and rustics, who do not know the name of the
branch of science they are pursuing. A knowledge of a plant by
whatever name or by no name at all is scientific knowledge, and
the devotees of science should care less for the means than the end
which they have in view. Individuals difiTer in their constitution
and character. The sound or sight of a Latin word is sometimes
sufficient, in consequence of ineradicable, constitutional or acquired
idiosyncrasies, to repel a promising young man, or woman, from the
pursuit of a science for which genuine aptitude and fondness exist.
For such and other classes, common English names have a true
scientific value. The object should be to inspire a love for plants
in all who can be made to take an interest in them, and to this end
to render the science of Botany attractive by every legitimate
means available. In so far, therefore, as English names of plants
can be made conducive to this end, they should be employed.
Their inadequacy to the true needs of the science in its later stages
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 118
caDDot fail to impress itself upon all who pursue it to any consid-
erable extent.
Fioallj common names are not wholly without their scientific
uses. A few of them have proved more persistent than any of the
systematic names, as I have had occasion to observe in examining
the Prodromus Fierce Columinan<B of 1838, in which difficult work,
I must confess, they frequently rendered me efficient aid in determ-
ining the identity of plants, which the Latin names used did not
reveal.
In appending common names to the plants of this vicinity ITie
NaHve Wild Flowers and Ferns of the United States, by Prof.
Thomas Meehan, has been followed in most cases, so far as this
vork goes, but this of course embraces but a fraction of the entire
flora. Most of the remaining names are taken from Gray's Manual
of Botany, and from his Synoptical Flora of the United States. In
many cases some of the names given which do not seem appro-
priate are omitted, and in a few cases those given have been slightly
changed. A small number of local names given, not found in any
book, but in themselves very expressive, have been given, as "curly
head" for ClenuUia oehroleuca, &c.; and in a few other cases, names
have been assigned to abundant species on the analogy of those
given for allied genera or species.
Co)iclvding Remarks,
The foregoing remarks on the value of common names naturally
suggest a few general reflections with which our introduction will
conclude.
The popularization of science is now a leading theme of scien-
tific men. To accomplish this, certain branches of science must
first become a part of liberal culture. The pursuit of fashion, which
is usually regarded as productive solely of evil, may be made an
agency of good. If it could become as much of a disgrace to be
found ignorant of the flora or fauna of one's native place as it now
is to be found ignorant of the rules of etiquette or the contents of
the last new novel, devotees of Botany and natural history would
immediately become legion, and the woods and fields would be in-
cessantly scoured for specimens and objects of scientific interest
It should be the acknowledged work of educationalists to make
science fashionable and call to their aid these i)owerful social sen-
timents in demanding the recognition of its legitimate claims.
8
114 BULLETIN OF TUB
Of all the natural sciences, that of Botany is the most easily con-
verted into a branch of culture. Its objects appeal directly to the
highest esthetic faculties. It naturally allies itself with the arts of
drawing, painting, and sketching, and the deeper the insight into
its mysteries the stronger does it appeal to the imagination. Its
pursuit, besides being the best possible restorer of lost, and pre-
server of good health, is a perpetual source of the purest and live-
liest pleasure. The companionship of plants, which those who do
not know them cannot have, is scarcely second to that of human
friends. The botanist is never alone. Wherever he goes he is sur.
rounded by these interesting companions. A source of pure delight
even where they are familiarly known to him, unlike those of his
own kind, they grow in interest as their acquaintance grows less
intimate, and in all his travels they multiply immensely his re-
sources of enjoyment.
The man of science wonders what the unscientific can find to
render travel a pleasure, and it must be confessed that a great many
tourists of both sexes go at the behest of fashion, and care little
more for nature when crossing the Alps than did Julius Caesar, who
could only complain of the bad roads and while away the hours in
writing his grammatical treatise, De Analogia, While all forms of
natural science, so far from paralyzing the esthetic faculties, tend
powerfully to quicken them, that of Natural History and especially
of Botany awakens such an interest in Nature and her beautiful
objects, that those who have once tasted pleasure of this class may
well consider other pleasures insipid.
But notwithstanding these attractions which Botany possesses
above other sciences, there exists among a small class of scientific
men a disposition to look down upon it as lacking scientific dignity,
as mere pastime for school-girls or fanatical specialists. This
feeling is most obvious among zoologists, some of whom afiTect to
disdain the more bumble forms of life and the simplicity of the
tame and stationary plant.
This sentiment, though now happily rare, is natural and really
constitutes what there is left of that proud spirit with which man
has ever approached the problems of Nature. His first studies
disdained even so complicated an organism as man himself, and
spent themselves in the pursuit of spiritual entities wholly beyond
the sphere of science. Later he deigned to study mind detached
from body and from matter, still later he attacked some of the
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 116
higher manifestatiotiB of life. Ethics came next, and social organi-
latioDs; then anthropological questions were opened, and next those
of physiology and anatomy, and at last comparative anatomy and
stnictaral zoology. Phytology brought up the rear and was long
confined to the most superficial aspects. It is only in recent times
that plants and all the other lowly organisms have begun to
receive proper attention, and only since this has been done has
there been made any real progress in solving the problem of Biol-
ogy.
It is a paradox in science that its most complicated forms must
first be studied and its simplest forms last, while only through an
acquaintance with the latter can a fundamental knowledge be ob-
tained. The history of biological science furnishes many striking
illustrations of this truth, the most interesting of which is perhaps
to be found in the labors of the two great French savants, Cuvier
and Lamarck. The former spent his life and powers in the study
of vertebrate zoology amid the most complex living organisms.
The latter devoted his energies to Botany and to Invertebrate Zool-
ogy, including the protozoan and protistan kingdoms. The former
founded his great theory of types, and his cosmology of successive
annihilation and reconstructions of the life of the globe. The latter
promulgated his theory of unbroken descent with modification.
The conclusions of the former were accepted in his day, and are
rejected in ours, those of the latter were rejected in his own life-
time, but' now form the very warp of scientific opinion.
Let no botanist, therefore, or person contemplating the study of
Botany be deterred by the humble nature of the objects he would
cultivate. The humblest flower or coarsest weed may contain les-
sons of wisdom more profound than can be drawn from the most
complicated conditions of life or of mind.
The city of Washington is becoming more and more a center,
not only of scientific learning and research, but also of art and
every form of liberal culture. Already the public schools have
reached out and taken Botany into their curriculum, and we have
seen that as a field for the pursuit of this branch of science the
environs of the National Capital are in a high degree adapted.
Science and culture must go hand in hand. Culture must become
more scientific, and science more cultured. Botany has an impor-
tant part to perform in this work of reconciliation, and there is no
good reason why Washington may not become one of the foci from
116
BULLETIN OF THE
which these iDfluences are to radiate. It has been such reflections
as these, aside from the practical needs for such a work, that have
encouraged me to persevere in this humble, indeed, but not the less
laborious task, and if it shall be found useful to however slight a
degree, in promoting these worthy objects, no regrets will arise at
having undertaken it.
SUMMARY.
No.
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
lO
II
12
«3
IS
i6
17
i8
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
ORDERS.
{3
a
o
Ranunculacese
Magnoliaceac
Anonaceae
Menispermaceae
Berberidaceae
Nympliseaceae
Sarraceniacex
Papaveraccae
Fumariacese
Cruciferai
Cistacese.
Violaceae
Polygalaceae
Caryophyllaceae
Illecebraceae
Portulacaceae
Hypericaceae
Malvaceae
Tiliaceae |
Linaceae
Geraniaceae
Rutaceaae
Ilicine;^e
Ceiastraceae
Rhamnacese
Vitaceae
Sapindaceae
Anacard iaceae
Leguminosa;
Rosacea;
Saxifragaceae
Crassulaceae
Droseraceae
Hamamelaceae
Halorageae
Melastomaceae
Lythraceae
Onagracex
Passifloraceae
7
2
I
I
4
3
I
3
3
16
2
2
I
9
2
2
3
4
I
I
4
2
I
2
I
2
3
I
24
«5
8
2
I
2
3
I
4
6
I
V)
*o
a.
'X.
23
2
I
I
4
3
I
3
3
32
2
9
7
19
2
2
9
7
I
3
9
2
4
3
2
6
5
6
55
43
9
3
I
2
3
I
4
10
2
>
3d
"^a
•
cies
irieti
•odut
Plan
ody
Plan
•
r
'J
0
u
*
4
27
3
« • •
■ a •
2
...
2
'l
•
I
* • ■
I
I
I
• • •
I
• • •
4
I
I
...
3
■ • •
• • •
• • •
I
• • «
...
• • ■
3
2
■ • •
• • »
3
I
« • •
• • •
I
33
15
* • •
• • •
2
« • ■
■ « «
■ • •
5
14
■ • •
• • B
■ ••
7
• • •
• « «
■ • •
'9
8
• • «
• « •
I
3
• ■ •
• • •
• • ■
2
I
1
...
• • •
9
I
I
• • •
7
5
...
• •.
I
• • •
1
I
3
I
• ■ ■
• • •
9
3
• • •
• • •
2
I
2
• ■ •
4
■ • •
4
I
I
4
« • •
4
• « «
2
• • •
2
• • •
6
• • •
6
• • •
5
• • ■
5
4
6
• • •
6
I
2
57
13
4
3
3
46
12
30
8
9
3
5
• • •
3
• • •
• « •
• • «
I
• • ■
• • •
• • •
2
• • •
2
I
3
...
a ■ •
• • •
I
• • ■
■ • •
• • B
4
• • •
■ • •
'
I
II
• • ■
■ ■ •
• «•
2
I
• • •
. ■•
PHILOSOPHICAL SOGIBTT OF WASHINGTON.
117
SUMMARY.— C<w/i»ii«</.
(A*
-d
'§^'
id
No.
ORDERS.
2
4)
a
4>
•1
CA *'S
" 5
4) *
II -
4
i
0)
0
C/3
^
I
I
I
1 i
: 1
u
40
Cucurbitacese
I
I
I
I
I
I
■ • •
• • •
• • ■
■ « •
• ■ •
41
Cactaceae
42
Ficoidcae
» • •
43
Umbellifera
17
22
22
2
■ • •
44
ArsJiacese
I
4
4
« • •
I
I
4S
Comaceae
2
5
12
5
12
• « •
3
• • ■
5
10
2
46
Caorifoliacese
I
47 Rubiaceae
5
12
I
'3
I
k • •
48
Valerianacex ^
2
4
4
I
■ • «
■ • •
49
Dipsaceae
I
I
I
I
■ • ■
k • •
50
Compositae
53
138
II
149
17
I
1 • •
SI
Lobeliacese
I
5
5
■ • ■
t • •
■ ••
52
Campanulacese j_-
2
2
2
• • •
• • •
t m 9
53
Ericaceae
II
5
24
8
2
2
26
10
• • •
2
17
2
54
PrimiUaceae
1 • •
55
Sbenaceae
I
2
2
I
4
2
• « •
• • •
I
4
3
...
k ■ •
I
I
4
I
56
Olcaccae
4
57
Apocynaccae
1 • •
5«
Asdepiadaceae
4
13
I
14
■ ■ • *
*»^
59
Gentianacese
4
6
6
• • «
> • •
to
Polemoniaceae
2
6
6
• • •
1 • •
61
Hy drophyllaccae
3
4
4
■ « •
■ • •
02
Borraginacew -. .
7
3
12
II
12
II
3
4
J^
Convol vulacea
• •
64
Solanaceae
5
8
8
5
1 • •
65
^rophulariacese
15
32
32
5
» • ■
66
Orobanchaccae
4
4
4
I
1 • •
67
Lentibulaceae
I
2
2
2
2
3
I
2
2
4
• ■ •
I
2
68
^ignoniacese
I
^
Acanthaceae
70
Verbcnaceae
3
6
■ • •
6
I
t • ■
71
LabJAt^
23
41
I
42
10
1 • •
72
Plaotaginaceae
I
5
I
6
2
1 • •
n
Amarantaceae
2
s
5
4
p ■ •
H
^henopodiaceae
3
7
2
9
7
» • «
7S
J^hytolaccaccae
I
I
I
• • •
1 • •
/6
Polygonaccae
3
I
21
I
2
23
I
7
77
Podostemaceae
78
Aristolochiaccae
2
2
2
79
{*ipCTaceae
I
I
I
I • •
0.
Lauraceae
2
2
2
2
I
81
*^ymelaceae
I
I
I
1
I
I
I
1 ■ •
S2
^talaceae
■ • ■
Loranthaceae
I
4
I
9
I
9
I
I
J^uphorbiaceae
^nicaccae —
1 • •
II
I
2
I
«3
I
7
I
«3
I
7
I
4
• • •
• « B
• • •
6
I
7
I
6
86
0
P^atanaceae
I
87
88
Juglandaccae
*»yricacc3e
7
* • ■
118
BULLETIN OF THB
SVMM ARY ,—CoM/inuf J.
No.
89
90
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
[OO
[OI
[02
103
[04
[05
[06
I07
[08
[09
10
II
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
ORDERS.
Cupulifene
Salicaceae
Ceratophy llaceae
Aracex
Lemnaceae
Typhaceae
Naiadacex
Alismaceae
Hydrocharidaceae
Orchidaceae
Amaryllidaceae
Haemodoraceae
Iridaceae
Dioscoreaceae
Smilacese
Liliaceae
Juncacex' ; ^
Pouted eriaceae
Commelynacese
Xyridaceac
Eriocaulonaceae
Cyperaceae
Graminex
Coniferae
Equisetaceae
Filices
Ophioglossaceae
Lycopodiacese
Musci
Hepaticae
Characeae
7
2
I
S
I
2
2
2
2
12
I
I
2
I
I
18
2
3
2
I
I
10
43
4
I
16
2
2
42
23
2
C/3
25
14
I
6
f
3
9
3
2
23
I
I
6
I
6
24
8
3
3
I
I
94
104
7
2
29
2
5
98
29
4
•c
c4
>
I
5
I
1
2
14
6
I
2
I
26
19
I
6
I
4
9
5
2
24
I
I
6
I
6
24
15
3
3
I
1
T08
no
7
2
30
4
6
98
29
4
iS
26
19
■■A
23
6
26
I
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINQTON.
119
RECAPITULATION.
•
Groups.
•
o
a
cS
«74
169
•
'0
8,
C/3
33^
368
•
a>
C
18
21
.§1
389
Introduced
iGS Plants.
Woody
Plants.
Pblypetalar
Oamopetake
45
27
36
25
9
IHchlamydese
Monochlamydefl^
72
19
343
47
706
114
39
10
49
31
89
4
84
84
745
124
869
33^
7
130
30
119
64
34
44
Dicotyledones --_
MoDocotyledones _ _;
Gymnosperros '.
9«
20
I
390
112
4
820
300
7
160
32
I
183
4
7
78
7
Phaenogamia
Vascular Cryptogamia.
112
4
506
21
1,127
38
1.207
42
'93
194
85
Vascular Plants ..
Cellular Cryptogamia..
116
3
119
527
67
1,165
131
1,249
«3i
193
194
85
* MP » MP
Total FJora
594
1,296
1,380
»93
194
8S
Od this communication, Mr C. A. White remarked that he
boped Mr. Ward would be able to furnish some further infor-
mation concerning the influence exerted upon a flora by the char-
acter of the country rocks. It is well known that the constitution
of the strata, influencing as it does the character of the soils which
cover them, had a further effect upon the native plants growing
above them. Thus the granite localities of the east were more fav-
orable to the growth of certain genera, for example, the EricaceiB
than the magnesian limestones of the Mississippi valley. He hoped
that Mr. Ward might be able to ascertain how far these influences
affected other families of plants.
Mr. Powell inquired what were the characters or character of
plants that had apparently disappeared from the local flora in the
comparison of the field results of the present time with those ob-
tabed forty or fifty years ago.
Mr. Wabd replied that the missing species in the present lists
were not confined to any particular family, but were diffused con-
siderably among the several classes.
The Society then adjourned.
120 BULLETIN OF THE
193d Meeting. February 5th, 1881.
Vice President Welling in the Chair.
Thirty-eight members present.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and adopted.
A communication was then read by Mr. G. E. Duttok, on
the scenery op the grand canon district.
The communication was reserved by the author.
Remarks upon this communication were made by Mr. J. W.
Powell, at the conclusion of which, the Society adjourned.
194th Meeting. February 19th, 1881.
Vice President Taylor in the Chair.
Thirty-one members present.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and adopted.
The President announced to the Society the death of Dr. George
A. Otis. It was moved and carried, that a committee be appointed
to prepare suitable resolutions for the action of the Society, relative
to the death of Dr. Otis, and the Chair appointed a committee
consisting of Messrs. Antisell, Billings, and Mew.
The first communication for the evening was by Mr. J. E. Todd,
of Iowa who had been invited by the Greneral Committee to read a
communication on the
QUABTERNARY deposits of western IOWA AND EASTERN
NEBRASKA.
Mr. Todd gave first an account of the three members which com-
pose the Quartemary deposits of the regions in questions. The lowest
is in Iowa, and is the boulder-clay consisting of the hard compact
clay usually occurring in this formation, with its included rocky
glaciated fragments. In central and western Nebraska this clay
is wanting. Upon it rests the red clay, a formation of varying
thickness, but usually quite thin, rarely exceeding 20 feet. Upon
this rests the loess which constitutes a subject of special interest.
One peculiarity of it is found in the fact, that it overlies the ine-
qualities of the country which existed prior to its disposition ; being
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 121
found upon the old hill tops and slopes, as well as in the valley
bottoms, and exhibiting a general "unconformity by erosion." It
is composed of exceedingly fine matter without any fragments of
rock of notable size, such as pebbles or stones. It contains, how-
ever, bands of calcareous concretions in lines which are usually
horizontal, and these concretions are often elongated with their
longer dimensions vertical. It also holds those calcareous fibres
vhich Bichthofen observed in the loess deposits of China, and which
he believed to be casts of roots of plants. Another interesting
occttrrence is that of charcoal, which is found in several places in
the midst of the deposits in thin bands. The fossils of the loess are
the shells of geophilous mollusca.
Mr. Todd held the view that the loess is a post-pliocene lacus-
trine deposit, and that the region in discussion was in post-glacial
time covered with a very large fresh-water lake.
Prof. T. C. Chamberlain, of Wisconsin, being present, and in-
vited to take part in the dbcussion, remarked that while Mr. Todd
had presented in a very able and clear manner the reasons for
attributing the loess to the deposit of silt in a lake bottom, he was
of opinion that the objections to the acceptance of that view were
very great. If such a lake existed over the region in question
during quartemary time, it must have been of immense extent.
According to the observations of Dr. C. A. White, these deposits
' extend to the borders of the region which drains immediately into
the Mississippi river in Iowa, and they are found nearly as far
west as the Rocky Mountains. Their north and south extensions
are not accurately known, but they are believed to be very great.
Independently of these deposits no evidences of such a lake are
DOW known. Its boundaries are not marked by any known bar-
riers on the east where the configuration of the country is now such
that no barriers could have existed, unless the region which they
shoald have occupied has undergone remarkable changes of which
the nature cannot be specified, and of which no traces exist. To
produce such a lake basin very great depressions would be necessay,
and there is no evidence known to him which warrants a belief in a
former depressed condition of that region su£Scient to account for it.
Further research may indeed relieve us of some of these difficulties
or all of them, but at present they are very great. Prof. Chamber-
Iain could not but commend, however, the earnest and scientific
spirit b which Mr. Todd had pursued his valuable investigations.
122 BULLETIN OF THB
Mr. O. T. Mason inquired whether the occurrences of charcoal
were frequent and hore evidence of human agency.
Mr. Todd replied that charcoal was often met with, and sug-
gested as a possible, though not probable, explanation, that the
fragments may have come from some of the recent volcanic regions
of the west. *
Mr. C. £. DuTTON suggested that there would be little difficulty
in finding a natural cause for the occurrence of charcoal, if the
surface had been above water at the time it was deposited. There
can be little doubt that fires are frequently started in the woods
and on the plains of the west by lightning, and it is not at all in-
credible that they may sometimes arise from spontaneous ignition*
Many of the frequent fires in the western mountains occur under
circumstances which render it incredible that human agency was
involved.
Mr. C. A. White spoke of the great areas over which loess de-
posits are found. They occur not only in the upper Mississippi
valley, but also in the regions of the lower Mississippi. They also
occupy a great range of altitudes, some being only a few hundred
feet above the level of the sea, others several thousand feet above
it. They all seem to be of similar character and constitution. The
absence of any barriers is one powerful argument against the exis-
tence of a lake, and the great changes of level which would be
demanded to establish this hypothesis is another.
The next communication was read by Mr. C. E. Dutton, on
THE vermilion CLIFFS AND VALLEY OF THE VIRGEN,
IN SOUTHERN UTAH.
The paper was reserved by the author.
At its conclusion the Society adjourned.
195th Meeting. March 5th, 1881.
Vice-President Taylor in the Chair.
Twenty-two members present.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and adopted.
The Chair announced the election of Mr. Peter Winfield Lauvcr
to membeiship in the Society.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
123
The first communication was by Mr. Theodore Otll on the
PRINCIPLES OP MORPHOLOGY.
Ifr. Gill's paper may be found substantially in Johnson's Ency-
clopoddia, under the title Morphology, which article was written by
him.
The second communication was by Mr. Marcus Baker on the
BOUNDARY LINE BETWEEN ALASKA AND SIBERIA.
The present boundaries of the territory of Alaska were defined
in the treaty of March 30, 1867, whereby Russian America was
ceded to the United States. In that treaty the western boundary,
or rather so much of it as is here considered, was defined aa follows :
"The western limit, within which the territories and dominion
conveyed are contained, passes through a point in Behring's Straits
00 the parallel of sixty-five degrees thirty minutes north latitude, at
its intersection by the meridian which passes midway between the
island of Krusenstern or Ignalook, and the island of Ratmanofi* or
Noonarbook, and proceeds due north without limitation into the
same Frozen Ocean."
The longitude of this meridian was very properly lefl out of the
treaty on account of its uncertainty. In order to show our knowl-
edge of the subject at the time of the framing of the treaty the
following table has been prepared from all known authorities upon
the subject down to the present time.
The last three determinations entered in the table, it must be
borne in mind, have been made since the treaty was drawn up.
Date.
Longitude.
0 /
1761
155
1778
169 52
1S02
168 48
1822
168 59
1827
168 55
1828
168 54
1849
168 57.5
1852
168 54
1855
168 43
1874
169 04
1878
168 58
1880
168 58
Authority.
Map published by the Imp. Acad, of Sc. of St. Petersb.
Cook's Atlas.
Billings.
Kotzebue.
Beechey. Br. Adm. Ch. No. 593.
Liitke's Atlas.
Febcnkoff's Atlas.*
Russian Hydr. Ch. No. 1455.
Rogers. U. S. Hyd. Ch. So. 68.
Russ. Ilyd. Ch. No. — . ^
Onatsevich.
U. S. C. and G. S.
124 BULLETIN OF THE
In the case of the two determinations marked with a * the two
Diomede Islands are so represented on the chart that the boundary
line is tangent to each island.
During the past summer an attempt was made by the party on
board the U. S. C. and G. S. Schooner Yukon to make a more care-
ful determination of the longitude of this meridian than had been
attempted hitherto. For longitude purposes the party had one
pocket and six box chronometers. For determining time the sextant
was used, recourse being had to equal altitudes whenever possible.
Plover Bay in Eastern Siberia is about 150 miles to the south-
ward and westward from the Diomede Islands in Behring's Strait
This bay was visited by Prof. Asaph Hall of the U. S. Naval obser-
vatory in 1869 for the purpose of observing the total solar eclipse
of that year, and, in connection with the eclipse work. Prof. Hall
made a careful determination of the longitude of his station.
After a careful examination of all the longitude determinations
known to exist, and because the facilities for determining the longi-
tude of this place by the Yukon party were not sufficient to im-
prove upon the determination by Prof. Hall, his results have been
adopted, and the longitude of the boundary meridian made to
depend upon his determination. Before proceeding to give an ac-
count of our longitude observations, when near the boundary line,
a complete reaumi of observations for position at Plover Bay, with
discussion will be given, this being rendered necessary by the fact
that the longitude of the boundary line as well as that of all other
points along the Arctic coast and northern part of Behring Sea have
been made by us to depend upon Plover Bay.
Previous to 1848 Plover Bay, though an extensive arm of the
sea running inland some 20 to 25 miles, appears not to have been
known. It is not shown upon any map before 1850. In the period
from 1845 to 1848 it seems to have been visited by the whalers.
The first information touching it upon which we can lay our hands
is the report of Commander Moore to the Admiralty, published in
the Nautical Magazine March, 1850. From this it appears that
Commander Moore first anchored in Plover Bay, October 17, 1848
Later he moved his vessel, the Plover, farther in, and wintered in
the harbor named by him Emma Harbor. He remained in Emma
Harbor until June 23, 1849. Concerning the scientific or survey-
ing work accomplished in this period of eight months, he says ;
"At intervals Mr. Martin, assisted by Mr. Hooper, made a survey
PHILOSOPHICAL SOOIBTT OF WASHINGTON. 125
of the place in which I had secured the ship for the winter; which,
connected with Mr. Martin's and my own observations on the coast
to tho westward, will, I hope, give a tolerably correct representation
of these shores, and when associated with magnetic observations on
every attainable point, will, I trast meet their Lordships' approba-
tionj'
The results foreshadowed by this report have not come to light.
No map or plan of Emma Harbor, or Plover Bay, has been pub-
lished by the British Admiralty Office, and no statement or account
of the observations at Plover Bay, if any were made. General
Sabine in his contributions to Terrestial Magnetism No. XIII gives
some results which he credits to a MS in the Magnetic Office by
Commander Moore, but no magnetic declination or intensities are
^yen ; whence we conclude that no observations, or at least no satis-
factory observations, therefore, were taken. A few results for dip
are given. The geographical position of the station where the dip
observations were taken is given by General Sabine, and this posi-
tion, if due to Commander Moore, is the earliest determination on
record of a position for Plover Bay. The position given probably
refers to some point near the northern shore of Emma Harbor
and 18
Latitude, 64° 26' N.
Longitude, 173 07 W. Gr.
and the observed dip was 75^ 10'. From the best existing chart
of Plover Bay that we have, it is found that this station is four
minutes north, and nine minutes east of the station occupied by the
Coast Survey. Whence we find the Coast Survey Astronomical
Station to be, according to Commander Moore, approximately in
Latitude, 64° 22' N.
Longitude, 173 16 W. Gr.
A rough sketch of Plover Bay was made in 1866, by the explor-
ing parties of the Western Union Telegraph Company, and this
sketch was published in 1869 by the Coast Survey. The obser-
vations were made by Lieut. J. Davidson, of the U. S. Revenue
Marine Service, and the resulting position is stated to depend
upon nine observations referred by a crude triangulation to the
mountain Bald Head. The position given by Lieut. Davidson for
Bald Head is
Latitude. 64° 24^ N.
Longitude, 173 15 W. Gr.
126
BULLETIN OF THE
From the best chart extant of Plover Bay, which has been referred
to above, and which is one published in 1877 by the Russian Hj-
drographic Office from surveys by Lieut. Onatsevich, we find Bald
Head to be one and a half minutes south and one ndnute eaat of
the Coast Survey Astronomical Station. Hence, according to Lieut.
Davidson, the Coast Survey Astronomical Station is in
Latitude, 64° 25/5 N.
Longitude, 173 16 W. Gr.
As the observations were made, not on the mountain, but on the
vessel at anchor in the harbor, it seems probable that in trana.
ferring the position of the vessel to the mountain some mistake
occurred, for the resulting latitude is certainly considerably in error
The next determination of position at Plover Bay was by Prof.
Hal], in 1869, during his visit to this place to observe the total solar
eclipse of that year. The latitude was determined with a Pistor
and Martin's sextant from observations upon August 3, 4, and 5,
by Prof. Hall and Mr. J. A. Rogers. The following table gives the
results :
Date.
Latitude.
o / //
1869, August 3 I 64 22 22
" 3 , 22
4- 33
5 27
5 ' 20
I
Mean adopted 64 22 25
//
1-3
1.9
1.9
2.7
Observer.
Rogers.
Rogers,
HalL..
Hall...
Hall...
No. of
Observations.
15
M
17
12
12
70
For determining the longitude Prof. Hall had ten chronometers
whose corrections to Greenwich time were determined at the Astro-
nomical Station in the Navy Yard on Mare Island, California,
before setting out and returning from Plover Bay. The dates of
the time determinations at Mare Island, are June 17-20, and Sep-
tember 18-19, 1869, the interval being 102 days. The time was
determined with a small portable transit instrument. With these
means Prof. Hall obtained the following results for the longitude
of his station in Plover Bay, west from the station at Mare Island.
PHIL080PHI0AL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 127
h, m. s.
3 24 21.3
19.1
21.3
21.0
22.7
22.2
22.5
«5-9
23.0
21. 1
These are the results by each chronometer, and when combined
by weights indicated by their probable errors, the resulting longi-
tude is
n. fn. s. s.
m
3 24 21. 1 ± 0.36
Since these results were published, the longitude of San Francisco
has been determined by telegraph, and the station upon Mare Island
occupied by Prof. Hall geodetically connected with this determi-
nation. The resulting longitude of the Mare Island station is,
according to Assistant Schott of the Coast Survey,
0 /
ff ff
122 16
16 -♦- 2.2
tn>
s. s.
09
05.07 -J- 0.15
or, in time,
A.
8
^vhence we have for the longitude of Prof. Hall's station, at Plover
Bay
II 33 26.2 db 0.4.
For Prof. Hall's station, therefore, we adopt
Latitude, 64° 22' 25'' N.
Longitude, 173 21 33 rb 6'^ W. Gr.
Before leaving Washington we were furnished by Prof. Hall with a
memorandum, describing his station from which it appears that no
permanent station mark could be left by him, the character of the soil
and natives preventing this. We were, therefore, unable to locate
the exact spot, but had no difficulty in finding the general locality,
and fixing upon a place that must have been within a few metres
128 BULLETIN OF THE
of Prof. HalPs station. Here we erected a pile of boulders as a
beacon, and by means of the telemeter staff, and a small triangu-
lation connected with our azimuth line, we found this beacon to
bear N. I'' 42' 26" E. from our astronomical station, and 462.9
metres distant, or in round numbers 460 metres N. 1^ 42^ E. of ours ;
in arc this is 1" E. and 15" N. of ours. Applying these reductions
to the position already adopted, we have as the position of our
station, according to Prof. Hall
Latitude, 64° zi' 10'' N.
Longitude, 173 21 32 ± 6'^ W. Gr.
In 1876 the bay was visited by Lieut. M. 8. Onatsevicb, of the
Russian Navy in the " VaadnUcj* and a rough survey made of the
bay with a somewhat detailed survey of the anchorages. At the
same time astronomical and magnetic observations were made.
In 1877, the Russian Hydrographic Office published several
charts embodying the results of Onatsevich's observations, and
among them, a chart of Port Providence, or "Plover Bay," as it is
usually called by the whalemen. On this chart it is stated that the
astronomical station of Lieut. Onatsevicb is, according to his ob*
servations in
Latitude, 64° 21^ 37^^ N.
Longitude, 173 18 30 W. Gr.
In the following year, however, 1878, Lieut Onatsevich's report
was published, and in this report the position of the astronomical
station is stated to be
Latitude, 64° 2V 55'^ N.
Longitude, 173 23 54 W. Gr.
the longitude depending upon that of Petropaylovsk, which latter
is taken as lOh. 34m. 37s. or 158'' 39' 15" E. from Greenwich.
This last result appears to be the finally corrected one, and is
adopted as Onatsevich's determination.
The station occupied by Lieut. Onatsevicb is clearly marked upon
his chart, and as we had this chart with us the place was quite
closely identified, probably within a few feet. The attempt was
made to have our station identical with his, and consequently no
reduction is necessarv.
^
PHILOSOPHICAL 80GIBTT OF WASHINQTON.
129
RecapitulatiDg, therefore, we have the following results for the
position of the Coast Survey Astronomical Station at Plover Bay :
Date.
1848-9--..
1866
Aug., 1869.
Jaly, 1876.
Sept., 1880.
Authonty.
Com'r T. E. L. Moore. (?)
Lieut. J. Davison.
Prof. A. Hall.
Lieut. M. L. Onatsevich.
U. S. C. and G. S., by M. Baker.
Digeuasian of foregoing Table,
It is very doubtful whether the results credited to Commodore
Moore were really obtained by him, or whether General Sabine
took these values from other sources ; while the results by Lieut.
Davison are known to have been of only a very approximate char-
acter. The three remaining results for latitude, when we consider
that they were made at different times, by different observers, at
different stations, and with different instruments and the instru-
ments of a secondary character, show a satisfactory agreement, and
wo adopt the simple mean for the latitude determination, which is
64° 22f 00" and would assign an arbitrary probable error of 6".
Neglecting the longitude results by Moore and Davison as being
of an inferior character, we have the two remaining by Hall and
Onatsevich. The determination by Onatsevich is a chronometric
one from Petropavlovsk. How the longitude of Petropavlovsk was
obtained we are not informed, but we know it was not determined
by telegraph. Moreover the longitude adopted by Onatsevich for
Petropavlovsk differs by as much as four miles^ (4' 11.7'' = 16.8«)
from that adopted by the Russian Hydrographic Office, in 1850, as
the basis for their charts of this region, and which determination
was the mean of nine different determittation8.extending from 1779
to 1827. The longitude of Plover Bay based upon Onatsevich's
observations and that longitude of Petropavlovsk is 173^ 19^ 22^'
W.Gr.
It has, therefore seemed best to adopt without change the result
of Prof. Hall's observations, not combining it with anything else,
viz: 173^ 21' 32" =b 6" W. Gr.
9
130 BULLETIN OF THE
Our adopted value, therefore, of the geographical position of the
AfltroDomical Station of the U. 8. Coast and Greodetic Survey at
Plover Bay, Eastern Siberia, is
Latitude, 64° 22^ oo^-' =t: f N.
r 173 21 32 zb 6 \
Longitude, -J h. m. s. s. \ W. Gr.
r»73
One station was marked by driving a piece of whale's rib into
the ground and piling rocks around it. Being identical with the
station of Lieut. Onat^vich, any one visiting the place will by the
aid of that chart readily identify it.
Having completed our investigation of the geographical position
of Plover Bay, we proceed to detail our observations for the longi-
tude of the boundary.
The Yukon arrived at Plover Bay at ten in the evening of
August 11, 1880. The following day was cloudy in the morning,
afterward rained, and later partially cleared up so that we obtained
two pairs of equal altitudes of the sun for time, the interval being
about three hours. During the afternoon we succeeded in getting
four sets of six each of double altitudes of the sun for time. From
the equal altitudes the time of local mean noon by the chronom-
eter, was lib. 18m. 13.9s, and from the double altitude it was llh.
18m^ 14.2s., a very satisfactory agreement. By means of the in-
tervals the probable errors of each of these determinations have
been made out. For the equal altitudes it is =b 1.7s, and for the
double altitudes it is =i= 0.30s, values which may be taken as fairly
representative of the different conditions under which the obser-
vations were made. From these observations the corrections of
our chronometers to Greenwich mean time on August 12 were
determined.
On August 14, \^ sailed from Plover Bay to the eastward and
northward, cruising along the Arctic coast as far as Point Belcher,
and returning thence passed through Behring Strait to Port Clar-
ence, and afterwards returning to Behring Strait made a landing
on the southeastern shore of Ratmanoff, or the Big Diomede Island,
on September 10. We came to anchor at seven in the morning,
about a mile off shore, and sailed away about three in the after-
noon. During our stay observations were made for latitude and
time, and all the magnetic elements, declination, dip and intensity.
Of time observations three sets of six each of double altitudes of
PHILOSOPHICAL 800IBTY OF WASHINGTON. 181
the son were obtained with sextant and artificial horizon. These
three sets give as the correction of our "hack/' or observing chron-
ometer, to local mean time
fit fHt St Sm
-f I 03 26.9 rb 0.35,
this probable error resulting from computing the eighteen observa-
tions singly and treating in the. usual way. The sky was nearly
covered with cumulus clouds, the wind fresh, raw and chilly, and
thermometer 39^ F. Near noon the sun appeared again for a short
time, and nine pointings were obtained for latitude, giving the fol-
lowing results, each depending upon a single observation.
50
38
54
44
52
53
60
65
Mean latitude, 65° 44' 51 d= i/^5 N.
Leaving the Diomedes on the afternoon of September 10, we
sailed directly for Plover Bay. . That night we were stopped by ice,
the next day delayed by calms, but on the following day, September
12, we reached our anchorage in Plover Bay a little before noon, just
in time to get a good series — 39 observations of circummeridian
altitudes of the sun for latitude. In the afternoon we obtained a
good series of time observations, but the following morning was
cloudy. We succeeded, however, in getting four altitudes corres-
ponding to those of the preceding day, thus enabling our time
determination to hang upon four paii-s of equal altitudes, the epoch
being local mean midnight September 12 and 13. The times of
local apparent midnight from these four pairs by our "hack" were
A.
m.
J.
II
09
0.2
1.2
0.7
from which the probable error is found to be :i= 0.16«.
132 BULLETIN OF THE
For the longitude of our station upon the Big Diomede laland
we have, therefore, as follows :
Plover Bay 1880, Aug. 12, noon Chron'r corr'n determined, :fc 1.7 j.
Big Diomede Id., " Sept. 10, 8.9^. a. m., " " ±0.35
Plover Bay " " 12, midnight... ** " ±0.15
By means of the time determinations of August 12 and Septem-
ber 12, the rates of the chronometers are determined and then the
Greenwich time determination at Big Diomede Island, September
10, is made to depend upon the determination at Plover Bay, Sep-
tember 12, and the rates of all the chronometers carried back to
September 10, a period of 2.64 days.
The resulting longitude by each chronometer is shown in the fol-
lowing table :
Chron'r.
A.
m.
s.
214 --
II
16
18.3
866 __
i7-9
1131 —
18.0
I7'3 --
19.0
2535 --
14.7
3" -
16.6
Chronometer No. 2535 was our " hack," and 311 a sidereal chro-
nometer used in making comparisons. Each had rather large rates,
that of 2535 exceeding nine seconds, and that of 311 five seconds
per day. The indiscriminate mean of all is 11 A. 16m. 17.4^. As-
signing only half weight to chronometer 2535, the longitude resul-
ting is
II 16 17,7
The probable error of the Greenwich time at the Diomedes, based
upon the agreement of the chronometer is ± 0.36«.
For the probable error of the longitude, therefore, we have
Probable error of longitude of Plover Bay = dt 0.39 j.
Probable error local time determination. Plover Bay, Sept. 12 = i 0.15
Probable error local time determination, Diomedes, Sept. lo = dt 0.3s
Probable error Greenwich time determination, Diomedes, Sept. 10.= + 0.36
Resulting longitude adopted, 11 16 17.7^=0.65.
The astronomical station of the United States Coast and Geodetic
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON. 133
Survey at the mouth of the ravine, od the southeastern shore of the
Big Diomede Island, in Behring Strait, is, therefore, in
Latitude, 65° 44^ 51^^ N.
Longitude, 169 04 25 zt 10 W. Gr.
From bearings and angles taken from the astronomical station
and from the schooner at anchor, using the distance of the schooner
from the station as a base line, together with other bearings taken
while in the vicinity of the islands, a sketch of the two islands has
been prepared from which it appears that the meridian tangent to
the extreme eastern edge of the larger island is 2.1 nautical miles,
and the meridian tangent to the extreme western edge of the smaller
island is 3.1 nautical miles, east of the astronomical station. The
boundary line is to pass midway between these meridians, t. e. the
meridian which forms the boundary is 2.6 nautical miles east of the
astronomical station.
In latitude 65^ 45', the latitude of the astronomical station, 2.6
nautical miles is equal to 6' 20'' of longitude, and, deducting this
from the longitude of the astronomical station, the longitude of the
boundary line is found to be
i68«> 58' 05^^ W. Gr.
If we assume an uncertainty of one quarter of a nautical mile,
equal in this latitude to 37" of longitude, in thus transferring the
position of the station to the boundary line, and this seems to be
quite large enough, we have finally as the longitude of the boun-
dary line bet^reen Alaska and Eastern Siberia
or, in time,
0
r ff ff
168
S8 05 3b 38
A.
m.
s. s.
II
15
52.3 ± 2.5 W. Gr.
184 BULLETIN OF THE
196th Meeting. March 19, 1881.
Vice-Presideut Taylor in the Chair*
Thirty members and visitors present.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and adopted.
The communication for the evening was by Mr. J. W. Powell, od
limitations to the use of some anthropoix)gic data.
This paper is published in full in the " Abstract of TransactioD»
of the Anthropological Society of Washington, D. C, for the first
year ending January 20, 1880, and the second year ending Jan-
uary 18, 1881."
Remarks upon this communication were made by Messrs. Gill>
Harkness, Ward, Newcomb, and Alvord.
At the conclusion of the discussion the Society adjourned.
197th Meeting. April 2d, 188L
Vice-President Taylor in the Chair.
Thirty-nine members and visitors present.
The consideration of the minutes of the last meeting was post-
poned, the recorder being absent.
Dr. Antisell, on behalf of the committee appointed at the last
meeting of the Society, reported the following resolution in com-
memoration of the late Dr. George A. Otis: '
Resolved, That this Society has heard with profound regret of
the untimely death, on the 23d of February last, of Dr. Oeorqb A.
Otis, U. S. Army, one of its original founders.
Resolved, That while we deplore the loss of so highly valued an
associate and friend, there is some compensation to be found in the
reflection that his long and incessant suffering has at last terminated,
and that it is gratifying to remember that he was not cut off before
his services to science, in his chosen field, had received, as well in
Europe as in America, the high appreciation which they so richly
merited.
Resolved, That the medical literature, not only of this country
but of the world, has sustained by this calamity a loss which can
with difficulty be replaced.
\
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 135
A commanication was then read by Mr. A. B. Johnson on
THE HISTORY OF THB LIGHT HOUSE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE
UNITED STATES.
Mr. Johnson read from a paper he had prepared for pub-
lication elsewhere, on the History of the Light-house Establishment
of the United States, tracing its rise and progress from the first .
beacon which was erected on Point AUerton, entrance to Boston
Harbor, in 1673, to the present time. He gave some account of
the eight light-houses built by the Colonies ; then of twelve built
by the General Grovemment prior to 1812, then of the progress of
the establishment, under the charge of Mr. Pleasanton, an Auditor
of the U. S. Treasury and the Acting Superintendent of the Lights,
when the ifUmber increased to some three hundred and twenty-five ;
then of the causes which led to the creation of the provisional Light-
iloase Board, and then of the erection of the permanent Light-
Honse Board, and of the improvements the Board had since made,
in all the arts and sciences connected with the erection of the light-
houses and the establishment of cognate aids to navigation. Mr.
Johnson then gave some account of light-house construction and
of the dificrent kinds of light-towers, material and style of the
structures used, and of the problems solved in deciding on the
various subaqueous foundations required. He illustrated his sub-
ject by the exhibition of large photographs of such stone light-
houses as that on Spectacle Beef, Michigan, of such harbor lights
as that on Thimble Shoal, entrance to Hampton Roads, Virginia,
such skeleton iron houses on driven piles as that on Fowey Rocks,
Florida Reef, and the tripod erected on Paris Island, Port Royal
Sound, S. C, and of the remarkable stone light-house recently
built on the summit of Tillamook Rock off the coast of Oregon.
Some account was given of the fog-signals used in this country,
and a large crayon of the syren, the most powerful fog signal
known, was shown.
Mr. Johnson spoke of the fact thus noted by Professor Henry :
"^It frequently happens on a vessel leaving a station that the sound
is suddenly lost at a point in its course, and after remaining inau-
dible some time, is heard again at a greater distance, and is then
gradually lost as the distance is further increased." In connection
with this he exhibited a chart showing the site of Beaver Tail Light-
House on the south point of Conanicut Island, between the two
136 BULLETIN OF THE
entraDces to Narragausett Bay, with Bonnet Point, on which the
steamer Rhode Island was wrecked in the fall of 1880, one and one-
half miles to the northwest, with Fort Adams three and one-quarter
miles to the northeast, and distant one and one-half miles to the
southeast. On this chart was indicated the route of a sail boat
which had been run to Bonnet Point, thence southerly to near
•Whale Rock; thence easterly close to Beaver Tail; thence north-
easterly to Fort Adams, and thence southeasterly to Newport. On
the route followed by the boat, he had indicated by half inch circles,
the audibility of the fog-signal in full blast at Beaver Tail, as heard
in the boat; the degrees being shown by the various shades ; full
audibility being indicated by darkening the whole surface of the
circle, and complete inaudibility being shown by lack of shading
in the circle. In this way it was shown that the observer, an officer
of the Navy, found the sound of the fog-signal faint at half a mile
from the signal, fainter at three-fourths of a mile off, much louder
at a mile, less loud at one and one-eighth miles ; he lost the sound
entirely at one and one-fourth miles ; at one and three-sixteenths
miles he heard it faintly, and right under Bonnet Point, one and
one-half miles distant, he heard it stronger than he did at one-half
mile from the signal. In the run of about one mile from Bonnet
Point toward Whale Rock he did not hear the fog-signal at all, and
then he heard it faintly, and as he then ran almost toward the signal
he lost its sound entirely ; when about a half a mile west of the
signal he heard its sound quite faintly, and then lost it, not hearing
it again till within one-fourth of a mile when he suddenly heard it
at its full power and continued to do so on his run to Newport
until three-fourths of a mile away, when the sound diminished one-
half, and continued so at one mile off and one and one-fourth miles
off. At one and one-half miles distance the sound had diminished
to about one-fourth of its power ; at two miles off he lost it ; he did
uot hear a trace of it at two and one-fourth, two and a half, or two
and three-fourths miles distances ; but he caught it faintly as he
rounded Fort Adams at three miles away, and when he had run
another one-fourth of a mile into Newport Harbor he heard it at
almost its full power and continued to do so for another quarter of
a mile, when he lost it all together.
Mr. Johnson called attention to the fact that in the run of this
boat, the sound of the fog-signal had ranged from audibility to
to inaudibility, and back again, several times ; and that while it
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 137
vas lost at a distaBce of about a mile, it was distinctly^ though
fiuntly heard at Bonnet Point, distant one and one-half miles, and
that while it was lost completely at two miles off, on the run to
Kewport, it was picked up at Fort Adams, three miles off, and
heard almost at its full power at three and one-fourth and three and
one-half miles away. These records were 'made by Lieut. Com.
F. E. Chadwick, U. 8. N., Assistant Light-House Inspector, to
Ascertain the facts, bearing on the statement that the fog-signal
stopped from time to time, made by those who had noticed these in-
termissions of audibility ; and the fact that the fog-signal was in
continuous full blast, was noted by his assistant, who remained at
Beaver Tail for the purpose.
Mr. Johnson stated that this ricocheting of sound, these intervals
of audibility, ought to be recognized by the mariner, who should now
understand that in sailing toward or from a fog-signal in full blast,
he might lose and pick up its sound several times though no apparent
object might intervene. And the mariner now needed that science
should deduce the law of this variation in audibility and bring
out some instrument which should be to the ears what the mai-
iner's compass is now to the eyes, and also that variations of
this instrument yet to be invented, be provided for and corrected
as now are the variations of the mariner's compass. The speaker
referred to the benefit the mariner had derived from the prom-
ulgation of Professor Henry's theory of the tilting of the sound
wave up or down by adverse or favorable winds, and said that
by this the sailor had been led to go aloft in the one case and
to get as near as possible to the surface of the water in the other,
when trying to pick up the sound of a fog-signal.
In this connection Mr. Johnson read the following extract from
an article entitled Signaling by Means of Sound, by E. Price-Edwards,
from the [English'] Journal of the Society of Arts :
"In one respect, however, the late Professor Henry, who was at
the time chairman of the United States Light-House Board, differ-
red from Dr. Tyndall, viz: in regard to the theory of acoustic
clouds, and their resultant aerial echoes. Professor Henry's ex-
planation of the obstruction of sound in clear weather, and the
echoes, is founded upon the asserted existence of upper and lower
currents of air, the tilting up of the sound wave, and the reflec-
tion of the sounds from the surface of the sea, or the crests of the
188 BULLETIN OF THE
wave. From this last explanation, Professor Henry seems to have
receded before his death."
Mr. Johnson said that he called attention to this statement, a»
he was satisfied that Mr. Price-Edwards had permitted himself to
fall into some inaccuracy as to Prof. Henry's action in this matter.
It was within Mr. Johnson's personal knowledge that Prof. Henry,
up to the last, had considered the theory of the tilting of the sound
wave, under certain conditions, as a good working hypothesis. The
Professor had it in contemplation when he was called from his
labors to attempt the solution of certain of the questions connected
with this subject by stationing observers iu steamers, around a
vessel anchored far enough from shore to be out of reach of land
echoes, on which a powerful fog-signal should be in operation, and
these observers should be aided by others in captive balloons, who
should note simultaneously with them, upon charts and tables pre-
viously prepared, not only the audibility of the signal, but all the
other data which could be obtained from the action of the ther-
mometer, the hygrometer, and the anemometer, as to the then con-
dition of the atmosphere. When all this information should be
tabulated, Professor Henry hoped to deduce something more of
the law of the movement of the sound wave under given con-
ditions, and to formulate it for the benefit of the mariner. This
was a work which Professor Henry had left to his successors and
which the speaker believed they would not neglect.
Mr. Johnson then took up an article in the Arinalea de8 Fonts et
ChausaSs far October, 1880, by if, Emile AUard, Inspecteur Oeneral
des Fords et Chaussia, entitled Comparison de Quelqiies Depemcs
Relative au Service des Fhares en France, avx Etats- Unis et en Angle-
terre, and called attention to that portion of it in which it was
stated in effect, that the lighted coast of the United States measured
about 7,500 nautical miles, and that the estimate of the Light-
House Board of the expense of maintaining the Light^House Ser-
vice for the year ending June 30, 1880, was $2,046,500, and that
hence the cost to the United States for lighting each nautical mile
of its coast was 1,293 francs, while that of France which had
twenty-five lights to the one hundred nautical miles [the United
States having but about nine lights to that distance] was but 1,155
francs.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON. 139
Mr. Johnson then showed that the length of the lighted coasts
of the United States, except those of the Mississippi, Missouri, and
Ohio rivers, measured on a ten-mile chord, was 9,959 miles, giving,
as his authority, recent statements made on this point by the United
States Coast and Geodetic Survey a6d of the office of the Chief of
Engineers of the United States Army ; the one as to the length of
the ocean, gulf, sound, and bay coast, and of the lighted rivers
beside those above named, and the other as to the length of the
lighted lake coasts. He then pointed out the natural mistake of
M. Allard, in supposing that the amount of the Board's estimates
{Le Budget Annuel du Bureau des Phares) had been appropriated
bj Congress for its support ; and he showed instead that the appro-
priations were much less than the estimates, and that, owing to
various causes, the appropriations even had not all been expended,
80 that the actual expenses of maintaining the United States Light-
House Establishment for the year ending June 30, 1880, were
but $1,943,600 instead of $2,046,600, as M. Allard had inferred.
Hence, it followed that, while it costs' France 1,155 francs to light
each nautical mile of her coast, it costs but 922.7 francs to light
each nautical mile of United States coast, instead of 1,293 francs
as has been erroneously inferred by M. Allard.
Mr. Johnson closed by stating that the Light-House Establish-
meot of the United States had been largely modeled on that of
France; that the Light-House Board, while it still hoped to reach
the French standard in many things, hardly expected to attain to
certain of its economies ; that he should not have thought of com-
paring the cost of the maintenance of the two establishments, but
as thb comparison had been made in the official French journal,
he had thought it well, and due to the science of pharology, to cor-
rect the errors which had crept into the calculations of this high
officer in the French Light-House Service.
The paper from which Mr. Johnson read, and on which he based
hifi remarks, may be found in full in the Annual Appendix for
1880, to be published by the Appletons as Volume XX of the New
American Cyclopedia.
Remarks on this paper were made by Messrs. Hilgard and
TnoRNTON A. Jenkins. The latter gave some interesting remi-
niscences of bifl early connection with the light-house service.
140 BULLETIN OF THE
Mr. Taylor said that he wished to emphasize a single point id
Mr. Johnson's communication, namely, that referring to Mr. Price-
Edwards' statement in regard to the supposed change of view by
Prof. Henry as to the explanation of acoustic disturbances, or, at
least, as to the source of the ocean echo. The only thing which
could give the slightest color to such a supposition was a purely
incidental and wholly unimportant suggestion thrown out by Prof.
Henry on this subject. Discarding the proposed explanation of
the echo by the presence of a hygroscopic flocculence, or invisible
acoustic clouds in the air, as quite insufficient in character, as too
indefinite in limits, and as too mutable and evanescent in duration,
in a mobile atmosphere, to account for so pronounced, distinct, and
uniform a phenomenon. Prof. Henry thought, in the absence of any
other sufficient surface, that, in view of the large amount of curva-
ture in ordinary sound beams, acoustic waves might be reflected
back to the ear from the ocean itself, — ^probably from the slopiog
sides of the waves. On having his attention drawn by Prof.
Tyndall to the circumstance that the echoes were frequently distinct
over a perfectly smooth sea, he admitted that this would invalidate
the suggestion of wave crests being concerned in the effect ; but he
still believed that, with sounds sufficiently powerful to reach con-
siderable distances, it was quite possible for some of the upper
sound-beams to be so curved as to be reflected upward from a per-
fectly level floor, and still to reach an observer's ear placed near the
origin of sound. He had also shown that visible clouds were quite
incompetent to return any sensible echo to the loudest sounds.
So far from receding from his views in regard to the occasions of
irregularity in the audibility of sound, in his last Report of the
Light-House Board — that for 1877, published but a short time
before his death — he announced his previous conclusions as only
more confirmed by his later observations ; and a summary of these
conclusions was also published in the Smithsonian Report for 1877.
The ideas of sound transmission promulgated in popular books
and lectures, as derived from class-room experiments, are very in-
accurate and misleading when applied to any considerable range of
sound travel. Were the medium of sound propagation — ^the atmos-
phere— ^perfectly homogeneous in density, in temperature, and in
movement, the beams would indeed travel in sensibly straight lines,
but still with a large amount of lateral diffusion bearing no anal-
ogy to the diffraction of light. But in distances of several miles —
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WA8HINOT0N. 141
'say from one to ten, as involved in fog-signaling, — ^it may be said
that such conditions of aerial uniformity are never present ; or in
other words that sound beams are never transmitted for any great
ilistance in sensibly straight lines. And hence it is, that after every
allowance for lateral deflection, there frequently remain under pecu-
liar circumstances, intermediate points of acoustic darkness, or belts
And regions of insulated silence.
The next communication was by Mr. E. B. Elliott, who read
from a cablegram from Berlin relative to the Monetary Conference
about to meet at Paris, that a fixed legal ratio of value of gold to
silver of 15} to 1, and the unrestricted coinage of both metals at
this fixed ratio of value, were to be presented to the Convention as
the leading subjects for discussion, and prospective adoption.
The present market ratio is about 18 to 1, the proposed ratio 15}
to 1. Now one ounce of gold and eighteen ounces of silver are
equivalents for debt-contracting and debt-paying purposes, but the
proposition is that the nations enact that one ounce of gold and
15} ounces of silver shall be legal equivalents for debt-paying
purposes, the option of deciding in which of the two metals the
payment shall be reckoned and paid, to be with the person making
the payment, or debtor. It is a proposition then to allow the
debtor to scale down his debt from 18 to 15}, to scale down his pay-
meuts 14 per cent, from the existing standard ; — a proposition that
the nations in the payment of their public debts may diminish their
payments 14 per cent, and also, that the people in their several
countries may liquidate their debts, public and private at the same
reduced rate, 14 per cent.
The adoption of thb scheme of partial repudiation by our
own or any other nation would of necessity prove disastrous to its
credit.
The ability of our own country to pay its indebtedness is believed
to be unsurpassed by any on the face of the globe, but its willing-
ness is questioned, and the sending of a Commission to Europe, and
inviting a conference of nations to favorably consider the subject
of scaling down the value of the monetary unit of account, must
tend to the depression of that credit.
If»with that doubt impending as to our vnllingness to make
full payment of our indebtedness, our nation can borrow at the low
rate of 3} or 3} per cent, per annum; there b reason to believe that,
142 BULLETIN OF THE
with that doubt dispelled, our bonds can readily be placed on the
world's market at the greatly improved rate of 3 per cent, per annum.
To this end it is desirable: (1), that the forced coinage of our
legal tender silver dollar (of 412^ grains silver 9-10 fine) be
discontinued; (2), that on all future coins and on bullion, he
stamped their weight in grammes, and their fineness 9-10 ; and (3)
that an international commission be created whose duty it shall be
to periodically (annually or ofbener) proclaim, based on the market
quotations of the few months immediately preceding the date of
the proclamation, the value in gold of an equal weight of silver ;
and (4) that the metric-stamped coin and bullion at the proclaimed
ratio of value, shall each be equally legal tender of payment in
unlimited amount, until the issuing of the next periodical procla-
mation.
This would be true bi-metallism. The adoption of the proposed
ratio, 15 i, would be silver mono-metallbm under the misnomer of
bi-metallism.
By the adoption of the true bi-metallic method proposed — t. e.,
frequent periodical publication of the true market ratio, instead of
a single arbitrary proclamation to last for all time — we should
stand before the world with our willingness to pay undoubted, and
our ability to pay unsurpassed and paramount among the nations,
and our national debt could be placed on the market on more
favorable terms than that of any other commercial country.
At the conclusion of Mr. Elliott's remarks, the Society adjourned.
198th Meeting. April 16, 1881.
The President in the Chair.
Fifty-four members and visitors present.
The minutes of the 196th and 197th meetings were read and
adopted.
The Chair announced to the Society the election to membership
of Mr. William A. DeCaindry.
The first communication of the evening was by Mr. Alexander
Graham Bell, announcing to the Society, the discovery of
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTOK. 143
THE SPECTROPHONE.
Id a paper read before the American Association for the Ad-
TEDcement of science, last August, I described certain experiments
made by Mr. Sumner Tainter and myself, which had resulted in
the construction of a **Phot(yph(me" or apparatus for the production
of sound by light ;* and it will be my object to-day to describe the
progress we have made in the investigation of photophonic phenom-
ena since the date of this communication.
Id my Boston paper the discovery was announced, that thin disks
of very many different substances emitted sounds when exposed to
the action of a rapidly-interrupted beam of sunlight. The great
variety of material used in these experiments led me to believe
that sonorousness under such circumstances would be found to be
a general property of all matter.
At that time we had failed to obtain audible effects from masses
of the various substances which became sonorous in thie condition
of thin diaphragms, but this failure was explained upon the sup-
position that the molecular disturbance produced by the light was
chiefly a surface action, and that under the circumstances of the
experiments, the vibration had to be transmitted through the mass
of the substance in order to affect the ear. It was therefore sup-
posed that, if we could lead to the ear, air that was directly in
contact with the illuminated surface, louder sounds might be ob-
tained, and solid masses be found to be as sonorous as thin dia-
phragms. First experiments made to verify this hypothesis pointed
towards success. A beam of sunlight was focussed into one end of
an open tube, the ear being placed at the other end. Upon interrupt-
iog the beam, a clear, musical tone was heard, the pitch depending
upon the frequency of the interruption of the light, and the loud-
ness upon the material composing the tube.
At this stage our experiments were interrupted, as circumstances
called roe to Europe.
While in Paris a new form of the experiment occurred to my
mind, which would not only enable us to investigate the sounds
* Proceedings of American Association for the Advancement of Science, Aug.
27th, iSSo; see, also, American Journal of Science, vol. xx, p. 305 ; Journal of
tbe American Electrical Society, vol. iii, p. 3 ; Journal of the Society of Telegraph
Engineeri and Electricians, vol. ix, p. 404 ; Annales de Chimie et de Physique,
vol. zzi.
144 BULLETIN OF THE
produced by masses, but would also permit us to test the more
general proposition that sonoroumess, under the infiuenee of irUer-
miUeni light, is a property common to all matter.
The substance to be tested was to be placed in the interior of a
transparent vessel made of some material, which (like glass) is
transparent to light, but practically opaque to sound.
Under such circumstances the light could get in, but the sound
produced by the vibration of the substance could not get out. The
audible effects could be studied by placing the ear in communica-
tion with the interior of the vessel by means of a hearing tube.
Some preliminary experiments were made in Paris to test this
idea, and the results were so promising that they were communi-
cated to the French A.cademy on the 11th of October, 1880, in a
note read for me by Mr. Antoine Breguet.* Shortly afterwards I
wrote to Mr. Tainter, suggesting that he should carry on the inves-
tigation in America, as circumstances prevented me from doing so
myself in Europe. As these experiments seemed to have formed
the common starting point for a series of independent researches
of the most important character carried on simultaneously in
America by Mr. Tainter, and in Europe by M. Mercadier,t Prof.
Tyndall,J W. E. R6nton,§ and W. H. Preece,|| I may be permitted
to quote from my letter to Mr. Tainter the passage describing the
experiments referred to :
" Metropolitan Hotel, Rue Cambon, Paris,
"iViw. 2. 1880.
" Dear Mr. Tainter : * * * i have devised a method of
producing sounds by the action of an intermittent beam of light
from substances that cannot be obtained in the shape of thin di-
aphragms or in the tubular form ; indeed, the method is specially
adapted to testing the generality of the phenomenon we have dis-
covered, as it can be adapted to solids, liquids, and gases.
" Place the substance to be experimented with in a glass test-tube,
* Comptes Rendus^ vol. xcl, p. 595.
t" Notes on Radiophony," Comptes Rendus, Dec. 6 and 13, x88o; Feb. 21
and 28, 1 88 1. See, also, yournal de Physique, vol. x, p. 53.
X " Action of an Intermittent Beam of Radiant Heat upon Gaseous Matter."
Proc. Royal Society, Jan. 13, 1881, vol. xxxi, p, 307.
{ *< On the tones which arise from the intermittent illumination of a gas." See
Anna/en der Phys. und Chemit, Jan., 1881, No. i, p. 155.
II "On the conversion of Radiant Energy into Sonorous Vibration." Proc,
Royal Society^ March 10, 1881, vol. xxxi, p. 506.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 145
connect a rubber tube with the mouth of the test-tube, placing the
other end of the pipe to the ear. Then focus the intermittent beam
upon the substance in the tube. I have tried a large number of
substances in this way with great success, although it is extremely
difficult to get a glimpse of the sun here, and when it does shine
the intensity of the light is not to be compared with that to be
obtained in Washington. I got splendid effects from crystals of
bichromate of potash, crystals of sulphate of copper, and from
tobacco smoke. A whole cigar placed in the test-tube produced a
very loud sound. I could not hear anything from plain water, but
when the water was discolored with ink a feeble sound was heard.
I would suggest that you might repeat these experiments and extend
the results, &c., &c.
Upon my return to Washington in the early part of January.*
Mr. Tainter communicated to me the results of the experiments he
had made in my laboratory during my absence in Europe.
He had commenced by examining the sonorous properties of a
vast number of substances enclosed in test-tubes in a simple em-
pirical search for loud effects. He was thus led gradually to the
discovery that cotton-wool, worsted, silk, and fibrous materials
generally, produced much louder sounds than hard rigid bodies
like crystals, or diaphragms such as we had hitherto used.
In order to study the effects under better circumstances he en-
closed his materials in a conical cavity in a piece of brass, closed
by a flat plate of glass. A brass tube leading into the cavity
served for connection with the hearing-tube. When this conical
cavity was stuffed with worsted or other fibrous materials the
sounds produced were much louder than when a test-tube was em-
ployed. This form of receiver is shown in Figure I.
Hr. Tainter next collected silks and worsteds of different colors,
and speedily found that the darkest shades produced the best effects.
Black worsted especially gave an extremely loud sound.
As white cotton wool had proved itself equal, if not superior, to
any other white fibrous material before tried, he was anxious to
obtain colored specimens for comparison. Not having any at hand,
however, he tried the effect of darkening some cotton- wool with
lamp-black. Buch a marked reinforcement of the sound resulted
that he was induced to try lamp-black alone.
About a teaspoonful of lamp-black was placed in a test-tube and
* On the 7th of January.
10
146 BULLETIN OF THE
exposed to an intermittent beam of sunlight The sound produced
was much louder than any heard before.
Upon smoking a piece of plate-glass, and holding it in the inter-
mittent beam with the lamp-black surface towards the sun, the
sound produced was loud enough to be heard, with attention, in
any part of the room. With the lamp-black surface turned from
the sun the sound was much feebler.
Mr. Tainter repeated these experiments for me immediately upon
ray return to Washington, so that I might verify his results.
Upon smoking the interior of the conical cavity shown in Figure
I, and then exposing it to the intermittent beam, with the glass lid
in position as shown, the effect was perfectly startling. The sound
was so loud as to be actually painful to an ear placed closely against
the end of the hearing-tube.
The sounds, however, were sensibly louder when we placed some
smoked wire gauze in the receiver, as illustrated in the drawing.
Figure I.
When the beam was thrown into a resonator, the interior of
which had been smoked over a lamp, most curious alternations of
sound and silence were observed. The interrupting disk was set
rotating at a high rate of speed, and was then allowed to come
gradually to rest An extremely feeble musical tone was at first
heard, which gradually fell in pitch as the rate of interruption grew
less. The loudness of the sound produced varied in the most in-
teresting manner. Minor reinforcements were constantly occurring,
which became more and more marked as the true pitch of the re-
sonator was neared. When at last the frequency of interruption
corresponded to the frequency of the fundamental of the resonator,
the sound produced was so loud that it might have been heard by
an audience of hundreds of people.
The effects produced by lamp-black seemed to me to be very
extraordinary, especially as I bad a distinct recollection of experi-
ments made in the summer of 1880 with smoked diaphragms, in
which no such reinforcement was noticed.
Upon examining the records of our past photophonic experiments
we found in vol. vii, p. 57, the following note :
" Experiment V. — Mica diaphragm covered with lamp-black on
side exposed to light.
'' Result : distinct sound about same as without lamp-black. —
A, O, B., July 18f/i, 1880.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 147
'' Verified the above, but think it somewhat louder than when
itfed without lamp-black."— & T., July l%th, 1880.
Upon repeating this old experiment we arrived at the same result
iu that noted. Little if any augmentation of sound resulted from
smoking the mica. In this experiment the effect was observed by
placing the mica diaphragm against the ear, and also by listening
through a hearing-tube, one end of which was closed by the dia-
phragm. The sound was found to be more audible through the
free air when the ear was placed as near to the lamp-black surface
as it could be brought without shading it.
At the time of my communication to the American Association
I had been unable to satisfy myself that the substances which had
become sonorous under the direct influence of intermittent sunlight
were capable of reproducing sounds of articulate speech under the
action of an undulatory beam from our photophonic transmitter.
The difficulty in ascertaining this will be understood by considering
that the sounds emitted by thin diaphragms and tubes were so
feeble that it was impracticable to produce audible effects from
substances in these conditions at any considerable distance away
from the transmitter ; but it was equally impossible to judge of
the effects produced by our articulate transmitter at a short distance
away, because the speaker's voice was directly audible through the
air. The extremely loud sounds produced from lamp-black have
enabled us to demonstrate the feasibility of using this substance in
an articulating photophone in place of the electrical receiver for-
merly employed.
The drawing (Fig. 2) illustrates the mode in which the experi-
ment was conducted. The diaphragm of the transmitter (A) was
only 5 centimeters in diameter, the diameter of the receiver (B)
was also 5 centimeters, and the distance between the two was 40
meters, or 800 times the diameter of the transmitter diaphragm.
We were unable to experiment at greater distances without a heli-
ostat on account of the difficulty of keeping the light steadily
directed on the receiver. Words and sentences spoken into the
transmitter in a low tone of voice were audibly reproduced by the
lamp-black receiver.
In Fig. 3 is shown a mode of interrupting a beam of sunlight
for producing distant effects without the use of lenses. Two sim-
ilarly-perforated disks are employed, one of which is set in rapid
n>tatioD, while the other remains stationary. This form of inter-
148 BULLETIN OF THE
rupter is also admirably adapted for work with artificial ligbt
The receiver illustrated in the drawing consists of a parabolic re-
flector, in the focus of which is placed a glass vessel (A) containing
lamp-black, or other sensitive substance, and connected with a hear-
ing-tube. The beam of light is interrupted by its passage through
the two slotted disks shown at B, and in operating the instrument
musical signals like the dots and dashes of the Morse alphabet are
produced from the sensitive receiver (A) by slight motions of the
mirror(G) about its axis (D.)
In place of the parabolic reflector shown in the figure a conical
reflector like that recommended by Prof. Sylvanus Thompson * can
be used, in which case a cylindrical glass vessel would be preferable
to the flask (A) shown in the figure.
In regard to the sensitive materials that can be employed, our
experiments indicate that in the case of solids the physical condition
and the color are two conditions that markedly influence the inten-
sity of the sonorous effects. The Itmdest sounds are produced from
mbdancea in a hose, porotis, spongy eondition, and from those thai have
the darkest or most absorbent colors.
The materials from which the best eflTects have been produced are
cotton-wool, worsted, fibrous materials generally, cork, sponge,
platinum and other metals in a spongy condition, and lamp-black.
The loud sounds produced from such substances may perhaps be
explained in the following manner : Let us consider, for example, the
case of lamp-black — a substance which becomes heated by exposure
to rays of all refrangibility. I look upon a mass of this substance
as a sort of sponge, with its pores filled with air instead of water.
When a beam of sunlight falls upon this mass, the particles of lamp-
black are heated, and consequently expand, causing a contraction
of the air-spaces or pores among them.
Ujider these circumstances a pulse of air should be expelled, just
as we would squeeze out water from a sponge.
The force with which the air is expelled must be greatly increased
by the expansion of the air itself, due to contact with the heated
particles of lamp-black. When the light is cut off the converse
process takes place. The lamp-black particles cool and contract,
thus enlarging the air spaces among them, and the enclosed air also
becomes cool. Under these circumstances a partial vacuum should
* Phil. Mag., April, i88i, vol. xi, p. 286.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 149
• be formed among the particles, and the outside air would then be
absorbed, as water Ib bj a sponge when the pressure of the hand is
remoTed.
I imagine that in some such manner as this a wave of conden-
latioD IB started in the atmosphere each time a^beam of sunlight
&Il8 upon lamp-black, and a wave of rarefaction is originated when
the light is cut off. We can thus understand hew U is that a substance
Hke lamp-black produces intense sonorous vibraiions in the surrounding
dry while at the same time it communicates a very feeble vibration to
iU diaphragm or solid bed upon which it rests,
Tbis carious fact was independently observed in England by Mr.
Preece, and it led him to question whether, in our experiments with
tbin diaphragms, the sound heard was due to the vibration of the
disk or (as Prof. Hughes had suggested) to the expansion and con-
traction of the air in contact with the disk confined in the cavity
behind the diaphragm. In his paper read before the Royal Society
CD the lOtb of March, Mr. Preece describes experiments from
which he claims to have proved that the effects are wholly due to
tbe vibrations of the confined air, and that the disks do not vibrate
(UaU.
I shall briefly state my reasons for disagreeing with him in this
coDclusion :
1. When an intermittent beam of sunlight is focussed upon a
flbeet of hard rubber or other material, a musical tone can be heard,
not only by placing the ear immediately behind the part receiving
the beam, but by placing it against any portion of the sheet, even
though this may be a foot or more from the place acted upon by
the light
2. When the beam is thrown upon the diaphragm of a ** Blake
Transmitter/' a loud musical tone is procuced by a telephone con-
nected in the same galvanic circuit with the carbon button, (A,)
Fig. 4. Good effects are also produced when the carbon button (A)
forms, with the battery, (B,) a portion of the primary circuit of
ao induction coil, the telephone (C) being placed in the secondary
circnit
In these cases the wooden box and mouth-piece of the trans-
mitter should be removed, so that no air-cavities may be lefb on
either side of the diaphragm.
It it evident, therefore, that in the case of thin disks a real vibration
of the diaphragm is caused by the action of the intermittent beam, in.
150 BULLETIN OP THE
dependenily of any eapamdon atid caniraction of Uie air confined in .
the cavity behind the diaphragm.
Lord Rayleigh has showu mathematically that a two-aDd-i'ro
vibration of sufficient amplitude to produce an audible sound
would result froq^ a periodical communication and abstraction of
heat, and he says : ** We may conclude, I think, that there is at
present no reason for discarding the obvious explanation that the
sounds in question are due to the bending of the plates under un-
equal heating." (Nature, xxiii, p. 274.) Mr. Preece, however,
seeks to prove that the sonorous effects cannot be explained upon
this supposition; but his experimental proof is inadequate to
support his conclusion. Mr. Preece expected that if Lord Rayleigh s
explanation was correct, the expansion aud contraction of a thin
strip under the influence of an intermittent beam could be caused
to open and close a galvanic circuit, so as to produce a musical
tone from a telephone in the circuit. But this was an inadequate
way to test the point at issue, for Lord Rayleigh has shown (Proc.
of Roy. Soc, 1877,) that an audible sound can be produced by a
vibration, whose amplitude is less than a tenrmillionth of a centimetre^
and certainly such a vibration as that would not have sufficed to
operate a "make-and-break contact" like that used by Mr. Preece.
The negative results obtained by him cannot, therefore, be consid-
ered conclusive.
The following experiments (devised by Mr. Tainter) have given
results decidedly more favorable to the theory of Lord Rayleigh
than to that of Mr. Preece :
1. A strip (A) similar to that used in Mr. Preece's experiment
was attached firmly to the centre of an iron diaphragm, (B,) as
shown in Figure 5, and was then pulled taut at right angles to the
plane of the diaphragm. When the intermittent beam was focussed
upon the strip (A) a clear musical tone could be heard by applying
the ear to the hearing tube (C,)
This seemed to indicate a rapid expansion and contraction of the
substance under trial.
But a vibration of the diaphragm (B) would also have resulted
if the thin strip (A) had acquired a to-and-fro motion, due either
to the direct impact of the beam or to the sudden expansion of the
air in contact with the strip.
2. To test whether this had been the case an additional strip (D>
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WA8HIN0T0N. 151
was attached by its central point only to the strip under trial, and
was then submitted to the action of the beam, as shown in Fig. 6.
It was presumed that if the vibration of the diaphragm (B) had
been due to a pushing force acting on the strip (A,) the addition
of the strip (D) would not interfere with the effect. But if, on
the other hand, it had been due to the longitudinal expansion and
contraction of the strip, (A,) the sound would cease, or, at least, be
reduced. The beam of light falling upon strip (D) was now inter-
rupted as before by the rapid rotation of a perforated disk, which
was allowed to come gradually to rest.
No sound was heard excepting at a certain speed of rotation,
when a feeble musical, tone became audible.
This result is confirmatory of the first.
The audibility of the effect at a particular rate of interruption
suggests the explanation that the strip (D) had a normal rate of
vibration of its own.
When the frequency of the interruption of the light corres-
pouded to this, the strip was probably thrown into vibration after
the manner of a tuning fork, in which case a to-and-fro vibration
would be propagated down its stem or central support to the strip
(A)
This indirectly proves the value of the experiment.
The list of solid substances that have been submitted to experi-
meut in my laboratory is too long to be quoted here, and I shall
merely say that we have not yet found one solid body that has
fiuled to become sonorous under proper conditions of experiment.'''
ExperimeTds with Liquids.
The sounds produced by liquids are much more difficult to ob-
serve than those produced by solids. The high absortive power
pofisessed by most liquids would lead one to expect intense vibra.
tions from the action of intermittent light, but the number of son-
orous liquids that have so far been found is extremely limited, and
the sounds produced are so feeble as to be heard only by the
greatest attention and under the best circumstances of experiment.
* Carbon and thin microscopic glass are mentioned in my Boston paper as non-
respoDstve, and powdered chlorate of potash in the communication to the French
Academy, (Comtes Rendus, vol. xcl, p. 595.) All these substances have since
yielded sounds under more careful conditions of experiment.
U *(
tf ft
it f«
f( fC
152 BULLETIN OF THE
In the experiments made in my laboratory a very long test-tube
was filled with the liquid under examination, and a flexible rubber-
tube was slipped over the mouth far enough down to prevent the
possibility of any light reaching the vapor above the surface.
Precautions were also taken to prevent reflection from the bottom
of the test-tube. An intermittent beam of sunlight was then
focussed upon the liquid in the middle portion of the test-tube by
means of a lens of large diameter.
Results.
Clear water - No sound audible.
Water discolored by ink Feeble sound.
Mercury No sound heard.
Sulphuric ether* Feeble, but distinct sound.
Ammonia " "
Ammonia-sulphate of copper
Writing ink
Indigo in sulphuric acid
Chloride of copper ♦
The liquids distinguished by an asterisk gave the best sounds.
Acoustic vibrations are always much enfeebled in passing from
liquids to gases, and it is probable that a form of experiment may
be devised which will yield better results by communicating the
vibrations of the liquid to the ear through the medium of a solid
rod.
ExperlmenU with Gaseous Matter.
On the 29th of November, 1880, 1 had the pleasure of showing
to Prof. Tyndal], in the laboratory of the Royal Institution, the
experiments described in the letter to Mr. Taiuter from which I
have quoted above, and Prof. Tyndall at once expressed the opinion
that the sounds were due to rapid changes of temperature in the
body submitted to the action of the beam. Finding that no ex-
periments had been made at that time to test the sonorous properties
of different gases, he suggested filling one test-tube with the vapor
of sulphuric ether, (a good absorbent of heat,) and another with
the vapor of bi-sulphide of carbon, (a poor absorbent,) and he
predicted that if any sound was heard it would be louder in the
former case than in the latter.
The experiment was immediately made, and the result verified
the prediction.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 158
Smoe the publication of the memoirs of Bontgen* and Tyndallf
we have repeated these experiments, and have extended the inquiry
to a number of other gaseous bodies, obtaining in every case sim-
ilar results to those noted in the memoirs referred to.
The vapors of the following substances were found to be highly
sonorous in the intermittent beam : Water vapor, coal gas, sulphuric
ether, alchohol, ammonia, amylene, ethyl bromide, diethylamene,
mercury, iodine, and peroxide of nitrogen. The loudest sounds
were obtained from iodine and peroxide of nitrogen.
I have now shown that sounds are produced by the direct action
of intermittent sunlight from substances in every physical condition,
(solids, liquid, and gaseous,) and the probability is therefore very
greatly increased that sonorousness under such circumstances will be
found to be a universal property of matter.
Upon StibstUutea for Selenium in Electrical Receivers.
At the time of my communication to the American Association
the loudest effects obtained were produced by the use of selenium,
arranged in a cell of suitable construction, and placed in a galvanic
circuit with a telephone. Upon allowing an intermittent beam oi
sunlight to &11 upon the selenium a musical tone of great intensity
was produced from the telephone connected with it.
But the selenium was very inconstant in its action. It was rare-
ly, if ever, found to be the case, that two pieces of selenium (even
of the same stick) yielded the same results under identical circum-
stances of annealing, &c. While in Europe last autumn. Dr. Chi-
chester Bell, of University College, London, suggested to me that
this inconstancy of result might be due to chemical impurities in
the selenium used. Dr. Bell has since visited my laboratory in
Washington, and has made a chemical examination of the various
samples of selenium I had collected from different parts of the
world. As I understand it to be his intention to publish the results
of this analysis very soon, I shall make no further mention of his
investigation than to state that he has found sulphur, iron, lead, and
arsenic in the so-called " selenium," with traces of organic matter ;
that a quantitative examination has revealed the fact that sulphur
constitutes nearly one per cent, of the whole mass ; and that when
^^^^■^^— ^^^^W^W^ ^ ■»■ ■!■ 1^11^ ■■■■! 11^ ■■ ■ ■■ ■■»™' ■■ ■ ■- ■-■I ■■■■ m^^^m^^^^^,^^^
* Ann. der Phys. und Chem., i88i, No. i, p. 155.
f Proc. Roy. Soc., vol. xxxi, p. 307.
154 BULLETIN OP THE
these impurities are elimiDated the selenium appears to be more
constant in its action and more sensitive to light.
Prof. W. 6. Adams'*' has shown that tellurium, like selenium, has
its electrical resistance affected by light, and we have attempted to
utilize this substance in place of selenium. The arrangement of
cell (shown in Fig. 7) was constructed for this purpose in the early
part of 1880 ; but we failed at that time to obtain any indications
of sensitiveness with a reflecting galvanometer. We have since
found, however, that when this tellurium spiral is connected in
circuit with a galvanic battery and telephone, and exposed to the
action of an intermittent beam of sunlight, a distinct musical tone
is produced by the telephone. The audible effect is much increased
by placing the tellurium cell with the battery in the primary circuit
of an induction coil, and placing the telephone in the secondary
circuit.
The enormously high resistance of selenium and the extremely
low resistance of tellurium suggested the thought that an alloy of
these two substances might possess intermediate electrical properties.
We have accordingly mixed together selenium and tellurium in
different proportions, and, while we do not feel warranted at the
present time in making definite statements concerning the results,
I may say that such alloys have proved to be sensitive to the action
of light.
It occurred to Mr. Tainter before my return to Washington last
January, that the very great molecular disturbance produced in
lamp-black by the action of the intermittent sunlight should pro-
duce a corresponding disturbance in an electric current passed
through it, in which case lamp-black could be employed in place of
selenium in an electrical receiver. This has turned out to be the
case, and the importance of the discovery is very great, especially
when we consider the expense of such rare substances as selenium
and tellurium.
The form of lamp-black cell we have found most effective is
shown in Fig. 8. Silver is deposited upon a plate of glass, and a
zigzag line is then scratched through the film, as shown, dividing
the silver surface into two portions insulated from one another,
having the form of two combs with interlocking teeth.
Each comb is attached to a screw-cup, so that the cell can be
* Proc. Roy. Soc, vol. xxiv, p. 163.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 165
placed iu an electrical circuit when required. The surface is then
smoked until a good film of lamp-black is obtained, filling the inter-
stices between the teeth of the silver combs. When the lamp-black
cell is connected with a telephone and galvanic battery, and ex-
posed to the influence of an intermittent beam of sunlight, a loud
musical tone is produced by the telephone. This result seems to be
due rather to the physical condition than to the nature of the con-
ductiug material employed, as metals in a spongy condition pro-
duce similar efiects. For instance, when an electrical current is
passed through spongy platinum, while it is exposed to intermittent
sunlight, a distinct musical tone is produced by a telephone in the
same circuit. In all such cases the effect is increased by the use of
an induction coil ; and the sensitive cells can be employed for the
reproduction of an articulate speech as well as for the production
of musical sounds.
We have also found that loud sounds are produced from lamp-
black by passing through it an intermittent electrical current ; and
that it can be used as a telephonic receiver for the reproduction of
articulate speech by electrical means.
A convenient mode of arranging a lamp-black cell for experi-
mental purposes is shown in Fig. 9. When an intermittent current
is passed through the lamp-black, (A,) or when an intermittent
beam of sunlight falls upon it through the glass plate B, a loud
musical tone can be heard by applying the ear to the hearing-tube
C. When the light and the electrical current act simultaneously,
two musical tones are perceived, which produce beats when nearly
of the same pitch. By proper arrangements a complete interference
of sound can undoubtedly be produced.
Vpm the Measurement of the Sonorous Effects produced by Different
Substances.
We have observed that different substances produce sounds of
very different intensities under similar circumstances of experiment,
&Dd it has appeared to us that very valuable information might be
obtained if we could measure the audible effects produced. For
^is purpose we have constructed several different forms of appa-
ratus for studying the effects, but as our researches are not yet com-
plete, I shall confine myself to a simple description of some of the
forms of apparatus we have devised.
166 BULLETIN OF THE
When a beam of light is brought to a focus by means of a
lens, the beam diverging from the focal point becomes weaker as
the distance increases in a calculable degree. Hence, if we can
determine the distances from the focal point at which two different
substances emit sounds of equal intensity, we can calculate their
relative sonorous powers.
Preliminary experiments were made by Mr. Tainter during my
absence in Europe to ascertain the distance from the focal point of
a lens at which the sound produced by a substance became inau-
dible. A few of the results obtained will show the enormous differ-
ences existing between the different substances in this respect.
Distance from Focal Point of Lens at which Sounds became Inaudible
wiih Different Substances.
»
Zinc diaphragm, (polished) 1. 51 m.
Hard rubber diaphragm 1.90 m.
Tin-foil " 2.00 m.
Telephone " (Japanned iron) 2.15 m.
Zinc " (unpolished) 2.15 m.
White silk, (In receiver shown in Fig. I.) 3.10 m.
White worsted, " " " 4.01m.
Yellow worsted, " " " 4.06 m.
Yellow silk, " " " 4,13 m.
White cotton-wool, " " " 4.38 m.
Green silk, " " " 4.52 m.
Blue worsted, " " ** 4.69 m.
Purple silk, " " " 4.82 m.
Brown silk, " " ** 5.02 m.
Black silk, " " " 5.21m.
Red silk, " " " 5.24 m.
Black worsted, " ** " 6.50 m.
I^amp-black. In this case the limit of audibility could not be deter-
mined on account of want of space.
Sound perfectly audible at a distance of 10.00 m.
Mr. Tainter was convinced from these experiments that this field
of research promised valuable results, and he at once devised an
apparatus for studying the effects, which he described to me upon
my return from Europe. The apparatus has since been constructed
and I take great pleasure in showing it to you to-day.
(1.) A beam of light is received by two similar lenses, (A B,
Fig. 10,) which brings the light to a focus on either side of the
PHILOSOPHICAL SOOIBTY OF WASHINGTON. 167
ioterrapting disk (C.) The two substances, whose sonorous powers
are to be oompared, are placed in the receiving vessels (D £) (so
arranged as to expose equal surfaces to the action of the beam)
which communicate by flexible tubes (F O) of equal length, with
the common hearing-tube (H.) The receivers (D £) are placed
upon slides, which can be moved along the graduated supports (I
K.) The beams of light passing through the interrupting disk (C)
are alternately cut off by the swinging of a pendulum, (L.) Thus
a musical tone is produced alternately from the substance in D and
from that in £. One of tjie receivers is kept at a constant point
upon its scale, and the other receiver is moved towards or from the
focus of its beam until the ear decides that the sounds produced
from D and £ are of equal intensity. The relative positions of the
receivers are then noted.
(2.) Another method of investigation is based upon the produc-
tion of an interference of sound, and the apparatus employed is
shown in Fig. 11. The interrupter consists of a tuning-fork, (A,)
which is kept in continuous vibration by means of an electro-
magnet, (B.)
A powerful beam of light is brought to a focus between the
prongs of the tuning-fork, (A,) and the passage of the beam is
more or less obstructed by the vibration of the opaque screens (C
D) carried by the prongs of the fork.
As the tuning-fork (A) produces a sound by its own vibration, it
is placed at a sufficient distance away to be inaudible through the
air, and a system of lenses is employed for the purpose of bringing
the undulating beam of light to the receiving lens (£) with as little
loss as possible. The two receivers (F O) are attached to slides
(H I) whicl^move upon opposite sides of the axis of the beam, and
the receivers are connected by flexible tubes of unequal length (K
L) communicating with the common hearing-tube (M.)
The length of the tube (K) is such that the sonorous vibrations
from the receivers (F G) reach the common hearing-tube (M) in
opposite phases. Under these circumstances silence is produced
when the vibrations in the receivers (F G) are of equal intensity.
When the intensities are unequal, a residual effect is perceived. In
operating the instrument the position of the receiver (G) remains
constant, and the receiver (F) is moved to or from the focus of the
beam until complete silence is produced. The relative positions of
the two receivers are then noted.
158 BULLETIN OF THE
(3.) ADOther mode is as follows : The loudness of a musical tone
produced by the action of light is compared with the loudness of a
tone of similar pitch produced by electrical means. A rheostat
introduced into the circuit enables us to measure the amount of
resistance required to render the electrical sound equal in intensity
to the other.
(4.) If the tuning-fork (A) in Fig. 11 is thrown into vibration
by an undulatory instead of an intermittent current passed through
the electro-magnet, (B,) it is probable that a musical tone, electri-
cally produced in the receiver (F) by the^ction of the same current,
would be found capable of extinguishing the effect produced in the
receiver (6) by the action of the undulatory beam of light, in
which case it should be possible to establish an acoustic balance
between the effects produced by light and electricity by introducing
sufficient resistance into the electric circuit.
Upon Hie Nature of the Rays that Produce Sonorous Effects in
Different Substances,
In my paper read before the American Association last August
and in the present paper I have used the word " light" in its usual
4 rather than its scientific sense, and I have not hitherto attempted to
discriminate the effects produced by the different constituents of
ordinary light, the thermal, luminous, and actinic rays. I find,
however, that the adoption of the word " photophone" by Mr, Tain-
ter and myself has led to the assumption that we belived the audible
effects discovered by us to be due entirely to the action of luminous
rays. The meaning we have uniformly attached to the words
" photophone" and " light" will be obvious from the following pas-
sage, quoted from my Boston paper : «
"Although effects are produced as above shown by forms of
radiant energy, which are invisible, we have named the apparatus
for the production and reproduction of sound in this way the
* photophone' because an ordinary beam of light contains the rays
which are operative"
To avoid in future any misunderstanding upon this point we have
decided to adopt the term " radiophone" proposed by Mr. Mercadier,
as a general term signifying an apparatus for the production of
sound by any form of radiant energy, limiting the words thermo-
phone, photophone, and actinophone to apparatus for the production
of sound by thermal, luminous, or actinic rays respectively.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 159
M. Mercadier, in the course of his researches in radiophony,
passed an intermittent beam from an electric lamp through a prism,
and then examined the audible effects produced in different parts
of the spectrum. (^Comptea Sendtis, Dec. 6th, 1880.)
We have repeated this experiment, using the sun as our source
of radiation, and have obtained results somewhat different from
those noted by M. Mercadier.
(1.) A beam of sunlight was reflected from a heliostat (A, Fig.
12) through an achromatic lens, (B,) so as to form an image of the
8U0 upon the slit (C.)
The beam then passed through another achromatic lens (D) and
through a bisulphide of carbon prism, (E,) forming a spectrum of
great intensity, which, when focused upon a screen, was found to be
sufficiently pure to show the principal absorption lines of the solar
spectrum.
The disk interrupter (F) was then turned with sufficient rapidity
to produce from five to six hundred interruptions of the light per
second, and the spectrum was explored with the receiver, (6,)
which was so arranged that the lamp-black surface exposed was
limited by a slit, as shown.
Under these circumstances sounds were obtained in every part of
the visible spectrum, excepting the extreme half of the violet, as
well as in the ultra-red. A continuous increase in the loudness of
the sound was observed upon moving the receiver (G) gradually
from the violet into the ultra-red. The point of maximum sound
lay very far out in the ultra-red. Beyond this point the sound
h^n to increase, and then stopped so suddenly that a very slight
motion of the receiver (G) made all the difference between almost
maximum sound and complete silence.'*'
f2.) The lamp-blacked wire gauze was then removed and the
interior of the receiver (G) was filled with red worsted. Upon
exploring the spectrum as before, entirely different results were ob-
tained. The maximum effect was produced in the green at that
part where the red worsted appeared to be black. On either side
of this point the sound gradually died away, becoming inaudible on
the one side in the middle of the indigo, and on the other at a short
distance outside the edge of the red.
*Tbe results obtained in this and subsequent experiments are shown in a tab-
ulated form in Fig. 14.
160 BULLETIN OF THE
(3.) Upon substituting green silk for red worsted, the limits of
audition appeared to be the middle of the blue and a point a short
distance out in the ultra-red. Maximum in the red.
(4.) Some hard-rubber shavings were now placed in the recover
(G.) The limits of audibility appeared to be on the one hand the
junction of the green and blue, and on the other the outside edge
of the red. Maximum in the yellow. Mr. Tainter thought he
could hear a little way into the ultra-red, and to his ear the max-
imum was about the junction of the red and orange.
(5.) A test-tube containing the vapor of sulphuric ether was then
substituted for the receiver (6.) Commencing at the violent end
the test-tube was gradually moved down the spectrum and out into
the ultra-red without audible effect, but when a certain point far out
in the ultra-red was reached, a distinct musical tone suddenly made
its appearance, which disappeared as suddenly on moving the test-
tube a very little further on.
(6.) Upon exploring the spectrum with a test-tube containing
the vapor of iodine, the limits of audibility appeared to be the mid-
dle of the red and the junction of the blue and indigo. Maximum
in the green.
(7.) A test-tube containing peroxide of nitrogen was substituted for
that containing iodine. Distinct sounds were obtained in all parts
of the visible spectrum, but no sounds were observed in the ultra-red.
The maximum effect seemed to me to be in the blue. The sounds
were well marked in all parts of the violet, and I even fiincied that
the audible effect extended a little way into the ultra-violet, but of
this I cannot be certain. Upon examining the absorption spectrum
of peroxide of nitrogen it was at once observed that the maximum
sound was produced in that part of the spectrum where the great-
est number of absorption lines made their appearance.
(8.) The spectrum was now explored by a selenium cell, and the
audible effects were observed by means of a telephone in the same
galvanic circuit with the cell. The maximum effect was produced
in the red about its junction with the orange. The audible effect
extended a little way into the ultra-red on the one hand and up as
high as the middle of the violet on the other.
Although the experiments so far made can only be considered
as preliminary to others of a more refined nature, I think we are
warranted in concluding that the noUure of the rays that produce «on-
<rrou8 effeds in different mbdanees dependji upon the nature of the
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON. 161
sulkdaneea that are exposed to the beam, and thai the aounda are in
every ease due to those rays of the spectrum that are absorbed by the
body.
The Spectrophone.
Our experiments upon the range of audibility of different sub-
stances in the spectrum have led us to the construction of a new
instrument for use in spectrum analysis. The eye-piece of a spec-
troscope is removed, and sensitive substances are placed in the
focal point of the instrument behind an opaque diaphragm con-
taining a slit "these substances are put in communication with
the ear by means of a hearing-tube, and thus the instrument is
converted into a veritable "spectrophone," like that shown in
Fig. 13.
Suppose we smoke the interior of our spectrophone receiver, and
fill the cavity with peroxide of nitrogen gas. We have then a
combination that gives us good sounds in all parts of the spectrum,
(visible and invisible,) except the ultra-violet. Now, pass a rapidly-
interrupted beam of light through some substance whose absorption
spectrum is to be inyestigated, and bands of sound and silence are
observed upon exploring the spectrum, the silent positions corres-
ponding to the absorption bands. Of course, the ear cannot for
one moment compete with the eye in the examination of the visible
part of the spectrum ; but in the invisible part beyond the red,
where the eye is useless, the ear is invaluable. In working in this
region of the spectrum, lamp-black alone may be used in the spec-
trophonic receiver. Indeed, the sounds produced by this substance
in the ultra-red are so well marked as to constitute our instrument
a most reliable and convenient substitute for the thermo-pile. A
few experiments that have been made may be interesting.
(1.) The interrupted beam was filtered through a saturated
solution of alum.
Result : The range of audibility in the ultra-red was slightly
reduced by the absorption of a narrow band of the rays of lowest
refrangibility. The sounds in the visible part of the spectrum
seemed to be unaffected.
(2.) A thin sheet of hard rubber was interposed in the path of
the beam.
Result : Well-marked sounds in every part of the ultra-red. No
11
1(52 BULLETIN OF THE
sounds in the visible part of the spectrum, excepting the extreme
half of the red.
These experiments reveal the cause of the curious fact alluded to
in my paper read before the American Association last August —
that sounds were heard from selenium when the beam was filtered
through both hard rubber and alum at the same time. (See table
of results in Fig. 14.)
(3.) A solution of ammonia-sulphate of copper was tried.
Result: When placed in the path of the beam the spectrum
disappeared, with the exception of the blue and violet end. To
the eye the spectrum was thus reduced to a single broad band of
bl«e-violet light. To the ear, however, the spectrum revealed itself
as two bands of sound with a broad space of silence between. The
invisible rays transmitted constituted a narrow band just outside the
red.
I think I have said enough to convince you of the value of this
new method of examination, but I do not wish you to understand
that we look upon our results as by any means complete. It is
often more interesting to observe the first totterings of a child than
to watch the firm tread of a full-grown man, and I feel that our
first footsteps in this new field of science may have more of interest
to you than the fuller results of mature research. This must be my
excuse for having dwelt so loog upon the details of incomplete
experimentc.
I recognize the fact that the spectrophoue must ever remain a
mere adjunct to the spectroscope, but I anticipate that it has a wide
and independent field of usefulness in the investigation of absorption
spectra in the ultra-red.
Mr. Wm. B. Taylor inquired whether the sounds obtained from
the two absorpion bands of the ammonia-sulphate of copper were
octaves of each other. Mr. Bell replied that this matter had not
as yet been investigated.
Prof William B. Rogers, President of the National Academy
of Sciences, being present as an invited guest, paid a high tribute
to Mr. Bell upon the very great interest and high scientific value of
the discovery just announced.
The next communication was by Mr. G. Brown Goode on the
SWORD-FISH AND ITS ALLIES.
it
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 163
This paper will be found published in full in the Annual Report
of the United States Fish Commission for the year 1880.
At the conclusion of Mr. Goode's paper the Society adjourned.
199th Meeting. April 30, 1881.
The President in the chair.
I Forty-eight members present.
■
The recorder of the minutes of the last meeting being absent
' their consideration was postponed.
Mr. W. H. Dall made a communication on
, RECENT DISCOVERIES IN ALASKA NORTH OF BEHRING STRAIT,
in which he alluded to the investigations- carried on by the U. S.
R. S. Corwin, Capt. Hooper, during the summer of 1880, including
meteorology, sea temperatures and currents, as well as the investi-
gation of the coal mines near Cape Lisburne. He described some
observations made by the U. 8. Coast Survey party under his charge
in the same region and season, on board the XJ. S. S. Yukon. The mi-
gration of the Asiatic Eskimo ; the sources of the warm waters of the
eastern half of Behring Strait in Kotzebue and Norton Sound
waters, moved by the tidal and river flow ; the existence of a sup-
posed new species of sheep allied to the Rocky Mountain bighorn
( Ovia montana) in the east Siberian peninsula, and the character of
Arctic vegetations were spoken of. Reasons for doubting the truth
of the account of an alleged landing on Wrangell Land, in 1866,
described in the Bremen Greographical Society's publication by a
Capt. Dallmann were brought forward, and it was pointed out that
the existence of Plover Island, of Siberian musk-oxen, and of cer-
tain conditions of the ice alleged by Dallmann, were in conflict
▼ith all that is definitely known by scientific men of those matters.
Remarks upon this paper were made by Messrs. Antisell,
WiHTE, Farquhar, Harkxess, Alvord, Mason, Hazen, Well-
iN(;, Abbe, Bessels, and Gill.
Mr. J. S. Billings commenced a paper on Mortality Statistics
164 BULLETIN OF THE
of the Tenth Censos, but at the usual hour of adjournment it was
interrupted, to be resumed at the following meeting.
The Society then adjourned.
200th Meeting. May 14, 1881.
The President in the Chair.
Thirty-six members present.
The minutes of the last two meetings were read and adopted.
The first communication of the evening was the continuation by
Mr. J. S. Billings of his remarks upon
MORTALITY STATISTICS OF THE TENTH CENSUS.
[Abstract.]
Mr. J. S. Billings described the methods used in the Tenth
Census to secure completeness and accuracy in the returns of mor-
tality. The Superintendent of the Census sought to secure the aid
of the physicians of the country, and for this purpose sent to each
a small blank book, each leaf of which was arranged to record the
facts connected with a single death. 70,306 such books were issued,
and 24,057 returned at the end of the census year. The data from
these books were compiled by causes of death, age, and sex, and
the slips were then used to complete the enumerator's schedules.
The total number of deaths reported from all sources for the census
year will be a little over 800,000, or about 16 per 1,000 of living
population, being an improvement in completeness over previous
censuses. The results of the attempt to record the number sick on
the day of the census are not very satisfactory, and it is feared they
will be too incomplete to be used. Taking the schedules for the
State of Rhode Island, which are believed to be the most complete,
it is found that the number reported sick on the 30th of June was
11.18 per 1,000 of the whole population.
It is usual to estimate two years of sickness to each death, which
would make the number constantly sick range from 30 to 40 per
1,000. In the army for five years the proportion was 43 per 1,000.
It seems probable that, while the proportion of sick shown by
the Rhode Island count is too low, it is more nearly correct than
any other data which we possess.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON. 166
Hr. Billings continued his remarks upon the Methods of the
Teoth Census, and described the methods of compiling the mortality
statistics and the forms of tables to be used. The importance of
th«e forms is greater than usual since they will probably serve to a
certain extent as models for the State Censuses of 1885. The want
of uniformity in tables of mortality was shown by a chart in which
the various forms were compared. The various items given in a
return of death, viz., sex, age, color, civil condition, nativity, par-
entage, occupation, month of death, locality and cause of death,
were commented on, and it was shown that to present all these facts
in their various relations, would require several hundred quarto
Tolumes. A selection, therefore, becomes necessary. The relative
value of giving the causes of death in detail is very much less in
tables to be prepared from the enumerator's schedules than in those
prepared from the returns of a system of registration where the
cause of death in each case has been certified to by a physician.
The importance of a proper tabulation by locality is very great^
and a certain amount of data should be given by counties. A form
of mortality return by counties was shown and explained. The
distinction between nativity and race or parentage was explained,
and great importance attached to the giving the parentage as fully
as possible in the present census.
The modes of compiling by schedule sheets, by cards, and by
tallying machines were then explained. The subject of life tables
for the United States was briefly discussed — ^the ground being taken
that such a table for the whole country would have little or no
practical value, and that life tables by States would be much more
desirable and important.
Remarks were made on this paper by Messrs. Mason, Antisbll,
Toner, and Habkness.
The communication was followed by one from Mr. S. C. Buset,
on the
relation of meteorological conditions to the summer
diarrhobal diseases.
[Abstnict The paper will be found in Vol. 32, Transactions American Medical
Association.]
An analysis of the mortality statistics of these diseases leads to
ibe following conclusions :
1
4
166 BULLETIN OF THE
1. Diarrhoeal diseases are far more destructive to infants than U>
adults.
2. They prevail almost exclusively during the warmest months
of the year.
3. They are more prevalent in the region of this country north
of the north line of the Gulf States and east of the Rocky Moun-
tains.
The first two conclusions are universally admitted ; the third is
not so generally recognized.
Two additional propositions are suggested :
1. These diseases occur in groups, when the cases rapidly mul-
tiply during successive days for a week or fortnight, followed by an
interval during which few or no cases occur.
2. These groups correspond with waves of continuous high tem-
perature during day and night, which spread, at shorter or longer
intervals during the summer months, over the northern climatic
belt of this country, lasting from three to fourteen days, and vary-
ing in intensity at different times and in different years.
The first of these propositions cannot be established, because of
the absence of statistical data relating to the beginning of the
initial symptoms of the diseases ; the second is proven by data sup-
plied by the Signal Service Bureau. A comparison of these data
with the mortality statistics shows :
1. That the month of July is the hottest and sickliest month of
the year, most conducive to bowel affections, and most fatal to
children under five years of age.
2. The epidemics of bowel affections of children, incident to the
summer season, have their beginning nearly simultaneously with
the fii*8t exacerbation of heat, which usually occurs in the latter
half of June ; and the maximum daily mortalities more frequently
cprrespond with the maximum temperatures, which occur in periods
of three or more days, at longer or shorter intervals during the
summer months.
3. With the usual lowering of temperature and absence of ex*
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 167
cessive heat periods, which occur after the middle of August, the
daily mortality declines.
4. The detrimental influence of summer temperature is intensified
hy sudden and acute elevations and falls.
5. Children under one year of age are most numerously and
seriously affected.
Heat exhibits its deleterious influence in another and very impor-
tant relation. It is one of the many conditions which, in conjunc-
tion, make up a season. A comparison of the statistics of the
weekly mortality from diarrhoeal diseases in the principal cities of
the country grouped according to latitude, will exhibit the gradual
increase of these diseases with the gradual advance of the summer
solstice northward until it reaches its maximum during the period
when all the elements which complete the season of summer are in
their fullest activity; also a gradual decline with the return of
the winter season.
The total movement of the wind is, perhaps, a more important
influence than is generally believed. A comparison of the mortality
data with the records of the monthly measurement of the wind,
supplied by the Signal Service Bureau for the years 1876, 1876,
1877, 1878, 1879, and 1880, shows :
1. July is the month of greatest mortality and least movement
of the wind.
2. The nearer the monthly movements of the wind approach uni-
formity, the less the mortality for summer diarrhoeas.
3. Equality of climate corresponds with uniformity of and mod-
erate or small movements of wind, and small mortalities.
4. Wide ranges of temperature correspond with large movements
of wind and high mortalities from diarrhoeal diseases.
5. Weekly mortalities from diarrhoeal disease increase correspond-
ingly with advance of the summer solstice northward, increasing
and greater range of temperature, and larger and more fluctuating
movements of wind.
Relative saturation of the air bears no constant relation to mor-
talities. Moisture in relative excess to the heat of an impure and
stagnant atmosphere is the condition which supplies the most satis-
factory explanation of its detrimental influence.
168 BULLETIN OF THE*
Remarks were made upon this paper by Messrs. HarknesSi
Billings, and Woodward.
At the conclusion of this discussion the Society adjourned.
2018T Meeting. May 28. 1881.
The President in the Chair.
Thirty-four members present.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and adopted.
The first communication was by Mr. D. P. Todd on
THE SOLAR PARALLAX AS DERIVED FROM THE AMERICAN PHOTO-
GRAPHS OF THE TRANSIT OF VENUS, 1874, DECEMBER 8-9.
In the volume of observations of the transit of Venus recently
issued, the photographs are presented in very nearly the form of
equations of conditions involving the corrections of the relative
right ascension and declination of the sun and Venus, and the cor-
rection of the adopted value of the solar parallax. The total
number of photographs is 213, of which 84 were obtained at stations
in the northern hemisphere, and 129 in the southern.
Every photograph gives one equation of condition in distance, «,
of the form
o = tfcJA-f^<JD + fd(j — (o. — C.)
The normal equations in 8 are —
-j- 23.99 d A -f 24.71 dD — 28.72 d« — 82.17 =:o
-f 24.71 d A -f 184.66 dD — 3.16 dcj — 439.51=0
— 28.72 d A — 3.16 dD + 484.51 dw -f- 21.72=0
Their solution gives —
dA= + I. '''181 rhO.'^202
d D = -f 2.^^225 ± 0.^^070
dw = -f 0.^^0397 rb 0/^0418
Every photograph gives, likewise, one equation of condition in
position-angle, p, of the form
o = flMA-fydD-ffMw — (o'. — C.)
9
The normal equations in p are —
4- 86821 17 dA — 1404261 dD — 138999.20 do) — 142109.4 = 0
— 1404261 dA+1521370 dD — 25093.11 dcj -f- 10442.1=0
— i38999-20dA-f 25093.11 dD+ 7326.76 d«-f 2651.6 = 0
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIBTT OF WASHINQTON. 169
Their solution gives —
rfA = -4- 1/^109 ±0/^109
d D = -4- 0/^637 ±: 0/^224
<J w = -f 0/^0252 dr 0/^0595
Combining these values of ^ A, ^ D, and ^ a» in accordance with
their probable errors, we have, finally,
d A = + 0/^075 :t o/'oo6
d D = + 2/^083 ± 0/^067
d w = -f o/'035 rfc 0/^034
The assumed value of oi being 8/'848, we have, therefore, for the
mean equatorial horizontal parallax of the sun,
corresponding to a distance between the centres of the sun and
earth, equal to 92,028,000 miles.
(This paper appears in part in The American JoumcU of Science
for June, 1881.)
Mr. Harkkess remarked that the Americans who were engaged
in the last transit observations may fairly congratulate themselves
upon the results obtained from the photographs, as he had no doubt
that they were more satisfactory and consistent than the photo-
graphic results obtained by any other nation. There may be said
to be two distinct methods of obtaining photographs involving
instruments differing widely from the other. The English method
employed a telescope of four or five inches aperture producing an
image of the sun about three-fourths of an inch in diameter. It is
Decessary to enlarge this image to a diameter of about four inches,
and therefore they used in connection with it a Dallmeyer rapid rec-
tilinear lens, enlarging it by that amount. It is obvious that this en-
largement by the use of such a lens must be accompanied by an
amount of distortion of the image, which, unless it can be accurately
determined and eliminated, must introduce a serious error in the
measurements of the negatives, and in the results aerived from them.
This distortion varies in the direction of radii from the optical center
of the image, and is equal in circles about that center. Thus far the
amount of this distortion has not been determined. The other
method, employed by the Americans, involved the use of a lens with
forty feet focal distance giving directly the required size of image,
and involving no appreciable distortion inherently due to the con-
struction of the apparatus, and thus avoided the causes of error
170 BULLETIN OF THE
just described. The focal length required to be determined with
great accuracy, and this was readily effected.
Another difficulty arose from the fact that the diameter of the
photographic picture on the negative was liable to variation, with
a varying length of exposure ; and the diameter of the image of
Venus is liable to an inverse variation of the same kind. If the
distance between the exterior boundaries of the sun and planet
were measured, this error would be liable to vitiate the result and,
hence, it was necessary to find the centers of the two images, and
measure the distances between these central points. Mr. Harkness
described the method by which this was satisfactorily accomplished.
There were about twenty plates which gave anomalous results.
It was obvious after trial, that the difficulty was with the plates them-
selves and not due to the observers, since from any one plate a
number of observers obtained corresponding results.
Mr. Harkness then spoke of the various methods employed to
ascertain the sun's parallax : 1st, by m.easuring the velocity of light,
and the time required for light to traverse known chords of the
earth's orbit ; 2d, by measuring the aberration of light ; 3d, by
measuring the parallax of the planet Mars ; and 4th, by the anal-
ysis of the motions of the moon ; all of which gave results in very
close agreement.
The second communication was by Mr. G. K. Gilbert on
THE ORIGIN OF THE TOPOCmAPHICAL FEATURES OP LAKE 8H0BBB.
This communication was reserved by the author.
After remarks by Mr. Antisell, the Society adjourned.
202d Meeting. June 11, 1881,
The President in the Chair.
Fifty-seven members and visitors present.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and adopted.
The Chair announced to the Society that the General Committee
had resolved that at the conclusion of the present meeting the So-
ciety would stand adjourned until the second Saturday in October.
The first communication of the evening was by Mr. J. J. Wood-
ward, the President of the Society, entitled
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 171
A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE LATE DR. OTIS.
George Alexander Otis, Surgeon rdgI Brevet LieutenaDt-
Colonel, United States Array, Curator of the Army Medical
Museum, and Editor of the Surgical volumes of the Medical and
Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion, died at Washington^
D. C, February 23, 1881, at the comparatively early age of fifty
years.
Surgeon Otis was descended from a cultivated New England
fftmily. His great grandfather, Ephraim Otis, was a physician who
practiced at Scituate, Massachusetts. His jgrandfather, George
Alexander Otis, was a well-known citizeu of Boston, Massachusetts,
whose early years were occupied by commercial pursuits. Mr. OtiB
was a man of education and literary tastes, who, so soon as his cir-
cumstances permitted, retired from business, and devoted himself
entirely to books. He is remembered especially on account of his
translation of Botta's History of the War of the Independence of
the United Stat.e8 of America, published in 1820, an undertaking
in which he was encouraged by James Madison and John Quincy
Adams, and which he accomplished so well that the book ran
through twelve editions. He died at an advanced age in June,
1863.
The father of Surgeon Otis, also Oeorge Alexander Otis, was
bora in 1804. He attended the preparatory course at the Bostou
Latin School, studied and graduated at Harvard College, after
which he devoted himself, with much promise, to the profession of
law. Mr. Otis was married February 9, 1830, to Anna Maria Hick-
man, of Newton, Massachusetts, daughter of Harris Hickman, a
lawyer, born at Front Royal, Virginia, who had enjoyed an excel-
lent professional reputation in early life in the Shenandoah Valley,
and subsequently at Detroit, in the then Territory of Michigan.
Of this marriage the subject of our biographical sketch was the
only issue, Mr. Otis dying of consumption, June 18, 1831.
Oeorge Alexander Otis was born in Boston, Massachusetts, No-
Yember 12, 1830. Left an infant to the tender care of his widowed
mother, his early years were nurtured by a devoted love, which
accompanied him through youth and manhood, smoothed the pillow
of bis last illness, and followed him to the grave.
When old enough to go to school, Oeorge was sent at first to the
Boston Latin School, and afi;er.wards to the Fairfax Institute, at
Alexandria, Virginia, where he was prepared for college. In 1846
172 BULLETIN OF THE
he entered Princeton College as a student of the sophomore class,
and graduated with the degree of A. B., in 1849. Princeton con-
ferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts in 1852.
At Princeton, Otis appeared as a slender, rather delicate youth,
of highly nervous organization, whose literary tastes were not
satisfied with the comparatively narrow curriculum of his Alma
Mater. Always standing well in his college classes, that he did not
take a still higher place was not due to lack of ability or of studious
habits, but rather to his love of general literature, and the large pro-
portion of his time expended in its cultivation. He had already
acquired a fondness for French literature, which he never afterwards
lost, and a taste for verse so far cultivated that when he came to
graduate the Faculty assigned to him the task of preparing the
commencement-day poem. Retiring and reserved in his manners,
often silent and abstracted, the few who were admitted to his intimacy
found his nature gentle and sympathetic, and several of the friend-
ships he then formed lasted throughout his life.
By this time Otis had selected medicine as his profession. After
leaving Princeton he went to Richmond, Virginia, where his mother
was then residing, and began his studies in the office of Dr. F. H.
Deane, of that city. In the fall of 1849 he proceeded to Phila-
delphia, and matriculated in the Medical Department of the Uni-
versity of Pennsylvania. That institution conferred upon him the
degree of Doctor of Medicine in April, 1851. In those days the
medical teachings of the University of Pennsylvania were shaped
in no small degree by the influence of the Schools of Paris. Indeed,
this was then true of almost all American medical teaching, and
ambitious American medical students still looked with enthusiasm
towards the lecture-rooms and hospitals of the French capital as
affording the richest opportunities for the completion of their medical
education. Accordingly .Otis spent in Paris the first winter aftier
he graduated in Philadelphia. He sailed from New York on the
16th of August, and reached Paris in the latter part of September,
1851.
During his stay in Paris, Otis made diligent use of the oppor-
tunities afforded for professional improvement. A manuscript
note-book left among his papers shows that he devoted much time
to the clinical teachings of the great French masters of that day.
He listened to the instructions of Louis, Piorry, Cruveilhier, and
Andral. It was at the time his expectation to give especial attention
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 173
to the subject of ophthalmic surgery, and accordingly he attended
with great diligence the clinics and didactic lectures of Desmarres,
but he found the attractions of general operative surgery too strong
to permit exclusive attention to this chosen branch, and he contin-
ually watched the operations, and listened to the lessons of such
surgeons as N^laton, Civiale, Malgaigne, Jobert (de Lamballe),
Roux, and Velpeau. Moreover, the popular excitement which
preceded the coup d'etat of December 2, 1851, and the probability
of bloodshed, directed his attention to the subject of military surgery.
Already, November 4th, his note-book records a n^orning spent at
the library of TEcole de M^ecine in the study of Baron Larrey's
*' M^moire," with which he was so well pleased that he at once pur-
chased a copy for closer study. After the coup d'etat a considerable
number of those wounded at the barricades were carried to the
hospitals for treatment, and Otis was thus enabled to take his first
practical lessons in military surgery from Velpeau, Roux, and
Jobert (de Lamballe).
Meanwhile, however, his diligence in medical studies did not
prevent him from spending many pleasant hours in the art galleries
and museums, where he found much to gratify his sssthetic nature.
Moreover, he took a deep interest in the stirring panorama of French
politics, as is shown by a series of letters he took time to write to
the Boston Evening Transcript
In the spring of 1852 Otis returned to the United States, reaching
New York in the latter part of March. Immediately after his
return he established himself at Richmond, Virginia, where he
opened an office for general medical and surgical practice, and
where his tastes and ambition soon led him to embark in his earliest
enterprise in the domain of medical literature. In April, 1853,
he issued the first number of The Virginia Medical and Surgical
Journal. Dr. Howell L. Thomas, of Richmond, was associated
with him as co-editor, but the financial risk was assumed entirely
by Otis. The journal appeared monthly, each number containing
over eighty pages octavo, the whole forming two annual volumes,
commencing respectively with the numbers of April and October.
It was handsomely printed, and contained from time to time a fair
share of original articles, chiefly by physicians residing in Richmond
and other parts of Virginia ; but its most striking characteristic
was the number of translations and abstracts from current French
medical literature which appeared in its pages. Dr. Thomas, like
174 BULLETIN OF THB
his colleague, was a good French scholar, and had studied in Paris ;
both took part in the labor of translation and condensation, and
as most of the articles were unsigned, it is not always possible to
ascribe particular ones to the proper editor.
Notwithstanding its merits several causes contributed to interfere
with the financial success of the journal. On the one hand, it was
unsupported by the influence and business connections of an estab-
lished publishing house, or of the faculty of any medical college.
On the other hand, the success it might perhaps otherwise have
achieved as a local organ of the medical profession in Virginia was
impaired by the existence of an already-established rival, The Stetko-
scope, a monthly medical journal edited by Dr. P. Claiborne Gooch,
at that time Secretary of the Medical Society of Virginia.
The field of local patronage was not large enough to support two
such journals, and both sufiered from the competition. Before the
close of 1853, Otis found it necessary to secure an associate who
could share in the pecuniary support of his enterprise. Thomas
retired from the editorship, and was succeeded after the issue of the
December number, by Dr. James B. McCaw, of Richmond, who
became also part owner of the journal. The Stethescape appears
to have sufiered still more, for about the same time its editor entered
into negotiations with the Virginia Medical Society, as a result of
which he sold the journal, and the number of TJie Stethescope
for January, 1854, appeared as "the property and organ of the
Medical Society of Virginia, edited by a committee of the society."
This arrangement was, undoubtedly, for a time very prejudicial
to the prosperity of the Virginia Medical and Surgical Journal, but
its editors bravely maintained the struggle, and in the heated discus-
sion concerning the purchase of The Stethoscope, that took place
during the meeting of the Medical Society of Virginia in April,
1854, Otis, with characteristic gallantry, refused to surrender his
independence to secure the passage of resolutions complimentary of
the managment of his journal.
Otis had, by this time, become dissatisfied with his prospects of
professional success in Richmond, and circumstances led him to
select Springfield, Massachusetts, as his place of residence. He
removed to that town during the summer of 1854. This necessitated
changes in the management of the Virginia Medical and Surgical
Journal, In May, 1854, Dr. J. F. Peebles, of Petersburg, Virginia,
became associated with McCaw as one of its editors, while Otis
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON. 176
retired from active participation in its direction, retaining, however,
literary connection witli it as corresponding editor.
Meanwhile, a single year proved sufficient to disgust the Virginia
Medical Society with the task of editing a journal. Its manage-
ment was found fruitful of unfortunate dissensions, and in May,
1855, the society wisely concluded to sell out. Under new auspices
The Stethoscope continued to appear monthly until the close of the
year, when an arrangement was effect^ by which it was united
with The Virginia Medical and Surgiral Journal, under the title of
Virginia Medical Journal^ with McCaw as editor, and Otis as cor-
responding editor.
Although his residence in Richmond had failed to secure for Otis
a lucrative practice, this could not well have been expected at his
early age. It had, however, given him some opportunities for ac-
quiring experience at the bedside as well as in literature, and if he
did not secure the profitable favor of the laity, he at least won
for himself the respect and confidence of his professional brethren.
He was an active member of the Virginia Medical Society, and
represented that body in the American Medical Association at the
Richmond meeting of May, 1852. He was also a member of the
Richmond Medico-Chirurgical Society, which he represented in the
American Medical Association at tlie New York meeting of May,
1853.
Established at Springfield, Massachusetts, Otis occupied himself
more exclusively than heretofore with the duties of private practice,
and with better pecuniary success than he had enjoyed at Richmond.
He continued for a time to contribute translations, abstracts, and
various items to the Virginia Medical Journal ; but as the demands
of his business became more urgent these became fewer, although
he continued to be nominally corresponding editor of that journal
until the close of 1859. As time wore on, he began to obtain con-
fiiderablc local reputation as a skillful surgeon, and would probably
have acquired both wealth and distinction in civil surgical practice
but for the outbreak of the War of the Rebellion. This changed
the whole tenor of his life. So soon as it became clear to his mind
that the struggle was likely to be a prolonged one, he resolved to
devote himself to the service of his country. He received from
Governor Andrew the appointment of Surgeon to the 27th Regiment
of Massachusetts Volunteers, of which Horace C. Lee was Colonel,
and was mustered into the service of the United States, September
14, 1861.
I
176 BULLETIN OP THE \
The 27th Regiment was raised in the western part of the State
of Massachusetts, and was mustered into the service of the United
States at Springfield. It left the State November 2, 1861, and
proceeded by rail to the vicinity of Annapolis, Maryland, where it
went into camp. Here it remained until January 6, 1862, when it
was embarked on transports, and accompanied the North Carolina
Expedition under General Burnside. It took part in the afiair on
Roanoke Island, February 8th ; landed near Newburn, North
Carolina, March 13th, and met with considerable losses during the
battle of Newburn on the following day. The regiment remained
in North Carolina until October 16, 1863, when it embarked for
Fortress Monroe, Virginia, and after a short encampment at New-
port News, proceeded to Norfolk, Virginia, where it remained
through the following winter.
During almost the whole of this time Surgeon Otis accompanied
his regiment and shared its fortunes ; sometimes, indeed, performing
other duties in addition to his regimental ones, as during the summer
and fall of 1862, when he acted as Medical Purveyor to the De-
partment of North Carolina The exceptional periods were a few
days in September, 1862, when he went as medical officer in charge
of the steamer " Star of the South" with sick from Newburn to New
York, and a few months in the early part of 1863, when he served
on detached duty in the Department of the South. While in the
Department of the South he attracted the attention of Surgeon
Charles H. Crane, U. S. Army, then Medical Director of the
Department (afterwards Assistant Surgeon-General of the Army),
on whose recommendation he was placed, March 28th, by command
of General Hunter, in charge of the hospital steamer ** Cosmopolitan,"
then at Hilton Head, South Carolina, and directed the operations of
that vessel in the transportation of the sick and wounded within the
limits of the department until May 10, when he was ordered to
carry a number of sick and wounded to New York harbor, and
after landing them, to turn over the vessel to Surgeon Wm. Ingalls,
of the 5th Massachusetts regiment This order was promptly
executed, the vessel was turned over as directed, May 13th, and Otis
received a leave of absence for twenty days, at the expiration of
which he returned to his regiment.
January 22, 1864, he was again detached and ordered to York-
town, Virginia, to assume the duties of surgeon-in-chief of General
Wistar's command. This responsible position he filled in a satis-
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 177
factory manner from the first of February, when he reported for
duty at Yorktown, until April 11, when he was relieved and assigned
as surgeon-in-chief to General Heck man's division of the 18th Army
Corps, then encamped near Portsmouth, Virginia. May 10th he
received a sick leave for fifteen days, which, as his health was not
restored at its expiration, was extende<l for thirty days more. June
26, 1864, he tendered his resignation as surgeon of the 27th Mass-
achusetts regiment, and received an appointment as Assistant
Surgeon of United States Volunteers, to date from June 30, 1864.
At this time business connected with his resignation and re-ap-
pointment brought Otis to Washington, where he renewed his
acquaintance with Surgeon Crane, then on duty in the Surgeon
Generars OflSce. Surgeon Crane, while Medical Director of the
Department of the South, had been most favorably impressed with
the culture and ability of the Massachusetts surgeon, and now so
effectually commended him to the Acting Surgeon General as to
induce that officer to ask his detail for duty in his ofiice. An order
to that effect was issued by the Secretary of War July 22, 18t)4, and
Otis was immediately assigned as an assistant to Surgeon John H.
Brinton, U. S. Volunteers, at that time Curator of the Army
Medical Museum, and engaged in the duty of collecting materials
for the Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion. August 30^
1864, Otis was promoted to the rank of Surgeon of Volunteers, and
October 3, 1864, was ordered to relieve Surgeon Brinton of his
various duties.
From the first, Otis devoted himself with signal zeal and ability
to the large and important duties of his new position. Immediately
after he took charge of the Surgical Division he inaugurated a
system of record books, which proved ultimately of great service
in securing the accurate and complete record of individual cases
for use in the Surgical History. The rapidly increasing surgical
collection of the Army Medical Museum also received great atten-
tion from him, and he expended much time in its supervision and
study.
Immediately after the close of the war, the Surgeon Greneral of
the Army became desirous of securing, by appropriate legislation,
the funds necessary to complete and publish the Medical and Sur-
gical History of the War. Accordingly he called upon Otis, and
his colleague, Woodward, who had charge of the collection of ma-
terials for the Medical History and of the medical branches of the
12
178 BULLETIN OF THE
Museum, to make reports on the extent and nature of the materials
collected for the purpose in question. These reports were published
by the Surgeon General November 1, 1865, as" Circular No. 6," for
the year 1865. This circular was widely distributed, attracted
great attention at the time, and satisfactorily attained the object
which led to its publication. It formed a quarto volume of 166
pages, with a number of illustrations intended to indicate the char-
acter of those regarded as desirable for the Medical and Surgical
History. The first half of the volume was occupied by the Surgi-
cal Report prepared by Otis. It was a thoughtfully prepared doca.
ment, which excited the universal admiration of military surgeons
in Europe as well as in America.
It became necessary after the close of the war to retain many of
the staff surgeons of volunteers in the service for duty in the general
hospitals or other purposes after the great armies had been dis-
banded, and Otis was, of course, retained with that rank as long as
possible; but it was foreseen that the great work he had com-
menced would occupy a number of years, and he was induced to
make arrangements for entering the army as an assistant surgeon.
Accordingly he passed the examination prescribed by law, and
February 28, 1866, received an appointment as Assistant Surgeon,
U. S. Army, but he was not finally mustered out of service as
surgeon of volunteers until June 4, 1866, and hence did not accept
his commision as Assistant Surgeon U. S. A., until the 6th of that
month.
Meanwhile Otis was devoting himself to the study and arrange-
ment of the materials collected for the Surgical History with
indefatigable energy, and while engaged upon that work received
authority to publish two preliminary studies on special subjects
connected therewith, which greatly increased the reputation he had
won by his report in Circular No. 6. The first was A RepoT^ on
Ampuiathn at the Hip-joint in Military Surgery^ published as Cir-
cular No. 7, Surgeon General's OflSce, July 1, 1867. In this he
not merely presented and analyzed the histories of the several am-
putations at this joint reported to the Surgeon Greneral's OfiSce during
the civil war, but discussed with the critical abilities of a master the
whole literature of the subject so far as it was at the time accessible
to him. An examination of this monograph shows that he had
already pretty well begun to emancipate himself from the leading-
strings of the French school, and had fully acquired the desire, so
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON. 179
manifest in his subsequent work, to compare and weigh all access-
ible human knowledge on each branch of his subject before arriving
at his own conclusions.
These characteristics were, if possible, still more fully dbplayed
in the second of the studies referred to : A Report on Exeisiona oj
the Head of the Femur for Ounshot Injury, published as Circular
No. 2, Surgeon General's Office, January 2, 1869 ; a monograph in
which the subject was treated in a manner similar to that of Cir-
cular No. 7, but with a still greater wealth of literary resources.
The appearance of each of these monographs was welcomed with
acclamations of praise, in which the authoritative expressions of
approval by the recognized masters of European surgery were
united with the encomiums of the American military surgeons.
Great interest in the forthcoming Surgical History of the War
was excited by these publications, and very high expectations were
formed, which, however, were fully realized by the character of the
First Surgical Volume, This volume was issued in 1870. It treated
of the special wouuds and injuries of the head, face, neck, spine,
aod chest, was richly illustrated, and discussed the vast amount of
material collected during the civil war, in connection with the sev-
eral subjects treated, with characteristic learning aud ability. The
Second Surgical Volume was issued in 1876. It treated of the
wounds and injuries of the abdomen, pelvis, back, and upper
extremities. Fully equal in interest and execution to the first vol-
ume, it was much more voluminous. The two volumes represent a
prodigious amount of patient labor on the part of the editor. The
extremely favorable manner in which they were received in surgical
circles at home and abroad is well known.
During the interval between the appearance of these two vol-
umes, and subsequently, Otis found time to prepare and publish
eeveral valuable reports on subjects connected with military surgery,
of which the most important were: A Report of Surgical Oases
treated in the Army of the United States from 1865 to 1871, issued as
Circular No. 3 from the Surgeon Generars Office, August 17, 1871,
A Report on a Plan for Transporting Wounded Soldiers by Railway
in time of War, Surgeon Grenerars Office, 1875 ; and A Report on
the Transport of Sick and Wounded by Pack Animals, issued as Cir-
cukr No. 9 from the Surgeon General's Office in 1877. A full list
of his official and other publications would occupy too much space
to be presented in this place.
180 BULLETIN OF THB
In the midst of this successful but laborious career, during the
month of May, 1877, his health, never very robust, gave way, and,
although he survived for several years, he was a constant invalid,
to whom death came in the end as a welcome release from suffering.
He was engaged at the time of his death on the third surgical vol-
ume, which he has left in an unfinished condition ; a colossal frag-
ment that must require great labor to complete in a manner worthy
of the first two volumes.
Otis received the appointments of captain, major, and lieutenant-
colonel by brevet, to date from September 29, 1866, " for faithful
and meritorious services during the war." He was promoted to
be surgeon in the army, with the rank of major, March 17, 1880.
He was elected a foreign member of the Medical Society of Nor-
way, October 26, 1870 ; a foreign corresponding member of the
Surgical Society of Paris, August 11, 1875; and an honorary life
member of the Massachusetts Medical Society in February, 1877.
He was also at the time of his death a member of the Philosophical
Society of Washington, and of the Academy of Natural Sciences
of Philadelphia.
In expressing his high appreciation of the character and valae of
the surgical works of his late colleague, the writer of these pages
does but echo the universal language of competent critics through-
out the civilized world. On all sides the opinion has been expressed
that they have not only made the name of Otis illustrious, but have
reflected the greatest credit upon the intelligent liberality of the
Government of the United States, and upon the Medical Corps of
the Army.
During his connection with the Museum, Otis always took deep
interest in the anatomical collection, now embracing about two
thousand human crania. As early as January, 1873, the Surgeon
General at his instance made a fruitless endeavor to procure an
appropriation for the publication of an illustrated catalogue of this
valuable collection. To facilitate this object Otis prepared a check-
list of the specimens, which was printed in 1876, but the pecuniary
means for preparing and publishing the larger work have not yet
been provided.
Until his last illness Otis retained much of the fondness for polite
literature which characterized him in early life. He had, moreover,
considerable taste for music and the fine arts. These qualities made
his companionship charming to those who enjoyed his intimacy.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 181
HesitatiDg, oflen embarassed, in his manner in ordinary conversation,
especially with strangers, he became eloquent when warmed by the
diacussion of any topic in which he took interest, and he took
interest in a great variety of subjects besides those directly connected
mth the work of his life.
Many warm personal friends share the grief of his family at his
untimely death, which, as has been well said by the Surgeon-Greneral,
"will be deeply deplored not only by the Medical Corps of the
Army, but by the whole medical profession at home and abroad."
LIST OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF G. A. OTIS, M. D., Etc.
Casg of Pericarditis in a child of four years and seven months of age, [Re.
ported to the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Richmond, March i, 1853.]
The Virginia Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol. I, 1853, p. 33.
On Hemorrhage from the Umbilicus in new-born Infants, Same Journal, Vol.
II, 1853, p. 49.
A Report of a Case in which an Enlargement of the Isthmus of the Thyroid
Body was successfully extirpated. Same Vol., p. 115.
On the Per- chloride of Iron in the TrecUment of Aneurisms. [Remarks ap-
pended to a translation of an article by Malgaigne : '* De I'emploi du per-
chlorure de fer dans le Traitement des An6urismes." UAbeille M^dicale,
Octobre, 1853, p. 292 et seq."] Same Vol., pp. 295 and 497.
On the Local Treatment of Erysipelas. [Abstract of remarks made in the
Medico-Chiruiigical Society of Richmond, January 17, 1854.] Same
Journal, Vol. Ill, 1854, p. 13.
Translation^ with Notes, of Velpeau's Review of the Surgical Clinique of La
Charitit during the Scholastic Year of 18^3-4. [Translated from Lc
Moniteur des Hopitaux, 1854, p. 801 et seq."] Same Journal, Vol. IV
1855, pp. 31, III, and 321, and Vol. V, 1855, PP- ^^3* ^9^* ^^^ 37^*
Remarks and Excerpts relcUing to Variola and Vaccinia. Virginia Medical
Journal, Vol. VII, 1856, p. 109.
On Strangulated Hernia in Children. Same Journal, Vol. X, 1858, p. 201.
Litter to the Surgeon General of Massachusetts on the Sanitary Condition of the
ifth Mass, Vols., from Camp Reed, near Springfield, Mass., October ^,
j86i. The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol. 65, 1862, p. 204.
Letter to the same, on the same, from Camp Springfied, near Annapolis, Md,
Same Vol., p. 435.
Letter to the same, from Newbem, H, C, March 28, 1862, [giving an account of
the participation of the regiment in the battle of Newbern, and of his
management of the wounded.] Same Journal, Vol. 66, 1862, p. 237.
182 BULLETIN OF TUB
The Surgical portion of (pp. 1-88) Circttlar No, 6, IVar Department ^ Surgeon
GeneraPs Office, November /, iSdS- Reports on the extent and nature of
the materisds available for the preparation of a Medical and Surgical His-
tory of the Rebellion. Printed for the Surgeon General's Office by J. B.
Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia, 1865, 4to., pp. 88.
Circular No. 7, IVar Department, Surgeon GeneraVs Office, Washington, July
I, 1867, A Report on Amputations at the Hip- joint in Military Surgery,
4to., pp. 87.
Observations on some Recent Contributions to the Statistics of Excisions and
Amputations at the Hip for Injury. The American Journal of the Med-
ical Sciences, Vol. LVI, July, 1868, p. 128.
Rejoinder to a Reply to a Review of Dr. Eve's Contribution on the History
of Hip-joint Operation. The Buffalo Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol.
VIII, August, 1868, p. 21.
Circular No. 2, War Department, Surgeon Generates Office^ Washington, Jan-
uary 2, i86g. A Report on Excision of the Head of the Femur for Gun-
shot Injury. 4to., pp, 141.
Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion, i86i-i86s, Part /,
Vol, II, being the First Surgical Volume. Washington, Government
Printing Office, 1870, 4to., pp. 650. Second issue, 1875.
Circular No. j. War Department, Surgeon GeneraVs Office, Washington^ Au-
gust ly, 187 1. A Report of Surgical Cases treated in the Army 0/ the
United States from i86s to i8yi. 4to., pp. 196.
Memorandum of a Case of Re-amputation at the Hip, with Remarks on the
Operation. The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, Vol. LXI,
January, i87i,p. 141.
A Report on the Plan for Transporting Wounded Soldiers by Railway in time
of War, Washington, Surgeon General's Office, 1875, 8vo., pp. 56.
Description of Selected Specimens from the Surgical Section of the Army Medical
Museum at Washington. [International Exhibition of 1876.] Gibson
Bros., Washington, 1876, 8vo., pp. 22.
Description of the U, S. Army Medicine Transport Cart, Model of 1876, pre-
pared in conjunction with Brevet Lieutenant Colonel D. L. Huntington,
Assistant Surgeon U. S. A. [International Exhibition of 1876.] Gibson
Bros., Washington, T876, 8vo., pp. 16.
Check-List of Preparations and Objects in the Section of Human Anatomy of
the U. S, Army Medical Museum, [International Exhibition of 1876.]
Gibson Bros., Washington, 1876, pp. 135. Second edition, Gibson Bros.^
Washington, 1880, 8vo., pp. 194.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 183
Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion, 1861-186$% Part II,
being the Second Surgical Volume, Washington, Government Printing
Office, 1876, 4to., pp. 1024. Second issue, 1877.
Circular No. 9, War Department, Surgeon General* s Office, March /, 1877.
A Report to the Surgeon General on the Transport of Sick and Wounded
by Pack Animals. 4to., pp. 32.
Report of a Board of Officers to decide on a Pattern of Ambulance Wagon for
Army Use. [Prepared by him as recorder of the board.] Washington,
Government Printing Office, 1878, 8vo., pp. 79.
Contributions from the Army Medical Museum. Boston Medical and Surgical
Journal, Vol. XCVI, March, 1877, P- 361.
Article Surgery in Johnson's New Universal Cyclopaedia. New York, A. J.
Johnson & Son, 1878, Vol. IV, pp. 1678-1686.
Motes on Contributions to the Army Medical Museum by Civil Practitioners.
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol. XCVI 1 1, February, 1878, p.
163.
Recent Progress in Military Surgery. Same Vol., April, p. 531.
Photographs of Surgical Cases and Specimens, taken at the Army Medical Mu-
seum, with Histories of three hundred and seventy five cases. Washington,
Surgeon General's Office, 1866. 1 881, 8 vols., 410.
The next communication was by Mr. Alexander Graham
Bell
UPON A MODIFICATION OP WHEATSTONE's MICROPHONE AND ITS
APPLICABILITY TO RADIOPHONIC RESEARCHES.
In August, 1880, 1 directed attention to the fact that thin disks
or diaphragms of various materials become sonorous when exposed
to the action of an intermittent beam of sunlight, and I stated my
belief that the sounds were due to molecular disturbances produced
in the substance composing the diaphragm."*" Shortly afterwards
Lord Raleigh undertook a mathematical investigation of the subject,
and came to the conclusion that the audible effects were caused by
the bending of the plates under unequal heating.f This explana-
tion has recently been called in question by Mr. Preece,| who has
* Amr. A&s. for Advancement of Science, Aug. 27, 1881.
t Nature, Vol. XXIII, p. 274.
{Roy. Soc., Mar. 10, 1881.
184 BULLETIN OF THE
expressed the opinion that although vibrations may be produced in
the disks by the action of the intermittent beam, such vibrations
are not the cause of the sonorous effects observed. According to
him the serial disturbances that produce the sound arise spontan-
eously in the air itself by sudden expansion due to heat communi-
cated from the diaphragm ; every increase of heat giving rise to a
fresh pulse of air. Mr. Preece was led to discard the theoretical
explanation of Lord Raleigh on account of the failure of experi-
ments undertaken to test the theory.
He was thus forced, by the supposed insufficiency of the explan-
ation, to seek in some other direction the cause of the phenomenon
observed, and, as a consequence, he adopted the ingenious hypoth>
esis alluded to above. But the experiments which had proved
unsuccessful in the h^ds of Mr. Preece were perfectly successful
when repeated in America under better conditions of experiment,
and the supposed necessity for another hypothesis at once vanished.
I have shown in a recent paper read before the National Academy
of Science,* that audible sounds result from the expansion and
contraction of the material exposed to the beam, and that a real to
and fro vibration of the diaphragm occurs capable of producing
sonorous effects. It has occurred to me that Mr. Preece's failure
to detect with a delicate microphone the sonorous vibrations that
were so easily observed in our experiments, might be explained
upon the supposition that he had employed the ordinary form of
Hughes' microphone shown in Fig. 1, and that the vibrating area
was confined to the central portion of the disk. Under such cir-
cumstances it might easily happen that both the portions (A B) of
the microphone might touch portions of the diaphragm which were
practically at rest. It would, of course, be interesting to ascertain
whether any such localization of the vibration as that supposed
really occured, and I have great pleasure in showing to you to-night
the apparatus by means of which this point has been investigated.
[See Fig. 2.]
The instrument is a modification of the form of microphone
devised in 1827 by the late Sir Charles Wheatstone, and it consists
essentially of a stiff wire, (A,) one end of which is rigidly attached
to the centre of a metallic diaphragm (B.) In Wheatstone's origi-
nal arrangement, the diaphragm was placed directly against the ear
— ■■ — I !■ II ■ ■ I ■_ . I
♦April 21, i88i.
Fig, 1.
A, B. Carbon support a.
C. Diupbmgm.
Fiff. 2.
A. Stiff wiro.
B. DiApln-Agni.
C. ilcnriiig: tabe.
1). Pcriorated liaodle.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 185
and the free extremity of the wire was rested against some sounding
body, like a watch. In the present arrangement the diaphragm
is clamped at the circumference like a telephone-diaphragm, and
the sounds are conveyed to the ear through a rubber hearing-tube
(C.) The wire passes through the perforated handle (D,) and is
exposed only at the extremity. When the point (A) was rested
against the centre of a diaphragm, upon which was focussed an
intermittent beam of sunlight, a clear musical tone was perceived
hy applying the ear to the hearing-tube (C.) The surface of the
<Haphragm was then explored with the point of the microphone,
and sounds were obtained in all parts of the illuminated area, and
10 the corresponding area on the other side of the diaphragm.
Outside of this area on both sides of the diaphragm the sounds
became weaker and weaker until at a certain distance from the
centre they could no longer be perceived.
At the points where one would naturally place the supports of a
Hughes' microphone [see Fig. 1,] no sound was observed. We
were also unable to detect any audible effects when the point of the
microphone was rested against the support to which the diaphragm
was attached. The negative results obtained in Europe by Mr.
Preece may, therefore, be reconciled with the positive results ob-
tained in America by Mr. Tainter and myself A still more curious
demonstration of localization of vibration occurred in the case of a
large metallic mass. An intermittent beam of sunlight was focus-
sed upon a brass weight (1 kilogram,) and the surface of the
weight was then explored with the microphone shown in Fig. 2.
A feeble but distinct sound was heard upon touching the surface
within the illuminated area, and for a short distance outside, but
not in other parts.
In this experiment, as in the case of the thin diaphragm, abso-
lute contact between the point of the microphone, and the surface
explored was necessary in order to obtain audible effects. Now, I
do not mean to deny that sound waves may be originated in the
manner suggested by Mr. Preece, but I think that our experiments
have demonstrated that the kind of action described by Lord Ra-
leigh actually occurs and that it is sufficient to account for the
audible effects observed. •
186 BULLETIN OF THE
The next communicatioD was by Mr. J. M. Ton£R on
EARTH VIBRATIONS AT NIAGARA FALLS.
In June, 1874, the speaker, in company with Dr. J. D. Jackson,
of Kentucky, visited the Clifton House on the Canada side of
Niagara. On the night of his arrival he was kept awake by the
illness of his companion, and his attention was drawn to the fre-
quent rattling of the doors and windows of his room. He was
first led to suppose, while speculating upon the cause, that the vi-
bration might be due to pulsations in the air produced by the falling
water ; but upon further reflection concluded that it could not be
satisfactorily explained in that way, as it continued independently
of the direction of the wind. On the following day he made it the
subject of conversation with others, but no one seemed to agree with
him. He had occasion, however, to note when his chair was tilted
back against the stone wall of the house that a tremulous motion, or
grating was perceptible. At the time this tremor was a novelty to
him, but subsequently he had met with allusions to it by several
writers. He was led to the following explanation, viz : that the
fall of such a large body of water through so great a vertical dis-
tance, must necessarily impart vibrations to the massive rocks
which form the trough of the river above and below the falls, and
that these vibrations are transmitted through the earth itself. To
test this theory, he made on the next day the following experiments:
A large carving dish holding water was placed on the rock between
the falls and the hotel. Upon the water was poured some sweet
oil, and it was seen that wave-rings appeared on the surface of the
water. These rings were made more distinct by placing a mirror so
as to view them by reflection. No rhythm was detected in these vi-
brations. The dish was placed in many localities, more than thirty
in number, and at varying distances from the falls. Waves were ob-
served in it from the Burning Spring above the falls, and as far as
half a mile below the small suspension bridge. They were also
noted on the steps of the little Episcopal Church, a mile west of
the Hotel on the Canada side. Similar results were obtained on
the American side.
At the conclusion of Mr. Toner's remarks the Society adjourned
to October 8th.
INDEX.
PAQB.
Abbe, Cleveland, Communication on Aurora Borealis 21
Remarks on Prof. Peirce 2$
Alaska, Recent Discoveries in, W. H. Dall 163
Alvord, Benjamin, Remarks on Prof. Peirce 23, 24.
Animal Population of the Globe, L. F. Ward 27
Annual Meeting for Election of Officers 7
Anthropologic Data, Limitations to the use of some, J. W. Powell 134.
Aurora Borealis, Cleveland Abbe 21
Baker, Marcus, Communication on Boundary Line between Alaska and
Siberia 123
Bank of France and Imperial Bank of Germany, Loans in, John J. Knox, 31
Bell, A. Graham, Communication on A Modification of Wheatstone's Mi-
crophone « « 183
Communication on the Spectrophone . 143
Billings, J. S., Communication on Mortality Statistics of Tenth Census, 163, 164
Communication on the Scientific Work of National Board
of Health 37
Boundary Line between Alaska and Siberia, Marcus Baker 123
Bulletin, Rules for Publication of 13
Burnett, Swan M., Communication on Color Perception and Color. Blind-
ness — 54
Bosey, S. C, Communication on Diarrhoeal Diseases «- 165
Chamberlain, T. C, Remarks on Quaternary' Deposits I2i
Chickering, J. W., Communication, Notes on Roan Mountain, North
Carolina , 60
Color Perception and Color Blindness, S. M. Burnett « . 54
Comet, Swift's, Orbit of, Edgar Frisby 59
Constitution of the Society 5
Dall, W. H., Communication on Recent Discoveries in Alaska 163
Deaf and Dumb, Convention at Milan of Teachers of, E. M. Gallaudet 55
Diarrhceal Diseases, S. C. Busey 165
Dntton, C. E., Remarks on Quaternary Deposits 122
Communication on Scenery of the Grand Caiion District.. 120
Communication on Vermilion C\\& and Valley of the Virgen, 122
187
188 INDEX.
PAOK.
Elliott, E. B., Communication on Ratio of Gold and Silver Values... 141
Remarks on Aurora Borealis 22
Remarks on Prof. Peirce 24
Farquhar, E. J., Remarks on Aurora Borealis - 22
Flora of Washington and Vicinity, L. F. Ward 64
Frisby, Edgar, Communication on the Orbit of Swift's Comet 59
f
Gallaudet, £. M., Communication on Convention of Teachers of Deaf
and Dumb at Milan 55
General Committee 5» "
Gilbert, G. K., Communication on Origin of Topographic Features of
Lake Shores 170
Gill, Theodore, Communication on Principles of Morphology 123
Gold and Silver, Ratio of Values of, E. B. Elliott 141
Goode, G. Brown, Communication on the Sword Fish and its Allies 162
Goodfellow, Edward, Remarks on Prof. Peirce 25
Grand Cafion District, Scenery of, C. E. Dutton . 120
Gulf of Mexico, Model of the Basin of, J. E. Hilgard 52
Harkness, William, Remarks on Solar Parallax from American Photographs, 169
Hilgard, J. E., Communication on Model of the Basin of the Gulf of
Mexico 52
Remarks on Prof. Peirce. 24
Johnson, A. B., Communication on History of U. S. Light-House Estab-
lishment 135
«
Knox, John Jay, Communication on Loans in the Bank of France, &c.-_ 31
Lake Shores, Origin of Topographical Features of, G. K. Gilbert 170
Light House Establishment, History of, A. B. Johnson 135
Loans in Bank of France, &c., John Jay Knox 31
Members, List of 15
Microscope, Riddell's Binocular, J. J.Woodward 35
Moon and Planets, Equations used in Theory of, W. F. Ritter 57
Morphology, Principles of, T. A. Gill 123
Mortality Statistics of loth Census, J. S. Billings 163, 164
Myer, Albert J, Resolutions on the death of , 31
National Banks of United States, Loans in, John J. Knox .. 31
Newcomb, Simon, Annual Address of Retiring President 40
Remarks on Aurora Borealis 22
Remarks on Prof. Peirce . . 26
Niagara Falls, Earth Vibrations, J. M. Toner 186
INDEX. 189
PAOK.
Officers of the Society 5,7
Otis, George A. Resolutions on the death of 134
Biographical Sketch of, by J. J. Woodward 171
Parallax, Solar, from American Photographs, D. P. Todd 168
Powell, J. W., Remarks on Aurora Borealis 22
Communication, Limitations to the Use of some Anthropolo-
gic Data 134
Remarks on Roan Mountain 64
Quaternary Deposits of Iowa and Nebraska, J. E. Todd 120
Ra^liophonic Researches, A.G. Bell 143
Resolutions, Obituary, commcmmorative of —
Prof. Benj. Peirce 21, 23
Gen. Albert [. Myer 31
Surgeon George A. Otis.. 134
Ritter, W. F. McK., Communication, A Simple Method of deriving some
Equations used in the Theory of the Moon and Planets 57
Roan Mountain, North Carolina, J. \V. Chickering 6d
Rogers, William B., Remarks on Discovery of the Spectrophone 162
Rules of Society and committees 7, 11, 13
Spectrophone, A. G. Bell 143, 161
Standing Rules of General Committee 11
Standing Rules for Government of the Society 7
Sword Fish and its Allies, G. Brown Goode 162
Taylor, W. B., Remarks on Prof. Henry's Theory of Sound 140
Todd, D. P., Communication on Solar Parallax from American Photo-
graphs 16S
Todd, J. E., Communication on Quaternary Deposits of Western Iowa
and Eastern Nebraska 120
Toner, J. M., Communication on Earth Vibrations at Niagara Falls 186
Vermilion Cliffs and Valley of the Virgen, C. E. Dutton 122
Ward, Lester F., Communication on the Animal Population of the Globe, 27
Communication, Field and Closet Notes on the Flora of
Washington and Vicinity 64
White, C. A., Remarks on Quaternary Deposits . 122
Woodward, J. J., Biographical Sketch of Dr. Otis 171
Communication on RiddelPs Binocular Microscope 35
1
;|-y// /.: /J
BULLETIN
OF THE
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
OF
WASHINGTON.
VOL. V.
Containing the Minutes of the Society from the 203d Meeting,
October 8, 1881, to the 226th Meeting, Dec. 16, i8<?2.
PUBLISHED BY THE CO-OPERATION OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUIION.
WASHINGTON;
1883.
BULLETIN
OF THK
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
OF
WASHINGTON.
VOL. V.
Containing the Minutes of the Society from the 203d Meeting,
October 8, 1881, to the 226th Meeting, Dec. 16, 1SS2.
PUBLISHED BY THB CO-OPERATION OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.
Z
WASHINGTON:
1883.
I sr Sr 3 ^y*^^ ^'
r
I
JUDD k DETWEILER, PRINTERS,
WASHINGTON, D. C.
CONTENTS.
Constitution, March, 1871 6
Standing Rules for the goYemment of the Philosophical Society of Wash-
ington, Januaiy, 1881 7
Standing Rales of the General Committee, January, 1881 10
Rnles for the Publication of the Bulletin, January, 1881 13
Officers elected December, 188 1 14
List of Members corrected to May, 1882 15
Bulletin of the regular Meetings 2i
Officers elected December, 1882 „ 175
Annual Report of the Treasurer 176
Index of Names - 183
Index of Subjects ..^ 187
CONSTITUTION, STANDING RULES,
Asm
LIST OF OFFICERS AND MEMBERS
OF
THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
OF
WASHINGTON.
CONSTITUTION
or
THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
Ablicle I. The name of this Society shall be The Philosophical
Society of Washinoton. ,
Article II. The officers of the Society shall be a President, four Vice-
Presidents, a Treasurer, and two Secretaries.
t
Article III. There shall be a Oeneral Committee, consisting of the
officers of the Society and nine other members.
Article IY. The officers of the Society and the other members of the
General Committee shall be elected annually by ballot ; they shall hold
office until their successors are elected, and shall have power to fill
vacancies.
Article Y. It shall be the duty of the General Committee to make
rules for the government of the Society, and to transact all its business.
