make such arrangements with the Boston Athenæum as they may find feasible and deem expedient.

On the motion of Mr. Paine it was voted that application be made to the representatives of the late Jonathan P. Hall, for the meteorological observations made by him during the past nine years under the auspices of the Academy, and forming a sequel to the observations of Mr. Hall already published by the Academy.

Mr. Paine was appointed to make this application, and also to receive the apparatus furnished by the Academy for Mr. Hall's use.

Mr. C. M. Warren presented the following paper:

Note on an Improved Apparatus for the Determination of Vapor Densities by Gay-Lussac's Method; being a Modification of Bunsen's Apparatus for measuring Aqueous Vapor. By C. M. WARREN.

HAVING recently had occasion to employ the method of Gay-Lussac for taking vapor densities, I decided to follow the lead of Carius,* and substitute for this purpose the, steam-bath apparatus, Fig. 1, devised by Bunsen,† for measuring the aqueous vapor formed in the analysis of gases, this seeming to me preferable to the apparatus described by Gay-Lussac. But when I came to use the apparatus which I had constructed, in conformity, as I supposed, with that of Bunsen, I found it defective in one particular. I allude to the fact that, in consequence of the accumulation of a stratum of water on the surface of the mercury in the cup i, Fig. 1, in which the measuring-tube, e, stands inverted, and also of an accumulation of water in dew-like drops on the sides of this cup, and on the sides of the cylinder c c, it was found impossible to make an accurate reading of the lower level of mercury.‡

As I was about to abandon the use of this apparatus and resort to that of Gay-Lussac, it occurred to me that the defect above mentioned

* Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie, CXIX. 316.

↑ Gasometrische Methode, p. 52; English edition, p. 47.

It is but just to remark, that my apparatus may have been defective in its proportions, - as dimensions were not given in Bunsen's description, — for it does not appear that either Bunsen or Carius had any difficulty in making accurate observations with the apparatus that they employed.

might be entirely remedied by supplying an additional cup, n, Fig. 2,

Fig. 1.

d

within the other; the inner cup

being of such capacity that the mercury expelled from the measuring-tube during an experiment would be certain to cause an overflow of mercury (no matter how little) from the inner into the outer cup. With such an arrangement it is obvious that at the time of measurement the inner cup would be always full of mercury, and consequently that the latter would always stand at the same level on the measuring-tube; hence that this level may be previously ascertained, once for all, and thus obviate the necessity of making this reading during an experiment. It will then only be required to make the single reading at the upper level of the mercurial column. The difference between this level and the constant level, previously

ascertained, at the top of the mercury in the inner cup, will give diFig. 2. rectly the height of the column of mercury, which, corrected for temperature, is to be deducted from that of the barometer to find the pressure to which the vapor is subjected.

P

With this slight alteration of Bunsen's apparatus, it appears to me far preferable to the more complicated and expensive apparatus of Gay-Lussac. It has not only the advantage of greater simplicity, and of economy in the quantity of mercury required, but recommends itself also for its convenience, and the facility with which the vapor may be brought to and maintained at a constant tempera

ture.

Five hundred and sixty-sixth Meeting.

April 24, 1866. SPECIAL MEETING.

The PRESIDENT in the chair.

The President read a letter from Mr. Samuel F. Dalton, administrator of the estate of the late Jonathan P. Hall, transmitting to the Treasurer the sum of one hundred dollars, the bequest of Mr. Hall to the Academy, " to be expended in publishing its memoirs and transactions."

On the motion of Professor Lovering it was voted, That the thanks of the Academy be communicated to the representatives of Mr. Jonathan P. Hall for this acceptable bequest.

On the motion of Professor Bowen a committee of six was appointed to act with the Finance Committee on the subject of the purchase or lease of a Hall for the use of the Academy. The following gentlemen were appointed on this committee: Mr. Loring, Dr. J. Bigelow, Mr. E. B. Bigelow, Mr. J. A. Lowell, Mr. Andrews, and Professor Rogers.

