The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1845-05-09

Resolved. That DR.. Dickerson Of hatcher and Col q.
Z. L. Waites, Of Jackson, Miss be a committee TO report
~ the dePoses furnishing the remains Of ne Base
losorus or Tygodon-the mas,odon remains Of Nscher
Bluffs and the curious nondescrpt animal mentioned ny
Dr. Dickson in tho communication already made 10 the
Association.
The meeting here arose FOR dinner
AFrsRsooS ssssioS.
The Secretary srLLinAs, Jr addressed tho society
the remains of the cedar cypress found in
ded wh notion that Professor "a n.s.
pi should be requested to report To the Society at its
next session. the alluval deposits Of Mississippi in
Professor siLLNAs for the purpose Of again al
luding to the expected visit Of that celebated naturalist
and geoogist Professor Agassx Of swtzerand he was
coming to this country for the purpose Of study.
ing its geology &c, and as il not improbable that
members Of the association might have in their power
to facilitate HIS enquiries he could not Let the opportunity
slip OF bespeaking for him the ready cooperation OF
American men OF science as Il was due, not only to the
cause, but to himself professor AZ personally.
The SECRETARY then read paper written by Professor
Samuel Weber, certain forms Of attraction IL was
an elaborate and abstruse treatise entering closely into
the doctrine OF Capitalization affinity &c He
cordng to Ehrenbergs statement that chalk is composed
Of the remains Of minute anmacula and knowing that
other animalcula have their hard part composed Of silk
seems not improbable that the hnts found in the ciak
merely the remains Of the last the chalk itself Is Of
the former kind and that both sorts pcrhing together
in the water tho sliceous skeletons cocc og ether
masses under the influence of the attraction OF similarity
In this view am sustained by work called ives.
might not the acars crass be merely the development
OF oya which at or near maturity envclopcd in the
tally in despite Of all the hard trials to which they
were subjected to be called at last into life under the 20.
tent influence Of the voltaic battery.
The concluding paragraph of Mr. Webbcr's paper pre-
sents brief summary Of his views, thus -
What this attraction that has been treated Of and OF
which have spoken homoncgeous attractionl Is
nythng but general law by which the particles tn
constitute solid OF uniform nature brought and
held and Of which the law Of cohesion and chrys
fh.~-
ola moro general law Of the universal attraction Of
ter for ITSELF which more general law has its modification
put an imperfect action Of tho attraction Of polarity
eXertcd over sensible distances bringing particles into
cohesion at any rate acting more powerfully upon par
cles OF the same Kind and dsposng them to unite with
each other in preference to foreign PARTICLES and when
full perfect and unimpeded in its action unite in
regular tormsi Oris it, as some imagine without treat.
ing OF it fully but kind of chemical attraction or e.
nity These questions be answered satisfac.
tory but it may be conectured that the law of polarity
meaning thereby some great power like electricity il not
electricity ITSELF the most probable and
may be that such is the great law of oil attractions ali
kinds and OF gravtation itsela power of universal ex
and diversified action from the 1pdar
winch acts and by the Formulation and combination Of
but few comparatively simple and general principles
Dr. JACKSON doubted the orthodoxy of the work quoted
quite true that by pouring suphurc acid on certain vc-
certain vegetable substances anamalcule were produ.
ced put as 70 the use OF sicate of potash spoken Of
that book he had tested it and found animacu were
formed.
fr1L oLMsrED, in abiding to the supposed discharge
OF geatinous matter from meteors, wondered how such
an absurd notion became prevalent After the great me.
eorc shower Of 1885, Prof Twinng resolved trace to
their all these reports and the result of his la
bors conviction of their entire alacy But he rose
more particularly for the purpose of enquirng rny
member present was cognzant of any Of geatnous
matter being discharged from mctcors. mo reply
Prof RocERs observed that he could dissent from
the remarks made to tho production of animalcula
but yet in great obscu and he desired to see it taken
up again by this Society As to the and spe
culave views advanced in that celebrated work. Yes
hges OF Creation" they far overbalanced by the
sublime and glorious views it unfolded of creation
Professor HALDEMAs thought they should not con-
denim the author Of Vesges Of Creation" adopting
the course followed by all orthodox writer's that is Of
reasoning on premises that not entirely and unan
mously admitted by scientific men There was as much
assumption on side the other and the doctrine of
generation occupied and puzzled the strongest minds
every age.