Article YI. This constitution shall not be amended except by a three-
fourths vote of those present at an annual meeting for the election of
officers, and after notice of the proposed change shall have been given in
writing at a stated meeting of the Society at least four weeks previously.
ST-A.l>riDIlTa- ie,T7IljE3S
FOK THE QOYXRNMSNT OF THE
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON,
January, 1881.
1. The Staled Meetings of the Society shall be held at 8 o'clock
p. M. on every alternate Saturday ; the place of meeting to be desig-
nated by the General Committee.
2. Notice of the time and place of meeting shall be sent to each
member by one of the Secretaries.
When necessary, Special Meetings may be called by the Presi-
dent
3. The Annual Meeting for the election of officers shall be the
last stated meeting in the month of December.
The order of proceedings (which shall be announced by the
Chair) shall be as follows :
First, the reading of the minutes of the last Annual Meeting.
Second, the presentation of the annual reports of the Secreta-
ries, including the announcement of the names of members elected
sinoe the last annual meeting.
Third, the presentation of the annual report of the Treasurer.
Fourth, the announcement of the names of members who having
complied with Section 12 of the Standing Rules, are entitled to vote
on the election of officers.
Fifth, the election of President.
Sixth, the election of four Vice-Presidents.
Seventh, the election of Treasurer.
Eighth, the election of two Secretaries.
Ninth, the election of nine members of the General Committee.
Tenth, the consideration of Amendments to the Constitution of
(7)
8 BULLETIN OF THE
the Society, if any such shall have been proposed in accordance
with Article VI of the Constitution.
Eleventh, the reading of the rough minutes of the meeting.
4 Elections of officers are to be held as follows :
In each case nominations shall be made by means of an informal
ballot, the result of which shall be announced by the Secretary ;
after which the first formal ballot shall be taken.
In the ballot for Vice-Presidents, Secretaries, and Members of the
General Committee, each voter shall write on one ballot as many
names as there are officers to be elected, viz., four on the first ballot
for Vice-Presidents, two on the first for Secretaries, and nine on the
first for Members of the General Committee ; and on each subse-
quent ballot as many names as there are persons yet to be elected ;
and those persons who receive a majority of the votes cast shall be
declared elected.
If in any case the informal ballot result in giving a majority for
any one, it may be declared formal by a majority vote.
5. The Stated Meetings, with the exception of the annual meet-
ing, shall be devoted to the consideration and discussion of scientific
subjects.
The Stated Meeting next preceding the Annual Meeting shall be
set apart for the delivery of the President's Annual Address.
6. Sections representing special branches of science may be
formed by the General Committee upon the written recommenda-
tion of twenty members of the Society.
7. Persons interested in science, who are not residents of the Dis-
trict of Columbia, may be present at any meeting of the Society,
except the annual meeting, upon invitation of a member.
8. Similar invitations to residents of the District of Columbia,
not members of the Society, must be submitted through one of the
Secretaries to the General Committee for approval.
9. Invitations to attend during three months the meetings of the
Society and participate in the discussion of papers, may, by a vote
of nme members of the Greneral Committee, be issued to persons
nominated by two members.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 9
10. Communications intended for publication under the auspices of
the Society shall be submitted in writing to the General Committee
for approval.
11. New members may be proposed in writing by three members
of the Society for election by the Greneral Committee : but no per-
son shall be admitted to the privileges of membership unless he
signifies his acceptance thereof in writing within two months after
notification of his election.
12. Each member shall pay annually to the Treasurer the sum
of five dollars, and no member whose dues are unpaid shall vote at
the annual meeting for the election of officers, or be entitled to a
copy of the Bulletin.
In the absence of the Treasurer, the Secretary is authorized to
receive the dues of members.
The names of those two years in arrears shall be dropped from
the list of members.
Notice of resignation of membership shall be given in writing
to the Greneral Committee through the President or one of the Sec-
retaries.
13. The fiscal year shall terminate with the Annual Meeting.
14. Members who are absent from the District of Columbia for
more than twelve months may be excused from payment of the
annual assessments, in which case their names shall be dropped
from the list of members. They can, however, resume their mem-
bership by giving notice to the President of their wish to do so.
15. Any member not in arrears may, by the payment of one
hundred dollars at any one time, become a life member, and be
relieved from all further annual dues and other assessments.
All moneys received in payment of life membership shall be
invested as portions of a permanent fund, which shall be directed
solely to the furtherance of such special scientific work as may be
ordered by the General Committee.
OF THE
GENERAL COMMITTEE OP THE PHILOSOPHICAL
SOCIETY OP WASHINQTON.
Janxtabt, 1881.
1. The President, Vice-Presidents, and Secretaries of the Society
shall hold like offices in the Greneral Committee.
2. The President shall have power to call special meetings of the
Committee, and to appoint Sub-Committees.
3. The Sub-Committees shall prepare business for the General
Committee, and perform such other duties as may be entrusted to
them.
4. There shall be two Standing Sub-Committees ; one on Com-
munications for the Stated Meetings of the Society, and another on
Publications.
5. The Greneral Committee shall meet at half-past seven o'clock
on the evening of each Stated Meeting, and by adjournment at
other times.
6. For all purposes except for the amendment of the Standing
Rules of the Committee or of the Society, and the election of
members, six members of the Committee shall constitute a quorum.
7. The names of proposed new members recommended in con-
formity with Section 11 of the Standing Rules of the Society, may
be presented at any meeting of the Oeneral Committee, but shall
lie over for at least four weeks before final action, and the concur-
(11)
12 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
renoe of twelve members of the Committee shall be necessary to
election.
The Secretary of the General Committee shall keep a chronologi-
cal r^^ter of the elections and acceptances of members.
8i These Standing Bules, and those for the government of the
Society, shall be modified only with the consent of a majority of
the members of the General Committee.
rOR TBE
PUBLICATION OF THE BULLETIN
OT THE
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
Jakuart, 1881.
1. The President's annual address shall be published in full.
2. The annual reports of the Secretaries and of the Treasurer
shall be published in full.
3. When directed by the General Committee, any communication
may be published in full.
4. Abstracts of papers and remarks on the same will be pub-
lished, when presented to the Secretary by the author in writing
within two weeks of the evening of their delivery, and approved by
the Committee on Publications. Brief abstracts prepared by one
of the Secretaries and approved by the Committee on Publications
may also be published.
5. Communications which have been published elsewhere, so as
to be generally accessible, will appear in the Bulletin by title only,
but with a reference to the place of publication, if made known in
season to the Committee on Publications.
KoTK. The aUenUon of members to the above rules is specially requested,
(18)
OFFIOEIR3
or TBI
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
Elected December 17, 1881.
President William B. Taylor.
Vtee Presidents J. K. Barnes, J. E. Hilgard,
J. C. Welling, J. J. Woodward.
TVeasurer Cleveland Abbe.
Secretaries Marcus Baker, T. N. Gill.
MEMBERS AT LARGE OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEB.
J. S. Billings, William Harkness,
C. E. DuTTON, Garrick Mallery,
J. R. Eastman, Simon Newcomb,
E. B. Elliott, J. W. Powell,
C. A. SCHOTT.
STANDING COMMITTEES.
On Communications:
Marcus Baker, Chairman. C. E. Button, T. N. Gill.
On Publications :
T. N. Gill, Chairman. Cleveland Abbe, S. F. Baird,* Marcus Baker.
* As Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.
LIST OF MEMBERS
OF THE
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
Corrected to May, 1882.
(a) indicates % founder of the Society.
(6) indicates deucued,
(e) indicates obaent from the District of Columbia and excased from payment of daei
nntil announcing their retorn.
(d) indicates reigned.
(«) indicates dropped for non-pajrment or nothing known of him.
NAME.
••«•■••••
Abbe, Clereland..
Abort, Sylranus Thayer...
Adams, Henry
Aldts, Asa Owen..
Allen, James
Alvord. Benjamin ~
Antisell. Thomas (a) ...
ATery, Robert Stanton.
Babcock. Orville Ellas
Ballev, Theodoras (6)
Baird, Spencer Follerton (o)
Baker, Frank...
Baker, Marcus..
Bancroft, Qeorge
Barnes, Joseph K (a) .....
Bartley, Thomas Welles
Bate?, Henry Hobart
Beardslee, L««ter Anthony (e)......
Bell, Alexander Graham
P. O. Annans aicd Rbbidbncx.
Bell, Chichester Alexander.........
Ben6t, Stephen Vincent (o)
Bessels, Emil..... ..«».
Billings^ohn Shaw (a)
Bimey, William.. ...^ .^....
Bimie, Boffers (c).
Borehard, Horatio Chapin. — . —
Army Signal Office. 2017 I St N. W.
Engineer's Office, War Department
1724 Penn. Ave. N.W.
1605 H St .«,..
1617 Rhode Island Ave. N. W
Array Signal Office. 1707 G St N. W.
1207 Q St N. W
Patent Office. 1311 Q St N. W
Coast and Geodetic Survey Office.
320 A St S. E.
2024 G St N.W
•••••■■••a
■■• ■•••••
Burnett. Swan Moses....
Bttsey,8amael Clagett.
■••••••■«•
Ospron. Horace (a)
Case, Aagttsius Ludlow (e
Gisey, Thomas Lincoln (a;
'•••••••••••■••a
Smithsonian Institution. 1445 Biass.
Ave. N. W.
Coast and Geodetic Survey Office.
1205 Rhode Island Ave. N. W.
1623 H St N. W
Surg. Gen Pa Office. 1723 H St N. W.
Office, l34.'j F St N. W. Res., 1016 13th
St N W
Patent Office. 1313 R St N. W...........
Navy Department ..
1221 Conn. Ave. N.W. Res., 1302 Conn.
Ave. N. W.
1221 ( onn. Ave. N.W. Res., 2023 Mass.
Ave. N. W.
Ordnance Office, War Department
1717 I St N. W.
Smithsonian Institution. 1441 Mass.
Ave. N. W.
Surg. GenVs Office. 3027 N St N. W.
330 4H St N. W. Res., 1901 Harewood
Ave., Le Droit Park.
Cold Spring, Putnam Co., N. Y
Director or the Mint Treasury Dept
Res., Riggs House.
1215 I St NT W
1526 I St N. W «.. ....^
■ »•« ■•••••••*••••••
The Portland
Navy Department Bristol, R. I..
Engineer Bureau, War Department
iSld K St N. W.
16
Datsov
AnmssioN.
1871, Oct 29
1875, Jan. 30
1831, Feb. —
1873, Mar. 1
1882, Feb. 25
1872, Mar. 23
1871, Mar. 13
1879, Oct 11
1871, June 9
1873, Mar. 1
1871, Mar. 13
1881, May 14
1876, Mar. 11
1875, Jan. 16
1871, Mar. 13
1873, Mar. 29
1871, Not. 4
1875, Feb. 27
1879, Mar. 29
1881, Oct 8
1871. Mar. 13
1875, Jan. 16
1871, Mar. 18
1879, Mar. 29
1876, Mar. 11
1879, May 10
1879, Mar. 29
1874, Jan. 17
1871, Mar. 13
1872, Not. 16
1871, Mar. 13
16
LIST OF MEMBERS OF THE
NAME.
Casiaro, Louis Vasmer
Chase, Salmon Portland (a 6).
Chick ering, John White, Jr. .
Christie, Alexander Smyth...
8&£:
>, William Henry..
Clark. Edward......^
Clark, Ezra Westcott
Clarke, Frank Wigglesworth (e).....
CoiBn, John Huntingrton Crane (a)
Collins, Frederick (b)
Comstock, John Henry
Coues, Elliott
Craig, DecijAroii^ Faneuil (a 6)
Craig, Robert
Craig, Thomas..
Crane, Charles Henry (a)
Curtis, J osiah...
Cutts, Richard Dominions
I>a11, William Healey (a).
Dayls, Charles Henry (6)
Davis, Charles Henry
P. O. Address and Rbsxdbkcx.
Army Signal Office. 1446NStN.W.
Deaf Mute College, Kendall Green....
Coast and Geodetic Survey Office.
1102 14th St. N. W.
Army Signal Office. 806 18th St N. W.
Architect's Office, Capitol. 417 4th St
N.W.
Revenue Marine Bureau, Trea8Ui7
Department. Res.. Woodley road.
University of Cincinnati. Albion
Place, Cincinnati, Ohio.
1001 1 St N. W »
Cornell University, Ithaca, N. T....
Smithsonian Inst 1321 N St N. W ...
■•••••••••■•••
Dean, Richard Crain (b)
De Caindry, William Augustin.
De Land, Theodore Louis
Dewey, George (d). ..........
Doolittle, Myrick Hascall .
!••••••• •«■■•»••
Dorr. Fredric William (6)
Dunvroodv, Henry Harrison Chase
Dutton, Clarence Edward
Dyer, Alexander B. (a 6)
Eastman, John Robie
Eaton, Amos fieebe (a 6).
Eaton, John ,
M •»•••••••«•••••••
Eldredge, Stewart (c) .
Georg<
Elliott, Esekiel Brown (a)..
Elliot George Henry (a d)...
Endllch, Frederic Miller.
Ewing, Charles (e) ■
Ewing, Hugh (c)
Farquhar, Edward Jessop.
Farquhar, Henry ...,
Ferrel, William....
•#••«•••■••*•• ••«tf»*««« ■••
Fletcher. Robert
Flint, Albert Stoweli
Flint, James Milton.
Foote, Elisha (a e)
Foster, John Gray (b)...
French, Henry Flagg-.
Frisby, Edgar
Fristoe, Edward T ....
Gale, Leonard Dunnell
Gallaudet Edward Miner
Gannett Henry.
•••••••••••••••••••»»• •••
Gardner, James Terry (c)
Garnett Alexander Young P. (d) ...
Gihon, Albert Leary
Army Signal Office. 1008 I St N. W.
Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, Md.
Surg. Genl's Office. 1900 F St N. W.
428 7th street N. W. Riggs House.
Coast and Geodetic Survey Office.
1726 H St N W.
P. O. Box 406. 1119 12th St N. W
Navy Department 1705 Rhode Island
Ave. nTw.
Commissary Generars Office.
024
iry
10th St N. W.
Treasury Dept 126 7th St. N. E
Light House Board. 826 14th St N.W.
Coast and Geodetic Survey Office.
1025 1 St N. W.
Army Signal Office.
Geological Survey..
1412 G St N.W.
Naval Observatory. 2721 N St N. W.
•« M I ••••••••• ••■■•<
Bureau of Education, Interior Dept
712 East Capitol St
Engineer Bureau, War Department...
Mint Bureau, Treasury Department
607 I St N. W.
Smithsonian Institution
Lancaster, Ohio.,
1915 H St N.W.
Survey Office.
Patent Office Library.
Coast and Geodetic
726 20th St N. W.
Coast and Geodetic Survey Office.
471 C St N. W.
Surgeon Genl's Office. 314 Ind. Ave.
Naval Observatory. 1209 Rhode Island
Ave. N. W.
Smithsonian Inst Riggs House.......
Treasury Department 137 East Cap-
itol St.
Naval Observatory. 3006 P St N. W.
Columbian College. College Hill N.W.
1230 Mass. Ave. N. W
Deaf Mute College, Kendall Green......
Geological Surrey. 1881 Harewood
Ave..Le Droit Park.
State Library, Albany, N. Y. ........ .......
1317 N. Y. Ave. N. W
Navy Department 1736 1 St N. W....
Date or
ADXunoir.
1882, Feb. 25
1871, Mar. IS
1874, Apr. 11
1880, Dec 4
1882, Feb. 85
1877, Feb. 24
18S2. Mar. 25
1874. Apr. U
1871,
1870,
1880,
1874,
1871.
1873,
1879,
1871,
1874,
1871,
Mar. 13
Oct 21
Feb. 14
Jan. 17
Mar. 13
Jan. 4
Nov. 22
Mar. IS
Mar. 28
Apr. 29
1871, Mar. IS
1874, Jan. 17
1880, June 19
1872, Apr. 23
1881, Apr. 90
•
1880, Dec. 18
1879, Feb. 15
1876, Feb. 12
1874, Jan. 17
1873, Dec. 20
1872, Jan. 27
1871, Mar. 13
1871, May 27
1871, Mar. 13
1874, May 8
1871, June 9
1871, Mar. 13
1871, Mar. 13
1873, Mar. 1
1874, Jan. 17
1874. Jan. 17
1876, Feb. 12
1881, May 14
1872, Nov. 16
1873, Apr. 10
1682, Mar. 25
1881, Mar. 26
1871, Mar. 1.3
1873, Jan. 18
1882, Mar. 25
1872, Not. 16
1873, Mar. 29
1874^ Jan. 17
1875, Feb. 27
1874, Apr. 11
1874, Jan. 17
1878, Mar. 16
1880, Dea U
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
17
NAME.
Oilbert, Grore Karl
Gill, Theodore Nicholas (a). .........
GoddinK. William Whiting
Goode, George Brown. ,
Goo^ifellow, Edward
Goodfellow, Henry (d)-.
Gore, James Howard
Graves, Edwar.d Oziel (e)
GraTes, Walter Harden (c)
Greely, Adolphus Washington (c)..
Green, Bernard Richardson..........
Green, Franci.'* Mathews
Greene, Benjamin Franklin (ac)...
Greene, Francis Vinton w........
Gunnell, Francis Mackall (e)
•■•••••«<
Hains, Peter Conorer (c)
Hall, Asaph (a)
Hanscom, Isaiah {b)...^....„
Harkness, William (a)
Hassier, Ferdinand Augustus (c).
Uayden, Ferdinand Van deyeer (oe)
Hazen, Henry Allen
Hasen. William Babcock.
Henry, Joseph (a 6)..
Henshaw, Henry Wetherbee.
Hilgard, Julius Erasmus (a)..
Hill, George William..
Holden, Edward Singleton (e)..
Holmes, William Henry
Hoagh, f*ranklin benjamin (e)
Howell, Edwin Eugene (c)
Howgate, Henry WT.^
Humphreys, Andrew Atkinson (a).
Hantington, David Lowe „
Jackson, Henry Arundel Lambe (c)
James, Owen (<•) «
Jeflers, William Nicolson {d)
Jenkins. Thornton Alezanaer (a)..
Johnson, Arnold Burgess
Johnson, Joseph Taber
Johnston, William Waring.
Kampf, Ferdinand (b)
Keith, Reuel U) »
Kidder, Jerome Henry
Kilbourne, Charles Evans
King, Albert Freeman Africanus..
King, Clarence (d)..
Knox, John Jay ...,
Kummell, Charles Hugo...
P. O. ApDEEsa AND Residexcb.
Geological Survey. Le Droit Park...
Smithsonian Inst. 321^23 41^ St. N.W.
Government Asylum for the insane ,
National Museum. 1620 Mass. A v. N. W.
Coast and Geodetic Survey Office
Bureau of Military Justice, War Dept.
Columbian College. 1306 Q St. N. W.
Denver, Colorado..
1738 N St, N. W
Bureau of Navigation, Navy Dept..
West Lebanon, N. H
War Department 1916 G St. N. W.
600 20th 8t. N. W «
Office Light House Engineer, Charles-
ton, S. C.
Naval Observatory. 2716 N St. N. W.
Naval Observatory. 1415 G St. N. W.
Tustin ('ity, Los Angeles Co.,Cal.-
Geological Survey. 1803 Arch street,
Philadelphia, Penna.
Army Signal Office. 1209 R. I. A v. N.W.
Army Signal Office. 1601 K St. N. W.
Bureau of Ethnology. 903 M St. N.W.
Coast and Geodetic Survey Office.
1709 Rhode Island Ave. N. W.
Nautical Almanac Office. 318 Ind.
Ave. N. W.
Madison. Wisconsin ,
Geological Survey .«.
Agricultural Department
Rochester, N. Y
S. E. Corner 15th and K Sts. N. W. ....
Army Med. Museum. 1709 M St. N.W.
War Department t...
Navy Department
2115 Penn. Ave. N. W
Light House Board, Treasury Dept.
601 Maple Ave., Le Droit Park.
937 New York Ave. N. W ..„
1401 H St. N. W
Lane, Jonathan Homer (a &)..
Lawver, Winfield Peter...
Lee, William
Lincoln, Nathan Smith ..
LookWood. Henry H. (d).
Loomis, Eben Jenks ......
Lull. Edward Phelps
Lyford, Stephen Carr (d)..
Macanley. Henry Hay (c)
MrOalre, Frederick Bauden
Mack, Oscar A. (6)
McMurtrie, William...
2
■•••«• •••
Navy Department- 1601 O St. N. W.
Army Signal Office. Lexington House
726 I3th St. N. W
Treasury Dept. 1127 10th St. N. W....
OmuI and Geodetic Survey Office.
608 Q St. N. W.
Mint Bureau, Treasury Department.
1912 I St. N. W.
2111 Penn. Ave. N. W.
1614 list. N.W
Nautical Almanac Office. 1413 College
Hill Terrace N. W.
Navy Department 1313 M St. N. W....
Ordnance Office, War Department
1306 F St N. W. Res., 614 E St N. W.
AgricnlturaY Dept "lf2» ISt N. W*!.*!!!
Date of
Admission.
873, June 7
871, Mar. 13
879, Mar. 29
874, Jan. 31
875, Dec. 18
871, Nov. 4
880, Mar. 14
874, Apr. 11
878, May 25
880, June 19
879, Feb. 16
875, Nov. 9
871, Mar. 13
875, Apr. 10
879, Feb. 1
879, Feb. 16
871, Mar. 13
873, Dec. 20
871, Mar. 13
880, May 8
871, Mar. 13
882, Mar. 25
881, Fob. —
871, Mar. 13
874, Apr. 11
871, Mar. 13
879, Feb. 1
873, June 21
879, Mar. 29
879, Mar. 29
874, Jan. 31
873, Jan. 18
871, Mar. 13
8n, Dec. 21
875, Jan. 30
880, Jan. 3
877, Feb. 24
871, Mar. 13
878, Jan. 19
879, Mar. 29
873, Jan. 21
875, Dec. 18
871, Oct 20
m). May 8
881), June 19
^T.'», Jan. 16
879, May 10
874, May 8
882, Mar. 25
871, Mar. 13
881, Feb. 19
874, Jan. 17
871, May, 27
871, Oct 29
880, Feb. 14
875, Dec. 4
873, Jan. 18
880, Jan. 3
879, Feb. 16
872, Jan. 27
876, Feb. 26
1
18
LIST OF MEMBERS OF THE
NAME.
Mallery, Garrick.
Marvin, Joneph Badger (c)
Marrlne, Archibald Kobertson (b).
Mason, Otis Tufton
Meek, Fielding Bradford (a b)
Meigs, Montgomery (e)
Meigs, Montgomery Cunning-
nam (a)
Menocal. Aniceto Garcia
Mew, William Manuel
MUner, James William (b)
Morris, Martin Ferdinand (e).
Mussey, Heuben Delayan
Myer, Albert J. (a b)
Myers, William (e)
Newcomb, Simon (a)
Nichols, Charles Henry (e)fi.
Nicholson, Walter Lamb (a) .
NordhoflT, Charles.
Osborne, John Walter ,
Otis, George Alexander(a b).
Packard, Robert Lawrence (0)
Parke, John Grubb (a)...
•••••• •••••••«<
Parker, Peter (a)
Parry, Charles (Christopher (c).
Patterson, Carlile Pollock (b)...
Paul, Henry Martyn (c)
Peale, Albert Charles (e). .......
Peale, Titian Ram«ay (a e)
Peirce, Benjamin (a b)
Peirce, Charles Sanders (c)
Pilling, James Constantine.
Poe, Orlando Metcalfe ,
Porter, David Dixon (d)
Powell, John Wesley
Prentiss, Daniel Webster...
Pritchett, Henry Smith (c)
Rathbone, Henry Reed (c)
Ridgway, Robert (c)
Riley, Charles Valentine ,
Riley, John (-ampbell (b) ,
Ritter,William Francis McKnight.
Rodgers, Christopher Raymond
Perry (f I
Rodgers, John (b)
Rogers, Joseph Addison (c)
Russell, Israel Cook ,
Sands, Benjamin Franklin (a).
Saville, James Hamilton
Sawyer, Frederic Adolphus (c) ...
Schaeffer, George Christian (o b).
Schott, Charles Anthony (a)
Searle, Henry Robinson...
Seymour, GeorKC Dudley.
Shellabarger, Samuel
Sherman, John
Sherman, William Tecumsoh (o d)
Shufeldt, Robert Wilson
P. O. Addrxbs Airs Resiskkcb.
Bureau of Ethnology. P. O. Box ft85.
Res., 1323 N 8t N. W.
Columbian College. 1306 Q St. N. W.
War Department. Rock Island, 111.
1239 Vermont Ave. N. W ».
Navy Yard, Washington, D. 0
Army Medical Museum. 942 New
York Ave. N. W.
717 12th St. N. W
P. O. Box 618. Res., 608 6th St. N. W.
Olfice of Commissary General, War
Department.
Navy Department 1336 11th St. N. W.
Topographer of Post Office Dept. 1322
I St. N. W.
New York Herald Bureau. 1027 New
York Ave. N. W.
212 Delaware Ave. N. E.
Patent Office. 2022 G St. N. W
Engineer Bureau, War Department
16 10^ St N. W.
2 La Fayette Square
Burlington, Iowa
University of Tokio, Japan
Schuylkill Haven, Schuylkill Co., Pa.
Coa.st and Geodetic Survey Office.
Re»., Baltimore, Md.
Geological Survey. 003 M St N. W.,.,
Headquarters of the Army. 1607
Rhode Island Ave. N. W.
1710 H 8t N. W
Geological Survey. 910 M St N. W
1224 9th St N. W
Wa.shington University, St Louis, Mo.
Smithsonian Inst 1214 Va. At. N.W.
Agricultural Dept 1700 13th St N.W.
Nautical Almanac Office.
Place.
1723 I St N. W
16 Grant
Naval Observatory.
Geological Survey..
816 15th St N. W
342 D St. (La. Ave.) N. W. Res., 1316
M St N. W.
Coast and Geodetic Surrey Office.
212 1st St S. E.
1223 10th St N. W
607 7th St N.W. Res., 1007 9th St N.W.
Room 23, Corcoran Building. Res.,
812 I7th St N. W.
1.317 K St N. W.. ,
War Department 817 16th St. N. W..
Surg. Genl's Office. 819 17th St N.W.
Datb of
Admxssioii.
1876, Jan. 30
1878, May 2S
1874, Jan. 31
1876, Jan. 90
1871, Mar. IS
1877, Mar. 21
1871. Mar. IS
1877, Feb. 24
1873, Deo. 2&
1874, Jan. 31
1877, Feb. 24
1881, Dec. 3
1871, Mar. IS
1871, June 23
1871, Mar. 13
1872, M«y 4
1871, Mar. IS
1879, May 10
1878, Dec 7
1871, Mar. IS
1875, Feb. SfT
1871, Mar. IS
1871,
1871,
187J,
1877,
1874,
1871,
1871,
1873,
Mar. IS
May IS
Nov. 17
May 1»
Apr. 11
Sfar. 13
Mar. IS
Mar. 1
1881. Feb. 1»
1873, Oct 4
1874, Apr. 11
1874, Jan. 17
1880, Jan. S
1879, Mar. 29
1874, Jan. 17
1874, Jan. 31
1878, Nov. ^
1877, May 19
1879, Oct 21
1872, Mar. 9
1872, Nov. 16
1872, Mar. »
1882, Mar. 26
1871, Mar. IS
1871, Apr. 29
1873, Oct . 4
1871, Mar. IS
1871, Mar. IS
1877, Dec. 21
1881, Deo. S
1876, Apr. 10
1874, Jan. 17
1871, Mar. IS
1881, Not. &
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
19
NAME.
Sicard, Montgomery (e) ..,
Sigsbee, Charles Dwight.
Skinner, Aaron Nicholas (e).. ,
Smith, David (c) ^
Smith, Edwin
Spofford, Ainaworth Band >
Steams, John (e)...
Stone, Ormond (c).
Story, John Patten
Taylor, Frederick William..
Taylor, George (e)
Taylor, William Bower (a) ....
Thompson, Almon Harris (e).
Tilden, William Calvin (e)
Todd, David Peck (c)..
Toner, Joseph Meredith
Twining, William J. (6)
Upton, Jacob Kendrick (d) .
Upton, William Wirt
Upton, Winslow...
Vasey, George ..........
Waldo, Frank ,
Walker, Francis Amasa (e)
P. O. Apdress axd Residence.
Ordnance Bureau, Navy Department.
14()4 L St. N. W.
7-
Navy Department
Coa.Mt and Geodetic Survey
Library of Congress. 1621 Mass. Ave.
Leander McCormick Observatory,
University of Virginia.
Army Signal Office. 921 17th St. N.W.
Smithsonian Institution. 1120 Ver-
mont Ave. N. W.
804 K St. N. W. Res., 1120 Vermont
Ave. N. W.
Smithsonian InM. 4.57 C St. N. W
Ivanpah, Greenwood Co., Kansas..^...
Army Medical Museum
Amherst, Macs
615 Louisiana Ave
•••••••••••••«••••••
Ward, Lester Frank
Warren. Charles (e)
Webster, Albert Lowry
Walling, James Clarke
Wheeler, George M. (e)
Wheeler, Junius B (a c)
White, Charles Abiathar
Whit«, Zebalon Lewis (c)...
Wilson, Allen D
Wilson, James Ormonde
Winlock, William Crawford.. ....—
Wotoott, Christopher Colambos (d)
Wood, William Maxwell («).
Woodward, Joseph Janvier (a).
Woodwortn, John Maynard (6)
■•4 •«•••»•••
Tanall, Mordecai (6).
Yarrow, Harry Crficy.
Znmbrock, Anton..
Cooko k Co., cor. 15th St. and Penn.
Avt). 1721 Do Sales St.
2d Comptroller's Office, Treasury
Dept. 810 I2th St. N. W.
Army Signal Office. 1441 Chapin St.
N. W.
Agricultural Dept. 1437 S St. N. W«..
Army Signal Office. 1427 Chapin St.
N. W.
Ma«9. Inst of Technology, Boston,
Ma^s.
Geological Survey. 1464 R. I. Av. N.W.
Bureau of Education. 1208 N St. N.W.
Geological Survey. P. O. Box 601
Columbian College
Engineer Bureau, War Department...
Went Point, New York
Geological Survey. Le Droit Park>...
Providence, Rhode Island.....
Geological Survey
Franklin School Building. 1439 Mass.
Ave. N. W.
Naval Observatory. 1903 F St. N. W.
War Department.^
Asst. Engineer B.& P. R. R..
Navy Department..
Army Med. Museum. 620 F St.. N. W.
814 17th St. N. W.
»■■■• • t* ••■ ••••• •
Coast and Geodetic Survey Office.
306 C St. N. W.
Date of
Admissick.
1877, Feb. 24
1879, Mar. 1
1876, Feb. 27
1876, Dec. 2
1880, Oct. 23
1872, Jan. 27
1874, Mar. 28
1874, Mar. 28
1880, June 10
1881, Feb. 10
1873, Mar. 1
1871, Mar. 13
1875, Apr. 10
1871, Apr. 29
1878, Nov. 23
1873, June 7
1878, Nov. 23
1878. Feb. 2
1882, Mar. 25
1880, Dec 4
1876, June 6
1881, Deo. 3
1872, Jan. 27
1870,
1874,
1882,
1872
1873,
1871.
1H76,
1880,
1874.
1873,
Nov. 18
May 8
Mar. 25
Nov. 16
June 7
Mar. 13
Deo. 16
June 19
Apr. 11
Mar. 1
1880, Dec. 4
1875, Feb. 27
1875, Jan. 16
1871, Dec. 2
1871, Mar. 13
1874, Jan. 31
1871, Apr. 29
1874, Jan. 31
1875, Jan. 80
u
It
tt
Namber otfoundera 44
members dcceaud ......m 28
ahteni 02
retigntd, 12
dropped.,, 6
active. Itf
It
Total namber enrolled.....*...
246
BULLETIN
OF THE
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON,
203d Meeting. October 8, 1881.
The Society, in accordance with the notice of adjoarnment at its
last June meeting, resumed its sessions.
The President (Mr. J.- J. Woodward) in the Chair.
Thirty-eight members present.
Mr. G. K. Gilbert read a communication on
«
THE QUATERNARY CLIMATE OF THE GREAT BASIN.
The matters contained in this communication were a summary of
certain chapters which will appear from the pen of Mr. Gilbert in
the Second Annual Report of the Director of the United States
Geological Survey now in press. The observations of which the
communication was a resume were made in his capacity of Geologist
in charge of the Exploration of the Utah Division.
Remarks were made on Mr. Gilbert's communication by Mr.
Thomas Antibell.
Mr. £. B. Elliott also made a communication on
ACCRUED INTEREST ON GOVERNMENT 8ECUTITIB9.
Mr. W. B. Taylor exhibited to the Society a photographic print
from a single negative including about 140 degrees of panorama.
The ordinary camera does not usually comprise more than about
60 degrees, and requires as a necessary condition of good definition
21
22 BULLETIN OF THE
perfect stability of the lens and the plate. In the present case, an
inspection of the two houses presented in the rural view, (especially
of the longer one near the middle of the picture,) with the curved
road winding between them to the right, shows that a revolving
camera was employed; the long sensitive plate having evidently
been simultaneously moved transversely in the reverse direction to
that of the objective. This perfect co-ordination of the revolving
and sliding movements could be obtained by a mechanical gearing;
and the extended landscape be thus successively impressed upon
advancing portions of the plate — probably through a vertical slit
in a diaphragm immediately in front of the plate. That the core-
lation of movement has been very perfect is evidenced by the
• admirable precision of every detail in the photograph. It will be
observed that the three men standing in different parts of the field
of view are one and the same individual, who has had time to pass
behind the instrument, and to twice take a new position in advance
of the moving camera. By bending the long card into a concave
arc somewhat more than the third of a cylinder, and placing the
eye at the axis of curvature, it will be seen that the various slight
distortions of perspective (particularly in the houses) are com-
pletely corrected.
Mr. J. M. Toner exhibited, apropos to the approaching centen-
nial of the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, certain well pre-
served specimens bf coins and medals of national historic interest,
viz:
(1.) Bronze copy of medal given to Washington on the evacua-
tion of Boston.
(2.) A bronze copy of a medal of Lafayette.
(3.) A bronze copy of a medal of Columbus.
(4.) A very fine half dollar of 1785.
(5.) A very fine Washington cent of 1791.
204th Meeting. Ootobeb 22, 1881.
The President in the Chair.
Forty members present.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 23
Mr. A. B. JqHNSON presented the following communication on
BBCENT INVESTIGATIONS BY THE LIGHT-HOUSE BOARD QN THE
ANOMALIES OF SOUND FROM FOG SIGNALS.
Among our erroneous popular notions is one which occasionally
brings practical men, even ship-masters, to grief. It is the idea
that sound is always heard in all directions from its source accord-
ing to its inten^ty or force, and according to the distance of the
hearer from it. Instances of this fallacy have accumulated, and
they are emphasized by shipwrecks caused by the insistance of
mariners on the infallibility of their ears, who have accepted un-
questioned the guidance of sound signals during fog as they have
that of light-houses during clear weather. The fact is, audition is '
subject to aberrations, and under circumstances where little ex-
pected. We have learned by sad experience that implicit reliance
on sound signals may, as it has, lead to danger if not to death.
The wreck of the steamer Rhode Island, on Bonnet Point in
Narragansett Bay, which happened on November 6, 1880, when a
million dollars in property was lost, was caused, it was said, by the
iailure of the fog-signal *on Beaver Tail Point to sound at that
time. Thereupon the Light-House Board, which has charge of the
sixty and more fog-signals on our coasts, made an investigation
which showed that the fog-signal was in full operation when the
wreck took place ; but it also brought out the fact, that while there
was no lack in the volume of the sound emitted by the signal, there
was often a decided lack in the audition of that sound, so much so
that it would not be heard at the intensity expected, nor at the
place expected ; indeed it would be heard faintly where it ought to
be heard loudly, and loudly where it ought to be heard faintly ; that
it could not be heard at all at some points, and then further away
it could be heard better than near by ; that it could be heard and
lost and heard and lost again, all within reasonable ear shot, and
all this while the signal was in full blast and sounding continu-
ously.
The following table, A, will give the results obtained by the of-
ficer of the navy who investigated these phenomena, and reported
to the Light-House Board :
1
24
BULLETIN OF THE
Table A.
Observations on Beaver Tail Fog-Signal, Rhode Island^ made on November i6,
1880, from a sail-boat. Thermometer at beginning j8^, ending 67^ ; fVind
moderate from the West ; Weather clear and cold, ivith a bright sun. Time,
beginning i/./J A. M,
Number of Observa-
tion.
Distance from
Beaver Tail Fog-
Signal in statute
miles.
Intensity of sound
in scale of 10.
•
Remarks.
I
%
10
2
H
2
3
'^
I
4
'X
10
5
^H
I
6
*'/2
0
7
«X
0
8
'?i
I
Close to Bonnet Point changed course and ran
almost due south.
9
■><
I
I ^ miles from last station.
10
I
0
^ mile from last station.
II
H
I
(( II ((
12
H
4
i« «< «
13
•A
10
tt i» ti
14
U
10
About opposite Beaver Tail, ^ mile from last sta-
tion, and in the axis of trumpet.
«5
'A
10
About }i mile from last station, and running for
Newport, heading nearly northeast.
16
I
10
About ^ mile from last station.
17
IX
5
" 'A
18
IK
2
" %
19
I^
2
" %
20
2^
I
„ ^
21
2/2
0
" 'A
22
3/2
0
" A
^Z
3'A
2
u ^
24
4
10
About ^ mile from last station, just off Ft. Adams.
25
4>4^
10
Under the lee of Fort Adams.
26
4/2
2
27
4H
2
28
4H
2
29
5
2
Newport.
Last summer, I had au opportunity while on a light-house
steamer, to experience something of the^ variations in the audition
of the Beaver Tail fog-signal. When the steamer left the light-
tt
il
W
a
Ai
M
^l\
'151
m^
?!*'::
»
^
r
/
Aberrations a^Aadihih
TaMeA^
IB
^BecLver^ TaiLTbff Si^ruxL,
»M
I
StaJUite,IiiUs.
I'kuaJdoaJLMiUs
\
N N.
\
PHILOSOPHIOAL 800IBXY OF WASHINGTON. 25
house landing, the fog-signal was to sound for a given time, and to
commence when the steamer had reached a given point, half a mile
distant. When that point was reached, we could see by the steam-
pu£b coming from the 'scape pipe, that the signal was being blown ;
but we could not hear its sound ; nor did we, as we continued on
our course, running away from the light station for the next five
minutes. When near to Whale Rock, less than a mile and a half
distant from the signal, the steamer was stopped, silence was ordered
fore and aft, and we all listened intently. The expert naval o£5cers
thought they heard a trace of the fog-signal, but my untrained ears
fiiiled to differentiate it from the moan of the whistling buoy close
to us. Yet the blasts of the ten-inch steam whistle, for which we
were listening, can often be heard at a distance of ten miles.
Soon after, I had another opportunity to further observe the
operations of this signal. We left Narragansett Pier, R. I., on
Aug. 6, 1881, at 4 P. M., in a dense fog, with a strong breeze from
the W. S. W., and a heavy chop sea. We wished to ascertain how
far the Beaver Tail fog-signal could be heard dead to windward
and in the heaviest of fogs. At Whale Rock, one and one-third
miles from it, we did not hear a trace of it. Then the steamer was
headed directly for Beaver Tail Point, and we ran slowly for it by
compass, until the pilot stopped the steamer, declaring we were
almost aboard of the signal itself. Every one strained his ears to
hear the signal but without success ; and we had begun to doubt of
our position when, the fog lifting slightly, we saw the breakers in
altogether too close proximity for comfort. We passed the point as
closely as was safe ; and, when abreast of it and at right angles
with the direction of the wind, the sound of the fog-signal broke on
us suddenly and with its full power. We then ran down the wind
to Newport, and carried the sound with us all the way. The fog
continuing during the next day, the signal kept up its sound, and
we heard it distinctly and continuously at our wharf, though five
miles distant.
On the night of May 12,. 1881, about midnight, the Gralatea, a
propeller of over 1500 tons burden, with a full load of passengers
and freight, bound through Long Island Sound from Providence
to New York, grounded in a dead calm and a dense fog on Little
OulMsland, about one-eighth of a mile from and behind the fog-
signal, and got off two days later without damage to herself or loss
26
BULLETIN OF THE
of life or freight. It was as usual alleged that the fog-signal, a
steam siren, at Little Gull Light, was not in operation at the time
of the accident, and the Light-House Board, also, as usual, imme-
diately ordered an investigation. This was made by the Assbtant
Inspector of the Light-House District, a naval officer, who reported
that after taking the sworn evidence of the light-keepers at Little
Gull and the other light-stations within hearing distance, of other
Government officers who were, for the time being, so located that
they might have had knowledge of the facts, and of the officers of
vessels that were within ear shot, including those of the Galatea,
he reached the conclusion that the fog-signal was sounding at the
time of the accident; and that, although the fog-signal was heard
at Mystic, fifteen miles distant in another direction, and although
it was heard on a steam tug a mile beyond the Galatea; that it was
heard faintly, if at all, on that vessel ; and if heard at all, was 'so
heard as to be misleading, though the Galatea was but one-eighth
of a mile from the source of the sound.
This report is in itself full of interest. It appears that this
officer spent several days steaming around Little Gull, while the
fog-signal was in full blast, in various kinds of weather, and that
he found the aberrations in audition here were as numerous and
even more eccentric than those before mentioned as experienced at
Beaver Tail. The results of his observations are given in Tables B
and C ; and in each case the condition of the atmosphere as to
humidity, pressure, temperature and motion are shown, as is also
the then tidal condition.
Table B.
Fog Signal tests at Little Gull Island, Long Island Sound, July ii, 1881,
Time 10 A.M. Wind, N.N. E,, force 2. Barometer, 2g. 77 ; Tlkermom-
eter, 61. Weather at commencement, dark, overcast with squalls of Scotch mist
from NNE. It began to clear at 11:30 A.M.
Number of
ObBervation.
Time of Obser-
yation.
Distance from
Little Gull Is-
land fog signal
in Stat, miles.
Intensity of sound
in scale of ten.
Remarks. ■
n. fll.
I
10 10
^yi
I
2
10 15
2}i
H
A faint murmur is put at ^ of I,
in scale of 10.
3
10 18
2/2
0
4
sH
0
PHILOSOPHICAL 800IETT OP WASHINGTON.
27
L
6i«x
Id
a
o
IS
5
0
j2
tensity of sou
n scale of te
Remarks.
K
t-
5
Ni4
A« in>
5
10 25
3>l
0
6
3^
0
7
3K
>i
About }i mile from last station.
8
1050
3K
I
9
3?<
0
lO
3X
I
About }i mile from last station.
II
sQ
2
About }i mile from last station.
12
II 09
3}4
2
Changed course and ran a little S. of W.
>3
3H
3
14
11 15
27A
3
IS
II 25
2}i
4
i6
2H
5
'7
"35
2>^
7
i8
2X
7
'9
'>^
8
20
" 55
>^
9
21
K
10
22
1203
^
10
About }i mile from last station.
23
12 07
^8
7
24
i;i
2
25
12 14
"^
I
26
12 19
2^
i>i
27
1223
214^
• >i
Changed course.
28
12 40
2^
}i
Faint murmur.
29
12 52
3K
0
Changed course.
30
I 01
2
>i
31
106
'^
1-2
32
I 12
"^
5
33
I 18
^
10
34
^
10
Almost west of fog-signal.
35
i><
10
36
«35
>>i
8
Changed course.
37
>^
8
38
I 42
^
10
Stood N. E. ; sound gradually increasing.
39
152
•>i
3
40
> 55
Ji
2
Changed course.
41
^
2
42
201
H
2
43
2 02
H
10
44
^
10
45
«^
8
46
I
7
47
iH
5
48
429
2
2
49
2^
I
^7
50
438
3«
0
Lx>5t the sound.
51
52
3V
0
4 45
4;^
0
Bartletts Reef light-ship; wheels stopped
1
and
28
BULLETIN OF THE
Table C.
Olservaiions at Little Gull Island^ Long Islatid Sound, ytdy /j, 1881^ com-
mencing at 6. JO A. M. Thermotneter, 59° Fahr. Barometer, 2g.8o. IVind,
W.N,W., force j, hauling to the westward and increasing gradually.
a
o
■**
O >
b. *-
So
I
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
II
12
13
14
15
16
17
^
J.T3**
"Sd
SSI
s|
of Obse
yation.
nee from
Gull Itil
ignal in i
c 0
?5!
9
C9 » ®
fl cS
S
• oSPs
i^C
5=S6
c —
A. fn.
632
»?<'
10
657
2^
10
2X
8
2?f
7
3\'
4
7 17
3^
3
3><
2
3^
I
3>4
5
7 28
3>i
7
2>^
8
2;^
5
2
5
750
21/
5
2^
3
3.'^
2
800
3I<
0
Remarks.
Changed course, running S. by W. ^ W,
About ^ mile from last station.
Changed course^ running E.
About yi, mile from last station.
((
(<
<(
ii
ii
«
Changed course, running N. by W. ^ W.
About yi, mile from last station.
Changed course, running W.
Sound lost.
On August 3d, I had an opportunity to hear this fog-signal myself,
and to note its audibility. The wind was from the south and very
light ; the air was damp, smoky, hazy, and, as the sailors say, hung
low; the barometer stood at 29 90; the tide was about flood. Our
steamer was run for six miles in the axis of the siren's trumpet,
which was sounded for our benefit at its full force. Note was made
every third minute in a scale of ten of the intensity of the sound,
and it was found that the audition decreased normally with the
distance for the first two miles ; at 2t miles it had fallen off* one-
half; at 3 miles it had fallen to one-tenth its power; at 3^ miles
away we could hear but a faint murmur, and when 4 miles distant,
we had lost it completely ; and yet there seemed to be no reason
why we should not have heard it clearly at three times that distance.
The next morning was calm, but heavy with white fog ; yet we
heard the Little Gull siren distinctly though it was 10 i miles off*, as
we lay at our dock in N^w London. The steamer ran out of the
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 29
harbor, but was compelled to anchor so thick was the fog ; yet we
heard Little Gull though 71 miles off, at a force of 6 in the scale of
ten, and the sound was so clear cut and distinct that we could dif-
ferentiate it from the siren at the New London light, which was
much nearer to us. The steamer worked round to inspect the
neighboring lights, and we heard the Little Gull siren when at
North Dumpling light station, 7 miles off, at a force of 6 ; at
Morgan's Point Light, 10 miles off, at a force of 6, and we contin-
ued to hear it at an intensity of from 5 to 6 as we worked around
among the other lights, within a compass of 10 miles, till the fog
broke and the siren ceased.
Opportunity soon occurred for making more critical experiments.
On a fine day we ran out to Little Gull, had the siren started under
full steam, and then, following out a pre-arranged program, ran
round Little Gull Island in such way, as to describe a rectangle of
about 8 by 10 miles, its longest side running nearly north and
south. No fixed rate of speed was maintained, but the steamer
slowed,. backed, or stopped, as was necessary. The atmosphere was
what the sailors call lumpy, and Prof Tyndall calls non -homo-
geneous. Prof. Henry, when writing of a like condition, said :
*" As the heat of the sun increases during the first part of the day,
the temperature of the land rises above that of the sea, and this
excess of the temperature produces upward currents of air, disturbing
the general flow of wind, both at the surface of the sea and at an
elevation above." Observations were made and noted in a scale of
ten, of the force or intensity of the signal's sound as it reached us
at the end of each minute. The following Table D shows a sufficient
number of the results for our purposes, taken from the tabulated
schedule of our notes. The table also shows the condition of the
atmosphere during our observations.
*L. H. Board's Rep. for 1875, P^® ^'^'
30
BULLETIN OF THE
Table D.
Observations at LitHe Gull Island^ Long Island Sounds August 9, t88t^. com-
mencing at 10 A. M, Thermometer — Dry Bulb^ 7S^,oq, Wet Bulb, iff*
Fahr, Barometer ^ 2<^,'jy Wind ^ S, IV,, force, j, Cir, Strat, Clouds about
the horizon.
•
>
Lit-
din
1
e .
9 a
■
•0
a
0
0
30
6iS
g5
a
0
§
aSS
si
iber of
bseryatl
a
0
2«=
§^5
II
0 .
2*1
c 2
go
a
1g®5
iSc
a
-Sc^B
•S0
9
••4
•r: ■«-• 4)
e*^
0
•««
'•r ♦rf Ob
e.S
2S
H
Q
»«
2;
H
Q
A. tn.
/i. m.
I
1030
0%^
10
16
12 04
2^
9
2
1032
oyi
10
17
1208
^%
9
3
1034
oH
IQ
18
12 13
2'A
5
4
1036
I
10
19
12 20
2'A
3
5
1037
»^
0
20
12 28
3-4
I
6
1048
2
0
21
1235
3'A
o}i
7
10 57
3
0
22
12 41
3H
0
8
II 02
3
0
23
1245
3
I
9
II 08
a
I
24
1257
2'A
0
10
II 15
3
25
12 58
2H
0
II
II 23
4'A
4
26
I 02
'A
I
12
II z^
8
27
I 20
^H
0^
13
II 42
^H
9
28
I 24
'H
oA
14
II 54
3
9
29
I 30
oU
0
15
" 57
i'A
9
30
I 32
oX
10
At 4 P. M. two of us went in a row boat to Little Gull from the
steamer which lay to her anchor half a mile off, and verified the
fact that the fog-signal had been in full operation during the time
of our observations by the report of the steamer's mate, who had
been left there for that purpose. It then occurred to us to investi-
gate still more closely what appeared to be a space — a circle of
silence — in which we had, during the experiments of the morning,
failed to hear the signal. Afler having had the siren put in full
operation again, we pulled toward the nearer end of Great Gull
Island, the siren sounding meantime with earsplitting force. When
about 600 yards away we suddenly lost the sound as completely as
if the signal had stopped. Pulling toward the steamer, not more
than 200 yards, we reached a position at right angles with the axis
of the siren's trumpet when we suddenly heard the sound again at
its full force. Thus, in pulling 500 yards, we passed from com-
plete audition of the signal to absolute inaudition ; and then we
passed back again to complete audition by pulling 200 yards in
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON, 31
another direction. All this took place within half an hour in open
water, always in full view of the signal station, and without any
visible obstacle being interposed or removed.
While oir the island we learned that one of the light-house
keepers, who had been on leave, had just returned from Sag Har-
bor, twenty miles away to the southeast. He had failed to hear the
signal at all, until opposite the eastern end of Great Gull Island,
and until he was within half a mile of the siren which was in full
operation.
On the next morning our steamer anchored about a mile north
of Little Gull ; the wind was light, the air was clear, and the day
was warm and beautiful. As it had been preceded by a warm
night the atmosphere was homogeneous, and it was expected that
we should have a day of normal audition and barren of curious
phenomena. After the siren had commenced its noise we ran down
to a point within half a mile of the light-house, and then steamed
for Plum Island, running a little south of east for six miles, when
we returned as nearly as might be on our own track. The results
were curious. We lost half the force of the sound when within a
quarter of a mile of the siren ; a moment later we had lost four-
fifths of it. Running another half mile we were off the middle of
Great Gull Island, and the sound had increased to a foroe of four ;
in five minutes more it had dropped to three ; from that on, until
we reached the end of our six mile run, it gradually weakened,
and it had dropped to a force of two when we turned and ran
back to our anchorage. It is particularly curious that the sound
had the same intensity at three-sixteenths of a mile from its
source, and at six whole miles from that point, while it varied
from two to ten in a scale of ten between those points. The results
of the trip are more fully and exactly given in Table E.
Thinking that possibly this peculiarity might have been induced
by those differences of temperature in the strata of the atmosphere
suggested by Dr. Tyndall as probable cause for such phenomena,
effort was made to ascertain something of these differences by send-
ing a thermometer to the upper air. In the course of the afternoon
we made a kite some six feet high, attached to it a self-registering
thermometer, add after a number of trials succeeded in getting it
•up about five hundred feet, and in hauling it safely in again after
it had been up over an hour. The thermometer had a wet bulb,
and beside was protected from the direct rays of the sun ; but it,
82
BULLETIN OF THE
registered only half a degree more of heat at its highest point than
it had done in the pilot-house. The course the kite took showed
no difference between the air currents alow and aloft.
Table E.
Observations at Little Gull Islandy Long Island Sound, August lo, 1881^ com-
mencing at 10 :jo A, M, Dry Bulb Thermometer^ 76®, Wet Bulb, 73^.
Barometer, 2^.40. Wind, W, by N., force j, and steady throughout. Day
clear and beautiful.
a
^ c c
•a .
^ c s
•^ .
>
^
fl 0
^
B S
a
k
^"3 m .
' s 5.
•
ht
•-••e m .
52
C
Ci
ff = 2 »
0*»
a
«
e e a *
rof
rvatio
1.
6 5.S «
C "ST — •«
** Ca
0
0 >
■7
*« 0
m «
O-S
c s i —
•— O
i> s
o-a
0 3 2.**
•— 0
— 4-> eS flO
II
3
E
C-K— 3
'^,
E-
Q
N-l
^
H
Q
/(. m.
A. tn.
I
2
1036
10 40
0;
' 10
10
7
8
1059
II 07
■(■
2 to 3
2 to 3
3
1044
0
5
9
IT 29
2f
2 to 3
4
1045
*^"'=
2
10
II 45
if"
2 to 3
5
1049
03
4
II
II 52
2
6
'053
1*
3
12
12 02
6
2
The Light House Board has known from the first that aberra-
tions in audibility might occur near any fog-signal. When the
fog- trumpet was set up at Beaver Tail Point in 1856, the Naval
Secretary of the Board, then Lieutenant, now Rear Admiral Jen-
kins, U. S. N., in company with Mr. Daboll, its inventor, found, in
returning to Newport, that they lost the sound of the signal be-
tween Beaver Tail and Fort Adams, and recovered it again between
the Fort and Newport, as did later observers, and that this failure
to hear it did not result from any failure of the signal to operate.
The Board's publications show that Prof. Henry, its scientific ad-
viser, had the subject for many years continuously under advise-
ment, and that between 1865 and 1878, many experiments were
made, and various reports on them were submitted to the Board, aa
to the use and value of its several kinds of fog-signals. In 1870
the Board directed General Duane, of the U. S. Engineers, then
and still in its service, to make a series of experiments to ascertain
the comparative value of its different signals. In his report the
General said, speaking of the steam fog-signals on the coast of
Maine :
■*■-./
\
Aberrathns c^ Jiudibitit
of
SUnungtonJIca^rlAght
ScrUxJhuttpUMUf I^i^f^
LigihtShip
Wah^HUlL^hjb
\%r.9lV/
MmxtiealMiUs.
1
StatuUMile*.
^
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 38
* ** There are six steam fog- whistles on the coast of Maine ; there have been
frequently heard at a distance of twenty miles, and as frequently cannot be heard
at the distance of two miles, and this with no p>erceptible difference in the state
of the atmosphere.
" The signal is often heard at a great distance in one direction, while in an-
other it will be scarcely audible at the distance of a mile. This is not the effect
of wind, as the signal is frequently heard much farther against the wind than
with it ; for example, the whistle on Cape Elizabeth can always be distinctly
heard in Portland, a distance of nine miles, during a heavy northeast snow-storm
the wind blowing a gale direcdy from Portland toward the whistle."
* * * * ******
" l)ie most perplexing difficulty, however, arises from the fact that the signal
often appears to be surrounded by a belt, varying in radius from one to one and
a half miles, from which the sound appears to be entirely absent. Thus, in mov-
ing directly from a station, the sound is audible for the distance of a mile, is then
lost for about the same distance, after which it is again distinctly heard for a long
time. This action is common to all ear-signals, and has been at times observed at
all the stations, at one of which the signal is situated on a bare rock twenty miles
from the main land, with no surrounding objects to affect the sound."
■
Prof. Henry, in considering the results of Gen. Duane's experi-
ments, and his own, some of which were made in company with Sir
Fred'k Arrow and Capt. Webb, H. B. M. Navy, both of the British
Light-House Establishment, who were sent here to study and report
on our fog-signal system, formulated these abnormal phenomena.
He said they consisted of:
" I. The audibility of a sound at a distance and its inaudibility nearer the
source of sound.
«<'2. The inaudibility of a sound at a given distance in one direction, while a
lesser sound is heard at the same distance in another direction.
" 3. The audibility at one time at a distance of several miles, while at another
the sound cannot be heard at more than a fifth of the same distance.
" 4, While the sound is generally heard further with the wind than against it,
in some instances the reverse is the case.
" 5. The sudden loss of a sound in passing from one locality to another in the
same vicinity, the distance from the source of sound being the same." f
These experiments were not confined to our own shores. Dr.
Tyndall, the well known English physicist, who stands in the same
relation to the British Light-House Establishment that Prof. Henry
did to our own, writes thus :
•Aonnat Rep't L. H. Board 1874, pp. 09-100.
t L. H. B. AnnuAl Rep. 1873, page 106.
8
34 BULLETIN OF THE
" With a view to the protection of life and property at sea, in the years 1875
and 1874, this subject received an exhaustive examination, observational and ex-
perimental. The investigation was conducted at the expense of the Government,,
and under the. auspices of the Elder Brethren of the Trinity House [the govern-
ing body of the British Light-House Establishment.]
" The most conflicting results were at first obtained. On the 19th of May,
1S73, the sound range was 3^ miles ; on the 20th it was 5^ miles ; on the 2d
of June 6 miles; on the 3d more than 9 miles; on the loth 9 miles; on the
25th 6 miles; on the 26th 9^ miles; on the ist of July 12)/ miles; on the 2d
4 miles, while on the 3d, with a clear, calm atmosphere and smooth sea, it was
less than 3 miles." *
The officer who made the reports, as to the fog-signals at Beaver
Tail and Little Oull, after the accidents to the steamers Rhode
Island and Galatea heretofore mentioned, was the Assistant Inspector
of the Third Light-House District, Lieut. Comd'r F. E. Chadwick,
U. S. N.; and it was he who had charge of the Light-House steamer
while the foregoing observations were being made, after Capt. George
Brown, U. S. N., the Inspector — to whom I am indebted for many
courtesies on this trip — was called elsewhere by other official duties*
Mr. Chadwick brought to this work an unbiased mind, trained in
the severest schools of scientific investigation. His object in all his
experiments was simply to ascertain the exact truth for practical
official purposes. He had not proposed, even to himself, to make
any generalizations from his observations. But he kindly answered
certain of my questions as to the opinions which had forced them-
selves upon him, and his answers are here set down for the con-
sideration of those who use these fog-signals overmuch as a guide
for their ships.
** It seems to me " he said " that navigators should understand that when at-
tempting to pick up a fog-signal attention must be given to the direction of the
wind, and that if they are to windward, (in a moderate breeze,) the chances are
very largely against hearing it, unless close to ; that there is nearly always a sector
of about 120° to windward of the signal in which it either cannot be heard at all,
or in which it is but faintly heard. Thus, with the wind £. S. E., so long as
they are bearing from the signal between N. £. and South, there is a large
chance that the signal will not be audible until it is very close.
" As they bring the signal to bear at right angles with the wind, the sound will
almost certainly in the case of light wind increase, and it will soon assume its
normal volume — being heard almost without fail in the leeward semicircle.
" Fog, to my mind, and so far as my experience goes, is not a factor of any con-
seouence whatever in the question of sound. Signals may be heard at great dis-
• Sound, by Tyndall, 3d Edition English, page 324.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 35
tances through the densest fogs, which may be totally inaudible in the same
directions and at the same distances in the clearest atmosphere. It is not meant
by this last statement that the fog may assist the sound ; as at another time the
signal may be absolutely inaudible in a fog of like density, where it had before
been clearly heard. That fog has no great effect can easily be understood when
it is known, (as it certainly is known by observers,) that even snow does not
deaden sound— there being no condition of the atmosphere so favorable for the
far reaching of sound signals as is that of a heavy N. £. snow storm, due sup-
posably to the homogeneity produced by the falling snow.
" It seems to be well established by numerous observations that on our own north-
em Atlantic coasts the best possible circumstances for hearing a fog-signal are
in a northeast snow storm, and, so far as these observations have extended, they
seem to point to the extraordinary conclusion that they are best heard with the
observer to windward of the signal ; and that in light winds the signal is best
heard down the wind, or at right angles with the wind.
" The worst conditions for hearing sound seem to be found in the atmosphere
of a dear, frosty morning on which a warm sun has risen and has been shining
for two or three hours.
** The curve of audibility in a light or moderate breeze, in general, is similar
to that plotted by Prof. Henry, as in the accompanying diagram.
** I think it is established that there are two great causes for these phenomena,
son homogeneity of the atmosphere, and the movement of the wmd ; how this
latter acts no one can say. The theory of retardation of the lower strata of the
atmosphere near the earth's surface, as advanced by Prof. Stokes, of England,*
seems good for moderate winds, but it hardly holds in cases where the siren is
heard from eighteen to twenty miles to windward during N. E. gales."
While the mariner may usually expect to hear the sound of the
average fog-signal normally as to force and place, he should he pre-
pared for occasional aberrations in audition. It is impossible* at
this point in the investigations which are still in progress, to say
when, where or how the phenomena will occur. But certain sug-
gestions present themselves even now as worthy of consideration.
It seems that the mariner should, in order to pick up the sound of
the fog-signal most quickly when approaching it from the wind-
•See Henry on Sound, p. 533; or, Sm. Rept., 1878, p. 633; or, L.-H. B. Rept. for 1875, p*
laoi Bee Henry on Soand, p. 612, and Taylor in Am. Jour. Sol., 3d series, VXI, p. loo*
alto, Rept Brit Assoc., XXIV, 2d part, p. 27.
S6 BULLETIN OF THE
ward, go aloft ; and that, when approachiog it from the leeward,
the nearer he can get to the surface of the water the sooner he will
hear the sound.
It also appears that there are some things the mariner should not
do.
He should place no negative dependence on the fog-signal ; that
is, he should not assume that he is out of hearing distance because
he fails to hear its sound.
He should not assume that, because he hears a fog-signal faintly,
he is at a great distance from it.
Neither should he assume that he is near to it because he hears
the sound plainly.
He should not assume that he has reached a given point on his
course because he hears the fog-signal at the same intensity that he
did when formerly at that point.
Neither should he assume that he has not reached this point
because he fails to hear the fog-signal as loudly as before, or because
he does not hear it at all.
He should not assume that the fog-signal has ceased sounding be-
cause he fails to hear it even when within easy earshot.
He should not assume that the aberrations of audibility which
pertain to any one fog-signal pertain to any other fog-signal.
He should not expect to hear a fog-signal as well when the up-
per and lower currents of air run in different directions ; that is
when his upper sails fill and his lower sails flap; nor when his
lower sails fill and his upper sails flap.
He should not expect to hear the fog-signal so well when between
him and it is a swiftly flowing stream, especially when the tide
and wind run in opposite directions.
He should not expect to hear it well during a time of electric
disturbance.
He should not expect to hear a fog-signal well when the sound
must reach him over land, as over a point or an island.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 37
And, when there is a bluff behind the fog-signal, he should be
prepared for irregular intervals in audition, such as might be pro-
duced could the sound ricochet from the trumpet, as a ball would
from a cannon ; that is, he might hear it at 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 miles
from the signal, and lose it at 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 miles distance,
or at any other combination of distances, regular or irregular.
These deductions, some .made, as previously mentioned, by sev-
eral of the first physicists of the age, and some drawn from the
original investigations here noted, are submitted for consideration
rather than given as directions. They are assumed as good work-
ing hypotheses for use in further investigation. While it is
claimed that they are correct as to the localities in which they were
made, it seems proper to say that they have not been disproved by
the practical mariners who have given them some personal consid-
eration, and who have tried to carry them into general application.
Hence these suggestions have been set down in the hope that others
with greater knowledge and larger leisure may give the subject
fuller attention, and work out further results.
If the law of these aberrations in audibility can be evolved and
some method discovered for their correction, as the variations of
the compass are corrected, then sound may be depended upon as a
more definite and accurate aid to navigation. Until then, the
mariner will do well when he does not get the expected sound of a
fog signal, to asiume that he may not hear a warning that is
faithfully given, and then to heave his lead, and resort to the other
means used by the careful navigator to make sure of his position.
Mr. Cleveland Abbe remarked that it seemed to him if these
anomalies were due to the refraction of sound in a vertical plane,
then a few feet of increase in the altitude of the observer or of the
signal itself, would make a great difference in the result. To this
Mr. Johnson replied that the observations made on board the ves-
sels were attended with the same results as to degree of audibility,
whether the observer were stationed upon the mast, deck, or near the
water line of the vessel.
Mr. William B. Taylor said that the interesting observations
presented by Mr. Johnson were in the main entirely corroborative of
the results announced by our late President, Prof. Henry ; and the
anomalies noted furnished striking confirmation of the explanations
88 BULLETIN OF THE
and generalizations reached by him, while they as strikingly discred-
ited as incongruous the rival hypothesis of hygroscopic flocculence in
the atmosphere as a notable occasion of acoustic disturbance. When
we consider the wide areas over which fog-signals are designed to
be conveyed — ^through which spaces the atmosphere can rarely be
uniform, either in its temperature or its movements — we can readily
understand that from these two prominent conditions of sound-re.
fraction, acoustic rays are commonly propagated in quite sensibly
curved or often serpentine directions ; and that while these inequal-
ities will sometimes favor audibility at given points, they will as
* often impair or defeat it. Moreover, these deformations of sound
waves are not confined to vertical planes, since it has been shown
that lateral refractions may exist, giving false impressions of direc-
tion as well as of distance.
As we have no means of either controlling or accurately deter-
mining these simultaneous differences of wind and temperature, we
are forced to admit that the practical difficulties attending these
anomalies of sound propagation are insoluble and incurable. But
we must not hence abandon sound-signalling as either hopeless or
inefficient, since it is the best — or rather the only — method at our
disposal of giving warning and guidance to the befogged mariner.
Two partial alleviations of the recognized defects are suggested.
The first is to place the siren or the steam whistle at considerable
elevations, say on the top of skeleton towers, perhaps higher than
those ordinarily employed as light-towers; at which points they
could readily be operated from the ground. This would, in many
cases, counteract the tendency to local acoustic shadows or bands
of silence, though in other cases it would be quite inefifectual. The
second expedient is, (if not too expensive,) to greatly multiply the
number of such signals at available points about dangerous coasts
or inlets, with proper distinctions to clearly specialize their indica-
tions, in order that the mariner failing to catch the sound from one
direction, might have the probability of picking up the sound from
a difiTerent azimuth. As these sound instruments may be operated at
considerable distances from the engine, and even at practically in-
accessible positions, on rocks or on buoys, danger poinU especially
should be guarded by fog-signals, not necessarily of great power,
but capable, at least, of covering the radius of actual insecurity.
Remarks were made by Mr. William B. Taylor on the rela-
tion of fog and snow storms to audibility.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOOIBTT OF WASHINGTON. 39
With regard to fog, Mr. Taylor said, we are not to conceive the
sound vibrations as passing alternately through air *and water, (as
a ray of light does,) but taking into view the .average wave-length
of sound (several feet ordinarily) and the enormous number of
water particles contained in that space, we must contemplate the
whole mass as a homogeneous medium taking up the sound waves
in the same manner, whether the aii; were perfectly dry, or were
precipitating excessive moisture in the form of rain. In the absence,
of sensible wind, the air thus supersaturated with moisture would
be practically very homogeneous, and thus generally well adapted
to the normal transmission of sound.
A similar remark applies to falling snow, (when not accompanied
with strong wind,) with the additional circumstance that, while the
precipitation and congelation would tend to warm the upper regions
of the air, any melting of the snow as it fell would cool the lower
region. Thb condition of relative warmth above and cold below
is favorable to the conveyance of sound to a distance — ^as first
pointed out by Prof. Osborn Reynolds, of Manchester, — by reason
of the expanding spherical wave-front being slightly more accele-
rated above than below, (in accordance with well known principles,)
and thus causing the horizontal or slightly rising sheets of sound
to be dished downward.
The next communication was by Mr. William Harkxbss on
the relative accuracy of different methods of determining the solar
parallax.
This paper is published in full in the American Journal of
Science for November, 1881, No. 131, vol. 22, pp. 375-394.
205th Meeting. November 5, 1881.
The President in the Chair.
Forty-three members present.
Mr. J. C. Welling presented the following communication on
ANOMALIES OF SOUND SIGNALS.
In the year 1865 Prof. Henry, while making some observations
on the intensity of sounds, discovered that a sound moving against
the wind, and which was inaudible to the ear of an observer on the
40 BULLETIN OF THE
deck of a vessel, might sometimes be regained by ascending to the
mast-head ; that is, sound is sometimes more readily conveyed, by
the upper current of the air than by the lower.
This fact, with other corroborative facts, did not, he says, reveal
its full significance to him until he was able to interpret it by the
aid of the hypothesis of Prof Stokes. (Transactions of the British
Scientific Association for 1867, Vol. 24,) according to which there
is — when the wind blows — a difference of velocities between the
upper and the lower strata of the atmosphere, resulting from the
retardation of the lower stratum by friction with the ground. This
unequal movement of the atmosphere disturbs the spherical form
of the sound waves, and tends to make them somewhat of the form
of an ellipsoid, the section of which by a vertical diametral plane,,
parallel to the direction of the wind, is an ellipse, meeting the
ground at an obtuse angle on the side towards which the wind is
blowing, and at an acute angle on the opposite side. But as sound
moves in a direction perpendicular to the front of the sound waves,
it follows that sounds moving with a favorable wind tend to be tilted
downwards toward the ground ; and sounds moving against an
opposing wind tend to be tilted upward until, finally, they pass
above the head of a listener standing on the ground.
The efiect of different elevations on the audibility of the same
sound has been brought within the sphere of scientific experiment.
In some experiments made by Prof. Reynolds in 1874, on " a fiat
meadow," by the aid of an electrical bell, placed one foot from the
ground, it was found that elevation afiected the range of sound
against the wind " in a much more marked manner than at right
angles." He adds : ** Over the grass no sound could be heard with
the head on the ground at twenty yards from the bell, and at thirty
yards it was lost with the head three feet from the ground, and its
full intensity was lost when standing erect at thirty yards. At
seventy yards, when standing erect, the sound was lost at long in-
tervals, and was only faintly heard even then ; but it became con-
tinuous again when the ear was raised nine feet from the ground,,
and it reached its full intensity at an elevation of twelve feet."*
In some experiments made by Prof Henry, in 1875, he found
that while sound moving at right angles to the wind could not be
heard as far as sound moving with the wind, yet it was equally true
♦London, Ed., and Dub. Ph. Mag. for 1875, Vol. 50.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 41
of sounds moving against the wind and at right angles to the wind,
that they could both be better heard on the top of a high tower
than on the surface of the ground.*
Baron Humboldt, in observations made on the intensity of
sounds at the Falls of the Orinoco, remarked their greater audi-
bility by night than by day, and referred their comparative weak-
ness by day to the effect of atmospheric disturbances arising from
ascending currents of rarified air and descending currents of
heavier air, which broke up the homogeneity of the atmosphere,
and thereby obstructed the transmission of sound. It is a necessary
complement of this hypothesis that sound which fails to be trans-
mitted through the atmosphere, because of " the reflections which
it endures at the limiting surfaces of the rarer and the denser air,"
is liable to be returned to the hearer in the shape of aerial echoes
rebounding from the acoustic cloud which the primary sound is not
able to pierce ; and hence the logical place assigned to echoes by
Dr. Tyndall, when, adopting and applying the Humboldt hypothe-
sis, he says that " rightly interpreted and folJowed out, these aerial
echoes lead to a solution which penetrates and reconciles the phe-
nomena from beginning to end." " On this point," he says, " I
would stake the issue of the whole inquiry. * * * The echoes
afford the easiest access to the core of this question." f
The conflicting hypotheses of Humboldt and Stokes, as respec-
tively applied by Tyndall and Henry in interpreting the abnormal
phenomena of sound, are here cited as prefatory to some much
older observations made under the same head by Dr. W. Derham,
in his elaborate paper entitled "Experiments and Observations on
the Motion of Sound, and other things pertaining thereto," as read
before the Royal Society in 1708. This paper, written in Latin, is
the report of a systematic inquiry into phenomena pertaining to
the velocity and motion of sounds, and treats only incidentally on
the intensity of sounds ; but, nevertheless, it contains some inter-
esting statements under this latter head.|
The subject of echoes is the first which engages the writer's atten-
tion. He says that echoes produced by sound-reflecting objects situ-
ated near a sounding body may sometimes be heard through many
*Rep. of Light- House Board, 1875, P- **9-
f " Sound," p. xxiv.
{Phil. Trans, of Royal Society, Jan. and Feb., 1708.
42 BULLETIN OF THE
miles, as well as the primary sound, or even better than the latter.
He observes that echoes produced by the firing of cannon on the
Thames river, between Deptford and Cuckold's Point, came to his
ears in a multiple form, repeated five or six times, and the terminal
crash of the echo was the loudest This last feature was observed
even when the multiple sounds were nine or ten in number. To
this he adds : " When I have heard the crashes of heavy artillery,
especially in a still and clear atmosphere, I have often observed that
a murmur high in the air preceded the report. Apd in thin fog
I have often heard the sound of cannon running in the air, high
above my head, through many miles, so that this murmur has lasted
fifteen seconds. This continuous murmur, in my opinion, comes
from particles of vapor suspended in the atmosphere which resist
the course of the sound waves, and reverberate them back to the
ears of the observer after the manner of undefined echoes.*
Mr. Richard Townley, an intelligent observer, having written to
Dr. Derham, in a letter from Rome, that " sounds are rarely heard
as far at Rome as in England and in other northern regions, and
having cited in support of this statement some observations drawn
from the firing of cannon in the castle of St. Angelo, Dr. Derham
caused an enquiry on this point to be made in Italy, under the aus-
pices of the British Minister at Florence. The enquiry was con-
ducted by Joseph Averani, a Professor in the University of Pisa.
Guns were fired at Florence, and observers were stationed at differ-
ent points in Leghorn and its vicinity to mark the effect of the
reports. The observers stationed in the Light-House and the Mar-
zocco tower, in the lower part of the city, heard no reports, but ob-
servers stationed on an old fortress in the upper part of the city»
and other observers placed on Monte Rotondo, about five miles
from Leghorn in the direction of Mount Nero, fand, therefore, more
in the direction of the wind which was blowing across the path of
the sound,) were able to hear the reports.
Another series of experiments was made on water, by firing
cannon at Leghorn, and stationing observers at Porto Ferrajo
in the Island of Elba, a distance of about sixty miles. In this
case the reports were better heard in still air than when the wind
was either favorable or unfavorable, and were not heard at all
points equally well, but only at those which were a little the more
elevated.f
* Derham, p. lo. \ Ibid.j pp. i8, 19, 20.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 43
As to the result of these observations, it was easy for Dr. Der-
ham to conclude that sounds are heard as far in Italy as in Eng-
land, when the conditions of the atmosphere are the same ; and
these experiments are here cited only for the light they shed on the
comparative antiquity of the observation that elevation has an im-
portant bearing on the audibility of sounds.
As to the causes which really affect the intensity of sounds, Dr.
Derham seems to have had a very obscure and imperfect notion.
His observations under this head are mainly a bundle of contra-
dictions, and the causes of these variations he prudently leaves to be
investigated by others, seeing, as he says, " that it equally exceeds
the grasp of his mind to discover them, and to assign what may be
the proper medium or vehicle of sound." He does not, however,
fall into the error of measuring the acoustic transparency of the
atmosphere by its optic transparency, for he says that the clearest
day he can remember, when wind and everything else seemed to
concur in promoting the force and velocity of sound, was a day
when he could not hear the firing of cannon at a distance easily
penetrated by their reports on former occasions. The effect of
clear or foggy air on sound, he says, is very uncertain, but as to
thick fogs and snow, he affirms that they are certainly powerful
dampers of sound, an observation now abundantly proved to be
erroneous.
From some observations made by Gen. Duane, at Portland,
Maine, in 1871, it appears that the fog-signal at that point is often
surrounded by a belt of silence, varying from one to one and a half
miles in radius.
From some observations made by Prony, Mathieus, and Arago, at
Villejuif, and by Humboldt, Bouvard, and Gay-Lussac, at Mon-
tlh^ry, in France, the two towns being 11.6 miles from each other,
it was noticed that while every report of the cannon fired at Mon-
tlh^ry was heard with the greatest distinctness, nearly every report
from Villejuif failed to reach Montlh^ry. The air at the time was
calm, with a slight movement of wind from Villejuif toward Mon-
tlh^ry, or "against the direction in which the sound was best
heard." These observations were made in 1822.
In 1872, Prof. Hftnry observed the same non-reciprocity of sound
in approaching the Whitehead fog-signal on the coast of Maine.
At a distance of six miles the signal was heard ; at a distance of
three miles from the shore the sound of the signal was lost, and was
i
44 BULLETIN OF THE
not regained until the vessel approached within a quarter of a mile
of the station. During all this time of silence the sound of the j
steamer's whistle was distinctly heard at the Whitehead station ; ,
that is, a lesser sound was heard from the steamer to the station, '
" while a sound of greater volume was unheard in the opposite di-
rection." The wind at the time was blowing in favor of the
steamer's whistle, and against the fog-signal.*
In a paper presented to the Royal Society in 1874, Prof. Rey-
nolds showed that the form of the sound-wave is liable to flexure
from changes in the temperature of the atmosphere as well as from
the unequal motion of wind.f
These abnormal phenomena of sound, considered in connection
with the hypothesis of Prof. Stokes, as enlarged and applied by
Prof. Henry, may be reduced into the following generalizations
which, if accurate in point of logical form, and true in point of the
facts to which they are applied, may be stated under the guise of
aphorisms, as follows :
1. " Where the condition of the air is nearest that of a calm,
the larger will be the curve of audition, and the nearer will the
shape of the curve approach to a circle, of which the point of
origin of the sound, or the point of perception will be the centre."
[This aphorism is stated abstractly from any consideration of tem-
perature refraction which, so far as it exists, will always tend to
modify the shape of the curve of audition.]J
2. Apart from all consideration of temperature refraction, a
sound will be heard furthest in the direction of a gentle wind, be-
cause the portion of the sound-wave thrown down from above, in
this case, is re-enforced by the sound reflected from the surface,
and will thus more than compensate for the loss by friction. ||
3. Other things being equal, the area of audition will be propor-
tionally diminished in the case of sounds moving against winds
more or less strong, because the sonorous waves will be refracted
above the ears of t^e observer. (Stokes, Henry and Reynolds.)
*Rep. Light House Board, 1874, p. 108.
t London, Ed., and Dublin Phil. Maj;. for 1875, Vol. 50, p. 52.
J Light-House Report for 1875. p. 125.
^\ Ibidem. Cf., TyndalVs Sound, p. 31 1. Cf., Jleyiiolds in Lon., Ed., and
Dub. Ph. Mag. for 1875, Vol. 50, pp. 63, 68.
i
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 45
4. The area of audition will be diminished in the case of a
sound moving with an overstrong favoring wind, because the sound-
waves in this case will be so rapidly and strongly thrown down to
the ground that the intensity of the sound will suffer more diminu-
tion from absorption and friction than can be supplied by the up-
ward reflection of the sound rays conspiring with the gradual
downward flexure of the sound-waves, as in the case of a gentle
favoring wind.*
5. Sounds moving against a gentle wind will, eceierU paribus, be
heard further than similar sounds moving with an overstrong favor-
ing wind, for reasons already implied, because the downward flex-
ure of the sound-waves, being excessive in the latter case, tends to
extinguish the conditions of audibility more rapidly than is done
by the slight upward refraction in the former case.
6. When sounds moving against the wind are heard further than
similar sounds moving with a wind of equal strength, it is because
of a dominant upper wind blowing at the time in a direction op-
posite to that at the surfaccf
7. A sound moving against the wind, and so refracted as in the
end to be thrown above the head of the observer will, at the point
of its elevation, leave an acoustic shadow. But this acoustic
shadow, at a still further stage, may be filled in by the lateral
spread of the sound-waves, or may be extinguished by the down-
ward flexure of the sound waves, resulting from an upper current
of wind moving in an opposite direction to that at the surface, or
resulting in a less degree from an upper stratum of still air. Under
these circumstances, there will be areas of silence enclosed within
areas of audition.];
8. As sounds may be refracted either by wind, or by changing
temperatures, or by both combined, it follows that, under many
circumstances, a sound lost at one elevation may be regained at a
higher elevation. ||
9. As sounds moving against the wind are liable to become in-
audible ( by being tilted over the head of the observer) even before
♦Light-House Report, 1875, P- '25.
t Light- House Report for 1877 : Experiments on Sound, p. 13.
I Experiments on Sound, 1877, ?• 8.
II Henry and Reynolds. Cf., Delaroche, Ann. de Chim. , 181 6, Tome I, p. 180.
46 BULLETIN OF THE
their intensity has been extinguished, we may find in this fact an
explanation of the statement made by Reynolds, that " on all oc-
casions the effect of wind seems to be rather against distance than
distinctness." *
•
10. As sounds may be inaudible at certain distances and eleva-
tions without being wholly extinguished, it follows that the com-
parative inaudibility of sounds at different times cannot always be
cited as an evidence of their relative intensities. The comparative
inaudibility may be a function of variable refraction rather than of
variable intensity. Hence the law of inverse squares, though per-
fectly true in its theoretical application to the measurement of the
intensity of all sounds, cannot always be legitimately used to cal-
culate backwards from the audibility of a sound, as empirically
ascertained at a given point and elevation, to its relative intensity
as previously heard at the same point and elevation.
11. The hypothesis of Stokes, as applied by Henry, does not
exclude the hypothesis of Humboldt, but reduces the latter to a
very subordinate and inappreciable place in interpreting the ab-
normal phenomena of sound.
12. The hypothesis of Stokes, as applied by Henry, does not ex-
clude the reasoning or the experimental proofs by which Prof. Rey-
nolds demonstrates that differences in temperature exert a refracting
power in sound, but finds in that refraction an influence which may
sometimes accelerate and sometimes retard the refraction produced
by wind.f
The next communication was by Mr. C. H. Koyl, Fellow of the
Johns Hopkins University, on
THE STORAGE OF ELECTRIC ENERGY.
After discussing the subject from an historical point of view, con-
cluding with a descriptioq of the improved form of secondary bat-
tery lately invented by M. Faure, the author proceeded to state the
*Lon., Ed., and Dub. Ph. JIag. for 1875, Vol. 50, p. 63.
f Rep. Light-House Board 1875, p. 125, cf. Reynolds; Lon., Ed., and Dub.
Ph. Mag. for 1875, Vol. 50, p. 71.
r
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 47
results of some investigations carried on independently in this
country by Mr. J. A. Maloney and Mr. Franz Burger, of Wash-
ington, and afterward by himself in connection with them.
Mr. Maloney and Mr. Burger had been aiming to interpose in
the circuit of the electric lamp a reservoir of energy which should
perform the same function for the electric lamp that a gasometer
did for a gas-burner, viz., prevent its flickering by keeping a con-
stant or nearly constant potential on the main line, even though the
current from the source should be irregular.
A long course of experiment convinced them that plates of lead
immersed in dilute sulphuric acid form a combination preferable to
any other for giving return currents when once these plates have
been made part of an electric circuit. They noticed what they
believed to be an oxide of lead formed on one plate, and since the
thicker the coating of oxide the greater the efiect, they began to
regard this layer as a sort of sponge which, in some way, held the
electricity, and they concluded to increase the holding capacity of
the cell by increasing the thickness of the sponge. Oxide of lead
was accordingly purchased and painted on, with results which were
surprising. The storage of electricity in large quantity was effected.
This was of course independent and without any knowledge of Mr.
Faure's work in Europe, but the chief merit of their inquiry lies in
the rapidity with which they grasped the idea of mechanicctUy in-
creasing the sponge-like coating.
While they were testing the capabilities of the battery and were
still endeavoring to improve it, the announcement was made of Mr*
Faure's similar inventions. Soon after the battery was submitted
for experiment to three members of this Society, and subsequently
the co-operation of the author was invited for further study of the
subject.
On examining the plates during their summer investigations they
found reason for believing that the published theory of the action
of the cell was but partly correct ; for after the plates had been
charged the changes of color and, therefore, of chemical constitu-
tion, upon which the return current was supposed to depend, were
found, in general, not to take place until the return current had
been passing for some time. If so, in something else than chemical
combination must lie the storage capacity Sf these cells. The con-
clusion arrived at from their investigations was that the change of
48 BULLETIN OF THE
red-lead into peroxide upon one plate and into spongy lead upon
the other required only a small part of the oxygen and hydrogen
liberated by the primary current and that the remainder was me-
chanically held in the coatings.
Several minor considerations support this view, and the principal
experiments upon which the proof should rest^ viz., the liberation
of the gas in a vacuum or by slight application of heat in general
succeed. Some anomalies, however, are presented which require
further study, but which the author hopes soon to reconcile with
the theory of mechanical storing.
A discussion followed, in which several members participated.
206th Meeting. November 17, 1881.
The President in the chair.
Thirty-eight members present.
The communication for the evening was by Mr. G. K. Gilbert
ON barometric hypsometry.
This communication was reserved by the author, and his views
and investigations in connection with this subject will be found in
a paper contributed by him to the Second Annual Report of the
Director of the United States Geological Survey.
A brief discussion ensued, and one or two points were questioned
207th Meeting. December 3, 1881.
The President in the chair.
Seventy-six members and visitors present.
Under the rules this meeting, being the next preceding the an-
nual meeting, was set apart for the delivery of the address of the
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 49
retiriDg President of the Society. Calling Vice-President Hilgard
to the chair, the President of the Society, Mr. J. J. Woodward,
then read the following address :
MODERN PHILOSOPHICAL CONCEPTIONS OF LIFE.
I address you this evening in accordance with the fifth of the
new Standing Bules for the goverpment of the Philosophical So-
ciety of Washington, adopted in January last, which directs that
the stated meeting next preceding the annual meeting for the
election of officers shall be set apart for the delivery of the Presi-
dent's Annual Address. By the rules adopted at the first organi-
zation of the society the President's address was directed to be
delivered on the evening of the annual meeting after the election
of ofiicers had taken place. It was found, however, that the elections
always occupied the whole meeting, so that the address was neces-
sarily postponed until after the term of office for which the Presi-
dent was elected had expired. During the presidency of the
illustrious Professor Henry, who by common consent was re-elected
annually, the inconvenience of this arrangement was not felt. But
I understood the general sense of the Society last year to be that
an annual change of President is desirable, and that this standing
rule was adopted in view of that feeling, in order to give the retir-
ing President a convenient opportunity for the delivery of his
address before his term of office expires.
For my own part I was last year, and am now, thoroughly con-
vinced of the desirability of electing a new President annually in
a society like ours. I think on the one hand that it is a measure
well calculated to increase the interest taken in the society by its
members, and on the other hand that the preparation of a formal
annual address would be too great a tax upon the time of a Presi-
dent re-elected from year to year. I think, too, that there is much
propriety in a suggestion which I heard expressed in many quarters
last year, that our President should.be selected alternately, from
what may be called for convenience, the Physical and Biological
sides of the society, so that having been myself elected as in some
sort a Representative of the Biological side, it is my hope that you
will at the next meeting elect as my successor a representative of
the Physical side. With this brief explanation I will proceed at
4
50 BULLETIN OF THE
once to the consideration of the subject I have selected for the
present occasion.
I propose to invite your attention this evening to some thoughts
on the Modem Philosophical Conc^tions of Life, The theme is so
large that it would be idle to attempt its systematic treatment in the
course of a single evening ; nor do I pretend to be in possession of
any satisfactory solution of this ancient question, of which I might
offer you an abstract or outline, pending the fuller presentation of
my results elsewhere. Yet I have ventured to hope that a discus-
sion of some of the considerations involved, and a brief statement
of certain views that I have been led to entertain, would not be
without interest, and perhaps might prove of actual service, especi-
ally to those of you who are engaged in biological pursuits.
Undoubtedly the conception of life most popular at the present
time is that which assumes all the phenomena of living beings to
be the necessary results of the chemical and physical forces of the
universe, and claims, or intimates, that wherever this has not yet
been proven to be the case the evidence will hereafter be forth-
coming. This doctrine, which may conveniently be designated the
chemico-physical hypothesis of life, has readily found its way from
the speculative writings of philosophers to the rostrums of some of
our teachers of chemistry and physics who boldly declare, in their
class-lectures and public addresses, that the forces at work in the
inorganic world are fully adequate to explain all the phenomena of
living beings, and prophesy that the time is soon coming " when the
last vestige of the vital principle as an independent entity shall dis-
appear from the terminology of science." *
Now, most of these gentlemen are not embarrassed by any very
definite or detailed knowledge of the physiological and pathological
phenomena which a tenable theory of life must be competent to
explain, while they do know, or at least ought to know, a great
deal of chemistry and physics; the confidence with which they
maintain their creed is therefore readily understood. Much more
surprising is it to find the same doctrine embraced by numerous
zoologists, physiologists, nay, even pathologists, among them men
who cannot for a moment be supposed to be unacquainted with the
phenomena to be explained, and of whose abilities and reasoning
powers it is impossible for me to think or speak otherwise t]ian re-
spectfully. Yet I cannot but believe that they have adopted the
chemico-physical hypothesis, not so much because they are really
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 51
satisfied with it as a scientific explanation of all the phenomena, as
because they are unduly biased in its favor by the utterances of
the great philosopher who has done, as I think we will all agree,
such good service to biological science by elaborating and populari-
ang the doctrine of evolution.
It is only natural that such a bias should exist. The discussion
of the nature of life — in the case of man at least — has always, and
not unreasonably, been conjoined with the discussion of the nature
of the soul, and the philosophers who have won highest repute in
the latter discussion, have always been willing enough to ofier solu-
tions of the life-problem, and have never had any difficulty in find-
ing followers even among those whose special lines of investigation
might be supposed to impose upon them the duty of independent
inquiry into the meaning of life.
Just as it was in the old time, with regard to this matter, so it is
now. When Galen undertakes to discuss the complex phenomena
of the Psyche, as manifested by the human species, he openly and
continually confesses the extent to which he relies upon the authority
of Plato ; and when the dicta of the master are such as to require
a special efiTort of faith on the part of the disciple, he honestly ex-
claims " Plato indeed appears to be persuaded of this, as for me,
whether it be so or not, I am unable to dispute the question with
him."'
In like manner, did they venture to be as frank as Galen was,
most of the modern biologists who have adopted the chemico-physi-
cal theory of life would, I presume, confess " as to this matter our
opinions are derived from Mr. Herbert Spencer's Principles of
Biology — what are we that we should venture to dispute as to ques-
tions like these with him."
Nevertheless in striking contrast to this chemico-physical hypoth-
esis of life, which is to be regarded as the fashionable faith of the
hour, there still survives in many quarters, and especially among
physicians, a disposition to regard indiscriminately almost all fhe
phenomena of living beings as peculiar manifestations of a vital
principle. So strong, indeed, is the faith of some of these modern
vitalists, that they seem to shut their eyes to the evidence already
in our possession as to the actual participation of known chemical
and physical forces in the operations going on within living bodies,
and appear almost to resent the willing aid that chemistry and
physics afibrd to the physiological investigator of the present day.
62 BULLETIN OF THE
Nay, further than this, in the inevitable reaction that is beginning
to make itself felt against the avowed revival of the materialism
of Epicurus and Lucretius — for we all know now that the chemico-
physical hypothesis of life is not a new induction of modern science,
but an ancient Greek speculation reappearing in modern petti-
coats— that other Greek speculation of the threefold Psyche, the
doctrine taught by Plato and Aristotle, and which Galen accepted
on their authority, the doctrine of a vegetable, an animal, and a
rational soul, a human trinity coexisting in every human being, is
once more rehabilitated and finding followers — likely, indeed, as I
think, to obtain more followers than perhaps any of you yet suppose.
And these followers are by no means confined to metaphysicians or
churchmen, they can be found also already among the biologists.
It is an English biologist of good repute, and of no mean abilities,
who takes occasion, in a technical biological work published this
very year, to express his belief that the Greek conception of the
threefold Psyche "appears to be justified by the light of the science
of our own day." '
For myself I must confess at once that I am quite unable to join
either of these opposing camps as a partizan. I cannot accept the
more strictly vitalistic views, because I am compelled continually
to recognize the operation of purely chemical and physical forces
in living beings. On the other hand, there are whole groups of
phenomena characteristic of living beings, and peculiar to them,
for which the chemico-physical hypothesis oflfers no intelligible
explanation.
From this point of view the various processes and functions of
living beings may indeed be divided into two classes, of which the
first may be regarded with more or less certainty as the special re-
sults, under special conditions, of the very same forces that operate
in the inorganic world ; while the second, to which alone I would
apply the term vital, are not merely in every respect peculiar to
living beings, and hitherto utterly inexplicable by the laws of
chemistry and physics, but are so different in character from the
phenomena of the inorganic world that it does not seem rational to
attempt to explain them by these laws.
Let me refer briefly to the processes and functions belonging to
the first class. Here I place all those more strictly chemical
processes by which, within the very substance of vegetable pro-
toplasm, inorganic elements are combined into organic matter,
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 53
as well as those which produce all the various subsequent traus-
formatioDS, whether in plants or animals, of the organic matter
thus prepared. This general conception includes of course, in the
case of the higher animals, all the chemical phases of the processes
of digestion, assimilation and tissjue-metamorphosis or metabolism,
including secretion and excretion ; in the case of the lower animals
and plants, so much of these several functions as belongs to each
species.
Now please to understand that when I say I recognize all the
chemical phases of these processes to be the results of the ordinary
chemical laws, I do not entertain any mental reservation with regard
to the unrestricted application of these laws. I cannot for a mo-
ment agree with those physiologists who have imagined the vital
principle to thwart, or interfere with, or counteract these laws in
any way. I know, indeed," that we are far from being as thoroughly
acquainted, as we may by and by hope to be, with the chemical
phenomena of living beings ; that many of the questions are very
difficult, so that as yet,* with all our labor, we have obtained but
partial or even contradictory results ; but I find in this only a reason
for further investigation — no logical difficulty of a radical kind.
In a general way I recognize that the matter of which living beings
are composed is built up of elementary substances belonging to the
inorganic world, and that it consists of atoms possessed of the very
same properties, and obedient to the very same laws as like atoms
in inorganic bodies. Yet I confess I find in all this no reason for
denying the existence of a vital principle ; only I do not figure this
principle iu my mind as a hostile power interfering in any way with
the chemical tendencies of the atoms present ; I liken its operations
rather to those of the chemist in his laboratory who obtains the
results he needs only on the condition of most rigid obedience to
chemical laws.
Intimately associated with some of the chemical processes just
enumerated are those chemical processes of respiration, in which
the chemical affinities of the oxygen of the atmosphere are directly
or indirectly the means of promoting tissue metamorphosis, as well
as of reducing at once to simpler forms some portion of the various
complex substances derived from the food. These chemical pro-
cesses are undoubtedly the chief original sources of the heat and
mechanical power manifested by animals. Of course they receive
heat also from without by conduction and radiation ; but this is a
54 BULLETIN OF THE
small matter to the heat generated within them ; of course, 'too,
mechanical power is continually transformed into heat within the
body of animals, but this neither increases nor diminishes the total
amount of energy liberated.
I yield my hearty assent to that modern scientific induction *
which sees in the potential energy of the complex chemical com-
pounds supplied to animals by their food, the essential source of all
the actual energy of the body, whether manifested in the form of
heat or work. In a general way the reduction of these complex
chemical compounds by oxidation into the much simpler ones, urea,
carbon dioxide, and water, is the means by which potential is con-
verted into actual energy. In the case of plants, too, the source of
any little heat that may be developed under special conditions, and
of such sluggish motions as actually occur, is doubtless to be found
in the reduction to simpler combination^ by oxidation of a part of
the organic matter already formed. The chief function of the v^-
etable world, however, is to build up, by means of the solar energy,
those complex and unstable organic compounds that supply the
animal world with food. Nevertheless, while I yield my hearty
assent to this generalization, and freely admit that it is more than
a mere deduction from the general doctrine of the conservation of
energy — that in fact it affords the most satisfactory explanation yet
suggested for a large number of observed phenomena — ^it is my
duty to caution you against the erroneous supposition that any one
has ever yet succeeded in affording a rigorous demonstration of the
truth of the generalization by an adequate series of actual experi-
ments.
Various attempts have, indeed, been made of late years to de-
termine experimentally both for animals and for man, the potential
energy contained in the food of a given period, and the actual
energy liberated during the same time in the form of heat and work.
I think, however, that all practical physiologists who have looked
into the question will agree ynth me that the numerical results
hitherto obtained must be received with the utmost caution.^
Difficulties exist on both sides of the problem. It is comparatively
easy, no doubt, to obtain a close approximation to the quantity
and composition of the food ; but to represent numerically what
becomes of it in the body, to deduct correctly what passes through
unchanged, and ascertain with reasonable accuracy the amount of
carbon dioxide, water, and urea, into which the rest is transformed;
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 55
these are questions which have taxed the utmost resources of in-
vestigators, and as to which our knowledge is jet in its infancy.
On the other hand, the direct measurement of the resulting heat
and work has hitherto proved still leds satisfactory. It would seem
to be a very simple thing to place an animal in a calorimeter, and
measure the heat-units evolved in a given time, as Lavoisier and
Laplace attempted to do in the latter part of the last century, and
we have been told that " Lavoisier's guinea-pig placed in the cal-
orimeter gave as accurate a return for the energy it had absorbed
in its food as any thermic engine would have done." ' But this
assertion is not supported by the results of actual experiment. We
know now that many precautions, unknown to Lavoisier, must be
taken to secure any approach to accuracy in calorimetric experi-
ments with animals, and just as the method is being brought to
something like perfection by arranging for the respiratory process
and its influence on the results, and by other necessary modifications
of the primitive rude attempts,^ doubts are beginning to arise
as to whether after all the conditions in which the animal is placed
in the calorimeter are not so far abnormal as seriously to vitiate the
results ; " so that in fact the most approved numerical expressions of
the heat-production of the body to be found in the books are based
rather upon calculation of the amount that ought to be produced
by the oxidation of an estimated quantity of food than upon actual
calorimetric observations.
Nor do we find it any easier when we attempt the actual meas-
urement of the amount of work produced by an animal from a
given amount of food. Indeed, in attempting to formulate an
equation between the potential energy of the food and the actual
amount of heat and work in any given case, we are met with the
special difiSculty that the animal does not evolve less heat because
it 18 doing work than it does when it is at rest ; on the contrary, it
actually evolves more heat, consuming for the purpose more food
than usual — or if this is not forthcoming, consuming a part of its
©wn reserve of adipose tissue — so that from this source fresh com-
plications of the problem arise.
The labor and ingenuity with which all these difiSculties have
been encountered is certainly worthy of the highest praise, and I
willingly admit the probably approximate truth of the figures
generally in use, say 2i to 2f million gramme-degrees as the daily
average heat-production of an adult man, and 150,000 to 200,000
56 BULLETIN OF THE
metre-killogrammes as his capacity for daily mechaoical work/
Nevertheless these figures are after all only probable approxima*
tions, and there still exists, with regard to these questions, a large
and inviting field for the application of chemical and physical
methods to physiological research.
All the mechanical work done by living beings is effected by
means of certain contractions of their soil tissues. The movements
of the amoeba, so often described of late years, may be taken as the
type of the simplest form of these contractions. Similar move-
ments occur, with more or less activity, in the protoplasm of all
young cells, and in the higher animals are strikingly illustrated by
the movements of the white corpuscles of the blood and the wan-
dering cells of the connective tissue. In the lowest animal forms
these simple amoeboid movements of the protoplasm are the only
movements, but in the higher forms, besides these, certain special
contractile tissues make their appearance, by which the chief part
of the mechanical work done is effected ; these are the striated and
unstriated muscular fibres.
On account of the extreme minuteness of the little protoplasmic
bodies in which the amoeboid movements are manifested, the inves-
tigation of the mechanical means by which these movements are
effected has not as yet been attempted, although a great mass of
details have been accumulated by actual observation with regard to
the phenomena themselves and the conditions under which they
occur. Very little more has been done with regard to the con-
tractions of the unstriated muscular fibres. The striated muscles^
however, have been made the subject of a host of researches, and
I suppose the conclusions to which we may ultimately be led by
these can be regarded, with but little reservation, as applicable to
the function of the unstriated muscles, and also to the simpler
amoeboid protoplasmic contractions.
Yet, notwithstanding the vast amount of experimental labor and
speculative ingenuity that has been lavished, since the time of Hal-
ler, upon the question of the contraction of the striated muscle, it
must be confessed in the honest language of Hermann,^^ that
the problem still mocks our best endeavors. For myself, 1 am un-
willing to believe that the phenomena of muscular contraction, or
indeed, of any of the varieties of protoplasmic contraction by which
animals effect mechanical work, will not by and by be fully and satis-
factorily explained on chemico-physical principles. I cannot for a
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 57
moment give my adherence to the dogmatism of those modern
vitalists who insist that the contractions of a muscle, or of an
amoeba, are essentially vital phenomena ; for this would be to claim
that life can create force. But it would be folly to shut our eyes to
the circumstance that no chemico-physical explanation of muscular
contraction yet offered has been so convincingly supported by facts
as to command the universal assent of competent physiologists.
Of the various hypotheses devised to explain muscular contrac-
don, those which regard the phenomena as in some way resulting
from electrical disturbances have long enjoyed great popularity.
Such of these hypotheses as still survive are based upon the elec-
trical manifestations actually observed in living muscles. It has
been pretty generally accepted in accordance with the ol^ervations
of Du Bois-Reymond, whose brilliant series of experiments in animal
electricity " is deservedly renowned, that even quiescent living
muscles are in a state of electrical tension. If, for example, a
muscle composed of parallel longitudinal fibres, be exposed with
suitable precautions, and divided near each extremity by a trans-
verse incision, the surface of the muscle will be found to be positive
to the cut ends, and if one of a pair of non-polarizable electrodes,
connected with a suitable galvanometer, is placed in contact with
the surface of the muscle and the other in contact with one of the
cut ends, the existence of a current is made manifest. The con-
ditions are, moreover, such that while the maximum effect is pro-
duced when the equator of the surface is connected with the centre
of one of the cut ends ; more or less current will also be manifested
whenever any two points of the surface are thus connected with the
galvanometer, provided they are not equidistant from the equator. In
such cases the point most distant from the equator is always negative.
The electro-motive force of this natural current of the quiescent
muscle varies greatly, but has been found* by Du Bois-Reymond to
amount sometimes to as much as .08 Daniell in one of the thigh
muscles of the frog." In muscles of different form, or cut dif-
ferently from what has just been described, the currents are some-
what differently arranged, but the example just given must suffice
for my present purpose.
In accordance with the observations of the same investigator,
it is claimed that during a muscular contraction the electrical ten-
sion diminishes, the normal muscle-current experiences a negative
variation, and this occurs in such a way, that as the wave of actual
58 BULLETIN OF THE
contraction moves along the muscle, which it does, according to the
ohservations of Bernstein and Hermann," with a velocity of about
3 metres per second, it is preceded by a wave of negative varia-
tion. This negative variation is indeed so trifling, if the muscle
contracts but once, that it is difficult to observe it ; but when the
contractions succeed each other with great rapidity, as in artificially
produced tetanus, it may become sufficient to neutralize completely
the deflection of the galvanometer due to the current of the quies-
cent muscle.
But the belief that the electrical currents, shown to exist in the
quiescent muscles in these experiments, exist also in uninjured ani-
mals has not remained unchallenged. Since 1867 it has been
attacked especially by Hermann/^ who has endeavored to show
that these currents are produced only under the special conditions
of the experiments, and that there are in reality no natural muscle-
currents at all. It was well known that the currents observed in
the experiments varied greatly under diflerent circumstances, and
it seemed a significant fact that they should be most intense when
the muscle was removed from the body and had both ends cut oK
If the muscle was removed with its tendinous extremities still
attached, the current was usually found to be very feeble, or en-
tirely absent, until the ends were well washed in salt and water, or
dipped in acid. Du Bois-Beymond had explained this by sup-
posing the natural ends of the muscle to be protected by what he
called a parelectronomic layer of positive elements that must be
removed before the natural cun'ent could be made manifest. On the
other hand, Hermann has endeavored to show that the parts injured
by the knife, or acted on by the salt or acid, enter at once into the
well-known condition of rigor mortis, and only become negative to
the still living portions of the muscle in consequence of this change.
That electrical disturbances actually occur in contracting muscles
he admits, but endeavors to show that they are due simply to the
fact that the changes preceding contraction make the aflected part
of the muscle negative to every part less modified or wholly unal-
tered. Hence, if an uninjured muscle be caused, under proper pre-
cautions, to contract simultaneously in all its parts, it will be found
that the contraction is wholly unaccompanied by any muscle-cur-
rent."
Observations that appear to support these views of Hermann
have been brought forward by Englemann." On the other hand
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 69
Du Bois-BeymoDd has defended his views with vigor, and sharply
criticised, of course, the labors and logic of his assailant.'^ I
need not at present express any opinion as to the merits of this
voluminous controversy. It is enough for my purpose to indicate
the questions at issue as sufficiently important and uncertain to be
well worthy of independent experimental criticism.
Suppose, however, this criticism should result in showing that
Hermann is wholly in the wrong, and that the muscle-currents ob-
served by Du Bois-Reymond really exist in healthy muscles. How,
then, shall these currents explain the phenomena of muscular con-
traction? I presume that no physiologist of the present day is
misled by the superficial comparison, which Mayer and Amici were
led by their microscopical studies of the muscles of insects to make
between the striated muscular fibre and a Voltaic pile." But the
molecular theory by which Du Bois-Reymond has endeavored to
explain his natural muscle-currents and their negative variation
would appear to open up an inexhaustible mine of speculative pos-
sibilities for those who are inclined to speculate.
Yet the old experiment of Schwann*' has always been a stumbling-
block in the way of any theory that would explain muscular
contraction bv the action of a force which must increase inversely
as the square of the distance between the molecules, for the force of
the contraction, as it actually occurs, diminishes as the muscle
shortens; and hence we find so good a physiologist as Radclifie*^
reviving, in a modified form, the old hypothesis of Matteucci," in
accordance with which the electrical tension of the fibre, in the
state of rest, causes a mutual repulsion of the molecules, and so
elongates the muscle, while the contraction is merely the effect of
the elasticity of the tissue, which asserts itself so soon as the repul-
sive force is diminished by the negative variation that precedes
contraction.
In consequence of these and other difficulties many physiologists
are beginning to regard the electrical phenomena as subordinate
accidents of the chemical processes that go on in muscle, and en-
deavor to explain muscular contraction as resulting directly from
these chemical processes themselves. Arthur Qamgee" has adopted
as most probable the chemical hypothesis of Hermann." This
assumes the contraction to result from the decomposition of a com-
plex nitrogenous compound supposed to be contained in the muscu-
lar tissue, and named inogen. During contraction inogen breaks
60 BULLETIN OF THE
down into carbon dioxide, lactic acid, (Fleischmilchsaure,) and
gelatinous myosin. The rearrangement of molecules necessary to
produce the latter body determines the contraction. Subsequently
the gelatinous myosin combines with the necessary materials fur-
nished by the blood, and becomes inbgen again. This decomposi-
tion and recomposition goes on also while the muscle is at rest, but»
as then the gelatinous myosin is reconverted into inogen as rapidly
as it is formed, no contraction results.
J)u Bois-Reymond declares all this to be merely unsupported hy-
pothesis.^^ Gramgee himself admits that it is, after all, not very
clear why the gelatinous myosin should contract. Michael Foster,*^
who wholly rejects this particular chemical hypothesis, nevertheless
seems quite sure that the true explanation will be found to be a
chemical one. He insists that muscular contraction is essentially
a translocation of molecules, and declares that whatever the
exact way in which this translocation is effected may be, it is funda-
mentally the result of a chemical change, or, as he describes it, "an
explosive decomposition of certain parts of the muscle-substance."
The purpose I have in view does not require, fortunately, that I
suould attempt to decide whether these more purely chemical
theories of muscular contraction, or the more purely electrical theo-
ries, are best entitled to confidence. My object has been effected,
if I have impressed you with the fact that wide differences of opinion
still exist as to the nature of the process, and that further investi-
gation is indispensable for the settlement of existing controversies.
The subject just briefly discussed brings us naturally to the con-
sideration of the nature of the action of the motor nerves, by
which, in all animals possessed of a muscular and nervous system,
the contraction of the muscles is regulated and determined.
The hypothesis which identifies the nervous currents with elec-
tricity was propounded in the posthumous work of Hansen ** in
1743, and, notwithstanding all the difficulties and objections it has
encountered, still survives in a modified form in many contempora-
neous minds. Those who hold to this view appeal in its support to
the electrical phenomena actually observed in nerves in accordance
with the investigations of Du Bois-Reymond. These observations
have long been widely accepted as conclusive proof that natural
currents exist in the quiescent nerve pf the same general character
as those attributed to the quiescent muscle, which I outlined a few
minutes ago. The electro-motive force of this current was found
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETT OF WASHINGTON. 61
by Du Bois-Beymond'' to be equal to .022 Daniell in the sciatic
nerve of the frog. When a nervous impulse passes along the nerve
the natural current is diminished ; it experiences a negative varia-
tion, which, according to Bernstein," when the impulse results from
a very potent stimulation, may more than neutralize the natural
current. The same physiologist has shown that this negative
variation moves along the nerves of the frog at the rate of 28
metres per second ; that is, at the same rate as the nervous impulse
itself, as determined without reference to the electrical phenomena.
As in the case of the muscle-currents, these phenomena have been
differently interpreted by Hermann,™ who denies the existence of
any natural nerve-current in uninjured nerves, and ascribes those
observed in the experiments to the circumstance that the parts of
the nerve dead or dying, in consequence of the section, become nega-
tive to the living nerve. The negative variation produced by the
stimulation of a nerve he expla^ins by assuming that the stimulated
part of the nerve becomes, in consequence of the changes resulting
from the stimulation, negative to the unstimulated parts. I will
not attempt to enter to-night into the merits of the controversy still
in progress with regard to this question ; nor will I pause to discuss
the exceedingly curious and interesting phenomena of electrotonus,*^
concerning which, I will only say that the question has even been
raised by Badcliffe as to how far these phenomena are peculiar to
nerves, and how far they may be regarded as mere phenomena of
the electrical currents employed, which would be equally manifested
under similar circumstances if a wet string or other bad conductor
should be substituted for the nerve.'^
However these disputes may be ultimately decided ; whatever
the actual facts with regard to the electrical manifestations in nerves
at rest or in action, may ultimately prove to be, there is a group of
easily repeated elementary experiments which seem to show pretty
distinctly that whatever the nervous impulse may be, it is not merely
an electrical current.
It was known already when Haller wrote'' that a string tied
tightly around a nerve, although it in no wise interferes with the
passage of electrical currents, puts a speedy end to the transmission
of nervous impulses. With this old experimental difficulty uncon-
tradicted, it seems strange that anyone should declare at the present
time that " the main objections raised to the electrical character of
nerve energy is based upon its slow propagation.''" In fact this
'
62 BULLETIN OF THE
latter objection is altogether a subordinate difficulty which may
perhaps be entirely explained away ; the main experimental objec-
tion does not relate to the velocity, but to the conditions of the
propagation of the nervous impulse. If, instead of tying a string
around it, the nerve be merely pinched or bruised well with a pair
of forceps so as to destroy its delicate organic texture ; if it be com-
pressed tightly by a tiny metallic clamp ; if it be divided by a sharp
knife, and the cut ends brought nicely into contact, or brought in
contact with the extremities of a piece of copper wire, it will still
conduct electrical currents as well as ever, but can no longer transmit
the nervous impulse. So, too, there are certain poisons, such as
the woorara, which completely destroy the capacity of the nerve
for transmitting nervous impulses, without in the least diminishing
its conductivity for electricity."
In view of these and other practical difficulties, the best instructed
modern physiologists no longer attempt to identify the nervous
impulse with the electrical phenomena by which it is accompanied.
Du Bois-Reymond himself has suggested that the nervous agent '* in
all probability is some internal motion, perhaps even some chemical
change, of the substance itself contained in the nerve-tubes, spread-
ing along the tubes." ^ Herbert Spencer came to the conclusion
that " nervous stimulations and discharges consist of waves of mo-
lecular change"'® flowing through the nerve-fibres; and I suppose
that most physiologists at the present time think of the nervous
current in some such way as this. Even those who attach most
importance to the electrical phenomena will, I take it, agree with
Michael Foster, that these " are in reality tokens of molecular
changes in the tissue much more complex than those necessary for
the propagation of a mere electrical current." '^
Wc do not, however, as yet possess any sufficient foundation of
facts on which to build a reasonable hypothesis as to the nature of
the molecular disturbances that accompany a nervous impulse.
The labors of the physiological chemists have taught us nothing
with regard to the changes that go on, except that the axis-cylinder
which, in the inactive living nerve is alkaline, becomes acid after
long continued activity, or after death.'* We can measure the
velocity with which the impulse travels ; we can study the con-
ditions under which it arises ; we can believe, as I certainly do, that
it will ultimately receive a chemico-physical explanation, but its
real nature we do not yet know.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 63
80 far as we can ascertain, the phenomena of the conduction of
nervous impulses by the sensitive nerves are so similar to those of
the conduction of motor impulses, that any explanation ultimately
adopted for the one will probably apply to the other also. When,
however, we ascend to the study of the nervous centres, by which
sensitive and motor nerves are connected together, and attempt the
interpretation of the complex functions of nerve-cell, ganglion,
spinal cord, and brain, we find that none of the hypotheses hitherto
brought forward to explain the observed phenomena repose on any
defensible chemico-physical basis.
I cannot, of course, undertake to give to-night even the most
meagre outline of the wondrous mechanism which physiological ex-
periments show must exist. That reflex ac^ions, co-ordinated muscu-
lar movements, and all the complex phenomena of this class, do
depend upon a wonderfully complex mechanism, and occur in
strict accordance with the ordinary chemical and physical laws, I
do not for a moment doubt, and I cordially invite the co-operation
of the chemists and physicists to aid the physiologists in the expla-
nation of this mechanism, for we stand only upon the threshold as
yet.
If now we turn from the more general discussion of muscular
contraction and nervous action, to the consideration of the several
functions carried on in animals, by means of special arrangements
of the muscular and nervous systems, we continually encounter the
preponderating influence of purely physical laws. The introduc-
tion of air into the lungs of breathing animals, and its expulsion
thence, is eflTected in a purely mechanical way, while the exchange
of the carbon dioxide of the blood with the oxygen of the inspired
air occurs in strict obedience to the laws of the diffusion of gases.
The ordinary laws of hydraulics govern the circulation of the
blood and lymph, and all the complex visible motions of the body
are executed in accordance with the ordinary laws of mechanics ;
nor is it at all necessary for me to insist upon the purely physical
nature of the operations of the organs of the special senses, conspic-
uously the eye and the ear. For example, so far as concerns the
means by which images of external objects are formed sharply upon
the retina, the eye is as purely a physical instrument as the telescope
or the microscope. But I need not dwell upon this group of phe-
nomena, because the importance of the role of the ordinary physical
64 BULLETIN OF THE
laws in this domain is conceded, I suppose, by the' extremest of the
vitalists of the present day. ,
We see, therefore, that, with regard to a large part of the
phenomena of living beings, there are grounds for affirming either
that they have already been satisfactorily explained by a reference
to established chemical and physical laws, or at least that they
are of such a character that it is reasonable to hope they may be
thus explained at some future time. Is it possible, then, to return,
as some have done of late years, to the old speculation of Des Cartes,
and look upon living beings as mere machines ? To do so, it will
not suffice to image to yourselves ordinary machines in which fuel
yields force. To satisfy the chemico-physical hypothesis of life you
must suppose machines that build themselves, repair themselves,
and direct, from time to time, new applications of their energy in
accordance with changes in the environment ; nay, more — machines
that accouple themselves together, breeding little machines of the
same kind that grow by and by to resemble their parents, and
all this self-directed, without any engineer. But even Des Cartes
required an engineer — the soul — to run his man-machine, and the
logic which compelled him to this view applies just as forcibly to
all the modern machine conceptions of living beings.
I have already asserted that there are whole groups of phenomena
characteristic of living beings, and peculiar to them, which cannot
be intelligently explained as the mere resultants of the operation of
the chemical and physical forces of the universe. These phenomena
I refer — I avow it without hesitation — to the operations of a vital
principle, in the existence of which I believe as firmly as I believe
in the existence of force, although I do not know its nature any
more than I know the nature of force. If, for convenience, at any
time, I compare the living body to*a machine, I must compare the
vital principle to the engineer — it is the director, the manager if
you will, but it does not supply the force that does any part of the
work. Let us consider, then, in the remainder of this discourse,
the phenomena which indicate the guidance of the vital principle.
The first group of phenomena belonging to this second class are
those forced upon our attention whenever we attempt to study the
question of the origin of life. It has seemed to some of our contempo-
raries that, in accordance with the doctrine of evolution, as deduced
by Mr. Herbert Spencer from the great truth of the persistence of
force, life ought always to arise spontaneously out of inorganic
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 65
matter whenever the necessary materials and other conditions of
life are brought together. Indeed, if there be nothing more or
other in life than force, I confess I do not understand how this con-
clusion can be logically escaped ; and yet, when we come to inter-
rogate nature, we find that, in point of fact, things do not happen so.
The sun may stream all the enormous energy of his rays upon
the slime of the Nile, but he generates no monsters ; nay, not even
a bacterium, except in the presence and under the direction of pre-
existing life. Our biological knowledge has so far advanced that
it is easy for us to get together mixtures of matter, for the most
part derived from pre-existing living beings, which are peculiarly
well fitted to supply the materials needed for the building up of a
variety of low forms of life, and the extent of our present knowl-
edge of the conditions favorable to the development of these low
forms of life is shown by the rapidity with which they do develop
from a few individuals to countless millions, if only a few individ-
uals are introduced as parents into our flasks and brood-ovens.
The species to which the countless progeny belongs, depends always
upon the species of the parents we introduced by design or accident,
and if parents of several species are introduced we may imitate on
a tiny scale the great struggle for existence, and witness the sur-
vival of the fittest. Never, however, has the spontaneous genera-
tion, out of inorganic matter, of a single living form been yet ob-
served.
Speculative considerations have, indeed, from time to time led
certain enthusiasts to desire earnestly that it might be observed ;
and when we consider on the one hand the influence of pre-existing
bias, and on the other the intricacy of some of the experimental
processes in question, it is by no means necessary to charge dishon-
esty upon those who, from time to time, have actually fancied that
their desires have been realized to the extent of the spontaneous
generation of bacteria at least. When we consider the immense
development of the trade in canned food, which could not exist for
a single summer's day, if these experimenters were not mistaken, it
will be seen how little need there was for renewed scientific experi-
ment to refute their conclusions ; but it is a noteworthy fact that
among those who have contributed most by exact research to recent
scientific demonstrations of the truth, that life never arises except
from pre-existing life, are to be found some of the most earnest and
eloquent advocates not merely of the doctrines of evolution, but of
its supposed corollary, the chemico-physical hypoth^is of life.
:5
66 BULLETIN OF THE
I sympathize heartily with those who, recognizing .that the sup-
position of the spontaneous origin of life on our globe is flatly
contradicted by the facts of science, have endeavored to escape the
difficulty by imagining the earliest parent living forms to have been
brought to our earth on the surface of meteoric stones or other
cosmical bodies. This hypothesis, put forward originally on purely
theoretical grounds, has recently acquired a certain degree of sup-
port from the published observations of Hahn and Weinland,* who
believe they have recognized the remains of humble coralline forms
in thin sections of meteoric stones collected in Hungary. Yet
these observations, if indeed they should prove to be correct, would
rather afford indications of the existence of life in other worlds
than ours, than show that living forms could survive the high
temperature to which such cosmical masses must be exposed during
their transit through our atmosphere; and even should we find
reasons for ultimately adopting this hypothesis, we should not have
solved the problem of the origin of life, but only removed it en-
tirely beyond the domain of further scientific investigation.
If, however, we reject this view, and still mean to support the
chemico-physical hypothesb of life, we shall have to resort to a
still more improbable supposition. .We shall have to suppose that
although in the present order of things life can only arise out of
pre-existing life, the order of things was at some past time so far
different that life could then arise out of inorganic matter; a
supposition which implies an instability in the course of nature
that is contradicted by all the teachings of science.
I willingly admit that, in view of our present scientific notions of
the cosmogony, it is impossible to believe that life always existed upon
this planet. I willingly admit that life on the earth must have had
a beginning in time. But we do not know how it began. Let us
honestly confess our ignorance. I declare to you I think the old
Hebrew belief, that life began by a creative act of the Universal
Mind, has quite as good claims to be regarded a scientific hypothesis
as the speculation that inorganic matter ever became living by
virtue of its own forces merely.
If we turn now to the consideration of the processes of growth^
we shall find additional reasons for believing in the existence of a
vital principle. Let us consider first, in the most general way, the
conditions under which those strictly chemical processes occur, to
which I have already alluded, and by which the inorganic atoms
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 67
are combined into organic matter. I repeat it, I do not for a
moment question that the actual force by which these processes are
compelled exists in the solar rays, and that it is, after all, the solar
energy thus stored up in the vegetable protoplasm and its products
that supplies, by its subsequent liberation, all the force manifested
by living beings. Yet, let me beg you to observe that in all the
myriads of years during which the solar energy has streamed upon
the earth, that energy has never, on any occasion that we know of,
determined the combination of inorganic atoms into organic matter,
except within the substance of already living protoplasm. The
water and carbon dioxide and ammonia in the atmosphere and in
the soil, come into contact with each other, within the substance of
porous inorganic clods on the surface of the soil, much as they do
in the substance of protoplasm, and the equal sun warms both
alike ; but in the clod they remain water, carbon dioxide, and am-
monia ; in the protoplasm, provided only that it is living proto-
plasm, they combine into starch or oil, or even into protoplasm
itself. The essential condition, then, of this storing up of the solar
energy for the subsequent use of living beings is the presence of
life, and in these fundamental operations the mighty force of the
sun acts, in the fullest sense of the words, the part of the servant
of life.
The view thus suggested, that we have here to do with something
more than the mere operation of the inorganic forces, is still further
strengthened when we come to consider more in detail the phenom-
ena of the growth of living beings, whether plants or animals. The
better we become acquainted with these phenomena the more fully
we become convinced that we have to do with processes for which
the inorganic world affords no parallel.
LdnnsBUS, indeed, declared, "lapides crescunt," using the very
same phrase which he applied also to plants and animals.^ But it
is impossible to maintain this assertion without adopting the most
superficial view of the growth of living beings, and defining the
process to consist merely in increase of size. That this should have
appeared reasonable, in the time of Linnaeus, need excite no surprise;
but it seems strange to find so astute a thinker as Mr. Herbert
Spencer repeating the old fallacy in the first chapter of his Induc-
tions of Biology, and declaring : " Crystals grow, and often far
more rapidly than living bodies."*^ Then, after instancing the
formation of geological strata by the deposit of detritus from water,
68 BULLETIN OF THE
as well as the formation of crystals in solutions, as examples of
growth in the inorganic world, he asks : " Is not the growth of an
organism a substantially similar process?" and adds: "Around a
plant there exist certain elements that are like the elements which
form its substance, and its increase in size is effected by continually
integrating these surrounding-like elements with itself; nor does
the animal fundamentally differ in this respect from the plant or
the crystal."
Now, as opposed to this, I must express my belief that the more
we know of the actual details of the process of growth in plants
and animals the more clearly it will be seen that this process does
differ so fundamentally from that by which a crystal is formed and
increases in size, or from any increase in size of inorganic bodies, that
the same scientific term cannot, with any propriety, be applied to
both, however long popular usage may have given to both a com-
mon name. When inorganic bodies increase in size the additional
atoms are deposited on their external surfaces ; or, if a fluid, after
penetrating the interstices of some porous body, deposits there any
material held in solution, the mass, indeed, is increased thereby,
but not the size. When, however, vegetable protoplasm grows, it
does not merely integrate with itself certain elements around it like
the elements which form its substance ; the needed elements exbt
in compounds quite unlike itself, and it combines them together
into protoplasm in all parts of its mass, so that it grows by a process
of intussusception wholly unlike anything that occurs in the inor-
ganic world. In the case of animal protoplasm, the mode of growth
by intussusception is the same, but the capability of combining
together mere inorganic elements into its own substance is lost;
and, besides these, a certaiu amount of pre-existing vegetable or ani-
mal protoplasm must be present in the food, or growth will not
go on.
In both cases, when the growth has proceeded to a certain extent —
within certain definite limits — a new characteristic phenomenon
occurs in a growing mass of vegetable or animal protoplasm ; it
multiplies by division, its whole mass participating in the act, in
accordance with one or other of a few definite methods. This pro-
cess is repeated again and again. The progeny may separate, with-
out modification, as independent forms, or, as in the case of the
more complex organisms, they may cohere together, and the process
culminates by groups of them undergoing certain definite and
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 69
peculiar transformations, after which further multiplication be-
comes rare or ceases altogether, and the growth of the cotnplex
organism is thus limited.
I cannot, of course, attempt this evening to describe all the known
details of the process of growth which I have thus hastily sketched ;
to give you a really satisfactory account of them would require a
series of lectures. But I do not hesitate to say that the more AiUy
you know these details the more unscientific you will think the
attempt to class them as in any way similar to the circumstance
that inorganic crystalline compounds seem '* each to have a size
that is not usually exceeded without a tendency arising to form
new crystals, rather than to increase the old." It is, at the best, a
waste of words to attempt to explain complex phenomena by com-
paring them to simpler ones which are fundamentally unlike them.
I have but now referred to a process by which, in the growth of
the more complex living beings, the small primitive protoplasmic
mass, out of which each individual arises, subdivides and produces
a numerous brood of protoplasmic masses, at first closely resem-
bling the parent mass, but after a time differing from it more and
more, and finally undergoing transformations into definite and
peculiar forms. This process, which does not take place in any
disorderly manner, but in a very characteristic and definite way in
each individual form, is designated by the term development. In
point of fact, so far as it consists in the mere growth and multipli-
cation of the individual elements that compose the organism, and
the increase in size of the organism itself on account of these pro-
cesses, it is properly designated by the term growth. In so far,
however, as the individual elements are differentiated, and the
wonderful architecture of the living being, with its organs and
systems, is completed thereby, it is properly designated by the term
development.
Nothing like the process of development as thus defined exists in
the inorganic world, and in all the attempts at such a comparison
that it has been my fortune to meet, the most fundamental facts of
the development of living beings have been persistently ignored.
Among these fundamental facts I invite your attention especially
to the circumstance that there is something in the miscroscopic
mass of protoplasm, out of which, even in the case of the highest
and most complex living beings, each individual arises, that goes
even further in determining the direction in which the individual
70 BULLETIN OF THE
shall develop than the pabulum, or environment, or all the mightj
chemfcal and physical forces that are brought into play as the pro-
cess goes on. In a word, the individual developes after the pattern
of its parent, or not even all the solar energy can compel it to
develop it at all.
We are thus brought face to face with the £Eicts of sexual gener-
ation, and especially of heredity, with all their wide bearings on
the great biological questions of natural selection and the origin of
species. Into the details of these large questions the limits of the
hour will not permit me to enter. Could I take time to do so, I am
satisfied that at every step I should be able to collect for you ad-
ditional evidence of the existence of a vital principle. Still I
regret this the less because most of you, I think, are so familiar
with the modern literature of these subjects, and especially with
the admirable writings of Mr. Darwin, that I feel sure, if I can suc-
ceed in giving you a clear outline of my views, much that I should
say, had I time, will suggest itself to your own minds. In a gen-
eral way, however, when we study, in the history of life upon this
globe, the double phenomena of long continued persistence of type,
and of slow variation continually occurring, we will find that almost
all biologists, whatever their theory of life, explain these phenomena
on the one hand by heredity, on the other by the sensibility of the
organism to the influence of the environment.
Both heredity and the influence of the environment may be very
conveniently studied in those simplest organisms in which each in-
dividual consists of a single minute mass of naked protoplasm,* as
in certain rhizopods, for example, the amoeba. These tiny creatures
produce a progeny which preserves the parental type as closely as
is done by the ofl&priug of the higher animals. Their sensibility to
the influence of the environment is manifested in several w&ys.
They grow, that is they appropriate materials from the environ-
ment, in the way I have already specified ; they manifest automatic
movements, that is, on encountering food, obstacles, or other dis-
turbing external circumstances, movements result the direction and
energy of which are in no wise determined by the character or
force of the external influences, or as they may be conveniently
termed the stimuli by which these movements are provoked ; and
finally, simultaneously with the process of growth, a certain meta-
morphosis, or metabolism, of the protoplasm is continually going on
resulting in the formation of excremeutitious substances which are
continually being excreted.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 71
The processes of growth and metabolism exhibit different degrees
of intensity in accordance with variations of the environment, and
whatever physical theory of the mode in which the protoplasmic
motions are produced we may adopt, the mechanical force manifested
can only be supposed to proceed from the decomposition of a part of
the protoplasm itself into simpler compounds, that is, from a particu-
lar kind of metabolism. Hence you will I think, be quite prepared
to hear me speak of all the circumstances in the environment that
so act upon living protoplasm as to increase its growth or meta-
bolism, as stimuli, and of the property of living protoplasm by
which all its responses to stimuli are guided, as irritability, instead
of limiting these terms to the phenomena of automatic movement
only, as was formerly done. This irritability of living protoplasm
determines the direction in which its internal forces shall be mani-
fested. Speaking of it as I do, perhaps you would wish me to call
it sensibility rather than irritability, and I do not know that I
should object very strenuously to any one who wished to do this.
But however you may name it, it is this vital property of all living
protoplasm that produces the sensibility to changes in the environ-
ment which has been the main factor in the gradual evolution,
during the ages, of the highest and most complex from the simplest
and lowest living forms.
Against this view it has been urged with much ingenuity that
protoplasm is the material substratum of life, and life merely a
property of protoplasm ; that is, if the words have any meaning at
air, that life is the resultant onlv of the forces inherent in the in-
organic atoms of which the protoplasm is built up. Now, in the
first place, no one has ever yet been able to show, by any conceiv-
able synthesis, how the forces known to belong to the several kinds
of inorganic atoms of which protoplasm is composed, could by their
combination, produce the characteristic phenomena of living pro-
toplasm, namely, the phenomena of irritability, as I have just
described them: But, in the second place, this speculation appears
to be pretty flatly contradicted by the circumstance that, although
protoplasm can only be formed within the substance of previously
existing living protoplasm, it can continue to exist, it does continue
to exist as protoplasm after it has ceased to live. Not merely can
it persisi for a time without chemical change as dead protoplasm,
it can subsequently serve as food and be reconverted into living
protoplasm once more. Bear in mind, however, that this change
72 BULLETIN OF THE
can only be effected within the substance of the living protoplasm
of the animal that assimilates this food. It is not effected by the
chemistry of digestion, that merely makes peptone of the pro-
toplasm ; merely makes it soluble enough to pass into the substance
of the protoplasmic masses that are to appropriate it. These con-
siderations, then, would seem to show that the material, protoplasm,
cannot be rightly believed to be of itself the cause and essence of
life.
If I should pause here, it seems to me that I should have brought
forward adequate reasons for believing in the existence of a vital
principle. But I cannot pause here. Beyond and above all this
there is another great group of phenomena peculiar to living beings —
a group of phenomena concerning which, in my own individuality, I
have knowledge at least as positive as any I possess of the existence
of force, and which I am led, by a logic quite as convincing as that
by which any general proposition with regard to the external world
is proven, to believe exists in like kind and degree in the case of
my fellow-man. I refer to the phenomena of the perceiving, emo-
tional, willful, reasoning human mind. Into the argument that
makes it highly probable that a similar but less and less perfect
mind exists in the animal world, and identifies with mind the sensi-
bility of the lowest animal forms, and even that of vegetable proto-
plasm, I will not attempt to enter to-night. Mr. Herbert Spencer
himself has presented this view with so much ingenuity, that, with-
out committing myself to an approval of all his details, I must con-
tent myself by referring you to his writings for one of the best
discussions of this matter. It will be sufficient for my present pur-
pose to close this discourse by the presentation of a few considera-
tions in relation to mind as it exists in man.
For myself I know mind only as a manifestation of life, if indeed
it is not the essence of life. But the old doctrine of Epicurus^
handed down to us in the poem of Lucretius, that in some way or
fashion mind is produced by the clashing together of the atoms, has
been boldly revived of late years, and transmuted into a form more
plausible to modern thought, although just as unsupported by any
actual knowledge of facts.
No one has done this more boldly or more cleverly than Mr.
Herbert Spencer has done in his First Principles, and of course you
are all familiar with the ingenious argument, in favor of this view»
which runs through that masterly work. It would be, from many
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 73
points of view> profitable, but it would be a very laborious task to
attempt the critical discussion of bis argument. It must suffice, for
my present purpose, to point out that two of the fundamental as-
sumptions upon which that argument is based are wholly undemon-
strated. The first assumption is, that mind is itself a force ;^' the
second, that mind cannot be conscious of itself, but only of the
external world."
If I could bring myself to believe that mind is, in any proper
sense of the word, a force, and that such popular metaphorical ex-
pressions as mental force or mental energy accurately described the
phenomena, I should certainly expect to find at least some shadow
of proof for Mr. Herbert Spencer's assertion, that mental opera-
tions fall within the great generalization of the correlation and
equivalence of the forces. On the contrary, however, you will find,
on reading his lucid periods, that his whole argument relates to
those physical conditions in the organs of sense and in the muscular
and nervous systems, which are the antecedents of perception —
which are, in fact, the things really perceived — ^and in no sense
constitute the perceiving mind. Between strictly mental phenom«
ena and the physical forces no one has as yet even attempted to
establish a numerical equivalent; nay, more, the correlation of
thought with the physical forces is not only undemonstrated, it is
utterly unthinkable. You can conceive several different ways, it
matters not whether true or false, in which the motions we know
as heat might be converted into those we know as light, and so on
with the other physical forces ; but you cannot represent mentally
any intelligible scheme by which any of the physical forces can be
converted into the simplest or most elementary thought.
As to the question of self-consciousness, it seems as if the great
philosopher were reasoning in* a circle. He first assumes that the
fundamental condition of all consciousness is the antithesis between
subject and object, — which is true only with regard to conscious-
ness of perception, the form of consciousness by which we become
acquainted with the non ego, — and then he concludes that there can
be no consciousness of the ego because it cannot fulfil these con-
ditions. That is, in a word, he denies consciousness of the ego,
because it is not consciousness of the non ego. Really it appears
to me that, as against such a philosophy as this it is not amiss to
appeal to " the unsophisticated sense of mankind," of which Mr.
Mansel speaks.^^ But there is fortunately a better philosophy than
74 BULLETIN OF THE
this ; a philosophy which recognizes the validity of the mind's self-
consciousness as at least fully equal to the validity of its consciousness
of the conditions of the body by which it obtains a knowledge of the
external world. By this self-consciousness I know, with a certainty
which no doubt can ever disturb, that I have a mind; and by rightly
applying my reasoning powers to the data of my self-consciousness,
I can learn much that will be useful to me with regard to my
mental processes and the methods of employing them. But here I
have to stop. I can learn nothing, whether by consciousness or by
reasoning, with regard to the real nature of my conscious mind,
and however much it may long for immortality, neither philosophy
nor science afford any foundation of proof upon which it might
build its hopes.
I have already said that I know mind only as a manifestation of
life. Its operations are intimately connected with the chemical and
physical phenomena of living beings, and it exercises over them a
certain directing influence, the nature of which we do not under-
stand. The obedience of our voluntary muscular actions to the
mandates of the guiding will is a familiar illustration of this
directing influence. On the other hand, all the knowledge of the
external world on which the mind exerts its reasoning power reaches
it through the organs of sense and the nervous system. Indeed,
our studies of the phenomena of sensation compel us to conclude
that what our jnind really perceives, when it takes cognizance of
the external world, is merely the ever-changing panorama of our
own cerebral states. It should be anticipated, therefore, that dis-
turbed or morbid conditions of the brain would lead to irregular
or disorderly mental operations; and the circumstance that this
really happens, aflTords no better proof of the materiality of thought
than is afforded by the circumstances of our ordinary normal
thought.
So, too, since the cerebral changes, which the mind perceives, are
themselves of a purely chemico-physical nature, it should be
anticipated that, like the metabolic processes in other tissues, they
would be accompanied by an increased excretion of characteristic
waste-products, by evolution of heat and by afflux of blood. Ex-
perimental investigation has been directed to each of theise points,
and some important observations have no doubt been made ; but
much of the testimony is conflicting, and our knowledge is still so
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 75
incomplete that further inquiry in each direction is greatly to be
desired.
This is particularly the case with regard to the chemical ques^
tions connected with the metabolism of the brain. In the first
place our knowledge of the chemical composition of brain-sub-
stance is still in its infancy. The view that its characteristic in-
gredient is the phosphorized nitrogenous body described in 1865
by Liebreich under the name of protagon has been strongly con-
troverted by Diaconow, Hoppe-Seyler, and Thudicum, while recently
it has been reaffirmed by Gamgee, and Blankenhom.^ But even
should this view turn out to be well founded, we have yet every-
thing to learn with regard to the transformations protagon under-
goes during functional activity, and the nature of the resulting
waste products.
Long before Liebreich announced the existence of protagon,
however, the attention of the physiological chemists had been
directed to the prominence of phosphorous as an element in
the composition of the cerebral substance, and it had been sug-
gested that a part of the phosphoric acid excreted in the urine
might be derived froip the metabolism of the brain. As early as
1846 Bence Jones ^ had observed an excess of phosphatic salts in
the urine during certain brain diseases, notably acute inflammations,
and an observation published in 1853 by Hosier ^^ appeared to
indicate that a similar excess followed intellectual ^tivity.
Byasson [1868] in his essay on the relation between cerebral
activity and the composition of the urine,^ reports a number
of urinary analyses which support the view that the excretion
of alkaline phosphates by the kidneys is habitually increased
during mental work. This opinion has also received a certain
degree of support from the more recent papers of Zuelzer^ and
8truebling; ^ nevertheless it is impossible to study the detailed obser-
vations upon which it is based without feeling how meagre and
unsatis&ctory the evidence relied upon really is. It is at best only
sufficient to indicate the importance of further inquiry, and to sug-
gest the necessity of avoiding certain obvious errors of method
which complicate and obscure the results of the investigations
hitherto made.
The opinion that mental effort is accompanied by an increase in
the temperature of the brain was first propounded by Lombard in
1867. Using a delicate thermo-electric apparatus of his own con-
76 BULLETIN OF THE
trivance, he observed during mental effort a rise of the surface
temperature of the head, which sometimes amounted to as much as
one-twentieth of a degree centigrade.'^ Subsequent and more elab-
orate investigations confirmed him in this conclusion, which has
also been supported by observations made with thermo-piles bj
Schiff and Bert, as well as by the use of surface thermometers in
the hands of Broca and L. C. Gray of Brooklyn." Gray claimed
to have observed a maximum rise of as much as two and a half
degrees Fahrenheit. These physicians and some others have also
investigated the relative temperature of the two sides of the head,
of different regions on each side, the variations produced in certain
regions by voluntary muscular movements, and those resulting from
localized brain diseases.^
To attempt any discussion of these interesting studies, and their
conflicting results, would lead me altogether beyond my prescribed
limits. It is enough for my present purpose to point out that the
recent investigations of Francois Frank" would seem to indicate
that the variations of temperature actually observed are chiefly due
to changes in the cerebral circulation. Plunging suitable sounds,
connected with a thermo-electric apparatus, into the brains of ani-
mals to different depths, Frank found that the deeper parts of the
brain are always warmer than its superficial layers. The super-
ficial layers are continually cooled by radiation, and their temper-
ature is a degree^ or more than a degree centigrade, lower than that
of the deeper parts. Even these, however, are .1° to .2° centigrade
cooler than the blood in the thoracic aorta, and it will therefore
readily be understood that a relaxation in the muscular coats of
the cerebral vessels, permitting the more rapid circulation of a
larger quantity of blood, would be promptly followed by an increase
in the temperature of the superficial parts of the brain. None of
the observers I have cited have reported a surface temperature of the
head during mental effort that is too high to be accounted for in
this way ; and if, as I willingly concede is probable, there is really
an increased heat-production in the brain itself, it is wholly masked
by the more considerable change due to afflux of blood.
Now a consideration of the phenomena of blushing, and certain
well known sensations in the head, might lead us to expect that
emotional and mental conditions would prove to be attended by
increased activity in the circulation of the blood in the brain ; yet
many difficulties have hitherto been encountered in the attempt to
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 77
demonstrate experimentally that this is true. Mosso of Turin sup-
posed that he had succeeded in doing this with his plethysmo-
graph.*^ The instrument is essentially a cylinder of water, into
which the arm is introduced and so fastened in place by a caoutchouc
membrane that the slightest increase or diminution in the volume
of the arm will cause the rise or fall of the water, through a tube
connected at one end with the interior of the cylinder and at the
other with a suitable recording apparatus. The pen or pencil of
this apparatus inscribes a curve that rises or falls with the fluid in
the tube. Among the curious observations made with this instru-
ment, Mosso reports that the mental operations and emotions of
the persons he experimented on were accompanied by a fall of the
curve, which he regarded as proof that more blood goes to the
brain and less to the arm during emotion, or mental action, than
at other times. But the following year these observations were re-
peated with great care, and with an improved plethysmograph by
Basch, of Vienna," who failed to verify them. Most of the phleg-
matic Germans on whom he experimented did sums in their heads,
and otherwise exerted their minds, without producing the slightest
modification of the curve, and none of them appear to have been
as emotional as Dr. Pagliani, of whom Mosso relates that, his arm
being in the plethysmograph, when the revered Prof. Ludwig en-
tered the room the curve fell as if he had received an electric
shock. Basch has cautiously investigated the causes of the varying
quantity of blood in the arm in these experiments, and has clearly
shown how many general and local conditions concur in producing
the result. Especially has he emphasized the effect of variations
in the abdominal circulation, which appear to exercise a much more
considerable influence upon the size of the arm than any changes
that occur in the brain.
In subsequent works Mosso has stated that during mental effort,
such, for example, as is required to multiply small numbers in the
head, the radial pulse, as recorded by the sphygmograph, is shown
to become somewhat more frequent, and the recording lever does
not rise so high 'as at other times.'^ Thanhofier, who has pointed
out that in these observations the influence of respiration on the
pulse was neglected, concluded, nevertheless, from his own sphyg-
mographic observations, that after due allowance is made for this
complicating influence, it must be conceded that cerebral activity
does exercise a certain effect upon the pulse, and in the direction
78 BULLETIN OP THE
Btated." Eugene Gley, in a recently published essay, claims to
have obtained similar results, and states that at the same time the
sphygmographic trace of the carotid artery shows a higher upstroke
of the recording lever, and other indications of dilatation of the
vessel.*" While these observations are not sufficiently numerous, or
free from objections, to be accepted without question as proof that
an increased supply of blood to the brain invariably accompanies
mental effort, they are certainly sufficient to encourage further labor
in this interesting field.
But if the arguments in favor of the purely material nature of
our mental operations that have been based upon the imperfect re-
sults of the three lines of investigation I have just referred to must
be rejected as utterly fallacious, what shall we say of the logic that
attempts to draw a similar • conclusion from the results of those
inquiries into the phenomena of personal equation which aim at
determining the time that must be allowed for the mental operation
involved?* Do we, then, indeed need the beautiful experiments
of Hirsch and Donders'^ to prove that thought occupies time?
Whence, indeed, do we derive our primitive conceptions of time
save from our consciousness of the succession of thought ? And
how could even the shortest time be occupied by even an infinite
number of thoughts if each thought did not occupy at least some
time, however brief?
I have thus, gentlemen, attempted to show that we are logically
compelled to invoke the existence of a vital principle in order to
account for certain important groups of phenomena occurring in
living beings which cannot possibly be explained by the chemical
and physical forces of the universe. These phenomena form a
series, at one end of which we find the mere irritability or sensi-
bility of the humblest mass of living protoplasm ; at the other the
reasoning faculty of the human mind. From the one extreme of
this series to the other I recognize the manifestations of the vital
principle. I willingly confess that I know nothing of the ultimate
nature of this principle, except that it must be very different from
the chemical and physical forces whose operations I have learned
to recognize in the organic as well as in the inorganic world ; never-
theless I am compelled by my study of the phenomena to conclude
that it exists. I know that Mr. Huxley, only last summer, declared
in the International Medical Congress at London, that the doctrine
of a vital principle is the "asylum ignorantise of physiologists;
ties
PHILOSOPHIOAIi SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 79
but this ancient sarcasm has now been applied to so many things
that it has long since lost whatever sting it may once have pos-
sessed, when it was fresh and new. And I also know that one of
the chief characteristics of true science is the sharpness with which
it enables us to discriminate between that which we have proven
and really know and that which we have not proven and do not
know. Better far is it, and a thousand times' more in accord with
the simple honesty of scienc6, to acknowledge frankly the truth that
phenomena occur in living beings which the inorganic forces do not
explain, than to mistake our wishes for discoveries, to convert con-
jectures into dogmas, or, worst of all, to transform an undemon-
strated hypothesis into a superstitious, aggressive, and intolerant
creed.
Nor will the soundness of the conclusions, at which the present
generation shall arrive as to this matter, be without its practical
effect upon methods of biological research, and the consequent
future progress of biological science. It is not a mere metaphysi-
cal subtlety, but a subject of practical importance that I have asked
you to consider to-night. For if the chemico-physical hypothesis
of life be true, the ouly road of progress in biology lies through
the chemical and physical laboratories. Now, I have already this
evening more than once indicated how highly I esteem the class of
biological work that has already been done in these laboratories,
and I have endeavored to show how large is the unexplored biolog-
ical field that can be explored only in this manner. But in addi-
tion to all that we can ever hope to do in this direction — and I insist
upon its importance — I insist also upon the importance of other
lines of work : I insist upon the importance of the systematic
study of the phenomena of growth and development, of genera-
tion and heredity, of sensibility and mind. All that can thus
be learned we need to know, and not merely for its own sake. This
knowledge is indispensable to the right interpretation of the suc-
cession of life upon the globe in the past, and the successful direc.
tion of the interference of the human will with the future succession
of life upon the globe in accordance with human necessities. We
shall make slow progress in this direction if we confine our efforts
to the application of chemistry atd physics to those phenomena of
living beings that can be thus explained. The other phenomena,
not thus explicable, must also be studied in detail, arranged into
orderly groups, and made the basis of such inductions as our
80 BULLETIN OF THE
knowledge of them may warrant. It is only by pursuing this
method that we can hope ultimately to acquire, with regard to the
phenomena of living beings, that power to predict, which is the
criterion of true science, and that power to control, which we so
sorely need.
NOTES.
1 George F. Barker — Some Modem Aspects of the Life Question. Address
as President of the Amer. Ass. for the Advancement of Science. Boston meet-
ing, August, 1880. Proceedings, Vol. XXIX, Part I, p. 23.
' Galen — Quod animi mores corporis temperamenta sequantttr^ Cap. 3.
{KUhn's Edit., T. IV, p. 772.]
'St. George Mivart — The Cat. London, 1881, p. 387.
* First taught by J. R. Mayer — Die organische Bewegung in ihrem Zusam-
menhange mit dem Stoffwechsel : Ein Beitrag zur Naturkunde. Heilbronn,
1845.
*See, for example, M. Foster — Text Book of Physiology ^ 2d Edit., London,
1878. p. 355-
* Barker — op. cit,, supra,
^ See H. Senator — Unters. Uber die Wdrmebildung und den Stoffwechsely
Archiv. fiir Anat. Phys. und wiss. Med., 1872, S. I.
•Foster — p. 368, op. cit.^ supra.
* L. Landois — Lehrb. der Phys. des Menschen, Vienna, 1879, S. 402.
" L. Hermann— /^a«i/^. der Phys.y Bd. I, Th. 1, S. 242.
" Emil Du Bois-Reymond— 6^«/^rj. nber thierische Elektricit&t , Berlin,
1848-60, and Gesammelte Abhandl. zur allgemeinen Muskel-und Nervenphysik^
Leipsic, 1875-77.
" Du Bois-Reymond — Ges. Abhandky Bd. II, S. 243.
"Bernstein — Unters. Uber den Erregungsvorgang in Nerven-und Muskel-
systemcy Heidelberg, 187 1 ; also Du Bois-Reymond' s Archiv, 1875. S. 526; Her-
mann in Pfliiger's Archiv, Bd. X, 1875, S. 48.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 81
>* L Hermann — Weitere Unters. zur Phys. der Mmkeln und Nerven^ Berlin,
1867 ; also Handb, der Phys,y Bd. I, Th. I, Leipsic, 1879, S. 192 et seq,
'* Hermannn— /&«</i^. der Phys,, Bd. I, Th. i, S. 215.
'« Engelmann— Pfliiger's Archiv, Bd. XV, 1877, S. 116 et seq.
" Du Bois-Reymond— C?«. AbhandL, Bd. II, S. 319 et seq,
" Mayer— Muller*s Archiv, 1854, S. 214; AMia (1858)— Translation in Vir-
chow*s Archiv, Bd. XVI, 1859, S. 414.
"SCHWANN—in Mailer's Handb, der Phys., 1837, Bd. II, S. 59.
* C. B. '^KDClAT¥2.— Dynamics of Nerve and Muscle, London, 187 1.
'* Matteucci — Lectures on the Physical Phenomena of Living Beings, (trans-
lated by J. Pereira,) London, 1847, p. 333.
"Arthur Gamgee— >4 Text Book of the Phys. Chemistry of the Animai
Body, Vol. I, London, 1881, p. 418.
" L. Hermann — Grundriss der Phys. des Menschen, 5te Aufl., 1874, S. 231,
**Du Bois-Reymond— Cw. Abh., Bd. II, S. 320.
** Foster — op. cit., p. 79 et seq.
"C. A. Haxjseh ^A^ovi profectus in historia electricitatis, Leipsic, 1743. I
«ite from Du Bois-Reymond— £/«/^rj. Uber thierische EUktricitSt, Bd. II, Berlin,
1849, '^^- i> S- ^11*
*T Du Bois-Reymond — Ges, Abh., Bd. II, S. 250.
•'Bernstein — op. cit., supra.
•Hermann — loc cit., note", supra; also Handb, der Phys., Bd. II, Th. 1,
Leipsic, 1879, S. 144 ^/ seq:
"•See especially Du Bois-Reymond— Wt/^rj., Bd. II, Th. 1, S. 289, and
Pfluger — Unters. Uber die Physiologic des Electrotonus, Berlin, 1859 : An ex-
cellent summary of the observations (with the literature) is given by Hermann —
Handb. der Physiologic, Bd. II, Th. i, S. 157 et seq.
^ RadcLIFFE — p. 74 etseq., op. cit., supra.
"A. VON YiKLiXSi—Elementa Physiologice, Lib. X, Sect. VIII, J 15, T. IV,
Lausanne, 1762, p. 380. He cites as authority the essay of Le Cat, crowned by
the Berlin Academy in 1753. [^c have in the S. G. O. Library the Berlm
edition of 1765, Traiti de r existence, etc., dufluide des nerfs, etc."]
6
82 BULLETIN OF THE
•* Barker — p. 8, op. cU., supra.
•* Claude Bernard — Lefons sur la Pkys, et la Path, du systhne nerutux^
Paris, 1858, T. I, p. 157 and p. 224.
^ Translation of a lecture given by £. Du Bois-Reymond at the Royal Institu-
tion, London, in Appendix No. i of H. Bence Jones* Croonian Lectures on
Matter and Force ^ London, 1868, p. 130.
