New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-08-22


HIGHLY INTERESTING PRocEED1SGs = selENi1 LIZ
PAPERS READ--LINGUIsTIc SCIENCE $3.50 49, 1Ir
PHYSICAL sCIENoEs-TBE hhFisio 81 e 1pnE
roc TRUlEPET-THE AnA2oN--sAA 'iAN ~
/ RAJ SOLDIERS, ETC. ETC
I ~ a. 41ird 7av of the session of the National
/ Academy of Sciences at Northampton, MassaSllI-
setts Iast Thursday, Professor Whitney, OF naie
1Is read the first paper on grounds OF anal,
-, bstween linguistic science and the physlcal
" He reviewed briefly the considerations
y,ich prove the study of languages to be morsi
/ rafber than physical science Yet linguistic SCH
ence has many striking analogies with the physi-
cal sciences, especially in its method IN couecupB
| and observing facts and drawing from them eaeh
of the uses principles and laws OF speech. speech
is conscious act, but as system, the usages OF
| speech are wholly unconscious. Language IS not
| a mere human invention, but development
wrought by the changing needs ana advancing
knowledge of the races of men. A prolonged ana
lively discussion followed the reading OF tns paper
in which the effort was to make out that linguistic
science has a physical department. Professor
| Whitney agreed that sound IS physical product
bnt the science which is devoted to thought-bear-
| ing sound is not physical science. Language Is
| growth which is historical.
/ The next paper was by Professor Agassizs on
4 the " Limitation of Homologies, in which ne
showed the entire difference of structure between
veTtebrates, artculates, mollusks andradiates he
argued from it against Professor Dana's principle
! of capitalization,
1 The Hon Samuel B. Ruggles spoke at some
length of the ofthe efforts OF the academy
| and others to introduce the metric system OF
/ weights and measures, and especially OF the hve
4 cent. coin, which is five grammes in weight and
one-iftieth of meter in breadth The cube OF
the breadth of five of these coins is liter. he
lurged the academy to continne its efforts, and
spoke Of the desirability of uniform coinage for
the world, and the prospects OF reahzing such
= good thing. 81
AT the meeting on Friday Professor Henry, of
the Smithsonian Institute, offered paper on
. "Sound in its Economic Applications he gave
an account of the organization OF the Light House
Board of this country. This board consists OF two
! officers of the army, two of the navy, and Two
civilians Of high scientific attainment. Three
members of this academy are on the board lie
! spoke Of the committees on lightning, eXperl-
lments etc.
Being member Of the committee on expert
nents, he gave an account Of some which had
been made near the light house near New Haven,
IS with view to selecting the best means OF using
!; Sound for giving warning to ships Ihey had
tiled steam histles, fog-bells, etc. "A steam
iWhistle which had been presented made very
| great sound which was said to have been heard
: at the distance of thirty miles. The instrument
10 they found best adapted to their purposes was
| fog-trumpet which gave the most sound in pro-
portion to power, in the best way. Prof. Henry
stated, as the most surprising fact observed, that
1.-THE sound was found to reach to the greatest dis
lance in direction at right angles to the course
of the wind, instead Of in the direction Of the
| wind, as would naturally be supposed. He
thought at first that he must be mistaken, but on
= finding something similar in q French scientific
magazine, he constructed an instrument by which
he verified his previous observations. His expert
ments were still very incomplete, bat he hoped
| with his instrument to work out some valuable
results Professor Henry made a.remark as to
automatic machines offered to the board. None
i had been adopted except one invented by Col.
Baehe, of the army, by which the waves dashing
into the lower end of a hole in the rock made
u trumpet sound at the upper end by the column Of
air driven up. He asked for any suggestions the
Z academy might have TO offer that would be OF use
to the board.
The subjects of interrupted sound and change
and variety of pitch were brought up, as also
the question whether sounds of different pitch
Travelled at different rates Of speed De =. A.
