kings of Denmark, and which he has raised to the reputation of an Observatory of the first class.

The debt which the whole astronomical world owes this illustrious scientist is too great to allow the learned societies of any country to remain silent while he was suffering under such embarrassment, and the academies of science, and philosophical societies of all civilized countries had, with one voice, protested, in the name of Science, and urged their respective governments to interfere. Our own scientific institutions had represented the urgency of the case to the government of the United States. That government had promptly responded to the call, by addressing itself both to the Danish and to the Schleswig Holstein authorities. The papers which Mr. Gould was about to read would show the success of this intervention.

Extract from Mr. Bancroft's Despatch to the Secretary of State. "The President has expressed his interest in the safety and prosperity of the illustrious Astronomer Schumacher. I have seen, on the subject, the envoy of Germany, and a member of the late Provisional Government of Schleswig Holstein. Both manifested towards me the utmost cordiality on the occasion, and the latter authorized me to say to the President that his friendly interest in the affairs of the Altona Observatory was esteemed an honor to his country, and that the Schleswig Holstein Government had already resolved to sustain the Observatory, and to secure to Mr. Schumacher all his appointments.

Translation of Extracts from a Note addressed to the Baron of Ungern-Steinberg and to Sir Henry Wynn, the Russian and English Ministers at Copenhagen.

"The Observatory of Altona, established by the regal munificence of Frederick IV. and of Christian VIII., is placed, in consequence of the insurrection which has broken out in the Duchies of Holstein and Schleswig, in a position by no means conformable to the intentions of its august founder, nor compatible with the interests of the scientific world, which demands the preservation of an establishment that has served, under the learned direction of Mr. Schumacher, as a centre for great scientific enterprises. You, sir, have supported these interests in pressing upon the government of the king your good offi

ces in behalf of Mr. Schumacher; and in expressing the desire that this distinguished astronomer should be maintained for life in his position as established by king Christian VIII.

"You will not doubt the serious attention which has been devoted to this affair. In the midst of the painful events which afflict her, Denmark has always remained faithful to the great scientific interests which have been entrusted to her care. She will show this, too, in the present circumstances."

"But being deprived of the exercise of his legitimate authority in the Duchies, and being unable to foresee the development of the future relations between Holstein and the kingdom of Denmark, properly so called, the government of the king ought, doubtless, to feel a proper hesitancy as to continuing under such circumstances the expenditure of the large sums necessary for maintaining the accustomed activity of Mr. Schumacher, without possessing in return the least guaranty that the ownership of the collections of instruments in the Observatory of Altona shall be preserved inviolate to the state. "Upon the proposal of the Minister of Finance, the Council of State has resolved, that the sum allowed for the support of the Observatory of Altona, shall be forwarded to Mr. Schumacher as soon as an effectual guaranty shall have been obtained, that the said collections of instruments used by Mr. Schumacher, at the expense of the king's government, shall always remain the property of the state, and be recognized as such, or that the value of these collections should be, at all events, restored to the Danish government, should the Altona Observatory pass into other hands.

"Permit me, sir, to call for your kind intervention, that such a guaranty may be afforded the government of the king, both now and hereafter, in a separate article of the peace which shall be concluded between Denmark and Germany, — and have the goodness to inform me of the result of the steps which you shall judge proper to be taken, as regards your government, for this end.

(Signed,)

Receive, &c.

MOLTKE."

President EVERETT stated that, having had the honor to act as the medium of communication between Prof. Schumacher and the men of Science of America on this occasion, and to serve upon the Committee which had been raised on this subject by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he had received a short time since a letter

from M. Steen Bille, the Danish Chargé d'Affaires at Washington, transmitting a copy of the communication from the Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs to the English and Russian Ministers at Copenhagen. As that communication had just been read by Mr. Gould, Mr. Everett would only read the short letter of M. Steen Bille accompanying it.

Having read M. Steen Bille's letter, Mr. EVERETT observed, that among the late items of intelligence from Europe, it was well known that it was stated that preliminaries of a treaty had been concluded between Denmark and the Duchies. Of its definitive ratification we had not yet heard; but he supposed there was no doubt that it would take place. There was reason, therefore, to feel confident that, in due time, a satisfactory arrangement would be made in reference to Mr. Schumacher's position and the Observatory at Altona. This was a most gratifying piece of intelligence, inasmuch as the offer of the Danish government was attended with conditions, which, however reasonable in themselves, it would have been extremely difficult, while the war lasted, to carry into effect.

Prof. HENRY remarked that the communication had been sent to him by the Secretary of State, with permission to lay it before the Association, and it had therefore been offered by Dr. Gould, at his request.

