Some Studies in Chemical Equilibrium. Ira Remsen. The Decomposition of Diazo-compounds by Alcohol. Ira Remsen. On Double Halides containing Organic Bases. Ira Remsen. *Results of Researches of Forty Binary Stars. T. J. J. See. On a Remarkable New Family of Deep-sea Cephalopoda and its bearing on Molluscan Morphology. A. E. Verrill. The Question of the Molluscan Archetype, an Archi-mollusk. A. E. Verrill. On some Points in the Morphology and Phylogeny of the Gastropoda. A. E. Verrill. * Source of X-Rays. A. A. Michelson and S. W. Stratton. The Relative Permeability of Magnesium and Aluminum to the Röntgen Rays. A. W. Wright. The State of Carbon-dioxide at the Critical Temperature. C. Barus. The Motion of a Submerged Thread of Mercury. C. Barus. On a Method of Obtaining Variable Capillary Apertures of Specified Diameter. C. Barus. On a New Type of Telescope Free from Secondary Color. C. S. Hastings. The Olindiada and other Medusæ. W. K. Brooks. Budding in Perophora. W. K. Brooks and George Lefevre. On the Pithecanthropus erectus from the Tertiary of Java. O. C. Marsh. ELECTION OF NEW MEMBERS. Two new members of the Academy were elected at this sessionRobert S. Woodward, of New York, and Charles D. Walcott, of Washington, D. C. During the year the Academy lost by death Mr. H. A. Newton, Mr. G. Brown Goode, and Mr. Benjamin A. Gould, members, and Mr. Tisserand, Mr. Gylden, Mr. Kekule, and Mr. Dubois-Reymond, foreign associates. AMENDMENT TO THE RULES. Rule XII, relating to the publication by the Academy of an annual, was stricken out. REPORT FROM TRUST FUNDS. Mr. Wolcott Gibbs reported that during the year 1896 the following appropriations were made from the Bache fund: An appropriation of $1,000 to Mr. Henry A. Rowland, to carry on an investigation of the spectra of the elements in continuation of his work on the spectrum of the sun; an appropriation of $100 to Mr. Alpheus S. Packard, to enable him to carry on an investigation of the life histories and transformations of the bombycine moths, in continuation of his work in Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume VII; an appropriation of $400 to * Read April 22. Mr. Ira Remsen, for an investigation of the atomic weights of zinc and cadmium, to be conducted by Mr. H. N. Morse; an appropriation of $1,000 to Mr. J. S. Billings and Mr. S. Weir Mitchell, to enable them to carry on an investigation of the variability of bacteria, being a continuation of researches already in progress. SCIENTIFIC SESSION. [Held in New York November 17 and 18, 1896.] A scientific session, for the reading of papers only, having been called by the council, the Academy met at Columbia University, New York. The vice-president, Mr. F. A. Walker, presided. The following named members were present during the session: Abbot, Allen, Barker, Barus, Billings, Bowditch, Brewer, Chandler, C. F.; Cope, Comstock, Dana, Emmons, Gould, Hall, A.; Hastings, Hill, G. W.; Le Conte, Marsh, Mayer, Mayo-Smith, Mendenhall, Michael, Michelson, Mitchell, S. W.; Newcomb, Packard, Peirce, Pumpelly, Remsen, Rood, Rowland, Sargent, Verrill, Walker, Welch, Woodward, Wright. The following papers were read: On Certain Positive-Negative Laws in their Relation to Organic Chemistry. A. Michael. The Jurassic Formation on the Atlantic Coast. O. C. Marsh. The Isomeric Chlorides of Paranitroorthosulphobenzoic Acid. Ira Remsen. The Equations of the Forces Acting in the Flotation of Disks and Rings of Metal, with Experiments showing the Floating of Loaded Disks and Rings of Metal on Water and on other Liquids. Alfred M. Mayer. On the Geographical Distribution of Bactrachia and Reptiles in the Medicolumbian Region. E. D. Cope. On the Physical Causes of the Periodic Variation of Latitude. S. Newcomb. On the Solar Motion as a Gauge of Stellar Disturbances. S. Newcomb. Memoir of F. B. Meek. C. A. White. The Evolution and Phylogeny of Gastropod Mollusca. A. E. Verrill. On Flicker Photometers. O. N. Rood. A New Type of Telescope free from Secondary Color. C. H. Hastings (read by title at Washington, April, 1896). A Graphical Method of Logic. C. S. Peirce. BUSINESS MEETING. [Held in New York, November 18, 1896.] A business meeting of the Academy having been called by the council to consider the report of the president to Congress, and such other business as might be presented, was held November 18. The vicepresident, Mr. F. A. Walker, presided. After the call of the roll the vice-president presented an outline of the president's report to Congress for the year 1896. Upon the recommendation of the council the Academy authorized the president to present his report to Congress and to include in this report the proceedings of the present meeting and also any Government business that may come before the Academy. The Academy was called to order by the vice-president at 11 a. m. The following named members were present: Abbott, Barus, Billings, Bowditch, Brewer, Chandler (C. F.), Emmons, Gould, Hall (A.), Marsh, Newcomb, Peirce, Pumpelly, Remsen, Walker. The vice-president stated that the Academy had lost by death two members since the last meeting: Mr. G. Brown Goode and Mr. H. A. Newton, the latter one of the charter members. Mr. S. P. Langley was appointed to prepare a biographical memoir of Mr. Goode, and Mr. J. Willard Gibbs was appointed to prepare the memoir of Mr. Newton. The Academy then adjourned to meet in Washington on the third Tuesday in April, 1897. BUSINESS FROM CONGRESS AND FROM DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE United STATES. During the year ending January 1, 1897, the Academy has received three communications on public business. The first was from Hon. Hoke Smith, Secretary of the Interior, requesting from the Academy an investigation and report on the inauguration of a rational forest policy for the forested lands of the United States. The second, from the Bureau of Animal Industry of the Department of Agriculture, asking the Academy to appoint one of its members as a representative upon an advisory board to consider propositions to be submitted to the International Zoological Congress to be held in England in 1898, by Mr. Ch. Wardell