Dr. Henry J. Bigelow gave some account of a new process of inhalation employed by Dr. Morton, of Boston, to produce insensibility to pain during the performance of operations by the dentist and the surgeon. Two hundred and eighty-eighth Meeting. November 12, 1846. QUARTERLY MEETING. The PRESIDENT in the chair. The President announced that the new volume of the Academy's Memoirs was ready for distribution to the Fellows. The Corresponding Secretary read a letter from M. Edouard de Verneuil, of Paris, acknowledging and accepting his election as a Foreign Honorary Member of the Academy. Dr. George Engelmann, of St. Louis, Missouri, and Dr. Elisha Bartlett, of Lowell, likewise accepted their election as Fellows. Professor Peirce communicated the elements of an elliptic orbit of De Vico's fourth comet, which he has computed, by the method of least squares, from all the observations made by Mr. Bond, combined with De Vico's observation of the 20th of February, the Paris observations of the 2d, 5th, and 6th of March, and the Hamburg and Altona observations of the 12th and 15th of March. "Time of perihelion passage, March 5.54775, Greenwich M. S. T. Longitude of perihelion, 90° 27′ 18′′.8, Mean Equinox 1846.0. ascending node, 77° 33′ 26′′.3, Inclination, 85° 6' 12".3. 66 Perihelion distance, 0.663735. Eccentricity, 0.9622465. Semi-major axis, 17.58075. Period of sidereal revolution, 73.715. Motion direct. "The comparison of this orbit with observation gives the following differences between the observed and computed places. d. Feb. 20.26993 14 28 45.2 7 29 23.0+ 9.4+ 23.3 De Vico. N. 26.53907 15 6 29.5 3 19 16.719.0 March 1.28629 15 9 13.2 7 47 32.3 - 41.1 10.4 Bond. 4.3 Santini. 22.3 Bond. 4.8 2.5 2.51017 15 6 36.3 9 42 34.4 11.5 3.29356 15 5 3.30060 15 4 58 1.210 55 5.7 +10.1+ 10 55 4910.2+ 7.4 Carlini. 36.9. 0.215.5 Bond. 6.0+ 1.5 6.1 Bond. 3.50166 15 4 12.9 11 13 3.5 4.2 . 13.1 5.1 Laugier. Bond. 0.8 Laugier. 2.70.2 Bond. 6.29348 14 51 8 15 22 10 3.7 Santini. 3.1 6.7 Bond. 11.51920 14 6 55.022 27 33.2+11.524.6 Bond. 8 58.1 12.27386 13 58 43.4 23 24 28.1 5.5 23 26 56.3 "" 12.31213 13 58 3.623 26 53.2 13.25971 13 46 53.024 27 32.4 2.5+ 6.7 Santini. 2.9 Rümker. "" 15.31012 13 20 14.627 66 15.31410 13 20 17.51552 12 48 36.8 29 20 44.4 2.0 37.4 29 33 43.5+ 3.5+ 13.8 Bond. 59.5 30 41 3.0+ 2.8+ 8.0 Bond. 20.28267 12 5 7.532 30 54.5 66 20.33603 12 4 10-932 34 11.9 66 21.35047 11 47 27.31119 9 58 42.939 14 20.2+ 7.3+ 6.1 Rümker. 30.341978 58 0.841 52 4.0 1.6+11.0 Rümker. "" 31.29079 8 38 31-842 39 47.35.5 10.1 Littrow. 31.31750 8 38 14-342 41 8.7+17.310.4 Rümker. Greenwich Mean Solar Time of Observation. d. Mar. 31.32949 66 31.52451 April 1.33315 66 66 8 33 49.842 51 33.1+17.3+17.0 Bond. 5.8 Schmidt. 6.4 Rümker. 8.8 Bond. 5.3+ 0.4 Argelander. 66 1.33531 8 16 5.5 43 31 25,8 12.5 1.33952 8 16 20.343 31 25.8+ 2.3 1,52523 8 12 23.043 40 51,8+ 4.0 2.32372 7 55 16.144 19 39.3+ 2.33197 7 54 51.144 20 2.8 2.34457 7 54 42,444 20 37.0+ 2.54317 7 50 11.644 30 1.6 5.5 3.88118 7 20 23.6 45 34 18.8 -18.8+ 5.34286 6 48 6.346 42 55,3+13.5 + 5.36738 6 47 23.646 44 6.1 6.9 3.3 Schmidt. 13.37251 3 24 50.5 52 42 37.8 15.77.4 Schmidt. 14.55262 2 51 53.653 33 34.0+10.0 +4.0 Bond. 15.56862 2 21 58.854 17 3.9+ 4.5 +0.1 Bond. 16.37364 1 57 49.4 54 51 21.6+ 4.5 0.6 Rümker. 16.54491 1 53 1.454 58 57.5+27.0+15.5 Bond. 18.36677 0 54 10.856 16 5.1 8.0+22.7 Rümker. 21.41859359 8 40.758 23 37.2+15.1+12.2 Argelander. 21.50639 359 5 0.458 27 13.3+ 1.9 10.8 Schmidt. 23.35969357 53 57.259 43 54.0+15.5+ 9.4 Argelander. 23.36455 357 53 10.359 44 7.9 3.4+ 9.3 Schmidt. 25.37553 356 28 40.461 6 36.7 4.2 4.6 Schmidt. 