Society of Geography of Paris. Bulletin. 4eme Série. Tome VI. et VII. 8vo. Paris. 1853 et 1854. A. C. Kruseman. Verhandelingen nitgegeven de Commissie belast met het vervaareligen eener Geologische Beschrijving en Kaart van Nederland. Eerste Deel. 4to. Haarlem. 1853. Dr. N. B. Shurtleff. Eleventh Report to the Legislature of Massachusetts, relating to the Registry and Returns of Births, Marriages, and Deaths in the Commonwealth, for the Year ending December 31, 1852. By Ephraim M. Wright, Secretary of the Commonwealth. 1 vol. 8vo. Boston. 1853. E. Homolle and T. A. Quevenne. Archives de Physiologie de Therapeutique et d'Hygiene. Mémoire sur la Digitaline et la Digitale. No. 1. Janvier, 1854. 8vo. Paris. The Committee. A Discourse in Commemoration of the Founding of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. By W. Parker Foulke. 8vo pamph. Philadelphia. Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Belles-Lettres, Dijon. Mémoires pour Années 1805, 1821, 1828-29, 1830-32, 183436, 1841-42, 1843 (Séance Publique), 1843-50. 2. Série. Tome I. 1851. 21 vols. 8vo. Dijon. Rapports sur les Machines à Fabriquer la Papier, etc. 8vo pamph. Dijon. 1815. Rapport fait à l'Académie de Dijon sur les Annales du Moyen Age. Par M. Nault. 8vo pamph. Dijon. 1826. Rapport sur la Statistique du Department de la Cote-d'Or. 4to pamph. Dijon. 1835. Rapport contenant une Notice Historique sur l'Establissement des Fontaines Publiques de Dijon. Par M. Victor Dumay. 8vo pamph. Dijon. 1845. The Breslau Observatory. Bericht über die Versammlungen der Naturwissenschaftlichen Section im 1834, abgefaht von deren Secretair H. R. Coppert. Svo pamph. 1834. Bericht über die Versammlungen der Natur. Section, &c. Von deren Secretair H. R. Coppert. Abhandlungen der Schlesischen Gesellschaft für Vaterlandische Kultur im Jahre 1838. Svo pamph. 1838. Resultate der von der Section für die Sudetenkunde im Jahre 1843, veranlaften Meteorologischen Beobachtungen zu Hysometrischen und Klimatologischen zwecken. 4to pamph. Resultate der von dem Vereine für die Sudetenkunde jebzt Geographicen Section der Schlesischen Gesell. für Vaterl. Kult. im Jahre 1845 und 1846. Von Dr. Boguslawski. 4to pamph. Auszug aus der Uebersicht der Arbeiten und Veranderungen der Schlesisc. Gesell. für Vaterl. Kult. im Jahre 1840, 1841, 1842, 1844, 1845, 1846, 1847, 1847, 1848. Von Dr. Boguslawski. 9 Blatter. 4to und 8vo. W. C. Redfield. Cape Verde and Hatteras Hurricane of Aug. - Sept. 1853. With a Hurricane Chart and Notices of Various Storms in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, North of the Equator. 8vo pamph. New Haven. 1854. Commissioner of Patents. Report of the Commissioner of Patents for the Year 1851. Part I., Arts and Manufactures. Part. II., Agriculture. 2 vols. 8vo. Washington. (Pub. Doc.) Edward Everett. Report, &c. for the Year 1852. Part. I., Arts and Manufac Part. II., Agriculture. 2 vols. 8vo. Washington. 1853. (Pub. Doc.) Report, &c. for the Year 1853. Part. I., Arts and Manufactures. 1 vol. 8vo. Washington. 1854. (Pub. Doc.) Royal Bavarian Academy. Abhandlungen der Phil.-Philol. Classe der Königl. Bayerisch. Akad. der Wissenschaften. Band VI. 1850-52. Band VII. Abth 1. 1853. Abhandlungen der Historisch. Classe. 4to. Munich. Band VI. 1850-52. Gelehrte Anzeigen. Vols. XXXII. - XXXVII., to July, 1853. 4to. Munich. Dr. J. Roth. Schilderung der Naturverhältnisse in Sud Abyssinien. 4to pamph. Munich. 1851. Dr. Wittman. Die Germanen und die Römer in ihren Wechselverhältnisse vor dem Falle des Westreiches. 4to pamph. Munich. 1851. Beobachtungen des Meteorologischen Observatoriums auf dem Hohenpeissenberg von 1792-1850. Von Dr. J. Lamont. 8vo pamph. München. 1851. Dr. Carl Prankl. Die gegenwärtize Aufgabe der Philosophie. 4to pamph. Mün Architektonische Zeichnunger als Beilage zu den zwei Abhandlungen über das Erechtheum von Edw. Mezger. 4to pamph. München. 1852. Annalen der Königlischen Sternwarte bei München. Von Dr. J. Lamont. Vol. V. Mit Astronomischen Kalender für 1853. 8vo pamph. München. 1852. Ueber den Chemismus der Vegetation. Von Dr. A. Vogel, Jr. 4to pamph. München. 1852. Afrika vor den Entdeckungen der Portugiesen. Von Dr. Friedrich Kunstman. 4to pamph. München. Dr. C. Fr. Phr. Martius. 1853. Wegweiser für die Besucher des K. Botanischen Gartens in München, nebst einem Verzeichnisse der in demselben vorhandenen Pflanzengattungen. 