" Herbert Spencer — The Principles of Psychology ^ Vol. I, New York, 1 87 1,
p. 95. Compare also his Principles of BiologyfWoX. II, New York, 1867, p. 346
et seq.
w Foster — p. 79, op. cit.y supra.
^ A. Gamgee — p. 447, op. cit.y supra.
"• O. Hahn — Die Meteorite und ihre Organismen, Tubingen, 1 88 1. I cite the
Jour, of the Royal Mic. Society, October, 1881, p. 723.
^ '* Lapides crescunt, Vegetabilia crescunt et vivunt, Animalia crescunt, vivunt
et sentiunt." This phrase occcurs in the first edition of the Sy sterna Natura^
Leyden, 1735. I cite the reprint of F6e, Paris, 1830, p. 3, as well as the second
Stockholm edition, 1740, p. 76. The expression is replaced in the later editions
by more guarded language.
"Herbert Spencer— 7)4^ Principles of Biology, Vol. I, New York, 1866,
p. 107.
** Herbert Spencer — First Principles , Amer. Ed., New York, 1864, p. 274*
** Herbert Spencer — op. dt., p. 65 et seq.
** As cited by Mr. Herbert Spencer, loc. cit., last note.
^Gamgee— p. 425 et seq., op. cit.y supra.
^ Henry Bence Jones — On the variations in the alkaline and earthy pho>
phates in disease y Phil. Trans, for 1846, p. 449.
*^MosLER — Beitraege zur Kentniss der Urinabsonderungy etc., Inang. Diss.,
cited in Canstatt's Jahresbericht, 1853, ^^' I» S. 134.
** H. Byasson — Essai sur la relation qui existe A Vitat physiolt^que entre
Vactiviti ciribrale et la composition des urinesy Paris, 1 868.
*W. Zuelzer — Ueber das Verhdltniss der PhosphorsaUre zum Stickstoff im
Uriny Virchow's Archiv, Bd. 66, 1876, S. 223.
PHIL080PHI0AL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 88
••Struebling — Ueberdie Phospharsaure im Urin^ Archiv. fflr exp. Path, und
Phaim., Bd. VI, 1876-7, S. 266.
•* J. S. Lombard — Experiments on the relation of heat to mental work^ The
New York Medical Journal, Vol. V, 1867, p. 199.
** J. S. Lombard — Experimental researches on the temperature of the head,
Proc. of the Royal Society of London, Vol. 27, 1878, p. 166; Idem — The re-
gional temperature of the headt London, 1879; Idem — Experimental researches
on the temperature of the head, London, 1881. "MORITZ SCHIFF — Recherches sur
richauffement des nerfs et les centres nerveux d la suite des irritations sensori-
elles et sensibles^ Archives de Physiol, norm, et path., T. Ill, 1870, p. 5 et seq.
Bert — Communication to the Sociiti de Biologie^ read Jan. 18, 1879, in Gazette
Hebdomadaire, Jan. 24, 1879, p. 63. Broca — Cotnmunication to the French
Association for the Advancement of the Sciences^ at the Havre meeting of 1 877,
in Gaz. Hebd., Sept. 7, 1877, p. 577; also Gaz. M6d. de Paris, 1877, p. 457;
Idem in London Med. Record, Jan. 15, 1880. L. C. Gray — Cerebral Ther-
mometry ^ The New York Med. Jour., Vol. 28, 1878, p. 31 ; also Chicago Jour,
of Nervous and Mental Diseases, Vol. VI, 1879, P- ^5*
•• See, besides the papers cited in the last note, C. K. Mills in The New York
Med. Record, Vol. 14, 1878, p. 477, and Vol. 16, 1879, p. ^y^'* Maragliano
and Seppelli — Studies on cerebral thermometry in the insane, translated by J.
Workman, The Alienist and Neurologist, St. Louis, Jan., 1880, p. 44 et seq, ; R.
W. Amidon — The eff^ect of willed muscular movements on the temperature of the
head. Archives of Medicine, April, 1880, p. 117.
»* Francois Frank — Communication to the Sociiti de Biologic , May 29, 1880,
in Gaz. Hebd., June 11, 1880, p. 392.
*Angelo Mosso — Sopra un nuovo metodo per scrivere i movimenti dei vasi
sanguini nelVuomo, Atti della Reale Accademia della Scienza di Torino, T. XI,
Nov. 14, 1875. I ^^^ °^^ obtained access to the original, but find an abstract in
the Archives de Phys. norm, et path., 1876, p. 175. See also Barker, p. 12,
op, cit., supra.
■•Basch — Die volumetrische Bestimmung des Blutdrucks am Menschen,
Strieker's Med. Jahrb., 1876, S. 431. See also Rollet in Hermann's Handb.
der Phys,, Bd. IV, Th. I, Leipsic, i88o, S. 306.
" Mosso— Z)i> Diagnostic des Pulses in Berzug auf die localen Verdnderungen
desselben, Leipsic, 1879; ^^ ^ ^^ same, Sttlla circolazione del sangue nel cer-
vello deiruomc, Rome, 1880.
" Thanhoffer — Der Einfluss der Gehimthdtigkeit auf den Puis, PflOgcr's
Archiv., Bd. XIX, 1879, S. 254.
• EugAne Glev — Essai critique sur les conditions physiologiques de la pensie.
84 BULLETIN OF THE
Jktat du pouls caroHdien pendant le travail intelUctuel, Archives de Phys. nomu
et path., Sept. -Oct., 1881, p. 741.
•* Barker — p. 11, op, cit., supra.
" HiRSCH — Ditermination ti/igraphique de la difference de longitude entre les
obseruatoires de Gentue et de Neuchatel, Geneve et Bale, 1864. Donders — in
Reichert and Du Bois-Reymond's Archiv., 1868, p. 657.
•» T. H. Huxley— r^^ conniction of the Biological Sciences with Medicine,
The Popular Science Monthly, October, 1881, p. 800.
At the conclusion of the reading the thanks of the Society were
voted to the President for his able and instructive address.
208th Meeting. (11th Annual Meeting,) December 17, 1881.
The President in the chair.
Forty-four members present.
The minutes of the last annual meeting were read and adopted.
The Secretary, Mr. Theodore Gill, read the list of members
who had been elected since the last annual meeting.
The Treasurer read to the Society his report upon the receipts,
expenditures, and remaining funds of the Society for the year now
about to close. He also read the list of members whose dues had
been paid.
The Chair then reported to the Society a resolution of the Gen-
eral Committee, which is as follows :
Resolved^ That the President be requested to ask the Society to
appoint a committee to audit the Treasurer's report, and to com-
municate the result of their audit to the Society at its next meeting.
In accordance with this request, and also with that of the Treas-
urer, it was moved and carried that the Chair appoint a committee
of three for the purpose named in the resolution.
The Chair appointed a Committee of Audit, consisting of Messrs.
John Jay Knox, G. K. Gilbert, and Robert Fletcher.
Mr. Thornton A. Jenkins then offered the following resolution :
Resolved, That all persons who have resigned membership in the
Society, or failed in their duties as provided for in the rules of the
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 85
Society, shall be dropped from the succeeding published list of
members.
By a vote of the Society this resolution was referred to the Gen-
eral Committee.
The Society then proceeded to ballot for officers for the ensuing
year, and the following officers were elected :
President, William B. Taylor.
Vice-PreaidenUf J. E. Hiloard. J. C. Welling.
J. J. Woodward. J. K. Barnes.
Treasurer, Cleveland Abbe.
Secretaries, Theodore N. Gill. Marcus Baker.
MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEE.
J. S. Billings. Garrick Mallert.
C. E. DuTTON. Simon Newcomb.
J. R. Eastman. J. W. Powell.
E. B. Elliott. C. A. Schott.
William Harknebs.
The rough minutes of the meeting were then read and approved,
and the Society adjourned.
209th Meeting. January 14, 1882.
The President, Wm. B. Taylor, in the chair.
Upon taking the chair President-elect Taylor offered a few re-
marks, and thanked the Society for the honor conferred upon him.
The minutes of the 207th meeting — the 208th being the annual
meeting — were then read and approved.
A communication by Mr. Benj. Alvord was read, entitled
curious fallacy as to the theory op gravitation.
Some years since I noticed in a text book on astronomy, used in
one of the most celebrated colleges in the United States, a pretended
demonstration that the attraction of gravitation must vary inversely
as the square of the distances. It was continued in several editions
down to about 1850, when that portion was omitted. I always sup-
86 BULLETIN OF THE
posed that the author copied it from some old authority ; that he
was not guilty of inventing it, abused as it was.
In ** Hind's Dictionary of Arts and Sciences" (one volume, folio,
London, 1769, copy in the Congressional Library) it is found under
the article *' Attraction."
The first named author announced that '' Gravity at different dis-
tances from the east mud ys^rj inviersely as the square of the dis-
tances." He proceeded substantially as follows :
"The total amount of attraction exerted by the earth upon bodies
exterior to it is the same as though that force was all concentrated
in the centre. But a force or influence which proceeds in right
lines from a point in every direction is diminished as the square of
the distance is increased. For, let the centre of the earth be the
vertex of a pyramid, cut said pyramid by two parallel bases at
different distances from the vertex, making two similar pyramids.
Whatever the nature of gravity, its influetice at the distance of ea4ih
base Tfiust he equally diffused over the base. Therefore its intensity or
force will he as much less at the greater ha^se, as contrasted with its in-
fluence at the nearer and lesser base, as the surface of the laMer is to
the surface of the former. But the surfaces of these bases are to
each other as the squares of their distances from the vertex. There-
fore the force of gravity varies inversely as the square of the dis-
tances.—Q. E. D."
Actually he placed Q. E. D. to it as if it was a mathematica,
demonstration !
He afterwards said :
" The intensity of light at different distances from the radiant
varies inversely as the square of the distances. This proposition is
proved in the same manner as that respecting gravity, the reasoning
in which applies to all emanations from a centre."
Subsequently, when he got to refer to the laws of Kepler, he
said:
" They, therefore, became known asfaets before they were demon-
strated mathematically. The glory of this achievement was re-
served for Newton, who proved that they were necessary results of
the law of universal gravitation."
This sentence would have astonished Newton I It places the cart
before the horse. From the empirical laws of Kepler the theory of
gravitation was mathematically derived by Newton. Not the re-
verse. What a confusion of ideas that Kepler's laws could both be
demonstrated mathematically and observed as facts ? How it be-
PHILOSOPHIOAL 800IBTT OF WASHINGTON. 87
littles the labors of Newton, who should have made his discovery
(de novo from his own breast) by a geometrical process and not
from the observed facts !
But my principal object in referring to this carious fallacy was
to give an attempt of my own' to show its fallacy by a " reducHo ad
abmttrdum"
I can prove by an entirely similar process, with equal plausibility,
that the force of gravity must vary inversely ow the cubes of the die-
tanees. Instead of a pyramid take a con^. Let the centre of the
earth be the vertex of a cone. Place two spheres or molecules of
different sizes,* tangent to the cone, at different distances from the
vertex. WhcUever the nature of gravity, its influence at the distance
of each sphere must he equally diffused throughout the solid contents or
volume of eadh sphere. Therefore its inte^Mty or force will be as much
less at the greater sphere, as contrasted unth its influence at the nearer
and smaller inhere, as the volume of the latter is to the volume of the
former. But these volumes or solid contents vary as the cubes of
their radii, or as the cubes of their distances from the vertex.
Therefore the force of gravity varies inversely as the cubes of the
distances.
The oracular '* Q. £. D." could have been placed to this fallacy
with full as much propriety as in the former case, for I have used
nearly identical words. Of course they are both pure assumptions.
Neither are mathematically true, and the one destroys the other, as
they are contradictory. But the ftrst is true as arrived at by severe
induction from the observed facts. * .
If I was a professor of logic, I should give these as specious ex-
amples of the danger of false premises, and of the ease with which
they could be manufactured.
Indeed, the authors first named would imply that there could in
the science of mechanics be no central forces, no empirical laws.
Indeed, they would reduce the whole planetary system, the whole
cosmos, to a geometrical necessity ; and they would lose that inter-
esting exposition in physical astronomy as to the wisdom and benefi-
cence exhibited in the planetary system as it exists.
In the well-known discussion of central forces by Poisson, the
equation of the curve when referred to co-ordinate axes is ascer-
* The word molecales, being now a favorite word with the physicists, might
suit the casuist a little better.
88 BULLETIN OF THE
tained, and the change of one constant in the equation causes a
change m the nature of the curve. If the law varied diredly as
the didance, the orbits of the planets would be ellipses as now, (but
the sun would be at the centre, and not at one foci,) and they would
all revolve in the same period about the sun, and on the surface of
any planet no attraction towards its centre would exist. Thia
curious result would follow : that any object projected into the air
would immediately be carried from the earth, and would perpetu*
ally revolve as a satellite, like the moon, around it. All terrestrial
objects would be unsettled and float about in the air in the utmost
disorder.
If, on the contrary, the law varied inversely cu the cube of the
disianoe, (according to that precious second fallacy above set forth,)
each planet would describjB a spiral orbit, (if at first projected
towards the sun,) continually winding and winding towards the
sun ; or, if perchance projected at first from it, would move in a
spiral curve, causing it to recede farther and farther from the sun ;
and the eye of Omniscience alone could trace its final wanderings.
What a contrast, all these suppositions, to the order, stability^
beauty, and beneficence of our planetary system as it exists !
The next communication was by Mr. M. H. Doolittle
ox THE GEOMETRICAL PROBLEM TO DETERMINE A CIRCLE
EQUALLY DISTANT FROM FOUR POINTS.
" Describe a circumference equally distant from four given points;
the distance from a point to the circumference being measured on a
radius or radius produced. In general there are four solutions.'^
(Chauvenet's Geometry, problem 110.)
These four solutions were undoubtedly obtained in accordance
with the conception of three given points all either inside or outside
of the required circumference. Three other solutions may be ob-
tained from the conception of two given points inside and two out-
side. Mr. Marcus Baker has suggested that a distance may prop-
erly be measured from a given point through the centre of the
circle to the opposite side of the circumference. This interpretation
increases the number of solutions to fourteen.
This communication gave rise to a brief discussion, participated
in by Messrs. Hareness, Newcomb, and Baker, the latter point-
ing out that the problem appears among the exercises of Rouch^
PHILOSOPHICAL SOOIETT OF WASHINGTON. 89
and Gomberousse's Traits de g^m^trie ^l^meotaire, (2d ed., p. 113,
Ex. 124,) a source from which Prof. Chauvenet drew many of his
exercises. In Chauvenet's Geometry this problem appears as Exer-
cise 110, page 308, with the statement that there are in general /otir
solutions. This statement does not occur in the French work cited,
and, therefore, the error appears to be due to Chauvenet himself, a
thing somewhat noteworthy, as Chauvenet's works are in general
very accurate.
Mr. Alvord then remarked
ON SOME OP THE PROPERTIES OF BTEINER's " POWER-CIRCLE."
After the consideration of this communication the report of the
Auditing Committee, appointed at the 208th meeting, was called
for, and, in the absence of the chairman, Mr. Knox, was presented
by Mr. Fletcher. The following is the report :
• Washington, January 13, 1882.
Mr, President and Oentlemen
of the Philosophical Society of Washington :
We, your committee, appointed at the annual meeting, December
17th, 1881, to audit the report of the Treasurer for the years 1880
and 1881, have the honor to submit the following report :
We have examined the statement of receipts of dues from mem-
bers and of interest on bonds, and find the former to be $1,175 and
(he latter $125, as appears in the Treasurer's statements of accounts
for the years 1880 and 1881. *
We have examined the vouchers for disbursements for the same
period, and find them correct.
We have compared the return checks with the vouchers and with
the entries in the bank book, and find them correct.
We have examined the bank book, and found the balance as set
forth to be correct, said balance, deducting the amount of two
checks not yet returned, being $320.16, with Messrs. Riggs & Co.
The bonds referred to in the statements of assets were exhibited
to us by the Treasurer, and consist of $1,000 U. S. 4is and $500 4
per cent, bonds.
All of which is respectfully submitted.
Jno. Jay Knox.
Robert Fletcher.
G. K. Gilbert.
90 BULLETIN OF THE
The report was adopted, and the committee discharged.
The President, Mr. Taylor, then offered a brief communication
ON THE TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE OP JUNE 11, 1881.
This was noteworthy for the bright illumination of the moon's
dbk, which occurred during totality. The features of the moon's
surface could be seen almost as distinctly during total eclipse as
during full moon. This phenomenon was attributed to the refrac-
tion caused by the earth's atmosphere. To an observer stationed
upon the moon a bright circle of sunlight would be vbible sur-
rounding the earth, and to the light from this source was attributed
the illumination of the moon's disk seen during total lunar eclipses.
This communication was discussed by Mr. Harkness.
Mr. Dall then presented a brief communication
ON SOME PECULIAR FEATURES OF MOLLUBKS FOUND
AT GREAT DEPTHS.
While considerable difficulty was experienced in separating some
of the forms by their shells alone, yet, when their anatomy was ex-
amined, some very striking differences were presented. Among the
dredgings off the Atlantic coast and in the Gulf of Mexico by the
Blake were found moUusks claimed to be representatives of two
new families having a dentition simulating that of the Docoglossa.
One related to the Fissurellid» and the other referable to the ordei;
Bhipidoglossa.
This communication was discussed by Messrs. Gill and Alyord,
after which the Society adjourned.
210th Meeting. January 28, 1882.
President Wm. B. Taylor in the chair.
Thirty-nine members and visitors present.
Mr. Ferrel presented to the Society a communication ^ititled
ON the conditions determining temperature,
but, from lack of time, did not complete its presentation, and asked
for a continuance at some future meeting.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON. 91
Mr. L. F. Ward then read a paper entitled
oil THE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS IN THEIR RELATIONS TO LIFE.
This paper was briefly discussed by Messrs. Antisell and
Elliott, after which the. Society adjourned.
211th Meeting. February 11, 1882.
President Wm. B. Taylor in the chair.
Mr. Gilbert presented to the Society a communication
ON errors of barometric observations produced by wind.
This communication will be published in full in the Report of
the €reological Survey.
This communication was discussed by Messrs. Baker, Mason,
and Antisell, after which the Society adjourned.
212th Meeting. February 25, 1882.
President Wm. B. Taylor in the chair.
Thirty members and visitors present.
Mr. Ferrel presented to the Society the concluding portion of a
communication offered to the Society at its 210th meeting, January
28th,
ON THE conditions DETERMINING TEMPERATURE.
The usual formula for the rate of cooling of a heated body in
Tacuo, first given by Pouillet as determined from the experiments
of Dulong and Petit, is of the form :
In which
B = the units of heat radiated by a unit of lamp-black surface in
a unit of time ;
/ = the radiating power of the body, lamp-black being unity ;
r = the temperature of the cooling body ;
r' = the temperature of the enclosure ;
/I = a constant, of which the value is 1.0077 ;
^h = the heat lost in a unit of time for each unit of sur&ce.
92 BULLETIN OF THE
The first part of the second member, Bffx^ , expresses the amount
of heat radiated by the body, and the second, Bffi^, the amount of
heat received from the enclosure; the radiating and absorbing
powers being usually assumed to be the same, / is common to both.
In applying this formula to bodies in space, protected from the
rays of the sun, r' would represent the temperature of space, by
which is meant the temperature at which a body would stand by
the heat received from the stars. In applying it to bodies on the
earth's surface it may be regarded as the temperature of an imagi-
nary enclosure, from which as much heat would be received as
from all surrounding objects, the earth's surface, and the atmos-
phere, &c., not including the sun, and hence it represents the shade
temperature.
If we now suppose the body to be exposed to the direct rays of
the sun, the amount of heat thus received must be added to that
received from space, or from terrestrial surroundings, that is, to
Bf^y^ and the preceding formula then becomes
(1) dh = — Kpf + BjOxr — ix-^)
In which
K = the units of heat received from the sun on a unit of surface ;
p = the ratio between the surface receiving rays, projected on a
plane perpendicular to the rays, and the whole radiating sur-
face.
As the body receives the rays from one direction and upon one
side only, and radiates from all sides, the average amount of heat,
Kpff received over the whole surface and absorbed, must be com-
pared with the amount lost by radiation, and hence the factor /
must come in, since only the heat absorbed affects temperature, the
absorbing and radiating power here, as usual, being assumed to be
the same.
In the case of a spherical body, as the bulb of a thermometer,
the value of p becomes 1^, since the* projected receiving surface of
the sphere is one-fourth of the whole radiating surface of the
sphere. In the case of a long cylinder, in which the radiation from
the ends could be neglected in comparison with the whole, the value
• 1.
of p becomes -, if the side of the cylinder is exposed perpendicu-
ft
larly to the sun's rays. In the case of a thin disk, with its surface
perpendicular to the sun's rays, neglecting the radiation from the
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 98
edge, the value of /o would be i. In the case of such a disk, in
which the radiation is from one side only, which would be approxi-
mately so in the case of such a disk with the opposite side of pol-
ished silver, the value of p would be unity.
The amount of heat, K, received from the sun through the atmos-
phere at the earth's surface is usually expressed by
(2) K^ Ap^
In which
A = the heat received from the sun on a unit of surface at the top
of the atmosphere ;
I = the secant of the zenith distance of the sun ;
|) = a constant for all zenith distances, but differing in different
states of the atmosphere, but always less than unity.
In the case of a static equilibrium of temperature, which was
the only case considered, M vanishes, and the preceding equations,
(1) and (2), give
(3) pAp^ = Bifi' — pf)
This equation expresses the condition which determines the static
temperature, r, of a body, and it is seen that this depends upon the
solar constant A ; the form of * the body, upon which the value of r
depends; upon the value of |>, or the state of the atmosphere;
upon the zenith distance, which determines t ; upon the radiating
constant, B; and upon the shade temperature, r'.
Putting for the unit of heat the amount required to raise the
temperature of a cubic centimetre or grain of water one degree
centigrade, and the square centimetre, second, and degree centi-
grade, for the units of surface, time, and temperature, respectively,
the value of B was determined by the author, from the experiments
of Mr. J. P. Nichol on the rate of cooling of a blackened copper
ball in vacuum, surrounded by an enclosure of blackened surface,
(Proc. Royal Soc. Edin., 1869-70, p. 207,) to be .01808. This
value was considered more reliable than that of Pouillet from the
experiments of Dulong and Petit, since the latter were made on the
rate of cooling of mercury in a glass bulb, and the results had to
be reduced to those which would have been obtained with a black-
ened surface ; and the value of the radiating power, /, for glass,
which was used in this reduction, Pouillet states, was somewhat
hypothetical, and so it left some doubly with regard to the true value
94 BULLETIN OF THE
of the constant Pouillet's value of £ for the minute-unit was
1.146, and this reduced to the second-unit is .01910. The value
fi » 1.0077 required no change to satisfy the results of Mr. Nichol's
experiments.
The value of A, deduced from the experiments of Pouillet and
Herschel with the actinometer, is .03046 for the mean distance of
the sun, both sets of experiments, when reduced to the sun's mean
distance, giving very nearly the same value. At the time of the
earth's perihelion this is about one-thirtieth greater, and at aphelion
as much less.
Pouillet's value of p for clear weather is about 0.75, but others
make it considerably less. It can hardly be regarded as a constant,
but only as a sort of. average of values for clear weather, which
may differ very much at different times. According to Tyndal,
who maintains that the absorption power of the atmosphere in clear
weather depends almost entirely upon the amount of aqueous vapor
in it, the value of this constant, even in clear weather, must depend
very much upon the hygrometric state of the atmosphere.
With the preceding numerical values of the constants of A and
Bf the preceding equation gives
(4) ^r-Z^lM^+l
for determining the value of r — r', for any zenith distance of the
sun, of which the secant is t, where the value of p and the shade
temperature r^ are known. But since the value of B was deter-
mined for a vacuum, this formula is only applicable where the radi-
ating body is in a vacuum, and cannot be applied in cases where
the body receives or loses heat by conduction or connection.
The first term of the second number of the preceding equation
depends upon JT, the heat received from the sun, and, therefore,
vanishes where the body is in the shade, and we then have r — i^
= 0. Hence the temperature of all bodies having the same sur-
roundings must cool down to the same temperature, r'. This is a
necessary consequence of the equality of the absorbing and radiat-
ing powers of bodies.
The author had been able to find but few observations of the
value of r — r' to compare with the theoretical value given by the
preceding formula. Hooker states that from a multitude of de-
sultory observations made on^the Himalaya Mountains at an eleva-
PHILOSOPHICAL SOGIBTY OF WASHINGTON. 95
tion of 7,400 feet, he concluded that the average effect of the sun's
rays on a black-bulb thermometer was 125.7° or 67° (37.2° C.)
above the temperature of the air. The shade temperature was,
therefore, 14.8° C. With this value of r', and the value /> = i for
the spherical bulb, we get r — t' == 41.6° at the top of the atmos-
phere where ^ = 1. The value of p for that altitude, and also the
value of ff for the observations, are not accurately known. At the
elevation of 7,400 feet, Pouillet's value of p =: .75 would have to
be considerably increased, but the effect of the exponent a would
perhaps bring the value of p' equal to about .75. With this value
of p' the formula gives t — / = 32.4°, five degrees too small for
the observed value.
Again, at the height of 13,100 feet, he found in January, at 9
a. m., the temperature of the black bulb 98° with a difference of
68.2°, and at 10 a. m., 114° with a difference of 81.4°. From the
average of these we get t' = — 0.4° C. and r — t' = 41.6° C.
The preceding formula gives r — t' = 45.7° C. at the top of the
atmosphere where p = 1. At the elevation of 13,100 feet the value
of p' should not be very much less than unity — perhaps about as
much less as would reduce the theoretical value 45.7° down to the
observed value 41.6°.
It should be remarked here that the theory requires that the two
thermometers should have exactly the same surroundings. If the
one thermometer is in a vacuum surrounded by a glass bulb and
the other outside, this condition is not perfectly fulfilled, and the
indication of the thermometer outside in the shade might vary a
little from one in the shade within the bulb, unless this bulb is so
situated as to have the same temperature as the external shade
thermometer.
If, in place of a black-bulb thermometer, we had a thin disk with
a blackened side exposed perpendicularly to the sun's rays, and
the opposite side of polished silver of which the radiating power is
extremely small, we should have in this case the value of ^ = 1
very nearly, and with this value of p the formula would give, in
the first of the examples above, for the top of the atmosphere,
• — 't' = 106.6° C, which, added to the shade temperature, 14.8°,
would give r = 121.4° C. This enormously high temperature is
not inconsistent with observation, for water has been made to boil
from the effect of the direct rays of the sun at the earth's surface,
96 BULLETIN OF THE
where the theoretical condition of our formula, that no heat shall
be lost bj conduction, was not perfectly fulfilled.
A portion of the earth's surface, where the soil is dry and sandy,
having little conductivity for heat and exposed to the vertical rays
of the sun, would be a case similar to that of an isolated disk radi-
ating sensibly from one side only, and the temperature of such a
surface, so exposed, should stand at a very high temperature^ but
of course not nearly up to the theoretical temperature, since much
heat would be conveyed away by the conduction and connection of
the air, and also some conducted down into the earth. The tem-
perature of sandy soils is often observed to be as high as 160^ F.
and upwards, and the preceding theory explains these very high
temperatures and the great differences of temperature of different
bodies under the same circumstances.
From equations (2) and (3), with the given values of A and B,
we get
(5) K = .07232 p^ipT — -^ — 1)
This is an actinometric formula, giving the amount of heat re-
ceived from the sun, in absolute heat units, from the observation of
ihe sunshine and shade temperatures. So far as the author's read-
ing extends no such formula has ever been given, but r — r' has
been regarded as a measure of the sun's relative intensity under
different circumstances. The formula not only gives the absolute
instead of the relative amount of heat received, but it shows that
r — r' is not proportional to JT, and consequently not a correct
measure of the relative intensities of the sun's rays. With an ob-
served value T — t' = 35° and t' = 30° the formula gives K =
.02806 ; but with the same value of t — /, and with the value
of r' = 0°, it gives K = .02229. Hence the value of K is not
proportional to t — t', and differs considerably when the value of
r — r', under different circumstances, is the same. Both these
values of JCare less than the value of ^ = .03046, as they should
be by equation (2). The greater the altitude the more nearly
should the value of p approximate to that of unity, and the more
nearly should the value of K approximate to that of A.
If the value of p, according to Tyndal, as has been stated, de-
pends upon the hygrometric state of the atmosphere, then the value
of Kf as given by the preceding formula, for any observed values
of r and r', must give the diathermancy, and consequently the
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIBTI OF WASHINGTON. 97
liygrometric state of the atmosphere in clear weather, not only for
the point of observation, but generally throughout the whole extent
of the atmosphere through which the rays pass, for the greater the
value of K the greater the diathermanancy of the air, and hence
the less the amount of aqueous vapor in it.
This was briefly discussed by Messrs. Harkness, H. Farquhar,
and Taylor.
Mr. Antisell then began the presentation of a communication
ON THE BUILDING UP OF ORGANIC MATTER,
which was unfinished when the hour of adjournment arrived, and
its completion went over to the next meeting.
213th Meeting. March 11, 1882.
President Wm. B. Taylor in the chair.
Thirty^ven members and visitors present.
Mr. Antisell then presented to the Society the remainder of his
communication
ON the building up op organic matter,
the presentation of which was begun at the last meeting.
A brief discussion of this paper — the session having been pro-
longed for this purpose — ^followed, and was taken part in by ]\f essrs.
Gill and Ward, who took exceptions to some of the conclusions
arrived at in the communication.
214tp Meeting. March 25, 1882.
President Wm. B. Taylor in the chair.
Thirty-six members and visitors present.
The President announced to the Society the death, at 3 p. m. this
day, of pneumonia, after an illness of two days, of Mrs. Joseph
Henry, widow of the first president of the Society.
7
98 BULLETIN OF THE
Mr. A. B. JoHNBON then presented to the Society a communica-
tion
ON SOME PECULIAR RAVAOEB OF TEREDO NAVALI8.
This communication was discussed by Messrs. Antisell, Dall,
Gill, Harkness, and White.
Mr. Antibell called attention to the fact that the existence of
the Teredo, as well as that of other destructive moUusks brought
to our harbors by shipping, along our entire coast is well known,
and that, in view of this fact, it is a matter of surprise that provi-
sion was not made for guarding against this danger. To this it was
answered by Mr. Johnson that the wharf was a temporary one, being
only needed for three months, and that, although the presence and de-
structive powers of the Teredo were recognized by the Board, it did
not appear that in any previous case the destructive action of
the Teredo was so rapid as to render special precaution necessary
in this case. Upon a question from Mr. Harkness it was asserted
by Mr. Johnson that a pile, examined on September 15 by divers,
and found sound — chips cut by divers from the pile under water
were found unbored by the Teredo — broke down on September 19,
thus indicating a destruction of a pile in four days.
The accuracy of the observation of September 15, that the chips
were unbored, was questioned by Mr. Dall, who asserted that the
Teredo in its youngest stage attacks the wood, and that the hole
made is at first very minute, and is gradually enlarged and deep-
ened as the mollusk grows. So that a pile which appears sound on
the surface may, in fact, already be seriously injured by Teredo bor-
ings. In San Francisco Bay the work of destruction of piles by the
Teredo, and their renewal goes on continually, and it is estimated
that a complete renewal of all the piles in the bay occurs every
seven years. The mollusk works and breeds the year round in
waters above a temperature of 60° F. It attacks the hard woods,
ajs lignum vitse, quite as readily as softer woods, but the destruction
in such case is less rapid. Such woods, however, as palmetto, con-
sisting of bundles of tough fibres interspersed with soft or spongy
material, are only slightly, if at all, injured.
Mr. Gill called attention to the fact that the Dutch Commis-
sioners, appointed in consequence of the great ravages of the Teredo
on the coast of Holland in about 1859, found creosote the best pre-
\
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON. 99
ventive. They further found that the activity of the Teredo was^
to a certain extent, dependent upon meteorological conditions since
the years 1720, 1755, 1782, 1820, and 1850, were seasons of great
drought, and consequent increase of salinity of the sea-water along
the coast, and in those years the destruction caused by the Teredo
was unusually great.
Respecting the geological age of the Teredo, Mr. White exhib-
ited to the Society fossilized wood from the cretaceous formation
showing Teredo borings.
Mr. Billings then presented to the Society a communication
ON THE ventilation OP THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES,
which was unfinished when the hour of adjournment arrived, and
went over to the next meeting.
Adjourned.
215th Meeting. April 8, 1882.
President Wm. B. Taylor in the Chair.
Forty-eight members and visitors present.
Mr. Billings then continued the presentation of the communica-
tion begun at the last meeting
on THE VENTILATION OP THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES,
of which the following is an abstract :
The difiSculties to be overcome, and the means used for this pur-
pose were explained, and plans and sections of the Hall of the
House of Representatives at the Capitol, in Washington, were
shown. The amount of fresh air required is about one foot per
second per person, if an approach to perfect ventilation is de-
sired. The imperfect form of ventilation by dilution requires from
forty to fifty feet per minute. When a hall is occupied only one
or two hours, the cubic space is important, but in long sessions it
is the supply rather than the space that must be looked to.
To produce the requisite movement of the large amount of air
used, special force must be supplied. This may be propulsion — ^the
plenum method, or by aspiration — the vacuum method, or a com-
bination of the two. The effect of wind and rain on aspirating
I
I
100 BULLETIN OF THE
systems was alluded to. la the majority of such halls the plenum
system, by means of a fan, is used. The difficulty in introducing
this large amount of air into a hall depends partly on the neces-
sity for avoiding unpleasant currents, and partly on the cost of
heating and supplying power. The question of cobt, however, in
such halls as are referred to, is usually a minor consideration, but
if the tastes of individuals as to temperature are to be consulted —
that is, if each man is to have his air at the temperature which
suits himself — the cost becomes a serious matter.
The effects of various positions of fresh air inlets were pointed
out, and stated to depend largely upon the tendency of air to ad-
here to sur£Eu;es over which it passes, as shown by the investigar
tions of Savart and others. The difference between the upward
and downward system were pointed out.
The various modes of heating were described, more especially
with reference to their effect upon the air, and the influence of
moisture was discussed. Probably the importance of moistening
the air is less than has been supposed, and the methods employed
for this purpose have been beneficial only indirectly.
The system of heating and ventilation of the Hall of the House
was then described, and compared with that of the English Houses
of Parliament, the Chamber of Deputies at Versailles, and the
Grand Opera House at Vienna, and Frankfort on Main.
The great importance of skilled superintendence was pointed out,
and the necessity for continuous records was insisted on.
Remarks upon this communication were made by Messrs. Aim-
BELL, Elliott, Mubsst, and Powell.
Mr. HiLQARD then presented a communication
ON SIEMENS' DEEP SEA THERMOMETER AND CARRE's ICE MACHINE.
Remarks on this communication were made by Messrs. Anti-
bell, Dall, Dutton, and E. J. Farquhar, after which the So-
ciety adjourned.
216th Meeting. April 22, 1882.
President Wm. B. Taylor in the chair.
Thirty-six members and visitors present.
The Secretary read a list of names of persons who had been
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON. 101
elected to, and had accepted membership in, the Philosophical So-
ciety, viz: Ezra Webtcott Clark, Henry Flagg French,
Henry Allen Hazen, Charles Hugo Kummel, Israel Cook
Russell, William Wirt Upton, Albert Lowry Webster.
Mr. Ferrel then presented to the Society a communication
ON solar radiation at SHERMAN, WYOMING.
The next communication was by Mr. G. A. White
ON artesian wells on the great PLAINS.
This communication has been essentially reproduced with the
title, " Artesian Wells upon the Great Plains," (subscribed C. A.
White,) in the American Review for August, 1882, No. 135, pp.
187-196.
Mr. Antisell called attention to previous attempts on the part
of the Government to obtain water on the great plains by boring
artesian wells. During the surveys and explorations of the 39th
parallel, for the purpose of ascertaining the feasibility of building
a railroad to the Pacific Ocean, special attention was given to the
matter of obtaining water by means of artesian wells, and at that
time he reached the same conclusion essentially as that now pre-
sented by Mr. White. Mr Antisell's published report upon this
subject may be found in volume 7 of the Pacific Railroad Re-
ports published in 1854.
Mr. Musset called attention to boring now in progress along the
line of the Southern Pacific Railroad in New Mexico ; boring
being in progress at the expense of the railroad company for the
purpose of supplying water for locomotive purposes.
•
Mr. Gilbert considered the argument conclusive as to the failure
of artesian wells on the great plains to be of any practical value
for irrigating purposes, but for some other uses, such as stock rais-
ing, farm uses, etc. Some wells in favorable localities had proved
a success, and others would also undoubtedly prove successful.
Geological prophecy is generally, however, to be made with great
caution, and to be received with caution equally great, a propo-
sition which was supported by citing several cases in the experi-
ence of himself and others.
102 BULLETIN OF THB
On the close of this discussion Mr. Elliott presented a comma-
nication
ON THE CREDIT OP THE UNITED STATES, PAST, PBBBENT AND
PROSPEcrrivE.
This commuDication will be published in another form.
Remarks upon this paper were made by Messrs. Gill and W.
B. Taylor, afler which the Society adjourned.
217th Meeting. May 6, 1882.
President Wm. B. Taylor in the chair.
Twenty-eight members and visitors.
The President anuounced to the Society the death of two of its
members, Mr. William J. Twining, Major U. S. Engineers and
Commissioner of the District of Columbia, and Mr. John Rodgers,
Senior Rear Admiral U. 8. Navy and Superintendent U. S. Naval
Observatory. He further announced to the Society that the pro-
position for a federation of the Anthropological, Biological, and
Philosophical Societies had been discussed by the General Com-
mittee, but that thus far no action had been taken.
The first communication was by Mr. Elliott Coues,
ON the possibilities op protoplasm.
The following is an abstract of this communication, which has
been published at greater length under the title — " Biogen : a Spec-
ulation on the Origin and Nature of Life. Abridged from a paper
on the ' Possibilities of Protoplasm,' read before the Philosophical
Society of Washington, May 6th, 1882. By Dr. Elliott Coubb.
Washington : Judd & Detweiler, printers and publishers. 1882."
(8vo., pp. 27.)
Referring to previous papers on the subject of Life, by Mr.
Woodward and Mr. Ward, the speaker opposed any purely
chemico-physical theory, and adhered to the doctrine of the actual
existence of a ** vital principle." Granting that all substances,
including protoplasm, have been evolved from nebulous matter;
that evolution to the protoplasmic state is necessary for any mani-
festation of life, and even that life necessarily appears in matter
PHILOSOPHICAL SOOIETY OF WASHINGTON. 108
thus elaborated, it does not follow that the r^ult of the processes
by which matter is fitted to receive life is the caiue of the vitality
manifested. For all that is known to the contrary protoplasm and
vitality are simply concomitant ; or if there is any causal relation
between them, vital force is the cause of the peculiar properties of
protoplasm, not the result of those properties. There really exists
a potency or principle called '' vital," in virtue of which the chemi-
cal substance called protoplasm manifests vitality, that is to say, ia
(dive, and in the absence of which no protoplasmic or other molec-
ular aggregation of matter can be alive. The chemico-physical
theory simply restates abiogenesis or "spontaneous generation,"
of which we know nothing scientifically. The grave doubt that
" life is a property of protoplasm" will persistently intrude until
some one shows what is the chemico-physical difierence between
living and dead protoplasm ; none being known.
Noting that chemistry and physics had combined to manufacture
an egg which would do everything to be expected of an egg, except
to hatch, the speaker summed his charge thus : The atheistic phy.
sicist, denying mind in nature, declares that matter alone exists.
Matter in motion is all there is ; the cosmos being matter in motion
in virtue of material forces alone. This is simply to invent a kind
of perpetual motion machine, and leave out even the inventor : for
such a machine invented itself and set itself going. Then the ma-
terialistic chemist takes this self-started machine and declares it
has laid an egg that will hatch. On any such theory a God is not
only superfluous but impossible. Yet the result of the alleged
self-evolution of self-created matter through chemical elements to
organic compounds has been the creation of a protoplasmic soul so
constituted that it must believe in a Grod ; and if matter be
that Grod, matter contradicts itself, for the constitution of the human
soul requires that its Grod must be other than its protoplasmic self;
while if matter be not that God, there must be some other.
The speaker argued for the existence of the soul as something
apart from and unlike matter, defining *' soul" as that quantity of
spirit which any living body may or does possess. No idea can
attach to the term " spirit" from which all conceptions of matter
are not absolutely excluded. Spirit is immaterial,' self-conscious
force ; life consists in the animation of matter by spirit.
The substance of mind and the substance pf matter were noted
as equally bypothetical. To the former was given the name
104 BULLETIN OF THB
Bioffen, or "soul-stufl^" and it was defined as spirit in combination
with the minimum of matter necessary to its manifestation. The
analogy between biogen and luminiferous asther, or the hypothetical
substance of light, was discussed. The drift of the speaker's specu-
lation on the vital principle as an ens realissimum was toward a
restatement, in scientific terms, of the old anima mundi theory.
Modern materialistic and atheistic notions about life were denounced
as every one of them disguises of the monstrously absurd statement
that a self-created atom of matter could lay an egg that would
hatch.
The whole matter being beyond the scrutiny of the physical
senses is remote from the scope of exact science ; but it is irrational
and unscientific to deny it, as is virtually done when science ex-
cludes it from any share in life-phenomena, by presuming to explain
life upon purely material considerations. No chemico-physical
theory of life is tenable that does not satisfactorily explain the
chemico-physical difference between, for example, a live amoeba and
a dead one ; an explanation which has never yet been, and probably
cannot be, given.
A general discussion of the points involved in this paper fol-
lowQ^. Mr. Powell pointed out what he regarded as a funda-
mental and fatal error in the reasoning, viz., that the axiom that
the whole equals the sum of all its parts, had been assumed through-
out to be true qualUatively as well as quantitively. Furthermore^
he maintained that logical consistency required that those who be-
lieve in force should believe also in the vital principle, and viee verm.
As for himself, however, there was neither force nor vital principle,
but only matter in motion. Three relations are always to be borne
in mind, viz., quantity, quality, and succession, whereas the physi-
cist falls into error by considering only the quantitive relation.
So much of the support of the views of Mr. Coues as might be
derived from the common consensus of mankind was criticised by
Mr. Gill as unsound, since the common consensus of mankind has often
been found at fault ; the supposed flatness of the earth, the motion
of the sun around the earth, etc., are examples where this criterion
fails. Paraphrasing an eminent philosopher's dictum, he thought
therewasatendency of biologists ignorant of philosophy and philo-
sophers ignorant of biology to make a distinction between or*
ganic and inorganic matter, and call in a '' vital force." He likened
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 106
liviDg and dead protoplasm to an electric battery in action and at
rest, and maintained that life is a property of matter, and that it
cannot be conceived of separated from matter.
Mr. Harknebs avowed his belief in force, and hence in vital force,
and further in a little religion, and was, therefore, moved to make
inquiry concerning the chemical difference between living and dead
matter.
Mr. Ward pointed out that very diverse views were held upon
this subject by two classes of thinkers who do not come into intel-
lectual contact. Furthermore, while not asserting that a belief in
vital force was a superstition, attention was drawn to the fact that
infantile races attribute all phenomena to supernatural agencies,
and that, with increasing knowledge, there is a decrease in the num-
ber of these appeals to supernatural agencies.
The comer stone of modern science, said Mr. Doolittle, is meas-
ure. We must have a biometer. What electrical science would be
without ohms, astronomy without graduated circles, chemistry with-
out the balance, such is biology without a measure. Is there more
life in two mice than in one mouse ? In a horse than in a mouse ?
Until we can answer these questions substantial progress in biology
is not to be expected.
The term automatic, as used here, he considered a confession of
biologic ignorance. Automatic motion, as used in the discussion,
seemed to mean simply motion which cannot be relegated to any
known law.
After some further desultory discussion the Society adjourned.
218th Meeting. May 20, 1882.
President Wm. B. Taylor in the chair.
Thirty-two members and visitors present.
A series of resolutions concerning the death of Admiral John
RoDOERS, a member of this Society, which resolutions had been
adopted by the General Committee, were read by the Secretary ;
after which Prof. Charles W. Shields, of Princeton College, read
to the Society a communication
ON THE philosophical ORDER OF THE SCIENCES.
This communication has been published by Scribner's Sons in a
106 BULLBTIN OF THE
volume entitled " The Order of the Sciences; An Essay on the
Philosophical Classification and Organization of Human Knowl-
edge." By Charles W. Shields, Professor in Princeton College.
103 pp., 12mo. New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1882.
This communication was discussed by Messrs. Ward, Powell,
Antisell, Taylor, Alvord, and Baker.
219th Meeting. June 3, 1882.
President Wm, B, Taylor in the chair.
Twenty-two members and visitors present.
The first communication offered was by Mr. Alvord
ON THE COMPASS PLANT.
This communication has been published with the title " On the
Compass Plant," by Benjamin Alvord, in the American Naturalist
for August, 1882, No. 16, pp. 625-635.
Remarks were made on the exhibition of polarity in other vege-
table types by Messrs. Henry Farquhar and Theodore Gill.
Mr. E. B. Elliott next presented to the Society a communica-
tion
on some formula relating to government securities.
Mr. C. H. Kummell then presented a communication
ON composition op error from single causes op error.
This was unfinished when the hour of adjournment arrived, and
its completion went over to the next meeting.
Adjourned.
2218T Meeting. June 17, 1882.
President Wm. B. Taylor in the chair.
Twenty-three members and visitors present.
Mr. C. H. Kummell continued his communication
ON COMPOSITION OF ERROR FROM SINGLE CAUSES OF ERROR.
which was begun at the last meeting.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 107
This paper is expected to appear in full in the Astronomische
Nachrichten.
Bemarks upon this paper were made by Messrs. E. B. Elliott
and W. B. Taylor.
Mr. Marcus Baker then presented the following communication
ON A GEOMETRICAL QUESTION RELATING TO SPHERES.
On January 17, 1882, Mr. Doolittle called the attention of the
Society to the geometrical problem To determine a drde equally di&-
iant from four given points in a plane, and showed that the state-
ment in Chauvenet's Geometry, (p. 308, Ex. 110,) that this problem
admits of four solutions is erroneous, there being in general fourteen
solutions. The extension of this problem to spheres and five points
in space is nearly as simple as for the case of circles and four
points in a plane.
Let it be proposed to solve the following :
«
Problem. — To determine a sphere equally distant from five given
points.
The distance to a sphere, considered here, is to be measured along
a diameter, produced if necessary, and hence for any position we
liave two distances, one a maximum, the other a minimum.
Solution. — Case I. Through any four of five given points, a, 6, c,
df e, as, for example, b, c, d, e, describe a sphere ; the fifth point, a,
will in general fall within or without this sphere, of which call the
radius R and centre C ; alsoj let o( be the distance from the centre
of this sphere to the point a. Then two spheres described with
centre C and radii i(B :t 0() fulfil the condition of being equidis-
tant from the five points.
Every distinct group of four of the five given points in like
manner gives two solutions ; hence of this kind there are in all ten
solutions.
Case II. Through any three of the five given points, a, b, c, d, 6,
as a, bf e, pass the circumference of a circle ; from the centre of the
circle erect a perpendicular. This perpendicular is the locus of all
points equidistant from points a, b, c. Join the points d and 6 by a
line ; bisect this line by a plane perpendicular thereto. This plane
18 the locus of all points equidistant from d and e. The intersec-
tion of these two loci is the centre of two spheres equidistant from
the five points.
108 BULLETIN OF THE
Every distinct group of three of the five given points in like
manner gives two solutions; hence of this kind there are in all
trventy solutions.
Therefore, in general there are thirty spheres equally distant from
five given points.
The next communication was by Mr. H. A. Hazen
ON THE RETARDATION OF STORM CENTRES AT ELEVATED 8TA-
TIONSy AND HIGH WIND AS A PROBABLE CAUSE.
In the absence of Mr. Hazen the following abstract was read by
the Secretary, Mr. Baker :
In his tenth paper, published in the January, 1879, number of
the American Journal of Science, Prof. Elias Loomis advanced
certain evidence, based on barometric observations, to show that
apparently the progress of a storm centre was much more rapid at
the surface of the earth than at elevations above it. It is the pur-
pose of this article to put forth certain facts which, it is hoped, will
tend to elucidate the subject.
Not long since, before this Society, Prof. G. K. Gilbert showed
that a high wind had a tendency to depress the barometer column,
as determined from his discussion of certain observations made by
the Signal Service at the summit and along the side of Mount
Washington, New Hampshire. If now a wind can produce such
a depression, it would seem as if the wind accompanying a storm
and continuing its force at a high station some time after the pas-
sage of the storm centre at the base, might cause the apparent re-
tardation.
It is very desirable that special experiments be made, under
natural conditions, directly testing the influence of high winds on
the barometer column.*
It seems possible to indirectly ascertain such influence from a
barometric computation of the height of a mountain by means of
observations taken during different wind velocities. Table I gives
such a computation of the height of Mount Washington from ob-
servations at the base and summit in May, 1872 and 1873.
♦Direct experiments have been made, using a blower for the air current, and
an air-tight receiver for the barometer, at short distances, a condition of things,
however, which can never occur in nature.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
109
Table I.
Mean amount to be added to the true difference of elevation betuteen the summit
and base of Mount Washington in order to give the computed difference, ar^
ranged according to the force of the wind.
'WlHO FOBCB n HiLBB PEB HOUB.
OtolO.
11 to 20.
21 to 30.
31 to 40.
41 to 60.
6itoeo.
Above 61.
Caaes.
AmH.
C.
A.
C.
A.
C.
A.
C.
A.
C.
A.
C.
A.
Ma7,1872
lfAy4873
77
104
—27.1
—43.6
25
134
«
—18.6
— 22.0
30
183
—3.1
+ 4.1
43
136
1
+ 13.8
+ 16.6
66
00
+ 10.6
•
+ 34.9
32
61
+ 33.9
+ 62.4
60
2T
+ 61.4
+ 80.1
In the above table, for May, 1872, all winds under 10 and above
40 are included, and in May, 1873, all the cases, except a few which
were omitted because of serious errors in the observations.
The table shows this remarkable peculiarity that, though with
winds above sixty-one miles per hour, the mean computed difference
in height is too great by sixty-six feet ; with winds under ten miles
per hour the mean difference is too small by thirty-five feet. We
conclude, then, that some other cause must produce the results, or
must act in conjunction with the wind. Taking the wind above
sixty-one miles per hour I have found ten cases in which the height
was too small by about fifteen feet, also a great number of cases in
which, though the wind continued strong from the same direction,
yet the computed height continually became less, showing that the
wind does not produce a direct effect upon the indications of the
barometer. On projecting the curves of pressure we find that
there is a uniformity in the occurrence of small and large differ-
ences of elevation with the maxima and minima of pressure, the
least being found when the pressure is high, and the greatest when
it is low.
Grouping a second time, then, with respect to the maxima and
minima of pressure, we have Table II.
110
BULLETIN OF THE
Table II.
Mean amounts to be added to the true difference of height between the summit and
base of Mount Washington to obtain the computed difference.
Date.
Locality.
Maxima of
Pressure.
Minima of
Pressure.
Cases.
Amount.
Cases.
Amount.
Mav. 1872 -—
Mt. W. and base
Mt. W. and base
Mt. W. and mean of
B. and P.
81
102
119
•
f
— 32.5
61.6
— 29.1
70
137
120
/
+ 57.4
+ 67.3
-f 127.0
May. 187^
Jan., Feb., Mar., Oct.,
Nov., Dec, 1880.
As the first two horizontal rows of figures apply only to obser-
vations for the month of May, and as it would be very desirable
to have results for the colder months when the fluctuations are
much increased, I have added a third set of figures for the,summit
of Mount Washington, compared with the mean of Burlington and
Portland as the base, and computed the difierence of elevation from
observations taken at 7 a. m., 3 p. m., and 11 p. m., Washington
time, during January, February, March, October, November, and
December, 1880.
It is evident from Table II that during the prevalence of relatively
high pressure, elevations computed barometrically will, in general,
be too small, and, on the other hand, when the pressure is low, the
computed heights will be too great. This also explains the coinci-
dence of too great computed heights with high winds, for the reason
that the highest winds always occur with relatively low pressure ;
on the contrary, when the wind is light, the pressure is generally
high.
May not this retardation be due to the efiect of varying tempera-
ture ? When a *' low " has passed a station at sea level the tempera-
ture frequently falls steadily, thus contracting the atmosphere and
causing its withdrawal from the upper regions, and a still further
fall in pressure there. This process will continue until the fall
caused by the low temperature is counterbalanced by the rise due
to the advancing " high." The following is given as an illustra-
tion :
PHILOSOPHICAL SOOIBTY OF WASHINGTON.
•
111
OhservaJtionB of air-pressure and temperature at Denver and Pike's
Peak, Colorado, in November, 1880.
Day.
Hour.
Wash. Time.
Temp.
Pike's Peak.
Mean Temp.
Pike's Peak and
Denver.
Pressure.
Pike's
Peak.
Denver.
14
15
16
17
a
18
•
7 a. m
3P. m
II p. m.
7 a. m
3p. m
II p. m.
7 a. m
3P-ni
II p.m.
7 a. m
3P-ni
II p.m.
7 a. m
3p. m
II p.m.
0
-5
+ 2
6
10
14
11
I
— 6
— 14
— 31
— 19
— 16
— 9
— 4
— 5
0
6
20
19
22
34
16
6
I
— 6
— 20
— 10
— 12
— 6
I
//
17.75
17.75
17.82
17.83
17.71
17.57
17.28
17.18
17.22
17.13
17.25
17.42
17.48
17.41
17.32
//
24.69
24.64
24.59
24.50
24.28
24.48
24-41
24-44
24.58
24.54
24.49
24.42
24.33
24.23
24.08
From these observations we see that, although the air-pressure
was at a minimum at Denver, November 15, 3 p. m., yet, owing
to the extraordinary cold, the pressure continued to fall at Pike's
Peak, (which is 8,840 feet above Denver,) and did not reach its
lowest point until forty hours afterward, or November 17, 7 a. m.
Extending the same reasoning to the diurnal range of air-pressure
we shall find a satisfactory solution of the retardation. From
hourly observations at the summit and base of Mount Washington
I find that while the morning maximum occurs at 8 : 30 a. m. at
the base, it does not occur till noon at the summit, during thb part
of the day the temperature is rising rapidly ; and hence we may
suppose that it produces the continued rise in air-pressure at the
summit overbalancing the diurnal range; in like manner the after-
noon minimum occurs at 6 p. m. at the summit, or two hours later
than at the base, as the temperature begins falling at 2 p. m. Thb
may account for the difference at the two stations. On comparing
112 BULLETIN OF THE
the night maximum and morning minimum I find little or no re-
tardation ; this is what we might expect from the fact that at this
time there is little or no change in temperature.
The President, Mr. Taylor, called the attention of the Society
to the remarkable halo witnessed by many people in Washington
last Thursday, June 15, saying that in some respects it was remark-*
able, and presented some theoretical difficulties. While it had
been seen by a number of those present, none had made any scien-
tific observations of it or taken any measuremlnts. A number of
other halos were mentioned which, like this, occurred between 10
and 11 a. m., and it was thought worth while to consider whether
halos appeared oftener at those hours than at others, and if so,
why.
2218T Meeting. October 7, 1882.
The President in the chair.
Forty-one members present.
The consideration of the minutes of the last meeting was post-
poned.
The President welcomed the members to a renewal of the meet-
ings of the Society after the summer vacation.
He also announced that vacancies had been created in the Com-
mittee by the resignation of Dr. J. J. Woodward, a Vice-President
of the Society, on account of prolonged illness, and of Mr. Marcus
Baker, one of the Secretaries, by reason of assignment to duty in
California. The General Committee had elected Mr. E. B. Elliott
a vice-president in place of Dr. Woodward, and Dr. J. S. Billings
a secretary in place of Mr. Baker. The vacancies resulting there-
from in the membership of the Committee had been supplied by
the election of Dr. D. L. Huntington, U. S. A., and Prof. C. V.
Riley.
Mr. A. S. Christie made a communication
ON A system of 8TAN])ARD TIME.
A prime meridian (say Greenwich) time would, in general, give
the hours of the local natural day dissymmetrical with respect to
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 113
the zenith of the clock face and the zero point of the hour numbers.
Turning the dial plate until the prime meridian hour of local mean
Doon comes to the zenith, eliminates the first mentioned element of
dissymmetry, and is a partial adaptation of prime meridian time to
locf^l convenience. The second element of dissymmetry is inherent
in the nature of numbers, and cannot be eliminated whilst they are
retained ; for symmetry demands that the zero point shall be either
everywhere or nowhere^ neither of which conditions can be satisfied
by the symbols now in use. Rejecting them, therefore, and adopt-
ing a series of hour symbols having no absolute numerical, but only
an ordinal, significance, is another and final step in the adaptation
of prime meridian time (such only as to the hour-zero) to general
use.
A consideration of what symbols to adopt will immediately sug-
gest, that an abandonment of the artificial, and a return to the
simplicity of nature, constitutes the real and complete solution of
the problem. That problem may now be stated : To avoid the dis-
cordance of local time on different meridians (a discordance which
cannot be removed) by the adoption of the same standard time
on all meridians, so that the hour and fraction of the hour shall be
the same at the same instant everywhere ; which standard time
shall be marred by no dissymmetry with respect to the globe, alien
in no land, essentially local everywhere, cosmopolitan and impartial
as the sun himself.
The mere statement oC the problem is almost sufficient The
system of time must consist in simply telling where the mm is with
respect to our terrestrial meridians — the answer in every case must
be the same in all quarters of the globe. To limit the geographical
knowledge necessary, insure uniformity, and afford hour-zeros,
twenty-four equi-distant meridians should be agreed upon as such
hour zeros, and named from some country through which, or city
near which, they pass. Regard now the dial plate of the clock as
the earth, the noith pole at center, and meridians, twenty-four of
which are actually drawn, radiating to the circumference. (Mr.
Henry Farquhar suggests that the dial plate be an actual plan-
isphere.) Bring the local meridian to the zenith and let the hour-
hand, revolving once each day, point to the mean sun. The
time read from such a chronometer will be the natural, or sun time,
proposed in this paper. Space here forbids details with respect
to the theory itself, or mention of the objections urged against its
8
114 BULLETIN OF THB
practicability ; but it may be said in conclusion, in answer to an
objection raised by Prof. Coffin, that the longitude of any place i»
given at once by the clock face at meridian transit of the ,mean
sun, without any subtraction whatever.
Mr. Henry Fabquhar urged some objections to the device of
reckoning time by meridians an hour apart, as not being suffi-
cieutly local to avoid a longitude correction in tables of sun-
rise and other astronomical events, nor sufficiently universal to
escape confusion at points nearly 30 minutes from the standard
meridians. He thought the need of a universal standard timer
already greatly increased by railway and telegraph communication,
would become still more strongly felt in the future. Inconvenience
resulting from the occurrence of the 24th hour during daylight at
any place, could be obviated by numbering hours beyond 24 and
retaining the same day. It would not be suitable to reckon time
everywhere from Greenwich midnight, since that would involve a
change of day at local 10 A. M. in Sydney, (nearly noon in New
Zealand) or, if the hours after 10 A. M. were counted as 25, 26,
etc. of the previous day, a discrepancy in date between Australia
and Europe. Hours might be reckoned from midnight at 6h. east
of Greenwich, noon at 6h. west; though 5th. west, a meridian
passing near Cumberland, Maryland, .would be preferable. The
longitude of a place would be the time of mean noon at that place,
and count from the last-named meridian westward, from 6h. to BOh.,.
and not from Oh. to 24h. The longitude of Washington, then,
would be 23h. 58.2m., that of San Francisco, 26h. 54.6m., Hono-
lulu, 29h. 16.4m., Auckland, 7h. 5.7m., Calcutta, 12h. 51.7m., and
Greenwich, 18h. 45.0m. The 6h. meridian would pass through
Bering Straits and be the line adopted for the change of date.
East of British India the day would be understood to change at
24h., which hour would arrive at some time less than 6h. after mid-
night. For the rest of the world, the hours would run above 24,.
and be diminished by 24 at the time indicated by local custom and
convenience for a change of day. In Washington, for example^
the conventional day might change at 36h., the hours of next day
counting on from 12h., or at 39h. and count on from 15h., accord-
ing as it was preferred to have the change near midnight or about
3h. afler midnight. At Greenwich the hour nearest midnight would
be 31h. or 7h.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON. 115
Mr. Farquhar also showed a proposed form of clock-face, in
which the hours were numbered from 0 to 42 in two circuits, 24
being opposite 0, and so on. Such a clock would do for all meridi-
ans, but might easily be arranged to have any desired noon-time at
the top.
Mr. Coffin remarked that he had failed to appreciate the im-
portance of standard time to the extent to which it had been fre-
quently advocated. If we examine the several departments, in
which such time is supposed to be needed, we can better deter-
mine in what way a requirement of that kind can be best supplied.
In navigation the time of the prime meridian is a necessity ; and
this is furnished directly by chronometers regulated to that time,
while from astronomical observations the corresponding local time
may be found ; and both are involved in all questions of longitude.
No further standard time is needed in this department.
The use of an astronomical ephemeris also requires the time of
the meridian for which it is prepared. A prime meridian common
to all nations is a desideratum. But at present the maritime
nations of Great Britain and the United States reckon longitudes
from Greenwich, while on some of the nautical charts of Russia,
Germany, and Spain, longitudes are given from Greenwich as well
as from the prime meridian of each respective country. Besides
this use of the meridian of Greenwich more general than of any
other meridian, the meridian of ISO^ E. or \V. from Greenwich
passes near Behring Strait and through an extensive unoccupied
region of the Pacific Ocean, where it will be most convenient to
have the change of day, which is one less on the east side of such
meridian than on the west. Indeed, the change of longitude from
east to west, or the reverse, necessarily requires a change of the local
day. Where the change is made, is arbitrary. For instance, the
longitude 175° E. is equivalent to 185° W. ; but October 7 in the
first case is October 6 in the second. If such noting of the day,
which is as much a part of the expression of the local time as are
the hours and minutes, is attended to, we have the simple rule, com-
mon in navigation and the use of an ephemeris, " To the local time
add the longitude if west, subtract it if east, to obtain the corre-
sponding time of the prime meridian ; " and this rule includes the
day as well as its parts.
Sir John Herschel and others have proposed that longitudes
0hould be reckoned westerly from 0 to 360°. This would complicate
116 BULLETII7 OF THE
the expression for the local day, and congruity would require that
the change of day should be at the prime meridian, which would
cause great inconvenience and even confusion.
There are some observations of terrestrial phenomena, which it
is desirable to have made simultaneously in the same continent or
in all parts of the world. This was notably the case in the mag-
netic crusade some forty years ago, when certain instants of 6ot-
tingen times were specified ; but the observers had no difficulty, each
for himself, in determining and using his corresponding local time.
And in meteorological observations, if times are prescribed in the
time of any specific meridian, the observers, if of sufficient intelli-
gence to make valuable observations, can readily convert these times
into their local times, or the reverse. The constant difference of
longitude, expressed in time, is all that each one requires for the
purpose.
The great call for a standard time has been made with regard to
railroads. A uniform time for each road, or connecting system of
roads, is needed for regulating the times of starting and the arrival
of trains, which each road can best determine for itself, and the
time-tables and clocks at the several stations may be reserved for
the employ^ of such roads only. If the time-tables published for
information of the travelling public are given in the local time of
each place, or a column of constants for the reduction of the pub-
lished times to the local times is given, the needs of the traveller
seem to be sufficiently provided for. A local time differing but
little from local mean-solar time is needed to meet the wants of the
social and industrial interests of the country, and if it be exactly
the mean-solar time, it varies from place to place directly with
the longitude.
An essential is that each time-table for railroads should state
distinctly what time is used. A neglect of this has and will pro-
duce uncertainty and confusion. In a leading railroad guide I
found, at a place which I visited ,three time-tables for the same road,
without any statement that one of them was in New York time, the
others in time of other places.
The suggestion that the dials of clocks should indicate an entire
day of twenty-four hours instead of a half day of twelve hours is
valuable to a certain extent. This is done in astronomical clocks,
and in the astronomical mode of noting time. It would be an im-
provement in chronometers for nautical use, but sufficient if the
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 117
dial be marked into the two periods of twelve hours each, into
which common, universal use divides the day.
It would seem to be impracticable to change materially the use
of local-mean time, now common throughout the country ; nor is
such change desirable or needed.
It is only within forty years that mean time has been substituted
for apparent time in many of our cities, though its advantages had
long been recognized by astronomers and time regulators; and
within twenty years that the sun's rising and setting have been
stated in mean, instead of apparent, time in the popular almanacs
of the day.
The subject-matter was further discussed by Messrs. Doolittle,
Elliott, Riley, Hilgard, Gilbert, and Mussey.
Mr. G. Brown Goode then read a paper
ON THE FISHERIES OF THE WORLD.
This has been essentially printed in the " Cyclopsedia of Political
Science, Political Economy," etc., edited by John J. Lawlor, pub-
lished at Chicago, vol. 2, pp. 211-231, (Art. "Fisheries,") 1883.
222d Meeting. October 21, 1882.
The President in the Chair.
Twenty-two members were present.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and adopted.
Mr. 8. C. BusEY read a paper
on THE INFLUENCE OF THE CONSTANT USE OF HIQH-HEELED
SHOES UPON THE HEALTH AND FORM OF THE FEMALE, AND
UPON THE RELATION OF THE PELVIC ORGANS.
(The paper will appear in full in vol. 7, Gynecological Transac-
tions.)
[Abstract.]
The foot and its coverings is not a new subject. Far more at-
tention, however, has been given to the style and display of the
covering than to the comfort and physical well-being of the foot.
From this point the author gave a historical resume of the different
coverings for the feet which had been used as far back as the an-
118 BULLETIN OF THE
cient Egyptians. The heel at first was designed to make short men
look tall, and like other parts had undergone many changes to suit
the whims of fashion and taste. During the reign of Louis XVI
this objectionable style began to disappear, but has been again re-
vived, and is perhaps more general now than at any previous time.
Then followed a brief summary of the causes that produced devi-
ations of form, with special reference to the effect of the constant
use of French high-heeled shoes. Diagrams were exhibited show-
ing the distortions of the feet caused by them, and the consequent
changes in the joint-flexures and spinal curves. He claimed that
the primary deflection took place at the base of the line of gravita-
tion, and above this point there were greater or lesser alterations of
the flexures and curves along the bony framework. Special atten-
tion was directed to the increased obliquity of the pelvis, and to the
probable corresponding change in the position of the womb and
other pelvic organs, which might be an important factor in the cau-
sation of some of the disorders of the female reproductive organs.
The subject-matter was discussed by various members.
A communication was submitted by Mr. Theodore Gill
ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE INSECTIVOROUS MAMMALS.
In 1875 the author published a " Synopsis of Insectivorous Mam-
mals" in the Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey
of the Territories, under Hayden, (vol. 1, No. 2; 2d series, 1875,
pp. 91-120,) and proposed several modifications in the classifi-
cation. The principal of those modifications were (1) the union
of the typical lusectivora and Dermoptera {GuleopUhecus) is one
orden as had been long before proposed by Frederic Cuvier and
Wagner, but their distinction as two suborders ; (2) the distribution
of the true insectivores under two groups characterized by their
molar dentition, and the complete subordination of the form of the
body, and (3) the combination of families into super-families, and (4)
the subdivision of several into subfamilies. The scheme thus pro-
mulgated has met with gratifying and unexpected favor, and has
been essentially adopted by Messrs. Coues, Jordan, Dallas, Troues-
sart, and Dobson. Surgeon-Major Dobson's opinion is especially
weighty, as he has undertaken a monograph of the order, and his
opportunities for investigation have been unequalled. Since the
publication of the Synopsis, in 1875, several forms have been made
PHILOSOPHICAL SOGIBTT OF WASHINGTON. 119
or become known which compel the recognition of new subordinate
groups in the order; and Major Dobson has also proposed to raise
the Solenodontinae from the rank of a subfamily of Centetidse to
that of a &mily by the side of the latter. The assessment of the
comparative value of diiBTerent groups is a difficult and delicate
task, and much can be said for as well as against any given propo-
sition. The Solenodonts are doubtless as distinct from their nearest
of kin as are some of the generally admitted families of mammals,
and therefore it will be quite proper to recognize the family value
of the type. But there are other groups of Insectivora which have
been associated together in the same families which are equally or
more entitled to the same distinction. Indeed, the only subfami-
lies of the ''Synopsis of Insectivorous Mammals" which do not
contrast more seem to be the Gymnurinse and Erinaceinae. If the
Solenodontidso are to be diiBTerentiated with family rank from the
GentetidsB, so should the others. We would then have the follow-
ing families:
SUBORDER DERMOPTERA.
1. Galeopithecidse.
SUBORDER BESTIR
DiLAHBDODOKTA. — ^BestisB with broad molar teeth surmounted
by W-shaped ridges.
TUPAIOIDEA.
2. Tupaiidso.
3. Macroscelididse = Macroscelidinse.
4. Rhynchocyonidse = Rhynchocyoninse.
ERINACEOIDEA.
5. Erinaceidse, with the two subfamilies Gymnurinse and Erina-
ceinsB.
BORICOIDEA.
6. TalpidflB = Talpinse.
7. Myogalidse = Myogalinsa.
8. Soricidse.
Zalambdodonta. — Bestise with narrow molar teeth having Y-
shaped ridges.
120 BULLETIN OF THE
CENTETOIDA.
9. Centetidse = Centetinad.
10. OryzoryctidfiB = Oryzoryctinse, Dobson, Mon. Insect., pp. 2,
71. 1882.
11. Solenodontidse, Dobsan, Mod. Insect, pp. 3, 87. 1882.
12. Potamogalidse.
13. Geogalidas = GeogalinsB, Dobson, Mon. Insect., p. 2. 1882.
CHRYSOCHLOROIDEA.
14. Chrysochloridse.
The ** Monograph of the Insectivora," by Surgeon-Major Dob-
son, will fill a long-felt want, and exceptionally well represent the
present condition of our knowledge respecting the existing repre-
sentatives of the order.
223d Meeting. November 4, 1882.
The President in the Chair.
Forty-five members present.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved.
A communication was made by Mr. O. K. Gilbert:
ON A GRAPHIC TABLE FOR COMPUTATION.
[Abstract.]
On Nov. 17th, 1881, a new method of barometric hypsometry
was presented to the Society, and this has since been published in
the Second Annual Report of the Geological Survey. It involves
a new formula. In the application of that formula an approximate
value of the required altitude is first obtained, to which a correc-
tion is then added. For the determination of this correction a
table was prepared, to be entered with two arguments. Although
this table was spread out on six octavo pages, and although the de-
duced correction is small, it was nevertheless found impracticable
to avoid a double interpolation. To escape this inconvenience the
graphic table was afterwards devised.
The graphic table consists of three super-imposed sets of lines.
In each of two sets the lines are straight, parallel, and equidistant,
and those of one set intersect those of the other at right angles.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 121
These represent values of the two arguments. The lines of the third
set are curved, and each one represents a value of the correction.
In use, the straight lines representing the values of the two argu-
ments are traced to their intersection, and from the relation of this
point of intersection to the curved lines the correction is deduced.
This method is theoretically applicable to the tabulation of any
quantity which is the function of two variables, but is practically
useful only when the quantity to be determined is either expressible
by a small number of digits, or else is subject to only a small range
of variation.
A second graphic table was exhibited, having for its object the
computation of altitude from horizontal distances and vertical
angles as data. On this, successive valuesx>f computed altitude are
indicated by parallel, equidistant, straight lines. Vertical angles
are indicated by the directions of lines radiating from a point, but
the intervals of these lines are not equal. Distances are measur-
able along these radial lines, but are not indicated in the drawing.
The scale of distances is identical with that of the map, including
the points whose altitudes are to be computed. The lines are drawn
on tracing-linen.
For the use of this table it is postulated that the points whose
altitudes are to be computed are correctly placed upon a map, and
that the same map indicates a point from which the elevation or
depression angles of the various points were measured. The trans-
parent linen bearing the table is placed over the map and con-
nected with it by a pin passing through the common origin of the
radial lines, and also through the indicated position of the station
from which the angles were measured. About this point as a centre
the table is then moved until the radial line, indicating the vertical
angle of one of the points, is brought immediately over the repre-
sentation of that point upon the map. The position of that point
among the parallel lines then indicates the desired altitude.
The use of this device is limited to a special case, but that case
is one of frequent recurrence in the preparation of contour maps,
and it is hoped that the device will lead to an economy of time.
The principle involved in the application of a transparent graphic
table permits of the extension of the graphic table to cases involv-
ing three arguments. Two sets of lines could be drawn on a lower
sheet, and two other sets on an upper transparent sheet, and these
122 BULLETIN OF THE
sets could be so constructed that one of them would represent a
function of three variables represented by the other three.
The paper was discussed by Mr. Harkness and Mr. H. A. Hazex,*
Mr. ELabkness pointed out that the construction of a two-argument
computation table by means of curved lines was not novel.
224th Meeting. Noyembeb 18, 1882.
The President in the Chair.
Forty members present.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and adopted.
Mr. E. B. Elliott spoke
ON SURVIYORSHIFS, WITH TABLES AND FORMULAS OP CONSTRUCTION,
(No abstract has been furnished.)
Mr. H. A. Hazen submitted a paper
ON THE COMING WINTER OF 1882-'83.
The following is an abstract :
It has been a great desideratum, and one which has called out
the efforts of many men, to determine in advance the probable char-
acter of a season. A prominent meteorologist has inferred that the
coming winter is to be a very severe one, because, as he says, " every
one knows that a cold and wet summer is invariably followed by a
cold and stormy winter." In order to obtain probable sequences
in the weather, if we could in any way determine the mean temper-
ature or pressure over an extensive region, it would seem as though
results would be far more satisfactory than those from a single sta-
tion. The following plan has been adopted for ascertaining such
mean results:
We may draw isobars or any isometeorologic lines upon a map
of a country ; then we may rule a large number of squares upon
glass or some transparent substance ; and after that, by placing
these squares upon the map, we may at a glance interpolate the
exact pressure or temperature in each square, and a mean of all the
squares would give a mean for the whole country.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
128
Such results have been determined for the United States east of
the 97th meridian for each month since July, 1873. (These were
exhibited graphically before the Society.) We find a singular re-
sult on comparing these figures with similar figures for the single
station of Providence, R. I., (observations at this station, from 1832
to 1876, were kindly furnished the author by the Smithsonian Insti-
tution,) namely, a striking uniformity in the values; and we may
conclude that, as far as mean monthly temperatures are concerned,
we may consider those at any one station fairly comparable with
the same over an extensive region.
In the accompanying table each summer, and the following win-
ter, at Providence, R. I., have been considered as cold, cool, mean,
warm, or hot ; and an efibrt has been made to establbh the character
of the winter that follows a summer having any one of the above
characteristics:
Summer. Winter fol-
lowing.
..cold warm
Year.
1832. —
1833 cool warm
1834 warm cold
1835 mean cold
1836. cold . cold
1837 cold mean
1838 hot cold
1839 mean cool
1840 warm mean
1841 mean hot
1842 mean mean
1843 mean __-^ mean
1844 mean warm
1845 <^<*ol cool
1846 cold hot
1847 mean hot
1848. . warm cool
1849 mean . hot
1850 mean hot
1851 mean * cool
1852 warm warm
1853 warm cool
1854 . warm cool
1855 ^o^ ^^^^
1856 hot cold
Tear. Bummer. Winter fol-
lowing.
1857 cold _._ —hot
1858 —.cold __hot
1859 mean hot
i860 cool hot
1861 cool 1 warm
1862 cold warm
1863 cold hot
1864 cold warm
1865 mean hot
1866 warm warm
1867 mean mean
1868 mean cold
1869 cool warm
1870 hot hot
187 1 mean cold
1872 hot cold
1873 mean mean
1874 mean ...cold
1875 ^o^^ mean
1876 warm cold
1877 warm hot
1878 warm cool
1879 mean hot
1880 hot cold
1881 warm hot
124 BULLETIN OF THE
On examiniug this table we find that of the eight cold summers
three were followed by a hot winter, three by a warm winter, one
by a mean winter, and one by a cold winter, which gives one out of
eight cold summers followed by a cold winter, and six by a hot or
warm winter. Taking all the cases, in forty-eight per cent of them
any summer was followed by a winter of an opposite character ;
in forty-two per cent, the summers or winters were mean, and in
only ten per cent, of the cases were the summers followed by win*
ters of the same character.
Making a similar comparison at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, we
find, out of the sixty-eight summers and winters on record at that sta-
tion, that fifty-two, or seventy-six per cent., were followed by a sea-
son of the opposite character; ten, or fifteen per cent., by a season
of the same character; and six, or nine per cent., were doubtful.
We may also infer the character of the coming season for the
United States by noting the movement of the permanent winter area
of high pressure in respect to the Rocky mountains. It would seem
as though these tended to ward off the cold if the high area settles
down to the west of the range.
The winter of 1877-'78 was warm, for during every month of
that season the high pressure was west of the Rockies, and the cold
waves were effectually barred from the Eastern States. In Decem-
ber of 1877 the high pressure was spread over a vast extent of ter-
ritory west of the range, and the temperature in the east rose to 7.2
degrees above the average.
The winter months of 1880-'81 were cold. During t)iat time the
high pressure was well to the east of the Rockies, and the tempera-
ture in the east fell below the average from two to six degrees. The
winter of 1881-82 was warm, as the following tabulated form
shows, the plus sign indicating so many degrees above the average.
Month. Temperature. Position of high pressure.
1 88 1, September H-4°.6 Normal.
October +3°.8 — Normal.
November -f-2°.2 Strong west of range.
December +7°'7 Strong west of range.
1882, January H-2°.7 Strong west of range.
February -f5°.6 Strong west of range.
It is now too early to determine exactly what the weather of
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 126
the winter of 1882-'83 will be, but the indications are that it will
be a medium rather than a severe one, as some have predicted.
The past* summer having been cold and stormy, a warm winter
ought to follow ; and the high pressure during last September was
slightly west of the Rockies, while during October it was so far to
the West and North as to rest over the Cascade range in Oregon.
If it continues west of the Rocky-Mountain range a severe winter
is not probable.
Mr. Henry Farquhar commenced a communication on
EXPERIMENTS IN BINARY ARITHMETIC.
The meeting was adjourned at the usual hour, (10 o'clock,) with
the understanding that the unfinished communication should be
taken up at a subsequent meeting.
225th Meeting. December 2, 1882.
The President in the Chair.
Fifty members present.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and adopted.
In accordance with the by-laws of the Society, the President, Mr.
William B. Taylor, delivered the annual address.
126 BULLETIN OF THE
ANNUAL ADDRESS
ON PHYSICS AND OCCULT QUALITIES,
By William B. Taylor.
**yi8 abdita quisdam/'
LxrcESTiuB. {De R, N,, lib. t. 1232.)
1. The Dynamic and Kinemaiic Theories of Force.
From the remarkable success of scientific investigation in assail-
ing the domain of darkness, — in continually bringing the phenom-
ena of nature more and more under the recognized empire of certain
necessary laws and principles, the induction seems natural that out.
standing mysteries — the ultimate constitution of matter, the nature
and genesis of life and of mind itself — must in time yield to the
same persistent siege of searching analysis, and be reduced to sub-
jection under the same government, as simple servitors of an all-
embracing mechanical philosophy.
In recent years, a still further induction has been ventured upon
by some, to wit, that even the fundamental laws themselves of all
physical action must, when properly formulated, be interpreted by
simple mechanics ; — ^all properties of matter resolved into mass or
inertia, and finite extension or form, — all potentiality of matter into
varying modes of motion. And it has been strongly maintained by
this class of physicists, that until such consummation, the mind
must still be held in thrall of mysterious unimaginable powers, the
helpless devotee of ** occult qualities " which science in the past has
80 laboriously and successfully endeavored to relegate to the sha-
dowy limitary of metaphysics. This form of speculative doctrine,
(premonitions of which maybe traced back several hundred years,)
may now be regarded as having attained the importance and cohe-
sion of a school, numbering in its following a few quite eminent
disciples, who agree in denying the real existence of any inherent
*' forces " in matter, and in holding such a designation to be merely
a convenient but provisional ideal abstraction. While on the other
hand the large majority of scientific thinkers (perhaps comprising
most of those who have reached the conservatism of middle age)
still adhere to the older conception of primeval " force '' as an essen-
tial hypostasis of the operations of nature. And thus the battle so
I
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 127
long waged (and so long practically decided) between realisiu and
nominalism in the field of mind, bids fair to be revived (though
under quite other auspices) in the field of matter. These two modes
of thought may be conveniently designated the dynamic and the
kinematic theories of physics. In the terminology of the PhUo-
Sophie Posiiive, the dynamic theory still lingers in the shaded
vale of" metaphysics," while the kinematic theory has reached the
sunny hill of " positivism.""*" An attempt to examine and compare
these divergent lines of interpretation may be a not unprofitable ex-
ercise.
The Cohesion of MaMer. — ^Among the earliest of our experiences is
the perception that the bodies around us possess in varying degrees a
quality of "hardness;" and the child who gathers a rounded pebble
on the beach, (if perchance inspired by its inquisitive instinct to
see what the interior looks like,) discovers that to break the pebble
requires the heavy and repeated strokes of a stone much larger than
itself. Whence this remarkable tenacity of coherence? Whence
the striking physical difference between the pebble and an equiva-
lent mass of very fine sand ?
From a large variety of facts observed in the actions of solution,
effusion, of evaporation, of the very existence of a kinetic tempera-
ture in bodies, in the phenomena of crystallization, of isomorphism,
of definite and unvarying numerical mass-ratios in chemical com-
binations, of polymerism or serial groupings in multiple proportion,
of isomerism, of allotropy, and of other more recondite habitudes
of matter, the general conviction has been reached (by what has
been called "a consilience of inductions") that all substance is a
collection of constituent molecules of probably uniform magnitudes
held together by some powerful agency. A few it is true have
asserted their superiority to such popular weakness as the admission
of the atomic theory ; but as their vague suggestion of some con-
tinuous or colloidal form of substance has not even pretended to
interpret any of the classes of phenomena just alluded to, such dis-
*AU0TT8TK GoMTE, ID hls PoHHve Philosophy y maintains that ** Forces
arA only motions produced or tendinfi^ to be produced. - - - We hear
too much still of the old metaphysical language about forces and the like ;
and it would be wise to suit our terms to our positive philosophy.'' (Har-
riet Martineau's Translation. London, 1863: book i, chap. 4.) Even tn-
eriia is treated as a metaphysical fiction.
128 BULLETIN OF THE
sent may be summarily dismissed as the mere exhibition of an
unprofitable mental captiousness.'*'
The kinematist repudiating any attractive force in nature would
explain the strong cohesion of matter by the hypothetical external
pressure of a hypothetical surrounding fluid. The Plumian pro*
fessor of astronomy and physics in the University of Cambridge —
James Challis — (a successor of Roger Cotes and of George B. Airy)
has declared " the fundamental and only admissible idea of /oree
is that of pressure, exerted either actively by the aether against the
surfaces of the atoms, or as re-action of the atoms on the aether by
resistance to that pressure." f And the professor of physics in the
University of Edinburgh — Peter G. Tait — having also relegated
the source of all material energy to the action of the highly attenu*
ated matter diffused through space, thinks it probable that *' force "
has no existence, excepting as a convenient expression of a mere
rate of transference of kinetic energy .J
* *' The existence of atoms is itself an hypothesis, and not a probable one.
- - - All dogmatic assertion upon such points is to be regarded with dis-
trust.'' {A Mantial of Inorganic Chemistry ^ By Charles W. Eliot and
Frank H. Storkr. 2d edition, revised, Now York, 1868: chap, xxv, p. 606.)
And yet these negative dogmatists have not shown themselves capable even
of thinking of so elementary a fact in their science as '* polymerism " apart
from the terms of the atomic conception. As Prof. J. Clerk Maxwell
has well observed, "The theory that bodies apparently homogeneous and
continuous are so in reality, is in its extreme form a theory incapable of
development. To explain the properties of any substance by this theory is
impossible." {EncyelopcBdia Britannica. 9th ed., 1875: art. " Atom," vol.
Ill, p. 88.) The objection to atomism sometimes urged — that since magni-
tude is admitted abstractly or mathematically to be infinitely divisible,
therefore any finite particle of matter must also be physically bo conceived,
— ^betrays so strange a confusion of ideas as to merit no serious answer.
Yet so illustrious a mathematician and philosopher as Leonard Euler was
guilty of this gross paralogism. {Letters to a German Princess, May 8,
1761 : vol. II, let. 9.)
f Principles of Mathematics and Physics. By James Challis. 8vo.
Cambridge, 1869: hyp. v, p. 868.
X In an evening lecture on " Force " delivered September 8, 1876, at
Glasgow, (during the session of the British Association,) Prof. Tait an-
nounced that " there is probably no such thing as force at all 1 That it is
in fact merely a convenient expression for a certain rate.*^ And referring
to the corpuscular hypothesis of force, he thought '* The most singular
thing about it is that if it be true, it will probably lead us to regard all
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 129
It is very certain, however, that the hypothetical fluid of cohe-
sion-pressure must be something entirely different in constitution
from the luminiferous aether, since any mode of action which could
be imagined for compressing together the elements of matter, would
necessarily be incompatible with the transmission of solar radiation
having the quality and properties of the vibrations actually ob-
served. The fantastic scheme of Le Sage (in which cohesion is
effected by the quaquaversal impacts of infinitesimal corpuscles
flying swiftly in all directions, and whose various sizes determine
the differing collocations of chemical unions,) — notwithstanding the
approval of Prof. Tait,* — scarcely requires a " serious considera-
tion."t Nor has any form of impact, of pressure, or of undula-
tion, yet been proffered by the ingenuity of the kinematist — either
at all adequate to the maintenance of the known conditions of
matter, or indeed in itself at all conformable with any known
modes of action.
The dynamist having searched in vain for any plausible co-
ordination of the indisputable facts of cohesion with an intelligible
mechanical agency, simply acquiesces in the result, and without in-
voking the unknown or the irrelevant, accepts this established
property as ultimate and inexplicable.
kinds of energy as ultimately kinetic." {Nature. Sept. 21, 1876: vol.
Ziv, pp. 459, 463.)
The cliroax of kinematism however has been reached by the inventor
and apoBtle of the "fourth state of matter," — William Crookes, who is
disposed to dismiss matter itself to the same limbo— of changing position :
'* From this point of view then matter is but a mode of motion ; at the
absolute zero of temperature the inter-molecular movement would stop, and
although something [?] retaining the properties of inertia and weight would
remain, matter — as we know it — would cease to eiist." (Nature, June
17, 1880: vol. xxii, p. 163.) This seems to touch the sublime "secret"
of Oeoboe William Frkdebick Hegel, in which " nought is everything,
and everything is nought." — Seyn und Niehta ist daeeelbe,
* Lectures on some recent advances in Physical Science. By P. G. Tait.
12mo. London, 1876 : lect. Zii, p. 299.
f " The hypothesis of Le Sage - - - is too grotesque to need serious
consideration ; and besides will render no account of the phenomenon of
elasticity." Sir John P. W. Herscbel, "On the Origin of Porce."
(Fortnightly Review, July 1, 1865 : vol. i, p. 438. Also, Familiar Lectures
on Scientific Subjects, 12mo. London, 1866: art. xii. pp. 466, 467.)
9
180 BULLETIN OF THB
The Eladidty of Matter, — To select another illustration, the child
throwing his rounded marble downward on a stone pavement finds
te his surprise that it rebounds like his play-ball, and that he may,
without stooping, catch it in his hand. What explanation is to be
given of this direct and sudden reversal of movement ? To this
familiar quality of matter, we give the name of " elasticity." But
by what more simple formula of mechanics shall we represent
to ourselves this property elasticity f Kinematists abjuring alike
objective " qualities " and subjective " abstractions " have been
severely taxed in their attempts either to ignore the attribute or to
reduce the phenomenon to some phase of molecular vibration.
Some few — consistent in their rejection of all quality from mate-
rial substance — have boldly denied the existence of elasticity ; or
rather have ventured to affirm that perfectly hard or inelastic atoms
or masses would on collision alike rebound, precisely as though
they were elastic* This startling conclusion — apparently necessi-
tated by their fundamental assumption "the conservation of
motion" — requires for the intelligent student of rational mechanics,
no discussion.
Other kinematists have resolutely endeavored to explain the
resilience of colliding bodies as the special resultant of composite
motions. One of the most earnest of these has been the Italian
astronomer and physicist Angelo Secchi, who in an elaborate essay
on the ultimate identity of all the physical forces as simple modes
of motion, remarks : '* It is evident that this 'elastic force' can be
admitted only as a secondary force derived from another antecedent
in an aggregate of atoms, that is in a compound molecule ; and that
it cannot be admitted as pertaining to the elementary atoms. In-
deed, elasticity in its ordinary acceptation requires a void space
within the molecule to allow the form to be changed by compression
and afterward restored ; while on the contrary it is the necessary
condition of real atoms — by conception — to be impenetrable [in-
* This thesis was maintained by John Herapath, in his work on Mathe-
maiical Phyaics. 8vo. 2 vols. London, 1847: (vol. I, pp. 106-187.) As
stated by Newton however, " Bodies which are either absolutely hard, or
so soft as to be void of elasticity will not rebound from one another.
Impenetrability makes them only stop. If two equal bodies meet directly
in vacuOf they will by the laws of motion stop where they meet, and lose
all their motion and remain in rest, unless they be elastic and receive new
motion from their spring.'' {Optics. 2d edition, 1717: book iii, Qu. 81.)
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON, 181
compressible] and not an aggregation of other solid particles.
Hence they cannot be supposed to have any internal voids in which
their parts could be contracted or dilated. - - - We believe we
are able to show that it is by no means a necessary position to
accept this elastic property as a primitive force, but that the ap-
parent repulsion of these atoms and their rebound originates solely
from their proper motion, and for this it is sufficient simply to sup-
pose them to be in rotation"* He then proceeds to develop his
theory of mechanical elasticity from the co-operation of the projec-
tile motion of bodies with the internal rotations of their constituent
molecules ; citing in support of his assumption, the mathematical
researches of Poinsotf In this important foundation of his system
however, the zealous physicist has built upon an entirely mis-
taken apprehension of true mechanical principles, and hence of
course upon a strange misapprehension of the actual discussion by
Poinsot. This eminent mathematician who has investigated so
thoroughly the theory of rotatory movements has shown that in the
collision of inelastic bodies, endowed with rotation, the velocity of
deflection may in 8]>ecial cases exceed the velocity of incidence, in
other special cases may be just equal to it, and lastly in general will
fall short of it, being in many cases entirely destroyed. Thus a
rotating inelastic body has two points between the center of inertia
and that of percussion, which on impact with a fixed resistance
in the line of their direction will produce a resilience of higher ve-
locity than that of collision, — of course by the conversion and ab-
sorption of so much of the rotary motion. There' are other two
points from the direction of whose impact will result a velocity just
equal to that of the original motion of the body ; — in the one case
absorbing one-third of the rotary motion, in the other case absorb-
ing two-thirds of it. If the impact be in the line of the center of
inertia, the whole of the translatory motion is arrested without
afiectiug the rotary motion. [In the case of two equal inelastic
spheres rotating with equal and opposite velocities on parallel trans-
verse axes and meeting at a point on their equators, the bodies
* L* Uniid delU Forze Fisiche ; Saggio de filosofia naturale. Del P. Akoelo
Secchi. 12mo. Home, 1864 : chap, i, sect. 6, pp. 86, 87.
f Father Srcchi's reference in a foot-note is to ^^(^ueaHona dynamiquea
9ur lapereusgion dea corps: pag. 21 e 29, dell' edizione a parte, ed anche
il Giornale di Liouville, - - - a pag. 86.''
132 BULLETIN OF THE
would lose entirely their travelling motion, still retaining their rota-
tions. So also if their axes were equally inclined so as to bring
the points of impact on corresponding circles of latitude ; the limit-
ing case of which would be an impact on their poles 6f motion
in the line of their common axes of rotation.] Lastly if a rotating
inelastic body should meet a fixed resistance in the line of the
center of percussion, not only the translator^ — but the rotary ve-
locity as well — would be entirely destroyed.* If we conceive a
molecule as consisting of a congeries of atoms having an orbital
revolution (analogous to a solar system), a very similar analysis
will apply to the cases of collision.
It is very clear then that the device of storing up additional
kinetic energy in the form of internal rotation (or revolution; fails
utterly to reproduce the phenomena of motion exhibited by elas-
ticity. The resulting effects cannot be admitted as at all analogous ;
since the internal kinetic energy assumed is either wholly or
largely absorbed and exhausted by a single collision, and a second
impact can never reproduce the effects of a first one ; while elastic
force remains perpetual and unimpaired by constant action.
Elasticity accordingly, equally with cohesion, is a fact of nature,
a property of matter, which can neither be interpreted by any form
of motion, nor resolved into any mechanical conceptf Those
therefore who would formulate the elements of things devoid of
* Louis Poinsot. The latter portion of a series of mathematical discus-
sions under the general title — Questions dynamiques aur la Percussion des
Corps; published in Liouville's Journal de Mathematiques for 1857: vol.
II, pp. 281-308.
f " Elasticity without an action e distanti-^ey^n between the adjoining
particles — is inconceivable. "What is meant by elasticity? Surely such
a constitution of the assemblage of particles as makes them recede from
each other." Prof. John Robison. {A System of Mechanical Philoso^
phy. 8vo. 4 vols. Edinburgh, 1882: vol. Ill, p. 189.)
"An alteration of the form of a solid body is called a strain. In solid
bodies strain is accompanied with an internal force or stress ; those bodies
in which the stress depends simply on the strain are called *■ elastic/ and
the property of exerting stress when strained is called elasticity. ...
The general fact that strains or changes of configuration are accompanied
by stresses or internal forces, and that thereby energy is stored up in the
system so strained, remains an ultimate fact which has not yet been ex-
plained as the result of any more fundamental principle." Prof. J. Clerk
Maxwell. {Matter and Motion. 1876 : chap, v, arts. 88, 84 j pp. 70, 71.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 133
quality, have on their own declaration no right to the use of either
term in considering any physical problem.
Were the examination to stop here, it might appear that the only
difference between the dynamist and the kinematist is that the
former — failing to find any satisfactory explanation of certain habi-
tudes of matter, despairs of deeper insight and accordingly seeking
no further, accepts the conclusion that these are insoluble ; while
the kinematist more hopeful, has an abiding faith that the same
processes which have so successfully (or at least so largely) deciph-
ered the riddles of light, of heat, of gaseous constitution, may be
expected in time to resolve these other enigmas though they be not
yet expounded. It is necessary therefore to go back still further
and examine the character of this induction, by a cursory review
of the postulates of the mechanical theory of light, of heat, and of
the kinetics of discrete molecules.
2. Hie Tlieory of Molecular Kinetics,
In the last century both light and heat were generally regarded
as material emanations ; the former, of radiant corpuscles, the
latter, of a peculiarly rare and penetrating fluid. Earlier kinetic
hypotheses of these so-called " imponderables " — however ingeni-
ous— were not supported by a sufficient induction from observed
facts to justly entitle them to unqualified acceptance. And the
doubts and difficulties suggested by the speculations of Newton
were a striking illustration of his recognized sagacity ; notwith-
standing the occasional censures of modern popular lecturers,
trumpeting their own superior wisdom.
The Vibratory Theory of Heat — The fluid or " caloric " theory
of heat (though often questioned or opposed) was first decisively
overthrown at the close of the century by Benjamin Thompson, an
expatriated American, better known as Count Rumford, whose ex-
periments unescapably demonstrated the resolution of heat into an
intestine motion, by the fact of its interminable generation in fric-
tion through the agency of continued motion.'*' It was not how-
*PhU, Trana. Roy. Soe. 1798: vol. Lxxxiii, pp. 80-102. This admi-
rable memoir read before the Koyal Society of London, January 25, 1798,
(in which Bumvorb — from the fact '* that the source of heat generated
184 BULLETIN OF THE
ever until about the middle of the present century that the con-
ception attained a scientific definiteness and currency through the
accurate determination of the kinetic or dynamic value of heat
•
The UndtiMory Theory of Light — Nearly simultaneously with
the work of Bumford in the field of heat, the investigations of
Dr. Thomas Young, at the beginning of this century, relative
especially to the interference of two luminous rays in particular
cases, in like manner overthrew the theory of corpuscular emission
in the field of light, by demonstrating a destruction or oblitera-
tion— quite intelligible as a conflict of wave motion, but entirely
inadmissable and unthinkable as a mutual extermination of con-
flicting substance.'*' Through the refined labors of Young, — ^ad-
mirably assisted and re-enforced by the able efforts of his skillful
and worthy rival Presnel, — the varied and complex phenomena of
dioptrics were more and more fully brought under the dominion of
a rational kinetics. And thus it resulted that the new doctrine of
insensible motion obtained from the scientific world a much more
rapid and general acceptance in its application to light than in its
application to heat. So that it was not unusual some forty or fifty
by friction in these experiments appeared evidently to be inexhaustible,"
argued that this product *' cannot possibly be a material substance : '') may
be said to furnish the first rough approximation to the mechanical equiva-
lent of heat. The author estimated the heat produced by a one-horse power
as equivalent to that obtained from the burning of nine wax candles, each
three-quarters of an inch in diameter ; or to the combustion of a little more
than one- third of a pound of wax in two and a half hours. This essay also
presents the first suggestion of the mechanical correlation of animal power
with heat motion.
Dr. TouNQ held that Bumford 's experiments '' appear to aflTord an un-
answerable confutation of the whole of this doctrine : — [that of a * caloric '
fiuid.] - - - If heat is not a substance, it must be a quality ; and this
quality can only be motion.'' {Lectures on Natural Philosophy, 1807:
lect. 52: vol. I, pp. 663, 664.)
" The hypothesis of caloric " says Prof. J. Clkbk Maxwell " or the
theory that heat is a kind of matter is rendered untenable — first by the
proof given by Bumford that heat can be generated at the expense of
mechanical work ; and secondly by the measurements of Hirn, which show
that when heat does work in an engine, a portion of the heat disappears,^*
{Theory of Heat, 1872: chap, viii, p. 147.)
*^^Phil, Trans, Roy, Soe, A memoir read July 1, 1802: vol. xcii. p.
887 ; and one read November 24, 1808 : vol. xciy. pp. 1-16.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 185
years ago, to find our college professors ssealously incuIcatiDg the
undulatory theory of light, while still maiDtaining the hypothec
of a "caloric " for heat.
•
William Herschel had found, at the b^iDniDg of the century,
that the solar spectrum, as produced by an ordinary glass prism,
manifested a heating power slight at the violet end, but gradually
increasing to the red end, and extending a considerable distance
beyond the less refrangible limit of visible rays, near which limit
the maximum effect was reached.'*'
Johann Wilhelm Bitter, of Jena, a year later found that the
chemical action of the solar spectrum, as exhibited in the darkening
of silver chloride, increased toward the violet extremity, attaining
a maximum beyond the most refrangible limit of luminous disper-
sion.f Hence, it came to be generally believed that the solar rays
comprise three essentially distinct and independent kinds of energy,
representing three different forms of wave-motion. This appeared
the more probable from the entirely dissimilar orders of effect
observed (as interpreted by the impressions of our senses), in calor-
ific energy, in optical luminosity, and in chemical agency.
It was shown however by Alexandre Edmond Becquerel that
the so-called chemical rays were not distinguishable by their re-
frangibility, and that photographic effects could be obtained with
suitable re-agents from any region of the spectrum.;^ And finally,
by the researches of Dr. John W. Draper, it was fully established
that Herschel's results depended on the great distortion (as well as
unequal absorption) inseparable from every prismatic or refractive
spectrum, and that Ritter's results depended on a very limited and
insufficient induction. And thus it has slowly come be recognized
that in every normal spectrum, freed from distortion or selective
absorption, (and equally freed from selective generalization), the
three classes of effects, thermal, photic, and actinic, are equably
or proportionally distributed ; that as these several activities are
equally amenable to polarization, to interference, and to spectral
irradiation and absorption, there is in fact but a single form of
*Phill Trans. Roy. Soc. 1800: vol. xc, pp. 291, 818, 439, 440.
t Gilbert's Annalen der Physik. 1801: vol. vii, p. 627. Nicholson's
Journal of Naiural^hUo9ophy^ [etc.] August, 1808 : vol. y, p. 255.
X Annates de Chemxe et de Physique. April, 1849: vol. xxv, pp. 447-
474.
136 BULLETIN OF THB
setherial unduIatioD, the differences of whose manifeetations de-
pend entirely upon the nature of the body, organic or inorganic^
on which it falls.'*'
•
Molecular Therrno-difnamica, — Passing from the wave theory of
radiation to the related subject of the internal re-actions of bodies,
the application of thermo-kinetics to the facts of temperature has
taught us that the molecules of all bodies are in a state of very
rapid though minute movement, and that this movement, while
being constantly transferred and expended, (and thus ever tending
to the absolute zero,) is yet incessantly maintained in varying quan-
tity by repeated re-enforcements from natural and artificial sources
of heat, and by mutual interchanges. In the case of solid bodies,
whose constituent molecules are held together by what we must call
(in default of any names as yet invented by the kinematist) the
qualities of cohesion and adhesion^ — their mutual contact being re-
sisted and prevented by what we must for the present call a repel-
lant quality, the temperature motion is in the nature of an oscilla-
tion or rather irregular reverberation within the narrow limits of
opposite resistances, by which the relative mean position of the
particles and the stability of the body are preserved. By the term
'' cohesion " is designated simply the observed fact of a resistance
to divellent or tensile stress ; by the term " adhesion '' is designated
the observed fact of resistance to torsional or shearing stress.
When the energy of the molecular movements is increased until
the modulus of '' adhesion " is equalled, the point of melting is
reached, and the molecules instead of being restored to their ante-
cedent positions are carried irregularly from the influence of neigh*
bor to neighbor, and thus become fluent by being deflected among
each other in all possible directions. In this " liquid " condition of
Mm, Jour. Sci. Jan. and Feb., 1873: vol. v, pp. 25-88, and 91-98.
Dr. Draper's results (so far as the refrangibility of radiant heat is con-
cerned) have recently been confirmed by the refined investigations of Prof.
S. P. Langlbt, by means of his "actinic balance." {Proceed. Am.
Acad. Jan., 1881: vol. XYI, p. 842; Am. Jour. Sei. March, 1881: vol.
XXI, p. 187; Nature. Oct. 12, 1882: vol. xxvi, p. 688.)
**A ray of specified wave-length and specified plane of polarization, can-
not be a combination of several different things, such as a light-ray, a heat-
ray, and an actinic ray. It must be one and the san^ thing, which haa
luminous, thermal, and actinic effects." J. Olsrx Maxwell. {Theory
of Heat. 1872: chap, xvi, p. 218.)
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 187
the mass, adjacent molecules although entirely freed from the adhe-
sion which constitutes rigidity, yet (as has been shown by Joseph
Henry) preserve their mutual cohesion practically unimpaired : *
and hence devious as may be their wanderings, no portion of their
excursions can be called a free path.
If the rapidity of Xhe mean internal motion be still further accel-
erated until the momentum of the molecules is equal to their modu-
lus of " cohesion/' the temperature of evaporation is reached, and
the molecules are impelled from their restraining bonds into a free
flight, which so long as undisturbed, continues (by the first law of
motion) in an indefinite straight path in the direction of impulse.
The strength of these two bonds — adhesion and cohesion — differing
very widely in different substances, is thus measured by the amount
of kinetic energy absorbed in overcoming them, — the so-called
" latent heat " of fusion and of evaporation. In the case of ice,
the strength of the molecular adhesion is considerably less than
the sixth part of that of the cohesion.
We thus perceive how the most solid bodies — even at low tem-
peratures— are exposed to surface evaporation without the oppor-
tunity of passing through the liquid state ; since external molecules
from the great irregularity of their short oscillations, must occa-
sionally by the composition of motions from concurrent or imme-
diately successive shocks, acquire a velocity transcending the bonds
of cohesion, and thus escape entirely from the mass.
We accordingly learn by the kinetic theory of gases that the dis-
crete or isolated molecules are flying about in all directions in straight
lines until by encounters with other molecules (or with material
barriers) their course is deflected. During the brief period of en-
counter (the disturbance of mutual encroachment), the trajectory
becomes a minute hyperbola. From the infinite variety of possible
impacts we also learn that each molecule must necessarily be con-
stantly changing within very wide limits the direction, the velocity,
and the length of its free excursions ; — even when a perfect equilib-
rium of temperature imports that the mean kinetic energy of the
entire system is constant and uniform.
It is important for us to bear in mind that this wondrous theater
of continual intestine commotion does not present an example of a
^Proceed, Am, Phil, Soc. April 6, & May 17, 1S44 : vol. iv, pp. 66, 67 ;
and S4, S6.
138 BULLETIN OF THE
mechanical '* perpetual motion :" the average velocity of any appre-
ciable volume of gaseous molecules subsists only so long as no work
is effected. By whatever amount any considerable number of flying
particles impart motion to slower groups, or to a solid mafis, by this
amount do they reduce their own speed, and thus represent a dimin-
ished temperature. By whatever amount they»receive any average
increase of velocity from repeated impacts or from compression
within a contracted inclosure, by this amount do they represent an
elevation of temperature, at the expense of the bodies from which
such additional energy is derived.
The Kliieiic interpretation of the Laws of Chses. — It has been
shown by Clausius that the number of collisions of a molecule in a
given time is proportional to the mean velocity of all the molecules,
to their number in a given volume, and to the square of the dis-
tance between the centers of two molecules when at nearest ap-
proach,'*' or at what has been called their dynamic contact.
By the mathematical investigations of Kronig, Clausius, Loschmidt,
and Maxwell, the foundations of a molecular physics have been
successfully established ; and the laws of gaseous action thus far
experimentally ascertained, have been found to result deductively
as the necessary consequences of the kinetic theory.
Thud the kinetic energy of any volume of molecules (which rep-
resents the temperature of the gas) being the product of molecular
weight or mass by the mean square of the velocity, it follows that
the relative rates of effusion and diffimon must both be inversely as
the square roots of the masses, — that is of the gaseous densities ; —
the law of Graham.
It also follows that in the case of diffusion, by reason of the
proportional retardations due to more numerous collisions from
the presence of other gas, the coefficient must be lower than in the
case of effusion.
In any mixture of gases, since from the mutual encounters of
molecules of different mass, the average kinetic energy will be the
same for ail masses, or the mean squares of the velocities will be
inversely as the respective masses, it follows that in different in-
*'* It is to Clausius that we owe the first definite conception of the free
path of a molecule and of the mean distance travelled by a molecule be-
tween successive encounters.'' James Olsrk Maxwell. {Encyelopced.
Brit, 1876: vol. in, p. 41.)
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 189
closures at the same temperature (i, e,, the same energy) — ^for equal
pressures there must be the same number of impacts on any given
area, or in other words that the same volume must contain the same
number of molecules whether light or heavy : — the law of Avogadro
and of Ampere.
And conversely, under the same conditions of pressure (or surface
impacts) and of temperature (or kinetic energy), the number of
molecules being the same, and the masses of the molecules being
the only variable, — the densities of different gases must be propor-
tional to their molecular weights or the masses of their individual
molecules : — the law of Gay-Lussac.
Since the sum of the moving forces or the expanding power of
the molecular excursions is directly proportional to their kinetic
energy, it follows that the volume of a true gas under uniform pres-
sure must be proportional to this energy, that is to the absolute
temperature : — ^the law of Charles and of Dalton.
Since the same kinetic energy of the molecules must exert the
same impulse, or the temperatures being constant, they must have
a definite mean momentum, and each molecule must execute on an
average the same number of impacts with the same energy, it fol-
lows that the pressure is directly proportional to the number of
molecules ; or in other words that the volume of a true gas at any
given temperature is inversely proportional to the pressure : — the
law of Boyle and Mariotte. Or combining the last two laws, the
volume of a gas multiplied by its pressure is directly proportional
to the square of the mean molecular velocity, or the absolute tem-
perature. The slight departure from the law of Boyle and Mariotte
observed in most gases when compressed (the internal pressure be-
ing somewhat in defect,) indicates a small range of attraction
between the molecules when brought close together.*
In addition to the external kinetic energy of the molecule due to
its velocity of translation, it possesses an internal kinetic energy
due to oscillation or rotation of its parts (its constituent atoms) ;
and this internal energy according to Clausius — tends to a constant
ratio with the external energy. The amount of energy received or
* " In the case of carbonic acid and other gases which are easily liquified,
this deviation is very great. In all cases, however, except that of hydrogen
the pressure is less than that given by Boyle's law, showing that the virial
is on the whole due to attractive forces between the molecules." Jamsb
Clsbk Maxwxll. {Eneyclopced, Brit. 1875 : vol. iii, p. 80.)
140 BULLETIN OF THE
expended by a gas in gaining or losing one degree of temperature
(which is known as its " specific heat ") is proportional to this con-
stant ratio ; and hence the specific heat of a gas is inversely pro-
portional to the molecular mass ; — that is to say, to the specific
gravity of the gas : — the law of Dulong and Petit.
As the entire kinetic energy — molecular and atomic, is necessarily
tending constantly to a dynajnic equilibrium both with regard to
any connected volume constituting a system, and with regard to
any kineticenergy of the circumambient sather as well, there is a
continual and mutual transfer of such energy : — the theory of ex-
changes announced by Prevost.
Mean Length of Molecular Excursions. — By a neat application of
the calculus of probabilities, Clausius has determined that of the
whole number of free molecular excursions in a given time, (in any
large inclosure,) those having less than the mean length will be
0.6321 ; or nearly double the number of those having the mean
length or exceeding it. He supposes that under ordinary condi-
tions, the mean length of a free excursion of our air molecules is
about sixty times the mean distance between them.
Maxwell has pointed out that three phenomena dependent on the
length of the free excursions of gaseous molecules, furnish functions
from which the mean length of such paths may be estimated ; first,
the rate of gaseous diffusion (or the bodily transfer of matter) ;
second, the rate of diffusion of their momentum, or the degree of
gaseous " viscosity " (dependent on the transfer and equalization of
motion) ; and third, the diffusion of their kinetic energy or temper-
ature, (the conduction of heat). In our atmosphere, under ordinary
conditions (30 inches and 60^ F.) the mean length of the molecular
path is thus estimated at about the 1 -^ 300,000 of an inch, or about
one-sixth of a wave-length of yellow light.
The average molecular velocity of oxygen has been estimated at
1640 feet per second;"^ and of nitrogen (which constitutes about
three-fourths of our atmosphere) at 1754 feet per second ; while
hydrogen molecules having but one-sixteenth the weight or mass of
those of oxygen, would have under the same conditions, four times
their average velocity, or 6560 feet per second. And thus while a
* A velocity sufficient to carry the molecule vertically about eight miles
high, if subjected to no resistance excepting gravitation.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 141
molecule of oxygen would undergo about seven thousand million
collisions in one second, a molecule of hydrogen among its fellows
would undergo abqut seventeen thousand million collisions per
second. It must be observed that the more violent the collisions of
the molecules, the less is their tendency toward the cohesion of the
liquid, or the adhesion of the solid form.
Probable Size of Moleetdes. — From various considerations it has
been independently estimated by Joseph Loschmidt (1865), by O.
Johnstone Stoney (1868), by William Thomson (1870), and by J.
Clerk Maxwell (1873), that the effective size of the molecule is
probably not smaller than the thousand-millionth of an inch, nor
larger than three or four times this dimension ; which is about the
twenty -thousandth of a medium wave-length of light. Small as
this dimension is, we may reflect that by what may be called the
second power of our best microscopes, it would be easily visible, —
supposing that light-waves were capable of optical efficiency at this
degree of subdivision and amplification.
These estimates of molecular distances and magnitudes are of
course but rough approximations ; but they indicate at least the
order of magnitude of very real things and agencies ; and accepting
them as probable, we may " compare small things with great " by
saying that were the planet Venus brought within a distance from
our Earth about one and a half times that of the Moon, this might
represent the relative mean distance of two molecules of our atmos-
phere ; at which separation (about fifty times their own diameters),
they would probably count less than twenty million to the inch.
In like manner the distance of Venus from our Earth at conjunction
(as during the approaching transit of next Wednesday) would be
relatively comparable to the length of a mean excursion of the
molecules ; — some 3,000 times their diameter. While a few of their
longest free excursions would be comparable to the flight of the
^ the same planet if carried from the Earth to beyond the orbit of
Neptune.
The Relation of Molecular and Atomic Motions. — Returning again
from this survey of molecular kinetics to the undulatory theory of
light and heat, ve may say that the true physical relation of radia-
tion to conduction was first disclosed by the analytic spectrum, —
that marvellous instrumentality which physics has presented to her
142 BULLETIN OF THE
daughter chemistry, as the most subtile and delicate of all her re-
agents. From this method of observation we have learned that
each of the elements when its molecules are shocked, rings out its
own peculiar series of oscillations, as if by specially adjusted tuning-
forks, each responsive only to the groupings of its own established
periodicities. Newton first taught us that definite refrangibility in
the spectrum signifies simply definite periodicity ; and he also com-
puted the data which determine the values of these periodicities.*
The known wave-lengths of different colored light divided by
their known velocity of propagation, give us the inconceivable
rapidity of from 990 to 750 billions per second,t as the number oi
atomic impulses transmitted by the aather and appreciated by the
eye. Although this compass is somewhat less than an " octave,"
the entire range of the visible and invisible spectrum comprises
more than three octaves. This extraordinary rate of vibration, no
less than its remrakable uniformity, sufficiently establishes the fact
that the motions of the molecule ceaselessly varying in velocity, and
wholly irregular in length and frequency of excursion, take no part
whatever in producing astherial undulations. It is only to the con-
stituent parts or ultimate atoms of the flying molecule that the rhyth-
* Newton's Optics. 1704 : book ii, part i, obs. 6. When shortly after his
election to the Royal Society, Newton in a letter to the Secretary — Henry
Oldenburg, (dated January 18, 1672,) proposed to offer a communication to
that Society respecting his optical analysis, he spoke of it as *' being the
oddest if not the most considerable detection which hath hitherto been made
In the operations of nature. *' (Birch's History of the Royal Society, 1757 :
vol. Ill, p. 5.) Although a century and a quarter elapsed before the spec-
tral lines were first detected by W. H. Wollaston, (Phil. Trans, Roy.
Soc. June 24, 1802: vol. xcii, p. 366;) Newton was fully aware of the
necessity of employing a very small hole or luminous image for obtaining
a pure spectrum, and he pointed out that a narrow slit is still better ; *^ for
if this hole be an inch or two long, and but a tenth or a twentieth part of
an inch broad, or narrower, the light of the image will be as simple as be-
fore, or simpler, and the image will become much broader." (Optics:
book I, prop. IT.) For delicate observations Newton appears to have been
compelled to rely on the services of an assistant ; and thus he missed the
consummation of his '* oddest and most considerable detection of nature's
operations " — the spectroscope.
f A billion (as is sufficiently indicated by the term itself) is the '* second
power of a million ;" not (as is commonly taught in school-book numera-
tion) the third power of a thousand, or the second power of an impossible
number ; — a surd
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 148
mic motions generating radiant light and heat must be referred
We may thus picture to ourselves the monochromatic lines of the
spectrum as exhibiting a second order of occult or insensible kinetics,
in quality and range as different from and as much below the
kinetics of the molecule, as this differs from and is below the kinetics
of tangible masses.
The Origin of Atomic Motions. — With regard to the nature and
origin of the atomic motions, it appears tolerably clear that they
are primarily derived from the shocks of the molecules or systems
of which they are the components ; and that there is at every
molecular collision a transfer or exchange of energy tending to
equalize the internal momentum of pulsation with the external
momentum of translation. The primwn mobile is therefore the
falling together of molecules under the influence either of gravi-
tation, or of chemical affinity. While it is difficult to realize the
precise manner in which molecular and atomic motions are re-dis-
tributed during the brief instants of impact, it appears in the high-
est degree probable that the atoms describe elliptical orbits, which
may become circular, but never rectilinear. Were the atomic
motions mere oscillations, it would appear unavoidable that under
the stress of special impacts, some of them must occasionally be
detached, — as in the case of molecular evaporation. But the tUti-
mate molecule is unchangeable and ** indivisible : " — held together
in bonds incomparably stronger thau those of hardest steel. And
the loss of an atom may be regarded as an impossible catastrophe.
Moreover, from the utter irregularity of direction in molecular
encounters, obliquity of impact on the rapidly changing atoms,
would appear almost a necessity : and hence would result as neces<
sarily — elliptical paths of excursion.
In this constant play of atoms derived from repeated collisions,
we must believe that these atoms are whirled in ever varying rota-
tions— simultaneously with their orbital revolutions; but as these
double motions form but parts of their common fund of kinetic
energy, it is not pnibable that any special phenomena will ever dis-
tinctly reveal such axial motions ; — unless indeed it be hereafter
shown that polarity is the resultant of concerted directions of rota-
tional or orbital axes, or of both.
The Amplitude of Atomic Orbits. — Of the actual or relative
diameters of these orbits we are as ignorant as we are of the sizes
144 BULLETIN OF THE
of the atoms themselves. We maj assume the amplitudes of the
setherial waves at their origin, to be a faithful transcript of those
of the atomic excursions which generate them : and we must con-
clude the latter to be — even in the velocities of the highest in-
candescence, extremely small fractions of the length of the resulting
waves. For although the amplitude of the atomic orbit represents
but the square root of the brillancy, we may reflect that this latter
form of energy presents an enormous range of variation. The
light from Sirius — for example, supposing it to be in time twenty
years in reaching us, — has but 1 -7- 1,315,000 part of the amplitude
of terrestrial sun-light ; the amplitude being inversely as the dis-
tance travelled.'*' And there are among the visible stars doubtless
some a thousand times more distant yet than Sirius.
According to the estimates of Wollaston, and of the younger
Herschel, lights may vary in brilliancy forty thousand million
times, representing a difierence of amplitude of two hundred thou-
sand times. To suggest some approximate idea of the form of such
SDtherial waves, we may liken them to earthquake waves transmitted
across the surface of the ocean at the rate of six miles in a minute,
which, while leaving on the tide-gage their registered amplitude of
15 inches, have for their length 150 miles : being accurately meas-
urable waves presenting the ratio of one inch to ten miles.f *
*A8 the bright sun Sirius is considerably larger that our sun, and prob-
ably intrinsically brighter as well, the figure 1,815,000 (representing its dis-
tance in units of sun-distance) would be somewhat reduced as a measure of
relative wave-amplitude. If the intrinsic splendor of the two suns be the
same, the distant one has about 64 times the surface, or eight times the
diameter of our own. The probability of greater density in the former —
from greater mass,— is offset by the probability of correspondingly higher
temperature. Hence assuming the mean densities to be nearly the same,
the gravitative pressure of equal gaseous masses on the photosphere of
Sirius, would probably be in the neighborhood of eight times that upon
our sun, or some 200 times that upon the surface of our earth.
f The earthquake which destroyed the city of Simoda, in Japan, in De-
cember, 1854, generated such a system of waves, which crossing the Pa-
cific Ocean, over a distance of 4,500 miles, in the time of 12 hours and 86
minutes, left their record on the tide-gages of the Coast Survey, at San
Francisco, as having a maximum amplitude of 18 inches. The height of
the ocean wave at its origin was, of course, much greater than this.
{Smithsonian Report for 1874: pp. 216, 217.— A Lecture " On Tides,*' by
Prof. J. E. HiLOARD, (at present Supt. of Ooast Survey,) delivered before
'-
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 145
SmaUneaa of Atoms. — ^The extreme miouteness of the atoms is evi-
denced not alone by the necessary limitations of their orbital excur-
sions under ordinary conditions, and by their inconceivable rapidity
of oscillation, but even still more strikingly by the vast number of
molecules which may be chemically combined and compacted within
the volume of an elementary molecule, — still observing the law of
Avogadro.
From such considerations we may infer that the dimensions of
the ultimate atoms are probably as much below that of the com-
posite molecule, as this is beneath a visible magnitude : or in other
words, that were the molecule an object to be seen, the highest
power of our best microscopes would utterly fail to detect its con-
stituent atoms.
The Constancy of the Atomic Periods. — We have learned from the
fixity of the spectral lines (whether luminous or dark) that what
may be called the tones or pitches of these resonant particles are
very accurately maintained through an enormous range of ampli-
tude ; that is, that the respective periods of the atomic orbits (in-
finitesimal ly brief as they appear to our slow-moving thoughts) are
quite unaffected by their radii, or their rates of velocity. The evi-
dence of these uniformities of period in descending temperatures
is found in the stability of gaseous absorption lines under all de-
grees of cold producible ; these lines remaining dark when taking
up the motion of the incandescent back-ground, simply because the
amplitude of the oscillation is not sufiicient on the whole to impress
our sense of vision. And although at very high temperatures both
the number and the distinctness of the spectral lines may be con-
siderably affected, their position (as long as visible) is not at all
disturbed. That new lines should appear at increasing tempera-
tures is not surprising, since in every case a certain width of atomic
play is required to affect the eye. But that under such circum-
stances pre-existing lines should disappear, — as has been established
by the researches of Dr. J. Plucker and Dr. J. W. Hittorf,* — so
the American Institute, Jan. 27, 1871.) It is instructive to reflect that a
wave line of this order (representing an sBtherial undulation) — executed hy
the most skillful draftsman or engraver, on any scale whatever, or with
any microscopic appliances, could not ho distinguished hy any process of
direct instrumental measurement or verification from a perfectly straight
line.
*Phil, TranB. Roy. Soe. Memoir read March 8, 1804: vol. CLV, pp. 1-29.
10
146 BULLETIN OF THE
as to produce an entirely different spectrum, is not so easily ex-
plained. The suggestion of a disruption or disassociation of the
atomic flight by centrifugal force is negatived by the fact of per-
fect restoration of the orbit under uniform conditions. Nor does
the hypothesis of a resolution of the elementary molecules into
still more elementary types, (which seems to have gained some
favor,) render the physical conception of the phenomena in any
respect more simple. In particular cases a precise equalization of
the energies of emission, and of absorption in surrounding heated
gas, might effect a neutralization and complete obliteration of one
or more of the lines. And it is conceivable that a certain increase
of amplitude in the SDtherial wave may (as in the case of its length)
cease to be recognized by the optic nerves.
The law of Atomic Orbits. — The conception being thus presented
to us — of a particle moving in an elliptical or circular orbit of
constant period, irrespective of the length of the radius-vector, or
of the velocity, (a condition so wholly unlike the gravitative orbits
of planets, observing the laws of Kepler,) what is the dynamic in-
terpretation of such a system ? This problem has been anticipated
by the genius of Newton, who in his Mathematical Principles of
Natural Philosophy has demonstrated the imaginary case, — "if the
periodic times are equal, (and the velocities therefore as the radii,) the
centripetal forces will also be as the radii." * A law of force in-
creasing directly with the distance (as in the extension of an india-
rubber, or of a helical steel wire spring,) is undoubtedly a very re-
markable one : but whatever its range of action, it will manifestly
within that range, secure the atom from all possibility of detach-
ment.
From the perfect uniformity both of chemical and of spectro-
scopic indications, whether in the smallest or the largest mass of
molecules, — from whatever source obtained, we are forced to con-
clude that the molecules of any simple gas are absolutely similar.
Whether we analyze a drop of petroleum or distill an insect or a
*JVewt<m*8 Principia, 1687: book i, sect. Ji, prop. 4, oorol. 8. A very
beautiful illustration of this orbit is presented by the conical pendulum,
when the length of the suspension is very great relatively to the ranges of
excursion of the ball, so that an ellipse or different circular orbits shall lie
sensibly in the same plane. Another similar example is furnished by the
orbits of the balls of a parabolic *' governor.''
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIErX OF WASHINGTON. 147
plant, whether we decompose water from the Indian ecean or from
Arctic snow-flake, whether we inspect with carious eye the light
from sun, or star, or from remotest nebulas at opposite confines of the
heavens, we find in the spectrum of hydrogen the same fixed lines ;
— assuring us that these are truly the reverberations of periods in-
cessantly repeated alike in every molecule of this particular ele-
ment.* Taking this — the lightest of all known molecules, (Front's
fundamental unit of chemical equivalency,) we have within the
single molecule the widely separated lines of four distinct periodi-
cities, or atomic orbits : — the red line " C " (a) of 456 billion revo-
lutions per second, — the greenish blue line " F " 05) of 615 billion
revolutions, — the blue line near " G " (y) of 689 billion revolutions,
and the violet line " h " (d) of 729 billion revolutions. As no form
of either reciprocating or orbital movement could possibly be main-
tained without an equal and opposite re-action, there must neces-
sarily exist here at least eight independent atoms. But it seems
wholly improbable that each of these systems of motion should
comprise but a single couple of atoms : and it is still more improb-
able that either these periods, or even the numerous additional ones
disclosed in the secondary spectrum of hydrogen, represent all the
atomic motions within its molecule, in view of the necessary imper-
fection of the optical record, and the fact that this embraces less
than the third, and possibly not more than one-fourth of the whole
actinic spectrum.
Physical Complexity of the Molecule. — We are therefore justified
in believing that the most elementary of chemical molecules is a
wonderfully complex system, comprising an unknown number of con-
stituent units, held together by dynamic bonds whose nature we can
neither guess nor conceive ; and thus the atom of Newton and of
Dalton has been carried downward far beyond the horizon of action
at which they had imagined it — probably even to a second order of
diminished magnitude.
The relations between the translatory motion of the integral gase-
*** The same kind of molecule — say that of hydrogen — has the same set
of periods of vibration, — whether we procure the hydrogen from water,
from coal, or from meteoric iron ; and light having the same set of periods
of vibration comes to us from the Sun, from Sirius, and from Arcturus."
J. Glbrk Maxwell. (Eneyclopcsd, Brit. 1876 : art. *<Atom,'' vol. iii, p.
48.)
148 BULLETIN OF THE
ous molecule aad the internal revolutions about its center of inertia
present a new difficulty of conception as to the constitution and ac-
tion of the setherial medium. For while the molecule (a mere
cluster of atoms) is supposed to be flying freely about without ob-
struction or retardation, (in order to fulfil the laws of Charles, and
of Boyle and Mariotte,) the individual atoms themselves experience
a very considerable resistance to their revolutions ; — ^the precise
measure of which resistance is the kinetic energy absorbed and ex-
pended by setherial undulations. And so it results conversely, that
if the motion of the SBther-waves exceeds that of the molecular
atoms exposed to their action, the difference of momentum is taken
up by the latter, and through exchanges at molecular encounters is
equalized by corresponding increments of velocity in the molecules
themselves. Such is the process in all terrestrial heating by solar
radiation. And this brings directly to view one important distinc-
tion between heat and light, — to wit, that while both are radiated
in precisely the same manner, ** conduction " has no existence in
optical action. The only approach to any such effect in light, is
found in the obscure and puzzling phenomena of fluorescence and
phosphorescence, and of animal luminosity. In the case of heat we
may have a transfer by radiation — always the result of atomic
motion, by. conduction — always the result of molecular motion, or
by convection — always the result of mass motion.
During the time of a mean free excursion of gaseous molecules
at the temperature of incandescence, the atomic periods would per-
mit from ten to twenty thousand revolutions. But from the great
amount of energy absorbed by the sether it does not appear probable
that any considerable portion of such orbital movement can con-
tinue throughout the interval of a mean free path. If then it be
true that in a majority of the molecular excursions the whole inter-
nal atomic motion is absorbed and destroyed, to be renewed again
only by the succeeding collisions, there is a constant drain upon the
molecular momentum ; a condition which must alike prevail, how-
ever low may be the temperature of the gas. While there is thus
a constant tendency to equalization of the orbital atomic momen-
tum and the rectilinear molecular momentum, the total kinetic
energy of the former has been estimated at not more than from two-
thirds to three-fourths of the kinetic energy of the latter.
It is in the gaseous spectrum alone — that is, in the atomic motions
of discrete molecules, that perfect uniformity of period, or as we
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 149
may call it, perfect purity of optical tone is to be observed. With
any considerable compression of a gas, that is, with any great
crowding together of the molecules and shortening of their mean
free excursions, whereby the increased frequency of collision is con-
stantly disturbing the atomic orbits before their motions can be fully
absorbed by the sether, there will result a momentary hastening or
retarding of the normal periods, giving to the spectral lines an in-
creased breadth or wider range of refrangibility. And when the
condensation reaches that of the ''liquid" or ''solid" condition,
preventing all free excursion, the incessant agitation of the atoms
results in a universal clang or optical "noise," in which all uni-
formity of period seems lost, and perturbations of all possible degrees
present us with the discord and confusion of a perfectly continuous
spectrum.*
The Chemist has taught us that in numerous cases the normal
molecule is divided into sub-molecules. Thus the relations of the
compounds of arsenic, as well as of those of phosphorus, indicate
the composition by half molecules of these elements ; the ratios of
the so-called " sesqui-salts " point to the same result ; the allotropic
condition of oxygen — called ozone — is formulated as having the
equivalency of one and a half molecules ; one molecule of aqueous
vapor (and therefore of water) consists of one molecule of hydro-
gen and a half molecule of oxygen ; two molecules of ammonia
are resolved into three equal molecules of hydrogen and one of
nitrogen ; and a single mclecule of hydrogen united with a single
one of chlorine will form two molecules of hydrochloric acid, — each
containing an equal division of the two constituents. Although
this dichotomy of the molecule is suggestive of binary systems in
some way specially linked together and at the same time susceptible
of various re-arrangements, yet the fact remains that these divided
molecules are still extremely complex physical systems, — apparently
identical in constitution and construction, and therefore undistiu-
guishable from each other. The Chemist however adhering too
literally to the phrase of Daltou, has neglected the obvious import
* J. Clerk Maxwell has felicitously compared the atomic oscillations
producing a continuous spectrum, to the clang of a hell " on which innu-
merable hammers are continually plying their strokes all out of time, [when]
the sound will become a mere noise in which no musical note can be dis-
tinguished.'' {Enej/elopced, Brit 1876: art. "Atom:" vol. ii, p. 48.)
150 BULLETIN OF THE
of the spectral lines, and speaks familiarly of the diatomic molecule.'*'
It is true that the " atom *' is properly a physical and not a chemical
unit, since it can never be reached by any possible reactions of
affinity or of decomposition. But if the term is to be still retained
in chemical nomenclature, it should always be understood in its
merely etymological sense of the *' undivided," and not in its more
popular sense of the uncompounded.
3. The Fallacy of Kinematic Theories,
After this rather labored effort to approximate to some definite
conception of the physical nature of the two types of invisible or
elementary motion — displayed in the atomic revolutions or oscilla-
tions generating radiant undulations of the SBther, and in the mole-
cular flights and encounters generating the thernio-dynamic pres-
sures of gaseous fluids, — let us consider what countenance these
forms of motion may be supposed to lend to a kinematic theory of
universal force.
It is important here to notice that by experiments on the sensi-
ble vibrations of bodies, — as of tuning-forks and pneumatic dia-
phragms,— translatory motions of approach and recession have been
produced in light bodies. The " attractions" or "repulsions" have
been shown to depend on the amplitudes of the oscillation, and the
ratio of the wave-lengths to the surfaces of action ; as also on the
symmetrical concurrence or reversal of the phases of vibration in
two confronting sy8tems.t
^Prof. George F. Barker in his excellent presidential address before
the Chemical Section of the American Association at Buffalo, on the theme —
^' The Molecule and the Atom," referring to the constitution of hydrochlo-
ric acid, repeats the common view : " hence a molecule of hydrogen is com-
posed of two atoms." {Proceed. Am. Assoc. August, 1876 : p. 95.)
fDr. Jules Guyot. Des Mouvements de V Air ei des PressUms de V Air
enMouvement, 8vo. Paris, 1835.
Prof. Frederick Guthrie. *'0n Approach caused by Vihration."
L. E. D. Phil. Mag. Nov. 1870: vol. XL, p. 854. (From his tuning-fork
experiments, the author ventures the bold and startling induction: '^In
mechanics — in nature — there is no such thing as a pulling force.")
Prof. 0. A. BiSRKKES of Christiania, Norway. Hydro-dynamic ex peri*
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 151
Irrelevancy of a Vibratory Hypothesis. — The first remark tbat oc-
cars to a thoughtful student of these well-known phenomena of
hydro-dynamics, (upon which narrow basis some enthusiasts have
erected so wide a framework of induction,) is that between these re-
sultant motions and any actions traceable in molecular physics, —
(unless possibly in particular habitudes of electricity and magnet-
ism,) there is not even a rough analogy. 'And the next and most
obvious suggestion is that the absolute precedent condition of any
reciprocating action whatever is the presence of the very quali-
ties— cohesion and elasticity — ^for the production of which such
reciprocating action is invoked. The essential powers and char-
acteristics by which alone either atomic revolutions or molecular
impacts are for an instant rendered possible, are the inherence of
never-slumbering forces of attraction and repulsion. A vibratory
particle (assumed by the kinematist for the avoidance of incom-
prehensible attributes,) is itself the most astounding — the most un-
realizable in scientific thought, of all physical concepts. No atom
can perform an oscillation or a revolution, or follow any other path
than a straight line — excepting under the coercion of other atoms
attracting and repelling. The first law of motion is that of perfect
continuity both in amount and in direction. A shuttlecock re-
bounding in the empty air, would not be more conspicuously a dyn-
amic solecism and impossibility than the kinematist's " vibratory
particle."
Those therefore who in their backward search of causation would
assign the origin of force to some incomprehensible aether action,
have no more warrant from experience, induction, or reason, than
those less cultured philosophers who taking " the unknown for the
wonderful" habitually refer each unfamiliar phenomenon (with
easy faith) — to "electricity."*
menu on vibration. Nature. Aug. IS, 1881 : vol. xxiy, p. 860; and Jan.
19, 1882 : vol. XXV, pp. 272, 273.
Also a modification of the experiments of Prof. Bierknes, by Mr. Au-
OU8TU8 Stroh : (in air instead of in water.) Nature. June 8, 1882: vol.
XXVI, p. 184.
* *< There are not wanting those who appear very much disposed to say
that the conception of force itself — as part and parcel of the system of the
material universe — is superfluous and therefore illogical. - - - Having
come to regard beat, light, electricity, as modes of motion, they seem to
consider force itself as included in the same category, and think there is
152 BULLETIN OF THE
Instability of a Vibratory Hypothem. — But the kinematic embar-
rassment is not concluded here. Supposing the marvellous feat
accomplished of effecting a rotatory resilience which should simu-
late in direction and amount the facts of observation, how far would
such accordance justify its acceptance as the true and sufficient
account of the molecular behavior, in the light of the great estab-
lished principle of the x^onservation of energy ? As a necessary
corollary of thb great generalization we know that every system of
atomic or molecular oscillation, undulation, and impact, is directly
amenable to material disturbance and to the precise mechanical
equivalents of kinetic deflection, arrest, and neutralization. But
as regards the fundamental qualities of atomic or molecular attrac-
tions, repulsions, and elasticities, no such disturbance, or aberration,
or interference, is for an instant possible. And these fundamental
qualities are persistent, and permanent, as well as unchanging.
Hence the countless balls sustained in place by countless fountains,
must never be permitted to decline or swerve from their required
positions. Every bent spring, every loaded beam, every sustaining
rope and chain and cable must therefore have expended upon it a
ceaseless rain and battery uf impact or of wave propulsion. Kay
every solid, every liquid, must be held in its tenacious consistency
by the external coercion of a never resting dynamic bombardment.
In what manner is the inexhaustible supply of kinetic energy sup-
posed to be obtained? What is its source? — and where is its escape?
Why is it that the incessant and violent collisions brought into play
* reason to believe that it depends on the diffusion of highly attenuated
matter through space.''' Sir John Hebschel. (<<0n the Origin of
Force." Fortnightly Revieu), July 1, 1866: vol. i, p. 486. And Familiar
Lectures, [etc.] 12mo. London, 1866: art. xii, p. 462.)
The learned physical professor in the University of Edinburgh sees " rea-
son to believe that /orce depends upon the immediate action of highly atten-
uated matter diffused throughout space. " (North British Review, February,
1864: vol. XL, p. 22,— of Am. edition. And Prof. P. G. Tait's Sketch of
ThermO'dynamics. 8vo. Edinburgh, 1868: chap. I, sect. 8, p. 2.)
•
And the no less learned physical professor in the University of Cambridge,
thinking it irrational to ascribe the occult quality of elasticity to any sensi-
ble molecule, finds no difficulty in relegating this property to the »ther.
(L. E. D, PhiL Mag, June, 1866 : vol. xzxi, pp. 468, 469. And Prof.
J. Gha.llis'8 Principles of Mathematics and Physics, 8vo. Cambridge^
1869: pp. 816, 868, and 486.)
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 168
under this dynasty of percussion, do not speedily raise the tempera-
ture of all coherent bodies to a fierce and glowing heat 7"^
And this brings us face to face with the great radical — incom-
mensurable difference between " force " and energy, — that the func-
tion of the former is attended with no expenditure, and is capable
of no exhaustion. The truth of this bold asseveration has been
tested again and again by every expedient which the most skillful
and ingenious kinematists have been able to devise for its question,
without the suspicion of impeachment ; and it remains to-day, one
of our strongest and best assured inductions.
On this broad platform rests the issue between kinematism and
dynamism, — that the former inevitably contravenes and destroys
that bulwark of modern physics — the coiiaervaiion of energy ; while
the latter is its only support and its necessary foundation. With-
out the indestructible — unwasting — tensions of molecular attraction
and repulsion, it lies beyond the scope of human ingenuity to devise
or imagine a conservative system.
The fundamental — the inherent and incurable weakness of every
attempt to supersede ''force" by motion is betrayed in this, — the
inadmissible supposition of a world held together only by the infi-
nite expenditure of work, for whose existence no provision is devised,
and for whose maintenance no motor can be suggested or conceived.f
* BeferriDg to the steady maintenance of material tensions by supposed
etherial motions or vortices, J. Olerk Maxwell truly remarks: "No
theory of the constitution of the ether has yet been invented which will
account for such a system of molecular vortices being maintained for an in-
definite time without their energy being gradually dissipated into that irreg-
ular agitation of the medium which in ordinary media is called heat."
{Eneyclopcedia Britanniea, 0th ed. 1878 : art. '^ Ether :" vol. viii, p. 572.)
f "Taking such a system in its entirety (where force exists not), there is
no possibility of its reproduction. There is therefore a necessary and un-
ceasing drain on the via viva of such a system. Everything which consti-
tutes an event, whatever its nature, exhausts some portion of the original
stock. Such a system has no vitality. It feeds upon itself and has no
restorative power." Sir John Hebsghbl, ("On the origin of Force." —
Fortnightly Review. July 1, 1865: vol. i, p. 487. And Familiar Leeturea,
[etc.] 1866: art. xii, p. 465.)
"It is remarkable" observes J. Clerk Maxwell, "that of the three
hypotheses which go some way toward a physical explanation of gravitation,
every one involves a constant expenditure of work." (EncyclopcBd, BriU
9th ed. 1875: art. "Attraction:" vol. in, p. 65.)
154 BULLETIN OF THE
It is the inversion of the sequence taught us by all sufficiently ob-
servant experience, that motion of any kind or form is ever the
product of force, and can never be its parent.
Inadequacy of a Vibratory Hypothesis. — ^But after all this lavish
exercise of creative power and ingenuity, — this prodigal expendi-
ture of kinetic energy^ — ^how surprbing to find the notable inven-
tion wholly incompetent to produce the observed phenomena. Co-
hesive force (for example) apparently incapable of exerting any
attractive power whatever beyond the range of a single layer of
molecules, that is beyond the distance of perhaps the five hundred
millionth of an inch from its center of action, yet exercises for an
exceedingly small space within that distance a holding strength
many thousands of times greater than the all-pervading power of
gravitation. By what form of undulation, oscillation, or impulsion,
shall we represent the tenacity of a steel wire sustaining a pull of
300,000 pounds to the square inch beyond the limits of perhaps the
thousand-millionth of an inch between its molecules, yet exerting
within that limit an insuperable repulsion, and again at double the
distance another range of repulsion, so far resisting all human
efforts, that the nicest and closest approximation of the severed ends
of the wire shall fail to develop the attraction of an ounce or single
grain?* By what form of partial differential equation, shall this
sudden and absolute discontinuity of function be expounded ? Nay
rather, by what hallucination of metaphysical assumption have in-
telligent men been induced to waste useful time and ink and paper,
on the chase of the ignis-fatuus of cohesive undulation or percus-
sion?
The Avihority of " Sensible " Impressions. — But it is insisted that
** the principle of deriving fundamental conceptions from the indi-
cations of the senses does not admit of regarding any force varying
with distance as an essential quality of matter, because according
*Prof. Challib thinks "the ultimate atoms of glass are kept asunder
by the repulsion of setherial undulations which have their origin at indi-
vidual atoms," and <* it may be presumed that this atomic repulsion is attrib-
utable to undulations incomparably smaller than those which cause the
sensation of light. ' ' (Principles of Mathematics and Physics. 1869 : p. 456. )
But the luminiferous vibrations are themselves atomic. What lower order
of atom is then to be appealed to in support of this fanciful and inept
hypothesis ?
PHILOSOPHICAL SOOIETY OF WASHINGTON. 155
to that principle we must in seeking for the simplest idea of physi-
cal force have regard to the sense of touch" * Let us inquire then
what is taught us by tactile experience with regard to the philoso-
phy of physical contact. In the celebrated experiment by which
Newton first measured the wave-lengths of light from the colored
rings which yet bear his name, he found that on placing a piece of
clean plate glass upon the convex surface of a large lens, a very
considerable pressure was required to exhaust the series of outcom-
ing interference fringes and to exhibit the central black spot. Pro-
fessor Robison estimated that a pressure of at least one thousand
pounds to the square inch was necessary to effect this approach to
a mathematical contact between the two glasses.f And yet even
with this very close and perfect physical contact it is shown that at
the first appearance of the black spot between the glasses, they are
still separated from actual or mathematical contact by the space of
the 250,000th of an inch.
Material Contact not Absolute. — Supposing it were desired to di-
rectly communicate a push or a pull through the distance of seven
miles, a perfectly straight steel bar (properly supported on friction
rollers through that space) would probably be as efficient a mechan"
ical means for the purpose as could well be suggested. And yet the
blow of a suitably heavy hammer struck upon one of its ends would
* Prof. James Csallis. Prineiplea of Maihematica and Phyaica. 1869 :
p. 868.
f il System of Mechanical PhUoaophy. By Prof. John Robison : vol. i,
sect. 241, p. 250. Dr. Youkq remarks on this : ** Hence it is obvious that
whenever two pieces of glass strike each other without exerting a pressure
equal to a thousand pounds on a square inch, they may effect each other's
motion without actually coming; into contact. Some persons might per-
haps be disposed to attribute this repulsion to the elasticity of particles of
air adhering to the glass, but I have found that the experiment succeeds
equally well in the vacuum of an air-pump. We must therefore be con-
tented to acknowledge our total ignorance of the intimate nature of forces
of every kind." [Leciurea on Natural PhUoaophy. 2 vols. 4to. London,
1807 : lect. ill : vol. I, p. 28.) And Prof. J. Clerk Maxwbll says to the
same effect: *' We have no evidence that real contact ever takes place be-
tween two bodies, and in fact when bodies are pressed against each other
and in apparent contact, we may sometimes actually measure the distance
between them, as when one piece of glass is laid on another, in which case
a considerable pressure must be applied to bring the surfaces near enough
166 BULLETIN OF THE
require very Dearly two seconds for its transmission and delivery at
the opposite end. Or if we reduce our steel punch to the more
manageable length of (let us say) one foot, then the blow received
by it from a hammer, and the blow given out by it at the other
end, will be separated by the interval of the 18,000th part of a
second. Assuming the actual approach of the hammer face to the
end of the steel punch at the instant of impact to be the millionth
of an inch, we may even compute the interval of time elapsing
between the delivery of the blow by the hammer and its reception
by the steel punch, at the 1 -?- 216000,000000 of a second; an
interval of time real enough and long enough to permit the atoms
of the iron molecules to execute from 1800 to 3200 of their normal
oscillations or orbital revolutions. By thus considering what is
really signified by physical contact and impact, we find it to be
something quite different from what the kinematist would suggest
by his appeals to " the sense of touch."
The unlucky boy when struck in the face with a ball, or wounded
in his finger with his jack-knife, may well refuse to be comforted by
the assurance that neither the ball which bruised his face, nor the
blade which penetrated and severed the capillary vessels of his
finger, ever approached within the millionth of an inch of his flesh,
or probably within double that distance from it But the philoso-
pher who aspires to construct a theory of universal force from the
inductions of experience, should at least sufficiently develop his in-
tellectual vision to avoid accepting coarse and external resemblances
as evidences of co-ordinated derivation, or adopting the unanalyzed
impressions of unobservant consciousness as the revelations of axio-
matic truth*
Action at a Distance, — But here our investigation is undermining
the very corner-stone of the kinematic system, — ^the repudiation of
all static energy, the alleged fundamental absurdity of any me-
chanical action at a distance. That ''a thing can no more act
where it is not than when it is not," is a plain dictum of common-
sense.* Even the provisional admission of such a supposition is
to show the black spot of Newton's rings, which indicates a distance of
about a ten-thousandth of a millimeter.'' (EncyclopcBdia Britannica. 9th
ed. 1876: art. *' Attraction:" vol. iii, p. 68.)
*Prof. Jambs Croll believes that ** No principle will ever be generally
received that stands in opposition to the old adage * A thing cannot act
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 157
in violation of the canons of sound thought, and is contradictory
of one of the most obvious aphorisms of logical metaphysics. What-
ever our refinements as to the real nature of physical contact (it
is said), this action is none the less a fact of constant and familiar
occorrence, and is the actual method of kinetic transference mani-
fested to our every-day observation. If we wish to give a billiard
ball a definite motion in a specific direction, we do not whistle to
the ball, or attempt to " psychologize " it ; we strike it with a cue.
Is it conceivable that ** mere brute matter " should be more " spirit-
ual " than man himself?
As these popular and taking propositions involve purely a ques-
tion of physical fact, their truth can never be decided by any
introspections of the consciousness, by any deductions from the
" ego cogtio" or by any disquisitions on " the theory of conception."
As a question of fact, the final settlement of the nature of material
action is to be reached only by the converging inductions of a
critical experience (aided and enlightened by every expedient of re-
fined investigation), and by the necessary inferences from such
experience. It is very certain that a material body must exert its
action — either at some distance, or at no distance, that is by abso-
lute and perfect contact. Have we at present the means of intelli-
gently probing this sharply defined issue?*
Action at no Distance. — ^It is a well-established principle, or rather
fact, of dynamics that finite time is required for the production of
where it is not."' (L. E. D, Phil. Mag. December, 1867: vol. xxxiv,
p. 450.) And Qeoroe Hknky Lewes is fully persuaded that '^ Action at
a distance (unless understood in the sense of action through unspecified in-
termediates) is both logically and physically absurd." (Problems of Life
and Mind. 1876: vol. ii, appendix C, p. 484.)
*I>r. Oliver J. Lodge has remarked: ^* I venture to think that putting
metaphysics entirely on one side we may prove in a perfectly simple and
physical manner that it is impossible for two bodies not in contact to act
directly on each other : ** and he defends the position by the argument, that
since action and re-action are equal and opposite, and since ** work ** done
upon one body is equal to the " energy " so expended by the opposite body,
** the distances must be equal but not opposite ; that is, the two bodies must
move over precisely the same distance and in the same sense : which practi-
cally asserts that they move together and are in contact so long as the
action is going on." {L. E. D. Phil. Mag. January, 1881 : vol. xi, pp.
86, 87.)
158 BULLETIN OF THE
any finite velocity, or of any finite change in velocity. Only an
infinite force could generate motion instantaneously, and this
acting for any finite time would produce an infinite velocity. Now
the impact of a moving body upon a body at rest, must occur in the
absolute instant of contact No motion could be transmitted before
contact, for this would be the chimera-^— oetto in distans. No motion
could be transmitted after contact, for then the impinging body
could evidently have no more motion than the body impinged upon.
And no motion could be transmitted at the instant of contact, for
this occupies but an infinitesimal of time. But if no motion could
be communicated either before, or at, or after contact, it is very
clearly established that no motion whatever could possibly be de-
rived from impact pure and simple. This conclusion — applicable
alike to an atom or a planet — ^remains equally unassailable what-
ever be the magnitudes of the bodies in action.
We are thus strongly reminded of Zeno's celebrated paradox as
to the impossibility of motion. For while the kinematist very posi-
tively assures us that action at a distance is a metaphysical impos-
sibility, the dynamist assures us no less positively that action at no
distance is a demonstrated physical impossibility.'*' But if mere
kinetic energy cannot be transferred excepting through a vacant
* This position is so forcibly stated by Prof. Joseph Batma in his able
Treatise on Molecular Physics, that a quotation from that work seems here
especially appropriate. " Finite velocity cannot be communicated in an
indivisible instant, as we have seen. - - - Nor can the demonstration be
evaded by having recourse to the inultiiude of points among which the
contact would be supposed to take place. For ... if each individ-
ual point of matter only acquires an infinitesimal velocity {ydi)^ the whole
multitude will acquire only an infinitesimal velocity ; that is, there will be
no motion caused at all. Nor can it be said that the motion is communi-
Gated by means of a prolonged contact. A prolonged contact is impossi-
ble unless the velocities have become equal at the very commencement of
the contact. Therefore if velocity were communicated by the contact of
matter with matter, it would have to be communicated in the very first
instant of the contact, not in its prolongation. ... Therefore dU-
iance is a necessary condition of the action of matter upon matter. There-
fore the contact between the agent and the object acted upon is not material
but virtual^ inasmuch as it is by its active power {virtus), not by its matter,
that the agent reaches the matter of the object acted upon." {Molecular
Mechanics, 8vo. London, 1866 : book i, prop. 8, pp. 14, 16.)
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 169
space, dfortiari must static " force " require distance as the indis-
pensable condition of its action.
So much therefore for the vaunted dictum of " common-sense :"
and so much for the antagonistic dictum whose ** absurdity is so
great that no man who has in philosophical matters a competent
faculty of thinking can ever fall into it !" * And this absurd — this
incomprehensible — this inconceivable proposition — that matter is
capable of acting only where it is not, is proved by the incontestible
conviction of reason to be a primary and necessary truth: and the
wondrous scholastic dogma resisting it — supposed the sacred oracle
of a mysterious intuition, — is but the detected impostor of a crude
induction.
True meaning of Contact Action, — To confirm however the explicit
deductions of mechanical theory by the verifications of actual ex-
perience, let us examine more closely the true character of that
transmission of energy by impact which to the kinematist appears
to furnish so simple and so obvious an explanation of ** force."
Taking the most elementary example of the vis a tergo, let us sup-
pose two precisely similar billiard-balls — A and £ — on the perfectly
smooth surface of a frozen lake, B at rest, and A rolled toward it
in the direct line joining their centers of inertia. The familiar re-
sult that A is brought to rest by the collision, and £ continues the
motion in the same direction prolonged, will be fluently explained
by the kinematist as a mere case of conservation, or the persistence
of motion, — ^which evidently passes at the instant of contact directly
from ^ to ^, like an electric charge.
Overlooking — first, the fallacy of a finite velocity passing into a
body instantaneously (already controverted), there is a second diffi-
culty, that motion — defined as a change of position in a body, or
the occupation of successive portions of space by a body, — cannot
exist out of the body, cannot therefore pass through the confines of
the body. But admitting for the moment both these possibilities, —
in the third place, how could the ball A part with all its motion to
*Thi8 inconsiderate utterance of Newton in his oft-quoted '* third Bent-
ley letter,*' (Feh. 25, 1698,) was wholly repudiated by him a quarter of a
century later, when with a graver wisdom he asked the question : ** Have
not the small particles of bodies certain powers, virtues, or forces, by which
they act at a distance?" (Optica. 2d edition. 1717 : book in, query 31.)