27.39316354 55 29.4 62 28 42.3—13.7 + 27.84383 354 32 47.5 62 47 5.211.7 28.45705 354 2 29.463 11 33.9+24.1 29.48934353 7 26.6 63 53 May 1.51532351 10 16.4 65 13 4.82418347 27 56.367 21 18.64778 320 11 42.274 35 38 19.66111317 14 39.274 54 17 Mr. Peirce is collecting observations preparatory to a still more thorough investigation of the orbit of this comet, and desires communications from those astronomers who may have observed it. Professor Peirce said that his attention had been drawn, by Mr. Herrick of New Haven, to the supposed planet observed by Wartman of Geneva, in 1831, with the inquiry, whether it was not identical with Le Verrier's. He showed, that, although it could not have been more than eight or ten degrees distant from it, it was too far from the place given by Le Verrier's orbit to be the same body, and that the limits of the errors of this orbit were much too small to be consistent with their identity. He showed, moreover, that the places of the body given by Wartman's observations are wholly irreconcilable with those of any planet whatever, whose orbit is nearly circular, and whose motion is direct. The researches made by Wartman, in the year 1832, for the rediscovery of his supposed planet, might easily have resulted in the discovery of the planet by which the name of Le Verrier is now immortalized. DONATIONS TO THE LIBRARY. Annual Report of the Commissioner of Patents, for 1845. 8vo. Washington, 1846. (Cong. Doc.) From Hon. R. C. Winthrop. Report of the Fifteenth Meeting of the British Association, held at Cambridge, in June, 1845. 8vo. London, 1846. From the British Association. Annuaire Universel au Histoire Politique pour 1844. 8vo. Paris, 1845. From O. Rich. Sir R. I. Murchison. Address to the British Association for the Advancement of Science. 8vo. pamph. London, 1846. From E. Everett. Gaspar Cipri. Découvertes Physico-Mécaniques. 8vo. pamph. Paris, 1846. From the Author. Antiquissimi Virgiliani Codicis Fragmenta et Pictura ex Bibliotheca Vaticana. fol. Roma, 1742. Bequest of Hon. John Pickering. A. A. Gould. Expedition Shells: described for the Work of the U. S. Exploring Expedition. 8vo. pamph. Boston, 1846. From the Author. Abhandlungen der Koeniglichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin. For 1844. 4to. Berlin, 1846. From the Berlin Academy. Besicht über die zur Bekanntmachung geeigneten Verhandlungen der K. Preuss. Akad. Wissenschaften zu Berlin. July, 1845, to June, 1846. 8vo. From the Berlin Academy. Nouveaux Mémoires de l'Académie Royale des Sciences et Belleslettres de Bruxelles. Tom. XVII. & XVIII. (1844, 1845). 4to. From the Academy. Mémoires Couronnés et Mémoires des Savants Étrangers publiés par l'Académie Royale des Sciences et Belles-lettres de Bruxelles. Tom. XVII. & XVIII. (1843-1845). 4to. From the Academy. Bulletins de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, etc., de Bruxelles. Tom. XI. & XII. (for 1844, 1845). 8vo. From the Academy. Annuaire de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, etc., de Bruxelles. For 1844 and 1845. From the Academy. Annales de l'Observatoire Royale de Bruxelles. Publiés aux frais de l'État, par le Directeur, A. Quetelet. Tom. IV. 4to. From M. Quetelet. Observations des Phénomènes Periodiques. (Extr. du Tom. XVII. des Mem. Acad. Brux.) 4to. From M. Quetelet. Two hundred and eighty-ninth Meeting. December 1, 1846.- MONTHLY MEETING. The VICE-PRESIDENT in the chair. Dr. C. T. Jackson exhibited specimens of gun-cotton, explained the mode of preparation, and illustrated its effects. He also exhibited specimens of paper prepared in a similar way, which was shown to acquire nearly the firmness of vellum, and to have become somewhat impermeable to water. Mr. Agassiz made some remarks on the points of resemblance between the flora of the fresh-water Molasse (later miocene) of Europe and the existing flora of North America, alluding to the fossil fruits, &c., in the former of such peculiarly North American genera as Taxodium, Liquidambar, Carya, etc., and to a considerable prevalence of Juglandeæ, as facts not only very curious in themselves, but also as evidence that Europe, at the era in question, possessed a temperate (and not a tropical) climate. Dr. Webster communicated from Mr. Hunt, the British Consul at St. Michaels, Azores, the annexed table, containing the results of his meteorological observations made at that place. |