12mo pamph. München. 1852. J. G. Krabinger. Die Classischen Studien und ihre Begner. 8vo pamph. München. 1853. Dr. Fr. P. W. Herman. Ueber die Bewegung der Bevolterung im Königreiche Bayern. 8vo pamph. München. 1853. Friedrick Thiersch. Rede zur Borfeyer des hohen Geburtsfestes. 4to pamph. München. 1853. Deming Jarves. Reminiscences of Glass-Making. Svo pamph. Boston. 1854. Four hundred and second meeting. June 27, 1854. MONTHLY MEETING. The PRESIDENT in the chair. Professor J. S. Cooke presented a memoir "On Stibiobizincyle and Stibiotrizincyle, two new Compounds of Zinc and Antimony." This memoir was referred to the Committee of Publication. Four hundred and third meeting. August 9, 1854. -QUARTERLY MEETING. The PRESIDENT in the chair. At the request of the Treasurer, the following vote was laid before the Academy, and unanimously adopted: "Voted, That the Secretary be directed to inform the executors of our late esteemed associate, Dr. George C. Shattuck, that the Academy have received his bequest, a share in the Cocheco Manufacturing Company, and to express their grateful sense of this mark of his regard." A paper was received from Professor Gray, entitled, "Characters of some New Genera and Species of Plants in a Collection made by George Thurber, Esq., of the late Mexican Boundary Commission, chiefly in New Mexico, Southwest California, and Sonora." The plants described are Ranunculus hydrocharoides; Argemone fruticosa, Thurber; Malvastrum Thurberi; Abutilon Thurberi; Thurberia thespesioides, a new and striking Malvaceous genus allied to Thespesia; Holacantha Emoryi, a new genus of Simarubaceæ allied to Castela; Guaiacum Coulteri; Astragalus Thurberi; Daubentonia Thurberi; Robinia Neo-Mexicana; five new species of Dalea; Hosackia argophylla; Acacia? crassifolia, an anomalous species as to the foliage; Potentilla Thurberi, a new red-flowered species; Petalonyx Thurberi, an interesting addition to the tribe Gronovieæ of the order Loasaceæ ; Eremiastrum bellioides, an Asteroid genus, intermediate between Erigeron and Bellium; Melampodium longicorne ; Dy sodia porophylloides; Psathyrotes incisa; Bartlettia scaposa, a new genus of Senecioneæ, dedicated to the U. S. Boundary Commissioner under whose instructions this collection was made; Perezia Thurberi; Stephanomeria Thurberi; Jacquinia pungens; and Pilostyles Thurberi, a parasitic flower of the order Rafflesiacea, of which it is the only representative in North America. Professor Horsford exhibited an obstruction which had been removed from a wooden pump-log at the Water-Cure establishment of Brattleboro, Vt., formed of a compact mass of small root-fibres, entirely closing the tube of the log. It was three feet in length, and was developed from a slender fibre of the root of a neighboring tree, which had penetrated by a small crevice at a joint in the log. The log had been two years in the ground. Dr. Walter Channing asked for an explanation of the fact, that, in solar eclipses, the luminous spots upon the ground produced by the light which penetrated the foliage were always of the same shape as the uneclipsed portion of the sun. Professor Lovering remarked in reply: "This phenomenon has been frequently noticed. It excited attention in the progress of the great eclipse of 1806, and is mentioned by Sir J. F. W. Herschel in reference to the eclipse of September 7, 1820. The explanation of it which the rectilinear motion of light offers is simple and sufficient. If the aperture is a physical point, a cone of rays will pass through it, having this point as its apex. The section of this cone by a screen at right angles to its axis will have the same figure as the body from which the light comes, and its diameter will be equal to the diameter of the luminous body multiplied by the distance of the screen from the aperture, and divided by the distance of the luminous body from the same point. Hence, for the same body, it increases as the screen is placed at greater distances. If the luminous body is a physical point, and the aperture not, a pencil of rays will pass through, which is a continuation of the cone of which the luminous point is the apex, and the apertures the base. The section of this pencil at right angles to its axis will have the shape of the aperture, and its size will equal that of the aperture |