Stiles, United States Government delegate to the Third International Zoological Congress. The President appointed Mr. Gill as the representative of the Academy. The third was from the Hon. Jacob H. Gallinger, chairman of a subcommittee of the Senate, submitting a letter addressed to him by the Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry, the Surgeon-General of the Army, the Surgeon-General of the Navy, and the Surgeon-General of the Marine-Hospital Service, asking that the National Academy of Sciences be called upon to express an opinion as to the scientific value of experiments upon the lower animals and as to the probable effect of restrictive legislation upon the advancement of biological science. The letter as transmitted by Senator Gallinger to the Academy was accompanied by a brief expression of his desire that the Academy should report upon the subject. To Prof. Wolcott Gibbs, President of the National Academy of Sciences. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Washington, February 15, 1896. SIR: I have the honor, as the head of the Department charged with the administration of the public domain, to request an investigation and report of your honorable body, as is provided in the act incorporating the National Academy, and by article 5, section 5, of its constitution, upon the inauguration of a rational forest policy for the forested lands of the United States. Being convinced of the necessity for a radical change in the existing policy with reference to the disposal and preservation of the forests upon the public domain, I particularly desire an official expression from your body upon the following points: 1. Is it desirable and practicable to preserve from fire and to maintain permanently as forested lands those portions of the public domain now bearing wood growth for the supply of timber? 2. How far does the influence of forest upon climatic, soil, and water conditions make desirable a policy of forest conservation in regions where the public domain is principally situated? 3. What specific legislation should be enacted to remedy the evils now confessedly existing? My predecessors in office for the last twenty years have vainly called attention to the inadequacy and confusion of existing laws relating to the public timber lands, and consequent absence of an intelligent policy in their administration, resulting in such conditions as may, if not speedily stopped, prevent a proper development of a large portion of our country; and because the evil grows more and more as the years go by, I am impelled to emphasize the importance of the question by calling upon you for the opinion and advice of that body of scientists which is officially empowered to act in such cases as this. I also beg to refer you to the proposed legislation which has been introduced into Congress for several years past at the instance of the American Forestry Association, supported by memorials of private citizens and scientific bodies, and more especially the memorials presented by the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1873, which led to desirable legislation, and again in 1890, 1892, and 1894. As I believe that a speedy change in the existing policy is urgent, I request that you will give an early consideration to this matter, and favor me with such statements and recommendations as may be laid before Congress for action during this session. I have the honor to be, your obedient servant, HOKE SMITH, Secretary. Copy of letter to the Secretary of the Interior. FEBRUARY 16, 1896. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of February 15, 1896, requesting from the National Academy of Sciences an official expression of opinion upon the inauguration of a rational forest policy for the forested lands of the United States. The subject will receive my immediate attention and you will be promptly informed of the action of the Academy. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, WOLCOTT GIBBS, President of the National Academy of Sciences. To the Hon. Hoke Swith, Secretary of the Interior. NEWPORT, R. I., March 2, 1896. SIR: I have submitted to the consideration of the vice-president and other members of the National Academy of Sciences your letter of February 17 in relation to the forest policy of the United States, and now respectfully ask your attention to the following statement in reply: It is needless to remind you that the matter you refer to the Academy is important and difficult. No subject upon which the Academy has been asked before by the Government for advice compares with it in scope, and it is the opinion of thoughtful men that no other economie. problem confronting the Government of the United States equals in importance that offered by the present condition and future fate of the forests of western North America. The forests in the public domain extend through 18° of longitude and 20° of latitude; they vary in density, composition, and sylvicultural condition from the most prolific in the world outside the tropics to the most meager; in some parts of the country they are valuable as sources of timber supply which can be made permanent; in others, while producing no timber of importance, they are not less valuable for their influence upon the supply of water available for the inhabitants of regions dependent on irrigation for their means of subsistence. The character of the topography and the climate of most of the region now embraced in the public domain increase the difficulty of the prob lem. Scanty and unequally distributed rainfall checks the growth of forests, while high mountain ranges make them essential to regulate the flow of mountain streams. You have done the Academy the honor of asking it to recommend a plan for the general treatment of the forest-covered portions of the public domain. That its report may be valuable as a basis for future legislation it must consider 1. The question of the ultimate ownership of the forests now belonging to the Government-that is, what portions of the forest on the public domain shall be allowed to pass, either in part or entirely, from Government control into private hands? |