A recantation never cited by the kinematist.
160 BULLETIN OF THE
another ball no larger than itself? The two possessing the same
inertia, why did not A expend just half its motion on collision with
B, giving the latter its equal share ; and thus conserve the original
momentum by the double mass moving conjointly with half the
velocity ? This very simple question — ^it is safe to affirm — can never
be answered by any principles of the science of kinematics.
By the principles of dynamics, these three queries admit of a
very satisfactory solution. At the moment of physical contact be-
tween the two balls, (there being still an assignable space between
them,) their approaching surfaces commence mutually to encroach
upon a powerful molecular repulsion crowding back and compress-
ing more closely together vast multitudes of resisting layers of
molecules on either side, until their combined pressure gradually
absorbs and destroys the momentum of J., while simultaneously ex-
erting an equal stress on the inertia of B, And thus by the neces-
sary equality of action and re-action, the centers of inertia of the
two balls pass successively through the same reversed phases of ap-
proach and recession during the brief finite Interval of physical
contact, attaining a relative velocity of separation precisely equal
to that of the encounter : the deformations of the balls, or their
compressions, being as the squares of the absorbed velocity, and
their energy of recovery being as the square roots of the restored
velocity. So far therefore from the original motion of A being
transferred to B (as often loosely stated), it really passes continu-
ously through every stage of decline to actual rest ; and a new
motion commencing from zero is gradually started in B, by the con-
tinued application of an elastic pressure, during a finite time.
To take one more example in illustration of the impossibility of
action at no distance, let us suppose an ivory ball weighing one
ounce to be centrally struck while at rest by another ivory ball
weighing four ounces, and moving with a velocity of 10 feet per
second. If we were to ignore the " occult " force of eUMticity, and
neglect the difficulties already exposed, kinematics would give the
simple result of a common velocity of the two balls after impact, of
8 feet per second : 4 X 10 being equal to 5 X 8. But this is not
what would happen. We should find instead that the four-ounce
ball has its velocity reduced to 6 feet per second, while the one-
ounce ball takes up a velocity of 16 feet per second ; — just double
that it should have taken were action at no distance a natural pos-
sibility : the latter ball absorbing (so to speak) the whole velocity
PHILOSOPHICAL BOOIBTY OP WASHINGTON. 161
and tbree-fifths more, while the fonner has expended two-fifths of
its original velocity.
Here then is presented a new difficulty on the kinematic theory.
In what possible manner can a body moving at a definite rate im-
part to another body by simple impact a velocity considerably higher
than that possessed by itself? By kinematics, this question also
must remain forever unanswered. By the established principles of
dynamics — there being no actual or mathematical contact of the
two balls, — the static energy of their combined compressions or
repulsions acquired during the time of their physical contact pre-
cisely equals the kinetic energy of impact ; and consequently on
resilience refunds a precisely equal kinetic energy of separation ; —
to wit, a relative velocity of 10 feet per second.
Impossibility of Action at no Distance, — ^It turns out therefore
when we examine very slightly beneath the surface of '' sense in-
formation," that impulsion (so perfectly obvious and intelligible to
the kinematist) is itself a very notable example of the ultra-sensible
and recondite:* — ^that the vaunted philosophy of "the sense of
touch " is no more able to escape from the dominion of the unseen,
the hidden, the enigmatical, in causation, than is the dynamism
which is held to be so superficial, credulous, and undiscerning.
And this mysterious but necessary principle of all dynamics
reaches far back of the imagined cases of corporeal contact in col-
lisions,— even to the intimate structure of the densest material ;t
*A8 acutely remarked by the eminent mathematician— J ahss Ivory :
"A little reflection is sufficient to show that in reality we have no clearer
notion of impulse as the cause of motion, than we have of attreietion. We
can as little give a satisfactory reason why motion should pass out of one
body into another on their contact, as we can why one body should begin
to move, or have its motion increased, when it is placed near another body.
- - - If then we are apt to think that impulse is a clearer physical
principle than attraction, there is really no good ground for the distinction ;
it has its origin in prejudice." (EneydopoBdia Britanniea, 8th ed. 1864 :
art. "Attraction: " vol iv, p. 220.)
" When the Newtonians were accused of introducing into philosophy an
unknown cause which they termed attraction, they justly replied that they
knew as much respecting attraction as their opponents did about impulse."
Dr. William Whewsll. (History of Seientifle Ideas. 1868 : book iii,
chap, zx, sect. 8 : vol. i, p. 278.)
f There is good reason to think that absolute contact never takes place in
the component parts of the hardest and most compact solid bodies. * ' Jamks
11
162 BULLETIN OF THE
for it is demonstrable that the component molecules and atoms of
the hardest steel are far from being in contact ; that carbon mol-
ecules have room enough — even when crystal-bound in diamond —
to freely execute the oscillations constituting its varying tempera-
ture by constant exchanges, and to so alter their relative excursions
as to represent the changed specific gravity due to varying temper-
ature.
The conclusion reached, we would wish to express in the most
emphatic and unequivocal terms : — that in all nature we have as
yet been furnished with no example of absolute contact action ; —
that "action at no distance" is sheer physical impoasibility ; — that
in utter scorn of venerable scholastic axioms, matter is forever in-
capable of influencing other matter in any manner whatever or in
any degree whatever — excepting " where it is not !" And thus the
paradox of Zeno receives its solution by the thorough confutation
of kinematism at every point — ^inductive or deductive, — theoretical
or experimental.
" Occult Qualitiea,'* — And now we are fully prepared to encounter
the portentous arraignment of having recourse to the witch-craft
of magical virtues and to the mystery of " occult qualities." What
then is the precise import of this supposed obnoxious epithet oectUt
as applied to material property or quality ? A property whose ex-
istence is once clearly demonstrated, can scarcely with propriety be
characterized as hidden, unknown, or undiscovered."^ Rather are
IvoBT. {EncyclopcBd, Brit 8th ed : vol. iv, p. 220.) The case of simple
traction by a *' solid" metallic rod can be explained o»»2y — (as J. Clerk
Maxwell has well stated) — "by the existence of internal forces in its
substance" or "between the particles of which the rod is composed, that
is between bodies at distances which though small must be finite," and
for these tensions acting through small distances — " we are as little able to
account as for the action at any distance, however great." {A Treatise on
EUctricUy and Magnetism, 8vo. 2 vols. 1878 : part i, chap, v, sect. 105 :
vol. I, p. 128.)
* Leibnitz in his memorable controversy with Newton regarding the
authorship of the infinitesimal calculus, took occasion — with a somewhat
amusing though ill-tempered irrelevancy, to assail his rival's mechanieai
philosophy. In a published letter he says : " His philosophy appears to me
somewhat strange, and I do not believe that it can ever be established. If
all bodies possess gravity, it necessarily follows (however the defenders of
the system may speak, and whatever heat they may display), that gravity
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 163
these terms applicable to pretended explanations — haying no basis
in fact or in reason — ^proffered in the vain hope of avoiding unex-
pected or undesired inductions. But if the phrase be designed to
stigmatize either the absolute cause of original properties or their
mode of operation, as obscure, hidden, inexplicable, then the epithet
is but the expression of a necessary and universal truth, which may
be accepted with entire satisfaction.
On contemplating the backward steps of efficient causation, we
find them not only finite in number, but in any case even surpris-
ingly few, — ^if we neglect the complications of perturbation, and
the successions of iteration in time. When we arrive at the prim-
itive efficient cause, (if we accept it as ultimate,) this is by admis-
sion and very definition — inexplicable ; since any attempt to explain
it, necessarily refers it to an antecedent cause, and thus denies it to
be ultimate.* Or if this denial be insisted on, then the series of
must be a scholastic occult quality, or the effect of a miracle. - - - Nor
do I find a vacuum established by the reasons of Mr. Newton, or of his
partizans, any- more than his pretended ' universal gravitation/ or than his
* atoms.' No one — unless with very contracted views— can believe either
in the vacuum, or in the atoms."
With equal dignity and cogency, Nkwton replied to this tirade, in a
letter dated February 26, 1716, that he was not to be drawn by M. Leibnitz
into a dispute which was nothing to the question in hand. ** As for phil-
osophy, he colludes in the significations of words, calling those things
* miracles ' which create no wonder ; and those things * occult qualities '
whose cauwa are occult, though the qualities themselves be manifest."
(Raphson's History of Fluxiona, Also the Works of Isaac Newton^ edited
by Samuel Horsley. 6 vols, quarto. London, 1779-1785: where both let-
ters are given: vol. it, pp. 696, 698.)
*Says Roger Cotes in his admirable Preface to the Prineipia: ** Since
causes naturally recede in a continued chain from the more compounded to
tba more simple, when the most simple is reached no further backward step
is possible. Hence an ultimate cause cannot admit of any mechanical ez«
planation ; for if it could, it would by that very fact cease to be ultimate.
Will you therefore banish ultimate causes by calling them * occult?' Then
those immediately depending on such must next alike be banished, and
straightway those next following ; until relieved from every vestige of a
cause, philosophy shall i ndeed stand purged I ' ' (Newton 's Prineipia. Second
edition. 1718. Preface.)
Says Sir William Hamilton, «As every effect is only produced by the
concurrence of at least two causes, and as these concurrent or co-efficient
causes in fact constitute the effect, it follows that the lower we descend in
the series of causes, the more complex will be the product ; and that the
164 BULLETIN OF THE
explanations is necessarily illimitable, and as necessarily beyond the
grasp of human comprehension. Do what we will we cannot escape
the inexorable logic of fact, — ^the certainty of conviction that the
ultimate must in the nature of things be forever the unintelligible,
the inexplicable, the inscrutable; — that (paradoxical as it may
sound) no explanation can be accounted final until it has been pur-
sued backward to the unexplainable.
And this furnishes an additional objection to the kinematic
scheme, — that it leaves a vast domain — a phantasmagoria of incon-
sequent motions — still to be explained ; — ^that however irrational or
inexplicable its last postulate, it does not attain to that simplicity
of inherent, inscrutable, attribute of power, which must ever be the
test of final resolution.
He who supposes, therefore, ** that the information of the senses
is adequate (with the aid of mathematical reasoning) to explain
phenomena of all kinds,'* who refuses to admit " that there are
physical operations which are — and ever will be incomprehensible
by us," betrays a very imperfect idea — no less of the impassable
limitations of finite intellect, than of the fathomless profundity of
nature's system ."*" He who thinks that by formally repudiating the
mysterious* and confidently discarding the unknown, he thereby
higher we ascend, it will be the more simple. - - - And as each step in
the procedure carries us from the more complex to the more simple, and
consequently nearer to unity, we at last arrive at that unity itself, — at that
ultimate cause, which as ultimate cannot again be conceived as an effect.''
(Lectures on Metaphysics: lect. ill, p. 42, of Am. edition. 8vo. Boston,
1859.)
Says Hebbert Spencer, " It obviously follows that the most general
truth not admitting of inclusion in any other, does not admit of interpre-
tation. Of necessity therefore, explanation must eventually bring us down
to the inexplicable. The deepest truth which we can get at must be unac-
countable.'' (Firsi Principles, 2d edition, 1869: part i, chap. 4, p. 78.)
*Frof. James Challis, in an essay "On the Fundamental Ideas of
Matter and Force in Theoretical Fhysics," maintains that when there is no
apparent contact between bodies, " it must still be concluded that the press-
ing body although invisible, exists, — ^unless we are prepared to admit that
there are physical operations which are and ever will be incomprehensible
by us. This admision is incompatible with the principles of the philosophy
I am advocating, which assume that the information of the senses is ade-
quate— with the aid of mathematical reasoning — to explain phenomena of
all kinds." L, E, D, Phil. Mag. June, 1866: vol. xxxi, p. 467.)
PHILOSOPHICAL SOOIETY OF WASHINQTON. 165
abolishes or in the slightest degree diminishes his insuperable nes-
cience of the ultimate, — ^but imitates the ostrich, and deludes
himself.'^
When men not yet emancipated from the realism of mediaeval
scholasticism began to turn their attention from the dreams of
ontology to the actualities of sensible phenomena, it is scarcely to
be wondered at that to every abstracted property of things around
them, they gave ** a local habitation and a name ; " until the ban-
ished Nereids and Oreads, the Naiads and Dryads, the Sylphs and
Gnomes, of poetic fable, were re-habilitated in a very pantheon of
" occult qualities/' When in a later age a larger observation and
a more mathematical logic replaced these entities by more mechani-
cal conceptions, it is perhaps as little surprising — in the momentum
of re-action — that the term ''occult quality" should become a
shibboleth of aversion, of apprehension, and of opprobrium, the
imputation of which should disturb the philosophy of even a New-
ton. But that we of the nineteenth century, — capable of under-
standing and of estimating at their approximate value the limits of
these oscillations of intellectual kinetics, should be equally the
timid servitors of a vocabulary — seems less excusable. Whether
the intended reproach be applied to the existence of demonstrated
qualities, or more critically to their eaiise and mode of action, is
practically of little consequence. Let it be frankly avowed, — let
it be boldly heralded, that in their easence all the primal qualities
of matter are " occult ; " and must of necessity forever remain so.
Let it be recognized — with a fitting modesty — that this veil of Isis
shall never be removed by mortal handset
*The continental philosophers of the seventeenth century desired not
only to aholish the fanciful qualities of bodies invented by their predeces-
sors, but (as has been well said) " they tried also to abolish their own ignor-
ance of the causes of the sensible qualities of matter. They would not
have occult causes, and Leibnitz plainly confounds occult quality with oc-
cult cause. But it is needless to dwell upon the fact that the ultimate
causes of all qualities are occult." English CyclopcBdia — Division of Arts
and Sciences : art. *< Attraction : '' vol. i, col. 739.)
"I* Tdv ifidv TtinXov oddeti if*^ OvijTo^ a7texdXo(p€. — Inscription in the tem-
ple of Athene-Isis, at Sais on the Nile. ** My veil no mortal ever with-
drew.**
** In bodies we see only their figures and colors, [etc.] - . . but their
inward subsianees are not to be known either by our senses, or by any reflex
166 BULLETIN OF THE
The Imparl of a " Hechanicat" System, — It has been a fond aa-
sumption of the kinematist that his all-embracing system of motion
as the origin and essence of phenomena, is preeminently the " me-
chanical " theory of nature as contrasted with a ** mystical " or
" transcendental " theory. It may be well therefore to consider
what is really signified by the term " mechanical."
Underlying every possible conception of the simplest element of
a ** machine " are two essential postulates : — ^first, the necessity of a
frame- work invested with the inherent qualities giving it structural
consistence and endurance, — and secondly, the necessity of a store
of potential energy by which it may be actuated and made opera*
tive : since it is an elementary truism that no machine can originate
energy.
The geometrician who ambitious of placing his science on a more
rational basis should announce a new system rejecting all assump-
tions and establishing its theorems by no propositions which had
not first been mathematically demonstrated, might possibly receive
the applause of the inexpert, but would not be likely to meet with
approbation or encouragement from the great jury of his brother
geometers. The physicist who proclaims that he undertakes to
build up a system of mechanical laws on a foundation exclusively
mechanical, acts in no sense and in no degree less irrationally.
Probably his first requirement will be — '* given a rigid body." But
act of our minds." Isaac Newton. {Principia, 1687: book iii,^on-
cluding ** scholium.")
** In fact the causes of all phenomena are at last occult. There has how-
ever obtained a not unnatural presumption against such causes ; and this
presumption though often salutary has sometimes operated most disadvan-
tageously to science. " Sir William Hamilton. (Diacuaaiona on Philoao^
phy and Literature, 8vo. London, 1852: appendix i, p. 611.)
** The first causes of phenomena lie beyond the limited scope of our per-
ceptive and reasoning faculties. ... Their intimate nature and prime
origin are for us inscrutable mysteries." Dr. A. W. Hoffman. {Intro-
ducOon to Modern Chemistry, 1866: lee. ix, p. 188.)
" Ultimate scientific ideas then are all representative of realities that
cannot be comprehended. - . . Alike in the external and the internal
worlds, the man of science sees himself in the midst of perpetual changes —
of which he can discover neither the beginning nor the end. - - - In
all directions his investigations eventually bring him face to face with an
insoluble enigma ; and he ever more clearly perceives it to be an insoluble
enigma." Herbebt Spencer. {First Principles, 2d ed. 1869 : part i,
chap. Ill: sect. 21, pp. 66, 67.)
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 167
by no constructioD, by no combination, by no involution or evolu-
tion of any purely " mechanical " process can he possibly obtain, or
explain, or even conceive his postulate — a rigid body. The attempt
is indeed more hopeless than to demonstrate an axiom by mathe-
matical deduction. That which is the necessary basis and starting-
point of any intelligible mechanics, can scarcely be supposed to be
the product or derivative of such mechanics. A truly mechanical
theory cannot dispense with an extraneous foundation. Those who
would exclude potential causes from the field of mechanical science,
•
but betray the hopeless — helpless nakedness and imbecility of their
hypothetic fictions. "Later philosophers" says Isaac Newton,
" banish the consideration of such a cause out of natural philosophy,
feigning hypotheses for explaining all things meefianiccUlyf and re-
ferring other causes to ' metaphysics ; ' whereas the main business
of natural philosophy is to argue from phenomena without feigning
hypotheses, and to deduce causes from efiects, till we come to the
very first cause, — which certainly is not mechanteal." *
Give to the ambitious kinematic artist his cloud of sand, — or if
he prefer the outfit, let him be furnished with an indefinite quantity
of a perfectly continuous frictionless and incompressible fluid —
bound up if you please in a chain of " vortex rings," — by no
motions or composition of motions — continued through the aeons of
eternity — could he ever maou&cture therefrom either a lever, or a
rope. The kinematic gospel of a mechanical theory of primeval
motion is therefore a sophism and illusion. It is founded on a mis-
conception of the very essence of a true mechanics. And the sys-
tem that would proudly aspire to an architecture of a kosmos from
the elements of matter disrobed and denuded of every quality but
motion, would achieve as its highest triumph and product — ^a uni-
verse of dust and ashes.
Without inertia there could be neither transmission of motion,
nor even continuity of motion. Without inertia, kinematics itself
would be but an empty name. And wUh inertia, kinematics would
be a science of purely rectilinear movement ; for by no artifice
could any other be producible. No curvature of motion — no re-
silience of motion — is possible without the domination and con-
straint of occult forces. Without " dynamics " there could be no
' such thing as a science of " kinetics." Without the ceaseless pres-
ence and action of occult forces there could be no such thing as the
* Oi}tics, Second edition, 1717 : book in, query 28.
168 BULLETIN OF THE
conservatioD of energy ; there could be no such thing as the pro-
duction of energy.
Force — Real and Indispensable. — " Force " then is not a metapho-
rical abstraction : it is not a convenient asylum of ignorance. It
is the most real, — the most fundamental,-*— the most inseparable of
material attributes. It is the potency and faculty whereby all in-
organic— no less than organic — ^forms are builded, and whereby
alone their kaleidoscopic phenomena are revealed to our percep-
tions. And it is from the never resting antagonisms and reprisals
of diverse forces that are made up the activity, the life, and the
glory of the world in which we have our being ; to whose ever
changing — ever becoming — ever nascent pageantry, the poetry of
antiquity has given the name — Natura.
In spite of every effort made to realize a favorite dream, there
is no " unity of force." To the dynamics of even a single mol-
ecule, the contestation and constraint of at least two opposite resist-
ing agencies are indispensable : and in the various play of matter,
other such agencies are no less clearly manifested. Nor is the
certainty of multiplicity, in the slightest degree impaired by our
admitted ignorance as to the final number of primeval forces. It
may be that chemical affinity, and magnetism, are like heat, and
electricity,'*' merely derivative forms of energy ; but at least this
* It is not a little remarkable that a tendency seems lately to have arisen
to assign eleetrieity to the station of a primitive force ; and several physicists
have almost simultaneously maintained its indestructibility and inconverti-
bility.
Dr. O. J. LoDaE, in a lecture delivered at the London Institution, De-
cember 16, 1880, says: *' To the question What is electricity 7 — We cannot
assert that it is a form of matter, neither can we deny it ; on the other hand
we certainly cannot assert that it is a form of energy, and I should be dis-
posed to deny it. - - - It is as impossible to generate electricity in tho
sense I am trying to give the word, as it is to produce matter I '' {Nature.
January 27, 1881 : vol. xxiii, p. 802.)
Mr. G. LiPPMAN, in a memoir presented to the Academic des Sciences
of France, May 2, 1881, maintains that all electrical changes have an
algebraic sum of zero : or in other words, that electricity can neither be
created nor destroyed : the subject of the paper being " Tho Conservation of
Electricity." {CompUs Rendus. 1881 : vol. xoii, p. 1049.— Also, L. E. D.
PhU. Mag. June, 1881 : vol. XI, p. 474.)
Prof. Stlvanus P. Thompson, " in Elementary Lessons in Elec-
tricity," (preface,) also maintains as an important hypothesis in the treat-
PHILOSOPHICAL SOGIETT OF WASHINOTON. 169
has not as yet been satisfactorilj made out. The craving of the
intellect for unity must therefore pursue its quest beyond and above
the material empire of the physical forces.
The Qmception of Natural "Law" — ^The habitudes of forces
form the ultimate goal and boundary of scientific thought : and as
the ascertainment and assignment of these habitudes (which we
formulate as " laws " of matter) form the object of all science, so
are their unerring certainty and uniformity of action at once the
neceaBArj postulates and the sole condition of all science. But the
formulated '* law " is but our mental concept of a habitude and a
constancy whose method forever eludes our widest grasp, while for-
ever challenging our most daring speculation. What is a law of
nature ? What i« there behind it — to ordain or to enforce it. Do
forces conform to the canons of an implicit prescription ? Or is
the so-called " law " but the summary and explication of autogen-
ous deportment? Whichever be our assumption, the marvel and
the incomprehensibility alike remain.
Sir John Herschel, in a playful colloquy " On Atoms," referring
to their prompt obedience to the laws of their being, pithily asks :
" Do they know them ? Can they remember them ? How else can
they obey them ?— K^onform to a fixed rule I Then they must be able
to apply the rule as the case arises. - - - Their movements,
their interchanges, their * hates and loves,' their ' attractions and re-
pulsions,' their ' correlations,' are all determined on the very instant.
There is no hesitation, no blundering, no trial and error. A prob-
lem of dynamics which would drive Lagrange mad is solved
instanter. A difierential equation which algebraically written out
would belt the earth, is integrated in an eye-twinkle." *
When we ask ourselves what these inflexible and unfailing laws of
ment of the subject, *<the conservation of electricity; '' holding " that
electricity, whatever it may prove to be, is not matter and is not energy «''
and " that it can neither be created nor destroyed." {Nature. May 26,
1881 : vol. XXIV, p. 78. — Elementary Leseone^ [etc.] 12 mo. London, 1881.)
The electric and caloric fluids furnish a very striking and suggestive
parallelism ; and the common rotatory glass cylinder would have furnished
Rumford with as pertinent a theme for his argument as his gun-boring
lathe.
* Fortnightly Review, May 16, 1865 : pp. 88, 84. Also, Famifiar Lee-
tares en Seientiflc Subjects. London, 1866 : pp. 466, 468.
170 BULLETIN OF THE .
force really mean ? — Why they are thus and not otherwise ? — ^Why
they are so diverse and irreducible, and each so perfectly auto-
cratic ? — Why for example independent molecules bound in the
cohesion and adhesion of the " liquid " or the " solid " condition,
should exhibit an attraction for each other a thousand-fold stronger
than their mutual gravitation ? — Why two atoms within a molecule
should cling together with a tenacity only increasing with their en-
forced centrifugal separation, while perfectly similar atoms not thus
united attract each other with a strength decreasing with the second
power of their distance ? — Why the chemical affinity of dissimilar
molecules shall attach them with a force incomparably greater than
even that of their physical cohesion ? — ^so that a drop of water may
be shattered and lifted by the sun-beam, precipitated in snow,
ground beneath a glacier, re-melted and dashed to foam in tumb-
ling cataracts, may be combined in the solid substance of a hydrated
crystal or in the complex constitution of an organic being, may be
tortured in the chemist's retort or forced in hissing fury through
the steam-engine, may pass through protean changes more varied
than fable ever fancied, and yet in all these marvellous pilgrimages
shall never loosen its structure as a compounded molecule of hydro-
gen and oxygen : — Why these same elements — so firmly enchained
that the oxygen will quit its grasp only under the decomposing en-
ticement of a more powerful affinity, or under the dissociative
violence of a molecular velocity and clash representing the temper-
ature of highest incandescence, — are yet so averse to separate con-
densation that only the combination of extremest cold and pressure
attainable by human artifice has succeeded in bringing the molecules
of either to a momentary liquid or solid cohesion ? — we find such
questionings though irresistibly suggested, as irreversibly removed
outside the pale of oracle or answer. There is no mystery in the
world of mind, that is not fully parallelled by mysteries as bewilder-
ing in the world of matter.
Hemmed in by the impassable limitations of a restricted experi-
ence and of a no less restricted faculty of reason, we find the finite
radius of our science touching in every direction the shadoVy uni-
verse of nescience ; and where most we seem to know, there most
we encounter the cloud-land of the unknowable. In our highest
reach and proudest triumph of analytic achievement, — ^in that
symbolical reasoning upon quantitive relation which we call par
excellence the " mathematical," — we find that our symbols over-«tep
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 171
their appointed purpose, and our equations traversing the mystic
region of " imaginary " expressions, transcend alike our interpreta-
tion and our comprehension.
Final Unity of Causation, — As every suggestion of an assignable
limit to space or time directly impels us to " overleap all bounds/'
80 the very definiteness of the physical leads us to spring in imagi-
nation beyond its frontiers, and to seek refuge in the transcen-
dental;— not the supemaiural as replacing or suspending the natu-
ral, but as supplementing and completing it — the ultra-natural, —
in its best and highest sense the metaphysical. Incapable though
we be of realizing in thought anything but the finite and the rela-
tive, we none the less find ourselves alike incapable of confining
our thought to these ; and the necessity which inexorably forbids
our conception of the infinite and the absolute, no less imperiously
compels our unhesitating acceptance of the unknown infinite and
absolute as the unavoidable counterparts of the known finite and
relative.*
Our visible material universe — to all appearance limited in ex-
tent— an islet in.the boundless void, — is no less limited in duration, —
at least as to any of its aspects now displayed. Nor have the fall-
ing leaf or the ageing man, the disappearance of races or the past
extinction of species of genera and of orders, — more clearly in-
scribed upon them, the universal law and lesson of ephemeral birth
development and decay, than have the starry heavens themselves.
Under the present system of dynamic law, it is certain that as radia-
ting and cooling bodies,
• *^ The stars shall fade away, the sun himself
Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years."
*Sir William Hamilton has well remarked (in his Essay on the
'* Philosophy of the Unconditioned"): ** The Infinite and the Absolute
(properly so called) are thus equally inconceivable to us. - - - We are
thus taught the salutary lesson that the capacity of thought is not to he
constituted into the measure of existence ; and are warned from recognizing
the domais of our knowledge as necessarily co-extensive with the horizon
of our faith. And hy a wonderful revelation we are thus in the very con*
sciousness of our inahility to conceive aught ahove the relative and finite,
inspired with a belief in the existence of something unconditional beyond
the sphere of all comprehensible reality." {Diseussiona on Philotophy and
Literature, 8vo. London, 1862: part i, pp. 18 and 16.) This Essay — a
Review of Victor Cousin's Coura de PhUoaophie^ — was originally published
in the Edinburgh Review^ October, 1829 : vol. i, pp. 194-221.
172 BULLETIN OP THB
Nor is there known to science any natural process whereby this
cosmic doom may be either averted, or repaired by ulterior re-
versal.* And when turning backward through precessive geneses
of worlds and suns and systems, and recalling in imagination the
heat continuously expended and dissipated during millions of mil-
lions of years, until all matter is volatilized and re-expanded in the
uniform tenuity and diffusion of the primitive nebular chaos, we
endeavor to extend our retrograde inspection for another billion of
years, — lost in the dizzying retrospect, we find that we have neither
scale, nor mechanical principle, nor hydrodynamical theory, whereby
to gage or guess the antecedents of this nebular chaos.
And here again — ^behind the mystery and inconceivability of
atomic forces, lies the still greater mystery and inconceivability of
primaeval nature. And yet majestic as the wondrous march of
cosmic evolution — (by purely human standards), it has probably
consumed no greater number of our fleeting years, than the revolu-
tions executed by the slowest atoms in a single second of time ! Or
by whatever number this be multiplied, how brief an interval has
it fulfilled in the great infinitude of panoramic time, — in the far-
stretching ages of a past eternity.
While an intellectual necessity demands the continuity of causa-
tion and of sequence, and holds any cessation of these as positively
unthinkable, we thus observe that on every side we are confronted
* Of various suggestions (made from a teleological stand-point) for re-
versing the great law of '' dissipation,'' and supplying to declining systems
an elixir viice for their perpetual regeneration, perhaps the two most notable
are those of Bankine and of Siemens.
William J. M. Rakkinb, in a paper '* On the Be-concentration of the
Mechanical Energy of the Universe/' read before the British Association at
its Belfast meeting, in September, 1852, — assuming a boundary to the sethe-
rial medium, argues that the radiations dissipated outward, would at the
limiting surface be all reflected inward to foci, at which exhausted suns
would be re-kindled into incandescence, or " vaporized and resolved into
their elements." (Report Brit. Assoc. 1852: part ii, — abstracts, p. 12. —
Or more fully in L. E, D, Phil, Mag. November, 1852: vol. iv, p. 858.)
Chables William Siemens, in a paper <' On the Conservation of Solar
Energy," read before the Bo^^al Society, March 2, 1882, assuming gaseous
products of combustion to be thrown off in a dissociated form from the
equatorial regions of the revolving sun, (as from a centrifugal fan,) argues
that tbey would be constantly indrawn at the polar regions, to be reburned
and again given off,^in a perpetual circulation. {Nature. March 9, 1882 :
vol. XXV. pp. 440-444.)
PHILOSOPHICAL SOOIBTY OP WASHINGTON. 173
and beset by barriers through which no loop-hole of escape appears.
The mind thus baffled and bewildered in its backward inquest
through illimitable series, in which to its dismay is found at no
great distance — whether in atom, or in universe, — the chasm of a
strange and incomprehensible discontinuity, the inevitable transi-
tion to an entirely different order of links from those made think-
able by experience, seems driven in the last resort to the unifying
induction of a single, first, eternal, and all-powerful Cause — ^from
which all other causes are dependent and derived.
This ultimate and highest induction of scientific thought — ^the
Inscrutable made Absolute — is restful and satisfying. This ultimate
and highest induction — ^as highest and ultimate, cannot be manipu-
lated as a '^ working hypothesis.'' This ultimate and highest in-
duction— as such — cannot be subjected to the subsequent verification
of mathematical deduction. This ultimate and highest induction
detracts nothing from the certainty of orderly sequence so irresist-
ibly impressed upon us by every deepening channel of research,
but gives us rational ground and guarantee of such unfailing regu-
larity. This ultimate and highest induction accepting to the utter-
most the mechanical interpretation of nature's administration, —
whose ceaseless evolution seems ever opening up new vistas of an
automatic teleology, — gives significance to our imperfect conception
of a regulated system, (so necessarily involved in the very existence
and operation of a " machine,") and accounts consistently for the
unfaltering obedience and instantaneous response of all the count-
less atoms of the universe to the reign of " law," by positing behind
such law — an Infinite Law-oiver.
In Richard Hooker's never trite though memorable words:
*' Of Law there can be no less acknowledged than that her seat is
the bosom of God, her voice the harmony of the world : all things
in heaven and earth do her homage, — the very least as feeling her
care, and the greatest as not exempted from her power."
174 BULLETIN OP THE
226th Meeting. Dece^iber 16, 1882.
twelfth annual meeting.
The President in the Chair.
About fifty members were present during the evening.
The President announced the usual order of exercises.
The minutes of the last annual meeting were read and approved.
The Secretary, Mr. Oill, read the list of members who had been
elected since the last annual meeting.
The Treasurer read his report upon the finances and property of
the Society. (See page 180.)
The Chairman appointed as Auditing Committee, Messrs. Thomas
Antisell, Benjamin Alvord, and Otis T. Mason.
The Treasurer read the roll of names of members who were enti-
tled to vote at the election of officers.
The Society then proceeded to ballot for the election of officers,
with the following result: (See next page.)
The rough minutes of the meeting were read and approved ; and
the meeting then adjourned.
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETT OF WASHINGTON. 175
•
OF THS
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON,
Elected December i6, 1882.
President J. W. Powell.
Vice-Presidents J. C. Welling, J. E. Hilgard,
C. H. Crane, J. S. Billings.
Treasurer Cleveland Abbe.
Secretaries G. K. Gilbert, Henry Farquhar.
MEMBERS AT LARGE OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEE.
W. H. Dall, C. E. Dutton,
J. R. Eastman, E. B. Elliott,
R. Fletcher, Wm. Harkkess,
D. L. Huntington, Garrick Mallery,
C. A. SCHOTT.
STANDING COMMITTEES.
On Communications:
J. S. Billings, Chairman, G. K. Gilbert, Henry Farquhar.
On Publications:
0. K. Gilbert, Chairman, Henry Farquhar, Cleveland Abbe,
S. F. Baird.*
* As secretary of the Smithsonian Inttitation.
176 BULLETIN OF THE
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE TREASURER.
Washington, D. C, December 17, 1881.
To the Philosophical Society of Washington :
Owing to the change in the time of presentation of the Treasurer's
report, I have the honor to present herewith my annual statement
as Treasurer for the years 1880 and 1881, showing a cash balance
on December 16th, in the treasury, of three hundred and twenty
dollars and sixteen cents, ($320.16.)
The investments of the Society consist of —
One United States bond. No. 4569 A, (registered,) of the funded
loan 1891, for $1,000, yielding 4} per cent. ;
One United States bond, No. 20031, (registered,) of the funded
loan of 1907, for $500, yielding 4 per cent.
The further assets of the Society consist of unpaid dues amount-
ing to about three hundred and thirty dollars, ($330.)
The active membership of the Society is to-day about one hun-
dred and fifty.-five, (155.)
The stock on hand of the publications of the Society is about as
follows, by actual count :
No. of copies. Price to
members.
Vol. I of the Bulletin 93 |2 00
II " 92 3 00
III " 182 I 00
IV " 190 I 00
Taylor's Memoir of Prof. Henry —
1st edition 64 50
2d " 30 I 00
Welling's Memoir of Prof. Henry 4 50
The Library has lately received, by way of exchange, about fifty
volumes, but these have not yet been catalogued and arranged.
Special copies of each communication that appears in the Bulle-
tin of the Society are promptly printed for distribution by the au-
thor; the annual volumes of the Bulletin are sent usually to
about 125 domestic and foreign recipients, selected with special
view to the general dissemination of information as to the activity
of the Society.
The distribution of stitched annual volumes, instead of individual
signatures, gives general satisfaction, and is much more economical
PHILOSOPHICAL SOOIETT OF WASHINGTON. 177
in time and labor. Much attention is given to collecting the scat-
tered signatures of the first Tolume, and thus the stock in hand of
the complete yolume is being slowly replenished.
Volumes I, II, and III of the Bulletin have been stereotyped and
printed (with some corrections) at the expense of the Smithsonian
Institution as Volume XX of the Miscellaneous Collections. It is
certainly a matter of congratulation that the Society has thus as-
sured to it the economical, permanent, and most extensive publica-
tion of its proceedings ; and the general effect of this arrangement
is to offer stronger inducements to our members to publish through
this medium.
The expense to the Society of the publication of the first three
volumes of the Bulletin was easily borne by reason of the slow accu-
mulation of the funds in the treasury ; but the cost of publication
of Volume IV has been entirely defrayed out of the income of the
past year, and has required very nearly the whole of our receipts,
so that the balance in the treasury is now only $320.16, as com-
pared with two hundred and fourteen dollars and eighty-two cents,
(8214.82) at the beginning of 1881. The Treasurer has therefore
felt himself under the necessity of distributing this volume only
to members who are not in arrears.
The actual expense of the editions of 500 copies each of the
respective volumes has been very nearly as follows:
Vol. No. of Cost per Cost per
Bignfttares. edition. copy.
No. I ID $386 |o 77
II 18 686 137
III - 12 333 67
IV 12 391 78
It is therefore probable that the steady increase in the member-
ship and work of the Society is likely soon to so increase the ex-
tent and cost of our Bulletin as to absorb our whole income.
In view of the fact that the free use of our present admirable
quarters is a privilege granted by the Surgeon-General, liable at any
time to be revoked, I think it important that there should always be
a very considerable annual surplus to be added to the permanently-
invested fund, the income of which will at some future day enable
the Society to lease appropriate quarters in some central locality.
I have the honor to remain, very respectfully,
CLEVELAND ABBE, Treasurer.
12
178
BULLETIN OF THE
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180 BULLETIN OF THE
ANNUAL REPORT OF TH£ TREASURER.
Washington City, Dec. 16, 1882.
To the Philosophieal Society of Washington :
I have the honor to present herewith my annual statement as
Treasurer, covering the year ending with December 15, 1882, and
showing a cash balance deposited with Biggs & Co. of $521.07.
This balance is much larger than would have been the case had it
not been decided to delay the publication of Volume V of the Bul-
letin.
The investment of the funds of the Society remains as in my last
report, viz. :
One TJ. S. registered bond, $1,000, at 4} per cent.
One IT. S. registered bond, $500, at 4 per cent.
The further assets of the Society consist of unpaid annual dues to
the amount of $300 for 1882, and of about $200 for 1881 and ear-
lier years.
The number of active members is now about 150 ; the correspond*
ing annual income, about 800 dollars.
The stock in hand of publications remains as about as reported
by me a year ago.
An accession catalogue of the library has been recently com-
piled. The number of volumes at present on hand is 68 ; these
have been presented by way of exchange ; and we are especially
indebted to the Royal Societies of Edinburgh, of Munich, and of New
South Wales, and the Literary and Philosophical Society of Man-
chester for long series of volumes.
Very respectfully,
(Signed) CLEVELAND ABBE,
Treasurer,
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETT OF WASHINGTON.
181
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INDEX.
I. NAMES OF PERSONS.
Abbe, Cleveland, 37, 85, 175, 177, 180.
Alvord, Benjamin, 85, 89, 90, 106, 174.
Amici, 59.
Amidon, 83.
Ampere, 139.
Antisell, Thomas, 21, 91, 97, 98, 100,
loi, 106, 174.
Arago, 43.
Aristotle, 52.
Arrow, Sir Frederick, 33.
Averani, Joseph, 42.
Avogadro, 139, 145.
Airy, George B., 128.
Baird, Prof. S. F., 175.
Baker, Marcus, 85, 88, 91, 106, 107,
108, 112.
Barker, Geo. F., 80, 82, 83, 84, 150.
Barnes, J. K., 85.
Basch, 77, 83.
Bayma, Prof. Joseph, 158.
Becquerel, A. E., 135.
Bernard, Claude, 82.
Bernstein, 58, 61, 80, 81.
Ben, Paul, 76, 83.
Billings, J. S., 85, 99, 112, 175.
Birch, 142.
Bjcrknes, Prof. C. A., 150.
Blankenhom, 75.
Bouvard, 43.
Boyle, 139.
Broca, Paul, 76, 83.
Brown, George, 34.
Burger, Franz, 47.
Bnsey, S. C, 117.
Byasson, 75, 82.
Chadwick, F. E., 34.
Challis, Prof. James, 128, 152, 154,
164.
Charles, 139.
Chauvenet, Prof., 88, 89.
Clark, Ezra Westcott, lot.
Clausius, 138, 139, 140.
Christie, A. S., 112.
Coffin, J. H. C, 115.
Comberousse, 89.
Comte, Auguste, 127.
Coues, Elliott, 102, 104, 118.
Crane, Dr. C. H., 175.
Croll, Prof. James, 156.
Crookes, William, 129.
Cotes, Roger, 128, 163.
Daboll, 32.
Dall, William H., 90, 98, 100, 175.
Dallas, 118.
Dalton, 139.
Daniell, 57, 61.
Darwin, Charles, 70.
Derham, Dr. W., 41, 42, 43.
Des Cartes, 64.
Diaconow, 75.
Dobson, Surgeon Major, 118, 119, 120.
Donders, 78, 84.
Doolittle. M. H., 88, 105, 107, 117.
Draper, Dr. J. W., 135.
Duane, Gen., 32, 33, 43.
Du Bois-Reymond, Emil, 57, $8, 59,
60,61,62,80,81.
Dulong, 91,93, 140.
Dutton, C. E., 85, 100, 175.
Eastman, J. R., 85, 175.
Eliot, Charies W., 128.
Elliott, E. B., 21, 85, 91, 100, 102, 106,
107, 112, 117, 175.
Engelmann, 58, 81.
Epicurus, 52, 72.
Euler, Leonard, 128.
Farquhar, E. J., 100.
Farquhar, Henry, 97, 106, 113, 114,
>25, 175-
Faure, 46, 47.
Ferrel, William, 90, 91, loi.
Fletcher, Robert, 84, 89, 175.
Foster, Michael, 60, 62, 80, 81, 82.
Frank, Francois, 76, 83.
French, Henry Flagg, loi.
183
184
INDEX OF NAMES.
Fresnel, 134.
Galen, 51, 52, 80.
Gamgee, Arthur, 59, 60, 75, 81, S2.
Gay-Lussac, 43, 139.
Gilbert, G. K., 21, 48, 84, 89, 91, loi,
108, 117, 120, 175.
Gill, Theodore N., 84, 85, 90, 98, 102,
104, 106, 117, 174.
Gley, Eugene, 78, 83.
Goode, G. B., 117.
Graham, 138.
Gray, L. C, 76, 83.
Guthrie, Prof. Fred., 150.
Guyot, Dr. Jules, 150.
Haller, A. von, 56, 61, 81.
Hahn, 0.,66, 82.
Hamilton, Sir William, 163, 166, 171.
Harkness, William, 39, 85, 88, 90, 97,
98, 105, 122, 175.
Hansen, C. A., 60, 81.
Hazen, Henry Allen, loi, 108, 122.
Hegel, G. W. F., 129.
Henry, Mrs. Joseph, 97.
Henry, Joseph, 29, 32, 33, 35, 37, 39,
40,41,43,44,46,49, 137.
Herman, L., 56, 58, 59, 61, 80, 81.
Herapath, John, 130.
Herschcl, J. F. W., 94, 115, 129, 144,
152, 153. 169.
Herschel, William, 135.
Hilgard, J. E., 49, 85, 100, 117, 144,
Hirn, 134.
Hirsch, 78, 84.
Hittorf, Dr. J. W., 145.
Hoffman, Dr. A. W., 166.
Hooker, Richard, 94, 173.
Hoppe-Seyler, 75.
Humboldt, 41, 43, 46.
Huntington, Dr. D. L., 112, 175.
Huxley, T. H., 78, 84.
Ivory, James, 162.
Jenkins, T. A., 32, 84.
Johnson, A. B., 23, 37, 98.
Jones, H. Bence, 75, 82.
Jordan, 118.
Kepler, 86, 146.
Knox, John J., 84, 89.
Koyl, C. H.,46.
Krdnig, 138.
Kummel, Chas. Hugo, loi, 106.
Landois, L., 80.
Langley, Prof. S. P., 136.
LaPIace, 55.
LaVoisier, 55.
LeCat, 81.
LeSage, 129.
Lewes, G. H., 157.
Leibnitz, 162, 165.
Liebreich, 75.
Linnaeus, 67, 82.
Lippm^nn, Prof. G., 168.
Lodge, Dr. O. J., 157, 168.
Lombard, 75, S^.
Loschmidt, Joseph, 138, 141.
Lucretius, 52, 72, 126.
Ludwig, 77.
Mallery, Garrick, 85, 175.
Maloney, J. A., 47.
Mansel, 73.
Maragliano, 83.
Mariotte, 139.
Mason, O. T., 91, 174.
Mathieus, 43.
Matteucci, 59, 81.
Mayer, J. R., 59, 80, 81.
Maxwell, Prof. J. C, 128, 132, 134,
136. 138, 140, HI, I47» H9» «53.
155, 162.
Mills, C. K.,83.
Mivart, .St. George, 80.
Mosler, 75, 82.
Mosso. Angelo, 77, 83.
Mussey, R. D., 100, loi, 117.
Newcomb, Simon, 85, 88.
Newton, Isaac, 86, 87, 130, 142, 146,
159, 162, 163, 164, 166, 167.
Nichol, J. P., 93, 94.
Oldenburg, Henry, 142.
Pagliani, 77.
Petit, 91,93, 140.
Plato, 51, 52.
PlUcker, Dr. J., 145.
Poinsot, Louis, 132.
Poisson, 87.
Pouillet, 91,93, 94, 95.
Powell, J. W., 85, 100, X04, 106, 175.
Provost, 140.
Prony, 43.
Prout, 147.
Radcliffe, C. B..6i,8i.
Rankine, W. J. M., 172.
Reynolds, Osbom, 39, 40, 44, 46.
Riggs & Co., 89.
Riley, C. V., 112, 117.
Ritter, J. W., 135.
INDBX OF NAMES.
185
Robison, Prof. John, 132, 155.
Rodgers, Admiral John, 102, 105.
Rollet, 83.
Rouch^, 88.
Rumford, Count, 133.
Russell, Israel Cook, loi.
Savart, lOO.
.Schiff, Moritz, 76, 83.
Schott, C. A., 85, 175.
Schwann, 59, 81.
Secchi, Angeio, 130, 131.
Senator, H., 80.
Seppelli, 83.
Shields, Chas. W., 105, 106.
Siemens, C. W., 172.
Spencer, Herbert, 51, 62, 64, 67, 72,
73, 82, 164, 166.
.Stokes, Professor, 35, 40, 41, 44, 46.
Stoney, G. J., 141.
Storer, Frank H., 128.
Stroh, August, 151.
Struebling, 7S»^3-
Tait, Prof. P. G., 128, 129, 152.
Taylor, Wm. B., 21, 37. 3^* 39. 85, 90,
91, 97, 100, 102, io(5, 107, 112, 125,
126.
Thanhoffer, 77, 83.
Thompson, Benjamin, 133.
Thompson, Prof. Sylvanus P., 168.
Thompson, Sir William, 141.
Thudicum, 75.
Toner, J. M., 22.
Townley, Richard,* 42.
Trouesart, 118.
Twining, VVm. J., 102.
Tyndal, 29, 31, 33, 41, 44, 94, 96.
Upton, Wm. Wirt, xoi.
Ward, L. F., 91, 102, 105, 106.
Webb, Captain, 33.
Webster, Albert Lowry, 101 .
Weinland, 66.
Welling. J. C, 39, 85, 175.
Whewell, Dr. William, 161.
White, C. A., 99, loi.
Woodward, J. J., 21, 49, 85, 102, 112.
WoUaston, W. H., 142, X44.
Workman, 83.
Young, Thomas. 134, 155.
Zeno, 158.
Zuelzer, 75, 82.
INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 187
II. SUBJECTS.
Page.
Annual address of the President 49, 126
Annual Meeting of the Society.- 84, 174
Anomalies of sound from fog-signals, recent investigations by the Light-
House Board 23
Anomalies of sound signals 39
Artesian wells on the great plains loi
Audibility, relation of fog and snow storms to 38
Auditing Committee appointed 84, 174
report of 89, 181
Barometric hypsometry « 48
Barometric observations produced by winds, errors of 91
Beaver Tail fog-signals, November 16, 1880 24
Binary arithmetic, experiments in 125
Carry's ice machine 100
Circle equally distant from four points, geometrical problem to determine a 88
Climate, Quaternary, of the Great Basin 21
Coins and medals of national historic interest exhibited 22
Committee, general 14
general, standing rules of 10
standing 14
fills vacancies 115
Compass plant . 106
Constitution 6
Credit of the United States, past, present, and prospective . 102
Eclipse, lunar, of June 1 1, 1881 « 90
Electric energy, storage of . 46
Error from single causes of error, composition of . — 106
Fallacy, curious, as to the theory of gravitation 85
Fisheries of the world 1x7
Fog, relation of, to audibility 38
Fog-signals, anomalies of sound from ^ 23
Fog-signals, Beaver Tail 24
Fog-signal tests at Little Gull Island, July 1 1 26
Geometrical problem to determine a circle equally distant from four points. 88
Geometrical question relating to spheres . 107
Government securities, accrued interest on 21
some formulre relating to 106
Graphic table for computation 120-122
Gravitation, a curious fallacy as to the theory of ^ 85
Great Basin, Quaternary climate of 21
Great Plains, artesian wells on the loi
188 INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
Page.
Halo, remarkable, witnessed at Washington, June 15 X12
High wind as a probable cause of the retardation of storm-centres at
elevated stations 108
House of Representatives, ventilation of . 99
Hypsometry, barometric 48
Ice machine, Carry's ^ 100
Interest, accrued, on government securities 21
Library of the Society 176, 180
Life, organic compounds in their relation to 91
Life, modem philosophical conceptions of 46
Little Gull Island, July 11, fog-signal tests 26
July 15, 1 88 1, observations at 28
August 9, 1881, observations at 30
August 10, 1881, observations at 32
Lunar Eclipse of June ii, 1881 90
Mammals, on the classification of insectivorous . 118-X20
Members, list of 15
Mollusks, some peculiar features of, found at great depths 90
Officers of the Society 14.85, 176
Order, philosophical, of sciences 105
Organic compounds in their relations to life 91
Organic matter, building up of ^ 97
Panorama, exhibition of a photographic print including 140 degrees of 21
Power Circle, some of the properties of Steiner's 1 — 89
Protoplasm, possibilities of 102
Publication of the Bulletin, rules for the 13
Quaternary climate of the Great Basin . 21
Ravages, peculiar, of Teredo navalis 98
Sciences, philosophical order of 105
Sherman, Wyoming, solar radiation at loi
Shoes, influence of high-heeled 117
Siemen's deep-sea thermometer 100
Snow-storms, relation of, to audibility 3^
Solar radiation ^o'
Solar parallax, relative accuracy of different methods of determining 39
Sound, anomalies of, from fog-signals 23
Sound signals, anomalies of 39
Spheres, geometrical, question relating to 107
Storage of electric energy 4^
INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 189
Page.
Storm-centres, retardation of, at elevated stations io8
Standard time, a system of . 112-117
Standing rules, constitution, list of officers and members 5
for the government of the Philosophical Society of Wash-
ington 7
of the General Committee 10
Steiner*s Power-Circle, some of the properties of 89
Survivorships on 122
Temperature, conditions determining 90, 91
Teredo navalis, peculiar ravages of 98
Thermometer, Siemen's deep-sea - 100
Treasurer of the society, annual report of 176, 180
United States, credit of, past, present, and prospective 102
Ventilation of the House of Representatives 99
Washington, remarkable halo witnessed at ^ 112
Wind, errors of barometric observations, produced by 91
Winter weather, on the prediction of 122-125
BULLETIN
I
OF THK , > /
HARVARD
LLEGE
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
OP
WASHINGTON.
VOL. vr.
Containing the Minutes of the Society for the year 1883, and the
Minutes of the Mathematical Section from its organiza-
tion, March 29th, to the close of the year.
PUBLISIIKD BY THK CO-()l'ERATI()N OF THE SMITIfSONIAN INSTITUTION.
WA.SHINGTON
1884.
BULLETIN
OF THK Iw ' '
H^RVARD
LLEGE
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
OF
WASHINGTON.
VOL. vr.
Containing the Minutes of the Society for the year 1883, and the
Minutes of the Mathematical Section from its organiza-
tion, March 29lh, to the close of the year.
PUHMSHKD RY THK CO-f)PKRATION or TIIK SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.
WASHINGTON
1884.
BULLETIN
OF THK
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
OF
WASHINGTON.
VOL. VI.
Containing the Minutes of the Society for the year 1883, and the
Minutes of the Mathematical Section from its organiza-
tion, March 29th, to the close of the year.
PUBLISHED BY THE CO-OPERATION OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.
WASHINGTON:
. 1884.
} r r Lf , ?Kii/t . /
/
^1dJL X^r'^'C'C^
JUDD A DETWEILEE, PRINTERS,
WASHINGTON, D. C.
CONTENTS.
Page.
Constitution . vii
Standing Rules of the Society ix
Standing Rules of the General Committee xii
Rules for the Publication of the Bulletin xiii
Officers elected December, 1882 xiv
Officers elected December, 1883 xv
List of Members, corrected to December 31, 1883 xvi
Annual Report of the Treasurer , xxil
Annual Address of the President, J. W. Powell xxv
Bulletin of the General Meeting I
Experiments in binary arithmetic, H. Farquhar « 3
Refraction in a triaxial ellipsoid, ( Title only,) S. M. Burnett 4
Monochromatic aberration in aphakia, ( TitU only,) W. Harkness 5
The nature of matter, {TilU only,) H. H. Bates 5
Prevention of malarial diseases, A. F. A. King ...... 5
Response of climate to variations of solar radiation, G. K. Gilbert. 10
Thermal belts of North Carolina, J. W. Chickering 11
Geology of the Hawaiian Islands, C. E. Dutton 13
Substance, matter, motion, and force, ( Title only^) M. H. Doolittle. 14
Formulas for the computation of Easter, E. B. Elliott 15
Florida expedition for observing transit of Venus, J. R. Eastman .. 21
Determining the temperature of the air, C. Abbe 24
Determination of specific gravity of solids, C. E. Munroe 26
Geology of Hatteras, W. C. Kerr._ 28
Topographical indications of a fault, H. F. Walling 30
Ore deposition by replacement, S. F. Emmons 32
Glaciation in Alaska, W. H. Dall 33
The Eucalyptus on the Roman Campagna, ( THtle only,) F. B. Hough 36
Hygrometric observations, H. A. Hazen 36
Dreams in their relation with psychology, E. Farquhar 37
Recent experiments on serpent venom, ( Title only,) R. Fletcher — 38
Further experiments in binary arithmetic, H. Farquhar 38
Medallic medical history, W. Lee 39
III
IV CONTENTS.
Page.
Bulletin of the General Meeting — Continued.
Note on the rings of Saturn, W. B. Taylor 41
Focal lines in astigmatism, ( TuU only^) S. M. Burnett 4S
Thermometer exposure, H. A. Hazen ._., 46
Ichthyological results of the Albatross, ( Title onfy^) T. N. Gill 48
Fallacies concerning the deaf, A. G. Bell 48
Seismographic record from Japan, ( Title only,) E. Smith 87
The volcanic problem stated, C. E. Dutton..-. 87
Drainage system and loess of eastern Iowa, W J McGee 93
Cambrian system in the United States and Canada, C. D. Walcott > 98
Distribution of surplus money of the United States, J. J. Knox 103
An initial meridian and universal time, R. D. Cutts 106
Bulletin of the Mathematical Section 1 13
Rules of the Section ._- 115
Members of the Section 116
Inaugural Address of the Chairman, A. Hall 117
A quasi general differentiation, {Title only,) A. S. Christie 122
Alignment curves on any surface, C. H. Kummell 123
Determination of the mass of a planet, A. Hall .32
Infinite and infinitesimal quantities, M. H. Doolittle 133
Graphic tables for computing heights, {Title only,) G. K. Gilbert.. 136
Computation of lunar i>erturbations, G. W. Hill 136
Units of force and energy, {Title only,) E. B. Elliott 137
Theory of errors tested by target shooting, C. H. Kummell 138
A special case in maxima and minima, B. Alvord 149
A financial problem, E. B. Elliott 149
A form of least-square computation, H. Farquhar 150
Note on problem discussed by Mr. Alvord, H. Farquhar 152
The rejection of doubtful observations, M. H. Doolittle 152
Special treatment of observation-equations, R. S. Woodward 156
Contact of plane curves, A. S. Christie 157
Committees on papers 161
Corrigenda to Vol. V. 162
Index «« 163
BULLETIN
UF THE
PBlLflSOPBICAL SOCIBTY OF WASBINGTON.
CONSTITUTION, RULES,
LIST OF
OFFICERS AND MEMBERS,
AND
TREASURER'S REPORT.
CONSTITUTION
OF
THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
Article I. The name of this Society shall be The Philosophi-
cal Society of Washington.
Article II. The officers of the Society shall be a President,
four Vice-Presidents, a Treasurer, and two Secretaries.
Article III. There shall be a General Committee, consisting of
the officers of the Society and nine other members.
Article IV. The officers of the Society and the other members
of the General Committee shall be elected annually by ballot ; they
shall hold office until their successors are elected, and shall have
power to fill vacancies.
Article V. It shall be the duty of the General Committee to
make rules for the government of the Society, and to transact all
its business.
Article VI. This constitution shall not be amended except by
a three-fourths vote of those present at an annual meeting for the
election of officers, and after notice of the proposed change shall
have been given in writing at a stated meeting of the Society at
least four weeks previously.
vu
STANDING RULES
FOR THS OOYERNMKNT OF THE
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
1. The Stated Meetings of the Society shall be held at 8 o'clock
p. M. oa every alternate Saturday ; the place of meetiag to be
designated by the General Committee.
2. Notice of the time and place of meeting shall be sent to each
member by one of the Secretaries.
When necessary, Special Meetings may be called by the President.
3. The Annual Meeting for the election of of&cers shall be the
lust stated meeting in the month of December.
The order of proceedings (which shall be announced by the
Chair) shall be as follows :
First, the reading of the minutes of the last Annual Meeting.
Second, the presentation of the annual reports of the Secretaries,
including the announcement of the names of members elected since
the last annual meeting.
Third, the presentation of the annual report of the Treasurer.
Fourth, the announcement of the names of members who, having
complied with Section 13 of the Standing Rules, are entitled to vote
on the election of officers.
Fiflh, the election of President.
Sixth, the election of four Vice-Presidents.
Seventh, the election of Treasurer.
Eighth, the election of two Secretaries.
Ninth, the election of nine members of the General Committee.
Tenth, the consideration of Amendments to the Constitution of
the Society, if any such shall have been proposed in accordance
with Article VI of the Constitution.
Eleventh, the reading of the rough minutes of the meeting.
ix
X PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
4. Elections of officers are to be held as follows :
lu each case nominations shall be made by means of an informal
ballot, the result of which shall be announced by the Secretary ;
after which the first formal ballot shall be taken.
In the ballot for Vice-Presidents, Secretaries, and Members of the
General Committee, each voter shall write on one ballot as many
names as there are officers to be elected, viz., four on the first ballot
for Vice-Presidents, two on the first for Secretaries, and nine on the
first for Members of the General Committee ; and on each subse-
quent ballot as many names as there are persons yet to be elected ;
and those persons who receive a majority of the votes cast shall be
declared elected.
If in any case the informal ballot result in giving a majority for
any one, it may be declared formal by a majority vote.
5. The Stated Meetings, with the exception of the annual meet-
ing, shall be devoted to the consideration and discussion of scientific
subjects.
The Stated Meeting next preceding the Annual Meeting shall
be set apart for the delivery of the President's Annual Address.
6. Sections representing special branches of science may be
formed by the Greneral Committee upon the written recommenda-
tion of twenty members of the Society.*
7. Persons interested in science, who are not residents of the Dis-
trict of Columbia, may be present at any meeting of the Society,
except the annual meeting, upon invitation of a member.
8. Similar invitations to residents of the District of Columbia,
not members of the Society, must be submitted through one of the
Secretaries to the General Committee for approval.
9. Invitations to attend during three months the meetings of the
Society and participate in the discussion of papers, may, by a vote
of nine members of the General Committee, be issued to persons
nominated by two members.
10. Communications intended for publication under the auspices
♦Under this rule the Mathematical Section was organized March 29, 1883;
Its rules and proceedings follow the Bulletin of the General Meeting.
STANDING BULES. XI
of the Society shall be submitted ia writing to the Greneral Com-
mittee for approval.
11.* Any paper read before a Section may be repeated, either
entire or by abstract, before a general meeting of the Society, if
such repetition is recommended by the General Committee of the
Society.
12. New members may be proposed in writing by three members
of the Society for election by the General Committee; but no per-
son shall be admitted to the privileges of membership unless he
signifies his acceptance thereof in writing within two months after
notification of his election.
13. Each member shall pay annually to the Treasurer the sum
of five dollars, and no member whose dues are unpaid shall vote at
the annual meeting for the election of officers, or be entitled to a
copy of the Bulletin.
In the absence of the Treasurer, the Secretary is authorized to
receive the dues of members.
- The names of those two years in arrears shall be dropped from
the list of members.
Notice of resignation of membership shall be given in writing to
the General Committee through the President or one of the Secre-
taries.
14. The fiscal year shall terminate with the Annual Meeting.
15. t Members who are absent from the District of Columbia for
more than twelve months may be excused from payment of the
annual assessments. They can, however, resume their membership
by giving notice to the President of their wish to do so.
16. Any member not in arrears may, by the payment of one
hundred dollars at any one time, become a life member, and be
relieved from all further annual dues and other assessments.
All moneys received in payment of life membership shall be
invested as portions of a permanent fund, which shall be directed
solely to the furtherance of such special scientific work as may be
ordered by the General Committee.
♦Adopted, May 19, 1883. f Amended, Nov. 10, 1883.
STANDING RULES
OF THB
GENERAL COMMITTEE OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL
SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
1. The President, Vice-Presidents, and Secretaries of the Society
shall hold like offices in the General Committee.
2. The President shall have power to call special meetings of the
Committee, and to appoint Sub-Committees.
8. The Sub-Committees shall prepare business for the General
Committee, and perform such other duties as may be entrusted to
them.
4. There shall be two Standing Sub-Committees ; one on Com-
munications for the Stated Meetings of the Society, and another on
Publications.
5. The General Committee shall meet at half-past seven o'clock
on the evening of each Stated Meeting, and by adjournment at
other times.
6. For all purposes except for the amendment of the Standing
Rules of the Committee or of the Society, and the election of mem-
bers, six members of the Committee shall constitute a quorum.
7. The names of proposed new members recommended in con-
formity with Section 11 of the Standing Rules of the Society, may
be presented at any meeting of the Greneral Committee, but shall
lie over for at least four weeks before final action, and the concur-
rence of twelve members of the Committee shall be necessary to
election.
The Secretary of the General Committee shall keep a chronologi-
cal register of the elections and acceptances of members.
8. These Standing Rules, and those for the government of the
Society, shall be modified only with the consent of a majority of
the members of the General Committee.
• •
Xll
FOR THE
PUBLICATION OF THE BULLETIN
OF THE
PH1I/)S0PHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
1. The Pi-esident's annual address shall be published in full.
2. The annual reports of the Secretaries and of the Treasurer
shall be published in full.
3. When directed by the General Committee, any communication
may be published in full.
4. Abstracts of papers and remarks on the same will be pub-
lished, when presented to the Secretary by the author in writing
within two weeks of the evening of their delivery, and approved by
the Committee on Publications. Brief abstracts prepared by one
of the Secretaries and approved by the Committee on Publications
may also be published.
5.* If the author of any paper read before a Section of the
Society desires its publication, either in full or by abstract, it shall
be referred to a committee to be appointed as the Section may
determine.
The report of this committee shall be forwarded to the Publica-
tion Committee by the Secretary of the Section, together with any
action of the section taken thereon.
6. Communications which have been published elsewhere, so as
to be generally accessible, will appear in the Bulletin by title only,
but with a reference to the place of publication, if made known in
season to the Committee on Publications.
♦Aflopted May 19, 1883.
•* •
XIU
Oi'i'XOHR/S
OF THE
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON
Elected December i6, 1882.
President J. W. Powell.
Vice-Presidents J. C. Welling, J. E. Hilgard,
C. H. Crane, J. S. Billings.
Treasurer Cleveland Abbe.
Secretaries G. K. Gilbert, Henry Farquhar.
MEMBERS AT LARGE OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEE.
W. H. Dall, C. E. Dutton,
J. R. Eastman, E. B. Elliott,
R. Fletcher, Wm. Harkness,
D. L. Huntington, Garrick Mallery,*
C. A. ScHarr.
STANDING COMMITTEES.
On Communications :
J. S. Billings, Chairman, G. K. Gilbert, Henry Farquhar.
On Publications :
G. K. Gilbert, Chairman, Henry Farquhar, Cleveland Abbe,
S. F. BAIRD.f
* Mr. Mallery was elected Vice-President October 13 to fill the vacancy occasioned by
the death of Mr. Crane. Mr. C. V. Riley was at the same time added to the General
Committee to fill its number.
t As Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.
xiv
OFFIOBK.S
or THE
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON
Elected December 22, 1883.
Presidmt J. C. Welling.
T^ice- Presidents J. S. BiLLiNGS;
J. E. HiLGARD.
Cleveland Abbe.
Garrick Mallery.
Asaph Hall.
Treasurer
Secretaries Henry Farquhar. G. K. GILBERT.
MEMBERS AT LARGE OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEE.
II. H. Bates.
W. H. Dall.
C. E. DUTTON.
J. R. Eastman.
E. B. Elliott.
Robert Fletcher.
William Harkness.
J. J. Knox.
C. V. Riley.
STANDING COMMITTEES.
On Communications:
J. S. Billings, Chairman. Henry Farquhar.
On Publications:
G. K. Gilbert, Chairman. Cleveland Abbe.
S. F. Baird.-^
G. K. Gilbert.
Henry Farquhar.
* As Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.
XV
LIST OF MEMBERS
OF THE
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
Corrected to Dec3mber 31, 1883.
The names of founders are printed in Small Capitals.
(d) indicates deceased.
(a) indicates absent from the District of Columbia and excused from payment of dues
until announcing his return.
(r) indicates resigned.
NAME.
Abbe, Cleveland
Abert, Sylvanus Thayer.
Adams, Henry
^Idis, Asa Owen
Allen, Jamoji
Alvord, Benjamin
Antisxll, Thou as
Avery, Robert Stanton.
Babcoclc, Orville Elia^
Bailey, Theodonis (d)
Baird, Spenceb Fcllertox.
Baker, Frank
Baker, Marcus
Bancroft, George
Basnkb, Joseph K. (d)
Bates, Henry Hobart
Beardslfco, Lester Anthony (n).
Bell, Alexander Graham
Bell, Chichester Alexander
Ben£t, Stephen Vincent
P. O. Address and Residence.
Armv Signal Office. 2017 I St. N. W..
Engineer's Office, War Department.
1724 Penn. Ave. N. W.
1(J07 H St
1518 H St. N. W
Army Signal Office. 1707 G St. N. W,
1207 Q St. N. W
Patent Office. 131 1 i^ St. N. VV
Coast and Geodetic Survey 0[ti<!e.
320 A St. S. E.
2024 G Si. N. W.
Smithsonian Inytiiutioii. 144r» Mass.
Ave. N. W.
326 est. N. W
347 Hill St., Los Angeles Cal
1U23 H St. N. W
BcHsels, Emil
Billings, John Shavt.
Birney, William
Birnie. Rogers (a)
Bodfisn, Sumner Homer.
Browne, John Mills
Burchard, Horatio Chapin.
Burgess, Edward Sanford.
Burnett, Swan Moses
I'ateut Office. The Portland
Navv Department
Scott Circle, 1500 R. I. Ave
1221 Conn. Ave. N. W
Ordnance Office, War Department.
1717 I St. N. W
Smithsonian Institution. 1444 N St.
N. W.
Surg. Genl's Office, U. 8. A. 302G N
St. N. W.
458 Louisiana Ave. 1901 Hare wood
Ave., Le Droit Park.
Cold Spring, Putnam Co., N. Y
(Geological Survey. 005 F St. N. W.. ..
.Medical Director, U.S. N. The Port-
land.
Director of the Mint. Riggs House.
High School. 1214 K St. N. W
1215 I St. N. W
Date of
Admission.
1871, Oct. 29
1875. Jan. 30
1881, Feb. 5
1873, Mar. 1
1882, Feb. 25
1872, Mar. 23
1871, Mar. 13
1879, Oct. 11
1871, June 9
1873, Mar. 1
1871, Mar. 13
1881,
1876,
1876,
1871,
1871,
1875.
1879,
1881,
1871,
Mav 14
Mar. 11
Jan. 16
Mar. 13
Nov. 4
Feb. 27
Mar. 29
Oct. 8
Mar. 13
1875, Jan. 10
1871, Mar. 13
1879, Mar. 29
1876, Mar. 11
1883, Mar. 24
1883, Nov. 24
1879. May 10
1883, Mar. 24
1879, Mar. 29
XVI
LIST OF MEMBERS.
XVII
NAME.
Bimey, Samuel Clagett.
Capbon, Hoback.
Case, Augustas Ludlow (a).
Casby, Thomas Lixcoln
Caziarc, Louis Vasmer
Chasb, salmon Pobtland (d)
Cbamberlin, Thomas Crowder..
ChickeriDg, John White, Jr
Christie, Alexander Smyth
), William Henry (a).
Clark, Edward
Clark, Ezra Wcstcote.
Clarke, Frank Wigglesworth
CorriN, JoHif HvKTiMOTON Cbank.
Collins, Frederick (d)
Comstock, John Henry (a)
Coues, Elliott
Cbaio, Benjamin FANF.uiL(d)
Craig, Robert
Craig, Thomas (a)
Cbane, Chablf^ iIenbt {d)
Curtii», Josiah (d)
Cutts, Uichnrd Dominic us (d)
Dall, William Healf.y....
DavLs Charles Honry (d).
Davis, Charles Henry
Dean, Richard Train {n)
De Caindry, William Augustiii.
P. O. ADDBE88 AND ReSIDEXCE.
16'r> I SI. N. W.
The Portland
Navy Department. Bristol, R. I
Lieut. Col., Corps of Engineers. 1410
K St N W
Army Signal Office. 1415 G St. N.W...
Geological Survey
Deaf Mute College. Kendall Green...
Coast and Geodetic Survey Office.
613 6th St. N. W.
1416 Corcoran St
Architect's Office, Capitol. 417 4th St.
N. W.
Revenue Marino Bureau, Treasury
Department. Woodley Road.
Geological Survey. 1426 Q St. N.W...
1901 1 St. N. W
Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y
Smithsonian Inst. 1726 N. St. N. W...
Army Signal Office. 1008 I St. N. W..
Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, Md.
P. O. Box 406. 1119 12th St. N. W.
Navy Department. 17u5 Rhode Island
Ave. N. W.
Navy Yard, New York ,
CommiHSHfy (Jeneral's Office. 924
19th .St. N. W.
De Land. Theo«loro Louis Treasury Dept. 126 7th St. N. E
Dewey, (ieorgo (r)
Doolittle, Mvriclc Haseull I toast and (ieodetic Survey Office.
I ll):d5 I St. N. W.
Dorr, Fredric William (d)
Dun woody, Henry Harrison Chase.. Army Signal Office. 1803 G St. N. W.
Dutton, Clarence Edward ! Creological Survey. 23 Lofayette
j Square.
Dteb, Alexandre B. (d)
Date or
Admissiox.
1874, Jan. 17
1871, Mar. 18
1872, Nov. 16
1871, Mar. 13
1882, Feb. 29
1871, Mar. 13
1883, Mar. 24
1874, Apr. 11
1880, Dec. 4
1882, Feb. 26
1877, Feb. 24
1882, Mar. 26
1874,
1871.
1879,
1880,
187 »,
1871,
1873,
1879,
187J,
1874,
1871,
Apr. 11
Mar. 13
Oct. 21
Feb, 14
Jan. 17
Mar. 13
Jan. 4
Nov. 22
Mar. 13
Mar. 28
Apr. 20
Eastman, John Robio .
Eaton, Amos Berbe (d).
Eaton, John
Naval Observatory. 930 18lh St. N.W.
Eldredgo, Stewart (a)
Elliot, Gkorok Hknby (r)
Elliott, Ezekiel Bbown #.
Bureau of Education, Interior Dept.
712 Ea.xt Capitol St.
Emmons, Samuel Franklin ..
Endlich, Frederic Miller («)..
Ewing. Charles {a)
Ewing, Hugh (a)
Farquhar, Edward.
Farquhar, Henry...
Ferrol, William...
Fletcher, Robert.
Flint, Albert Stowcll.
•••t»S*B«S»«
Flint, James Milton
FooTE, Elisha (d)
Foster, John Gray (d)
French, Henry Flagg (r).
Fristoe, Edward T
Office of Government Actuary, Trca**-
ury Department. 1210 G St. N. W.
(^♦•oloKicftl Survey. 91.") 16th St. N.W.
Smithsonian Institution
Lancaster, Ohio.
Patent Office Library. 1915 H St. N.W.
Coast and Geodetic Survey Office.
Brooks Station, D. C.
Army Signal Office. 471 C St. N. W...
Surgeon GenPs Office, U. S. A. 1326
L St. N. W.
Naval <^bservatory. 1209 Rhode Island
Ave. N. W.
Smithsonian In««t. Riggs House
14:M N St. N. W.
1871, Mar. 13
1874, Jan. 17
1880, June 10
1872, Apr. 23
1881, Apr. 30
1880, Dec. 18
1879, Feb. 16
1876, Feb. 12
1874, Jan. 17
1873, Dec, 20
1872, Jan. 27
1871, Mar. 13
1871, May 27
1871, Mar. 13
1874, May 8
1871, June 9
1871, Mar. 13
1871, Mar. 13
1«<3, Apr. 7
187.3, Mar. 1
1874, Jan. 17
1874, Jan. 17
1876, Feb. 12
1881, May 14
1872, Nov. 16
1873, Apr. 10
1882, Mar. 26
1881, Mar. 19
1871, Mar. 13
1873, Jan. 18
1882, Mar. 9J}
1873, Mar. 20
2 a
XVIII
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
NAME.
Gale, Leonard Dunnell (d).
Gallaudet, Edward Miner.
Gannett, Henry
Gardiner, James Terry (a)
Garnett, Alexander Young P. (r).
Gihon, Albert Leary
Gilbert, Grove Karl
Gill, Theodose Nicholas
Godding, William Whitney.
Goode, George Brown
Goodfellow, Edward.
Goodfellow, Henry ir)
Gore, James Howard
Graves, Edward Oziel (a)
Gi-avea, Walter Hayden la)
Greely, Adolphus \Va.^hington (a).
Green, Bernard Richardson
Green, Francis Mathews (a)
Gbeenk, Benjamin Franklin (a)....
Greene, Francis V^inton
Gunnell, Francis M.
Hains, Peter Conover (a)
Hall, Asaph
Hanacom, I.«<aiah (d)
Harknesh, Williah
Hastier, Ferdinand Augustus (a)....
Hayden, Ferdinand Vandeveer (a)..
P. O. Addrebs and Residence.
Deaf Mute College, Kendall Green...
Geological Survey. 1881 Harewood
Ave., Le Droit Park.
State Library. Albany, N. W
Navy Department. 2019 HiUyer Place
N. W.
Geological Survey. 1424 Corcoran St.
Smithsonian Inst. 321-323 4V^St. N.W.
Government A»<ylum for the insane...
National Museum. 1G20 Moss. Ave.
N. W.
Coast and Geodetic Survey Office.
1330 19th St. N. W.
Columbian College. 1305 Q St. N. W.
Denver, Colorado ,
1738 N St. N. W
Navy Department
West Lebanon, N. H ,
District Commissioners' Office.
("f "^t. N W.
Med^ical Director, U. S. N. GOO 20th
St. N. W.
1915
1824 Jefferson Place
Naval Observatory. 2715 N. St.
N.W..
Hazen, Henry Allen
Hazen, William Babcock^.
Henry, Joseph (d)
Henshaw, Henry Wetherbee.
HiLGARD, Julius Erasmus
W.,
Naval Observatory. 1415 G St. N.
Tustin City, Loa Angeles Co., Cal.
Geological Survey. 1803 Arch St, Phil-
adelphia, Penn.
Army signal Office. 1416 Corcoran St
Army Signal Office. IfiOl K St N.W..
Hill, George William.
Holden, Edward Singleton (a)...
Holmes, William Henry
Hough, Franklin Benjamin (a)
Howell, Edwin Eugene (n)
Humphreys, Andrew Atkinson (d).
Bureau of Ethnology. P. O. Box 685..
Coast and Ge'tdetic Survey Office.
17051 Rhode Island Ave. N. W.
Nautical Almanac Office. 314 Ind.
Ave. N. W.
Madison, Wisconsin -^
Geological Survey. IHK) O St N. W...
Agrioultural Department Lowville,
Rochester, N. Y
Jackson, Henry Arundel Lambe (a)
James, Owen (a)
Jeffers, William Nicolson (r)
Jenkins, Tiiornto.v Alexander
Johnson, Arnold Burges
War Department,
Hyde Park, Penn.
Johnson. Joseph Taber ,
Johnston, WMlliam Waiing.
2115 Penn. Ave. N. W
Light House Board, Treasury Dept.
501 Maple Ave., Le Droit Park
920 17th St. N. W
1603 K St. N. W
Kampf, Ferdinand (d)
Keith, Reuel (a)
Kerr, Washington Carruthers.
Kidder, Jerome Henry
Kilbourne, Charles Evans
King, Albert Freeman Africanus.
King, Clarence (r)
Knox, John Jay
KummcU, Charles Hugo
Raleigh, N. C
Smithsonian Institution. 1816 N St.
N. W.
Army Signal Office. Lexington House,
72Gi:UhSt N. W
Treasury Dept. 1127 10th St. N. W...
Coast and Geodetic Survey Office.
608 q St. N. w.
Lane, Jonathan Homer (d)
Lawver, Winfiekl Peter Mint Bureau, Treasury Department.
1912 I St. N. W.
Date of
Admission.
1874, Jan. 17
1875, Feb. 27
1874, Apr. 11
1874, Jan. 17
1878, Mar. 16
1880, Dec. 18
1873, June 7
1871, Mar. 13
1879, Mar. 29
1874, Jan. 31
1875, Dec. 18
1871,
1880,
1874,
1878,
1880,
1879,
1875,
1871,
1875,
Nov. 4
Mar. 14
Apr. 11
May 25
June 19
Feb, 15
Nov. 9
Mar. 13
Apr. 10
1879. Feb. I
1879, Feb. 15
1871, Mar. 13
1873, Dec. 20
1871, Mar. 13
1880, May 8
1871, Mar. 13
1882, Mar. Z5
1881, Feb 5
1871, Mar. 13
1874, Apr. 11
1871, Mar. 13
1879, Feb. 1
1873, June 21
1879, Mar. 20
1879, Mar. 29
1874, Jan. .31
1871, Mar. 13
1875, Jan. 30
1880, Jan. 3
1877, Feb. 24
1871, Mar. 13
1878, Jan. 19
1879, Mar. 29
1873, Jan. 21
1875, Dec. 18
1871, Oct. 20
1883, Apr. 7
1880, May 8
1880, June 19
1875, Jan. 16
1879, May 10
1874, May 8
1882, Mar. 25
1871. Mar. 13
1881, Feb. 19
LIST OF MEMBERS.
XIX
NAME.
Lee, William
Lefiavour, Edward Brown.
Lincoln, Nathan Smith..
Lock wood, Henry H. (r).
Loomis, Eben Jenks
Lull, Edward Phelps
Lyford, Stephen Carr (r).
MacCaiiley, Henry Clay (o)
McGee. W. J
McGuirc, Frederick Banders
Mack, Of»car \. (d)
McMurtrie, William (a)
Mallery, Garrlck
Marvin, Joseph Badger (a)
^faryine, Arcnibald Robertson (d).
Mason, Otin Tufton
Meek, Fielding Buadford (d)
Meigs, Montgomery (a)
Mkioji, Montgomery Ccxningiiam...
Miiner, James William (d)
Morgan. Etholbert Carroll
Morris, Martin Ferdinand (a)
Mnssey, Reuben Delavan
Myer, Albert J. (d)
Myers, William (a)
P. O. Address and Risidekcx.
2111 Penn. Ave. N. W
Coast and Geodetic Survey Office.
117 C 8t. S. E.
1614 H St. N. W
Nautical Almanac Office. 1413 Col-
lege Hill Terrace N. W.
Navy Department
Date of
Admission.
Helena, Montana
Geological Survey. 612 13th St. N. W
1300 F St. N. W. 614 E St. N. W
Champaign, III
Bureau of Ethnology. P. O. Box 685.
1323 N St. N. W.
Columbian College. 1305 Q St. N.W.
1874, Jan. 17
1882, Dec. 16
1871. May 27
1871, Oct. 29
1880, Feb. 14
1875, Dec. 4
1873, Jan. 18
1880, Jan. 3
1883, Nov. 10
1879, Feb. 15
1872, Jan. 27
1876, Feb. 26
1875, Jan. 30
War Department. Rock Island, III... I
liJ9 Vermont Ave.N. W '
Newcomb, Simon
Nichols, Charles Henry (a).
Nicholson, Walter Lamb....
Nordhoff, Charlen
Osborne, John Walter
Otis, George Alexander (d).
918E8t. N. W ,
P.'a'Box bis." 608^
War Department '
Navy Department. Stoddart Street.
i322"i'stl'Nrw!!'r"'Z"*"^^"'^^"''!!"
Alpine, Bergen Co., N. J
212 Delaware Ave. N. E
Parke, John GarBB Engineer Bureau, War Department.
j 16 Lafayette Square.
Parker, Peter i 2 Lafayet'te .'Square
Parry, Charles (.hristopher (a) I Burlington, Iowa
Patterson, Carlile Pollock (d)
Poul, Henry Martyn Naval Observatory. 917 R St. N. W...
Peale, Albert Charles (ieological Survey. 1210 Mass. Ave.
I N. W.
Peale, Titian Ramoay (a) Philadelphia, Penn ,
Peirce, Benjamin {d)
Peirce, Charles Sanders (a) Coast and Geodetic Survey Office.
Bftltimore. Md.
Pilling, .Tames Constantine i Geological Survey. 918 M St. N. W...
Poe, Orlando Metf^alfe ' 34 Congress St. West, Detroit, Mich..
1878,
1874,
1876,
1871,
1877,
1871,
1874,
1883,
1877,
1881,
1871,
1871,
May 25
Jan. 31
Jan. 30
Mar. 13
Mar. 24
Mar. 13
Jan. 31
Oct. 13
Feb. 24
Dec. 3
Mar. 13
June 23
Pope, Benjamin Franklin.
Porter, David Dixon (r)
Powell, John vVcley
Prenti.«*s Daniel Webster....
Pritchett, Henry Smith (a).
Surgeon General's Office, U. S. A.
»»29 P St. N. W.
GeoVogicai Survey * 910 M St! N. W ..!
1224 9th St. N. W
Washington University, St. Louis, Mo.
Rathbone, Henry Reed (a).
Rathbun, Richard Smithsonian Institution. 1622 Mass.
Ave. N. W.
Renshawe, John Henry ! Geological Survey. 1221 O St. N. W
Richey, Stephen Olin 142r. N. V. Ave. N. W
Ridgwav, Robert (n)
Riley, Charlci Valentine ,
Riley, John Canripbell (d)
Ritter, William Francis McKnight..
Smithsonian Inst. 1214 Va. Av. N.W.
Agricultural Dept. 1700 13th St. N.W.
Nautical Almanac Office.
Place.
1723l6t. N. W
16 Grant
Rodgers, Christopher Raymond
Perry (n)
Rodgers, John (<f)
Rogers, Joseph Addl.oon (a) ' Naval Observatory
Ru.Hsell, Israel Cook ' Geological Survey. 1424 ("orcoran St.
1871, Mar. 13
1872, May 4
1871. Mar. 13
1879, May 10
1878, Dec. 7
1871, Mar. 13
1871, Mar. 13
1871, Mar. 13
1871, May 13
1871, Nov. 17
1877, Mav 19
1874, Apr. 11
1871, Mar. 13
1871, Mar. 13
1873, Mar. 1
1881, Feb. 19
1873, Oct. 4
1882, Deo. 16
1874, Apr. 11
1874, Jan. 17
1880, Jan. 3
1879, Mar. 29
1874, Jan. 17
1882, Oct. 7
1883, Fell. 24
1882, Oct. 7
1K74, Jan. 31
1878, Nov. 9
1877, May 19
1879, Oct. 21
1872, Mar. 9
1872, Nov. 16
1H72, Mar. 9
18»2, Mar. 25
XX
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
NAME.
RusBcU, Thomas.
Salmon, Daniel Elmer
Sampson, William Thomas
Sands, Bekjamin Franklin (d).
Sayille, James Hamilton
SCHAEITKR, OeOROE CHRISTIAN (d)..
ScuoTT, Gdarles Anthony
Searle, Henry Robinson (d)..,
Seymour, George Dudley (r)
Shellabarger, Samuel ,
Sherman, John
Sherman, William Tegvmseh (r)
Shufuldt, Robert Wilson
Sicard, Montgomery (a) .
Sigsbee, Charles Dwight.
Skinner, John Oscar
Smiley, Charles Wesley ,
Smith, David (a)
Smith, Edwin
SpoObrd, Ainsworth Rand.
Stearns, John (a) ..
Stone, Ormond (a).
Taylor, Frederick William.
Taylor, William Bower
Thompson, Almon Harris ..
Tildcn, William Calvin (a).
Todd, David Peck (a)
Toner, Joseph Meredith
True, Frederick William....
Twining. William J. (d)
Upton, Jacob Kendrick (r)
Upton. William Wirt
Upton, Winslow (a).
Vasey, George (r)
Walcott, Charles Doolittle..
Waldo, Frank
Walker, Francis Amasa (a).
WallinR, Henry Francis.
Ward, Lester Frank
Webster, .\lbert Lowry.....
Welling, James Clarke
Wheeler, George M. (a)
Wheeler, Junius B. (a)....
White, Charles Abiathar..
White. Zebulon Lewis (a).
Williams, Albert, Jr
Wilson, Allen D. (a)
Wilson, James Ormond..
P. 0. Address and Residence.
Army Signal Office. 904 M St N. W...
Agricultural Dept. 1121 1 St N. W.....
Naval Observatory
342 D St (La. Ave.) N. W. 1315 M St
N. W.
Coast and Geodetic Survey Office.
212 1st St S. E.
Room 23 Corcoran Building. 812 17th
St N. W.
1319 K St N. W
Surgeon Genl's Office, U. S. A. 1619
K St N. W.
Ordnance Bureau, Navy Department
Hydrographic Office, Navy Depart-
ment 3319 U 8t N. W.
1739 F St N. W
U. S. Fish Commission, 1443 Mass.
Ave. 1207 11th St N. W.
Navy Department
Coast ana Geodetic Survey Office
Library of Congress. 1621 Mos&t. Ave.
N. W.
Leander McCorraick Obeorvatory,
University of Virginia.
Winlock, William Crawford
Wolcott, Christopher Columbus (r).
Wood, Joseph (a)
Wood, William Maxwell (a)
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Inst 306 C St N. W.
Geological Survey
Army Medical Museum .-...
Amherst, Mass
015 Louisiana Ave
National Museum
2d Comptroller's Office, Treasury
Dept. 810 12th St N. W.
Army Signal Office. 1441 Chapin St.
N. W.
Geological Survey. 1116 N. Y. Ave.
Army Signal Office. 1427 Chapin St
N. W.
Mass. Inst of Technology, Boston.
Mass.
Geological Survey
Geological Survey. 1404 R. I. Ave.
N. W.
Johns Hopkins University. Balti-
more, Md.
1302 Connecticut Ave
Engineer Bureau, War Department...
West Point, New York
Geological Survey. LeDroit Park
Providenoe, Rhode Island
Geological Survey. 23 Lafayette
Square.
Newport, R. I
Franklin School Building. 1439 Mass.
Ave. N. W.
Naval Observatory. 733 20th St. N.W..
Asst. Engineer B. & P. R. R.
Navy Department
Date or
ADMianoN.
1883. Feb. 10
1883, Nov. 24
1883. Mar. 24
1871, Mar. 13
1871, Apr. 29
1871. Mar. 13
1871. Mar. 13
1877, Dec. 21
1881, Dec. 3
1875, Apr. 10
1874, Jan. 17
1871, Mar. 13
1881, Nov. 5
1877, Feb. 24
1879, Mar. 1
1883, Mar. 24
1882, Oct 7
1876, Dec. 2
1880, Oct 23
1872, Jan. 27
1874. Mar. 28
1874. Mar. 28
1881.
1871,
1875.
1871,
1878,
1873,
1882,
1878.
Feb. 19
Mar. 13
Apr. 10
Apr. 29
Nov. 23
June 7
Oct 7
Nov. 23
1878, Feb. 2
1882, Mar. 25
1880, Dec. 4
1875, June 6
1883, Oct 13
1881. Dec. 3
1872. Jan. 27
1883, Feb. 24
1876, Nov. 18
1882. Mar. 25
1872, Nov. 16
1873, June 7
1871, Mar. 13
1876, Dec IC
1880, June 19
1883. Feb. 24
1874, Anr. 11
1873, Mar. 1
1880, Dec. 4
1875, Feb. 27
1875, Jan. 16
18n. Dec. 2
LIST OF MEMBERS.
XXI
NAME.
WOODWABS, JO8XPH JaMTXKB
Woodward, Robert Simpson
Woodworth, Joha Maynard (d).
Yamall, Mordecai (d).
Yarrow, Harry Cr6cy .,
Zumbrock, Anton.
P. O. Addrxss AMD Residence.
Army Med. Museum. 620 F St N.W.,
Naval Observatory. 1125 17th St N.W.
•814 I7th St N. W.
Ck>a8t and Geodetic Survey Office.
465 C St N. W.
Date of
Admihsioh.
1871, Mar. 13
1883, Nov. 24
1874, Jan. 31
1871, Apr. 29
1874, Jan. 31
1875, Jan. 30
Number of founders 44
** members deeeaaed 36
'• " absent 65
" " resigned 16
active. 149
t4
U
Total number enrolled
266
XXII PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
ANNUAL BEFORT OF THE TREASURER.
Washington City, December 31, 188S.
To the Philosophical Society of Washington :
I have the honor to present herewith my annual statement as
Treasurer for the year ending December 3 1st, and to express my
regret that owing to absence irom the city I was not able to present
this report at the proper time on the occasion of the recent annual
meeting, December 22d.
By the kindness of Messrs. Riggs & Co. the Society has been
enabled to invest in another $1,000 United States 4 per cent, bond,
but in this case a few weeks in advance of the regular winter accu-
mulation of its revenue. The balance shown by Kiggs' books
against the Society is, therefore, with their assent, and in fact at
their suggestion, and will probably be met during January.
The total invested fund of the Society is, therefore, $2,^00, of
which $1,000 is at 4 i per cent, and $1,500 at 4 per cent.
The further assets of the Society consist of unpaid annual dues
to the amount of $185 for 1883 and $90 for 1882. The total active
membership remains at about one hundred and fifty, and the prob-
able iucome for the next year may be estimated at $900, nearly all
of which will be needed to pay current expenses and the bills for
printing Volume VI.
Early in the year one hundred and fifty-five copies of Volume IV
and two hundred and eighty-five of Volume V were distributed to
the active members and to about fifty domestic and eighty-five for-
eign recipients.
The list of recipients is a slightly amended copy of that printed
in Volume IV of the Bulletin of the Society. Occasional copies of
the earlier volumes have been distributed to those whose sets had
accidentally become imperfect, or were otherwise entitled to them.
As custodian of the library and property, I have the honor to
report that the Society occasionally receives scientific publications
by way of exchange with similar organizations. The accession cata-
logue of the library now includes a hundred and two numbers or
titles, being an increase of thirty-one during the year.
By order of the General Council, the Treasurer was in 1881
instructed to initiate the keeping of a record book containing a
sketch of the life and services of the individual members of the
Society ; this I'ecord volume is now prepared, and a notice will be
sent to each member asking for the necessary data.
Very respectfully,
Cleveland Abbe,
Treasurer,
TREASURER S REPORT.
XXIII
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BULLETIN
OF THE
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT.
XXV
ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT,
J. W. Powell,
Delivered December 8, 1883.
THE THREE ^lETHODS OF EVOLUTION.
Id the early history of research attention was chiefly given to
phenomena of co-existence. In late years the phenomena of sequence
have received the larger share of attention. The investigation of
the phenomena of sequence has led to the invention of a number of
hypotheses. In the past history of scientific research three of these
have each led to a long series of important discoveries. These are
the nebular hypothesis, the atomic hypothesis, and the hypothesis
of the development of life. The nebular theory is an hypothesis
of astronomic evolution ; the atomic theory has gradually assumed
the shape of an hypothesis of chemical evolution ; and the develop-
ment theory has been elaborated and re-stated as the hypothesis of
biologic evolution. The time has c«me when in all fruitful research
evolution in some form is postulated by each investigator in his own
field. Yet many scientific men, though admitting the doctrines of
evolution in their own special fields, ofttimes reject them elsewhere;
and there is some disagreement even among the greatest thinkers
as to the extent to which the hypotheses of evolution can be carried,
but all postulate evolution in some form and to some degree.
^ An attempt will be made in this address to point out what is be-
lieved to be the fact — ^that there are three grand classes of phe-
nomena, constituting three kingdoms of matter and representing
three stages of evolution ; or, stated in another way, that there has
been an evolution of the methods of evolution, so that the methods
discovered in the first stage have been superseded by those discov-
red in the second, and these superseded by the methods of the third
stage. It is proposed to indicate and, as clearly as possible within
the limits of an address, to define, in terms of matter and motion,
the three kingdoms of matter and the three methods of evolution.
As precedent to the general statement it will be well, therefore,
briefly to consider the kinematic hypothesis.
• xxvn
XXVIII PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
THE KINEMATIC HYPOTHBBIS.
That motion is persistent is the kinematic hypothesb. In the
early history of research many modes or varieties of motion were
directly observed. To account for these motions they were said to
be caused by farces, and Force was sometimes defined as that which
produces motion. Something, therefore, was conceived to exist —
not matter, not motion — an existence that would produce motion.
Then arose the question. What is Force — this antecedent of Motion ?
The researches inaugurated from this standpoint led again and
again to the discovery that the antecedent of motion is some other
motion, and one after another of the so-called "forces'' were thus
resolved into motions, until at last only gravity and affinity, and
perhaps magnetism, remain as unexplained antecedents of motion.
But gravity, affinity, and magnetism are included under one term,
" (Utraction" by those who hold that there is yet Ei, force — something
other than motion which produces motion. Attraction, then, is left.
Sometimes these same philosophers speak of ** attraction and repul-
sion." If, then, all forces the actions of which are thoroughly
known are resolved into antecedent motions, it is indeed an induc-
tive hypothesis worthy of consideration that the antecedents of the
phenomena of attraction and repulsion may also be regarded as
modes of motion.
But this hypothesis is reached by another method. It is known
that motions may be transmuted from one kind or mode into an-
other. Affinity can be transmuted into motion, and motion into
affinity. If we wish to obtain the mode of motion called electricity,
we may derive it from mechanical motion through friction, or we
may derive it through affinity in the voltaic cell. If we combine a'
gramme of hydrogen with oxygen, 34,000 units of heat — ^a mode of
motion — ^are developed. If a gramme of hydrogen be combined
with iodine, 3,600 units of heat — a mode of motion — are absorbed.
But why introduce single illustrations ? A large part of all the
powers used by man in the industries of the world are derived from
affinity. Affinity, therefore, is the equivalent of motion. By a
similar process it is shown that gravity can be transmuted into mo-
tion and motion into gravity, and the trasmutation of magnetism
into motion and of motion into magnetism is well known.
It is thus seen that while motion may be derived from the so-
called forces, gravity, affinity, and magnetism, these so-called force
ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XXIX
may also be derived from motion. In all other cases where a mode
of motion is transmuted, it is but changed into another mode. It
is therefore an inductive hypothesis that gravity, affinity, and mag-
netism are also modes of motion.
This hypothesis is reached by yet another inductive process.
There is a vast multiplicity of properties which bodies present to
the mind through touch, taste, smell, hearing, and sight — properties
at first explained as occult. During the progress of scientific re-
search, one after another of these properties has been resolved into
motion, until at last two remain unexplained — rigidity and elasticity.
By those who hold with most tenacity to older explanations of such
phenomena, these two remaining properties are attributed to attrac-
tion and repulsion ; but those who have fallen into the current of
modern thought believe that they can be explained as the results of
the composed motion of the constituent parts of the bodies which
exhibit them, together with molecular impact. That some such ex-
planation will eventually be fully established is highly probable as
an inductive hypothesis.
When these various methods of induction are combined they
lead to an hypothesis of the highest character, and we may reasonably
expect that all forces will ultimately be resolved into motions. The
term jarrce will still be of value in science, to be used in each case as
denoting the antecedent motion.
lutimately related to the kinematic hypothesis is the hypothesis
of an ether, which has also been reached by a variety of inductive
methods, i. e. from converging lines of research. In fact, the kine-
matic hypothesis and the ethereal hypothesis are identical, the first
being stated in terms of motion, the second in terms of matter.
Intimately related to the ethereal hypothesis is the nebular hypo-
thesis, also feached through a series of converging lines of induc-
tion.
Every fact that lends probability to one lends probability to all.
Thus each strengthens the other. It must be understood that how-
ever probable they may be, they are yet hypotheses, and for their
complete demonstration the mode of action must be specifically
pointed out in each case.
The ethereal hypothesis furnishes the original homogeneous matter
in motion from which the various aggregates have been segregated.
The nebular hypothesis takes up this matter while it is yet in a
XXX PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
molecular condition and derives from it the more compounded ag-
gregates and their motions, in obedience to the law of the persis-
tence of motion, which is the kinematic hypothesis. Thus there are
bodies of men engaged in researches relating to molecular physics,
other bodies of men in researches relating to molecular physics and
astronomy, and others in molecular physics and chemistry, all of
whose researches converge in the kinematic hypothesis. It is there-
fore reached by a consilience of many inductive methods.
In the statement thus made concerning the kinematic theory
there is no attempt to assemble the data on which it rests. Such
task could not be performed in an address, as volumes would be
needed for their presentation. An attempt has been made simply
to characterize the processes of inductive reasoning by which the
hypothesis is reached.
If the kinematic hypothesis should be demonstrated, it would be
a veritable explanation. The dynamic hypothesis is no explana-
tion. To exhibit this fact it must be briefly analyzed.
Philosophy is the science of opinion, and the philosopher has for
the subject-matter of his science the origin and nature of opinions,
and he discovers that they may be broadly grouped in three classes —
mythic, metaphysic, and scientific. Mythic opinion arises from the
attempt to explain the simple in terms of the compound — that is,
to explain biotic and physical phenomena by their crude analogies
to human activities. Early man, discovering that his own activi-
ties arose from design and will, supposed that there was design and
will in all function and motion. Through this method of explana-
tion have arisen the mythologies of the world.
But in the early civilization of the Aryan race a multitude of
mythic systems were thrown together and studied by the same body
of men, originally for the purpose of deriving therefrom the com-
mon truth. The resulting comparison and investigation led to the
conclusion that they were all false, and in lieu thereof a new system
of explanation was invented. These earlier philosophers of the
cities of the Mediterranean, while engaged in the comparison of
mythologies, were also engaged in the comparison of languages, and
they discovered many profoundly interesting facts of linguistic
structure, and the intimate relations between language and thought
by which the form of thought itself is moulded. These great
facts appearing at the same time that mythic philosophy was dis-
ANNUAL ADDRESS OP THE PRESIDENT. XXXI
solving into idle tales, led to the origin of a new philosophic
method. The men of that day supposed that the truth is in the
word, and that a verbal explanation could be constructed ; that the
philosophy of the universe could be based on language; and to
them verbal statement was explanation, final and absolute, and be-
ing was but ideal.
But metaphysic philosophy was displaced by the increase of
knowledge — the development of scientific philosophy. In this sys-
tem the phenomena of co*existence and sequence are objectively
discerned and classified.
This bare statement of the three methods can be made more lucid
by an illustration. Unsupported bodies above the earth fall, and
such phenomena are seen so often as to challenge every man's atten-
tion. Early man, whose mind was controlled by mythic opinions,
subjectively knew that if he wished to move a body he must push
or pull it, and to him there was no other method of originating
motion.
Some years ago I was with a small body of Wintun Indians on
Pitt River, the chief tributary of the Sacramento, engaged in the
study of mythology. I had gone among the rocks for the purpose
of awakening echoes, that I might elicit from my dusky philosophers
an explanation thereof. Unexpectedly I fell upon an explanation
of gravity. We had climbed a high crag, and I sat at the summit
of the clifiTwith my feet overhanging the brink. An Indian near
me, who could speak but imperfect English, seemed solicitous for
my safety, and said : " You better get out ; hollow pull you down."
I had previously been intent on watching the operations of his mind
for the purpose above mentioned, and this expression seemed to me
strange ; and it started a line of investigation which I eagerly pur-
sued. I soon discovered that he interpreted the fall of bodies by
purely subjective analogies. He who stands on a rock but slightly
elevated above the earth feels no fear, but if standing a thousand
feet above the base of the cliff, he attempts to look over, fear curdles
his blood, and he seems to be pulled over. As he climbs a lofty
pine, at every increase of altitude there is an increase of fear, and
he seems to be pulled down by a stronger force. When he rests
upon the solid earth he feels no " pull," but when elevated above it
he interprets his subjective feelings as an objective pull. Vacuity
is personified and believed to be an actor.
In the early winter of 1882 I was with a party of Indians in the
XXXII PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
Grand Gallon of the C!olorado. Some of the young men were
amusing themselves by trying to throw stones across a lateral gorge.
No one could accomplish the feat, though they could throw stones
even farther, as they believed, along the level land. Chuar, the
chieff explained this to me by informing me that the cafion puUed
tlie atones down. The apparent proximity of the opposite wall was
believed to be actual, and vacuity was personified and believed to
exert a force.
Metaphysic explanations of gravity are found. By that method
an absolute up and down is predicated, and bodies have a tendency
to fall down. This is an explanation in words, the words expressing
no meaning but believed to be themselves thoughts. It is per-
haps the earliest form of the metaphysic explanation of gravity.
But with the progress of knowledge the absolute disappears, and
positions are found to be but relative ; there is no absolute up and
down ; and other facts with regard to gravity are discovered. And
finally the metaphysician says bodies attract. Now the term /a//,
as used by the early metaphysicians, was the nsime of a motion
observed, and it was held to be a complete explanation as long as
up and down was supposed to be absolute, not relative ; and the
explanation was abandoded as insufficient when the ideas of abso-
lute up and down were abandoned. But the word attraction does
not involve this error. It is simply a name for the phenomenon,
without the manifestly fallacious implication of *' up and down."
And it is a good name for the specific phenomenon to which ft is
applied. But it must not connotate any other idea; in so far as
it does, it is vitiated. Yet the metaphysician will suppose that by
using the term " attraction " he explains gravity. The scientific
philosopher uses the term purely as the name of the phenomenon,
and does not suppose that thereby the phenomenon is explained ;
and having named it, he still seeks for its explanation — that is, he
still seeks to resolve that which is manifestly a complex phenom-
enon, exhibited in the relations of positions of bodies, into its most
simple elements. Whenever this is done he will say that attraction,
or gravity — they being synonyms for the same phenomenon — is
explained.
The kinematist uses " attraction " as a synonym for " gravitation."
The dynamist uses " attraction " as a verbal explanation of Gravi-
tation. The mythic philosopher uses the term to connotate the still
further idea that bodies exert a " pull " on one another ; and this
ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XXXIII
latter coDcept is do less mythic than that of the Indian who believes
that the vacuity between them exerts the pull.
It is fortunate for science that every discovery and every induc-
tive hypothesis is rigidly criticised, as this leads to the careful
examination of the verity of facts discerned and of the legitimacy
of hypotheses derived therefrom. Against the kinematic theory of
force much good rhetoric has been hurled, which may be somewhat
imitated in the following manner :
Here is a quotation from Bagehot, with an interpolation of my
own : *' This easy hypothesis of special creation [occult force] has
been tried so often, and has broken down so very often, that
in no case probably do any great number of careful inquirers very
firmly believe it. They may accept it provisionally, as the best
hypothesis at present, but they feel about it as they cannot help
feeling as to an army which has always been beaten ; however
strong it seems they think it will be beaten again."
The venerable gentlemen who constitute the elder school tell us
that motion is not persistent; that energy constitutes a class of
things including two groups, the forces on the one hand and the
motions on the other ; that the total amount of eliergy is persistent,
but that the total amount of motion is changeable. And by their
definition force is that which produces motion, i. e. force can create
or destroy motion. But manifestly where there is more motion there
must be less force, therefore force can destroy itself; and when there
is more force and less motion, force can create itself.
The moon that passes through the sky of the gentlemen of the
old school is moon from the eastern to the western horizon. Then
the dragon, which exists not, destroys the moon and thus creates
itself, and passing through the cave from west to east it mounts to
their horizon, and in the twinkling of an eye commits suicide by
creating a moon. It is not strange that the thaumaturgics of such
philosophy should lend signal aid to its rhetoric.
The use of hypothesis in science is not only legitimate but an
absolute necessity. The science of psychology, as distinguished
from metaphysic speculation, points out this fact: that all increase
of knowledge is dependent upon hypothesis. Objective impressions
made by the phenomena of the universe upon the organ of the mind
are discerned only by the aid of comparison, and are added to
knowledge only by being combined with previously discerned phe-
XXXIV PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
nomena. Phenomena imperfectly discerned are such as are com-
bined by superficial analogies; phenomena clearly discerned are
such as are combined by essential homologies. With all discern-
ment, therefore, there is comparison, and comparison is reflection
and reflection is reason. Now, scientific research is not random
observation and comparison, but designed discernment and classifl-
tiou ; it is research for a purpose, and the purpose is the explanation
of imperfectly discerned phenomena. Phenomena not understood,
because imperfectly discerned and classified, are made the subject of
examination by first inventing a hypothetic explanation of the
same. With this, the investigator proceeds to more careful obser-
vation and comparison, devising new methods of discrimination
and of testing conclusions. Under the impetus of this hypothetic
explanation, discernment and comparison proceed, and additions to
knowledge are made thereby, and it matters not whether the hypo-
thesis be confirmed or overthrown.
On this rock much research is wrecked. When an hypothesis
gains such control over the mind that phenomena are subjectively
discerned, that they are seen only in the light of the preconceived
idea, then research but adds to vain speculation. A mind con-
trolled by an hypothesis is to that extent insane ; the rational mind
is controlled only by the facts, and contradicted hypotheses vanish
in their light.
There is another rock on which research is wrecked — the belief
which ofttimes takes possession of the mind that the unknowji is
unknowable, that human research can penetrate into the secrets of
the universe no farther. It is the despondency of unrewarded
mental toil.
Yet another rock on which research is wrecked is the definition
of the unknown. Phenomena appear, but whence is not discovered,
and resort is had to verbal statement, and the verbal statement oft
repeated comes to be held as a fact itself. This is the vice of all
metaphysics, by which words are held to be things — spectral imagin-
ings that haunt the minds of introverted thinkers as devils possess
the imaginations of the depraved.
In the midst of the sea of the unknown stand the three rocks : the
controlling hypothesis, the unknowable unknown, and the verbal
definition, and in' the waters about them are buried many wrecks.
ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XXXV
COMBINATION OF MATTER.
When the various bodies known to mind are resolved into their
constituent parts to the utmost of art and knowledge, such parts
are found to be so minute as almost to disappear in the perspective
toward the infinitesimal. The molecular bodies thus dimly discerned
are combined and re-combined, until substances are produced that
come distinctly .within the cognizance of our senses, so that we are
able to observe their forms and motions. These molar bodies
are again combined, until at last bodies of such magnitude are pro-
duced that they are but dimly discerned in the perspective toward
the infinite — stellar systems that appear not to the eye, but only to
the mind's eye.
INORGANIC COMBINATION.
Matter is primarily combined by chemical affinity. The sub
stances thus produced appear in three states : gaseous, fluid, and
solid, but are not clearly demarcated. That chemically combined
matter which is found in the solid state is further combined by crys-
tallization and lithifaction. It may be that these methods are parts
of the same process, and further, that they are one with chemical
affinity ; at any rate it is impossible clearly to demarcate them.
They are also influenced by gravity, and to a large extent act under
its control. Thus it is that gravity, and affinity with its concomi-
tants, unite in molecularly combining matter into inorganic sub-
stances. Again, these bodies are mechanically combined into geo-
logic formations, bodies of water, and bodies of air, and such com-
binations result from gravity. Finally they are all combined into
an aggregate, the earth itself, solid, fluid, and gaseous. This also
results from gravity.
In the succession of combinations thus briefly reviewed, the first
natural aggregate reached is the earth. Below that we have chemi-
cal and mechanical substances, which do not constitute integers, but
only integral parts. The earth itself is a whole — an aggregation,
as the term is here used.
Again, the earth is one of the bodies of the solar system, which
is a combination of worlds. This aggregation, also, is controlled by
gravity. Other higher astronomic aggregates may exist.
ORGANIC COMBINATION.
Portions of the matter combined by affinity and gravity are seg-
XXXVI PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
regated to be combiued by vitality, giving organic bodies or aggre-
gates, as plants and animals. These bodies do not permanently re-
main such, as the matter of which they are composed sooner or later
returns to the condition of combination due solely to affinity and
gravity. They live and die.
SUPERORGANIC COMBINATION.
There are certain biotic bodies whose activities are combined.
The first step in combination is the biologic differentiation of the
sexes, giving a group of co-operative individuals for the activities
of reproduction — male and female, parent and child. This initial
combination is crudely developed into still larger combinations of
co-operative individuals among the lower animals. With mankind
it is developed to a much higher degree, resulting in a great variety
of co-operative activities.
There is found, then, a variety of methods of combination, in-
cluded under three classes: physical, due to affinity and gravity;
biotic, due to vital organization ; and aiithropic, due to related activ-
ities. Physical combinations result in the production o^ substances
and aggregates, and the existence of a physical body is preserved
by j)reserving identity of form and identity of constituent matter.
Biotic combination also produces substances and aggregates, and
the existence of a biotic body is continued by the preservation of
identity of form, but not of identity of constituent matter. In an-
thropic combination, substances and aggregates, as the terms are
here used, are not produced, but biotic aggregates are interrelated
in their activities through the agency of mind.
In physical aggregates the relation of parts is that of interde-
pendence, so that the constitution and form of each part are de-
pendent on the constitution and form of every other part. This
interdependence may be better comprehended by means of an illus-
tration. In the aggregate the earth, the interdependence is exhib-
ited in the relations existing between the incompletely aggregated
bodies of minerals, known as geologic formations; the incompletely
aggregated bodies of water, known as seas, lakes, streams, and
clouds ; and the incompletely aggregated bodies of air, known as
winds. Air-currents gather the waters from the seas and pour them
upon the lands. Rains and rivers disintegrate the rocks and carry
them to the sea. Currents in the sea distribute the detritus over
ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XXXVII
the bottom. By the loading of areas of sea-bottom they are de-
pressed, and by the degradation of land-areas they are unloaded
and rise. Change in the geography of the land effects a change in
wind-currents and in bodies of water, and a change in the latter
effects a change in sedimentation. In like manner, throughout all
physical nature, an interdependence of parts is exhibited. Part
acts on part.
In biotic aggregates the same interdependence of parts is shown.
Any change affecting the digestive apparatus affects the circulatory
apparatus, and these again are influenced by the respiratory appara-
tus. But in addition to this interdependence of parts, there is also
an organization of parts — that is, special functions are performed
by the several parts, and each is the organ of its function. And
this organization is of such a nature that each works for the others.
The digestive apparatus digests for itself and all the organs, the
heart propels for all the body, the eye sees for all the body, the ear
hears for all the body, the hand touches for all the body. Thus the
organic parts act on and for one another.
In activital combination, aggregates, as the term is here used, do
not appear, but the same interdependence is observed. By associa-
tion the sanitary state of the husband affects that of the wife, and
the condition of the mother affects the child ; and on throusrh the
different combinations of animals and men this interdependence is
observed. The relation of organization also exists by the differen-
tiation of industries. The husband brings food to the wife and
children, and the wife prepares the food. And this differentiation of
industries, or "division of labor" as it is termed in political science,
is carried on to an elaborate condition in civilized life. Then men
are related to one another as constituent members of society ; one
commands and another obeys. Then men are related to one another
through language ; one speaks, another hears ; one writes, another
reads. Then men are related to one another through opinions;
having common opinions, they form common designs and act for
common purposes. It will thus be seen that superorganic or an-
thropic combination arises from the establishment of four classes of
relations, corresponding to the four classes of activities represented
by arts, institutions, languages, and opinions. The arts are human
activities directed to the utilization of the materials of nature and
the control of its powers, for the purpose of securing happiness. In-
stitutions arc human activities arranged for the purpose of securing
XXXVIII PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
peace and establishing justice, and thereby increasing happiness
Languages are activities devised for the purpose of communicating
thought, and thereby securing happiness. Opinions arise from
psychic activities, the purpose of which is to learn the truth, that
happiness may ensue.
In physical, biotic, and authropic combinations the parts control
one another. It will therefore be convenient to speak of three
kingdoms of matter : the mineral or physical kingdom, the organic
or biotic kingdom, and the authropic or acti vital kingdom.
MODES OF MOTION.
All bodies, however combined, are discovered to be in motion.
Among the bodies of the mineral kingdom, a variety of modes
of molecular motion are exhibited, having various distinguishing
characteristics. These are heat and light, electricity and magnetism,
then sound and that motion in gases by which through impact they
retain their rarefied state. Again, a variety of molar motions are
observed in gases, liquids, and solids ; and finally stellar motions
are observed in astronomic systems.
In the biotic kingdom plants and animals exhibit many varieties
of organic motions, cailed functio7i8. These are superadded to the
physical motions, which appear alike in the physical and biotic
kingdoms. Physical bodies exhibit motions ; biotic bodies exhibit
motions and functions, the latter being highly organized motions.
In the authropic kingdom there is a complexity of motions arising
from biotic functions, which are arranged and combined so as to
produce activitiea. These* activities are represented by arts, institu-
tions, languages, and opinions.
Thus there are three great classes of motions corresponding to the
three great classes of combinations, namely, physical motions ; biotic
motions, or functions ; and authropic motions, or activities.
THE RELATION OF MOTION TO COMBINATION.
It will at once be seen that anthropic combination is such by
virtue of human activities. Activital combination is manifestly
composed motion.
Again, biotic aggregates are such by virtue of continuous combi-
nation and dissolution. Within proper limits a biotic body may be
compared to a river ; it is a form through which matter passes. In
ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XXXIX
plants some of this passing matter becomes fixed for a time, but
eventually returns from the biotic to the mineral kingdom. Among
animals this passage of physical matter through the biotic form is
more rapid. The organic functions, also, of these bodies are but
arranged or organized motions. Life is motion — the specific motion
called function.
Again, among the aggregations of the physical kingdom, stellar
systems are aggregates by virtue of motion. The combination ob-
served is due to composed motion. Of the mechanical combina-
tions, that exhibited in the atmosphere is such by virtue of motion —
that is, the gaseous state is preserved by the interference of molecu-
lar motions, and the bodies into which it is imperfectly differen-
tiated, 1. e., currents of air, are such by virtue of motion. Again,
the imperfectly aggregated bodies of water are such by virtue of
motion. This is seen to be true of the clouds floating in the air,
and of rivers rolling to the seas. Lakes with outlets are bodies of
water in motion, forever fed from the clouds, forever discharging
into the sea ; and mediterranean seas without outlet are perpetually
receiving and discharging their waters ; and so far as the sea is
difierentiated into currents, these are bodies imperfectly aggregated
by motion.
There yet remain certain molecular combinations of inorganic
substances, due to affinity and gravity, the nature of which is not
so immediately perceived. Now, as all societies and other authropic
combinations are such by virtue of their motions, known as activi-
ties, and as all biotic bodies are such by virtue of their functions,
and as all stellar combinations are such by virtue of stellar motion,
and as finally all mechanical combinations are such by virtue of
motion, it is at once suggested as an inductive hypothesis that those
combinations the nature of which is yet unknown are also such by
virtue of motion. It is an hypothesis worthy of consideration, that
affinity and gravity are also due to motion. It has even been sup-
posed by some that chemical and barologic methods of combination
are but diverse modes of the same process ; that affinity and gravity
constitute but one method of combination, and that we call it
affinity when the combination involves minute bodies, below our
sense perceptions, and gravity when larger bodies are involved.
An attempt has thus been made to define the three kingdoms of
matter in terms of matter and motion, showing that there are three
XL PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON
methods of combiDatiou, and that the parts combined are related
by three corresponding methods, and that in each kingdom motions
of a distinctive class are discovered. The constitution of physical
bodies is due to composed motion ; the constitution of biotic bodies
is due to composed transmutations of motion; anthropic combina-
tions are due to related activities.
vO In order that there be evolution, there must be change in com-
' jjbination of matter and in mode of motion. The sole property of
matter is motion, and motion itself is change of position. But this
change of position results in change of combination, and change of
combination results in change of mode of motion. These changes
must now be set forth.
CHANGE OF COMBINATION.
If the mind could discern and classify all the bodies of the uni-
verse at any one moment, only space conditions would enter therein ;
but bodies change from time to time, so that there are sequences of
combination. Substances and aggregates of matter are such by rea-
son of an arrangement in position of their constituent parts. Sub-
stances and bodies change in external relations and in internal rela-
tions. Change in external relations is change of position in relation
to external things. Change in internal relations is the change in
relative arrangement of constituent parts. And this change of posi-
tion is always motion, the first and only property of matter.
Chemical, crystalline, and lithical combinations are decomposed
and otherwise re-composed, mechanical combinations are broken
up and otherwise re-arranged, and stellar aggregates are believed
to have been gradually formed. With physical bodies internal
change is the direct result of external change. This is their dis-
tinctive characteristic, that all their changes of constitution result
directly from agencies without themselves.
Biotic bodies exhibit the same changes as mineral bodies, and
also a series peculiar to themselves. First, biotic substances are
segregated from the mineral kingdom — i. e., mineral substances are
changed into biotic substances. Second, biotic bodies begin, grow,
decline, and die. This is a progressive change of structure. Third,
the structure of biotic bodies is preserved by continuous change in
their constituent matter. Form and structure are preserved while
the matter is forever changing. Life is a determined, systematic
sequence of transmutations of motion, transformations of matter, and
ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XLI
transfigurations of body. Life is change. Fourth, as the iodivid-
uals are not persistent, the method of aggregation continues by the
processes of reproduction of like forms. But these like forms are
made unlike — i. e., changed — by two processes. In the biotic repro-
duction of the higher forms the bisexual method prevails, so that
each individual is the offspring of two parents, like both so far as ']
they are alike, but differing from the one or the other so far as they /
are unlike. Fifth^he individual has its constitution determined
by its parents, but/subject to changes which may be brought about
by external relations differing from those to which the parents were
subjected ; and within limits these are transmitted to offspring.
Thus it is seen that biotic changes are caused by external and in- '
ternal agencies.
This may be put in another form. In mineral bodies the same
matter is changed in structure. In biotic bodies the same or nearly
the same structure remains and the constituent matter changes ; yet
there is a slow change in structure from birth to death, and a still
further change in structure from generation to generation ; but
there is more rapid change of constituent matter. Anthropic ag-
gregates arise, not by a combination of matter, but by a combina-
tion of the activities of biotic bodies. These bioLic bodies them-
selves change, as individuals disappear and new ones take their
places. Thus family group succeeds family group, and generations
of people succeed generations of people. In the same manner arts
change. Old arts are abandoned and new arts appear. Various
societies cease to exist and new societies are organized. The organ-
ization due to the differentiation of operations steadily increases by
the division of labor; and the grouping of bodies of men into states,
i. e., tribes and nations, is in constant flux. So, languages change —
they grow and die. And opinions change with each individual and
from generation to generation. All these changes are determined
by the will of the individual units who are actors — that is, activi-
ties change because the actors so desire. Anthropic change is due
to psychic agencies.
CHANGE OF MOTION.
That motion is persistent is a fundamental axiom. But while it
does not change in quantity it changes in quality in diverse ways.
First, motion may be changed in direction. Simple motion is the
motion of a body in a straight line, and change of such motion of
XLII PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
the lowest order is change in direction, and this is accomplished by
the combination of two or more motions having different directions.
Then motion may be transmitted from one body to another/ The
molecular motions — heat, light, electricity, sound, etc. — are motions
propagated by transmission from molecule to molecule. In the
kinematic hypothesis of gravity it is held that atomic motion is
transmitted from atoms to combined and aggregated bodies by im-
pact ; and here we reach another method of change — that by trans-
mutation. One mode of motion may be transmuted into another,
as molar motion into heat,> and heat into electricity.
By the combination of matter motion is composed. Mineral sub-
stances and aggregates exhibit this composition of diverse modes of
motion. Biotic bodies exhibit composition of modes of motion, and
also composition of transmutations of motion, and it is this latter
characteristic which distinguishes biotic from physical motion.
Activital combinations exhibit a composition of modes of motion,
and a composition of the transmutations of motion, and a compo-
sition by co-operative action. It is the last characteristic which
distinguishes activital motion from biotic.
The changes of motion exhibited in the mineral kingdom are
changes in direction by combination, changes in relative quantity
by transmission, changes in mode of motion through transmutation,
and changes in the combination of modes of motion.
In the. biotic kingdom the same changes are found as in the min-
eral kingdom, but to them are added changes in the composition of
transmutations of motion.
In the anthropic kingdom all the changes in the other kingdoms
appear, together with changes in the composition of activities.
EVOLUTION DEFINED.
As matter is indestructible, when one combination or aggregation
is dissolved some other must appear, and vice versa. Existing
bodies must have antecedents. In tracing backward the history of
bodies, lines of sequences are followed. Many such are known, and
the first important characteristic to be noted of them is they are
orderly. Like bodies have like antecedents. From this results one
of the highest inductions of science, namely, that from consequents
antecedents can be restored, and from antecedents consequents can
be predicted. The second important characteristic of these sequences
ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XTJTT
of change is that many are in a definite direetiou, which is gradually H
becoming known. This general course of change is denominated
Evolution, and the term must be defined.
Evolution is progress in systemization. It must be noted that
not all changes are progressive ; some are retrogressive. It is only
progressive change that is here called evolution ; retrogressive change
is dissolution. As the term is here used, a System is an assemblage
of interdependent j)arts, each arranged in subordination to the
whole so as to^constitute au integer. Evolution may therefore be
defined in another way. It is progress in differentiation by the 4
establishment of unlike parts, and in the integration of these parts I
by the establishment of interdependence. Dissolution is retrogres-
sion by the lapsing of integration through the destruction of inter-
dependence, and the lapsing of differentiation through the loss of
heterogeneity in parts.
EVOLUTION IN THE PHYSICAL KINGDOM.
Under the kinematic hypothesis, which embraces the ethereal and
nebular hypotheses, portions of discrete matter have been segregated
to be combined and aggregated. The process precedent to evolu-
tion, then, is combination and aggregation, by which substances
and integers are produced.
Whatever may be the fate of the explanation of the origin of
substances and aggregates through the kinematic and concomitant
hypotheses, the fact remains that such bodies exist, and the evolu-
tion of matter, as it is hereafter dealt with, starts from this point.
Given substances and aggregates as they are known to exist in
nature, and given changes which they are known to undergo, it is
proposed to point out by what methods evolution is attained.
The terms substance and aggregate have been used as distin-
guishing two orders of combination. It should be noted that they
cannot be clearly demarcated. Substances are composed of homo-
geneous, non-interdependent parts, but this homogeneity is never
absolute, and some slight degree of interdependence may always be
discovered. Aggregates, on the other hand, are composed of hetero-
geneous, interdependent parts, but degrees of heterogeneity and
interdependence appear. Combination is the bringing together of
dissociated matter ; and it is in the combinations, separations, and
re-combinations of matter that evolution appears.
XLIV PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
In mineral bodies combinations proceed by molecular, molar, and
stellar methods. It has been shown that the changes in these bodies
are due to external conditions or forces. If a given body be in
harmony with external conditions no change occurs in its constitu-
tion, but if it be out of harmony the impinging agencies effect such
modifications as will produce harmony. This may be done by a
change in the body as a substance or aggregate, or by its separation
and re-combination in some more harmonious form. The evolution
of mineral bodies is thus accomplished by direct adaptation to
external conditions.
If it is permitted hypothetically to conceive of a universe of
ethereal matter — t. e., matter composed of discrete atoms in motion^
such atoms would remain in an attenuated condition by atomic im-
pact. In matter thus constituted, motion could be transmitted from
atom to atom, but no new mode of motion would result therefrom.
The mass of matter thus constituted would be absolutely homoge>
neous. But if by some method several such atoms should be com-
bined, so as to move together as a common body, and so that
their interspaces could not be penetrated by other atoms, the motion
of an impinging atom would not only be transmitted to the larger
body, but it would also be transmuted into another mode or kind of
motion. If other such molecules were formed by the segregation of
atoms from the homogeneous mass, the new kind of motion would
beset up in all the matter thus segregated, and the motions of these
bodies would react one upon another. If, again, some of these
molecules were segregated, to be combined in larger bodies, with or
without such a diminution of interspaces as to prevent the inter-
penetration of atoms, a third mode of motion would be established ;
and if diverse methods of aggregation should occur, diverse modes
of motion would be established thereby ; and in all combining and
re-combining, aggregating and re-aggregating, new modes and com-
plexities would arise.
It is a well-known law that a moving body passes in the direction
of the least resistance. Diverse modes of motion may exist in a
body, due to the complexities of its organization. In the trans-
mission of motion to such a body from another by impact, the
motion transmitted is transmuted into that mode which gives it
the least resistance. This is illustrated on every hand. When
a smaller body impinges against a larger, the inequality between
the two may be so great that molar motion is not set up in the
18 /
ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XLV
larger body, but the whole of the imparted motion is transmuted
into heat or some other molecular motion.
This law, that motion passes in the direction of least resistance,
is the equivalent of the law of adaptation in the evolution of mat-
ter. When evolution is considered from the standpoint of matter,
it is convenient to use the term Adaptation; when considered from
the standpoint of motion, it is more convenient to use the term Least
Resistance.
EVOLUTION IN THE BIOTIC KINGDOM.
In biotic bodies it has been seen that change is the result of in-
ternal as well as externol conditions. As external conditions, or the
environment, are changing, these bodies change to a limited extent,
in the same manner as do mineral bodies ; but there is also a change
brought about indirectly by the environment, through certain in
ternal changes in the constitution of biotic bodies. Through th
internal constitution individuals are changed in time — one genera-
tion dies and another succeeds.
There is yet another method of change in biotic bodies, which
steadily increases from the lowest to the highest — that is, the change
in their constituent matter. While structure changes slowly from
birth through growth and decadence to death, the constituent matter
changes with much greater rapidity. In this change the minute
elements of structure change much more rapidly than the larger |
into which they are compounded ; so that every part of the organ |
must be supplied with new material to replace that which is steadily <
becoming effete and passing away. Now the rate of this change in
any integral part of an organism is dependent upon the activity of
the organ. Exercise increases the rate of change in the constituent
matter of a biotic organ, and thus the slow change in its structure,
which proceeds from life to death, is accelerated. This accelerated
change results in increased differentiation of the organ, and it thereby
becomes more and more efficient in the performance of its function.
This change, therefore, results from exercise. Organs that are ex-
ercised increase in efficiency, by non-exercise they decrease in effi-
ciency. This change in the organization of any one individual is
but slight, but as the slight changes pass from one generation to*
another, continuous exercise of one set of organs greatly modifies
them ; continuous neglect of exercise in another set modifies them
also, until at last they are atrophied. Thus by exercise and non-
XLVI PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
exercise important structural changes are produced when conjoined
with the changes due to heredity.
All these changes result in progress, from the fact that those indi-
viduals whose change is in a direction out of harnaon^with the en-
vironment ultimately perish, while those whose change is in a direc-
tion inharmony with the environment survive. This method of
adaptation or evolution in biology is called ** the survival of the
fittest."
The rate of evolution by survival is greatly accelerated by another
condition. Each pair of biotic bodies reproduce a large number of
new bodies, so that reproduction from generation to generation is in
a high geometric ratio. The earth having become occupied with
all the biotic beings that can derive sustentation therefrom, but a
small fraction of the beings produced in a generation can live. Few
survive, many succumb. Survival by adaptation is therefore made
more efficient by competition.
There are other changes in the biotic kingdom brought about by
adaptation. The multiplicity of biotic beings, causing over-popula-
tion, has crowded them into every conceivable habitat — in the air,
on the land, and in the water; and living beings have become
adapted thereto by the development of wings, legs, fins, and correl-
ative organs. Thus by exercise organs have been developed, and
by non-exercise other organs have been atrophied, until living be-
ings have become specialized for a vast diversity of habitats — for
life on the mountain and in the valley, in the light and in the dark,
in the cold and in the heat, in humid regions and in arid re-
gions. Living beings have also been adapted to various kinds of
food and to various methods of acquisition — in fine, to a great
variety of conditions.
This specialization by development, through exercise and non-
exercise, must be clearly distinguished from the processes of evolu-
tion. The heterogeneous living beings thus produced are but multi-
plied and diverse forms, animals and plants alike being as often de-
graded as evolved in the processes of specialization. Degradation
IS especially to be noticed in parasitic animals and others adapted
to extremely abnormal habitats ; but it should be understood that
a form thus produced may, in the process of its production and sub-
sequent existence, make progressive change in the system of its
structure by the methods of evolution already characterized.
Specialization is greatly accelerated by a peculiar method. As
ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XLVU
all the higher animals are physically discrete, psychic relations
must be established, in order that they may meet for the act of re-
production. These psychic relations gradually develop into choice,
or sexual selection, and by methods which have been clearly pointed
out by biologists the minute increments of change that result there-
from eventually accumulate into strong variations, always adapted
to the conditions of the environment. Thus the survival of the
fittest is accelerated by sexual selection.
EVOLUTION IN THE ANTHROPIC KINGDOM.
If attention is directed exclusively to animal life, we notice that
evolution has proceeded pari passu with specialization. Of the
forms that have been specialized from time to time some have be-
come extinct, some have been degraded, and some have been evolved
in varying degree. One form, not the most specialized, made the
greatest progress in evolution, until an organism was developed of
so high a grade that this species became more independent of en-
vironment than any other, and, by reason of its superiority, spread
widely throughout the land portion of the ^lobe This superior
animal was early man, when he first inhabited all the continents
and the great islands. The production of this superior, i. e, more
highly systematized organism, was the antecedent to the inauguration
of new methods of evolution.
It has been shown that the great efiiciency of the biotic method
of evolution by survival depends upon competition for existence in
enormously overcrowded population. Man, having acquired superi-
ority to other animals, passed beyond the stage when he had to
compete with them for existence upon the earth and into the stage
where he could utilize plants and animals alike for his own pur-
poses. They could no longer crowd him out, and to that extent
the law of the survival of the fittest in the struggle for existence
was annulled in its application to man. He artificially multiplies
such of the lower animals as are most useful to him, and domesti-
cates them, that they may be more thoroughly under his control,
and modifies them, that they may be more useful, and uses such as
he will for beasts of burden ; and the wild beasts he destroys from
the face of the earth. In like manner he cultivates useful plants,
and destroys such as are worthless to him. He does not compete
with other biotic species, but utilizes them for his welfare. Yet
XLVIII PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON,
the law of the survival of the fittest applies in so far as it is not
dependent upon competition, and slow evolution may still result
therefrom. But at this stage new methods spriug up of such great
efficiency that the method by the survival of the fittest may be
neglected because of its insignificance.
In anthropic combinatious the units are men, and men at this
stage are no longer passive objects, but active subjects ; and instead
of man being passively adapted to the environment, he adapts the
enviroument to himself through his activities. This is the essential
characteristic of anthropic evolution. Adaptation becomes active
instead of passive. In this change certaiu parts of the human or-
ganism are increasingly exercised from generation to generation.
This steadily increasing exercise results in steadily increasing
development, and the progress of the unit — man — in this higher
organization depends upon development through exercise. But the
progress by exercise depends upon the evolution of activities.
Man is an animal, and may be studied as such ; and this branch
of science belongs to biology. But man is more than an animal.
Though an animal in biotic function, he is man in his anthropic
activities ; for by them men are combined — i. c, interrelated — so that
they are not discrete beings, but each acts on, for, and with, his
fellow-man in the pursuit of happiness. Human activities, thus
combined and organized, transcend the activities of the lower ani-
mals to such a degree as to produce a new kingdom of matter. The
nature of these activities must here be set forth.
The first grand class is composed of those which afiect the exter-
nal world, and by them men are interrelated through their desires.
These activities are the Arts. The arts have been evolved by human
invention, and man has been impelled thereto by his endeavor to
supply his wants. In the course of the evolution of the arts, man
has progressively obtained control over the materials and powers of
nature. All the arts of all the human period are the inventions of
men. But invention has proceeded by minute increments of growth.
A vast multiplicity of arts have been devised, of which compara-
tively few survive in the highest civilization. As the inventions
have been made, the best in the average has been chosen. Man has
therefore exercised choice. The evolution of. the arts has thus been
by the method of invention and choice, in the endeavor to gratify
desire, and by them man has adapted the environment to himself.
Second. There is a grand class of activities through which men
ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XLIX
are interrelated in respect to their conduct. These activities result
in Institutions. Through them men are associated for a variety of
purposes. Every institution is an organization of a number of in-
dividuals, who work together for a common purpose, as, for exam-
ple, to prosecute some industrial enterprise, to co-operate in the
pursuit of pleasure, to promote some system of opinions, or to wor-
ship together under the forms of some religion. All such institu-
tions constitute a class denominated Operative Institutions. A second
class are the institutions which man has organized for the direct reg-
ulation of conduct. These are States and their subordinate units,
with their special organs of government, and rules for the regulation
of conduct, called Laws.
Institutions have been developed from extreme simplicity to ex-
treme complexity. They are all the inventions of mankind, and
their evolution has been by minute increments of growth. Their
invention has been wrought out that men might live together in
peace and render one another assistance; and gradually, by the
consideration of particulars of conduct as they have arisen from
time to time, men have sought to establish justice, that they might
thereby secure peace. Of the vast multiplicity of institutions —
forms of state, forms of government, and provisions of law — which
have been invented, but few remain in the highest civilization, and
these few have been selected by men. Men have thus exercised
choice. Institutions, therefore, have been developed by invention
and the choice of the just in the endeavor to secure peace.
Third. There is another fundamental group of activities through
which men are interrelated in respect to their thoughts. These are
the activities of mental intercommunication, and result in Lan-
guages. Languages, also, are inventions by minute increments of
growth. Many languages have been invented, and in each language
many words and many methods of combining linguistic devices have
been invented. In the languages of the most civilized peoples, but
few of these survive ; and there are spoken by all the peoples of the*
earth but fe>v languages in comparison to the many that existed in
the early history of mankind ; and the method of survival, when
analyzed, is found also to be choice. Men have chosen the economic
in the expression of thought. Languages, therefore, have devel-
oped by invention and choice in the struggle for expression.
Fourth. There is a grand class of activities by which men are
interrelated in respect to their designs. Men arrive at Opinions, and
4a
L PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
these have always reacted upon languages, institutions, and arts, and
largely led them in their courses of progress. Because of their opin-
ions, men are willing to work together, and thus have common designs.
There have been many opinions and many systems of philosophy. Of
all that have existed, but few remain in the highest civilization. A
careful analysis of the facts relating to the growth of opinions re-
veals this truth, that opinions also are invented, and that the final
survival of the few has been due to the human act of choice in the
selection of the truth. Opinions, therefore, have been developed by
invention and choice in the struggle to know.
Fifth. Opinions are formed as the direct activities of the Mind.
Languages, institutions, and arts have arisen through the action of
the miud and the exercise of other corporeal functions. All these
activities, therefore, are dependent upon the mind. On the other
hand, these objective activities react upon the mind, so that mental
operations are controlled thereby. Through the exercise of the
mind in the prosecution of activities it is developed. These
mental activities are perception and comparison, or reflection, as it
is more usually called. The subjective evolution of the mind \»
therefore the product of the objective evolution of activities.
These five great classes of activities are interdependent in such a
manner that one is not possible without the others ; they arise to-
gether, and their history proceeds by a constant interchange of
effects. All the five classes of activities react upon man as an ani-
mal in such a manner that his biotic history subsequent to his
differentiation from the lower animals is chiefly dependent thereon.
The evolution of man as a being superior to the beast is therefore
due to the organization of activities.
It has been shown that man does not compete with the lower
animals for existence. In like manner, man does not compete with
man for existence ; for by the development of activities men are
interdependent in such a manner that the welfare of one depends
upon the welfare of others ; and as men discover that welfare must
necessarily be mutual, egoism is transmutted into altruism, and
moral sentiments are developed which become the guiding princi-
ples of mankind. So morality repeals the law of the survival of
the fittest in the struggle for existence, and man is thus immeasur-
ably superior to the beast. In animal evolution many are sacrificed
for the benefit of the few. Among mankind the welfare of one
depends upon the welfare of all, because interdependence has
been established.
ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. LI
It has thus been shown that there are three stages in the combina-
tion of matter and motion, and that each stage is charactecized by
a clearly distinct method of evolution. These may be defined as
follows :
First, physical evolution is the result of direct adaptation to en-
vironment, under the law that motion is in the direction of least
resistance.
Second, biotic evolution is the result of indirect adaptation to the
environment by the survival of the fittest in the struggle for exis-
tence.
Third, anthropic evolution is the result of the exercise of human
faculties in activities designed to increase happiness, and through
which the environment is adapted to man.
Tfiese may be briefly denominated: evolution by adaptation,
evolution by survival of the fittest, and evolution by endeavor.
Civilized men have always recognized to some extent the laws of
human evolution, — that activities are teleologically developed, and
that happiness is increased thereby. In the early history of man-
kind the nature of teleologic endeavor was so strongly impressed
upon the mind that the theory was carried far beyond the truth, so
that all biotic function and physical motion were interpreted as
teleologic activity. When this error was discovered, and the laws
of physical and biotic evolution established, vast realms of phe-
nomena were found to have been entirely misunderstood and falsely
explained, and teleologic postulates havefinally fallen into disrepute.
Men say there is progress in the universe by reason of the very laws
of nature, and we must let them alone. Thus, reaction from the
ancient false philosophy of teleology has carried men beyond the
truth, until they have lost faith in all human endeavor ; and they
teach the doctrine that man can do nothing for himself, that he
owes what he is to physical and biotic agencies, and that^ his inter-
ests are committed to powers over which he has no control.
Such a philosophy is gradually gaining ground among thinkers
and writers, and nhould it prevail to such an extent as to control
the actions of mankind, modern civilization would lapse into a con-
dition no whit superior to that of the millions of India, who for
many centuries have been buried in the metaphysical speculations
of the philosophy of ontology. When man loses faith in himself,
and worships nature, and subjects himself to the government of the
LII PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
laws of physical nature, he lapses iuto stagnation, where mental and
moral miasm is bred. All that makes man superior to the beast is
the result of his own endeavor to secure happiness.
Man, so far as he is superior to the beast, is the master of his
own destiny, and not the creature of the environment. He adapts
the natural environment to his wants, and thus creates an environ-
ment for himself. Thus it is that we do not discover a biotically
aquatic variety of man, yet he dwells upon the sea and derives
sustentatiou from the animals thereof by means of his arts. A
biotically arboreal variety of man is not discovered, but the forest
are used in his arts and the fruits Of the forests for his susten-
tation. An aerial variety of man is not discovered, but he uses
the winds to propel his machinery and to drive his sails ; and, in-
deed, he can ride upon the air with wings of his own invention.
A boreal variety of man is not discovered, but he can dwell among
the everlasting snows by providing architectural shelter, artificial
warmth and bodily protection.
Under the influences of the desert a few plants secure ft constitu-
tion by which the moisture imbibed during brief and intermittent
rains is not evaporated ; they become incrusted with a non-porous
glaze, or contract themselves into the smallest space and exist with-
out life until the rain comes again. Man lives in the desert by
guiding a river thereon and fertilizing the sands with its waters, and
the desert is covered with fields and gardens and homes. Every-
where he rises superior to physical nature. The angry sea may not
lash him with its waves, for on the billows he builds a palace, and
journeys from land to land. When the storm rises it is signaled
from afar, and he gathers his loved ones under the shelter of his
home, and they listen to the melody of the rain upon the roof.
AVhen the winds of winter blow he kindles fossil sunshine on his
hearth, and sings the song of the Ingleside. When night covers
the earth with darkness he illumines his path with lightning light.
For disease he discovers antidote, for pain nepenthe, and he gains
health and long life by sanitation ; and ever is he utilizing the
materials of nature, and ever controlling its powers. By his arts,
institutions, languages, and philosophies he has organized a new
kingdom of matter, over which he rules. The beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, the denizens of the waters, the winds, the
waves, the rivers, the seas, the mountains, the valleys, are his
subjects; the powers of nature are his servants, and the granite
earth his throne.
BULLETIN
OF THE
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON
GENERAL MEETING,
BULLETIN
OF THE
GENERAL MEETING.
227th Meeting. January 13, 1888.
The President in the Chair.
Twenty-six members present.
Mr. H. Farquhar completed a communication begun at the
224th meeting on
PXPERIMENT8 IN BINARY ARITHMETIC,
in which he showed that simple addition involved carrying on sev-
eral distinct mental operations almost simultaneously and a capital
of more than fifty propositions committed to memory. Believing
that the difficulty in mastering, and the mental strain and liability
to error in conducting, this most important of mathematical pro-
cesses could be proved to be unnecessarily great, he had compared
the time occupied in adding a few dozen numbers of six or eight
figures each with that required when these numbers were expressed in
powers of 2, the mental work being, in the latter case, reduced to
counting similar marks and halving their sums. He had found it
best to give different forms to the marks denoting neighboring powers,
so as to avoid confusion of columns, and had combined two or more
of them into one written figure for brevity of expression. About
seventy combinations of various shapes had been tried, but very few
of them found economical. In the best notation, however, the addi-
tion required only three>fourths the time taken with the ordinary
figures. Had the computer practised as many weeks with the new
notation as years with the old, the difference would have been much
more marked ; as it was in fact when one unskilled in arithmetic,
to whom the binary notation had just been taught, tried the two
additions. The gain in accuracy, with this observer, was even
3
4 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON,
more striking than the gain in speed. There could be very little
doubt, therefore, that a fair degree of skill in arithmetic with a
binary notation could be acquired by many to whom it is impossible
under the present system.
The only practicable division of arcs and angles, and the most
natural division of all things, is by continued bisections. This is
shown by the ratio of value in our coins, weights, and capacity
measures ; by any table of prices ; and by the prevalent subdivision
of lowest nominal units, as of the carpenter's inch into eighths and
sixteenths, and of percentages into quarters, etc., in stock quotations,
where convenience of calculation by our present arithmetic seems
almost gratuitously sacrificed. The American coinage is inconve-
nient in practice, because of the awkward fractional ratio 2}, which
it introduces between successive pieces ; and there would be the
same difSculty in a decimal system of weights or of measures, should
it be imposed upon us. We have thus another powerful reason for
endeavoring to introduce a binary arithmetic.
In the remarks which followed, Mr. E. B. Elliott expressed the
hope that Congress would adopt the metric system of weights and
measures for international purposes. It would be better to secure
what advantage could be gained from uniformity and consistency,
even though the basis of consistency was an arithmetic not ideally
the best attainable. Such a course would not prevent, but might
pave the way for a better arithmetic.
Mr. W. B. Taylor said the world was losing so much by the
employment of the denary arithmetic that he thought even a single
generation might find economy in substituting the octonary. The
introduction of decimal measures, while it would aid the computer,
would injure the remainder of the community. The paper of Mr.
Farquhar had an especial value, in that it proved the ability of
binary systems to compete with the established system in rapidity
of computation.
Other remarks were made by Messrs. Harkness, Mussey, Pow-
ell, and Gilbert.
The next communication was by Mr. S. M. Burnett on
REFRACTION IN THE PRINCIPAL MERIDIANS OF A TRIAXIAL ELLIP-
SOID ; REGULAR ASTIGMATISM AND CYLINDRICAL LENSES ;
and he was followed by Mr. W. Harkness on
GENERAL MEETING. O
THE MONOCHROMATIC ABERRATION OF THE HUMAN EYE IN
APHAKIA.
These two papers are ttomplementarj, and are published in the
Archives of Ophthalmology, Vol. XII, No. 1.
228th Meeting. January 27, 1883.
The President in the Chair.
Thirty-seven members present.
The Auditing Committee, appointed at the Annual Meeting, re-
ported through its chairman, Mr. Antiseil, that it had examined
the accounts of the Treasurer for 1882, and found them correct.
The report was accepted.
The communication of the evening was by Mr. H. H. Bates on
the nature of matter,
and was discussed by Mr. W. B. Taylor and Mr. Powell.
This paper is published in the Popular Science Monthly for
April, 1883.
229th Meeting. February 10, 1883.
The President in the Chair.
Forty-two members and visitors present.
It was announced that reports of the scientific proceedings would
hereafter be furnished to Science.
Mr. W. H. Dall announced that an opportunity would be
afforded members to contribute to the Balfour Memorial Fund.
A communication was then read by Mr. A. F. A. King on
THE PREVENTION OF MALARIAL DISEASES, ILLUSTRATING, (titer alia,
THE CONSERVATIVE FUNCTION OF AGUE.
[Abstract.]
The various theories thus far presented in explanation of the
6 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
pheDomena of malaria were unsatisfactory and insusceptible of
scientific demonstration.
According to the best medical authorities the most generally
admitted facts upon which the present orthodox theory of malaria
rests were as follows: 1. Malaria affects by preference low and
moist localities. 2. It is almost never developed at a lower tern*
perature than 60° F. 3. Its evolution or active agency is checked
by a temperature of 32° F. 4. It is most abundant and most
virulent as we approach the equator and the sea-coast 5. It has
an affinity for dense foliage, which has the power of accumu-
lating it, when lying in the course of winds blowing from malarious
localities. 6. Forests or even woods have the power of obstructing
and preventing its transmission under these circumstances. 7. By
atmospheric currents it is capable of being transported to consider-
able distances — probably as far as five miles. S. It may be devel-
oped in previously healthy places by turning up of the soil, as in
making excavations for the foundations of houses, tracks for rail-
roads, and beds for canals. 9. In certain countries it seems to be
attracted and absorbed by bodies of water lying in the course of
such winds as waft it from the miasmatic source. 10. Experience
alone can enable us to decide as to the presence or absence of
malaria in any given locality. 11. In proportion as countries,
previously malarious, are cleared up and thickly settled, periodical
fevers disappear, .in many instances to be replaced by typhoid
fever (?) 12. Malaria usually keeps near the surface of the earth.
It is said to "hug the ground," or "love the ground." 13. It is
most dangerous when the sun is down, and seems almost inert
during the day. 14. The danger of exposure after sunset is greatly
increased by the person exposed sleeping in the night air. 15. Of
all human races the white is most sensitive to marsh fevers, the
black least so. 16. In malarial districts the use of fire, both in-
doors and to those who sleep out, affords a comparative security
against malarial disease. 17. The air of cities in some way renders
the poison innocuous ; for, though a malarial disease may be raging
outside, it does not penetrate far into their interior. IS. Malarial
diseases are most prevalent towards the latter part of summer and
in the autumn. 19. Malaria is arrested not only by trees, but also
by walls, fences, hills, rows of house?, canvas curtains, gauze veils,
mosquito nets, and probably by fishing nets. 20. Malaria spares
no age, but it affects infants much less frequently than adults.
GENERAL MEETING. 7
These generally admitted facts were insusceptible of scientific
explanation bj the marsh fever hypothesis of Lanscisci ; but were
capable of explanation by the theory that marsh fevers are pro.
duced by the bites of proboscidian insects, notably in this and in
some other countries by mosquito bites.
A review of the natural history, habits, and geographical distri-
bution of the mosquito was next presented in explanation of the
twenty statements above quoted.
In discussing statement 15, it was maintained that the compara-
tive immunity of the black races was largely due to color, the dark
complexion of the skin being another illustrative instance of " pro-
tective coloring ** so often observed in other animals, and by which,
in this instance, the negro was protected from the sight, and conse-
quently from the bite of the mosquito ; a similar protection being
further secured by the offensive odor and greasiness of his cutaneous
secretions, aided by artificial inunction of the body with grease,
paint, pitch, &c., which last probably constituted the initial step in
the evolution of dress. Hence malarial melanosis was considered
to be the designed natural termination of ague — ^its conservative
function — destined to modify the individual by defensive adaptation
against the mosquito, whose penetrating proboscis, like an inoculat-
ing needle, infected the body with malarial poison, no matter
whether this last was raosquital saliva, the BadUus malarias of
Klebs and Crudelli, or some other element as yet unknown.
The spleen, whose function is not yet settled by physiologists,
was regarded as the chief pigment-forming organ, and was designed
for tliis purpose in the economy of the organism. Generally con-
sidered a superfluous organ, capable of removal without any great
interference with the functions of the organism, it was naturally
designed to meet the emergency of variation in shin-color to secure
'' protective coloring " against fever-producing proboscidian insects
as before indicated. The natural process, however, required expo-
sure of the naked body to the sun during the chill stage, in order
to secure deposit of the newly formed pigment in the skin. Nature
had not anticipated the artificial appendage of dress, and the organ-
ism had not inherited from ancestral progenitors any provision for
80 unexpected an addition. Chills do not occur at night, but only
between the rise and setting of the sun ; sunlight during the chill
stage being a necessary requirement, in order that nature's design
of cutaneous chromatogenesis may be consummated. Other racial
8 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
•
differences between the whites and blacks — such as even cerebral
capacity and variations in the skeleton — might be susceptible of
explanation by blood changes resulting from malaria. The marrow
of bones was also a pigment-forming tissue, and the aching of bones
during ague, especially in so-called " break>bone '' fever, suggested
congestion and modified nutrition in the osseous structures, such as
might eventually lead to modification in the skeleton. The inhabi-
tants of oriental countries especially were more vigorous and intel-
ligent if they lived in elevated regions, than were others inhabiting
mosquito-infected lowlands and sea coasts.
In further support of the mosquital origin of malarial fevers
numerous noted medical authorities were cited, showing that, iu
all parts of the world where these diseases prevail, immunity was
secured by protecting the body from mosquito bites. The geo-
graphical distribution and seasonal evolution of mosquitoes and
other proboscidian insects were shown partially to agree with the
times and places in which malarial diseases prevail ; though from
lack of information conclusive evidence on this point was yet
wanting. There was, however, a general admission on the part of
medical authorities that swarms of these insects in almost anr
locality were a pretty sure sign of malignancy.
On the other hand numerous instances were adduced from " Nar-
ratives" and "Travels" in which the bodies of persons had been
covered with pustules, " resembling small-pox," from mosquito bites
without any subsequent occurrence of fever having been recorded
by the narrating authors.
This opposing evidence was inconclusive, (1) because the authors
cited were not in search of medical information ; (2) because the
period of incubation, being often long and uncertain, fever may
have occurred after the mosquito bites had been forgotten; (3)
the insect proboscis (like a vaccine lancet unarmed with virus)
might be uncontaminated with fever poison, or fever germs ; and
(4) successful inoculations of specific germ poisons are not usually
followed by immediate local suppuration at the point of puncture^
but only after a certain period of incubation, the immediate local
inflammation being rather preventive of subsequent blood infection.
The possible spread of yellow-fever contagion by the inoculating
proboscis of the mosquito carrying infecting matter drawn from
the blood of yellow-fever patients to unaffected persons was sug-
gested. In epidemics, the spread of the disease stopped as soon as
a freezing temperature paralyzed the mosquito, &c.
GENERAL MEETING. 9
The spread of spotted-fever, typhus-fever, Id jails, ships, &c., was
referred to the inoculating instrument of fleas, &c. — these insects
usually prevailing among lilthy people thickly crowded together.
That malarial diseases were ever produced solely by the inhala'
Hon of supposed poisonous vapors was held to be untenable. Ex-
perimenters, who had demonstrated the existence of specific poisons
for special fevers, had equally proven that the mode by which such
poisons, when obtained, could be introduced into the body for the
artificial production of disease, was by inoculation through the akin.