ON THE STRUCTURE OF CORAL ANIMALS. By Prof. LOUIS AGASSIZ. During an excursion in the Vineyard Sound with Lieut. Davis, in one of the Coast Survey steamers, about six weeks ago, it was my good fortune to bring up in the dredge, from the depth of 72 feet, off Gay Head, several specimens of a coral with its animals, which I succeeded in preserving alive for several days, upon which I made very careful observations, and from which I had drawings made of the details of its microscopic structure. After the investigation was finished, I tried to preserve the animal some time longer, with the hope of presenting it for the examination of my friends; and I therefore continued the care I had bestowed upon it, changing the sea-water twice a day; and it has been my good fortune to keep them alive for the past six weeks; and I now present you, in this jar, live corals from the coast of Massachusetts, and which I will request you to step forward and examine.

[After a few minutes examination of them, by the audience, one of

the specimens being completely opened, with the long and slender tentacles of the living inhabitants entirely out, Prof. A. proceeded with his illustration.]

With your permission, I will now proceed to detail the structure of this animal. The naturalists who have traced the progress of our knowledge of this class of animals, must be aware that Mr. James Dana, of New Haven, in his illustrations of the Polypi collected during the Exploring Expedition, has presented the state of our knowledge of this class, as it has really been obtained by all former investigations, adding from his own observations, invaluable information, and illustrating all the types of this class in a most splendid manner, unsurpassed by any former observer. The travelling naturalist being, however, scarcely ever in the position of making prolonged microscopical observations, has left me a chance for gleaning in this field; and the fact that I have had these animals so many weeks alive before me has enabled me to add some remarks upon its microscopic structure, which are of some interest. I will add, at the outset, that these investigations have enabled me to satisfy myself fully of the correctness of Mr. Dana as to his classification of these animals. All authors who have attempted to classify the Polypi, before the publication of Mr. Dana's work, distinguish the soft types, with their varying forms, as a peculiar group, distinct from all others, and then sub-divide the coral-building Polypi according to their structure into many sub-divisions. No one having attempted among them what Cuvier did among the Molluscs, to bring together those possessing hard parts, and those deprived of them, upon common characters of structure. Indeed, naked Polypi have always been considered distinct in their structure from those building corals; but Mr. Dana in his researches, assisted by Dr. Wyman and Dr. Gould, in the examination of the Actinia, came to the conclusion from what he saw of these and of the coral-building Polypi, that they must all be brought into great divisions, according to their structure; and he actually united the Actinia with the true Madreporida.

I would resume my observations upon this Astroid Polyp, as it belongs to the great family of Astrea, by saying, in one word, that it is a diminutive Actinia, and that we have all the details of structure which Actinia present, in a miniature form, in Astrea. My animal, however, belongs strictly to the genus Astrangia, and I would propose to dedicate the species to the able describer and illustrator of the Polypi of the United States Exploring Expedition, and call it in future Astrangia Dana.

This species presents two varieties. Some specimens are of a pink or rosy color, others are white. The highly colored specimens are rather faded away, but I shall circulate drawings representing these animals as they appeared several weeks ago. The general form of the animal is a cylinder, (as of all the Polypi,) resting upon its base, and expanded on the upper margin. Thus expanded it is about two lines in diameter. The number of tentacles is definite, but it is not always the same absolute number. It never exceeds 24, but in earlier periods of life there are only 12, and there is even an epoch of life when there are only six; which shows plainly that the number of tentacles is always a multiple of six. Seen from above, these tentacles are placed in the following position, which is constant. Just in the line of the longest diameter of the mouth, which, by the way, is never circular in Polypi, but always oblong, thus introducing somewhat of the bilateral symmetry, just in that line are placed two of the six larger tentacles, and at equal distances, in a circle are four more. This circle, containing six, is the first formed. These grow larger as the animal grows, and presently another row is introduced, alternating with the former, and smaller, making 12 tentacles. And finally a third row alternates with the others, thus constituting three rows, of gradually smaller tentacles, 24 in number. I have never seen any grow beyond this number; but I have seen young ones forming, since I have had them in my possession, and beginning with six; I have seen some with only 12; but the greater part of them have 24. I have never seen any of them pass into the state in which they have 24, but I have occasionally seen those which at one time had only six, to have afterwards 12; and I have seen those which at one time had only 12, to have afterwards 24. It is very difficult to watch the whole process of these changes, although I have been able to ascertain how they take place, and to determine the relative position of these tentacles to the cavity of the body and to the mouth. They move slowly; the motions resembling those of the tentacles of the snails.

We have, below the mouth, a small cavity, which is shut underneath by the contraction of its walls, and which, immediately below, expands into a wider cavity. The upper cavity is the stomach. In the centre of it is a large opening, which communicates with the cavity below; so that the stomach, by the relaxation of its walls, that is, of its muscular fibres, throws down its own contents into the general cavity of the body. But during the process of digestion, when food