Of Philadelphia, in London against the book w hch
although evidently the production of a powerful en-
curing but not practical writer was Of dangerous and
irreligious tendency.
The President here announced that the regular bust.
ness was finished and inquired members had any addi
lonal business to offer before they adjourned.
Mr. j. d. DANA again brought up the revised report of
the committee on nomenclature, which adopted.
On motion Of Professor SILLMAN, it was resolved to
publish 500 copies Of tho report for circulation in the
manner best calculated to forward the views it
On motion of Professor Rooms il was resolved that
the Secretary be instructed prepare minutes of the
Socctys proceedings and to that end obtain men,
pics of said proceedings be published at the expense
the association.
1t also resolved that the remaining volumes of the
transactions of the Society be placed sale for the bcne
fit of the Society.
Mr. REDrELD moved that the local committee appoint
ed to make arrangements for the next session New
York have power invite such persons as they thought
desirable to attend their session.
The General Committee reported the annexed list Of
new membcrs,which was approvcd:-
DR.. John H. Kane, New Haven't Dr. NJ W. Dickson
Natchez; Colonel Waites. Washington, Miss; Dr.
VIM Logan, Esq Of the Geological Survey Canada; Sir
Charles Bonncycase, Canada; Nathl. T. True, Mon.
mouth, Mo-; Richard Bolton, Miss d. Olmstcd jr. New
A vote of thanks then passed to tho Governor of
ac College for the of the lecture room and also to
the Secretary and his assistant for thor valuable ser.
vices.
Prof SHErAkD rose and alluded to some remarks of his
made the day before as to the identity OF the specimens
produced from Alabama by Dr. Kane and the great bed
OF Carolina he added that by experiment he found the
latter to contain from to 8, per cent of lime
logical survey OF Vermont he found beds of mari that
yielded three per cent Of lime He could not help here
English honoring Dr. Justus Liebeg for his dis.
covcry Of the relation between the phosphacs and vege
tables, they had in their language work in which
the whole subject was treated Of in mastery
This volume written in 1895 by the Earl OF Dundon-
aid and not only treated of the action of phosphatcs
but of aalts well az the alkales in that work
which forgotten only because it was in advance Of
the age, the author was assisted by the famous men,
Prestly and Cavendsh the first Of whom discovered
simple constituent elements Of air the latter of water
frof ROGERS reported behalf Of the committee ap-
pointed to make certain amendments the constitution
that they the changing of the Of the
society to the society for the promotion of science
that their secretary should be permanently appointed,
like that Of the British Association and that members on
admission should pay fee Of two dollars each it also
suggested thnt chemistry should be added their field Of
inquiry.
Prof BcorH thought it would be better wait little
before acting on that report lie had doubt that the
changes contemplated could he ultimately found prscti
coblc but although tho British Association was worthy
of imitation in the wide field they took for tho cnqu
res could not be overlooked that their means wcro
incomparably greater; they Ind great wealth. which
blod thcm to conduct gigantic enquiries. There was
danger in forming their association on too grand scale
i would be betcr to build slowly md surely; and
feared would DO found to be growing too rapidly il the
proposition under consideration were Immediately acted
upon. Chemistry was department familiar to many
members OF the society and therefore might be taken up
and certainly one OF the most important as some OF
tho other branches depended upon for their undamcn
tai principles.
Prof OLMsrrp would like to throw in word for natu-
raj philosophy Sir John crschcll had shown most
cusvely tho connection between these departments Of
science, and he desired receiving