These experiments were imitations of insect inoculation. The pro-
boscis of the mosquito was Nature's inoculating needle.
The modus operandi of the eucalyptus tree in preventing malarial
diseases was ascribed tentatively to the tree being destruetive to, or
interfering directly or indirectly with, the propagation and develop-
ment of mosquitoes.
From the foregoing conceptions as to the origin of malarial dis-
ease, the following prophylactic measures were deducible :
1st. Personal protection from all winged insects, especially during
evening and night, by gauze curtains, veils, window-blinds, or
clothing impenetrable by the proboscis of inoculating insects ; and
further, personal protection both from these and all creeping insects,
especially during epidemics, endemics, and in crowded jails, ships,
Ac, by daily inunction of the whole body with some terebinthinate,
camphorated, or eucalyptalized ointment or liniment.
2d. Domiciliary protection (a) exteriorly^ by screens of trees, walls,
fences, &c., interposed at some distance between dwellings and the
supposed sources of malaria, or mosquito nurseries ; and with fires
or lamps arranged as traps for the attraction and destruction of
such winged insects as may encroach nearer. A further protection
(6) in the interior of dwellings being secured by the use of smoke
(as of tobacco or prethrum) or of some volatile aromatic substance,
as of camphor, assafoetida, garlic, &c., which may be offensive to
proboscidian intruders.
3. Municipal protection by groves of trees (pines, cedars, or eucal-
yptus) planted between cities and the sources of malaria and mos-
quitoes, together with cordons of electric or other lights, between
said grove and the marsh, the lights to be arranged as fly-traps for
the retention and destruction of such winged insects as may be thus
secured.
10 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
With relation to the city of WashingtoD| it was suggested that
the Washington monument would afford a good opportunity (by
placing illuminated fly-traps at different elevations on its exterior)
for ascertaining the height at which mosquitoes fly, or are brought
by the wind from the adjacent Potomac flats. The proposed re-
clamation of the flats could scarcely do more than mitigate malarial
disease, so long as our summer and autumn southern breezes come,
laden with mosquitoes, from the miles of unreclaimed swamps
farther down the river, as at Four-mile Run and other nearer local-
ities.
Mr. Billings remarked that, since ague did not invariably
result from insect bites, the most that could be claimed was that
they accomplished an accidental inoculation with malarial poison.
The subject was also discussed by Messrs. Doolittle, Toner,
and Antisell.
The meeting closed with an exhibition by Mr. C. E. Button of
a series of oil paintings illustrative of the Hawaiian Islands.
230th Meeting. Februaby 24, 1883.
Vice-President Billings in the Chair.
Thirty members and visitors present. ,
The Chair announced the election of Mr. Thomas Russell to
membership.
The first communication was by Mr. G. K. Gilbert on
the response of terrestrial climate to secular variations
in solar radiation.
[Abstract.]
Secular variations of climate may theoretically be caused (1) by
the internal heat of the earth and (2) by changes in the constitu-
tion or volume of the atmosphere. They have unquestionably been
wrought (3) by changes in the limits and configuration of ocean
bottoms and land surfaces, (4) by changes in the movements of the
earth with reference to celestial bodies, and (5) by variations of
GENERAL MEETING. 11
solar radiation. Attention will here be restricted to the last-men-
tioned cause.
An augmentation of the strength of solar radiation (a) will cause
a general rise in the temperature of the atmosphere, (b) will heighten
the contrast between warm and cold regions, thereby stimulating
oceanic and atmospheric circulation, and (c) will heighten the con-
trast between wet and dry regions, making the wet wetter and the
ciry drier, (d) It will also diminish glaciation. This has been dis-
puted by some writers, but is sustained by a quantitative discussion.
A computation, based on the annual curves of precipitation and tem-
perature at St. Bernard, close to the glaciers of the Alps, shows that
a general rise in the temperature of the air, while it will increase the
total precipitation, will slightly diminish the snow-fall ; that it will
very greatly increase the rate of melting. The ratio of snow-fall
to evaporation is reduced one-half by 6° C rise of temperature;
the ratio of snow-fall to melting is reduced one-half by a rise of
li° ; and, assuming that evaporation actually dissipates twice as
much snow as does melting, the ratio of snow-fall to snow dissipa-
tion (or the tendency to glaciation) is reduced one-half by 4i° rise
of temperature.*
(e) Increase of solar radiation will also, through its general
offects, influence the distribution of winds, and thus produce sec-
ondary effects of a local nature.
Mr. Dall remarked that ice was rendered more plastic and
fluent by the presence of water ; so that the movement of ice and
the consequent extent of glaciers are favored by rain. If Mr.
Gilbert by the term " glaciation " referred to the extent of glaciers,
fiome limitation of his conclusions might be necessary.
Other remarks were made by Messrs. Antisell, Doolittle, H.
Farquhar, and Elliott.
The next communication was by Mr. J. W. Chickering on
THE THERMAL BELTS OF NORTH CAROLINA.
[Abstract.]
In the agricultural volume of the Patent Office Report for 1861
is an article written by Mr. Silas McDowell, of Franklin, Macon
county, N. C, bearing this title. He was a man of much intelli-
* The computalion is given in fuU in " Science *' for March i6, 1883.
12 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
gence, an enthusiabtic student in geology and botany, a companion
and guide of several botanists in their early explorations of the
southern Appalachians, and a farmer by profession. He died in
1882, at the ripe old age of 87.
He states that in the valley of the Little Tennessee river, in
Macon county, lying about 2,000 feet above tide water, when the
thermometer in the morning indicates a temperature of about 26°,
the frost line extends about 300 feet in vertical height, but that then
comes a belt extending about 400 feet in vertical height up the
mountain side, within which no frost is seen, delicate plants remain-
ing untouched. Above this, frost again appears. So sharp is the
dividing line that sometimes one-half of a shrub may be frost
killed, while the other half is unaffected.
A small river, having its source in a high plateau 1,900 feet above
this, runs down into this valley, breaking through three mountain
barriers, and consequently making three short valleys, including
the plateau, rising one above the other, each of which has its own
vernal zone, traversing the hillsides that enclose it, and each
beginning at a lesser elevation above thq valley, as the valleys
mount higher in the atmosphere, so that around the plateau, a
beautiful level height, containing 6,000 acres of land, aud lying
3,900 feet above tide water, the lower edge of the thermal belt is
not more than 100 feet above the common level of the plateau.
Not only does vegetation within this zone remain untouched by
frost, so that the Isabella, the most tender of all the native grapes,
has not failed to produce abundant crops in twenty-six consecutive
years, but mildew, blight, and rust, which often attack vines in the
lower valleys, are here unknown, while the same purity and dry-
ness of the air which favor the grape, make this a refuge for the
consumptive, as diseases of the lungs have never been known to
originate among the inhabitants.
Mr. McDowell adds : " The thermal belt must exist in all coun-
tries that are traversed by high mountains and deep valleys, and
the only reason why its visible manifestations are peculiar to our
southern Alleghanies, is the fact that their precocious spring vegeta-
tion is sometimes killed by frost, while the same thing does not
happen in the mountains further north."
These statements are corroborated by similar testimony respect-
ing another such belt along the Tryon mountain range in Polk
county, N. C. ; the specific claim being that such a belt is found
GENERAL MEETING. 13
for eight miles in length, extending from 1,200 feet to 2,200 feet
above tide water, within which the leaves of plants, shrubs, and
flowers remain untouched by frost until the latter part of Decem-
ber, and after a snow storm not a particle of snow remains within
the belt, while the tops and sides of the mountains above and the
valleys below will be covered.
The verification of these alleged facts would be matters of interest
in their economical and sanitary aspects, and would supply data
for some interesting researches respecting the nocturnal stratifica-
tion of the atmosphere.
It is earnestly to be hoped that at some time we may have reli-
able and continuous thermometrical observations at these and simi-
lar stations, to determine the existence, extent, and temperature of
such belts.
Remarks were made on this communication by Mr. Alvord.
Mr. C. £. DuTTON then made a communication on the
GEOLOGY OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.
[Abstract.]
On the slopes of Mauna Loa are sea beaches, terraces, coral
sands, and other evidences of shore action at various levels. The
highest that can be positively announced has an altitude of 2,800
feet above the ocean. It can be traced a large part of the way
around the island, being discernible even when covered by more
recent lava. It does not now lie horizontal, but descends from
2,800 to 400 feet, while on the adjoining island, Maui, there is
evidence of submergence. On the farther (western) side of Maui,
and on other islands beyond, there is again evidence of upheaval.
All the lavas of the islands arc basaltic. Those of Mauna Loa
and Kilauea are abnormally basic and are related to certain lavas
of New Zealand, called by Mr. Judd " ultra-basalts." The New
Zealand rock consists chiefly of olivine ; that of Mauna Loa is
sometimes more than half olivine, and contains much magnetite
and hematite. A Greenland lava, classed also as ultra-basalt,
contains the only known native iron of telluric origin. As this
suggests the iron meteorites, so the basalts of New Zealand and
Mauna Loa suggest the stony meteorites.
The volume of the eruptions of Mauna Loa is enormous ; that of
1855 would nearly build Vesuvius, and two of prehistoric date
14 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
•
were greater still. The lava has a high liquidity and flows forty
to fifly-five miles, spreading at the base of the cone into a broad
sheet. There are no explosive phenomena and no fragmental pro-
ducts. The slope of the mountain is 4*^ along the major and 7^
along the minor axis. Kilauea has a few cinder cones on its flanks.
Mauna Kea consists chiefly of them, and has an average slope of
7i° to ir.
Kilauea is always active, maintaining lakes of liquid fire. Over
one of these a crust is formed, black, but flexible, which after a
while breaks up and suddenly sinks, the process- being repeated at
intervals of H to 2i hours. The great interior pit described by
observers from 1823 to 1841 is now filled.
Mauna Loa is not active more than one-third or one-fourth of
the time, but compensates by the magnificence of its phenomena.
Great fountains of lava are projected hundi'eds of feet into the air.
Mr. Button's communication was interrupted by the arrival of
the hour for adjournment. In response to a question by Mr. Tay-
lor, he stated that the crust over a lava lake acquired a thickness
of five or six inches before breaking up.
Mr. Antisell inquired whether there is any basalt on the
islands, and Mr. Dutton explained that they are composed exclu>
sively of that material.
2318T Meeting. March 10, 1883.
Vice-President Welling in the Chair.
Thirty-four members and visitors present.
The Chair announced that Messrs. Albert Williams, Jr.»
John Henry Renshawe, and Henry Francis Walling had
been elected to membership.
Mr. M. H. DooLiTTLE read a communication on
SUBSTANCE, MATTER, MOTION, AND FORCE,
which was discussed by Messrs. W. B. Taylor, Elliott, Hark-
NE8S, and Welling.
Mr. E. B. Elliott then communicated
GENERAL MEETING. 15
FORMULAS FOR THE COMPUTATION OF EASTER.
Id the calendar the vernal equinox is considered as invariably
occurring on the 21st of March.
The Paschal full moon is the full moon which (according to the
calendar) occurs on or first after the 21st of March.
Easter Sunday in any year is the first Sunday which occurs after
the Paschal full moon ; that is, first after the full moon which,
according to the calendar, occurs on or first after March 21st.
To find the date of Easter Sunday for any year, A. D., New Style.
Let c denote the complete hundreds of yenrs in the number de-
noting any year, and y the number of remaining years. Thus in
the year 1883, c = 18 and y = 83, the number for the entire year,
1883, being denoted by 100 c + y.
In the following formulas k;, as a subscript after a division, de-
notes that only the whole number of the quotient is to be retained,
and r, as a subscript, denotes that only the remainder after the
division is to be retained; thus( Iz j = 4 ; and (-j-) = 2.
n (the golden number less one)
_ /year\ _ /lOO c + y\ _ /5 c + y\ _ /5 c + y\
— V 19 A - V 19 "A" \ 19 Jr'^\20^lJr
= n['fe).+(f9),l
This number (n) pertains to a lunar cycle of 19 years.
s
-.-^-(a-e-'-m.)^
Inspection of the formula for s will show that, for any year from
1700 A. D. New Style to 1899 A. D., both inclusive, the value of
s is zero (0). For any year Old Style the value of s is the con-
stant number 22.
/23 + s— 11 n\
»-(l).+^^(l).(iT)
16 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
The value of h may be shown to be zero (0) for any year from
1700 A. D. to 1899 A.. D., both inclusive, during New Style, and
for all years during Old Style.
^ = 9 — /i = the interval in days from March 21st to the date
of the Paschal full moon, or the number of days to be added to
March 21st to find the date of the Paschal full moon.
If p = zero (0), the Paschal full moon accordingly falls on the
2l8t of March.
.= (' + '(T),-»-(i).+ (A).)
L denotes the number (in alphabetical order) of the Dominical
or Sunday letter. Thus, the number corresponding to the Domini-
cal letter A is 1, to B is 2, to C is 3, to D is 4, to E is 5, to F is 6,
and to G is 7 or 0 (zero).
The term ( jn ) gives a correction to the Gregorian value when
the year exceeds 4000 A. D. ; fur any year less than 4000 the
value of this corrective term is obviously zero (0).
i denotes the number of days which elapse after the date of the
Paschal full moon to the date of Easter Sunday.
Easter Sunday = March (21 + 1 +^ + «— 1)
= March (21 + jo + t)
=^ April (p + t — 10)
To find the date of Easter Sunday for any year, A. i)., Old Style.
The formula for n b the same as iu New Style.
/23-f-22-fl9 n\ /15 + 19n\ fW — 11 n\
^=P'=\ 30 )r=\ 30 A = V 30 )r
._l.(i^4±^)L(i±«f±^)_.
GENERAL MEETING. 17
Easter Sunday = March (21 + 1 +p + t — I)
= March (21 + p + t)
= April (p + 1-^10)
Example 1. — Bequired the day of the mofith on which Eader Sunday
falls in the year 1883 ^. /)., New Style.
(15)_.i«or-l:5(?|)_=,90.,-6
M = -5 + 7 = 2
20 n -r-r 40
19 n « 20 n — n = 38
/18 + 8
8 = 18—8
-©.-(•-■zize
= 10-4-( .|—) =10-4-6 = 0
/23 + << + 19 n\ (2S + 0 + 38\
g^\^- 30 Jr=V "no A = ^
''=(i),+ '-^»-lQw(fi).= 0 + 28X0xO=0 + 0 = O
p=g— A= 1 —0= 1
.=r>+^(T).---(?)..Q.
^ /'L±2_><_.2-8J--20r+ 0\ n + 4-6- 6\ _
Easter Sunday = March (21 +l+p + t — 1)
= March (22 + 1 + 2)
= March 25
2
18 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
Example 2. — Required the date of Easter Sunday for the year 1884
A, D., New' Style.
84'
« I va f
8
71 = 8 — 5 == 3
20 n = 60
20 - n = 19 n = 57
»=©.-^-(i).(^.).
= 0 + 9x0 X0 = 0 + 0 = 0
p = g — /i =: 20 — 0 -^ 20
.=r'+^(T),---(T).-Q
20
/1+4 — 0 — 0 + 0\
Easter Suuday = March (21 + 1 + 20 + 2)
=s March 44
= April (44 — 81 )
= April 13
Example 3. — Required date of Easter Sunday for the year 3966
A. D,y Neiv Style,
39 I m
2X 19 =38 57= 3X19
20 n = 280
19u = 20u — M = 266
GENERAL MEETINCJ. 19
'39 + 8'
_39^-(f)_-('^ + Ml|3
= 31 _ 9 _ (llg_\ = 31 - 9 - 13 = 9
/23-M-!-19n\ /23 + 9 + 266\ _
9 = [ 30 )r = \ 30 ), = 28
.*(i),^w^(i).(H).
=0+1x1 Xl=0+l=l
p=g— A=28— 1 = 27
t
_^ /I + 2 X 3 - 3 - 2 + 0\ ^2
— (^--f±-").-(^-^\-
Easter Sunday = March (21 + 1 + 27 + 6)
= March 55
= April (55 - 31 = ) 24
Example 4. — Required the date of the Paschal full moon {March
21 + p), and the date of Easter Sunday (^March 21 + p + t or
March 21 + 1 +;> + («— 1) for the year 2152 A. D., New Style.
/2152\
19 n= 95
^= 1
23= 23
19n + «+23=119
A=l +0X0X0= 1
p^q-^h^ 28
20 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
Paschal full raooo -= March (21 + 28 =) 49
-April (49 -31=) 18
_ /I + 2xT— 52 — 13 + 0\
Easter Sunday = March (21 + 1 + 28 + 4 =) 54
= April (54 -31=) 23
The Julian or Old Style Calendar was established by the Council
of Nice A. D. 325 ; the first year of the Gregorian or reformed
calendar was A. D. 1582, and the first year in which the reformed
calendar was adopted in England was A. D. 1752.
In Russia, and in other countries where the religion of the Greek
Church now obtains, the New Style of reckoning has 7iot been
adopted, but the Old Style is still in force.
In Alaska, Old Style was employed until after the cession of that
country by Russia to the United States in the year 1869.
Example 5.— Find the date of Easter Sunday for the year 1582
A. i)., Old Style.
15
5 + 15
82
=7^
20 - 1) 157 (7
140-7
17 + 7 = 24 = 19 + 5
71 = 5
19n = (20— 1) u = 100 - 5 = 95 = 3 X 30 + 5
/19n + 15\ /5+15\
/3 4- 15 ^ 82 — 20\
GENEBAL MEETING. 21
- > - C--f±-°), =
Easter Sunday = March (22 + 20 + 4 =) 46
= April (46 - 31 =) 15
232d Meeting. March 24, 1883.
Vice-President Welling in the Chair. '
Forty-three members and visitors present.
The first communication was by Mr. J. R. Eastman on
THE FLORIDA EXPEDITION FOR OBSERVATION OF THE TRANSIT
OF VENUS.
[Abstract. ]
The observing station of the Florida expedition was upon Way
Key, the largest of the group of islands known as Cedar Keys.
The principal instruments employed were a portable transit, a
five-inch equatorial telescope, and a photoheliograph. The first
two require no description. The photoheliograph consisted of an
objective of five inches aperture and about forty feet, focus, a helio-
stat for throwing the sun's rays on the objective, and a plate holder
at the focus of the objective. The accessory apparatus consisted
of a measuring rod, permanently mounted, for accurately measuring
the distance from the objective to the photograph plate ; a movable
slide with a slit of adjustable width, for exposing the plates; and a
circuit connecting with a chronograph, so arranged that when the
exposing slide was moved to expose the plate, and when the center
of the slit was opposite the center of the plate-holder, the circuit
was broken and the record made on the chronograph. A black
disk was painted on one side of the slide, and so placed that when
the slide was at rest at one end of its course and the image of the
sun was adjusted concentric with this disk, it would fall on the
center of the plate-holder when the slide was moved. The adjust-
ments having been completed the exposing of the plates was a sim-
ple matter. The image of the sun was thrown by the heliostat
upon the black disk and centered, the sensitive plate was fixed in
22 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
the plate-bolder, the operator moved the exposing slide, and the
time of exposure was recorded oq the chronograph.
For observing contacts I used an eye piece, magnifying 216 diam-
eters, attached to a Herschel solar prism, and a sliding shade-glajss
with a density varying uniformly from end to end. The time of
my signals was taken by assistant astronomer Lieut. J. A. Norris,
U. S. N., from a chronometer ; while, with an observing key, I also
made a record on the chronograph as a check.
About 40 seconds before the computed time of first contact a
narrow stratus cloud passed on to the southeastern edge of the sun
and shut out all the light. The cloud remained about 3 minutes,
and when it passed off, the notch in the sun's limb was plainly
marked. Two photographs were taken to test the apparatus and
the plates, and then the time before second contact was devoted to
an examination of the limbs of Venus and the sun. Both were
perfectly steady. In observations of the sun for the last twenty
years I never saw it better. At about 13 minutes after first contact
the outline of the entire disk of Venus could be seen, and seemed
perfectly circular. About 2 minutes later a faint, thin rim of
yellowish light appeared around the limb yet outside the sun. This
rim was at first broadest near the sun's limb, but soon the width of
the light became uniform throughout. The light was wholly ex-
terior to the limb of Venus; that is, the black limb of Venus ou
the sun and the dark limb outside formed a perfectly circular disk,
with the rim of light or halo, outside the portion off the sun. Aa
the time of second contact approached. Lieutenant Norris again
took up his station at the chronometer. As the limbs neared geo-
metrical contact, the cusps of sunlight began to close around Venus
more rapidly; and the perfect definition of the limbs and the steady,
deliberate, but uniformly increasing motion of the cusps, convinced
me instantly that the phenomena attending the contact would be
far more simple than I had ever imagined. I had only to look
steadily to see the cusps steadily but rapidly extend themselves into
the thinnest visible thread of light around the following limb of
Venus and remain there without a tremor or pulsation. At the
moment the cusps joined I gave the signal and also made the
record on the chronograph. Still keeping my eye at the telescope,
I saw nothing to note save the gradually increasing line of light
between the limbs of the two bod^. The disk of Venus on the
sun was black.
GENERAL MEETING. 23
A re-examiDation was then made of all the photographic appara-
tus, and about 10 minutes after the second con fact the principal
photographic work was commenced ; and this was continued with
slight interruption until about 10 minutes before third contact;
150 dry plates and 30 wet ones being exposed. One of the inter-
ruptions was for the purpose of making measurements of the
diameter of Venus, which was done with a double-image micrometer
attached to the 5-inch telescope.
On going to the telescope to observe the last contacts, I found the
limbs of Venus and the sun as steady as in the morning, and though
there was now some haze over the sun it did no harm. The third
contact was observed with great accuracy, nothiug occurring to
obstruct or complicate the very simple and definite phenomena,
which were in the reverse order of those seen at second contact.
The rim of light appeared around Venus as soon as the limb was
visible beyond the sun, and was seen for nearly 10 minutes. The
complete outline of Venus was visible for 2 minutes longer. No
phenomena worthy of note were seen between third and fourth con-
tacts. The lapping of the limb of Venus over that of the sun
gradually but steadily decreased until the final separation, which
was observed with great accuracy for such a phenomenon. Soon
after the last contact the entire apparatus was again carefully
examined and the necessary observations made to determine the
errors of the chronometers.
In the observations of interior contacts there was no trace of any
tremor or fluctuation of the light in the cusps as they closed around
the limb of Venus ; and it is almost needless to say that there was
no trace of a shadow or a black drop or ligament between the
limbs at second and third contacts. The probable error for the
second and third contacts was estimated at 0''.3 ; for fourth con-
tact, 0".5.
Observers of transits of Venus and Mercury have written so
much in regard to the obstacles encountered from the apparition of
the shadow, or black drop, between the limbs of the two bodies at
second and third contacts, and so full has been the testimony in
favor of the existence and the almost necessary occurrence of this
phenomenon, that at the transit of Mercury, in 1878, many ob-
servers claimed, as evidence of their skill, that they did see it ;
while others, less fortunate, apologized for not seeing it. Observers
of the black drop were so generally confined to those with imperfect
24 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
apparatus or to those unaccustomed to observation of the sun's
limb or disk that the true nature of the obstacle was pretty well
understood before it was carefully investigated. It is now quite
well settled that the ** black drop " is due to bad eyes, imperfect
apparatus, or the inexperience of the observer. With good eyes
and proper apparatus a good observer never should see the black
drop. When it is seen there is something wrong ; it is a spurious
phenomenon.
One of the negatives was exhibited to the Society.
In reply to a question by Mr. E. J. Farquhar, Mr. Eastman
said the halo about Venus was believed to be due to the atmosphere
of the planet.
The next communication was by Mr. Cleveland Abbe on
DETERMINING THE TEMPERATURE OF THE AIR.
He stated that the question now to be considered is not where to
place a thermometer so as to obtain the temperature most proper
for the use of the meteorologist, but is rather the purely physical
question of how to determine the temperature of the air at any
given location. He described the methods and defects of the for-
mer and present meteorological methods of exposure, viz : (1) Ther-
mometers hung in the open air. (2) Those placed in shady loca-
tions. (3) The Glaisher screen. (4) The Stevenson screen and
the double louvre screens in general. (5) The double metallic cylin-
drical shelters of Jelinek and Wild. (6) The silver thimble screen
of Regnault. (7) The whirling thermometer of Saussure, Arago^
Bravais, and the French observers (exhibiting Babinet's arrange-
ment as made by Casella.) (8) Joule's method, depending on a
balance in the temperature and density of two columns of the air.
He then gave a description of the method devised by him iu
1865 and used for a short time at Poulkova ; this consisted in con-
structing a very perfect louvre screen, within which were established
black bulb and bright or silvered bulb thermometers having very
diverse coefficients of radiation and conduction. These thermom-
eters were in air, not in vacuo, as this latter arrangement was proper
only for the determination of the direct solar radiation, as in the
Arago-Davy method, whereas in the present case the temperature
of the air and the radiation from terrestrial objects were the special
objects of study.
GENERAL MEETING. 25
The air temperature (t.) was found from the indications of the
bright and black bulbs (t. and t^) by the empirical formula
t*=t^ + C(t, — t,)
where C is a small coefficient, to be determined experimen tally ,
and is nearly constant. This arrangement of bright and black
bulbs can be used by meteorologists and physicists without a
screen, and even in the sunlight, if the theory of the action of the
bright and black bulbs is perfectly understood. A similar for-
mula will give the temperature (T) of a single radiating body whose
effect is equal to the total effect that is shown by the black bulb :
T = t, + C(t, — t,.)
He then stated that the theoretical basis of this method has quite
recently been further elucidated by Professor Ferrel, who has shown
that the approximate nature of the relation between the above con-
stant C, the radiating, absorbing, and conducting powers of the
thermometers, and the velocity of the wind is given by the following
equation :
^+ B' + B"v
c=
lb .
where Tb and r. are the radiating (and absorbing) powers of the
blackened and silvered bulbs, respectively, v is the velocity of the
wind or currents flowing past the bulbs, and B B' B'^ are constant
coefficients depending on the size, conductivity, and specific lieat
of the substance of the bulbs. ,
In reply to a question of Mr. Gilbert, he stated that the differ-
ence between the bright and black bulbs had rarely exceeded a
few tenths of a degree in the delicate shelter made of oiled paper,
as used by him at Poulkova, the maximum occurring February 22,
1866, at 10 a. m., when, the louvre box being in the full suushiue,
the bright bulb was at 14''.9 Cent, and the black bulb at U'^.S,
showing that the latter had been slightly warmed by the warm sides
of the box.
In reply to a questiou of Mr. Harkness, the author explained,
that although it was conducive to accuracy that these thermometers
should be placed within a shelter, yet this was not necessary ; if
we take advantage of the more accurate method of determining
26 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
the co-efficieDt constant C, as given by Prof. Ferrel's theory,
the two thermometers placed anywhere within doors or without
would still give data for determining temperatures of the loca-
tion ; it should be borne in mind that the temperature thus ob-
tained belongs specifically to the air in contact with the themome-
ters and is not an average value for any extensive portion of the
atmosphere. As it is an advantage to conduct observations under
uniform conditions, it is recommended that a pair of bright and
black bulb thermometers be attached to the whirling table, whereby
the effect of a current of air may be on the one hand determined
and on the other hand kept as uniform as possible.
Mr. Harkness said that the object practically sought by meteo-
rologists was to learn the average temperature of a considerable
body of air, but their efforts were thwarted by the irregularity and
inconstancy of the distribution of temperature. So long as the air
in contact with the thermometer is not precisely representative of
the air of the vicinage it was useless to refine methods of observa-
tion, unless by that refinement errors of a constant nature were
eliminated. For the determination of mean monthly or annual
temperatures he considered the reading of the nearest half degree
as sufiicient, and regarded the reading of the tenths of a degree as
a useless refinement.
The advantage of reading to tenths was further discussed by
Messrs. Abbe, Doolittle, and Kummell. Mr. Kummell
pointed out that where a difference of temperature is observed as
an indication of the moisture of the air, the tenths are worthy of
record.
The following communication by Prof. Charles E. Munrob,
of Annapolis, Md.^ was then read by the Secretary :
determination op the specific GRAVITY OF SOLIDS BY THE
COMMON HYDROMETER.
Having occasion some time since to devise methods for the ex-
amination of coal on board ship, I was obliged, as my first con-
sideration, to work with such materials and apparatus as are usually
found in ships' stores, and then to arrange the methods so that they
could be used under the restricted conditions which prevail. The
unsteadiness of the ship makes balance methods for the determina-
tion of specific gravities difficult, even when a suitable balance is at
GENERAL MEETING. 27
band, while hydrometers may be steadied so that the instrument
may be read with a reasonable degree of precision, as is shown in
its constant use in the determination of the degree of saturation of
the water in the steam-boiler, and in other instances.
To use the hydrometer for the determination of the specific
gravities of solids I take advantage of the fact that, when a body
floats in a liquid in which it is wholly immersed, the specific gravi-
ties of the liquid and the solid are the same, and we have simply to
determine the value for one of them.
The process is carried out by taking a dense solution, dropping
in it the solid to be determined, (which must be light enough to
float on the surface,) and then diluting slowly with water until the
solid floats immersed, stirring the mixture constantly. The solid
is now removed and the hydrometer inserted and read. For the
determination of the specific gravities of the bituminous coals and
lignites a thick solution of cane sugar was used, while for the
heavier anthracite concentrated sulphuric acid, diluted with dilute
sulphuric acid, was employed. The increase in temperature in the
latter case causes no appreciable error if the reading is quickly
taken. The following results were obtained by the method des-
cribed, the specific gravity of each specimen having first been de-
termined by Jolly's balance :
By Jolly's balance. By mixture.
Anthracite 1.5640 if56o
Bituminous coal i»30o8 1,310
Bituminous coal 1,3000 1,300
Gas coal 1,2790 1,285
Cannel coal (ligniform) i»i55o ^»^55
Cannel coal 1,1292 1,120
Lignite 1,0909 1,090
Mr. DuTTON remarked that the same principle had recently been
successfully applied to the separation of the component minerals of
crystalline rocks. A sample is powdered and then placed in a very
heavy liquid (a solution of mercuric iodide and potassium iodide),
the density of which is gradually diminished, until the particles of
the heaviest mineral sink to the bottom. A repetition of the process
eliminates each mineral in turn.
28 philosophical society of washington.
233d Meeting. Apbil 7, 1883.
Mr. Wm. H. Dall in the Chair.
Thirty-six members and visitors present.
The Chair announced that Messrs. Edward Sandford Burgess
and Sumner Homer Bodfish had been elected members.
The General Committee reported to the Society that " a Mathe-
matical Section had been organized by the election of Mr. Asaph
Hall as Chairman and Mr. Henry Farquhar as Secretary. All
members of the Society who are interested in mathematics are in-
vited to attend and take part in its meetings, announcements of
which will be sent to those who notify the Secretary of a desire for
them."
The first communication was by Prof. W. C. Kerr on
THE GEOLOGY OF HATTERAS AND THE NEIGHBORING COAST.
[Abstract.]
The notable projection of Hatteras, beyond the general line of
trend of the Atlantic coast, has, of course, a geological origin.
The study of the changes now taking place, and of the phenomena
which have left their recent traces on the surface, readily furnish
the data for the solution of the problem. Nearly one-half of this
eastern inter-sound region of North Carolina is water surface, and
the land surface lies for the most part below ten feet (much of it
below five.)
A large part of this low-lying surface is covered with beds of
peat, which thicken towards the centre on the divides or swells be-
tween the bays and sounds, rising, in some cases, to ten and fifteen
feet, and in the Dismal Swamp on the northern border of the State
to twenty-two feet. These beds of peat are in process of forming
by the decay of plants growing on the surface, chiefly cypress and
juniper. Many tiers of the undecayed logs of these timbers are
piled upon one another through the whole thickness of the deposit,
which is soft and yielding, so that a fence-rail may be thrust down
beyond its length. Vast tracts of such peat swamps (and of marsh
and savanna on which only water grasses and small shrubs and
scrub pines grow and decay) are found throughout this *coast region.
Here we have the first stage in the formation of a coal bed. Another
notable fact is that many of the rivers which empty into the sounds
GENERAL MEETING. 29
increase in depth of channel at a distance from their mouths;
while the sounds are 12 to 15 and 20 to 22 feet deep, the rivers are
often 30 and 40 feet and upwards. This can only be accounted for
by supposing a subsidence of the region to be in progress, the
sounds and open bays being silted up by the deposits brought down
by the floods of the Boanoake and other large rivers, while no
particle of sediment can reach the sheltered depths of the narrow
windings of the upper reaches of these minor streams. This theory
of subsidence is abundantly confirmed by the disappearance under
water of large tracts of swamp bordering the rivers, as the Chowan,
within the observation of men now living, and by the existence
of rooted stumps of cypress and juniper in the bottom of the bays
and sounds, even to the depth of 15 and 20 feet, and also by the
vertical and crumbliug shores of the sounds, undermined and
eroded by the advancing waves.
The Atlantic ocean is walled off from this region by a narrow
fringe of sand islands, or dunes, blown shoreward by the wind and
thrown up into reefs and hillocks like snow-drifts 50, 80, and even
more than 100 feet high. The movement of these sand waves
being inland, the sounds are silting up next the sea, and are in
many places converted into marshes 3 to 5 miles wide. The reef is
increasing in continuity and breadth, most of the inlets above Hat-
teras that were open 300 years ago being closed and obliterated.
An inspection of the form of the curves of the submarine contours
off Hatteras and adjoining coasts will show that the action of the
tides and ocean currents, the Gulf stream and Arctic current meet*
ing at this point, accumulate upon Hatteras the river silt which
reaches the sea by way of the Chesapeake as well as that of the
rivers which discharge their burdens through the inlets about this
point and southwards. Which amounts to this — that Hatteras may
be described as a sort of delta, whose materials are derived from the
drainage of more than 100,000 square miles of the Atlantic slope.
A subsidence of about 20 feet would bring the sea again
over the entire Sound region and carry the shore 75 miles inland,
bringing Hatteras to coincide with Cape Lookout. A sand reef,
like that north of Hatteras, marks the line of the ancient shore,
when these conditions obtained. A depression of fifty feet would
move the shore 100 miles west of Hatteras and carry the point of
meeting of the conflicting ocean currents and waves to Cape Fear.
A subsidence of 500 feet, as in the glacial period, would carry
30 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
Hatteras more than 200 miles west of its preseut position. This
horizon is marked by an immense sand reef, still retaining its wind
and wave marks, and rising to a height of more than 500 feet above
tide, the reef itself being at least 100 feet deep and many miles in
length. The sea must have remained at this level for a very long
period.
But Hatteras is not a modern phenomenon. It is at least as old
as the cretaceous; the quaternary as well as the tertiary of thi&
coast region of North Carolina are laid down upon an eroded
surface of cretaceous rock, while the artesian borings, at Charleston,
reach this formation at 700 feet, and at the mouth of the Chesa-
peake they do not seem to have touched it at 1,000 feet.
Mr. Ward remarked that, in traversing the Jericho canal of the
Dismal Swamp in a row boat, he had observed an outward flow at
both ends of the canal, showing that, by continuous water passage,
a divide was crossed between Lake Drummond and the James river.
He criticised the doctrine taught in text-books and po'pular writ-
ings that the preservation of leav&s in a fossil state is due ordinarily
to river action and delta formation. More favorable conditions
are to be found in swamps.
Other remarks were made by Messrs. Dutton and Hough. .
The second communication was by Mr. H. F. Walling on
TOPOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS OF A FAULT NEAR HARPER*S PERRY.
[Abstract.]
A description was given of a break in the continuity of the Blue
Ridge, where its disconnected portions, extending side by side for a
few miles, are cut by the Potomac river, near Harper's Ferry, the
gorges so formed presenting a striking feature of the scenery.
The two ridges, here about 12,000 feet apart, stretch for hundreds
of miles in nearly parallel directions, one to the south and the
other to the north ; the latter being known in Pennsylvania as the
South Mountain. The strike of the rocks is parallel to the ridges,
about N. 30° E., and the prevailing dip is eastward, averaging not
more than 30°. The ridges are composed of hard sand-rock;
the adjacent region, of lime-stone and other rocks more easily dis-
integrated or dissolved.
Supposing the sand-rock of the Blue Ridge and South Mountains
to have been originally a continuous formation, it will be readily
GENERAL MEETING. 31
seen that a vertical fault in easterly dipping strata, having its
direction somewhat nearer the meridian than the present strike
and its downthrow on the west side of the fault, would produce a
lateral discontinuity like that here observed, the upthrown part of
any stratum cropping out on the east of the downthrown part at a
distance depending upon the amount of the vertical displacement.
All this would depend upon whether the sand rocks were origi-
nally continuous in the two ridges — a question which was left for
the geologists to decide. The writer, however, took occasion to
suggest that great longitudinal faults might be formed near coast
lines when the gradual overloading of the balanced crust by depo-
sitions of sediment produced a strain too great to be relieved by flex-
ure. A rupture would then occur, the strata going down on the
overloaded side of the fault and up on the other until equilibrium of
pressure upon the yielding magma below was restored by lateral
displacement of the magma. The fault so formed would present a
diminished resistance to dislocation, and if the action which origi-
nated it should continue, it would be likely to increase in dimensions
both' in length and in the amount of vertical displacement. This
action might even continue afler the emergence of the region above
the surface of the water, provided a more rapid denudation of the
landward than of the seaward side of'the fault took place, in which
case a continued disturbance of equilibrium would be accompanied
by vertical yielding, increasing the amount of dislocation, and by sub-
terranean movements of the supporting magma, whereby a restora-
tion of material would be eflected from overloaded to denuded areas.
Moreover, the hypothesis of a constant restoration of disturbed
equilibrium makes it easier to understand why the folding of strata
should grow steeper, even to b, folding under, as the axis of a moun-
tain chain is approached. A diagram exhibiting the so-called
" fan-like structure of the Alps,'* enlarged from a figure by Rogers,
(see Rogers' Report on the Geology of Pennsylvania, Vol. II, p.
902.) was shown in illustration. The gradual subterranean move-
ments inward under a mountain chain, as the upper portions were
removed and the remainder elevated, would carry the strata along
on a support of diminishing width until they were folded upward
and backward.
The gradual increase towards the east in the amount of corrugation
and steepness of dips, together with the supposed reversed folding by
which the rocks of the eastern part of the Appalachian region seem to
32 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
dip under older rocks, still further east appear, therefore, to favor the
notion that the paleozoic rocks of the Appalachian region and the
eastern part of the Mississippi basin were derived from the erosion
of highlands formerly existing east of the Appalachian chain, now,
perhaps, submerged in the Atlantic ocean. The downthrow of a
fault, if formed in the manner supposed in the region under con-
sideration, would accordingly be on its western side, as suggested
above.
The third communication was by Mr. S. F. Emmons on
ORE DEPOSITION BY REPLACEMENT.
[Abstract.]
After a few introductory remarks upon the relatively unsatis-
factory condition of that branch of geology which treats of ore de-
posits, considering the early date at which it was taken up, the
speaker briefly reviews the existing theories and classifications, and
shows that they are mainly based on the idea that each ore deposit
is the filling of some pre-existing cavity or opening in the rock in
which it is now found ; that so-called fissure veins, for instance, were
once actually open cracks, and that irregular deposits iu limestone
have been made by the filling up of open caves, such as so fre-
quently occur in these rocks. The result of his studies of the so-
called ''carbonate deposits" of Leadville, Colorado, has been to
show that they are not the filling up of pre-existing cavities ; the
caves there have been formed since the ore was deposited, as is
proved by their crossing indiscriminately ore bodies and limestone.
They belong to a class of deposits for which he proposes the name
vietamorphic deposits, or those which have been formed by a meta-
somatic interchange between the vein and original rock material.
In Leadville the principal deposits are an actual replacement of
the limestone itself tft or near the contact of this stratum with an
overlying sheet of porphyry. This replacement action has in places
proceeded so far that the entire stratum of ore-bearing limestone or
dolomite, originally 150 to 200 feet thick, has been changed into
vein material, which consists of silica and metallic minerals. This
vein material was brought in solution by percolating waters, which
had taken it up during their circulation through the adjoining and
generally overlying eruptive rocks. A more detailed description
of the phenomena of these deposits will be found in his paper en-
GENERAL MEETING. 33
titled *' Abstract of a Report on the Geology of Leadville/' in the
Second Annual Report of the Director of the United States Geo-
logical Survey.
While the speaker's studies have thus far been mainly confined to
limestone deposits, he has reason to believe that essentially the same
process has produced a large proportion of ore deposits in crystal-
line and eruptive rocks, and that to the class of metamorphic de-
posits belong most of the so-cal||d fissure veins of the Rocky Moun-
tain region. That is, that they are not the filling in of pre-existent
open fissures by vein materials foreign to the adjoining rocks, but
simply a metamorphic change of these rocks themselves along
channels of easy access to percolating waters ; and according to the
character of the material held in solution by these waters, these
rocks have been more or less changed into quartz and metallic min-
erals, to a greater or less width, as the case may be. Numerous
instances of such veins will be found in the forthcoming Census
Report upon the Statistics and Technology of the Precious Metals,
by Mr. G. F. Becker and the speaker.
234th Meeting. April 21, 1883.
Vice-President Billings in the Chair.
Forty members present.
The Chair announced that Messrs. Washington Carruthebs
Kerr and Samuel Franklin Emmons had been elected members.
Mr. W. H. Dall addressed the Society on
GLACIATION in ALASKA,
illustrating his remarks by maps of the territory and of the glacial
areas of the St. Elias Alps and Kachekmak Bay, Cook's Inlet, the
latter being from surveys made by him under the direction of the
TJ. S. Coast Survey.
He called attention in the first place to the wide dififerences in
the character of the masses of ice resulting from the consolidation
of snow by gravity (which would usually be classed as glaciers),
as observed by him during nine years' exploration in Alaska.
These might be classed under several heads : as plateau-ice, filling
3
34 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
large areas of depression and without motion as a whole, but when
sufficiently accumulated overflowing the edges of its basin in various
directions ; as valley-ice, filling wide valleys of gentle incline both
as to their axes and their lateral slopes, producing masses of ice
moving in a definite direction but without lateral and sometimes
even without terminal moraines ; as ice-cascades, formed in sharp nar-
row ravines of very steep inclination, usually without well-defined
surface moraines ; as typical glacie|», showing n^v4 and lateral and
terminal moraines ; and lastly, as effete or fossil glaciers, whose
sources have become exhausted, whose motion has therefore ceased,
and whose lower portions have become smothered by the accumu-
lation of non-conducting debris. The very existence of one of these
last has remained unknown for half a century, though the plateau
underwhich it is buried has been described and mapped by explorers.
Another form under which ice appears in Alaska is that of solid
motionless layers, sometimes of great thickness, interstratified with
sand, clay, etc. A deposit probably of this character is described
by Nordenskiold, on the Asiatic coast, near Bering Strait. In
Alaska this formation, in which ice plays the part of a stratified
rock, extends from Kotzebue sound, where the greatest known
thickness of the ice-layer, about three hundred feet, has been noted,
around the Arctic coast, probably to the eastern boundary. In
Kotzebue Sound the ice is surmounted by about forty feet of clay
containing the remains of fossil horses, huffaloea (Bos lat if rons, etc. X
mountain sheep, and other mammals. Farther north the ice is
covered with a much thinner coat of mineral matter or soil, usually
not exceeding two or three feet in thickness, and rarely rises more
than twelve or fifteen feet above high water mark on the sea coast.
Its continuity is broken between Kotzebue Sound and Icy Cape by
rocky hills composed chiefly of carboniferous limestones, which
bear no glaciers and do not seem to have been glaciated. The
absence of bowlders and erratics over all this area has been noted
by Franklin, Beechey, and all others who have explored it. The
remarkable extent and character of the formation was unknown
previous to the speaker's investigations, though the ice cliffs of
Kotzebue Sound had attracted attention from the time of their first
discovery.
Mr. Dall desired especially to emphasize the distinction between
these strata of pure ice and the "frozen soil" so often alluded to
by arctic explorers. The absence of frozen soil in the alluvium
GENERAL MEETING. 35
of the Yukon Valley, far Dorth of Kotzebue Sound, was noted, as
well as the fact that this valley has, for some unexplained reason,
a mean temperature considerably above the normal, so that its
forests extend well beyond the Arctic circle.
The distribution of glaciers, properly so-called, in Alaska, as far
as our present knowledge goes, is confined to the region of the
Alaskan range and the ranges parallel with it south of the Yukon
Valley, but particularly to the coast mountains bordering on the Gulf
of Alaska and the Alexander Archipelago, of which the Saint
Elias Alps form the most conspicuous uplift.
The distribution of stratified ice is all north of the Yukon Val-
ley, which divides the two regions. Hence, for the glacial epoch,
it may be presumed that the one is the equivalent of the other, and
the fact that Arctic Alaska is marked by stratified ice, rather than
glaciers such as those of Greenland, must be due to local geological
and climatic peculiarities existing at the time. On the Asiatic
coast, especially at Holy Cross Bay, in nearly the same latitude and
with not very different topographic conditions, glaciers are abun-
dant at the present time.
On the mainland, facing the Alexander Archipelago, especially
toward Lynn Canal, Icy Strait and the Stikiue region, local glaciers
are abundant, and traces of others, now dissolved, may be found
on the lowlands of most of the islands. That these were always
local, though doubtless very extensive, and that they were the pro-
geny of the topography instead of being its parent, is obyious to
anyone who has seen the coasts of Maine or Norway, which have
been submitted to general glaciation, and will compare their
rounded, worn, and moutonnce aspect with that of the sharp cliffs,
beetling crags, narrow valleys, and scanty lowlands of the Alaskan
islands.
The speaker concluded, from his observations, that the extent of
the Alaskan glaciers is greatly diminished from its former state,
and is probably still diminishing; that the southern portion of the
Territory is probably nearly or quite stationary, while the northern
part is undergoing elevation ; and that, from the nature of the case,
the area of stratified ice cannot be expected to increase or di-
minish materially without changes in geological or climatic con-
ditions too great to be anticipated.
Mr. Alvord remarked that on Point Barrow frozen ground had
been penetrated to a depth of thirteen feet.
36 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
In reply to a question by Mr. Antisell, Mr. Dall said that
little was known of the humidity of the interior of Alaska ; 23
inches of precipitation, nearly all in snow, had been observed in a
single year at one point and 12 inches at another.
Mr. F. B. Hough then read a paper on
THE CULTIVATION OF THE EUCALYPTUS ON THE ROMAN
CAMPAGNA,
which was discussed by Messrs. E. B. Elliott and H. Farquhar.
It is published in the American Journal of Forestry for June, 1883.
235th Meeting. May 6, 1883.
Vice-President Billings in the Chair.
Twenty-seven members and visitors present.
The Chair announced the election to membership of Messrs.
William Thomas Sampson, John Oscar Skinner, and Thomas
Crowder Chamberlin.
The first communication was by Mr. H. A. Hazen on
HYOROMETRIC OBSERVATIONS.
[Abstract.]
After describing the various devices by which the moisture of
the air has been measured, and especially the novel and valuable
apparatus of Crova, the speaker illustrated the difficulty of the
subject by contrasting synchronous determinations made at four
points within a radius of two miles, and then described some ex-
perimente tending to show the inaccuracy of the wet and dry bulb
hygrometer, as ordinarily observed. The value of the wet bulb
reading is enhanced by blowing on the bulb with a bellows, or
otherwise subjecting it to a brisk current of air.
Mr. Harkness remarked first, that Mr. Hazen's experiments
appeared to prove the insufficiency of Regnault's formula, for they
showed the difierence between the indications of the wet bulb and
dry bulb to be a function not only of the humidity, but of the
velocity of wind ; second, that height of station above the ground
GENERAL MEETING. 37
was a condition to which too little attention had been given ; and
third, that there seemed a possibility of obtaining a slightly erro-
neous vapor tension with Crova's apparatus.
Mr. E. J. Farquhar then read a paper on
DREAMS IN THEIR RELATION WITH PSYCHOLOGY.
[Abstract.]
Several theories of dreams were considered and none found en-
tirely sufficient ; not because a new and complete one was to be
proposed, but because all seemed a little too partial and limiting in
their scope. After touching on the relation of dreams to sleep and
to waking, as intermediate between them, discrediting many recorded
experiments on the ground of their being vitiated by a special pur-
pose latent in the mind, and pointing out that the usual supposition
of our being often waked by the intensity of a dream appears to
put cause for effect, since it must be the fact of waking that effects
the dream, perhaps by slow degrees — the character of mental opera-
tions in dreams was discussed. Dissent was expressed from the
opinion that the dreaming state is devoid of such originating power
as belongs to the waking ; this position was maintained by showing
first, the extreme vividness and lastingness of impression often per-
taining to dreams, apart from any features of horror; then the
coherence, far from being unknown among them, yet of a peculiar
kind ; and, finally, the true significance occasionally appearing in
them, generally by figurative shape, amounting sometimes to a real
enlightenment of the mind. Regarding the faculties or aspects of
mind most apt to display themselves in dreams, it was held that all
were liable to the exercise in turn, though some of the higher ones,
especially the moral sense and judgment, less than others ; since these
expressed a rarer and more distinctive force evolved and laid up by
and for our relations with actual life, while other powers whose
exercise is less of an expenditure from the most important vitalities
of mind were freer at the time — the principles of conservation and
struggle 'for existence being thought to apply among the mental
elements. Thus, to a certain degree, the mind may be seen more
clearly in its true character by means of dreams than awake,
though in very partial views at a time. Unconscious mental action
was reviewed in this connection, and it was held that not only the
lower processes, called reflex, but many of the highest functions
38 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
largely partake of this attribute. A great number of other points
in regard to dreams were merely named as illustrating the fertility
of the subject.
236th Meeting. May 19, 1883.
Vice-President Hilgard in the Chair.
Forty members and visitors present.
It was announced from the General Committee that the following
rules had been adopted : .
I. If the author of any paper read before a section of the Society
desires its publication, either in full or by abstract, it shall be re-
ferred to a committee, to be appointed as the section may determine.
The report of this committee shall be forwarded to the Publica-
tion Committee by the secretary of the section, together with any
action of the section taken thereon.
II. Any paper read before a section may be repeated, either en-
tire or by abstract, before a general meeting of the Society, if such
repetition is recommended by the Greneral Committee of the So-
ciety.
Mr. Robert Fletcher made a communication entitled
RECENT experiments ON SERPENT VENOM.
It is published in the American Journal of the Medical Sciences
for July, 1883.
Mr. H. Farquhar then made a communication on
FURTHER EXPERIMENTS IN BINARY ARITHMETIC,
showing that the relation between the vertical and horizontal di-
mensions of the characters used in the binary notation is a factor
in determining its economic value. He presented, also, the results
of a series of comparative tests showing that the binary notation
enables some persons, afler brief practice, to perform addition more
rapidly than with denary notation, while with others it requires a
longer time. The latter class includes practiced computers, gene-
rally, and the former those less accustomed to the use of figures.
GENERAL MEETING. 39
Mr. DooLiTTLE remarked that the most instructive results would
be obtained by experimenting with young persons; and the subject
was further discussed by Messrs. W. B. Taylor, E. B. Elliott,
and C. A. Sohott.
237th Meeting. June 2, 1883.
Vice-President Hilgard, and afterward Mr. Harkness, in the
Chair.
Twenty-two members present.
It was announced that the next meeting would be held October
13th.
Mr. W. Lee made a communication, with illustrations, entitled
SKETCHES FROM MEDALLIO MEDICAL HISTORY.
[Abstract.]
The paper was prefaced by remarks on the value of coin and
medal collecting as a profitable means of instruction, and by a recog-
nition of the danger to which collectors are exposed of develop-
ing a mania for collecting odd and curious things which cease to
be instructive. An extended interest in numismatics commenced
to show itself in this country in 1858, at which time there were
probably not as many as one hundred coin collectors in the United
States. The interest has grown rapidly, however, until now there
must be on the books of the United States Mint the names of at
least one thousand collectors who receive yearly the issue of
the mint, with a special proof polish. In New York alooe, during
the year 1882, there were thirty-nine collections sold at public
auction, the amount realized being $68,441.36. The largest of
these was the Bushnell collection, which realized $13,900.47. Sev-
eral of our large cities have numismatic societies, some of which
are designated as numismatic and archseological societies ; and a
number of periodicals devoted simply to the interest of numis-
matics obtain a satisfactory circulation.
The modes of striking off coins and medals were given somewhat
in detail, and attention was then called to the important part which
medals struck in honor of medical men and to commemorate im-
40 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
portant events bearing directly upon the history of medicine have
played throughout the history of the world. The illustrations of
the paper included a hundred and fifty examples of the medals
themselves, in regular sequence, from the days of Roman and
Greek medicine down almost to the date of the paper itself, an
interesting commemoration of events and individuals marking
epochs in the history of medicine. These medals were taken up
aericUim, references were made to the lives of individuals and the
scientific work done by them, and descriptions were given of the
occasions which called for the striking of medals.
The paper closed with an expression of hope that the Society
might be stimulated at the sight of so many handsome and perma-
nent memorials of the men and times of the past, to attempt to
preserve the features of its first president, Joseph Henry, in a
similar enduring form.
The bibliography of the subject was discussed at some length,
and the following works were referred to :
Mead, Richard i. — Dissertatio de Nummis quibusdam a Smyrnaeis
in medicorum honorem percussis. Naples, 1762.
RuDOLPHi, C. A. — Index numismatum in virorum de rebus medi-
cis vel physicis meritorum memoriam percussorum. Berlin^
Ist edition 1823, 2d edition 1825, 12mo., XII, 131 pp, 3d
edition 1828, 4th edition 1829. (This work (2d edition)
comprises the description of 523 medals struck in honor of
350 scientific and medical men.)
Rekauldin, Leop. Jos. — f^tudes historiques et critiques sur les
Modiolus Numismatistes, conteoant ieur biographic et I'an-
alyse de leurs 6crits. Paris, 1851, 8% XVI, 574 pp. (This
work contains the names of 61 physicians).
Chereau (A). — Les mereaux et les getons de Tancienne faculty de
m^decine de Paris. L'Union M^dicale. Paris, 1873, 3
Series, XV, pp. 309, 321.
Pfeiffer, (L) und Ruland (C). — PesUlentia in Nummis. Ges-
chichte der grossen Volkskrankheiten in numismatischen
Documenten. Ein beitrag zur Geschichte der Medicin und
der Cultur. Tubingen, 1882, 8*' X, 189 pp. Mit zwei
Tafeln Abbildungen in lichtdruck.
Wroth, Warwick. — Asklepios and the C#ins of Pergamon. From
the Numismatic Chronicle and Journal of the Numismatic
Society. London, 1882, Part I, Third Series, No. 5, pages
1 to 51, plates 3.
MoEHSEN, J. C. G. — The exact title of this author's work is not
known to the writer of the paper ; it was written in German^
GENERAL MEETING. 41
and embodies a description of a collection of medals in
Berlin struck in honor of physicians, giving 200 medals
struck after the 15th century.
Grotefend, C. L. — Die Stempel der Romischen Augenarzte.
Hannover, 1867.
Mr. T. N. Gill then made a communication on
ANALOGUES IN ZOOGEOGRAPHY.
238th Meeting. October 13, 1883.
The Society, in accordance with the notice of adjournment at
the June meeting, resumed its sessions.
The President in the Chair.
Forty-four members and visitors present.
It was announced that during the vacation the Society had lost
by death Surgeon General C. H. Crane, one of its Vice-Presidents ;
Admiral B. F. Sands, one of its founders ; and Dr. Josiah Curtis.
It was further announced from the General Committee that Mr.
Garrick Mallery had been appointed Vice-President to fill the
vacancy occasioned by the death of Mr. Crane, and that Mr.
C. V. Riley had been added to the General Committee to complete
its number.
Mr. William B. Taylor read a paper entitled
note on the rings op SATURN.
[Abstract.]
After an historic sketch of the varying and apparently incon-
gruous observations by astronomers on the markings and aspects of
the Saturnian rings, down to those of Schiaparelli of the Milan
Observatory, (published in June last,) Mr. Taylor remarked that
since the mathematical discussion by Prof. J. Clerk Maxwell, in
ISd?,"" both the rigid and the fluid ring theories have been aban-
doned ; and the discrete or meteoric constitution of the rings is now
accepted by all physical astronomers as conclusively established.
* On the Stability of the Motion of Saturn^ s Jiings. 4to. 71 pp. and I plate.
Cambridge, Eng., 1859.
42 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
Reference was then made to the startling announcement by Otto
Struve, in 1851, that a careful comparison of the earlier with the
later measurements showed that during the two hundred years of
observation the rings had been widening, and the inner edge steadily
approaching the body of the planet.* Considering the necessarily
vast antiquity of the Saturnian system, such a change during the
brief interval of human existence seems d. priori almost infinitely
improbable. The hypothesis of some that a meteoric ring has been
drawn in by Saturn's attraction, within comparatively recent ages,
seems entirely negatived by the circular symmetry of the system.
It is not surprising, therefore, that Struve's inference has been re-
ceived with an almost universal incredulity by the astronomical
world. Robert Main, of the Greenwich Observatory, from a dis-
cussion of his own measurements taken in the winter of 1852-'3,
and in 1854, disputed the accuracy of Struve's measures ; and con-
cluded that '* no change has taken place in the system since the
time of Huyghens."t And Prof. F. Kaiser, in a paper on " The
Hypothesis of Otto Struve respecting the gradual increase of
Saturn's Ring," etc., arrives at the same conclusion, and believes
" there exists no reason whatever for supposing that the compound
ring of Saturn is gradually increasing in breadth." |
There seems to be little doubt of some unintentional exaggeration
in Struve's tabulated results, which range from 4".6 : 6".5 for the
ratio of ring breadth to space between ring and ball, in the time of
Huyghens, 1657, to 1"A : 3".7 for the ratio of breadth to space, by
his own observation in 1851. Nevertheless it is a noteworthy fact
that all the early drawings of Saturn made in the seventeenth cen-
tury (many of which are figured by Huyghens iu his Sydema SaU
uniiuniy 1659) plainly exhibit the width of the ring as sensibly
less than the dark space within ; while all modern observers would
agree that the bright ring is now wider than the dark space, in
about the ratio of 3 : 2 ; or were we to take the average of the esti-
*Recunl des Mimoires prisentis [etc.] /ar les Astronomes de Poulkova. 4to.
St. Petersburg, 1853. Vol. I, pp. 349-385. " Sur les Dimensions des Anneaux
de Saturne.*' (Memoir read before Acad. Sci.) A brief abstract of the memoir
is given in the Monthly Notices ^ R. A. S., November 12, 1852. Vol. XIII, pp.
22-24.
\ Monthly Notices^ R. A. 5., December 14, 1855. Vol. XVI, pp. 30-36.
XMem. Acad. Set., Amsterdam, 1 858. A translation of the memoir is given
in the Monthly Notices, R. A. S., January 1 1, 1856. Vol. XVI, pp. 66-72.
GENERAL MEETING. 43
mates of the last century, it would probably not vary far from
5'^25 : 5''.75 ; while the general average for the present century
would probably be about 6".5 : 4''.5. There seems, therefore, to be
a real difference, not accounted for by inferiority of earlier instru-
ments and estimates, nor by the existing uncertainties of modern
measurements. The question will probably be definitely settled in
less than a century. Meanwhile there is a need of some explana-
tion of the apparently systematic and progressive divergence first
pointed out by Struv'e; and we naturally ask. What indications
are afforded by theory ?
The elder Herschel, in 1789, (at the Saturnian equinox, when the
edge of the ring was presented to view,) from supposed observation
of protuberances moving on the line, believed that he had detected
a rotation, whose period he estimated at lOh. 32m. 15s., for the
outer edge of the ring.* The correctness of this interpretation was
controverted by Schroeter, from observations at Lilienthal, on the
next passage of Saturn's equatorial node in 1803 ; as it was after-
ward questioned by Prof G. P. Bond, of Harvard Observatory,
from observations in 1848.t It is scarcely doubtful that Herschel's
period was derived from an entire misconception of the nature of
the ring — which he firmly held to be solid — and that it possesses no
scientific value whatever. A. Secchi, from certain recurrent irreg-
ularities of phase observed at Rome in 1854, 1855, and 1856, in-
ferred a rotation period of 14h. 23ra. This is doubtless a nearer
approximation (for the outer edge of the ring) than Herschel's es-
timate. It is not probable, however, that the period of any portion
of the ring will be determined by observationv
Accepting the meteoric theory of the rings as now established,
we may by Kepler's law compute with confidence the period of
rotation of any part of the ring ; and we thus find —
From the period of the inner Satellite {Mimas) 22h. 37 Jm. —
The period of outer edge of ring I4h. 30 m.
dividing stripe iih. 20 m.
inner edge of bright ring yh. 12 m.
inner edge of dusky ring 5h. 45 m.
Mean period of ring (supposed solid) about loh. 50 m.
The period of the planet Saturn is . . . lOh. 14m.
^ Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. 1790: Vol. LXXX, p. 479; and 1792: Vol.
LXXXII, p. 6.
t Gould's Astronomical Journal. 1850. Vol. I, pp. 20, 21.
«
44 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
Thus regarding each constituent element of the ring as having
its own independent rotation, (a condition absolutely essential ta
the stability of the system,) we may consider that from the coropli.
cated and variable perturbations by the exterior satellites, no one
particle can revolve in a circular orbit, and hence that in a space
so crowded there must be a considerable amount of interference.
The collisions at intersecting orbits may result in heat or in disin-
tegration ; but in any event they must tend to a degradation of
motion, and hence to a slightly shortened mean radius- vector and a
shortened period.
Theoretically th-^u such an effect as that indicated by Struve
would seem inevitable, whether as a matter of fact it has been
sufficient in a couple of centuries to be detected or not. And thi»
involves a modified conception as to the earlier condition of the
Saturnian rings. To suppose a fine web of nebulous matter con-
tinuously spun out from Saturn's equator, with an unchanging
balance of centrifugal and centripetal forces during the long age»
while the planet was slowly contracting to one-half its radius, i»
certainly no easy task or plausible theory. If, however, we are
now beholding but a stage of transitional development of the ring,,
we shall have to imagine its primitive radius considerably larger,,
and ita width as probably very much narrower — so narrow indeed
as to have a planetary or satellitic status, revolving in a single
definite period — possibly that of Mimas the nearest satellite. Such
a ring would present a condition of comparatively great stability ;
and it may have been that only the secular recurrence of rare and
remarkable conjunctions commenced upon it the work of disturbance
and disintegration.
When Galileo, the first to see the strange appendages to Saturn,
(though without being able to distinguish the ansae as parts of a
ring,) observed, in 1612, that they had entirely disappeared, he
wrote in some dismay, ** Has Saturn possibly devoured his own
children ? " * So may perhaps the future astronomer, seeing but an
airy trace of the historic ring, repeat the saying, Saturn has indeed
devoured his offspring; not indeed completely, for a part will
probably still remain ; nor with violent catastrophe, for the scattered
fragments falling by their eccentricity will be absorbed as gently as
are the meteors daily falling on our earth.
♦Third letter to Marc Velser, December i, 1612. Opert di Galileo. 4to. 4
vols. Padua, 1744 : Vol. II, p. 123.
GENERAL MEETING. 45
A subsidiary point deserving of notice is the certainty tha^ the
inner portions of the bright ring (and still more those of the dusky
ring) are revolving in periods three or four hours shorter than that
of Saturn himself. When Professor Hall made his brilliant discov-
ery of the satellites of Mars, and announced that the inner satellite
(Phobos) was found to have the short period of 7h. 38m. (or less
than one- third of that of Mars) the fact was at once proclaimed by
some as incompatible with the " nebular hypothesis." Everybody
knows that the rotation periods of the sun and planets do not con-
form to the third law of Kepler. Our own moon has an actual
velocity in its orbit more than double that of our terrestrial equator.
And had the moon a little less than one>third its present distance,
(that is, were its radius- vector less than 70,000 miles,) its angular
velocity would exceed that of the earth, or its period would be less
than 24 hours. Or, stated in another way, our earth, if expanded
to the orbit of the moon, (under the most favorable disposition of
form and of homogenous density,) would occupy considerably more
than a year in completing its rotation. The supposed nebular diffi-
culty is therefore just as pertinent to our own satellite as to those
of Saturn or of Mars. The obvious solution is, that all the planets
(without exception) have lost a very large amount of rotatory
energy ; and this may be largely or chiefly ascribed to the retarding
effects of internal friction resulting from solar tides. And, given
time enough, the rotation of every planet should be finally reduced
to the lunar condition of a precise accord of its diurnal and annual
periods. On any hypothesis whatever, it is certain that the rotations
of the planets are very much slower (notwithstanding too the
acceleration due to contraction) than they originally were. This
fact certainly offers no objection to the nebular hypothesis.
Mr. Button questioned the validity of Ennis' hypothesis, that
the rotation of a nebular mass could be initiated by purely internal
movements.
Other remarks were made by Mr. Frisby.
Mr. S. M. Burnett then made a communication on
THE CHARACTER OP THE FOCAL LINES IN ASTIGMATISM,
showing that the two lines which limit the focal interval of Sturm
have been erroneously assumed to be straight. There is only one
46 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
special case of the triaxial ellipsoid in which thej are straight.
In all other cases they are curved.
The full text of this paper may be found in the Archives of
Ophthalmology, Vol. XII, Nos. 3 and 4.
Mr. H. A. Hazen followed with a communication on
THERMOMETER EXPOSURE.
[Abstract. ]
Without entering upon the question, Where in any locality shall
the air temperature be observed, it is proposed to discuss the even
more important question, What shall be the environment of a
thermometer that it may give the true temperature. The practice
has been very various: in England the Stevenson shelter is re-
garded as a standard : this is a double-louvred frame, wholly of
wood, 18 X 10 X 18 inches, and placed about 4 feet above grass. In
Russia we find a large woodeu outside shelter of single louvres
open to the north, inside of which is placed a metallic screen, the
whole being exposed 12 or 13 feet above grass. In any exposure we
should seek, first, to allow the freest possible access of the outer air,
and second, to screen the thermometer from direct sun heat, from
precipitation, and from radiation, whether (a) from surrounding
objects by day or (6) to the sky at night.
It is important that we adopt some ready means of accurately
determining the air temperature which may answer as a standard
of comparison. This we have in the swung thermometer, which,
by its free motion through a large body of air shaded from direct
sunlight in the daytime, is calculated to give good results.
Experiments have been tried with a so-called "Pattern " shelter
constructed of wood, of single louvres, inclined 30° to the hor-
izontal, thus giving a good air circulation. The size is 4 x 3 x 3
feet, and it is erected at a height of 13 feet above a tin roof In
order to determine the least admissible size for a shelter, thermom-
eters were placed in the Pattern 5 inches apart and running in an
east and west direction, and these were observed morning and after-
noon. It has been found that with a hot sun and still air the heat
from the louvres rapidly diminishes with distance and becomes in-
sensible at 15 inches. Comparisons have also been made for several
weeks between the Russian and Pattern shelters ; and the means
of 100 sets of continuous observations on a still day, and again on
a windy day, are shown n the following table:
GENERAL MEETING. 47
Dry ther-
mometer.
Russian. Pattern.
Wet ther-
mometer.
R. P.
Relative humidity;
per cent.
R.. P
Still air 74^8 73°.$
Light south wind. _ 77.2 77.1
64°.o 62°. 7
62 .0 61 .0
52.4 5»i
36.7 341
These results show directly the advantage of a good circulation
of air, and that after shielding from the sun and radiation to the
sky with a shelter at least 3 feet long, we may neglect other consid-
erations.
Experiments are still in progress to determine the proper height
above sod or roof, the proper expo?ure for a north window, and so
forth.
Mr. Antisell, referring to the general theme rather than to
the special subject of the paper, took occasion to note that the
practice of conducting meteorologic observations on the tops of
high houses, while it may well subserve the special purposes of the
Signal Service, renders their work of materially less value to the
medical profession. There is so much change, especially of the
moisture element, in the first few feet from the ground upward that
no observations can be depended upon as reporting the conditions
of the phenomena of disease unless they are made in the layer
actually occupied by man.
Mr. Taylor asked whether there might not be an error arising
from the set given to the glass of the bulb by the pressure of the
mercury of a whirled thermometer.
Mr. Hazen replied that he had tested the effect of pressure ap-
plied to the bulb with the finger, and found that the set produced
was of very brief duration. He had also tested the thermic effect
of the friction on the atmosphere incurred by rapid whirling, and
found it inappreciable with a velocity of about fourteen miles an
hour. On whirling a black bulb thermometer, he observed a change
of several tenths of a degree, which appeared clearly referable to
the greater coefficient of friction of the surface roughened by lamp-
black.
Mr. Graham Bell remarked that if we eliminate radiation and
learn the absolute temperature of the air at the point of observa-
tion, our knowledge is still limited to that point only, whereas for
meteorologic purposes it is important to ascertain the average tem-
perature of a body of air. He suggested the possibility of utilizing
for this purpose a measurement of the velocity of sound, which
48 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
velocity is dependent on atmospheric temperature and independent
of barometric pressure.
Mr. DuTTON thought that the extreme delicacy of this observa-
tion would involve an uncertainty greater than the one which now
inheres in the determination.
239th Meetinq. Ootober 27, 1883.
The President in the Chair.
Forty-seven members and guests present.
The Chair announced the death of two members since the last
meeting — Leonard Bunnell Gale and Elisha Foote.
Announcement was also made of the election to membership of
Charles Doolittle Walcott.
Mr. T. N. Gill made a communication on
ICHTHYOLOGICAL RESULTS OF THE VOYAGE OF THE ALBATROSS.
Mr. Alexander Graham Bell made the following communi-
cation on
FALLACIES CONCERNING THE DEAF, AND THE INFLUENCE OF SUCH
FALLACIES IN PREVENTING THE AMELIORATION
OF THEIR CONDITION.
It is difficult to form an adequate conception of the prevalence
of deafness in the community. There is hardly a man in the
country who has not in his circle of friends and acquaintances at
least one deaf person with, whom he finds it difficult to converse
excepting by means of a hearing-tube or trumpet. Now is it not
an extraordinary fact that these deaf friends are nearly all adults?
Where are the little children who are similarly afflicted ? Have
any of us seen a child with a hearing-tube or trumpet ? If not,
why not? The fact is that very young children who are hard of
hearing, or who cannot hear at all, do not naturally speak, and this
fact has given origin to the term " deaf-mute," by which it is cus-
tomary to designate a person who is deaf from childhood.
"But are there no deaf children," you may ask, "excepting
those whom we term deaf-mutes ? " No ; none. In the tenth census
GENERAL MEETING. 49
of the United States (1880) persons who became deaf under the
age of sixteen years were returned as " deaf and dumb." Such
facts as these give support to the fallacy that deafness, unaccom-
panied by any other natural defect, is confined to adult life, and is
specially characteristic of advancing old age.
So constant is the association of defective speech with defective
hearing in childhood that if one of your children whom you have
lefl at home, hearing perfectly and talking perfectly, should, from
some accident, lose his hearing, he would also naturally lose his
speech. Why is this, and why are those who are born deaf always
also dumb ?
Fallcuiiea Concerning die Dumbnesa of Deaf Children,
The most ingenious and fallacious arguments have been advanced
in explanation. George Sibscota,"^ in 1670, claimed that the nerves
of the tongue and larynx were connected with the nerves of the
ear, " and from this Communion of the vessels proceeds the sympathy
between the Ear, the Tongue and Larynx, and the very affection of
those parts are easily communicated one with the other. Hence it
is that the pulling of the Membrane of the Ear causeth adry Cough
in the party ; and that is the reason most deaf men ^ ^ * are
Dumb, or else speak with great difficulty ; that is, are not capable of
framing true words or of articulate pronunciation by reason, of the
want of that convenient influx of the animal spirits ; and for this
cause also, it is that those who are thick of Hearing have a kind of
hoarce speech."
The value of Sibscota's reasoning may be judged of by the
further information he gives us concerning the uses of the Eusta-
chian tube. " By this it is," he says, " that Smoakers, puffing up
their Bheeks, having taken in the fume of Tobacco, send it out at
their Ears. Therefore the opinion of Alcmaeon is not ridiculous,
who held that she-Goats did breathe thorough their Ears," &c., &c.
It is easy for us to laugh at the fallacies of the past, but are we
ourselves any less liable to error on that account? The majority
of people at the present day believe that those who are born deaf
are also dumb because of defective vocal organs. Now let us examine
♦ I have been informed that Sibscota's work, " The Deaf and Dumb Man's
Discourse," from which the above extracts are taken, is in reality a translation of
another work by Anthony Densing, published in 1656.
4
50 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
this proposition. It is a more ridiculous and absurd fallacy than
that of Sibscota and more easily disposed of.
The hypothesis that congenitally deaf children do not naturally
speak because their vocal organs are defective involves the assump-
tion that were their vocal organs perfect such children would natu-
rally speak. But why should they speak a language they have
never heard ? Do we speak any language that we have not heard?
Are our vocal organs defective because we do not talk Chinese? It
is a fallacy. The deaf have as perfect vocal organs as our own,
and do not naturally speak because they do not hear. I have my-
self examined the vocal organs of more than 400 deaf-mutes with-
out discovering any other peculiarities than those to be found
among hearing and speaking children. The deaf children of Italy
and Germany are almost universally taught to speak, and why
should we not teach ours ? Wherever determined efforts have been
made in this country success has followed and articulation schools
have been established.
Fallacy Concerning the Intelligence of Deaf Children,
The use of the word " mute" engenders another fallacy concerning
the mental condition of deaf children. There are two classes of
persons who do not naturally speak — those who are dumb on account
of defective hearing and those who are dumb on account of defec-
tive minds. All idiots are dumb.
Deaf children are gathered into institutions and schools that
have been established for their benefit away from the general observ-
vation of the public, and even in adult life they hold themselves
aloof from hearing people ; while idiots and feeble-minded persons
are not so generally withdrawn from their families. Hence the
greater number of " mutes " who are accessible to public observation
are dumb on account of defective minds, and not of defective hear-
ing. No wonder, therefore, that the two classes are oflen con-
founded together. It is the hard task of every principal of an
institution for the deaf and dumb to turn idiots and feeble-minded
children away from his school — children who hear perfectly, but
cannot speak. Although it is evidently fallacious to argue that,
because all deaf infants are dumb, and all idiots are dumb ; there-
fore all deaf infants are idiots: ^till this kind of reasoning is un-
consciously indulged in by a large proportion of our population ;
and the majority of those who for the first time visit an institution
GENERAL MEETING. 51
for the deaf and dumb express unfeigned astonishment at the bright-
ness and int^ligence displayed by the pupils.
Why Hearing Children who become Deaf also become Dumb.
I have stated above that children who are born deaf do not natu-
rally speak because they cannot hear. For the same reason chil-
dren who lose their hearing afler having learned to speak naturally
tend to lose their speech. They acquired speech through the ear
by imitating the utterances of their friends and relatives, and when
they become deaf they gradually forget the true pronunciation of
the words they know, and have naturally no means of learning the
pronunciation of new words; hence their speech tends to become
more and more defective until they finally cease to use spoken
words at all. *
Adults who become deaf do not usually have defective speech,
for in their case the habit of speaking has been so fully formed
that the mere practice of the vocal organs in talking to friends
prevents loss of distinctness. We can learn, however, from the
case of Alexander Selkirk how important is constant practice of
the vocal organs. This man, after about one year's solitary resi-
dence upon an island, was found to have nearly forgotten his mother
tongue; and we find that deaf adults who shrink from society and
use their vocal organs only on rare occasions acquire peculiarities
of utterance that are characteristic of persons in their condition,
although the general intelligibility of their speech is not afifected.
Fallacies Regarding the Nature of Speech,
The fallacies I have already alluded to respecting the difference
between those who become deaf in childhood and those who become
deaf in adult life have their origin in a fallacy concerning the nature
of speech itself. To most people, who do not reflect upon the sub-
ject, it appears that speech is acquired by a natural process similar
to that by which we acquire our teeth. At a certain age the teeth
make their appearance, and at another age we begin to talk. To
unreflecting minds it appears that we grow into speech; that speech
is a natural product of the vocal organs, produced without instruc-
tion and education ; and this leads directly to the fallacy that where
speech is wanting or imperfect the vocal organs are defective.
I have already stated that this cause has been assigned in expla-
52 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
nation of the dumbness of children who are deaf. The idea gives
rise also to the popular notion that stammering and other defects of
speech are diseases to be " cured/' and the attempt has been made
to do so, even by heroic treatment. It is not so very long ago that
slices have been cut from the tongue of a stammerer, in the vain
hope of "curing" what was, after all, but a bad habit of speech.
I have myself known of cases where the uvula has been excised to
correct the same defect. The dumbness of the deaf and the defect-
ive speech of the hearing are some of the penalties we pay for ac-
quiring speech ignorantly, by mere imitation. If parents realized
that stammering and other defects of speech were caused by igno-
rance of the actions of the vocal organs, and not necessarily through
any defect of the mouth, they would have their children taught the
use of the vocal organs by articulation teachers, instead of patron-
izing the widely-advertised specialty physicians, who pretend by
secret means to " cure " what is not a disease. Speech is naturally
acquired by imitation, and through the same agency defects of
speech are propagated. A child copies the defective utterance of
his father. . A school-fellow mocks a stammering companion, and
becomes himself similarly affected. In the one case the fallacy that
the supposed disease is hereditary prevents attempts at instruction
and correction, and in the other the idea that the affliction is the
judgment of God in the way of punishment discourages the afflicted
person and renders him utterly hopeless of any escape excepting by
a miracle.
A practical illustration of the fact that defective speech is prop-
agated by imitation is shown in my own case. When I was a boy
my father was a teacher of elocution, and had living with him at
one time one or two pupils who stammered. While under the care
of my father, these boys spoke clearly and well, without any ap-
parent defect, but, owing to his being called away for a protracted
period of time, his pupils relapsed, and the boys commenced to
stammer as badly as at first. Upon my father's return he found a
house full of stammerers. His own sons were stammering too ! I
can well remember the process of instruction through which I
went before the defect was corrected in my own case.
Ignorance the Real Diffumlty in the Way of Teaching Deaf Children
to Speak,
Speech is the mechanical result of certain adjustments of the
GENERAL MEETING. 53
vocal organs, and if we can teach deaf children the correct adjust-
ments of the perfect organs they possess, they will speak. The diffi-
culty lies with us. We learn to speak by imitating the sounds we
hear, in utter ignorance of the action of the organs that accompa-
nies the sounds. I find myself addressing an audience composed of
scientific men, including many of the most eminent persons in the
country, and I wonder how many there are in this room who could
give an intelligible account of the movements of their vocal organs
in uttering the simplest sentence? We must study the mechanism
of speech, and when we know what are the correct adjustments of
the organs concerned, ingenuity and skill will find the means of
teaching perfect articulation to the deaf.
The Old Fallacy—'' Without Speech, no Reason"
I have already stated that children who are born deaf are also
always dumb. How, then, can they think ? It is difficult for us to
realize the possibility of a train of thought being carried on with-
out words ; but what words can a deaf child know, who has never
heard the sounds of speech ?
When we think, we think in words, though we may not actually
utter sounds. Let us eliminate from our consciousness the train of
words, and what remains ? I do not venture to answer the ques-
tion ; but it is this, and this alone, that belongs to the thoughts of
a deaf child.
It is hardly to be wondered at, therefore, that the fallacy should
have arisen in the past that there could be no thought without
speech ; and this fallacy prevented for hundreds of years any attempt
at the education of the deaf. Before the end of the last century
deaf-mutes were classed among the idiots and insane ; they had no
civil rights, could hold no property ; they were irresponsible beings.
Even those interested in the religious welfare of the world consigned
their souls to the wrong place, for " faith comes by hearing," and
how. could a deaf child be saved? I say that for hundreds of years
the old fallacy, that " without speech there could be no reason,"
hindered and prevented any attempt at the amelioration of the con-
dition of the deaf But, strange to say, it was this very fallacy that
first led to their education. It was attempted, by a miracle to teach
them to speak.
In Bede's History of the Anglo-Saxon church we read '' How Bish-
opp John cured a dumme man with blessing him."
54 .PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
" And when one weeke of Lent was past, the next sounday he
willed the poore man to come unto him ; when he was come, he
bydd him put out his tounge and show it unto him, and taking him
by the chinne, made the signe of the holy crosse upon his tounge,
and when he had so signed and blessed it, he commauuded him to
plucke it in again, and speake saying, speake, me one word, say
gea, gea, which in the english tounge is a worde of affirmation and
consent in such signification as yea, yea.* Incontinent the stringes
of his tounge were loosed, and he said that which was commanded
him to say. The bishopp added certain letters by name, and bid
him say A ; he said A ; say B, he said B, and when he had said
and recited after the bishopp the whole cross rewe he put upon him
Billables and hole wordes to be pronounced. Unto which when he
answered in all pointes orderly, he commaunded him to speake long
sentences, and so he did ; and ceased not all that day and night
following, so longe as he could hold up his head from sleepe (as
they mal^e report that were present) to speake and declare his secret
thoughteb and purposes, which before that day he could never utter
to any man."f
Now, stripped of the miraculous, this is simply a case of articula-
tion teaching. In the other countries of Europe the first attempts at
the education of the deaf were also made by teaching them to speak,
and as the early teachers were monks of the Roman Catholic
Church, it is probable that these schools resulted from the attempts
to perform the miracle of healing the dumb. A large proportion
of the deaf and dumb who were thus brought together were success-
fully taught to articulate.
But now comes a marvel : It was found by the old monks that
their pupils came to understand the utterances of others by watch-
ing the mouth. Such a statement appears more marvelous to those
who understand the mechanism of speech than to those who are
ignorant of it ; and there is a general tendency to consider this ac-
complishment as among the fictitious embellishments of the old nar-
ratives. But the experience of modern teachers confirms the fact
John Bulwer, who is said to have been the earliest English writer
upon the subject of the instruction of the deaf and dumb, published
* It will be remembered that the original of this was in Latin, and that " the
english tounge " here means what we now call the Anglo Saxon,
f American Annals of the Deaf and Dumb, vol. I, p. 33 (1848).
GENERAL MEETING. 55
in the year 1648 a treatise entitled ** Philocophus ; or, the Deaf and
Dumbe Man's Friend. Exhibiting the Philosophical! verity of that
subtile Art, which may inable one with an observant Eie^ to Heare
what any man speaks by the moving of his lips. Upon the same
Ground, with the advantage of an Historicall Exemplification, ap-
parently proving, That a Man Borne Deafe and Dumbe may be
taught to Heare the sound of words with his Eie^ and thence learn
to speak with his tongue."
Articulaiion Teaching in America,
In Europe at the present time deaf children are much more com-
monly taught to speak and understand speech than in this country.
In the majority of our schools and institutions articulation and
speech-reading are taught to only a favored few, and in these schools
no use is made of articulation as a means of communication. A
considerable number of the deaf children in our institutions could
once hear and speak, and those pupils who retain some knowledge
of spoken language have their vocal organs exercised for an hour
or so a day in an articulation class under a special articulation
teacher, but this is not enough exercise to retain the speech. I have
seen a boy who became deaf at 12 years of age, and who had previ-
ously attended one of our public schools, go into an institution for
the deaf and dumb talking as readily as you or I and come out a
deaf mute.
Few, if any, attempts are made to teach articulation to those who
have not naturally spoken, except at the special request of parents
who desire that the experiment shall be tried with their children.
I have seen a congenital deaf mute, who also had a sister deaf and
dumb, who was taught to speak in adult life, and I found upon ex-
periment that he could understand by ear the words and sentences
that he had been taught to articulate when they were spoken in an
ordinary tone of voice about a foot behind his head, yet this young
man had been educated at one of our best institutions without ac-
quiring articulation, and as a consequence he grew up a deaf mute
and married a deaf mute. He informed me himself that he could
hear the people talking in the workshop where he was employed,
but did not understand what they said.
As a matter of personal observation I am convinced that a large
proportion of the congenitally deaf are only hard of hearing, and
this belief is supported by the fact that it used to be the custom in
56 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
some of our iuBtitutioDs to summon the pupils from the play-ground
by the ringing of a bell! Does this not indicate that a large num-
ber of the pupils could hear the ringing of the bell, and that they
told the others who could not hear at all ? Such pupils could have
been taught to speak at home by their friends if artificial assistance
had been given to their hearing. There was no necessity for their
ever becoming deaf and dumb.
It is only within the last fifteen years or thereabouts that schools
have been established in the United States where all the deaf chil-
dren admitted are taught articulation and speech-reading, but such
schools are rapidly increasing in number. Still, it is not generally
known that the experimental stage has passed, and that all deaf
mutes can be taught intelligible speech. This is now done in Italy
and Germany, and the international conventions of teachers of the
deaf and dumb held recently at Milan and Brussels have decided
in favor of articulation for the deaf.
I have stated before that the difficulties in the way of teaching
articulation are external to the deaf. They lie with us and in our
general ignorance of the mechanism of speech. A teacher who does
not himself understand the mechanism of speech is hardly competent
to produce the best results. So dense is the general ignorance upon
this subject that it is probable that of the 50,000,000 of people in
this country the number of persons who are familiar with all that
is known concerniug the mechanism of speech might be numbered
on the two hands. Considering this, the success obtained in our
articulation schools is gratifying and wonderful.
Upon the Art of Understanding Speech by the Eye,
It has been found in the articulation schools of this country that
deaf children can acquire the art of understanding by eye the utter-
ances of their friends and relatives, and this fact has led some
teachers to suppose that speech is as clearly visible to the eye as it
is to the ear, and this fallacy tends to hinder the acquisition of the
art by their pupils.
When we examine the visibility of the elementary sounds of our
language we find that the majority can not be clearly distinguished
by the eye. How then, you may ask, can a deaf child who cannot
distinguish the elements understand words which are combinations
of these elements ?
When the lips are closed we cannot see what is going on inside
GENERAL MEETING. 57
the mouth. The elementary sounds of our language, represented
by the letters F, B, and M, involve a closure of the lips. Hence
the differences of adjustment that originate the differences of sound
are interior and cannot be seen. But while the deaf child may not
be able to say definitely whether the sound you utter is F, B, or M,
he knows certainly that it must be one of these three, for no other
sounds involve a closure of the lips. And so with the other ele-
ments of our language. While he may not be able to tell definitely
the particular element to which you give utterance, he can gener-
ally refer it to a group of sounds that present the same appearance
to the eye. In the same manner he may not be able to tell the pre-
cise word that you utter, but he can refer it to a group of words
having the same appearance. For instance, the words " pat," " bat,"
and " mat " have the same appearance to the eye. While he can-
not tell which of these words you mean when it is uttered singly,
he readily distinguishes it in a sentence by the context. For in-
stance, were you to say that you had wiped your feet upon a " mat,"
the word could not be *' pat " and it could not be " bat."
Here we come to the key to the art of understanding speech by
the eye — Context. But this involves, as a prerequi.site, a compe-
tent knowledge of the English language ; and we may particularly
distinguish those children who have acquired the art from those
who have not, by their superior attainments in this respect. We
can, therefore, see why children who have become deaf after hav-
ing learned to speak, naturally acquire this power to a greater ex-
tent than those who are born deaf.
There are many cases of congenitally deaf children who have ac-
quired this art as perfectly as those who have become deaf from
disease; but in every case such children have been thoroughly
familiar with the English language, at least in its written form.
Fallacies Regarding Speech-reading.
The fallacy that speech is as clearly visible to the eye as it is
audible to the ear hinders the acquisition of the art by causing the
teacher to articulate slowly and word by word, even opening the
mouth to its widest extent to make the actions of the organs more
visible. When we realize that context is the key to speech-read-
ing, theory asserts that ordinary conversational speech should be
more intelligible than slow and labored articulation. This is amply
proved by the experience of the most accomplished speech-readers.
58 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
I have been told by one who has acquired this art that when intro-
duced to strangers their speech is more readily understood if they
are not aware they are speaking to one who cannot hear. The
moment they are told they commence to speak slowly and open
their mouths to an unnatural extent, thus rendering their articula-
tion partially unintelligible. The change brought about by the
knowledge that the listener could not hear was sometimes sudden and
great.
I have lately made an examination of the visibility of all the
words in our language contained in a small pocket dictionary, and
the result has assured me that there are glorious possibilities in the
way of teaching speech-reading to the deaf, if teachers will give
special attention to the subject.
One of the results of my investigation has been that the ambigui-
ties of speech are confined to the little words, chiefly to monosylla-
bles. The longer words are nearly all clearly intelligible. The
reason is obvious, for the greater number of elements there are in a
word the less likelihood is there that another word can be found
that presents exactly the same outliue to the eye.
We need never be afraid, therefore, of using long words to a deaf
child, if they are within his comprehension. We are apt to have
the idea that short words will be simpler, and we sometimes try to
compose sentences consisting as much as possible of monosyllabic
words, under the impression that such words are easy for the pupil
to pronounce and read from the mouth. It is more common, there-
fore, to present such sentences to beginners than to more advanced
pupils. Now, I do not mean tor say that these sentences may not be
easier for a child to pronounce, but the words used are the most
ambiguous to the eye. Such a simple word as '* man," for instance,
is homophenous with no less than thirteen other words.
A few years ago I dictated a string of words to some pupils, with
the object of testing whether they judged by context or were able
to distinguish words clearly by the eye. The results are instruct-
ive. Among the words dictated occurred the following : •* Hit —
rate — ferry — aren't — hat — four — that — reason — high — knit —
donned — co." I told the pupils not to mind whether they under-
stood what I said or not, but simply to write down what they thought
the words looked like, and what do you think they wrote? Upon
examining their slates I found that nearly every child had written
the following sentence : '' It rained very hard, and for that reason
GENERAL MEETING. 59
I did Dot go." I told the pupils to be very careful to observe
whether they could distinguish any difference between the words I
uttered and the words they wrote. I therefore went over the whole
string of words again, articulating them one by one very distinctly.
No difference whatever was detected.
The mother of one of my pupils was present, and was greatly as-
tonished to see her daughter writing down words so different from
those I had pronounced. She said that she could not have believed
that her daughter could have been so stupid ; but her surprise was
increased when she found that the other children had written the
same sentence. I told her that there was no difference in appear-
ance between the words I had uttered and the words they had writ-
ten. She desired to test the matter herself with her own child.
She asked her daughter to repeat after h&r the words I had written,
but the result was the same. The last part of the sentence she re-
peated at least a dozen times, without shaking her daughter's con-
fidence in the belief that the words she had uttered were precisely
the same as those spoken by her mother. To one who could hear,
it was a startling revelation to observe the confidence of the child
in the accuracy of her replies.
" Repeat after me," said the mother, as she pronounced the words
singly and with deliberate distinctness : "high ;" answer, "I; " knit,"
ans., *' did ;" " donned," ans., " not ;" " co," ans., " go./ "Are you
sure you have pronounced the words exactly as I have said them ?"
Ans. "Yes; perfectly certain." "Try again." "Knit," answer,
*Mid;" "donned," answer "not." "Are you sure I said that?"
Ans. " Yes ; absolutely sure." * " Try again," and here the mother
mouthed the word " donned," ans., " not." The mother was con-
vinced, and she left the room with the remark that she felt that she
had been very cruel to her child through ignorance of the fact that
words that were very different to her ear looked alike to her child,
and could not possibly be distinguished, excepting by context.
I have seen a teacher attempting to impart instruction to a deaf
child by word of mouth. She would speak word by word, and the
pupil would repeat after her. Upon one occasion the pupil gave
utterance to a very different word from that which had been spoken
by the teacher. The latter repeated the word a number of times,
opening her mouth to the widest extent, and the boy each time re-
peated the incorrect expression. The teacher grew annoyed at the
supposed stupidity of the pupil, and the pupil grew sulky, and was
60 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
discouraged in his attempt to read from the mouth ; whereas, in
reality, it was not the stupidity of the boy that was in the way of
his progress, but the ignorance of the teacher, who did not know
that the words that were so different to her ear were absolutely alike
to his eye.
Some teachers, in their anxiety to teach speech-reading to their
pupils, have the idea that they should refrain from every other
mode of communication, so that their pupils may be forced to ob-
serve the movements of the mouth, and the mouth alone. For in-
stance, it is easy to write an ambiguous word or to spell it by a
manual alphabet, but some teachers refrain from doing so, under
the impression that this practice leads the pupil to depend upon
the hand instead of the mouth.
Again, deaf persons gather an idea of the emotion that actuates
a speaker by the expression of his countenance. In fact facial
expression is to the eye what the modulation of the voice is to the
ear. It gives life to the inaudible utterances of the mouth ; but
there are some teachers who are so afraid that their pupils may
come to depend upon the iace instead of the mouth, that they think
they should assume an impassive countenance from which nothing
could be inferred.
Requisites to the Art of Speech-reading,
If we examine the visibility of speech and the causes of its in-
telligibility, we shall find that there are three qualifications that
must be possessed by a deaf child in order that he may understand
readily the utterances of his friends. Omit any one of these quali-
fications and good speech-reading is an impossibility :
I. The eye must be trained to recognize readily those movements
of the vocal organs that are visible. Has this ever been done ?
Have not pupils been required to grapple with all the difficulties of
speech-reading at once, and to observe not only the movements of
the vocal organs, but to find out the meaning of what is said ?
II. I have already explained that certain words have the same
appearance to the eye, and it is necessary, if the pupil is to under-
stand general conversation, that he shall know the words that look
alike, so that a given series of movements of the vocal organs shall
suggest to his mind not a single word, but a group of words, from
which selection is to be made by context.
An illustration will explain what I mean. There are many
GENERAL MEETING. 61
words wbich have the same sound to the ear, but different signifi-
catioDs. For instance, were I to ask you to spell the word " rane/'
you could not tell whether I meant " rain," " rein," or " reign."
These words sound alike, but they lead to no confusion, for they
are readily distinguished by context. In the same way " homo-
phenous words," or words that have the same appearance to the
eye, are readily distinguished by context.
As a general rule when a teacher finds that her pupil does not
understand a given word, she supposes the non-comprehension to
be due to an untrained eye, and this leads to the patient repetition
of the word with widely opened mouth, to make the action of the
organs more visible. This, unintentionally, enables the pupil to
acquire a knowledge of homophenous words ; for, when he fails to
understand in the first instance, he is requested to try again. He
then guesses at the meaning. He thinks of all the words that past
experience has taught him looked something like the word pro-
posed, and after a series of guesses generally succeeds in his at-
tempt to unravel the meaning.
In this way success comes at last, not in consequence of the pupil
seeing more than he saw at first, but in consequence of knowledge
gained by experience of failure. He learns what words present the
saine appearance to the eye. Let teachers find out the words that
look alike, and teach them in groups to their pupils. In this way
instruction will take the place of painful experience.
III. The third requisite to good speech-reading is familiarity
with the English language. Familiarity with our language, either
in its written or spoken form, is absolutely essential in order that
a deaf person may make use of context in his attempt to decipher
our speech. It is a mental problem that the deaf child has to
solve and not solely a problem of vision. The eyes of the cou-
genitally deaf, if there is any difierence at all, are rather stronger
and better than the eyes of those who become deaf from disease ;
and yet, as a class, the congenitally deaf acquire the art of speech-
reading with much more difficulty than those who could speak be-
fore they became deaf. The reason is, that, as a class, the former
have not a vernacular knowledge of our language even in its writ-
ten form, while the latter have. Children who become deaf in
infancy from disease are at as great a disadvantage in this respect
as the congenitally deaf, and for the same reason.
I shall inquire more particularly into the cause of this lack of
62 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
familiarity with the Eaglish language, and I shall show that it
results from a wide-spread fallacy regarding the nature of language
and the means by which our language should be taught. In the
meantime I shall simply direct attention to the fact that those who
are deaf from infancy do not, as a general rule, become familiar
with the English language even in its written form.
It is obvious that if we talk to deaf children by word of mouth,
and refrain from explaining, by writing or some other clearly visi-
ble means, the words that are ambiguous, those pupils who are
already familiar with the language have very great advantages
over the others. They have a fund of words from which to draw,
they can guess at the ambiguous word and substitute other words
within their knowledge so as finally to arrive at the correct mean-
ing. But young children who have been deaf from infancy and
who never, therefore, have known our language, are not qualified
at once for this species of guess-work. They know no words ex-
cepting those we teach them, and have, therefore, no fund to draw
upon in case of perplexity. If we commence the education of
such children by speech-reading alone they are plunged into dif-
ficulties to which they have not the key.
To such children it becomes a matter of absolute necessity that
our language should be presented to them in an unambiguous form.
With such pupils, writing should be the main reliance, and speech-
reading can only be satisfactorily acquired by the constant accom-
paniment of writing, or its equivalent — a manual alphabet. I have
no hesitation in saying that the attempt to carry on the general
education of young children who are deaf from infancy by means
of articulation and speech-reading alone, without the habitual use
of English in a more clearly visible form, would tend to retard their
mental development. I do not mean to say that this is ever actu-
ally done, but I know there is a tendency among teachers of articu-
lation to rely too much upon the general intelligibility of their
speech. Let them realize that the intelligibility is almost entirely
due to context, and they will rely more upon writing and less upon
the mouth in their instructions to young congenitally deaf children.
After a probationary period, pupils who could speak before they
became deaf become so expert in speech-reading that the regular
instruction of the school-room can be carried on through its means
without detriment to the pupil's progress. The exceptional cases
of congenitally deaf persons who have become expert in this art
GENERAL MEETING. 63
assures us that, with all who are deaf from iufaDcy, we can cer-
tainly achieve the same results if only we can give them a sufficient
knowledge of our language, at least in its written form. In the
early stages of the education of the congenitally deaf it appears to
me that written English should be made the vernacular of the
school-room, and that all words or sentences written should also be
spoken by the teacher and read by the pupils from the mouth.
When the English language has become vernacular there is no
reason why instruction should not also be given by word of mouth
alone (as in the case of those who could speak before they became
deaf) without interfering with mental development.
Before leaving this subject I would say that it is of importance
to remember that speaking and understanding speech by the eye
are two very different things. We can all of us speak very readily,
but I fancy it would puzzle most of us to be called upon to tell what
a speaker says by watching his mouth. The congenitally deaf can
certainly be taught to speak intelligibly even by persons unfamiliar
with the mechanism of articulation. Such pupils should therefore
be taught to articulate, and their vocal organs should be continually
exercised in the school-room by causing them to speak as well as to
write. The congenitally deaf can be taught to articulate even 6e-
fwre they are familiar with English, but I do not think they can
acquire the power of understanding ordinary conversational speech
by watching the mouth, at least to any great extent, until after they
have become familiar with our language.
Gesture Language,
I have already stated that the old fallacy, " without speech there
can be no reason," prevented for hundreds of years any attempt at
the education of the deaf and dumb, and now I come to the mem-
orable experiment that forever exploded the fallacy. Towards the
latter end of the last century the Abbe de I'Epee, during the course
of his ministration in Paris, entered a room in which two girls were
sewing. He addressed some remarks to them, but received no reply.
These girls were deaf and dumb. At once the kind heart of the
good Abbe was touched, and he determined to devote his life to the
amelioration of the condition of the deaf and dumb.
He gathered together quite a number of deaf children, who made
their home with'him. He spent his time in their society and de-
voted to their comfort all that he possessed, reducing himself even
64 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
to poverty for their sake. He soon observed that these children
were communicating with one another, but not by speech. They
were inventing a language of their own, unlike any of the spoken
languages of the earth — ^a language of gestures. These children
were reasoning by means of this language ; they were thinking in
gestures instead of in words, and the idea occurred to the Abbe de
TEpee that the old dogma that had for so many hundred years pre>
vented the education of the deaf was a fallacy. Here was nature
developing an instrument of reason with which speech had nothing
to do. Why should he not study this gesture language and assist
these children in their attempts to perfect a means of communica-
tion of this kind, and why should he not use this means of com-
munication so as to lead their minds to higher and ever higher
thoughts? He did so and succeeded in developing the "sign lan-
guage" that is now so extensively employed in this country in
the education of the deaf. The experiment at once attracted at-
tention. Kings and Emperors visited the humble abode of the
Abbe de I'Epee and were astonished by what they saw. He con-
versed with his pupils in the gesture language, and he taught them
through its means the meaning of written French, so that they were
enabled to communicate with hearing persons by writing.
The Fallacy that a Oesture Language is the only Form of Language
that is Natural to the Congenitally Deaf.
The old fallacy was done away with, but a new one immediately
took its place, which has been introduced into our country with the
language of signs, and is now the main obstacle to the acquisition
of English by the congenitally deaf The fallacy to which I allude
is that this gesture language is the only language that is natural to
the congenitally deaf, and that therefore such children must acquire
this language as their vernacular before learning the English lan-
guage, and must be taught the meaning of the latter through its
means. To my mind such a statement consists of a succession of
fallacies, each one resting on the preceding. The proposition that
the sign language is the only language that is natural to congeni-
tally deaf children is like the proposition that the English language
is the only language that is natural to hearing children. It is nat-
ural only in the same sense that English is natural to an American
child. It is the language of the people by whom he is surrounded.
A congenitally deaf child who for the first time enters an insti-
GENERAL MEETING. 65
tution for the deaf and dumb finds the pupils and teachers em-
ploying a gesture language which he does not understand ; but in
time he comes to understand it, and learns by imitation to use it,
just as an American child in Qermany comes in time to understand
and speak Grerman.
Although congenitally deaf children, when they enter an institu-
tion, do not understand or use the sign language as there employed,
they each know and use a gesture language of some kind, which
they employ at home in communicating with their friends and rela-
tives. Hence it is argued that if the "sign language" employed in
our institutions is not the only one, a gesture language of some kind
is necessarily the vernacular of the congenitally deaf child. The
scope of the statement is thus widened, and the proposition we have
now to consider may be thus expressed : Gesture language, in the
wider sense, is the only form of language that is natural to those
who are congenitally deaf.
It is a matter of great importance to the 34,000 deaf-mutes of
this country, and to their friends and relatives, as well as to all
persons who are interested in the amelioration of the condition of
the deaf and dumb, that we examine this proposition with care and
decide whether it is a fallacy or not. To my mind it is a fallacy
based upon another concerning the nature of language itself, namely,
that there is such a thing as a natural language. Such an idea has
led to errors in the past, and will ever continue to do so. We have
all read of the monarch of ancient times, who is recorded to have
shut up a number of little children by themselves, and to have
given orders to their attendants to hold no communication with
them, so that he might observe what language they would naturally
speak as they grew up. It is recorded that the first word uttered
was a Greek word, from which it was argued that the Greek lan-
guage was the natural language of mankind.
In the seventeenth century the ingenious Van Helmont was im-
bued with the idea that the Hebrew language was of divine origin,
from which he argued that Hebrew was the natural language of
mankind, and that the shapes of the Hebrew letters had some nat^
ural relation to the sounds they represented ; that they pictured, in
fact, the positions of the vocal organs in forming the sounds. The
latter idea led him to employ the characters as a means of teaching
articulation to a deaf-mute ; but the former idea led him to teach
his deaf-mute Hebrew, instead of his native tongue,
6
66 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
When we examine the languages of the world that are naturally
acquired by hearing children, we fail to discover any natural con-
nection between the sounds of the words and the things they repre-
sent ; everything is arbitrary and conventional.
Origin and Mode of Growth of a Oesture Language,
Now, let us examine for a moment the nature of a gesture lan-
guage and the manner in which it comes into existence. You are,
we shall suppose, a farmer, and your little deaf boy comes run-
ning into the house in great excitement, anxious to tell you some-
thing he has observed. How does he do so?
We shall imagine a case. He commences by placing his hands
above his head, bowing low, and marching about the room, after
which he points out of the window.
You shake your head ; you have not the remotest idea what he
means
His face assumes an anxious look, and down he goes upon his
hands and knees, and s<f^ambles over the floor, touching the carpet
with his mouth from time to time, and then again points out of the
window.
Still you do not comprehend.
A look of perplexity crosses his face. What can he do to make
you understand ? At last his face lights up, as a new thought cornea
into his mind, and he touches the bridge of his nose and again points
out 'of the window.
But, alas ! alas ! you cannot understand.
The little fellow is perplexed and troubled. At last, in despair,
he takes hold of your coat and pulls you out of the door, around
the corner, and you find your cow in Hie turnip patch.
Now you begin to understand what it was he meant to say ; he
had tried to picture the cow, and to imitate its actions. The
hands held above the head had indicated the horns ; the scrambling
on the floor on his hands and knees had imitated the action of a
four-footed animal, and his mouth to the carpet meant the cow
eating the turnips.
But how about the bridge of his nose 7
You will probably observe that the cow to which he referred had
some white spot or other mark upon the nose, and the gesture of the
child had not indicated a cow in general, but your black cow
'' Bessie/' with the white spot on her nose, in particular.
I
I
f
GENERAL MEETING. 67
Having advanced thus far iu the comprehension of bis meaning,
do you think that the child will take the trouble to go through this
same pantomime the next time he wishes to tell you about your
cow ? No. He may commence such a pantomime, but before he
gets half through you understand what he means, and he never
completes it. A process of abbreviation commences, until finally a
touch on the bridge of his nose alone becomes the name of your
black cow " Bessie," and the simple holding of his hands above his
head conveys to your mind the idea of a cow in general.
By a natural process of abbreviation the child arrives at a sim-
ple gesture or sign for every object or thing in which he is inter-
ested.
But there are many thoughts he desires to express which are ab-
stract in their nature. How, for instance, can he indicate by any
sign the color of an object ? Suppose, by way of illustration, that
he desired to communicate to you the idea that he had seen in the
road a cow that was perfectly white ?
I shall try to depict the conversation between yourself and your
deaf boy as it might actually have occurred.
The boy. The boy points to the road, touches his teeth, and holds
bis bands above his head.
You gather from this a vague idea of some connection between
that road, the boy*s teeth, and a cow.
Here is a problem : What did he mean ? It is pretty clear that
be had seen a cow in the road, but what connection had his teeth
with that ? Perhaps the cow's teeth were peculiar. You think you
had better get him to explain, so —
The father. You touch your teeth with an interrogative and
puzzled look.
The boy. The boy responds by showing you his shirt sleeve and
pointing to the road.
Can he mean that there was any connection between his shirt
sleeve and the cow. To clear this point —
The father. You touch his shirt sleeve and raise your hands
above your head with a look of interrogation.
The boy. The boy nods vigorously, raises his hands above his
head, and makes his sign for " snow," followed by other signs for
objects that are white.
After he has presented a sufficient number of such signs, you per-
ceive that the one thing common to them all was their color — they
68 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
were white. And thus you gain the idea that the cow was white.
Do you suppose he goes through this process every time he desires
to communicate the idea of white ? No ; he remembers the object
which had conveyed to your mind the idea that that cow was white,
and the sign for this object is ever after used as an adjective, quali-
fying the object the whiteness of which he desires to indicate. Of
course you cannot predicate what this particular sign may be. I
have seen children who have conveyed the idea by touching their
teeth ; others who expressed it by an undulatory downward move-
ment of the hand, expressive of the way in which a snow-flake falls
to the ground.
It will thus be understood that a deaf child first commences to
express his ideas by pantomime, and that by a process of abbrevia-
tion pantomimic gestures come to be used in a conventional manner.
Pantomime is no more entitled to the name of language than a
picture is, although many ideas can be conveyed through its means.
In proportion as it becomes more conventional and arbitrary it be-
comes more and more worthy of the name of language.
The Sign-Language of Our InstUtUions,
Now, when the deaf children who lived with the Abbe de TEpee
were first brought together, each of them used a gesture-language
he had invented for himself as a means of communicating with his
friends at home. Thus there were as many gesture-languages as
there were children. The only element common to these languages
was probably the pantomime from which they had all sprung. But
now what happened ? Association and the necessity of intercom-
munication led to the adoption of common signs. Each child pre-
sented his gestures to his fellows, and by a process of selection those
signs that appeared to the majority to be most fitting survived, and
were adopted by the whole ; and the synonymous signs, which were
not so well fitted, were either forgotten by disuse or used in a new
meaning to express other ideas.
I do not wonder at the interest displayed in this growth by the
Abbe de L'Epee and his contemporaries. To my mind it was the
mbst interesting and instructive spectacle that has ever been pre-
sented to the mind of man — the gradual evolution of an organized
language from simple pantomime.
When, in 1817, the first school for the deaf and dumb was opened
in America, the sign-language as used in the school of the Abbe de
GENERAL MEETING. 69
I'Epee (then under the charge of his successor, the Abbe Sicard)
was imported from France, and became the medium of instruction.
The teachers trained in this school naturally became the principals
of other institutions established upon its model, and thus the sign-
language has been diffused over the length and breadth of our land.
I heartily agree with all that experienced teachers of the deaf
have urged concerning the beauty and great interest of this gesture
language. It is indeed interesting to observe how pantomimic ges-
tures have been abbreviated to simple signs expressive of concrete
ideas ; how these have been compounded or have changed their
meaniug to indicate abstract thoughts ; and how the sequence of
the sign- words has to a certain extent become obligatory, thus
fbrming a sort of gesture syntax or grammar.
The original stock or stocks from which our languages are derived
must have disappeared from earth ages before historic times ; but
in the gesture speech of the deaf we have a language whose history •
can be traced ab origine, and it has appeared to me that this fact
should give it a unique and independent value. In the year 1878,
in a paper read before the Anthropological Society of London, I
advocated the study of the gesture language by men of science ;
for it seemed to me that the study of the mode in which the s^n
language has arisen from pantomime might throw a flood of light
upon the origin and mode of growth of all languages.
You may ask why it is that, with my high appreciation of this
language as a language, I should advocate its entire abolition in
our institutions for the deaf.
I admit all that has been urged by experienced teachers con-
cerning the ease with which a deaf child acquires this language,
and its perfect adaptability for the purpose of developing his mind ;
but after all it is not the language of the millions of people among
whom his lot in life is cast. It is to them a foreign tongue, and
the more he becomes habituated to its use the more he becomes a
stranger in his own country.
This is not denied by teachers of the deaf and dumb, but the
argument is made, as I have stated above, that it is the only lan-
guage that is natural to congenitally deaf children, or that at all
events, some form of gesture language must necessarily be their
vernacular, and be employed to teach our English tongue.
70 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
The Fallacy that a Oesture Language is the only form of Language
in which a CongenUaUy Deaf Child can Think.
Now what do we mean by a language being " natural" or not?
I cannot believe that in this 19th century any one really entertains
the fallacy that there is a natural language per se. So I presume
that that language is considered natural to a person in which he
thinks. Under this meaning the proposition assumes this shape :
The sign language taught in our institutions, or a gesture language
of some kind, is the only form of language in which a eongenitally
deaf child can think; that is, it is the only language of which the
elements can be associated directly with the ideas they express.
In this form the fallacy is easily exploded, for in the course of
the last one hundred years so many experiments have been made
in the education of the deaf that we now know with absolute cer-
tainty that deaf children can be taught to associate written words
directly with the ideas they represent; and when they are taught
to spell these words by a manual alphabet, the movements of the
fingers become so natural a method of giving vent to their thoughts
that even in sleep their fingers move when they dream.
Not only has written English been made the vernacular of eon-
genitally deaf children, but the same result has been achieved with
written French, German, Spanish, Dutch, and other languages.
Congenitally deaf children who have been taught articulation
move their mouths in their sleep and give utterance to words when
they dream.
Laura Bridgman, the blind deaf-mute, was taught by the late
Dr. Howe to gather ideas through the sense of touch. English
words printed in raised letters were presented to her sense of touch
in connection with the objects which they represented, and she
associated the impressions produced upon the ends of her fingers
with the objects themselves. The English language in a tangible
form became her vernacular.
All these facts assure us that any form of language may become
natural to a deaf child by usage, so long as it is presented to the
senses he possesses. There is only one way that language is natu-
rally acquired, and that is by usage and imitation. Any form of
language that can be clearly appreciated by the senses the deaf
child possesses, will become his vernacular if it is used by those
about him.
GENERAL MEETING. 71
Why the Deaf employ a Gesture Language,
A gesture language is employed by a deaf child at home, not
because it is the only language that is natural to one in his con-
dition, but because his friends neglect to use in his presence any
other form of language that can be appreciated by his senses.
Speech is addressed to his ear ; but his ear is dead, and the motions
of the mouth cannot be fully interpreted without previous familiarity
with the language. On account, therefore, of the neglect of parents
and friends to present to his eye any clearly visible form of lan-
guage, the deaf child is forced to invent such a means of communi-
cation, which his friends then adopt by imitation. I venture to
c'xpress the opinion that no gesture language would be developed
at home by a deaf child if his. parents and friends habitually em-
ployed, in his presence, the English language in a clearly visible
form. He would come to understand it by usage, and use it by
imitation.
An old writer, George Dalgarno, in 1680, expressed the opinion,
in which I fully concur, that " there might be successful addresses
made to a dumb child even in its cradle, risu cognoscere inatrem, if
the mother or nurse had but as nimble a hand as usually they have
a tongue."
When deaf children enter an institution they find the other
pupils and the teachers using a form of gesture language which
they do not understand. For the first time in their lives they find
a language used by those about them that is addressed to the senses
they possess. After a longer or shorter time they discard the lan-
guage that they had themselves devised, and acquire, by imitation,
the sign language of the institution.
Harmful Results of the Sign Language,
After a few months residence in the institution, the children re-
turn to their friends in the holidays using easily and fluently a lan-
guage that is foreign to them, while of the English language they
know no more than the average school boy does of French or Ger-
man afler the same period of instruction. The only language they
can employ in talking to their friends is the crude gesture language
of their own invention, which they had long before discarded at
school ; and they perpetually contrast the difficulty and slowness of
comprehension of their friends with the ease with which their school
fellows and teachers could understand what they mean. They have
72 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
learned by experience how sweet a thing it is to communicate freely
with other minds, and they are continually hampered and annoyed
by the difficulty they meet with in conversing with their own parents
and friends.
Can it be wondered at, therefore, that such a child soon tires of
home ? He longs for the school play-ground, and the deaf com-
panions with whom he can converse so easily. Little by little the
ties of blood and relationship are weakened, and the institution be-
comes his home.
Nor are these all the harmful effects that are directly traceable
to the habitual use in school, as a means of communication, of a
language foreign to the mass of the people. Disastrous results are
traceable inwards in the operation of his mind, and outwards in his
relation to the external world in adult life. He has learned to
think in the gesture-language, and his most perfected English ex-
pressions are only translations of his sign speech.
As a general rule, when his education is completed, his knowl-
edge of the English language is like the knowledge of French or
German possessed by the average hearing child on leaving school.
He cannot read an ordinary book intelligently without frequent re-
course to a dictionary. He can understand a good deal of what he
sees in the newspapers, especially if it concerns what interests him
personally, and he can generally manage to make people under-
stand what he wishes by writing, but he writes in broken English,
as a foreigner would speak.
Let us consider for a moment the condition of a person whose
vernacular is different from that of the people by whom he is sur-
rounded. Place one of our American school boys just graduated
from school in the heart of Germany. He finds that his knowledge
of German is not sufficient to enable him to communicate freely
with the people. He thinks in English, and has to go through a
mental process of translation before he can understand what is said,
or can himself say what he means. Constant communication with
the people involves constant effort and a mental strain. Under
such circumstances what a pleasure it is for him to meet with a per-
son who can speak the English tongue. What a relief to be able
to converse freely once more in his own vernacular. Words arise
so spontaneously in the mind that the thought seems to evoke the
proper expression.
But mark the result: the more he associates with English-
QBNERAL MEETING. 73
speaking people the less desire does he have to converse in German.
The practice of the English language prevents progress in the
aquisition of German. I have known of English people who have
lived for twenty years in Germany without acquiring the language.
If our American school boy desires to become familiar with the
Grerman language, he must resolutely avoid the society of English-
speaking people. He then finds that the mental effort involved in
conversation becomes less and less, until, finally, he learns to think
in German, and his difficulties cease.
Now consider the case of a deaf boy just graduated from an
institution where the sign language has been employed as a means
of communication. His vernacular is different from that of the
people by whom he is surrounded. He thinks in the gesture lan-
guage and has to go through a mental process of translation before
he can understand what is said or written to him in English, and
before he can himself speak or write in English what he desires to
say. He finds himself in America, in the same condition as that
of the American boy in Germany. If he avoids association with
those who use the sign language, and courts the society of hearing
persons, the mental effort involved in conversation becomes less and
less, and finally he learns to think in English and his difficulties
cease.
But such a course involves great determination and perseverance
on the part of the deaf boy, and few, indeed, are those who succeed.
Not only do the other deaf-mutes in his locality have the same
vernacular as his own, but they were his school fellows, and they
have a common recollection 'of pleasant years of childhood spent
in each other's society. Can it be wondered at, therefore, that the
vast majority of the deaf graduates of our institutions keep up
acquaintance with one another in adult life ? The more they com-
municate with one another the less desire they have to associate
with hearing persons, and the practice of the gesture language
forms an obstacle to further progress in the acquisition of the
English language.
These two causes (a) previous exclusive acquaintance with one
another in the same school, and (b) a common knowledge of a form
of language specially adapted for the communication of the deaf
with the deaf, operate to attract together into the large cities large*
numbers of deaf persons, who form a sort of deaf community or
society, having very little intercourse with the outside world.
74 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
They work at trades or businesses in these towns, and their
leisure hours are spent almost exclusively in each other's society.
Under such circumstances can we be surprised that the majority of
these deaf persons marry deaf persons, and that we have as
a result a small but necessarily increasing number of cases of
hereditary deafness due to this cause. Such unions do not gene-
rally result in the production of deaf offipring, because the deaf-
ness of the parents in a large proportion of cases is of accidental
origin, and accidental deafness is no more likely to be inherited
than the accidental loss of a limb. Still I would submit that the
constant selection of the deaf by the deaf in marriage is fraught
with danger to the community.
Why the English Language should be Substituted for the Sign
Language as a Vernacular.
If we examine the position in adult life of deaf children who
have been taught to speak, or who have acquired the English lan-
guage as a vernacular, whether in its written or spoken forms, we
find an entirely different set of tendencies coming into play, especi-
ally if these persons have not been forced in childhood to make the
acquaintance of large numbers of other deaf children, by social
imprisonment for years together in the same school or institution
apart from the hearing world.
Their vernacular use of the Engli:$h language renders it easy for
them to communicate with hearing persons by writing, or by word
of mouth if they have been taught to^ articulate; and hearing per-
sons can easily communicate with them by writing, or by word of
mouth if they have been taught the use of the eye as a substitute
for the ear. Tlie restraints placed upon their intercourse with the
world by their lack of hearing leads them to seek the society of
books, and thus they tend to rise mentally to an ever higher and
higher plane. A cultivated mind delights in the society of edu-
cated people, and their knowledge of passing events derived from
newspapers forms an additional bond of union between them and
the hearing world.
If they have formed in childhood few deaf acquaintances, they
^eet in afler life hundreds of hearing persons for every deaf acquain-
tance, and if they marry, the chances are immensely in favor of
their marrying hearing persons.
There is nothing in the deaf-mute societies in the large cities to
GENERAL MEETING. 75
attract them, and much to repel them ; for the more highly edu-
cated deaf-mutes in these societies speak what is to them a foreign
language ; while the greater number of the deaf-mutes to be fouud
there are so ignorant that self-respect forbids them from mingling
with them.
Thus the extent of their knowledge of the English language is
the main determining cause of the congregation or separation of
the deaf in adult life. A good vernacular knowledge of the Eng-
lish language operates to effect their absorption into society at
large, and to weaken the bonds that tend to bring them together ;
whereas, a poor knowledge of the language of the country they
live in causes them to be repelled by society and attracted by one
another ; and these attractive and repulsive tendencies are increased
and intensified if they have been taught at school a language for-
eign to society and specially adapted for intercommunication among
themselves. I say, then, let us banish the sign language from our
schools. Let the teachers be careful in their intercourse with their
pupils to use English and English alone. They can write, they can
speak by word of mouth, they can spell the English words by a
manual alphabet, and by any or all of these methods they can
teach English to their pupils as a native tongue.
Omchufion,
In conclusion allow me to say :
1. That those whom we term *' deaf-mutes " have no other natural
defect than that of hearing. They are simply persons who are
deaf from childhood and many of them are only " hard-of-hearing."
2. Deaf children are dumb, not on account of lack of hearing,
but of lack of instruction. No one teaches them to speak.
3. A gesture language is developed by a deaf child at home,
not because it is the only form of language that is natural to one
in his condition, but because his parents and friends neglect to use
the English language in his presence in a clearly visible form.
4. (a) The sign language of our institutions is an artificial and
conventional language derived from pantomime.
(6) So far from being natural either to deaf or hearing persons,
it it not understood by deaf children on their entrance to an insti-
tution. Nor do hearing persons become sufficiently familiar with
the language to be thoroughly qualified as teachers until after one
or more years' residence in an institution for the deaf and dumb.
76 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
(c) The practice of the sign language hinders the aquisition of
the English language.
(d) It makes deaf-mutes associate together in adult life, and
avoid the society of hearing people.
(e) It thus causes the intermarriage of deaf-mutes and the
propagation of their physical defect.
5. Written words can be associated directly with the ideas they
express, without the intervention of signs, and written English can
be taught to deaf children by usage so as to become their ver*
uacular.
6. A language can only be made vernacular by constant use as
a means of communication, without translation.
7. Deaf children who are familiar with the English language in
either its written or spoken forms cau be taught to understand the
utterances of their friends'by watching the mouth.
8. The requisites to the art of speech-reading are :
(a) An eye trained to distinguish quickly those movements of
the vocal organs that are visible (independently of the meaning of
what is uttered.)
{b) A knowledge of hamoplienes ; '^ that is, a knowledge of those
words that present the same appearance to the eye ; and
(c) Sufficient familiarity with the English language to enable
the speech-reader to judge by context which word of a homophe-
nous group is the word intended by the speaker.
If we look back upon the history of the education of the deaf,
we see progress hindered at every stage by fallacies. Let us strive,
by discussion and thought, to remove these fallacies from our minds
so that we may see the deaf child in the condition that nature has
given him to us. If we do this, I think we shall recognize the fact
that the afflictions of his life are mainly due to ourselves, and we
can remove them.
Nature has been kind to the deaf child, man cruel. Nature has
inflicted upon the deaf child but one defect — imperfect hearing ;
man's neglect has made him dumb and forced him to invent a
language which has separated him from the hearing world.
Let us, then, remove the afflictions that we ourselves have caused.
♦ This word was suggested to me some years ago Ijy Mr. Homer, lately Prin-
cipal of the Providence (R. I.) School for Deaf-Mutes, and has now been per-
manently adopted.
GENERAL MEETING. 77
1. Let US teach deaf children to think in English, by using
English in their presence in a clearly visible form.
2. Let us teach them to speak by giving them instruction in the
use of their vocal organs.
3. Let us teach them the use of the eye as a substitute for the
ear in understanding the utterances of their friends.
4. Let us give them instruction in the ordinary branches of edu-
cation by means of the English language.
5. And last, but not least, let us banish the sign language from
our schools.
If it were our object to fit deaf children to live together in adult
life and hold communication with the outside world as we hold
communication with other nationalities than our own, then no bet-
ter plan could be devised than to assist the development of a special
language suitable for intercommunication among the deaf.
But if, on the other hand, it is our object to destroy the barriers
that separate them from the outside world and take away the isola-
tion of their lives, then I hold that our energies should be devoted
to the acquisition of the English language as a vernacular in its
spoken and written forms. With such an object in view we should
bring the deaf together as little as possible and only for the pur-
pose of instruction. Afler school houi;s we should separate the deaf
children from one another to prevent the development of a special
language and scatter them among hearing children and their friends
in the outside world.
The subject being presented to the Society for discussion, Mr.
E. M. Gallaudet spoke, in substance, as follows :
I have listened with great interest to the remarks of Mr. Bell
this evening, and am ready to agree in many particulars with the
views he has so well presented.
I am, however, compelled to differ with him at several points ;
and as these involve matters of vital importance in the treatment
of the deaf, I will beg the indulgence of the Society for a short
time, while I attempt to show to what extent some of Mr. BelFs
views are erroneous.
In proving the generally received opinion that the vocal organs
of persons deaf from infancy are defective, to be a fallacy, Mr.
Bell declared that difficulties encountered by such persons in
acquiring speech are wholly external to themselves, and that all
78 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINQTOK.
persons so situated can, with proper instruction, be taught to speak
and to understand the motions of the lips of others.
That this is a grave error has been proved by the experience of
more than a century of oral teaching in Grermany.
The late Moritz Hill, of Wessenfels, Prussia, a man of the widest
experience and highest standing among the oral teachers of Europe,
expressed to me the opinion a few years since that out of one hun-
dred deaf-mutes, including the semi-mute and semi-deaf, only
" eleven could converse readily with strangers on ordinary subjects"
on leaving school. Of course a much larger number would be able
to converse with their teachers, family, and intimate friends on
common-place subjects; but it would be found that very many
could never attain to any ready command of speech.
The explanation of this lies in the fact that a child, deaf from
infancy, in order to succeed with speech and lip-reading must pos-
sess a certain quickness of vision, a power of perception, and a
control over the muscles of the vocal organs, by no means common
to all such children.
Mr. Bell's view has been held by many instructors with more
or less tenacity, and this fact is explained by a readiness on their
part to argue from the particular to the general. Having
attained marked success with certain individuals, they draw, in their
enthusiasm, the mistaken conclusion that success is possible in the
case of every other deaf child, overlooking the fact that many
things, besides the mere deafness of the child, may affect the result.
Experience has demonstrated th^t in attempting to teach the
deaf to speak, failure in many cases must be anticipated.
Mr. Bell is mistaken in supposing ignorance as to the mech-
anism of the vocal organs to be a prominent cause of failure to
impart speech to the deaf. It is no doubt true that among per-
sons unfamiliar with the training of the deaf, few have made the
mechanism of speech a study ; but in Germany, Italy, and France,
not to speak of our own country, many are to be found who may
be said to have mastered this subject. The results of their labors
have been made available to instructors of the deaf, and all the
best oral schools are profiting thereby.
Mr. Bell is also mistaken when he says that " in a majority of
our schools and institutions articulation and speech-reading are
taught to only a favored few, and in these schools no use of articu-
lation is made as a means of communication," and that " few, if
GENERAL MEETING. 79
any, attempts are made to teach articulation to those who have not
naturally spoken." In most of the larger institutions for the deaf
in this country, every pupil is afforded an opportunity to acquire
speech, and instruction in this is discontinued only when success
seems plainly unattainable.
It is a great error to suppose it to be true of a deaf person edu-
cated on what Mr. Bell calls the sign-method, that, " as a general
rule, when his educatiou is completed, his knowledge of the English
language is like the knowledge of French or German possessed
by the average hearing child on leaving school," or to say that
" he cannot read an ordinary book intelligently without frequent
recourse to a dictionary." On the contrary, a majority of persons
thus educated have a good knowledge of their vernacular, are
able to use it readily as a means of communication with hear-
ing persons, and are able to read intelligently without frequent
recourse to the dictionary.
When Mr. Bell has become familiar with the peculiarities of
the deaf by personal contact with a large number of this class
of persons, I am confident he will not repeat his assertion that
" nature has inflicted upon the deaf child but one defect — imperfect
hearing." For he will then have discovered, what has long been
known to teachers of experience, that deaf children, in addition to
their principal disability, are often fouud to be lacking in mental
capacity, or in the imitative faculty, in the power of visual or tactile
perception, and in other respects ; all of which deficiencies, though
they do not amount even to feeble-mindedness, much less to idiocy,
do operate against the attainment of success in speech, as well as
in other things which go to complete the education of such chil-
dren.
Passing over several points of relatively small importance, in
regard to which I believe Mr. Bell's views to be subject to criti-
cism, I come to his characterization as a fallacy of the opinion
held by many " that the language of gestures is the only language
natural to the child born deaf or who has become deaf in infancy."
I think that in order to sustain his view that this is a fallacy
Professor Bell gives a strained and very unusual meaning to the
words " natural language." If, as he explains, a natural language
is any one that a child may happen to be first taught by those with
whom he is associated, then I should have no controversy with him.
But I understand a natural language to be one that is mainly spon-
taneous, and not at all one that is borne in upon a child from without.
80 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
Moritz Hill, to whom I have already alluded, speaks of the lan-
guage of signs as " one of the two universally intelligible innate
forms of expression granted by God to mankind," the other being
speech. Now it is hardly necessary to urge that speech is the form
of expresi»ion natural to hearing persons, and I think a little re-
flection will satisfy most persons that with the deaf the language of
signs is the only truly natural mode of expressing their thoughts.
Mr. Bell urges that the use of signs in the education of the deaf
is a hinderance rather than a help, and that it would be better
to banish them altogether. To this view I must give my earnest
dissent.
I might, of course, cite the opinions of very many successful in-
structors of the deaf, who have followed only the sign method, to
sustain my position, but I prefer to call in again the testimony of
Moritz Hill, a man whose whole life was devoted to the instruction
of the deaf by the oral method. In an exhaustive work on the
education of the deaf,'*' Hill says, speaking of those who preteud
that in the " German method " every species of pantomimic language
is proscribed :
" Such an idea must be attributed to malevolence or to unpardon-
able levity. This pretence is contrary to nature and repugnant to
the rules of educational science.
** If this system were put into execution the moral life, the in-
tellectual development of the deaf and dumb, would be inhumanly
hampered. It would be acting contrary to nature to forbid the
deaf-mute a meaus of expression employed by even hearing and
speaking persons. * * * It is nonsense to dream of depriving
him of this means until he is in a position to express himself orally.
* * * Even in teaching itself we cannot lay aside the lan-
guage of gestures (with the exception of that which consists in
artiHeial signs and in the manual alphabet — two elements proscribed
by the German school), the language which the deaf-mute brings
with him to school, and which ought to serve as a basis for his edu-
cation. To banish the language of natural signs from the school-
room and limit ourselves to articulation is like employing a gold
key which does not fit the lock of the door we would open and
refusing to use the iron one made for it. * * "^^ At the best, it
would be drilling the deaf-mute, but not moulding him intellectually
or morally."
* Der gegenw&rtige Zustand des Taubstummen Bildungswesens in Deutsch-
land ; von Hill, Inspector der Taubstummen Anstalt zu Wetssenfels ; Ritter des
St. Olafs, &c. Weimar, H. Bdhlau, 1866.
GENEBAL MEETING. 81
Hill then follows with thirteen carefully formulated reasons why
the use of signs is important and even indispensable in the educa-
tion of the deaf.
Mr. Bell is in error when he supposes that in the so-called sign-
schools verbal language is only imparted through the intervention
of the sign-language. In many well-ordered schools of this class,
language is taught without the use of signs, and in such schools
the language of signs is kept in its proper position of subordination.
It goes without saying that in schools for the deaf there may be an
injudicious and excessive use of signs. This is always to be guarded
against, and when it is, I am convinced that no harm, but great
good, results from the use of signs in teaching the deaf.
Furthermore, it is well kno^Q that the attempt to banish signs
from a school for the deaf rarely succeeds. Miss Sarah Porter, for
three years an instructor in the Clarke Institution at Northamp-
ton, Mass., an oral school in which most excellent results have been
attained, shows candor as well as judgment when she says, in a re-
cent article in the American Annals, of the Deaf and Dumb, " Every
oral teacher knows that fighting signs is like fighting original sin.
Put deaf children together and they will make signs secretly if not
openly in their intercourse with each other."
It is not true as a matter of fact that the use of signs necessarily
prevents the deaf from acquiring an idiomatic use of verbal lan-
guage and from thinking in such language. Large numbers of
them who have never been taught orally have come into such a
use of verbal language, and while it is granted that many edu-
cated under the sign system do not use verbal language freely and
correctly, the same is found to be true of very many who have
been educated entirely in oral schools.
In one important particular the language of signs performs a
most valuable service for the deaf, and one of which nothing has
yet been found to take the place. Through signs large numbers of
deaf persons can be addressed, their minds and hearts being moved
as those of hearing persons are by public speaking in its various
forms.
Having seen the good effects on the deaf of the discreet use of
the sign-language through a period of many years, I am confident
that its banishment from all schools for the deaf would work great
injury to this class of persons intellectually, socially, and morally.
6
82 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
The Hon. Gabdiner G. Hubbard being present, was invited by
the chair to participate in the discussion. He said he had been
connected with the Clark Institution for many years. The deaf
pupils in that school are taught entirely by articulation.
From recent inquiries which had been made to ascertain how
far the graduates had profited by instruction in articulation, it ap-
peared that in almost in every instance they could carry on conver-
sation with others sufficiently to engage in many kinds of business
from which they would have been excluded if they had only used
signs.
It was true, as Mr. Gallaudet said, the congenitally deaf were fre-
quenty able to articulate more distinctly than those who lost their
hearing at an early age, but this arises from the fact that the dis-
ease that caused the deafness affected the organs of articulation to
a greater or less degree ; but the congenitally deaf do not make as
rapid progress in their studies as those who had once spoken, for
these have a knowledge of language which the former could ob-
tain only by long protracted study.
Mr. Hubbard believed that the pupils at the Clark Institution
made at least as rapid progress in all their studies as those taught
by signs ; while, at the same time, they acquired the power of read-
ing from the lips and speaking, in which those taught by signs were
deficient.
When the first application was made to the Legislature of Mas-
sachusetts for the incorporation of the Clark Institution, Mr. Dud-
ley, of Northampton, chairman of the committee to whom the peti-
tion was referred, had a congenitally deaf child under instruction
at Hartford. The petitioners were opposed by the professors from
the asylum, as they believed an articulating school would retard
the education of the deaf, as it was impractical to teach the deaf
by articulation, that system having been tried and proved a failure,
and the new method was stigmatized as one of the visionary theories
of Dr. Howe, (the principal of the Perkins Institute for the Blind,
and the teacher of Laura Bridgeman, the blind deaf mute,) who
was associated with the petitioners in the hearing.
The application was rejected through the influence of these pro-
fessors and of Mr. Dudley, who * knew, from experience with his
own child, that it was impossible to teach the congenitally deaf to
talk.'
Two years after, our application was renewed and with better
success.
GENERAL MEETING. 83
Mr. Hubbard in the meantime, with the aid of Miss Rogers, had
opened a small school where the deaf were taught to speak. This
school was visited and examined by the committee, and the progress
made was so great that Mr. Dudley became a warm convert, con-
vinced that the impossible was possible, and the application was
granted, although again opposed by the gentlemen from Hartford.
The school was opened at Northampton, and has been in operation
for nearly fifteen years, and teaching by articulation has ceased to
be a visionary theory.
Many of the warmest friends of the Institution now are, like Mr.
Gallaudet, counocted with institutions where signs are used. In
almost every institution for the deaf classes are now taught to articu-
late, though articulation is not used as the instrument for instruc-
tion.
Mr. Gallaudet had taken exception to the remark of Mr. Bell, that
idiots were born dumb, and said that in every school for idiots there
were many feeble-minded children who could talk readily; butTMr.
Bell used the word idiot not as simply a feeble-minded person, but
according to its ordinary meaning, *' a human being destitute of
reason or the ordinary intellectual powers of man."
It has always been the policy at Northampton to prevent, as far
as possible, marriages of deaf with deaf, for the records show that
the children of such intermarriages are often deaf; and even where
a congeni tally deaf person marries a hearing person, the children
sometimes are deaf.
The tendency of the intermarriage of the deaf would be to raise
a deaf race in our midst.
About one in 1,500 of the population are deaf; but if these in-
termarriages should take place and a deaf race be created, the propor-
tion would rapidly increase. The object of all friends of the deaf
should be to prevent the deaf from congregating, and to induce
them to associate with hearing people. In bringing the deaf to-
gether in institutions, where they are taught by signs, the tendency
is to make the deaf deafer and the dumb more dumb.
It was originally intended to have only a family or small school
at Northampton, but it was soon found that signs could not be ex-
cluded from the play-ground, as the young children could not com-
municate in any other way. The plan was changed, the number of
pupils was largely increased, and a preparatory department estab-
lished, in which signs were tolerated on the play-ground. On
84 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
the removal of the pupils to the higher departments,, the use
of signs is forbidden, and they are rarely used on the play-ground
or between the pupils, either in or out of school hours.
In the later years of instruction they acquire great facility in
articulation and reading from the lips, though there is almost always
some difficulty for a stranger to understand them.
Mr. Gallaudet had referred to the International Convention of
deaf-mute teachers and their friends, at Milan, three years ago. Mr.
Hubbard was present at the convention held this year at Brussels*
and was there informed that a delegate had been sent from France
to attend the convention at Milan and investigate the method of in-
struction in Italy, where articulation was used, for the purpose of
deciding whether the instruction in the French schools should con-
tinue to be by signs, or instruction by articulation be substituted
for signs.
The preference of the delegate had been for signs, but on witness-
ing the results obtained in the Italian schools and hearing the dis-
cussion, he was led to advise that the instruction in the French
schools hereafter be by articulation, instead of signs, and such a
change has, Mr. Hubbard understands, been made in most of the
schools of France.
Mr. Hubbard learned from the reports at Brussels that almost all
the European schools were taught by articulation, and that this means
of instruction was being rapidly substituted for the sign language
in England as well as in France.
Mr. Bell, in reply to the remarks of Mr. Gallaudet, said :
There are signs and signs. There is the same distinction between
pantomime and ttie sign-language that there is between a picture
and the Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Pictures are naturally understood by all the world, but it would
be illogical to argue from this that a picture-language, like that de-
veloped by the ancient Egyptians, must also be universally intelli-
gible. Pantomime is understood by all the world, but who among
us can understand the sign-language of the deaf and dumb without
much instruction and practice?
No one can deny that pantomime and dramatic action can be
used, and with perfect propriety, to illustrate English expressions
so as actually to facilitate the acquisition of our language by the
deaf; but the abbreviated and conventionalized pantomime, known
GENERAL MEETING. 85
as the " sigD-language/' is used in place of the English language,
and becomes itself the veruacular of the deaf child.
Judging from the quotations given by Dr. Gallaudet, Moritz
Hill himself makes a clear distinction between pantomime and the
sign-language, retaining the former and proscribing the latter.
"Every species of pantomimic language is not proscribed," he
says. " Natural signs," or " signs employed by hearing and speak-
ing persons," are retained, while " artificial signs " are proscribed.
All the arguments that have been advanced rep^arding pantomime
and a pantomime language are equally applicable to pictures and
a picture-language. For instance, we may say that a picture-
language is more natural than any of the spoken languages of the
world, because pictures are naturally understood by all mankind.
We may even arrive, by a further process of generalization, at the
idea that picture-language, in the wider sense, really constitutes
the only form of language that is natural at all, for all the other
languages of the world appear to be entirely arbitrary and conven-
tional. If we pursue the parallel we shall arrive at the conclusion
that a picture-language of some kind must necessarily become the
vernacular of our pupils, through which the other more conventional
languages may be explained and taught.
It is immaterial whether such statements are fallacious or not, so
long as we do not apply them to educational purposes. But let us see
how they work in practice. The exhibition of a picture undoubtedly
adds interest to the fairy tale or story that we tell a child. It
illustrates the language we use, and it may be of invaluable
assistance to him in realizing our meaning. But is that any reason
why we should teach him Egyptian hieroglyphics ? Granting the
premises : Is the conclusion sound that we should therefore teach
him English by means of hieroglyphics ?
If such conclusions are illogical, then the fundamental ideas
upon which our whole system of education by signs is based are
also fallacious and unsound.
One word in conclusion regarding speech.
The main cause of the fallacies that fog our conception of the
condition of the deaf child is his lack of speech. A deaf person
who speaks is regarded by the public more as a foreigner than as a
deaf mute. Speech, however imperfect, breaks through the barriers
of prejudice that separate him from the world, and he is recognized
as one of ourselves.
86 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
Mr. Gallaudet under-estimates the value of speech to a deaf
child. He seems to think that speech is of little or do use, unless
it is as perfect as our own. The fact is that the value of speech
to a deaf child must be measured by its intelligibilUy rather than
by its perfection.
It is astonishing how imperfect speech may be and yet be intelli-
gible. We may substitute a mere indefinite murmur of the voice for
all our vowel sounds, without loss of intelligibility. ( Here Mr. Bell
spoke a few sentences in this way, and was perfectly understood.)
Here at once we get rid of the most difficult elements we are called
upon to teach. If now we examine the relative frequency of the con-
sonantal elements, we shall find that 75 per cent, of the consonants
we use are formed by the point of the tongue, and that the majority
of the remainder are formed by the lips. The consonants that are
difficult to teach are chiefly formed by the top or back part of
the tongue ; but, on account of their comparative rarity of occur-
rence, they may be very imperfectly articulated without loss of
intelligibility. Hence I see no reason why, in spite of the general
ignorance of teachers respecting the mechanism of speech, we
may not hope to teach all deaf children an intelligible pronuncia-
tion.
Let teachers appreciate the value of intelligible speech to a deaf
child, and they will make the attempt to give it to him. At the
present time, lack of appreciation operates to prevent the attempt
from being made upon a large scale. Skilled teachers of articula-
tion will become more numerous as the demand for their service
increases, and their ingenuity, intelligently applied, will increase
the perfection of the artificial speech obtained.
In the meantime, do not let us discard speech from the difficulty
of obtaining it in perfection. Do not let us be misled by the idea that
intelligible but defective speech is of no use, and must necessarily
be painful and disagreeable to all who hear it. Those who have
seen the tears of joy shed by a mother over the first utterances of
her deaf child will tell you a different tale. None but a parent can
fully appreciate how sweet and pleasant may be the imperfect articu-
lation of a deaf child.
240th Meeting. November 10, 1883.
The President in the chair.
Forty-eight members present.
GENERAL MEETING. 87
Announcement was made of the election to membership of
Ethelbert Carroll Morgan.
It was announced from the General Committee that invitation had
been extended to the members of the Anthropological and Biologi-
cal Societies to attend the meeting of December 8th, for the pur-
pose of listening to the annual address of the President.
Mr. Edwin Smith exhibited a
SEISMOGRAPHIO RECORD OBTAINED IN JAPAN,
describing the apparatus by which it was made, and giving a brief
account of the seismographic investigations of Professor J. A.
Ewing.
Bemarks were made by Mr. Antisell.
Mr. C. E. DuTTON made a communication, entitled
THE VOLCANIC PROBLEM STATED.
[Abstract.]
It is sufficiently obvious that the volcano is a heat problem, or a
thermo-dynaroic problem. All volcanic activity is attended with
manifestations of great energy. This energy is due to the elastic
force of considerable quantities of water occluded in red-hot or
yellow-hot lavas. The problem is to find a satisfactory explanation
of the origin of the heat, the origin of the occluded water, anCL their
modes of reaction.
In attempting this solution, various explanations have been con-
jectured. The first to be noticed, and the one which, in various
forms, has met with the most favor from geologists and physicists,
is that the source of heat is primordial — i, c, it is the remains of a
large amount of heat contained by the entire earth-mass in its sup-
posed primordial condition, according to the nebular hypothesis ;
that water has penetrated from above, either from the ocean or from
lakes ; and that the contact of cold water with the hot magmas within
the earth is a summary explanation of the phenomena. This view
is supported by the following considerations : 1st, the contact of
water with intensely hot bodies and the resulting generation of
great explosive force is matter of the commonest experience ; 2d,
the outer rocks and strata are known to be full of fissures, and the
ocean bottom and lake bottoms are, therefore, presumably very
leaky ; 3d, nearly all active volcanoes are situated either within, or
88 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
in the neighborhood of, large bodies of water ; 4th, volcanoes near
the sea often deliver salts which may reasonably be supposed to be
the same as those contained in the ocean ; 5th, the analogy of gey-
sers gives us a series of phenomena which seem to be, in many respects,
quite parallel, and which have been satisfactorily explained in a
similar way.
To this view of the origin and causation of volcanic activity there
are some objections. There is difficulty in understanding how water
obtains access to hot magmas. No doubt the rocks are full of
fissures, but we cannot, by any means, confidently infer that these
fissures extend sufficiently deep to afford free or even capillary pas-
sages to melted magmas beneath. We should more legitimately
infer that the heat increases gradually with the depth. At a depth
of a few miles the rocks presumably have a temperature which,
though high, is still below fusion, and at such temperatures it is well
known that all the siliceous or rocky materials we are acquainted
with are viscous. Remembering the immense statical pressure due
to a thickness of a single mile of rocks, all fissures at such depths
would be closed, as if the rocks were wax or butter.
2d. Although the contact of cold water with intensely hot masses
will surely produce a violent explosion, we are not at liberty to admit
ofiThand that cold water does obtain such contact in the volcanoes.
On the contrary, as it penetrates it takes up the heat of the rock£^
througti which it passes. But water is believed by all physicists to
have what is technically termed a critical temperature, t. e,, a tem-
perature at which it can exist only in the form of vapor however
great the pressure, and this temperature is computed theoretically
to be about 772^ F., which is far below that of melted rock. If
therefore, water could reach the liquid lavas below, it would reach
them only in the form of vapor. There is indeed no difficulty in
supposing that the vapor of water may, under great statical pres-
sure, be forced into the rocks, passing between inter-molecular spaces.
This is but one aspect of the phenomena of the diffusion and occlu-
sion of gases in solids, and we know that water-vapor in large quan-
tities is readily occluded by lava. But this is evidently no explan-
ation of the explosive action. It is in the broadest possible con-
trast with the gross conception of the sudden access of cold water
to hot bodies. The presumption is, under the process here sug-
gested, that the vapor of water might penetrate slowly into regions
of great heat until the hot magmas were saturated, and then the
GENERAL MEETING. 89
process would come to a standstill. But there would be no volcauo
in this case, for the supposed condition is evidently statical and
stable. For the pressure which is supposed to force the vapor in is
that due to the hydrostatic pressure of a column of water. The
pressure which keeps it from blowing out is that due to an equally
high or even higher colunin of rock, the density of which is at least
two and a half times greater.
3d. The analogy of the geyser thus fails to become a true ho-
mology, or an epitome of the volcano. For the geyser is due to the
access of cold water to a cavity walled by hot rocks and its vapor-
ization ; the volcano, if due to the penetration of water, is due to pen-
etration in the form of vapor in the first instance; and the difference
is radical.
4th. The proximity of volcanoes to large bodies of water does
not necessarily imply a logical and causal relation, and is not nec-
essarily the true law of distribution. Another and perhaps a more
rational law of distribution may be given. As a matter of fact all
active volcanoes are not situated near seas or lakes, though in truth
the exceptions are at the present time few, as for instance, Sangay,
in the eastern Cordilleras of Peru, and the volcanoes of Central
Asia. It seems as if Darwin had acutely divined the true associa-
tion, viz : that volcanoes are situated in areas which are undergoing
elevation. So far as we know this rule is without exception, but
there are many cases where the verification of the elevation is want-
ing. So far, however, as the test has hitherto been applied it has
approved the rule. This is especially conspicuous in the western
half of our own country when applied to the late Tertiary and Post
Tertiary volcanoes, and it is true, so far as known, of the Andes,
Java, Phillippines, and Mediterranean, and I have recently been
able to verify it in the case of the Hawaiian volcanoes. It happens
that elevations, as well as subsidences, are much more frequent and
extensive near coast lines than in continental interiors, whence the
proximity of volcanoes to the sea becomes a secondary rather than
a primary relation. But elevations also occur in continental in- '
teriors, though less frequently. And when they do occur, we find
associated phenomena of volcanism as abundant and forcible as in
littoral regions. This has been the case in the great Tertiary ele-
vation of the Rocky Mountains, of the Alps, and of the Himalayan
plateau. Darwin^s law of the distribution of volcanoes is as thor-
oughly sustained by geological history as by modern instances;
90 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
while the other law, though largely predominant at the present
period, shows a few conspicuous failures at the present time, but a
very large number of them in times past.
Another hypothesis to account for volcanic energy supposes the
interior of the earth to consist of unoxidized elements, which grad-
ually become oxidized by the penetration of oxygen from the at-
mosphere.
The objections to this hypothesis are as follows : On the assump-
tion that the earth acquires no oxygen from space, the primitive
atmosphere would have been many thousand times greater than at
present ; but the geological record argues strongly in favor of an
atmosphere which may indeed have varied in quantity and compo-
sition, but nowhere near so greatly as the hypothesis implies. Any
such extravagant difference would have recorded itself legibly in
the strata. Furthermore, on this view, the end of all volcanic ac-
tivity is close at hand. Only three pounds of oxygen to the square
inch of terrestrial surface are left. A few hundred or thousand
centuries and the last volcanic beacon is extinguished, and with it
all organic life.
But suppose the earth gathers up oxygen in its march through
space. This may be true, but we can make any supposition on this
point which pleases our fancy and feel sure that no prudent scien-
tific man will dispute it.
A third hypothesis is that of the late Robert Mallet, which as-
sumes the earth to be contracting interiorly by a secular loss of prim-
itive heat. As the interior cools and shrinks, the external shell is
crushed and crumpled together, and this mechanical crushing is a
sufficient source of heat.
To this hypothesis there are many answers. The most direct one
is that the very facts which are relied upon to prove that there is
any interior cooling at all now going on also prove that the amount
hitherto has been excedingly small, and has been limited as yet to
a thin external shell, not exceeding 150 miles in thickness, while
the great interior is about as hot as ever ; but, by the terms of the
hypothesis, if the interior has not cooled there has been no interior
contraction. The hypothesis is refuted by taking its own premises
and pushing them to their inevitable conclusions.
There is a fourth hypothesis, which cuts the Gordian knot in-
stead of untying it. It assumes, as the result of causes unexplained,
heat is generated locally within the earth, and such local movements
GENERAL MEETING. 91
of heat are the cause of yolcanism. This is an arbitrary postulate,
which, by its own terms, precludes discussion. Nevertheless it is
the one which I believe agrees best, and perhaps perfectly, with ob-
served facts. It undoubtedly sweeps away the difficulties which
encumber all other hypotheses, but unfortunately it is an appeal to
mystery, and therefore substitutes a single difficulty as great as, if
not greater, than all the other difficulties put together.
There is a fifth hypothesis, which takes account of the fact that
many bodies which are solid under great pressure are immediately
liquefied when the pressure is removed, heat being neither lost nor
gained. The removal of pressure by denudation of the surface
above the seat of lavas may thus determine volcanic action. The
reply to this is that volcanoes do not always, nor even generally,
occur where such denudation and consequent relief of pressure, are
in progress. The true law of the distribution of volcanoes appears
to be the one given by the late Charles Darwin, viz., that they occur
in areas which are undergoing elevation.
There are several broad facts, or categories of facts, which a true
theory of the volcano must cover, and which will be recited
briefly.
1. Lavas, in their subterranean seat, could not possibly have been
in a highly elastic explosive condition from the earliest epochs of
the earth's evolution, and only waiting a convenient season to break
forth. We have no alternative but to regard them as being inert
and inexplosive in their primitive condition, and as having acquired
explosive energy just before the epoch of eruption. To assume that
they have always been in the condition they present while pouring
forth, and that the opening of a fissure has been the accident which
determined the eruption, is reasoning in a circle. It is the energy
of the lavas which causes the fissure, and not the fissure which
causes the lavas to extrude. The lavas extrude themselves by vir-
tue of their acquired elastic force. The theory must explain how
materials which antecedently were inert, passive, incapable of erup-
tion, may become active, dynamical, eruptible.
2. Another broad fact, closely related to the foregoing, is the in-
termittent action of volcanoes. These vents do not discharge all
their available products at once, but by repeated spasms of activity,
separated by longer intervals of repose. If these fiery explosive
liquids had lain so long in the earth, chock-full of energy and only
awaiting the opening of a passage-way, how happens it that when
92 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
a vent is once opened they do not all rush forth at once, and con-
tinue to outpour until the reservoir is completely exhausted, and
why does not the vent thereafter close up forever ? In a word, why
should a yolcano dole out its products in driblets, instead of send*
ing forth one stupendous belch, equal to all the driblets combined?