Five hundred and sixty-seventh Meeting.
May 1, 1866.

The PRESIDENT in the chair.

SPECIAL MEETING.

Dr. J. Bigelow presented a report from the committee to consider the purchase or lease of rooms for the Academy.

On the motion of Professor Lovering it was voted to consider the subject of this report at the meeting to be held on the 8th of May; and the same committee was requested to investigate the subject further.

Mr. Loring was excused from further service on this committee, and Professor Eliot was appointed in his place.

Five hundred and sixty-eighth Meeting.

May 8, 1866.-MONTHLY MEETING.

The PRESIDENT in the chair.

The Corresponding Secretary read letters relative to exchanges; also letters from the Reverend Barnas Sears, President of Brown University, and from Dr. Joseph Dalton Hooker, Director of the Royal Gardens, Kew, in acknowledgment of their election into the Academy.

Professor Lovering reported, from the Committee of Publication, that Volume VI. of the Proceedings had been completed and was ready for distribution.

On the motion of Professor Lovering it was voted, That the sum of one hundred dollars bequeathed to the Academy by the late Jonathan P. Hall, for the publication of its memoirs and transactions, be appropriated to the publication of Mr. Hall's meteorological observations.

Dr. Bigelow reported, from the committee to consider the purchase or lease of rooms for the use of the Academy, that no further action had been had on the subject.

On the motion of Mr. Bowditch the subject of this committee's previous report was indefinitely postponed, and the committee was discharged.

The whole subject of the accommodation of the Academy was then referred to a new committee, consisting of Dr. Bigelow, the Treasurer, Mr. Bowditch, Professor Cooke, Professor Eliot, and Mr. J. A. Lowell.

Five hundred and sixty-ninth Meeting.

May 29, 1866. - ANNUAL MEETING.

The PRESIDENT in the chair.

The Treasurer presented his report, which was accepted and referred to the Auditing Committee.

The Treasurer reported, from the committee to consider the subject of a building for the accommodation of the Academy,

that negotiations were pending for the further lease of the Hall now occupied by the Academy. The subject was recommitted.

The Corresponding Secretary read, in abstract, the following

Report of the Council.

Through a wholly unprecedented mortality, the Academy has lost during the past year seventeen members, among them its Vice-President and its Treasurer. Six of our deceased brethren were Resident Fellows, three were Associates, and eight Foreign Honorary Members.

Of the Resident Fellows thus removed, five were of the Third Class, comprising the honored names of Sparks, Beck, Livermore, Worcester, and Fitzpatrick, and one, Mr. J. Patten Hall, was of the Second Class.

JARED SPARKS was born at Willington, Connecticut, in 1789. His boyhood was passed in the then usual pursuits, and with no more than the then wonted opportunities and privileges of boys in the country. He, however, early manifested a strong inclination and capacity for mathematical study, and, with such aid as he could derive from stray books on navigation that fell in his way, he attained to the calculation of eclipses and other astronomical phenomena, and in one instance furnished the mutanda for the year's almanac. He learned a carpenter's trade, and connected with it the profession of a district schoolmaster. With no distinct purpose other than that of qualifying himself for the successful and honorable discharge of this last-named calling during the winter months, he sought the tuition of his pastor, Rev. Mr. Loomis, (afterward President of Shurtleff College, Illinois, and still living,) and under his direction commenced a course of classical study, undertaking to pay Mr. Loomis by shingling his barn. One day, when he was at work on the barn, his teacher asked him to come into the house, and construe a passage in Virgil in the hearing of Rev. Mr. Abbot, then minister of Coventry. Mr. Abbot perceived at once the rich promise that there was in the young carpenter, and wrote to his brother-in-law, the principal of Exeter Academy, to solicit a scholarship for him. The application was successful, and young Sparks walked to Exeter, more than a hundred miles, in three days, Mr. Abbot (who with his wife was meditating a visit to his brother and sister) conveying his trunk behind his own chaise.

After a novitiate, in which he showed masterly power of acquisition,