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BULLETIN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY WASHINGTON. VOL. IV. Containing the Minutes of the Society from the 185th Meeting, October 9, 1880, to the 2020! Meeting, June 11, 1881. PUBLISHED BY THE CO-OPERATION OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. WASHINGTON JUDD & DETWEILER, PRINTERS, WASHINGTON, D. C. CONTENTS. PAGE. Constitution of the Philosophical Society of Washington 5 Standing Rules of the Society 7 Standing Rules of the General Committee 11 Rules for the Publication of the Bulletin 13 List of Members of the Society 15 Minutes of the 185th Meeting, October 9th, 1880. —Cleveland Abbe on the Aurora Borealis , 21 Minutes of the 186th 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 188th 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 of Bank Germany. J. J. Riddell's Woodward on 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. E. Hilgard on a Model of the Basin of the Gulf of Mexico 39 Minutes of the 190th Meeting, December iSth, 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, 18S1. —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 193d 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 Canon 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, 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. Poweil on the the use of Anthropologic Limitations to some Data f __ 134 Minutes of the 197th Meeting, April 2d, 1881. —Resolutions Commemora- tive of the late Dr. George A. Otis, U. S. A. A. B. Johnson on the Histoiy 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 16th, 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 Strait. Discoveries in Alaska north of Behring J. S. Billings on Mor- tality Statistics of the Tenth Census 163 Minutes of the 200th Meeting, May 14th, 1S81. — 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 Meeting, 1881. J. Woodward, Bio- Minutes of the 202d June nth, — J. A 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 at Niagara Re- searches. J. M. Toner on Earth Tremors 170 Index 187 CONSTITUTION THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. Arlicle I. The name of this Society shall be The Philosophical Society op Washington. Article II. The officers of the Society shall he a President, four Vice- Presidents, a Treasurer, and two Secretaries. Article III. There shall he 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. ST^nsriDiisra- ze^ttlies FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. January, 1881. 1. The Staled Meetings of the Society shall he 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 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 an il 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. V 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 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 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.