The answer here proposed is that it is because lavas, in their primi-
tive condition, do not have sufficient potential energy, in the form
of elastic force, to break open the covering which keeps them in ;
but they gradually acquire that energy in a portion of the reser-
voirs at a time, and when a sufficient portion of them has acquired
it the covering is ruptured, and the whole of this energetic portion
is extravasated. The vent then closes, and the process is repeated
upon a second installment. The agency which thus progressively
develops this force is the missing factor, and when we discover it
we shall discover the secret of the volcano.
The third general fact to be taken account of is the enormous
quantity of heat given off by volcanoes through long periods of
time without any sign of exhaustion. The quantity of heat brought
up by the lavas themselves is but a fraction of the whole amount
dissipated. Kilauea wastes many times more heat by quiet radia-
tion from the surfaces of its lava lakes and by steaming and by
numberless modes of escape than by actual eruption of lavas.
Mauna Loa also dissipates the greater part of its heat in the same
way, and the same fact is wholly or partially true of all other active
or intermittent volcanoes. And yet for very long periods, for thou-
sands of centuries, these great volcanoes show no sign of heat-exhaus-
tion ; on the contrary, such indications as we have suggest the con-
clusion that the earth beneath them is hotter than before.
A fourth general fact is that volcanoes are located in areas which
have recently been or are now undergoing elevation.
All these facts suggest the action of some cause generating heat
within the earth. This cause, if such it be, is for the present wholly
mysterious and unknown.
■
Mr. Powell, referring to the relation between volcanic eruption
and elevation, said that the typical, secular sequence of geologic
events was, first, elevation, resulting in, second, degredation, accom-
panied by, third, extravasation, followed sooner or later by, fourth,
subsidence, resulting in, fifth, sedimentation. There are numerous
regions in which this circle of events has been recorded, and in
some places it has been repeated two or three times.
GENERAL MEETING. 93
Mr. P. W. Clarke suggested that the diflSculty in the way of a
chemical explanation of volcanic phenomena was due to our ignor-
ance of chemical force under high pressures. Spring has lately
shown that chemical union could be brought about by pressure
alone. Hence, water coming in contact with molten rock matter
in the interior of the earth might be prevented from dissociating.
If, however, dissociation takes place, we may conceive that water
may play the following part in volcanic explosions. Gradually
filtering through the surface rocks to the hot lava, it would undergo
slow decomposition, and great quantities of mixed oxygen and hy-
drogen would thus slowly accumulate. Now let a process of cool-
ing begin. Soon the temperature at which oxygen and hydrogen
unite would be reached, and explosive union would occur. This
may account for volcanic explosions, at least in part. By such a
process, potential energy is gradually stored up, to be later, sud-
denly or instantaneously, released. This hypothesis does not ac-
count for volcanic heat, but presupposes its existence.
Mr. White, referring to Mr. Poweirs remarks on the instability
of continental areas, said that the prevalent doctrine of the perma-
nence of oceans, and the gradual development of the continentsi
was not sustained by paleontology. Continents were needed some-
where to develop the land plants and land mammals which ap-
peared during the emergence of the known continents.
Mr. Harkness pointed out that Mr. White was postulating un-
known continents to support the Darwinian hypothesis, to which
Mr. White assented.
Mr. Powell added, that in detailing the great cycle of geologic
events, he should have included metamorphism as a sixth term, re-
sulting from burial by sediment ; and Mr. Dutton remarked that
he had included this consideration in a paragraph contained in his
written manuscript, but not read.
Mr. McGee made a communication on
THE DRAINAGE SYSTEM AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE LOESS OF
EASTERN IOWA.
[Abstract.]
The most conspicuous geographic feature of eastern Iowa is
the remarkable parallelism among its water-ways. Yet the region
comprises two essentially distinct geologic tracts ; and the coincidence
94 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
in direction of drainage in these is fortuitous : 1. The Wisconsin
Drifbless Region so far extends into the northeastern corner of Iowa
as to include all of the triangular area bounded on the southwest
by the elevated Niagara escarpment extending from the extreme
eastward projection of the state northwestwardly to the Minnesota
line, fifty miles west of the Mississippi. Within this tract, the drain-
age was originally determined by general surface slope and by rock-
structure, and the present topography, which is varied and pictu-
resque, was developed by sub-aerial erosion. 2. Within the far more
extensive tract formed by the glacial drift and its derivatives, the
surface is a gently undulating plain, over which the general relief
is inconspicuous, and the local topography faintly defined though
singularly uniform and symmetric in character ; and here the par-
allelism in drainage is prevalent and characteristic. There are, in-
deed, both local and general exceptions to this parallelism, which
exemplify a variety of types of aberrant behavior of the streams ;
but while these impair the geographic symmetry of the drainage
system, they add much more largely to its geologic significance*
Putting together the instances of accordant, and neglecting the in-
stances of aberrant extension of water-lines, a normal direction oj
drainage for the whole of the drift-formed tract might be empiric-
ally determined ; which normal direction is represented by a sym-
metric series of slightly divergent and slightly curved lines, concave
to the northeastward, radiating from a point north of the state in
a general southeasterly direction, toward the Mississippi. Probably
nowhere else on the surface of the globe does so symmetric a normal
drainage system exist, aud assuredly nowhere else does the sum of
directions of stream-flow over so considerable an area present so few
examples of departure from the normal.
The broader topographic features of eastern Iowa are dependant
upon geologic structure. The dip of the rocks is to the southwest,
and the outcrops of the several formations represented form suc-
cessive approximately parallel zones (trending northwest and south.
east), of which those of the Niagara and Hamilton are widest. Now
the Niagara rocks resisted well the planation of the pre-quaternary
eons, and their eastern margin is accordingly defined by a promi-
nent escarpment varying from 1,000 to 1,350 feet in altitude, from
which there is a steep northeasterly slope to the Mississippi, and a
gentle inclination, corresponding to the dip of the strata, in the op-
posite direction. The Hamilton rocks, on the other hand, have so
GENERAL MEETING. 95
yielded to erosion that their area is topographically represented
by a broad, shallow trough, of which the altitude is only from
600 to 1,000 feet, and of which the sides rise and culminate in the
Niagara escarpment on the east and in the Mississippi-Missouri
water-shed on the west. There is, however, a subordinate general
topographic feature which is independent of geologic structure. A
wide, gentle, indefinitely outlined depression extends directly across
the great eastward projection (the " Cromwell's Nose ") of Iowa and
diagonally across the Upper Silurian, Devonian, and Carboniferous
rocks alike, in the line of the general course of the Mississippi, from
near the mouth of the Turkey to the mouth of the Iowa. It is
manifestly of great antiquity.
Thus, in its general topography, eastern Iowa is characterized,
primarily, by an elevated escarpment near its eastern border, by a
broad depression intersecting its western portion diagonally, and
by a general southwesterly slope extending over most of its area ;
and secondarily, by an indefinite ancient valley cutting off its eastern
projection. And its general drainage system is almost absolutely
independent of this general topography ; for not only do the prin-
cipal streams flow at right angles to the prevailing slope and cut
through the elevated escarpment when it lies in their way, but, with
the single exception of the Cedar, they preserve their courses directly
across the ancient valley.
In their relation to minor topographic features the rivers of
eastern Iowa conform to two diametrically opposite laws: 1. for
two-thirds or three-fourths of their combined length they flow in
the axes of the ill-defined, shallow valleys which characterize the
drift-plain ; and, 2, for the remaining portion of their courses they
flow in narrow gorges which they have excavated for themselves in
the axes of the elongated ridges that constitute the leading features
in the local topography of the region. Moreover, they have in
many instances, at the. same time gone out of their direct courses,
and deserted valleys already prepared for them, to attain the anoma-
lous positions assumed under the second law of association. A ud let
it be noted that in every such case the gorges have demonstrably
been carved by the streams themselves through the quaternary and
older formations alike ; that the pre-existent valleys which they
avoided have not been appreciably eroded since the quaternary ;
and that there has been no localized orographic movement in the
region since long antecedent to the quaternary.
96 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
The priacipal tribataries entering the rivers from the right simi-
larly conform to two antagonistic laws in their relation to topog-
raphy : 1. Most of them flow throughout their courses in directions
coincident with local and general slopes, and avoid elevations in
their vicinity ; and, 2. Many of them originate with directions ap»
proaching those normal to their localities, but curve more and more
to the left toward their mouths, until they flow directly against the
general slope, and enter the rivers at large angles ; and all such
streams have high north banks which they closely hug, and low
south banks which they avoid.
So the drainage system of eastern Iowa is essentially independent
of the more general topographic features, though afiected by local
topography ; and the relations of the waterways to local topography
are largely anomalous, and without parallel elsewhere.
Though essentially continuous stratigraphically, and of unques-
tionable genetic unity, the loess of eastern Iowa is variable in many
characters, and may be separated into three geographic divisions;
viz: 1, the Driflless Region division; 2, the Bipariau division;
and, 3, the Southern division. That of the first division forms the
surface throughout the Driftless Region, as it exists in Iowa, and
everywhere overlaps the eastern border of the drift ; it is generally
rather coarse, heterogeneous, and non-calcareous, and yields depau-
perate fossils of characteristic species ; it reposes upon or gradu-
ates into a thin stratum of water-worn erratic materials, which, in
turn, rests upon either the residuary clays of the Driftless Region
or the margin of the drift-sheet ; its western border is exceedingly
sinuous, afiects the greatest altitudes, and invariably overlooks the
contiguous drift-plain ; and, in capping the elevated Niagara escarp-
ment, it forms the highest land within hundreds of miles, except in
northerly directions. The loess of the Riparian division occurs
chiefly in the elongated ridges so common and so intimately asso-
ciated with the waterways in eastern-central Iowa ; it is oft^n fos-
siliferous, and its characters are generally typical ; it usually grad-
uates downward into stratified sands or gravels, which may or may
not merge into drift; and it invariably seeks the highest sun^mits in
the region ; — for the ridges in which the rivers have carved their
cafions are always loess-topped ; wherever streams avoid low-lying
valleys for high-lying plateaus, the plateaus are of loess exteriorly;
and the high northern banks of the aberrant tributaries are gen-
erally loess-capped. The loess of the Southern division prevails
I
^
GENERAL MEETING. 97
over southeastern Iowa ; it abounds in characteristic fossils (which
may or may not be depauperate), in loess-kindchen, and in calcare-
ous tubes ; it is fine, homogeneous, and vertically cleft ; it generally
graduates into the subjacent drift so imperceptably that neither
geographic nor stratigraphic separation of the formations, by other
than a purely arbitrary line, is possible ; and it occurs indiscrimi-
nately at all levels.
So, in its distribution, the loess of eastern Iowa is intimately con-
nected with the Driftless Region, with the drainage, and with the
topographic configuration ; but in its disposition to seek the greatest
altitudes in the north, aud to merge into the drift in the south, its
behavior is as anomalous as is that of the rivers of the same region.
Mr. Powell remarked that these peculiarities of drainage were
difierent from those observed in the drainage systems of mountain
regions and demanded a difierent explanation, which was not yet
forthcoming. It was probable, however, that not enough allowance
was made for the differential effects of general degradation subse-
quent to the determination of the drainage.
Mr. Gilbert, after defining antecedent and super-imposed drain-
age, said that Mr. McGee's description definitely negatived the hy-
pothesis of antecedent drainage, and rendered the hypothesis of
super-imposed drainage in the ordinary sense equally untenable.
The most plausible alternative is the hypothesis suggested by Mr.
McGee in one of his earlier papers, that the drainage was super-
imposed by the ice-sheet, the distribution of loess having been de-
termined at the same time and by the same causes.
Mr. White regretted that Mr. McGee's special investigations
did not include the portion of Iowa draining to the Missouri. The
details of drainage in that region are equally interesting, and, in
his opinion, do not admit of the explanation mentioned by Mr.
Gilbert. The direction of the rivers diverges at right angles from
that of the Mississippi tributaries, and their valleys are excavated
from loess except along their upper courses.
Mr. Powell said that on the Illinois side of the Mississippi Biver
many of the features described in the paper are repeated. The loess
hills follow the river courses, and in the opposite directions over-
look plains. The explanation of the phenomena is problematic,
but the theory advocated by Mr. Gilbert does not appear sufficient.
7
98 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
241bt Meeting. November 24, 1883.
Vice-President Billings in the Chair.
Fifty-three members and guests present.
It was announced by the Chair that the next meeting would be
held in the Lecture Hall of the National Museum, that the mem-
bers of the Anthropological and Biological Societies were invited
to be present, and that the members of all three societies were re-
quested to invite their friends.
Opportunity was afforded for the introduction of amendments to
the Constitution, but none were offered.
Mr. C. D. Walcott made a communication on
THE CAMBRIAN SYSTEM IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA.
[Abstract.]
Defining the Paleozoic period as has been done by Geikie in his
Text-Book of Geology, it will include all the older sedimentary for-
mations containing organic remains, up to the top of the Permian.
Upon the paleontologic evidence it may be divided into an " older
and newer division, the former (from the base of the Cambrian to
the top of the Silurian system) distinguished more especially by the
abundance of its graptolitic, trilobitic, and brachiopodous fauna,
and by the absence of vertebrate remains ; the latter (from the top
of the Silurian system to the top of the Permian system) by the
number and variety of its fishes and amphibians, the disappearance
of graptolites and trilobites, and the abundance of its cryptogamic
terrestrial flora." The two divisions may be still further subdivided ;
the upper into the Carboniferous and Devonian, the lower into the
Silurian above and the Cambrian beneath. It is the Cambrian
division we now have to consider.
Straligraphieally it is diflicult to fix any definite upper limit to
the Cambrian system, owing to local causes having affected the con-
ditions of sedimentation and consequent extinction or continuance of
the fauna. Upon the evidence of the section in New York State on
the western side of Lake Champlain, the Potsdam sandstone closes
the period stratigraphically and paleontologically, the Calciferous
formation forming little more than a closing deposit of the Potsdam;
and the large Chazy fauna appearing suddenly in the overlying lime-
stone is entirely distinct from that of the Potsdam. In central
GENERAL MEETING. 99
Nevada the section passes through limestones marked by the presence
of a typical Potsdam fauna and on up to one that has the general
facies of that of the Trenton Lower Silurian fauna. Midway of
these passage beds occur layers of rock that carry representatives
of both the Cambrian and Silurian faunas. Above this band the
Cambrian fauna gradually disappears, and below it soon predomi-
nates to the exclusion of the Silurian types. In this section we have
an illustration of the gradual extinction of an older fauna as a new
one is introduced, the sedimentation continuing and no physical dis*
turbance occurring to change the conditions necessary for the pres-
ence of animal life. It is the ideal section uniting the faunas of two
periods, and if we had the blanks filled in between all the groups,
as the blank between the Potsdam and Chazy in New York is filled
in by the Nevada section, the Paleozoic would be a record of con-
tinuous connected organic life from the base of the Cambrian to
the summit of the Permian.
It is convenient for stratigraphic geologic work to separate the
Paleozoic series into subdivisions, and, as this is almost necessarily
done on paleontologic evidence, I would separate the Cambrian as
one characterized by what Barrande has named the first fauna.*
Applying this to the Nevada section already mentioned, the line
between the Cambrian and Silurian would be drawn where the
types of the second fauna begin to predominate. With this defini-
tion of the Cambrian system, the strata referred to it in the United
States and Canada will be briefly noticed.
In the Grand CafLon of the Colorado the top of the Cambrian is
the Tonto formation, a series of sandy calcareous strata 1,000 feet
in thickness. The contained fauna is closely allied to that of the
Potsdam sandstone and continues up to the summit of the forma-
tion, the overlying Devonian rocks resting directly above strata
containing Lingrdepia, Iphidea, ConocephaHtes^ Dicelloc^halus, etc.
The Tonto rests uncomfortably on strata that were extensively
eroded prior its deposition. This lower series comprises over 11,000
feet of unmetamorphosed shales, limestones, and sandstones, with
1,000 feet of interbedded lavas. It forms the Grand Cafion and
Chu-ar' groups of Powell and is characterized by the presence of a
few fossils that enable us to refer it to the Cambrian but not to de-
fine its stratigraphic horizon. That is done on the evidence of the
position it occupies with reference to the Tonto.
* The paleontologic evidence and discussion will appear in a future paper.
100 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
The relations of the Grand Cation section are shown in the first
column of the page of sections.
The Potsdam sandstone in Wisconsin occupies the same relative
stratigraphic position as the Touto formation, except that the break
above the Tonto and between it and the Devonian is filled in by
the Calciferous and other Silurian formations. As has already
been said, the. faunas of the Potsdam and Tonto are very much the
same in general character. The Potsdam formation here overlies
unconformably a series of strata that are directly comparable with
the Grand Cafion and Chu-ar' series. The Keweenawan series,
according to Chamberlin, has about 10,000 feet of sedimentary
strata distributed through 30,000 feet of eruptive rocks. In all
this great mass no decisive evidence of organic life has been dis-
covered, but knowing that the series is unconformably overlain by
the Potsdam formation and that it in turn rests unconformably on
the Arcbseau, as does the Grand CafLon series, we feel justified in
correlating the Grand Cafion and Wisconsin sections and they are
united in the first column of the page of sections.
The upper part of the Nevada section has already been men-
tioned. Below the Potsdam horizon there occurs a distinct fauna,
characterized by a considerable development of the trilobitic genus
Olenellus, a genus that in the embryonic development of several of
its species proves that it is derived from the Paradoxides family
and is consequently of later date. This section is readily correlated
with that of the Georgian group of Vermont, as there we have the
Potsdam sandstone above the Olenellus horizon, and in the down-
ward section both stop at nearly the same relative horizon. The
position of the Georgian formation in Nevada and Vermont, in
relation to the Potsdam, leads to the view that it represents a por-
tion of the period of erosion between the Tonto formation and the
Grand Cafion series and also the Potsdam formation and the
Keweenawan series.
The upper portion of the Tennessee Cambrian, the Knox shale,
is correlated with the Potsdam sandstone, and so is the Knox sand-
stone. The Chilhowee sandstone and Ocoee conglomerate and
slates cannot be directly connected with the Georgian horizon,
since the paleontologic data are insufficient. From their position
beneath the Knox shale with its Potsdam fauna they are extended
downward past the Georgian and into the Paradoxidian or St Johns
horizon. Their total thickness (Geology of Tennessee, pp. 158,
159) is nearly 15,000 feet.
GENEBAL MEETING.
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102 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
There is still aDotber group, the St. Johns or Acadian, that occu-
pies an horizon below the Georgian and may fill in a portion of the
period of erosion between the pre-Potsdam and Keweenawan and
the Ton to and Grand Cafion series, or it may represent some of the
upper portions of the Grand Caiion and Keweenawan series. In
the geologic sections it is placed beneath the Georgian and as above
or passing down into the lower groups. For the present both it
and the Paradoxidian argillites of Braintree must be left in doubt
with regard to their relations to the lower Cambrian of Wisconsin
and northern Arizona.
Of the Canadian survey sections, the one on the north side of the
Straits of Belle Isle is most interesting as it gives the Georgian
horizon, but unfortunately an interval often miles in width is occu-
pied by the straits before the section is again continued. In this
interval the Potsdam group is lost, but farther along the coast
there occurs, below limestones referred to the Calciferous horizon,
a mass of sandstone that may be assigned to the Potsdam forma-
tion— giving, in connection with the Olenellus or Georgian horizon,
a section not unlike that of Central Nevada.
No other section that has been determined in the British Provinces
throws much light on the stratigraphic succession of the Cambrian
rocks. At Point Levis a curious mingling of the Cambrian and
Silurian faunas has been said to occur, but this is rather to be at-
tributed to error in the interpretation of the stratigraphy in a much
disturbed area than to a break in the sequence of organic remains,
ekewhere so uniform. I prefer to accept the interpretation given
by M. Jules Marcou, who says (The Taconic and Lower Silurian
Rocks of Vermont and Canada, Proc. Bos. Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol.
VIII, p. 252, 1862,) that the primordial or Cambrian types are
associated together and occur in a belt of limestone that contains
no traces of the second or Silurian fauna.
The accompanying table of sections gives a general outline of the
Cambrian. Numerous local sections of the Potsdam series are not
mentioned, as they do not add materially to the general informa-
tion in regard to the system in its vertical range.
The geographic range is great, extending as it does from New-
foundland to Montana on the northern line, and thence south to
Nevada, Texas, and Alabama.
GENERAL MEETING. 103
Mr. John Jay Knox made a conimunication on
THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE SURPLUS MONEY OP THE UNITED STATES
AMONG THE STATES.
[Abstract.]
President Jackson, in his message to Congress in 1829, referred
to the difficulty in adjusting the tariff, so that the revenues of the
Government should be but slightly in excess of its expenditures.
He considered the appropriation of money for internal improve-
ments, by Congress, as unconstitutional, but suggested that, if the
anticipated surplus in the Treasury should be distributed among
the States, according to their ratio of repi'esentation, such improve-
ments could then be made by the States themselves. If necessary
it would be expedient to propose to the States an amendment to the
Constitution, authorizing such legislation.
In his message for the following year he again suggested the
same proposition.
The receipts from sales of public lands for the three years, 1834,
1835, and 1836, were $44,492,381 --slightly less than the total re-
ceipts from this source for the thirty-eight years previous, from
1796 to 1834. On January 1, 1835, the country was virtually out
of debt, and the receipts of the Government largely exceeded the
previous estimates of the Secretary. The amount of surplus on
January 1, 1835, was "$8,892,858, and at the same date in 1836
$26,749,803. On January 1, 1837, it amounted to more than forty-
two millions.
In 1834-5-6, the public money, which had heretofore been de-
posited in the Bank of the United States, was deposited in favorite
State banks by order of General Jackson. The deposit of the
revenues in these banks was followed by financial distress, and dur-
ing th^ year 1834, and previous thereto, propositions were made in
the public press for distribution of the surplus revenue among the
States as a measure of relief. These propositions were first in the
form of a distribution of the . revenue from public land; then a
a distribution of the lands themselves ; and finally a distribution
of the surplus. During the session of 1835, a select committee was
appointed in the Senate, which reported a resolution to amend the
Constitution so that the money remaining in the Treasury at the
end of each year, until the first of January, 1843, should annually
be distributed among the States and Territories. Both General
104 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
Jackson and Secretary Woodbury were opposed to this proposition,
as the withdrawal of public moneys would deprive the State banks
of the deposits, and would be likely to increase the financial troubles.
A bill to distribute the surplus was, however, introduced in the
Senate, and passed by a vote of 25 to 20. It was evident that this
bill could not pass the House, as a majority of its members con-
sidered the bill, in the form of a distribution, as unconstitutional.
The friends of the measure in the Senate determined to change its
form so as to remove the difficulty. A bill then pending in the
Senate was so amended as to change the proposition for distribu-
tion to a proposition for deposit with the States, and in this form it
passed the Senate, and subsequently the House by a large majority,
166 to 38.
This act of June 23, 1886, provided for the deposit with the
treasurers of the several States of 37 millions ($37,468,859) in four
instalments during the year 1837 — the Secretary of the Treasury
to receive certificates of deposit therefor signed by competent au-
thority, in such form as he should prescribe, which certificates
should express the usual legal obligation, and pledge the faith of
the State for the safe keeping and repayment of the deposit, from
time to time, whenever the same should be required. The first three
installments were deposited. Before the last installment, payable
on the 1st day of October, was transferred, a series of financial dis-
asters culminated in the crisis of 1837, and there was no surplus to
deposit. Further legislation was deemed necessary in this emer-
gency, and an extra session of Congress was called by President
Van Buren. During this session, on September 11, 1837, a bill was
reported from the Finance Committee of the Senate, providing that
the transfer of the fourth installment should be indefinitely post-
poned. The opposition to this bill was persistent, and there was a
long debate, which was participated in by Webster, Clay, Calhoun,
Buchanan, Benton, Silas Wright, Caleb Cushing, and others of the
Senate; and in the House by Adams, Fillmore and Sibley of New
York, Bell of Tennessee, Wise of Virginia, and many others.
A bill was finally passed, providing for the postponement of the
deposit of the fourth installment until January 1, 1839. It passed
the House by a vote of 119 to 117, and contained an amendment
proposed by Mr. Buchanan, providing that the deposits should not
be subject to the requisition of the Secretary of the Treasury, but
should remain until called for by Congress. On the 1st of Jan-
GENERAL MEETING. 105
uary, 1839, there were no funds in the Treasury available for the
payment of the fourth installment, and since that date there has
never been a surplus in the Treasury above the debts and estimated
expenditures of the Government.
The amount of the three installments was $28,101,645, and the
amount placed in the Treasury of each State has since been carried
among " unavailable funds of the general Treasury," as may be
seen by reference to the annual reports of the Treasurer of the
United States.
The fourth installment, amounting to $9,367,215, has never been
transferred or deposited, and recently the State of Virginia, through
the action of its Legislature, and the State- of Arkansas, through
the action of its treasurer and one of its United States Senators,
has applied to the Secretary of the Treasury for the payment of
this last instalment.
It is generally believed that the moneys deposited by the Gov-
ernment with the different States were, for the most part, wasted or
employed in works of internal improvement which were unneces-
sary. The data for a full investigation of this subject are not at
hand, but it is known that the States of Massachusetts, Connecticut,
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, North
Carolina, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Missouri appro-
priated a considerable portion of the income from this fund to the
support of public schools ; and that in many of these States the
income from the whole fund has been from the commencement, and
still is, devoted to the education of the people.
A bill was introduced by Senator Logan, during the first session
of the last Congress, providing that the entire income derived from
the internal-revenue tax on the manufacture and sale of distilled
spirits shall be appropriated and expended for the education of all
children living in the United States, as shown by the census of 1880
and each succeeding census. The bill also provides that the States
shall be required, before receiving the benefits of the act, to make
school attendance obligatory upon all children between the ages of
seven and twelve years, for at least six months in each year.
Mr. Alvobd inquired as to the present status of the Smithsonian
fund, amounting to about half a million of dollars, which was in-
vested in the bonds of the State of Arkansas.
Mr. Knox said that the Government has assumed the Arkansas
106 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
bonds formerly held by the SmithsoQian Institution, and that the
Government also held quite a large amount of the bonds of the
States of Virginia and Arkansas in the Indian Trust Fund. If
legislation should be obtained authorizing the payment of the fourth
nstalment to these Statea, such legislation should provide that the
payment be made in the bonds now held by the Government.
Mr. Alvord said that the history of agricultural collie grants
was not thus far very encouraging. It would have been better if
Congress had provided that the agricultural colleges should never
be united with other colleges. The union was apt to lead to con-
fusion and controversies, and lower the standard and prestige of
both. Witness the case of Dartmouth College. In this reference
Mr. MussEY concurred.
The Hon. Hugh McCullough, being invited by the Chair to
participate in the discussion, said that in Indiana the application of
the money deposited by the United States had occasioned a long de-
bate, which had resulted in its division. One half, by means of a
system of commissioners, was loaned to individuals on land and
mortgage ; the other half was put into stock of the State Bank,
with which the speaker was at that time connected. In a financial
crisis the first half was practically lost, probably less than one-
twentieth part being recovered ; but the loss was fortunately made
good by the bank stock, upon which dividends were regularly paid,
and by which the investment was eventually doubled. Since the
closing of the bank, this money has constituted the school fund of
Indiana.
Mr. R. D. CuTTS made a communication on
THE ACTION OF THE INTERNATIONAL GEODETIC ASSOCIATION AS TO
AN INITIAL MERIDIAN AND UNIVERSAL TIME.
[Abstract.]
The International Geodetic Association of Europe, formed for
the purpose of connecting the systems of triangulation executed by
the different States of Europe, and hence for the measurement of
arcs, and for the discussion of all questions of science comprised
within the terra Geodesy, has been in active existence for many
years. The meeting in 1882 was held at The Hague, and before
adjournment it was decided that the seventh conference should meet
at Rome, in October, 1883.
GENERAL MEETING. 107
lu the meantime, all governmeDts in diplomatic relations with
the United States were invited by the President, in accordance with
the act of Congress, August 3, 1883, to send delegates to Washing-
ton for the purpose of fixing upon a meridian proper to be em-
ployed as a common zero of longitude and standard of time, reck-
oning throughout the globe. More than twenty of these countries
had signified, before October last, their acceptance of the invitation,
but these did not include many of the principal governments of
Europe. The delay in forwarding their definitive replies was due to
their desire to have the advice, before committing themselves, of the
Eurpean Geodetic Association. Hence it was at the request of
many of these governments that the Association took up the subject
of the unification of longitudes, and of the introduction of a uni-
versal time.
So soon as it was decided to take such action, General Ibanez, of
Spain, the then President of the Association, addressed a letter to
the Superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, urging him
in strong terms to send a delegate to the meeting at Rome. So short
a notice was given, however, that the delegate selected had to start
at once, reaching Rome only on the morning of the first day's ses-
sion, October 15th.
After a full discussion of the different views presented, the fol-
lowing resolutions were almost unanimously passed on October 24th.
It must be borne in mind that they are merely of an advisory
character, sanctioned and urged, nevertheless, by the highest scien-
tific authority. It is the function of the convention to be held at
Washington next year to take official and decisive action on the
subject in all its details.
Resolutions of the International Geodetic Commission in relation to
the Unification of Longitudes and of Time.
The seventh general conference of the International Geodetic Asso-
ciation, held at Rome, and at which representatives of Great Britain,
together with the directors of the principal astronomical and nau-
tical almanacs, and a delegate from the Coast and Geodetic Survey
of the United States, have taken part, after having deliberated
upon the unification of longitude by the adoption of a single initial
meridian, and upon the unification of time by the adoption of a
universal hour, have agreed upon the following resolutions:
108 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
I. The uDificatioQ of longitude and of time is desirable, as much
in the interest of science as in that of navigation, of commerce,
and of international communication. The scientific and practical
utility of this reform far outweighs the sacrifice of labor and the
difficulties of adaptation which it would entail. It should, there-
fore, be recommended to the Governments of all the States in-
terested, to be organized and confirmed by an International Conven-
tion, to the end that hereafter one and the same system of longitudes
shall be employed in all the institutes and geodetic bureaus, for
the general geographic and hydrographic charts, as well as in the
astronomical and nautical almanacs, with the exception of those
made to preserve a local meridian, as, for instance, the almanacs for
transits, or those which are needed to indicate the local time, such
as the establishment of the port, &c.
II. Notwithstanding the great advantages which the general in-
troduction of the decimal division of a quarter of the circle in the
expressions of the geographical and geodetic co-ordinates, and in
the corresponding time expressions, is destined to realize for the
sciences and their applications, it is proper, through considerations
eminently practical, to pass it by in considering th^ great measure
of unification proposed in the first resolution.
However, with a view to satisfying, at the same time, very serious
scientific considerations, the Conference recommends, on this occa-
sion, the extension by the multiplication and perfection of the nec-
essary tables, of the application of the decimal division of the quad-
rant, at least, for the great operations of numerical calculations, for
which it presents incontestable advantages, even if it is wished to
preserve the old sexagesimal division for observations, for charts,
navigation, &c.
III. The Conference proposes to the Governments to select for the
initial meridian that of Greenwich, defined by a point midway be-
tween the two pillars of the meridian instrument of the Observa-
tory of Greenwich, for the reason that that meridian fulfils, as a
point of departure for longitudes, all the conditions demanded by
science; and because being at present the best known of all, it
presents the greatest probability of being generally accepted.
IV. It is advisable to count all longitudes, starting from the
meridian of Greenwich, in the direction from west to east only.
V. The Conference recognizes for certain scientific wants and for
the internal service in the chief administrations of routes of com*
GENERAL MEETING. 109
municatioD, such as the railroads, steamship lines, telegraphic and
post routes, the utility of adopting a universal time, along with
local or national time, which will necessarily continue to be em-
ployed in civil life.
VI. The Conference recommends, as the point of departure of
universal time and of cosmopolitan date, the mean noon of Green-
wich which coincides with the instant of midnight, or with the
commencement of the civil day, under the meridian situated 12
hours or 180 degrees from Greenwich.
It is agreed to count the universal time from 0^ to 24\
VII. It is desirable that the States which, for the purpose of
adopting the unification of longitudes and of time, find it necessary
to change their meridians, should introduce the new system of lon-
gitudes and of hours as soon as possible.
It is equally advisable that the new system should be introduced
without delay in teaching.
VIII. The Conference hopes that if the entire world should agree
upon the unification of longitudes and of time by accepting the
meridian of Greenwich as the point of departure. Great Britian will
find in this fact an additional motive to make, on its part, a new step
in favor of the unification of weights and measures, by acceding to
the Convention du Mhtre of the 20th May, 1875.
IX. These resolutions will be brought to the knowledge of the
Governments and recommended to their favorable consideration,
with the expression of a hope that an International Convention,
confirming the unification of longitudes and of time, shall be
concluded as soon as possible, by means of a special conference,
such as the Government of the United States has proposed.
Mr. HiLGARD said that while the report of the Association did
not conform in some of its details to the desires and interests of this
country, nevertheless our principal object had been gained by the
endorsement of the Association for the International Conference on
the subject of standard time, to be held in Washington.
The selection of the meridian of Greenwich as the starting point
for longitudes, was more convenient for us than for Europeans ;
Europeans alone are liable to the confusion arising from the
numerical identity of meridians east and west of Greenwich. It
will be impossible, however, for us to agree to the rule which counts
all longitudes from west to east.
110 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON,
Mr. Elliott opposed the establishmeDt of noon as the initial
hour of the day. It seemed to be proposed in the interest of astron-
omers, who work at night, and would not be submitted to by the
people at large.
He exhibited a map showing a grouping of the railroads of the
country under the recently adopted time schedule.
Mr. CuTTS said that the resolutions of the Geodetic Association
do not appertain to civil time. The '' universal time " they advo-
cate is for the use only of astronomers and great transportation
corporations.
Other remarks were made by Mr. Newcomb.
242d Meeting. December 8, 1883.
By permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution,
the Society occupied for the evening the Lecture Hall of the
National Museum.
The President called Vice-President Mallery to the Chair.
There were present about three hundred members and guests.
By invitation, the Presidents of the Biological and Anthropo-
logical Societies occupied seats on the platform.
■
The President of the Society, Mr. J. W. Powell, delivered the
annual address, taking for his subject
THE THREE METHODS OF EVOLUTION.
[The address is printed on pages xxvii-lii, ante,']
The Chair invited the members of the Society and their friends
to remain for a period after adjournment, for the purpose of social
intercourse.
The Society then adjourned.
GENERAL MEETING. Ill
243d meeting. December 22, 1883.
the thirteenth annual meeting.
The President in the chair.
Thirty-four members present.
The minutes of the 226th, 241st, and 242d meetings were read.
The Chair announced the death, since the last meeting, of
General R. D. Cutts.
The Chair announced the election to membership of Messrs.
Robert Simpson Woodward, Daniel Elmer Salmon, and John
Mills Browne.
The Secretary's report on the membership of the Society was
read. During the year the Society received seventeen new mem-
bers, lost eight by death, and lost three by resignation.
The Treasurer not being present, the Chair appointed Mr. Henry
Farquhar Treasurer pro tempore.
The officers for the ensuing year were then elected by ballot. (The
list is printed on page xv.)
On motion of Mr. Jenkins, the vote for President was made
unanimous.
The Chair appointed Messrs. C. A. White, S. Newcomb, and H. C.
Yarrow a committee to audit the annual report of the Treasurer.
The Society then adjourned.
BULLETIN
OF THE
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON
MATHEMATICAL SECTION.
113
8
'
STANDING RULES
OF THE
MATHEMATICAL SECTION
Adi^ted March 24, 1883.
1. The object of this Section is the consideration and discussion
of papers relating to pure or applied mathematics.
2. The special officers of the Section shall be a Chairman and a
Secretary, who shall be elected at the first meeting of the Section
in each year, and discharge the duties usually attaching to those
offices.
3. To bring a paper regularly before the Section it must be sub-
mitted to the Standing Committee on Communications for the
stated meetings of the Society, with the statement that it is for the
Mathematical Section.
4. Meetings shall be called by the Standing Committee on Com-
munications whenever the extent or importance of the papers sub-
mitted and approved appear to justify it.
5. All members of the Philosophical Society who wish to do so
may take part in the meetings of this Section.
6. To every member who shall have notified the Secretary of
the General Committee of his desire to receive them, announcements
of the meetings of the Section shall be sent by mail.
7. The Section shall have power to adopt such rules of pro-
cedure as it may find expedient.
115
LIST OF MEMBERS
WHO RECEIVE ANNOUNCEMENT OF MEETINGS OP THE
MATHEMATICAL SECTION.
Alvord, B.
Avery, R. S.
Babcock, O. E.
Baker, M.
Bates, H. H.
Billings, J. S.
Burgess, E. S.
Christie, A. S.
Coffin, J. H. C.
DeLand, T. L.
Doolittle, M. H.
Eastman, J. R.
Elliott, E. B.
Farquhar, H.
Flint, A. S.
Gilbert, G. K.
Newcomb, S.
Gore, J. H.
Green, B. R.
Hall, A.
Harkness, W.
Hazen, H. a.
Hilgard, J. E.
Hill, G. W.
King, A. F. A.
• kummell, c. h.
Lefavour, E. B.
Peirce, C. S.
RiTTER, W. F. M'K.
Smiley, C. W.
Taylor, W. B.
Upton, W. W.
Walling, H. F.
WiNLOCK, W. C.
i
116
INAUGURAL ADDRESS
OF THE
CHAIRMAN OF THE MATHEMATICAL SECTION,
By Asaph Hall.
Gentlemen op the Mathematical Section:
I thank you for the honor you have conferred on me by my
election as Chairman of this Section, and the best return that I can
make is to do my utmost to render our meetings as interesting and
successful as possible.
Although my duties have been such that I have not been able to
take a very active part in the proceedings of the Philosophical So-
ciety, it is easy to understand how a need has been felt for a more
full and frequent discussion of mathematical questions. Mathe-
matics has indeed been called the queen of the sciences, but the
rigor and dryness of its methods make it distasteful to many.
Tha fact seems to be that as any branch of knowledge advances
and finally is reduced to law, it loses in a large degree its attractive-
ness and popularity. Then, it is only with the indefinite outlines
and the obscure boundaries of this science that most people like to
deal ; and this may be natural and right, since nearly all advance-
ment originates in speculation and doubt, which lead to investiga-
tion, and which, by a variety of motives, spur men on to labor.
But the science of mathematics, though old, is yet young and vigo-
rous. We have now six journals of the highest rAnk, which are
devoted almost exclusively to pure mathematics — two in Germany,
two in France, one in England, and, I am glad to say, one in our
own country. These journals are devoted to the discussion of the
highest conceptions of space and number, treating chiefly of the
laws and forms of analytical expressions, and generally they touch
lightly on any practical application of the science. Such discus-
sions prepare the way, however, for better and more general prac-
tical methods, and in our own country they have, I think, another
value. For one, I can hardly accept the doctrine, advocated in
some quarters, that the American scientific man of the future should
117
118 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
be distiDguished by his facility in getting a patent on his discovery,
in forming joint stock companies and watering stock, and in sud-
denly becoming rich at the expense of his fellow-men. Such a
career may be a natural result of our present system of sociology,
but it does not seem to be in harmony with scientific thought and
research, and our social need is for men of a different character.
Far nobler is the life of one who devotes himself to the study of
the most abstract forms of science ; winning for us, if haply he
may, another forward step up the hill of knowledge.
But when we come to the field of applied mathematics we soon
learn how necessary are the studies of the pure mathematician.
Nearly all the researches in natural philosophy, where the action of
forces is concerned, require the formation and solution of differen-
tial equations, and hence the theory of such equations becomes
important, and in some cases almost essential, for the advancement
of physical investigations. It is not, of course, to be supposed that
experiment and observation are to be done away with or neglected,
or that mere skill in differentiating, integrating, and solving equa-
tions can supply the place of correct thinking. In fact, we may be
sure that Leibnitz was mistaken when he declared that the inven-
tion of the differential calculus had made known that royal road to
knowledge for which the king had inquired in vain of Euclid. But
still it remains true that this calculus forms the most powerful
engine we have for the solution of questions in natural philosophy.
It enables us to adopt the old maxim, " divide et impera" If we
can reduce the problem to its elements, and can form its true differ-
ential equation, the rest of the work is purely mathematical. Un-
fortunately, the differential equations that occur in the problems of
nature are very different from those given in our text-books, and
their exact solution is in most cases impossible. Here we must rely
chiefly on that happy device of the variation of constants, by means
of which the solution of simpler forms is extended to the more
complex.
One of the great advantages of putting a question in a mathemati-
cal form is the precision with which it can be stated. If we are right,
the triith of our assertion will be the sooner acknowledged, and if
we are wrong, our error can be the more easily detected. Fre-
quently it has seemed to me that disputes would be avoided in the
meetings of our scientific societies if men would take the trouble to
put their assertion into a formula and write it on the blackboard ;
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 119
and certainly there would be a clearness and meaning that are so
often wanting. Thus, if any one asserts that when a planet conies
to its perihelion it ought to fall into the sun, the law of gravitation
being true, he is not worth listening to unless he will put his asser-
tion into a formula ; and when he is able to do this he will probably
find out his own error. There will be so much gain by simply re-
ducing the problem to its elements and giving it a correct form.
Again, where scientific statements may be true, there will be a gain
in giving them, when possible, a mathematical expression. Thus,
when we are told that the fixed star 1830 Groombridge is running
away, disobedient to the law of gravitation, how much better it
would be if we could see on the blackboard the mathematical proof
of this assertion, so that we could judge for ourselves on what
assumption it is based. The subject of impulsive forces is one that
we hear disputes about in our own society, and it seems to be a fair
field for a mathematical exposition. How often do we see such
phrases as " energy," " potential energy," " kinetic energy," " con-
servation of energy," " work," " virial," Ac. Could not some one
of our members give us a clear account of these terms, show us how
they are connected with the general equations of mechanics, what
new ideas they contain, and on what limitations they may be based ?
As the application of mathematics is extended, sounding phrases
are sure to come into use, and it is well to test them and know what
they mean.
In the discussions of this Section, while all are invited to be
critical, I trust that we shall all be kind and good tempered. We
come together for discussion and mutual improvement, and while
error is not to be spared we must be charitable to each other's faults.
BULLETIN
OF THE
MATHEMATICAL SECTION
A communication signed by Mr. J. E. Hilgard and nineteen
other members of the Philosophical Society, asking that a Section
in Mathematical Science be formed, as provided in Paragraph 6 of
the Standing Rules of the Society, was presented to the General
Committee at its regular meeting January 27, 1883. The propo-
sition was agreed to, and Mr. Hilgard was empowered to call a
special meeting for the purpose of organizing such a section ; the
call being extended to all members of the Society.
1st Preliminary Mejeting. February 17, 1883.
Twelve members met in the library of the Army Medical Mu-
seum, in answer to the first call.
Mr. Hilgard not being present, Mr. E. B. Elliott was called
to the Chair.
An informal discussion followed, which brought out a unanimous
sentiment in favor of forming the Section.
With some differences of opinion as to details, it was agreed to
postpone formal action, and the meeting adjourned subject to call.
2d Preliminary Meeting. March 5, 1883.
Mr. Hilgard in the Chair.
Fifteen members present.
A plan of organization was adopted, and referred to the Gene-
ral Committee of the Society for consideration.
121
122 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
IsT Regular Meeting. March 29, 1883.
Fourteen members present.
In the absence of Mr. Hilgard, who had presided over the
meeting for organization, Mr. G. W. Hill was called to the Chair.
The standing rules for the government of the Section, as adopted
at the last meeting of the General Committee of the Society, were
read.
The Section then proceeded to elect officers for the year 1883.
Ou motion of Mr. Winlock the rules of the Society at its An-
nual Meeting were followed.
Mr. Asaph Hall was chosen Chairman and Mr. H. Farquhar
Secretary.
A letter from Mr. Marcus Baker, dated Los Angeles, Cal., was
read by Mr. Christie. It expressed a strong interest in the Sec-
tion, recommending that it should be conducted as nearly as possi-
ble on the plan devised by the late Prof. Henry for the Society
itself, by which business and science are kept apart. A free use of
pencil and paper at the meetings, and seats around a table, were
further suggested. The letter closed by advocating the foundation*
of a new mathematical journal.
Mr. Christie then made a communication on
A QUASI GENERAL DIFFERENTIATION.
The paper was discussed by Messrs. Kummell, Elliott, Hill,
and DooLiTTLE. The author reserves it from publication to await
further research.
A resolution was passed, requesting the committee in charge of
the matter to call meetings of the Section on Wednesday evenings.
2d Meeting. April 11, 1883.
The Chairman, Mr. Hall, presided.
Present, ten members and two invited guests.
It was announced that the Editor of " Science " would publish
brief reports of the meetings of the Section.
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 123
The Chairman read an inaugural address, [given in full on pp.
117 tQ 119 aiite.]
Mr. C. H. KuMMELL then began a paper on
ALIGNMENT CUBVE8,
\?hich was not 'finished at the time of adjournment
3d Meeting. April 26, 1883.
t
The Chairman presided.
Present, sixteen members and one invited guest.
Mr. KuMMELL completed his paper, begun at the second meet-
ing, on
ALIGNMENT CURVES ON ANY SURFACE, WITH SPECIAL APPLICATION
TO THE ELLIPSOID.
[Abstract.]
The attempt to put a number of points in line on a curved sur-
face whose normals are supposed to be given (abstraction is made
of deviations of the plumb-line and lateral refraction) gives rise to
various curves, which I call align men£ curves. There are two
classes — alignment curves with two given termini and those with a
starting point only. There are three distinct curves of the first
class, viz. : 1. The normal section, if the surveyor directs his assist-
ant to place staffs in line from one end of the line. 2. A curve
described if the surveyor would align a point near him, then move
up to this point, thence align another point, etc., until the terminus
is reached. This process is that used in chaining, or more roughly
by a pedestrian going towards a point, and is characterized by
requiring only foresights. I call it proorthode (^po, 6pOd^, oJo?).*
3. A curve resulting if a backsight is also taken. This curve is
therefore defined by the condition that the normal plane at any
point of it which passes through one end also passes through the
other. I call it diorthode {dtd, dpOd^, <J^«9), because it may be con-
* This and other names of curves were coined by my friend, Mr. Wm. R,
Gait, of Norfolk, Va.
124' PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
sidered straight all through at any of its points. This curve may
be considered the ideal curve of a primary base line. Various
names have been given to it when on the terrestrial spheroid. Dr.
Bremiker, who appears to have first considered it (in his Studien
ueber hoehere Geodaesie, 1869;, proposed the name "Feldlinie";
that is, field line. He thinks it should be adopted as the geodetic
line, because both linear and angular measurements conform to it
Clarke, Zacharise, and Helmert have also mentioned it, the latter,
however, only in a note, where he remarks that it deserves no con-
sideration in geodesy.
To the second class belong two curves: 1. A curve described as
follows: The surveyor at the starting point takes his directions
from a staff at short distance and directs his assistant to place
a staff in the prolongation. Repeating this operation from the
first staff, from the second staff, etc., he describes a curve which
is well known to be the shortest curve between any of its points.
It is usually called the geodetic line. However, since this name
would apply at least equally well to the three curves already con-
sidered, I propose the name brachisthode {^paj^ttfro^). The proper-
ties of this curve need not be considered here, such mathematicians
as Gauss, Hansen, Bessel, and others, having perfected its theory.
Helmert, in his " Hoehere Geodsesie," makes this curve the basis of
nearly all geodetic computations. The brachisthodic process on a
plane evidently results iu a straight line, and on a sphere in a great
circle. If, on these surfaces, it is in starting directed to a distant
point, that point will be reached (disregarding errors of observation).
Not so on other curved surfaces ; there, in general, the first element
of the brachisthode is not in direction to any of its points at a finite
distance. 2. The loxodroine being a curve which has a constant
inclination to a given direction, may, perhaps, be mentioned as be-
longing to this class.
The general equations of the two-end curves on any surface may
be developed as follows :
Let the equation of the surface be :
u=f(x,y,z)^0 (1)
then if ($, 17, C) is any point in the normal at the surface point
(x, y, z)f we have its equations :
L-*,l^_C^ (2)
(du\ (^\ (^\
Tx) Uy) \dl)
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 125
and the equation of a normal plane at the surface point {x^ y, z)
and passing through {x^, y^, z^), (not necessarily a surface point, but
considered so here), is :
»-[c«-)(s)-(=-')(5i)]C<».-«©-<-.-.)(|)]
- [('-^) © - « - ') (I) ] ["^-'> (I) -(-- " © ]
= [(% - y) (f - ^) - (*. - a:) (1J - V)] (^)
+ [(^ - «) (1 - y) - (y, - y) C - «)](^)
+ [(a^ - a;) C -«)-(*. - z) (? - X)] (g) (3)
If in this we replace the surface point {x, y, z) by the surface
point («!, yi, Zi) and ($, 17, CJ by the surface point (a;, y, z) we obtain :
0 =* [(y,- yi) (a; — a;0 - (a:,- a:,) (y — y^] (5-)
+[(^- O (v - y,) - (y. - Vi) (^ - %)] (^)
(du\
dVi) ^^^
which, if combined with the equation of the surface, gives the nor-
mal section at (x^, y^ z{) through (x^, y,, z^).
If, however, we replace in (3) (^, iy, C) by the surface point
(x, y, z) we obtain :
0 = [(2^2— y) (^1- ^)— (^2 - ^) (y- y)] (^)
+ [(22 - «) (yi - y) -(y«-y)(2i-«)](3~)
and this, combined with the equation of the surface, gives the dior-
thodic curve.
As we move along the diorthode, (5) may be considered a plane
which turns about the chord (1, 2) as an axis, so as to be always
normal to the surface. It follows that the normals at any point of
the diorthode are constrained to pass through the chord. They will
thus generate a rule<l surface, whose equation is not (5) however.
^
126 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
The equation of this ruled surface is obtained by eliminating x^ y, z
from (1), (2), and (5). It is important to remark that the dior-
thode does not consist of parts which are diorthodes with respect to
their termini, otherwise the normals would at the same time pass
through two chords from the same point and the curve would be a
plane curve. Dr. Bremiker had erroneously supposed that the
diorthode was touched by the normal planes. This is only the case
at the termini. He has been criticized by Dr. Bruns of Pulkowa
and by Helmert, but neither critic has shown the existence of a curve
possessing this property, namely, the proorthode, in which the nor-
mal plane at any of its points passes through the consecutive point
and the forward terminus, but not in general through the starting
point. If then in (5) we replace (a?i, yj, z^ by {x + dZytj + dy,
z + dz) we have :
fdu\
0 = [(y,- y) da; - («, - x) dy] [^^j
+ [(«» -'Z)dy'' (y, -y) dz']\^
(du\
dy)
-[(^-»)(g)- (%-')©]^
+ [('i-')©-<»i-"(s)]''«
+ [<"^-)(j5)-(».-»>©]'^ . W
»
By means of the equation of the surface (1) and its differential
equation
any one of the variables with its differential can be eliminated.
The resulting differential equation being integrated so as to contain
the starting point (x^, y^ ^j), will be the equation of a projection of
the proorthode on a coordinate plane.
The proorthode being differently related to its ends, will be dif-
ferent forward and backward, while the diorthode is the same for-
ward and backward.
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 127
The following diagram will illustrate the relative course of theee
Any Burbce of the second degree may be represented by
«-»-(^")"+f-+f- («
The origin is taken at one of its real vertices, bo that (a, 0, 0) is
its centre. The equation of the dlortbode ia then by (6)/ if we
write Xf — *i ^ i^; Si — 1/1 = ^yi *i — '1 = ^ ^
0 - Kjr,- » (i, - 1) - <«,- j:) (J, - J)] I
+ [(>, - «) (J, - y) - (y- y) <«, - ')} ^
+ Hx, _ ,) (^ _ ,) _ (^ _ ,) (,, _ «,]i
+ (*i y. — *i y, + 2^y — y^*) — if-
+ (.',',-',■, + '"-""'> f
-"(t-f)'"+'»(^-|)"'+'"(}-7)"»
+ (',',— ',', + y) — + (y,»i - s, *, — !«y)y (9)
The e<]UBtions of the chord (1,2) ma]r be written :
^ = 1=^ = ^, (10)
Every point of the chord, therefore, satisflee (9), and since that
128 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
represents a surface of the second degree, it must be a hyperboloid
of one sheet, for this and its varieties are the only ruled surfaces of
that order. In the general form (9) it has a center in finite space.
It is then the elliptic hyperboloid ; but if a = |> (or a s^ qor p = q),
it has its center at an infinite distance, and it is a parabolic hyperbo-
loid. In this case the base surface becomes :
o = <-5=^ + |-. (U,
which is a surface of revolution of the second degree.
If a as /> 3= q, then (9) becomes a plane and the base surface a
sphere. (9) is evidently satisfied by the center (a, 0, 0), therefore
the intersecting surface always passes through the center of the
base surface.
I' consider now the ellipsoid :
ar* 1/' 3*
0 = ^+|r+^-l (12)
We have then the intersecting surface of the diorthode :
X y
+ (y. «i —yi^i+ y^* — «^y) ^ (13)
Let (0, ^x, z,) be the point where the chord (1, 2) pierces the yz - plane
(a;y,0,Zy) " " " " " zx' "
(a:.,y.,0) " " •' " " xy^ •'
then we can easily verify the relations :
y ^y ' y Ay
(14,)
and if we assume :
V = l-^ J «c'-l- ^ (16.)
yJ.' = i-^ ; /s.' = i-^ (15J
r.' = l-J ; r.' = i- S- (15.)
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 129
(13) will take either of the following equivalent forms :
o = A2(y.- Vy) 1^+ ^^(^.-fi:^)f + ^y(^r''r:x)^ (130
The following relations will be much referred to :
0=^ + ^ = -^ + ^=^+^ (16)
^-«. .V. 2^. . y«-.Vx 3x ^«
^, Vx ^j-^.' y. \ ^. - ^j '
2x - 2y ^y .Vx
(17)
(18)
2x ^. 3/x - y.
0 — iPyy.2x + y,2ya?.
Replacing in these Aa?, Ay, A« ; y„ g^, a;, ; «^, x^, y.
by ^ . ]r . -^ ; V. ,9.'. rJ : «,'. K, r: (19)
y» ,9* «» r' ^' a..'
we have: 0 = ^^- + '-^, =-7+^ = ^ + ^ (16')
• — .
/V 'V 'V - V ' r: ~ K ~ r: - f: ■
< - .V .V _ V
0 = yS.V.' «/ + V /5.V.' (18")
and these relations also will be found correct.
Because in the equation of the diorthodic surface the terms in
^y*, 2* are wanting, there must be lines, perpendicular to the co-
ordinate planes, lying wholly in the surface. To determine those
perpendicular to the xy - plane, I place =» 0 the term in (13^) de-
pendent on z and that in (13") independent of z, or
y5' AW. , V
0=--yAic'-^ + -^(^,~r.*^)
^ ^ ^fx ^"^ (?• "■ "") ^^ ^^^^ """^ ^^^'^
- ^. ^ + ( J. - ^) y by (16) and (16^
9
130 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
Substituting the value of y from the first into the second equation
we have :
0 = ^-y^ (x^ -x.)x+{^,- x) [f, - x) by (17,) and (17,»)
Corresponding to the first value we have :
and corresponding to the second :
Denoting these constants by x^, x^^ y^, y^, respectively, we have
then the equations of a pair of generatrices of the hyperboloid (13)
perpendicular to the xy - plane :
/» /b
Similarly the pair of generatrices perpendicular to the yz • plane:
and that perpendicular to the zx - plane :
«= fi = «b ; * = |^ = «b (20,)
*= 75 = *. ; a: = 5-.= *, (20,')
Now the second line of each pair intersects the chord, as may be
proved thus : The equations of the chord (1, 2) are any two of the
following three equations :
X V
r+i-^-o (21.)
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 131
2 . X
^ + 57-1 = 0 (21,)
. ^""^ ^+ fr ^ =^'+^'- ^ = "»' + ^' - "»'''•' = ^
and (21 J or (21^) can always be satisfied for some value of z;
therefore (20,') intersects the chord. In the same manner it may
be proved that (20^^) and (20^^) intersect the chord. It follows,
then, that (20,), (20x), and (20^) cannot intersect the chord, and
hence belong to the same system of generation.
The equations of a pair of lines intersecting in a given point of
the hyperboloid and belonging to different systems of generation
can be easily foand by the condition that one of them mast inter-
sect (20) and the other (20^). I omit this, but give a remarkable
symmetrical form of the equation of the hyperboloid :
0 = Ca;-a:,)(y-yJ(2-O-(«-«c)(3/-y.)(2^-O (22)
«
— ay(«a — O — y^(^— «o) — ««(yo —yJ* because z^y^z^^ x^y^z^
by (18) and (18^).
It is immediately evident that this equation is satisfied by equa-
tions (20). Jt is not uninteresting to prove that it also satisfies (21),
or that it contains the chord, since it shows the remarkable plia-
bility of these forms by virtue of the relations (16), (17), (18),
(16'), (17'), (18').
The points (a;,. y„ zj, (a;,, y„ z^), (a:^, y„ «^), (x^, y»» ^y («b» V^^ 0>
(*o» y»» ^a) ^^^^ a warped hexagon, which lies wholly in the hyper-
boloid, and its sides may be considered six intersecting edges of a
characteristic parallelopipedon. These edges are :
^ = y(a^-a;J; 5 = Y(y,-yJ; C=y(2.— 2,) (23)
and the co-ordinates of its center are :
«o = -2(^ + ^o); yo = -2 ^^o+y*^' «o = -2 '^^•+^) ^^^)
and these must be those of the center of the hyperboloid also.
Transferring the origin of co-ordinates to this center, we have
the equation of the hyperboloid regarding (23) :
0= (x-A) (y ^B)(z--C)- (x + A) (y + B) (z + C) (26)
132 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
From this equation we soon find hj familiar processes the
lengths and directions of the principal axes. •
As to the question, Which of the alignment curves should be
used in geodesy ? I observe that between two intervisible points on
the terrestrial spheroid the difference between the course of these
curves is so extremely minute that they are practically identical ;
we can use then that method of tracing which is most convenient.
For the distance of non-intervisible stations I consider the brachis-
thode the geodetic line as heretofore, because 1st, the diorthode be-
comes impracticable ; and 2d, it cannot be divided into portions
which are themselves diorthodes. As Assistant Wm. Eimbeck, of
the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, suggested to me, the
diorthode proper cannot even be traced between very distant
stations, which are intervisible only from very elevated positions,
such as high peaks or the usual wooden structures. This led me to
consider a new class of alignment curves — the apparent horizon
alignment curves. The a. h. pro-orthode would be the locus of all
points for which the tangent cuts the normal at the forward end ;
while the a. h. diorthode is a curve, at any point of which a tangent
to the surface, which passes through the normal at one end, also
passes through that at the other end. The equation (3) being
adapted to these changed conditions will furnish also the equations
of these curves ; and I have thus found that the a. k. diorthode on
an ellipsoid has an intersecting surface of the fourth drder.
Messrs. Harkness and Doolittle made remarks on this paper.
Mr. Asaph Hall then made a communication on
THE DETERMINATION OF THE MASS OF A PLANET FROM OBSERVA-
TIONS Op two SATELLITES.
[Abstract. 3
M. Struve recommends that the position angle and distance of one
satellite from another satellite be measured, instead of referring the
place of each to the center of the primary planet ; and a series of
such measurements on satellites of Jupiter has been begun under
his direction at Pulkowa. These observations are found to occupy
one-third the time, and are considered two or three times as accurate
as those where the planet is used. The most important advantage
of the new method is its freedom from the unknown constant errors
attending the old, due to the great difference in size and bright-
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 133
0688 of the objects measured. The price to be paid for this ad-
vantage is a greatly increased complexity in the computation ; for
the elements of both orbits now enter into each equation of con-
dition, and there are therefore twelve normal equations instead
of six to solve. The comparative difficulty may be estimated by
the number of auxiliary quantities that must be computed in the
solution of n equations, namely:
y n (n + 1) (n + 5),
which amounts to 77 for n=: 6, and to 442 forn = 12 ; a value
nearly six times as great. But it is worth while to bear in mind
that the twelve equations, by giving the elements and mean distance
of each satellite, give two values of the planet's mass.
Mr. Habkness called attention to the advantage of substituting
an accidental error, be it even a large one., for an unknown constant
error.
Mr. Taylor criticised the designations usually given to the
apsides of satellites orbits as being particular when they should be
general. He suggested the terms peri-apsis and apo-apsiSf or aphapsis.
Remarks were also made by Messrs. Kummell and Hill.
Before adjournment the Chairman replied to some questions as
to the new object glass for the Imperial Observatory at Pulkowa ;
and gave a short explanation of the difficulty of calculating the
true anomaly in elliptic orbits.
4th Meeting. May 9, 1883.
The Chairman presided.
Present : twelve members and one guest.
The report of a committee appointed by the General Committee
of the Society to consider matters pertain iug to Sections was read.
Mr. DoOLiTTLE read a paper entitled
infinite and INFINITESIMAL QUANTITIES.
[Abstract.]
An infinitesimal may be defined as the result of infinite division;
134 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
but the term infinite division probably does not represent the same
conception to all mathematicians. If we suppose a quantity divided
into a number of parts, and each of these parts subdivided, and
similar subdivisions to go on forever, each requiring finite time, we
have a conception to which the name infinite division may be given
with some appropriateness, but which might better be called eternal
division. Such division never reaches a result. But if we suppose
the time of each subdivision to be proportional to the magnitude of
each part, the entire process is completed in finite time, although
no limit can be given to the number of subdivisions. If a point
be supposed to have passed with constant velocity over a given
distance, there was a time when it had passed over half the distance ;
afterward a time when the remaining distance was one-fourth of the
original distance; the number of such successive halvings is cer-
tainly unlimited ; and the result is that there is no remaining dis-
tance. This is division infinite but not eternal, and the result seems
to be zero.
As a point is defined to be position without magnitude, so may an
infinitesimal be defined to be quantitative relation without magnitude.
The terms infinitesimal, differential, nothing, and zero, are not
synonyms. They have the same logical denotation but differ in
connotation. Mathematicians usually speak of "the value" or
"the true value" of a vanishing fraction, as though any quantity
whatever were not a true value. The term serial value is proposed
as conducive to clearness of thought. A differential coefficient is
the serial value of a vanishing fraction ; and a differential or infi-
nitesimal may be further defined as zero in serial relation to con-
tinuously diminishing quantity.
The term infiniiesinial is however frequently employed like other
terms to denote the symbol of its exact signification. We speak of
drawing and erasing lines, meaning the visible symbols of Euclidean
lines. Even in our purely mental processes we give the name
points to the imagined small volumes that symbolize positions with-
out magnitude. In like manner the term infinitesimal is employed
to denote the imagined small quantity in approximate relation that
symbolizes a relation which becomes exact only when magnitude
disappears.
A line is infinite relatively to a point, but infinitesimal, t. e., zero,
relatively to a surface or volume. Every quantity is finite rela-
tively to other quantities of its own order — zero relatively to orders
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 135
above and infinite relatively to orders below. A volume is inte-
grated from surfaces, a surface from lines, and a line from points.
Each integral is infinite relatively to the magnitudes from which
it is integrated. As momentum is integrated from motion -genera-
ting force, it is infinite relatively thereto. Momentum may also be
dissipated by infinitesimal decrements ; and it is possible that mo-
mentum is always thus dissipated and re-integratcd whenever
motion is communicated from one body to another ; but the prin-
ciples of mathematics are equally consistent with the hypothesis
that actual contact sometimes occurs, in which case motion is di-
rectly and instantaneously transmitted without dissipation or re-
integration. Granting that infinitesimal time requires infinite force,
momentum satisfies that condition.
This paper gave rise to considerable discussion, in which Messrs.
Taylob, Hill, Kummell, and Lefayour maintained the legiti-
macy of the notion of infinitesimals as real elements out of which
quantity is built up ; Messrs. Elliott, Doolittle, and Farquhar
took the opposite ground, preferring the Newtonian view of the
Calculus; while Mr. Christie, while preferring the infinitesimal
method, maintained that no evaluation of continuous quantity, in
terms of units as it must necessarily be, could ever be precise or*
entirely satisfactory, to however small a compass the uncertainty be
reduced. Mr. Christie also pointed out some paradoxes to which
the usual definitions of curves and tangents appeared to lead.
Mr. Elliott then exhibited some tables to serve as a perpetual
calendar, and gave a full explanation how by means of them the
day of the week corresponding to that of the month for any year,
New or Old Style, B. C. or A. D., could be found.
5th Meeting. May 23, 1883.
The Chairman presided.
Twenty members and guests present.
The appointment of the committee called for under the new
Standing Rule relating to papers read before Sections of the
Society was considered. Mr. Taylor moved that the committee
consist of the Chairman and Secretary and a third member to be
136. PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
appointed by the Chair. After some discussion by Messrs.
Habkness and Elliott it was so ordered, with the additional
provision that this appointment be made for each paper separately.
Mr. 6. W. Hill made a communication on
PLANETARY PERTURBATIONS OF THE MOON,
which was yet unfinished when he yielded the floor to Mr. 6. K.
Gilbert, who made a communication on
GRAPHIC tables FOR COMPUTING ALTITUDES FROM BAROMETRIC
DATA.
This paper will appear in the Bulletins of the U. 8. Geological
Survey.
6th Meeting. June 6, 1883.
The Chairman presided.
Present, sixteen members and guests.
Mr. G. W. Hill concluded his paper on
CERTAIN POSSIBLE ABBREVIATIONS IN THE COMPUTATION OF THE
LONG-PERIOD PERTURBATIONS OF THE MOON's MOTION
DUE TO THE DIRECT ACTION OF THE PLANETS.
[Abstract. ]
Hansen has characterized the calculation of these inequalities as
extremely difficult. However, it seems to me that if the shortest
methods are followed there is no ground for such an assertion. The
work may be divided into two portions independent of each other.
In one the object is to develop, in periodic series, certain functions
of the moon's coordinates, which in number do not exceed five.
This portion is the same whatever planet may be considered to act,
and hence may be done once for all. In the other portion we seek
the coefficients of certain terms in the periodic development of
certain functions, five also in number, which involve the coordinates
of the earth and planet only. And this part of the work is very
similar to that in which the perturbations of the earth by the
planet in question are the things sought. And as the multiples of
the mean motions of these two bodies, which enter into the expres-
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 137
sion of the argument of the iQequalities under consideration, are
necessarily quite large, approximate values of the coefficients may
be obtained by semi-convergent series similar to the well-known
theorem of Stirling. This matter was first elaborated by Cauchy,*
but in the method as lefb by him we are directed to compute special
values of the successive derivatives of the functions to be developed.
Now it unfortunately happens that these functions are enormously
complicated by successive differentiation, so that it is almost impos-
sible to write at length their second derivatives. Manifestly then,
it would be a great saving of labor to substitute for the computation
of special values of these derivatives a computation of a certain
number of special values of the original function, distributed in
such a way that the maximum advantage may be obtained. This
modification has given rise to an elegant piece of analysis.
It will be noticed that in this method it is necessary to substitute
in the formulae, from the outset, the numerical values of* the elements
of the orbits of the earth and planet. There seems to be no objec-
tion to this on the practical side, as for the computation of the
inequalities sought no partial derivatives of R, with respect to
these elements, are required.
The paper is printed in full in the American Journal of Mathe-
matics, Vol. VI.
Mr. E.' B. Elliott made a communication on
UNITS OP FORCE AND ENERGY, INCLUDING ELECTRIC UNITS.
Seventh Meeting. November 21, 1883.
The Chairman presided.
Thirteen members present.
'**' M^moire sur les approximations des fonctions de trds-grands nombres, and
Rapport sur un M6moire de M. Le Verrier, qui a p>our objet la determination
d'une grande in^^alit^ du moyen mouvement de la plandte Pallas. Comptes
Rendus de 1' Academic des Sciences de Paris. Tom. XX, pp. 691-726, 767-786,
825-847.
138 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
Mr. C. H. KuMMELL read a communication entitled
THE THEORY OP ERRORS PRACTICALLY TESTED BY TARGET-
SHOOTING.
[Abstract.]
Sir John Herschel treats a special case in which shots of equal
probability are in circles. According to Liagre's theory target
shooting is compounded of two distinct operations, viz., sighting
and leveling, each of which is liable to errors, independently fol-
lowing the ordinary linear law of error. Some reasons for the in-
dependence of these operations are that for sighting the direction
of the wind, which does not affect the leveling, must be regarded;
and that, on the other hand, leveling only is affected by the range.
The consequences of Liagre's theory will now be developed.
Let X = error of -sighting and e^ its mean error;
y =s error of leveling and e^ its mean error ;
then it follows that
g yo"' « ' = probability to hit anywhere at distance x from
sighting axis. (1 J
:7:
J = probability to hit anywhere at distance y from
leveling axis. (1^)
dxdy — 57? — 2c *
.". Op e r ^ * ^ =* probability to hit the point fa?, y). (2)
This probability is tKe same for any point on the ellipse:
This I shall call, then, an equal probability ellipse; its semi-axes
are:
^rand-fr (4)
and r == mean semi-diameter (which is equal to its conjugate).
Assume x^ = — and y, = — y (5)
MATHEMATICAL SECTION.
139
then every point on the equal probability ellipse (3) corresponds
to a point (a?,, y,) on the circle : x^ + y/ = r*, (6)
which is the reduced equal probability circle.
Counting directions from the right of the x - axis, let
a =s direction of (x, y) (7)
«r = " " (*r» y^9 ^^ reduced direction of («, y) (8)
1 y ^» ^» ^»
then tana = ^ = -'«-r-"^a?-a=-^tan^
e.
also
x^sss-^r cos a.
y = -* r Sin a,
whence (ic •= -^ cos a, dr ^r sin o^do^
(9)
(10,)
(10,)
dy == -^ sin a^dr -] — ^ r cos a,da.
Transforming, then, (2) to the new variables, r and o^, we must
replace :
and thus obtain
rdrda — 55 , , .1. , .
2ygi « — probabUity to hit a point of which (r, a,)
is the reduced point
(11)
Fig. 1 exhibits 24 shots of equal probability, on an equal proba-
bility ellipse, and their reduced positions evenly distributed over
the reduced circle.
140 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
The probability to hit anywhere on the perimeter of an equal
probability ellipse of mean semi-diameter, r, is found by int^rating
(11), with respect to a^, through a circumference. It is
r^e-5 02)
Let 71, =s number of shots on area of equal probability ellipse of
semi-diameter r, and n = total number ; then
'i-f
TaT = ^ ^ — — i ji — fi
Let r = /> ; if n, = in, then } = e 2*2 .-. ^ = c y/2l2 (14)
The ellipse :
^ + f, = 2/2 (15)
is then an even chance ellipse, which is hit or missed with equal
probability. Eliminating e between (IS) and 14), we obtain:
{^Y'-iYr CO)
/ log 2
Vn — nj
(17)
These formulae agree with Herschel's in form, and have, also, the
same signification, in case the precisions of sighting and leveling are
equal, for in that case the ellipses (3) and (15) become circles and
r, p their radii, respectively. Herschel employs these formulae for
determining the skill of a marksman, which he defines to be = — ,
P
from the number of shots that have fallen on a circle of radius r.
Correspondingly, we should have to count the shots that have
fallen on an equal probability ellipse, the axes of which have the
unknown ratio -^, which, as yet, we have no method of finding ;
therefore formulae (14) and (17) cannot be employed in their gen-
eral signification. If, nevertheless, we count the shots on a circle
of radius r and compute a value for p and e, we shall come as near
to their true values as the problem requires, especially if the precis-
ions of sighting and leveling are not very different This can be
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 141
shown analytically by proving that the probability of hitting the
area of the circle
st^ + y^^r"
differs from that of hitting the equal probability ellipse
-: + ./ - e'
by terms of the fourth order, with respect to the difference between
the mean errors of sighting and leveling.
In computing p by (17) the radius (or mean semi-diameter) r is
left arbitrary ; it is, however, not at all indifferent ; for if we take
it very small or very large it will give very unreliable values of p.
There must then be a certain magnitude of r giving the most re-
liable value of ^, and it is that which makes P, = -5-e *« a
1 /
maximum. This gives the condition : 0=-y 4^/. r = €
Thus the most favorable value of r for determining p is the
a?' f
mean error e and the ellipse — j + — 5 = 1 (18)
is the ellipse of the most probable shot.
Placing r = e in (13), we have
n — lit
I
= e~^= 0.60653
n
.-. n^ = (1 - « '"^)n^ 0.39347 . . . n = 0.4n nearly (19)
The most probable shot is, therefore, the distance of the (0.4n)th
shot from the center nearly ; also the mean of the (0.4n + ni)th,
and the (0.4n — m)th shot should, if m is not too large, give a fair
value of the most probable shot.
Solving (13) for c, we have also
' ' jjzz: (20)
\ n — »y
From the definition of c^ and e^ it is obvious that
^
-V?-.-v/? c^«
142 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
which formuIsB afford a comparlaon between the precisions of
sighting and leveling. We have then
* = VSif« = >/^+^ (22)
This formula, although laborious for practical use, is the most
rigorous measure of skill in shooting, and there is no need of other
formulae except when shots are lost. In that case it requires an
important modification, whereby it loses in rigor if the number of
lost shots is considerable. Assuming the precisions of sighting
and leveling equal, then the reduced distance r in (12) will be the
actual distance « of a shot ; and if the target is circular, of limiting
radius R, we have
Ml "«nj^^6
Now by (13)
a
therefore [^-j^ ^=2a;p e«-(n - n^W
n
aad ^ _ Ml ^ + (n- n^)^ (23)
This formula reverts, of course, to (22),if n = n and it makes
the most probable sum of the squares of the lost shots
K =r:("-";e)
and since [^ " ^^ ]i^ is the smallest possible actual value of
this quantity ; this expression for it is quite plausible.
The targets used by the National Rifle Association are rectan-
gular. (At long range they are 12 feet wide and 6 feet high).
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 143
I^t a (= 6 feet) be the limiting value of x and h (= 3 feet) that
for y, then we have, if n^ is the number of hitting. shots
The integral Pt^'= f 7^^ «~*^ = ^^ ^^~ • *"**
similarly P^^,, is tabulated in Chauvenet's Method of Least Squares
(Table IX, appendix, to the argument t), and is therefore known.
We have further :
[ar J 3= n I a? — 7=. e I — ^ e y
— a — ^
r j^ a a jt*
(^ — a — a
^ ne,' Pt, (Pi, - t,P\) (26,)
/«
dP< 2 -^ •
Here P't, denotes ""37^= "7= « *^^ ^^^^ *^8o be taken from
Chauvenet's table, being 100 X difference. Similarly,
[ff^ = ne;Pt, (Pt, - t,Fi,) (25,)
By virtue of (24) we have also
I
(26.0
S .—
r Ji"^*
n.(l-e,^)
(25/)
and these formulce may be used to compute e, and e, by an obvious
approximative process. They show that e,* > LAj as it should
144 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
be ; but it may, or rather must, happen sometimes that the most
n n
probable increase of the sum of o? and ^ or \p^'\ + [y*] consistent
with (25') is <^ {n — n^^) h^^h being the smaller limit. Such a re-
fiult cannot be accepted, being contradictory to the fact that there
are n — n^ shots at a greater distance than 6. The following
method gives plausible results in that case. Assume
[»•]"•'+ (« - rxjl^
(V) = ;i ihKfl) (25/')
as first approximate value in (25y0» and if £y'^(«y) adopt (e ) as
final value of e^ : but if «yX«y), then proceed in approximating to
£y by (25/). The solution of (25/) gives, as heretofore, the best
value of e^. Among the tar^ret records of the international shoot-
ing match of 1874, at Creedmoor, there ar3 9 with lost shots, 5 of
which give too small an increase of sum of squares, and this means
that from the record of the hitting shots it would not appear prob-
able that so many shots were lost.
Instead of the squares, we may, however, employ first powers of
distances ; and I shall develop the requisite formulae for a circular
target and equal precisions.
We have [«]» ^ = n\ s *-^ e 2t^
0
^-{n - nj^y + iu^'LPtj^ by (13)
.*.« = -
[«]i^ + (n - n^)
nPt^
y^ (26)
If Uj^ = n, this becomes e = — -%/|r (27)
The quantity r, = W =£ J"^ (28)
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 145
which may be called the average shoU has been recently introduced
by the United States Ordnance Department, under the name
** radius of the circle of shots/' in place of the extremely defective
quantity, the mean absolute deviation, the insufficiency of which
was pointed out by Henry Metcalfe, Captain of Ordnance, in the
Beport of the Chief of Ordnance of 1882. Thus the adopted
method of discussion of the precision of firearms, as used by that
department, is in agreement with Liagre's theory, only the shots
are not referred to the true center, but to the " center of shots,"
viz. : their center of gravity.
We have, now, the following three quantities, each of which may
be used as a measure of precision, sighting and leveling being
equally good. .
1, the even chance shot, p.
2, the most probable shot, e, (or mean error of sighting and lev-
eling).
3, the average shot, r^, also called radius of the circle of shots ;
and they are related to each other as follows :
^.'^ = S (29)
The preceding formulse I regard as complete, for practical discus-
sion of target records, provided there is no evidence for a constant
vitiating cause. If, for example, during a shooting match the wind
is blowing constantly in the same direction, the effect of this might
be partially revealed by computing for the whole match the quan-
tity:
«. = Sr (30)
If the sign of this quantity is consistent with the observed direc-
tion of the wind, it might, perhaps, be proper to refer the shots to
a new center, to the right or left of the true center, by this quan-
tity. In that case we have, however,
In leveling there may be a somewhat constant individual habit
of holding too high or too low, which, however, ought not to be
eliminated in a fair discussion of a match, although it would be of
interest to compute the quantity
^» n
for each marksman and for a whole team.
10
146 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINQTON.
Much leas proper, it vould seem to me, to regard the positioa of
the axes uoknowo, and to compute their most probable position. If
center and axea are to be determined, J ^ deDot« the co-ordiaatee
of a shot from a random origin and poaitioo of axes, and to the
angle of turniog the latter into their most probable dlrecdoa ; then
the most probable co-ordinates of a shot are :
ai — ar, -fa^cosw + y'Binw; y=y, + y'coBM — x'sinw.
Imposing the coodiUons of a miaimum for [x*] i^"^ CvM' ^^ ^"^
x = — — ( [aH cos w + W\ sin w ) ;
y. = — ;r(M<»»"-W"°«') J
These forraulse have, however, their proper place in the theory of
Andne's " Fehler-ellipse,"
Fig. 2 exhibits an ideal distribution of 45 shots. Each ring con-
tuns 6 shots, leaving 3 shots between the outer ring and infinity.
The dott«d circle is that of the most probable shot, and the dashed
one that of the even chance shot.
(34)
The following table refers to the combined target record of the
Irish team at 800 yards range, in the international shooting match
of 1874, at Creedraoor :
MATHEMATICAL SECTION.
147
Irish Team at 800 yards : e = 1.3095//.; 90 shots, 88 hits.
Leveling limit..
Radii.
No. of shots on
circle.
t
•
c
g.
Q
No. of shots on
ring.
Discrepancy.
Theory.
Actual.
Theory.
Actual.
Feet,
0.5
63
5
+ '.3
6.3
5
+ 1-3
I.O
22.8
22
-fo.8
16.5
17
—0.5
1-5
43.3
47
—3.7
20.5
25
—4.5
2.0
62.0
58
+4.0
18.7
II
+7.7
2.5
75.5
74
+ 1.5
13.5
16
—2.5
30
83.5
83
+05
8.0
9
— 1.0
35
87.5
87 -f?
+0.5?
4.0
4+?
0.0?
4.0
89.2
874- ?
?
1-7
?
?
4.5
89.8
88-f ?
•
?
0.6
' + .^
—0.4?
89.8
88+2
A target of 50 pistol shots at 50 yards range shows similar dis-
cordance between theory and practice, which, on an average, may
be taken less than 5 per cent
148
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
Thrget of pistol shots at 50 yards range ; e = 0.167 ft, ; 50 shots^
no misses.
Radii.
No. of shots on
circle.
Discrcp*y.
; No. of shots on
1 ring.
Discrep*y.
Theory.
i
Actual.
Theory.
Actual.
in.
1
0.5
'•5
I
+0.5
'•5
I
4-0.5
I.O
5-9
8
— 2.1
4.4
7
—2.6
1-5
12.2
14
—1.8
6.3
6
4-0.3
2.0
19.7
23
—Z'Z
7.5
9
— «.5
2.5
27.0
28
— 1.0
7-3
5
4-2.3
30
33.7
ZZ
+0.7
6.7
5
-fi.7
3.5
39-6
37
+2.6
5.9
4
4-1.9
4.0
43-2
41
4-2.2
3.6
4
—0.4
4.5
46.0
46
0.0
2.8
5
— 2.2
5.0
47.8
47
4-0.8
1.8
I
4-0.8
5-5
48.8
49
— 0.2
1.0
2
— 1.0
6.0
49-4
50
—0.6
0.6
I
—0.4
49-4
50
Mr. Elliott gave an example of remarkably close agreement
between the distribution of errors by theory and by observation of the
chest measurements of 1,516 United States soldiers, reported by Dr.
Bulkley at the Berlin Statistical Congress. In five groups the
greatest difference was four-tenths per cent.
mathematical section. 149
Eighth Meeting. December 5, 1883.
The Chairman presided.
Fourteen members and guests present.
Mr. Alvohd discussed
A SPECIAL CASE IN MAXIMA AND MINIMA,
the problem being to find the radius of the sphere that will displace
the maximum quantity of liquid from a conical wine glass full of
water.
The differential co-efficient, when put equal to zero, is in the form
of two factors. Equating each to zero, one gives the radius of the
maximum sought; the other gives a still larger radius, which proves
to be the radius of the sphere just tangent to the centre of the base
of the cone, and to the sides of the cone, extended upwards. This
gives the minimum displacement equal to zero. Calling a the
radius of the base, b the height, and c the slant height of the cone,
theradius of the sphere producing maximum displacement equals
7— 2 — -rg — 7 — \ ; *ihe radius corresponding to minimum displace-
ment equals
^ c — a.
When tlic radius is still greater, the sphere does not reach the
surface of the liquid, but displaces an imaginary quantity of the
same. An analytical expression for this case was sought in vain ;
the result above is simple, and no square root of a negative
quantity appears. By some device in the mode of investigation,
this imaginary case might appear, as in the question to obtain the
radical axis of two circles, discussed by Salmon.
Mr. KuMMELL suggested that the close relation between the
circle a^ + y* = R^ and the equilateral hyperbola ar' — y* = iP, each
of which could be regarded as an imaginary branch of the other,
might help us to understand many of such difficulties. He showed
that the radical axis of two circles not intersecting was the com-
mon chord of two equilateral hyperbolas whose major axes were
those diameters of the circles which lie in the same straight line.
Mr. Elliott read a communication on
A FINANCIAL PROBLEM,
in which he gave formulae for calculating the advantage of in-
150 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
vestment in United States Government bonds, at six or at four per
cent., and making use of the banking privil^es thus aviulable,
over investment at a higher rate without such privil^es. The
restrictions caused by the high premium on Government bonds, the
bank tax, and the necessary specie reserve were all allowed for.
This paper was discussed by Messrs. Harkkess, De Land,
Smiley, and others.
Mr. H. Farquhab presented the following
FOBH OF LEAST-SQUABE COMPUTATION.
Suppose four unknown constants. A, B, C and D, are to be cal-
culated from equations of condition of the form
aA + 6B + cC + cO) = y.
Arrange columns in order (l)a*, (2)a6, (3;ac, (A) ad, (5) ay,
(6) y, (7) be, (8) W, (9) by, (10) c«, (11) ed, (12) cy, (13) cT, (14) dy
Add up first five columns and place under (2) to (5) the quotients
of their sums divided by -(1).
^(2) ^(2) ^(2^
Put the product ^i 1\2) under (6), ^ I(S) under (7), ^^ J(4)
V(0\ V/QN V/Q\
under(8),^j2X5)under(9),]^2:(3) under (10),^2:(4) under
(11), §1-? I{d) under (12), ^J ^(4) under (13),and ]^ r(6) under
(14), reversing the sign in every ease.
Then add up (6) to (9), placing under the sums of (7) to (9)
their quotients divided by -"(6).
Put the product ^ft^ ^'{7) under (10), jv^v ^(S) under (11),
^ r(9) under (12, ^. 2^(8) under (13), and Jg-] -5^(9) under
(14), reversing each sign.
Add (10) to (12), putting quotients miQ\ ^^^ 2r\l0) ^^^^
the sums.
Put the product 2^^ 2:''(11) under (i3) and VpffoJ^'^^^^ ^"
der (14), reversing the signs.
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 151
Add (13) and (14) ; when ^tttJ^j^ = D.
2^(12) 2/'(ll^
Then, under (12), enter v^tqJn "" r^TTS)^ ~ ^*
J7(9) ^'(S^ ^^(7)
Next, under (9), enter ^tt^: — ^r^D— ^^7^ C = B.
Lastly, under (6), enter jtjx — ^yr D — ^^ C — ^t^. B = A.
Notes. — [1] The sign of summation ia distinguished by an ad-
ditional stroke for every additional quantity introduced under the
column added up.
[2] These additional quantities, under the columns of squares,
(6), (10), and (13), will evidently all be negative.
[3] This form may be extended to any number of unknown
quantities, by insertion of ae, etc., between (4) and (5), be, etc.,
between (8) and (9), and so on. ' Modifications where there is a
smaller number of unknown constants, and where one of them has
the coefficient always unity, will be obvious.
[4] One of the quantities a, 6, etc., will, in many computations,
be zero when another one is significant, and vvce-verm ; as when one
unknown quantity changes in the course of a series of observations.
In this case we may save some columns by arranging our equation
thus : aiAi + ajA, + 6B+ etc. = y (where o^ a, = 0, always).
Here two sums are found under columns (1) to (5), two quotients
under (2) to (5), and two additional quantities placed under each of
the other columns before they are summed up. The remainder of
the work then proceeds as before, except that the lad step will be
duplicate.
[5] It will be found advisable always to make la, 2*6, etc., as
nearly zero as possible, so that the products will be smaller and
there will be less danger of error.
[6] The computation is to be checked by applying A, B, etc.,
and finding the residuals of y. Then 2 (a Ay), 2 (a a6), etc., should
all be zero.
[7] Where but two unknown quantities are to be found, one of
them with the constant coefficient unity (as A -f- ^ B = y), other
methods will usually be preferable. Two of these will be given.
I. If the values of h are symmetrical, so that b = fi ±: b\, fi ±: 6',,
fi + b\, etc., here all that is necessary to find B is to subtract the
152 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON'.
value of y for every ft •— b' from that for /5 -{- 6', to multiply the
remainders by b\ to find 2* (6'Ay) and divide it by 2 2^ (b'^), when
the quotient will be B. If A should be wanted also — as is very
often not the case — then Zy must also be found, and A = ~ — fiB,
where n equals the number of equations.
II. In all cases we may obtain the required values by taking the
difference of b and of y from the mean of the column, multiplying
the residual by the former difference, thus forming columns of
6 — —J and (^— "")(y"",) adding these and dividing
the second sum by the first. That is.
Ninth Meeting. December 19, 1883.
The Chairman presided.
Sixteen members and guests present.
Mr. H. Farquhar furnished a
NOTE ON THE PROBLEM DISCUSSED BY MR. ALVORD,
in whicb he showed that the volume of a spherical segment of
height A, ^h^^R — jh), being real for all values of h, both positive
and negative, was to be interpreted for /i<0 or /t>212 as the vol-
ume of the segment of the equilateral hyperboloid of two sheets
whose axes equal R; this volume being taken with a negative sign.
It was positive for negative values of /i, since it must become zero
when A = 0 by negative increments ; hence the minimum of the
function when A = 0 in such problems as the one discussed.
Mr. DooLiTTLE read a communication on
THE REJECTION OF DOUBTFUL OBSERVATIONS.
[Abstract.]
For the purposes of this discussion we may divide errors into
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 153
two grand classes, and name them, from their consequences, indrtuy-
Hve ervors and uairutructive errors. The latter class includes blun-
ders in recording, pointing on wrong objects, &c. The former con-
sists of errors that indicate error in other observations.
I once tried the experiment of dropping a short straight piece of
wire five hundred times upon a sheet of ruled paper and counting
the number of intersections of the wire with a ruled line. When
the end of the wire touched or nearly touched a line, and inter-
section was doubtful, I counted it as half an intersection. I re-
corded the number of intersections in groups of fifty trials, as fol-
lows: 23, 26, 28.6, 24, 31.5, 28, 27, 14, 25, 28.5. These numbers
may be regarded as observations from which may be deduced the
probable ratio of the length of the wire to the distance between
two consecutive lines ; and it seems impossible to account for the
remarkable smallness of the eighth number by any supposition of
uninstructive error. It is almost certain that a ratio deduced from
it alone is largely in error ; but it indicates that the other nine
observations are somewhat in error, and that its error is needed to
counterbalance theirs. If we retain it, and regard the mean of all
as the most probable truth, we infer that this observation is 11.55
units in error. If we reject it, and take the mean of the other nine
as the most probable truth, we infer that this observation is 12 5 6
units in error. It should be remembered that the rejection of an
observation does not sweep from existence the fact of its occurrence;
but merely increases its already large estimate of error. Because
an error of 11.55 units is so large as to be very improbable, shall
we therefore infer that an error of 12 5*6 units is more probable?
It seems very clear to me that the larger an instructive error is
the more instructive it is, and the more important is it that the
observation containing it should not be rejected. The mean of all
the ten above-described observations being regarded as the most
probable truth, any one of the other nine could be better spared
than the eighth. On the other hand, the larger an uninstructive
error is, the more important it is that the observation should be
rejected. Whenever an observation is intelligently rejected, there
is a comparison of two antecedent probabilities, viz. : that of the
occurrence of an instructive error of the magnitude involved and
that of the occurrence of an uninstructive error of the same mag-
nitude. When an error is evidently so large that it cannot possibly
belong to the instructive class, the antecedent probability of suc^
154 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
an instructive error is 0 ; the antecedent probability of an UDin-
structive error is always greater than 0 ; and the observation should
certainly be rejected. But since the theory of least squares allows
no limit whatever to the possible magnitude of instructive errorsi
such rejection involves the admission that the method of least
squares is not applicable to the case. When an observation involves
a merely suspicious error, which is neither so large that instructive-
ness is impossible nor so small as to pass without question, it would
seem reasonable that the observation should be weighted according
to the relative magnitudes of the two antecedent probabilities
which I have mentioned ; but this can never be determined with
any approach to mathematical precision.
In order to make this matter clear, let us suppose for example
that ninety-nine observations of equal weight and known to be free
from uninstructive error are separately written on as many cards ;
that the number 25 is arbitrarily written on a similar card ; that
these hundred cards are thoroughly shuffled ; and that ten cards
being then drawn at random, the following numbers appear on
them : 16, 18, 14, 25, 17, 16, 15, 18, 16, 17. Let it be required to
determine from these data, according to the theory of least squares,
the probability that the number 25 on the fourth card drawn is the
record of an observation. Here the antecedent probability of an
uninstructive error is by hypothesis equal to 1-10.
I commence by assuming a value of the required probability,
and weight the doubtful observation accordingly. I then proceed
in the ordinary method and determine an approximation to the
antecedent probability of the occurrence of a genuine observation
giving the value 25 by integrating — := J e "^^ dt between the
limits corresponding to 24.5 and 25.5, since the observations are
taken to the nearest unit This integral is the antecedent proba-
bility of an instructive error of the given magnitude, tainted with
the incorrectness of the assumption with which I began. Call this
integral p. Then %_ is the resulting required probability. If
it agrees with my original assumption, the problem is solved. If it
does not agree, I have data for a better assumption according to the
well-known method of trial and error. After a few repetitions of
the process, as I have found by experiment, an assumption can be
made that will be verified by agreement with the result.
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 155
In practical problems the antecedent probability of blunders and
other uninstructive errors is never known, and is only matter of
exceedingly vague conjecture. Perhaps if a very large number of
observations were examined, and the proportion of evidently unin-
structive errors ascertained, a somewhat intelligent estimate might
be made of the proportion of those that exist but are not evident ;
and data of some little value might be gathered toward a scientific
method of weighting. But I have no faith that the result would
be any where near worth the labor. At present, the best that a
computer can do is to reject entirely, or retain entirely, or assign
a simple weight, such as i^ i, or }, in sheer desperation, and with
the feeling that his judgment is nearly or quite worthless. It would
be utter folly to assign weights upon a centesimal scale ; and it
would also be utter folly to conjecture an antecedent probability
and proceed according to the method just set forth.
It is well known that the method of least squares gives very un-
trustworthy information in regard to the antecedent probability of
large instructive errors. In regard to the other antecedent proba-
bility required for an intelligent solution of the problem, it gives
no information whatever. So far as I can understand Prof.
Peirce's method of arriving at a criterion, he takes two probabili-
ties, both functions of probabilities of instructive error, and balances
them against each other. This procedure reminds me of what
sometimes ha]*pens in war, when two detachments of the same
army meet in the dark and fire into each other, each supposing the
other to belong to the common enemy. Prof. Peirce also seems to
me to violate the fundamental principle of the science of probabili-
ties, that probabilities must be independent in order that their
product shall equal concurrent probability.
If a computer resorts to the criterion when he feels that his own
judgment is worthless, and only then, the criterion is harmless ;
since it is of no importance whether a decision is made by a worth,
less judgment or a worthless criterion.
In the discussion that followed, Mr. A. Hall gave a brief account
of the literature of the criteria which have been proposed for the
rejection of doubtful observations. In addition to the criterion
proposed by Prof. Peirce, which had been discussed by Mr. Doolit-
tle, that of Mr. E. J. Stone was mentioned ; and also the proofi
of a criterion given by Chauvenet and Watson. The advocacy of
of Peirce's criterion by Gould, Winlock, Bache, Coffin, and Schott
156 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
was noticed, and also its criticism by Airy, Stone, and Glaisfaer,
together with Glaisher's approval of De Morgan's method of
treating observations. In conclusion, Mr. Hall said :
The general result of what has been done in this matter appears
to be as as follows :
Every one can devise a criterion that suits himself^ but it wUl not
please other people.
Now there seems to be a good reason underlying this. The
attempt to establish an arbitrary and general criterion for the dis-
cussion and rejection of observations is an attempt to eliminate
from this work the knowledge and judgment of the investigator.
Such an attempt ought to fail, and it certainly will fail at length,
no matter by what personal influence it may be supported. It is
true that no proof has been given of the principle of the arith-
metical mean for a finite number of observations, such as the prac-
tical cases that always come before us ; but we assume this principle
as leading to the most probable result. When we depart from this
principle, it must be done, I think, for reasons that are peculiar to
each case, and there can be no better guide than the judgment of
the investigator. It may be said that if the criteria that have
been proposed be carefully managed they will do little harm, since
the result of the arithmetical mean will be altered very little ; and
in fact this is their chief recommendation. But by diminishing
the value of the real probable error the criteria give to the observ-
ations a fictitious accuracy and a weight they do not deserve.
The paper was also discussed by Messrs. Hill, Elliott, Far-
QUHAR, Woodward, and others, including Mr. James Main, a
visitor — all agreeing, on essential points, with Mr. Doolittle's view.
Mr. R. S. Woodward then discussed
the special treatment of certain forms of
observation-equations.
[Abstract.]
In a set of observation-equations whose type is
a;^ + (< — O y — ^ == ^ wi^^ weighty,
in which t^ is an arbitrary constant, the same for each equation^
and in which the residuals, i;, are supposed to arise solely from
errors in the observed quantities, n, it will be best to make
,_[££!
tj, — r -
ip]
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 157
This value of i^ makes the co-efficient of y in the first normal
equation and the co-efficient of x^ in the second normal equation,
zero, and hence gives directly
[p7i]
X.
o
[;>]
[?>ft-(>]
The weight of this value of x^ is a maximum ; i. e,, the value of
x^ corresponding to t^ = f~A has a greater weight than the value of
x^ corresponding to any other value of t^.
The probable error of the function x^ + /ly is given by the simple
formula.
in which e,^ and e^ are the probable errors of x^ and y, respectively.
The investigation shows that, when several standards of length
are to be intercompared two and two, in order to obtain the length
of some one of them, it will be conducive to accuracy to have the
mean temperatures of the several sets of comparisons equal.
Remarks were made upon this communication by Mr. Kummell.
Mr. Alex. S. Christie made a communication on
CONTACT OF PLANE CURVES.*
[Abstract.]
Let 0 = M y), (1), 0 = ? (x, y), (2), aad y = v''(«). (3) be the
equations of plane curves. Transferring the origin to (?, t)), where
tl = <!-(?), writing /, f for^c, ij), f (?, f/), respectively, and m. for
1 Iff , 1 «*"y ,
-,5i:.«.for^^i.wehave
from (1), 0=1^(^,5:. f (:«'«,)), (1'). from (2;.
^ = 0- S ^) • -(^'''>' ^^^' *°^ ^"" ^^^' * = ^ i- + ^ S
+ Jg- + &c. (3')
* Throughout this paper, <J, ibr lack of sorts, is put for round </, and denotes
partial differentiation.
158 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
Writing (3') in the form y = xwi + x'w^ + aj»w, + &c. (3">
and assuming jr = «^(0 + «*^ ^ M + &c. (4)
Where (v^) obviously equals w/. and (vj, (v,), Ac., are functions
of f, 1? to be determined, we have, from (4), vy*^ S( = a;"" v(y^)
+ af. y + !.(>,) + / ■^\v+ 2. (v,) + Ac. (5)
from(3'0, ^ = a!".l«;,+a:'.2w, + a:'.3w, + &c. (6)
from (3", 5),uy.-£^x-'( (v,) y«,.) + / ^ \(\y^,+(^,) • >+ 1 • w.)
+ 3!'"^ ((''.)w,+ (v,) . V + 1 . w, + (v.) . V + 2 . wO + Ac.
from (4, 6), >^ . J = af(y,) >w, + a:"^ ' ((>.). . 2w, + (v,)" - Iw.))
+ « ((",)"• 3w, + (v,)!/ . 2w, + (y,) > . Iw,) + «Skc.
•.• 0 = (v,) . V — 0 . to* + (v-i) . 0 — 1 . w,
0 = (v.) . 2> - 0 . w, + (v,) . V — 1 . w. + (v.) . 0 - 2 . w, .
0 = (v.) . Si- - 0 . «>« + (y,) . 2v - 1 . w, + (v,) . V - 2 . 10,
+ (y,) . 0 - 3 . w.
0= (v.) . wiv— 0 . w„ + ,+ (v,) . (m — 1) x— 1 . w„
+ (>■,)•(»»- 2).. - 2 . u>._,+(y,) . («- 3)v— 3 . w._ ,
+ ...+(» J .0 — m.v\
MATHEMATICAL SECTION.
159
s s
I I
r
I
o
S"
(N
(N
e^
1
1
1
8.
1
^
1
1
1
©
A
<A
I 1
8"
g"
5-
-.8
s'
1
1
•
1
IM
1
1
O
A • •
CO
A
1
1
1
.s
g
g'
fl
B
fl
I I I
X
a
1
as
'f'
^
1
o
^
II
/->
Q>
d
O
>^
a
>w/
<D
M
^
A
O O
I I
A 5^
1
1
1
A
CO
A
A
1-4
1
1
1
J,
«.
•.
•^
•»
p4
1
+
c"
^
s"
s'
I
A
I
I
A
160
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
which determines the coefficients in^ (4). {*) Putting u„ for
>r+ B,
r + l
((>.)«,
>'+»
+ (>, )«,r) + a; ■ ( (v^) u,„ + Cv,) u,^ + (>,) 11^) + Ac., and this in
(10 gives an equation of the form
0==af'A^ + ^A, + x'A^ + ai'A^ + &^ (8)
viz: 0 = :t^ [(Oo) tV,] + ^ DO,) u,, + (0,) ti„ + (1.) «pj
+ ^[(Oo) ««+ (0,) 11.0+ (0,) w«+(lo) Wii + (li) "•,+(?•) '*«]
+ ^[(0o)«3o+(0t)u«+(0,)u,, + (0,)«„+(l,)fi,,+ (l|)«„
+ (1,) u^ + (2o) u,, + (2.) ii„ + (3,) u«] + Ac. (80
for the abscissae of points common to (1) and (3). Similarly for
the abscissae of points common to (2) and (3) we get an equation
of the form
0^a^B^ + x'B^ + x'B, + 3f'B^ + &c. (9)
viz : 0 - 2^ [(0,) t;J + a^ [(0,) v,, + (0,) r« + (1.) t; J + Ac. (9^
Let (2) contain at least p parameters, enabling us to pass (2)
through p of the intersections of (1) with (3). When this is done
we have the equation 0 = a^ (^o — ^o) + ^ (^i ~ ^i) + «" (^.— ^,)
+ Ac. (10) true for the j> values of x corresponding to thep points
common to (1), (2), (3). Let the p common points move to the
origin, (10) must have p roots equal zero, that is, 0 =^ A^ —
jB„ 0 = ^ - 5,. 0 = ^, - JB,. . . . 0 = A^^, -^p-i (11)
If we suppose (3) the parabolic representative of (1), x in (8)
becomes indeterminate, and hence besides 0 == ^^ we have also
0 = -Ip 0 = -4„ Ac.
that is, 0=/, with
"""2 0^'^'d^d^dfi'^ 2 d^dii'^ 2 \d^J V
{
1 ^f 1 dr^ ^f , 1 d^v ^f
0 Q! :>i:3 + 'fl
3!^^=*"^ 21 d^d^dr, "T" 2! d^ o^d,
H~ »/? //^ >i.
+ li\dO ^.-V"^ 2!dTde^oV"^ 3!V5^/ V
Ac. Ac.
Ac.
* Putting X = I in (3^^) and (4), we obtain the multinomial theorem in the form
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 161
equations fully determioing jz , ^ . ^^3 , Ac, in terms of the
partial derivatives of f.
Again, suppose (8) the parabolic representative of (2), then
0 =« JBq, with 0 = 5i, 0 "« B^, &c., and consequently by (11) 0 = A^,
with 0 = ^1, 0 «= ^2» . . . 0 = -4p-_, , or the first j) — 1 of the
J J2
equations (12) are satisfied indifferently whether the te > -7=2 » • • •
,^_i therein contained be derived from (1) or (2) ; that is, we
have arrived at Lagrange's conditions for contact of the (p — 1)
order, as a consequence ofp- punctual contact ; and it follows at
once that the distance between two curves in the neighborhood
of a ^ - tuple common point is of the p^ order when the distance
along the curves from the p - tuple point is of the 1st order.^
Note.
The abstracts of communications to the Mathematical Section
have each been examined by a special committee, consisting of the
Chairman, the Secretary, and a third member appointed by the
Chairman. These third members were as follows :
Tii/f, Author. Third Member,
Alignment Curves on any Surface C. H. Kummell. A. S. Christie.
The Mass of a Planet from Observa-
tions of two Satellites A.-Hall. W. B. Taylor.
Infinites and Infinitesimals M. H. DooLiTTLE. G. W. Hill.
Planetary Perturbations of the Moon_-G. W. Hill. E. B. Elliott.
The Law of Error practically tested
by Target- Shooting C. H. Kummell. A. S. Christie.
Form of Least-Square Computation__-H. Farquhar. R. S. Woodward.
Rejection of Doubtful Observations. __M. H. Doolittle. W. C. Winlock.
Special Treatment of certain forms of
Observation- Equations R. S. Woodward. W. C. Winlock.
Contact of Plane Curves A. S. Christie. C. H. Kummell.
• * This paper will be continued. ^
11
CORRIGENDA.
Vol. V, p. 86, line 2. For " abused " read absurd.
" " "7. For " east " read eor<A.
162
INDEX.
Page.
Abbe, Cleveland : communication on Deter-
mining the temperature of the air 24
: report as Treasurer xxii
Address of the Chairman of the Mathemat-
ical Section 117
Prei^ident xxv
Action of tho International Geodetic Asso-
ciation as to an initial meridian and uni-
versal time 106
Activital evolution zlvii
Agricultural college grantj^ 100
Ague, Tho conservative function of ^ 5
Air, Determining the temperature of the, 24, 443, 47
Alaska, Glaciation in 33
— , Humidity of 36
Alignment curves on any aurface, with
special application to the ellipsoid 123
Alvord, Benjamin: communication on a
special case in maxima and minima 149
— — : remarlis on agricultural college grants 106
glaciation in Alaska 35
Smithsonian funds invested in
Arkansas bonds 105
Analogues in zoo-gcoieraphy 41
Announcement of death of B. F. Sands 41
C. H. Crane 41
Elisha Foote 48
Josiah Curtis 41
L. D. (.ule 48
B. D. Cutt« Ill
election to membership of Albert
Williams, Jr 14
CD. Walcott 48
D. E. Salmon Ill
E. C. Morgan 87
E. S. Burgess 28
II. F. Walling 14
J. H. Renshnwe 14
J. M. Browne Ill
J. O. Skinner 36
R. S. Woodward 14
S." F. Emmons 33
S. H. Bodflsh 28
T. C. Clmmberlin 36
Thomas Russell 10
W. C.Kerr 33
W. T. Sampson 36
filling of vacant offices 41
invitation to Anthropological and Bio-
logical Societies 87,98
Page.
Announcement of new rules concerning pa-
pers read before sections 38
organization of Mathematical Section.. 28
summer vacation 39
Anthropic evolution xlvii
Antisell, Thomas: inquiry concerning Ha-
waiian Islands 14
: remarks on meteorologic stations 47
: report of Auditing Committee 6
Aphap^is 133
Appalachian region, Geology of 31
Arithmetic, Binary 3,38
Arkansas bonds 105
Articulation by the congenitally deaf... 76, 78, 84
Astronomy (see Jfar«, Perturbation^ Saturn,
Venus.)
Attraction xxviii, xxxii, xxxix
Auditing Committee, Appointment of. Ill
, Report of 5
Baker. Marcus: letter to Mathematical Sec-
tion 122
Balfour memorial fund 5
Bates, H. H. : communication on the nature
of matter 5
Beaches, Ancient, of the Hawaiian Islands.. 13
Bedo, : cited on the miraculous cure of
dumbness 54
Bell, A. G. : communication on Fallacies con-
cerning the deaf, and tho influence of
such fallacies in preventing the amelio-
ration of their condition 48, 84
: remarks on determining the tem-
perature of tho air 47
Bibliography of medallic medical history ... 40
Billings, J. S. : remarks on the prevention of
malarial diseases 10
Binary arithmetic 3,38
Biotic evolution xlv
Black bulb thermometer 25
Black drop. The, a spurious phenomenon 23
Bodfish, S. II., Election to membership of.... 28
Brachisthode, The 124
Browne, J. M., Election to membership of..... Ill
Bulletin of the General Meeting 1
Mathematical Section «.• 113
— , Rules for the publication of the xiii
Bulwer, John : cited on the instruction of
deaf-mutes 54
Burgess, E. S., Election to membership of.. 28
163
164
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
Page.
Burnett, 8. M.: communication on Refraction
in the principal meridians of a triaxial
ellipsoid ; regular astigmatism and cylin-
drical lenses 4
The character of the focal
lines in astigmatism 45
Calendar, Perpetual 135
Cambrian system, The, in the United States
and Canada 98
Cape Hatteras, Oeology of. 28
Certain possible abbreviations in the com-
putation of the long-period perturbations
of the moon's motion due to the direct
action of the planets 136
ChamberIin,T. C, Election to membership of, 36
Character of the focal lines in astigmatism.. 45
Chemistry (See Explosive Eruption, Specific
Oravity.)
Chickering, J. W.: communication on The
thermal belts of North Carolina 11
Christie, A. S. : communication on A quasi
general differentiation 122
— Contact of plane curves 157
— : remarks on infinitesimals 135
Clarke, F. W.: remarks on volcanic ex-
plosions 93
Climate, Response of, to variations in solar
radiation 10
Coal, Origin of. 28
Committee, Auditing, Appointment of. Ill
, Report of 6
— , General, Constitution and duties of the., vii
ix, X, xi
, Members of the xiv, xv
— on Communication.?, Constitution and
duties of the xii
, Members of the xiv, xv
Publications, Constitution and duties
of the xii, xlii
, Members of the xiv, xv
Committees on Mathematical Papers 135, 161
Compulation, Least-square 150
— of lunar perturbations 13G
Constitution vii
Contact of plane curves 167
Correlation of Cambrian groups 98
Corrigenda 162
Crane, C. H., Death of. xiv, 41
Criteria for the rejection of observations 155
Crova's hygrometer 36
Cultivation of the eucalyptus on the Roman
Campagna 36
Curtis, Josiah, Death of 41
Curves, Alignment 123
— , Contact of 157
Cutts, R. D. : communication on The action
of the International Greodetic Association
Page,
as to an initial meridian and universal
time 106
, Death of Ill
Dalgarno, George : cited on communication
with mutes 71
Dall, W. H., Announcement by 5
: communication on glaciatioii in
Alaska 33
: remarks on glaciers and solar heat, 11
Darwin's theory of the distribution of vol-
canoes 69,91
Deaf, Fallacies concerning the 48
Denudation and volcanism 91
Deposition of ore by replacement 32
Determination of the mass of a planet from
observations of two satellites 132
specific gravity of solids by the
common hydrometer 26
Determiuing the temperature of the air, 24, 46, 47
Differentials defined 134
Differentiation, A quasi general 122
Diorthode, The 123
Dismal Swamp 28,30
Distribution of the surplus money of the
United States among the States 103
volcanoes 87
Doolittle, M. II.: communication on Infinite
and infinitesimal quantities 133
Substance, matter, motion, and
force 14
The rejection of doubtful ob-
servations 152
: remarks on binary arithmetic 39
Doubtful observations. Rejection of 152
Drainage, system. The. and the distribution
of the loess in eastern Iowa 93
Dreams in their relation with psychology.... 37
Drlftless region. Loess of the 96
Dumbness, Fallacies concerning 49,78
Dunes of North Carolina 29
Dutton, C. E.: communication entitled The
volcanic problem stated ^ 87
on the Geology of the Hawaiian
Islands 13
: exhibition of views of the Hawaiian
Islands 10
: remarks on determining the tem-
perature of the air 48
Ennis' hypothesis 45
the separation of minerals by
density 27
Dynamic hypothesis, The, controverted ttt
Easter, Formulae for the computation of 15
Eastman, J. R.: communication on The Flor-
ida expedition for observation of the
transit of Venus 21
INDEX.
165
Page.
Sdacation of deaf mutes 77, 82, 86
Elevation and subsidence 31,92
— in Alaska. 36
— in the Hawaiian Islands 13
Elliott, E. B.: communication entitled Form-
ulas for the computation of Easter 15
A financial problem 149
on Units of force and energy, in-
cluding electric units 137
: exhibition of perpetual calendar 135
: remarks on infinitesimals 135
— the metric system 4
unification of time 110
Ellipsoid^Alignment curves on the 123
Emmons, S. F.: coromunicaiion on Ore dep-
osition by replacement 32
, Election to membership of. 33
Errors, Theory of 138
Eruption of lava 87
Evolution defined xlii
— , The three methods of. jcxvii
Experiments in binary arithmetic 3,38
Explosive eruption discussed 03
Exposure of thermometers 24, 46
Fallacies concerning the deaf, and the influ-
ence of such fallacies in preventing the
amelioration of their condition .* . 48
Fan structure of mountains 31
Farquhar, Edward . communication on
Dreams in their relation with psychol-
ogy 37
— t Henry: communication on Experiments
in binary arithmetic 3
A form of least-square computa-
tion 150
Further experiments in binary
arithmetic 38
: election as Secretary of Mathematical
Section 122
' : remarks on Infinitesimals 135
Fault near Harper's Ferry 30
FerrePs temperature formula 25
Finance (See Distribution).
Financial problem, A 149
Fletcher, Robert: communication on Recent
experiments on serpent venom «. 38
Florida expedition for observation of the
transit of Venus 21
Foote, Elisha, Death of 48
Force xxviii, xxxiii
Foim of least-square computation 150
Formulas for the computation of Easter 15
Fossil leaves. Method of preservation of 90
Frozen soil of the arctic regions 34,35
Further experiments in binary arithmetic... 38
Oale, L. D., Death of. 48
Page.
Gallaudet, E. hi. : remarks on fallacies con-
cerning the deaf. 77
Gtoikie, Archibald : cited on the division of
Paleozoic time 98
General committee (See OommitUe),
— Meeting, Bulletin of the 1
Geodesy (See Alignment).
Geodetic line. The 124
Geology of Hatteras and the neighboring
coa*«t 28
the Hawaiian Islands 13
— (see also Cambrian^ Drainage^ Fault, QUtci"
ation^ Ort, VoleanU).
Gesture language of the deaf.. 63, 66, 71, 75, 79, 84
Gilbert, G. K.: communication on Graphic
tables for computing altitudes from bar-
ometrio data. 136
The response of terrestrial
climate to secular variations in solar
radiation 10
: remarks on the drainage system of
ea*<tern Iowa. 97
Gill, T. N.: communication on Analogues in
zoo*geography 41
Ichthyological results of the
voyage of the Albatross 48
Glaciation and solar heat lO
— in Alaska 33
Glaciers classified « 33
Graphic tables for computing altitudes from
barometric data 136
Gravitation, Explanations of.„ xxxii
Hall, Anaph : address as Chairman of the
Mathematical Section 117
: communication on The determination
of the mass of a planet from observations
of two satellites 132
: election a<9 Chairman of the Mathe-
matical Section .->... 122
: remarks on criteria for the rejection
of doubtful observations 156
Harkness. William : communication on The
monochromatic aberration of the human
eye in aphakia 4
: remarks on accidental and constant
errors 133
determining the temperature of
the air 26
hygrometrio observations 36
the postulation of continents to
support hypotheses
Harper's Ferry, Fault near 30
Hatteras, Geology of Cape 28
Hawaiian Islands, Geology of the 13
, Views of the 10
Hazen, H. A.: communication on Hygromet-
rio observations 86
166
PHILOSOPHICAX SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
Page.
Hazen, H. A. : communication on Thermo-
meter exposure 46,47
Hilgard, J. £.: organization of the Mathe-
matical Section 121
: remarks on the unification of longi-
tudes and time 109
Hill, G. W.: communication on Certain possi-
ble abbreviations In the computation of
the long-period perturbations of the
moon's motion due to the direct action
of the planets 136
: remarks on infinitesimals 136
— , Moritz: cited on natural language 80
the education of deaf mutes 78
value of sign language to the
deaf 80, 85
Homophones » 67, 76
Hough, F. B.: communication on the culti-
vation of the Eucalyptus on the Roman
Campagna 36
Hubbard, G. G.: remarks on fallacies con*
corning the deaf. 82
Humidity observations 36
— of Alaska 36
Hydrometer determination of the specific
gravity of solids 26
Hygrometer observations 36
Hypothesis, Utility ot, in science zxxiii
Ichthyological results of the voyage of the
Albatross 48
Idiots, Dumbness of. 60, 83
Illinois, Loess hills of 97
Inaugural address of the Chairman of the
Mathematical Section 117
Infinite and infinitesimal quantities 133
Initial meridian. Universal 106
Intermarriage of deaf mutes 74, 76, 83
Intermittence of volcanoes 91
International Geodetic Association 106
Invitation to Anthropological and Biological
Societies 87
Iowa, Loess of eastern 93
Kerr, W. C: communication On the geology
of Hatteras and the neighboring coast .. 28
, Election to membership of. 33
Kinemaiio hypothesis, The xxviii
King, A. F. A. : communication on The pre-
vention of malarial diseases, illustrating,
inter alia^ the conservative function of
ague 6
Knox, J. J.: communication on The distri-
bution of the surplus money of the
United States among the States.. 103
Kotzebue Sound ioe cliffs 34
Kummell, C. II.: communication on Align-
Page
ment curves on any surface, irith spec-
ial application to the ellipsoid 128
The theory of errors practi-
cally tested by target shooting 13t
: remarks on consequences of the re-
lation of the circle to the equilateral hy-
perbola 149
infinitesimals 135
refinement in the determina-
tion of the temperature of the air 26
Lavas of the Hawaiian Islands 13
Lee, William : communication entitled
Sketches from medallic medical history 39
Leadville ore deposits 32
Least-square computation 150
i^efavour, E. B. : remarks on infinitesimals... 135
Liagre's theory is9
List of members xvi
Loess of eastern Iowa 93
Longitudes, Unification of lOS
McCullough, Hugh : remarks on money de-
posited by the United States with the
State of Indiana 106
McDowell. Silas : cited on thermal Ix^its of
North Carolina 11,12
McGee, W J : communication on The drain-
age system and the distribution of the
loess of eastern Iowa 93
Malarial disea<*es, Prevention of. 5
Mallery, Oarrick: election as Vice-president 41
Mallet's theory of volcanism go
Marriage of deaf mutes 74,76,83
Mass of planet««. Determination of 132
Mathematical Section, Addresj^ by Chair-
man of the 117
, Bulletin of the 113,121
, Committee of the 135, ici
I , Members of the n^
, Officers of the 122
(Organization of tho 5», 121
, Rules of ii.\ ly.
Mathematics (see Arithmetic, Formuias, Math"
ematieal Section.)
Matter, Combination of. xxxv
Maxima and minima mj^
Medallic medical history 39
Melanosis, Malarial 7
Members, List of xvi
— of tho Mathematical Section 110
Meridian, Universal initial loft
Metamorphic deposits „ 32
Metomorph ism and subsidence os
Meteorology (see Climate, Humiditn. Hygro-
meter, Temperature, 7%«Tma/, Thermome-
ter.)
IKDBX.
167
Page.
Metric system discussed 4
Minerals, Separation of, by density 26
Modes of motion xxxviii
Moon's motion, Pertabations of the 13G
Morgan, K C, Election to membership of ... 87
Moequito, Inoculation by the 7
Motion, Modes of xxxviii, xli
Munroe, C. E.: communication on the De-
termination of the specific gravity of
solids by the common hydrometer 26
Mutes, FallacioB concerning 49,78
Natural language 64, 70, 75, 79
Nature, The, of matter 6
Nebular hypothesis and volcanic eruption... 87
not discredited by Satumian and Mar-
tial periods 45
North Carolina, Geology of 28
, Thermal belts of 11
NoUtion, Now arithmetic.^ p. 3, .38
Note on the rings of Saturn 41
Observation-equations 150
Observations, Rejection of doubtful 152
Officers of the Mathema'ica) Soction 28, 122
Society xiv. xv
Ore deposition by replacement 32
Peat beds of North Carolina. 28
Periapsis 133
Periods, Saturninn 43
Perpetual Calendar : 135
Pertubations, Lunar 136
Physical evolution xliii
Picture language 84
Porter, Sarah : cited on ttie use of signs by
deaf-mute children 81
Powell, J. W.: addre.osas Prenident xxv
: remarks on the drainage syntem
of eastern Iowa 97
loess of western Illinois 97
volcanic eruption 92, 93
President's annual address xxv
Prevention of malarial disease 5
ProOrthode, The 123
Quasi general differentiation, A 122
Becent experiments on .serpent venom 38
Rejection of doubtful observations 152
Renshawe, J. H., Eli^^lion (<> membership of, 14
Replacement in ore deposition 32
Report of the Treasurer xxi
-- of Auditing Committee 6
Response, The, of terrestrial climate to va-
riations in solar radiation 10
Page.
Riley, C. V., Election of, as member of the
General Committee 41
Rings of Saturn 41
Rules for the publication of the Bulletin xiii
— , New, on papers read before sections 38
—, Standing, of the General Committee xil
Mathematical Section ^ 115
Society ix
Russell, Thomas, Election to membership of, 10
Salmon, D. £., Election to membership of.... Ill
Sampson, W. T., Election to membership of, 36
Sands, B. P., Death of ^ 41
Saturn's rings 41
"Science" to report the scientific proceed-
ings of the Society 6,122
Scismographic record obtained in Japan 38
Shelters for thermometers 46
Sibscota, George : cited on the cause of dumb-
ness 49
Sign language of the deaf 63, 06, 71, 76, 79, 84
Sketches from medallic medical history 39
Skinner, J. O., Election to membership of.... 36
Smith, Edwin : communication on a Scismo-
graphic record obtained in Japan 87
Smithsonian investment 105
Solar radiation in its relation to climate 10
Sound velocity as a measure of air tempera-
ture 47
Speech and thought 63, 81
— reading by the eye 66, 60, 70, 76, 78, 84
Special case. A, in maxima and minima. 149
— treatment of certain forms of observation-
equations 166
Specific gravities, Determination of. 26
Standard time 106
Standing rules (See Rulct).
Substance, matter, motion, and force 14
Surplus money, Distribution of 103
Survival of the fittest, not the law of an-
thropic evolution xlvii, lii
Taylor, W. D.: communication entitled Note
on the rings of Saturn 41
: remarks on binary arithmetic 4
• — designation of apsides 133
infinitesimals 136
thermometrio observation 47
Target shooting 139
Temperature of tlic air 24, 46, 47
The theory of errors practically tested by
target shooting 138
The thermal belts of North Carolina 11
Thermometer exposure 24, 26
Thought and speech 63, 81
Three methods. The, of evolution xxvii
Topographical indications of a fault near
Harper's Ferry 30
168
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
Page.
Transit of Venus 21
Treasurer's annual report xzii
— accounts for 1882, Report of Auditing
Committee on the A
Unification of longitudes and time 106
UnitH of force and energy, including electric
units 137
Univerwil time 106
Velocity of HOund a.4 a measure of air tem-
perature 47
VenuH, Transit of 21
Volcanic problem, The, stated 87
Walcott, C. D. : communication on The Cam-
brian system in the United States and
Pftg*'
Canada. 9h
, Election to membership of 4k
Walling, H. P.: communication on Topo-
graphical indicutionHof afault near Har-
per's Ferry ao
, Election to membership of M
Ward, L. F.: remarks on Dinmal Swamp 30
Water, a factor in volcanic eruption.. fC
White, C. A. : remarks on the drainage sys-
tems of Iowa. 97
instability of continenta.... 93
Williams, Albert, Jr., lillection to member-
ship of. 14
Woodward, R. S.: communication on the
Special treatment of certain forms of ob-
seryation-equations 15&
, Election to membership of............^ Ill
■
0_
0^
BULLETIN
OF THE
pV-V./V/
^
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
OF
WASHINGTON.
VOL. VII.
Containing the Minutes of the Society and of the Mathematical
Section for the year 1884.
I'UHLISIIKI) BY niK t:o-ni'KRATI()N OF TIIK SMITHSONIAN INSriTiniON.
WASHINGTON;
I8S5.
0
BULLETIN
OF THE
Vf 'L /-V /
'>
/
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
OK
WASHINGTON.
VOL. VII.
Containing the Minutes of the Society and of the Mathematical
Section for the year 1884.
rUHLISHKI> »V TIIK CO-OPKRATION OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.
WASHINGTON
1885.
^
BULLETIN
OP THE
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
OF
WASHINGTON.
VOL. VII.
Containing the Minutes of the Society and of the Mathematical
Section for the year 1884.
PUBLISHED BY THE CO-OPERATION OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.
WASHINGTON:
1885.
V1
I /U'
Stereotyped and Printed
By JUDD <& DETWEH.ER,
Washington, D. C.
CONTENTS
Page.
Constitution vn
Standing Rules of the Society nc
Standing Rules of the General Committee xii
Rules for the Publication of the Bulletin xiii
Officers elected December, 1883 xiv
Officei'S elected December, 1884 x.v
List of Members, corrected to December 31, 1884. xvi
Calendar xxii
Annual Report of the Secretaries ^ xxm
Annual Report of the Treasurer xxiv
Annual Address of the President, J. C. Welling xxix
Bulletin of the General Meeting 1
The Rochester (Minnesota) tornado, J. R. Eastman 5
Recent advances in our knowledge of the limpets, W. H. Dall. 4
The existing glaciers of the High Sierra of California, I. C.
Russell 6
The mica mines of North Carolina, W. C. Kerr 9
Recent advances in economic entomology, C. V. Riley 10
Why the eyes of animals shine in the dark, S. M. Burnett . 1ft
Some eccentricities of ocean currents, A. B. Johnson 14
The periodic hiw of chemical elements, P. W. Clarke 1&
The sun-glows, H. A. Hazen 17
The application of physical methods to intellectual sciencej R.
D. Mussey 18
Deposits of volcanic dust in the Great Basin, I. C. Russell 18
Some physical and economic features of the upper Missouri sys-
tem, Lester P. Ward 20
The diversion of water courses by the rotation of the earth, G.
K. Gilbert - 21
The relations between northers and magnetic disturbances at
Havana, G. E. Curtis, ( Title only) 25
Composite photography applied to craniology, J. S. Billings 25
Fisheries exhibitions, G. B. Goode, (Title only) 26
Music and the chemical elements, M. H. Doolittlc 26, 27
Review of the theoretical discussion in Prof. P. G. Tait's " En-
cyclopaedia Britannica" article on mechanics, H. Farquhar. 29-
A new meteorite, J. R. Eastman ^ 32
Certain appendages of the mollusca, W. H. Dall, [Title only). 32*
III
IV CONTENTS.
The volcanic sand which fell at Unalashka, October 20, 1883,
and some considenitions concerninij its composition, J. S.
Diller ._ 33
The methods of modern petrography, G. H. Williams 36
What is a glacier ? ( Si/ynposinm) ._. 37
The physical hasis of phenomena, H. H. Bates 40
The strata exposed in the east shaft of tho water- works exten-
sion, T. Robinson . .-. 69
Plan for the subjoct bibliography of North American geologic
literature, G. K. Gilbert and J. W. Powell 71
Are there separate centres for light- form- and color-percep-
tion? S. M. Burnett - _ —- 72
Was the earthquake of September 19th felt in the District of
Columbia? T. ltobi:ison 70
Natural naturalists, Washington Matthews 7'^
Resolutions on the death of Dr. Woodward .- 75
The volcanoes amriuva fields of New Mexico, 0. E. Dutton.. 70
Electric lighting, E. B. Elliott, [Title onh/) 80
Thermometer exposure, H. A. Hazen 80
Presentation of the aiinunl address 81
Annual Meeting 81
Bulletin of the Mathematical Section 83
Standing Rules of the Section 85
Officei-s of the Section 80
Curves similar to their evolutes, C. II. Kummell 87
The problem of the knight's tour, G. K. Gilbert 88
Empirical formuho for the diminution of amplitude of a freely-
oscillating pendulum, H. Farquhar 80
A concrete problem in hydrostatics, (t. K. Gilbert 92
The fornjuhe for etnnputing the position of a satellite, A. Hall- 93
A formula for tlie leiii^th of a seconds-j)endulum, G. W. Hill,
{Title ouli/) 101
A form of the multinomial theorem, A. S. Christie, (Title only). 101
Discussion of a concrete pnjblem in hydrostatics pi*oposed by
Mr. G. K. Gilbert, R. S. Woodward, (Title onhj) 101
Thequadric transformation of elliptic integrals, combined with
the algorithm of the arithmetico-geometric mean, C. H.
Kummell 101,102
A case of discontinuity in elliptic orbits, W. B. Taylor 122
The veritication of juvdiction^, M. II. Doolittle 122
^Icmorial to Gen. Alvoixl 127
C<mimittees on mathematical communications 129
Index 131
BULLETIN
OF THE
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
CONSTITUTION, RULES,
LIST OF
OFFICERS AND MEMBERS,
AM) REPORTS OF
SECRETARIES AND TREASURER.
CONSTITUTION
OF
THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
Article I. The name of this Society shall be The Philosophi-
cal Society of Washington.
Article II. The officers of the Society shall be a President,
four Vice-Presidents, a Treasurer, and two Secretaries.
Article. III. There shall be a General Committee, consisting of
the officers of the Society and nine other members.
Article IV. The officers of the Society and the other members
of the General Committee shall be elected annually by ballot ; they
shall hold office until their successors are elected, and shall have
power to fill vacancies.
•
Article V. It shall be the duty of the General Committee to
make rules for the government of the Society, and to transact all
its business.
Article VI. This constitution shall not be amended except by
a three-fourths vote of those present at an annual meeting for the
election of officers, and after notice of the proposed change shall
have been given in writing at a stated meeting of the Society at
least four weeks previously.
Vll
STANDING RULES
FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
1. The Stated Meetings of the Society shall be held at 8 o'clock
p. M. on every alternate Saturday ; the place of meeting to be
designated by the General Committee.
2. Notice of the time and place of meeting shall be sent to each
member by one of the Secretaries.
When necessary, Special Meetings may be called by the President.
3. The Annual Meeting for the election of officers shall be the
last stated meeting in the month of December.
The order of proceedings (which shall be announced by the
Chair) shall be as follows :
First, the reading of the minutes of the last Annual ^feeting.
Second, the presentation of the annual reports of the Secretaries,
including the announcement of the names of members elected since
the last annual meeting.
Third, the presentation of the annual report of the Treasurer.
Fourth, the announcement of the names of members who, having
complied with Section 13 of the Standing Rules, are entitled to vote
on* the election of officers.
Fifth, the election of President.
Sixth, the election of four Vice-Preaidents.
Seventh, the election of Treasurer.
Eighth, the election of two Secretaries.
Ninth, the election of nine members of the General Committee.
Tenth, the consideration of Amendments to the Constitution of
the Society, if any such shall have been proposed in accordance
with Article VI of the Constitution.
Eleventh, the reading of the rough minutes of the meeting.
ix
#
X PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
4. Elections of officers are to be held as follows :
In each case nominations shall be made by means of an informal
ballot, the result of which shall be announced by the Secretary ;
after which the first formal ballot shall be taken.
In the ballot for Vice-Presidents, Secretaries, and Members of the
General Committee, each voter shall write on one ballot as many
names as there are officers to be elected, viz , four on the first ballot
for Vice-Presidents, two on the first for Secretaries, and nine on the
first for Members of the General Committee ; and on each subse-
qucnt ballot as many names as there are persons yet to be elected ;
and those persons who receive a majority of the votes cast shall be
declared elected.
If in any case the informal ballot result in giving a majority for
any one, it may be declared formal by a majority vote.
5. The Stated Meetings, with the exception of the annual meet-
ing, shall be devoted to the consideration and discussion of scientific
subjects.
The Stated Meeting next preceding the Annual Meeting shall
be set apart for the delivery of the President's Annual Address.
6. Sections representing special branches of science may be
formed by the General Committee upon the written recommenda-
tion of twenty members of the Society.
7. Persons interested in science, who are not residents of the Dis-
trict of Columbia, may be present at any meeting of the Society,
except the annual meeting, upon invitation of a member.
8. Similar invitations to residents of the District of Columbia,
not members of the Society, must be submitted through one of the
Secretaries to the General Committee for approval,
9. Invitations to attend during three months the meeting? of the
Society and participate in the discussion of papers, may, by a vote
of nine members of the General Committee, be issued to persons
nominated by two members.
10. Communications intended for publication under the auspices
of the Society shall be submitted in writing to the Greneral Com-
mittee for approval.
STANDING KULES. XI
11. Any paper read before a Section may be repeated, either
entire or by abstract, before a general meeting of the Society, if
such repetition is recommended by the General Committee of the
Society.
12. New members may be proposed in writing by three members
• of the Society for election by the General Committee ; but no per-
son shall be admitted to the privileges of membership unless he
signifies his acceptance thereof in writing within two months after
notification of his election.
13. Each membsr shall pay annually to the Treasurer the sum
of five dollars, -and no membar whose dues are unpaid shall vote at
the annual mseting for the election of oflicers, or be entitled to a
copy of the Bulletin.
In the absence of the Treasurer, the Secretary is authorized to
receive the dues of members.
The names of those two years in arrears shall be dropped from
the list of members.
Notice of itjsignation of membership shall be given in writing to
the General Committee through the President or one of the Secre-
taries.
14. The fiscal year shall terminate with the Annual Meeting.
15. Members who are absent from the District of Columbia for
more than twelve months may be excused from payment of the
annual assessments. They can, however, resume their membership
by giving notice to the President of their wish to do so.
16. Any member not in arrears may, by the payment of one
hundred dollars at any one time, become a life member, and be
relieved from all further annual dues and other assessments.
All moneys received in payment of life membership shall be
invested as portions of a permanent fund, which shall be directed
solely to the furtherance of such special .scientific work as may be
ordered by the General Committee.
STANDING RULES
OF THE
GENERAL COMiMITTEE OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL
SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
1. The President, Vice-Presidents, and Secretaries of the Society
shall hold like offices in the General Committee.
2. The President shall have power to call special meetings of the
Committee, and to appoint Subcommittees.
3. The Sub-Committees shall prepare business for the General
Committee, and perform such other duties as may be entrusted to
them.
4. There shall be two Standing Sub-Committees ; one on Com-
munications for the Stated Meetings of the Society, and another on
Publications. •
5. The General Committee shall meet. at half-past seven o'clock
on the evening of each Stated Meeting, and by adjournment at
other times.
6. For all purposes except for the amendment of the Standing
Rules of the Committee or of the Society, and the election of mem-
bers, six members of the Committee shall constitute a quorum.
7. The names of proposed uew members recommended in con-
formity with Section 11 of the Standing Rules of the Society, may
he presented at any meeting of the General Committee, but shall
lie over for at least four weeks before final action, and the concur-
rence of twelve members of the Committee shall be nccessarv to
election.
The Secretary of the General Committee shall keep a chronologi-
cal register of the elections and acceptances of members.
8. These Standing Rules, and those for the government of the
Society, shall be modified only with the consent of a majority of
the members of the General Committee.
Xll
FOB THE
PUBLICATION OF THE BULLETIN
OF THE
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
1. The President's auuual address shall be published in full,
2. The annual reports of the Secretaries and of the Treasurer •
shall be^published in full.
3. When directed by the General Committee, any communication
may be published in full.
4. Abstracts of j)ap3rs and remarks on the same will be pub-
lished, when presented to the Secretary by the author in writing
within two weeks of the evening of their delivery, and approved by
the Committee on Publications. Brief abstracts prepared by one
of the Secretaries and approved by the Committee on Publications
ma>' also be published.
5. If the author of any paper read before a Section of the
Society desires its publication, either in full or by abstract, it shall
be referred to a committee to be appointed as the Section may
determine.
The report of this committee shall be forwarded to the Publica-
tion Committee by the Secretary of the Section, together with any
action of the Section taken thereon.
6. Communications which have been published elsewhere, so as
to be generally accessible, will appear in the Bulletin by title only,
but with a reference to the place of j^ublication, if made known in
season to the Committee on Publications.
■ • •
xiu
OF^IOBItS
OF THE
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON
Elected December 22, 1883.
Gar RICK Mallery.
Asaph Hall.
President J. C. Welling.
Vice-Presidents J. S. Billings.
J. E. HiLGARD.
Treasurer Cleveland Abbe.
Secretaries. Henry Farquhar. G. K. Gilberi.
MEMBERS AT LARGE OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEE.
H. H. Bates.
W. H. Dall.
C. E. DUTTON.
J, R. Eastman.
E. B. Elliott.
Robert Fleicher.
William Harkness.
J. J. Knox. *
C. V. Riley.
STANDING COMMITTEES.
On Communications :
J. S. Billings, Chairman. Henry Farquhar.
On Publications:
G. K. Gilbert, Chairman. Cleveland Abbe.
S. F BAIRDf
G. K. Gilbert,
Henry Farquhar.
• Mr. Knox resigned May 10, 1884, and the General Committee elected Mr. F. W. Clarke
to the vacancy.
t As Secretary of the Sroithnonlan Institution.
XIV
OFFIOEE/S
OF THE
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON
Elected December 20, 1884.
President Asaph Hall.
Vice-Presidents J. S. Billings. Garrick Mallery.
William Harkness. J. E. IIilgard.
Treasurer Robert Fletcher.
Secretaries G. K. Gilhert. Henry Farquiiar.
MEMBERS AT LARGE OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEE.
Marcus Baker. H. H. Bates.
F. W. Clarke. W. H. Dall.
C. E. Button. T. R. Eastman.
E, B. Elliott, H, M. Paul.
C. V. Riley.
STANDING COMMITTEES.
On Commnuications :
J, S. Billings, Chairman, G. K. Gilbert. Henry Farquhar.
On Publications:
G, K. Gilbert, Chairman, Robert Flefcher. Henry Farquhar.
S. F. Baird.»
*Aii Secretary of the SmithsoniAti Institution.
XV
LIST OF MEMBERS
OF THE
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
Corrected to December 20, 1884.
The names of founders are printed in Small Capitals.
(d) indicatos deceased.
(a) indicates absent from the Di:jtrict of Columbia and excused from payment of dues
until announcing his return.
(r) indicates resigned.
NAME.
Abbe, Cleveland
Abert, Sylvanns Thayor.
AdiimH, llenry
Aldis, Af»A Owen
Allen, .lamep
Alvord, Benjamin {d)
Antibkli, Thomas ,
Avery, Robert Sl«nton....
Baboock. Orvillc Elift*« id)
Bailey, Theodorus {d)
BaIRI), SI'BNCRR I'\-LLF.KH>X
Baker, Frank..
Baker, Murcu**.
P. O. Address and Residence.
Army .Signal Office. 2()17 I St. N. W.,
17-24 Venn. Ave. N. W
1007 H St. N. W
1763 Mass. Ave
Army Signal Office. 30(»7 I St. X.W...
Patent Office. I.Mll QSt. X. W
Coast and Gco<hitlc Survey Office.
320 A St. S. E.
Bancroft . Oeorjrc
Barnard, William Stebbins.
Barxfjj. Joseph K. (d)
Bfttes, Honry Hobart
Bcsin, Tarloton Hoffman
Boardwlop, Jjostor Antliony (a>.
Bell, Alcxrtnd«*r Cirahom..*.
Boll, ('liit'hcster Alextiiulcr
Ben^t, Stephks Vincent
Smithsonian lUMtitution. 144.'> Mass.
Ave. N. W.
320 est. N. W
Coast and Cioodetic Survey Office.
Ijii't Rhode Inland Ave.
102:i H St. N. W.. or Newport, R. I
Agri<'iilturnl I)epai-tment. 017 N. Y.
Ave. N. \V., or Canton, III.
Bc^ycN, Kmil ,
Bii.LiNc.H, .John Shaw.
BIrney, William
Biriiie. Rogers (a)
Blair, Henry Wayne («/)..
Bodfish, Snmner Homer,
Boutx'lle. CharlcM Oti.s....
Patent offioe. The Portland
National Mnsonm. 1411 R. I. Ave
Ctiptaiti V. S. N., Navv Department...
Scott Circle. Vam) R.'I. Ave
1221 Conn. Ave
Ordnance Oftico, War Department.
1717 I St. N. W.
Smitlisonian Institution. 1444 N St.
N. W.
SuVg. GfnVn Office, V. S. A. 3027 N
.'^t. N. W.
4.'»r. Louisiana Ave. 1901 Hare wood
Ave., Le Droit Park.
Cold Spring, Putnam Co., N. Y
Bowles, Franci.s Tiffunv.
Brown, Stimnon .Joseph .
Browne, John Mills
Burchard, Horatio Chapin
Oeolojrieal Survey. (>».•) F St. N. W....
Coast and (ieodetic Survey Office.
1.-.13 20th St. N. W.
m;3 JeflFerson Place ,
Naval Observatory. 2i:n K St N.W ..
Medieal Director, U. S. N. The Port-
land.
Director of the Mint. Riggs House..,
XVI
Date op
ahmimiion.
1871.
1875,
1881,
1873.
1882,
1872,
1871,
1879,
Oct. IN
Jan. 0^1
Fob. 5
Mar. 1
Feb. i%
Mar. 21
Mar. 13
Oct. II
1871, Juno '}
1873, Mar. 1
1871, Mar. 13
1881, May II
1870, Mar. 11
187.'., Jan. K.
1884, Mar. 1
1871,
1871,
1884,
i87:i,
I87n,
1881.
1871,
Mar. in
Nov. 4
Apr. 2«".
Feb. '27
Mar. 20
Oct. 8
Mar. 13
lS7fi, Jan. Ifi
1871. Mar. 13
1870, Mar. 2?
187«. »rar. 11
1884, FVb. 2
1883, Mar. 24
1884, Feb. Ifi
1884, Mar. 20
1884, Apr. 12
1883, Nov. 24
1879, May !'♦
LIST OF MEMBERS.
XVII
NAME.
P. O. Addrkss and Residence.
BurgcsB, Edward Sandford
Burnett, Swan Moses
Busey, Samuel Clagett
Oapron, Houace
Cose, Auguistus Ludlow («).
Caset, TnoMA« Lincoln
Oaziarc, Louis Vasmer(a)
Chase, Salmon Poiitland (^i)
Chamberlin, Thoma<* Crowder.
ChioUerlng, John White. .Ir
Christie}, Alexander Smyth
rfapp, William Henry (a).
Clark, Ed ward
<nftrk, Ezra Westcote.
Clarko. Frank Wit?ploflwortlj
Coffin, .Ioiin ili'NViNOToN Craxe.
Collins, Frederick (d)
('f»mstuck, John Henry (a)
Coiu's, Kliiott
<'RAm, Henjamin Fanixil (d)
Craig, Robert
(*raig, Thomas {a)
Ck\m:, Cjiarlex Henry (ti)
('urtis, (Jooine Edward
Curtis Jo»iah (d).
High School. 810 12th St. N. W.
1216 I St. N. W
1525 I St. N. W
The Portland
Hrisiol, R. I
Col. Corps of Engineers. 1419 K St.
N. W.
War Def>artment
Geological Survey
Deaf ISIiite College, Kendall Green...
Coast and Oeodeiie Survey Office,
028 Mns.f<. Ave. N. W.
Ft. Davis, Tex. 141G Corcoran .St.
Wa>*hington.
ArchitocCs Office, Capitol. 417 4th
St. N. W.
Revenue Marine Bureau, Treasury
Def>ftrtmont. Wood ley Road-
<ieolojfieal Survey. 1425 Q St. N. W..
Cornell University, Ithaea, N. Y
Smithsonian Inst. 1720 N. St. N. W..
Army Signal Offlee. hm I St. N. W..
.lohns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, M«l.
Cult.-*, Richard Dominicus (rj)
I)all, William Healkt
Davis, Charles Henry (d).
Davis, Charles Henry
A rmy Signal Office. 1410 Corcoran St.
Care Smithsonian Institution. 1119
12th St. N. W.
Dean, Richard Cmln (a)...
De Caindry, William Augustin
••••*«•••• '
De Land, Theodore Loui-*..
JDewey, Frederick Perkins.
J>owey, (ieorge (r)
Diller, .lo.scph Silas
Doolittle, Myriok Hascall ..
Dorr, Frederic Willjam (d)
Dimwoody.Uenry Harrison Chase(a)
Dutton, Clarence Edward.
Dyer, Alexander B. (d)....
Earll, Robert Edward .
Ea'*tman. John Robie..
Eaton, Amos Beebe (d).
I'^ton, John
Kimbeck, William
Kldrodge, Stewart (a)
Elliot, Georob Hesry (r).
Elliott, Ezekiel Brown...
Emmons, Samuel Franklin..
Endiich, Fredorie Miller (a).
Ewing, Charles (d)
Ewing, Uugh(a)...
Nuvv Department. 1705 Rhode Island
Ave. N. W.
Naval Hospital, New^ York ,
Con)mi><sary (teneral's Office. 924
loth St. N. W.
Treasury Dept. 120 7th St. N. E
National Museum. 1007 C; St. N. W....
(Jeologieal Survey
Coast and Geodetic Survey Office.
19-25 I St. N. W.
Army Signal Office. :i012 Dumbarton
St.. Georgetown.
(Jeologieal Survey
National Museum
Naval Observatory. 1823 I St. N. W.
Bureau of Education, Intt^rior Dept,
712 E-ist Capitol St.
^apit
Coa-t and Geodetic Survey Office.
Yokohama, Japan
Government Actuary, Treasury De-
partment. 1210 G St. N. W.
Geological Survey. 23 Lafayette
Place.
Smithsonian Institution. Lake Val-
ley, New Mexico.
Lancaster, Ohio
Farquhar, Edward 1 Patent Office Library. 1016 HSt. N.W.
2a
Date of
Admission.
1883, Mar. 24
1879, Mar. 29
1874, Jan. 17
1871, Mar. 13
1872, Nov. IC
1871, Mar. 13
1882, Feb. 25
1S71, Mar. 13
18«:», Mar. 24
1H74, Apr. 11
1880, Dee. 4
1882, Feb. 25
1877. Feb. 24
1882, M. r. 25
1874,
1871,
i«7;»,
IS80,
1S7I,
1871,
187.^
1879,
1871,
1884,
1S74.
1871,
Apr. 11
-Mar. 13
Oct. 21
Feb. 14
Jan. 17
Mar. 13
Jan. 4
Nov. 22
Mar. 13
Jan. 5
Mar. 28
Apr. 29
1871, Mar. 13
1874, Jan. 17
18><o, June 19
1872. Apr. 23
1881, Apr. 30
1880, Dee. 18
1H84, Apr. 25
1879, Feb. 15
IhSl, Mar. 1
1870, Feb. 12
1874, Jan. 17
1873. Dec. 20
1872, Jan. 27
1871, Mar. 13
1884, Apr. 26
1871, May 27
1871, Mar. 13
1874, May 8
1884, Feli. 2
1871, June 9
1«71, Mar. 13
1871, Mar. 13
18a3, Apr. 7
1873, Mar. 1
1874, Jan. 17
1874, Jan. 17
1870, Fob. 12
XVIII
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
NAME.
Farquhnr, Henry.
Forrel, William ..
Fletcher, Robert.
Flint, Albert Stowell.
Flint, Jnmes Milton ,
FooTE, Klisua (d)
Foster, John Gray (d)
French, Henry FlugK (r).
Fristoo, Edward T
Gale, Leonard Dunnell (J).
Gnllaudet, Edward Min(>r..
Gannett, Henry
Gardiner, James Terry (a)
Garnett, Alexander Young P. (r)..
Gihon, Albert Leary
Gilbert, Grove Karl
Gill, TiiEODoas NicHOLAt^...
Godding, William Whitney.
Goode, George Brown
P. O. Addrkss and Residence.
«
Coast and Geodetic Survey Office.
brooks Station, D. C.
Army Signal Office. 471 C St. N. W....
Surgeon Gcnl'a Office, U. S. A. 1326
L St. N. W.
Naval Observatory. 1450 Chapin St,
College Hill.
Navy Dept. U. 8. S. Albatross ,
1434 N St. N. W.
Denf Mute College, Kendall Green...
Geological Snrvey. 1881 Harewood
Ave., Le Droit Park.
State Survey, Albany, N. Y ,
Goodfellow, Edward
Goodfellow, Henry (r)
Gore, James Howard -
Graves, Edward OzicI (a)
Graves, Walter Hayden (a)
Greely, Adolphus Washington ..
Green, Bernard Richnrdi<ou
Green, Francis Mathews (a)
Greene, Benjamin Fkanklin (a).
Greene, Francis Vinton
Gregory, John Milton.
Quunell, Francis M....
Naval Hospital, 2019 Hillyer Place
N. W.
Geological Survey. 1424 Corcoran St...
Smithsonian Inntitution
Government Asylum for the Insane. .
National Museum. 1G20 Mass. Ave.
N. W.
CowBt and Geodetic Survey Office
Hains, Peter Conover.
Hall, Abapii
Hall, Asaph, Jr
Hanscom, Isaiah (cf) ..
Harknrss. William....
Hassler, Ferdinand Augustus (a)...
Hayden, Ferdinand Vandeveer (a).
Columbian Unir. 1305 Q St. N. W..
Asst. Treasurer J.S
Denver, Colorado
Army Signal Office. 1909 I St
1738 N St. N W
Navy Department
We.«!t Lenanon, N. H ,
District Commissioners* Office, 1915
a St. N. W.
16 Grunt Place
Surgeon General, U. S. N. OOO 20th
St. N. W.
1824 Jefferson Place
Naval Observatory. 2715 N St. N. W.,
Naval Observatory. 2715 N St. N. W..
Hazen, Henry Allen
Hazen. William Babcock.
Heap, David Porter
Henrt, Joseph (cJ)
Henshaw, Henry Wetherbee
Hiloard, Jui.ius Erasmus «.
Hill, George William.
Hitchcock, Romyn..
Holden, Edward Singleton (a)
Holmes, William Henry
Hough, Franklin Benjamin (a)
Howell, Edwin Eugene (a)
HuMPiiRETH, Andrew Atkinson (d).
Jackson, Henry Arundel Lambe (a)
Jnmes, Owen (a) ^
Jefrer.**, William Nicolson (r)
Naval Observatory. 1415 G St. N. W.
Santa Ana, Los Angel«»s Co., Cal
Geological Survey. 1803 Arch St., Phil
adelphia, Penn.
P. O. Box No. 427. 1416 Corcoran St..
Army Signal Office. 1601 K. St. N. W.
Light House Board.Treasury Depart-
ment. 1C18 Rhode Island Ave.
Bureau of Ethnology, P. O. Box 585...
Coast and Geodetic Survey Office.
1709 Rhode Island Ave. N. W.
Nnuticxl Almanac Office. 314 Ind.
Ave. N. W.
P. O. Box 030
Madison, Wisconsin
Geological Snrvey. 1100 O St. N. W...
Agricultural Dept. Lowville, N. Y
Rochester N. Y ,
War Department.
Scranton, Pa
Date or
Admission.
1881, May 14
1872, Nov. 1ft
1873, Apr. 10
18S2, Mar. 25
1881, Mar. 19
1871, Mar. 13
187.3, Jan. 18
1882, Mar. 25
1873, Mar. 29
1874, Jan. 17
1875, Feb. 27
1874, Apr. 11
1874, Jan. 17
1878, Mar. 16
1880, Dec. 18
1873, June 7
1871, Mar. 13
1870, Mar. 29
1674, Jan. 31
1875,
1871,
1880,
1874,
1878,
1880,
1879,
1875,
1871,
187ft,
Dec. 18
Nov. 4
Mar. 14
Apr. 11
May 25
June Id
Feb. 15
Nov. 9
Mar. 13
Apr. 10
1884, Mar. 29
1879, Feb. I
1879,
Feb. 15
1871,
Mar. 13
1880.
Deo. a>
1K73.
Dec. in
1871.
Mar. 13
1880,
May 8
1871,
Mar. 13
1882,
Mar. 25
1881,
Feb. ^
1884,
Mar. 15
1871,
Mar. 13
1874,
Apr. 11
Mar. 13
1871,
1879,
Feb. 1
1884,
Apr. 26
1873,
Juno 21
1879,
Mar. 29
1879.
Mar. 29
1874,
Jan. 31
1871,
Mar. 13
1875,
Jan. 30
1880,
Jan. 3
1877,
Feb. 24
Jenkins, Thornton Alexander I 2115 Penn. Ave. N. W | 1871, Mar. 13
LIST OP MEMBERS.
XIX
NAME,
P. U. Address and Kzsidince.
JobnHon, Arnold Burgee.
Johnson, Joseph Tnber..
Johnson, Wiiiard Drake.
Johnston, William Waring.
Liicht Hon{»o Board, Treasury Dcpt.
.'HU Maple Ave., Le Droit Park.
920 17th St. N. W
Geological Survey. WH Maple Ave.,
Le Droit Park.
!«(« K St. N. W
Kampf, Ferdinand (d)
Kaamnann, Samuel Hays
Keith. Keuel
Kerr, Mark Brickell
Kerr, Wa-shinglon ('aruthers (a)
Kidder, Jerome Henry
Kilbourne, Charles Evan.s (a).!
King, Albart Freeman Africanus..
King, Clarence (r)
Knox, John Jay (a)
Kammell, Charles Hugo
I
Lank, Jonathax Houbb (d).
Lawrence, William
Lawver, W Infield Peter.
Lee, William..
Lefavour, Edward Brown.
Lincoln. Nathan Smith...
Lock wood, Henry H. (r).
Loomis, Eben Jenks
Lull, Edward Phelp.s (a).
Lyford, Stephen Carr (r).
