National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-04-22
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCHES.
ANHuAL5 AssEMBLAGE OF THE ma
m FI0KAL ACADEMY.

GATHERING OF DISTINGUISHED skvANs-i
ESSAYS AND DEBATES ok MOST fNTEh
EsTING sUByEcTs-wRQ WERE PRESENT;
THE WORK rjR To-DAY's sEssloN-Dns
2 BRoWN-sEQUARD 70 READ A PAPER; g {.
ls ms annual session Of the National Aeadensy q
Sciencs wins held yestsrdAy incrning 1t 70 seicek
I'd The vest hall Of the Smithsonian tnstifrtet
Proc 5osoph Henry the president, a ths chair
md Prof ]: a Hilgasd SECRETARY There we're
present Prof. RAifinss Regsrsso trsasusss 81
tae Academy; Jshn FL Hoover, clerk q the
Academy, Prem. 8. Fl, Baird, .: Il. 9. Oenni
Wn Fs5rsh Pc Welsh sis n p 81 s;s Y. Esy
sia5s ~ N.wcoaS PrSi, NJ. A Merton. DE 4
Pscfard, IT, Chss. a. sshost Prof Resj: sii at
Ssnb p Th & IT D P = ID
Elliott, Hon. Nj. shslis6argsr, Hon. b. b Eaton,
YssTSs the q P rSs
wyioh, Dr.; 9tis DATED States army; Profs-
asrdasf and EEdie I. K !, !. nr.v.,. n.,urs
A. am nd = e ooes pass meet
ing was held. when DR.. J. L. LsOonte presenteda
memoir on the classifcation Of the .Rhynchop!
S ss%s q tSs most enemies q ats and
' Amer SsieSS rsIiswing the schemes ooi.ssin-
and ss proposed
Arrangement Of the series into three sub-series,
defined By the arrangement Of the segments Of
i
presence or absence Of IN additional dorssi seq
ment In the male. He pointed out some Of the
more curious modihcstions which he bad observed,
and illustrated them BY DIAGRAMS on the bleek-
board. A peculiar form or mandibls IN one family
was noticed, the presence Of . sharp, elongated
its way through the pufa ease, and which then.
becoming useless, drops Oh, leaving o peculiar
soar ut the end Of the remaining park OF the
mandible He had found the presence and form
Of tho scar characters heretofore neglected as Of
much value In classification
with the Improvement IN classification the
ss,r s 81 wi ss
eulturalists, and the facility for the observation
Of habits thus obtained may lead eventually to
P lcfessor Fairman Rogers, Of Fhfadeiphis,
read q paper on tCom binations Of Mechanism
Initiating Mental Pross..s, yhic ,, was briefly
machines certain sequence IL followed ont ~
the apparatus depending upon the manner In
which = ORIGINALLY ss OF 10 otnss MSTas npS Ss
apparatus described an attempt - made to go
somewhat further, and to enable the machine to
deal with varying conditions ae in the case OF .
game Of combination, such as draughts, or the
simplest Of all the games Of combination, such as
tit-tat-too. It WAS shown that an antomaton
game against an opponent, and take advantage
Of mistakes on the part Of such opponent, thus
performing an operation closely resembling that
the apparatus would not be Ineligible without
the aid Of drawings. twas suggested that the
applicAHon OF the principle lGid Town Would, per-
haps result in the more extended usefulness Of
the class Of machines first mentioned.
A paper prepared by Prof A. W: Norton was
as 20 the Functions Of Spinal Scola OF the Coehlea
Leading an Hypothesis Of tho Mechanism Of AID
Prof W. A. Norton submitted paper on the
results OF q series Of experiments on the sets or
DETECTION Of pine sticks AFTER having been sub
jected to O transverse stress. He made over one
thousand experimental determinations, In connec-
tion with each Of which the thermometer was also
observed The testing apparatus used in these
suits OF the experiments were given at length.
The laws Of the variation Of set were given as
made out by sets OF experiments made under .
great variety Of circumstances, and under every
variety Of superstition with regard to the Stress
Its intensity, mode OF application, repetition Of ap
plicatIons, 80. These laws are too technical and
too Numerous to enumerate.
Prof. Norton suggested, in conclusion, as an ex-
PLANTATION of the fact and diverse phenonena Of
moved, that the molecules Of tho stick experience
physical and mechanical change under the In
huence Of the strain applied, by reason OF which
the forces exerted by the molecules Of the stick
on each other suffer q change. He remarked that
this change implies that the ultimate molecule
is not Q simple atom, but made up of parts, main
tanned In equilibrium by their inherent forces In
accordance with the opinion now entertained by
many physicists and derived from the results Of
physical experiment.
;. Dr. A. 5. Packard, jr., read . biographical
sketch OF H. ]. Clarke, 3 deceased member. after
which the meeting adjourned until to-day, when
DIR. Q. E. Brown-Sequard will read a paper Cd
the pretended localiZation af the mental and SEN
serial faculties of the brain.