Gould spoke Of the experiments of Mr.. Boyden,
Of Boston, in this line, and then took occasion to
pay q tribute TO Mr.. Boyden's genius, which was
II little known because Of his .modesty. Others
spoke similarly of his inventive mind, careful oh,
seryation, etc, and of the great Importance Of
persuading Mr.. Boyden to publish his results
. II Professor Agassiz next spoke 6 On the Geo
graphical Distribution Of the Fishes in the Waters
Of the Amazon.n He found, when he went there,
that about enc hundred and Fifty species had been
described. We have trustworthy information that
Z the greatest number seen was not over two hun
dred and thirty. Now he himself had collected
! specimens of over one thousand eight hundred,
and he was convinced that the whole number of
ispeeies was at least three thousand. He spoke of
Z 1.-The facilities extended by the government
II Of Brazil, the Amazonian Steamship
ICompany, and by every one whom
he met, without which he could have accomplished
little. Even the fishermen were ordered by the
mayors or presidents Of the provinces to 60 fish
ing for him. Often five or six boats would be
about his ship, bringing fish which had been
speared shot with arrows, caught in nets or with
4 hooks or poisoned. He thought, therefore that
such collection OF fishes IS he had brought home
would not soon be seen again. The 1emperor of
Brazil, returning from the army on the Paraguay,
sent for him to talk with him of the Amazon.
Imagine his delight as finding the table covered
lln6 no Df thp
J which the emperor himself had gathered and which
he then gave him for comparison. HebelieVed he
was not wrong in saying that the basnio the Am-
AEON is the largest fresh-Water basin in the world.
!. 1t COWS through a country three thousand miles
long, with fall of only two hundred and fifty
feet. As result Of this, the tine filling up Of
the Upper Amazon is six months earlier
i than that Of the moath. Ihe tributaries
on the south side. supply il most in December,
while those on She north take theirlturn in June.
Il This is the economy of power in this grand river,
4 by which its rise and fall are very much counter
acted. Many of these rivers are tinged with some
n which had a blafkish color. Those however,
which took their rise in tropical forests were clear
Il The Amazon is SO white in color thar when the
Rio Negro poqTs in its black tide it doesnot change
h the Amazon. The white rather oEerlies ahe black,
or the tWe,colors flow side by side for many miles.
i The average temperature of all these rivers is
tstwenty-seven degrees centigrade, and the range
| only five degrees centgrade. lit would be hard to
/ find basin Of such eauable temperature. The
known fishes Of the Amazon are more than the
known fishes of the Atlantic, yhile, he might add,
| the number Of aquatic birds is amazing.
sDr, b, IA. Gs0nld was next in order, with paper
.enthe isstature Of the American soldiers.n Mr..
Gould apologized for lack effeomplete prepara-
ton, ss he had not expected to readtoday. He
recalled the faetthat he read paper a yearago
on Hiihe ages aef American s0ldiers.H He had
here the results to the stature Of one million of
men. Clerks had been sent TO the adjutAnt gene
rails Of the different States, who had transcribed
from the muster rells. The results have shown
how much more satisfactory the ststistics would
be if we had LEGISLATURE of the earlier troops, who
must have been Rturdier class of men. The rules
of the army require that the heightslall be given
at the nearest one-fourth ineh.l Yet the number
whose height was given in whole inches was fonrH
times what it should be, and the number whose
stature ended in q half zach was twice too great
SHOWING the tendency of the measures to take
reundinumbers. Another striking fact developed
is that the time ofHeaching the maximum height is
very much later than is generally supposed, being
twenty weight in men born Id America. rl II
Again, III is found that the heightof those at IS
IS notso great as that Of those at29 and 3d. This
he attributed To the consolidation of the cartieges
Of the backbone. 1t might be said that the height
decreases during the day, and that by CARRYING |
heavy weights, etc, the height diminished for
few, hours. He thought, however, that the |
error for this cause must have been eliminated by
the great number Of measurements made at full
hours of the day. The attempts TO indicate a
rate OF growth have not been found very satiBfac-
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