MacCau lev, Henry Clay (a)
McGee, W J
McGuire, Frederick Banders.
Mack, Oscar A. (d)
MfMurtrie, William (a)
Maher, James Arran
Mallery, Garrick
Marcou, John Belknap
Marvin, Joseph Badger (o)
Marvin, Archibald Robertson (d).
Mason, Otis Tufton
Matthews, Washington
McEX, Fielding Bradford (d)
Meigs, Montgomery (a)
Meigs, Montgomery Cvnmngh.im..
Merrill, George Perkins
Milner, James William (d) ,
Morgan, Ethelbert Carroll
Morris, Martin Ferdinand (r)
Murdoch, John
Mussey, Reuben Delavan.
Myer, Albert J. (d)
Myers, William (a)
Kewcoxb, Simon
Nichols, Charles Henry (a).
NicaotfiON, Walter Lamb....
Nordhoff, Charles
Norris, Basil
Ogden, Herbert Gouyerneur,
Osborne, John Walter
N. W
HMKi .M St.
221J» ISt
Geological Survey.
Raleigh, N. C
•SmithHunian In.^l.
War Department....
720 13th St. N. W
812 21st St. N. W
1810 S St.. N. W.
Nat. Bk. Republic, New York City...
Coast and Geodetic Survey Office.
008 Q St. N. W.
First Comptroller's Office, Treasury
Depattment. 1344 Vermont Ave.
Mint Bureau, Treasury Department.
1912 i St. N. W.
2111 Penn. Ave. N. W
Coast and Geodetic Survey Office.
905 O St. N. W.
1614 H St. N W
Nautical Almanac Office. 1413 Col-
lege Hill Terrace N. W.
74 Cedar St., Roxbury, Mass
P. O. Box 9r)3, Minneapoli.", Minn
(ieological Survey. 1424 Corcoran St.
1306 F St. N. W. 614 E. St. N. W
Champaign, III
Geological Survey. 21 E St. N. W....,
Kureaii of Ethnology, P.O. Box .'>85.
l.Tii N St. N. W.
Geological Survey
Internal Revenue Bureau
National Museum. i:w).-) Q St. N. W...
Surgeon General's Office, U. S. A
U. S. Engineer Office, Keokuk, Iowa.
12:» Vermont Ave. N. W
National Museum
918 E St. N. W.
Smithsonian In.ititution. 1441 Chapin
St., College Hill.
P. O. Box 018. 5(J8 ftth St, N. W
War D( partment.
Navy Department....
Bloomingdale, N. Y.
I.i22 I St.^. W
1731 K St
1829 G St. N. W
Coast and Geodetic Survey Office.
1324 19th St. N. W.
212 Delaware Ave. N. E
Datk or
Admission.
1878, Jan. 19
1879, Mar. 29
1884, Feb. 16
1873, Jan. 21
187.>,
1884,
1871,
18S4,
1883,
1H80,
1880,
1875,
187II,
1874,
1882,
Dec. 18
Feb. 16
Oct. 29
Feb. 16
Apr. 7
May 8
June 19
Jan. 16
May 10
May 8
Mar. 2»
1871. Mar. la
1884, Feb. 16
1881, Feb. l»
1874. Jan. IT
1882, Dec. IB
1871, May 2T
1871, Oct. 29
1880, Feb. 14.
1875, Dec. 4
1873, Jan. 18
1880,
1883,
1879,
1872,
1870,
1884,
1876,
1884,
1878,
1874,
1876,
1884,
1871,
1877,
1871,
1884,
1874,
1877,
1884,
Jan. 3
Nov. lO
F'eb. l.S
Jan. 27
Feb. 26
Feb. 1ft
Jan. 30
Mar. 29
May 25
Jan. 31
Jan. 30
June 7
Mar. 13
Mar. 24
Mar. 13
Apr. 26
Jan. 31
Oct. 13
Feb. 24
Apr 2C
1881, Dec. 3
1871, Mar. 13
1871, June 23
1871, Mar. 13
1872, May 4
1871, Mar. 13
1879, May 10
1884, Mar. 1
1784, Feb. 2
1878, Dec. 7
XX
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
NAMK.
Otis, Geouoe Alexakdeb (d).
Parke, John Gbcbb.
P. O. Addbess and Residence.
Parkeb, Petkb
Parry, Charles Christopher (a).
Pfltterson, Carlile Pollock (d)....
Paul, Henry Martyn
Peale, Albert Charles
Peale, Titian Ramsay (a)
Peiuck, Uenjamin {<!)
Peirce, Charles Sanders (a)....
Pilling, James Coustantine....
Poe, <)rlando Metcalfe (a)
Poindexter, William Mundy.
Pope, benjamin Franklin
■■■••••4 •■
Porter, David Dixon (r)
Powell, John Weslov
Prentiss, Daniel Webster
Pritchett, Henry Smith (a).
Rathbone, Henry Reed (a).
Rathbim, Richard
Ray, Patrick Henry
Reii.Hljawe. John Heni-y
Riohey, Stephen Olin...
Rieksoeker, Eugene
Ridgway, Robert (a)
Riley, Charles Valentine
•••••■••■■•
Engineer Mureau. War Department.
16 Lafayett« Square.
2 Lafayette Square
Davenport, Iowa
Naval Observatory.
GeoloRical Survej'.
N. W.
Philadelphia, Penn.
109 Ist St. N. E..
1010 Mass. Ave.
Coawt and (ieo<letic Survey Office
Geological Survey, (Hft M St. N. W..
34 Congress St. West, Detroit, Mich..
701 i:>th St. N. W. 806 17th St. N. W.
SurKeon General's Office, U. S. A.
i:ioy 'JOth St. N. W.
(ieological Survey. 910 M St. N. W...
1224 0th St. N. W
Washington University, St. Louis*, Mo.
Smithsonian In.stitution 1622 Ma.s8.
Ave. N. W.
• • •••■« • • •••«
Riloy, John Campbell (d)
Ritter, William Frarcis McKnight.
Robinson, Thomas.
Rodgers, Christopher Raymond
Perry (a),
Rodser!*, John (d).
R' gers, Joseph Addison (a).
Ru.»^sell, Israel Cook
Ru.sseil, Thomas ^
Salmon, Daniel Elmer
Sampson, William Thomas {a)....
Sands, Bknjamin Fk.vnklin (d)....
Saville, James Hamilton
ScHAErrEB, (iEORGK CHUISTIAN (d).
SCIIOTT, CHABLE8 ASTIIONV
Searlo, Henry Robinson (d)...
Seymour, George Dudley (r)..
Sliiellabarger, Samuel
Sherman, John
Sherman, William Tecumseh (r).
Shufeldt, Robert Wilson (a)
Sicard, Montgomery (a)..
Sigsbce, Charles Dwight.
Skinner, John 0^car
Smiley, Charles Wesley..,
Smith, David..
Smith, Edwin.
SpofTord, Ainsworth Rand.
Army Sienal Office
Gcol.)Kical Survey. 1221 O St. N. W..
732 17th St ,
(ieologi.'al Survey. 1505 Q St. N. W..
Smithsonian Inst. 121 1 Va. Av. S. W.
Agricultural Department. 1700 VMh
St. N. W.
Nautical Almanac Office. 16 ivrant
Place.
Howard University. 6th St. N. W.,
cor. Lincoln.
172;^ 1 St. N. W
Navnl Observatory ,
Geological Survey. 1424 Corcjoran St,
Army Signal Office. 1116 M. St. N. W,
Agricultural Dept. KXW N St. N. W...
Torpedo Station, Newport, R. I
342 I) St, N. W. 1315 M St. N. W.
Coast and Geodetic Survey Office.
212 1st St, S. E.
Room 2:i (Orcoran Building. 812 17th
St. N. W.
1310 K St. N. W
Surgeon Genl's Office, U.S. A., or Box
141 Smith.^'onian Institution.
Ordnance Bureau, Navy Department.
Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md
ir.29 OSt. N. W ^..
U. S. Fish Commirtsion, 1443 Mass.
Ave. 943 Mass. Ave.
1330 Corcoran St
Coast and Geodetic Survey Office.
2024 Hillyer Place.
Library of Congress. 1621 Mass. Ave.
N. \V.
Date or
Admiwion.
1871, Mar. 13
1871, 51ar. 13
1871, Mar. 13
1871, May la
1871, Nov. 17
1K77. May 19
1874, Apr. 1 1
1871, Mar. 1.1
1871, Mar. i:j
1873, Mar. 1
1881, Feb. 19
1873, Oct 4
1884, Der. 2ii
1882, Dec. Ify
1S74, Apr. 11
1874, Jan. IT
1.H80, Jan. 3
1870, Mar. 2^i
1««74, Jan. 17
1882, Oct. 7
18S4, Jan. .'«
1KH:{, Feb. 24
1KS2, Oct. 7
1.SS4, Feb. ir,
1K74, Jan. 31
1878, Nov. y
1S77, May 1»
1^79, Oct. 21
1881, Jan. Vj
1872, Mar. 9
1S72, Nov. ir.
1^72, Mar. i»
1882, Mar, 2.".
1883, Feb. lo
li'fLX Nov. 24
188:j, Mar. 24
1871, Mar. 1:;
1871, Apr, 2:»
1871. Mar. \:\
1871, Mar. 1 1
1877, Dec. 21
1881, Do<«. ::
1875, Apr. lo
1874, Jan. 17
1871. Mar. 13
1881. Nov, .'.
1877, Feb. 24
1870, Mar. 1
188:J, Mar. 24
1882, Oct. 7
1871., Dee. 2
188t\ Oct. ii
1872, Jan. 27
LIST OF MEMBERS.
XXI
NAME.
Stearns, John (o).
Stearns, Robert Edwards Carter.
Stono. Ormond (a).
Taylor, Frederick William (o).
Taylor, William Bower....
Thompson, Almon Harris .
ThomfMon. Gilbert
Tilden, William Ciilviu {a).
Todd, David Peek (a)
Toner, Joseph Meredith....
True, Frederick William...
Twining, William J. {d)
Upton, Jacob Kcndriok (r).
Upton, William Wirt
Upton, Wins^low (a).
Vasey, George (r)...
Walcott, Charles Doolittle..
Waldo, Frank («)
Walker, Francis Amai«a (a).
Walling, Henry Francis (a).
Ward, Lester Frank
Webyter, Albert Lowry (a).
Welling, James Clarke
Wheeler, George M. (a)....
WiiKKLER, Junius B. (a) ....
White, Charles AMathar...
White, Charles Henry
White, Zebulon Lewis (a).
Williams', Albert, Jr
Wilson, Allen P. (0
Wilson, James i)rmond.
P. O. Addbess and Rxbwxxce.
Boston, Mass , ,
Smithsonian Institution. 122G Mass.
Ave. N. W.
Leander McCormick Obseryatory,
University of Virginia.
Smithsonian Institution. Lake Val*
ley, New Mox.
Smithsonian Inst. 306 C St. N. W ,
Geological Survey
Geological Survey. 1448 Q St. N. W...
New York City
Lawrence Observ., Amherst, Mass
Gl.) Louisiana Ave
National Museum
Winlook, William Crawford
W<»lc'.tt, (Ujristophor Columbus (n.
Wood, Joseph (a)
Wood, William Maxwell (a)
Woodruff, Thomas Maher....
Woodward, Josei-ii Janvier {<!)..
Woodward, Robert Simpson
Woodworth, John Maynard (d).
Yarnall, Mordecai {d)....
Yarrow, Harry Cr6cy....
Yeatcs, William Smith.
Zumbrock, Anton.
2d Com ptrol lei's Office, Treasury
Uopt. 174() M at. N. W.
Brown University, Providence, R. I..,
Geological Survey, Nat. Museum
.Army Signal Office. Ft. Myer, Va...
Mass. Inst, of Technology, Boston,
Mass,
Geological Survey, Cambridge, Mass..
Ge<. logical Survey. 14G4 R. I. Ave.
N. W.
West New Brighton, Staten Island,
N. y.
1.'JU2 Connecticut Ave
Engineer Bureau, War Department...
Lenoir, N. ('
Geological Survey. Le Droit Park..,.
1744 G St. N, W
Providence, Rhode Island
Gooh>gieal Survey. 23 Lafayette
Square.
Franklin School Bu tiding. 1431) Mass,
Ave. N. W.
Naval 6»)'*orvatory. 723 2()th St. N.W
Supt. M<)tive Power, Ponn. Co., Fort
Wftyn«», Ind.
Navy Department
Army Signal Otfice. 2020 ilillyer
Place.
Geological Survey, 1125 17ih St. N. W.
814 17th St. N. W
Smithsonian Institution. 401 Q St
N. W.
Coast and Geodetic Survey Office.
455 C St. N. W.
Date of
Admissiok.
1874, Mar. 28
1884, Not. 22
1874, Mar. 28
1881, Feb. 19
1871,
1875,
1884,
1871,
1b78,
1873,
1H82,
187jI,
Mar. 13
Apr. 10
Feb. 10
Apr. 29
Nov. 23
June 7
Oct, 7
Nov. 23
1878, Feb. 2
1882, Mar. 25
1880, Dec. 4
1875, June 5
1883, Oct. 13
1881, Dec. 3
1872, Jan. 27
1883, Feb. 24
187(5, Nov. 18
1882, Mar. 25
1872, Nov. 18
1873, June 7
1871, Mar. 13
1870, Deo. 16
1884, Mar. 1
INso, .Iunel9
1883, Feb. 24
1874, Apr. 11
1873, Mar. 1
1880, Dec. 4
KST.'s Feb. 27
1K7*>, Jan. 16
1871, Dec. 2
1884, Apr. 12
1871, Mar. 13
188.3, Nov. 24
1874, Jan. 31
1871, Apr. 29
1874, Jan. 31
1884, Apr. 29
1875, Jan. .30
Number of founders 44
'* members deceased ...^ 41
absent .^ 02
" *• resigned .7 16
•• " active 173
Total number enrolled 292
XXII
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
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secretaries' report. XXIII
ANNUAL report OF THE SECRETARIES.
Washington City, December 20, 1884.
To the Philosophical Society of Washington :
We have the honor to present the following statistical data
for 1884.
At the beginning of the year the number of active members
was .... ... ... 151
This number has been increased by the addition of 35 new
members and by the return of 5 absent members. It has
been diminished by the departure of 13 members and by
the death of 5. There have been no resignations. The
net increase of active members has thus b^en . . 22
And the active membership is now 173
The roll of new members is :
W. S. Barnard. William Lawrence.
T. H. Bkan. J. A. Mauer.
II. W. Blair. J. B. Marcou.
C. O. Boutelle. Washington Matthews.
F. T. Bowles. G. P. Merrill.
S. J. Brown. John Murdoch.
G. E. Curtis. Basil Norris.
F. P. Dewey. H. G. Ooden.
J. S. DiLLER. P. II. Ray.
R. E, PiARLL. W. M. Poindexter.
William Eimbeck. Eugene Ricksecker.
Asaph Hall, Jr. Thomas Robinson.
J. M. Gregory. R. E. C. Stearns.
D. P. Heap. Gilbert Thompson.
RoMYN Hitchcock. C. H. White.
W. D. Johnson. T. M. Woodruff.
S. H. Kauffmann. W. S. Yeates.
M. B. Kkrr.
The names of deceased members are :
Be^tjamin Alvord. O. E. Babcock. H. W. Blaib
Charles Ewino. J. J. Woodward.
There have been 15 general meetings for the presentation and
discussion of papers (not including the public meeting of Dec. 6);
the average attendance has been 42. There have been six meetings
of the Mathematical Section; average attendance 15.
In the general meeting 32 communications have been presented ;
in the mathematical section 11. Altogether 43 communications
liave been made by 32 members and one guest. The number of
members who have participated in the discussions is 38. The total
number who have contributed to the scientific proceedings is 50, or
29 per cent, of the present active membership.
Very Respectfully, G. K. Gilbert,
11. Farquhaii,
Sccrolaried,
XXIV
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE TREASURER.
Washington City, December 31, 1884.
To the Philosophical Society of Washington :
I have the honor to present herewith my annual statement as
Treasurer for the year ending December 20th, 1884.
The revenue of the Society has amounted to $855.00 and the ex-
penditures have been $671.96, leaving a balance of $183.04 on hand ;
the details of this account are given in the accompanying table.
The investments of the funds of the Society have not changed
and consist, therefore, of $1,000 in a XJ. S. Bond at 4i per cent,
and $1,500 in U. S. Bonds at 4 per cent.
The receipts during the past year may be classified as follows :
Interest on invested fund $95
5 Dues for 188-2,
$25
16 " " 1883,
80
126 " " 1884,
630
•2 " " 1885,
10
149 745
The dues remaining unpaid are about as follows :
For 1882, 3 .... $15
1883, 10 50
1884, 47 .... 235
((
it
60 300
Early in February 500 copies of Volume VI of the Bulletin were
received from the printer, and 148 copies have been distributed to
active members, also 67 copies have been sent to domestic and 73
to foreign recipients ; occasional copies of other volumes have also
been sent to complete broken sets. The stock of publications now
on hand is about as follows :
Bulletin, Volume 1 91 copies.
t<
((
«
<4
(4
H
((
H
• i
(t
II.
. 82
III.
B • • 1
. 199
IV.
• • 1
184
V.
• • •
201
VI.
1 • • 1
215
((
tt
it
u
t<
it
it
ti
W. B. Taylor, Memoir of Joseph Henry, 1st Ed. . 64 copies.
" " " " 2d Ed. . 30
J. C. Welling, Address on life of Joseph Henry . 4
W. B. Taylor, Address as President . . .70
In return for the distribution of Bulletins the Society has re-
ceived about seventy-five publications from other organizations or
individuals and the Accessions Catalogue of the Library now
includes 177 titles.
Very respectfully your obedient servant,
Cleveland Abbe, Treasurer.
TREASURERS REPORT.
BULLETIN
OF THE
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT.
xxvn
ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT,
James C. Welling.
Delivered December 6, 1884.
THE ATOMIC PHILOSOPHY, PHYSICAL AND META-
PHYSICAL.
Every nation under the sun has a philosophy of some kind, but
the philosophy we profess draws the lines of its historic traditions,
if not its " increasing purpose," from the home of our Aryan an-
cestors in Greece. It was here that the typical forms of our litera-
ture were invented, that the art of sculpture was carried to its
climax, and that the architecture of the lintel came to a transfigu-
ration in the Theseum and the Parthenon. And as if all these
glories were not enough, it is the further good fortune of the
Greeks to have at least opened up the great leading problems of
human enquiry, in physics, in psychology, and in ethics; and to
have so opened them up at the starting point of the world's Torch-
race, that the light shed on these questions more than twenty-five
centuries ago is still a matter of curious retrospection to this
generation of ours on whom the ends of the world are come.
It is to one of the oldest of the formal physical philosophies ever
framed by the mind of man for the explanation of the mechanical
.structure of the Universe that I purpose to call your attention to-
night— a theory the most comprehensive in its scope, and, at the
same time, the most searching in its subtility, which has been
handed down to us by all ajitiquity — a theory which in its ingenuity
.represents the synthetic power of the Greek mind at the highest stage
of its physical speculation — a theory which the literature of Rome
has preserved in the amber of Cicero's philosophical disquisition,
and embalmed in the immortal verse of Lucretius — a theory, in fine,
which has survived the old dialectic in which it was first conceived,
because it has come to a new birth in the forms of modern science.
I refer to what is known in history as the Atomic Philosophy of the
Greeks.
XXIX
XXX PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
The fundamental principle of the ancient physical philosophy —
its point of departure and its ever re-entering point of return — is
found in the famous well-worn maxim of metaphysics, that out of
nothing nothing comes, and that what is can never be annihilated.
It was in the name of this maxim and under the shadow of its
authority that the Greek physical philosophers sought to shelter
their whole right of free enquiry from the ' charge of impiety, and
if to us the dictiwn seems the merest truism, it was not so regarded
at the dawn of natural philosophy. Sometimes used as a logical
club with which to brain a stolid and incurious indifferentism, and
sometimes waved as a red flag in the face of polytheistic supersti-
tion, it meets us perpetually in all the oldest records of ancient
philosophical speculation — in the formal elaborations of Aristotle,'^
in the lucubrations of Boethiu8,t and in the verse of poets as remote
from each other in style and creed as Lucretius, the lively Epicu-
rean,J and Persius, the sternest of Stoic moralists.§ This maxim
stirred the philosophical mind of antiquity to its lowest depth,
because it was then the type and symbol of a whole method of phi-
losophizing— a method regarded by many as not a little presump-
tuous, much as the Copernican theory of the Universe was regarded
in the sixteenth century, or much as the Formula of Evolution is
regarded to-day outside of scientific circles.
It was because the maxim seemed to so many the challenge of a
vain wisdom and of a false philosophy that the early champions of
physical philosophy sometimes felt themselves called to vindicate
the truth of this truism by an appeal to formal argument. The
necessity for such an appeal measures the scientific ineptitude of
the average mind at that early age. " If what emerges into sensible
perception," argues Epicurus with the utmost gravity, ** can be con-
ceived as coming from nothing, then everything might come of any-
thing, and that, too, without any need gf germs ; and if what dis-
appears from sensible perception was really destroyed into nothing,
then all things might perish without anything being left into which
* Aristotle: De Qcneraiione et Comiptione^ I, iii, 5, (Didot's ed., vol. 2,
p. 437.)
f Boethiiis: De Consolatione Ph'dosophias^ Lib. V, Pro«a 1.
J Luci"ctiiis : De liei'um Naiura^ I, 151-227.
2 Persius : SatirtLy iii, 84.
ANNUAL ADDRESS OP THE PRESIDENT. XXXI
they were resolved." * Such was the rude flint-flake with which,
as their only weapon of logic, the early Nimrods of philosophy in
Greece defended their right to philosophize in the palseolithic stage
of natural enquiry.
As the next step in this metaphysical logic we find a distinction
drawn by the ancient Greek philosophers between things as they
are in substrate and things as they appear, disappear, and reappeiV
in time — ^between the noumenal and the phenomenal world, as we
would say to- day in the Kantian phraseology. It was the favorite
doctrine of the Eleatic school of philosophers that we get a true
conception of things only when, abstracting from their individ-
uality, their partitiveness and their changing forms, we find the
ultimate root and unity of all being in a simple, indivisible, and
unchangeable substrate, which is the true object of knowledge, be-
cause it is the true basis of all reality. This concept increased in
clearness as it passed through the minds of Xenophanes, Parmeni-
des, and Empedocles, until, in the generalizations of the last-named
philosopher, the ultimate substrate of things was resolved into four
elementary substances— earth, air, fire, and water ; each uncreated
and imperishable, each equal in quantity, each composed, within
itself, of parts that are qualitatively the same, and each forever in-
commutable with the others ; yet each and all capable of every
variety and degree of mixture in the manifold combinations of
things as they appear in the sensible world.
On the other hand, it was held by Heraclitus that this funda-
mental substrate or unity of things is a mere figment of the phil-
osophical imagination, and that it is only as things are conceived
to be in perpetual flux that the forms of our knowledge can be
brought into correspondence with the forms of actual being. That
is, to the doctrine of the unchanging substrate of things Heraclitus
opposed the doctrine of the perpetual flux of things.
It remained to effect a synthesis and reconciliation between these
opposing views of the Eleatic and Heraclitic philosophies of nature,
while at the same time saving the fundamental dogma of all natural
philosophizing, that out of nothing nothing comes. Such a basis of
pacification was found in the terms of the Atomic Philosophy, in the
doctrine that the changing forms, positions, motions, and phases of
*Diog. Laort. : Lives of the Philosophers, sub voce ** Epicurus."
XXXII PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
things are to be conceived as a perpetual flux, resulting from the
changing permutations and combinations of the indestructible atoms
composing the eternal substrate of nature. And thus it was that
the doctrine of ultimate atoms, incessantly modified in the forms of
their combination, but remaining forever the same in substance,
became the legitimate deduction and the crowning corollary of the
primal eldest maxim of physical philosophy. Aristotle expressly
gives this genesis of the Atomic Philosophy of Greece in its reduc-
tion by Anaxagoras. After saying that Anaxagoras hypothesized
an infinity of atoms, to explain the myriad varieties of nature, be-
cause he wished to avoid the reproach of getting something out of
nothing, Aristotle adds : " From the fact that contraries are made out
of each other, they must needs have previously existed in each other ;
for if everything that becomes must needs come either from some-
thing or from nothing, and if this latter alternative is impossible,
(about which all who treat of nature are agreed in opinion,) then
it only remains to infer that everything which becomes must have
come from the things in which it pre-existed, though, on account of
the smallness of their bulks, made out of things imperceptible to
us. -^^
The Atomic Philosophy of the Greeks was, therefore, not a mere
exhalation of the imagination, but a logical inference from the
starting point and major premise of their natural metaphysics. The
doctrine of ultimate atoms in nature was, indeed, the necessary com-
plement and reconciliation of the conception that all things are in
elemental stir, and that yet in this elemental stir there is no crea-
tion of anything out of nothing and no annihilation of anything,
but only composition, decomposition, and recom position.
It need not surprise us, therefore, to find that the doctrine of
ultimate atoms in nature is a universal form of thought among
thinking men of all the most advanced races in antiquity. Into
the hidden historic springs of the Atomic Philosophy, as formu-
lated by the Greeks, it is not here proposed to enquire. Whether its
* Aristotle: Naturalis Auscultatio, I, iv, 2, (Didofs cd., vol. 2, p. 252.)
Compare, also, Lucretius, De Re?-. Naf., 1, 543-545:
** Quoniam supra ducui nil posi-c crcari
De nilo, ncquc quod genitum est ad nil revocari,
Esse immortal i primordia corporc dcbcni.^'
ANNUAL ADDRESS OP THE PRESIDENT. XXXIII
germs were derived from Egypt, or from ludia, or from Phoenicia,
or whether it was an original birth of the Hellenic mind, is a mat-
ter of curious historic interest which hardly admits, perhaps^ of
precise and positive determination, though certain it is that India
had an Atomic Philosophy before the Greeks. However possible or
probable it may be that the early Greek philosophers borrowed
fiome of their lore under this head, as we know they did under
others, from the Egyptian priests ; or whatever truth there may be
in the tradition, reported by Posidonius,* (Cicero's teacher in phi-
losophy,) that one Moschus, a Phoenician, imparted the doctrine to
Pythagoras, it is very certain that the Greek philosophers have
made the doctrine their own by the logical development they gave
to it, and by the hereditament in it w^hich they have bequeathed to
the subsequent generations of men moving along the lines of human
progress. It has been more than suspected that the doctrine dates
in Greece from the age of Pythagoras, by reason of certain spe-
cific ideas, which we can read in the spectrum analysis of the most
distant times by the light of modern anthropological science. Cer-
tain definite lines of thought are to be found in the psychology of
every epoch, and these lines betray the mental constitution of the
epoch as surely as the vapoxB of the elements absorb rays of the
same refrangibilities that they radiate. In the days of Pythago-
ras we discover certain psychical ideas which are seen to have
been the natural reflex of the great fundamental dogma out of
which the Atomic Philosophy sprang. I refer to the doctrine of
metempsychosis and of its correlate, the pre-existence of souls.
If it be assumed that the human soul is something generically
diflTerent from the body, and is not generated by it, then it necessa-
rily follows, according to the maxim De nihilo nihil fit, that the
soul pre-existed somewhere before the atoms of the body were put
together, and from the other branch of the maxim, that it must
continue to exist somewhere afler the body is dissolved. The doc-
trine of the transmigration of souls is not, therefore, a mere vagary
of the ethnical imagination, but the natural oflfepring of that form
of Pythagorean dualism which distinguished the soul, as not onlv
generically, but genetically distinct from the body. Hence, the
*Strabo: G^eo/jr., Lib. xvi. (y. Sextus Empiricus : Adversus Maihemaiicoa,
Lib. 9.
3a
XXXVI rHILOSOPHlCAL SOCIEMY OF WASHINGTON.
carry with it any clear conception of personal identity, and heco?
Lucretius justly argued that the doctrine of a future life, as held
by many in his day, was stripped of all significance if the chain of
])ersonal consciousness is broken at death.*
And to this fundamental antithesis of idea;? lyinf? at the bottom
of these two forms of the Greek Atomic Philosophy another anti-
thesis must be added in the Stratonical Hylozoism, which, assuming
in matter an atomic structure partly material and partly vital, pn>-
ceeded to account for the genesis of animated bodies on the super-
added a.ssumption of a plastic energy working in nature to the pn^-
duction of every living thing. In a word, Strato's matter, instinct
with life, and waiting only for the first chance to be stuck together
in the compo<<ition of plants and animals, seems to have been the
metaphysical anticipation of our modem protoplasm.f
It was in opposition alike to the physics of Anaxagoras, Democ-
ritus, and »Strato, that Plato reared his splendid fabric of ideali:?ni,
while Aristotle, for his part, rejected the philosophy of atoms alto-
gether, and installed in its place for centuries the doctrine of Form
and Quality, and Substance and Entelechy, whatever that may mean.
" If," he says, " there be no other substance beyond the substances
existing in nature, then Physics is the first science ; but if tliere l>e
a certain substance which is immovable, then this is before bod3',
and Philosophy is the first science." J That single sentence re-
capitulates the whole verbal philosophy of the Middle Ages. Plato
was so hostile to the hypothesis of Democritus that he never once
names that philosopher in all his writings, though it is the Abderite
physicist to whom he intends a disparaging allusion when in the
Timwiis he impales on the shafts of his irony "a certain philosopher
of an indefinite and ignorant mind." Aristotle names him often
enough, either separately or in conjunction with Leucippus, and
treats the Atomic Philosophy with respect as an " invention framed
to explain the transformation and birth of things — explaining birth
and dissolution by the decomix)sition and recomposition of atoms.
*Lucret. : De Rcrum Natura^ Lib. iii, 851.
t Cicero aptly defines tho antithesis of ideas "between Democritus and
Strain. See Acailcm. Prior. ^ Lib. II, xxxviii, 121. Also, Dc Nat. Dror.,
Lib. I, xiii, 85.
X Arist. : Mct.j Lib. V, i, 9; cf. Lib. X, vii, 9,
ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XXXIII
germs were derived from Egypt, or from India, or from Phoenicia,
or whether it was an original birth of the Hellenic mind, is a mat-
ter of curious historic interest which hardly admits, perhaps, of
precise and positive determination, though certain it is that India
had an Atomic Philosophy before the Greeks. However possible or
probable it may be that the early Greek philosophers borrowed
some of their lore under this head, as we know they did under
others, from the Egyptian priests ; or whatever truth there may be
in the tradition, reported by Posidonius,* (Cicero's teacher in phi-
losophy,) that one Moschus, a Phoenician, imparted the doctrine to
Pythagoras, it is very certain that the Greek philosophers have
made the doctrine their own by the logical development they gave
to it, and by the hereditament in it which they have bequeathed to
the subsequent generations of men moving along the lines of human
progress. It has been more than suspected that the doctrine dates
in Greece from the age of Pythagoras, by reason of certain spe-
cific ideas, which we can read in the spectrum analysis of the most
distant times by the light of modern anthropological science. Cer-
tain definite lines of thought are to be found in the psychology of
every epoch, and these lines betray the mental constitution of the
epoch as surely as the vapors of the elements absorb rays of the
same refrangibilities that they radiate. In the days of Pythago-
ras we discover certain psychical ideas which are seen to have
been the natural reflex of the great fundamental dogma out of
which the Atomic Philosophy sprang. I refer to the doctrine of
metempsychosis and of its correlate, the pre-existence of souls.
If it be assumed that the human soul is something generically
different from the body, and is not generated by it, then it necessa-
rily follows, according to the maxim De nihilo nihil fit, that the
soul pre-existed somewhere before the atoms of the body were put
together, and from the other branch of the maxim, that it must
continue to exist somewhere after the body is dissolved. The doc-
trine of the transmigration of souls is not, therefore, a mere vagary
of the ethnical imagination, but the natural offspring of that form
of Pythagorean dualism which distinguished the soul, as not only
generically, but genetically distinct from the body. Hence, the
♦Strabo: Geog., Jj'ih.XYl. <y. Sextus Empiricus : Adversus Maihemaiicos,
Lib. 9.
3a
XXXVI PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
carry with it any clear conception of personal identity, and bencc
Lucretius justly argued that the doctrine of a future life, as held
by many in his day, was stripped of all significance if the chain of
personal consciousness is broken at death.*
And to this fundamental antithesis of ideas lying at the bottom
of these two forms of the Greek Atomic Philosophy another anti-
thesis must be added in the Stratonical Hylozoism, which, assuming
in matter an atomic structure partly material and partly vital, pro-
ceeded to account for the genesis of animated bodies on the super-
added assumption of a plastic energy working in nature to the pro-
duction of every living thing. In a word, Strato's matter, instinct
with life, and waiting only for the first chance to be stuck together
in the composition of plants and animals, seems to have been the
metaphysical anticipation of our modern protoplasm.f
It was in opposition alike to the physics of Anaxagoras, Democ-
ritus, and Strato, that Plato reared his splendid fabric of idealism,
while Aristotle, for his part, rejected the philosophy of atoms alto-
gether, and installed in its place for centuries the doctrine of Form
and Quality, and Substance and Entelechy, whatever that may mean.
"If," he says, "there be no other substance beyond the substances
existing in nature, then Physics is the first science; but if there be
a certain substance which is immovable, then this is before body,
and Philosophy is the first science." J That single sentence re-
capitulates the whole verbal philosophy of the Middle Ages. Plato
was so hostile to the hypothesis of Democritus that he never once
names that philosopher in all his writings, though it is the Abderite
physicist to whom he intends a disparaging allusion when in the
Timwiishe impales on the shafts of his irony "a certain philosopher
of an indefinite and ignorant mind." Aristotle names him often
enough, either separately or in conjunction with LeucippuB, and
treats the Atomic Philosophy with respect as an "invention framed
to explain the transformation and birth of things — explaining birth
and dissolution by the decomposition and recomposition of atom?,
*Lucret. : De Rerum Natura^ Lib. iii, 851,
f Cicero aptly defines tho antithesis of ideas between Democritus nnd
Strato. See Academ. Prior. ^ Lib. II, xxxviii, 121. Also, De Nat. Dcor.,
Lib. I, xiii, 85.
J Arist. : Mct.^ Lib. V, i, 9; cf. Lib. X, vii, 9.
ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XXXIII
germs were derived from Egypt, or from India, or from Phcenicia,
or whether it was an original birth of the Hellenic mind, is a mat-
ter of curious historic interest which hardly admits, perhaps, of
precise and positive determination, though certain it is that India
had an Atomic Philosophy before the Greeks. However possible or
probable it may be that the early Greek philosophers borrowed
some of their lore under this head, as we know they did under
others, from the Egyptian priests ; or whatever truth there may be
in the tradition, reported by Posidonius,* (Cicero's teacher in phi-
losophy,) that one Moschus, a Phoenician, imparted the doctrine to
Pythagoras, it is very certain that the Greek philosophers have
made the doctrine their own by the logical development they gave
to it, and by the hereditament in it which they have bequeathed to
the subsequent generations of men moving along the lines of human
progress. It has been more than suspected that the doctrine dates
in Greece from the age of Pythagoras, by reason of certain spe-
cific ideas, which we can read in the spectrum analysis of the most
distant times by the light of modern anthropological science. Cer-
tain definite lines of thought are to be found in the psychology of
every epoch, and these lines betray the mental constitution of the
epoch as surely as the vapors of the elements absorb rays of the
same refrangibilities that they radiate. In the days of Pythago-
ras we discover certain psychical ideas which are seen to have
been the natural reflex of the great fundamental dogma out of
which the Atomic Philosophy sprang. I refer to the doctrine of
metempsychosis and of its correlate, the pre-existence of souls.
If it be assumed that the human soul is something generically
diflferent from the body, and is not generated by it, then it necessa-
rily follows, according to the maxim De nihilo nihil fit, that the
soul pre-existed somewhere before the atoms of the body were put
together, and from the other branch of the maxim, that it must
continue to exist somewhere afler the body is dissolved. The doc-
trine of the transmigration of souls is not, therefore, a mere vagary
of the ethnical imagination, but the natural offspring of that form
of Pythagorean dualism which distinguished the soul, as not onlv
generically, but genetically distinct from the body. Hence, the
♦Strabo : Qeog.^ Lib. xvi. Cf. Sextus Empiriciis : Adversus Maihematicos^
Lib. 9.
3a
XXXVI rniLosopnicAL socie>ty of Washington.
carry with it any clear conception of personal identity, and hence
Lucretius justly argued that the doctrine of a future life, as held
by many in his day, was stripped of all significance if the chain of
personal consciousness is broken at death.*
And to this fundamental antithesis of ideas lying at the bottom
of these two forms of the Greek Atomic Philosophy another anti-
thesis must be added in the Stratonical Hylozoism, which, assuming
in matter an atomic structure partly material and partly vital, pro-
ceeded to account for the genesis of animated bodies on the super-
added assumption of a plastic energy working in nature to the pro-
duction of every living thing. In a word, Strato's matter, instinct
with life, and waiting only for the first chance to be stuck together
in the composition of plants and animals, seems to have been the
metaphysical anticipation of our modern protoplasm.f
It was in opposition alike to the physics of Anaxagoras, Democ-
ritus, and Strato, that Plato reared his splendid fabric of idealism*
while Aristotle, for his part, rejected the philosophy of atoms alto-
gether, and installed in its place for centuries the doctrine of Form
and Quality, and Substance and Entelechy, whatever that may mean.
" If," he says, " there be no other substance beyond the substances
existing in nature, then Physics is the first science; but if there be
a certain substance which is immovable, then this is before bodv,
and Philosophy is the first science." J That single sentence re-
capitulates the whole verbal philosophy of the Middle Ages. Plato
was so hostile to the hypothesis of Democritus that he never once
names that philosopher in all his writings, though it is the Abderite
physicist to whom he intends a disparaging allusion when in the
Thnwus he impales on the shafts of his irony " a certain philosopher
of an indefinite and ignorant mind." Aristotle names him often
enough, either separately or in conjunction with Leucippus, and
treats the Atomic Philosophy with respect as an *• invention framed
to explain the transformation and birth of things— explaining birth
and dissolution by the decomposition and recomposition of atoms,
♦Lucret. : De Rcrum Natura^ Lib. iii, 851.
t Cicero aptly defines the antithesis of ideas between Democritus and
Strato. See Acadcm. Prior. ^ Lib. II, xxxviii, 121. Also, De Nat. Deor.,
Lib. I, xiii, 35.
X Arist. : Met.., Lib. V, i, 9; cf. Lib. X, vii, 9.
ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XXXVII
and explaining transformations by the arrangement and position
of atoms." *
But it is in the physical philosophy of Epicurus, as that philo-
sophy has been expounded and expanded by Lucretius, that we can
discover the fullest and clearest exposition of the doctrine of atoms,
considered as a key to the structure of the Universe. We here have
the doctrine formulated into a theodicy of naturism, a theory of
psychology, a cosmogony, and an anthropology. According to
Epicurus, in his Lucretian rendering, atoms are minute material
particles, indivisible, not by reason of their smallness, but of their
solidity which makes them indestructible and unchangeable in their
constitution ; they have size, weight, and shape, yet are forever in-
visible to the eye ; in shape, some of the atoms are different from
the others, but, while the number of the different shapes is finite,
the number of atoms of each shape is infinite ; every atom must
have at least three cacumina (/'">£'«v), that is, infinitesimally small
bounding points which arc incapable of existing apart from the
atom, but must be conceived to coexist with it in order to give
definition to it and to enclose its " solid singleness ; " some of the
atoms are hook-shaped, some only slightly jagged, some smooth,
&c.; atoms are in incessant motion, racing through space in all
directions under the stress of their weight,t according to the fa-
voring conditions of a vacuum more or less complete, yet so that
the sum of their motions results in the supreme repose of gross
matter, except when a thing exhibits the motion of translation in
space — a form of motion which is molar and not atomic ; atoms
move besides at an enormous uniform speed, in parallel lines, up
and down, so far as there can be any up and down in a universe
equally boundless in all directions, and except so far as some of the
atoms have originally a shape which makes them capable of slight
deflections from parallel straight lines — that dinamen principiorum
which was invented by Epicurus to explain the phenomena of so-
♦Arist. : De Qcnerat ct Corrup.j I, ii, 4 (Didot's cd., vol. 2, p. 484.)
t Epicurus derived the motion of atoms from their weight, which gives
movement in vacuo. Democritus derived the motion of atoms from an im-
pulse given to them in the beginning. So says Cicero (De Fato, 20, 46),
but for the contrary opinion, cf. Zeller : Philos, der Gricchen^ Erster Theil,
702, 714.
XL PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
far as they moved in mind, but he detested them, to use the words
put in his mouth by Plato, so far lis they moved in " air, and ether,
and water, and such like inconsequences ;" * and, detesting them, he
falls back upon a purely anthropomorphic conception of the Uni-
verse— anthropomorphic because it is avowedly anthropocentric,
with Socrates for its centre. The whole passage is a most instruct-
ive page in comparative psychology, now that we can read it in
the light of modern anthropological science.
It is no part of my present purpose to carry the history of the
Atomic Philosophy into Roman speculation. The Romans took all
their ideas in mental, moral, and physical philosophy at second-hand
from the Greeks.f Strong in the practical arts of war and polity,
they were content to be in literature imitators and in philosophy
eclectics. Equally inept for the deft metaphysical analysis of the
Greeks and for their fine artistic synthesis, the Romans none the
less contributed, on the practical side of life, to the definite exposi-
tion of the contents of all the philosophical systems of the Greeks.
Hence we could ill spare the ponderCms banter of Cicero when he
mocks at the weak points of the Atomic Philosophy,;); and still less
could we spare that reasoned elaboration of its strong points which
has made the De Rerum Natura of Lucretius the most systematic,
the most complete, the most earnest, and the most realistic of all
the reductions which the Atomic Philosophy has ever received. But
after allowing for all his skill in the episodical handling of the rival
systems of Heraclitus, Empedocles, and Anaxagoras, for his power
of description, for the vivacity of his narrative, for the force and
often the beauty of his illustrations and analogies, it must still he
conceded that there is much more of original poetry than of original
philosophy in these glowing hexameters of the Epicurean philoso-
pher-poet.
In a history of the Atomic Philosophy we can leap the chasm of
the Middle Ages at a single bound. The physical philosophers of
^P/urdOy i 47; Jowett's Plato, vol. I, p. 427.
t For evidence as to the imbecility of the Roman mind in physical phi-
losophy, see the 2nd Book of Cicero's " Prior AcademicSj^' which is a long
wail over the want of trufh, or of tests of truth, in physical speculation.
XDe Natura Deoi-um^ I, 18, 64, 66, 69, 73, 120; ef. De Faio, I, x, xi,
XX ; De FinibuSj I, vi—vii ; Tusc. Diaput. I, xi, 22; xviii, 42.
ANNUAL ADDRESS OP THE PRESIDENT. XXXVII
and explaining transformations by the arrangement and position
of atoms." *
But it is in the physical philosophy of Epicurus, as that philo-
sophy has been expounded and expanded by Lucretius, that we can
discover the fullest and clearest exposition of the doctrine of atoms,
considered as a key to the structure of the Universe. We here have
the doctrine formulated into a theodicy of naturism, a theory of
psychology, a cosmogony, and an anthropology. According to
Epicurus, in his Lucretian rendering, atoms are minute material
particles, indivisible, not by reason of their smallness, but of their
solidity which makes them indestructible and unchangeable in their
constitution ; they have size, weight, and shape, yet are forever in-
visible to the eye; in shape, some of the atoms are different from
the others, but, while the number of the different shapes is finite,
the number of atoms of each shape is infinite ; every atom must
have at least three cacumina (yo'Aa<i)^ that is, infinitesimally small
bounding points which are incapable of existing apart from the
atom, but must be conceived to coexist with it in order to give
definition to it and to enclose its "solid singleness;" some of the
atoms are hook-shaped, some only slightly jagged, some smooth,
&c.; atoms are in incessant motion, racing through space in all
directions under the stress of their weight,! according to the fa-
voring conditions of a vacuum more or less complete, yet so that
the sum of their motions results in the supreme repose of gross
matter, except when a thing exhibits the motion of translation in
space — a form of motion which is molar and not atomic ; atoms
move besides at an enormous uniform speed, in parallel lines, up
and down, so far as there can be any up and down in a universe
equally boundless in all directions, and except eo far as some of the
atoms have originally a shape which makes them capable of slight
deflections from parallel straight lines — that cUnamen principlonim
which was invented by Epicurus to explain the phenomena of so-
♦Arist. : De Generat. et Corrup.y I, ii, 4 (Didot's ed., vol. 2, p. 434.)
t Epicurus derived the motion of atoms from their weight, which gives
movement in vacuo. Democritus derived the motion of atoms from an im-
pulse given to them in the beginning. So says Cicero (De Fato, 20, 46),
but for the contrary opinion, cf, Zeller : Philoa, dcr Oricchcny Erster Theil,
702, 714.
XL PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
far as they moved in mind, but he detested them, to use the words
put in his mouth by Plato, so far as they moved in " air, and ether,
and water, and such like inconsequences ;" * and, detesting them, he
falls back upon a purely anthropomorphic conception of the Uni-
verse— anthropomorphic because it is avowedly anthropocentric,
with Socrates for its centre. The whole passage is a most instruct-
ive page in comparative psychology, now that we can read it in
the light of modern anthropological science.
It is no part of my present purpose to carry the history of the
Atomic Philosophy into Roman speculation. The Romans took all
their ideas in mental, moral, and physical philosophy at second-hand
from the Greeks.f Strong in the practical arts of war and polity,
they were content to be in literature imitators and in philosophy
eclectics. Equally inept for the deft metaphysical analysis of the
Greeks and for their fine artistic synthesis, the Romans none the
less contributed, on the practical side of life, to the definite exposi-
tion of the contents of all the philosophical systems of the Greeks.
Hence we could ill spare the ponderous banter of Cicero when he
mocks at the weak points of the Atomic Philosophy,;]; and still less
could we spare that reasoned elaboration of its strong points which
has made the De Rerum Nalura of Lucretius the most systematic,
the most complete, the most earnest, and the most realistic of all
the reductions which the Atomic Philosophy has ever received. But
after allowing for all his skill in the episodical handling of the rival
systems of Heraclitus, Empedocles, and Anaxagoras, for his power
of description, for the vivacity of his narrative, for the force and
often the beauty of his illustrations and analogies, it must still be
conceded that there is much more of original poetry than of original
philosophy in these glowing hexameters of the Epicurean philoso-
pher-poet.
. In a history of the Atomic Philosophy we can leap the chasm of
the Middle Ages at a single bound. The physical philosophers of
*Ph<Bdo, J 47; Jowett's Plato, vol. I, p. 427.
•f For evidence as to the imbecility of the Roman mind in physical phi-
losophy, see the 2nd Book of Cicero's " Prior Academics j^^ which is a long
wail over the want of truth, or of tests of truth, in physical speculation.
XDe Natura Deorum, I, 18, 54, 66, 69, 73, 120; c/. De Fato^ I, x, xi,
XX ; De Finibus^ I, vi — vii ; Tusc. Disput I, xi, 22; xviii, 42.
ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XLI
that time were not discussing the concourse of atoms, fortuitous or
othenTise, but were carefully pondering, with Doctors Divine and
Angelical, Subtile and Irrefragable, the difference between Ens and
Essentia, between materia qtiomodolihet accepta and materia signata,
between quidditas per se and Jicecceitas per se, between ultima entitas
enUs and ultima aetxialitas formce. As we plod our weary way
through the Quodlibeta of these venerable doctors, we can but envy
the angels one of the faculties ascribed to them by St. Thomas
Aquinas — that of being able to pass from point to point without
passing through intermediate spaces.
Bacon,'*' as he stood at the threshold of the new dispensation of
physical science, had made a plea for the forgotten philosophy of
Democritus, but when the metaphysical philosophy of Europe came
to a new Avatar in the brain of Descartes, we find that thinker
denying a discrete conception of matter, and arguing for the con-
trary conception of continuous extension, of the identification
of extension with substance, and, hence, of the infinite divisi-
bility of matter. He says: "It is easy to demonstrate that
there cannot be atoms ; that is, parts of bodies or of matter which
are of an indivisible nature, as some philosophers have imagined,
since, however small we may suppose these parts, inasmuch as they
must needs have extension, we conceive that there is not one of
them which cannot still be divided into two or more still smaller
parts ; whence it follows that it is divisible." f It will here be seen
that Descartes falls into a confusion of ideas with regard to the
atoms of the ancient philosophers. They did not conceive that the
atom was indivisible because of its smallness, but because of the
indestructible solidity which made it incapable of being cut, or
broken, or bent, and which also made it impervious to heat or hu-
midity. X
* Sec, especially, Cogiiationcs de Natura Rerum^ and De Prineipiis atque
Originibusj &c. Works, (Ellis & Spedding's ed., London,) vol. Ill, pp. 15,
82, et seq.; cf. Advancement of Learning, Book II, vii, 7, (Ellis & Sped-
ding's ed.,) vol. Ill, p. 358.
fFor a formal criticism on Democritus' theory of atoms see Principes de
la Philosophic^ (Euvres de Descartes j (Cousin,) tome III, p. 516, and cf.
Aristotle: De Oeneratione et Corruptione^ I, ii, 11-21, where this criticism ia
anticipated and surpassed.
X" Corpora iitdividua propter soliditatem^^* Cic, De Fin., I, vi, 17; qf,
Lucret., I, line^ 582-5.
XLIV PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
€&T enough away from the Epicurean atoms, but we are still work-
ing with the atoms of pure metaphysics.
It is equally in accordance with the chronological order of time^
and the logical order of scientific ideas, that we should next turn
to Newton. And of Newton, the greatest name in all physical
philosophy, it need only be said that in his work on Optics he re-
turned to a conception of atoms, which, except that it proceeds on
the assumption of a Deity and of final cause, is substantially identi-
cal with that of Leucippus, Democritus, and Epicurus. He says :
*' All tlieae things considered [that is, the chemical facts he had
just recited], it seems probable to me that God in the beginning
formed matter in solid, massy, hard, impenetrable, movable parti-
cles, of such sizes and figures, and with such other properties and
in such proportion to space as most conduced to the end for which
He formed them ; and that these primitive particles, being solids,
are incomparably harder than any porous bodies compounded of
them, even so very hard as never to wear or break in pieces — no
ordinary power being able to divide what God himself made one
in the first creation." This definition reminds us of Lucretius.
In continuation Newton adds : '' \yhile the particles continue
entire they may compose bodies of one and the same nature and
texture in all ages ; but should they wear away or break in pieces^
the nature of things depending on them would be changed. Water
and earth composed of old worn particles would not be of the same
nature and texture now with water and earth composed of entire
particles in the beginning. And, therefore, that nature may be
lasting, the changes of corporeal things are to be placed only in the
various separations and new associations, and motions of these
permanent particles."
The very form of this last-cited statement carries us back to
the cradle of the Atomic Philosophy.* But it is not so much
the form of Newton's statement which excites our admiration
as the connection of thought in which it stands. The whole of
* JrjfioxptTo^ Sk xal AeoxcTZTTo^ TzotijiTa'^Te^ ra iT/TJfjLaTa^ ttjv dXXotauro
xai TTju 'ji'ivsiTcv ix TooTtDv Tzocoufft^ diaxplffsi fih xai ffoyxpitrsi yivetrtv xa\
^9opdv^ rdzst fJs xai ^^iirec dXXoicjirtv. Aristotle: Uxpt reustreatq^ xa\
^^%ipa<;, I, 2, 4. (Didot's ed., vol. 2., p. 434.)
ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XLI
that time were not discussing the concourse of atoms, fortuitous or
otherwise, but were carefully pondering, with Doctors Divine and
Angelical, Subtile and Irrefragable, the difference between Ens and
Essentia, between materia quomodolibet accepta and materia signata,
between quidditas per se and hwcceitas per se, between ultima entitas
entis and ultima actualitas formce. As we plod our weary way
through the Quodlibeta of these venerable doctors, we can but envy
the angels one of the faculties ascribed to them by St. Thomas
Aquinas — that of being able to pass from point to point without
passing through intermediate spaces.
Bacon,* as he stood at the threshold of the new dispensation of
physical science, had made a plea for the forgotten philosophy of
Democritus, but when the metaphysical philosophy of Europe came
to a new Avatar in the brain of Descartes, we find that thinker
denying a discrete conception of matter, and arguing for the con-
trary conception of continuous extension, of the identification
of extension with substance, and, hence, of the infinite divisi-
bility of matter. He says : " It is easy to demonstrate that
there cannot be atoms ; that is, parts of bodies or of matter which
are of an indivisible nature, as some philosophers have imagined,
since, however small we may suppose these parts, inasmuch as they
must needs have extension, we conceive that there is not one of
them which cannot still be divided into two or more still smaller
parts ; whence it follows that it is divisible." f It will here be seen
that Descartes falls into a confusion of ideas with regard to the
atoms of the ancient philosophers. They did not conceive that the^
atom was indivisible because of its smallness, but because of the
indestructible solidity which made it incapable of being cut, or
broken, or bent, and which also made it impervious to heat or hu-
midity. X
* Sec, especially, Cogitationcs dc Natura Rcrum^ and De Principiis atque
OrlginibuSf &c. Works, (Ellis & Spedding's ed., London,) vol. Ill, pp. 16,
82, et acq.; cf. Advancement of Learning, Book II, vii, 7, (Ellis & Sped-
ding's ed.,) vol. Ill, p. 358.
f For a formal criticism on Democritus* theory of atoms see Principea de
la Philosophic^ (Euvrcs dc Descartes^ (Cousin,) tome III, p. 516, and cf,
Aristotle : De Generatione et Corruptionc^ I, ii, 11-21, where this criticism is
'anticipated and surpassed.
X^^ Corpora individua propter soliditaienij^' Cic, De Fin., I, vi, 17; cf,
Lucret., I, lined 532-5.
XLIV PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
far enough away from the Epicurean atoms, but we are still work-
ing with the atoms of pure metaphysics.
It is equally in accordance with the chronological order of time,
and the logical order of scientific ideas, that we should next turn
to Newton. And of Newton, the greatest name in all physical
philosophy, it need only be said that in his work on Optics he re-
turned to a conception of atoms, which, except that it proceeds on
the assumption of a Deity and of final cause, is substantially identi-
cal with that of Leucippus, Democritus, and Epicurus. He says :
** All tlieae things considered [that is, the chemical facts he had
just recited], it seems probable to me that God in the beginning
formed matter in solid, massy, hard, impenetrable, movable parti-
cles, of such sizes and figures, and with such other properties and
in such proportion to space as most conduced to the end for which
He formed them; and that these primitive particles, being solids,
are incomparably harder than any porous bodies compounded of
them, even so very hard as never to wear or break in pieces — no
ordinary power being able to divide what God himself made one
in the first creation." This definition reminds us of Lucretius.
In continuation Newton adds : " While the particles continue
entire they may compose bodies of one and the same nature and
texture in all ages ; but should they wear away or break in pieces,
the nature of things depending on them would be changed.. Water
and earth composed of old worn particles would not be of the same
nature and texture now with water and earth composed of entire
particles in the beginning. And, therefore, that nature may be
lasting, the changes of corporeal things are to be placed only in the
various separations and new associations, and motions of these
permanent particles."
The very form of this last-cited statement carries us back to
the cradle of the Atomic Philosophy.* But it is not so much
the form of Newton's statement which excites our admiration
as the connection of thought in which it stands. The whole of
* Arifx6xptTo<; dk xai Asuxitztzo^ Totijffavre^ ra ff^TJ/iara, rijv aXkoiw<ft>
xai Tiyv yivsfftv ix tootcjv Tzowoffi, diaxpitrsi /isv xai ffoyxplfftt yivetrcv xa}
f^opdv^ rd^sc dk xai ^'^iffec dXXoioKrtv. Aristotle: Hipt Fe'^sffew^ xa\
0^%ipa<s, I, 2, 4. (Didofs ed., vol. 2., p. 434.)
ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XLV
the "31st Query," under which this passage occurs in the book of
"Opticks/' is occupied with certain chemical analyses which Newton
had made in his laboratory. Newton, we know, was an alchemist,
and spent laborious days and nights in trying to discover the secret
by which base metals might be rendered noble ; but I can hardly
concur with Prof. Jevons when he says that Newton's " lofty powere
of deductive investigation were wholly useless " in the conduct of
these experiments.'^ There is some gold at the bottom of even
his alchemical crucible. He was the first to put the conception of
atoms in their rightful logical connection with the phenomena of
practical chemistry .f
It would here be in order to follow Joseph Boscovich in his pro-
found theory of the constitution of matter, if in doing so we might
not fall into the danger of drifting too far from the atom considered
as a minim of corporeal singleness. With him the atom is a point
of attractive and repulsive forces rather than an ultimate physical
element ; and as it was really the atom of chemical physics which
Democritus posited in his mind without knowing it, thus setting up
the altar of science to an " unknown god," it is time that we
should hasten towards the epoch when Chemistry came to rend the
vail from the face of this Isis whom the Greek atomists had so long
and so ignorantly worshipped.
It is in the writings of the Hon. Robert Boyle, pleasantly de-
scribed by his Irish biographer, with a somewhat Irish collocation
of ideas, as " Father of Chemistry and brother of the Earl of Cork,"
that we find the period of transition, when the old order of meta-
physical atoms is changing to give place to the new order of
physical atoms as weighed and measured by modern chemistry. In
his essay on ** The Intestine Motions of the Particles of Quiescent
Bodies," J as also in his essays on Fluidity and Firmness, he threw
out some positive ideas on the old atomic philosophy. He sup-
poses it to be of Phoenician derivation, and even tries to effect a
reconciliation between that philosophy and the Cartesian notion of
continuous substance by drawing on the materia aubtilis of the
French philosopher (which was conceived to pass constai;itly, like a
* Jevons: Principles of Science, vol. II, p. 133.
t Opticks, Book III, Query 31.
J Robert Boyle's Works, vol. I, p. 444.
XLVIII PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
called attention at the time to "the theory of the process," he does
not seem to have apprehended the generality of the principle of
definite and multiple proportions till a few years later, when the
doctrine dawned on him in the course of some investigations into
the constitution of defiant gas and carburetted hydrogen gas.*
Richter, before him, had ascertained the quantity of any base
required to saturate one hundred measures of sulphuric acid, and
had formed a table exhibiting the proportions of the acids and
alkaline bases constituting neutral salts, but Dal ton took this table
and translated it into the relative weights of the ultimate atoms
composing these saline compounds.f
The doctrine of atomic weights had thus already become a work-
ing hypothesis in chemistry, no longer an idle speculation, and we
soon find Berzelius writing to Dalton that " multiple proportions
are a mystery without it." J
From this time onward the history of chemistry has been studded
with fresh confirmations of the new atomic logic, while ever and
anon prophetic glints of truth, implicit in every true physical
hypothesis, have leaped into the light of ocular demonstration
with each advancing stage in chemical science. Time would fail
to tell the beads of the atomic rosary. The doctrine of fixed,
multiple, and volumetric combinations, as formulated by Avo-
gadro in 1813 ; § the determination of the proportions in which
bodies combine according to the number and disposition respect-
ively of their molecules, as announced by Ampere in 1814, with
special reference to the clear-cut distinction between molecules
and their integrant atoms, (already presaged before Ampere by
Laurent and Gerhardt;) || the relation between the atomic weights
of bodies and their specific heats, conjectured by Dalton and estab-
lished by Dulong and Petit in 1819;^ the law of isomorphism, an-
nounced by Mitscherlich at the close of the same year, from which
it appeared that ** a similar atomic constitution determines not only
* Henry : Memoirs of the Life and Scientific Researches of John Dalton,
p. 80.
■f I bid. J p. 85.
Xlbld., p. 100.
g AVurtz : The Atomic Theory, p. 86.
II Annalos de Chimie, vol. 90, p. 48.
Tf Wurtz : The Atomic Theory, p. 52.
ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XLV
the "31st Query," under which this passage occurs in the book of
**Opticks/' is occupied with certain chemical analyses which Newton
had made in his laboratory. Newton, we know, was an alchemist,
and spent laborious days and nights in trying to discover the secret
by which base metals might be rendered noble ; biit I can hardly
concur wuth Prof. Jevons when he says that Newton's " lofty powers
of deductive inv^tigation were wholly useless " in the conduct of
these experiments.^'^ There is some gold at the bottom of even
his alchemical crucible. He was the first to put the conception of
atoms in their rightful logical connecti(m with the phenomena of
practical chemistry .y
It would here be in order to follow Joseph Boscovich in his pro-
found theory of the constitution of matter, if in doing so we might
not fall into the danger of drifting too far from the atom considered
as a minim of corporeal singleness. With him the atom is a point
of attractive and repulsive forces rather than an ultimate physical
element ; and as it was really the atom of chemical physics which
Democrkus posited in his mind without knowing it, thus setting up
the altar of science to an " unknown god," it is time that we
should hasten towards the epoch when Chemistry came to rend the
vail from the face of this Isis whom the Greek atomists had so long
and so ignorantly worshipped.
It is in the writings of the Hon. Robert Boyle, pleasantly de-
scribed by his Irish biographer, with a somewhat Irish collocation
of ideas, as " Father of Chemistry and brother of the Earl of Cork,"
that we find the period of transition, when the old order of meta-
physical atoms is changing to give place to the new order of
physical atoms as weighed and measured by modern chemistry. In
his essay on ** The Intestine Motions of the Particles of Quiescent
Bodies," J as also in his essays on Fluidity and Firmness, he threw
out some positive ideas on the old atomic philosophy. He sup-
poses it to be of Phoenician derivation, and even tries to eflfect a
reconciliation between that philosophy and the Cartesian notion of
oontinuous substance by drawing on the materia aubtilis of the
French philosopher (which was conceived to pass constantly, like a
* Jevons: Principles of Science, vol. II, p. 133.
fOpticks, Book III, Query 31.
J Robert Boyle's Works, vol. I, p. 444.
XLVIII PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
called attention at the time to " the theory of the process," he does
not seem to have apprehended the generality of the principle of
definite and multiple proportions till a few years later, when the
doctrine dawned on him in the course of some investigations into
the constitutioh of defiant gas and carburetted hydrogen gas.^
liichter, before him, had ascertained the quantity of any base
required to saturate one hundred measures of sulphuric acid, and
had formed a table exhibiting the proportions of the acids and
alkaline bases constituting neutral salts, but Dalton took this table
and translated it into the relative weights of the ultimate atoms
composing these saline compounds.f
The doctrine of atomic weights had thus already become a work-
ing hypothesis in chemistry, no longer an idle speculation, and we
soon find Berzelius writing to Dalton that " multiple proportions
are a mystery without it." J
From this time onward the history of chemistry has been studded
with fresh confirmations of the new atomic logic, while ever and
anon prophetic glints of truth, implicit in every true, physical
hypothesis, have leaped into the light of ocular demonstration
with each advancing stage in chemical science. Time would fail
to tell the beads of the atomic rosary. The doctrine of fixed,
multiple, and volumetric combinations, as formulated by Avo-
gadro in 1813 ;§ the determination of the proportions in which
bodies combine according to the number and disposition respect-
ively of their molecules, as announced by Amp<^re in 1814, with
special reference to the clear-cut distinction between molecules
and their integrant atoms, (already presaged before Ampere by
Laurent and Gerhardt;) || the relation between the atomic weights
of bodies and their specific heats, conjectured by Dalton and estab-
lished by Dulong and Petit in 1819;^ the law of isomorphism, an-
nounced by Mitscherlich at the close of the same year, from which
it appeared that ** a similar atomic constitution determines not only
* Henry : Memoirs of the Life and Scientific Eesearches of John Dnlton,
p. 80.
-f I bid. J p. 86.
i Ibid., p. 100.
J Wurtz : The Atomic Theory, p. 86.
II Annales de Chimie, vol. 90, p. 43.
Tf Wurtz : The Atomic Theory, p. 52.
ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THIi: PRESIDENT. XLfX
the analogy of chemical properties, but also the similarity of physi-
cal forms ; " * the discoveries in electrolysis, with their bearing on
atomicity, as published by Faraday in 1834, in the Seventh Series or
his Experimental Researches ; t the labors of Berzelius in clarify-
ing the atomic weights of the elements; the " law of Octaves," an-
nounced by Newlands in 1865, according to which the elements were
divided into groups, having numbers differing by seven, or some
multiple of seven ; J the enlarged Periodic System of the elements,
as published by Mendel ejeff in 1869, with the prognostication of
undiscovered metals required to make the system complete — ^among
them a metal which the Russian chemist proceeded to name " ekaalu-
minium'' in advance of its discovery ;§ the discovery of the missing
metal in 1876, by Lecoq de Boisbaudran, who found it in a blende
from the mines of Pierrefitte, in the Pyrenees, and gave to it the
name of " Gallium," without knowing that he had lighted on the
** missing link" of Mendelejeff ; || the extension of this periodic
system by Lothar Meyer, with his Curve of the Elements, showing
that the ductility, fusibility, and volatility of bodies are functions
of their comparative atomic weights ; the periodic system, as re-
vised and extended during this very year, by Prof. Camelley, in the
light of the experimental boiling and melting points and heats of
formation of the halogen compounds of the elements,*[[ (chlorides,
bromides, and iodides;) Carnelley's tables of color relations in
chemical compounds as indicating the influence of atomic weights ;**
and, lastly, Carnelley's new reduction of the periodic system of the
elements considered in the light of their occurrence in nature, with
the helpful inferences to be drawn from it *** — these, and such like
discoveries as these, following in the wake of the modem atomic
* Experimental Researches in Electricity, vol. I, pp. 230-258.
t Wurtz : The Atomic Theory, p. 58.
J Xcwlnncls : The Discovery of the Periodic Law, &c., p. 14.
'^Annalen der C/iemie uml Pharmarie, Supplement Band 8, p. 133 et seg,
II Compies Rendus, t. LXXXI, p. 493. How fully Mendelejeff recognized
in gallium the characters wanted to fill the ^ap in his periodic system, see
Comptcs Jtaidiis, same volume, p. 909.
^ Philosophical Maficazine for July, 1884.
♦*Phil. Mag. for Aut^'ust, 1884.
***Phil. Mag. for September, 1884
4a
L PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
theory, have abundantly vindicated its value as an instrument of
chemical research, while conspiring to vindicate its truth by giving
to its votaries that ability of prediction which is the crucial test of
science. The theory, besides, has sometimes "snatched a grace
beyond the reach of art " by working retroactively to the purifica-
tion of chemical method from errors and defects incident to the
most careful manipulations of the practical chemist.
Standing in the presence of chemical science, as now constituted,
Baron Liebig has expressed the opinion that we can scarcely con-
ceive how it could have been developed without the Daltonian
hypothesis. And yet the atom of Dalton, considered in its rela-
tion to our natural senses, is just as incapable of visible and tangi-
ble demonstration as the atom of Democritus. For this reason it
is known that Faraday could never fully reconcile himself to the
modern doctrine of atoms.* But, in fact, there is a genetic and a
generic difference between the ancient and the modem conception.
The former is the offspring of the philosophical imagination
toying with analogy. The latter is the offspring of the philosophi-
cal imagination gendering with the homologies of reason. The atom
of Democritus sprang into thought under the plastic forms by
which he figured to himself at will the invisible relations and
constitution of matter. The atom of Dalton sprang into thought
from a rigid mathematical mind figuring to itself certain de-
terminate relations which had become visible in elastic fluids.
The atom of Democritus was, by the terms of its genesis, incapable
of verification. The atom of Dalton was, by the terms of its
genesis, capable of verification, if true, in all the gases of nature.
Metaphysic thought born of the analogical reason can never con-
clusively prove its legitimacy. Metaphysic thought born of the
homological reason can always prove its. legitimacy, and, until it
does, has no rights of heirship in the kingdom of science. The
essential quality of a metaphysico-physical hypothesis is that it
should be plausible; the essential quality of a physico-metaphysical
hypothesis is that it should be apodictic. The former is " magistral
and peremptory;" the latter is "ingenuous and faithful" The
former is contrived in such sort as to be "soonest believed," the
* Faraday : Experimental Researches in Electricity, vol. 2, p. 284. Bnt
cf. vol. I, p. 249.
ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. LI
latter is contrived in such 3ort as to be " easiliest examined," to
cite the words of Bacon.*
The Atomic Philosophy may, therefore, be said to offer a good
type of all that is valid in physical metaphysics, and of all that is
invalid in metaphysical physics. As the child in the infantile stage
of his development dwells delightedly amid fays and talismans,
because his metaphysic is stronger than his physics, so the savage
man, artless child of nature, is easily pleased with the rattle of
some lying legend, or tickled with the straw of some preposterous
myth — the more preposterous the better. A cultivated race
whose imagination is creative and artistic, but whose reason has
not yet been developed by the processes of a rigorous logic, will
demand, as has been already said, an artful and curious felicity in
their physical theories — but they will demand nothing more, be-
cause when this demand is met, their highest intellectual demand
has been met. It is not until "the heir of all the ages" has learned
to change the organon and method of his physical enquiries, and to
put his reason over his imagination, by making imagination the
hand-maid of reason, that Science is born. Long before this stage
has been reached the children of Science may come to the birth, but
there is not strength to deliver, because the true maieutic of science —
experimentation with rational hypothesis, and rational hypothesis
with experimentation — has not yet come to the teeming mind of
philosophy. The goddess Experimentation is the Lucina of Science.
The free surrender of all metaphysical conceptions to the hands of
this Lucina, with the distinct knowledge that she will strangle them
if they are not well formed, is the birth-pang of the scientific spirit.
Until this stage of mental evolution is reached we shall have as
many theories of the Universe as we have stages of culture, for
every stage of culture will have a physics of its own, because it has
a metaphysic of its own. Hence, the endless varieties of cosmol-
ogy— the Hottentot physics, the Indian physics, the Stoical physics,
the Epicurean physics, the Leibnitzian physics, the Cartesian phys-
ics, and such like — all the coinage of the metaphysical imagination.
Grote enumerates as many as twelve distinct physical philosophies
which divided speculative opinion in Greece during the century
and a half between Thales and the Peloponnesian war.
* The Advancement of Learning, Book I, v, 9.
LII PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
It is the mission of science to bring the physics of the world into
unity by reading the phenomena of the world in the dry Jight of
reason, and by continuing to spell and parse the hieroglyphs of
Nature until the rational processes of our logic are brought into
demonstrated correspondence with the actual processes of Nature.
Science still keeps metaphysic in her service. But instead of
weaving whole fabrics from the metaphysical loom and devising
ingenious tissues which only reveal the nakedness of reason, Science
in passing from the kno^vll to the unknown employs metaphysic
as the gossamer spider employs the single thread on which she
sways and balances her movements between two solid points. The
thread is tied to something solid as the condition of reaching some-
thing solid after her aerial flight. So the man of science, work-
ing in and under the limitations of physics, works on the lines
of metaphysic thought when he frames the tentative hypotheses
with which he returns again to* the patient, practical study of
nature.-'^
The scientific man reads the Universe backward by the inductive
syllogism, because Nature has proceeded forward in her evolutions,
according to an unbroken chain of antecedent causes. The physi-
cal Universe is indeed a fasciculus of natural syllogisms colligated
into the compactest unity, and so holding all things, forces, and
functions under the bonds of logic. The scientific man, at any
given stage of his enquiry, has before him only the conclusions or
at best only the minor premises and the conclusions of this world-
process. And he knows that these conclusions of the natural syllo-
gistic process have been reached through a perpetual flux in the
universal complex of things, forces, and functions — a flux which
dates from the beginning of star-mist and nebula, or from the
beginning of that more elementary fluid out of which star-mist and
nebula were generated, according to the scientific metaphysic of the
present day. Is it any wonder, then, that many of the major
premises of Nature's physical syllogisms should still be wrapt in
impenetrable mystery to us, as many of the major premises which
* Bacon's oft-quoted contrast between metaphysicians, who, he says, spin
** laborious cobwebs of learning," like spiders, and physical philosophers,
who "work according to the stuft*. and are limited thereby," seems hardly fair
to the spider. Advanccynent of Learning^ Book I, iv, 5.
ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. LIII
■we have spelled out were wrapt in an impenetrable mystery to the
Greeks in the 5th century before Christ?
As there is a needs be that much of metaphysic thought must
be blended with the psychological processes which lead to every
passage from the known to the unknown, so every great discovery
of the physical philosopher tends to widen the metaphysical horizon
within which he works. The world was never so full of metaphysic
as it is to-day, when physical science is transforming the minds of
men not so much by the secular boons it is dropping in the lap of
modern civilization as by its underlying doctrines ; and these doc-
trines are often the mere metaphysical reflex or obverse of the
physical truths they subtend. The psychological processes of every
age are conditioned by its logical method, and its logical method is
justified to itself by its metaphysic — by those necessary conceptions
and fundamental relations which it takes to be architectonic of the
Universe. What, for instance, can be more metaphysical than the
latest conception of our highest physical science — the conception of
vortex atoms moving in an imaginary frictionless fluid where the
origin and the end of the motion are equally inconceivable ? Or,
take Mr. Darwin*s doctrine of hypothetical gemmules " inheriting
innumerable qualities from ancestral sources, circulating in the
blood and propagating themselves, generation aft;er generation, still
in the state of gemmules, but failing to develop themselves into
cells because other antagonistic gemmules are prepotent and over-
master them in the struggle for points of attachment " * — in what
respect is this doctrine one whit less metaphysical than St. Augus-
tine's doctrine of original and hereditary sin ? Or, when the late
Prof. Clifford tells us that "the Universe consists entirely of mind-
stuff; " fhat " matter is a mental picture, in which mind-stuff is the
thing represented," and that " reason, intelligence, and volition are
properties of a complex which is made up of elements themselves
not rational, not intelligent, not conscious " — how does his " mind-
stuff" differ from the " mind-stuff" of Pythagoras, f except in the
* Galton : Hereditary Geniiis, p. 367 ; c/. Darwin : Animals and Plants
under Domestication, (London,) vol. 2, p. 402. For a criticism on this
physiological doctrine, see Encvclopffidia Britannica, ("Atoms,") vol. 3,
p. 42.
•j-For the ''mind-stuff" of Pythagoras, sec Cicero, De Nat Deorwn^ I,
xi, 27. For the **mind-stuff" of Clifford, see "Mind," January, 1878, p. 66.
LIV PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
greater ingenuity and method of the metaphysic art with which
it is conceived ?
If within the limits of this discussion I had the time, and if,
under the limitations of my knowledge, I had the ability, to carry
this enquiry into the realm of molecular physics and dynamicSy
where such star-eyed mystagogues as a Clausius or a Rankine, a
Clerk-Maxwell or a Sir William Thompson have borne the thyrsus
of science before us, it would be easy to show that, under their guid-
ance, we have escaped the pitiless parallel lines of the Epicurean
atoms only to find ourselves inextricably implicated in the knotted-
ness and linkedness of the vortex rings of atoms as they execute
their infinite evolutions and involutions, vibrating now in one period
and now in another behind that vail of matter where they can be
descried only by the shadowy lines they reveal to the spectroscopic
imagination. " It is the mode of motion," says Clerk-Maxwell,
" which constitutes- the vortex rings, and which furnishes us with
examples of that permanence and continuity of existence which we
are accustomed to attribute to matter itself The primitive fluid,
the only true matter, entirely eludes our perceptions when it is not
endued with the mode of motion which converts certain portions of
it into vortex rings, and thus renders it molecular." *
Of these vortex rings we must say, in the dialect of the schools,
cognoacendo ignorantur, sed ignorando cognoscimtur. Withheld from
positive conception, yet necessitated to scientific thought and spec-
ulation by the exigencies of the knowledge w-e can conceive posi-
tively, they afford a good illustration of the physical metaphysic
which has wafted the scientific mind of the present generation into
an empyrean as much higher than the empyrean of Plato as the
spectroscopic vision of modern science is more far-reaching than the
highest flight of metaphysic wit among all the physical atomizers
who ever lived or dreamed in Greece. Every chemical atom, says
Sir John Herschel, is forever solving diflTerential equations, which,
if written out in full, might belt the earth. **An atom of pure
iron," says Jevons, " is probably a vastly more complicated system
than that of the planets and their satellites."
Between metaphysical physics and physical metaphysics there is
a world-wide difference. The invisible ether posited behind the
* Encyclopaedia Britannica, sub voce "Atom."
ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. LV
vail of matter by the East Indian philosophy of the Upanishads, or
by the visionary dialectic of Cleanthes, was posited there by meta-
physical physics. The invisible fluid posited by modern science
behind the vail of matter is gosited there by physical metaphysics.
The vortices of Democritus as well as the vortices of Descartes
are the creations of metaphysical physics. The vortices of Helm-
holtz and of Sir William Thompson are the creations of physical
metaphysics. The fixed and crystalline sphere of the old Ptole-
maic astronomers was an invention of metaphysical physics. The
solid ether which transmits to us the light of the stellar Universe,
and which, as Sir John Plerschell remarks, is the modern "realiza-
tion of the ancient idea of the crystalline orb," is the invention
of physical metaphysics. When Lucretius finds in the iridescent
hues of the peacock's tail, as it shimmers in the sun, a fresh type
and instance of Nature's prodigality in the display of atoms, he
does but yield another contingent to the barren store of his meta-
physical physics. When Dr. John Tyndall finds in the iridescences
of the common soap bubble a proof that stellar space is a plenum
filled with a material substance that is capable of transmitting
motion with a rapidity that would girdle the equatorial earth eight
times in a second, he does but yield another contingent to the fertile
store of his physical metaphysics. When Dr. George Cheyne, of
Scotland, expressed the opinion in the last century, that "all ani-
mals, of what kind soever, were originally and actually created at
once by the hand of Almighty God, it being impossible (he said) to
account for their production by any laws of mechanism ; " and
when he further held that "every individual animal has, in minimis,
actually included in its loins all those who shall descend from it,
and every one of these again has all its offspring lodged in its loins,
and so on ad infinitum" and that " all this infinite number of ani-
malcules may be lodged in the bigness of a pin's head,"* he preached
a biological doctrine which sounds in the terms of metaphysical
physics. When Mr. Darwin in his provisional theory of Pangenesis
assumes the existence of the gemmules which inherit innumerable
qualities from ancestral sources, and which prelude as gemmules
that struggle for existence which antedates and therefore condition-
ates the terms of the human struggle witnessed in society, commerce,
and national life, he expounds a biological doctrine which sounds
just as clearly in the terms of physical metaphysics. When old
* J. Brown : Locke and Sydenham, p. 270.
LVI PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASEINGTON.
Heraclitus proclaimed that the Universe with all it contains sprang
into being from elemental heat, and was destined to be resolved
again into the elemental heat from which it sprang, and thus in a
ceaseless round to continue the cycle of being, he taught a doctrine
of conservation and correlation of energy which had its root in
metaphysical physics. When Dr. John Tyndall declares that "all
our philosophy, all our poetry, all our science, all our art — Plato»
Shakespeare, Newton, and Raphael — are potentially in the fires
of the sun," and so tucks away the genius of a Darwin in the folds
of a nebular blastema, he teaches a doctrine of equivalence which
has its root in physical metaphysics.
It will thus be seen that under the dominion of Science the world
has use for as much metaphysic as ever before, but only for a meta-
physic radically different from the old metaphysic in its point of
departure as also in the tests of its validity, and, therefore, radi-
cally different in the tenure by which it is held. The votaries of
the old metaphysical physics proceeded from what was unknown to
explicate and explain the known appearances of things, and rested
content in explanations which seemed to consist with those appear-
ances. The votaries of the modern physical metaphysics proceed
from what is known to explicate and explain what is unknown in
the deeper relations of things, and rest content in explanations only
so long as, and so far as, they seem consistent with experimental
proofs or with the broadest homologies of the deductive reason.
When the law of simple multiples in chemical combinations was
given to the world by Dalton, and was expressed by him in atomic
language, he had really made a great departure from the physical
methods of Democritus, though it is curious to observe that there is
a perfect identity between the metaphysical ideas underlying his
logic and the metaphysical ideas of his Greek predecessor. The
method of each proceeds on the assumption of the indestructibility
of matter, and it is from this platform that the English chemist
reaches out his hand to the Greek philosopher in token of a com-
mon metaphysic. " No new creation or destruction of matter,**
wrote Dalton, in his celebrated paper on " Chemical Synthesis," " is
within the reach of chemical agency. We might as well attempt
to introduce a new planet into the solar system, or to annihilate
one already in existence, as to create or destroy a particle of hydro-
ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. LVII
gen." * Democritus knew nothing of hydrogen, but he saw as
clearly and said as plainly as Dalton that the antecedent premise
of all physical philosophy must be found in the metaphysical maxim
that " out of nothing nothing comes, and that nothing which is can
ever be annihilated." f
And this maxim, with which the old Greek philosophy began, is
about all of solid and sound that remains to us from the physical
philosophizing of the ancients. It is true, as Mr. Balfour Stewart
remarks, that the ancients had in some way grasped the idea of the
essential unrest and energy of things ; that they had the idea ot
small particles or atoms as the constituent elements of matter, and
divined the existence of an ethereal medium extending through all
space ; but there is no evidence at all to support the statement
that any one or all of these doctrines proceeded from even a ru-
dimental conception of ** the most profound and deeply seated ot
the principles of the material universe."
There is, however, one respect in which it may be justly said that
Democritus stands at tlie head of the long line of natural philoso-
phers who since his day have been explicating for us the structure
of the physical universe. lie was the first who ever attempted a
purely mechanical solution of the problem of physical being. It is
the singular glory of the atomic philosophers that alone, among the
jarring schools of Greece, they saw that a science of the Universe
was possible only on the assumption that the phenomena of the
physical universe are bound together by necessary law, and this
law mechanical in the modes of its operation. They had no science,
it is true, in the modern sense of the word, but it is no small dis-
tinction which they have won in standing at the head of an intel-
lectual succession which embraces in its ranks a Copernicus and a
Galileo, a Newton and a Laplace, a Dalton and a Faraday. J
* Henry: Memoire, &c., of Dalton, p. 88.
f Diog. Lacrt.j sub voce "Democritus,*' where it is particularly rccoixled
that he assumed as his point of departure the maxim '*Out of nothinijj
nothing comes," &c.
J "Was die Atomiker von ihren Vorgjingern untei*scheidet, ist nur die
Strcnge und Folgerichtigkeit mit der sie den Gedanken einer rein material-
istischen undmechanischen Naturerklarungdurchgefiihrthaben; diesekann
ihnen aber um so weniger zum Nachtheil gedeutet werden, da sie dam it nur
die Schliisse gezogen haben welche durch die ganze bisherige Entwicklung
gefordert, und wozu in den Annahmen ihrer Vorgangcrdic Yordersiltze ge-
geben warcn." Zeller: Philos. d. Griechen^ Erster Theil, 765.
LVIII PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
With two short lessons cited to point the moral of this long story,
and I have done. The first of these moralities shall be a warning-
against the folly of the old atomists in attempting to philosophize
beyond the conditions of their knowledge. They reared imposing
fabrics in astronomy, in physics, in psychology, and in anthropology,
but they built without laying their foundation in any deep knowl-
edge of nature, and laid the successive courses of their system-
building in the untempered mortar of an incoherent logic. And
the moral needs to be pointed as much for the admonition of modem
scientific workers, with their cheap and easy cosmologies, as for the
reproach of the old physiologers of Greece. One of our poets haa
sung:
From an old Engli^h pareonugo
Down by the sea,
There came in the twiliijht
A messftcce to mo.
Its qmiint Saxon legend.
Deeply encfraven,
Hath, as it seems to me,
Teaching from heaven;
And all through the hours
The quiet wordi* ring,
Like a low in!?pi ration,
** ISoe tje nrrtr t^jjitfle.'*
The message is as full of inspiration for guidance in physical
philosophizing as for guidance in moral conduct. Tantnm series
iuncturaque pallet.
The only other morality which time permits to be pointed at the
end of this review is a warning against intellectual impatience —
not that intellectual impatience rebuked by the maxim just cited^
and which seeks to leap at a single bound the limitations of knowl-
edge in any given age — but the intellectual impatience which cavils
at the short-comings of the men who dug the first ditches and
planted the first hedges around the vineyards 'of science. They
were humble pioneers, but they opened the way into that land of
Beulah where the men of science sit to-day beneath their own
vines and fig-trees, with none to make them afraid. Even after
John Dal ton had come to place the key of the new Atomic Philoso-
phy in the hands of men, it was a saying of Mitscherlich that it
took fourteen years to discover and establish a single fact in
ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. IJX
chemistry. Let us not wonder, then, that it took more than two
thousand years to perfect the doctrine of atoms as a clew to the
"mystery of matter." Democritus invented a mechanical key
of wonderful ingenuity, but it would not unlock anything that
could not be unlocked without it. Newton divined that the
key must be fitted to the two great wards of chemical attrac-
tion and chemical repulsion, but still the key would not turn in the
adamantine lock of Nature. Dalton found that the secret of the
combination must be sought in wards nicely graduated according to
certain fixed, definite, and multiple numbers, and, since his day,
door after door in the chemist's "chamber of imagery** has seemed
to swing open at the touch of this talisman. And even, if in the
next two thousand years, or in the next twenty years, the theory of
John Dalton should be absorbed in some deeper truth, there will
still be room in the pantheon of science for the memorial bust of
the plain Manchester arithmetician, so long as men recall how far
that little candle, which he lighted with inflammable gas obtained
in the rudest way from the ponds of Lancashire, has thrown its
quickening beams across the whole tract of modern chemistry.
BULLETIN
J
OF THE
rHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
GENERAL MEETING.
BULLETIN
OK THK
GENERAL MEETING.
244th Meeting. January 5, 1884.
The President in the Chair.
Twenty-eight members and guests present.
The Chair announced the death, since the last meeting, of
General A. A. Humphreys, one of the founders of the Society.
Mr. J. R. Eastman made a communication on
THE ROCHEvSTER (MINNESOTA) TORNADO,
describing the ground as it appeared a few days after the storm,
and showing that the phenomena did not indicate cyclonic motion.
All disturbed objects were thrown in essentially the same direction,
and were pressed down rather than lifted.
Mr. Elliott related that twenty five years previous he had
crossed a storm track consisting of a double line of fallen timber,
with an interval in which the timber was standing. Mr. Eastman
thought this phenomenon should be referred to two separate
cyclones, possibly moving as companions.
Mr. Dall described storm tracks in the Escanaba region in
which the trunks of prostrate trees pointed uniformly in one
direction, the path of destruction being definitely limited at the
margins.
Mr. E. Farquiiar suggested that a highly inclined storm axis
might account for the uniformity in the direction of the wind in
the zone of destruction.
3
4 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASIIINOTOX.
Mr. W. H. Dall read a paper on
RECENT ADVANCES IN OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE LIMPETS,
summarizing the researches of Speng^l on the sensory organs or
osphradia; Cunningham on the renal organ and renopericardial
pore in Patella and Patina; Fraiss^ on the eye in Patina, Fissurella
and Haliotis, and the speaker on the presence of an intnimittent
male organ in Cocculina, He stated that among the Acmwidw and
Patellidoi the type of eye differs, and while in Patina it is of a very
rudimentary character, in other genera it might be well develo|)ed,
as, for instance, in Ancistromesus, which has as well developed eyes
as Fissurella. He also alluded to the gradual progress in classifi-
cation afforded by anatomical investigation during the past few
years, and observed that nearly all the known forms except Propili-
dium and Scutellina were amenable to classification ; our ignorance
of the branchise in the former, and the dentition in the latter,
operating to prevent a final classification in these two cases, until
more is known. Those authors who study the embryology and
histology usually from a single species, generally ignore the wide
differences of adult anatomy between the genera of Limpets, and
sow their generalizations on a basis of classification which is little
in advance of that of Lamarck and his immediate successors.
Professor C. H. Hitchcock being present was invited by the
Chair to address the Society, and responded briefly.
The President of the Society then pronounced a brief eulogy on
General Humphreys, characterizing him as a man who had left
behind him an honorable name as well for his distinguished
achievements in science and in war as for the virtues and graces
which adorned his private life. Mingling among his fellow-raen
with the utmost unobtrusiv^eness, and as gentle in spirit as he was
brave in conduct, he brought the highest intelligence as well as the
highest conscientiousness to the discharge of all the duties — scien-
tific, military, and administrative — with which he filled his long
and useful life: a life fitly closed by the serenity and peace of his
beautiful death.
(tKNKIIAL mkkting. o
24r)Tii Mi:i:tin<;. Jaxuauy 19, 1884.
The Prosidcnt in the Cliair.
Forty-five members and guests present.
The Chair read a letter from the Biological Society of Washinjr-
ton inviting the mend>ci*s of the Philosopliical Society to attend
its meeting of January 2")th, for the purpose of listening to the
annual address of its President, Dr. C A. White.
Announcement was macle of the election to membership of
Messrs. Giioiwii: Edward (^uktis and Patrick Hknky Kay.
Mr. I. i\ Rissr.LL made a communication on
TIIK KXISTINCJ ULACIEUS OK THi: llUill SIKKIJA OF CALIFORNIA.
[AUstraot.]
During the summer of 1883 I had an opportunity of tracing to
their sources some of the ancient glaciers of the High Sierra in
the region between Mono Lake and the Yosemite Valley.
P^rora the glacial records seen during a number of excursions
into the mountains it was evident that the High Sierra had formerly
lieen so deeply covered with ice that only the culminating peaks
and ridges escaped the general glaciation. From the vast n^vd of
the mountain tops flowed long winding rivers of ice, both to the
eastward and westward through the canons and valleys. In nearly
all cases the glaciera occupied drainage lines of pre-glacial date;
which they modified and enlarged, but, with the exception of the
cirques about the higher peaks and crests, they failed to originate
any of the more prominent topographical features of the range. •
The glaciers of the Sierra Nevada were not connected with a north-
ern ice-sheet, but were of local origin and of the same tyjie as the
Swips glaciers of the present day, but of far greater magnitude. If
the cafions and valleys of the Sierra are traccfl upward, it is almost
invariably found that they head in cirques or amphitheaters, in
some of which small glaciers still linger — perhaps remnants of the
mighty ice-rivers that formerly flowed from the same fountains.
The first glacier visited by the wTiter was on the northern side of
Mt. Dana, at an elevation of about 1 1 ,500 feet above the sea, and
at the head of a deep canon which drains into Leevining creek.
0 rillLOSOI'lIK'AL SOCIETV OF WASIIIXGTUX.
one of the tributaries of Mono Lake. The Mt. Dana glacier is approx-
imately 2,500 feet long and of somewhat greater breadth. Although
small, and in fact but a " pocket edition *' of what may be seen on
a far grander scale in many mountains, yet it is a veritable glacier,
with nearly all the features that characterize such ice-bodies
in other countries. The distinction between the snow-ice of the
neve and the more solid blue or greenish-blue ice of the glacier
proper is clearly marked — as was observed to be the case also
in a number of neighboring glaciers. An irregular open fissure
crosses the head of the neve, corresponding to the " bergschrund "
of the Swiss glaciers, while a number of parallel fractures on the
))order of the glacier at the foot of the snow-field form marginal
crevasses with walls of solid blue ice. Xear the terminus of the
glacier alternating sheets of porous, white ice, and of more compact
bluish ice were observed, which produce a distinct laminated or
ribboned structure. Dirt-bands were plainly visible, sweeping
in undulating lines across the surface of the glacier ; and similar
bands are a conspicuous feature in nearly all the ice-bodies seen in the
High Sierra. About the foot of the Mt. Dana glacier a true terminal
moraine is now in i)rocess of formation. The fall of stones and
dirt from the ice onto the moraine was noticed many times during
our visits. Some of the rounded stones from beneath the ice are
battered and scratched and have evidently received these markings
within the |>ast few years.
On the northern side of ^It. Lyell another glacier was visit<?d,
which is the source of the Tuolumne river. The Mt. I^yell glacier is
somewhat larger than the one on Mt. Dana, and, like it, exhibit8
characteristic glacial phenomena. A protrusion of compact, banded
ice from beneath a snow-field at the head of an amphitheatre was
here again observed, as well as the presence of moraines, crevasses,
dirt-bands, etc. On the lower portion of this glacier were observed
" ice-pyramids " of the form represented in the figure on the follow-
ing page.
At the northern base of a pyramid there invariably occurs a
stone or a mass of dirt, that is depr-^^sed below the general surface
of the glacier, as is indicated in the sketch. The pyramid invariably
points toward the noon-day sun. Its mass is composed of porous
and banded ice, like that forming the general surface of the glacier,
but its northern face is sheeted with compact, bluish ice. The
GENERAL MEETING.
northern face h iilso LiHicavi;, its rojiri'sciitf.l in tlie akc'tfli, ainl
iiBually confornia to sonic txtout with the ahaiK; of the stone at its
base.
Kl.i. I- An l<..-I'_vr.Liinil.
On iiiiotli<;i- ftliicier, <lis.<.vfre.l nt the hui.l of I'urk.r civ.k, ..ny
of the trihntiiries of Mono Taikc. all the ^hicial phenomena incn-
tioncd allow arc wcl! ilisplayed. anil, in luhlition, " glacier- tables "
ivei-c observed in coiirtiili'rnble numbers. The fallowing figure repro-
cents several of the glacier-tables of the Parker creek glaiier,
};roiipeil for onivciiiencc of Illustration :
O PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASIIINGTOX.
The largest perehed-block now being carried along by this "jlacier
measures 34 by 28 by 10 feet, and is supported on a column of ice
five or six feet thick, eight feet high on its northern nide, and six
feet high on its southern. Many masses of rock larger than the
one measured were seen in the terminal moraine that circles about
the foot of the glacier.
The motion of these glaciers was not observed, but that it exists
is manifest from the nature of the crevasses and the curvature of
the dirt-bands. The rate of flow of a glacier on Mt. ArcC.Uure was
measured several years since by Mr. Muir, Avho found it to be 47
inches in 46 days (from August 21st t( October 6th, 1872).^'
Six glaciers are known to the writer within the southern 'rim of
the hydrographic basin of Mono Lake, and about twice this nunii
ber were seen about Mt. C'onncss, Mt. McClure, Mt. Lvell, Mt.
liitter, and the Minarets.
Many of the glaciers mentioned above have been previously re-
ported in popular articles by Mr. John Miiir, but the fact that they
are true glaciers having been denied by eminent geologists, it is <!e-
sirable to have a more accurate description of them.
[The communication was illustrated by photographic lantern
views. Its subject-matter will be more fully presented in the Fifth
Annual Keport of the United States Geological Survey.]
Mr. GiLBKRT Thompson described certain glaciers on Mount
Shasta believed to be new to science. Their discoverv increaj^es
mi
the number of known glaciers on the flanks of Shasta to seven.
Mr. HoL3ii:s described modern glaciers of the Rocky Mountains
observed by him.self Those of the Wind River Mountains are
from one-fourth mile to one mile in length. He illustrated by a
sketch the position of three small glaciers in the gorges of Blount
^toran, in the Teton Range, at an altitude of 10,000 feet.
>rr. Powell remarked that the chief interest of these small
modern glaciers lies in the fact that they illustrate the process by
which the drift has been distributed, and aid in completing the
theory of the ancient glaciation of the country.
Mr. Mark B. Kkru mentioned the occurrence of a probable
glacier in the Salmon Mountains, a division of the Coast Range.
■•^ American Joiirmil of Science, VoL V, ]). GO ; 187«1.
GKXEIIAL MEETING. 9
Mr. IlARKNiiis set fortli the apparent difficulty of discrimina-
ting between a nev^ and a glacier proper, and re(]uested that some
geologist would define the term *' glacier.*'
Mr. Emmons said that a true glacier Is an ice river, cDnform-
iug in shape to the more or less restricted channel in which it
flows, and this characteristic might form a base ni' distinction be-
tween the true glacier and the nt'v\'-field, the latter being com-
parable to the lake which forms the source of a mountain strwim.
Thus the neve would become a glacier only when from a broad and
shallow ice-field it had become compressed into a narrower and
deeper mass, between confining walls.
Other remarks were ma<le by Mos.-^rs. K. Fau^^uifau, Gilbeut^
Dall, and Emjott.
Professor W. C. Kekk made a communication on
TIIK MICA MINES OF NOUTll CAUOLINA.
[Al)stni('t.]
The profitable mines are restricted to a j)hiteau limited eastward
by the Blue Ridge and westward by the Smoky Range. These
were anciently worked on a very extensive scale. Few other modern
mining operations have been so profitably conducted as those nt the
points occupied by the early miners. The ancient work was jkm
formed with blunt- pointed tools — doubtless of stone — and was con-
fined to the partially decomposed portions of the granite veins, but
large pits were nevertheless excavated. One of these measures
150 by 75 feet, and, despite a partial filling with debris, retiuns a
depth of 35 feet. Facts connected with the arboreal vegetation
show that some, and j)erhaps all of these openings were aban-
doned as much as five hundred veanj a'^o. The modern industrv
began in 1868, and, although it hius assumed c<»nsiderable import-
ance, is not' yet conducted in a systematic way.
The character of the mica and its associated minerals were dis-
cussed and illustrated by specimens.
10 PIIILOSOPIIICAL SOCIETY' OF WASillXOTOX.
246x11 Mkkting. Februaby 2, 1884,
The President in the Chair.
Forty-eight members and guests present.
The Chair announced the election to membership of Mr. Thomas
ROBIKSOX.
. Mr. C. V. II I L ICY made a communication on
HKCENT ADVANCES IN ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY.
The paper set fortli the part which insects play in the economy
of nature, and particuhirly tlieir influence on American agriculture.
The earlier writers on applied entomology in the Ignited States, a.s
Peck, Harris, Fitch, Walsh, LeBaron, Glover, did some excellent
work in their studies of the habits and life-histurics of injurious
species, but the most ira|X)rtant results followed when such studie?)
were combined with field work and experiment by comj>et'Mit person*?
and upon scientific principles. A numl)er of the remedies ])ro[)OJ4cd
in the ajrricultural press are foolis*h and based on misleading em-
])iricism. Economic entomology as a science is of comparatively
recent date. It implies full knowledge of the particular injurious
species to be dealt with and of its enemies, of its relations to other
animals and to wild and cultivated plants. In short, the whole
environment of the species must be considered, esj)ecially from the
standpoint of the farmer's wants. The habits of birds, more par-
ticidarly, and the bearings of meteorology and of the develoj)-
ment of minute parasitic organisms must be considered. Experi-
ments with insecticides and appliances will then be intelli;.i:o«»t
and successful in proportion as the facts of chemi.^try, dynamic;*,
and mechanics are utilized.
The com[)licated nature of the problem was illustrated by I lie
life history of Vhijllnxtra vasinirir Planchon, and the difficulties'
often enc(mntered in accpiiring the facts wen* illustrated by the latt*
work on AUtla xyrnui (Say).
The chief insecticides considered for general use and applicable
above ground were tobacco, white hellebore, soap, arsenical com-
pounds, petroleum, and pyrethrum ; those for use under ground,
naphthaline, sulpho-carbonate of potassium, and bisulphide of car-
GENERAL MEETIXG. 11
bon. The most advantageous and improved methods of utilizin<
each were indicated. Keceut experiment showed that kerosene
emulsions, such as hud been recommended lately in the author s
official reports, are superior to bisulphide of carbon when used
under ground airaiust the Grape PhyUoxera^ and the discovery is
deemed of great importance, especially to the French j)eople and
those on our Pacific slope. Contrary to general belief, pyrethrum
powder was shown to have a peculiar and toxic effect on higher
animals as well as on the lower forms of life. lX» deadly influence
on lower organisms led the author to strongly recommend its use
lis a disinfectant, and to express the belief that it will yet come to
be used in medicine. Dr. H. A. HagenV reconmiendation of the
use of yepst ferment wius touched uix)n. It has proved of little or
no practical avail, and some of the publications on the subject were
characteriz<»d as unscientific. The use of malodorous substances
as repellancs, which was much relied on in the early days of econ-
omic entomology and strongly recommended by the two Downings,
has lately been agitated as a new principle for the prevention of
insect attack by Prof. J. A. Lintner. The principle can be applied
in exceptional cases to advantage, but experiment gives little hope
of its utility against most of our worst field insects. Prof. 8. A.
Forbes is engage<l in interesting researches, having for object the
utilization of micro-organisms, hut with more j)r(miiso for pure than
applie<l science.
Of recent progress in mechanical appliances, the paper dealt
with those lately perfected under the author's direction by Dr. W.
8. Barnard, one of his assistants. This part of the subject was
illustrated by models and by plates from the forthcoming fourth
report of the I'^nited States Entomological Commission.
The paper ccmcluded with the following plea for applied science:
^* Matters of fact do not tend to provoke thought and discussion;
and I must confess to some misgivings in bringing these practical
considerations before a body which reflects some of the highest and
purest science and philosophy of the nation. From the days of
Archimedes down to the present day there has existed a disposition
to decry applied science and to sneer at the practical man. Yet I
often think that science, no matter in what fine-sounding name we
clothe her, or how high above the average understanding we stilt
her, is, af^er all, but common sense employed in discovering the
12 PHILOSOPHICAL SOriKTV OF WASHINGTON.
hidden secrets of the universe and in turning them to man s wants,
whether sensual or intellectual. Between the unbalanced va]>or-
ings of the pseudo-scientific theorizer and the uninformed empiric
who stumbles upon a discovery, there is the firm middle ground of
logical induction and deduction, and true science can neither be
exalted by its inapplicability, nor degraded by its subserviency to
man's material welfare. The best results follow when the pure and
the applied go hand-in-hand — when theory and practice are wedded.
Erstwhile the naturalist was honored in proportion as he dealt
with the dry bones of his science. Pedantry and taxonomy over-
shadowed biologic research. Today, largely through Charles Dai^
win's influence, we recognize the necessity of drawing our inspira-
tion more directlv from the vital manifestations of nature in our
attempt to solve some of the many far-reaching problems which
modern science presents. The fields of biology, morphology, physi-
ology and psychology are more inviting than formerly. Nor id
the lustre that glorifies the names of Stevenson, Watts, Faraday,
Franklin, Morse, Henry, Siemens, and a host of yet living investi-
gators dimmed because they made science useful. Goethe makes
Wagner say :
•' 'Acli wenu man so in soin Mux'Uin siji*hauiit i.>t
Und sioht die Welt kaum eineii Feicrtai^
Kaiim duroh ein Ft^niglas, mir von Woit<!n
Wie soil nnin sic duivli U«.*l)('rredun£: l<4ton?'
•*If to-day, right here in Washington, there is great activity in
the field of original research ; if the nation is enctmraging it in si
manner we may well be proud of, the fact is due in no small degree
to the efforts of those, many of them members of this Society, who
have made practical ends a means, rather than to those who would
make science more exclusive, and who are indifferent to pnictical
ends or popular sympathy. Such, at least, is my apology for the
nature of this paper."
In response to an incjuiry by Mr. White, Mr. Rilky said that
the ox-eye daisy had been subjected to a thorough test under his
supervision and the result had shown that it has none of the insect-
icide qualities of pyrethrum.
GKNKllAL MEETING. 13
Mr. 8. M. BuuxKTT m«ade a commuuication entitled
WHY THK KYE3 OK ANTMAUS SHINE IN THE DARK.'^
[Al)?tmct.]
Erroneous opinions have been held and expressed, not only by
the non-scientific, but also by some persons holding high positions
in the scientific world, in i-egard to the phenomena of luminosity of
the eyes of animals, and particularly of cats, when they are in ob-
scurity. It is not due, as has been commonly supposed, to phosphor-
escence, but to light reflected from the bottom of the eye, which
light is diffused on account of the hypermetropic condition that is
the rule in the lower animals.
In response to a ([uestion by ^^r. White, ^Ir. Biirnktt said that
human eyes affected by hypermetropia do not yield similar results,
partly because the human pupil is too small and partly because the
bottom of the human eye is not so strongly reflecting a surface as
that of most animals.
Mr. Hakkness remarked that in determining the degree of di-
vergence of rays emitted by an eye, from an image situated upon
its retina, it is necei<sary to consider the magnitude. of that image
as well as its distance from the focal plane of the lens. The diver-
gence of the rays coming from any one point of the inuige is (hiter-
mincd by the interval which separates the retina from the focal
plane of the lens, while the divergence of the rays coming from
any two points of the image dej)ends principally upon the size of the
image itself The total divergence is the sum of the divergences
produced by these two causes, and the neglect of that due to the
size of the imago will probably account for the (liscre|)ancy between
the observed angle of divergence and that computed by Dr. Burnett.
It also seems desirable to l)ear in mind tlie distinction between
fluorescent and phosphoresent light ; the former disappears as soon
as the incident waves are cut ofl'; the latter does not.
* This paper is published in full in the Pop. Soi. Monthly for April, 1884;
Vol. XXIV, pp. 813-818.
14 riIIL0J>01»IIJCAL SOCIKTY OK WASHINOTOX.
Mr. A. B. Johnson ninde a coninmnicrttion on
SOME KCCENTKICITIICS OF OCEAN <*rKRENT8.
[Abstract.]
The records of the Light House Board show that no less than
eleven buoys of various patterns have gone adrift from the waters
of the United States and been found at distant points where ocean
currents have carried them. Many of these were not so fully iden-
tified that their precise original station could be indicated. In the
case of a few, it has been determined that they were swept from
the harbor and bay of New York by the outgoing ice in the winter
of 1880-81 when nineteen buovs were carried tc^ sea.
1. In the spring of 1871, a buoy was picked up on the west coast
of Ireland.
2. In Marcli, 1871, the Norwegian vessel Vance picked up a buoy
in lat. 42^ 22', long. 26° 38'.
3. In February, 1881, a buoy went ashore on one of the cays
near Turk's island. This was rccogniased as a New York buoy.
4. May 17, 1881, the steamer William Dickinson passed a whist-
ling buoy in lat. 29° 46', long. 77° 38.
i). In March, 1881, a buoy of the largest size, likewise referred
to New York, was found near Bermuda.
6. In February, 1882, a Sandy Hook buoy was found near Ber-
muda.
7. In February or March, 1882, a buoy was washed ashore at
Pendeen Cove, Penzance Bay, England.
M. In the spring of 1882, the Swedish bark Abraham Lincoln
picked up a buoy in lat. 32° 30', long. 28° 40'.
9. OctobiT 22, 1883, a buoy was picked up on the east side of
Teneriffe in lat. 28° 21', long! 16° 15'.
10. October, 1883, a second buoy was picked up fifteen miles
from the cast coast of Teneriffe.
11. August 20, 1883, the British bark Jane Richardson picked
up a buoy in lat. 24° 11', long. 32° 43'.
GENERAL MEETING. ]3
All were identified as the i)roperty of the United States by letters
cast in the plates.
The charted currents of the ocean readily explain the courses
and account for the positions of many of these buoys, but others
ft
appear anomalous.
Mr. Jenkins cited an instance of a bell-buoy, carried away from
the coast of the United States in 1850, which was' seen and heard
while adrift and finally stranded on the southwest coast of Ireland.
Mr. Welling suggested that the phenomena might not be refer-
able to ocean currents exclusively, but in part to wind currents.
Mr. Johnson judged from the forms of the buoys that their move-
ments would be controlled more by currents than by winds.
Mr. H. Farquhar and Mr. Jenkins were of opinion that the
buoy picked up off Florida might have been carried there by the
southward coast-current. Mr. Dall concurred, but thought it also
possible that it had made the entire circuit of the Sargasso sea.
Mr. Dall, referring to Mr. Welling's suggestion, said that
wind and current worked together, and their effects could not be
discriminated. The wind does not blow prevailingly in any direc-
tion without coercing currents to correspondence.
247Tn Meeting. February 16, 1884,.
The President in the Chair.
Fifly-four members and guests present.
The Auditing Committee reported through its Chairman, Mr. C
A. White, that it had examined the accounts of the Treasurer for
1883, finding the same properly vouched in respect to expenditures
and receipts. On motion of Mr. Dutton, tlie report was accepted.
The Chair announced the election to membership of jNIr. Henry
Wayne Blair and Mr. Herbert Gouveuneii: 0<;den.
Mr. F. W. Clarke made a communication on
THE periodic law of chemical elemen'i>;.
After giving an account of the law as worked out by Newlands,
Mendelejeff, and Lothar Meyer, he exhibited an enlarged copy of
IG PHILOSOPIirCAL SOCIKTV OV WASIIIXGTOX.
Meyer*8 atomic volume curve, drawn with the latest values for both
atomic weight and specific gravity. On the same sheet was also
drawn a similar curve, illustrating the connection between atomic
weight and melting point, and it was shown that in the latter the
highest portions correspond to the lowest depressions in the atomic
volume curve. The opinion was expressed, in view of the regu-
larities exhibited by these curves, that the elements had originated
by some method of evolution, and that a future transmutation of
one element into another was not improbable.
In reply to a question by Mr. Farquhar, Mr, Claiike said that
search was being made for similar evidence of system in the spectra
of the elements, but that the subject was rendered difficult by
reason of the fact that not all the lines of the spectra fall within
the ran^^e of visibilitv.
Mr. Antisell remarked that while the determination of the
atomic weights of the elements was one of the most important
labors which the modern chemist could be occupied with until a
final constant numerical result should be arrived at, and until the
other jtroperties of matter which appear to have some definite
relation with the atomic w^eight w^ere rigidly investigated, there was
necessitv for continued effort to search into those hidden relations ;
but if by such investigation it was believed that we could arrive at
any certainty about atoms, their form and structure, or about matter
itself, we should be much disappointed. Situated as we are on a
<'old planet, we are precluded from ever arriving, by the study of
matter from a standpoint merely terrestrial, at any ideas of the
ultimate nature of atom or molecule, or whether there be really
auy such thing as " elements '* or one form of matter wholly dis-
tinct from another. To arrive at a knowledge of matter, pure and
simple, we must have ready queans for dis.sociating all compound
matter, and we have at our command at present no such methods
or apparatus on this globe. Subjection to intense heat is required,
and our most glowing furnaces and the arc light itself is insufficient
for the purpose. It calls for the exhibition of such heat oa is pro-
duced in the sun and its atmosphere to reduce our elements, as we
term them, to the more simple condition of matter as it exists under
solar temperature, and the present spectroscope and its future im-
provements by which such dissociation is to be studied. The
GENERAL MEETING. 1/
investigations of Huggins and Lockyer and other spectroscop-
ists have revealed to us the presence of several of our so-called
elements in the solar atmosphere; but constant observation has
raised in the minds of these observers grave doubts whether the
spectral lines of the elements, as obtained by observation of them
in our atmosphere, are universally of such or whether only con-
ditionally so, that is true only in our cold atmosphere. Doubts
have arisen as to the spectral lines of elements being permanent
characters of their essential nature, seeing that the spectral- lines
of an element, which at one time resemble those of copper, are
found to be interchangeable and attached to a different element, as
calcium, and that there are elements which possess the character of
giving multiple spectra, as carbon, for example, Avhich, under these
solar temperatures, yields no less than three distinct and charac-
teristic spectra.
In view of these apparently contradictory and confusing results,
obtained by the examination of matter found in the solar atmos-
phere, which are so different from those obtained from matter in
our own atmosphere, it behooves us to be very cautious in asserting
the existence of any distinct elements so called, or whether there be
only one matter under various cosmical conditions.
Other remarks were made by Messrs. Dooliitle and White.
Mr. H. A. Hazen made a communication on
THE »UN-(iLOWrt,
opposing the theory that they are due to dust, either cosmic or vol-
canic, and advocating a theory involving electrical action in con-
nection with frost particles.'^
A general discussion followed, in which Messrs. Elliott, Patl,
RoBixsoN, Hall, Duttox, Gilbeiit, and E. Fauqihau, partici-
pated.
Mr. Elliott advocated the electrical origin of the glows, basing
his argument on the simultaneousness of the phenomena through-
out the planet, on the transparency of the glow as shown by obser-
vations on LyrjB, and on the extraordinary abundance of sun
apots for the past few weeks.
* This paper is publislicd in full in the Aiuorifuii Journal of Science for
March, 1884; Vol. XXVII, pp. 201-212.
IS PlITLOSOPIIICAL ^OCIKTY i>V WASIIIXGTON.
24STir :Mi:i.:TrxG. Maiuii 1, 1884.
The President in the Chair.
Forty-two members present.
The Chair announced that Messrs. Ciiaulks Otis Bovtklli:.
GiLKKHT Tn()Mi'??()X, WiLLAKD DuAKK JoHNsox, and EudKXi:
RirivSECKKK had been elected to membership.
It was announced from the General Committee that standard
time would hereafter be recognized in the opening and closing of
the meetin^rs.
• c
!Mr. II. D. ]^I^s^^l:Y read a paper entitled
TIIIl APPLICATIOX or PIIY>I('AL MIOTHODS to INTKLLlHTrAi,
M'lKXCK.
The aim of the paper was to show in how far those methods
which had been successfully employed in the investigation of the
phenomena of nature, and which were denominated the Physical
Sciences, were ai)plicable to those sciences, the subject-matter of
which were mental operations and their results, and which, for di.s-
tinction, might be named the Intellectual Sciences. Some illustra-
tions were given of the application of these methods to the study
of the law; and the paper concluded with the remark that its
writer desired it to be regarded as a suggestion rather than a solu-
tion of the ])roblem stated: "How far and in what way physical
methods and physical sciences help thinkers to say Therefore''
Kemarks Avere made by Mr. Iioiuxsox.
Mr. I. C. KrssKLi, made a communication on
DP.posiTs OP vou'AXic nrsT rx riii: (;im:at hasfx.
[Al)-tr:ut.]
«
In contrast with the aridity of the Great Basin at the present
time, geologists have shown that during the Quaternary it was
crowded with lakes. In studying the sedimentary deposits of one
of these fossil lakes, name^l Lahontan by Mr. King, I found stmt a
GKXKKAL MKETIXd. 19
of white, unconsolidated, dust-like material, which is undistin-
guishable in general appearance from pure diatomaceous earth.
Beds of this material, varying in thickness from a fraction of an
inch to four or five feet, were observed at a number of localities
in the sides of the canons that have been carved in lacustrine
strata of Lahontan age by the Humboldt, Truckee, (^arson, and
Walker rivei*s. Deposits identical with those of the Lahontan
sections were observed at a nuinl>er of localities among the moun-
tains of Nevada and California at an elevation of several hundred
feet above the former level of Lake Lahontan and at a distance of
forty or fifty miles from its borders, thus showing that the deposits
were both sub-aerial and sub-aqueous in their mode of accumu-
lation. Further exploration revealed the fact that similar beds
occur abundantly in Mono Lake Valley, where they may be seen
to pass into well-characterized fragmental deposits of pumice and
obsidian, thus suggesting that the finer material was also of volcanic
origin. Experiment confirmed this hypothesis. Tender the micro-
scoi)e the dust from a number of widely separated localities was
found to consist almost wholly of angular flakes of transparent
glass, with scarcely a trace of crystallized matter. When a sam-
ple of pumice from near ^lono Lake was reduced to a fine powder,
it was found to present the same physical and optical properties
as the dust in question, with which it also agreed closely in chem-
ical composition, as shown by analyses made by Dr. Chatard, of
the Geological Survey.
The Mono Craters, from which this dust is supposed to have been
erupted, form a group of cones about fifteen miles in length, situ-
ated in the southeastern jiart of the Mono Lake Valley, California.
These extinct volcanoes are composed almost entirely of pumice
and obsidian, in the condition both of coulees and lapilli, the latter
constituting cones of great symmetry and beauty, the grandest of
which have an elevation of nearlv three thousand feet above Mono
Lake. Some of these craters were in eruption during (Quaternary
times, while others were active after the ancient lakes and glaciers
of the region had passed away. Many times during their history
vast quantities of lapilli and dust were thrown out. As the
volcanic dust interstratified with the sediments of Lake Lahontan
iji undistinguishable from that deposited in the Mono Basin, there
is little room for doubting that they had a common origin. The
20 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIKTY OF WASIIINGTOX.
greatest distance from the Mono Cratera at \vhich the dust wiis
observed, was in the Humboldt Cafion, about two hundred miles
northward of the point of eruption.
At three localities in the Lahontan Basiji the bones of extinct
luammals were found closely associated with the deposits de8cribe<i
above, thus furnishing the suggestion that the showers of fine vol-
c:uiic dust were, at least to some extent, fatal to animal life.
Mr. Antiskll said it was useless to look for the source of vol-
canic dust in existing volcanoes on the land. Pumice in the
character of fine particles; as exhibited, is exclusively the product
of submarine eruption. Other remarks were made by Mr. Hauk-
NE8S.
Mr. LehtePw F. Waiu) read a paper entitled
SOMi: PIIVsrCAL and KfOXOMIC FEATrUlvS OF THE rPPEK MIS-
SOriM SYSTEM,
in which he described the process by which the valleys of the Lower
Yellowstone and Upper Missouri are formed, and pointed out the
importance and the feasibility of utilizing the water of these rivers
for purposes of irrigation.-^-
Mr. Gilbert said that Mr. Ward's description of the process
by which the ^lissouri constructs its flood plain was verified by a
nearly identical group of phenomena observed by himself on the
lower course of the Colorado. Mr. Elliott concurred with the
speaker's view that the system of irrigation should be inaugurated
by national action rather than local. Mr. Riley was of opinion
that the proposed ])hin of irrigation was entirely feasible, and said
that the final solution of the grasshopper problem lay in the culti-
vation of the northern plains.
Mr. BuRCHAUi) said that while the political advantage of a con-
tinuous belt of settlement uniting the Atlantic and Pacific States
was undeniable, he (|uestioned the advisability of increasing at
present our agricultural production.
* This pajXT wa< suhsHjurntly M'])arat('(l into \U two natural divisions,
and tlio ))art rclatini^ t«» tlic ''physical fraturcs " wa> }nil»lisliod with illu«'-
tnition."* in the " Popnlar S'-ience ^lonthly ' for Soptcnihcr. 1884 [Vo]. XXV.
))]). r>04-0()')), while that n-latincf to the '■oronj^niic features * appoanMl in
"Seienee" for Augu>t 20. 1H84 (^'ol. IV, j)]). 1GG-1G8).
GKXKKAL MKKTIXG. 21
249th Mkkting. Maiicii 15, 1884.
The President in the Chair.
Fifty members present.
The Chair announced the election to membership of Messrs.
Makk Bui(*Ki:Lr> Kkijk, Samtkl Hayh Kavfmann, Johki'ii
Silas Dillkk, Ciiahlks Hknry White, and William Law-
Ri:x(i:.
^Ir. G. Iv. GiLiJDirr made a communication on
Tin: DiVKiJSiox of watki: <orijsi:.s uy tiiio rotation or Tiir:
KAirrii.
[All iract.]
It beiuj^ admitted that the rivei"s of the nortliern liemisphere are,
by the rotation of the earth, pressed against their right banks, and
thcjsc of the soutliern hemisphere against their left banks, it re-
mains to determine whether this pressure istjuantitalively sufficient
to appreciably modify the courses of rivers. Opinion is divided,
and the results of observation have been largely negative. Those
who regard the cause as insufficient to produce observable results
have approached the subject from two points of view, which are
illustrated bv the discussi(ms of ^Iessi*s. Bertrand and Bufi*. The
former computes tluit a river flowing in N. lat. 45° with a velocity
of three metres per second exerts a pressure on its right bank of
ziilsv ol its weiglit, and regards this pressure as too small for con-
sideration. The latter points out that the dellectiug force, by com-
bining with gravitation, gives the stream's surface a slight inclina-
tion toward the left bank, thereby increasing the depth of water
near the right I>ank, and consequently increasing the velocity of
the current at the right. This increment of velocity has a certain
erosive effect, but it is regarded as less than that assignable to wind
waves on the same water surface, so that the prevailing winds have
a more important influence than the rotation of the earth.
The object of the paper is to consider the theoretical effect from
u new point of view. The form of cross-section of a stream flow-
ing in a straight channtjl depends on the loading and unloading of
detritus, and is essentially stable, its character being naturally
22 PlIIl.O.SC^PlIK AL .SOCII-.TY UF WASIIIXGTUX.
iTstored if accidentally or artificially modified. The distribution
of yelocities within this cro.ss- sect ion is symmetric, the swifte:>t
threads of the current being in the center and the slowest adjacent
to the banks. If now curvature be introduced in the course of
the channel, centrifugal force is deyeloi)od. This centrifugal force
is measured by the square of the velocity, and is therefore much
greater for the swift central threads of the current than for the
slow lateral threads. The central threads, tending the more strongly
toward the outer bank, displace the slower threads at that bank,
and the symmetry of the distribution of vehjcities is thus destroyed.
As pointed out by Thomson and others, this redistribution of yelo-
cities determines the erosiim of the outer bank and the simultaneous
deposition of detritus along the inner bank.
It has been shown by Ferrel that the deflecting power of the
rotati(m of the earth upon a body moving on the surface is equiva-
lent to the centrifugal ibrce which would be develoi)ed if the bo<ly
followed a circular course with radius of curvature (/',i equal to
V
-. In this expressi(m v is the velocity of the l)ody, // the
-: n. COS. •> ^ - . »
angular velocity of the earth's rotation, and 'V the polar distance of
the locality.
The elfect of rotation on a stream being. equivalent to a centri-
fugal force \.i identical in kind with the effect of curvature (►f
channel,'- and this identity renders a (piasi-ijuantitative comparis(»n
possible. Ihnnphreys and Abbott found during flood a mean
velocity of the Mississippi river at Columbus of 8.4 feet per second.
The value of /* corresponding to this velocity and the polar dis-
tance of the locality is about !iO miles. The actual bends of the
channel in the same region, which depend for their features on the
velocity and volume of the river at flood staifc, have a radius of
*•' Th'" author lia- -iiui' -ttii iva^tMi t" uiDtlily tl)i> statiMncnt. Tlu? t\v«»
cttVrn- 'M'^' U')t -tric'lv ilciit i(«al in Icind. Imm-uh-c the ctt'rrt of" I'otation vari»*>
'witli tin- lii'-t ]) »\\'^r <'i" tlj«* \'l'»«it\ . >\liil.» ih-* t-Wx-vi of riirvtituri' of cliuuiit'l
vari«'> \\v\\ (li- -fcninl p .\\<r. J*'<»r tlii- ria-«>u tlio ><'i«otiv(' j)i»w«'r of curva-
ture is. for 111'- r-aiii'* <l''ll(Mti\ «• I'orcc. ilould.- tin* -fli'ctivr j)ow»»r nf r<»tati4»n.
TIh' intrnliuMinii (.f ilii- <'..ii-«i'l'iali<»ii wniiM lU'Mlify Xhc nunu'ricnl results
*l('riv<'«l from th'* >f i-'i--i|i})i riv<T, Iml w<»uUl iii»t inqniir tho qualitative
<'onrlu-i'>M. A in'«-liti,.,l tiratm<'nt nf iln- snUji-ct will be found in the Auieri-
*Mn Jr.unnl nf Si-liiu't.' f.r .Tun«-, ns4 : \o\. XXVil, pp. 427-432.
OKXEIIAL Mi:ETIX(r. '2o
curvature of about IJ miles. Centrifugal force being a simple in-
verse function of radius of curvature, it follows that the deflective
force by which the river is impelled toward its right bank by virtue
of rotation is proportioned to the force by Avhich it is impelled
toward its outer bank on acute bends in the ratio of 1 J to 20. That
is to say, in this particular instance the rotational deflective force
is 7] per cent, of the deflective force from curvature of channel.
The process of lateral corrasion is so complex that it is impossible
to convert this result into terms of erosion and consequent deflec-
tion of stream channel, but a consideration of the manner in which
the two deflective forces are combined sufiicientlv indicates that that
due to rotation cannot be ignored. Wherever the stream bends
toward the left the centrifugal force developed by the curvature is
iiugraentcd bv the rotational force ; wherever the stream turns to-
es . '
ward the right the centrifugal force is diminished by the amount of
the rotational force ; so tliat the tendency of the swiftest threads of
current to approach the outer -bank must be notably greater in one
set of bends than in the other.
If this analysis of the subject is legitimate, the rotation of the
earth ou^jht surely to modify the courses of rivera to such extent
that the modifications are observable phenomena. Exception should
however be made of two important cases : first, rivers which are
rapidly deepening their channels are by that fact held rigidly to
their original courses, and are not deflected either by rotation or
by any other cause ; second, those parts of rivers whose function
is dei)ositiou instead of erosion, should theoretically, under the
influence of rotation, built their alluvial plains higher on the right
hand side than on the left, and having established an inclination
of the alluvial ])lain toward the left, siiould thereafter meander
over the phiin with equal facility in all directions. It is only in
the middle courses of streams, where the work performed by the
water is chiefly that of transi)ortation, that the discovery of the
effects of rotation should be expected.
Mr. Waud remarked that in the regions especially discussed the
river courses are, in general, southerly, while the prevailing winds
are westerly, so that the influence of the winds is opposed to what-
ever influence mav be exerted bv rotation. Mr. Auiu: said that
the tendency of driflwood toward certain river banks, cited bv
24 PIIIU).S<jriIICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
von Baer, had been plausibly explained as due to prevailing wind?,
but such action is purely or chiefly superficial, and a less important
factor in erosion than the behavior of the main current, which is
comparatively little influenced by winds. Nevertheless, he was
surprised that the rotational influence admitted of so large a quan-
titative expression.
Mr. Dall said that the northward-flowing rivers entering the
Arctic ocean afforded at *their mouths no evidence of the effect of
rotation. The summer winds of Arctic regions ar^ from the north-
east and east, and these produce on the north coast of America a
shore-current, which drifts the beach sand and shingle westward,
and deflects the river-mouths in the same direction. All the rivers
from the Mackenzie to Point Barrow illustrate this tendency. On
the coast of Siberia the fresh water discharged by Ihe large rivers
has been observed to turn eastward, although the winds would
tend to throw it the opposite way. The Arctic ocean is there
deeper; and it is believed that its principal currents arc controlled
by the northeasterly set of the general currents of the North
Atlantic.
Mr. KonixsoN spoke of the indirect influence of wind on river
channels, through drifting sand. Mr. Hazkn pointed out that the
influence of wind might be eliminated from the problem by study-
ing the streams running east or west. Mr. Bottkllk suggeste<l
that the course of the Mississippi did not indicate any result of
rotational influence. ^Ir. K. FAiiQinAii inquired whether the
behavior of the Gulf Stream and other ocean currents was in accoi*d-
ance with the theory of rotational influence; and Mr. Dall re-
sponded that in the discussion of ocean currents this cause had lately
dropped out of sight, the determination of courses being ascribed
to the winds.
Mr. ^liKSKY inquired whether the acuteness of continental
masses toward the south admitted of an explanation based on the
effect of terrestrial rotation ; and Mr. Di'TTON responded by saying
that the mass of speculation in regard to the recurrence of certain
forms of continental outline had never really accomplished more
than the statement of the fact. The fact itself is an accident,
dependent on the volume of the ocean and the general laws govern-
ing the formation of mountain chains. If the ocean were five
hundred feet deeper, or five hundred feet shallower, the forms of
GKNEKAL MEETING. 25
continents would be so far difierent that all the existing resem-
blances would disappear. The pointed extremities of some conti-
nents arc merely expressions of the fact that mountain chains are
more or less linear, and do not hold the same height throughout
their whole extent.
Mr. G. E. Curtis read a paper on
Tin: UELATioNs ni:TWM:KX noutiieiw and macjnetic DisTruu-
ANCES AT HAVANA,
upon which remarks were made by Messrs. Anin: and Cori'ix.
[It will be published by the Army Signal Office as Shjnal Service
Note No, XIII.]
Mr. Gilbert recurred to the subject of Mr. Russell's paper of
the preceding meeting, and dissented from the view advanced by
Mr. Antisell in regard to the origin of pumice. !Mr. Anti?^kll
announced that he wouhl discuss the matter more fully at some
future meeting.
250TII Meetinc;. March 29, 1^84.
Vice-President ^Iaklkry in the Chair.
Forty-two members present.
The Chair announced the election to membership of ^lessi-s.
Basil Norrih and William Stkriux.s Barnard.
^Ir. J. i:?. Billings spoke briotiy on
COMPOSITE rHOTO(;i:Al'HY ATPLFKO TO CI? ANIOLOCJY,
exhibiting several <'omposite photographs of skulls. Adult male
skulls of the same race were selected for composition and were
photographed in sets of from 7 to 18 — front, side, and back views
being separately taken. The composition was directly from the
skulls and not from the photographs.
Incidental mention was made of the uncertainty of measure-
ments of cranial capacity by means of shot. Not only did difter-
2i} PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIKTY OF WASHINGTON.
out observers obtain widely difterent determinations from the same
skull, but the same observer was not able to obtaiD closely approxi-
mate results in successive determinations.
Mr. G. Bhown Goode made a communicatiou on
FIHIIEUI i:S EXHIBITIONS,
liiving a list of all international exhibitions and describing es-
pecially those of Berlin (1880) and London (188.']). The adminis-
trative svsteras of these two national exhibits were contrasted, and
the social and economic results of the London exhibit were ex-
plained. [The substance of the paper will be published in the ex-
ecutive report on the London and Berlin exhibitions.]
Mr. M. H. Doo LITTLE began a communication (m
MUSIC AND thj: chemical elements.
])ut was unable to complete it before the hour for adjournment.
The remaining portion was postponed until the next mectin<^.
By unanimous consent adjournment was deferred for a few
minutci* in order to afford Mr. Antiscll an opportunity to reply to
a criticism made at the previous meeting in regard to his view;? on
the origin of pumice.
2olsT Meetin(}. April 12, 1884.
The President in the Chair.
Forty-one membcre and guests present.
Announcement was made of the election to membership of
Jami>? a KUAN Maheii, John Belknap Marcoc, John Milton
-Greooky, Francis Tiffany Bowles, and William Eimbeck.
gi:xi:i;al mkktinu. 27
Mr. M. H. DooLiTTLi: made a coiniminioation on
Mi:j?I(; AM) TIIK CIIKMKAL KlJJMKNTfi.
[Abstract.]
The niatlienuitical theory of imisic leqiiires the satisfaetion of
the equation 2^= It; ) /^tar///; in which, for e(|ualtemperaineni,
jc = the number of e(|ual intervals in the octave, and // = the
inimber of these iiuerval.s that correspond to a nearly perfect fifth;
and, for untenjpered music, .r =: the nund)er of approximately
CM|ual intervals in the octave, and j/ = the number corresponding
to a ])erfeet liftli.
The above e(|uatir>n ^ives
X * 2 . 170001 ,
11 loy'l '' :;()io:]0 -^
and by the method of continued fractions we obtain the succession
o 7 4) I »> 1
approximations -. > - — . . ., , c,..
^^ ;> 12 41 5:} '^^■
For scales appropriate to major thirds, but disregarding fifths,
- '>
"vve may substitute ' foj- ~ in the above e(juations, and obtain
4 2
the approximations .^ > --» ~ . Ac. For the chord liaving the
vibration ratio 7 : 4 (called by Ellis the subminor seventh), we may
4 21
obtain in like manner the approximations ^ ' Tw.' &e.
14
Since tt ™ io* the first two series of approximate fractions
include a common scale of twelve intervals to the octave, of which
seven intervals give the fifth, and four give the major third. TJie
first and the third of these series include a scale of five intervals
to the octave, of wliich three constitute the major third, and four
constitute the subminor seventh. There is some reason to believe
that this is the scale of Japanese music, with the intervals
^ D ^1 ^ O
-77' -^' L* TT' — • Five-tone scales have universally prevailed
in early music ; but it is (piestiouable whether the vibration ratios
28 PHILOSOPIIICAT, SOCIKTY 01-^ WASIIIXGTOX.
have in any case involved the prime numher seven. It would be
interesting to know what scale best represents the songs of wihl
birds.
There is ranch reason to believe that simple mathematical princi-
ples underlie the phenomena of chemistry. It is ncjt, d priori^
absurd to suppose that matter in some way conforms to the pr«>p'
erties of the primes 2, 3, and 5; in which case such derivative
numbers might be exj^ected prominently to appear as prominently
occur in the science of music. The fraction t^ might reasonably
be expected.
If all the keys of a piano should be arranged seven consecutive
keys in a line, the next seven in the next line, and so on, the columns
give successions of fifths. It has been shown that if the chemical
elements are arranged in the order of their atomic weights in lines
of seven, the columns contain elements remarkably similar to each
other. We seem to have a chemical scale remarkably anahigous
to the ordinary musical scale. If the piano keys be arranged in
lines of twelve, the columns give octaves; bitt nothing is devel-
oped from a similar arrangement of the chemical elements, whenci^
it may be inferred that the observed analogies are accidental, and
have no true logical basis.
If the intervals of the chemical scale could be supposed to cor-
respond to the seven intervals of the diatonic scale, the non-tippoar-
ance of the twelve-fold relation would be accounted for; but, while
the diatonic scale mav have some claim to be called natural, it is
not directly established by algebraic investigation of the relations
of prime numbers. Until the discovery of chemical Hats and
sharps, there will be insufficient reason to n^gard the present chem-
ical scale as diatonic.
Mr. Lkfavoi'R illustrated the connection between tone antl
wave-length by means of a logarithmic spiral of base 2, the har-
monic notes having radii veciores equal to multiples of the principal
note.
Mr. Elliott said he had learned from Mr. Poole that he had
endeavored, in his enharmonic organ, to produce i^rfect chords in
all keys without temperament.
Mr. KuMMELL remarked that in modern music the intervals of
the major and minor thirds are the most important, because with-
(JKNKKAL MKKTING. 20
out them there is no harraony. This is also apparent from the well-
known rule in thorough-bass that a third with its fundamental
note is to be treated as a complete chord. Now it happens, in
dividing the octave by equal temperament into 12 equal pdrts,
that a major third is nearly 4 and the minor third nearly 3 of
these, and thus we obtain not only tolerable fifths, but also tolerable
thirds, and the requirement of thirds for harmony is approximately
fulfilled. They are still better fulfilled, of course, if we divide the
octave into 41 or 53 parts, as Mr. Doolittle has shown. As to the
seventh harmonic, Poole and Helmholtz rightly hold that it should
be and is used by instruments which can temi)er. It is obviously
the fourth element of the chord of the dominant G, B, D, F, the F
being the seventh harmonic to the G two octaves below (nearly
so in equal temperament and exactly in natural harmony), and
this chord in modern music forms the opposing harmony to the
tonic chord C, E, G, in major, and C, E flat, G, in minor. Instru-
ments with fixed tones like the piano-forte have to use equal tem-
perament, and thus virtually reject all natural harmony except the
octave. This defect is generally inappreciable in very slow move-
ments, but may be noticed by a very cultivated ear.
Other remarks were made by Messrs. Glauke, Mur^sEY, and
Harknes^.
Mr. II. Fahqi'h All read a
Ki:viKW OF Tin: tiieouetical oiscus.srox in pkof. r. u. tait's
"ENCYC'hor.KDIA lUlITANNICA " AKTHXE ON MECHANICS.
[Abstract.]
This article covers seventy -four quarto pages in the last edition
of the Encyclopcxidia, and gives a thorough mathematical treatment
of the subject. No innovations calling for comment — unless an
extended use of the "fluxioual " notation for derivative functions
be so regarded — appear until near the end, where two and a half
pages are devoted to a disproof of the objective reality of force,
and an advocacv of the disuse of the term in scientific writins:.
The character of the publication, and the eminence of the author
in mathematics and phy.'^ics. entitle hi.s arguments to a careful
examination.
30 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIKTV OF WAs^HINGTON.
Ill the first place, Prof. Tait infers that force can have no such
reality as matter has, because it is to be reckoned positively and
negatively — an action being opposed by reaction — while matter or
mass is signless. This suggests two comments: (1), the author
never questions the objective reality of space and time, of which
realities it is an essential feature that to everv direction or interval
A-B, an equal direction or interval B-A, of opposite sign, corres-
jx)nds ; (2), the idea of a negative mass is not a self-contradictory
<me, and was once generally accepted. The element j)hlogiston was
given up not because of any absurdity in a^scribing levity to ma-
terial substance, but because a form of matter with positive mass
(oxygen), capable of explaining all the phenomena, had been actually
separated and identified.
Prof. Tait's next criterion of objective reality is (luantitative
indestructibility, an attribute shared by time, space and matter, to
which he adds energy. But the evidence of the indestructibility
of energy is not of the same nature as that of the indestructibility
of matter; for the latter in all its forms may be localized, and its
density or elasticity measured ; while the former, when stored up
or "potential," cannot be shown to possess any of the properties of
energy kinetic, or any existence in space, or any objective character
whatever. Prof. Tait admits this difficulty virtuallv, and awaits
for its solution the discovery of some evidence "as yet unexplained,
or rather unimagiued." All strains and other actions of a clock-
weight on its supports are obviously preci.sely the same — or inipalp-
ably somewhat stronger — with the weight wound up an inch, as with
it wound up a yard; and the existence of a greater "potential
energy" in the latter case is to be found not in the clock, but in
the mind, which requires this expression as a form in which to put
its conviction that a certain greater amount of work can be obtained.
Even though it be admitted that there are no other intelligible
terms in which this conviction can be stated, it is clear that the
indestructibility of energy is an ideal and subjective truth, and
cannot, therefore, bo relied on as evidence of a reality distinctively
"objective."
A third point made by Prof. Tait against force is that its nume-
rical expression is that of two ratios: " the space-rate of the trans-
formation of energy" and "the time-rate of the generation of
momentum." These results are obtahicd by simple division, in an
GExXKRAL MEETING. ol
equation which expresses the fact that the work done by a body in
falling the distance h is just that required to lifl it through h against
gravity. The fallacy involved in treating the numerical expression
for force as force itself, has been well exposed by Mr. W. R. Browne
(in a criticism of the same article, L. E. D. Phil. Mar/, for Novem-
ber, 1883); and the assumption that ratios are necessarily non-
existent is even more fallacious. Were it trustworthy, Prof. Tflit's
deductions would not be the only ones admissible. His equations
would lead quite as conclusively to proofs of the non-objectivity
of space and time (the former becoming the rate of work-unitf?,
the latter of motion-unitd, per unit of force), and so to a confirma-
tion of the celebrated German view, that that which is universal
and necojjsar^ in thought, belongs to the Subject ; or they miglit
even give mass in the form of a ratio, and hence suggest the non-
objf^ctivity of matter.
Not the least of the Professor's objections against force, it would
appear, is that it is "sense-suggested." It is a mere truism to say
that no other suggestor is possible, within the domain of science.
It is, perhaps, better worth while to call attention to the indubitable
fact that the real, if not the avowed, ground of the objection
against " action at a distance," entertained by many physicists, is
that such action is not directly suggested by sense-impressions. This
is what they must mean by calling it "occult;" actions as our con-
sciousness knows them, and as we can produce them, being gene-
rally characterized by proximity undistinguishablc from actual
contact. Further, if there is any reproach in this epithet, energy
is quite as open to it as any function of energy can l^. In fact,,
our senses directly report work, in the form of nerve-disturbance,
and nothing else. Force is no more truly an inference from nerve-
reports testifying of energy exerted, than is matter. In fact, the
inference of the independent existence of niattcr is the less direct
and more questionable of the two. The view advocated by Mr.
Browne, following Boscovich, that matter is but "an assemblage
of central forces, which vary with distance and not with time " or
with direction, is one of great simplicity as well as suitability to
analytic treatment, and one of which no disproof is possible.
The paper was discussed by Messrs. Doolitti.e and Im.liott.
o2 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHIXGTOX.
252d Meeting. April 26, 1884.
Mr. IIarkness in the Chair.
Thirty-eight members and guests present.
'Announcement was made of the election to membership of
Messrs. David Poktek Heap and Thomas Mayhew Woodruff.
Mr. J. R. Eahtman made a communication on
a new meteokite.
[Al)tnict.]
A mass of meteoric iron weighing 11^5 pounds was accccidentlv
discovered in the malcing of an excavation at Grand Rapids, Mich-
iiran, and was examined by the speaker in 1883. One face shows
evidence of fracture, and the greater part of tie remaining surface,
of fusion. A very small sample submitted to Mr. F. "NV. Taylor
lor chemical examination had a specific gravity of 7.53 and a com-
position :
Iron .... 94.54
Nickel .... 3.81
CH)l)alt .... .40
Insoluble (about; . . .12
The stone is sui)pose(l by its holders to consist of gold and silver,
and to be the buried treasure of a miser. Tiiis delusion has caused
it to form the subject of a lawsuit.
The c«>mmunicatit)n was discussed bv Messre. Bates and F. W.
C'lakki:.
Mr. W. II. Dale read a pai)cr on
cEiiTAix appeni)A(;e.< of the MOLEI'SCA.*
* Pnl)li>lKcl in the Ainorican Xntiimli>t, Vol. XVIII. pp. 770-778.
GENERAL MEETING. oo
Mr. J. S. Dii.LEK made a communication on
THE VOLCANIC SAND WHICH FELL AT UNALASHKA OCTOBER 20,
1883, AND SOME CONSIDERATIONS CONCERNING ITS
COMPOSITION.
[Abstnict.]
The sand is composed chiefly of crystal fragments of feldspar,
augite, hornblende, and magnetite, with a considerable proportion
of mierolilic groundmass and a very few splinters of volcauic glass.
Its mineralogical composition is that of a hornblende andesite ; but
the chemical analysis by Mr. Chatard shows it to contain only
52.48 per cent, of silica, — which is much more basic than the average
for that group. The character of the minerals, as well as the gen-
oral composition of tlu^ sand, indicated so clearly that the crater
from which it must have issued was erupting hornblende-andesite,
that I was led to seek an explanation for its paucity in silica.
With this purpose in view, a number of volcanic sands and dusts
from various parts of the world were examined and compared with
the lavas to which they belong. First and most important among
these is a sand from Shastina, a crater named by ('aptain Dutton,
upon the northwestern flank of Mt. Shasta, in northern California.
This sand, like that fro?n Unalashka, is composed chiefly of crystal
fragments of feldspar, augite, hornblende, and magnetite, with
fragments of microlitic groundmass. Besides these, there are many
pieces of hypersthene crystals and pumiceous glass. The sand con-
tains 60.92 per cent, of silica, while the hornblende-andesite lava
(rich in hypersthene) of Shastina, to which the sand belongs, con-
tain^ 64.10 per cent, of silica.
From these and other examples it may be stated as generally
true that volcanic sand is composed essentially of crystalline frag-
ments, and contains less silica than the lava to which it belongs.
With volcanic dust, however, the case is different. ^Microscopical
examination shows that it is composed chiefly of volcanic glass
particles ; and iw far as cJiemical analyses have been made, they
indicate that volcanic dust is more silicioiis than the lava to which
it belongs.
That volcanic sand should be crystalline an<l basic, and the
accompanying dust vitreous and acidic, as compared with the lava
t\
34 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
to which they belong, is not merely determined by accidental cir-
cumstances, but has its inception in the magma before the eruption
takes place. By the process of crystallization magmas are fre-
quently divided into a crystalline solid portion, knd an amorphous
more or less fluent portion. Basic minerals are the first to crys-
tallize, so that as the process advances the amorphous remnant of
the magma becomes more and more silicious. The crystals are
generally thoroughly intermingled with the amorphous magma, and
in the latter are accumulated nearly all of the absorbed gases
under great tension, so that when the pressure is relieved it may
be blown to fine silicious dust, which may be carried by the wind
many miles from its source, while the solid crystalline portion will
contribute chiefly to the formation of sand, and be precipitated
comparatively near the crater from which it issued.
In cases where no previous crystallization has taken place in the
magma before it comes to violent eruption, the volcanic dust then
formed will have about the same chemical composition as the lava
to which it belongs. Mr. Kussell has recently described an inter-
esting case of this kind in the western part of the Great Basin.
It appears to be generally true that if other conditions are favor-
able the difference in chemical composition between volcanic sand
and dust is directly proportional to the amount of crystallization
in the magma before its ejection.
The basic character of the Unalasbka sand may be explained by
supposing that the silicious portion of the magma was carried away
in the form of dust.
The source of this sand is supposed by the collector, Mr. Apple-
gate, the Signal Service Observer at Unalasbka, to have been the
new crater formed last autumn, near the Island of Bogosloff*, about
sixty miles away.
Mr. DuTTOX spoke in commendation and amplification of Mr.
Diller's contribution to geologic philosophy. Mr. Dall described
the geographic relations of the volcano from which the Unalashkan
dust was presumably derived, showing the improbability of the
eruption having been directly observed. He spoke also of the dis-
tribution of the Aleutian volcanoes and the lithologic characters
of their ejcctamenta.
There ensued a general discussion of the nature and properties
GENERAL MEETING. 35
of volcanic dust and of the tiieory which ascribes recent meteo-
rologic phenomena to the dust ejected by Krakatoa. In this Messrs.
DuTTOX, Paul, W. B. Taylor, Diller, Robinson, and W^rd
participated. Mr. Dutton pointed out that their process of for-
mation tends to give volcanic dust particles a quasi-definite size,
and probably does not produce a large amount of dust fine enough
for indefinite suspension. The greatest distance to which volcanic
dust has been definitely ascertained to travel is eight hundred miles.
Mr. Paul argued from the violence of the Krakatoan explosion
its competence to charge the atmosphere dt very great altitudes,
and considered the fineness of the dust a sufiicient explanation of
its indefinite suspension.
Mr. Taylor said the phenomenon to be accounted for was
specially remarkable, first, for the unusual elevation of the finely-
divided smoke or dust extending far above the highest cirrus clouds,
or probably to twenty or thirty miles above the earth's surface (as
shown by its twilight duration) ; secondly, for its wide diflfusion
(covering a large fraction of the terrestrial atmosphere); and
thirdly, for the long continuance of its suspension in the air (ex-
tending over many months). Mr. Lockyer and Mr. Preece had
suggested an electrical condition of the matter as favoring both its
extraordinary diffusion and its equally extraordinary suspension.
This hypothesis seemed to the speaker very plausible. Electricity
is a phenomenon of volcanic eruption, and dust particles charged
with electricity in the same sense with the earth would be repelled
not only by one another, but by the earth. At thirty miles above
the ground the air is not only very rare, but is practically anhydrous,
and the discharge of electricity is impossible.
Mr. Diller, in response to a question by Mr. Paul, said that the
microscope reveals no limit to the fineness of Krakatoan dust. The
higher the magnifying power applied, the greater the number of
particles visible ; and this relation extends to the limits aflbrded by
the capacity of the instrument. To more powerful microscopes^
yet finer particles would presumably be visible.
8() PHILOSOPHICAL sociktv of Washington
2.'):]!) Meeting. May 10, 1884.
The President in the Chair.
Fifty-four members and guests present.
Announcement was made of the election to membership of
^Icssrs. John MrKDOcii, Romyn Hitcikoik, William Smith
Yi'ATEs, Ge()U<;e Pekkixs Merihll, and Fuedeuic Perkins
Di:wi:y.
It was announced that a vacancy in the General Committee,
ft
occasioned by the resignation of Mr. J. J. Ks'ox, had been filled
by the election of Mr. F. W. Clakki:.
By' invitation, ^Ir. G. H. Willlvms, of Baltimore, Maryland,
addressed the Society on
Tin: methods of modeiix petuogiiaphy,
fii.'it, defining the field of petrography, and second, discussing the
m. thods of petrographic investigation. These methods are: (1),
chemical ; (2 ), mechanical ; (8), optical ; (4), thermal. The chem-
ical methods are quantitative and qualitative. The mechanical
n)(thods include the separation of the constituent minerals of rocks
by precipitation in heavy solutions and by the use of electro-mag-
ncl.i. The optical methods include the preparation of thin sections,
their examination by transmitted ordinar}^ light, and their exam-
ination by polarized light, for the determination of crystal lographic
system, i)le()chroism, and angles of extinction. The thermal methods
are chiefly synthetic, consisting in the artificial production of min-
eral aggregates for the purposeof determining the processes of their
natural production. By the regulation of temperatures in fusion
and refrigeration all varieties and all structures of basic rocks are
reproduced. Acidic rocks have not been thus reproduce<l, and it
is believed that great pret^sure is a condition of their genesis.
•
Mr. Di'TTON spoke of the bearing of modern petrographie in-
vestigations on some of the greater problems of geology.
GENERAL MEETING. 37
There followed a sympodiiim on the question
WHAT IS A (;la('iku?
[Abstract.]
Mr. I. C. Russell: In framing a definition of a glacier it is
evident that we must include both alpine and continental types,
and also take account of the secondary phenomena that are com-
monly present. With this preamble we may define a glacier as an
ice-body, originating from the consolidation of snow in regions
where the secular accumulation exceeds the loss by melting and
evaporation, L c, above the snow-line, and flowing to regions where
loss exceeds supply, L e., below the snow-line.
Accompanying these primary conditions, many secondary phe-
nomena dependent upon environment, as crevasses, moraines, lami-
nation, dirt 'bands, glacier-tables, ice-pyramids, etc., may or may
not be present.
Mr. S. F. Emmon8 : The glacier is a river of ice, possessed, like
the aqueous river, of movement and of plasticity. In virtue of
the latter quality it adapts itself, though more slowly, to the form
of the bed in which it flows. The neve field is the reservoir, from
which it derives not only its supply of ice, but the impulse which
gives it its first movement. The uev6 is formed by the snows which
accumulate in relatively wide basins above the snow-line from
year to year, living through the heat of summer. Its mass may be
more or less compact, according as it is thicker or thinner, and it
may have a certain movement, which will be greater or less, accord-
ing to the greater or less inclination of the basin ; but until it moves
from its wide and shallow bed into a narrower and deeper one, and
thus gives outward proof of the plasticity of the ice of which it is
composed, it does not become a glacier. It may be crevassed.
Often a long crevasse at its upper edge gives definite proof of its
movement ; and this movement may cause a cracking or crevassing
in other points, resulting from the unevenness of its bed. It may
or may not carry blocks of rock on its surface, but these would be
rare, and never in the well-defined moraine ridges that are formed
upon the glacier proper. Not, however, until its form had essen-
tially changed to fit the bed in which it flo\^^ should it be considered
to constitute a glacier proper.
38 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
Mr. W J McGee : The phenomena of glacier ice and n^v^ ice
appear to belong to a graduating series ; and in consequence the
two phases can only be arbitrarily discriminated. Any classifica-
tion depending upon coincidence of the loci of apparent transition
from the first phase to the second with loci of sudden constriction
or abrupt acclivity in the valley is artificial and incompetent,
since such coincidence is fortuitous; the classification depending
upon the ability of the second phase to sustain bowlders upon its
surface is superficial and incompetent (provided such ability be due
to density of the ice), since the sub-surface density of the nev^,
being determined by its age and the pressure of the superincumbent
mass, must, in some portions, equal the surface density of the gla-
cier ; and the classification depending upon rate of motion is equally
incompetent, since motion is common to the entire ice-mass, and
abruptly varies only where conditions of glacier-bed are suddenly
variant. Arbitrary diagnostic characters may and should be, how-
ever, agreed upon by consense among glacialists. Perhaps the
most satisfactory line of demarkation detectable is the snow-line,
above which superficial debris is buried by precipitation, and below
which it is exposed by ablation.
Mr. W. H. Dall: It is proper to discriminate masses of ice
moving in a definite direction from the immense fields of ice which
are practically stationary. The term "glacier" should be restricted
to the former. A glacier is a mass of ice w^ith definite lateral
limits, with motion in a definite direction, and originating from
the compacting of snow by pressure. Moraines are not diagnostic ;
and the definition should not include those masses of arctic ice
which, by reason of their low temperature, are fixed in position.
Mr. T. C. Chamberlin: Nomenclature is a matter of conveni-
ence. When subjects rise into familiar thought and frequent
reference brevity of expression calls for specific names. But terms
arising thus from a natural demand are not closely discriminative.
Hard and fast lines of demarcation do not prevail in nature, but
rather gradations of character. Were it otherwise names of sharply-
defined application could be more freely used. The terms neve and
glacier doubtless originated to satisfy the convenience of guides and
travelers, and were without strict scientific application. In attempt-
ing to give them scientific definition, I think we shall fail of satis-
faction by making them structural terms. The better distinction
GENERAL MEETING. 39
is genetic. There is an area of growth and an area of waste to
•every glacier, and the distinct recognition of the two in quaternary
glaciers is likely to rise to some importance. Superficially the area
of growth coincides with the n6v4 ; the area of waste is that of the
glacier proper. From every annual snow-fall there remains, at the
time of maximum summer melting, a remnant that feeds the gla-
•cier. This is the n^v6 for that year. The area* may be greater or
less in different seasons. The n6v6-field is accurately shown only
on the day of maximum waste.
A contribution of much value, bearing upon the property of ice
ivhich permits glacier motion, has recently been made by Petterson,
who has demonstrated, by refined experimentation, that ice, es-
pecially if impure, shrinks as it approaches the melting point and
becomes plastic.
Mr. , C. E. DuTTON desired to reiterate the remarks of Mr.
Ohambcrlin to the effect that definitions can rarely or never be
made rigorous. Glaciers, no doubt, vary in their characteristics like
Almost all other groups of phenomena. There is litfle difficulty in
recognizing a glacier when all those features which characterize it
are present, and when the conditions are of the ordinary nature.
But exceptional cases arise. The lower parts are sometimes want-
ing and the n^v6 alone remains, or the portion where the n6ve
passes into the glacial stream may constitute the termination. In
the latter case those who desire to be extremely precise in their
phraseology might hesitate. It should seem best, whenever an
occurrence is modified or defective, to use the term " glacier," with
A qualification which shall express the particular circumstancs.
Eemarks were also made by Messrs. Gilbert and Elliott.
'254TII Meeting. May 24, 1884.
The President in the Chair.
Twenty-six members and guests present.
It was announced from the General Committee that after the
255th meeting, Juue 7, the Society would take a vacation until
October 11.
40 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
A request on behalf of the coming Electrical Exhibition at Phil-
adelphia for instruments and books .was communicated to the ??ociety.
Mr. H. H. Bati« read the following paper on
THK PHYSICAL BASIS OF PUKNOMLNA.
K there is anything entirely disheartening, it is to see the few
landmarks of human achievement disappear before the shifting
current of opinion, as headlands disappear under the ceaseless
buffeting of the ocean. It is no doubt a matter of poignant regret
to the cherisher of ardent theological convictions to see the bulwarks
of feith slowly undermined by controversy. So, also, to him who
has built his convictions on supposed demonstrable and irrefragable
fact, to find nothing unassailable, not even the axioms and postu-
lates conceded for ages as first principles, on which the fabric of
science was reared, nor the sublime inductions of Galileo and
Newton, on which the modem philosophy called natural — the only
fruitful philosophy which man has produced — has been founded.
But the course of criticism shows that there are no first princi-
ples. Nothing is unquestionable. Even the mathematic joins
hands with the metaphysic. I propose briefly to examine the fun-
damental grounds of mechanical philosophy, in view of the wide
divergence of basal hypotheses in recent years, and especially on
account of the importance conferred upon certain s|)eculations by
their admission into works of standard reference and authoritv.^'
To do this aright it is necessary to go behind the mere sul)-8cience
of mechanics to the essence and substance of things, as did the
eighteenth-century philosophers succeeding Newton. The obser-
vational data which have accumulated since that time by the splen-
did efforts of the molecular physicists enable us to review and recast,
with some promise, the primary dogmas regarding the physical basis
of phenomena. It is legitimate to frame hypotheses on subjects
which are still unfathomed, but which confessedly do not belong to
the domain of the unknowable. The distinguishcnl example of the
authors of the vortex atom would alone iustifv such a conclusion.
No entirely satisfactory hypothesis of the atom has yet been
•~" Eii('Vt'lo]>jC(lia Britannica, 9th Ed., Article^ " M«rhanics," •*Mi'a>ure-
mont," etc.
GENERAL MEETING. 41
fouud. I do not design to discuss the vortex atom here at length ;
for, although it is the most successful form of the Cartesian doctrine
of vortical substance, it has not been perfected, and is generally
regarded rather as an example of remarkable speculative and math-
ematical ingenuity, than as a discovery, corresponding with any
facts of objective physics. It has insuperable difficulties, some of
which have been pointed out by Clifford, and others by Clerk-
Maxwell. Moreover, unparticled or continuous substance, the
necessary postulate in this hypothesis, is something we not only
have no experience of, but find full of inconsistencies with ex-
perience, when we gain a clear conception of what it implies. Such
a conception fulfills Hegel's paradox that being and non-being are
the same, since it forbids all mobility, all differentiation, as was
perceived by the followers of Democritus. It simply affords an
inviting basis for analytical discussion, on account of the elimina-
tion of the very conditions of objective existence which make the
mathematical difficulty.
There are some postulates . regarding substance which we may
probably be permitted to assume at the outset. We may postulate
its objectivity, and also its discontinuity. I have no space to review
here the time-worn controversy between continuous and discontin-
uous substance. The arguments, which are exhaustive from the
metaphysical side, are as old at least as Democritus and Anaxa-
goras. Suffice it to say that modern experiential philosophy has
decided the battle experimentally in favor of the discontinuity of
matter. The dispute only lingers in the region of the atom, where
observation cannot penetrate or has not penetrated. The inability
to conceive which attaches to all non-experiential affairs is encoun-
tered here, coupled with the too great facility of conceiving what
is superficially observed, but will not bear analysis. Thus our first
impressions of substance are in favor of its continuity. It is only
after much reflection that we get the idea of necessary discontinu-
ity, as bound up with the exhibition of existing phenomeua. But
the wonderful development of the Cartesian mathematics, in con-
junction with the infinitesimal calculus, and its great facility in
dealing with geometrical continuities, has tacitly revived the Car-
tesian idea regarding the nature of matter, as synonymous with
space relations, which never reached intelligible development at the
hands of its author, and wholly declined and disappeared after the
42 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
^establishment of the Newtonian philosophy, and the discovery of
the discrete character of substance.
In point of fact, experience would point to extreme porosity or
discreteness as characteristic of substance, rather than to its oppo-
site— perfect continuity. The infinite divisibility of space has
nothing in the world to do with the question, though this is a con-
fusion often fallen into. On the contrary, there is an infinite dis-
tinction between the infinitesimal discrete units of substance, occu-
pying extension by their interactivity, and the passive infinitesimal
resolvability of space continuity. This is the antipodean difference
between the Epicurean and the Cartesian conceptions ; the former
admitting of the operations of force, the free exhibition of motion,
the organization of material phenomena, which are phenomena of
mobility ; the latter constituting a plenum, with only ideal divisions,
and phenomenally as necessarily barren a negation as space itself.
Substance is purely experiential. In its essence it is still incom-
prehensible, because experience has not yet reached down to those
recesses. We know nothing of substance except by its manifesta-
tions. These manifestations are cognized by us through sense im-
pressions, weighed, compared, adjusted, and analyzed in the mys*
terious alembic of the mind. First impressions have enormous
predominance, and are intensified by heredity of cerebral predis-
position and function.
We cognize substance only in bulk by direct perception, and
these vast aggregations stand in thought for matter. A drop of
water contains incomparably more molecules than the ocean con-
tains drops ; a grain of sand more particles than the earth contains
grains ; and it is this vast mesh of complicated forces that forms
the integrated concept of matter to our apprehension. The child,
before he can walk, encounters obstacles to movement, reaction to
his every muscular effort, of equal measure to his own ; and thus
his first and profoundest convictions of objective existence are asso-
ciated with resistance, opposition, repulsion. This impression of
matter is so early that it remains with us as its most natural and
obvious characteristic.
The idea of weight is also one of the earliest experiences. This
idea would not be conceivable to a denizen of the deep sea, for
our first ancestor who emerged from the water gained the experience
at the cost of great struggle and enterprise. By the natural devel-
GENERAL MEETING. 43
opment of muscle and function the child rears itself very early
against the constant pull of our pedestal, triumphs over it with
new-found energies, dances on tiptoe, and spurns the ground, but
is soon content to draw the battle, to wander around a few weary
years on equal terms, at length to call in the aid of a stick or
•crutch, and, finally, to resign the unequal contest, and sink, van-
quished and satisfied, to rest in its bosom. Weight thus seemed a
natural characteristic of matter until identified and generalized by
Newton as a universal and especially a reciprocal property. This
generalization transferred the property, in conception, from the
naturally heavy body to a cause outside thereof, namely, the earth
itself. Here the human mind relucted, for, unlike repulsion, attrac-
tion is not an observational fact. All forms of tension, stress,
constraint — by whatever name called — are attended in the child's
experience with an intermediary connection. The string is neces-
i9ary to pull the cart, and the action of the magnet upon the iron
particles is viewed with astonishment and awe. The sense of mys-
tery does not proceed so far in his case as to contemplate the equally''
mysterious power which makes his string differ from a rope of sand.
The most profound attention of the human mind has not yet
fathomed this mystery.
Inertia or mass is a less obvious property, being in early obser-
vation and in common apprehension bound up with weight. It
was not recognized in philosophy till Galileo's time, nor is it now
by the common perception, except after training. A lady makes
no scruple of asking to have a loaded car or train or vessel stopped
at a given point on the instant, and reinvested with motion any
number of times ; and would-be inventors often contrive theoretical
machines having numerous heavy reciprocating parts timed to
velocities impossible of execution. With beings under other con-
ditions it is wholly difierent. The sword-fish, e. y., can have no
<;onception of gravity, as he has no perception of it, but his appre-
hension of inertia is finely cultivated, through the muscular sense,
in setting up and modifying the rapid movements in which his
existence delights, as well as through his vivid realization of mo-
mentum, in the piercing of a whale or a vessel, by which his
function is so powerfully exhibited. When once realized by human
perception, however, inertia becomes identified with substance as
its most primary characteristic.
44 PHILOSOPHICAL bOCIKTY OF WASUIXGTON.
The old scholastic property of impenetrability, also, is one of
the superficial notions of experience, gained in the same way as
that of repulsion. It seems to pertain to solids — the typical mat-
ter— with approximate accuracy, though calcined plaster of Paris
and water, e. g., will occupy a good share of each other's volume,
and still form a highly porous solid. But a quart receiver full of
hydrogen can have a quart of carbonic acid gas deftly introduced
into it as into a void space ; and so can a quart of water, at ordinary
temperature and pressure, according to Gmelin, without increase of
volume, although water is the type of material continuity. As to
impenetrability in the molecule we can predicate nothing. The
evolution of heat in chemical combinations indicates penetration of
volume, with reorganization of the molecule in less space ; and there
is no reason, except a scholastic one, why two or more molecules,
or even atoms, should not occupy the same place, as admitted by
the highest authority — James Clerk-Maxwell.
Dimension is also a common notion, derived similarly from supe-
ficial and early experience. Solids alone have figure and assign-
able dimension, though liquids have fixed volume, and gases variable
volume, in inverse ratio to constraint; but even solids are of vary-
ing and fluctuating dimensions, according to temperature, density,
etc. Solidity and liquidity are, it is well known, but mere transi-
tory conditions of material aggregation, for all matter is capable,
by sufficient accession of molecular motion, of assuming that hyper-
bolic or expansive condition which we call gaseous, and in this
state dimension and impenetrability are meaningless terms. Con-
cerning dimension as a necessary attribute of the unit of mass,
Clerk-Maxwell says (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9th Ed., Vol. 3, p.
37): "Many persons cannot get rid of the opinion that all matter
is extended in length, breadth, and depth. This is a prejudice
* :j: * arising from our experience of bodies consisting of im-
mense multitudes of atoms." That there is no necessary relation
between mass and volume as there is, e. g.y between mass and weight
is shown to common experience by the notably different masses of
a buck-shot and a pith-ball of the same dimensions, or of a cannon-
ball and a child's hydrogen balloon. A pellet of iridium equiva-
lent in mass to the pith-ball might be microscopic, and, by extreme
supposition, infinitesimal. We are not forced, however, to deny to
GENERAL MEETING. 45
the unit of mass finite magnitude, as this would be an experiential
fact when ascertained.
The remaining so-called properties of matter are too obviously-
transitory, accidental, or derivative to require attention. Color,
luminosity, opacity, transparency, sapidity, sonority, odor, texture,
temperature, diathermancy, plasticity, hardness, brittleness, density,
compressibility, conductivity, malleability, fusibility, solubility, and
many others, are too clearly but conditions of aggregation, or else
mere subjective states due to the way the complicated interactions
of the primary qualities affect our senses. What are the primary
qualities?
Here is where the modern method of philosophy flags, by the
disappearance one by one of the experimental means of approach,
as we eliminate the non essentials. But though the substance is
thus elusory, we cannot yet believe it to be illusor)'.
Chemical and molecular pliysics have already gone marvellously
beyond the ordinary range of sense-perception, by strictly scientific
methods. Not only is the discrete character of matter established,
but many data of the differentia and organization of the molecule
are discovered. Here is a vast field of science in itself. From the
ideal molecule, or simple couple, up through the 70 actual organized
molecules of our provisional elements, then the chemical molecules
of their combinations in vast numbers, discovered and undiscovered,
and, lastly, the enormously complex organic molecule in infinite
variety, the domain transcends in area for classification that of
biologic science. The simple molecule has not yet been discovered,
much less the molecular constituent, the atom, or the indivisible.
It is evident, however, that the properties of matter which are
essential, not difterential, must reside in the atom. The philoso-
phers succeeding Newton treated the atom and the elementary
molecule as one, from lack of sufiicient chemical knowledge. We
are on a higher plane of information, but their method is not nec-
essarily vitiated by such lack of distinction.
We cannot, as before said, attribute a priori to the atom dimen-
sion or figure, though we postulate it to aid conception. As the
atom is an absolute unit, there is incongruity in finally assigning to
it such relative attributes, which are but mattera of oompariscm
and degree. There are properties, however, which are inseparable
from an absolute essence. These are the properties by which the
y
40 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
essence is manifested to us. We know them provisionallj as forces^
in the Newtonian nomenclature. Had gaseous matter neither
weight nor mass, we could not know of its existence. But these
attributes are so constant in matter that wc estimate its quantity
in terms of them and have no other exact terms. Weight is the
statical measure ; mass the dynamical measure. And since weight
and mass correspond for all substances, under all transformations,
we judge that the correspondence identifies them alike with the
essence. They cannot be the mere result of organization. They
must belong to the ultimate atom.
At this point it would seem proper to attend to a question of defi-
nition. Definitions are essential to clearness, on the one hand, and
a source of entanglement on the other, if we fall into the scholastic
error of regarding a mere word as the coextensive symbol of an
idea. Words are evolved during the imperfection of ideas, and
language is still a most imperfect medium of expression. Hence^
logic is not a science in the sense that mathematics is. I have used
the term force. This is a word of much ambiguity of meaning.
We may use it as a convenient mathematical expression for a mere
rate of change of momentum, or we may go farther and define it,,
as that which changes a body's state of rest or of uniform motion
in a straight line ; either of which uses restricts it to only a portion
of phenomena, and ignores the whole science of statics, dealing with
forces in equilibrium and the phenomena of balanced stress. If we
give it a more general signification, as that which changes or tends
to change, or conserve, the state of motion of particles, or systems
of 8ucl\, either in quantity or direction, we embrace statics as well
as kinematics, and get a measurably philosophical definition, if we
bear in mind the proviso that we do not thereby postulate force as^
an entity apart from substance.
And since the compound variable space and time condition which
we call motion (of which rest is but a phase) is the sensible result-
ant of the interaction of such discrete substance by constant rear-
rangement where readjustment is free, or the jwtential resultant
where confined, we may admit that the observed tension and per-
sistence, of whatever form, is that which effects the phenomenon
(though masked by infinite variety and composition), and always
across the discontinuity : not as separate entities, but as modeA of
manifestation of the interacting and pervasive substance itself and
GENERAL MEETING. 47
its only manifestations. This we call force — the inscrutable agent
of phenomena — and this I take to be the true Newtonian concep-
tion, as evinced by his maturest conclusions, expressed in query 31
appended to his Optics. (B. 3, 2d Ed., 1717.)
So far as weight goes, it was generalized by Newton to be a
reciprocal force or stress, operative without limit on the law which
inheres in radial space relations — the inverse square of the dis-
tance. The term operative means effective upon mass, namely,
bridging the discontinuity. Gravity is the typical attractive force —
vis centripeta. The relation is mutual by the law of action and
reaction, and amounts to a universal tension among particles, con-
trolling all matter everywhere into orderly movements and relations.
This is what we postulate from observation, on the Newtonian plan
of naming simply what we see. The notion, however, of action at
a distance has encountered a metaphysical difficulty in many minds,
from the preconception derived from ordinary experience that all
affections or stresses must proceed through an intermediary connec-
tion, deemed continuous. Even Newton made concession to this
prejudice in his oft-quoted letter to Bentley. That there is really
no such continuity in any mode of connection known is demonstra-
ble, and the notion itself that the fancied continuity of some rare
effluvium could in any way aid the mechanics of the problem is
chimerical. Clerk-Maxwell, moreover, has shown (Nature, Vol. 7,
p. 324; Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 3, p. 63) that action at a
distance is as necessarily implied in repulsion as in attraction, so
that theories of repulsion do not aid conception. Ability or ina*
bility to conceive, furthermore, is not held even by the metaphysi-
cians to be a criterion of objective truth. Such truths exist inde-
pendent of the conceiving mind. The conceiving organ was evolved
by experience, and conception develops with attention. The first
law of motion was wholly inconceivable to the contemporaries of
Galileo, and we find such instances even now. Thus, while plain
truths are inconceivable until established, some utter absurdities
have been deemed conceivable, as, for instance, vacuity of two
dimensions. State of mind, then, is no measure of external truth.*
* In this connection, to illustrate how entirely a matter of opinion or pre-
judice or culture is this notion of conceivability, I quote from a letter
48 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
The second force or manifestation of the atom, inertia, — or mass, —
unlike gravity, is not unlimited in range of action. As to this
property matter is discrete. Mass has both a locus and a limit
(being apparently dependent for dimension on multiplicity), and
amounts to that incomprehensible property by which conservation
of motion is maintained. Under gravity, quantity of motion varies
according to relations of contiguity, but under inertia motion is
conserved in direction and quantity, is modified in direction and
quantity by interaction of mass with gravity, and is redistributed
by interaction with repulsive force upon an indefinitely near ap-
proach of particles, upon conservative principles. Its discreteness
gives matter its numerical and finite character, and admits of that
interplay which constitutes phenomena.^^ Its reality and primary
• ^ --■ a , _. ■ , -~ —
written by Faraday to Dr. Playfair, in response to some inquiries of the
latter about his atomic opinions:
* * * "I believe in matter and its atoms as freely as most people — at
least, I think so. As to the little solid particles which are by some supposed
to exUt independent of the forces of matter, and which in different sub-
stances are imagined to have different amounts of these forces associated
with or conferred upon them, * * * as I cannot form any idea of them
apart from the forces, so I neither admit nor deny them. They do not
afford me the least help in my endeavor to fonn an idea of a particle of
matter. On the contnirv, thev c:rt»atlv embarrass me; for. after takinir an
account of all the properties of matter, and allowing in my consideration for
them, then these nuclei remain on the mind, and I cannot tell what to do
with them. The notion of a .solid nucleus without properties is a natuml
tii^ure or stepping-stone to the mind at its first entrance on the consideration
of natural ])henomena; but when it has become instructed, the like notion
of a solid nucleus apart from the repulsion, which iijives our only notion of
solidity, or the "gravity, which gives our notion of weight, is to me too dif-
ficult for comprehension ; and so the notion becomes to me hypothetical,
and, what is more, a very clumsy hypothesis." (Playfair's works. Vol. 4,
p. 84.)
Here we see a difficulty o])posite to that usually encountered, for, while
many people profess an infiniiity af conception of the forces apart from the
imaginary vehicle, Faraday finds the vehicle of no use as a carrier of the
properties*, but a positive impediment.
* This property has a multij)licity of names in the Newtonian n<Mnencla-
turc, according to the varying a«j)ect of it§ function. Thus, in the aspect
of persistence of nuiss in state of rest or of motion uniform in direction
GENERAL MEETING. 49
character, when once apprehended, have proved more acceptable
to the imagination than has the conception of central force,
and under appulsion hypotheses (with the aid of that other readily
accepted property, repulsion, and certain highly artificial hypo-
thetical media), it has been made to do duty in providing so-called
explanations of gravity, under its form of vis viva.
It has always seemed to me that the mode of approach adopted
by Boscovich was the most philosophical and rigorous of any. He
viewed matter for the purposes of mathematical treatment and for
investigation of its essentials, as divested of accidental and fugitive
properties ; and as the analytical calculus had not then become so
developed as to wholly fascinate the attention of geometers with ab-
stract and ideal relations, he proceeded from prime physical data.
He thus identified matter by those apparently general and charac-
teristic properties recognized by Newton as the basis of mechanical
philosophy in conjunction with the laws of motion. These proper-
ties are, as before said, gravity, inertia, and repulsion ; or, as char-
acterized by function, attraction, conservation, distribution. In
this view matter consists of certain loci, of central forces, mutually
attractive by the first property according to a variable law in the
duplicate inverse ratio of distance without limit, but restricted in
manifestation as to the second property to the infinitesimal locus,
thereby excluding unitary dimension. Contemplating matter un-
der this aspect alone, a dilemma arose. For gravity waxing by
the law of inverse squares of the distance up to the focus or origin
involves the consideration of infinite force and apparently of infi-
nite velocity in the limit, in the supposable case of rectilinear ap-
and quantity, i. c, of resistance to chancjc of state ex(;ept in conformity
with motion impressed, the property is called vis inslta^ which may he vis
insita ncHva (momentum), or vis insitn passica (vis inertia' o( mAns.) In
it» aspect of acquirement of a new state of motion hy interaction witli other
forces or masses, Newton called the new state thus superposed rin imprrssn ;
which, when the operation of acquirement has ceased, hecomes ai;ain vis
insita. In its aspect of persistence of mass towards uniform directir)n of
motion under the constant deflective stress of vector central foiro, it is
called vis centri/ugn. And in its active form, conditioned hy motion ac-
quired, its capacity for furnishing motion from its store, either for impressing
motion upon other mass, with consequent loss, or for supplyincj the poten-
tial fund under the drain of adverse central force, is called risrira (energy.)
4
50 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OB^ WASHINGTON.
proach, at which point the equations become unexplainablc. While
Ettler and La Place differ in their interpretations of the result,
Boscovich sought to solve the apparent absurdity and inconceiva-
bility by the invention of his ingenious and complex system of
alternate spheres of attraction and repulsion, or change of sign,
on a very near approach, with infinite repulsion at the focus, which
so loaded down and vitiated his hypothesis as to cause its rejection.
This result was similar to that of Le Sage's speculations and those
of the Ptolemaic astronomers, each thus working out the falsity of
his respective scheme by superadded complications to readjust the
theory to the progress of criticism or of observed fact.
By attributing finite magnitude to the atomic mass, however,
Boscovich's difficulty disappears, as I had the honor of pointing
out before this Society some ten years ago. This may be deemed a
violent hypothesis in regard to a positive discrete simple absolute,
as the atom is presumed to be, but parallel difficulties inhere in any
other finite supposition, as, e. (7., a sphere of repulsion. Under my
provisional assumption, the way out follows from an elementary
proposition of Newton's, and it does not demand the gratuitous
change of law or of continuity involved in the resort of Boscovich.
The movement of a gravitating particle under stress of a center of
gravitative force would be in all respects as the great 18th century
mathematicians have demonstrated, until the margin of the par-
ticle reached the attracting center, where, if we suppose the attrac-
tive virtue to prevade the particle equally throughout a certain
finite volume of mass, however minute, as gravity does the mass of
a sphere, the maximum of attractive force would be attained ; for,
as Newton has shown, homogeneous spheres are controlled under
gravity by a law of force varying directly as the mass and inversely
as the squares of the distance between their center of mass and the
attracting center, at all points beyond the surface, and directly as
the distance between the said centers within the surface ; so that,
after passing the surface, the attractive center must proceed on-
wards to the gravitating center of mass (relatively), not by a force
increasing to infinity, but by a force decreasing to zero, afler pass-
ing the maximum, since it is balanced at the center by oppasing
stresses.*
*Let 3f be an exaggerated particle of mass and Gn fixed center of gravi-
tation external thereto. Newton proved that for all positions outside of a
GENERAL MEETING. 51
A similar law of attraction prevails between two gravitative par-
ticles when both are similarly endowed with finite spherical volume
and mass, excluding the idea of impenetrability (which is not a
necessary attribute of mass), the Newtonian law being the product
(lUlth\ *
—7- 1 for
outside positions.
gravitiiting homogeneous spherical muss the stress is precisely as though the
whole mass thereof were concentrated at the center of said sphere, and
varies directly as the mass and inversely as the square of the distance be-
tween the said center and the lixed center of gravitation ; i. c, G ^^^^^ M
55".
The maximum of gnwitating force will here be at the surface, where d is
minimum. He also proved that at all points within a homogeneous gravi-
tating spherical concentric shell a gravitating particle is uniformly affected
by balanced attractions. Hence, the stress for any smaller concentric sphere is
g ^-^^ ni 7n being the smaller spherical mass and 7* the reduced radius.
r',
But since homogeneous and similar masses are as the volumes, and similar
volumes are as the cubes of the homologous dimensions,
The maximum of gravitating force is hero also at the surface, where ?• is
maximum.
* I write the formula this way because it is possible that we have been in
error all along in regarding the denominator as a radial space relation, as
implied when we write it i-— -, In discussing the deflection of the particle
under gravity, Newton, for mathematical simplicity, treated it as governed
by a fixed attracting central force, and in testing various relations found that
the radial space relation gave the true path of the planetary bodies under
the immense preponderating influence of the sun's mass. The fixed center
of attraction is, however, a mathematical, not a phj-.sieul, ccaidition, and can
only be realized by making M = oo, when we got a form of expression
which docs not give a law of force. I think it possible that the relation is
a mere reciprocal distance relation, since the stress is mutual for the masses
and each is equally distant from the other. The invrrso form of the relation,
moreover, may arise from our subjective way of viewing di>tance, as meas-
ured outwardly from ourselves, since we have to gn from here to yonder.
It is possible to look upon the relation as really one of contiguity or near-
ness, and by placing --. = c we get the cosmicul law of gravitation as
Mcrtic. This, however, would not be a useful formula, ■since we arc not ac-
customed to expressions which attain maximum value with minimum mag*
nitude.
52 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
For positions of encroachment the law is more complicated, and
forms an interesting field for mathematical discussion. Where three
or more atoms are superimposed the problem becomes too complex
for discussion. It is noted, however, that such compound atom, if
quiescent from extreme abstraction of heat, would be in a condition
of elastic equilibrium, ready to respond like a bell to the slightest
disturbances. In all these cases of interpenetration the law of stress
would be finite and diminishing, and if the line of encounter should
chance to be a right line through their centers (a condition infi-
nitely rare in actual occurrence), they would continue on or repeat
according to energy of approach ; while upon any other lines of
approach orbital relations would supervene, in modified curves of
the second order, either hyperbolic, parabolic, or elliptic, ac<;ording
to velocity, and with or without partial penetration^ according to
nearness of approach.
Boscovich, however, did not adopt this solution, although within
his reach. The problem of the action of a gravitative particle as
controlled by an attractive center has several aspects of statement,
which may be confined to four, for practical investigation. In the
first, where the particle is assumed to be without mass, no discus-
sion is possible, for the two suppositious points instantly assume the
same locality, and end the relation. In the second, where the par-
ticle is endowed with inertia but not magnitude (and the attractive
I0CU8 fixed by postulate), the element of motion enter^, but infinite
terms appear in the equations in' the limit, forbidding interpretation.
Thirdly, when we attribute finite magnitude to the gravitative par-
ticle for gravitative pervasion, as in actual spherical masses, no in-
finite terms appear, and we get an intelligible mathematical discus-
sion, with planetary results for exterior positions, and pendulum
results for interior positions, as I have heretofore demonstrated;
and lastly, when both the gravitating loci are invested wnth similar
attributes of volume and of mass (excluding extraneous notions of
ordinary collision and repulsion from the problem), the results are
similar to those of the third hypothesis. I do not introduce any
of the mathematical discussions here, as the dynamics of the pai^
tide have been fully treated by mathematicians, though I am not
aware that any of them have pursued it to physical conclusions.
It is not likely, however, that there is any matter so simple as
this modified Boscovichian atom ; that is, which can be identified.
GENERAL MEETING. 53
All. the matter we know of is already compounded and highly or-
ganized. The ideal simple molecule would consist of a single pair
of such atoms, bound to each other in orbital relations of more or
less eccontricity, including the extreme rectilineal form of simple
pendulum-like oscillation through one another's centers ; and it is
a most significant fact that spectroscopic observation of all incan-
descent matter shows atomic matter to be in this state of transverse
or orbital oscillation with inconceivable but synchronous rapidity
without regard to range, according to the pendulum law of stress
varying directly as the range of oscillation, discovered by Galileo.
Any theory of the simple molecule must take cognizance of this
observed fact. Another cognate fact is that the law of elastic
cohesion manifest in all elastic tensile action — "t/i tenmo sic via" —
is a parallel law of stress, as illustrated in the spring balance weigh-
ing scale, the spring dynamometer, the isochronous spring governor,
etc., and is a function of molecular and ultimately of atomic force
and distance.
If the atom is really thus characterized, the repulsion or resistant
property experienced in matter becomes worthy of investigation,
since it drops.out as the primitive affection or disaffection postulated
by Boscovich. I have shown that it is not necebsary to oscillatory
motion. We must admit that the notion of rebound or recoil, in
the ordinary sense, between simple atoms possesses difficulties. No
less does the idea of plasticity or destruction of momenta. Con-
sider what is involved in the hypothesis of two absolutely hard,
rigid, unparticled, homogeneous spherical bodies of any magnitude
at all, if possessed of mass, meeting on a rectilineal central line of
motion. We know what would happen in case of ordinary spherical
elastic masses or aggregations of molecules. Such merely undergo,
first, apparent contact, then compression, deformation, strain, accu-
mulation of stress, retardation of velocity, momentary arrest, accel-
eration on new lines of departure, relief of strain, recovery of form,
redistribution of momenta, and final resumption of uniform veloci-
ties, with relative motion inverted and aggregate energy of motion
unimpaired, unless permanent distortion and heat have absorbed a
portion. All this complex action is involved in the term elasticity.
None of this could take place with simple undifferentiated particles,
unless we invent for them a mystic atmosphere or cushion of repul-
sive capacity surrounding the locus, as Boscovich was forced to do
54 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASIIIXGTOX.
by logical cod elusions. Without this, contact would be absolute
and instantaneous at first impact. As hardness involves impen-
etrability, absolute destruction of motion on the instant must ensue ;
that is, motion and no motion at consecutive instants of time; a
discontinuity unknown to experience, and known to be inconsistent
with the nature of motion and of time. This argument from breach
of continuity is due to Leibnitz. Conversion into heat motion is
excluded, heat being a mode of motion of the entire atom. More-
over, the destroyed motion has to be recreated instiintaneously in
new directions, for destruction of energy cannot be postulated.
This geometrically angular motion is also unknown to experience,
for all deflected bodies pass by continuity from motion in one direc-
tion into a new direction, and, so far as we can see, must do so.
These discontinuities in translatory relations are therefore put aside,
not because they are inconceivable, but as illogical and non -experi-
ential. Simple repulsion by contact without occult intervention is
a false suggestion, and we find that we get the pseudo-conception
from our false observation of what occurs in the collision of sensible
masses, somewhat as we make a false observation and generalization
about material continuity, or about tension, from a superficial per-
ception of matter ; thus creating concepts from suppose<l experi-
ence which can have no true objective counterparts. I shall recur
later to a possible derivative basis for repulsion.
It is remarkable that to Newton we owe the final establishment
of the majority of those fundamental and universal truths which by
simplicity and generality seem to touch the absolute ; that is, more
than to any and all other philosophers combined. Thus, of the six
ultimate generalizations, four were formulated and placed on an
impregnable basis by Newton : the three laws of motion and the
law of gravitation. All of these were inconceivable when first pro-
mulgated, were hotly controverted on the metaphysical plan, were
finally established experiential ly, and are now generally accepted
as axiomatic by the modern mind, except for sporadic reversions
which appear now and then to deny their actuality and reassert
their inconceivability. The remaining two universal inductions
are the collective group of axioms formulating the relations of ex-
tension— the only enduring remnant of the Greek philosophy — and
the law of the conservation and unity of energy, unperceived in
Newton's time in its generality, though taught as a dogma by the
GENERAL MEETING. OO
Cartesians. These also are still held to be inconceivable by certain
disciples of metaphysical methods and axiomatic by others. Such
mental attitudes should lead us to believe that simplicity has been
arrived at in all these cases and the boundaries of explainable
knowledge reached, where inconceivability necessarily begins.
It has been said that paradox is born either of confusion of
thought, or of knowledge, or confusion of statement arising out of
the imperfection or subtlety of the verbal vehicle of thought. Thus,
as Clerk-Maxwell points out, the celebrated arguments of Zeno of
Elea, establishing the inconceivability of motion, represented in
the paradox of Achilles and the tortoise, w^ere unanswerable and un-
answered until Aristotle showed, some half century later, that du-
ration is continuous and incommensurable by numerical methods
in the same sense that extension is. The old logical dilemma of the
irresistible force encountering the immovable body was insoluble to
the Greek mind, both from lack of physical knowledge and lack of
verbal clearness of statement. The acute sophist knew not the
nature of force, the constitution of bodies, the conservation, trans-
formation, and dissipation of energy, and consequently knew not
the refuge and escape from the dilemma contained in the percep-
tion of the conversion of molar energy into heat energy, expansion,
and dissipation. The resources of verbal subtlety and of inner
consciousness failed, as they always do. Something of the same
difficulty remains in modern problems, where observation and strict
verification are, from the nature of the problem, inapplicable, or
where the confusion arises from the still-existing imperfection of
language, or, again, where generalizations, both clearly made
out and clearly formulated, have not passed into the instinctive
popular apprehension. The modern dilemma of the inconceiva-
bility of infinite or finite space is, I take it, due to the metaphysical
form of the statement. For when we reflect that the ideas of im-
mensity and of infinitesimal resolvability are but abstract generali-
zations of the merely relative continuities, extension, distance, and
dimension, which are in their turn but abstractions of the sense-
perceptions, form, translation, and volume, the statement becomes
intelligible and entirely conceivable, and I think, though with
deference, saves geometry; that is, the univei-sality of that system
of inductive postulates regarding the relations of extension and
inferences therefrom, known as geometry to the Greek philosophy,
5G nilLOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
but now named Euclidean by certain analysts whose so-called
geometry is symbolic. Geometry is therefore able to deal with all
aspects of extension, without regard to limit, in spite of some in-
firmity in the Greek method, for scale cannot affect the generality
of extension relations, and abstract unconditioned space is not an
entity but a mere negation, concerning which relative propositions
are unintelligible. A false philosophy regarding space is at. the
root of all modern heresies concerning geometry and mensuration,
founded in misapprehension of the Euclidean inductions or gene-
ralizations.*
The first law of motion is but the formulated recognition of in-
ertia, which is only manifest in conjunction with motion, actively
or passively. It was known to Galileo, and laid down by Descartes
as a law in his Principia. It is a cosmical truth, bound up with
the absolute nature of mass and the true relations of extension,
which correlates the whole fabric of dynamical knowledge with
rectilinear geometry, curvilinear motion being demonstrably not a
simple state of conservation under inertia, but a resultant of mul-
tiple forces. The simple action of mags under the first law of
motion, if undisturbed, furnishes the absolute unreturning recti-
lineal path which overthrows all speculation about possible ideal
spaces. I here recall a book written by a learned American of
Philadelphia — learned, that is, according to the mediaeval stand-
ard of the colleges — and published only during the past year, en-
* There are two opposite though similar forms of error in the aifsumptions
regarding space. The first is that space is a specific or perhaps generic en-
tity or objectivity jicr sc, possessed of conditions and attributes, like sub-
stance, such as dimension (in several), differentia in locality, figure, as cur-
vature, etc. (hence necessarily finite), and only uncognizable by us simply
for lack of perceptive faculties to correspond. This is the fundamental
error, as it seems to me, of Kiemann and Lobatschewsky. The second is
that of the older Cartesians, who viewed space as but the mere attribute or
synonym of substance, and inconceivable apart from it, so that bodies sep-
arated by void space would be absolutely in contact without regard to dis-
tance. Both of these speculations are purely metaphysical, and non-exper-
iential, the latter resulting from the old scholastic method of syllogistic de-
duction from primary postulates of verbal definition, and the former fix>m
similar inferences from the forms of the analytical logic of symbols, the use
of which is still in the scholastic stage. Like Zeno's paradox, these merely
intellectual difficulties should be removablejby intellectual processes.
GENEUAL MEETING. 57
titled "An Examination of the Philosophy of the Unknowable, as
expounded by Herbert Spencer," wherein he naively lays down the
first law of motion as unintelligible except by appulsion. Motion,
he says, in the absence of propulsion is incionceivable. I have no
space here to reproduce the explanation evolved out of consciousness
by this reasoner to account for the action of a ball struck by a bat
after .leaving the bat. It resembles in ingenuity and gratuity some
of the inventions devised to explain gravity. The notable thing
about it is that here, at this date, is a mind of good caliber, informed
in the higher schools of learning, which is still of the mental period
of Aristotle ; a mind which has evidently never apprehended in-
ertia, nor heard of the great contributions to knowledge made by
Galileo and Newton, by which philosophy was entirely revolution-
ized.
The second law of motion, regarding the independence and co-
existence of motions, on which we occasionally see comments in
the metaphysical vein controverting its possibility, has long been
established experientially. Its early experimental proof is attrib-
uted to Galileo. Yet I recall a pamphlet written and published
only during the last year by a learned German at I^eipzig, the
theme of which was that ** the sun changes its position in space,
therefore it cannot be regarded as being in a condition of rest."
This, he concludes, overthrows the entire fabric of Copernicus, be-
cause the planetary orbits in such case cannot be closed.
The third law of motion is but formulated reciprocal stress, in
its modes of compulsion and repulsion, through which mass acts on
mass to redistribute motion by what appears to be necessary law.
The stress is necessarily reciprocal, since there is no point cVappid^
or fixed fulcrum, in the universe.
We have thus been brought to the boundary of the absolute,
where all is inconceivable until found out, and where the simple
data are unexplainable. All examination seems to continue to
point to mass and weight as the inefiable simple insignia of sub-
stance standing on this limit. We must accept something as ele-
mentary fact; what shall we find more elementary? Repulsion is
still debatable; for, if we make an issue between repulsion and
compulsion as contradictory primary attributes of the same essence,
or untenable in conjunction for artificiality, by far the greater dif-
ficulties attach to the former, some of which I have already alluded
58 PIIILOSOPillCAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
to. The profound mind of Boscovich was forced to accept repul-
sion as a primal quality, but in deference to the physical hypotheses
of his time, he overloaded it with complication. This has been
weighed in the balance of philosophical judgment and found want-
ing. I have intimated that there are possible grounds for surmising
that it may not be a simple property of the atom, but a mere mode
of distribution of energy dependent on composition of motion of
atomic mass after change of sign, i, c, a mode of vis hnpressa after
exhaustion of the space relation ; for, mathematically, the hyperbolic
lines of approach and recession of two atoms under the high proper
motion characteristic of the atom, and on lines not directly central,
would be similar, at sensible distances, in their asymptotes (which
would be the practical paths), whether the deflection were due to
attractive or repulsive stress, though acceleration and retardation
at the passage of the infinitesimal focus would be inverted.*
* It is well known that for any fiqite system of two particles controlled
by gravity the lines of movement are closed curves of the second order, of
iftore or less eccentricity, about the common center of gravity, which, for
equal masses, would be midway. For an infinite system under the same
conditions the orbits are parabolic, but for a system to which the particles
-enter by extraneous motion the lines of movement are hj'^perbolic, thus :
Fia. 1.
l^ow, under repulsion, the lines of motion are seen to be similar, A B, D £,
Fig. 2, being asymptotes of the hyperbolas representing the two paths at
sensible distances :
GENERAL MEETING. 59
It therefore seems to me immaterial to result which of the two
modes of passing the infinitesimal focus is the true one. In either
case the distance ai passage is infinitesimal, and the force may be
as near infinity as the facts require it to be assigned. The normal
or rectilineal encounter is here excluded from supposition. In that
case, under repulsive stress, as postulated by Boscovich, the recoil
would be rectilineal and opposite, without breach of continuity.
Under attractive stress, with finite volume of the atomic mass,
penetration would ensue as before shown ; but without dimension
or repulsion we have an insoluble condition, although the occur-
rence would be infinitely rare. Only one pair of elements is here
considered. In all real encounters, whether of masses or molecules,
the effect is a vast resultant, but should not be different in kind
from that of the elements ; that is, hyperbolic or expansive between
alien systems under motion. As the number of elements ordinarily
engaged could not be represented by any numerical places of arable
notation for which we have names, we see the hopelessness of stat-
ing the problem mathematically. I therefore do not presume to
TJ=^=B
This encounter represents only one element of the molecule, of which
myriada are engaged at every recoil of molecules, not to speak of solids.
It is thus seen that the mesh constitutincc the molecule is ordinarily impen-
etrable to other meshes. If the curve F G be allowed to represent the out-
line of the molecule, the limb of the solid to which it belongs, say a buck-^
£hoi, will be represented by the Sierra Nevada, or the Andes, and its diam-
eter would be measurably represented by that of the earth, as approximately
fihown by Sir Wm. Thompson in the case of a drop of water.
60 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
offer this as an explanation of repulsion, and I cod^ss that to me
repulsion is in its mechanism incomprehensible. We know the re-
sult experimentally, and that is resistance to penetration, and reac-
tion at insensible distances on an undefined boundary which begins
prior to contact and increases in a high exponential ratio as approx-
imation progresses. The contact boundary of any solid — even the
smoothest and hardest — resembles the astronomical limb of Jupiter
in geometrical indefiniteness. The contact transmitter in the tele-
phone, the whole range of whose phenomena occurs under pressure
and so-callqd contact of varying degrees, illustrates how relative a
thing is contact. Under high velocities the distinction between
solids, liquids, and even aeriform bodies entirely disappears in re-
spect to repulsive reaction, though this is the most sensible distinc-
tion between them under low velocities.
We may, therefore, adopt the conclusion that if any of the ap-
parently simple properties of the atom are to be thrown out as de-
rivative and secondary, presumption points to repulsion as the com-
plex one. We could possibly account for phenomena in a universe
bound together by purely tensile stress, but most of the sensible
phenomena of solids — cohesion, affinity, tenacity, etc., including
nearly all of statics — remain hopelessly unattackahle problems un-
der a hypothesis of pure repulsion, like that of Le Sage, or Pres-
ton. It is to be noted that the kinetists who freely postulate repul-
sion and appulsion, without analysis, as a primordial fact, but re-
luct against compulsion or tension, are forced to the invention of
the most complicated and gratuitous mechanism and media to ex-
plain the phenomenon of gravity, and then without attainment of
result. Le Sage's atom is too complicated, even without his suppo-
sitious or extra-mundane operative machinery; and the vortex
atom is but a mere analytical expression for an unproducible con-
dition in a figmentary mathematical plenum.
The thesis that conservation is the characteristic by which we
identify objective existence will not bear the test of examination
It is only in the most recent times that such a quality has been
known or imagined, and its establishment, both as to matter and
energy, is justly viewed as the triumph of modern philosophy. The
evocation of matter from nothing and its relegation to nothing,
even by the finite will of a wizard, was ever a common and universal
notion, which did not at all impair the belief in its present reality
GENERAL MEETING. 61
and substantiality. We have only to go to Apuleius for this, and
it is doubtful if even now the notion of the indestructibility of mat-
ter is anything but a scientific conviction, for do we not see num-
bers of our contemporary fellow-citizens meeting together frequently
in our midst to witness feats of materialization out of nonentity by
powers akin to those of the sorcerer, without an idea of incongruity ?
Nor has the essentially modem doctrine of the conservation of en-
ergy anything to do with the belief in its reality. • Few people ap-
prehend it even now. No philosopher understood it a hundred
years ago. Its verity rests on a sufficiently general inductive basis,
from the refined and exhaustive experiments of Joule, and the the-
oretical conclusions of Mayer and Clausius, and it is accepted in
the same sense that the law of gravitation is accepted. But the
duality of matter and energy to the exclusion of force is a verbal
shift, the assumption of which removes no difficulty. Matter, the
object, remains unexplained ; and energy, the phenomenon, becomes
segregated and unintelligible. Energy, in fact, is but mass in phe-
nomenal manifestation, being a product of triple factors, two of
which — translation and speed — are not things, but variable and
evanescent conditions, and, taken together, constitute motion. Mass
is the absolute or persistent factor, but the evanescent character
of the variable component — motion — would render the entire phe-
nomenon— energy — apparitional, were it not for the distance re-
lation involved in motion, which, under the same inscrutable agency
which modifies and saps the motion renders it potential upon change
of sign. This agency, the dynamical source of the manifestation,
being central to mass and likewise persistent and constant, renders
the positive and negative potentialities of movement constantly
equal, and the actual and potential energies consequently comple-
mentary, from which energy gets its character of conservation.
Energy cannot therefore be that other reality of existence (be-
sides matter), since force is clearly the one reality at the bottom of
the manifestation of both, to whose persistence and resistance to
change, except through transformation, the conservation of both is
due. This one reality is, in its triple aspect of causation, (1) at-
traction— ^the source and modifier of motion ; (2) inertia — the con-
server of motion; and (3) repulsion — ^the distributer of motion;
or, more correctly, in its aspect of quality: (1) via eentripeta — ^the
power of mutual control across distance; (2) vis insita — ^the power
62 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
of persistence in state of motion impressed ; and (3) the distributive
power of imparting and acquiring motion by transfer, at minimum
distance, which may be called via pariiliva, the result of which is
Newton's vis impresm. Matter thus comes into the world of phe-
nomena by the simple presence of other matter, permitting the
exhibition of these comparisons and interactions, involving the
conditions of contiguity, distance, position, translation, direction,
succession or sequence, and time-rate for the continuous increments,
decrements, successions, and uniformities, all bound up in the com-
pound variable continuity — motion. With motion and distance
comes the dependent phenomenon — energy — active and potential,
which should be a constant, the numerical units of mass being con-
stant throughout immensity, provided the sum of the motions,
potential and actual, be constant. This the dynamical theory de-
duces from the fact of central force (for without force potential
motion is ridiculous), and the thesis of the conservation of energy
is a dynamical truth or nothing. It is therefore all the more ex-
traordinary that certain kinetists, who reluct against central force,
should have selected, out of all the manifestations of the universe,
the variable and conditional product — energy — to be the one reality
or objectivity, aside from the undefined hypostasis — matter — ^as a
primordial simple fact at the basis of phenomena. It has been
mathematically demonstrated by Mr. Walter R. Browne (London
Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine, January, 1883, p.
35) that the conservation of energy is true if the material system
is a system of central forces, and is not true if the system is any-
thing but a system of central forces. In fact, the ordinary theo-
retical proof of the principle of the conservation of energy assumes
the forces acting to be central forces, t. e., reciprocal stresses between
units of mass, as recognized by Clausius in his Mechanical Theory
of Heat. Moreover, the entire body of kinetists, who have aimed
to supersede gravity or central force, have freely assumed an extra-
mundane supply of motion and energy without regard to conser-
vation, and it is notable that every hypothesis for this purpose yet
broached involves the constant expenditure of work without re-
covery, and postulates the accession of energy in infinite influx
Irom some occult source, of which only a small portion relatively
is available or manifest in observable phenomena, thus violating all
three of the canons of philosophical ascription — true cause, sufficient
GENERAL MEETING. 63
cause, and least cause. Such is the power of conception of the un-
known in endeavor to explain the inconceivable known.
If the dynamic hypothesis of perpetual transformation of energy
could be established as a universal induction, with as much gen-
erality, e, g,y as the statement of the law of gravitation, it would
establish and confirm that law, by Mr. Browne's demonstration, as
something more than a law, to wit, the necessary constitution of
matter as a system of central forces and nothing more, substan-
tially as conceived by Newton and elaborated by Boscovich. At
present it is but a dynamic induction, but the theory of gravity is
no more. Our appliances are material, and we can deal with mo-
lar forces, but only indirectly and inferentially with those which
are atomic. Conservation is indubitably true of energy in the me-
chanical and molar sense, under the laws of dynamics and the per-
sistence of force. It is, also, experimentally true, so far as we can
trace it, of those less understood forms of energy which are mole-
cular or atomic, the establishment of which was the great glory of
Benjamin Thompson, Clausius, and Joule as to heat, and of a mul-
titude of observers as to electrical energy. We infer it as a gen-
eral truth of these energies (formerly known as imponderables,
since they are not manifestations of matter in the concrete), from
the fact of their convertibility with other modes of energy which
are undoubtedly dynamical, and also from the intimate connection
of electrical energy with one of the specific exhibitions of central
atomic force — magnetism. Such clews create a warrantable pre-
sumption that the phenomena in question will all ultimately be
classified among the modes of atomic mass and motion, inductively
as well as hypothetically. Possibly in the investigation of these
evanescent modes of energy the missing simple particle may come
to light. Provisionally, we are entitled to rank them among the
mechanical modes of energy, as products of the same material
forces, assuming, until the contrary is proved, that some form of
matter is concerned in manifestations so correlated by conservation
with undoubted material activities.
In including the imponderables within the general dynamical
law of conservation, we have to take account of the phenomenon
of dissipation, first pointed out by Sir William Thompson. It is ^
true that heat (as well as electrical energy) is strictly correlated
with and interconvertible with energy of mass motion, as before
64 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
stated, but in its final form ener^ seema to take leave of matter
altogether, so far as our perceptions can follow it, and disappear
as a material phenomenon (though liable to reappear wherever
matter is encountered whose particles are deficient in a like
species of atomic motion with that which disappeared ; which fact
indicates that atomic mass is still a factor, with its inherent prop-
erty of persistence and transference). The earth and all upon it
is radiating heat energy away into space at the constant rate of
500° F. of absolute temperature, more or less ; the sun and the
visible stars at the rate of many millions of degrees. Much energy
also passes ofi* in the luminous form. Of electrical and actinic
energies we know less, and of some we doubtless know nothing.
This amounts to a constant drain of the dynamical supply of
energy. These final forms, the radiant energies, have a remark-
able specific high cosmical velocity of their own, which is a func-
tion of something not material, or at least not molar. It is sup-
posable that, in addition to the dynamical source of motion from
central forces, and the contraction of systems in dimension which
supplies dissipation, there may be an inherent and primordial store
of atomic motion. The high proper motion of some of the stars,
beyond what can be accounted for on dynamical principles, and the
inexhaustible and enormous supply of radiant energy from the
visible stars, have afibrded grounds for such a surmise, but these
speculations do not belong to the domain of mechanics.
And here we must bear in mind that the dynamical theory, in plac-
ing these assumed agencies and modes of interaction in causal relation
to phenomenal motion, by no means predicates or can predicate any-
thing concerning absolute motion or its cause. The lack of this dis-
tinction may have proved a stumbling block to some in comprehend-
ing the idea of force. Were it not for the observed dissipation of
energy no system could become contracted in dimensions a particle
by the interactions of material forces, nor is there now any known
way by which the material system can be expanded in dimensions
except by the accession of motion from extra-miindane sources,
which there is no scientific mode of ascertaining. The sum of mo-
tions under the action of forces remains the same, and any change
would imply creation* or annihilation, which is not ascribable to a
material agency. Primordial dimension remains as inscrutable
a fact as ever, and primordial motion an unsolved problem.
GENERAL MEETING. 65
In conclusion, I know nothing of force except as a manifestation
of matter, and nothing of matter except through its manifesta-
tions. It is substance that interacts with substance, so far as we
know, always reciprocall}% and force is but the convenient transla-
tion of the terminology invented by Newton to designate these
several species or modes of action, in the word vis, with its appro-
priate adjective. He was arraigned by the Cartesians (and virtu-
ally is by their modern representatives) as the reintroducer of oc-
cult qualities into philosophy, but his statement was "hypotheses
nonfin^o" and to a similar charge brought against him by Leib-
nitz he pertinently replied that it was a misuse of words to call
those things occult qualities whose causes are occult though the
qualities themselves be manifest.
I have adopted gravity as the type of central inherent force —
vis centripeta — but I would not thereby be understood as excluding
from the category of material forces any and all other modes of
tensile or constraining force which may be hereafter made out as
specific, by the elucidation of such phenomena as affinity, cohesion,
tenacity, elasticity, ductility, viscosity, capillarity, polarity, mag-
netism, etc., now so little understood, any more than I would ex-
clude any form or mode of energy which may be observed, from
the category of material phenomena. The Newtonian doctrine of
force would not be impaired by such discovery, and its strength
lies in the fact that it as readily includes static phenomena — that
despair of the kinetist, who has no imaginable hypothesis by which
to range them under a form of motion — as it does kinematical phe-
nomena. Statical force (Newton's vis mortua) cannot be ignored
in a theory of force. The straw that breaks the cameFs back —
the very lightning that crashes through the sky — are familiar ex-
amples of its power made manifest. Its reality may be exemplified
by suspending two heavy balls of equal weight at equal heights —
one by an elastic cord, and the other by a tense string. The dif-
ference of effort required to displace the two vertically upwards,
which can be measured, makes sensible the. difference between the
two forms of balanced statical forces. In the one case the antago-
nizing force is suddenly withdrawn, and in the other gradually.
Wherever strain exists — and it is everywhere — there force is as
certainly present as when it becomes manifested in a stress relieved
by motion and measurable in terms of energy.
5
66 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
Let US, then, give up the standard of a priori conceivability^
in view of its many historical failures, and adopt as possible that
which is provisionally ascertained. The " ego " and the " cogito " —
Cartesian starting points — have proved barren and irrelevant in
Philosophy. True Philosophy is concerned with objectivity. The
data of consciousness, mainly acquired in infancy or in the womb,
are blind guides. Many an ego, whose brain was his cosmos, has
run through his brief subjectivity, but the order of nature endures.
The same facts are continually observed, verified, recorded, and
rectified, but the observers change. Their intelligent observations
add to the sum of knowledge. This is all the proof we need of
objectivity, and all we will get. The insoluble difficulties of Phi-
losophy have disappeared one by one since the happy thought of
eliminating them by observation entered. The immortals are those
who have successfully applied this method. It is only where ob-
servation fails that the insolubility lingers. Beyond the sphere of
the knowable it will continue, in spite of introspection. How mas-
terful is fact in the presence of the most intricate mental subtle-
ties. The ball leaves the bat, in spite of the inconceivability.
Galileo's plummet dropped from .the moving mast strikes the deck
and not the water, in spite of the inconceivability. The Earth re-
turns in its orbit, to the second, in spite of the sun's rapid fall
through space, and of the inconceivability. Two opposed horses
can pull no more than one, in spite of the inconceivability. The
guinea and the feather dropped in the exhausted receiver strike
the plate together, in spite of the inconceivability. The isochro-
nous pendulum swings through the widest arc in the same time as
through the smallest, in spite of the inconceivability. The minute
hand overtakes the hour hand, in spite of the inconceivability. The
magnet draws the iron with undiminished force through all pos-
sible interpositions, in spite of the inconceivability. Could an ex-
ception be found, the perpetual-motion "crank" would work a
greater inconceivability, by the instant contrivance of a power-
generating machine.
We need not aspire, therefore, to remove any of the inconceiva-
bilities of the external world. We must accept them as natural to
the finite comprehension, as necessary to faculties which act by
comparison, and above all as evidences of objectivity. On the
other hand we should avoid that opposite error of the introspective
GENERAL MEETING. 67
school, of deeming that probable, or in any way connected >vith
fact, which merely seems conceivable. I have shown that while
the simplest truths have generally proved inconceivable until found
out and established by genius, the greatest absurdities have had
ready currency without a doubt of their conceivability. This all
mythology shows. Such rubbish as " a thing cannot act where it
is not,'* and "a body cannot move where it is not," or "a cause
cannot precede its effect " — mere metaphysical assertions or subtle-
ties in face of everyday fact — were stumbling blocks for ages.
Such assumptions formed the basis of deduction in lieu of observa-
tion, and blocked the possibility of advance. And even yet, rigid
deduction from the most hare-brained premiss, if the chain of de-
duction is sufficiently intricate, seems to possess fascinations over a
verifiable induction, with many minds.
And now, if any ask, " cui bono " to the scientist, these philosophical
inquiries and intricacies when he has the vast field of unexplored data
still before him to occupy him, I answer, the queries of Philosophy
are not only the main-spring and final cause of science (her first
fruitful daughter and handmaid), but they, consciously or uncon-
sciously, dominate the methods and results of science herself.
Each investigator, even though in the domain of the most abstract of
the sciences, postulates more philosophy than he is aware of; and with
so much the more danger to final accomplishment if he assumes his
philosophical basis without examination. It is the errors of giant
minds that are dangerous, by their ponderosity. The infallibility
of the master, Aristotle, seemed to make investigation useless,
until the rise of parallel giants, like Galileo and Copernicus, stim-
ulated a new conflict of opinion. And Descartes, though harm-
less from all his productions within the metaphysical domain, is
dangerous by his very eminence and originality in science,
which gives vogue and currency to his monumental errors.
Although ao<|uainted with the true law of motion, his scheme
of matter evolved from consciousness would forbid all exhibi-
tion thereof A grand geometer, he erected a scaffold for
scaling immensity, and with unparalleled penetration perceived
how a purely ideal logic, if general, would represent truth in a
wholly dissimilar realm of deduction, if equally general. Strange
to say, this grand and useful discovery has become the engine, in
nihilistic hands, for overthrowing all the positive knowledge we
68 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
possess — the achievements of two thousand years of human efibrt.
Not only geometry — all that has survived to us of philosophical
value from the antique world — but the basis of positive dynamics,
as handed down from Galileo and Newton and Boseovich and
Dalton, are apparently undermined, for all that gives them intel-
lectual value — their certainty — unless an effort be made in the
neglected field of philosophy. With strange inconsistency these
advocates par excellence of the experiential origin of knowledge
are found in the same breath promulgating as possible truth mat-
ters not only non-experiential, but not representable in ideas de-
rived from or verifiable by experience, and avowedly originating
not from inductive generalizations — the only source of knowledge —
but in purely deductive processes in the old scholastic way, from
logical premises of bald assumption. In a similar way, in the
hands of the Greek sophist, language, a good servant, became a
vicious master, and made a chaos of all ethical achievement. A
remnant of knowledge, fortunately expressed, not in verbal, but
diagrammatic logic — ^geometry — was left, but only to fall now by
the hands of similar iconoclasts, armed with more potent destruc-
tiveness, in its full flower and fruit of twenty centuries of unmo-
lested growth.
It is time, therefore, to get back to Baconian ground, and while
using for its legitimate purposes the magnificent modern machinery
of analytical investigation in the field of abstract continuity — ex-
tension, motion, duration — not attempt to conjure with it as a source
of objective revelation, ^vhich no mere machinery can be. A scaf-
fold of 71 dimensions is as useless to the geometer as to the archi-
tect. To assume matter as continuous, simply because of the posses-
sion of a potent engine for the investigation of continuities, is to re-
peat the practice of certain quack specialists, who are prone to diag-
nose nearly every form of disease as a variety of their own peculiar
specialty. And to interview the symbols of a mathematical logic
for the prime definition of a fundamental objectivity, like force, is
to revert to a barren source of knowledge, by an obsolete process
in philosophy, and bar all progress in anything but abstract tech-
nique.
The paper was discussed by Mr. W. B. Taylor and Mr. Kum-
MELL.
GENERAL MEETING. 69
Mr. T. Robinson made a communication on
THE STRATA EXPOSED IN THE EAST SHAFT OF THE WATER- WORKS
EXTENSION.
[Abstract.]
The shafb (23' square in the clear) was begun in the bottom of
an old sand-pit at a level of 131.5' above tide. This sand-pit was
excavated in the side of a hill ; and recent cuttings have exposed
the strata from the hill-top to the level of the top of the shait.
Thus we have a vertical section of 188.5', extending from 171.5'
above tide (or 40' above the top of the shaft) to 17' below tide.
1. About 6" of surface soil.
2. A layer of gravel in red clay, about 4' thick, containing isolated
bowlders from a foot to two feet in their longest diameters.
3. About 24' of a mixed material, consisting mainly of sand and
kaolin. The two are sometimes uniformly mixed; at other
times they lie in separate masses of two or three feet in
thickness at one point, and run down to as many inches
at another. In short, the whole bed is a sort of " pell-mell "
of sand and clay.
4. A bed of sand, about IC thick, generally sharp and clean, but
var}'ing from coarse to fine grains, and streaked with iron
oxides, with pebbles near bottom of stratum.
5. A thin stratum of clay, about 2' thick, varying in color from blue
to red, and containing in spots fragments of lignite.
6. 2.5' of sharp, coarse, clean sand.
7. 32.5' of red clay, mottled with blue and gray, showing no lami-
nation.
8. h* of sandy clay, mottled as above. Between this stratum and the
clay above, there was no dividing line; the two beds blended
gradually along their line of union.
9. A bed of gray, clayey sand, 6' thick. In this bed occurred, on
one side of the shaft, some masses of sandstone, somewhat
more ferruginous than the surrounding sand, and on the
other side a tongue of clean, red clay.
70 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIfrrY OF WASHINOTOK.
10. A bed of aand with its upper ^
surface horizontal, having a
thickness of about 1' at one
side of the shaft and 4' on the «
other.
11. A stratum, about 2* thick, of
sandy mud, containing lignite.
The laininie of this bed were
horizontal, while its upper sur- {
face fell from north to south
at the rate of about one in
eight.
12. 6' of sund containing nodules of '
iron pyrites, isolated maases
of lignite, and pockets of red
clay,
13. A bed of fine, clean sand, con- ,
taiuing here and there a little >
clay. This bed was if thick, ^^
and gradually gave way to the
succeeding bed. "
14. A bed of sandy kaolin, 6' thick, '
very wet and difficult to work.
It was a regular morlar-bed
in consbtence. ,
15. A layer, 2" to 4" thick, of hard, "
ferruginous conglomerate.
16. 9* of blue-grey clay, hard, com- ^
pact, and possessing a very
unctuous feel. This bed con-
tained a bunch of rootlets, the
first trace of organic remains
below the lignite of No. 11,
17. A bed of clayey sand, streaked
with red, blue, and grey, 7'
thick, and gradually running
into the subjacent stratum.
GENERAL MEETING. 71
18. A bad of clean, white, sharp sand, about 2^ thick. (These last
nine feet were difficult to work. The material could not be
shovelled, and was too sandy to pump.)
19. A layer of red sand about V thick, containing on one side of
the shaft a clayey sediment with lignite, and on the other a
ferruginous conglomerate.
20. 5' of blue-black, hard clay, running into a sandy sediment,
and this, in turn, into the next stratum.
21. 3.5' of clean, white sand.
22. 2f of dark green, compacted sand, containing pebbles and
lignite.
23. 1.5' of fine, sharp sand, almost apple-green in color. Beneath
this lay the irregular surface of No. 24.
24. Dark, coarse-grained, soft, chloritic rock. This rock could be
easily removed by the pick to a depth of three feet, where
blasting was begun at about twenty-six feet above mean
tide. The rock grew harder as the depth increased for about
ten feet, when it became a chloritic gneiss, and in general
remained of that nature through about thirty feet to the
bottom of the tunnel grade, or seventeen feet below mean
tide.
255th meeting. June 7, 1884.
Vice-President Billings in the Chair.
Thirty-five members and guests present.
Mr. G. K. Gilbert presented a
PLAN FOR THE SUBJECT BIBLIOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICAN
GEOLOGIC LITERATURE.
Mr. J. W. Powell presented a slightly different plan for the
same purpose.
These plans proposed to establish at the outset a limited number
of divisions of the subject-matter of the literature and to simul-
taneously prepare a bibliography of each.
72 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. OF VVASHI^'GTO^^
Mr. J. S. Billings criticised the plans at length and advocated
that which has heen adopted for the indexing of the Libniry of
the Army Medical Museum.
Other remarks were made by Messrs. Antisell, Norris, Goode,
E. Farquiiar, F. W. Clarke, Harkness, Toner and Ward.
The meeting announced for October 11 was informally ad-
journed, to enable members to attend a meeting of the Anthropo-
logical Society, and listen to an address by Dr. E. B. Tylor, of
Oxford, England.
256x11 Meeting. October 25, 1884*
The President in the Chair.
Forty members and guests present.
The Chair announced the death, since the last meeting, of Dr.
Joseph Janvier Woodward, a former President of the Societv,
Gen. Orville Elias Babcock, and Gen. Benjamin Alvord.
Announcement was also made of the election to membership
of Messrs. Washington Matthews, Stimson Joseph Brow^n,
Tarleton Hoffman Bean, and Robert Edward Earll.
Mr. S. M. Burnett read a paper entitled —
ARE THERE SEPARATE CENTRES FOR LIGHT-, FORM-, AND
COLOR-PERCEPTION ?
controverting the theory which gives an affirmative answer to
the question, and maintaining, first, that there is no white-light
sensation that cannot be resolved into its constituent elements of
color sensation ; and, second, that the sense of form is an expres-
sion of the idea of extension as represented by the dimensions
of the area of the retina impressed. The idea of form is not
a purely visual sensation, but is based also on information derived
from other sources.
[The paper is published in the Archives of Medicine, Vol. XI [^
No. 2, October, 1884.]
GENERAL iMEETIXG. 73
Mr. T. Robinson read a paper entitled —
WAS THE EARTHQUAKE OF SEPTEMBER 19tFI FELT TN THE
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA?
[Abstract.]
At 3.20 p. m. of September 19 1 noticed a peculiar vibration of
the floor, table, and chair. I saw my ink shaking and heard the
door of the room rattling. The table and chair rocked in a north
and south direction. The sounds made by the door were at regular
intervals of something less than a second each. My room is on the
second floor of the Howard University building.
Immediately after the occurrence I inquired if other persons had
noticed anything unusual at that time. One had heard a rum-
bling, another had felt the shock, and a third had both felt and
heard it. The miners in the water-worlis' tunnel also heard a rum-
bling noise at about the same hour.
From the motion of my table and chair and the continued thump-
ings of the door I judge that the shock passed in the direction of
the meridian, and continued from ten to fifteen seconds.
There was no local cause for the phenomenon, and I concluded
that it was in some way connected with the earthquake that oc-
curred in the West at about the same time.
Mr. Paul remarked that the direction of the motion communi-
cated to buildings by a slight earthquake shock is not a reliable
index of the direction of the earth tremor. The azimuth, ampli-
tude, and period of vibration of the buildings arc functions of their
structure rather than of the azimuth, amplitude, and period of the
earth vibration.
Other remarks were made by Mr. H. A. Hazen and Mr. Elliott.
Mr. J. 8. Billings exhibited a collection of microscopes illus-
trating the evolution of the mechanical stage. The collection will
be sent by the Army Medical Museum to the New Orleans Ex-
hibition.
Mr. Billings read a paper by Mr. Washington Matthews on
NATURAL NATURALISTS.
[Abstnict.]
It is easy to understand that a savage may be well versed in the
knowledge of animals and plants which contribute to his wants.
74 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
but it is a matter of surprise that with equal care he acquires and
disseminates information about creatures which he does not use. I
have never yet failed to get from an Indian a good and satisfactory
name for any species of mammal, bird or reptile inhabiting his
country ; and I have found their knowledge of plants equally com-
prehensive. It is true that not all Indians are equally well in-
formed in this respect, but, as a class, they are incomparably supe-
rior to the average white man or to the white man who has not
made zoology or botany a subject of study.
There is a prevalent impression that Indians are unable to gen-
eralize ; and a paragraph goes the rounds of ethnological treatises
to the effect that the Chatas have no general term for oak tree,
but only specific names for the white oak, the black oak, the red
oak, etc. This impression is entirely erroneous. The Indian is as
good a generalizer and classifier as his Caucasian brother. His
system of classification does not fully coincide with that of the white
naturalist, because his system of philosophy leads him to base his
^oups upon a diffeient series of resemblances, but hb arrangement
is nevertheless the result of a process of generalization.
Mr. Ward remarked that his own experience fully sustained the
statements of the paper in regard to the botanical ignorance of
white men, but less fully in regard to the accuracy of Indian ob-
4servations. When collecting plants in Utah, he had found that
Piute boys and girls gave names to nearly all his specimens, dis-
criminating allied species ; but in collating the Indian botanical
names recorded by others, he had been led to suspect that certain
•discrepancies arose from failure to recognize the same species in
•different stages of development.
Mr. Mason said it is a canon of anthropology that things seem
marvellous to us only when we do not understaud them, every
human phenomenon being governed by law. Our ignorance in re-
gard to wild animals and plants is to be explained by the fact that
our activities do not bring us mto close relation with them, whereas
the savage is dependent on them for sustenance. The market-
women who bring herbs to Washington have names for them all,
and ignorant mechanics handle technical terms of their crafl with
great familiarity.
Mr. DuTTON said that his own acquaintance with the Navajos
GENERAL MEETING. /O
made him prone to believe that they diagnose species of plants, but
lie questioned their powers of generalization.
In illustration of Mr. Mason's remark that familiarity is con-
ditioned by contact, he related that rural rambles had made him
when a boy so familiar with the fauna and flora of his district that
he knew a name for every prominent species. As a man, he had
been occupied with other and different matters, and had lost this
Mr. Welijnq admitted that the Indian was an acute observer,
but questioned the propriety of calling him a naturalist. As illus-
trated by the paper, his methods of interpretation are metaphysical,
not scientific.
Other remarks were made by Mr. Hiloard.
267th Meeting. November 8, 1884.
Vice-President Billings in the Chair.
Forty-eight members and guests present.
Mr. Billings, on behalf of the General Committee, reported the
following resolutions:
Resolved, That this Society receives with deep regret the an-
nouncement of the the death, on the 17th of August last, of Dr.
Joseph Janvier Woodward, an ex -president of this Society and
one of its original founders.
Resolved^ That this untimely death has deprived science of one
of its most energetic, patient, and skilful workers and this Society
of one of its most efficient and distinguished members.
Resolved, That in our sorrow for this affliction we have some
consolation in the knowledge that his long and great suffering is at
last ended and that the fruits of his unceasing labors for the last
twenty-five years remain for the benefit of the world and as an en-
during monument to his memory.
Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions, duly authenticated,
be forwarded to his bereaved family.
In presenting these resolutions, Mr. Billings spoke briefly of
Dr. Woodward's work and his characteristics as a scientific man,
76 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
eulogizing his accuracy of observation, his delicacy of manipula-
tion, his conservatism as a theorist and as a critic of ne^v ideas^
and alluding to his delight in teaching and his interest in, and
affection for, the Philosophical Society.
Mr. Powell spoke of his remarkable acumen and his conspicu-
ous mental integrity; Mr. Gihon spoke of his boyhood ; Mr. Toner
of his ability as a practitioner ; and Mr. E. Farquhar of the im-
pression of great force conveyed by his presence and conversation.
The resolutions were unanimously adopted.
Mr. C. E. Button made a communication on
THE VOLCANOES AND LAVA FIELDS OF NEW MEXICO,
his remarks being illustrated by photographic lantern views, and
by a map exhibiting the boundaries of the region usually termed
the Plateau country.
[Abstract.]
Beginning at the north, the boundary of the Plateau countr}
runs along the southern base of the Uinta Range to the junction
of the latter with the Wasatch ; following the eastern base of the
Wasatch southward it strikes off towards the southwestern comer
of Utah ; thence turning due south it crosses the Colorado river,
and gradually shifts its course to the southeastward, preserving thij*
direction for nearly 400 miles and far into New Mexico ; here it
rapidly turns north northeastward, reaching iiito tlie Valley of the
Rio Grande, and follows the western bank of that river nearlv or
quite into Southern Colorado ; here the course of the boundary is
somewhat indeterminate, but is, in a general way, first northwest-
ward, then northward to the place of l>eginning. The western and
southern border of the Plateau province is usually sharply definefl ;
the plateaus end generally in great cliffs suddenly terminating the
horizontal strata, and the profiles drop down upon the rough, irreg-
ular topography of a type peculiar to the Great Basin. The
eastern border of the Plateau province is by no means so definite ;
the features peculiar to it pass rather by gradual transition into
those characterizing the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
Among the many geological features of this wonderful region,
the volcanic masses are not the least interesting. Volcanic action
has prevailed there upon a grand scale, and it may be first noted
GENERAL MEETING. 77
that volcanic rocks predominate around the borders of the
province. The interior spaces, while not wholly devoid of them,
show but a very small amount. The region of the High Plateaus
of Utah, which lies upon the western or northwestern border,
discloses a very large mass of lavas, erupted chiefly during
tertiary time, and representing almost continuous activity from the
eocene to the quaternary. Proceeding southward, we are never out
of sight of eruptive masses, and in the Unkarets, on the border of
the Grand Cafion, we find many scores of old and young cinder-
cones and some considerable lava-fields. In the San Francisco
Mountains we also have a vast field of volcanic rocks, and thence
southeastward they augment in volume and area until at the
southernmost extension of the Plateau country they become indeed
immense. Still following the boundary northward int(T the Valley
of the Rio Grande they are found abundant, and a singularly
interesting field is presented in the neighborhood of Mt. Taylor.
The speaker was engaged during the past summer in the geological
examination of the Mt. Taylor district, and it is of the striking
features there presented that he designs especially to speak.
Mt. Taylor is an old volcano long since extinct. Its altitude is
about 11,400 feet above the sea. It stands upon a high mesUy from
the summit of which it rises as an ordinary volcanic cone of con-
siderable magnitude — much larger than Vesuvius, much smaller
than iEtna. Its lavas are rather monotonous in type, so far as ex-
ternal appearances are concerned, consisting probably of basalts
and andesites. The mesa upon which it stands is of great extent,
being 40 miles long and 25 miles wide. It is composed of nearly
hT)rizontal cretaceous strata, capped everywhere with basalt or an-
desite, ranging from 200 to 400 feet in thickness. To the north-
east and to the south of it are similar high mesas, also capped by
basalt and andesite, but presenting no great volcanic pile like Mt.
Taylor. The only features which indicate volcanic vents are barely
noticeable hillocks, which scarcely afiTect the evenness of the hori-
zontal surfaces and which are wholly incommensurate, apparently,
with the vast lava caps upon which they occur.
These lavas are all of tertiary age. It would be diflRcult to say
to what divisions of tertiary time their activity should be assigned,
but it cannot have been very late tertiary and it is reasonably
certain that it cannot have been very old tertiary. In a general
78 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
way their activity is inferred to have prevailed in a period not far
from middle tertiary time — possibly in the miocene. The large
amount of erosion which has occurred since their eruptions ceased
forbids a much later period, and the still larger amount of tertiary
erosion which preceded this activity equally forbids a much earlier
one. •
Upon the summits of the mesas no recent eruptive rocks occur.
But in the broad valleys which lie between them and around them
are lavas of quite another age. These valley lavas are all recent.
Indeed the most superficial observer is at once impressed with the
freshness of their aspect, and critical examination confirms the
view that none of them have any geologic antiquity, while some of
them are so modem that it seems as if half a dozen centuries were
a large estimate of the time which separates us from their outflow.
These recent eruptions are basalts of normal type. The external
aspects of the fields of young lava resemble those of the Hawaiian
Islands. The two forms of solidified lava are well presented, viz :
the viscous or ropy, and the rough clinker fields.
A striking characteristic of both old and young lavas — those
upon the mesa summits and those in the valleys below — is the usual
though not universal absence of cinder cones or piles of fragmental
matter built up around the orifices from which the lavas were ex-
truded. The eruptions, with the exception of those of Mt. Taylor,
belonged to the quiet order which are typified among volcanoes
now active, by Mauna Loa and Kilauea.
But the volcanic remnants which appeal most strongly to the im-
agination of the observer, remain to be described. In the broad
valleys which separate the lava-cap{)ed mesas are seen many con-
spicuous objects rising as sharp peaks or aiguilles of rock to great
altitudes. They are very black in color, and contrast powerfully
with the bright tints of the sedimentary beds around them. These
peaks, which range in altitude above the valley plains from
700 or 800 feet to 2,000 feet» consist of columnar basalt. Thev
m
are, in fact, the ancient lavas which congealed in the volcanic
pipes, while the sedimentary strata which formerly inclosed them
have been swept away in the great erosion of the country. In that
long-continued and great denudation these " necks," by their more
adamantine character, have resisted the general decay, and remain
to attest the former extension of the strata over the valleys and the
GENERAL MEETING. 79*
existence, prior to their denudation, of volcanic extravasations-
which probably covered them wholly or in part. In the mesa walls
and on their slopes may be seen numerous instances of partially
excavated necks, while in others the necks are just beginning to be
exhumed. In the latter cases remnants of the old cinder-cones
which were piled up over their summits are still preserved, so that
natural sections of the whole apparatus are exhibited. There are
many scores of these necks, and the effects of erosion in unearthing
them are exhibited in all stages. Wherever the true neck or core
is disclosed the basalt is seen to be columnar, and the columns are
often arranged in beautiful fashions.
No more striking illustration and proof of a great erosion could
be mentioned than is here disclosed, and the region must become
a classic one, to be referred to by future geologists as an excellent
example of some of the grandest laws and processes with which
their science deals.
Mr. Powell spoke of the distribution of eruptions. They are
apt to occur on the faces of acclivities undergoing erosion, but not
on acclivities due to displacement. Near a fault they break through
the uplifted block rather than the thrown. They do not occur in
the bottoms of caiions.
In mapping the Plateaus he had thrown the boundary farther
north than Captain Dutton, so as to include a large area north of ^
the Uinta Mountains.
The peculiarly favorable conditions under which geology is
studied in the plateau region enable its features to be comprehended
without the doubts and the laborious compilation of details else-
where necessary. It results that while the structure of the Plateau
country is as well known as that of any equal area in the worlds
the literature of its geology is exceedingly small.
Other remarks were made by Messrs. White and Gilbert.
258th Meeting. November 22, 1884.
The President in the Chair.
Forty-nine members and guests present.
80 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
Mr. E. B. Elliott made a communication on
ELECTRIC LIGHTING,
which was discussed by Messrs. Hilgard, Welling, Mussey,
Paul, and Powell.
Mr. H. Allen Hazen made a communication on
THERMOMETER EXPOSURE.
[Abstract.]
In recent experiments for determining the relative values of tem-
peratures in city and country, it has been found that ordinarily, on
clear days, in the early morning, at 6 feet above ground, in the
country, temperatures are 4 to 5 degrees lower than in the city, and
also that the air is always nearly saturated in the country, but not
as nearly in the city. This is due more to intense radiation from
grass in the country, this cooling the air to the dew point, than to
the heating and drying from pavements and walls or chimneys of
houses.
To obtain a standard air temperature it is proposed to use bright
and black bulb thermometers joined together and swung over grass
ground under an umbrella, with no shade from trees or buildings,
in the day time. Under such circumstances the two thermometers
can be brought within 0.5° of each other, and the true air temjxjra-
ture may be taken as about as much lower than the bright-bulb as
that is lower than the black.
Recent experiments with six different thermometer shelters indi-
cate a general agreement, excej)t in the case of the Wild shelter.
The peculiar condition effected by the Wild shelter is inferior vcn-
tihition, and tlie experiments indicate the practical sufficiency of
the single-louvrcd shelter. To determine the humidity with the
psyehrometer in still air, the employment of artificial ventilation
is recommended.
Remarks were made by Mr. Paul.
259Tn Meeting. December 6, 1884.
By courtesy of the officers of the Columbian University, the
meeting was held in the lecture hall of the University building.
GENERAL MEETING. 81
Members of the Anthropological, Biological, and Chemical Societies
and their friends were present by invitation.
Mr. J. W. Powell, by request of the President, occupied the
Chair.
Present, one hundred and four members and guests.
The business of the evening was the presentation of the Annual
Address of the President, Mr. J. C. Welling. In introducing
him to the audience, the Chairman sketched the history of the
Society, describing the socio-scientific club of which it was the
offspring, and referring to the younger scientific societies of Wash-
ington, of which it might be regarded as the parent.
The President then read an address on
the atomic philosophy, physical and metaphysical.
[Printed in full on pp. xxix-lix.]
On motion of Mr. Guisgouy, the Society tendered its President
a vote of thanks for his efficient administration and instructive
address.
260th Meeting. December 20, 1884.
the fourteenth annual meeting.
The President in the chair.
The Chair announced the death, since the last meeting, of Mr.
Henry Wayne Blair.
The Chair announced the election to membership of Mr. Robert
Edwards Carter Stearns.
It was announced that the Mathematical Section would, in the
future, hold its meetings in the mathematical class room of the
Columbian University, the use of that room having been tendered
by the officers of the University.
The order of business was then read, and afterward the minutes
of the last annual meeting.
6
82 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTOX.
The report of the Secretaries were read and accepted. ( Printed
on page xxiii.)
The report of the Treasurer was read, received, and referred to
an Auditing Committee, consisting of Messrs. H. C. Yarrow, Mar-
cus Baker, and W. G. Winlock. (The report is printed on page»
XXIV and xxv.)
The minutes of the 258th and 259th meetings were read and ap-
proved.
The officers of the ensuing year were then elected. (The list is
printed on page xv.)
The rough minutes of the meeting were read, and the meeting
adjourned.
BULLETIN
OF THE
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON
MATHEMATICAL SECTION.
83
STANDING RULES
OF THE
MATHEMATICAL SECTION.
1. The object of this Siiction is the consideration and discussion
of papers relating to pure or applied mathematics.
2. The special officers of the Section shall be a Chairman and a
Secretary, who shall be elected at the first meeting of the Section
in each year, and discharge the duties usually attaching to those
offices.
•
3. To bring a paper regularly before the Section it must be sub-
mitted to the Standing Committee on Communications for the
stated meetings of the Society, with the statement that it is for the
Mathematical Section.
4. Meetings shall be called by the Standing Committee on Com-
munications whenever the extent or importance of the papers sub-
mitted and approved appear to justify it.
5. All members of the Philosophical Society who wish to do so
may take part in the meetings of this Section.
6. To every member who shall have notified the Secretary of the
General Committee of his desire to receive them, announcements
of the meetings of the Section shall be sent by mail.
7. The Section shall have power to adopt such rules of procedure
as it may find expedient.
85
OFFICERS
OF THE
MATHEMATICAL SECTION FOR 1884.
Chairman, Asaph Hall.
Secretary, Henry Farquhab.
LIST OF MEMBERS WHO RECEIVE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE
MEETINGS.
Abbk, C,
Avery, R. S.
Bakkr, M.
Bates, H. H.
Billings, J. S.
Burgess, E. S.
Christie, A. S.
Coffin, J. H, C.
Curtis, G. E.
DeLand, T. L.
doolittle, m. h.
Eastman, J. R.
ElMBECK, W.
Elliott, E. B.
Farquhar, H.
Flint, A. S.
Gilbert, G. K.
Gore, J. H.
Green, B. R.
Hall A.
IIarkness, W.
Hazen, H. a.
Hilgard, J. E,
Hill, G. W.
King, A. F. A.
KUMMELL, C. H.
McGee, W J
Newcomb, S.
Paul, H. M.
Lefavour, E. B.
Pkirce, C. S.
Ritter, \V. F. M'K.
Smiley, C. \V.
Taylor, W. B.
Upton, W. W.
Walling, H. F.
WiNLOCK, VV. C.
Woodward, R. S.
86
BULLETIN
OF THE
MATHEMATICAL SECTION.
>,10th Meeting. January 30, 1884.
The Chairman presided.
Seventeen members and guests present.
The Section proceeded, uoder Rule 2, to the election of a Chair-
man and a Secretary for the year 1884. On motion of Mr.
Elliott, the rules governing the elections of the Society were
adopted. The officers for 1883 — Mr. Hall, as Chairman, and Mr.
H. Fahquhar, as Secretary — were re-elected, after each had briefly
expressed a desire that the choice might fall on some one else.
Mr. KuMMELL read an extract from a letter lately received from
Mr. Artemas Martin, of Erie, Pennsylvania, in which the forma-
tion of an American Mathematical Society was recommended.
After some informal discussion, Mr. Winlock moved the appoint-
ment of a special committee, with instructions to report on the
advisability of taking steps for the formation of such a society.
On motion of Mr. Elliott, the matter was postponed.
Mr. KuMMELL then made a communication on
CURVES SIMILAR TO THEIR EVOLUTES.
in which he made use of the intrinsic equation, and showed this prop-
erty to belong to a whole class, of which the logarithmic spiral
is at one extreme and the cycloids are at the other.*
* Prof. Benjamin Poircc solved a problem almost identical with tluKS one,
in Gill's Maih€?natical Mlscdlany for May, 1839, by essentially the same
methods. This solution, which hud not been seen by Mr. Kummell at the
time of reading his j)apor, is believed to contain the fii-st use of what has
since become known as the "intrin.^ic equation."
87
88 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
Kemarks on this communication \Yere made by Messis. Chkistie
and Hill.
Mr. G. K. Gilbert made a communication on
THE PROBLEM OF THE KNIGHT'S TOUR.
[Abstract.]
The ordinary problem, requiring the knight to traverse the chess-
board and return to his original position in sixty-four moves, is
susceptible of very numerous solutions, and is not difficult. Its
interest is increased by extending it so as to include fields of other^
form and size.
It is readily shown that a perfect tour is impossible on any field
containing an odd number of squares.
A symmetric tour is one divisible into two or more similar -parts.
A tour has bilateral symmetry when one-half, being turned face
downward upon the other, coincides with it. A tour has hiradial
symmetry when one-half, being rotated through 180** about the cen-
ter of figure, coincides with the other half. A tour has qiiadri-
radial symmetry when its fourth part, being rotated through 90**
about the center of figure, coincides with the adjacent quarter.
A tour having bilateral symmetry cannot be devised on a field
containing a number of squares divisible by four.
A tour having biradial symmetry cannot be devised on a field
whose number of squares is divisible by two and not by four.
A tour having quadriradial symmetry cannot be devised on a
field whose number of squares is divisible by eight.
It follows that on square fields the tour is impossible if the num-
ber of spots on a side is odd ; bilateral symmetry is never possible ;
quadri-radial symmetry is possible only when the number of squares
on a side is the double of an odd number. The only symmetry
possible on a chess-board is biradial.
The above conclusions are deductive. It is determined empiri-
cally that the smallest square field on which the tour can be exe-
cuted is that with 36 spots. Upon this field the number of possible
tours with biradial symmetry is twenty-one, of which five have
also quadriradial symmetry.
Remarks on this communication were made by Messrs. Elliott
and Hall, who called attention to previous work on the subject.
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 89
11th Meeting. February 20, 1884,
The Chairman presided.
Eighteen members and guests present.
Mr. H. Farquhar made a communication on
EMPIRICAL FORMUL/13 FOR .THE DIMINUTION OF AMPLITUDE OP
A FREELY-OSCILLATING PENDULUM.
[Abstract.]
The theoretical formulae usually employed are obtained by in-
tegration from an expression for the diminution of the amplitude
in terms of the amplitude itself. The most important term in this
expression is one involving the first power of the apiplitude, indi-
cating a resistance proportional to the velocity of the pendulum's
motion. A term containing the square of the velocity (or ampli-
tude) also enters; and, to allow for the friction of the pendulum
knife-edge on its support, a term independent of the velocity would
have to be added. Atmospheric resistance to very high velocities
is found, moreover, to be proportional to a higher power than the
square of the velocity. There are thus more than three terms the-
oretically required to express the resistance, and these must be
calculated, such is the uncertainty of the subject and the complex-
ity of the conditions on which the different resistances depend, from
the observations themselves. Since these observations must also
be depended on for an additional constant (the amplitude at some
initial time or the time of some standard amplitude), and since
they are not complete or exact enough to furnish more than three
constants, or four in a few exceptional cases, it is obvious that a
good approximation to theory must content us in practice.
Two convenient methods of representing amplitude in tcrma of
time are suggested by imposing arbitrary conditions. First, taking
three terms to express the diminution (the amplitude being v), thus:
a -\- b<p -}- c<f^,
suppose the square of half the middle co-efficient equal to the
product of the other two. This expression has then the form :
I (? + by.
90 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
Integrating this value of — D^ip^ and supplying a constant, we
have :
(^ + ^)a — 0 = a,
in which the constants a + &€, e and — 6, are easy to calculate by
least squares.
To show the agreement of this formula with observation, take
Mr. Pierce's ** mean swing " at three European stations (U. S. Coast
Survey Report for 1876, appendix 15, pages 232, 271) and apply
h = 29'.2, e = — 7632', a = 75G847, in calculating tp from U Hence
the following table :
L
f , obs*d.
f , calc'd. I
Residuals (1st).
Residuals ('^
—2880-
\W
130'.07
-0^.07
-c.ie
-2187
110
109 .80
+0.20
+ 0.13
-1779
100
100.11
-0.11
-0.04
-706
80
80.08
-0.08
+ 0.24
0
70
69.97
+0.03
+0.40
+ 1927
50
49.98
+0.02
0.00
-f3304
40
40.01
-0.01
-0.66
The agreement (in column " residuals, 1st") is as close ns could
bo desired. The cciuation is that of the equilateral hyperbola, with
asymptotes parallel to the axes of if and L This a^rreemcnt can
be made still "closer b}' inclining one of the asymptotes, a term
— c{i — (if being added. There are thus four constants to com-
pute ; but this form of equation has the advantage of having its
constants directly dcduciblo by least square reduction. With the
additional term, a perfect agreement between theory and the most
precise observations hitherto made can be attained. As an instance,
the thirty-five observations of amplitude, from over 2** down to IC,
given by Prof Oppolzer in the Proceedings of the Vienna Academy
for October, 1882, were compared with the formula
{if- A- 60'.6 1 {I + 10.8j - 0.5 {i + 10.8/ = 2178.1
(the unit of i being an interval of about 5'".7) and of the residuals,
which need not bo given in detail, the largest was 0'.8. A s.imilar
accordance was found in a set of observations extending over six
hours, the pendulum swinging under less than half an inch of
atmospheric i)ressure. (See Mr. Pierce's report, page 248, last two
columns combined.) In this formula.
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 91
0,9 = - 2^ {(y + by - Aac + {v + b) l/(?'4-6)'-4ao}
= _-L(^ + jy + 3, + _^+etc.
The correction to the time of oscillation (tt: 2) ^ <P J involves
the logarithm of i — e, and is not very simple in practical applica-
tion.
The second convenient method is the one by which the residuals
in the last column of the table above given were calculated. In
this the rate of diminution is supposed proportional to 9? ^ "^ ", n be-
ing a proper fraction. Hence,
n . —1 2 ??a" na<f
<p (f — c) = a, and D^ <p = 2 — =
(2-w) (<-e)n~^ 2-n
This formula is very simple, and the table shows its agreement
with observation to be fair for the larger amplitudes — ^those of chief
importance. In this calculation n = ^, e = — 10716", and a =
89400. Better results would have been obtained by using a slightly
smaller value of ?/, say 0.44 ; but in practice the nearest tenth or
reciprocal of a whole number is sufficient. In reducing the obser-
vations given by Prof Oppolzer, n was taken equal to 0.28 ; but
one of the residuals exceeded 1', though two others were as high as
0'.9. The observations at low pressures, above referred to, indi-
cated a much smaller n. By using the value 0.04, however, the
a^rreement of formula and observation was perfect, n thus appears
to be nearly proporticmal to the square root of the atmospheric
pressure; but when very small, it may be supposed to vanish, and
^^* replaced by the logarithm of <p. In this case e will of course
be the time of unit-amplitude, instead of that of infinite amplitude
as in former cases.
^No two observations of the diminution of amplitude of the same
pendulum will in general be found to be copies of each other, for
differences in atmospheric conditions and in friction on the support,
imperceptible otherwise, will manifest themselves in a changed rate
of diminution. Even in calculating the correction for different
parts of one extended swing, it is advisable to adopt different values
of one or other of the constants found. By so varying the quan-
92 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
tity e, in the formula last given, all disadvantages from its want of
exact accordance with observation disappear, and the results are
brought far within the needful limits of accuracy.
Mr. Gilbert then stated
A CONCRETE PROBLEM IN HYDROSTATICS,
suggested by the fact that the shore-line of a quaternary lake in
the Great Basin is shown by levels to be more than a hundred feet
higher on elevated land, that once formed islands near its niitldle
part, than on the margin of the lake. This inland sea, known as
Lake Bonneville, was one hundred and twenty miles across. Among
the possible explanations of the present difference of level, the
effect of the removal of a large body of water in changing the form
of level surfaces in its basin had been suggested, and the problem
was to find how great an effect was due to this cause.
In the discussion that followed, Mr. Paul called attention to the
complexity of the calculation of equipotential surfaces.
Mr. Woodward had formerly made a somewhat similar compu-
tation to ascertain the deflection of the plumb-line caused by un-
equal local attraction to eastward and to westward at the eastern
end of Lake Ontario ; from which it appeared to result that the
effect due to this cause was insignificant in comparison with that
required by the problem.
Other remarks were made by Messrs. Doolittle, Hill, H. F\r-
QUHAR, and S. J. Bi:own.
At the request of the Chairman, a communication promised by
him was postponed until next meeting.
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 93
12th Meeting. March 5, 1884.
The Chairman presided.
Fifteen members present.
Mr. A. Hall read the following paper on
THE FOllMUL/E FOU COMPUTING THE POSITION OF A SATELLITE.
The method of rectangular co-ordinates in space furnishes a very
simple and at the same time a general method of treating many
questions in astronomy. This method was introduced into practical
astronomy by Lagrange in his memoir on the Transit of Venus,
June 3, 1769 (Berlin Academy Memoirs, 1766). Whenever we
have to consider the relations of three points in space, we may take
the origin of co-ordinates at one of the points, and then forming
the values of the rectangular co-ordinates of the other points in
terms of the polar coordinates, the sum or difference of two of the
X co-ordinates being equal to the third x co-ordinate, we have an
equation between the three polar co-ordinates. Similar relations
hold for the axes of y and 2, and hence result three equations be-
tween the two angles and the distance that are required to be
found. This method is extremely useful, and can be applied to a
great number of questions in parallax, aberration, eclipses, and to
those that occur in nearly every part of spherical astronomy. A
great recommendation of this method is its simplicity, and the fact
that it is so closely connected with first principles that it can be
applied with the greatest ease. After the equations are formed
they have only to be transformed by known rules, and the whole
Tvork is thus reduced to algebraic and trigonometric transformations
which can be safely made. These advantages are so great that it
is not surprising that this method of treating astronomical ques-
tions has come so largely into use, and the generality and elegance
of the process are in marked contrast with the old methods which
proceed by spherical trigonometry. Perhaps a disadvantage of the
new method is that it is too mechanical, and one is apt to forget or
never know the meaning of the quantities that are employed. The
old geometrical methods have therefore their value in calling to
mind a more exact knowledge of the quantities that are used in
the solution of a problem.
94 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
In the method which Bessel has employed for computing the
position of a satellite, he has derived his formula by Lagrange's
method. Thus if cc and ^ be the apparent right ascension and
declination of the planet at any instant, a\ J' the same quantities
for the satellite, and if /w and / be their distances from the earth,
and if r be the radius vector of the satellite, and a aud d its right
ascension and declination seen from the planet, we have, by the
method of rectangular co-ordinates,
/>' cos d' cos (/ s= ft cos <? cos a -h ^ cos d cos a
/o' cos o' sin «' = /> cos o sin a + r cos d sin a (1)
f/ sin <5' = /o sin <? -f ^ sin d
If p and 8 are the angle of position and distance of the satellite
with respect to the center of the planet, the spherical triangle
formed by the pole of the equator, the planet, and the satellite
gives us the following equations :
cos 8 = sin d sin o' 4- cos 0 cos (^ cos («' — a)
sin 8 coap = cos ^ sin (Y — sin d cos fY cos («' — a) (2)
sin a sin J!; = cos (f sin («' — a)
If iVand J he the longitude of the node of the orbit of the sat-
ellite on the equator, and its inclination to the equator, and n the
distance of the satellite from the node counted on its orbit, we have
cos d sin (a — N) = sin u cos J
cos d cos (a ■— N) = cos n (3)
sin d ='sin u sin J
These three sets of equations are fundamental, and are sufficient
for the complete solution of the problem — Given the orbit of a sat-
ellite to determine its apparent angle of position and distance. We
have only to transform these equations, and, in order to ease the
computation, to introduce, as Bessel has done, certain auxiliary
quantities which depend on the position of the planet in the heavens,
and the position of the orbit of the satellite with respect to the
equator. These auxiliary quantities will of course vary with the
position of the planet, and also from the slow changes that the node
and inclination of the orbit undergo, but they can be tabulated
easily. So far therefore, as the practical solution of this question
is concerned there is not much more to be desired, but it is interest-
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. - 95
ing to look at the problem from another point of view, and one
that will lead us to consider more closely its geometry.
Imagine a set of rectangular axes in space, the origin being at
the center of the planet, and denote by X, F, Z the points on the
celestial sphere made by the intersections of these axes. Let S be
the point where the prolongation of the radius vector of the satel-
lite strikes the sphere ; then we have for the co-ordinates of the
satellite
a; = r. cos SX
y = r. cos 8Y
z = r, cos SZ
We can express these cosines by means of six auxiliary quanti-
ties similar to those that Gauss has used for computing the position
of a planet. Take the prolongation of the right line drawn from
the earth to the planet as the axis of Z, the axis of Y in the plane of
the declination circle that passes through Z, and the axis of Xat
right angles to this plane and in the direction of increasing right
ascensions. Let 0 be the pole of the equator and T the positive
pole of the orbit of the satellite. Introduce the following notation,
which is the same as Bessel's :
arc TX = /, angle OTX^ F
" TY=^g, " OTF= G
" TZ=h, " OTZ =^ H
Since the arc T/S = 90'', the spherical triangles STX, JSTY, and
STZ give
cos *SX = sin / cos STX
cos /SF= 8in^cos6TF
cos SZ = sin h cos STZ
The distance of the satellite in its orbit from the node being u^
and the angle OTN being 90°, we have ,
STX = 90° -(F+ a)
STY.= 90°-((?+ u)
STZ = 90° - {H+ M)
And the values of the co-ordinates are therefore :
X = r. sin /sin (F ■+■ %i)
y = r. sin ^ sin ( G + u) (4)
z = r. sin /* sin (H + u)
96 PIIILOSOPIIJCAL SOCIETY OF WASUINGTON.
These are the values at which Bessel arrives by the analyiical
method. The arcs/, g, h are always less than 180°, and the only
difficulty is in counting the angles -F, G, U. In the purely ana-
lytical process we merely substitute so as to satisfy the equations,
and the result is right if we pay attention to the algebraic signs;
but in the preceding quasi geometrical method we must be carefiil
to count the angles F, G, Hm the direction of increasing right
ascensions from 0° to 8C0°. The ibrmulae for computing the six
auxiliary quantities can be found from the spherical triangles
TOX, TOY, TOZ. In these triangles the angles at 0 are
TOX= 180°- (a - iV)
TOr= 90 -(«- JV)
TOZ =3 90 + (« - iV^)
Hence, we have
cos / = — sin J cos (a — N)
sin / sin -P = — sin (a — N)
sin /cos i^ = cos J cos (a — N)
cos g = cos 0 cos J + sin ^ sin J" sin (a — K)
sin g sin (7 = — sin ^ cos (a — JV) (5)
sin g cos G = cos «5 sin J — sin (5 cos J sin (a — iV)
cos /i = sin <J cos J — cos d sin J' sin {a — N)
sin h sin H — cos o cos (a — iV)
sin h cos JT = sin <5 sin »7 + cos d cos J" sin (a — W)
The computation of these formulae may be changed by introduc-
ing other auxiliary quantities, as is commonly done, but nothing is
gained by such a change if the computer is accustomed to the use
of addition and subtraction logarithms.
By means of the spherical triangles we can find a number of
elegant relations among the quantities /, g, h, F, O, H, But we
have first
cos/* -j- cos ^ + cos A' = 1,
or these are the direction cosines of the line drawn from the planet
to the pole of the orbit of the satellite.
The triangle XTF gives
cos XY = cos XT cos YT + sin XT sin YT cos XTY,
and we have XY = 90°, XTY ^ F — G,
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 97
hence the values of cos XY, cos YZ, cos ZZ furnish the equations
cos {F— G ) = — cotg / cotg g
cos ( (r — jy ) = — cotg g cotg h (6)
cos (IT— i^) = — cotg h cotg /
Again the triangle XTY gives
cos/= sin g cos TYX,
and from the triangle TYX
sin /i sin rTZ= sin TYZ,
but TYX- ryz=90°,
and YTZ^-{G-H\
hence these equations and similar ones give
. x^ ^v cos A.
sin (F — G) =■ -^—r-' —
^ ^ sin/sm^
sin(G-jy)=^-^^. (7)
^ ^ sm <7 siu h ^ ^
cos o
sin /i sin /
By combining equations (6) and (7), we have
_ cos f cos a
rn TT\ cos .7 cos h
cotang (G - If) = - ^^s/
, „ ■■-,. cos h cos /"
co8/' = cotg(F- 0) cotg (IT- F)
cos^' = cotg (0—H) cotg (F — 0)
cos A' = cotg (H— F) cotg (G — fl")
• /._ cos(G--H-)
^'"•^ - ~ sin (F- G) smlH- F)
COB (H-F)
'^^^ = ~ iiuiG-H)sia(F- O)
. ,, cos(F-Q)
sin A sia{S- F) sin iG-H)
7
98 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
These six auxiliary quantities are therefore strictly analogous to
those which Gauss introduced for computing the position of a
planet. For controlling the computation, we have
sin g sin h sin ( JT — (?)
° "" sin / cos F
an equation in which each of the six auxiliaries enters into the
value of J,
If we introduce another auxiliary quantity, and put the angle
TZO = 180° - h,
it follows, from the manner adopted for counting an angle of
position, that
TZO = 180° - (p - it).
Denoting the angle between the radius vector and the axis of
Z by ff, the spherical triangle TZ& gives
sin o sin (^ — /;) = cos ( JT + u)
sin <f cos (|) — A:) = sin {H + u) cos h (8)
cos <r = sin ( JT + ^) sin h
But we have also
fi sin 8 = r sin <r
// cos « = r cos <f -\- p^
and by uniting these equations with (8), we can find % and p. This
method of finding the distance and the angle of position is due to
Marth, and as it is in constant use by him for the very convenient
ephemerides of satellites which he publishes, it may be well to con-
sider it further. If we multiply equations (8) by r, and then sub-
stitute the values of r sin a and r cos o from the last equations^
we have
/ sin « sin (p — ^) = r cos {S + «)
p' sin « cos (j» — A;) = r sin {M-\- u) cos A (9)
, / cos a = r sin (Jtl-\- u) sin A 4- />
Instead of these exact equations we may use in nearly all known
cases of satellites the first two equations and put p for // and « for
sin «. The equations for use are then
T
8 sin (p — k) = — cos (H-{- u) (10)
r
r
8 COS (p — k) = — sin (H + \i) coa h
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 99
If we express a and r in seconds of arc, and assume that the orbit
is circular, — will be the semi-major axis of the apparent ellipse
described by the satellite, and — cos h will be the semi-minor axis.
V T
The quantities — , — cos ^, H and Ic can be tabulated, and equa-
tions (10) furnish the easy method of computing 9 and p which is
employed by Marth (Monthly Notices, Royal Astronomical Society.)
For computing h we have from the triangle TZO
sin A sin & = cos (« ■— jV) sin J
sin A cos A; = — sin (a — iV) sin J sin <5 — cos J" cos ^ (11)
and, also, sin A sin ^ = — cos/
sin h cos ^ = — cos g
In what precedes it is assumed that the orbit of the satellite is
known. If this orbit is not known the easiest method of proceed-
ing seems to be the following : First, we assume the orbit of the
satellite to be a circle, and from the observed angles of position
and the observed distances determine the major and minor axes of
the apparent ellipse described by the satellite around the planet,
and the angle of position of the minor axis. Generally these
quantities can be found by a graphical method. The preceding
angle h is the angle of position of the minor axis, and cos h is found
from the ratio of the two axes. Then from the triangle TOZ we
have the equations
sin J cos (JV — a) = sin h sin h
sin J" sin (iV — a) = cos h cos <? + sin h sin <J cos k (12)
cos J = cos A sin <J — sin K cos ^ cos h
With the approximate values of J" and iV found from these equa-
tions we can compute the auxiliary quantities depending on the
position of the plane of the orbit and the position of the plai^et,
and can determine the elements belonging to the plane of the orbit.
These approximate elements can afterwards be corrected by equa-
tions of condition or by other methods.
In work of this kind it is more convenient lo have the inclination
and node of the orbit referred to the equator, and since these ele-
ments are commonly given with respect to the ecliptic we have to
transfer them to the equator. If n and i are the node and inclina-
100
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
tion referred to the ecliptic,' £ the obliquity of the equator, and w
the distance from the ecliptic to the equator counted on the orbit,
we have the following equations for finding J, iV, and u\ These
equations come from the triangle between the equator, the ecliptic,
and the orbit of the satellite. They are similar to those given in
the Theoria Mot, Art. 55,
sin } J cos
sin i J sin
tv - N
2
w ^ N
~2
w + N
n
e + t
= cos *n" Sm rt"
n .
sm TT sin
e — t
cos i J cos ^ — = cos -TT cos
2
n f + t
i^-cos— jj-
s — i
^ - . 10 + N , n
cos i J sm — 2 — == s'° "5" ^os " ~9 —
For the inverse problem of finding t, N, and w from J^ iV, and
e, we have from the same triangle
n — w N J — £
2"
N
2
cos i I cos — n — '-^- cos TT cos
, . . n " w
cos i I sm r; = sm — cos
2
sm J t cos — ,^ - = cos ^ sm — ^ —
?i -}- It' . ^ J -{- e
sin } I sin ~" "o" ' = sin o" sin — ^ —
2
n -T- w
POSITION OF A SATELLITE.
Y
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 101
!rX = /, OTX = F, OT == J, STZ = 90° — (H+ u)
TY^g, OTY= G, OY = d, TZO = 180° - k
TZ = A, OTZ = iZ, OZ == 90° - o^ TZ^ = 180° - (p - k)
NS^ u, NOZ^ a--N, TOZ= 90°+(a — N), SZO = 360° -p
TOX=^ TOY + 90 = 180° - (a - iV')
Nis the pole of OT, /. iV^OT = NTO = 90°
In response to a question, Mr. Hall said that in computations
of orbits of double stars, as little reliance should be placed upon
measures of distance as possible. Variations of angular velocity
are far safer.
Mr. G. W. Hill made a communication on
A FORMULA FOR THE LENGTH OF A SECONDS-PENDULUM,
which is published in full in the Astronomical Papers of the
American Ephemeris, Vol. HI, Part 2, Chapter V.
13th Meeting. March 26, 1884.
The Chairman presided.
Fourteen members present.
Mr. Alex. 8. Christie made a communication on
A FORM OF THE MULTINOMIAL THEOREM.
This communication is reserved by the author. Remarks were
made by Mr. Hill.
Mr. R. S. Woodward gave a
discussion of a concrete problem in hydrostatics
proposed by mr. g. k. gilbert.
Remarks on this communication were made by Mr. Gilbert.
Mr. C. H. KuMMELL gave the first part of a communication on
THE QUADRIC TRANSFORMATION OF ELLIPTIC INTEGRALS,
which was unfinished when the hour of adjournment arrived.
102 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTOX.
14Tn Meeting. May 7, 1884.
The Chairman presided.
Nine members present.
In the absence of the Secretary, the minutes were read by Mr.
Christie.
Mr. KuMMELL finished the paper begun by him at last meeting on
THE QUADRIC TRAXSFORMATIOX OP ELLIPTIC INTEGRALS,
COMBINED WITH THE ALGORITHM OF THE
ARITHMETICO-GEOMETRIC MEAN.
[Abstract.]
The algorithm of the arithmetico -geometric mean, so remarkable
for its symmetry and convenience, was first used by Gauss many
years before the brilliant era of Abel and Jacobi. The form which
the theory of elliptic functions assumed under the hands of these
eminent geometers, though extremely beautiful, might be improved
from a practical point of view by a combination with the Gaussian
algorithm. In the attempt to do this, the defects of the usual nota-
tion became very annoying, and gradually the new, simple, and
consistent system of notations, as used in the following, resulted :
I assume for the type of an integral of the first species.
V « — i" sin <f J ] w cos -<i
V + ^" sin V
O o
9 9
= r ^^^ =r ^^ =^y (1)
J y \—f sin V J \ t-'os V + (^^ sin V / v ^
o o
For the inverse of this I write u^y = $?. (2)
By (1) WT have the modulus y -= -- and the complementary modu-
lus/S'= - . The letters y and /5 are used throughout as symbols for
c b ,
- and ~ , respectively, and are expressed in a, b, and c whenever
required.
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 103
In the theory of elliptic functions, sin amti, cos amtt, A amtt
(Jacobi's notation) or snw, cnw, dnw (Gudermann's notation), the
elliptic quadrant K (Jacobi) is the numerical unit of their period.
Consistency requires the use of the quadrant as a unit for trig-
onometric functions also. Let _J denote a circular quadrant (ordi-
narily denoted -Q-) ; then we have, by the notation just explained,
J
''^ :JyC=jE' of Jacobi). (3)
/
l/l — f sin V
The complementary integral then
J
' y, \ . , = J/3 (= K' of Jacobi). (4)
l/l — p^ sm V
S:
If n is an integer, then, and only then, (n _J)y = w _Jy. (6)
Thus we should be careful in distinguishing' between integrals
such as
iJ J
(i_J)y = I /i r, -=7= ^"^^ J -Jy = J I /i V .===
o o
According to the system of notation just explained, it is unneces-
sary to use the Jacobian am or the Gudermannian n, neither of
which define the functional relation completely, and we write simply
. sin ^ = sin u^y (= sin amw of Jacobi or
SUM of Gudermann) .
cos <p = cos u-.y (= cos amu of Jacobi or
cntt of Gudermann)
l/l — y* sin V = A ^ = A u—y (= A amw of Jacobi or
dnit of Gudermann) (6)
I remark that none of the usual notations indicate the modulus,
and a grave objection to Gudcrmanu's is that it is apt to give the
impression that snt^ and cnu are not an ordinary sine and cosine.
I shall now give in this notation a number of well-known relations,
of which use will be made hereafter. The theorem of addition is,
if u and v are two integrals to the modulus y.
104
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
sin (U lb t;)_y = sin tl—y cos V—y A V—y ±z sin V—y COS U—y ^ ie_y
-f- 1 — Z'' sin *^M— y sin v—y
cos (t* zh V)— y = cos U^y cos V_y =F SIH U—y A l*_y sln U-y A V_y
-T- 1 — ^ sin 'M_y sin i'_y
A (« lb v) -7 = A w -y A i;_y =p ^^ sin « _y cos «_y sin v—y cos »— y
H- 1 — y^ sin hi^y sin r_y (7)
•
We have sin (± _|) = ± 1
cos (± _J) = 0
^ (± J) = /5 (8)
therefore, replacing v by Jy, we have
cos 1i— y
sin (m lb _}y) = lb
cos (w =b _Jy) = lb /5
A (W dl Jy) =
A U— y
sin M^y
/5
(9)
A W_y
Replacing in these tihy u ± _Jy, we have
sin (w =b 2 _Jy) = — sin ti-y
cos (« zb 2 _Jy) = — cos U—y
A (tt ± 2 Jy) = A 14_y (10)
It follows, replacing in these t* by n + 2 _Jy, that 4 _]y is the
complete period of the elliptic sine and cosine and 2 _Iy that of the
delta.
Placing t* = V, we have the duplication formulae:
sin (2m) _y = 2 sin u—y cos u-y ^ u—y-~l — y^ sin *U^y
cos ( 2w) _y = COS hi -y — siu ^U _y A ''ti _y -H 1 y* sin *U —y
A (2m) _y == A *M_y— y* sin ^u__y cos^w-y -f- 1 — y^ 8in *«--y (11>
Replacing in these u by } w and solving, we have the dimid na-
tion formula) :
sin* ("o")-y = 1 — cos tt_y -5- 1 + A U-y
cos* f -^ j_y = A M._y + COS tt_y -5- 1 + ^ "-y
A* ("o-)-y = P^ + A «_y+ y* C08U_y-^ 1 -I- A «_j
(12>
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 105
Jacobi's imaginary transformation consists in afisuming
sin ^=5 1 tan (jf
1
or cos <p = 7
^ cos V'
""' ' ^ ^ = 3^1/1 -'5'«i'»V'=3^A(^^)_y (13)
9 ^'
., . r dip . r dil'
then tt = I — = * I /., .a ■ 17
J A^ J i/l— /3^8mV
o " o
or u=: ipy= iiffp (14)
therefore, by (13),
sin U-y = I tan ( "^) -/? = "7~^° (m^)-P
C0flt*-7 =
cos (ui)^B
cos ■ — • - ^ ^ p
(f).
cos
T^- ^ (t) -^ =° C08 liD-p ^ ^"')-^ fl5>
Using these relations in (7), wc obtain the following formulae
for elliptic functions, with complex arguments and complementary
moduli :
sin (tt ±: vi)-y ^ sin u^y A v-p ± i cos u-y A u^y sin v-p cos v-/?
-r- 1 — A 'm_j/ sin ^y-/?
cos (tt ±: vi)-y = cos u-y cos v-/? =P i sin w-y A tt-y sin v.p A v_/j
-7- 1 — A ^u-y sin *v-/?
A (tt ±: vi)-y = A tt-y COS V-/? A v-p ^ y^ i sin tt-y cos tt-y sin v-p
-f- 1 — A '^M-y sin h.p (16)
We have sin (_|/3)-^ = 1
cos ( J/?)-/3 = 0
A(J.3)-/^ = r (17)
106 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
therefore, replacing in (16) v by _]/?, we have
sin (u dt J/J *)-/? =
Y sin t«-y
cos(ti dz J^i)-/?= + i f^^-^
A (ti ± _],3 0-/? =s q= I cot W-y (18)
Placing in these u ±: J/3 i for ii, we have
sin (ti ±: 2 __l/3 i)-y = sin u^y
<
cos (w =lz 2 _J^ t)_y = — COS t*_7
A (w zt 2 J/3 i)-r = — ^ «-y (19)
It follows, replacing in these « by u ± 2 J/3 1, that 4 J/3 1 is
the imaginary period of the elliptic cosine and delta and 2 _]ff i
that of the sine. We have then, if m and /i are integers,
sin (tt + 4 m Jy + 2 /i J/3 i)-y = sin u.y
cos (w + 4 m Jy + 4/1 J/3 0-r = cos ^-y
A (w + 2 W Jy + 4 /i J/3 0-y = A tt_y (20)
The general problem of transformation may be stated thus:
Assuming
/dtp C ^9' 1 1 / / ,«^
^/a^ — cr* sin V •/ l/a — (t* sm V « a '
o o
then it is required to discover the relations between the given quan-
tities f , a, y and /, a', /.
Before treating of the special subject of this paper (the quadric
transformation), a short exposition of some important points of the
general problem of transformation, slightly modified from Abel
(see Enneper's Elliptische Functionen, page 239-246), will be
^iven.
We have, by (21),
sin f = sin [^ if'y' j _y=/(sin/)=:/| sin [^ f yj -/ | (22)
where /denotes the unknown relation between sin <p and sin f'.
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 107
But we have, by (20),
sin (// + 4 m' Jy' + 2 // Jff t)-/
= 8in |-^(^y + 4mJy+2/O^0}-/ (23)
therefore, w' _|/ = — wi Jy (24)
«'
/^' -Jl^ = - ." J/J (25)
a
^ _ ^n' ,1/ _ y J^
and
Anticipating here the definition of the highly important con-
stant, the nome q, which is such a prominent feature in the brilliant
researches of Jacobi and Abel, we have
n-p-2=}^J (26)
and the nome q' of the transformed integral is
5' = e '^_|/-J = e ^//7/iJy-J = ^//m ^^^^
Thus it appears that the nomes of tlie given and transformed
integrals are in a relation
Avhere n and n' are integers, and, if n = 1 and n' = 2, we have the
-quadric transformation.
Landen's transformation consists in assuming
sin (2^' — f ) = ^- sin ^ (28)
(X
^'hich is Legendre's convenient form for computing the amplitude
•^'. Differentiating, we have
/k
{2d<p' — dtp) cos (2sp' — ^) =s — cos ^ df
108 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
Solving for s^, we have
a sin 2^' a tan ?>' .^^^
tan ^ = —r V^ = -7 w ^ , / (30)
^ c + a cos 2<p a — o tan V
2a sin y^ cos y^ a sin y^ coe y^ .
Bin s^ = ^-^ ^._^„^..^^^_^__„^._ ^^ ^ ^^ ( )
c + g cos 2y^ W / . / ^' \ .oox
A^=i-(a'A^' + ^) (33)
where we have placed
i (a + c) = a'; J (a — c) t= 6';
l/ac = (/ ; i/a'" — (/=» sin V' = a' A / (34)
From (32) and (33) follows
a' A ^' ss i (a A ^ -f c cos 9?) (35)
—7 = } (a A ^ — c cos s^) (36>
and (29) becomes ^ . , = ^/ . ,,/ (37)
the integral is — y>y = — 7 ^y (38>
The first and third formula of (34) give the first step in the
algorithm of the arithmetieo-geometric mean, and the first two fol-
low from (35) and (36) by placing ^ = 0 = s^', *• «•» they are rela-
tions at the lower limit of the integrals, corresponding to (35)
and (36).
Assuming sin (2f " — /) — '^^^^ 9' (28^)
o''=i(a' + c'); 6"=Ha'-0; c" = l/aV (34^
then we have -^<py^-^, ip'y* = ^ /'/' (38')
Proceeding in this manner the amplitudes will very rapidly
reach a limit f ^*), while simultaneously a and c tend to become
equal to their common limit, the arithmetieo-geometric mean of a
and c. Gauss, when investigating its functional properties, denotes
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 109
this by 3f (a, c) ; elsewhere he uses the notation a^*) or c^*), which
is sufficiently distinct for our purpose.
At the limit we have a^*) a ^ (**) = c<*) cos ^(*), therefore,
(=/^-^^iSf^) = ^, tan J ( J + ^<">)) (38(-))
O
Let sp = J then if' = _)' ; ^" = J" . . . . sp<*^ - J<*^ and
_ I I' ' £_ I" " "{^ I (x)
a -!>' - a' ^ J' - ^-1 >• - a(-) -1'^ '
(=^(i)tanHJ + J("l)) (39(='))
This transformation can be applied also to the more general form :
/dtp
—^f (Bin if, cos if, A ^) (40)
o
for if, simultaneously to the above algorithm, we express sin ^, cos 9",
A ^ in terms of sin f ', cos <f\ A f ', and these again in terms of
sin ff"y cos <f'\ A (f"y etc., by means of (31), (32}, (33), we arrive,
after a few transformations, at the form
if{^)
^= J^)^^^ ^'^^ ('^" ^^"^' ^^' ^^"^^ (^^^
o
which is an elementary form if / (sin ^, cos ^, A ^) is rational
with respect to sin v", cos ^, a f'^.
In tracing this process backwards, the quantities may be dis-
tinguished at the several steps by subprimes, so that we have, at
the first backward step,
sin {%if — if') = --' sin if, = ^-qj^ sin if, (28,)
a = J («/ + c,) ; 6 = i (a, — c,) ; c = l/o^o (•>'^/)
Adding, and then also subtracting, sin if, from (28,) and dividing
the difference by the sum, we have the following convenient for-
mula, also given by Legendrc :
tan {if, — 9O = — tan ip (42)
110 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
Solving (34^) for a^, b^, c^, we have
a^=i a-\- b; 6^ = 2 \/ab; e^^ a^ b
In order to have again the convenient algorithm of the arith-
metico-geometric mean, it is preferable to assume
«i = * «/ = Ka + ^); ^ =* i ^ = x/ab; Ci = J c, = J (« — 6) (43)
For the second step assume
tan (ip,, - sf*/) = -r^ tan ^, (42i)
«,= i («! + 6i); K = i/«A; <-. = i («i - b,) (43,)
We have then —ipy^^^ (^^)yj = ^^ (^Jy, (44^)
Continuing this process, which diminishes the modulus, and is
therefore called descending the scale of moduli, while the above is
called ascending, the a and b will rapidly approach their arithmetico-
geometric mean, a » = by,, while -^n^OO tends towards a limit
which I shall denote ^oo. The limiting form of the integral is
/
00
and we have
o
T ^y = 2^,(^')ri= 2^(Or. = . . . . 2^^ (^oo), [=^J2 (^ ^^>
If ^ = _j then i ^, = ^^9,,=^ • • • 2"" ^^"^ ^ . . . = _J
and we have
This remarkable value for the complete integral wfes discovered
by Gauss by means of a different transformation, known as Gauss'.
This may be deduced as follows: Assume in place of (44^*)) the
following series of relations
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. Ill
To discover the relations for the first step we have to determine
^1 firom the equations
(^i)n=JWn = -5^y (46>
Place in (12) u =(9,hv then J u = (^Jy^ and u.y^ = ^/l ("2*) -n
=s <Pi, and consequently
sin 'v^j = 1 — cos ^^ -f- 1 + A ^^
cos Vi = A ^^ + COS ^, -J- 1 + A ^^
A Vi =/5^» + A f, 4- ri'cos ^,-- 1 + A ^, (47)
From (32) and (33) we derive with due regard to (43)
<^i ^ S^/ = 1 (« A S^ - ^) (48)
and eliminating ^, from (47) by means of (48) there result the
relations
o, 1 — A 9?
sin ■^, = -^ . :j — p- —
^* Ci 1 + A ^
aA ^ — 6
a A cp 4- 6
whence also
a sin Vi
Bin <P = J : — IT
tti cos 9'', A ^1
cos «> = i : — TP
^ . ©1 + c, sm V'l "^
This is Gauss' transformation. For practical use it is far less
convenient than that given above.
Instead of (46) we might have assumed
m (^i)yi = n (f y)yi = 2n -- ^y (w and n integers) (61)
For any special values of m and n we can express, by means of
112 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
the addition theorem, the elliptic functions of {m (<?iVi} -71 in terms
of those of ^„ and in the same manner those of {n (s^/-)}'! } -/i ui
terms of those of ^,. Since we know ^ in terms of ^^, we can elimi-
nate ^f and obtain a relation between 0^ and f , which would be a
new transformation. However, we need not expect to discover in
this manner any substitution sufficiently simple for practical use.
The substitutions given above may of course be applied also to
the complementary integral, and, since interesting relations will
be thus discovered, I place the different series of forms together for
comparison.
- n = 7 v^y = ^?"/' = = 5(^<'.^*'
(
=5:*
OS
- n = -^ c^'i)/?. = -^ (^ȴ. = =^(^-)i
(=^s?'(-) (52/j)
— Jy = "^ -J y = ^ -J 7 — = ;5^ _Ji' '
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 113
I J/J = \ ( J.V. = { ei,)A = = ^ ( J<")).
(
= j-/tanJ(J+ J»)
'00
We easily deduce the symmetrical relations _
?/*K9'^x)x = v''»v''(») (54)
Ji^'^KJ«)i= J (55)
This last equation is well known ; it appears here, however, as a
particular case of a more general relation. The quantity v''* is the
argument of the 0 functions and then usually denoted x; tp^"^) is
then denoted by a/ ; Schellbach has-^' f<^r (__1'x)i and -^- for _Ji^*),
while Hoiiel, in his Recueil de Tables, has /> and //, respectively.
Other relations are
(--)- _r -J- -(_;)V _:(-)- J -(."I.)"; ^ ^
— I
(_'>•-)." -I ' -I ~_V'"'CJx',~ _. ~./" ^^'''
The following expressions for the nome q can now be given :
-2--^ ; _2( ]A
^-2;7^ ■ -2— l/J (58)
The first form is simply Jacobi's definition ; the second gives,
since
(Jx), = /tan '] (J+ Jx) (.19)
(y==cot^ .] (1+ J,.) MKV)
This is one of the best formulae for computing q. especially if tlie
modulus does not differ much from unity. The third form may be
8
114
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
used if b and c are not very different, for in that case the algorithm
of the arithmetico-geometric mean converges equally fast in both
directions. If either 6 or c is very near to a, the process may con-
verge in one direction so slowly that the formula becomes nearly
inapplicable.
The fourth form may be transformed to a new formula, which is
more convenient than any given. In (52^) place s^ = 2" _J, then,
since
9i = 2»-i J ; v'l = 2«-2 J ; sp, = 2«-3 J
we have
2« 2"-^
2n-2
a
a.
ja = • . .
= l-J^»=a~{(2''J)n-.l}/'n +
(61)
bn .
But we have by (28) sin (2 (2„ j), + i — j) = -^ sin _|
or 28in'(2''j), + i-l = j^
.•.sin(2'»j)n + i=^i(l+^)
If we suppose an = bnT=^ b» within the precision of the compu-
tation, Cn will be very small, yet not zero. We have then
^»-i^„ = H;nri^^2»j)„+.}^^^^
= ^;;y^;ten.lC_,-|-{2«j), + ,)
On
1 Jl + sin (2n J)n + 1
+ i' \l-8in(2»j)„ + i
1 +
>/'('+^)
On +
"'' V'WK'-!7)
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 115
*- V'J(««-6«) (sufficiently °«a'>
^ ^ / gi/anOn + i (sufficiently near)
1 2»a„
= r— t — — (Bofficientlv near; (62)
therefore we have .by (61)
6«, , /2'a„\2-»
since c„ = i (a„_i — 6 n-i) = oiV"
\ Cn-2 J \ Cn-2 )
if an-2 = V ' a„_i an_2
if S = |/ «3 «, (63)
if s = i/^s«r (<54>
116 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASIIIXGTOX.
Using (63) in the fourth form of (58) we have
and using (64) we have
/ ft \'
(66)
~ to,)
The nome of the complementary integral is denoted by Jacob!
and writers that follow him by (/, In our system this would l>e
the notation for the nome of the integral s^V' » ?" ^^^^ ^^^ V""/'* *^^^»
also Qi that of ((!\ )^', ; q.^ of i<r\)Yt* etc. It is therefore better to
follow the example of Broch, who denotes the nome of the com-
plementary integral by p. We have then
=--c«tM(J+ J<->)='jj,'-(2^)' (67)
where a(»-^) = |/ a^") a ("-*)
«" = l/ «'" a"
a
' . / ~jr~j
= 1/ a" a' (68)
By (55) and the second forms of (58) and (67) we have the
following relation between p and q
Ip-'A I q-'A = J« (69)
or in Briggian logarithms
logjlog;?-^^ log q-'-^} = log (J log eY = 9.6IJ78084 (09' .
or log{log;)-i log 5-1 1=0.2698084 (70)
Bv means of this relation we can alwavs choose the shortest
route to either p or q. It is easy to see that the nomes and com-
MATHEMATICAL SECTION.
117
plementary nomes at the several steps of the modular scale are as
follows
qn = q
2-n
^2= 7 " ; ^i=</ ? = (/; 9' = 5'; f
^q
2*
.(») =
2»
(71)
Pn^P
2"
2*
/ '^i . ^ff
Pi=p ; Pi=i>'; p=p;jp =y;p
2-2
2-n
= i? ;)("> = p" (72)
We have then in this transformation the simplest possible case
of Abel's theorem (27); and because in ascending we pass to the
square of the nome, it is called the quadric transformation.
The ascending transformation is possible in real quantities if
c^ a, for we have J/(c, a) = 3/ (a, c). Also if 6 > a we can use
the descending transformation ; and in either case we can, after
one transformation, proceed in either direction. This may be
symbolized by the following diagram
jf
>
a'
>
c..-.>.
a >
a
c
a
>
6 . . . .>.
b
. a
a.
> *,
a.
> 6.
In order to exhibit the practical nature of the formulae given, I
shall make the necessary computations for the integral
«= f /^
•^ VI — sin " 75 sin * c?
o
if ^ ss 70° and also for the complete integral.
Because r = sin 75° is > \/J we must use the ascending trans-
formation. The computation for 70° sin 750 may be conveniently
arranged as follows :
118
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122 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
Mr. Hall spoke of the importance of the arithmetico-geometric
mean in astronomy.
Mr. W. B. Taylor made a communication on
A CASE OP DISCONTINUITY IN ELLIPTIC ORBITS
around an empty center of gravitative force. Diminution of the
minor axis of the attracted body's path (the major axis being con-
stant) increases the ratio of distance at the two apses without limit,
the "periapsis" continually approaching the attractive center,
as long as the minor axis has a value, however small. But when
this axis is made to vanish, and the motion is directly to the center
of force, the body, instead of rebounding from it, as continuity
would require, will pass through it, and describe an equal path on
the opposite side, the orbit being at once doubled.
This paper was discussed by Messrs. Bates, Christie, Hall
and others, and brought out a wide diversity of view as to the
demeanor of a heavy point when coincident with an empty attract-
ing center.
15th Meeting. December 3, 1884.
The Chairman presided.
Nineteen members and guests present.
Mr. M. H. Doolittle made a communication on
the verification of predictions.
[Abstract.]
Mr. G. K. Gilbert has published (American Meteorological
Journal, 8°, Detroit; September, 1884, pp. 166-172) a method of
estimating the ratio of skill in predictions of occurrences and non-
occurrences of a simple event. Adopting his notation^ we have
s = the sum or total number of cases,
o =3 the number of occurrences,
p s= the number of predictions of occurrences,
MATHEMATICAL SECTION. 123
e » the number of coincidences or verifications,
t = the inference-ratio, or that part of the success which is due to
skill and not to chance, and which may be called the degree
of logical coiD^ection between event and prediction.
Since success is proportional to each of the two fractions
— and —y
0 p
it may be represented by their product
op'
The fraction — represents the ratio of random success, and
op
therefore — verifications out of p predictions are to be ascribed
to chance and must be subtracted throughout. The remainders,
op , op
0 — — and p -y
represent fields which chance leaves for science to conquer ; and
op
c — -^
8
represents the portion of each which science does conquer. Hence
* « _ (cs — op)'
i = 7Z X
0-^ »-^ op(«-ox«-py
8^8
By another method,
— s the probability that any single occurrence will be predicted
in some manner.
■ ^ = the probability that any single date of non-occurrence
will correspond to an unsuccessful prediction = the general
probability of unskillful prediction in any case.
Subtract from the probability that any single occurreuce will be
predicted in some manner the general probability of unskillful
prediction, and we have
c_-_ -- ii^Q probability that any given occurrence will be
skillfully predicted.
126 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
slowly with that of «, diminishes with increase of o or p, and varies
between the limits 0 and 1. Skill in making false predictions is
indicated by a negative value oics — op; but the same degree of
causal relation exists as when equal skill is employed in making
true predictions ; and a negative value of i can never occur. When
8 = either p or o, i = -^] but the apparent indeterminateness van-
ishes when we consider that i is the product of two factors, of which
one =s 0 and the other is indeterminate within limits. Apd the
value of i is unaltered when predictions of non-occurrences are
substituted for those of occurrences, and vke versa. In the latter
case, write « — o for o, « — p for />, and « — o— jo + cforc; and
the formula reduces to its original form.
In addition to Mr. Gilbert's tests, two others may be considered.
In the case of predictions all falsely reported, we may write « — />
for j? and o — c for c; and the formula becomes
(op — csy
op(« — o)(«— p)'
with a proper reversal of signs in the quantity under the exponent
and no change in the value of i.
If occurrences always appear whenever they are not predicted,
and never appear when they are predicted, we put 6 = 0 and
p = 8 — 0, \nth the result
or the logical connection is perfect.
In order that the general formula shall be properly applicable,
care must be taken that the predictions are fairly homogeneous in
definiteness of time and space. For illustration : if predictions
that phenomena will occur in given months are examined indis-
criminately with those that they will occur on given days, the result
will be manifestly worthless.
It has been proposed to extend the problem so as to include three
or more classes of events of which one must happen and only one
can happen in any case. It seems clear to me that no single
numerical expression can be a proper solution of such a problem.
Suppose the three classes of events. A, B, and C. By the method
above given A and Not A may be examined ; and all instances
MATHEMATICAL SECTION, 127
•
involving either the prediction or occurrence of A may be excluded
and B and C separately investigated. Suppose it thus ascertained
that great skill has been shown in discriminating between A and
Not A, and little or none in discriminating between B and C. No
single numerical expression can properly comprehend these heter-
ogeneous results.
Mr. Curtis showed that some of the results giveii by Mr. Doo-
little could be independently deduced by another method.
Mr. Gilbert noted as a defect in the formula proposed by Prof.
Peirce, that it did not duly discourage positive predictions of rare
events; and, while gratified with Mr. Doolittle's discussion of the
subject, he expressed a disappointment that no satisfactory decision
as to the treatment of cases of three or more alternatives had been
reached by him.
After some further discussion, a communication by Mr. M.
Baker was called, but postponed, on motion of Mr. H. Farquhar^
to allow time for the consideration of a testimonial to a late asso-
ciate, Mr. Alvord.
Mr. E. B. Elliott read the following tribute, prepared by Mr.
Baker and himself:
memorial.
The Mathematical Section of the Philosophical Society of Wash-
ington, having suffered the loss by death, on October 16th, 1884, of
General Benjamin Alvord, one of its founders and active workers,
desires to place on record this testimonial to his worth and to the
loss to this Section and to science by his death.
Of his worth, one of America's greatest mathematicians has said
that he was a scientist of ^* real originality who had actually ex-
tended the boundaries of science."
The bent of General Alvord's mind and studies was early
directed towards a purely geometrical solution of the general prob-
lem of tangencies, and his reward, which it is our pleasure to
chronicle, was success.
Of his mathematical publications, the following is submitted as
a provisionally complete list :
128 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
UST OF MATHEMATICAL PUBLICATIONS BY GENERAL BENJAMIN
ALVORD.
1. The tangencies of circles and of spheres.
[i/i Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge. 4**. Wash-
ington, 1856, Vol. 8, Article 4, 16 pp., 9 plates.]
Also issued separately.
2. On the interpretation of imaginary roots in questions of maxima
and minima.
[/» The Mathematical Monthly. 4°. New York, 1860,
April, Vol. 2, No. 7, pp. 237-240.]
3. Tangencies.
[Ju Johnson's New Universal CyclopaMiia. 8®. New York,
1878, Vol. 4, pp. 723-4.]
4. Mortality in each year among the officers of the army for fifty
years, from 1824 to 1873, as derived from the army
registers.
[^tn Proceedings of the American Association for the Ad-
vancement of Science, 23d Meeting, Hartford, Augu&t,
1874. 8°. Salem, 1875, pp. 57-59.]
5. The intersection of circles and the intersection of spheres.
[/« American Journal of Mathematics. 4°. Baltimore,
1882, March, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 25-44; 4 plates.]
6. Curious fallacy as to the tlieory of gravitation.
[//i Bulletin of the Philosophical Society of Washington.
8°. Washington, 1883, Vol. 5, pp. 85-88.]
7. A special case in maxima and minima.
\_In Bulletin nf the Philosophical Society of Washington.
8°. Wai^hington, 1884, Yol. 0, p. 149.]
Mr. M. Bakkk, in moving the adoption of this memorial by the
Se('ti<m, said :
General Alvord's entire life was that of the soldier, and his
routine of life work did not call him in the direction of mathemati-
cal study. Hence whatever he accomplished in mathematics or
literature was accomplished in military surroundings and with only
such facilities as barrack and camp life afford. If under these
MATHEMATICAL SECTION.
129
IT'
V.
It >
conditions the total of his contributions to science appeal's small,
we should bear in mind that any contribution under such circum-
stances is exceptional. And to have been able, therefore, to make
even a single contribution to human knowledge is to have done that
which few men in any generation do and that of which any one of
us might well be proud.
General Alvord early became interested in the problem of tan-
gencies and intersections of circles, and his chief mathematical
work and fame rests on his complete and purely geometrical solu-
tion of the various problems relating to this subject. His chief
writings on this subject consist of the paper on Tangencies, in the
Smithsonian Contributions in 1856 ; the article on Tangencies, in
Johnson's New Universal Cyclopa?dia; and the paper on intersec-
tions, in the American Journal of Mathematics, March, 1882.
The memorial was adopted, and the Secretary was instructed to
send a copy of it to the family of the deceased.
Note.
The following members have assisted the Chairman and Secre-
tary in the examination of abstracts of communications to the
Mathematical Section :
Title.
The Problem of the Knight's Tour.
Formula) for Diminution of Ampli-
tude of a Pendulum
The Formulae for Computing the
Position of a Satellite
The Quadric Transformation of El-
liptic Integrals
The Verification of Predictions
Author.
G. K. Gilbert.
H. Farquiiar.
A. Hall.
C. H. KUMMELL.
M. H. DOOLITTLE.
Third Member.
E. B. Elliott.
A. S. Christie.
C. H. KUMMELL.
G. W. Hill.
M. Baker.
INDEX.
Page.
Abbe, Clereland : remarks on deflection of
rivers 23
— report as Treasurer. xxiv
Address of the President xxix, 81
AlaHka river mouths 24
Alvord, Gen. Benjamin, Death of 72
— Memorial to 127
Antisell, Thomas: remarks on tho chemical
elements 16
pumice 20,26
Annual address... xxix, 81
— meeting 81
Application of physical methods to intellec-
tual science.. 18
Are there separate centres for li^ht- form-
and color-perception? 72
Aristotle, cited on atoms xxxii
Atomic philosophy , 40
Tho, physical and mot«physica1. ..xxix, 81
Auditing committee. Appointment of. 82
Report of....: 15
Babcock, Gen. O. E., Death of. 72
Bacon, cited on atoms xli
Baker, Marc um: memorial to General Alvord.. 127
Barnard, W. S., Election to membership of.. 25
Bates, H. H.: communication on the phy.ni-
cal ba«iis of phenomena 40
Bean, T. H., Election to membership of. 72
Bibliogmphy of North American geology 71
mathematical papers by Benjamin Al-
vord 128
Billings^, J. S.: communication on compos-
ite photography applied to craniology... 25
— exhibition of microscopes 7:J
— remarks on bibliography 72
— resolutions on the death of Dr. Wood-
ward 75
Blair, H. W., Death of. 81
— Election to membcr.Mhip of. 15
Bogosloff, Volcanic du.st from .34
Boutclle, C. E., Election to membership of... 18
— remarks on the deflection of rivers 24
BowlOi*, F. T., Election to membership of..... 2G
Boyle, Robert, cited on atoms xlvi
Brown, 8. J., Election to membership of 72
Browne, W. R., cited on matter 31
Bulletin of the General Meeting 1, 3
Mathematical Section 83,87
— Rules for publication of xiil
Page.
Buoys drifted by ocean currents 14
Burchard, H. C. : remarks on the irrigation
of the upper Missouri valley 20
Burnett, S. M. : communication on separate
centres for light- form- and color-percep-
tion 72
Why the eyes of animals shine in
the dark 13
Calendar xxii
Case of discontinuity in elliptic orbits 122
Chamberlin, T. G. : communication on What
is a glacier? 38
Chatard, T. M. : analysis of andesite 33
Chemical elements and music 27
Periodic law of 15
Cheyne, Dr. George, cited on heredity Iv
Christie, A. S.: communication on a form of
the multinominal theorem 101
Clarke, F. W. : communication on the peri-
odic law of chemical elements 15
— election to General Committee 36
Clerk-Maxwell, James, cited on properties
of matter 44, 47
vortex rings.. liv
Clifford. Prof., cited on mind-stuff. liil
Columbian University affords the Society
facilities 80,81
Committee, Auditing 15, 82
— on communications. Duties of xii, 85
Membership of. xiv, xv
publications, Duties of. xlii
Membership of. xiv, xv
Committees, Standing xii, xiv, xv
Composite photography applied to craniolo-
gy 25
Concrete problem in hydrostatics 92, 101
Constitution vil
Continents, Forms of 24
Craniolog>' 25
Curtis, G. E : communication on the rela-
tions between northers and magnetic
disturbances at Havana. 26
— election to member.-hip.. 5
— remarks on the veriflcation of predic-
tions 127
Curves similar to their evolutes.. 87
Dall, W. H. : communication on certain ap-
pendages of the raoUusca ^ 82
181
132
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON.
Page.
Dall, W. H. : recent advances in our knowl-
edge of the limpetD 4
What is a glacier? 38
— remarks on Alaskan volcanoes 34
deflection of rivers 24
drifting of buoys 15
tornadoes 3
Dalton, John, contribution to atomic the-
ory xlvii, 1, Ivi
Darwin, cited on gemmules liil
Death of Gen. Benjamin Alvord 72, 127
Gen. O. E. Babcock 72
H. W. Blair ^ 81
Gen. Chas. Ewing xxlri
Gen. A. A. Humphreys 3, 4
Dr. J. J. Woodward..* 72
Resolutions concerning 75
Deceased members, Lii^t of. xxiii
Deflection of rivers 21
Deposits of volcanic dust in the Great Basin. 18
Dewey, F. P., Election to membership of..... 30
Diller, J. S. : communication on the volcanic
sand which fell at Unalashka Oct 20, 1883,
and some considerations concerning its
composition 33,35
— Election to membership of 21
Discontinuity in elliptic orbits 122
Discussion of a concrete problem in hydro-
statics proposed by Mr. G. K. Gilbert — 101
Diversion of water-courses by the rotation
of the earth 21
Doolittle, M. H.: communication on the
veriflcation of predictions 122
music and the chemical elements.... 27
Dust, Volcanic 18, .33
Dutton, G. E. : communication un the volca-
noes and lava flelds of New Mexico. 7C
What isi a glacier? 39
— remarks on the forms of continents - 24
Navajos as scientific ob.servers 74
petrography 30
sun-glows 35
Earll, R. E., Election to membership of 72
Earthquake oC Sept. 19 73
Eastman, J. R. : communication on a new
meteorite 32
the Rochester (Minn.) tornado 3
Eimbeck, William, Election to membership
of 20
Election of officers 82, 87
new members. ...xi, 6, 10, 15, 18, 21, 25, 20, 32
36, 72, 81
Electric lighting 80
Elements, Periodic law of. 15
Elliott, E. B.: calendar for the use of the
society , xxli
Page.
Elliott, E. B.: communication on electric
lighting 80
— memorial to General Alvord 127
— remarks on the enharmonic organ 28
irrigation of the upper Missouri
valley 20
sun-glows 17
tornadoes 3
Emmons, 8. F.: communication on What is
a glacier? 37
— remarks on glaciers o
Empirical formulae for the diminution of
amplitude of a freely-oscillating pendu-
lum 89
Entomology, Economic lo
Enharmonic organ „. 28
Ewing, Charles, Death of. xxiii
Existing glaciers of the High Sierra of Cali-
fornia 5
Eyes of animals, why they shine in the
dark 13
Faraday cited on the nature of matter 47
Farquhar, Edward : remnrks on ocean cur-
rents 1 24
tornadoes 3
the late Dr. Woodward 7C
Farquhar, Henry: communication on em-
pirical formulce for the diminution of
amplitude of a freely-oscillating pendu-
lum 85
the theoretical discussion in Prof P.
G. Tait's Encyclopeedia Britannica article
on mechanics 29
— election as Secretary of the Mathemati-
cal Section §7
— remarks on drifting of buoys \h
— report as Secretary xxiii
Ferrel. William, cited on rotational deflec-
tion 22
Finley's tornado predictions ^. 125
Fisheries exhibitions 2C
Force, Reality of 30
Form of the multinominal theorem loi
Formula for the length of a seconds-pen-
dulum 101
FormuloB for computing the position of a
satellite 93
General Meeting, Bulletin of 1, 3
Geological .section of water- works shaft 09, 70
Gihon, A. L.: )-cmarks on the late Dr. J. J.
Woodward 70
Gilbert, G. K. : communication on a concrete
problem in hydroj»tatics- 02
the diversion of water-courses by the
rotation of the earth ^.^ a
INDEX.
133
Page.
Oilbert, 6. K. : a plan for the subject biblio-
graphy of North American geologic lite-
rature 71
the problem of the knight'n tour 88
— remarks on the origin of pumice 25
upper Missouri valley 20
verification of predictions 127
— report as secretary xxiii
Glacier tables 7
Glacier, What is a 37
Glaciers of the Coast Range 8
High Sierra 5
Rocky Mountains 8
Goode, O. Brown: communication on fish-
eries exhibitions 2C
Gregory, J. M., Election to membership of... 26
Hall, Asaph : communication on the form-
ulee for computing the position of a
satellite 03
— election as chairman of the Mathemati-
cal Section 87
'- remarks on the arithmeticogeometric
mean 122
Harkness, William: remarks on glaciers 9
the shining of eyes in the dark.. 13
Hazen, H. A.: communication on the sun-
glows 17
thermometer exposure 80
— remarks on the deflection of rivers 24
Heap, D. P., Elecnon to membership of.. 32
High Sierra, Glaciers of 6
Hill, O. W. : communication on a formula
for the length of a seconds-pendulum... 101
Hitchcock, Prof. C.H 4
Hitchcock, Romyn, Election to membership
of. 36
Holmes, W. B.: remarks on glaciers 8
Humphreys, A. A., Death of. 3, 4
Ice pyramid C, 7
Indians, Observation and generalization by. 73
Insecticides.. 10
Integrals, Transformation of elliptic 102
Intrinsic equation.. 87
Irrigation of the upper Missouri valley 20
Jenkins, T. A.: remarlcs on drifting of
buoys 16
Johnson, A. B. : communication on some
eccentricities of ocean currents 14
Johnson, W. D., Election to membership of... 18
KauflfVnann, S. H., Election to mcmber«hip
of 21
Kerr, W. C. : communication on the mica
mines of North Carolina 9
Page.
Kerr, M. B., Election to membership of. 21
— remarks on glaciers 8
Knight's tour 88
Knox, J. J. : resignation from General Com-
mittee 3G
Kummell, C. H. : communication on curves
similar to their evolutes 87
the quadric transformation of ellip-
tic integrals, combined with the algo-
rithm of the arithmetico-geometrical
mean 102
-- remarks on musical intervals 28
Lake Bonneville : 92
Lawrence, William, Election to member-
ship of. 21
Lefavour, E. B. : remarks on musical scales. 28
Leibnitz, cited on atoms xliii
Limpdts 4
McGee, W J : communication on What is a
glacier ? 38
Maher, J. A.: Election to membership of 26
Marcou, J. B., Election to membership of.... 26
Martin, Artemas: letter to Mathematical
Section 87
Mason, O. T. : remarks on the conditions of
observation 74
Mathematical Section, Bulletin of 83, 87
Members of 86
Officers of. 86, 87
— society proposed 87
Matthews, Washington : communication on
natural naturalists 73
— election to membership 72
Members, List of xvi
deceased xxiii
new xxiii
— of Mathematical Section 86
Memorial to General Alvord 127
Merrill, G. P., Election to membership of.... 30
Meteorite ^^ 32
Methods of modern petrography 36
Mica mines of North Carolina 9
More, Henry, cited on nature of matter xlil
Mount Taylor, Geology of. 77
Muir, John, cited on glaciers 8
Murdoch, John, Election to membership of. .36
Music and the chemical elements 27
Mussey, R. D.: communication on the appli-
cation of physical methods to intellec-
tual science 18
— remarks on the forms of continents 24
Natural naturalists 73
Necks, Volcanic , 78
N6v6 defined 37
134
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON.
Page.
New members xxiii
— meteorite 32
~- Mexico, Volcanoes of. 76
Newton, cited on atoms xliv
Norris, Basil, Election to membership of..... 25
North Carolina, Mica mines of. 9
Ocean currents 14
Officers, Election of 82, 87
— List of. xiv, XV
— of the Mathematical Section 85, 86, 87
Ogden, H. G., Election to membership of..... 15
Paul, H. M. : remarks on earthquakes 73
— equipotential surfaces 92
sun-glows 35
Peirce, Prof. Benjamin, cited on the intrinsic
equation 87
Peirce, C. 8., cited on pendulum observa-
tions .'. 90
the verification of predictions 124
Pendulum, Formula for diminution of am-
plitude of oscillation of. 89
Periodic law of chemical elements 15
Petrographic methods 36
Physical basis of phenomena. 40
— and economic features of the upper Mis-
souri system 20
Plan for the subject bibliography of North
American geologic literature 71
Plateau country 76. 79
Powell, J. W. : communication on a plan for
the subject bibliography of North Amer-
ican geologic literature 71
— remarks on the distribution of eruptions. 79
glaciers 8
the history of the society 81
late Dr. Woodward 70
Predictions, Verification of 122
Presidential address xxix
Problem of the knight's tour 88
Pumice, Formation of. 20, 25, 20
Quadric transformation of elliptic integrals,
combined with the algorithm of the
arithroetico- geometric mean 102
Ray, P. H., Election to membership of 6
Recent advances in economic entomology... 10
our knowledge of the limpets.. 4
Relation between northers and magnetic
disturbances at Havana. 25
Report of secretaries xxiii, 82
treasurer xxlv, 15, 82
Review of the theoretical discussion of Prof.
P. G. Tait*8 Encyclepcedia Britannica
article on mechanics 29
Page.
Ricksecker, Eugene, Election to member-
ship of. M. 16
Riley, C. V. : communication on recent ad-
vances in economic entomology 10
— remarks on the irrigation of the upper
Missouri valley 20
Rivers, deflection of 21
Robinson, Thomas : communication entitled
Was the earthquake of Sept. 19 felt in
the District of Columbia? 73
on the strata exposed in the east shaft
of the water-works extension ^. 69
— election to membership 10
— remarks on the deflection of rivers 24
Rochester (Minn.) tornado 3
Rotation and rivers 21
Rules for the publication of the Bulletin.... xiii
— of the General Committee xii
Mathematical Section 85
Society « ix
Russell, L C: communica^on on deposits
of volcanic dust in the Great Basin 18
the existing glaciers of the High
Sierra of California 5
What is a glacier? 37
Sand, Volcanic 33
Satellite, Computation of position of a 93
Scales, Musical......^ 2T
Secretaries* report xxiii, 8:f
Sierra Nevada glaciers 5
Some eccentricities of ocean currents 14
Standing rules of the General Committee lii
Mathematical Section 85
Society ix
Stearns, R. E. C, Election to membership of. 81
Strata exposed in the east shaft of the
water-works extension 69
Sun-glows « 17,35
Tait, Prof. P. G., on mechanics ; reviewed.... 29
Taylor, F. W. : analysis of meteorite 32
Taylor, W.B.: communication on a case of
discontinuity in elliptic orbits 122
— ' remarks on sun-glows .-.. 35
Thermometer exposure 80
Thompson, Gilbert, Election to member^
ship of. ^*
— remarks on glaciers 8
Toner, J. M. : remarks on the late Dr. Wood-
ward , '^^*
Tornado at Rochester (Minn.) 3
Treasurer's report xxiv, 15, 82
Verification of predictions 122
Volcanic duet Wi »
INDEX.
135
Page.
Ward, L. F. : communication oh some phys-
ical and economic features of the upper
Missouri system 20
— remarks on the deflection of rivers 23
Indians as botanic observers 74
Was the earthquake of Sept 19 felt in the
District of Columbia? 73
Welling, J. C. : eulogy on Gen. Huijiphreys.. 4
— presidential ad dress xxix, 81
— remarks on drifting of buoys 15
the Indian as a scientific observer... 75
W'illiams.G.H. : communication on methods
of modern petrography 36
What is a glacier? 37
Page.
White, C. H., Election to membership of..... 21
White, G. A. : report of auditing committee. 15
Why the eyes of animals shine in the
dark 13
Woodruff, T. M., Election to membership
of 32
Woodward, Dr. J. J., Death of. 72
— Resolutions on death of 76
Woodward, R. S.: discussion of a concrete
problem in hydrostatics proposed by
Mr. G. K. Gilbert 101
— remarks on deflection of plumb-line 92
Teates. W. S., Election to membership of.... 36
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